AAR BUDDHISM SECTION NEWSLETTER

Issue #32, Spring 2001

This Spring issue lists those sessions sponsored by the Buddhism Section at the upcoming AAR ammual meeting in Denver, Colorado, Nov. 17-20. The Fall issue, to be published shortly before the annual meeting, will also include other sessions, presentations, and events related to the field of Buddhist Studies. If there are program items that you would like to see included in this "also of interest" category, please send the relevant information by e-mail to Jackie Stone. PLEASE ALSO SEND US YOUR NOMINATIONS FOR NEW SECTION CO-CHAIRS (see "special announcement" below)!

Hope to see you in Denver!

Sincerely,

John Strong jstrong@bates.edu
Jackie Stone jstone@princeton.edu

Buddhism section co-chairs

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: As of this year's annual meeting, John Strong and Jackie Stone will have completed two three-years terms as co-chairs of the Buddhism section and will be stepping down. Electing new co-chairs heads the section's business agenda for this year. Please e-mail your preliminary nominations (self-nominations are also welcomed) to John or Jackie. These names will be passed on to a nominating committee (consisting of steering committee members) who will prepare a ballot. Choosing the new co-chairs will be vital to the continued success of the section, so we ask for your careful consideration in making nominations. A second call for nominations will be sent out early in the fall.
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ONGOING ANNOUNCEMENTS:

NEWSLETTER: The Buddhism Section's electronic Newsletter will be posted at the website of the AAR Buddhism section http://www.human.toyogakuen-u.ac.jp/~acmuller/aar-bs/. Those of you who have submitted an Internet address that is still up to date will be notified that the Newsletter has been posted to this site. If you wish to be added to the distribution list or to change your e-mail address, or if you have other questions about the Newsletter, please contact Jackie Stone . Because of the electronic medium, diacritics have not been used in the Newsletter in giving the titles of presentations. We ask for your understanding in this regard.

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BUDDHISM SECTION SESSIONS:

1. Buddhism on the Silk Road

   Robert Buswell, University of California at Los Angeles, presiding

   • Jason Neelis, University of Washington
     "Long-Distance Transmission of Buddhism from South Asia to the Silk Routes: New Evidence from Rock Drawings and Inscriptions in Northern Pakistan"

   • Vadim N. Yagodin, Institute of History, Archaeology, and Ethnologyof the Karakalpak Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan
     "The Civilization of Ancient Chorasmia and Buddhism"

   • Joseph Walser, Tufts University
     "Mahayana Textual Production on the Silk Route"

   • Mariko Namba Walter, University of New England
     "Death, Burials, and the Afterlife in Buddhist Central Asia"

   • Peter Zieme, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften
     "Special Traits of Uighur Buddhism"

   Respondent: Jan Nattier, Indiana University

   
   

2. Current Research on the Jishu (co-sponsored with the Japanese Religions Group)

   Robert Rhodes, Otani University, presiding

   • Jonathan Todd Brown, University of Arizona
     "Flowers from the Sky: Auspicious Portents in Two Jishu Hagiographies"

   • James Harlan Foard, Arizona State University
     "The Jishu Appropriation of Icons: The Case of the Burned-Cheek Amida"

   • Sybil Anne Thornton, Arizona State University
     "The Yugyo Shonin, Izumi Shikibu, and the Rededication of the Seiganji in 1580"

   • Diana E. Wright, Western Washington University
     "Concerns Both Sacred and Mundane: The Jishu Nuns of Mantokuji"

   Respondent: Janet Goodwin, Los Angeles, California

   
   

3. Merit and Exchange in Chinese and Indian Buddhism (co-sponsored with the Chinese Religions Group)

   Robert Sharf, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, presiding

   • Charles B. Jones, Catholic University of America
     "The Paradox of Precepts in Chinese Pure Land Buddhism"

   • Reiko Ohnuma, Dartmouth College
     "Gifts, Merit, and Reciprocity in Indian Buddhism"

   • Michael J. Walsh, Vassar College
     "The Possibilities of Merit in Thirteenth-Century Chinese Buddhist Monastic Arenas"

   • Xue Yu, University of Iowa
     "Merit Making and Merit Transfer in Chinese Buddhism"

   Respondent: Jamie Hubbard, Smith College

4. Issues of Identity and Alterity in Buddhist Traditions

   Robert Thurman, Columbia University, presiding

   • David Gray, Rice University
     "Eating the Heart of the Brahmin: Representations of Alterity and the Formation of Identity in Tantric Buddhist Discourse"

   • John C. Maraldo, University of North Florida
     "Alterity and Non-duality in the Oxherding Pictures of Chan/Zen"

   • Ananda Abeysekara, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
     "Contingent Conjunctures in the Postcolonial Study of Buddhism, Alterity, and Difference"

   • Wendy Cadge, Princeton University
     "American Buddhists? The Religious Identities of Theravada Buddhist Practitioners in the United States"

   • John Powers, Australian National University
     "Fighting with History: The Ideological Battle between the Tibetan Exile Government and the People's Republic of China"

   Respondent: Joseph Walser, Tufts University

   
   

5. Prophecies, Buddhist Monks, and Politics
   Ronald Davidson, Fairfield University, presiding

   • Karen Derris, Harvard University
     "Towards a Typology of Theravadin Predictions"

   • Johan Elverskog, Southern Methodist University
     "Prophecy in Action: Shambhala and the Mongols"

   • Mario Poceski, University of Iowa
     " From the Province to the Capital: The Role of State Support in the Spread of the Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism"

   • Roseanne Freese, Arlington, Virginia
     "The Monk Tanwuchan: Mentor of Men and Victim of Kings"

6. Engaged Buddhist Ethics: The Dialectics of Buddhist Tradition and Contemporary Globalism
   Miriam Levering, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, presiding

   • George D. Bond, Northwestern University
     "The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri Lanka: Gandhian Discourse and Millenialist Visions in Response to Buddhist Nationalism"

   • Christopher S. Queen, Harvard University
     "Gentle or Harsh? The Practice of Right Speech in Engaged Buddhism"

   • John Marston, Colegio de México
     "Buddhist Values and Cambodian Human Rights NGOs"

   • Sallie B. King, James Madison University
     "Justice for All? Engaged Buddhist Avoidance of Justice Language"

   Respondent: Donald K. Swearer, Swarthmore College

7. Cults, Transformations, and Transnationalism in Buddhism

   Kyoko Tokuno, University of Washington, presiding

   • Abraham Zablocki, Cornell University
     " The Maitreya Project: A Case Study in Transnational Tibetan Buddhism"

   • Zhi-Ru Ng, Pomona College
     "The Saha Triad as a New Buddhist Pattern of Cultic Devotion: Image Worship and Restructuring Religious Consciousness in Modern Taiwan"

   • David Quinter, Stanford University
     " The Shingon Ritsu School and the Hannyaji Monju Cult: Image, Economy, and Magic"

   • Bryan Phillips, University of Virginia
     "The Mani-yana: A Medieval Tibetan Unification Discourse from Guru Chos-kyi dbang-phyug"

   • Cristina Rocha, University of Western Sydney
     "Zazen or Not Zazen? The Predicament of Sotoshu's Missionaries in Brazil"