Buddhist Studies

ANT 274 The Anthropology of Religion (4 Credits)

What can anthropologists teach us about religion as a social phenomenon? This course traces significant anthropological approaches to the study of religion, asking what these approaches contribute to our understanding of religion in the contemporary world. Topics include religious experience and rationality; myth, ritual and magic; rites of passage; function and meaning; power and alienation; religion and politics. Readings are drawn from important texts in the history of anthropology and from contemporary ethnographies of religion. {S}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

ARH 290mc Colloquium: Topics in Art History-Meditations in Caves (4 Credits)

The course is an introduction to Buddhist grottoes of East Asia. Students learn the historical trajectories of Buddhist grottoes, including the development of cave architecture, mural painting and sculpture. The course pays special attention to the site specificity of the visual imageries and their transmissions, commissions and functions. The case studies in this course range from the Kizil Caves and Mogao Caves in Northwestern China, to the Yungang Caves and Longmen Caves in the central plains and the Seokguram Caves in the Korean Peninsula. The course also considers the collecting, preserving and displaying of Buddhist grottoes in the contemporary world. Restrictions: ARH 290 may be taken for credit a total of 4 times with different topics. Enrollment limited to 20. {A}{H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

PHI 108/ REL 108 The Meaning of Life (4 Credits)

Offered as REL 108 and PHI 108. This course asks the big question, "What is the Meaning of Life?" and explores a range of answers offered by philosophers and religious thinkers from a host of different traditions in different eras of human history. We explore a variety of forms of philosophical and religious thinking and consider the ways in which philosophical and religious thinking can be directly relevant to our own lives. {H}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

PHI 127 Introduction to Indian Philosophy (4 Credits)

An introduction to the two-thousand-odd years of philosophy on the Indian subcontinent, focusing on central texts and topics: the nature of self, mind and reality; knowledge and its acquisition; morality and meaning; language and aesthetics. Students read selections of primary texts in translation, such as the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, Milinda's Questions, the Nyaya Sutras and others. The course focuses on premodern Indian philosphy but includes some modern Indian thought, especially that which reflects on the relationship between modern and traditional ideas in the subcontinent. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

PHI 234ts Topics in Philosophy of Human Nature-The Self (4 Credits)

This course explores a cluster of the most fundamental questions about human nature: What are we? Do we have core selves that determine our identity? If so, what is such a self, and how does it develop? Or might we be selfless? If we are selfless, what is the nature of our identities? What might the reality or unreality of the self mean for the nature of our experience, for ethics, or for what gives our lives meaning? These are questions that have been raised and addressed with great sophistication in both Indian and Western philosophical traditions and that have been explored empirically in cognitive psychology and by experimental philosophers. Our investigation will therefore be both cross-cultural and interdisciplinary. {S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

PHI 252 Buddhist Philosophy: Madhyamaka and Yogacara (4 Credits)

This course examines the two principal schools of Indian Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. The Madhyamaka school is highly skeptical and critical in its dialectic. The ​Yogācāra or Cittamatra school is highly idealist. The two present contrasting interpretations of the thesis that phenomena are empty and contrasting interpretations of the relationship between conventional and ultimate reality. The debate between their respective proponents is among the most fertile in the history of Buddhist philosophy. Students read each school's principal sutras and early philosophical texts, medieval Tibetan and Chinese commentarial literature and recent scholarly discussions of the texts and doctrines of these schools. Prerequisites: one course in Philosophy or Buddhist Studies. Enrollment limited to 40. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

PHI 253bb/ REL 253bb Topics in Indian Philosophy-Buddhists and Brahmins (4 Credits)

Offered as PHI 253bb and REL 253bb. Buddhists and Brahmanical thinkers were frequently philosophically at odds with each other in premodern India. They disagreed over what reality is and how it can be known as well as how one can think and talk about it. This course focuses on key debates between these groups in order to appreciate the range of positions within both Buddhist and Brahmanical philosophy. Discussions may include: whether there is a self or a God, what words refer to, what can be known through language, the relationship between language and inference. Prerequisite: One PHI course. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

