HIST 380: Buddhism – A Cultural History: Introduction to Buddhism

Professor David DiValerio

Holton Hall 384

Office phone number: 414-229-4314

Course meeting time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30-1:45, in Physics 143

Office hour: Tuesday, 2:30-3:30; additional meetings by appointment

(I am in my office a lot; email me to set up a time to meet)

Course Description:

This course is an introduction to Buddhism. Despite being a 300-level course, it will be treated as an intro course. No prior knowledge of Asian religions or religious studies is expected.

This course offers a survey of the Buddhist tradition, from its beginnings in the 5th century BCE to the present day. We follow Buddhism as it travels from India to Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Tibet, and finally to the West. The breadth and diversity of the Buddhist tradition is emphasized, while challenging students to seek out the continuities that tie Buddhism together as a unified system.

Course Objectives:

Students will gain:

  • an understanding of the tenets of Buddhism
  • an overview of the history of Buddhism, and how that history affected the development of its various tenets
  • an understanding of the different forms of Buddhism that have developed in different geographical areas
  • experience in reading and interpreting Buddhist texts
  • critical thinking about religion and culture
  • improvement in reading, interpretation, and writing

*** If you are thinking about a major or a double major in Religious Studies, please contact either Dr. Demetrius Williams, Director, at williamd@uwm or Dr. Judith Beall, Associate Director, at . ***

Grading:

The assessments for this course include a midterm (constituting 20% of your final grade), a final (25%), two writing assignments (20% and 20%, due October 4th and November 29th), and class participation (15%). I am looking for a consistent effort from each student throughout the semester. Students who improve in the course of the semester—in terms of doing better on assignments, participating more, etc.—will be rewarded.

Specific guidelines that the writing assignments must follow will be given to students at a later time.

Some days of class will begin with a short quiz or free-writing exercise. Sometimes these will be drawn from the “Discussion questions” at the end of chapters in Introducing Buddhism. The purpose of these short assessments is to give me an idea of how well you are understanding the material from class, and also to determine who is coming to class prepared, having done the readings. Performance on these will figure into your participation grade.

Late papers:

If you hand in a paper anytime after the BEGINNING of class on the day it’s due, the paper is officially late. Late papers automatically lose one grade increment (for example, an A- paper turns into a B+), and another grade increment for each additional 24 hours late the paper is. So, for example, if a paper is due October 4th at 12:30, if you hand it in anytime after that and before 12:29 on October 5th, you lose one grade increment. If you hand it in after 12:30 on the 5th, you will lose 2 grade increments; after 12:30 on the 6th, and you lose three, and so on.

Final grade conversion scale:

A93-100C73-76.9

A-90-92.9C-70-72.9

B+87-89.9D+67-69.9

B83-86.9D63-66.9

B-80-82.9D-60-62.9

C+77-79.9F 0-59.9

Attendance:

Consistent attendance is a must. You may miss three class sessions without penalty. Every absence after that for which you do not have a note from a doctor or a university administrator will count as “unexcused” absence and will result in an automatic deduction of *10 points* from your participation grade.

If you have a problem with coming to class late, I will talk to you about it, then start counting you as absent from class.

If you miss class for whatever reason, it is up to you to get the material you missed from a classmate.

For example, if you miss a total of six classes, and you have a doctor’s note saying that you had the flu for one of them, you have five unexcused absences. Three of those are “free” absences, and you will be penalized for the other two. You will lose a total of 20 points from your final participation grade. That is the equivalent of losing 3 percentage points from your final grade for the course.

Do yourself a favor: just come to class. If you are wise, you will do what you can to be in class each and every day.

