HR8344 : Traditions of Buddhism in the West Fall 2012: September 4, 2012 - December 14, 2012 Scott Mitchell ~ scott@shin-ibs.edu ~ 510.809.1449 Office Hours: Tuesday, 1-3 p.m. (or by appointment) Skype name: buddhaworld Course description: This course surveys the history of Buddhist traditions in the West. Beginning with 19th century colonial contact and Asian immigration through 21st century global exchanges, we will explore the various ways that Buddhists, Buddhist communities, and Buddhist ideas have come to and developed in Western contexts. Previous Buddhist studies courses helpful but not required Format: weekly online assignments, discussion, lectures Evaluation: class participation, book review or field trip, final research paper Student learning objectives: Students will learn of the various ways that Buddhism came to Western cultural contexts via colonial contacts and globalization Students will be able to distinguish different Buddhist communities, their unique histories, and challenges facing them in the contemporary world Students will employ different methodological approaches and lenses in the study of Buddhisms in Western contexts, including, among others, postcolonial studies, modernity, globalization, and transnationalism Students will be able to identify specific issues facing Buddhists in the modern world, including, among others, bhikṣuṇī ordination, engaged Buddhism, and the commodification of Buddhist images and ideas Students will be challenged to relate Buddhism traditions in Western contexts to their own personal career goals either in ministry, chaplaincy, or the academy Required texts: Donald Lopez, ed. A Modern Buddhist Bible: essential readings from East and West. Boston: Beacon Press, 2002. Available online from Amazon or the BCA Buddhist Bookstore online or at the JSC Course reader. Available as PDFs from the course Moodle site
Schedule in brief: 1. Introduction to course, students, instructor, and course topics 2. Colonialism in South Asia 3. Colonialism in East Asia 4. The World Parliament of Religions 5. Japanese immigration and internment 6. American Buddhism under Eisenhower 7. Two Buddhisms, Three Buddhisms, and Racism 8. Post-1965 Immigrant Buddhist communities 9. New Buddhists: US Zen, Shambhala International, and Insight Mediation 10. Buddhism, media, and consumerism 11. Women in Buddhism, Bhikṣuṇī ordination 12. Engaged Buddhism 13. Book reviews and/or field trip reports 14. Final papers due Evaluations and Assignments: Evaluations for this course will be based on: 1. Class participation in the form of written reflections submitted to the Moodle page (25%) 2. Written book review or field trip report (25%) 3. Final research paper (50%) Weekly reflection papers As this is an online course, class discussion will take place via the Moodle page. Students are required to post a short, one or two paragraph reflection on the week s reading no later than Wednesday. We will then have the opportunity to reply to one another s responses online. Depending on the mix of students, we will arrange some time during the semester either for an in-person meeting or Skype conference call. Please refer to the Week 1 lecture posted to the Moodle page for more information. Book review Each student will submit a book report by Week 8. The report should be a critical evaluation of an academic book on the topic of Buddhism in Western contexts, and be approximately 2000 to 3000 words. Book review samples can be found on the Moodle site with a list of suggested books for review. (Students may choose a book not on this list with instructor permission.)
Field trip (alternative to book report) Alternatively, students may choose to write a field trip report in lieu of a book review. Students choosing this option should locate a Buddhist community in their area, schedule a time to visit the community, and then write a 2000 word report on their experience. Field trip reports are also due Week 8. Please consult instructor for more details regarding this option. Final research paper All students must submit a research paper that: is roughly 5000 words in length (approximately 15 to 20 double-spaced pages) engages an issue relevant to the course (is about Buddhist traditions in Western contexts) makes and defends an argument (is not simply a summary of existing ideas) utilizes both primary and critical secondary sources relevant to the topic follows the citation style mandated by the GTU (Turabian) For more details on my expectations, please see: http://scottmitchell.shin-ibs.edu/?page_id=122 Research papers begin with an idea that you are passionate about. Mid-way through the semester, you should speak with me about your idea, and together we will ensure that you are on firm ground. I recognize that research papers can be daunting tasks; you should start thinking about your topic early in the semester. And recognize the value in doing this type of writing. All IBS/ GTU students will eventually write a thesis. Think of this assignment as practice for that eventual goal. Research papers are due Friday, December 14. No exceptions.
