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Call for Papers
Theme: Buddhist Linkages in South and Southeast Asia
Subtitle: Perspectives and Prospects
Type: International Conference
Institution: Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi
Location: Dehli (India)
Date: 7.–9.10.2011
Deadline: 30.6.2011
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The International Conference on Buddhist Linkages in South and
Southeast Asia: Perspectives and Prospects (BLSSEA 2011) will be held
on October 7-9, 2011, at the Department of Buddhist Studies,
University of Delhi, Delhi-110007 (India). The conference will bring
together leading academicians, researchers, scholars in the domain of
interest from around the world. The aim of the conference is to
provide a platform to the researchers and scholars from academia to
meet and share their thoughts, research.
Theme
For over 2,000 years South and Southeast Asia have been linked
together in complex ways, but these relationships have been
established in diverse ways in different periods. India's relation
with South and Southeast Asian countries is an age-old phenomenon.
Historically, it has its origin in culture and trade. The Mauryan
Emperor, Aśoka (ruling period 273- 232 BCE) sent his representatives
to various countries in Southeast Asia and helped to spread Buddhism
in these countries. During the third century BCE, Emperor Aśoka sent
missionaries to the northwest of India that is, present-day Pakistan
and Afghanistan. The mission achieved great success, as the region
soon became a centre of Buddhist learning with many distinguished
monks and scholars. In the early centuries of the Common Era, the
people in various parts of South and Southeast Asia came to know of
Buddhism as a result of increased contact with the Indian merchants,
who had come to the region to trade. These merchants not only
established trading stations in Southeast Asia, but also brought
their religions and cultures with them. Under their influence, the
local people began to practise a mixture of Buddhism and Hinduism,
while retaining at the same time many of their old beliefs and
customs.
South Asia, the Indian sub-continent with the mountain fringe in the
North separating it with the rest of Eurasia and its adjacent islands
in the South; and Southeast Asia, comprising the mainland located
south of China, east of India and the archipelagos to the east and
southeast; are two areas that had various splendid civilizations
since the dawn of human history. The very first kingdoms established
in the latterly mentioned region are always addressed by historians
as 'Indianized states of Southeast Asia' as most of them adopted the
Indian cultural characteristics to develop their own monarchies. Some
scholars even used the term 'the Ancient Indian colonization' to
refer to these early societies. Actually, most researchers come to
terms with the fact that religion is the most effective factor in the
transmission of cultural elements. Hinduism and Buddhism are two
major religions that created the initial links between India and
Southeast Asia during the ancient time. Hinduism was introduced and
then adopted by the earliest Khmer kingdom of Funan in Cambodia
during the first century B.C., and subsequently became popular in
Malaysia (kingdom of Lankasuka), Bali and central Vietnam (the Champā
kingdom). Thus, most of the inscriptions in this period were composed
in Sanskrit and many contemporary Khmer and Champā monarchs had clear
Sanskritic titles, ending with 'varman'. Buddhism made its ways to
Southeast Asia as early as the third century A.D., and hitherto the
practice of Theravāda Buddhism had become predominant in most
Southeast Asian monarchs of Burma, Siam and Cambodia, whilst Mahāyāna
Buddhism was popular in Vietnam and its culture closely links with
China rather than India and Java, which is famous for the grandiose
temple complex in Borobudur. Burma and Siam derived their writing
systems from traditional Indian script and their civilization has
been under deep influence of Indian model spread since Aśoka's time.
Burmese, Siamese and Cambodian Buddhist monks also sought guidance on
religious matters from Ceylon, the Mecca of Theravāda Buddhism of the
Southeast Asia. Furthermore, innumerable Amarāvati-style Buddha
images and sculptures have been discovered in Sumatra, Java, Thailand
and Annam. Most of the facts mentioned above demonstrate a manifest
impact of Indian-origin religions on early Southeast Asia societies.
There has been a close Buddhist linkage between South and Southeast
Asia for over two thousand years. In the Early years, Buddhism came
and spread in this region through Indian who acted as a bridge
connecting the aforesaid two regions.
