Practices for transforming the real: language, imagination, and scholarly modes of engagement - Session II

Saturday, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM | Grand Hyatt-Lonestar Ballroom, Salon B … Session ID: A18-426

Full Papers Available

Hosted by: Language, Poiesis, and Buddhist Experiments with the Possible Seminar

Presiding

Nancy Lin, University of California, Berkeley, presiding

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

The SECOND SESSION will begin with a brief overview of the seminar and introductions of session participants. Next the co-presenters (Adam Miller and Stephanie Balkwill) will give a contextual introduction to their text--the Ratnaketuparivarta, a Mahāyāna sūtra extant in part or in whole in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese--and how it addresses seminar questions and themes. The bulk of the session will then be devoted to a close reading with two discussants (Rae Erin Dachille and Eric Greene) commenting on a series of textual passages shared by the presenters, and with audience participation integrated along the way. During the last part of the session, a global respondent (Natalie Gummer) will revisit key points from both sessions and raise further ones for consideration, followed by general discussion.

Papers

Realizing Birth in a Female Body According to the Ratnaketuparivarta

Authors

Adam Miller	atmiller@uchicago.edu	View
Stephanie Lynn Balkwill	Balkwill@humnet.ucla.edu	View

Our presentation begins with a colophon to an illuminated, Tibetan xylograph copy of the _Ratnaketuparivarta_ where the donor is said to have commissioned the text so that women would never again be reborn in female bodies. Moving away from the interpretive frame of the colophon, however, we argue that the _Ratnaketuparivarta_ itself recommends—even commends—birth in a female body in certain circumstances. Through a close reading of this text, we argue that there is more than one way to realize birth in the female body in the Mahāyāna tradition and that the text, despite the colophon, opens up space for Buddhist practitioners to understand themselves as having intentionally chosen female rebirth for soteriological ends and with soteriological implications.

Respondent
Rae Dachille, University of Arizona	raedachille@email…	View
Eric Greene, Yale University	eric.greene@yale.edu	View
Natalie Gummer	gummern@beloit.edu	View
Janet Gyatso	jgyatso@hds.harvard.edu	View
Charles Hallisey, Harvard University	challisey@hds.harvard.edu	View
Thomas Mazanec, University of California, Santa Barbara	mazanec@ucsb.edu	View

Audiovisual Requirements

LCD Projector and Screen

Accessibility Requirements

We ask for a roving mic. Its absence at last year's sessions (which were attended by more than 90 people) made it very challenging for seminar participants to engage in workshop-style conversation, and particularly for persons with disabilities, as most h

Comments

This is an AAR seminar that is dedicated to a close reading of a text by a group of experts, with intervals of discussion that are open to members of the audience, and that so far has attracted high attendance (last year we had more than 90 people attending both of our sessions).

In order to maintain the text-reading workshop format on the one hand and accommodating the audience on the other, ideally we would require a conference room--one large table with chairs surrounding it, and additional seats for members of the audience.

Last year, the room setup was highly inappropriate for a workshop-style seminar, and the attendance exceeded the room capacity so that many people had to stand or leave. This did not make it easier for persons with disabilities to participate. No roving mic made it very challenging for seminar participants to engage in workshop-style conversation, as most had to walk to the podium to use the microphone in order to be heard.