Rel. 103: Introduction to Asian Religions
Prof. Timothy Lubin
Fall 2005, Washington & Lee University
This course surveys the major religious traditions that have arisen in South, Southeast, and East Asia, stressing how religious ideas define the aims and experiences of life in the world. As we look at each religion, we will inquire: What questions do these traditions ask? What facts of human life are driving these questions? How are people’s responses expressed in words and lived out in actions? What forces are thought to govern the world? How can humans live up to their fullest potential in this life (and the next)? Why do things go wrong? As we explore a few of Asia’s ways of talking about these issues we may come to see our own religious and cultural traditions in a new light.
The course will introduce the ideas and practices of the Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Shinto traditions by reading and discussing texts ancient and modern, considering descriptions of religious practice, viewing of films, and visiting Asian religious institutions.
Course Requirements
i. Prepared attendance in class meetings.
Participation in class discussions can raise your overall grade; more
than one absence (except in cases of serious health problems or other emergency)
will lower your grade; you should come to each class with a well-focused
question or response based on the day’s readings, which you may be asked to
contribute to the discussion.
ii. Visit to the Shantiniketan Hindu Temple, in Roanoke, and the Bodhi
Path Buddhist Center, in Natural Bridge (either with the class or on your own);
iii. Two 1500-word essays (each worth 25% of the final grade).
Each student will choose a short primary text, and will analyze it according to
stated criteria.
iv. An in-class midterm exam (25% of final grade).
v. A 90-minute final exam (25% of final grade).
Books Available for Purchase:
Willard Oxtoby, World Religions: Eastern Traditions, 2nd ed. (Oxford U.P.).
William Buck, Mahabharata (U. Calif. Press).
Barbara Stoler Miller, The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna's Counsel in Time of War (Bantam).
John Stratton Hawley, Songs of the Saints of India, 2nd ed. (Oxford U.P.).
Donald Lopez, Buddhist Scriptures, 2nd ed. (Penguin Classics).
Wm. Theodore de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 1, 2nd ed. (Columbia U.P.).
Wm. Theodore de Bary, et al., Sources of Japanese Tradition, vol. 1, 2nd ed. (Columbia U.P.).
Course Pack.
SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Class Schedule
9-7 What are Asian Religions?
Hymns from the Rig-Veda.
Hindu Traditions
Week 1 The Veda and the Vedanta: Action and Wisdom
9-12 WR, pp. 13-32 (top); CR 1: Upanisads, pp. xxiv-lvi.
9-14 CR 1 (finish).
Week 2 Gods, Kings, and Humanity in the Indian Epics
9-19 WR, pp. 32-50; Buck, Mahābhārata (pp. xiii-261).
9-21 Buck (pp. 263-end); CR 3: “The Ramayana.”
Video: Peter Brook’s “Mahābhārata” (excerpts).
See also:
James
Fitzgerald’s “Mahabharata Page”
The
Ramakian in Thai Art (John Hoskin)
Amar
Chitra Katha's Comic-Book Ramayana
Week 3 Classical Bhakti: Loving Devotion as a Philosophy
9-26 WR, pp. 50-57; Miller, Bhagavad-Gītā (entire).
9-28 CR 2: “Rāmānuja on the Bhagavadgītā.”
Week 4 Vernacular Bhakti: From South to North
10-3 WR, pp. 57-67, 71-104; CR. 4: Poems to Śiva.
10-5 WR; Hawley, Intro. and chs.
4-6.
See also:
Durga
Puja 2001 (Click "e-Anjali" for an interactive
virtual puja)
Durga
Puja 2000 (Click "Parikrama" to view pandals)
2001
Durga Puja from Rumela.com
Ganesh
Utsav (Festival)
(click "Virtual Puja")
Week 5 The Sikh and Ravidas Paths / Hinduism in Modern Life
10-10 WR, ch. 2; Hawley, chs. 1-3.
