rel234s09assignments

REL234: Weekly Readings and Assignments

1/13: Introductions.

1/15: Representing Buddhism:
Charles Hallisey, "Roads and Taken and Not Taken in the Study of Theravada Buddhism" in Curators of the Buddha: The Study of Buddhism under Colonialism, ed. Donald Lopez (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995): 31-61;
Anne Blackburn, "Serendipity and Sadness" in Excursions and Explorations: Cultural Encounters between Sri Lanka and the United States, ed. Tissa Jayatilaka (Colombo: United States-Sri Lanka Fulbright Foundation Commission, 2002): 185-189;
P. De Silva, "Anthropology of 'Sinhala Buddhism,'" Contemporary Buddhism 7 (2006), pp. 165-170 (if link does not open, access article from Course Materials page in Blackboard).

1/20: A Personal Perspective:
S. Wickremeratne, Buddha in Sri Lanka ("BSL"), pp. xi-88.

1/22: A Fictional Perspective:
S. Wickremeratne, BSL, pp. 113-139; 89-99;
C. Fernando, "The Perfection of Giving" in The Penguin New Writing in Sri Lanka, pp. 62-79;
P. Wijenaike, "Monkeys" in To Follow the Sun, pp. 56-60;
SRR: C. Fernando, "English and Sinhala Bilingualism in Sri Lanka," Language in Society 6 (1977), pp. 341-360 (access article from Course Materials page in Blackboard).

1/27:  Historical and Cultural Contexts:
R. Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism ("TB"): 1-60, 137-170;
Rig Veda 10.90;
SRR: Robin Coningham, "The Archaeology of Buddhism" in Archaeology and World Religion, ed. Timothy Insoll (London: Routledge, 2001), pp. 61-95.

1/29:  Selections from the Mahavamsa: The Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka, tr. A. Guruge (Colombo: Lake House, 1989), pp. 491-496; 561-567; 585-589; 597-602;
SRR:  Steven Kemper, The Presence of the Past (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991), pp. 26-52.

2/3: The Buddha:
The Story of Gotama Buddha: Jataka-nidana, tr. N. Jayawickrama (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1990), pp. 63-101;
"Culla-Dhammapala-Jataka" in The Jataka, ed. E. B. Cowell (London: Pali Text Society by Luzac, 1957), vol. 3, pp. 117-120;
video: BBC "Life of the Buddha."

2/5: Selection from the “Mahaparinibbanasutta” (read from beginning of part 5 [“Part Five, At Kusinara”] to the end);
SRR: Gananath Obeyesekere, "The Death of the Buddha: A Restorative Interpretation" in Approaching the Dhamma, ed. Anne E. Blackburn and Jeffrey Samuels (Seattle: BPS Pariyatti Editions, 2003): 17-45.

2/10: The Dhamma:
R. Gombrich, TB, pp. 61-88;
the Buddha's First Sermon in Book of the Discipline, tr. I.B. Horner (London: Pali Text Society, 1951), pt. 4, pp. 13-21;
SRR: Carol Anderson, Pain and Its Ending: The Four Noble Truths in the Theravada Buddhist Canon (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 1-27.
Research topic statement and bibliography due (this must clearly indicate the title and page numbers of the primary text that you will evaluate next week).

2/12: Selections from the Dhammapada, vss. 1-20; 33-43; 383-423;
Ranjini Obeyesekere, Portraits of Buddhist Women: Stories from the Saddharmaratnavaliya, (Albany: SUNY Press, 2001): 1-20, 126-133 ("The Nun Patacara");
SRR: Kevin Trainor, “Buddhism in a Nutshell: The Uses of Dhammapada 183” in Embedded Religions: Essays in Honor of W. S. Karunatillake, ed. by Carol Anderson, Susanne Mrozik and R. M. W. Rajapakse (Colombo: S. Godage and Brothers, forthcoming); (access article from Course Materials page in Blackboard).

2/17: The Sangha:
R. Gombrich, TB, pp. 89-118;
S. Wickremeratne, BSL, pp. 179-219;
selections from the Book of the Discipline, tr. I. B. Horner (London: Pali Text Society, 1951), pt. 4, pp. 21-30; 71-73; 103-104; 130-133; pt. 5, pp. 352-363;
SRR: Jeffrey Samuels, "Establishing the Basis of the Sasana: Social Service and Ritual Performance in Contemporary Sri Lankan Monastic Training" in Approaching the Dhamma, ed. Anne E. Blackburn and Jeffrey Samuels (Seattle: BPS Pariyatti Editions, 2003): 105-124.

2/24: Mental Cultivation:
"Satipatthana-sutta" ("Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness"); see: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn010.html;
selections from Venerable Henepola Gunaratana Mahathera, Mindfulness in Plain English; see: http://www.realization.org/page/namedoc0/mipe/mipe_aa.htm,
http://www.realization.org/page/namedoc0/mipe/mipe_i.htm,
http://www.realization.org/page/namedoc0/mipe/mipe_1.htm;
Richard Gombrich, "From Monastery to Meditation Centre: Lay Meditation in Modern Sri Lanka" in Buddhist Studies: Ancient and Modern, ed. P. Denwood and A. Piatigorsky (London: Curzon, 1983), pp. 20-34;
SRR: George Bond, The Buddhist Revival in Sri Lanka (Columbia, SC: South Carolina University Press, 1988), pp. 130-176.

2/26: Relic Veneration:
Kevin Trainor, Relics, Ritual and Representation in Buddhism: Rematerializing the Sri Lankan Theravada Tradition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997): 136-188;
selection from the Dhatuvamsa (Chronicle of the Relics), tr. Kevin Trainor;
S. Wickremeratne, BSL, pp. 141-156;
SRR: S. Kemper, The Presence of the Past (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991), pp. 135-160.