Class Conduct:

  • Please no texting, Facebooking, chatting, reading the Onion, doing work for other classes, sleeping, coming in late, etc. Common sense applies. If you are not respecting the classroom atmosphere, I will FIRST EMBARRASS YOU, then ask you to leave class, and you will be considered absent for that day.
  • You are expected to observe UWM’s standards of academic honesty. The penalty for cheating or plagiarism on any paper, exam, or other assignment is an automatic “F” for that assignment. The penalties for such academic misconduct can also include failing the course and expulsion from the University.
  • University policies on academic misconduct, as well as on other issues including procedures for students with disabilities, for students called to active military duty, incomplete work, discriminatory conduct, grade appeal procedures, final examination policy, policies for religious observance, and complaint procedures, may be found at http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/SyllabusLinks.pdf.
  • You must check your UWM email regularly for important course notifications. There may be changes in the readings or assignments during the semester, which I will notify you about via email. If you do not know about these changes because you did not check your email (or ignored an email you received from me) you will still be held accountable.

Materials:

There are three required books for the course:

Introducing Buddhism (Second edition), by Charles Prebish and Damien Keown (Routledge, 2010, paperback)

Buddhist Scriptures, edited by Donald Lopez (Penguin Classics, 2004). Note that we are NOT using the book titled Buddhist Scriptures edited by Edward Conze.

Novice to Master: An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity, by Soko Morinaga, translated by Belenda Attaway Yamakawa (Wisdom, 2004)

Students should bring these books to class on the days the assigned readings were drawn from them, as we will be discussing them directly during class time.

There are some additional readings that will be posted as pdf or text files on D2L (marked below with an *). On the days we are discussing these texts, you should have them with you, either in the form of printouts or electronic copies (like on a laptop).

Important dates to remember:

October 4th, first writing assignment due

October 20th, midterm exam

November 29th, second writing assignment due

December 16th, final exam

Pay close attention to the *page numbers* for the assigned readings below, as we will sometimes only be reading part of a chapter.

Week 1

Tues, Sept 6 – The evolution of Buddhist symbols; introduction to the course

  • No readings

Thurs, Sept 8 – Pre-Buddhist India; Hinduism; the caste system

  • Introducing Buddhism, 3-11, “Background to Buddhism”

Week 2

Tues, Sept 13 – The life of the Buddha I

  • Introducing Buddhism, 11-23, “Background to Buddhism” continued; and 25-40, “The Buddha.”

(Watch part I of scenes from “Little Buddha” in class)

Thurs, Sept 15 – The life of the Buddha II

  • Buddhist Scriptures, 116-128, “A Life of the Buddha”

(Watch part II of scenes from “Little Buddha” in class)

Week 3

Tues, Sept 20 – Hinayana Buddhism I: the Four Noble Truths; the doctrine of “no self”

  • Introducing Buddhism, 42-57, “The Dharma”
  • Buddhist Scriptures, 101-104, “The Three Jewels”

Thurs, Sept 22 – Hinayana Buddhism II: early Buddhist cosmology; karma

  • Review Introducing Buddhism, 9-23, “Background to Buddhism”
  • *“Four Short Sutras”
  • Buddhist Scriptures, 46-50, “One Buddha Per Universe”

Week 4

Tues, Sept 27 – Hinayana Buddhism III: Hinayana morality and meditation

  • Buddhist Scriptures, “Why the Buddha had Good Digestion,” 136-141
  • *“Two Jataka Tales,” 1-4
  • Introducing Buddhism, 119-131, “Meditation”
  • *Gunaratana, “Insight Meditation,” 1-5

Thurs, Sept 29 – Hinayana Buddhism IV: monkhood, the Sangha

  • Introducing Buddhism, “The Buddhist Sangha,” 59-74
  • Buddhist Scriptures, 278-284, “Making Men into Monks”; 252-261, “A Murderer Becomes a Monk”

Week 5

Tues, Oct 4 – Hinayana Buddhism V: history of the Hinayana

  • Introducing Buddhism, 77-95, “Buddhism in India”

(Watch part I of “Footprints of the Buddha” in class)

First writing assignment due at the beginning of class.

