Speaker: Jowita Kramer, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich

This paper focuses on the scriptural corpus of Sthiramati, a pivotal scholar in the development of Indian Yogācāra thought in the 6th century. So far Sthiramati’s work has received far less attention from modern scholars than the treatises of other Yogācāra authors like Asaṅga or Vasubandhu—probably because of the perception of Sthiramati as a commentator and not as an original author and thinker in his own right. However, as I have tried to show in a recently published paper, commentators like Sthiramati have shaped the doctrinal development of the Yogācāra tradition by introducing new concepts and reorganizing previous teachings to a similar extent as “independent” authors like Vasubandhu. In the first part I will give an overview of the works ascribed to Sthiramati and question their authorship. The second part of the paper will be mainly devoted to my editorial work on the Sanskrit manuscripts of Sthiramati’s commentaries made available at the China Tibetology Research Center in Beijing, namely the Pañcaskandhakavibhāṣā and the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya Tattvārthā.