Admission requirements
Admission to the MA Religious Studies. Students from other relevant MA programmes can be admitted if places are left; students from the MA Religious Studies have priority.
Description
Indian Buddhism is well known for its emphasis on karma or retribution of actș — a belief widely shared by other Indian religions. East Asian Buddhism, particularly the Chan (Zen) and Pure Land traditions, is to some extent an attempt to elude karmic retribution. In Chinese esoteric Buddhism, another form of response developed, which put personal destiny to the forefront, thus undermining the notion of automatic karmic retribution and emphasizing instead the notions of punishment and longevity — with the use of the juridical metaphor and post-mortem judgment (with judges like King Yama, who rule over life and death). In this way, human destiny was reinscribed into cosmology.
Course objectives
Students will develop abilities in close reading of Buddhist sources in English translation and in Chinese or Japanese. They will acquire a better understanding of the development of Buddhism and its relation with popular culture in China and Japan.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Seminar.
Attendance is compulsory for all sessions. Students must prepare well and contribute to in-class discussion.
Assessment method
Assessment & weighing
Active participation in class discussion and reading summaries* (1-2 pages; uploaded on Sunday evening) —50%.
Final research paper: 15 pages — 50%
Reading summaries should include a response to the discussant’s posting, an outline of the main arguments and concepts, as well as questions or criticisms.
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
Weekly short assignments will be accepted on a pass/no credit basis and have no resit. A resit for the participation component is not possible. The resit will consist of an opportunity to resubmit the final paper that was not sufficient.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
A wide variety of readings are assigned, most of them available online.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Registration Contract teaching and Exchange
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of Contract teaching (with taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Herta Mohr