Contemporary Buddhism in Japan & Asia

Buddhism and Social Change in Contemporary Asia: Spring 2023

Course Plan

Unit 1: the Social Foundations of Buddhism
April 10

Class 1: Introduction: What Is Religion? & A Brief History of Buddhism

  • Introduction to Course: Read the Course Overview & Requirements & Final Project pages on this site
  • Class Issue: Many students in our class will come from cultures tied to the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam based on the belief in a single creator God. Asian religion, and Buddhism in particular which does not believe in a creator God, has a very different approach to religion. In particular, the strong Christian emphasis on faith/belief in a transcendental God and the strong Japanese emphasis on ritual/custom connected to an immanental pantheism creates a very different understanding of religion. This first class will help students grasp such differences so that they may have a better foundation for understanding Buddhism as a religion and not just as a philosophy.
  • Lecture & Power Point Presentation: What is Religion and A Brief History of Buddhism (PDF) Click here for the audio lecture attached to the PPT
  • Reading: “Karma for Everyone: Social Justice and the Problem of Re-ethicizing Karma in Theravada Buddhist Societies” pp. 13-36 in Rethinking Karma: The Dharma of Social Justice.  Ed. Jonathan S. Watts (Bangkok, Thailand: International Network of Engaged Buddhists, 2014, 2nd edition)

Class 2: Buddhist Sociology: A Community of Liberation, A Culture of Diversity, An Institution of Power

  • Class Issue: After looking at Buddhism in the context of other religions, we must also look at Buddhism in the context of cultural and historical settings and NOT as a set of abstract teachings and idealized forms. This class takes a critical look at society at the time of the Buddha and what the Buddha’s teachings meant for that time. It then traces the development of Buddhism as a civilizational force by the dawn of the Common Era, its spread into the rest of Asia, and its institutionalization through economic and political forces.
  • Presentation: Buddhist Sociology: A Community of Liberation A Culture of Diversity An Institution of Power (PDF) Click here for the audio lecture that goes with the PPT
  • Reading:  “The ‘Positive Disintegration’ of Buddhism” (first half, pp. 91-107) in Rethinking Karma.
  • HOMEWORK (due April 17 @ 12:00 noon JST) Submit 1 page reflection on Unit 1: What is Buddhism to you? Reflecting on the readings and the two lectures, you may write a very personal and non-academic one-page, single space paper on what Buddhism means to you (i.e. a philosophy, a way of life, a religion, etc.). There is no right answer! But you will be evaluated for the clarity and depth of your reflection. 

Unit 2: Buddhist Responses to Modernity
April 17

Class 1: 4 Responses to Modernity: Buddhist Nationalism & Socially Engaged Buddhism, Market Buddhism & Buddhist Socialism

  • Class Issue: Modernity, Capitalism, and Scientific Materialism has presented perhaps the single greatest historical challenge to the traditional religions of the world. In this class, we will look at how Buddhism has responded to these forces. Have they pushed Buddhism to rediscover and renew its core or have they created neurotic responses that have deeply compromised this core?
  • Presentation: Buddhism at the End of the Colonial Period (Click here for the audio lecture that goes with the PPT)
  • Videos: click on this link to see the entire selection of videos (These videos are shown and discussed during normal class time. Please watch them as a complement to the course readings on this week’s issues)
  1. Buddhist Nationalism in Japan and Sri Lanka
  2. Socially Engaged Buddhism in Vietnam, Burma, and Japan
  3. Market Buddhism in Thailand
  4. Buddhist Socialism from Tibet

Class 2: Responses to Modernity: What is authentic Buddhism?

