BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//6.4.7.1//EN TZID:America/Toronto X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Toronto BEGIN:VEVENT UID:155@buddhiststudies.utoronto.ca DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20221201T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20221202T163000 DTSTAMP:20221122T180015Z URL:https://buddhiststudies.utoronto.ca/events/vaikuntha-conference/ SUMMARY:Vaikuṇṭha Conference DESCRIPTION:\n \;\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n☞ Please download the full conference brochure PDF with abstracts for each speaker. \nVaikun ̣ṭha—A Non-Buddhist Felicity. Looking at Viṣṇu’s Paradise throu gh a Critical Engagement with the Work of Steve Collins\nSymposium General Abstract\nThis two-day conference will consider the concept of a Hindu he aven—Vaikuṇṭha—through the lens of texts\, performance and the vis ual arts of the Śrīvaisṇava community. As with several other Hindu the istic traditions\, Śrīvaiṣṇavism closely associates ideas of heaven or hell with those of salvation. Through a systematic theology building on a range of scriptural and devotional works spanning nearly 2000 years (ve dic\, epic\, purāṇic\, and post-puraṇic)\, Śrīvaiṣṇavaism has c onceived of salvation as an entry into Viṣṇu’s dwelling—depicted a s a paradisical cityscape\, Vaikuṇṭha – where the benefits of opulen ce\, proximity\, community and infinite bliss can be experienced for etern ity\, in all their totality. There is a long textual tradition of the depi ction of Vaikuṇṭha from Sanskrit mythic sources to the ecstatic Tamil poetry of the Divyaprabandham to the praise-poems and esoteric secret lite rature of the tradition’s most important teachers. This symposium seeks to examine the genealogies and instantiation of Vaikuṇṭha as a place o n heaven and on earth within the context of the history of the Śrīvaiṣ ṇava community.\n\nIn his path-breaking study of Buddhist heavenly and e arthly utopias in his 1998 book\, “Nirvāṇa and Other Buddhist Felicit ies” Steve Collins provided us with a wide-ranging textual study the int ellectual and cultural world of Pāli literature\, the Pāli imaginaire as he called it. The study shows us that the ultimate\, soteriological goal of nirvāṇa was but one among manifold “felicities” in Buddhism. Thu s\, the book pays attention to both worldly felicities as well as Buddhist heavens\, to utopian narratives as well as millennial thought in Theravad a Buddhism. He also makes the claim that “any notion of eternal bliss\, whether timeless or endless\, Buddhist or Christian\, or of any other kind \, cannot coherently become an object of imagination articulated in a narr ative”. In this symposium on a non-Buddhist heaven\, the Vaiṣṇava/Ś rīvaiṣṇava Vaikuṇṭha\, the panelists will also engage with and de bate Collin’s work\, particularly the non-narratability of utopia in rel ation to life in Viṣṇu’s paradise.\nConference Schedule\nDay 1: \n\n 9:45 Welcome—Srilata Raman\n\n10–11 Paper One - Vaikuntam Pukuvatu Man ̣ṇavar Vitiyē: The journey to Vaikuṇṭha in Tiruvāymoḻi 10.9\n Suganya Anandakichenin\, University of Hamburg\n\n11–11.15 Coffee/Tea Br eak \n\n11.15–12.15 Paper Two - Pāñcarātrikas on their way to Vaik uṇṭha: Catching a glimpse into the formation of Śrīvaiṣṇavism\ nMarion Rastelli\, University of Vienna\n\n12.15–1.15 Paper Three - Visi ons of Vaikuṇṭha: Salvation in Viṣṇu-Nārāyana’s Supreme Abod e Sucharita Adluri\, Cleveland State University\n\n1.15–2.15 Lunch \n\n2 .15–3.15 Paper Four - The Significance of Vaikuṇṭha in Rāmānuja ’s Srivaikuṇṭhagadyam and Nityagrantham\nFrancis X. Clooney\, Harvar d University\n\n3.15–3.30 Coffee/Tea Break \n\n3.30–4.30 Paper Five - The Cities that are Beyond the Darkness – Vaikuṇṭha and Śivaloka i n the Purāṇas\nSrilata Raman\, University of Toronto\n\nDay 2: \n\n9 –10 Paper Six - The Supreme Realm of Vishnu: The Vaikuntha Perumal Templ e in Kanchipuram and Preah Vishnulok (Angkor Wat)\nVasudha Narayanan\, Uni versity of Florida \n\n10–10.15 Coffee/Tea Break \n\n10.15–11.15 Paper Seven - Life after Liberation: Vedāntadeśika’s Tamil Portrayal of V aikuṇṭha in the Paramapatasōpāṉam\nManasicha Akepiyapornchai\, U niversity of Texas\, Austin.\n\n11.15–12.15 Paper Eight - The multisenso rial experience of Vaikuṇṭha in Veṅkaṭanātha's works Elisa Fresc i\, University of Toronto\n\n12.15–1. Nirvāṇa and Other Non-Buddhist Felicities: How do we place the textual sources on Vaikuṇṭha within t he context of a critical perspective on Steve Collin’s work? \n\n1pm Lun ch\nRegistration\nParticipation is hybrid with both in-person (limited) an d online. Registration closes on November 23\, 2022. Please direct your ap plications and all inquiries to Jinesh Patel at jin.patel@mail.utoronto.ca \n\n \; ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://buddhiststudies.utoronto.ca/wp-content/u ploads/2022/11/Copy-of-Vaikuntha-Symposium-3.png LOCATION:Jackman Humanities Building\, Rm 317\, 170 St George St\, Toronto\ , ON - Ontario\, M5R2M8\, Canada GEO:43.6677316;-79.4002638 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=170 St George St\, Toronto\ , ON - Ontario\, M5R2M8\, Canada;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Jackman Humani ties Building\, Rm 317:geo:43.6677316,-79.4002638 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Toronto X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Toronto BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20221106T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR