Robert Sharf, professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley will speak on his research as part of the Center's At-Large Lectures on Religion 2012-2013 Series. The lecture is free and all are welcome. A reception will follow.
This lecture is presented with support from the Institute for Japanese Studies.
Abstract:
What is the relationship between nirvana – the traditional goal of Buddhist practice – and simple mindlessness or insentience? It turns out that this was an issue of considerable concern to Buddhist philosophers in both India and China.
As they pondered this question, the Buddhists ran up against problems that continue to baffle philosophers and cognitive scientists today. What, in the end, distinguishes animate from inanimate objects? Is consciousness ultimately material or immaterial? And just what do we mean by “consciousness”?
In response, Buddhists exegetes gave rise to some rather curious thought experiments. The Indians, for example, puzzled over a heaven populated by gods who have bodies but no minds (perhaps the earliest example of “philosophical zombies”). And in the eighth century Chinese Buddhist masters engaged in an often rancorous debate about whether insentient objects, including walls and roof tiles, can become Buddhas and preach the dharma.
Prof. Sharf’s talk will explore parallels between early Buddhist struggles to make sense of mindlessness and insentience, and modern debates over the nature of consciousness in the disciplines of psychology, cognitive science, and philosophy of mind.