RELS 115 syllabus fall 2012 - Department of Religious Studies

RELS 115 Religion & Society in India & TibetTues/Thurs 1:40-2:55 in ECTR 103Lecture Topics and Reading Schedule for RELS 115The following schedule of topics and the list of readings is provisional. Selections from theElectronic Readings [ER] on OAKS are numbered sequentially. For a complete list of thesources of the assigned readings found on OAKS, see pp. 6-7 below.Week 1Introduction: What is Religion and how do we study it in a secular school?8/21 Organization of Course and Introduction to the Academic Study of Religion8/23 The Social Construction of Reality & the Role of Religion: The Truman Show as Myth(ER #1-3: “Thinking about Being a Student of Religion;” “The Meaning of The TrumanShow; “The Sacred Rac”) RC #1 due Clips from the film The Truman ShowWeek 2The Classical Hindu Worldview: Dreams, Illusion and Reality8/28 Getting Inside the Heads of Hindus: What is Real, What is Illusory?(ER #5-6: “Vedanta” and “The Indian Life”) RC #2 due8/30 The Order of the Hindu Universe: Dharma(ER #7-8: “Hindu Ways of Being Religious;” and Hindu scripture selections: “That YouAre; Creation of the Caste System; Four Castes; Stages of Life for a Twice-Born Man”)Week 3The Hindu Social World: Caste and Gender Hierarchies9/4 Caste as Institution: the Inner Experience of Hierarchy, Purity, and Pollution(ER #9: “The Hierarchical Man”) RC #39/6 The Position of Women in Hindu Patriarchal Society(ER#10: “Indian Women: Traditional and Modern”)Documentary: Saheri’s ChoiceWeek 4Rules for Disposing of the Dead; the Lives of Hindu Wives9/11 Hindu Rites of Passage: Marrying and Burying(ER #11-12: “The Dynamics of Hinduism;” Scriptural selections on “Marriage; How toPerform a Funeral Sacrifice”) In-class quiz on Hinduism9/13 Purity and Pollution in a Brahmin Village: Rite for a Dead Man(Samskara, pp. 1-46) RC #4Week 5Lives of Widows & Renunciants: Ascetic Withdrawal or Social Engagement?9/18 Hindu wives and widows in novel and in film(Samskara, pp. 46-64; ER#13: “The Politics of Melodrama in Water”) RC #5Clips from Water (dir. by Deepa Mehta, 2006)3

RELS 115 Religion & Society in India & TibetTues/Thurs 1:40-2:55 in ECTR 1039/20 Living with the Dead: Interpreting Samskara(Samskara, pp. 65-138) 2 page essay on Samskara due in class!Week 6Gandhi’s Life and Ideals9/25 Gandhi’s First “Experiments with Truth”(Gandhi’s Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth pp. vii-27) RC #69/27 Gandhi’s Reformed Hinduism: Chastity, Caste Reform, and Non-Violence(Gandhi’s Autobiography, pp. 59-61; 179-185; 235-245; 295-303; 354-358; 453-4)Documentary: Gandhi, Pilgrim of PeaceWeek 7Gandhi as the “Great Soul” of India and Gandhian Reforms Today10/2 Gandhi’s Principles of Non-Violent Resistance and Universal Welfare(ER #14: “M.K. Gandhi: India’s ‘Great Soul’”) RC #7Clips from Gandhi (Ben Kingsley as Gandhi)10/4 A Gandhi Activist creates a new “Broom Wielding Goddess of Good Governance”(ER #15: “Emergency Avatar of a Secular Goddess!”)Week 8Yoga in America Today: Do Indians “Own” Yoga?10/9 Midterm Exam in class10/11 Yoga in America Today: Cultural Clash of East and West(ER #15.3-15.5: “The Art of Breathing” and “Yoga for Skeptics”) RC #8Week 9Buddhist Beginnings in India: Retracing the Footsteps of the Buddha10/16 The Story of the Buddha: Birth to Enlightenment(ER #16: “The Early Life of the Buddha”) RC #910/18 The Mission of the Buddha: Monasticism and Merit(ER #17: “The Legend of the Buddha Shakyamuni”)Week 10Buddhism Comes to Tibet, the “Land of Snows”10/23 The Myth of Tibet’s Founding Father(ER #18: “Tibet: Introduction”) RC #1010/25 Tibetan Buddhist Monasticism and the Search for a Spiritual Monarch(ER #19: “The First Step…Coming Back”)Documentary: The Reincarnation of Khensur Rinpoche4

