Spring

This course explores how religion has shaped the modern East Asian world through an examination of Tibetan Buddhist culture and history. Tibetan Buddhism played a fundamental role in the Chinese transition to modernity and has enjoyed an enduring relevance not only in modern Tibet and China, but also in other parts of Asia and globally. We will explore how religious practice, literature, and art interconnect with political power, ethnicity, nationalism, and scientific development to revisit common perceptions of Tibet as a culturally isolated place of religion and of East Asian modernity as a steady turn to secularization. We will also look at the contemporary traces of this process within American and Asian-American Buddhist communities. This course is part of the Humanities Core: https://humanitiescore.stanford.edu/

Exploration of history of Zen Buddhism from China to Japan to America and facets of Zen including philosophy, practice, rituals, poetry, music, paintings, and artistic expressions. Focus on classical Zen texts and comparing contemporary secular mindfulness practices with traditional Buddhist ideas.

Yoga has become one of the most popular forms of physical and spiritual activity in the contemporary Western world. Yet, its history and cultural affiliations remain obscure and controversial. How did Yoga develop from its South Asian religious origins to the secular multibillion-dollar industry we know nowadays? This course examines the history of Yoga's practice and philosophy in its many cultural and religious contexts in light of the most recent scholarship on the subject. We will challenge common misconceptions regarding Yoga, such as the notion that the Yoga postures we practice today are thousands of years old, that Yoga is intrinsically Hindu, or that Patanjali's Yoga Sutra is the fundamental text of Hatha Yoga. We will survey the different roles that Yoga has played in most of the religious traditions of India, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sufism or Islamic mysticism. We will pay specific attention to the diverse systems of thought and practice philosophies, psychologies, and "meditational" disciplines - that Yoga has upheld throughout its history. We will also see how Yoga traveled from India to the West in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, how it has changed over time, and how it has become the global phenomenon it is today. Seeing the complex plurality of what Yoga has been and can be, we will further ask what the limits of Yoga are: is "Beer yoga" or "Goat yoga" really Yoga? And what is the future of Yoga? This class combines lectures with discussions. The readings include accessible secondary literature and a selection of primary sources. Knowledge of Indian languages is not required, and no prior coursework in South Asian Studies or Religious Studies is presupposed.

This course offers an account of the history of Indian religions through the lens of their material cultures and privileges the self-understandings of the artisans who made religious worlds out of pigment and stone over those who mostly imagined them inside of books. We focus primarily on the periods and religious sub-cultures with the richest documentation, especially the Buddhism and Jainism in the Classical period, Saiva and Sakta monastic art patronage in early medieval Gujarat, the Western Deccan, Bengal, and Tamil Nadu, the overlapping Muslim and Hindu worlds of Mughal, Pahari, and Rajput Court painting, and colonial North India. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.

When Buddhism spread from India to China along the Silk Roads in the first millennium CE, the cultural interactions it encountered on its journey east also transformed Buddhism itself. Who were the individuals and groups behind this transmission of Buddhism? How were personal religious beliefs articulated against broader political and ecological contexts? In what ways did their gender, ethnicity, occupation, and religious identities contribute to the transformation of Buddhism? And how, in turn, did Buddhism shape the civilizations along the Silk Roads? Each week we explore a stop or a group of migrants along the Silk Roads, a text or an artifact associated with them, and a Buddhist idea to be transformed through them. This course also reflects on the modern adaption of Buddhist ideas through similar decentralized cultural contacts. No prerequisite. Undergraduates register for 200 level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.

This course will explore the musical cultures and soundscapes of Buddhism, ranging from monastic chants to classical music to modern pop music. We will study how sounds support practitioners in their personal cultivation and how music helps to communicate with Buddhist deities. We will read primary sources and secondary literature on Buddhism, as well as theoretical works on the study of sacred music. Additionally, we will listen to and analyze sound and video recordings. NOTE: Undergraduates must enroll for 5 units; graduate students can enroll for 3-5 units.

This course offers an account of the history of Indian religions through the lens of their material cultures and privileges the self-understandings of the artisans who made religious worlds out of pigment and stone over those who mostly imagined them inside of books. We focus primarily on the periods and religious sub-cultures with the richest documentation, especially the Buddhism and Jainism in the Classical period, Saiva and Sakta monastic art patronage in early medieval Gujarat, the Western Deccan, Bengal, and Tamil Nadu, the overlapping Muslim and Hindu worlds of Mughal, Pahari, and Rajput Court painting, and colonial North India. Undergraduates register for 200-level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.

When Buddhism spread from India to China along the Silk Roads in the first millennium CE, the cultural interactions it encountered on its journey east also transformed Buddhism itself. Who were the individuals and groups behind this transmission of Buddhism? How were personal religious beliefs articulated against broader political and ecological contexts? In what ways did their gender, ethnicity, occupation, and religious identities contribute to the transformation of Buddhism? And how, in turn, did Buddhism shape the civilizations along the Silk Roads? Each week we explore a stop or a group of migrants along the Silk Roads, a text or an artifact associated with them, and a Buddhist idea to be transformed through them. This course also reflects on the modern adaption of Buddhist ideas through similar decentralized cultural contacts. No prerequisite. Undergraduates register for 200 level for 5 units. Graduate students register for 300-level for 3-5 units.

This course will explore the musical cultures and soundscapes of Buddhism, ranging from monastic chants to classical music to modern pop music. We will study how sounds support practitioners in their personal cultivation and how music helps to communicate with Buddhist deities. We will read primary sources and secondary literature on Buddhism, as well as theoretical works on the study of sacred music. Additionally, we will listen to and analyze sound and video recordings. NOTE: Undergraduates must enroll for 5 units; graduate students can enroll 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.