Art and Design Building L008
TR 1:30-2:45pm
Fall 2017
Professor: Catherine Prueitt
Office: Robinson Hall B 446
Email: cprueitt@gmu.edu
RELI 315: Buddhism
Imperial conquest, ritual sex, high-stakes philosophical disputes, and divine beings who play
with universes as if they were marbles---these might not be the first things that come to mind
when you think about Buddhism. Yet, the brilliant world of pre-modern South Asian Buddhists
includes all of these, and much more. We'll move beyond the image of a solitary monk
meditating on a mountaintop to explore early Buddhist traditions in all of their mind-bending
complexity.
Required Text
1998. Gethin, Rupert. The Foundations of Buddhism. New York: Oxford University Press.
We will have many other readings that will be posted on Blackboard.
Course Structure and Grading
Weekly Online Discussion Board and Class Participation (40%)
By Wednesday at 11:59pm each week, you’ll post a short reflection on the discussion board on
Blackboard about some aspect of our readings. You’re required to directly quote one of our
readings to get full credit, and I encourage you to ask questions. These posts will give you an
opportunity to think through the material, and also let me focus in on areas that seem particularly
tricky or conducive to discussion. Please note that this is a significant portion of your grade.
Museum Visit and Short Context Paper (20%)
This semester, we have the opportunity to visit a new exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Sackler
Gallery called Encountering the Buddha (http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/future.asp). You’ll
write a 5 page paper applying at least one of the readings in our class to analyzing some aspect of
the exhibit. More details to come.
Final Research Paper (40%)
You’ll write a 10-15 page paper on a topic you chose in consultation with me. The paper must
include at least five outside scholarly sources.
Office Hours
I have two types of office hours: by appointment and drop-in. You can schedule an appointment
on Mondays between 10am-11:30am and 2:30am-4pm; or Wednesdays 11am-2pm. I’ll also have
drop-in hours on Wednesdays from 2pm-4pm.
What this means is that I’ll always be in my office Wednesdays between 2pm and 4pm. I’ll most
likely be there during the other times, but may step out for various reasons. However, the other
Monday/Wednesday times are always available by appointment.
To book an appointment, follow this link: http://meetingswithprofprueitt.setmore.com/
Late Policy
You will not get credit for late discussion board posts. The category has extra points built into it
so that you can miss two over the course of the semester and still end up with 40/40 points in the
category. If you do all of them, you’ll get extra credit by ending up with 48/40 points. Please talk
to me about missing posts if there’s something going on.
If you do not ask me for an extension, I will deduct 1% from your final grade on an essay for
each day it is late. This is a hard and fast policy. If you would like an extension, please send me
a ridiculous excuse. It can be a story about how an alien in a blue telephone booth whisked you
away to the far corners of the universe, an account of how mutant dinosaurs devoured your
computer, or anything else you fancy. It can be short and you can ask for the extension on
midnight the day the essay is due if you need to. Just talk to me and try not to worry.