Detailed schedule and reading assignments: MBB = Selections from Lopez s Modern Buddhist Bible Week 1: September 4-7: Introduction to course, students, instructor, and course topics Please post a short introduction of yourself to the Moodle site. Week 2: September 10-14: Colonialism in South Asia MBB, Introduction, Henry Steel Olcott, Anagarika Dharmapala King, Richard. Orientalism and Religion: Post-Colonial Theory, India and the Mystic East. London : New York: Routledge, 1999: Chapter 7, Orientalism and the Discovery of Buddhism : 43-160. Week 3: September 17-21: Colonialism in East Asia Sharf, Robert H. The Zen of Japanese Nationalism. In Curators of the Buddha: The Study of Buddhism Under Colonialism, edited by Donald S Lopez, 107-60. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. MBB, Shaku Sōen, D.T. Suzuki Week 4: September 24-28: The World Parliament of Religions Ketelaar, James Edward. Strategic Occidentalism: Meiji Buddhists At the World s Parliament of Religions. Buddhist-Christian Studies 11 (1991): 37-56. Snodgrass, Judith. Buddha No Fukin: The Deployment of Paul Carus Gospel of Buddha in Meiji Japan. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 25 (1998): 319-44. MBB, Sir Edwin Arnold, Paul Carus Week 5: October 1-5: Japanese immigration and internment Nishimura, Arthur. The Buddhist Mission of North America 1898-1942: Religion and Its Social Function in an Ethnic Community. In North American Buddhists in Social Context, edited by Paul David Numrich, 87-106. Boston: Brill, 2008. Williams, Duncan Ryûken. Complex Loyalties: Issei Buddhist Minusters During the Wartime Incarceration. Pacific World: Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies 3,
no. 5 (2003): 255-74. Matsuura, Shinobu. Higan: Compassionate Vow; Selected Writings of Shinobu Matsuura. Berkeley: Berkeley Study Center, 1986 : 63-70. Imamura, Jane Michiko. Kaikyo: Opening the Dharma: Memoirs of a Buddhist Priest s Wife in America. Honolulu: Buddhist Study Center Press, 1998 : 7-28. Week 6: October 8-12: American Buddhism under Eisenhower Masatsugu, Michael K. Beyond This World of Transiency and Impermanence : Japanese Americans, Dharma Bums, and the Making of American Buddhism During the Early Cold War Years. Pacific Historical Review 77, no. 3 (2008): 423-51. Russell, Jeff W. Mother Gaia: A Glimpse Into the Buddhist Aesthetic of Gary Snyder. Japan Studies Review 9 (2005): 123-34. MBB, Alan Watts, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder Imamura, Jane Michiko. Kaikyo: Opening the Dharma: Memoirs of a Buddhist Priest s Wife in America. Honolulu: Buddhist Study Center Press, 1998 : 29-41. Week 7: October 15-19: Two Buddhisms, Three Buddhisms, and Racism Prebish, Charles S. Two Buddhisms Reconsidered. Buddhist Studies Review 10, no. 2 (1993): 187-206. Numrich, Paul David. Two Buddhisms Further Considered. Contemporary Buddhism 4, no. 1 (2003): 55-78. Hickey, Wakoh Shannon. Two Buddhisms, Three Buddhisms, and Racism. Journal of Global Buddhism 11 (2010). READING WEEK: October 22-26: No readings. Book reviews due next week. Week 8: October 29-November 2: Post-1965 Immigrant Buddhist communities Book review due Wednesday, October 31! Kashima, Tetsuden. The Buddhist Churches of America: Challenges for Change in the Twenty-First Century. In Shin Buddhism: Historical, Textual, and Interpretive Studies, edited by Richard K. Payne, 321-40. Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2007. Cadge, Wendy, and Sangdhanoo, Sidhorn. Thai Buddhism in America: An Historical
and Contemporary Overview. Contemporary Buddhism 6, no. 1 (2005): 7-35. Lin, Irene. Journey to the Far West: Chinese Buddhism in America. In New Spiritual Homes: Religion and Asian Americans, edited by David Yoo, 134-65. Honolulu: University of Hawai i Press, in association with UCLA Asian American Studies Center, Los Angeles, 1999. Week 9: November 5-9: New Buddhists: US Zen, Shambhala International, and Insight Mediation Coleman, James William. The Emergance of a New Buddhism: Continuity and Change. In North American Buddhists in Social Context, edited by Paul David Numrich, 185-202. Boston: Brill, 2008 Gilpin, Richard. The Use of Theravada Buddhist Practices and Perspectives in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. Contemporary Buddhism 9, no. 2 (2008): 227-51. MBB, Mahasi Sayadaw, Philip Kapleau, Chögyam Trungpa Week 10: November 12-16: Buddhism, media, and consumerism Carrette, Jeremy, and Richard King. Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion. London; New York: Routledge, 2005. Mitchell, Scott A. Buddhism, Media, and Popular Culture. In Buddhism in the Modern World, edited by David L. McMahan, 305-23. New York: Routledge, 2012. Week 11: November 19-23: Women in Buddhism, Bhikṣuṇī ordination Karma Lekshe Tsomo. Global Exchange: Women in the Transmission and Transformation of Buddhism. In TransBuddhism: Transmission, Translation, Transformation, edited by Nalini Bhushan, Jay L. Garfield, and Abraham Zablocki, 151-65. Amherst Northampton: University of Massachusetts Press In association with the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute of Smith College, 2009. Bhikṣuṇī Lozang Trinlae. The Mūlasarvāstivāda Bhikṣuṇī Has the Horns of a Rabbit: Why the Master's Tools Will Never Reconstruct the Master's House The Journal of Buddhist Ethics 17 (2010): 311-31. MBB, Ayya Khema
Week 12: November 26-30: Engaged Buddhism Required Reading King, Sallie B. Socially Engaged Buddhism. In Buddhism in the Modern World, edited by David L. McMahan, 195-213. New York: Routledge, 2012. Keown, Damien. Buddhist Ethics: A Critique. In Buddhism in the Modern World, edited by David L. McMahan, 215-31. New York: Routledge, 2012. Kassor, Constance. Buddhism in American Prisons. In TransBuddhism: Transmission, Translation, Transformation, edited by Nalini Bhushan, Jay L. Garfield, and Abraham Zablocki, 55-67. Amherst Northampton: University of Massachusetts Press In association with the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute of Smith College, 2009. MBB, Thich Nhat Hahn, Sulak Sivaraksa, The Dalai Lama, Cheng Yen Week 13: December 3-7: Final paper presentations and/or field trip reports Week 14: December 10-14: Final papers due Friday December 14