RELS 115 Religion & Society in India & TibetTues/Thurs 1:40-2:55 in ECTR 103Week 11Of ‘Magic and Mystery’ in Tibetan Religion10/30 The Origins and History of the Dalai Lama Institution(ER #20: “Tibet’s Buddhist Background…the Fourteen Dalai Lamas”) RC #1111/1 The Role of Oracles in Tibetan Religion and Politics(Dalai Lama, Freedom in Exile, pp. 209-220)In-class Quiz on Indian and Tibetan BuddhismWeek 12Early Life of the 14 th Dalai Lama in Tibet11/6 Election Day—no classes11/8 Who is the Dalai Lama? How was He Discovered?(Freedom in Exile, pp. xiii-48) RC #12Week 13The Dalai Lama in Exile11/13 The Chinese Invasion and Occupation of Tibet(Freedom in Exile, pp. 49-81)Film: Kundun11/15 The Exodus(Freedom in Exile, pp. 123-143) RC #13Film: KundunWeek 14Dalai Lama as the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Symbol of Tibet11/20 The Dalai Lama’s Vision of a Future Tibet(ER #21-22: “Dalai Lama’s Nobel Prize Speech” and “The Conundrum”)Documentary: Compassion in Exile Term paper due in class!11/22 Thanksgiving Break: Give Thanks, Eat TurkeyWeek 15Tibetan Buddhism in the West11/27 Virtual Tibet: Searching for Shangri-la from the Himalayas to Hollywood(ER #23: “My Tibet and Ours…Illusion and Reality”) RC #14Documentary: Dreams of Tibet11/29 The Dalai Lama Comes to Hollywood: Tinseltown Tulkus(ER # 24-5: “The Dalai Lama Comes to Hollywood…Tinseltown Tulkus;”also “Lama in the Hood…On Retreat with Pema Jones Rinpoche”) RC #1512/11 Final Exam 12-3 pm5

RELS 115 Religion & Society in India & TibetTues/Thurs 1:40-2:55 in ECTR 103RELS 115 OAKS Articles: A Bibliography of SourcesPlease use this information in your bibliography when you cite these sources for your term paper.Week 1: Introduction1. Gary E. Kessler, “Thinking about Being a Student of Religion” from Studying Religion, 3 rdedition. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008, pp. 1-13.2. Ken Sanes, “The Meaning of The Truman Show” 6 pp. Used with the author’s permissionfrom http://www.transparencynow.com/truman.htm3. Patricia Hughes, “The Sacred Rac,” Focusing on Global Poverty and Development, ed. byJayne C. Millar (Washington D.C. Overseas Development Council, 1974), p. 357-8.Week 2: Classical Hindu Worldview4.5. “Vedanta” and “Shankara’s Crest Jewel of Discrimination,” from Ways of Being Religious(Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing, 2000), pp. 143-145.6. Herman Hesse, “The Indian Life,” from Magister Ludi (New York: Frederick UngarPublishing Co.), pp. 468-502.7. Gary E. Kessler, “Hindu Ways of Being Religious,” from Ways of Being Religious(Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing, 2000), pp. 103-111.8. “That You Are, The Creation of the Caste System, The Four Castes, Stages of Life for aTwice-Born Man and The Life of Woman” from Anthology of World Scriptures, ed. byRobert E. Van Voorst, 3 rd Edition (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2000), pp. 36-38,40-44.Week 3: The Hindu Social World9. Sudhir Kakar and Katharina Kakar, “The Hierarchical Man” and “The Inner Experience ofCaste” from The Indians: Portrait of a People (Delhi: Penguin Books India, 2009), pp. 7-40.10. Sudhir Kakar and Katharina Kakar, “Indian Women: Traditional and Modern” from TheIndians: Portrait of a People (New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 2009), pp. 41-70.Week 4: Rules for Disposing of the Dead; the Lives of Hindu Wives11. David M. Knipe, “The Dynamics of Hinduism” from Hinduism: Experiments in the Sacred(San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco), pp. 