[INDOLOGY] Conference Announcement: Buddhism and Social Justice

[Jonathan Silk]

dear Friends and Colleagues,

It is my very great pleasure to announce the following conference, which
all are welcome to attend:


 *An International Conference on Buddhism and Social Justice*
23-25 April 2014, Leiden University

 Pavilion building, Museum Volkenkunde,
Steenstraat 1, Leiden

Moving away from a common perception of Buddhism as intrinsically a
tradition of peace and justice, our project—based at Leiden
University—seeks to explore the various ways in which historically Buddhist
societies have shaped, transmitted, and adapted Buddhist ideas and ideals
about equality, fairness, and freedom. We are further interested in how (if
at all) such societies have instantiated these ideas and ideals.

The intent of the conference “Buddhism and Social Justice” is to gather
scholars to discuss Classical and modern Buddhist notions of justice and
their real world reflexes. We will be most centrally concerned with
Buddhist visions—implicit or explicit—of ideal (just) societies and the
role of human action, as these appear, for instance, in the realms of
freedom and its constraints, social hierarchy and mobility, economic
opportunity, and power and self-determination.

The full text of the initial proposal upon which our project was based, and
other information about our research team, and the conference itself, can
be consulted on this website.

This Call for Papers hasinvited scholars interested in these issues from a
descriptive, rather than prescriptive, point of view to come together and
share their expertise, findings and questions. Papers will deal with many
regions within Asia and any time period.

The interested public is welcome to attend, but we do ask that you register
(free of charge) in order to allow us to plan properly for seats and
catering. Registration emails and questions can be sent to
conference at buddhismandsocialjustice.com

*Please visit our website Buddhismandsocialjustice.com
<http://buddhismandsocialjustice.com/basjconference.html> to view the
conference abstracts and to stay updated on conference developments. *


Conference Programme (tentative program)

*Wednesday 23 April*

9:30-10:30

*Jonathan Silk *- *Buddhism and Social Justice: What are we doing?*

10:30-10:45

Coffee break

10:45-11:15

*Claudio Cicuzza *- *Buddhist notions of justice and modern concepts of
Human Dignity*

11:15-11:45

*Paulus Kaufmann *- *Roles of Justice in Kūkai’s Ethical Theory*

11:45-12:00

Coffee break

12:00-12:45

*Eugin Ciurtin *-* Flat and Curved Universes: On Exceptional Agency and
Ordinary Social Justice in Indian Buddhism*

13:00-14:30

Lunch break

14:30-15:30

*Steve Collins *-* On the 'gentle violence' of a stable social order*

15:30-15:45

Coffee break

15:45-16:15

*Berthe Jansen *- *The Impact of the Monastic Institution on Society and
Social Justice in Pre-modern Tibet*

16:15-16:45

*Johan Elverskog *-* Buddhism as Colonialism: Mining and Social
Exploitation on the Commodity Frontier*



*Thursday 24 April*

9:30-10:30

*Nam-Lin Hur *-* Buddhism and War: Senriji’s Monthly Newsletters and
Shinshū Teachings in Modern Japan, 1929-1944*

10:30-10:45

Coffee break

10:45-11:15

*Vincent Breugem *- *Ghosts Under the Bridge: Famine and Segaki Rituals in
Medieval Japan*

11:15-11:45

*Pu Chengzhong *-* Justice for Different Species: the Ethical Treatment of
Animals in Early Chinese Buddhism*

11:45-12:00

Coffee break

12:00-12:30

*Thomas Kim *- *Temple Slaves and Monks as Landlords: Issues of Doctrinal
Allegiance and Institutional Pragmatism in the Joseon Period*

12:30-14:30

Lunch break + *afternoon visit to Keukenhof*



*Friday 25 April*

9:30-10:00

*Joanna Gruszewska *- *The rhetorics of the caste criticism in Vajrasūcī*

10:00-10:30

*Jonathan Silk *- *What Remains: Anti-caste Rhetoric and Anti-Outcaste
Rhetoric in Indian Buddhism*

10:30-11:00

*Vincent Tournier *-* Cosmogony, Anti-caste Arguments and Royal Epics: the
Aggañña Myth and Its Scriptural Contexts*

11:00-11:15

Coffee break

11:15-11:45

*Iselin Frydenlund *- *Religious minorities in Buddhist majority states*

11:45-12:15

*Jacques Leider *- *Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingyas in Arakan -
Historical grief and ethnic tensions*

12:15-13:30

Lunch break

13:30-14:00

*Chris Lammerts *- *Contested histories of Buddhist law in Burma,
c.1200-1800 C.E.*

14:00-14:30

*Daniel Webster Kent *- *Thinking Karmically About War in Sri Lanka:
Evaluating Actions and Ameliorating Consequences in a Time of Declining
Dharma*

14:30-15:00

Coffee break

15:00-15:30

*Chris Wilkinson *- *Political Revolution and the Commoners’ Cause in the
Transmission of the Cakrasaṃvaratantra*

15:30-16:00

*Ian Harris *- *Kingship, colonialism and republic: Rethinking issues of
social justice in modern Cambodia*

16:00-16:15

Coffee break

16:15-17:30

*Round table discussion*
-- 
J. Silk
Instituut Kern / Universiteit Leiden
Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, LIAS
Johan Huizinga Building, Room 1.37
Doelensteeg 16
2311 VL Leiden
The Netherlands

copies of my publications may be found at
http://www.buddhismandsocialjustice.com/silk_publications.html


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