New York University

Tuesday/Thursday 3:30–4:45pm

Fall 2017

Instructor: Kevin Buckelew

Email: kb143@nyu.edu

Course Description

This course offers a broad introduction to Buddhist history, culture, doctrine, and practice.

Moving geographically across South, Southeast, and East Asia, it explores the many different

transformations undergone by this religious tradition over its two and a half millennia of

existence. Our reading of primary sources offers a deep engagement with Buddhist ideas and

practices, allowing us to understand how the religion shaped the ways people in pre-modern Asia

saw and interacted with their worlds. Secondary sources will help us set these materials in

historical context and connect them to the bigger picture of Buddhism’s spread across Asia. In

the process we will engage themes like the meaning of suffering, the nature of the universe, the

social role of monasticism and its intervention in traditional family structures, the place of

women and gender in Buddhism, the relationship between religious ideals and everyday life,

continuity and change in Buddhist history, the question of self-reliance versus divine assistance,

and the power of Buddhist images and icons.

Required Readings

The following books are required for the course and may be purchased at the campus bookstore.

All other readings will be made available online.

 Wm. Theodore De Bary, The Buddhist Tradition (Vintange, 1972)

 Sarah H. Jacoby and Donald W. Mitchell, Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience

(3rd ed.; Oxford University Press, 2014)

 Burton Watson, trans., The Lotus Sutra (Columbia University Press, 1993)

Evaluation

1. Short reflection papers (10% each * 3 = 30%): 2 pages double-spaced each

2. Midterm paper (30%): 6–8 pages double-spaced

3. Final paper (40%): 8-10 pages double-spaced

4. [Optional] Extra credit paper (up to 5% increase): 6–8 pages double-spaced

Late submissions will lose 5% grade for each day late. Students unhappy with their midterm

paper grade may rewrite and resubmit it based on the instructor’s feedback within one week of

receiving the grade for a maximum 5% paper grade increase.

 

Late submissions will lose 5% grade for each day late. Students unhappy with their midterm

paper grade may rewrite and resubmit it based on the instructor’s feedback within one week of

receiving the grade for a maximum 5% paper grade increase.

 

Three reflection papers (due in class September 19, October 12, and November 16):

Over the course of the semester students write three reflection papers (each two pages doublespaced)

discussing the contents of assigned readings. In each paper, select two readings and

identify 1-2 passages in each of the two that you found especially insightful, interesting,

problematic, and/or difficult. Discuss your interpretation of and/or questions about the passages.

Midterm paper (due in class October 24):

The Nihon Ryōiki (trans. Kyoko Motomochi Nakamura) is one of the earliest collections of

Buddhist morality tales in Japan. Select two to three stories from this collection and develop your

own thesis of something they tell us about Buddhism in East Asia in a 6-8-page double spaced

paper. Questions you might address but are not limited to: What narrative strategies are used to

teach a moral lesson? What can we learn from the tales about the role of storytelling in the

spread of Buddhist ideas across Asia? What do they tell us about karma as a moral framework?

Final paper (due in class December 14):

The final paper engages closely with a textual or material Buddhist primary source. Choose one

of the following two prompts and write a thesis-driven, double-spaced 8-10-page essay:

1. Read Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra (Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, trans. Vesna

and B. Alan Wallace), one of the most famous tracts of Mahāyāna ethics written ca. 700

CE, and develop a thesis-driven paper out of some aspect of the text. Questions you

might address include but are not limited to: How does Śāntideva envision the

intersection of action and insight? What about aspiration and discipline? How does he

propose one should overcome attitudes or desires inimical to the bodhisattva path?

2. Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art or Rubin Museum of Art and select one item

(statue, painting, etc.) that relates to Buddhism. Reproduce a photo of the item and write

a thesis-driven paper discussing what it tells us about Buddhism. Questions you might

consider: How does the object relate to texts we’ve read? What can it tell us that texts

cannot? How would people at the time it was made have used or engaged with it?

Optional extra credit paper (due in class November 30):

The Ming-dynasty (1368–1644) novel Journey to the West is a fictionalized account of the

Buddhist monk Xuanzang’s 7th-century trip from China to India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures,

and one of the most beloved novels in China. For this assignment, read the novel in abridged

translation (Monkey, trans. Arthur Waley; 305 pages, but it’s a fun read and will go fast) and

write a thesis-driven 6–8-page double-spaced paper including at least three particular citations

from the book. Questions you might engage include: what does the novel tell us about how

Chinese Buddhists imagined their spatial relationship with India? How does the protagonist’s

status as a Buddhist monk inform the novel’s depiction of him and his relationship to the other

characters? What is the monkey Sun Wukong’s relationship to Buddhism? What does the novel

tell us about popular understandings of Buddhism as a trans-regional and multi-lingual religion?

