The Fundació Universitat Rovira i Virgili (FURV) and the Dharma-Gaia Foundation (FDG) have established a broad collaboration agreement to promote the study of Buddhism in Spanish through a series of academic courses, the publication of books, conferences and other educational activities. Among these projects is the forthcoming publication of a two-volume collective work entitled Buddhist Studies in Latin America and Spain, to be published by Publicaciones Universitat Rovira i Virgili and the Dharma-Gaia Foundation.
Following the success of the first course entitled "Buddhism: From Doctrinal Roots to Lived Experience," the FURV and FDG have launched a new, more extensive program of three separate courses entitled "Studies in Buddhist Traditions and Meditation," which will run from October 2022 to December 2023, with the intention of providing as complete and comprehensive an overview of Buddhism and its constituent traditions as possible. Specifically, early Buddhism and the Theravada tradition, Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, and modern Buddhism will be covered.
After the extraordinary reception of the first course in this series entitled "Early Buddhism and the Theravāda Tradition: Teachings and Practices", which had more than 60 students and a very positive assessment by the participants, FURV and the FDG announce this second course which has been organized within the framework of the URV Foundation by the Department of Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Work of the URV, and is co-directed by Prof. Jaume Vallverdú, PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology and professor of the Department of Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Work of the URV, and Dr. Daniel Millet, president and founder of the Dharma-Gaia Foundation. The third course in the series, which will be taught from September to December 2023, will deal with modern Buddhism and, as in previous courses, will be taught by leading experts in the field.
Description:
"Mahāyāna and vajrayāna Buddhisms: teachings and practices" is a virtual course promoted by the Department of Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Work of the URV, and organized in the framework of the collaboration between the Fundació Universitat Rovira i Virgili and the Dharma-Gaia Foundation.
This is a theoretical-experiential course designed with the purpose of providing a concise, yet complete and comprehensive overview of mahāyāna and vajrayāna Buddhism and the rich tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. After considering the development of Buddhism after the death of the Buddha, the course focuses on the history, philosophy, and practices of Indian mahāyāna. We will analyze the origins of this tradition; its scriptural corpus; its conception of the Buddha, Buddhahood, and its ideal of the bodhisattva; the doctrines of śūnyatā and the tathāgatagarbha; the philosophical reformulations of the mādhyamaka and yogācāra schools; its art; and devotional Buddhism and its manifestations. Next, we will analyze the spread of the mahāyāna throughout Central Asia and East Asia. We will consider the historical and cultural context of the reception of Buddhism in China and its sinization. We will study the main schools of Chinese Buddhism-tiantai, huayan, and pure land-and their doctrines and teachers, and read excerpts from sutras and scriptures. We will devote special attention to the development of the chan school and perform meditation practices in the style of this tradition. We will then discuss Buddhism in Korea and Japan, with special emphasis on Korean Seon and Japanese Zen. Finally, we will explore vajrayāna and Tibetan Buddhism, the spread of Indian Buddhism in Tibet, the lineages and doctrines of the Tibetan schools, and the Bon school. Doctrinal explanations will alternate with the reading of sutras and scriptural fragments. The course includes an experiential aspect with meditation practices in the context of Tibetan Buddhism.
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