Studiegids

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Chinese Buddhism

Vak
2009-2010

Description

Chinese Buddhism, especially its historical past, may seem to us as distant and irrelevant as almost anything we are ever likely to study. After all, even in mainland China today, more than fifty years after the communist takeover, hardly anyone is a Buddhist. But even if your primary goal is to understand contemporary society in the PRC, not to mention Chinese communities in Taiwan, Singapore, or Amsterdam, an appreciation of the legacy of Buddhism is vital, since Buddhism has fundamentally shaped Chinese society in a myriad of profound ways. Moreover, a study of Chinese Buddhism also provides an excellent opportunity to approach basic human questions of an entirely general type, such as questions about the dynamic tension between the religious and the secular, about how issues of authority are mediated in societies, about how some very smart and insightful people have thought about what it means to live and die, and much more.

Teaching method

Lectures, discussion as much as possible, reading of primary sources in translation and secondary sources (scholarship).

Admission requirements

Introduction to Buddhism, equivalent, or permission of instructor

Course objectives

To gain a familiarity with:

  • The basic chronological / historical sequence of Chinese Buddhism— its “history” in a factual sense.

  • The universe (“cosmology”) of Chinese Buddhism, and thus China generally, its gods and spirits and powers.

  • The major movements of ideas and practices in Chinese Buddhism over time.

  • The major forces acting on Chinese Buddhism over time: political, economic, philosophical, practical, and so on.

  • The major sources for the study of Chinese Buddhism: texts, art and archaeology, secular sources, modern ethnography, etc.

Course load

5 EC * 28 hours = 140 hours

Required reading

Test method

Quizzes, and final exam, questions distributed in advance.

Time table

See departmental website for time and location.

Information

Registration

Via U-twist (see ‘Aanmeldprocedures voor colleges en tentamens’ for more information).

Blackboard

Yes

Remarks

None