----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Conlon" <
conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
To: <
H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2011 9:23 PM
Subject: H-ASIA: CFP Intl. Conf Buddhist Linkages in S & SE Asia, Delhi,
October 7-9, 2011 (BLSSEA 2011)
> H-ASIA
> April 23, 2011
>
> Buddhist Linkages in South and Southeast Asia: Perspectives and Prospects
> (BLSSEA 2011), Delhi, October 7-9, 2011
>
> (x-post H-Buddhism)
> *********************************************************************
> From: "Dr. Arvind K Singh" <arvindbantu@yahoo.co.in>
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> Greetings from Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi, on
> the occasion of the Forthcoming Buddha Purnima
>
> We extend a warm welcome to you from the Department of Buddhist
> Studies for the Three Day International Conference on Buddhist
> Linkages in South and Southeast Asia: Perspectives and Prospects
> (BLSSEA 2011) to be held at Department of Buddhist Studies, University
> of Delhi, Delhi-110007 (India) on 07 – 09 October 2011.
>
> It is an honour for Department of Buddhist Studies to welcome the
> academics, professionals, and graduate students in the field who will
> have an opportunity to debate throughout the Conference on the theme:
> "Buddhist Linkages in South and Southeast Asia: Perspectives and
> Prospects" and the following subthemes:
>
> Dissemination of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia
> Cultural Linkages between South and Southeast Asian Countries with India
> Emperor Asoka's Contribution to Buddhism in its dissemination
> Buddhism in Sri Lanka and compilation of Pali Tripitaka
> Buddhism in Burma
> Buddhism in Thailand
> Buddhism in Cambodia & Laos
> Buddhism in Vietnam
> Buddhism in Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula
> Buddhism in Phillipines
>
> The Organizing Committee welcomes proposals for papers from academics,
> professionals, graduate students and others. Proposals that must
> include a max 500 word abstract of the paper and a short academic CV,
> Abstracts may be submitted online at http://
> www.blssea.buddhist.du.ac.in before 30 June, 2011.
>
> The International conference is sponsored generously by an endowment
> for the advancement of Buddhist studies, made possible by grant from
> UGC under its DSA Programme and Indian Council for Cultural relations,
> New Delhi.
>
> We look forward to welcoming you to the Department of Buddhist
> Studies, University of Delhi , during the course of the International
> Conference. So far the Department of Buddhist Studies has always
> enjoyed the privilege of a well-attended conference, and in generating
> Social Awareness towards promoting the cause of Buddhism. On this
> occasion, although we shall continue with the three (3) day
> International Conference and interact in the varied interesting
> programmes, however we shall have enough time to interact with the
> seniors, old colleagues and friends, and to make the new ones.
>
> I do hope to receive the best of co-operation from your side.
>
> Thanking you in anticipation.
> With Kind Regards,
> Organizing Committee
>
> International Conference BLSSEA 2011
>
> International Conference on
> "Buddhist Linkages in South and Southeast Asia: Perspectives and
> Prospects"
> October 7-9, 2011
>
>
> 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, Asoka (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 Asoka 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 Champa kingdom). Thus, most of the inscriptions in this period
> were composed in Sanskrit and many contemporary Khmer and Champa
> 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 Theravada Buddhism had become
> predominant in most Southeast Asian monarchs of Burma, Siam and
> Cambodia, whilst Mahayana 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 Asoka's time. Burmese, Siamese and Cambodian Buddhist monks
> also sought guidance on religious matters from Ceylon, the Mecca of
> Theravada Buddhism of the Southeast Asia. Furthermore, innumerable
> Amaravati-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 Asoka (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. Asokan 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
> Sailendra and Srivijaya empires but Mahayana Buddhism in Indonesia
> is now largely practiced by the Chinese diaspora, as in Singapore and
> Malaysia. Southeast Asian countries with a Theravada Buddhist majority
> are Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Burma. Mahayana 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 Mahayana 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, Ravana, 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.
>
> Sub themes:
> 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 Tripi?aka
> 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
>
>
> There is no Registration Fee.
>
> Local Hospitality shall be provided by the Department of Buddhist
> Studies, University of Delhi.
>
> 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
>
> Venue:
>
> Old Convocation Hall, Faculty of Arts, University of Delhi, North
> Campus, Delhi-110007
>
>
> With kind regards,
>
> Arvind
>
> Dr. Arvind Kumar Singh
> Office: Assistant Professor, Department of Buddhist Studies,
> Room No. 307, Extension Building, Faculty of Arts,
> University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
> Residence: Flat No. 17, Nav Shakti Sadan
> Sector-13, Rohini, Delhi-110085
> Tel: 011-27563594 (R), 09810926121 (M) & 09891189952
> Office No. 011-27666625 (O) Fax: 011-27666445
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