  • Class Issue: Of the four movements that we have studied above, how true to or deviating from the teachings of the Buddha are they?
  1. Buddhist Nationalism: Buddhism is a civilizational religion speaking about the ability for all kinds of people to gain enlightenment, indeed for all sentient beings. Does Buddhism in favor of the state completely warp this teaching? Should one choose loyalty to their own country and people over the well being of others?
  2. Socially Engaged Buddhism: Buddhism is primarily focused on practicing meditation for the enlightenment of each individual. Is becoming involved in social issues and problems a total distraction and deviation from this essential path
  3. Buddhist Socialism: How can you conceive of it when Marx said religion is the opiate of the masses? Is Socialism inherently materialistic and atheistic? If so, is this a weakness of it?
  4. Market Buddhism: The core of Buddhist teaching is that greed creates ego and suffering. How can Buddhism be reconciled with the aims and forms of capitalism? Do capitalist values and aims support the aggressive conversion people, which seems to goes against Buddhist values?
  • Videos from two engaged Buddhist leaders, Harsha Navaratne (Sri Lanka) on Buddhist Nationalism (3 mins) & Engaged Buddhism (3 mins) and from Sulak Sivaraksa (Thailand) on Market Buddhism (5 mins) & Buddhist Socialism (4 mins)
  • Readings on Buddhist Nationalism, Socially Engaged Buddhism, Market Buddhism, and Buddhist Socialism from the Readings Page
  • HOMEWORK (due April 24 @ 12:00 noon JST): Submit 1 page reflection by answering the above questions about 1 of the 4 movements of Modernist Buddhism (Buddhist Nationalism, Engaged Buddhism, Buddhist Socialism, or Market Buddhism). Please refer to at least 2 readings.

Unit 3: A Buddhist Method to Resolving the Eco-Crisis
April 24

Class 1: The Roots of the Eco-Crisis: The “Three Poisons” Institutionalized (1st & 2nd Noble Truths)

  • Opening Presentation on the Diversity of Buddhist Movements in the Post-War Era (PDF) Click here for the audio lecture that goes with the PPT
  • Main Presentation: The Four Noble Truths: A Buddhist Approach to Understanding Self and Society
  • Class Issue: In David Loy’s Eco-Dharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis (2018), he writes, “It is no exaggeration to say that today humanity faces its greatest challenge ever: in addition to burgeoning social crises, a self-inflicted ecological catastrophe threatens civilization as we know it and (according to some scientists) perhaps even our survival as a species. I hesitate to describe this as an apocalypse because that term is now associated with Christian millenarianism, but its original meaning certainly applies: literally, an apocalypse is ‘an uncovering,’ the disclosure of something hidden—in this case revealing the ominous consequences of what we have been doing to the earth and to ourselves. Traditional Buddhist teachings help us wake up individually and realize our interdependence with others. Now we also need to consider how Buddhism can help us wake up and respond to this new predicament. And what does the eco-crisis imply about how we understand and practice Buddhism?”
  • Exercise: Draw an Iceberg of Dukkha and fill in the 3 areas as follows: 1st Noble Truth (top corner): identify environmental problems of your community, nation, or region and how they are experienced directly by citizens as Direct Dukkha; 2nd Noble Truth (bottom two corners): identify the structural and cultural issues and causes, especially if and how religion has any influence. You may do this exercise alone or get a partner or two from the same region and do it together. See the tutorial on “How to make an Iceberg of Dukkha”

Class 2: A Transformative Approach to the Eco-Crisis using Buddhist Teachings & Practice (3rd & 4th Noble Truths)

  • Presentation: The Diamond of Nirvana & Joanna Macy’s The Three Dimensions of the Great Turning
  • Class Issue: David Loy’s responses to the eco-crisis: The Buddhist response to our ecological predicament is ecodharma, a new term for a new development of the Buddhist tradition. It combines ecological concerns (eco) with the teachings of Buddhism and related spiritual traditions (dharma). What that actually means, and what difference it makes in how we live and practice, is still unfolding, but three components or aspects that stand out are: 1) time/meditation in the natural world to reconnect; 2) looking at the eco-implications of Buddhist teachings; and 3) the bodhisattva/ecosattva Path, especially action without attachment to results.
  • Exercise: Draw a Diamond Pyramid of Nirvana and fill in the 3 areas as follows for your community, nation, or region: 3rd Noble Truth (top corner): What are holding actions (i.e. emergency work) to save the environment ? 4th Noble Truth: (bottom left) What are some alternative structures you can build to create the proper balance between the environment and the economy; (bottom right) What new shifts in consciousness can you enact to realize this balance between environment and economy, and specifically what Buddhist teachings might help guide you? You may do this exercise alone or get a partner or two from the same region and do it together. See the tutorial on “How to make a Diamond of Nirvana”
  • Homework (due May 1 @ 12:00 noon JST) Do some readings on Buddhist environmental development and finish creating your 2 Pyramids of Dukkha and Nirvana. Then write a 2 page explanation of your pyramids (1/2 page per each Noble Truth). You may submit this homework alone or get a partner or two from the same region and do it together. 

