Final Essay: What is Asian Behavior and Thought?
This course is an introduction to the social and
religious traditions of the Asian continent. Through engagement with
primary sources students will examine different dimensions and
foundations of the spiritual and philosophical teachings that continue to
structure the lives of billions of people.
Course readings will be primary sources in religious and philosophical
literature.
In particular, the course will examine the concepts of self, nature, and society as they are articulated in the philosophy/religion of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism, i.e. the four representative conceptual paradigms of holistic non-dualism.
Required texts:
Donald S. Lopez,
The Norton Anthology of World
Religions: Buddhism
.
Eknath Easwaran,
The Upanishads
.
David Hinton
or other,
The Four Chinese Classics
.
Burton Watson or other
The Complete
Works of Chuang Tzu.