Ulrike Roesler - 21/03/2022 Cycle de conférences SFEMT 2021/2022

Dans le cadre du Cycle de Conférences 2021/2022 de la Société Française d'Etudes du Monde Tibétain, Ulrike Roesler (Université d'Oxford) a donné le lundi 21 mars 2022 via Zoom une conférence intitulée :
Travelling in Time: The Role of Jātaka Stories and Prophecies in the Construction of the Kadampa School
Résumé de la conférence :
At first sight, stories of previous lives (Tib. skyes rabs, Pāli/Skt. jātaka) and prophecies about events to come (Tib. lung bstan, Skt. vyākaraṇa) appear diametrically opposed, one directing the attention towards the past and the other towards the future. However, a closer look at their literary structure and the message conveyed by these two types of texts shows that they are more closely related than they may initially appear. Drawing on materials from The Book of Kadam (Bka’ gdams glegs bam) as well as separately transmitted texts, this talk will investigate the time structures and the literary strategies employed in jātakas and prophecies, explore their historical and literary context, and discuss the audiences to which such texts may have been addressed. An analysis of the narrative settings and the themes featured will reveal that they provide powerful narrative tools for evoking and defining a “Kadampa identity”. They also had a long-lasting impact in Tibetan history, long after the disappearance of the Kadampa as a distinct tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.