11 - TRT | Universität Tübingen

TRT Mexico (2025-2026)

Embodiments of Truths. The Body and Ascetic Practices in Ancient Indian Traditions

This project explores how ancient Indian religious traditions—Vedic, Buddhist, Jain, and yogic—conceptualize the role of the body in religious pursuits. While scholarship has extensively examined doctrinal understandings of ultimate realities, less attention has been paid to how these ideals were embodied in practice. The study addresses this gap by analyzing normative views of the body, forms of ideal embodiment, and ascetic disciplines prescribed to attain the ultimate truth or reality. “Embodiment of Truth” seeks to understand the diverse ways Indian religious traditions portray truth, not only as a concept found in texts but more importantly as a lived experience to be realized through the body.

Researchers

Claire Maes, PhD., is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Indology at the University of Tübingen. She obtained her Ph.D. from Ghent University and held a Postdoctoral Fellowship from The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where she also served as a Sanskrit lecturer.

Gabriel Martino, PhD. Associate Researcher, CONICET (National Council of Scientific and Technical Research), Associate Professor of Sanskrit, University of Buenos Aires (UBA).

Roberto E. García, PhD. Professor of Buddhist Studies at the Center for Asian and African Studies, El Colegio de México

Claire Maes

Her research combines philological and historical analyses of early Indian sources and focuses on two main topics: death and dying in Jainism and the development of the Buddhist monastic community in ancient India.

Gabriel Martino

His research integrates Ancient Indian and Greek philosophy with comparative philosophy of religion, focusing on the Indian Sāṃkhya-Yoga traditions and the Ancient Platonic tradition.

Roberto E. García

His research combines philological analysis of traditional Buddhist sources with the study of Indian literature and cross-cultural reception. He examines the historical and intellectual impact of Buddhism, including its early influence in Mexico.