Unit 4:  Science, Death, & Buddhism
May 1

Topic 1: The Science of Dying & Meditation

  • Class Issue: What happens after death? Does the way you die affect what happens after death? Does suicide lead to hell or is it an escape from suffering in this world? Does science or religion offer the better explanation of how to deal with end of life? This unit will look at Buddhism’s ancient traditions of the science of death and dying. It will also examine modern Buddhist movements of helping the sick to die more mindfully and peacefully as well as helping the suicidal to re-embrace live and find meaning.
  • Presentation: Dying and Living in Contemporary Buddhism Part I: Stoicism, Detachment, and Mindfulness: Death in Classical Theravada Buddhism & Zen (entire PDF) See all 4 parts of audio lecture here
  • Video: Rev. Jotetsu Nemoto and the power of meditation to face death
  • Presentation: Part II: Rapture, Illumination & Surfing the Intermediate Realms in Mahayana Buddhism
  • Video: The Tibetan Book of the Dead : A Way of Life (47 mins but you can watch just until 26:35 and then skip to watch 37:45-38:35)

Topic 2: Dying & Living in Contemporary Buddhism: The End-of-Life Care Movement

  • Class Issue: In many countries around the world, the baby boomer generation that followed the end of WWII is coming to an end in a unprecedented mass dying that has already begun. Most generations since then have been walled off from death in the replacement of traditional ways of dying at home with highly medicalized ones in hospitals. However, many national medical systems cannot handle the burden of such a mass die off and are pushing patients out of hospitals to other venues like hospices and even back to their homes. As a young person coming of age in this era, how will you confront the challenges of caring for so many who will die around you? Could Buddhism provide a resource?
  • Presentation: Dying and Living in Contemporary Buddhism Part III: Buddhist End-of-Life Care
  • Video: The Death Diary of a Thai Female Engaged Buddhist: Supaporn Pongpruk: Learning to Face Death with Grace Part I (19 mins) & Part 2 (17 mins)
  • Presentation: Dying and Living in Contemporary Buddhism Part IV: Science & Buddhism
  • Video: Mind and Life, Envisioning the Future of Contemplative Science
  • No Homework this week 🙂

Unit 5: Diversity & The Other in Buddhism
May 8 & 15

May 8: Buddhism and the “Emptiness” (sunnata 空) of Gender

Class 1: Patriarchy and the Role of Women in Buddhism

Class 2: LGBTQ and Gender De-construction/Re-construction in Buddhism

  • Class Issue: Buddhism has no categorical prohibitions on homosexuality with the 3rd precept guiding us about how to engage in sexuality and sensuality (i.e. without harm or violence) rather than in what type of sexuality. Still, as with its issues with patriarchy, Buddhism has taken on mainstream hetero-normative attitudes in most traditional Asian countries. In this class, we will examine the doctrinal basis in Buddhism towards a fluid view of gender and a potentially supportive stance on LQBTQ issues. We will also investigate some pioneering Buddhists today promoting this view.
  • Presentation: Conflicting Streams Towards Gender in the Development of Buddhism Part II: The Development of Conflicting Streams in Mahayana Buddhism (PDF) Click here for the  audio lecture that goes with the PDF (see links above in Part I)
  • Video: A short lecture to the Theravada monks by Chinese Chan/Zen Master Bhikkhuni Wu Yin
  • Presentation: Conflicting Streams Towards Gender in the Development of Buddhism Part III: Gender Play at its Extreme in Vajrayana Buddhism (PDF) Click here for the  audio lecture that goes with the PDF (see links above in Part I)
  • Video: A Monk Who Wears Heels about Rev. Kodo Nishimura a Buddhist priest from the Japanese Jodo Pure Land denomination, makeup artist, LGBTQ activist, and model. NHK World Documentary. March 5, 2022
  • No Homework this week 🙂

