Buddhist Canon as Open Text Collection: New Approach to the Four Āgamas

BUDDHIST STUDIES FORUM

SPEAKER: Norihisa Baba, University of Tokyo

While the Four Āgamas have been often regarded as a part of the Early Buddhist canon, this talk will shed new light on these collections. Comparing Chinese, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Pāli Texts, it will suggest that the Four Āgamas include doctrinal formulas parallel not only to the First Four Nikāyas, but also to three groups of later Pāli texts: the Abhidhamma, Post-canonical texts, and Commentaries. These findings show that the Four Āgamas were not closed but open canon, since they share textual sources with the other Buddhist traditions. This new approach is also used to elucidate the formation of one discourse (on Dependent Arising) in the Chinese Ekottarikāgama.

About the Speaker

Norihisa Baba is a Professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia at the University of Tokyo. He was a research associate at Drawing College of the University of Cambridge 2006 to 2008 and at Stanford University as a visiting scholar of Ho Center for Buddhist Studies from 2009 to 2010. His research interests include the history and thought of Indian Buddhism and Theravāda Buddhism; the relationship between Sri Lanka and East Asia; and Modern Discourse of Buddhism. His approach is comparative using the Pāli, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese texts. He has published several English language articles and Japanese books including The Formation of Theravāda Buddhist Thought: From the Buddha to Buddhaghosa, and Early Buddhism: Tracing the Buddha’s Thought. He is also recipient of several academic prizes such as the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies Prize, and the Japan Science Promotion Society Prize.

This event is co-sponsored by the Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies.