EVENT DETAILS

Religious Studies Distinguished Visiting Speaker Series featuring a lecture by Professor Jose Cabezon, Department Chair of Religious Studies at UC Santa Barbara.

2011-2012 Distinguished Visiting Lecturer Series presents:

"The Sexual Cleansing of the Buddhist Monastic Community" by Professor José
Ignacio Cabezón, XIV Dalai Lama Professor of Tibetan Buddhism and Cultural
Studies & Chair, Religious Studies Department, University of California, Santa
Barbara.

The Buddhist sagha, the community of monks and nuns, is said to have been
founded by the Buddha just weeks after his enlightenment. Shortly after its
founding, the Buddha began to deny ordination to certain individuals on the
grounds of a number of physical and mental "abnormalities." This lecture explores
some of these proscriptions -- those having to do with sexuality. Looking at some
of the most ancient texts on this subject, it examines the consequences of these
regulations on Buddhists up to the present.

José Ignacio Cabezón is XIV Dalai Lama Professor of Tibetan Buddhism and
Cultural Studies, and Chair of the Religious Studies Department at the University
of California Santa Barbara. He has published some twelve books and almost 100
articles on topics ranging from Buddhist philosophy to identity politics in the study
of religion. His latest books include the edited volume Tibetan Ritual
(Oxford, 2010), and Meditation on the Nature of Mind (Wisdom, 2011), co-
authored with the Dalai Lama.

For additional information, please contact Marc Kanda at mhkanda@uci.edu, 824-
6522.

Parking is available in Lot 7 for a fee.