119-128.12. Wendy Doniger O’ Flaherty ed., “Marriage 5.3-5.3.4” and “How to Perform a FuneralSacrifice 5.5.4-5.5.5” Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism (Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1988), pp. 101-105; 125-129.Week 5: Hindu Wives and Widows13. Fincina Hopgood, “The Politics of Melodrama in Deepa Mehta’s ‘Water’” in MetroMagazine Issue 149 (Autumn 2006), pp. 142-147.Week 7: Gandhi as the “Great Soul” of India14. Stephen Hay, “M. K. Gandhi: India’s “Great Soul,” Sources of Indian Tradition, 2nd ed.,Vol. 2, (New York: Columbia U. P., 1988), pp. 247-274.15. Madhu Purnima Kishwar, “Emergency Avatar of a Secular Goddess!” from Manushi: AJournal about Women and Society issue 147 (March-April 2005), pp. 4-14. Available online:http://www.manushi.in/articles.php?articleId=382Week 8: Yoga in America15.3 Reetika Vazirani, “The Art of Breathing,”Prairie Schooner Vol.75.3 (Fall 2001), 63-75.15.5 Elizabeth Kadetsky, “Yoga for Skeptics” (2004) from the website:http://www.killingthebuddha.com/dogma/yoga_skeptics.6

RELS 115 Religion & Society in India & TibetTues/Thurs 1:40-2:55 in ECTR 103Week 9: Buddhist Beginnings in India16. Zeff Bjerken, “The Early Life of the Buddha.”17. Edward Conze, “The Legend of the Buddha Shakyamuni,” Buddhist Scriptures (New York:Penguin Books, 1959), pp. 34-66.Week 10: Buddhism Comes to Tibet18. Thupten Jigme Norbu and Colin Turnbull, “Introduction” and “The Legend of theBeginning” from Tibet (New York: Simon and Schuster, pp. 7-32.19. Vicki Mackenzie, “The First Step” and “Coming Back” from Reborn in the West: TheReincarnation Masters (New York: Marlowe and Company, 1996), pp. 1-10; 88-102.Week 11: Of ‘Magic and Mystery’ in Tibetan Religion20. Glenn Mullin, “Introduction” to Mystical Verses of a Mad Dalai Lama, pp. 3-19.Week 14: DL as Nobel Peace Prize Laureate21. Dalai Lama, “His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech,” (Oslo:University Aula, December 10, 1989), available online.22. Pico Iyer, “The Conundrum” from his The Open Road: The Global Journey of theFourteenth Dalai Lama (New York, Alfred Knopf, 2008), pp. 5-30.Week 15: Tibetan Buddhism in the West23. Orville Schell, “My Tibet and Ours” and “Illusion and Reality” from Virtual Tibet:Searching for Shangri-la from the Himalayas to Hollywood (New York: Henry Holt, 2000),pp. 3-12, 205-221.24. Orville Schell, “The Dalai Lama Comes to Hollywood” and “Tinseltown Tulkus” fromVirtual Tibet: Searching for Shangri-la from the Himalayas to Hollywood (New York: HenryHolt, 2000), pp. 42-74.25. Chris Helms interviews Pema Jones Rinpoche, “Lama in the Hood” and “On Retreat withPema Jones Rinpoche,” CyberSangha: The Buddhist Alternative Journal (Spring 1996, andWinter/Spring 1997). Available on-line at: www.newciv.org/CyberSangha/Sneak.htm andwww.newciv.org/CyberSangha/helms97.htmResources for the Term Paper Topics (You may cite these sources in the term paper)26. Klaus K. Kostermaier, “Mahatma Gandhi: A Twentieth Century Karmayogi,” A Survey ofHinduism 2 nd edition (SUNY Press, 1994), pp. 447-460.27. V. S. Naipaul, “A Defect of Vision,” from India: A Wounded Civilization (New York:Vintage, 1976), pp.101-122.28. Erik Erikson, “A Personal Word” from Gandhi’s Truth: On the Origins of MilitantNonviolence (New York: Norton, 1969), pp. 229-25429. Jamyang Norbu, “Non-Violence and Non-Action: Comparing Gandhi’s and the Tibetans’Practice of Satyagraha”30. Ainslie T. Embree, “Mahatma Gandhi: A Vision of the Good Life” from The HinduTradition: Readings in Oriental Thought (New York: Random House, 1966), pp. 339-343.31. Brent Plate, “Introduction: Worldmaking Onscreen and at the Altar” from Religion and Film:Cinema and the Re-Creation of the World (London: Wallflower, 2008), pp. 1-17.32. Patrick Olivelle, trans. Life of the Buddha by Asvaghosa (New York University Press, 2008),pp. xix-lv; 230-241.33. Lynn Teskey Denton, Female Ascetics in Hinduism (Albany, SUNY Press, 2004), pp. 1-55.34. Meena Khandelwal, “Sannyasinis as Women,” from Women in Ochre Robes: GenderingHindu Renunciation, (Albany, SUNY Press, 2004), pp. 175-202.7

