Chandra Chiara Ehm (EPHE/LMU) soutiendra sa thèse intitulée :
Yellow Hats, Indian Pandits, and Practice in the Geluk Order
préparée à l’École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris Sciences Lettres) et à la Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität sous la direction de Charles Ramble et Robert Yelle.
La soutenance se tiendra le lundi 7 octobre de 17h00 à 18h30, en présentiel, en salle E 206 à la Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Geschwister Scholl Platz 1, Munich. Elle sera suivie d’un pot convivial.
Résumé de la thèse :
The present dissertation analysed the relationship between textual study and practice instructions in Tibetan Buddhism. In line with classical Indian sources, the Tibetan Buddhist tradition understands these two categories of teaching to be in a causal relationship (de byung ’brel). Vasubhandu’s (4th to 5th century CE) Abhidharmakośa states that “the Buddha’s teachings are of two kinds: Those in the nature of scripture
and those in the nature of realisation. These are upheld only by those who teach them and accomplish them.” Concordant with this, yet in contrast with the views of many of his contemporaries, Tsongkhapa (Tsong kha pa,1357–1419) the founder of the Geluk order, interprets the study of canonical texts as an important preliminary for meditation practice. By way of in-depth philological analysis of Longdol Lama Ngawang Lobsang’s (Klong rdol bla ma ngag dbang blo bzang, 1719-1794) practice manual on the
Abhisamayālaṅkāra (AA) – the locus classicus for Tibetan scholastic interpretations of the Buddhist path – this work has analysed his expositions. It further looked into how the monastic scholar is supposed to utilise his philosophical studies of the AA as a means for both spiritual practice and experience on a soteriological path. Considering the exegetical coherence scholasticism in the Geluk order has enjoyed over the centuries, previous academic works exploring these traditions have primarily relied on philological and historical tools in their analyses, simply deducing from these theoretical models and debates how the actual monk would apply them. By inquiring into Buddhism empirically, i.e. by observing the application of Buddhist theoretical paradigms, this work employed participatory fieldwork to enable an accurate analysis of the expressions of experience of those monastic scholars who are pursuing their
studies of the AA. This dissertation investigated the relationship between textual study and practice
instructions from the AA by using a cross-disciplinary research approach: an ethnographic field-based research in the monastic community of Sera Jey Monastery, rooted in a philological analysis of a practice manual on the AA and framed by a pertinent theoretical framework.