CARe’s Post Doctoral Fellow in East Asian Art & Religion, Dr. Dessi Vendova, will be giving our first event of the semester -- a presentation of her recent work on the life of the Buddha.
Visual representations of the Buddha Shakyamuni’s extended biography have a ubiquitous presence at early Buddhist sites such as stupas and rock-cut cave temples and played an important part in the spread of Buddhism. This phenomenon started in India, and spread and developed beyond its lands, with a significant and revolutionary impact on the cultures it reached. This talk will focus on narrative and visual depictions of previous life stories (jataka) in which the Bodhisattva (the-Buddha-to-be) performed extreme acts of generosity that involved acts of bodily self-sacrifice.
[Image credit: Schist slab showing one of the Buddha’s previous lives as King Sibi saving a dove, Gandhara, ca. 2nd-3rd c. CE. The British Museum. ©The Trustees of the British Museum.]
This event is online only