Texas Christian University Spring 2012 Religion 30533: Buddhism Thought and Practice

Transcription

1 Texas Christian University Spring 2012 Religion 30533: Buddhism Thought and Practice The Chan monk Bodhidharma 1) Course meetings: course_meetings 2) Instructor information: instructor_information 3) Course Description: course_description 4) Required Texts required_texts 5) Grading: grading 6) Other issues: Disability_statement 1) Course meetings: heading Monday, Wednesday, Friday 1:00-1:50 p.m. Room 107 Beasley Hall

2 2) Instructor information: heading Mark Dennis Office: Beasley Hall 14 Office phone: Office Hours: Monday 11:00 p.m.-noon Wednesday 11:00 a.m.-noon Friday 2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. 3) Course Description: heading The world of dew Is the world of dew And yet, and yet (River of Fire, River of Water, p. 165) This course offers an introduction to Buddhism: its history, texts, doctrines, and practices, as well as some of its major schools and teachers. We will use Buddhism: The ebook by Charles Prebish and Damien Keown as our primary text; instructions for purchasing the ebook are listed below under Required Texts. This book covers Buddhism broadly, taking up its central doctrines (emptiness, karma, anatman, samsara, etc.), the Three Jewels (the Buddha, Dharma, and samgha), and other thematic issues, such as socially engaged Buddhism. It also offers an introduction to the historical development of Buddhism in India and its subsequent transmission to the south in the form of the Theravada, and to the north through the multiple schools of the Mahayana: Madhyamaka and Yogacara, Pure Land, Chan/Zen, and others. There are five other required books, each of which comes from a distinct relationship to Buddhist teachings, and thus offers a unique angle of critical vision on a highly diverse set of traditions. One of these texts is the Dhammapada, which offers the basic teachings of the Buddha in verse form, and is particularly popular in the Theravada tradition s Pali canon. Another, Hermann Hesse s classic novel Siddhartha, will offer us a compelling take on the Buddha s life story and the nature of his teachings on attachment and suffering, compassion and enlightenment. We will also read Living Buddha, Living Christ, one of many books by the Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh, an eloquent exponent of mindfulness training, interreligious dialogue, and social engagement. This work offers a primer in Buddhist thought to those who are familiar with Christian teachings. 2

3 The fourth book, Janwillem van de Wetering s The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery, describes one European s search for Buddhist enlightenment, and will raise for us compelling questions about the transmission of Buddhist thought and practice outside of the Indian subcontinent. The final assigned text is Taitesu Unno s River of Fire, River of Water, which offers a highly readable introduction to the Japanese Pure Land Buddhist tradition of Shinran ( ). Shinran lived in the Kamakura era when the shogun and samurai dominated society and many believed that Buddhist teachings had entered a period of inexorable decline. Our study of these materials will be supplemented by other readings posted on the course s e- College web site as well as by podcasts and videos. The final section of the course will focus on Buddhist practice in the form of socially engaged Buddhism, a broad movement working to alleviate the suffering found in the world through direct action in society. Some of our concerns will be comparative: for example, what points of resonance can we find between Western, mainly Christian, traditions and the teachings of socially engaged Buddhist figures like Thich Nhat Hanh, the Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the others whom we will study? And how do these traditions view the cause of suffering and the responsibility of the individual and the group to help those who suffer? This section of the course will culminate in two case studies: the crackdown on Buddhist monastics and laypersons by the military government of Myanmar (Burma) and the repression of the Tibetan people by the Chinese government. 4) Required Texts: heading 1) Buddhism-The ebook, Fourth Edition: i) go to ii) click on buy now and follow the online instructions. Please note the following information provided by the Journal of Buddhist Ethics regarding the ebook: Welcome to the store for Journal of Buddhist Ethics Online Books Because of the nature of electronic products such as e-books, which cannot be returned, and the very low cost of our products, no refunds can be made after any e-book is downloaded. You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 or newer to open the PDF files after downloading. You will need to create an account in order to download the ebooks. You will need an internet connection to download the e-book to your machine. No Book from this store will be mailed - they are all downloads. All references to shipping address are for CREDIT CARD Verifications ONLY Once you purchase a book you will see a Downloads Folder in your Account Options navigation. You may download the book directly after purchase from your account. 3

