A Detailed Study of Buddhist Religious Tradition

Course Code: BRS05

A Detailed Study of Buddhist Religious Tradition

BD III, Semester 1, 4 Credit Hours, College Paper

Course Objectives:

1. To critically study the development and importance of Buddhism over different periods of time and their contexts with special reference to India.
2. To cultivate an informed understanding of Buddhism.
3. To enrich Christian interfaith perspectives through comparison with Buddhist positions.
4. To discern liberative resources in Buddhism over against oppressive forces in religion, culture, and society.

Methodology:

• Historical, sociological, anthropological, but also philosophical, phenomenological approaches to the study are used when applicable.
• The different sections of the course include critical reflections from the perspectives of women, Dalits, tribals, and the poor.
• Students are expected to visit temples and observe the performance of rituals and sanskaras as well as a festival celebration.
• Audio-visual aids can be used particularly where practical exposure is difficult.
• Visit homes of Buddhists and seeking their views on their beliefs and practices are welcome. A lecture by knowledgeable practicing Buddhists should be arranged.
• Students are expected to write critical reflective reports of all exposures.

Course Requirements:

• Final Examination: 60%
• Internal Assessment: 40%

Course Outline:

1. Introduction

• The emergence of Buddhism in ancient India: a protest movement against Brahmanical Hinduism.
• Buddhism among other heterodox schools of thought.

2. Early Buddhist Thought: Dhamma

• Three marks of existence: anicca, anatta, dukkha.
• Four Noble Truths – catvari aryasatyani and Eightfold Path – aryastangamarga.
• Five aggregates or skandhas.
• Theory of Dependent Origination-pratityasamutpada.
• Karma and Nirvana.

3. Development of Buddhist Community: Sangha

• Monastic institutions for bhikkhu and bhikkhuni.
• The relationship between monastic and lay communities.
• Social Ethics: for bhikkhu/bhikkhuni and laity.
• Buddhist ritual life and practices: festivals, pilgrimages.

4. Buddhist Mainstream Schools

• Councils and sectarian debates.
• Southern and Northern Buddhism: contrasting features.
• Theravada.
• Mahayana.
• Vajrayana.

5. Expansion and Decline of Buddhism in India

• Expansion within India and beyond? Ashoka, Kanishka.
• Expansion and development of Buddhism in East Asia and the West.
• Theories of decline of Buddhism in India.
• Buddhist revival and reform movements in India with special reference to Anagarika Dhannapala and Ambedkar.

6. Languages, Literature, and Study of Texts

• Oral and written transmission of texts: Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit.
• Role of stupas, relics, and images.
• Reading:
  • “Setting in Motion the Wheel of Truth” (First Sermon of the Buddha: Dhammacakkappavattana-Sutta).
  • “The Foundations of Mindfulness” (Satipatthana-sutta).
  • Both texts abridged and translated by Walpola Rahula.
  • Dhammapada: chapters 7, 12, 14, 15, 20.

7. Some Important Issues for Comparative Study

Caste and Untouchability.
• Gender issues.
• Ecology and environmental degradation.
• Fundamentalism, Terrorism, and world peace.
• The problem of suffering.
• The Buddha and the Christ.

Literature

Required Subject Reading:

• Rahula, Walpola Sri, What the Buddha Taught, 1st ed. 1959. [This book is ‘a must’, therefore: Buddhist Cultural Centre, 125, Anderson Road, Nedimala, Dehiwala, Sri Lanka. ISBN 955-9219-19-7]
• Chakravarti, Uma, The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism, Delhi: OUP, 1987.

Required Perspectival Reading:

• King, Richard, Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Hindu and Buddhist Thought, New Delhi: Maya Publishers, 1999.
• Abeysinghe, Rasika. ‘Interfaith and Interfaith Tolerance – A Religious Ethic in a Secular World.’ In Religious Tolerance and Harmony: Research papers presented at the International Conference on Religious Tolerance and Harmony, Dept of Religious Studies and Comparative Philosophy of the Buddhist and Pali University, Sri Lanka, 2015, (p. 10).

All Subjects

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