Narrating Karma and Rebirth

Naomi Appleton

 

Religious & Theological Studies, Cardiff University,

Humanities Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, CF10 3EU

AppletonN1@cf.ac.uk

 

Academic Employment

 

Sept 2009 – Aug 2012

British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow, Centre for the History of Religion in Asia, Department of Religious Studies, Cardiff University

Pursuing a research project on multi-life narratives in early Buddhist and Jain texts, alongside teaching duties in Buddhism and Pāli (Elementary Pāli Texts, Theravāda Buddhism and Buddhism lectures on Religion, Culture and Society).

 

Aug 2008 – May 2009

Visiting Assistant Professor at Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR

Courses: Buddhism, Hinduism, East Asian Religions (introductory level), Religious Narrative in South Asia (small upper-level course), plus some teaching on the first year introductory course Exploration and Discovery.

 

Summer 2006 and Summer 2007

Tutor for visiting students, University of Oxford

Tutorials on the Rāmāyaṇa and Buddhist ethics.

 

Sept 2004 – July 2005

Associate Tutor of Religious Studies, Cardiff University

Undergraduate courses on Buddhism and Pāli.

 

 

Education

 

2005 – 2008 D.Phil. Buddhist Studies, University of Oxford

Title: Biography and Buddhahood: Jātaka Stories in Theravāda Buddhism

Supervisors: Professors Chris Minkowski and David Gellner

Examiners: Professors Peter Harvey and John Strong

A study of the relationship between stories of the previous births of the Buddha (jātaka stories) and ideas about the person and path of the Buddha in what became Theravāda Buddhism. This was in a large part textual (using mostly Pāli sources), but also takes account of historical developments, literary values, and contemporary practices.

 

2003 – 2004 M.Phil. Indian Religions, University of Cardiff

Title: Seduced by Saṃsāra, Saved by a Flying Horse: A Study of the Aśvarāja and Siṃhala Stories

Supervisor: Andrew Skilton

Examiners: Will Johnson and Paul Dundas

A twelve month research masters, consisting of a 60,000 word thesis in which I investigated the various recensions of a Buddhist narrative called the Aśvarāja story, compiling a catalogue of versions and examining their interrelation.

 

2000 – 2003 B.A. Religious Studies, first-class honours, Cardiff University

Three years of Sanskrit training and two of Pāli. Modules on a wide range of religions and methodologies, with a focus upon Asian religions in the final year.

 

Publications

 

Jātaka Stories in Theravāda Buddhism: Narrating the Bodhisatta Path (Farnham: Ashgate, forthcoming).

 

‘The Buddha as Storyteller: The Dialogical Setting of Jātaka Stories’ in Laurie Patton and Brian Black (eds), Dialogue and Early South Asian Religions: Reading the Sources (Farnham: Ashgate, forthcoming).

 

‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha? Women and the Bodhisatta Path in Theravāda Buddhism’, Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, forthcoming.

 

‘Temptress on the Path: Women as Objects and Subjects in Buddhist Jātaka Stories’ in Pamela Anderson (ed.) New Topics in Feminist Philosophy of Religion: Contestations and Transcendence Incarnate (Dordrecht: Springer, 2010), 103-115.

 

‘A Place for the Bodhisatta: the Local and the Universal in Jātaka Stories’

Acta Orientalia Vilnensia, Vol. 8, 1 (2007): 109-122.

 

‘The story of the Horse-King and the Merchant Siṃhala in Buddhist Texts’

Buddhist Studies Review, Vol. 23, 2 (2006): 187-201.

 

Book Reviews:

 

Soonil Hwang’s Metaphor and Literalism in Early Buddhism: The Doctrinal History of Nirvana, in Buddhist Studies Review, Vol. 24, 1 (2007): 121-2.

 

Reiko Ohnuma’s Head, Eyes, Flesh and Blood: Giving Away the Body in Indian Buddhist Literature, in Buddhist Studies Review, Vol. 25, 2 (2008): 257-8.

 

Awards

 

2009 British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowship

2009 Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (declined)

2007 Max Muller Fund grant for travel to Sri Lanka

2005 Arts and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Award

2003 Arts and Humanities Research Board Masters Award

2001 Grace Williams Prize for highest year one result

2000 Cardiff University Undergraduate Scholarship

 

Languages

 

Sanskrit (Classical, Buddhist, Buddhist Hybrid)

Påli (current primary research language)

Sinhala (reference and basic conversational)

Tibetan (basic)

French (reading competence).

 

Conference Participation

 

- Convener and Chair of the Buddhist Studies Seminars, Oxford University (2006-8).

- Convener (2006-8) and chair (2007) of the Postgraduate Panel at the U.K. Association of Buddhist Studies annual conference.

 

Papers presented:

 

‘Continuity or Chaos? Karma and Rebirth in Early Buddhist and Jain Narrative’, International Conference on Buddhist Narrative, Bangkok, August 2010.

‘Was That Me? Multi-Birth Personal Genealogies in Early Buddhist and Jain Texts’, Genealogy in South Asia International Workshop, Cardiff University, May 2010.

‘When Frogs Become Gods: Rebirth Narratives in Buddhist and Jain Literature’, Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies/Wolfson College Buddhism Seminar Series, February 2010.

‘Buddha and Bodhisatta in Theravāda Jātaka Stories’, International Association of Buddhist Studies Conference, Emory University, June 2008.

‘Jātakas, Buddhahood and Biography’, Oxford University Graduate Indology Seminar, Feb 2008.

‘Bodhisatta Behaving Badly: Jātakas as bad examples’, British Association for the Study of Religions conference on the Ethical Dimension of Religion, Bath Spa University, Sept 2006.

‘Biography and Buddhahood: Jātakas in Theravāda Buddhism’, U.K. Association of Buddhist Studies conference on Buddhism and Popular Culture, Lancaster University, July 2006.

‘Why tell stories? Five perspectives on a Buddhist Narrative’, Spalding Symposium of Indian Religions, Jesus College, Oxford, April 2006.

‘Why tell stories? Five perspectives on a Buddhist Narrative’, Religious Studies Postgraduate Conference, Bath Spa University, March 2006.

‘Flying horses and cannibalistic wives: The history of a Buddhist narrative’ Tibetan Studies Postgraduate Seminar Series, Oxford University, Feb 2006.

‘Five Aśvarāja Stories’, Religious and Theological Studies Postgraduate Conference, Cardiff University, May 2004.

 

Other Relevant Experience

 

Treasurer and Membership Secretary of the U.K. Association of Buddhist Studies (UKABS) since January 2009.

Postgraduate representative on the UKABS committee (2005-8).

Co-founded the Buddhist Studies Group at Oxford University in 2006: an interdisciplinary group that circulates details of relevant events and has its own series of seminars given by postgraduates and established scholars from within and outside Oxford.

 

Memberships

 

U.K. Association of Buddhist Studies

International Association of Buddhist Studies

British Association for the Study of Religions

Pali Text Society