Course Schedule: Spring 2018 Time: Monday: 9:00 11:50 AM REL 659 : Buddhism in the US Course Syllabus Instructor: Shou-Jen Kuo Location: ED 300B Office: ED 346 Email: Shou-Jen.Kuo@my.uwest.edu Office Hours: by appointment only Course Description: This graduate seminar will provide students with an overview of the development history of Buddhism in the United States of America. Broad issues in American history and contemporary society that contextualize Buddhist development are explored. Through intensive reading, presentation and discussion, this seminar also aims to introduce contemporary study approaches to the Buddhism in the US. Course Objectives: Students will demonstrate a familiarity with the development history of Buddhist institutions, ideas and practices in the US; Students will have new insight into research methods and enduring research questions to study Buddhism in the US; Students will develop presentation and lecture skill in a classroom setting; Students will gain experience in critical reading and academic writing skills. Required textbook: Mitchell, Scott A. 2016. Buddhism in America: Global Religion, Local Contexts. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. Seminar material: Mitchell, Scott A. & Natalie E. F. Quli eds. 2015. Buddhism Beyond Borders New Perspectives on Buddhism in the United States. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. (in Library Reserve) More book titles are given in following seminar schedule. Requirements: 1) Educated participation and regular attendance. This seminar is organized to a graduate student forum with accompanying reading and lectures activities. Students must attend all classes, on time, having read the assigned materials in advance. Almost all required readings are available in textbooks and the PDF in Library Reserve website. Discussion activity in class is designed to help you learn the material from the reading. That means that this seminar is not a time to sit back, but one where you should lean forward and speak. - 1 -
That also means that you need to come to seminar meeting well prepared to engage the discussion materials generated from the assigned readings. 2) Assignment. This is a SEMINAR and not a lecture class. That means much of the responsibility for presentations and discussions of material will fall on you, the students. i. Each student will be assigned ONE chapter of Buddhism Beyond Borders and take responsibility for a 15-minute presentation with additional 15-minute lead discussion; ii. Each student will be assigned ONE book (see titles in weekly schedule) and take responsibility for leading a 60-minute seminar including discussion time; iii. Each student will write a 100-word short note for one class of chapter presentation and book seminar that you are NOT PRESENTING. Totally should be 7 short notes. iv. More details are given in following seminar schedule and in class. 3) Final research paper. Students will write one 15-to-20-page paper to demonstrate the learning achievement in this seminar. The topic should pick one Buddhist figure or institution or place in the United States. A 2-page writing proposal is DUE on March 12 (Week 8). Final paper is DUE on May 11. There is no midterm and final exam. 4) All assignments and final research paper are to be submitted in 12-point font, doublespaced, with standard (1-1.25 ) margins. Submission of paper copies of assignments and final research paper is necessary before the due date and time. Late papers will not be accepted. Grading: Attendance, participation 20% Assignment (7 short notes) 35% Presentation and seminar 20% Final research paper 25% WEEK 1 (January 22) - Orientation Seminar Schedule and Reading Assignment Class activity: self-introduction and lecture Orientation of studying We and The Others, as well as American Buddhism and Buddhism(s) in the US How to Read a Book or Article: Tips for Learning, Thinking, and Evaluating Introduction Convergence and divergence and Ch11 Buddhist engagements: confronting environmental and social suffering in Buddhism in America James Freeman Clarke, Ten Great Religions (1871) (PDF) Robert A. F. Thurman, Toward an American Buddhism (1998) (PDF) Charles S. Prebish, Shaping the Sangha Developmental Issues in American Buddhism (1999) (PDF) Thomas A. Tweed, Night-Stand Buddhists and Other Creatures: Sympathizers, Adherents, and the Study of Religion (1999) (PDF) - 2 -
WEEK 2 (January 29) Scholarly perspectives to study Buddhism in the US Class activities: lecture and discussion Mark A. Noll, The Separation of Church and State (2002) (PDF) Martin E. Marty, Crises in the Protestant Empire (1985) (PDF) Will Herberg, The Three Religious Communities: Unity and Tension (1960) (PDF) Diana L. Eck, Introduction to a New America (2001) (PDF) Robert Bellah, Civil Religion in America (1965) (PDF) WEEK 3 (February 5) American religious landscape Class activities: lecture and discussion Ch2 Nineteenth century foundations, Ch3 From acculturation to the counterculture, and Ch4 Diversity and pluralism at century s end in Buddhism in America Anagarika Dharmapala, The World s Debt to Buddha (1893) (PDF) Soyen Shaku, Reply to a Christian Critic (1893) (PDF) WEEK 4 (February 12) The American encounter with Buddhism Class activity: lecture and discussion Reading for Week 6 - February 26: Ch 1-5, Buddhism Beyond Borders WEEK 5 (February 19) Class activities: NO CLASS WEEK 6 (February 26) Topic presentation Class activities: presentation and discussion Thomas A. Tweed, Theory and Method in the Study of Buddhism: Toward Translocative Analysis Jeff Wilson, Regionalism within North American Buddhism Wakoh Shannon Hickey, Two Buddhisms, Three Buddhisms, and Racism Michihiro Ama, First White Buddhist Priestess: A Case Study of Sunya Gladys Pratt at the Tacoma Buddhist Temple Jeannine Chandler, Invoking the Dharma Protector: Western Involvement in the Dorje Shugden Controversy Ch 6-9, Buddhism Beyond Borders Constance Kassor, Buddhism in American Prisons (2009) (PDF) - 3 -