4 Your credit card bill will show the purchase as Blue Banana Designs, LLC dba Happy Values Please make note of that or let your parent(s) know that this charge is for your ebook We strongly recommend that you create a backup copy of your e-book in case the original suffers loss or damage. 2) Fronsdal, Gil, trans. Dhammapada (Shambhala, 2006). 3) Hanh, Thich Nhat. Living Buddha, Living Christ (Riverhead, 2007). 4) Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha (Shambhala, 2005) 5) Unno, Taitetsu. River of Fire, River of Water (Image, 1998). 6) van de Wetering, Janwillem. The Empty Mirror: Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery (St. Martin's Griffin, 1999). 7) There will also be supplemental readings and materials posted on e-college in Doc Sharing or that will be available online. Instructions for those readings will appear on the course schedule. 5) Grading: heading a) attendance B) participation C) mid-term exam d) quizzes_reflections E) individual_projects E) group_projects F) final_exam You will be graded according to the following distribution and scale. grade item % a) Attendance 7.5% b) Participation 7.5% c) mid-term exam 15% d) Quizzes and reflections 30% e) Individual projects 10% f) group projects 10% g) final exam 20% 4

5 grade grade scale A A B B B C C C D D D F 59 and below a) Attendance: heading grading Attendance will count for 7.5% of your final grade. If you come to class after attendance has been taken, you will receive half an absence. No exceptions. Properly documented Universityrelated absences will not be counted against you, although you must notify me of such absences at least one week in advance. heading grade Absences A 2 A- 3 B+ 4 B 5 B- 6 C 7 C- 8 D 9 F 10 b) Participation: heading grading 5

6 Participation will count for 7.5% of your final grade. You will need to be a regular, prepared, and active participant to receive a high participation grade. Your grade will be determined by your total number of moksha points at the end of the semester. We will go over the rules of moksha in the second week of class. c) Mid-term exam: heading grading There will be one mid-term exam, which is listed on the course schedule. The exam will count for 15% of your final grade. I will post a review sheet on e-college before the exam. d) Quizzes and Reflections: heading grading There will be a number of quizzes and reflections on the assigned readings, videos, and so forth, which will count for 30% of your final grade. Most quizzes will be 10 multiple choice questions from the reading, although some will be short answer. Reflections will be a few paragraphs, no more than a page, addressing videos, podcasts, readings, and so on. I will give further instruction in class. e) Individual projects: heading grading You will be required to complete a number of individual projects outside of the reflections. These projects will include writing a letter to the Tibetan Buddhist monk Champa Tenzin, who was executed by the Chinese government, or to Thich Quang Duc a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who immolated himself on a Saigon street during the Vietnam War (see photograph below). These will also include a meditation and precepts exercise, a This I Believe statement, and an Buddhist analysis of the lyrics of songs that describe rivers. Huh? These projects will count for 10% of your final grade. f) Group projects: heading grading You will be required to do a number of small group projects during the semester, including creating Buddhist advertisements, like the Nutrisystem ad below. Instructions on the group projects will be posted on e-college. These projects will count for 10% of your final grade. g) Final exam: heading grading 6

7 The final exam, which will count for 20% of your final grade, will include essay and multiple choice. I will post a review before the exam. Your group will also prepare a 15-minute presentation, including a short video, to be given at the time of the final exam describing your findings on either Tibet or Myanmar (Burma). You should briefly introduce the topic of engaged Buddhism and then discuss the role of Tibetan or Burmese Buddhists monastics and/or lay people in their societies in the face of repression and large scale suffering. You should draw on course readings, videos and podcasts, as well as internet resources, such as newspapers, PBS, freetibet.org, and so forth. We ll discuss this further in class. 6) Disability Statement: heading Disability Statement approved Fall 2007 by the Undergraduate Council Revised Summer 2011 Disabilities Statement: Texas Christian University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 regarding students with disabilities. Eligible students seeking accommodations should contact the Coordinator of Student Disabilities Services in the Center for Academic Services located in Sadler Hall, Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations. Further information can be obtained from the Center for Academic Services, TCU Box , Fort Worth, TX 76129, or at (817) Adequate time must be allowed to arrange accommodations and accommodations are not retroactive; therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the academic term for which they are seeking accommodations. Each eligible student is responsible for presenting relevant, verifiable, professional documentation and/or assessment reports to the Coordinator. Guidelines for documentation may be found at Students with emergency medical information or needing special arrangements in case a building must be evacuated should discuss this information with their instructor/professor as soon as possible. 7

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