Buddhism and the Body: Desire, Disgust, and Transcendence
RELI 214
Spring 2021 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
FGSS 215 |
This is a course about the body and the various ways that Buddhists have constructed, disciplined, despised, and venerated the human body. We will explore the Buddhist body in its various incarnations: the disciplined monastic body of monks and nuns, the hyper-masculine body of the Buddha, the sacred corpses of saints, the body given away in sacrifice, the body as marker of virtue and vice, the sexual body, the body transformed in ritual, and the body as understood in Buddhist medicine. Careful attention to ancient and modern Buddhist writing should enrich our understanding of what it means to inhabit a human body. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS RELI |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (RELI-MN) |
Major Readings:
Powers, John, BULL OF A MAN: IMAGES OF MASCULINITY, SEX, AND THE BODY IN INDIAN BUDDHISM, Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2009. ISBN 9780674064034
Faure, Bernard, THE RED THREAD: BUDDHIST APPROACHES TO SEXUALITY, Princeton: Princeton UP, 1998. ISBN: 9780691059976
Gyatso, Janet: BEING HUMAN IN A BUDDHIST WORLD: AN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN EARLY MODERN TIBET, Columbia UP, 2015. ISBN: 9780231164962
Sekida, Katsuki, ZEN TRAINING: METHODS AND PHILOSOPHY. Boston; Shambala, 1985. ISBN: 9781590302835
Wilson, Liz, CHARMING CADAVERS: HORRIFIC FIGURATION OF THE FEMININE IN INDIAN BUDDHIST HAGIOGRAPHIC LITERATURE. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. ISBN: 978-0226900544
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Examinations and Assignments:
Three 3-5 page papers, each of which will be revised and resubmitted, one 2-page final paper proposal, and one 10-page final paper. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course fulfills the "Historical Tradition" OR "Thematic Approach" requirement for the Religion major. |
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