This will be an in person lecture with the possibility of joining remotely via Zoom. 

Alastair Gornall (Assistant Professor in History and Religion, Singapore University of Technology and Design) 

'Conceptualizing the World in Pali Literature'

Friday, 23 September 2022, 17:30–19:00 (BST)

Room S118
School of Oriental and African Studies
Thornhaugh Street
Russell Square
London WC1H OXG

This lecture will provide a historical overview of the development of Pali cosmological literature. After a brief outline of the canonical and commentarial conceptions of the world or loka, the talk focuses mainly on the emergence in the second millennium of cosmology as an independent genre of monastic writing, particularly in Southeast Asia. The talk will provide the first complete bibliographical description of all known Pali works about the loka and will offer an evaluation of the various subdivisions of this textual genre. In addition, the lecture will explore some of the intellectual contours of the genre’s history by paying particular attention to the changing schemas or models scholar monks used to think about and analyze the cosmos.

Best wishes,

Rupert Gethin (on behalf of the PTS)