Archives par mot-clé : saṃsāra

Erik Davis : Past Lives Present, Tense: Past-life memory in Twenty-First century Cambodia [3 & 4 mai 2018]

[ndlr] Annonce de deux conférences d’Erik Davis sur le Cambodge contemporain suite à une invitation conjointe du Centre d’études himalayennes, du Centre Asie du Sud-Est, et du Centre d’études interdisciplinaires sur le bouddhisme.

Erik Davis

Associate Professor au Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota

jeudi 3 mai, de 10h à 12h

Conférence au Centre d’études interdisciplinaires sur le bouddhisme :

“Past Lives Present, Tense: Past-life memory in Twenty-First century Cambodia”

Lieu : à l’Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales ; Salle des Plaques ; 2 rue de Lille, 75007 Paris.

Résumé : Past-life memory in Cambodia is common. In Buddhist scriptural practices, past-life memory is usually thought of in terms of the Buddhist cycle of saṃsāra, where past-life memory is often a prerequisite for advanced stages of spiritual accomplishment. However, in practice, past-life memory is often deeply disturbing to the rememberer, their family and their community.

This presentation discusses multiple examples of contemporary past-life memory out of Davis’ fieldwork in Cambodia, highlighting the practices that surround such memory and uses to which such memories are put. Examples include the Cambodian Prime Minister, a young girl who remembers being her own uncle, a spiritual leader who claims to be the most important Buddhist leader of the Cambodian twentieth century as well as the repeated subject of national scandal because of his claims, and another woman who put two families together in her youth, and has maintained theirconnections into her eighties. These memories and rituals challenge many Western notions about the self and its construction in ways that may be productive.

Télécharger l’affiche : CEIB_conf_Davis_2018-05-03

★ ★ ★

vendredi 4 mai, de 9h30 à 12h30

Présentation au séminaire “Anthropologie comparée du bouddhisme”, dans le cadre de la thématique “Ritualités bouddhiques” :

“The Perfect Funeral of King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia”

Lieu : à l’EHESS ; Salle 751 (veuillez noter la nouvelle salle); 54 bd Raspail, 75006 Paris.

Résumé : When King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia died in 2012, it marked the beginning of the end of an era, and a period in which the preparations surrounding the impending royal funeral became a site of deep piety and national emotion, run of the mill corruption, and political maneuver. In this presentation, the Cambodian funerary process is introduced, the royal details given specific attention, and attention paid specifically to the ways in which traditional ritual performance and political maneuver intersected, and the ways in which the spectacle occasionally threatened to break down.