
- UCAS course code
- QT12
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Course unit details:
Buddhism in Japan
Unit code | JAPA33082 |
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Credit rating | 20 |
Unit level | Level 3 |
Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
Offered by | Japanese Studies |
Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
The course will begin by outlining some of the main themes of Buddhism from its origins until the time it entered Japan. It will then examine key Buddhist sectarian traditions and teachings, and look at how these sectarian traditions interacted with state and society, discuss the role of charismatic and ascetic figures in the spreading and promotion of a popular, faith-oriented folk Buddhism and examine the main areas of popular practice that have been associated with and used by Buddhist temples in historical and modern contexts in Japan. Finally it will assess the problems faced by Buddhism since 1945, discuss the various ways in which Buddhist institutions and individual priests are seeking to re-contextualise the tradition in line with modernity and changing circumstances, and will examine how this is impacting on, and is likely to affect, Buddhism in the longer term.
Aims
- To provide students with a knowledge of the ways in which Buddhism has developed in Japan, especially in the modern (i.e. Meiji Restoration onwards) period and in conjunction with the processes of modernity and the rise of the modern state.
- to provide an understanding of Buddhism’s relationships with other religious traditions, its impact on Japanese culture, its sectarian manifestations, its popular realms of practice, and its various social roles in pre-modern and modern Japan.
- to provide students with an awareness of the problems faced by Buddhism in the late 20th/early 21st centuries, the ways in which Buddhist institutions are facing these problems, and the implications this has for Buddhism as a religious entity in Japan and beyond.
Knowledge and understanding
- Gain a good knowledge and critical understanding of the main topics concerning the cultural history of Buddhism in Japan, especially in the modern era.
- Gain an understanding of the continuities and discontinuities between modern and pre-modern Buddhism in Japan.
Intellectual skills
- Broaden intellectual interests and nurture cultural awareness for areas beyond English-speaking countries.
- Read critically: evaluating information using critical and analytical thinking and judgment
- Write analytically: gain exposure and practice in appropriate presentation and written skills related to a discipline or profession
Practical skills
- Construct ideas and arguments from own research and apply knowledge to finding solutions to authentic real world problems.
- Improve basic skills for academic writing, in particular reviewing academic literature.
- Improve presentation skills
Transferable skills and personal qualities
- Develop personal qualities of independence of mind in order to make ethical judgments.
- Develop awareness that will enable students to confront their own values as global citizens
Assessment methods
Presentation | 20% |
Essay | 40% |
Exam | 40% |
Feedback methods
Feedback method | Formative or Summative |
Feedback on essay plan and oral presentation | Summative |
Written feedback for oral presentation | Summative |
Written feedback for essay | Summative |
Additional one-to-one feedback (during the consultation hour or by making an appointment) | Formative |
Written feedback for final exam | Summative |
Recommended reading
- Bowring, Richard The Religious Traditions of Japan 500-1600 (Cambridge University Press)
- Breen, John and Mark Teeuwen (eds) Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami (various essays relating to Buddhist-Shinto interactions) (Curzon)
- Covell, Stephen G. Japanese Temple Buddhism: Worldliness in a Religion of Renunciation (University of Hawaii Press)
- Jaffe, Richard. (2002) Neither Monk nor Layman: Clerical marriage in modern Japanese Buddhism, Princeton University Press.
- Ketelaar, James (1990) Heretics and Martyrs in Meiji Japan: Buddhism and its Persecutions, (Princeton University Press).
- Lopez, Donald S. ed. (1995) Curators of the Buddha: The Study of Buddhism under Colonialism, University of Chicago Press.
- McMullin, Neil Buddhism and the State (Princeton University Press)
- Pilgrim, Richard Buddhism and the Arts of Japan (Columbia University Press)
- Reader, Ian and George J. Tanabe Practically Religious: Worldly benefits and the Common Religion of Japan, 1998 Ch 4 pp. 140-177 (University of Hawaii Press)
- Suzuki, D. T. (1959) Zen and Japanese Culture Routledge, Kegan and Paul.
- Victoria, Brian. (1997) Zen at War (Weatherhill).
Study hours
Scheduled activity hours | |
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Lectures | 22 |
Seminars | 11 |
Independent study hours | |
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Independent study | 167 |
Teaching staff
Staff member | Role |
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Erica Baffelli | Unit coordinator |