Thurs, Oct 6 – Hinayana Buddhism VI: the Hinayana in later periods

  • Introducing Buddhism, 145-162
  • *Lester, “The Dynamics of Buddhist Life”, 102-123

(Watch part II of “Footprints of the Buddha” in class)

Week 6

Tues, Oct 11 – Mahayana Buddhism I: the rise of the Mahayana; emptiness; the bodhisattva; compassion

  • Introducing Buddhism, 97-117, “Mahayana”
  • *“The Heart Sutra”
  • Buddhist Scriptures, “The Bodhisattva Vow,” 388-393, “Wisdom and Compassion,” 350-360

Thurs, Oct 13 – Mahayana Buddhism II: meditation, practice, devotionalism; new conceptions of the Buddha

  • Introducing Buddhism, 132-136, “Mahayana Meditation”
  • *Shantideva, “Guide to Bodhisattva’s Way”
  • Buddhist Scriptures; 51-59, “Two Buddhas Seated Side by Side”; 60-68, “Rebirth in the Land of Bliss”

Week 7

Tues, Oct 18 – Mahayana Buddhism III: Tathagatagarbha; summary of the Mahayana

  • Buddhist Scriptures, 450-463, “The Perfection of Wisdom (Diamond Sutra)”
  • *Grosnick, “The Tathagatagarbha Sutra,” 92-106

Thurs, Oct 20 – Midterm Exam

Week 8

Tues, Oct 25 – Buddhism in East Asia (China, Korea and Japan) I

  • Introducing Buddhism, 163-184, “Buddhism in East Asia”; 139-140, “The Zen Tradition”
  • Start reading Novice to Master

Thurs, Oct 27 – Buddhism in East Asia II

  • Novice to Master, 11-55
  • Buddhist Scriptures, 504-511, “The Practice of No Thought”

(Film on Japanese monasticism.)

Week 9

Tues, Nov 1 – Buddhism in East Asia III

  • Novice to Master, 57-108

Thurs, Nov 3 – Buddhism in East Asia IV

  • Novice to Master, 111-155
  • Buddhist Scriptures, “A Zen Master Interprets the Dharma,” 531-539

Week 10

Tues, Nov 8 – Tantric Buddhism

  • Introducing Buddhism, 91-93; and 137-139
  • *“Biography of Naropa”
  • Buddhist Scriptures, “Songs of the Siddhas,” 478-487

Thurs, Nov 10 – Buddhism in Tibet

  • Introducing Buddhism, 186-202, “Buddhism in Tibet”
  • *The Dalai Lama, “Deity Yoga”, 185-197

Week 11

Tues, Nov 15 – Buddhism in Tibet II

  • *The Dalai Lama, My Spiritual Journey, 31-70, “My Lives Without Beginning or End”

(Watch film on Tibet, part I)

Thurs, Nov 17 – Tibet continued

  • *The Dalai Lama, My Spiritual Journey, 75-102, “Transforming Oneself”
  • Buddhist Scriptures, 430-438, “Transforming Death into Buddhahood”

(Watch film on Tibet, part II)

Week 12

Tues, Nov 22 – Class Canceled

Thurs, Nov 24 – No Class (Thanksgiving)

Week 13

Tues, Nov 29 – Buddhism in the western world

  • Introducing Buddhism, 205-217, “Buddhism in the Western World”
  • *Willis, 307-311, “A Baptist Buddhist”
  • *Dalai lama, 45-52, “Love Your Enemy: Matthew 5:38-48.”

(Watch “The Dhamma Brothers,” part I, in class)

Second writing assignment due at the beginning of class.

Thurs, Dec 1 – Socially engaged Buddhism

  • Introducing Buddhism, 218-233, “Socially Engaged Buddhism”
  • *Maull, “Letting Go of Depression”
  • *“A Caregiver’s Story”

(Watch “The Dhamma Brothers,” part II, in class)

Week 14

Tues, Dec 6 – Reconsidering Buddhism

  • Introducing Buddhism, 256-273, “Reflections on the nature and study of Buddhism”
  • Buddhist Scriptures, 445-449, “Nuns Triumph Over Evil”
  • *Thich Nhat Hanh, 223-233, “Diet for a Mindful Society”

Thurs, Dec 8 – flex day

  • Readings TBA

Week 15

Tues, Dec 13 – Final thoughts; review

  • *Kerouac, “Dharma Bums”, 16-24

Fri, Dec 16 – Final Exam, 12:30-2:30