The courses on Asian philosophy, organised on the initiative of Assofia and in collaboration with the Ferrater Mora Chair, began in the academic year 2004-05 at the University of Girona, and are intended as a small sample and an invitation to study and become acquainted with the vast tradition of Asian wisdom. We began with two general overviews of philosophy in India and philosophy in China. In the academic year 2006-07 we dealt with more specific aspects of this Asian philosophy, with the study of early Buddhism but continuing with the philosophy of yoga. In the 2008-09 academic year we began the project, 5 or 6 years ahead, of dealing with the masters of Asian non-duality, with the Buddhist Nagarjuna, to continue this year with the Vedantic Shankara, and then perhaps with the tantric Kashmiri Sivaist Abhinavagupta, the Tibetan Buddhist Padmasambhava, the Zen Buddhist Dôgen…. all of them, the highest representatives of the deepest sophia that Asia can present to us.

The course was given by Xavier Serra Narciso. Associate Professor of Philosophy at IES Pla de l’Estany (Banyoles), with the following programme:

1. Non-dual wisdom.
2. Nāgārjuna (c. II-III AD). Buddhist monk, philosopher, scholar and spiritual master.
3. Nāgārjuna’s non-duality and the doctrine of emptiness (śūnyatā-vada).