December 12 | Jowita Kramer, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich

Date: 

Monday, December 12, 2016, 4:30pm to 6:00pm

Location: 

1 Bow St., Room 317

The Indian Yogācāra Scholar Sthiramati and the Works Attributed to Him

Abstract: This paper focuses on the scriptural corpus of Sthiramati, a pivotal
scholar in the development of Indian Yogācāra thought in the 6th
century. So far Sthiramati’s work has received far less attention from
modern scholars than the treatises of other Yogācāra authors like
Asaṅga or Vasubandhu—probably because of the perception of Sthiramati
as a commentator and not as an original author and thinker in his own
right. However, as I have tried to show in a recently published paper,
commentators like Sthiramati have shaped the doctrinal development of
the Yogācāra tradition by introducing new concepts and reorganizing
previous teachings to a similar extent as “independent” authors like
Vasubandhu. In the first part I will give an overview of the works
ascribed to Sthiramati and question their authorship. The second part
of the paper will be mainly devoted to my editorial work on the
Sanskrit manuscripts of Sthiramati’s commentaries made available at
the China Tibetology Research Center in Beijing, namely the
Pañcaskandhakavibhāṣā and the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya Tattvārthā.