Autumn

"What Is Religion? Adventures in Religious Studies, Hong Kong Edition," is a spinoff of a class I teach at Stanford, "Is Stanford a Religion?" That class examines the characteristics of religion - myth, ritual, symbol, salvation - through the lens of Stanford and the Silicon Valley, looking at how and why students and tech workers engage in rituals and myths that could be classified as "religious." The Hong Kong edition of the class will take advantage of local surroundings to ask similar questions, but the location will also allow us to expand beyond the college environment to understand the broader implications of defining "religion." The class will begin with a unit that considers both substantive (what religion is) and functionalist (what religion does) understandings of "religion." We will discuss classic theories of religion, from Karl Marx to Sigmund Freud to Clifford Geertz, in order to understand how theorists have conceived of the category and what it does. This opening unit will also examine the basic building blocks of religion, such as myth and ritual, to assess how and why people tell religious stories and behave religiously. The second unit of the class will expand to consider how the category of "religion" has operated historically, as western travelers, scholars, and colonizers selectively applied and withheld the category from the different cultures they encountered. In this unit we will look at how Buddhism and Confucianism came to be classified as "world religions," while "folk" religions were not granted that status. The final unit of the class will expand the category of religion to that which is usually considered "secular." We will consider college (comparing Stanford and CUHK), technology/work, and Disney as religion, and contemplate what kinds of myths and rituals bring meaning to peoples' lives today.

Impact of Buddhism on the arts and culture of Japan as seen in the ancient capital of Kyoto. Image production, iconography, representational strategies, as well as the ritual and visual functions of Buddhist sculpture and painting with a focus on selected historical temples and their icons. Also examination of architectural and landscape elements of temple layouts, within which iconographic programs are framed, images are enlivened, and practices centered on these devotional and ritual art.

An overview of major themes and historical developments in 5000 years of Chinese religion. In this course, we will try as much as possible to appreciate Chinese religion from the Chinese perspective, paying particular attention to original texts in translation, artifacts and videos, all in an attempt to discern the logic of Chinese religion and the role it has played in the course of Chinese history. To a greater extent perhaps than any other civilization, Chinese have left behind a continuous body of written documents and other artifacts relating to religion stretching over thousands of years, providing a wealth of material for studying the place of religion in history and society.

This course provides an introduction to Buddhist Tantra through considering select themes in its historical development, philosophy, contemplative and ritual dynamics, visual and material culture, and variations across different times and cultures, from medieval India to the globalized present. Students will learn how to interpret tantric Buddhist literature in translation, assess modern scholarly studies, appreciate diverse contemplative and ritual techniques, analyze examples of tantric Buddhist artwork, and develop final projects based on their interests. Course readings are in English. No prerequisite is required.

Introduction to Tibetan literature through reading texts in Tibetan. Prerequisite: intermediate level facility in classical Tibetan.Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units

The focus of this course is on approaches to the past from within Buddhist traditions rather than modern academic writing on Buddhist history. We will briefly examine research on religious conceptions of the past in other religions before turning to the full range of Buddhist historiography, including writings from India, Ceylon, China, Tibet and Japan. The first half of the class will be dedicated to reading and discussing scholarship as well as some primary sources in translation. In the second half of the course, students will develop projects based on their interests, culminating in presentations and a research paper.

Introduction to Tibetan literature through reading texts in Tibetan. Prerequisite: intermediate level facility in classical Tibetan.Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units

Graduate Independent study in Buddhism. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.

Required supervised internship for PhDs.