Goals of the Course: This course is a historical survey
of major Eastern religious traditions. While a fully comprehensive
treatment of each would be impossible, we will use a comparative
methodology to examine a significant number of specific themes
in all religious traditions studied. Students thus develop a strong
background in the structural components of religion in general
and a sense of the specifics of each tradition in particular.
Some of these themes include:
Ultimate Concern and Goals:
What does it mean to be "liberated"
or "saved"?
Theories of an afterlife, heavens
"Worldly"
goals
Means to one's goals:
Religious observances
Authority/Government:
Relationships between church/state, real/ideal hierarchies:
Monk/Laity
Master/Disciple
Role of scripture
Tradition
The World/Universe: The nature of this and other worlds and realities
Transcendent, Ultimate Reality:
Doctrines
Variations of theology and practice
Human Nature:
Relation to a Transcendent, if any
Multiple lifetimes
Bodhisattvahood
Celestial beings
Prophecy
Relation of humans
to each other: gender, class, and race
Our books employ different approaches popular in modern Religious
Studies to acquaint the student with the methodological variations
in what is now the multidisciplinary study of religion. These
include: a multidisciplinary, but primarily ethnographic approach
to Hindu goddess worship; a philosophy of religion treatment of
Chinese Pure Land Buddhism; and a historical study of Shinto and
the Japanese state.
Your grade will be determined by attendance and participation
in class discussions (5%), one mid-term (30%), a final (40%) and
one 12-15 page double-spaced written report (25%, due December
4). In the report, you will compare and contrast your experience
and findings on field trips to two different centers of worship
or meditation based in two different religions studied in this
class. Suggestions will be given on possible field trip sites.
You will receive class credit for these trips in lieu of meeting
for class the day before Thanksgiving. Study guides will be handed
out prior to both tests. The final will include a comprehensive
comparative question over all the semester's work. This comprehensive
question will be stated verbatim in advance on the study guide.
Text books Required:
David M. Knipe, Hinduism
Kathleen Erndl, Victory to the Mother
Robert C. Lester, Buddhism: the Path to Nirvana
Daniel L. Overmyer, Religions of China
John Blofeld, Bodhisattva of Compassion
H. Byron Earhart, Religions of Japan
Helen Hardacre, Shinto and the State
Schedule of Readings:
Sept. 9 Introductory Remarks.
Sept. 11 Knipe, Hinduism, Introduction, Prehistoric and Vedic Periods, 1-42.
Sept. 16 Knipe, Hinduism, Upanishads; Hinduism and History,42-74.
Sept. 18 Knipe, Hinduism, 75-152. Film: "330 Million
Gods"
Sept. 23 Finish discussing Knipe, 75-152. Introduction to Jainism:
Handout.
Sept. 25Film, "Ahimsa: Nonviolence"
Sept. 30 Erndl, Victory to the Mother, 3-83. Film, "The Goddess and Her Worship"
Oct. 2 Erndl, Kathleen, Victory to the Mother, 84-163;
Film, "The Rolling Sadhu" to Vaishno Devi selections, from "Part I, Sadhus"
Oct. 7 Sikhism: Handout.
Oct. 9 Lester, Buddhism: the Path to Nirvana, 11-55. Introduction to Buddhist principles.
Oct. 14 Lester, Buddhism: the Path to Nirvana, 56-86.
Introduction to Theravada and Mahayana.
Oct. 16 Lester, Buddhism: the Path to Nirvana, 86-123.
Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia; Review Session
Fall Break: No classes Monday-Tuesday, October 21st and 22nd
Oct. 23Exam.
Oct. 28 Overmyer, Religions of China, 11-top of page 30.
Main themes: Religion in Ancient China -- the Shang & Zhou
dynasties, Confucius
Oct. 30 Overmyer, Religions of China, 30-39, 48-86. Taoism
and neo-Confucianism
Nov. 4 Buddhism in China, Overmyer, 39-48.
Nov. 6Film, "A Question of Balance"; Overmyer, Religions
of China, 87-117.
Nov. 11 Blofeld, Bodhisattva of Compassion.
Nov. 13 Blofeld, Bodhisattva of Compassion.
Nov. 18 Earhart, Religions of Japan, 9-33. Introduction
to Shinto.
Nov. 20 Earhart, Religions of Japan, 33-68. Buddhism and
Japanese religion.
Nov. 25Film, "Buddha in the Land of Kami"; Earhart, Religions
of Japan, 69-100.
Nov. 27 No class: Field Trip credit. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.
Dec. 2 Earhart, Religions of Japan, 101-133. Contemporary
themes in Japanese religions.
Dec. 4 Lester, Buddhism: the Path to Nirvana, 123-46, Focus
on Pure Land and Zen.
Field Trip Report Due December 4. Late papers are
subject to 50 point penalty.
Dec. 9 Hardacre, Shinto and the State.
Dec. 11 Hardacre, Shinto and the State.
Dec. 16-21FINAL: Noon Class, December 19th Thursday at 9
AM,
FINAL: 1:15 Class, December 17th Tuesday at 2 PM