10-12 No Class: Reading Day
WR, pp. 67-71, 104-117; CR 5: “Mahatma Gandhi: Nationalist India’s Great Soul.”
Video: “Lotan Baba: the Rolling Saint”
First essay due Friday 10-13 at 7 pm at my office. First essay assignment
Jainism and Buddhism in South Asia
Week 6 The Jaina Religion / The Buddha and His Community
10-17 WR, ch. 3 plus pp. 199-223; Lopez, chs. 13-19, 25-28, 37, 49-50.
10-19 Midterm Exam
Week 7 Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana
10-24 CR 6: Extracts from the Mahāvamsa; WR, pp. 224-243; Lopez, chs. 20-21, 29, 38-39, 51.
10-26 WR, pp. 243-258; Lopez, chs. 23-24, 43, 52-54.
Religions of China
Week 8 Confucianism and Daoism
10-24 Oracles, Classics, and Confucius
WR, pp. 352-362; SCT, pp. 3-13, 19-63.
10-26 Master Meng and Master Xun
WR, pp. 362-377; SCT, pp.112-124, 147-166, 170-183.
10-28 Master Mo, Master Lao, and Master Zhuang
WR, pp. 382-395; SCT, chs. 4-5.
10-31 Concepts of Person and Perfection during the Qin and Han Dynasties
WR, pp. 395-398; SCT, pp. 227-228, 235-241, 256-310.
11-2 Confucianism
SCT, pp. 311-352.
11-4 “Learning the Mysterious” (Xuanxue) and Priestly Daoism (Dao Jiao)
SCT, chs. 13-14.
Week 9 Buddhism in China
11-7 Buddhist Philosophical Schools
WR, pp. 258-268; SCT, chs. 15-16.
11-9 Pure Land and Meditation (Chan) Schools of Practices
WR, pp. 268-280; SCT, ch. 17.
11-11 Contemporary Chinese Buddhist Practice
WR, pp. 398-412; “Lay Identity and Participation (China)”
Week 10 Shinto, Chinese Thought, and Buddhism: The Creation of Japanese Religion
11-14 Early Records and Shinto
WR, pp. 341-352; SJT, chs. 1-2 and pp. 336-344.
On-line slide show: "The Grand Shrine of Ise: Shinto Takes Shape" by Henry Smith, Columbia U.
11-16 Prince Shotoku Establishes Buddhism in Japan
WR, pp. 280-281; SJT, ch. 3.
Nara Buddhism
SJT, pp. 63-70 and ch. 5.
Video: “Land of the Disappearing Buddha”
Thanksgiving Recess
Religions of Japan
Week 11 Japanese Buddhist Schools
11-28 Saicho and Mount Hiei
SJT, ch. 6.
Second essay due in class.
11-30 Kukai’s Shingon (Esoteric) School
WR, pp. 281-282; SJT, ch. 7-8.
Zen
WR, pp. 283-284; SJT, ch. 14.
Week 12 Nichiren, and Modern
Developments
Second essay
assignment due
12-5 Devotion to Amida Buddha
WR, pp. 284-290; SJT, pp. 205-237.
12-7 Nichiren Shoshu and Popular Religious Movements
WR, pp. 412-422; EB, pp. 336-342; SJT, ch. 13.
12-9 Buddhism in the Modern World
WR, pp. 291-308; CR 8: Two imperial rescripts on religion:
Final Exam
Tips for Preparation: Prepare for each class by reading the assignment and thinking about what it is about. I will provide some guidance on how to read the assignments. It is all too easy, especially when one is preoccupied with other matters, to read mechanically and unreflectively; in this manner, you may actually reach the last page without learning anything. This wastes your time. Take a few moments to refocus as you read — to sum up in your mind or by jotting down the main points or other interesting ideas in the reading. Bring carefully focused questions and reflections to contribute to class discussions.
[ Back to Rel. 103 Web Page ] [ Dr. Lubin's Other Courses ] [ Religion Course List ]