| Program Detail |
: This course is a survey of major historical movements and cultural expressions, relative to Buddhism, from India and Tibet to China and Japan. We will examine the origin and development of the teachings, rituals, and institutions, of the Buddhist tradition, in South Asia, over the period since the beginning of the common era, to the present day. Topics to be covered include: the life and times of Siddhartha Gautama (the historical Buddha); the implantation in East Asian societies of the various forms of Buddhism that developed in South Asia; the development of new Buddhist ?schools? (especially ?Pure Land? and Ch?an/Zen) in East Asia; the relation between Buddhism and the other religious traditions in East Asia; the relation between Buddhism and the State; the early Buddhist community (monasteries and nunneries); popular Buddhist piety and social movements; the development of the two chief schools that comprise most of Buddhism (The Theravada, and The Mahayana), and the role of women in Buddhism. |
