Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies
Hilary Term DIRI Lecture Series 2025
This term we will be presenting three lectures. These lectures are presented in conjunction with the Dhammachai International Research Institute, as part of our ongoing academic partnership.
The details are as follows:
26 February (4pm GMT / 5 March (4pm GMT) / 12 March (4pm GMT)
The lectures will be streamed on our YouTube page.
For a Zoom link to attend the lecture and ask questions (limited spaces), please contact steven.egan@ocbs.org
26 Feb
Editing Jātakas in the 15th Century: Ariyavaṃsa’s Jātakavisodhana and Premodern Pali Philology
Dr. Aleix Ruiz Falqués
The Pali Canon has been transmitted through manuscripts for more than twenty centuries. The first critical editions of Pali texts were printed in the 19th century, based on palm-leaf manuscripts. This manuscript tradition, which underlies our printed and electronic editions, is not yet well understood. Were texts simply copied? Did the scribes understand the text? Was there any supervision by learned scholars? Was there any method, beyond mere copying, to preserve the correct readings of the text? If so, what criteria were used to choose between variant readings?
This lecture discusses one of the rare examples of textual criticism in the era of Pali manuscripts. Ariyavaṃsa of Sagaing (Burma), known for his major Abhidhamma treatise, the Maṇisāramañjūsā, is one of the most renowned Pali scholars of the 15th century. Among Ariyavaṃsa’s works is the Jātakavisodhana (“Purification of the Jātaka”), a collection of text-critical notes on the ten major Jātakas. Written in both Burmese and Pali, it is one of the most distinctive specimens of premodern Pali philology.
By examining Ariyavaṃsa’s methods, we can gain valuable insight into how scholars of his time approached textual preservation and critical analysis.
5 Mar
Gender and Buddhist Doctrine
Prof Alice Collett (University of St Andrews)
In this talk, I will further explore issues I raise in my book, I Hear her Words: An Introduction to Women in Buddhism (2021, Windhorse Publications). In Chapter 3 of the book, I use Buddhist doctrine to challenge what Buddhist texts say about women. Some Buddhist texts say that women are inferior to men, and the reason given is that women’s nature is inferior. I argue in the book that such statements contradict basic Buddhist doctrine such as pratītya-samutpāda (dependant arising, Pāli: paṭicca-samuppāda). According to the doctrine of pratītya-samutpāda, everything comes into being and passes away, and nothing is permanent, static or fixed. This would include, of course, women’s nature. In this talk, I will take one aspect of that discussion further, and discuss the nature of selfhood (anātman, Pāli: anattā) according to Buddhism. As well as exploring what makes up a self, I will look at how the human being is formed. People are, like all things existing in the world in which we live, comprised of skandhas (constituent parts, Pāli: khandhas). I will discuss the skandhas and explore whether we can find anything, in any Buddhist text, that attempts to say that male and female skandhas are difference from one another; which they would need to be if indeed women’s nature was substantially different to that of men. As part of the discussion of skandhas, I will also look at indriyas (faculties), which are classifed as male and female.
12 Mar
Anuruddha and Mahā-Kaccāna: Tracing the Contours of Two Early Buddhist Lineages
Dr. Alexander Wynne
In the Pāli canon, Anuruddha and Mahā-Kaccāna number among the prominent disciples of the Buddha: Anuruddha, a Sakya from Kapilavatthu, and cousin of the Buddha; and Mahā-Kaccāna, the son of a royal purohita from Ujjeni, capital city of Avanti.
Regardless of what did or did not happen in the time of the Buddha, the texts on Anuruddha and Mahā-Kaccāna are not random, but form particular patterns within the canonical texts. Those on Anuruddha mention certain meditations, and are mostly located in Kosala/Ceti; whereas those on Mahā-Kaccāna focus on doctrinal analysis and a specific textual tradition, and are mostly localed in Avanti/Madhurā.
This lecture will argue that the texts on Anuruddha and Mahā-Kaccāna reveal the concerns of early Buddhist lineages in Kosala/Ceti and Avanti/Madhurā. Tracing the contours of these traditions brings into clearer focus some of the dynamics of the early Buddhist period, and helps us better understand the formation of the early Buddhist episteme.