On Gender,Apocrypha, and Buddhahood: An Early Medieval Japanese Manuscript

On Gender,Apocrypha, and Buddhahood: An Early Medieval Japanese Manuscript

Heather Blair - Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Indiana University Bloomington

Thursday, February 25, 2010 - 4:30pm to 6:00pm
Room 211, Linsly-Chittenden Hall See map
63 High Street
New Haven, CT 6511

Is an apocryphon a spurious work to be excised from the canon, or is it a valuable text that sheds light on the historical development of doctrine? Is a woman barred from being “a vessel of the Dharma” due to physical impurity, or is she “the mother of all buddhas of the three times?” With a focus on Heian-period Japan, this project examines the rhetorical strategies, conceptual contexts, and ritual applications of a newly identified Buddhist apocryphon, _The Sutra on Women’s Transformation and Buddhahood.

Region: 
Japan