3/3: Town Meeting: no class.

3/5: Deva Worship:
Richard Gombrich, TB, pp. 119-136;
S. Wickremeratne, BSL, pp. 221-231;
A. G. S. Kariyavasam, Buddhist Ceremonies and Rituals of Sri Lanka, "Bali and Tovil Ceremonies" and "Worship of Devas";
SRR: Jason Carbine, "Cosmology and Healing (Sri Lanka)" in The Life of Buddhism, ed. Frank Reynolds and Jason Carbine (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), pp. 161-176.

3/10, 12: Spring recess: no class.

3/17: Thovil Practices:
S. Wickremeratne, BSL, pp. 237-258; visit to Fleming Museum.
SRR: D. Scott, "Anthropological and Colonial Discourse: Aspects of the Demonological Construction of Sinhala Cultural Practice," Cultural Anthropology 7 (1992), pp. 301-326 (access article from Course Materials page in Blackboard).

3/19: Kataragama:
Richard Gombrich and Gananath Obeyesekere, Buddhism Transformed (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), pp. 163-199;
S. Wickremeratne, BSL, pp. 259-271;
read one article from the Kataragama web site; see: http://kataragama.org/;
SRR: Richard Gombrich and Gananath Obeyesekere, Buddhism Transformed (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), pp. 411-444.

3/24: Pirit:
A. Kariyawasam, Buddhist Ceremonies and Rituals of Sri Lanka, "The Pirit Ceremony";
S. Wickremeratne, BSL, pp. 167-177;
Jeffrey Samuels, "Texts Memorized, Texts Performed: A Reconsideration of the Role of Paritta in Sri Lankan Monastic Education," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 28 (2005), pp. 339-367 (access article from Course Materials page in Blackboard);
selections from the Book of Protection, tr. Piyadasi Thera; see:
http://www.buddhanet.net/bp_parit.htm, http://www.buddhanet.net/bp_invit.htm,
http://www.buddhanet.net/bp_sut02.htm, http://www.buddhanet.net/bp_sut03.htm,
http://www.buddhanet.net/bp_sut04.htm, http://www.buddhanet.net/bp_apend.htm.
Secondary source evaluation due.

3/26: Fullmoon Festivals:
J. Disanayaka, The Vesak Fullmoon Festival (London: Pioneer Lanka Pub., 1993), pp. 1-26;
A. Kariyawasam, Buddhist Ceremonies and Rituals of Sri Lanka, "Poya Days";
SRR: Elizabeth Nissan, "History in the Making: Anuradhapura and the Sinhala Buddhist Nation" in Identity, Consciousness and the Past, ed. H. L. Seneviratne (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 23-41.

3/31: Pilgrimage:
J. Disanayaka, The Monk and the Peasant (Colombo: State Printing Corp., 1993), pp. 91-100;
"Pilgrim Songs (and Verses) of the Sixteen Places of Worship," tr. Sunil Kariyakarawana, unpublished typescript [1997];
S. Wickremeratne, BSL, pp. 101-111; 157-166;
SRR: K. R. van Kooij, "A Meaningful Tree: The Bo Tree at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka" in Site-Seeing: Places in Culture, Time and Space, ed. by Kitty Zijlmans (Leiden: CNWS Publications, 2006), pp. 9-31 (access article from Course Materials page in Blackboard).

4/2: Sri Lankan Buddhism in the Modern Age:
R. Gombrich, TB, pp. 171-195;
Anagarika Dharmapala, "Message of the Buddha" and "A Message to the Young Men of Ceylon" in Return to Righteousness, ed. A. Guruge (Colombo: Ceylon Government Press, 1965), pp. 23-34, 501-518;
H. S. Olcott, Buddhist Catechism (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Pub. House, 1970), pp. ii-xv, 42-71;
SRR: SRR: Anne Blackburn, "Buddhism, Colonialism and Modernism: A View from Sri Lanka," Nethra 5 (2002): 7-25.
First draft of research paper due.

4/7: Sri Lankan Buddhism and the Ethnic Conflict:
Stanley J. Tambiah, "Buddhism, Politics, and Violence in Sri Lanka" in Fundamentalisms and the State, ed. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), vol. 3, pp. 589-619;
Walpola Rahula, The Heritage of the Bhikkhu, tr. K. Wijayasurendra (New York: Grove Press, 1974 [Sinhala original published in 1946]), pp. 90-119, 131-136;
SRR: Elizabeth Harris, "Buddhism in War: A Study of Cause and Effect from Sri Lanka," Culture and Religion 2 (2001): 197-222.

4/9: H. L. Seneviratne, Work of Kings: The New Buddhism in Sri Lanka (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1999): 333-348;
H. L. Seneviratne, "Buddhist Monks and Ethnic Politics: A War Zone in an Island Paradise," Anthropology Today 17 (April, 2001), pp. 15-21;
SRR: A. Abeysekara, "The Saffron Army, Violence, Terror(ism): Buddhism, Identity, and Difference in Sri Lanka, Numen 48 (2001), pp. 1-46 (access article from Course Materials page in Blackboard).

4/14: Oral presentations.

4/16: Oral presentations.

4/21: Oral presentations.

4/23: Oral presentations.
Final version of research paper due.

4/28: Concluding Reflections:
Stephen Berkwitz, "Recent Trends in Sri Lankan Buddhism," Religion 33 (2003): 57-71; R. Gombrich, TB, pp. 196-210.