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Award of the Khyentse Foundation for PhD thesis in Buddhist Studies

December 31 Deadline to Nominate Candidates for

Khyentse Foundation Award for Outstanding PhD Dissertation in Buddhist Studies

In July of 2014, Khyentse Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the study and practice of Buddhism, announced the establishment of its Award for Outstanding Dissertations in Buddhist Studies. The deadline for nominations is December 31, 2014. The award will be presented to the best PhD dissertation in the field of Buddhist Studies written in Europe, including the UK, that was published during the previous two academic years. The dissertation must be based on original research in the relevant primary language, and it should significantly advance understanding of the subject or Buddhist scriptures studied.

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Conveying prescriptions: The Mīmāṃsā understanding of how prescriptive texts function

The Mīmāṃsā school of Indian philosophy has at its primary focus the exegesis of Sacred Texts (called Vedas), and more specifically of their prescriptive portions, the Brāhmaṇas. This means that the epistemic content conveyed by the Vedas is, primarily, what has to be done. In order words, the Veda is an epistemic authority only insofar as it conveys a deontic content.

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Ontology is a moot point if you are a theist

A philosopher might end up having a double affiliation, to the philosophical standpoints shared by one’s fellow philosophers, and to the religious program of one’s faith.
This can lead to difficult reinterpretations (such as that of Christ with the Neoplatonic Nous, or that of God with the Aristotelic primum movens immobile), or just to juxtapositions (the addition of angels to the list of possible living beings).

A Vaiṣṇava who starts doing philosophy after centuries of religious texts speaking of Viṣṇu’s manifestations (vibhūti), of His qualities and His spouse Lakṣmī (or Śrī or other names), is in a similar difficult situation.

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PhD on Religion in Mumbai

The University of Bergen (UiB) is an internationally recognised research university with more than 14,000 students and close to 3,500 employees at six faculties. The university is located in the heart of Bergen. Our main contribution to society is excellent basic research and education across a wide range of disciplines.

(1) PhD Position in the project ‘Religion in Public Spaces in Mumbai’ and (2) PhD Position in the project ‘Religion and Violence in Mumbai’

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Confluence: A new journal on comparative philosophy

How did comparative philosophy evolve in the last sixty+ years? What is the difference between intercultural philosophy and comparative philosophy? All the answers can be read in the introductory essay to the first number of a new journal dedicated to comparative philosophy, namely Confluence.

The long and learned introductory essay, by Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach, Geeta Ramana and James Maffie (who are also the journal’s editors)

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Ritual prescriptions in Śrautasūtras: Why they are interesting (first part)

I am working on the formalisation of the prescriptions regarding the Full- and New-Moon sacrifices in the Baudhāyana Śrautasūtra. In Kashikar’s edition, they cover about 32 full pages of Sanskrit. And they are overtly boring in their pedantic prescription of each sacrificial detail. Thus, instead of reading the BaudhŚrSū, have a look at what follows for what is interesting in them:

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Updates concerning the 3quarksdaily philosophical blog prize

You can read here the list of the 20 semifinalists of the 3quarksdaily prize (see also here) for the best philosophical post of the last year. For a quick summary regarding non-Western philosophy:

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CfP for PhD students and postdocs on Yogācāra Buddhism in Context

I received this email from Constanze Pabst von Ohain and Marco Walther

Within the scope of the Doctoral Program in Buddhist Studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany, we announce our upcoming workshop “Yogācara Buddhism in Context: Approaches to Yogācāra Philosophy throughout Ages and Cultures”.

Please find attached a call for papers for PhD students/postdocs and further information that you can forward to any parties that might be interested.

We are looking forward to receiving applications.

Abstract submission deadline: 31. December 2014.

CfP LMU 2015 Yogacara Buddhism