• Links for Chinese religions
• Selected handouts

• Syllabus:

Reading:

Available in Bookstore

• Joseph A. Adler, Chinese Religious Traditions
• Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, 2nd ed., vol. 1

On Course Reserve [CR]

• Wm. Theodore de Bary and Richard Lufrano, eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, 2nd ed., vol. 2
• James Miller, ed., Chinese Religions in Contemporary Societies (also online)
• David K. Jordan, Gods, Ghosts and Ancestors: The Folk Religion of a Taiwanese Village (also online)
• Donald S. Lopez, Jr., ed., Religions of China in Practice
• John R. McRae, Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism

"The Master said, 'Learning without thinking is in vain; thinking without learning is dangerous.'"

Fuxi, the first Sage, who created the diagrams of the Yijing.

Course Requirements and Grading:

1. Participation (15%). Regular attendance, timely completion of reading assignments, active participation in class discussions, and one short conference with me in my office no later than Friday, September 22. Grading criteria are as follows:

   A:  Regular attendance (no more than 3 unexcused absences), regular contribution to discussion (at least once a week)
   B:  Regular attendance, occasional contribution
   C:  Too many absences OR too little contribution
   D:  Too many absences AND too little contribution
   F:  Other serious problems

   Option: To supplement the class discussion portion of your participation grade for any week, you may turn in a written "reaction paper" (1-2 pages, typed, maximum one per week) containing your reactions to, reflections on, and/or questions about course readings and lectures. These will be graded 1 (credit), 2 (good), or 3 (excellent) and will be returned within a week with comments.

2. Three short quizzes (10% each), consisting of short-answer questions.

3. Two short research papers (20% each), 6-10 pages plus bibliography (following the Paper Format Guide). Each paper will make use of at least two books or articles outside of assigned class readings. Due dates as follows:

4. Final exam (15%). Same format as the quizzes, but longer (1 hour).

Note: If you have a disability that will affect your work or participation in this class, please contact Erin Salva, Coordinator of Disability Services, at 427-5453 or via e-mail at salvae@kenyon.edu, and speak to me individually, early in the semester, about the arrangements you will need.

Introduction to the course
Religion in Chinese history
Shang and early Zhou religion

• Adler, Chinese Religious Traditions (CRT), chs. 1-2
• de Bary and Bloom, Sources of Chinese Tradition, pp. 3-23 (oracle-bone inscriptions), 24-30 (Classics, Yao and Shun), 32(bot.)-40 (Metal-bound Coffer, Shao, Odes)

Classical Confucianism: The Way of the Sages
The Mandate of Heaven and the Five Classics
Confucius (Kongzi): humanity (ren) and ritual propriety (li)
Mencius (Mengzi) and his theory of human nature

Master Kong

• CRT, pp. 30-42
• Sources, pp. 41-63 (Confucius), 112-158 (Mencius)
  

"The Great Learning" (Daxue) and "The Mean" (Zhongyong)
Xunzi: another theory of human nature
Filiality (xiao)
Women in Confucianism
Rites and Music

• CRT, pp. 42, 63-67
• Sources, pp. 159-183 (Xunzi),
           326-344 (Xiaojing, Liji, Great Learning, The Mean, sacrifice, music),
           819(bot.)-831 (women's education)
• Selections from The Twenty-four Exemplars of Filial Piety [H]
       (from de Bary and Lufrano, Sources of Chinese Tradition, 2nd ed., vol.2)

Read:

• CRT, pp. 42-51
• Sources, pp 77-94

Zhuangzi

• CRT, pp. 51-57
• Sources, pp 95-111

Han syncretism and Chinese cosmology
Qi, yin-yang, and Five Phases (wuxing)
The Yijing
Film: "A Question of Balance"

The 8 Trigrams and the Taiji (T'ai-chi) symbol

Read:

• CRT, pp. 58-63
• Sources, pp. 206-212 (Li Si),
  235-242 (Lüshi chunqiu, Huang-Lao Daoism),
  273-282 (medical theory, the six schools),
  292-297 (Dong Zhongshu),
  311-325 (Confucian canon, Yijing),
  344-352 (three bonds, cosmology, time)

A dangki (spirit-medium or shaman) at a temple festival in Taiwan.

Gods, ghosts, and ancestors

Ancestor worship, divination, village festivals, and state religion

Film:

• CRT, pp. 102-107, 112-121
• Tam Wai Lun, "Local Religion in Contemporary China," in Miller, Chinese Religions in Contemporary Societies [CR and online], ch. 3
• Jordan, Gods, Ghosts and Ancestors
  [CR and online], ch. 4 (Divination)
• "Lord Kuan Manifests a Divine Presence..." (excerpt from Luo Guanzhong, Three Kingdoms) [H]

 Daoist religious experience and practice
Revelation, ritual, meditation, alchemy

• CRT, pp. 67-73, 97-99
• Livia Kohn, "Laozi: Ancient Philosopher, Master of Immortality, and God," in Lopez, Religions of China in Practice [CR], pp. 52-63
• Livia Kohn, "Daoist rites and meditation," from Kohn, Daoism and Chinese Culture [H]
• Sources, pp. 392-414

Monumental image of the Buddha
at the Yungang caves, Datong.

Read:

• CRT, pp. 74-85
• Sources, pp. 415-421 (and skim to 428),
  433-438 (doctrinal schools),
  444-455 (Tiantai),
  471-476 (Huayan),
  585-586 (845 Suppression)

• Sources, pp. 481-491 (Pure Land),
                         529-536 (ritual and devotion)

• CRT, pp. 85-89, 100-102
• Sources, pp. 491-519, 522-529 (Chan)
• Optional: John R. McRae, Seeing Through Zen [CR], pp. 1-21

Read:

• CRT, 91-97
• Sources, pp. 568-573, 583-585 (Han Yu),
                      587-590 (Song revival),
                      667-678 (Zhou Dunyi),
                      682-684 (Zhang Zai),
                      689-695 (Cheng brothers),
                      697-705 (Zhu Xi)

Western religions in China;
20th-century critiques of religion in China

Read:

• CRT, pp. 107-112, 121-125
• Francis Ching-wah Yip, "Protestant Christianity in Contemporary China," in Miller, Chinese Religions in Contemporary Societies [CR and online]
• Dru Gladney, "Islam in China: Accommodation or Separatism?" in Michael Feener: Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives [online]
• Jonathan N. Lipman, "Living Judaism in Confucian Culture: Being Jewish and Being Chinese," from Lawrence Fine, ed., Judaism in Practice [handout]
  
• "The New Culture Movement" (Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi), "The Communist Revolution" (Mao Zedong), "A reevaluation of Confucianism" (Li Zehou, Gu Mu), from Sources, vol. 2 [handout]
• Orville Schell, To Get Rich is Glorious: China in the 80's, excerpt [handout]
• "Religion Must Serve the State," from Orville Schell and David Shambaugh, eds., The China Reader: The Reform Era [handout]
  
  

  Friday, Dec. 14, 1:30-2:30:   • Final exam   • Paper 2b due