Thinking through Buddhist Visualities

In this talk, Prof. Robert Sharf addressed the following questions: How does one visually portray a sublime truth or numinous reality that, by definition, is said to transcend the senses? How can one give form to the formless without subverting its character? This problem was familiar to those in both Asian and Western religious traditions, and artists devised a variety of strategies to overcome it. Prof. Sharf focused on the East Asian Buddhist tradition, whose struggles with the conundrum gave rise to a visual culture intended to challenge the very distinction between reality and representation.

Robert Sharf is Professor of Buddhist Studies at UC-Berkeley. He works primarily in the area of medieval Chinese Buddhism (especially Chan), but he also dabbles in Japanese Buddhism, Buddhist art, ritual studies, and methodological issues in the study of religion.