AST/REL 260 (Buddhism)
Dr. Jeff Richey, Instructor (x 3186) and Ms. Kelli Burton, Teaching Assistant (502-744-7598)
Berea College, Spring 2006 W 6-9, Draper 205
COURSE DESCRIPTION
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
COURSE CALENDAR
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is an opportunity to study the history and diversity of Buddhist
traditions, from the time of the Buddha in fifth-century
BCE India to contemporary Buddhist communities in Asia and the West. Since
Shakyamuni Gautama Siddartha, the historical Buddha, sat beneath a tree to
meditate around 500 BCE, much has changed in the world (including Buddhism
itself). Nonetheless, certain features of existence remain painfully constant:
birth, illness, hardship, old age, and death. As long as there is suffering,
there will be those for whom the Buddha’s message signifies liberation.
CREDIT: World Cultures
or Asian Studies
PREREQUISITE: GSTR 100
Course Goals
• A basic acquaintance with Buddhist
traditions
• A basic competence in speaking, listening, reading, and writing about
primary
texts
• A basic facility with library resources for the study of primary
texts
Course Materials 1. Bashō Matsuo, The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches, trans. Nobuyuki Yuasa (London: Penguin Books, 1967)
2. Edward Conze, ed., Buddhist Scriptures (Penguin Books, 1959)
(BS)
3. Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (Penguin Books, 1971)
4. Donald S. Lopez, Jr., ed., Buddhism in Practice (Princeton University
Press, 1995) (BIP)
5. Christopher S. Queen and Sallie B. King, eds., Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996) (EB)
6. Kevin Trainor, gen. ed., Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide (Oxford
University Press, 2001) (BIG)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
• Participation
in all class sessions. The instructor reserves the right to reduce
the final grades of students who miss class. Excuses for absences may be
sought, but may not necessarily be granted.
• Submission of weekly responses to assigned readings, e-mailed
to the instructor by noon
most Wednesdays beginning on February 15, and consisting of questions and
concerns raised for you by each week’s assigned readings. Do not summarize
the assigned readings. In order to receive full credit, the text of
each e-mailed response must be no less than 250 words, and should be composed
in clear standard English prose without any mechanical
errors. Each response will be graded pass/fail, and cannot be made
up at a later date.
• Completion of 2 essays, due on March 17 and April 28 as attached Microsoft
Word documents e-mailed to the instructor. If you earn a B+ or better on the first essay, you will not be required to write a second essay. Further guidelines
for these essays are available here.
• Completion of 1 final
examination, to be administered from 6 to 8 p.m. on May 17. Further guidelines
for this examination are available here.
Course Assessment
Reading responses = 25% of course grade
Essays = 50% of course grade (25% each)
Final examination = 25% of course grade
BACK TO TOP
Course Calendar
Week 1
2/8
Introduction to the course
Seminar on “The Legend of the Buddha Shakyamuni” (BS 34-66)
Recommended: Todd T. Lewis, “Ancient India: Belief and Society” (BIG
12-21)
Kevin Trainor, “The Career of Siddartha” (BIG
22-45)
Lecture: Buddha
Week 2
2/15
Seminar on “The Questions of King Milinda” (BS 146-161) and “The
Advice to Layman Tundila” (BIP 302-313)
Recommended: Todd T. Lewis, “The Human Condition,” “The `Four Noble Truths,’”
and “The Path of the Buddha” (BIG 58-79)
Lecture: Samsara
READING RESPONSE DUE BY NOON!
Week 3
2/22
Seminar on “The Progressive Steps of Meditation” (BS 103-133) and
“The Way to Meditation” (BIP 207-215)
Recommended: Mark L. Blum, “Mental Cultivation” (BIG 80-89)
Lecture: Theravada
Video: Footprint of the Buddha [on reserve at Hutchins Library --
Video 297.4 L848f]
READING RESPONSE DUE BY NOON!
Week 4
3/1
Seminar on “Morality” (BS 70-93), “A Modern Sermon on Merit Making”
(BIP 399-401), and Santikaro Bhikku, “Buddhadasa Bhikku: Life and Society
Through the Natural Eyes of Voidness” (EB 147-194)
Recommended: Kevin Trainor, “Theravada Buddhism” (BIG 121-131)
READING RESPONSE DUE BY NOON!