RELS 115 Religion & Society in India & TibetTues/Thurs 1:40-2:55 in ECTR 103RELS 115: Important Terms for the Study of Religion in Indian & Tibetan SocietyThese are technical terms that you must know in order to do well on the exams and quizzes.Keep this list handy as you read the assignments, and write down their definitions and meanings.This list is provisional and subject to change.Hinduism: For help on the Hindu terms below, consult the “Notes” at the end of Samskara.Upanishad, samsara, karma, reincarnation, maya, yoga, Brahman, atman, guru, mokshaHindu/Hinduism, Aryan, Vedas, Dharma, caste (varna and jati), Four Classes, twice-bornHomo hierarchicus, joint vs. nuclear family, filial devotion, nepotism, Dalit/UntouchablePurity vs. dirty, daughter discrimination, misogyny in Laws of Manu, arranged vs. love marriagesKamasutra, jodi, sati, funeral pyre, Four Stages of Life, Brahmacarya, sannyasinDeepa Mehta, Varanasi, widow ashram, holi festival, power of pathos, Hindu fundamentalismSamskara, mantra, sacrificial fire, initiation, sacred thread, shraddha rite, acharya, food taboosGandhi, Kasturbha, karmayogin, purdah, Theosophy, Mahatma, fastingsatyagraha, vows, ashram, ahimsa, spinning wheel, Harijan, home rule, Madhu KishwarEmergency ethics, avatara, Manushi, shakti, iconography of Goddess of Good GovernanceBuddhism in India and TibetShakyamuni, Siddhartha, Gotama, Buddha, bodhisattva, Bodh Gaya, shramana, BuddhacaritaThree Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha), Middle Way, Three Marks of Existenceno-self (anatman), Vinaya, Four Noble Truths, Field of Merit, ordination, hair cutting ceremonySix Rebirth Realms, hell/purgatory,Wheel of Life, Chenrezi, bodhisattva, monkey & ogressTulku, Rinpoche, Lama, reincarnation vs rebirth, DharamsalaDalai Lama, “god-king,” Kundun, Potala, Lhasa, the “Great Fifth,” long-life prayer, RegentNechung oracle, spirit medium, Dorje Drakden, trance state, prophecyNorbulingka, enthronement ceremony, 17 Point Agreement, 5 Point Peace PlanNobel Prize Acceptance speech, Zone of Ahimsa, Compassion in ExileShangri la/Shambhala, Kalacakra Initiation, Panchen Lama, Seven Years in TibetCyberSangha, Pema Jones, Tinseltown Tulkus, Steven Seagal, Richard GereAnalytic terms used in the Academic Study of ReligionTheology, Insider’s vs Outsider’s perspectives on religion, empathy, bracketing, ablutionSocial construction of reality, hierarchy, rite of passage, liminal stateCharismatic authority, hagiography, cosmology, asceticism, cultural assimilation, modernismSpiritual materialism, sectarianism, ecumenicism, interfaith dialogue, theocracy, OrientalismTerms to Avoid: supernatural, superstition, primitive, idolatry, devil worshipWeb Resources:India WWW Virtual Library: webhead.com/WWWVL/India/india2.htmlGandhi’s Official Website: http://webBuddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library: http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL-Buddhism.htmlBuddhist Peace Fellowship: www.bpf.org/Dalai Lama’s Official Website: www.tibet.com/DL/index.htmlThe Wheel of Life: www.angelfire.com/yt/fairtibet/whexpl.html#Tibetan Buddhism, including State Oracle: www.tibet.com/Buddhism/index.html8