Engaging the Senses in the Tibetan tantric "Major Practice Session" (sgrub chen)

Guest lecture by Cathy Cantwell, Oxford University

It is well-known that tantric Buddhism takes a different approach towards sensual pleasures than mainstream Buddhism.  While accepting the analysis of the problematic attachment and aversion resulting from indulgence in sensual gratification, the tantric spiritual discipline involves enlisting bodily experiences, and transforming ordinary body, speech and mind into their enlightened counterparts.  The ways in which the senses are used in a "Major Practice Session", a communal ritual lasting for some ten days or so, is explored in this lecture.  In such a practice session, the meditations and ritualised performances are led by the principal lama and his team of expert meditators and ritualists, while the larger assembly need not necessarily actively join in.  It is enough if they sit receptively and engage their senses – watching the performance, listening to the chanting and music, smelling the incense, touching the ritual implements, and tasting the consecrated pills.  Thus, they can develop the "pure vision" of the world as an enlightened "maṇḍala".  The emphasis on sensual experience rather than on expressions of belief, or active congregational participation in the liturgy, means that attendance is relatively open, with Buddhists of other schools, and non-Buddhists, able to participate.

Bio

Cathy Cantwell has been a member of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, since 2002.  She is President of the UK Association for Buddhist Studies (from 2015), and is currently a KHK Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Bochum (October 2015 - September 2016).  Her work focuses on Tibetan and Himalayan tantric rituals of all periods from the 10th century CE, and especially the ritual texts and practices deriving from the “Early Transmissions” (snga 'gyur rnying ma). This work has included text critical and historical analysis, as well as ethnographic study of contemporary rituals.  Her most recent book publications are, A Noble Noose of Methods, the Lotus Garland Synopsis:A Mahāyoga Tantra and its Commentary” (Vienna 2012, together with Robert Mayer), and “Buddhism: The Basics” (London 2010).  She has recently jointly edited a Special Edition (with Robert Mayer, Jowita Kramer and Stefano Zacchetti) of the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (Volume 36/37, 2015), entitled, Authors and Editors in the Literary Traditions of Asian Buddhism.

Wednesday, 27 April, 17-19h
Faculty of Humanities, KUA2, Room: 12.0.37