Week 5
3/8
Seminar on “The Heart Sutra” (BS 162-164), “From the Diamond
Sutra” (BS 164-168), and Sallie B. King, “Thich Nhat Hanh and the Unified Buddhist
Church: Nondualism in Action” (EB 321-364)
Recommended: Mark L. Blum, “Mahayana Buddhism” (BIG 132-149)
Lecture: Mahayana
Video: Vietnam: A Television History -- American's Mandarin (1954-1963) [Hutchins Library --
DVD 959.704 V6655 2004, disc 1] and handout: Thich Quang Duc
READING RESPONSE DUE BY NOON!
Week 6
3/15
Seminar on “Zen” (BS 134-144) and “A Discussion of Seated Zen” (BIP
197-206)
Recommended: Mark L. Blum, “Chan and Zen – The Way of Meditation” (BIG
150-161)
Lecture: Zen
Video: The Principles and Practice of Zen [on reserve at Hutchins
Library -- Video 294.392 P957 1988]
READING RESPONSE DUE BY NOON!
Week 7
3/22
Seminar on “Two Tantric Meditations: Visualizing the Deity” (BIP 318-327), “A Rite for Restoring the Bodhisattva and Tantric Vows” (BIP 503-512), and José Ignacio Cabezón, “Buddhist Principles in the Tibetan Liberation Movement” (EB 295-320)
Recommended: Todd T. Lewis, “Tantra” (BIG 162-173)
Lecture: Tibetan Buddhist Iconography
Video: Satya: A Prayer for the Enemy -- The Resistance of Tibetan Buddhist Nuns [on reserve at Hutchins Library -- Video 294.308 S254 1993]
READING RESPONSE DUE BY NOON!
3/24
FIRST ESSAY DUE!
Week 8
3/29
Seminar on Bashō Matsuo, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, 51-64,
71-90
Recommended: Yuasa Nobuyuki, “Introduction” to The Narrow Road to the
Deep North, 9-49
READING RESPONSE DUE BY NOON!
4/5 NO CLASS SESSION -- SPRING BREAK
Week 9
4/12
Video: Ikiru [To
Live] (dir. Kurosawa Akira, 1952)
Recommended: David Desser, “Ikiru: Narration as a Moral Act,” in Reframing
Japanese Cinema: Authorship, Genre, History, eds. Arthur Nolletti, Jr.
and David Desser (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1992), 56-68
[on reserve at Hutchins Library -- 791.4309 R332]
Week 10
4/19
Seminar on Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (entire novel)
Recommended: Dennis McNally, “Prophets on the Burning Shore: Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, and San Francisco,” in Thomas J. Lyon, et al, eds., A Literary History of the American West (Fort Worth, TX: Western Literature Association, 1987), 482-495
READING RESPONSE DUE BY NOON!
Week 11
4/26
Video: Dharmaga Tongjoguro
Kan Kadalgun? [Why
Has Bodhidharma Left for the East?] (dir. Bae Yong-kyun, 1989)
Recommended: Michael L.
Gillespie, “Picturing the Way in Bae Yong-kyun's Why Has Bodhidharma Left
for the East?” in Journal of Religion and Film 1/1 (April
1997)
4/28
SECOND ESSAY DUE!
5/2 Thich
Hang Dat (Ten Thousand Buddhas Summit Monastery, Corydon, IN) to speak
in Danforth Chapel, 12 p.m., and in Fireside Room, 3 p.m.
Week 12
5/3
NO CLASS SESSION -- ATTEND ONE OR BOTH THICH HANG DAT EVENTS ON 5/2 INSTEAD
Week 13
5/10
Seminar on “The Consolation
of Karma” (interview with Robert Thurman by Lisa Schneider) and Kusala
Bhikshu, “Was the
Tsunami Caused by Karma? - A Buddhist View”
Video: Excerpt from Becoming
the Buddha in L.A.
Review for final examination
Course evaluations
READING RESPONSE DUE BY NOON!