Contemporary Buddhism in Japan & Asia

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Course Plan

Unit 1: the Social Foundations of Buddhism
May 5

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.
  • Power Point Presentation: What is Religion & A Brief History of Buddhism
  • 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 just 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 civlizational force by the dawn of the Common Era, its spread into the rest of Asia, and its institutionalization through economic and political forces.
  • Power Point Presentation: Setting the Stage for Modernity: How Buddhism became a religion ensconced in economic privilege, patriarchy, and ritualism.
  • The Pyramid vs. The Web: How Cosmology Reflects Power in Society
  • Reading:  “The ‘Positive Disintegration’ of Buddhism” (first half pp. 91-107) in Rethinking Karma.
  • HOMEWORK (due May 12) Submit 1 page reflection on Unit 1: What is Buddhism to you?

Unit 2: Buddhist Responses to Modernity
May 12

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

  • Class Issue: Modernity, Capitalism, Scientific Materialism has presented perhaps the largest historical challenge to the great 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
  • Videos:
  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, Sulak Sivaraksa (Thailand) & Harsha Navaratne (Sri Lanka), on these four issues.
  • Readings on Buddhist Nationalism, Socially Engaged Buddhism, Market Buddhism, and Buddhist Socialism from the Readings Page
  • HOMEWORK (due May 19): Submit 1 page reflection by answering the 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: Buddhist Economics and Environmentalism
May 19

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
  • 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 economic & environmental problems/dukkha 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.

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
  • David Loy’s responses to the eco-crisis: 1) time/meditation in the natural world, to reconnect; 2) looking at the eco-implications of Buddhist teachings; 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: 3rd Noble Truth (top corner): What are holding actions (i.e. emergency work) to save the planet? 4th Noble Truth: (bottom left) What are some alternative structures we can build to create the proper balance between the environment and the economy; (bottom right) What new shifts in consciousness can we enact to realize this balance between environment and economy, and specifically what Buddhist teachings might help guide us? You may do this exercise alone or get a partner or two from the same region and do it together.
  • Homework (due May 26): 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: Diversity & The Other in Buddhism
May 26 & June 2

Class 1: Human Rights: Caste, Class, and the Revival of Buddhism in India

Class 2: Gender: The Role of Women in Buddhism & LGBT and Gender de-construction/re-construction in Buddhism

June 2: Buddhism & Other Religions: Inter-Religious Conflict between Buddhism & Islam

Homework: Craft a Buddhist Declaration to Respond to the Rohingya Issue (2 pages)

  1. Groups of 3-4 (choose an identity for your group, e.g. regional Buddhist association, national inter-faith council, etc.)
  2. Organize around 4 NTs:
  • outline the suffering (is it only the Ronhingya’s?)
  • indicate the deeper causes (structural and cultural)
  • describe Holding Actions to stem the violence
  • outline a vision for the region & recommended policy initiatives

Here’s an example of one:

Homework for May 14: Submit a 2 page group declaration based on the 4 Noble Truths which call for action regarding this urgent issue

Unit 5:  Science, Death, & Buddhism
June 9

Class 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?
  • Presentation on Dying in the Three Yanas of Buddhism
  • Video: The Tibetan Book of the Dead : A Way of Life

Class 2: Dying & Living in Contemporary Buddhism: The End-of-Life Care and Suicide Prevention Movements

Homework due June 16: Submit 1 page reflection on Unit 5 based on the Final Reflection questions above