Course Website (accessible to registered students)
Asian 11: Asian Cosmologies:
Construction of Space and Time
in India, China, and Japan
Description and general information:
Constructions of space and time are integral to every civilization. This course explores the religious ideas and traditions of three major Asian civilizations: India, China, and Japan. In each case we will look at foundational myths, cartographic traditions, and conceptions of history. We shall also explore the numerous ways in which images of the cosmos have informed religious practice, literature, architecture, and uses of space. Illustrative examples shall be drawn from ancient civilizations and contemporary society, with special attention given to the study of millenarian movements. Professors Babb and Caddeau.
REQUIREMENTS
Assigned readings are to be completed before class. Attendance and
contribution to class discussion will factor into final grades. One half letter
grade will be deducted for each day papers are submitted beyond the due date.
Books for Purchase
Peter Berger, The Sacred Canopy
M. Eliade, The Myth of the
Eternal Return
W. J. Johnson, trans., The Bhagavad-Gita
A.
Waley, trans., Monkey
I. Reader, Religion in Contemporary
Japan
The multilith for this course is available from the Department
of Asian Languages and Civilizations, 110 Webster Hall. A fee will be charged to
your account to cover cost of duplication.
SYLLABUS
January 25 Introduction to the Course
January 27
Culture and Cosmos
Read: Berger, The Sacred Canopy, pp.
3-80
February 1 Cosmos Cont., India Introduced
Read:
Berger, pp. 81-101
C. Maloney, Peoples of South Asia, selection
(multi)
Embree, Sources of Indian Tradition, pp. 3-10, 17-21
(reserve)
india: cosmos as prison
February 3 An Indic Paradigm
Read: Embree, Sources, pp.
29-39 (reserve)
Katha Upanishad (multi)
February 8 Indic
Paradigm, Cont.
Read: Embree, Sources, pp. 203-217 (reserve)
W.
J. Johnson, The Bhagavad Gita, Introduction, Translators Note,
selections
February 10 Time and Return
Read: Eliade,
Myth of the Eternal Return, pp. 3-48, 73-86, 102-112
W.C. Smith,
Islam in Modern History, pp. 11-34 (multi)
February 15
Cyclical History
Read: H. Zimmer, Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and
Civilization, pp. 3-22 (multi)
M. Biardeau, Hinduism, pp. 100-112
(multi)
Eliade, pp. 112-130, 141-162
February 17 Time and
Social Time
Read: John Cort, Genres of Jain History (multi)
L. A.
Babb, Time and Temples (multi)
February 22 Universe as
Aquarium
Read: P.S. Jaini, The Jaina Path of Purification, pp.
1-41, 107-127, 134-147,
and 170-181 (multi)
Babb, Absent Lord, pp.
22-52 (multi)
February 24 Aquarium, Cont.
Read: Babb,
Absent Lord, 52-63 (multi)
M. Carrithers, Naked Ascetics in Southern
Digambar Jainism (multi)
February 25 FIRST PAPER
DUE
February 29 Microcosm/Macrocosm
Read:
Vaudeville, Kabir, pp. 120-148 (multi)
Babb, Redemptive
Encounters, pp. 34-61 (multi)
Sudhir Kakar, Intimate Relations,
85-128 (multi)
March 2 God in Prison
Read: M. Tully, The
Rewriting of the Ramayan (multi)
Van der Veer, selection (multi)
china: cosmos as state
March 7 Ordering the Cosmos in Early China
Read: P. Ebrey,
ed. from The Classical Period to
The Interaction of Yin and Yang pp. 1~37
(multi)
K. Chen, Background and Introduction and Early Development:
Han
Dynasty pp. 3-53 in Buddhism in China (multi)
March 9 The
Chinese Transformation of Buddhism
Read: K. Chen, Filial Piety in Chinese
Buddhism pp. 81-97 (multi)
A. Welter, Buddhist Ritual and the State pp.
390-396 (multi)
A. Waley, trans., Monkey, Chapters I-IX, pp.
11-95
March 11-19 Spring Recess
March 21 Inner
Cultivation: Body as Cosmos
Read: D. Harper, The Sexual Arts of Ancient
China as Described
in a Manuscript of the Second Century B.C. pp. 539-593
(multi)
A. Waley, trans., Monkey, Chapters X-XXIV, pp.
96-245
March 23 The Spiritual Quest: Cosmos as Body
Read:
A. Waley, trans., Monkey, Chapters XXV-XXX, pp. 247-305
View: video
clips from The Monkey Goes West
MARCH 25 SECOND
PAPER DUE
japan: cosmos as carnival
March 28 Hall of Mirrors
Read: I. Reader, Chapter 1:
Turning to the Gods pp. 1-22
in Religion in Contemporary Japan
(RCJ)
View: video clip of gagaku performance
March
30 Shintos Linear Time Scheme
Read: I. Reader, Chapter 2: Unifying
Traditions pp. 23-54 in RCJ
R. Tsunoda, comp. Sources of Japanese
Tradition
Early Shinto pp. 21-30 (multi)
View: video on Katsura
Imperial Villa
April 4 The Maze
Read: I. Reader, Chapter 3:
Born Shinto… pp. 55-76 in RCJ
R. Gardner, Nationalistic Shinto: A
Childs Guide to
Yasukuni pp. 334-339 (multi)
April 5 Film
Screening: dir. A. Kurosawa, Rashomon. 4:00 & 7:30 pm, Merrill
2
April 6 The Ferris Wheel
Read: I. Reader, Chapter 4: …Die
Buddhist pp. 77-106 in RCJ
R. Akutagawa, In a Grove pp. 95-102
(multi)
April 11 Buddhist Cosmology in Medieval Japan: Ascetics
and Aesthetics
Read: I. Reader, Chapter 5: Individuals, Ascetics and
the Expression of Power pp. 107-133 in RCJ
D. Keene, trans.,
Essays in Idleness (reserve)
April 13 Journeying to the Pure
Land
Read: D. Hirota, On Attaining the Settled Mind pp. 257-267
(multi)
J. Dobbins, Shinrans Faith as Immediate Fulfillment in Pure
Land
Buddhism pp. 280-288 (multi)
April 18 Pilgrimage as
Temporal Journey
Read: I. Reader, Chapter 6: Sites and Sights pp. 134-167
in RCJ
I. Reader, Pilgrimage as Cult pp. 267-287 (multi)
Guest
Lecture: Professor Bardwell Smith
April 20 Sentimental Journey:
Life Before the War
Read: K. Ôe, Prize Stock pp. 351-390
(multi)
April 25 Journeys to the Netherworld
Read: Wm.
LaFleur, Buddhism and Abortion pp. 193-196 (multi)
E. Harrison, Mizuko kuyo:
The Re-production of the Dead pp. 250-266 (multi)
April 27
Alienations of Modernity
Read: I. Reader, Chapter 7: Actions, Amulets and
the Expression of
Meaning pp. 168-193, in RCJ
H. Murakami, The
Elephant Vanishes pp. 400-416 (multi)
May 2 Millenarian Movements:
Just say Aum
Read: I. Reader, Chapter 8: Spirits, Satellites, and a
User-Friendly
Religion pp. 114-233, in RCJ
D. Metraux, Religious
Terrorism in Japan pp. 1140-1154 (multi)
May 4 Amnesia and
Remembrance Among the Brahma Kumaris
Read: Babb, Redemptive
Encounters, pp. 93-155 (multi)
May 8-12 Examination
period
May 9 FINAL PAPER DUE