REL 101 World Religions of Asia - Class schedule
Read assigned texts by the class meeting
date indicated. (CR: Course Reader; CR 1 = Course Reader
Selection No. 1; RT: Required Text)
Week 1 - Introduction; Hindiusm
9/25 Mon. Introduction: Syllabus;
Definitions of “Religion.”
9/27 Wed. The Geography of Asian
Religions; Vedic Religion. Read: Hymns of the Rgveda,
CR1
9/29 Fri. Vedic Religion
and Brahmanism. Read: Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita (excerpt) CR2, 3 (Alternative versions of Gita Ch. 2-3
included FYI).
Week 2 - Indian Religion: Bhagavad Gita; Early Indian Buddhism
10/2 Mon. L. Patton,
trans., Bhagavad Gita, RT. (focus
pages: vii-xxiv, 16-48, 70-100,
145-162).
10/4 Wed. Bhagavad Gita (cont.),
Dance of Krishna and Gopis. Read: J. Campbell, Oriental
Mythology, CR 3.
10/6 Fri. Early Indian Buddhism
I - Shakyamuni Buddha - Peter Harvey, Introduction
to Buddhism, CR 4.
Week 3 – Early Indian Buddhism, Mahayana
Buddhism
10/9 Mon. Early Indian Buddhism II - Nikaya Buddhism - Key concepts and historical background
10/11 Wed. Indian Mahayana Buddhism: Nagarjuna and the Two-fold
Truth. Read: Jay Garfield, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way; “Key Ideas: Nagarjuna and
the Thought of Emptiness,” CR 5, 6.
Bodhisattva ideal. Read: The Holy
Teaching of Vimalakirti, CR 7.
10/13 Fri. Chinese Buddhism, "The
Philosophical Schools." Short
paper I due in class.
Read: "Key Ideas: Taitetsu Unno, 'Philosophical Schools’," T. Unno,
“Chinese Philosophical Schools,” CR 6, 8.
Week 4 - Ancient China I: Confucianism
10/16 Mon. The World of the Sage Kings.
Read: Fingarette, Confucius: The Secular as
Sacred, vii-xi, 1-56 RT.
10/18 Wed. Confucius and
the world of ritual action. Read: Fingarette, Confucius, 57-81
RT.
10/20 Fri. Short exam A in class. Also: Introduction
to Daoism.
Week 5 - Ancient China II: Daoism (Taoism): Laozi
(Lao Tzu) and Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu)
10/23 Mon. Laozi
(Lao Tzu) - The Way: Read: Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching (Daodejing),
vii-xviii, 5-42 (Book One) RT.
10/25 Wed. Laozi
& Zhuangzi - Read: Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching,
45-88 (Book Two) RT. Zhuangzi, 1-7,
31-41, 44 CR 9.
10/27 Fri. Zhuangzi:
Read: Zhuangzi, 61-62, 114-117, 128-129
CR 9 Short
paper II due in class.
Week 6 - Medieval China: Early Chan/Zen;
Medieval Korea: Unified Silla Period; Early Japan
10/30 Mon. Bodhidharma
and Zen Buddhism. Read: Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism,
CR 10.
11/1 Wed. Korean Buddhists: Chajang, Uisang, and Wonhyo. Read: Thousand Peaks, pp. 28-38, CR 19.
11/3 Fri. The way of the
kami - gods and goddesses. Read: Kawai, "Japanese
Mythology," CR 11.
Week 7 - Medieval Japan I: Dogen and Zen Buddhism;
11/6 Mon. Dogen and Zen Buddhism.
Read: M. Unno, "Philosophical Terms in the Zen Buddhist Thought of Dogen," "Shobogenzo Genjokoan,"CR 12, 13.
11/8 Wed. Dogen and Zen Buddhism (continued).
11/10 Fri. Shinran
and Shin Buddhism. Read: Unno, "Key Terms - Pure Land Buddhism," CR
14.
Short paper III due in class.
Week 8 - Medieval Japan II: Shinran and Shin Buddhism; Modern Tibet: XIVth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso
11/13 Mon. Shinran
and Shin Buddhism.
Read: Taitetsu Unno, Tannisho,
Foreword, 4-9, 14 (web site syllabus PDF link); M. Unno, "The Nembutsu of
No-Meaning," 45-65 CR 15.
11/15 Wed. The XIVth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso
Read: Dalai Lama, A Policy of Kindness, CR
18, 33-59.
11/17 Fri. Short exam B in class.
Week 9 - Modern Vietnamese Buddhism
11/20 Mon. Thich Nhat Hanh. Read: Being Peace, 1-44 RT.
11/22 Wed. Thich Nhat Hanh. Read: Being Peace, 45-90 RT.
11/24 Fri (Thanksgiving Break)
Week 10 - Modern Manifestations: Japanese
and Korean
11/27 Mon. Soto Zen
Nuns. Read: Nishitani, "Ikebana," Paula Arai, "Soto Zen
Nuns," CR 16, 17.
11/29 Wed. Seung Sahn. Read: Thousand Peaks, 191-314, CR
19.
12/1 Fri. Final Lecture. Final papers due in class.