May 15: Buddhism and Inter-Religious Conflict with special guest Somboon Chungprampree (Director of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists & Niwano Peace Prize Selection Committee) 

Class 1: Buddhism & Hinduism: Caste, Class, and the Revival of Buddhism in India

Class 2: Buddhism & Islam: Inter-Religious Conflict in Myanmar

Homework (due May 22 @ 12:00 noon JST): Craft a 2 page Buddhist Human Rights Declaration to Respond to the ONE OF THE THREE issues of this unit: 1) caste discrimination in India, 2) ethnic & religious discrimination in Myanmar and/or Sri Lanka, or 3) gender in Thailand and/or LGBTQ discrimination in Japan. You may submit this homework alone or get a partner and do it together. 

  1. Create your own made-up Buddhist organization (i.e. regional Buddhist association, national inter-faith council, etc. for example, Kamakura Association of Buddhists – KAB)
  2. Organize your declaration around the 4 Noble Truths:
  • outline the suffering (is it only the victim’s?) 1/2 page
  • indicate the deeper causes (structural and cultural) 1/2 page
  • describe Holding Actions to stem the violence 1/2 page
  • outline a vision for the region & recommended policy initiatives 1/2 page

Here are two examples:

Conclusion:  Young Bodhisattvas Traversing the Digital World
May 22

  • Class Issue: What is the potential of Buddhism for the next generation? In what ways must it update itself to be relevant in the modern world? Should it become more scientific? What aspects should be brought out and what aspects should be abandoned?
  • Zoom Guest #1: Dexter Bohn (Communications Director at INEB, Watts Keio Alumni 2019-2020) Many students and young adults today have a strong concern for social justice while also having an interest in inner growth and spirituality. In previous eras, these two concerns have often been separated. Further, Buddhism has often been portrayed as being an individualistic religion focused on the personal attainment of enlightenment. The Socially Engaged Buddhist movement has presented a vision and path for bringing these inner and outer drives together as an integrated path. The International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) based in Thailand has a growing network of “young bodhisattva” activists who are developing a variety of approaches to inner personal cultivation and outer social activism.
  • Zoom Guest #2: Vienna Looi (INEB Malaysia) As a Chinese Malay, Vienna has shown an unusual interest in radical social justice and alternative economics in her self-descrived Crypto-Dharma work. We have studied about Market Buddhism and Dharmic Socialism, but is there a third way? Can creative Chinese business minds also dedicated to “awakening to buddha nature” create an economy for a new world?
  • Group Work: Create a list of issues that Buddhism should address and offer guidance to young people about, such as developing sexual identity, facing climate change, using social media & then develop Buddhist positions on them.
  • Video: The Francisco J. Varela Research Awards for Young Pioneers (4 mins)
  • Presentation: INEB’s Young Bodhisattva training program at 20 years

Final Reflection & Homework (due May 29 @ 12:00 noon JST): Submit 1 page reflection on: “The World is on Fire”: In this age, there is so much suffering: both inner, as seen in rampant psycho-spiritual illness, and outer, as seen in religious-ethnic & racial violence, the eco-crisis, and now the COVID-19 pandemic. As a young person coming of age in this world, how do you want to respond? Retreating from the world to meditate and gain liberation? Becoming an academic searching the new frontiers of knowledge? Becoming an activist and fighting for social justice? Raising a family and building a new world of interbeing?