 

Week 1. The basics of Buddhism, part 1

September 5

Course introduction and overview

September 7

 Jacoby and Mitchell, Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience: Ch. 1, “The Life of

Gautama Buddha” (pp. 6–30)

Week 2. The basics of Buddhism, part 2

September 12

 Jacoby and Mitchell, Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience: Ch. 2, “The

Teachings of the Buddha” (pp. 30–64)

September 14 **

** No class, but first reflection paper due next Tuesday

 Jacoby and Mitchell, Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience: Ch. 3, “Early

Buddhism and the Way of the Elders” (pp. 65–114)

Week 3. Buddhism in Southeast Asia

September 19**

**First reflection paper due in class

 Donald K. Swearer, The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia, “Part I: The Popular Tradition,”

first half (pp. 1–36)

September 21

 Donald K. Swearer, The Buddhist

Week 4. Mahāyāna Buddhist scriptures

September 26

 Paul Williams, Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition: Ch. 5,

Part 1, “The Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā)” (pp. 131–39)

 Charles Luk, trans., The Diamond Sūtra (11 pages)

 Red Pine, trans., The Heart Sūtra (2 pages)

September 28

 Burton Watson, trans., The Lotus Sūtra (note: verse passages repeat content of prose

passages, and can be skimmed): Ch. 1, “Introduction” (pp. 3–22); Ch. 2, “Expedient

Means” (pp. 23–46); Ch. 3, “Simile and Parable” (pp. 47–79); Ch. 12, “Devadatta” (pp.

182–89); Ch. 25, “The Universal Gateway of the Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World’s

Sounds [Guanyin]” (pp. 298–306)

Week 5. Buddhism in China, part 1

October 3

 Mario Poceski, Chinese Religions: Ch. 5, “Spread and Flourishing of Buddhism in China”

(pp. 103–130)

 Kenneth K. S. Ch’en, Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey, selection from Ch. 4, “The

Nirvāna Sūtra” (pp. 113–16)

October 5

 Mario Poceski, Chinese Religions: Ch. 6, “Schools and Practices of Chinese Buddhism”

(pp. 131–156)

 Jan Nattier, “The Decline of the Dharma,” in Encyclopedia of Buddhism (pp. 210–13)

Week 6. Buddhism in China, part 2

October 10

 Victor H. Mair, trans., “Transformation Text on Mahāmaudgalyāyana [Mulian]

Rescuing His Mother from the Underworld, With Pictures, One Scroll, With Preface,”

in The Shorter Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature (pp. 607–642)

 Stephen F. Teiser, The Ghost Festival in Medieval China: Ch. 7, “Buddhism and the

Family” (pp. 196–213)

 **Bonus: short 5-minute video on present-day ritual opera about Mulian in Singapore

<https://youtu.be/M9IpT_ZeoH8>

October 12**

**Second reflection paper due in class

 Philip B. Yampolsky, trans., selection from The Platform Sūtra (pp. 125–34)

 Mario Poceski, trans., The Record of Mazu (selections)

 Burton Watson, trans., The Record of Linji (selections)

 Thomas Cleary and J. C. Cleary, trans., The Blue Cliff Record (selections)

Week 7. Buddhism in Japan

October 17

 Wm. Theodore De Bary, The Buddhist Tradition: Ch. 8, “The Introduction of Buddhism

to Japan” (pp. 255–276); Ch. 9, “Saichō and the Lotus Teaching” (pp. 277–86); Ch. 10,

“Kūkai and Esoteric Buddhism” (pp. 287–313)

October 19

 Wm. Theodore De Bary, The Buddhist Tradition: Ch. 11, “Amida and the Pure Land”

(pp. 314–44); Ch. 12, “Nichiren’s Faith in the Lotus” (pp. 345–54)

Week 8. Zen in Japan and Sŏn in Korea

October 24**

**Midterm essays due

 Wm. Theodore De Bary, The Buddhist Tradition: Ch. 13, “Zen” (pp. 355–98)

October 26

 Robert E. Buswell, Jr., The Zen Monastic Experience, “Introduction: Zen Monasticism

and the Context of Belief” (selection; pp. 3–10); Ch. 1, “Buddhism in Contemporary

Korea” (pp. 21–36); Ch. 2: “Daily and Annual Schedules” (pp. 37–48)

 **Optional: ibid., Ch. 7, “The Practice of Zen Meditation in Korea” (pp. 149–160); and

Ch. 8, “Training in the Meditation Hall” (pp. 161–202)

Week 9. Bodhisattvas in East Asia

October 31

 Chün-fang Yü, Kuan-yin: the Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteśvara, “Introduction”

(selection; pp. 1-15); Ch. 8, “Princess Miao-shan and the Feminization of Kuan-yin”

(selection; pp. 293–94); Ch. 9, “P’u-t’o Shan: Pilgrimage and the Creation of the Chinese

