The three "bodies" of a Buddha (Trikaya) and the three "bodies" of the Christian God (Trinity)
FBK-ISR International Seminar 2023
The presentation is intended as a contribution to the comparison between the three “bodies” of a Buddha and the Trinity in Christianity. After presenting “fall” and salvation in the atheistic religion of Buddhism, we shall discuss the result of this salvation, in which one becomes a Buddha and obtain three “bodies”. These bodies, namely the dharmakāya, the sambhogakāya, and the nirmāṇakāya, find their approximate counterpart in, respectively, God the father, the Holy Spirit and God the son. In both religions, this triad is at the same time an inseparable monad. Several logical models (tetralemma or catuṣkoṭi, participatory oppositions, semiotic square, etc.) will be used to try to account for this paradox or mystery. Finally, attention will be given to the description of the physical body of Śākyamuni Buddha (the founding Buddha of Buddhism) and Jesus.
Scientific coordination:
Massimo Leone, Director FBK-ISR
Cycle of seminars: “(Dis)Embodiment in Religion and Ethics”
The seminar will be held in English
The presentation will be in-person in the FBK Aula Piccola while seats last and online
Registration by April 26, 2023 at 12:00 a.m. is required in order to arrange the connection
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Image:
Affresco di Schweitzer
Speakers
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Louis Hébert is a professor at the Université du Québec à Rimouski. His research interests include semiotics, interpretive semantics, the methodology of literary analysis, onomastics, Magritte, Buddhism, and spirituality. His most recent monographs are: Introduction à l'analyse des textes littéraires (Classiques Garnier); Théories et méthodes pour l'analyse des noms propres. Onomastique textuelle (Classiques Garnier); Introduction to Literary Analysis: a Complete Methodology (Routledge); and Cours de sémiotique (Classiques Garnier). Finally, he is the director of Signo (bilingual website on semiotic theories, www.signosemio.com) and co-author, with Éric Trudel, of an Internet database on the works and themes of Magritte (www.magrittedb.com).
Registration
Registration to this event is mandatory.
Registration closed on 26/04/2023.