PHI 330sc Seminar: Topics in the History of Philosophy-Schopenhauer and Indian Philosophy (4 Credits)

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was the first important European philosopher to take Indian philosophy seriously. He follows Kant’s transcendental idealism but places Kantian philosophy in dialogue with the Vedānta and Buddhist philosophy filtering into Europe as German and British orientalism began to flourish, synthesizing Kantian and Indian idealism. This course explores the Indian roots of Schopenhauer’s thought, the 19th century transmission of Indian ideas to Europe in which he participates, and the ways he uses Indian philosophy to advance a post-Kantian philosophical program. Prerequisite: a course in early modern European philosophy or a course in the history of Indian philosophy. Restrictions: Juniors and seniors only. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. {H}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

PSY 304/ REL 304 Seminar:Happiness: Buddhist and Psychological Understandings of Personal Well-Being (4 Credits)

Offered as PSY 304 and REL 304. What is happiness? What is personal well-being? How are they achieved? This course examines the core ideas of the Buddhist science of mind and how they are being studied and employed by psychologists, neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and psychotherapists. The focus of the course is the notion of "happiness," its cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary definition, as well as the techniques advocated for its achievement by both the Buddhist and the psychologist. Prerequisite: PSY 100, REL 105 or one course in Buddhist traditions, or equivalent. Restrictions: Juniors and seniors only. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission required. {N}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable

REL 164 Buddhist Meditation (4 Credits)

This course explores classical and contemporary forms of Buddhist meditation theory and practice. It examines both classical formulations and contemporary expositions with an eye to seeing how the theory and practice of Buddhist meditation are being adapted to fit the needs of people today. Enrollment limited to 25. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

REL 171 Contemporary Hinduism (4 Credits)

This course is an introduction to the ideas and practices of contemporary Hinduism in India, with an emphasis on how these traditions have shaped—and been shaped by—culture and politics. The class discusses various gods and goddesses, saints and shrines, rituals and ceremonies, radicals and reformers, as well as the ways Hinduism has engaged with inequality, caste and nationalism. Students consider philosophical writings, ritual texts, devotional poetry, comic books, legal treatises, feminist manifestos and personal memoirs, as well as ethnographic and popular films. This course has no prerequisites. {H}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

REL 270 Zen Buddhism and Japanese Culture (4 Credits)

The development of Buddhism and other religious traditions in Japan from prehistory through the 19th century. Topics include doctrinal development, church/state relations, and the diffusion of religious values in Japanese culture, particularly in the aesthetic realm (literature, gardens, tea, the martial arts, etc.) {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

REL 275 Religions of Ancient India (4 Credits)

This course is an introduction to the literature, thought and practice of religious traditions in India, from ancient times to the medieval period. Readings include materials from the Vedas, Upanishads and epics, from plays and poetry, as well as Buddhist and Jain literature. Particular consideration is given to the themes of dharma, karma, love and liberation as they are articulated in Classical Hinduism. {H}

Fall, Spring, Variable

REL 280 South Asian Visual Culture (4 Credits)

How does one make sense of what one sees in South Asia? What is the visual logic behind the production and consumption of images, art, advertising and film? This course considers the visual world of South Asia, focusing on the religious dimensions of visuality. Discussions include the divine gaze in Hindu and Buddhist contexts, the role of god-posters in religious ritual and political struggle, the printed image as contested site for visualizing the nation and the social significance of clothing and commercial films in colonial and contemporary India. Students also work closely with holdings from the Smith College Art Museum.

Fall, Spring, Variable

REL 305vn Seminar: Advanced Topics in Religion-Violence, Non-violence and Revolution (4 Credits)

How do religious traditions justify acts of violence? And when and why do they embrace nonviolence? And what happens when these choices lead to revolution? This course considers the logic and practice of violence and non-violence in a variety of religious traditions around the world, as well as the ethical, social, and political consequences of these phenomena. Topics include suicide bombing and self-immolating, Gandhi’s ahimsa and Martin Luther King’s agape, spiritual ecology and ecoterrorism, and much more. Restrictions: Juniors and seniors only. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. {H}{L}{S}

Fall, Spring, Variable