161 - 170 of 201 results for: RELIGST

This seminar focuses on the interrelationships between social constructions of race and social interpretations of religion in America. How have assumptions about race shaped religious worldviews? How have religious beliefs shaped racial attitudes? How have ideas about religion and race contributed to notions of what it means to be "American"? We will look at primary and secondary sources and at the historical development of ideas and practices over time.

Chinese Buddhist texts from the Han Dynasty onwards, including sutra translations, prefaces, colophons, story collections and biographies. Prerequisite: reading competence in Chinese. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.

This graduate-level readings course investigates the relationship between "religion" and "race" in the United States, showing how the categories cannot be understood separately, even as they are often considered as such. The course will focus on preparing students for general exams as well as for teaching, giving students the opportunity to create and collaboratively share lecture notes on chosen topics with each other.

Introduction to Tibetan literature through reading texts in Tibetan. Prerequisite: intermediate level facility in classical Tibetan.Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units

Introduction to Buddhist literature through reading original texts in Sanskrit. Prerequisite: Sanskrit.

An exploration of two key Mahayana Buddhist scriptures (the Heart & Diamond Sutras) and their histories, looking at what they say and how they have been used, from the first millennium to the present day.Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.

The goal of this course is to familiarize graduate students with themes, debates and methodologies in Buddhist Studies. Works covered are not all recent (though most are), but rather works that raise issues that scholars continue to address in recent works. Some weeks will focus on topics (e.g. Indian monasticism, defining meditative experience), and others on bodies of evidence (e.g. hagiography, material culture). "Buddhist Studies" encompasses a range of discrete disciplines (philosophy, history, anthropology etc.). This course is an opportunity for you to familiarize yourself with some of the most common approaches to Buddhist studies and the specific challenges they pose.

Caste, as a plurality of ideas about systemic exclusion or social hierarchy, has shaped the lifeworlds of South Asians past and present, across regions, languages, and religious boundaries. But is caste a unitary concept? And what does it have to do with religion? This seminar turns to the archive to explore a series of case studies about how caste, as an actively contested concept and set of social practices, has interfaced with meaning-making and community formation in Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Buddhist, and Christian traditions. We are interested both in the social history of religion as well as the phenomenology of oppression and liberation, taking a comparative approach that allows us to defamiliarize our assumptions about the varied relationships between religion, culture, hierarchy, and violence. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.

The emergence of tantric scriptures in medieval India marked a major turning point in the development of religious thought and practice throughout Asia. These scriptures introduced myths, rituals, contemplative techniques, and artistic expressions that transformed the religious traditions of India - from Hinduism to Jainism and Buddhism. Tantric forms of worship subsequently shaped the religious traditions of Southeast Asia, China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, and everywhere else Indian religions spread. This seminar examines the history of Buddhist tantra through English translation of one of the most popular collections of tantric literature in the history of Buddhism: the Wheel of Time. The Wheel of Time blends models of the cosmos, time, embodiment, and aesthetics with rich contemplative and ritual techniques. Since its origin, the Wheel of Time and its associated body of texts and practices has become immensely popular throughout the Tibetan Buddhist world. The influence of the Wheel of Time continues to this day, as the current Dalai Lama frequently offers the Wheel of Time initiation as a blessing for world peace, and scholars and practitioners continue to study its literature and practice its contemplative techniques. Undergraduates are expected to have at least one prior course in Buddhism or the consent of the instructor. Undergraduates register for 256 for 5 units. Graduate students register for 356 for 3-5 units.