Lecture Notes

Week 1

Lecture 1: Class foci, Aristotelian vs. Four-step logic, Geography of Asian Religions

Lecture 2: Indus Valley Civilization, Vedic Religion, Rig Vega

Week 2

Lecture 1: Rig Veda (continued); Upanishads; The Bhagavad Gita

Lecture 2: The Bhagavad Gita; Krishna and the Dance of the Gopis

Lecture 3: Buddhism: Life of the Historical Buddha Sakyamuni

Additional Notes: Hinduism and Buddhism

Week 3

Lecture 2: Buddhism: Early Teachings: Nikaya Buddhism

Lecture 2: Mahayana Buddhism: Nagarjuna and the Two-Fold Truth

Lecture 2: The Vimalakirti Sutra: The Goddess and Sariputra

Week 4

Lecture 1: Early Chinese Civilization and Confucius' World of Ideas

Lecture 2: Key points from Confucius

Lecture 2: Fingarette, Confucius - The Secular as Sacred

Lecture 2: Confucius' Orchestral Vision

Lectures 3: Daoism: Laozi and Zhuangzi

Confucius' World of Ideas

Week 5

Lecture 1: Daoism: Laozi and Zhuangzi

Lecture 2: Additional Notes from Laozi and Zhuangzi

Lecture 3: Additional Notes on Zhuangzi

Week 6

Notes on Comparative Religious Ethics

Lecture 1: Zen Buddhism: Bodhidharma

Lecture 2: Korean Buddhism

Lecture 3: Japanese Mythology

Week 7

Lecture 1-2: Japan: Kamakura Buddhism I: Dogen

Lecture 2a: Notes from lecture, slideshow images list

Lectures 3: Japan: Kamakura Buddhism II: Shinran

Week 8

Lectures 1: Japan: Kamakura Buddhism II: Shinran - Two-Fold Truth

Lecture 2-3: Shinran - additional notes

Week 9

Lecture 1: The XIVth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso

Lecture 2: Thich Nhat Hanh: Being Peace