(recommendation) Lee Irwin, Walking the Line: Pipe and Sweat Ceremonies in Prison (2006) (PDF) WEEK 7 (March 5) Topic presentation Class activities: presentation and discussion Helen J. Baroni, Zen at a Distance: Isolation and the Development of Distant Membership Richard Hughes Seager, Dharma Images and Identity in American Buddhism Kimberly Beek, Telling Tales Out of School: The Fiction of Buddhism Constance Kassor, Buddhism in American Prisons Mira Niculescu, Mind Full of God: Jewish Mindfulness as an Offspring of Western Buddhism in America Ch 10-12, Buddhism Beyond Borders Ch8 Postmodern horizon? in Buddhism in America WEEK 8 (March 12) Topic presentation and DUE: Final Paper proposal Class activities: presentation and discussion; presentation of Final Paper proposal Erik Braun, The United States of Jhāna: Varieties of Modern Buddhism in America David L McMahan, Buddhism and Multiple Modernities Natalie E. F. Quli and Scott A. Mitchell, Buddhism Modernism as Narrative: A Comparative Study of Jodo Shinshu and Zen Reading for Week 10 - March 26: Henderson, Harold. 1993. Catalyst for Controversy: Paul Carus of Open Court. Carbondale and Edwardsville, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. (in Library Reserve) Snodgrass, Judith. 2003. Presenting Japanese Buddhism to the West: Orientalism, Occidentalism, and the Columbian Exposition. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. (in Library Reserve) WEEK 9 (March 19) Class activity: NO CLASS WEEK 10 (March 26) Seminar: East and West Encountering Title: Catalyst for Controversy: Paul Carus of Open Court Title: Presenting Japanese Buddhism to the West: Orientalism, Occidentalism, and the Columbian Exposition - 4 -
Chaeh, Joseph. 2011. Race and Religion in American Buddhism: White Supremacy and Immigrant Adaptation. New York: Oxford University Press. (in Library Reserve) Tonkinson, Carole, ed. 1995. Big Sky Mind: Buddhism and the Beat Generation. New York: Riverhead Books. (in Library Reserve) Ch10 Buddhist identities: Race, gender, and sexuality in Buddhism in America WEEK 11 (April 2) Seminar: American Response to Buddhism in 20 th Century Title: Race and Religion in American Buddhism: White Supremacy and Immigrant Adaptation Title: Big Sky Mind: Buddhism and the Beat Generation Numrich, Paul David. 1996. Old Wisdom in the New World: Americanization in Two Immigrant Theravada Buddhist Temples. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press. (in Library Reserve) Cadge, Wendy. 2005. Heartwood - The First Generation of Theravada Buddhism in America. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. (in Library Reserve) Ch5 Theravada traditions in Buddhism in America WEEK 12 (April 9) Seminar: Theravada Buddhism in the US Title: Old Wisdom in the New World: Americanization in Two Immigrant Theravada Buddhist Temples Title: Heartwood - The First Generation of Theravada Buddhism in America Chen, Carolyn. 2008. Getting Saved in America Taiwanese Immigration and Religious Experience. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (ebook) Suh, Sharon. 2004. Being Buddhist in a Christian World Gender & Community in a Korean American Temple. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. (in Library Reserve) Ch6 Mahayana traditions in Buddhism in America WEEK 13 (April 16) Seminar: Mahayana Buddhism in the US Title: Getting Saved in America Taiwanese Immigration and Religious Experience Title: Being Buddhist in a Christian World Gender & Community in a Korean American Temple - 5 -
Ama, Michihiro. 2011. Immigrants to the Pure Land: The Modernization, Acculturation, and Globalization of Shin Buddhism, 1898-1941. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai i Press. (in Library Reserve) Mullen, Eve. 2001. The American Occupation of Tibetan Buddhism: Tibetans and Their American Hosts in New York City. New York: Waxmann. (in Library Reserve) Ch7 Vajrayana traditions in Buddhism in America WEEK 14 (April 23) Seminar: Shin Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism in the US Title: Immigrants to the Pure Land: The Modernization, Acculturation, and Globalization of Shin Buddhism, 1898-1941 Title: The American Occupation of Tibetan Buddhism: Tibetans and Their American Hosts in New York City Whalen-Bridge, John and Gary Storhoff, eds. 2014. Buddhism and American Cinema. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. (in Library Reserve) Wilson, Jeff. 2014. Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture. New York: Oxford University Press. (in Library Reserve) Ch9 Buddhist medias: Art, practice, and representation in Buddhism in America WEEK 15 (April 30) Seminar: Buddhism in American Popular Culture Title: Buddhism and American Cinema Title: Mindful America: The Mutual Transformation of Buddhist Meditation and American Culture Wilson, Jeff. 2012. Dixie Dharma Inside a Buddhist Temple in the American South. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. (in Library Reserve) Ch12 Buddhist modernities: US Buddhism in its global context in Buddhism in America WEEK 16 (May 7) Seminar: Issue of Developing an Orthodox Buddhism in the US Title: Dixie Dharma Inside a Buddhist Temple in the American South Discussion: How to re-define the conception of the authenticity of Buddhism(s) in the United States of America? Conclusion May 11: Final paper DUE - 6 -
Class Policies 1) Every accommodation on class absence and late submission of assignment will be made for illness, family issues, and so forth but you must be in contact with the instructor and provide documentation. 2) Electronic devices: Cellphones must be turned OFF in class. No texting, chatting, tweeting, browsing, etc. is allowed during class. 3) Honesty and Integrity: This course operates under University of the West s Academic Integrity Policy and Procedures. Academic honesty is absolutely necessary. Plagiarism is not tolerated at UWest and has serious consequences. Your discussion response, assignments and Final research plan paper must be your own work and inadequate referencing may be seen as plagiarism. The consequences for plagiarism in any form range from a zero on the assignment in question to a failing grade in the course. If you have questions about correct referencing, please consult the instructor. - 7 -