| Submitted to Program Units |
|---|
| 1: Buddhist Philosophy Unit |
| 2: Collective Karma and Karmic Collectives: Conversations without Borders Seminar |
This panel on “Karma and Sociopolitical Theory” brings together diverse methodological and theoretical approaches to explore the resonances or tensions between Buddhist concepts and human societies. The four papers are united by an interest in fostering conversation across areas and traditions about the implications of doctrinal theory on everyday life, and vice versa, the potential for social and political practices to illuminate Buddhist thought.
Singh presents historical, ethnographic, and material evidence from contemporary Ladakh to explore how royal karma and communal karma become entwined in the annual Dosmoche ceremony. His paper examines the ritual and astrological components of this ceremony as an occasion to raise larger questions about shifting notions of karma and community in modern societies. Hanner provides a philosophical perspective on karma, seeking to reframe contemporary ethical notions of collective responsibility in conversation with Vasubandhu’s analysis of action. Hanner argues that Vasubandhu’s theory of karma differs from contemporary treatments of shared action in both its scope and standard of evaluation, and thus challenges us to rethink group agency in alternative ways. MacCormack’s paper addresses the theory and practice of political rule in early modern Tibet. Drawing from Tibetan metaphysical and cosmological discourses, it explores how Tibet’s rulers juxtaposed a commitment to humanist political action against their situatedness in an excessive, enchanted cosmos. Swenson introduces the concept of “Buddhist onto-ethics” to explore how Buddhist persons in Vietnam draw on karma as a framework for explaining and responding to life crises. She argues that this approach to the discourses and practices of karma reveals its central role as a mechanism for social change.
Together, these papers call attention to key questions that overlap philosophical, historical, and anthropological approaches to Buddhism, including the individual and social dimensions of karma, the relationship of human society to the larger cosmos, the intersection of cosmological or philosophical discourses with everyday articulations of karma, and the general relevance of this Buddhist concept as both object and source of theory.
Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)
This panel on “Karma and Sociopolitical Theory” brings together diverse methodological and theoretical approaches to explore the resonances or tensions between Buddhist concepts and human societies. The four papers are united by an interest in fostering conversation across areas and traditions about the implications of doctrinal theory on everyday life, and vice versa, the potential for social and political practices to illuminate Buddhist thought. They address evidence from royal ceremonial in contemporary Ladakh, philosophical theories of action, early modern Tibetan religio-political discourse, and contemporary Vietnamese Buddhist society. Together, these papers call attention to key questions that overlap philosophical, historical, and anthropological approaches to Buddhism, including the individual and social dimensions of karma, the relationship of human society to the larger cosmos, the intersection of cosmological or philosophical discourses with everyday articulations of karma, and the general relevance of this Buddhist concept as both object and source of theory.