Potalaka” (selection; pp. 353–55)

 Chün-fang Yü, “The Sūtra Promoting the White-robed Guanyin as Giver of Sons,” in

Religions of China in Practice (pp. 97–105)

 **Optional: Yoshiko K. Dykstra, “Tales of the Compassionate Kannon: The Hasedera

Kannon Genki,” Monumenta Nipponica 31.2 (1976), pp. 113–143

November 2

 Zhiru, The Making of a Savior Bodhisattva: Dizang in Medieval China: “Introduction:

Problems and Perspectives” (selection; pp. 1–6) Appendix 3, “A Ritual Manual on the

Bodhisattva Dizang” and “Scripture on the Bodhisattva Dizang” (pp. 253–58)

 Hank Glassman, The Face of Jizō: Image and Cult in Medieval Japanese Buddhism: Ch. 1,

“The Iconology of Jizō”

Week 10. Buddhism in Tibet, part 1

November 7

 Jacoby and Mitchell, Buddhism: Introducing the Buddhist Experience: Ch. 6, “Tibetan

Experiences of Buddhism” (pp. 177–221)

November 9

 Richard J. Kohn, trans., “A Rite of Empowerment,” in Religions of Tibet in Practice (225–

33)

 Janet Gyatso, trans., “From the Autobiography of a Visionary,” in Religions of Tibet in

Practice (369–75)

Week 11. Buddhism in Tibet, part 2

November 14

 Georges B. J. Dreyfus, The Sound of Two Hands Clapping: Ch. 2, “Tibetan Monasticism”

(pp. 32–53); Ch. 3, “Becoming a Monk: Teacher and Discipline” (pp. 54–75)

November 16**

**Third reflection paper due in class

 Georges B. J. Dreyfus, The Sound of Two Hands Clapping: Ch. 4, “Literacy and

Memorization” (pp. 79–97)

 **Optional: ibid., Ch. 5, “The General Structure of the Tibetan Curriculum” (pp. 98–

110); Ch. 10, “Debate as Practice” (pp. 195–228)

Week 12. Buddhist images and icons

November 21

 Robert H. Sharf, “Prolegomenon to the Study of Japanese Buddhist Icons,” in Living

Images: Japanese Buddhist Icons in Context (selection; pp. 1–16)

 Samuel Crowell Morse, “Space and Ritual: The Evolution of the Image Hall in Japan,” in

Object as Insight (pp. 18–25)

 Robert H. Sharf, trans., “The Scripture on the Production of Buddha Images,” in

Religions of China in Practice (pp. 261–67)

November 23**

** No class, Thanksgiving recess

Week 13. Women in Buddhism

November 28

 Alan Sponberg, “Attitudes toward Women and the Feminine in Early Buddhism,” in

Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender (pp. 3–29)

 Miriam L. Levering, “The Dragon Girl and the Abbess of Mo-Shan: Gender and Status

in the Chan Buddhist Tradition,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist

Studies 5.1 (1982): pp. 19–31

November 30**

Option extra credit assignment due in class

 Beata Grant, “Female Holder of the Lineage: Linji Chan Master Zhiyuan Xinggang

(1597–1654),” Late Imperial China 17.2 (1996): pp. 51–76

 Chün-fang Yü, Passing the Light: The Incense Light Community and Buddhist Nuns in

Contemporary Taiwan, Ch. 7: “Profiles of Individual Nuns” (pp. 186–208)

Week 14. Buddhism today

December 5

 Takashi Murakami: The 500 Arhats (exhibition catalogue), selections.

 Norimitsu Onishi, “In Japan, Buddhism May Be Dying Out,” New York Times,

7/14/2008 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/world/asia/14japan.html>

 Antonia Blumberg, “South Korea’s Rapping Nuns Lay It Down at Buddhist Prayer

Competition,” The Huffington Post, 7/18/2014

<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/18/south-korea-rappingnuns_

n_5599166.html>

 Richard S. Ehrlich, “Photo feature: Bangkok's blowtorch-wielding Buddha makers,”

CNN Travel, 9/24/2010 <http://travel.cnn.com/bangkok/life/photo-feature-bangkoksblowtorch-

wielding-buddha-makers-958555/>

December 7

 Richard Hughes Seager, Buddhism in America: Ch. 1, “The American Buddhist

Landscape” (pp. 3–11); Ch. 11, “Gender Equity” (pp. 185–200); Ch. 12, “Socially

Engaged Buddhism” (pp. 201–215)

 Kevin Sack, “Awaiting Execution, And Finding Buddha,” New York Times, 5/29/1996

<www.nytimes.com/1996/05/29/us/awaiting-execution-and-finding-buddha.html>

Week 15. End of semester

December 12**

**No class, Legislative day

December 14**

**Final paper due in class

No readings; in class film viewing: Werner Herzog, dir., Wheel of Time