Buddhist Linkages in South Asia
The peoples of Southeast Asia have not been mere satellites of the
more powerful Indian and Chinese civilizations. On the contrary, the
cultures that arose in these three vast areas might better be thought
of as an alternative development that occurred within a greater
Austro-asiatic civilization, sometimes called the Asia of the
monsoons. The transmission of Buddhism and Hinduism to Southeast Asia
can thus be regarded as the spread of the religious symbols of the
more advanced Austroasiatic peoples to other Austroasiatic groups
sharing some of the same basic religious presuppositions and
traditions. The first clear evidence of the spread of Buddhism
outside India dates from the reign of King Aśoka (3rd century BCE),
whose inscriptions show that he sent Buddhist missionaries to many
different regions of the subcontinent as well as into certain border
areas. Aśokan emissaries were sent to Sri Lanka and to an area called
Suvarnabhumi, which many modern scholars have identified with the Mon
country in southern Myanmar (Burma) and central Thailand. The only
two majority-Buddhist nations in South Asia are Sri Lanka and Bhutan.
Buddhists are also found in Nepal, India (especially in Ladakh,
Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim) and Bangladesh in small minorities. In
Southeast Asia the impact of Buddhism was felt in very different ways
in three separate regions. In two of these (the region of
Malaysia/Indonesia and the region on the mainland extending from
Myanmar to southern Vietnam), the main connections have been with
India and Sri Lanka via trade routes. In Vietnam, the third region,
the main connections have been with China.
Buddhist Linkages in Southeast Asia
Buddhism in Southeast Asia is mostly Theravadin. Vietnam however had
in pre-Communist times a Mahayana majority due to Chinese influence.
Indonesia was Mahayana Buddhist since the time of the Śailendra and
Srivijaya empires but Mahāyāna Buddhism in Indonesia is now largely
practiced by the Chinese diaspora, as in Singapore and Malaysia.
Southeast Asian countries with a Theravāda Buddhist majority are
Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Burma. Mahāyāna Buddhism with
traditional Chinese religions such as Taoism and Confucianism
(Ancestor Worship) is the predominant religion of mostly Chinese
communities in Singapore where it's the largest religion; while in
Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines and Indonesia it is a strong minority.
Vietnam's current largest religion is still Mahāyāna Buddhism. We
find Buddhist linkages in this region even today in countries of
South and Southeast Asia, which are culturally predominantly Buddhist
in nature. King Surya Varma II (1113-1150 AD), one of the great
rulers of Kambuja or present day Cambodia, made one of the most
celebrated Hindu temples – the Angkor Vat. Sanskrit, the classical
language is of India, is another milieu where cultural linkages were
found between India and Southeast Asia. For example, in Thai, Rāvana,
the emperor of Sri Lanka is known as 'Thosakanth' which is a
derivation of his Sanskrit name 'Dasakanth' ("of ten necks"). This
list can be made longer which only goes to show that culturally,
Southeast Asia is in close proximity with India.
Subthemes:
1. Dissemination of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia
2. Cultural Linkages between South and Southeast Asian Countries with
India
3. Emperor Asoka's Contribution to Buddhism in its dissemination
4. Buddhism in Sri Lanka and compilation of Pali Tripitaka
5. Buddhism in Burma
6. Buddhism in Thailand
7. Buddhism in Cambodia & Laos
8. Buddhism in Vietnam
9. Buddhism in Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula
10. Buddhism in Phillipines
Submissions
Authors are invited to submit the abstract of papers through the
Conference Submission system by June 30, 2011. Submissions must be
original and should not have been published previously or be under
consideration for publication while being evaluated for this
conference. All submissions will be handled electronically.
Submission Methods:
- Electronic Submission System:
https://cmt.research.microsoft.com/BLSSEA2011/
- Email: [email protected] ( *.docx ,.pdf and .doc)
Important Deadlines
Submission of abstract: June 30, 2011
Notification of proposal result: July 15, 2011
Submission of full paper: August 15, 2011
Conference event: October 7-9, 2011
Publications
The International Conference on Buddhist Linkages in South and
Southeast Asia: Perspectives and Prospects (BLSSEA 2011) abstracts
will published in Programme and Abstract Book.
Article should be submitted before June 30, 2011 for possible
publication in October, 2011 issue.
The BLSSEA 2011 papers will be published in the Journal of Buddhist
Studies.
Venue
Old Convocation Hall, Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi, North
Campus, Delhi-110007
Contact:
Dr. Arvind Kumar Singh
Department of Buddhist Studies
Faculty of Arts
University of Delhi
Extension Building, Room No. 307
Delhi 110007
India
Phone: +91 11 27666625
Fax: +91 11 27666445
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://blssea.buddhist.du.ac.in
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