Schedule
Tuesday, August 29th:
First day of class
Unit I: The World of Early Buddhism
Thursday, August 31st: The Vedic Context
Ganeri, The Concealed Art of the Soul, “Hidden in the Cave: the Upaniṣadic Self”
Tuesday, September 5th: The Life of the Buddha
Gethin, Introduction and Chapter 1
Thursday, September 7th: The Buddha’s Method
Ganeri, The Concealed Art of the Soul, “Dangerous Truths”; selections from the Nikāyas
Tuesday, September 12th: The Four Truths and the Pāli Cannon
Gethin, Chapter 2 up to p. 49; all of Chapter 3; selections from the Nikāyas
Thursday, September 14th: No-self and Dependent Origination
Gethin, Chapter 6; Gethin, The Sayings of the Buddha, “The Origin of Things”; MacKenzie,
“Enacting Selves, Enacting Worlds: On the Buddhist Theory of Karma,” Philosophy East and
West 63: 2, 2013, 194–212
Tuesday, September 19th: Buddhist Cosmology and Meditation
Gethin, “Cosmology and Meditation”; Gethin, Chapter 7
Thursday, September 21st: The Early Buddhist Community
Gethin, Chapter 4; selections from Songs of the Sons and Daughters of the Buddha
Unit II: After the Buddha’s Death
Tuesday, September 26th: Previous lives of the Buddha
Collins, Nirvana, “Chapter 5: Past and Future Buddhas” and Appendix I and II, 126-184
Thursday, September 28th: Absence
Collins, Nirvana, “Nirvana as concept,” 29-60; Strong, Relics of the Buddha, “Chapter 4: The
Parinirvāṇa of the Buddha”
Tuesday, October 3rd: Presence
Strong, Relics of the Buddha, “Chapter 8: Relics and Eschatology” and “Conclusions”; selections
from the jātakas
Thursday, October 5th: Early Buddhist Narratives
Rotman, Divine Stories, “The Story of Koṭikarṇa” and “The Story of Svāgata,” 39-70 and 289-
324
Tuesday, October 10th:
NO CLASS; Columbus Day recess
Thursday, October 12th: Aśoka and the Spread of Early Buddhism
Strong, Relics of the Buddha, “Aśoka and the Buddha Relics”; selections from the Aśokāvadāna
and a few edicts
Tuesday, October 17th: Institutional Buddhism
TBD; Schopen (youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GeZGFvbDzo)
Thursday, October 19th: Renunciant Bodies
Selections from Wilson, Charming Cadavers
Unit III: New Revelations
Tuesday, October 24th: New Movements
Williams, Mahāyāna Buddhism, “Introduction,” 1-44
Thursday, October 26th: New Revelations
Nattier, A Few Good Men, Chapter 4, “The Institutional Setting,” 73-102; selections from the
Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra (trans. Harrison)
Tuesday, October 31st: The Teachings of Vimalakīrti
Selections from the Vimalakīrtinirdeśasūtra; Williams, Mahāyāna Buddhism, “Chapter 2:
Perfection of Wisdom Sutras”
Thursday, November 2nd: Madhyamaka Philosophy
Williams, Mahāyāna Buddhism, “Chapter 3: Mādhyamika” (up to p. 81); Ganeri, Concealed Art
of the Soul, “Words that Burn”; selections from Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
Tuesday, November 7th: The Bodhisattva Path
Selections from Śāntideva, Bodhicāryāvatāra (trans. Williams)
Thursday, November 9th: Yogācāra
Williams, Mahāyāna Buddhism, “Chapter 4: Yogācāra,” 84-102; Gold, Paving the Great Way,
“Vasubandhu’s Yogācāra,” 128-174; Selections from Vasubandhu, Distinguishing the Middle
from the Extremes (trans. D’Amato); Vasubandhu, The Twenty Verses (trans. Kachru)
Tuesday, November 14th: Yogācāra sūtras
Selections from Laṅkāvatārasūtra
Thursday, November 16th: Mind, Logic, and the Path
Dunne, “Realizing the Unreal: Dharmakīrti’s Theory of Yogic Perception”; Eltschinger,
“Nescience as Erroneous Cognition,” Buddhist Epistemology as Apologetics, 247-265; selection
from Eckel
Tuesday, November 21st:
NO CLASS I’ll be at a conference
Museum Context Paper due
Thursday, November 23rd:
NO CLASS Thanksgiving break
Unit IV: Practice, Power, and Empire
Tuesday, November 28th: Historiography of Tantra
Wedemeyer, Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism, “Chapter 1: Origins, Religion, and the Origins
of Tantrism” and “Chapter 2: Narrating Tantric Buddhism,” 17-67
Final paper topic due to me
Thursday, November 30th: Tantric Transgressive Practices
Wedemeyer, Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism, “Chapter 4: The Semiology of Transgression”
and “Chapter 5: The Practice of Indian Tantric Buddhism,” 105-169
Tuesday, December 5th: Tantra and Kingship
Selections from Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism
Thursday, December 7th: Tantra and Empire
Selections from Dalton, The Taming of the Demons
Concluding section: the many worlds of South Asian Buddhism
December 9th:
Last day of class
Final papers due to me via Blackboard on Tuesday, December 19th
