Speaker

Mr Chris Williams (University of Bristol)

Chair

Dr Rita Langer (University of Bristol)

Abstract

American Buddhist studies scholar Robert Sharf put forward an influential argument that, far from being centred on the practice of meditation and the cultivation of meditative experiences, the Buddhist tradition was essentially a ritual and performative one. In contrast to Sharf, I present a reading of the Buddhist tradition in which meditation and meditative experience can be considered at the heart of the Buddhist path to awakening.

Bio

Chris completed his MA in Buddhist Studies at the University of Bristol in 2020. He is now in his final year of his PhD working on his dissertation with the working title: "Western Rationalism and the Visionary Nature of Meditative Experience in the Buddhist Tradition"

 

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