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Joseph Adler

Syllabus: Intro Reading Course Requirements and Grading Schedule

Religious Studies 360
ZEN BUDDHISM

Joseph Adler   Spring 2008
Ascension 312   MWF 2:10-3:00 (Per. 7)
adlerj@kenyon.edu   Ascension 326
427-5290   Office hours: MWF 3-4, TTh 1-2
and by appointment

This course will cover the history, doctrines, and practices of Zen Buddhism in China, where it originated and is called Chan; Japan, where it has influenced many aspects of Japanese culture and from where it was exported to the West; and the United States. The class format will be a combination of lecture and discussion. Readings will be in both primary texts and secondary studies, and will be supplemented by films.

READING

    Available in Bookstore
    The 6th Patriarch (Huineng) Tearing up Sutras, by Liang Kai
    (China, Song dynasty)

  • Peter D. Hershock, Chan Buddhism
  • Kenneth Kraft, ed., Zen: Tradition and Transition
  • Taigen Daniel Leighton, trans., Cultivating the Empty Field: The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi, 2nd ed.
  • Thomas Cleary, trans., Shōbōgenzō: Zen Essays by Dōgen
  • Rick Fields, How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America

    Course Reserve
  • Francis Dojun Cook, trans., How to Raise an Ox: Zen Practice as Taught in Zen Master Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō
  • Heinrich Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism: A History, 2 vols.
  • John R. McRae, Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism
  • Mark R. Mullins, Shimazono Susumu, and Paul L. Swanson, eds., Religion and Society in Modern Japan
  • Charles S. Prebish and Kenneth K. Tanaka, The Faces of Buddhism in America
  • Giei Satō and Eshin Nishimura, Unsui: A Diary of Zen Monastic Life
  • Paul Williams, Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations
  • Thomas Wright, trans., Refining Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment

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, February 1. 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, films, and lectures. These will be graded 1 (credit), 2 (good), or 3 (excellent) and will be returned within a week with comments.

  2. One take-home essay (15%), 3-5 pages. The topic will be distributed in class one week in advance.

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

  4. Two research papers (20% each), 6-10 pages plus bibliography (following the Paper Format Guide on the course website). Each paper will make use of at least two books or articles outside of assigned class readings. The first (on Chan in China) will be due before Spring Break. The second (on Zen in Japan or America) will be due Friday, May 9, by 4:30 pm.

    Bodhidharma
    (contemporary painting in a Kyoto gallery window)

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.


COURSE SCHEDULE

1 Jan 14-18  

What is Zen?
  Overview of Buddhist history
   One Buddhist monk: Morinaga Sōkō
     
  Read:
  • Kraft, Zen, Introduction (Kraft): ch. 1 (Morinaga)
  • Hershock, Chan Buddhism: Introduction, chs. 1-2
2 Jan 21-25   Early Mahayana and the Chinese context
     
  Read:
  • Williams, Mahayana Buddhism: excerpts [handout]
  • Hershock, Chan Buddhism: chs. 3-4
3 Jan 28-Feb 1  

Proto-Chan (6th c.)
  Foundation myths
  Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma, by Hakuin (Japan, 18th century)
Monday: Take-home essay due
  Read:
  • Hershock, Chan Buddhism: 66-93
  • "The Image of Bodhidharma in Zen History," from Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism, vol. 1 [handout]
4 Feb 4-8   Early Ch'an (7th-8th c.)
  Huineng and the Platform Sutra
   

 
Read:
  • Kraft, Zen, ch. 7 (McRae)
  • The Platform Sutra: excerpts [handout]
  • Hershock, Chan Buddhism: 93-109

See here for Philip Yampolsky's complete translation of the Platform Sutra.

The 6th Patriarch Chopping Bamboo, by Liang Kai (China, Song dynasty)      
5 Feb 11-15 Middle Chan (8th-9th c.)
   The Five Schools (lineages)
Monday: Quiz 1
Read:
  • Hershock, Chan Buddhism: 109-131
  • Excerpts from Linji and Caoshan [handout]
6 Feb 18-22   Mature Chan (10th - 13th c.)
  Hongzhi and "silent illumination" (mozhao)
  Dahui and the "public case" (gongan)
     
  Read:
  • Leighton, Cultivating the Empty Field: 1-56
  • Chun-fang Yü, "Ta-hui Tsung-kao and Kung-an Ch'an" [CR and here]
       

7 Feb 25-29

   Chan Practice  
   
  Read:
  • Kraft, Zen: ch. 2 (Sheng Yen)
  • Sheng Yen, "The Four Foundations of Mindfulness" [handout]
  • Hershock, Chan Buddhism: chs. 6-7
  
Friday: First paper due
    Contemporary Chan monks meditating at Fayuan monastery, Beijing
<< Spring Break >>

8 Mar 17-21   Zen in Japan  
  Film:

"Land of the Disappearing Buddha"

  
  Read:
  • Kraft, Zen: chs. 8 (Yampolsky), 9 (Foulk)
  • Sato and Nishimura, Unsui: A Diary of Zen Monastic Life [CR]: skim
9 Mar 24-28   Dōgen (1200-1254)
Literary Zen
Shikan-taza (just sitting)

Dōgen
  Film: "Eiheiji" (Dōgen's monastery)
     
  Read:
  • Cleary, Shōbōgenzō: 1-42, 87-123
10 Mar 31-Apr 4   Sōtō Zen Practice
Women in Zen
Monday: Quiz 2
  Read:
  • Dōgen, "Instructions for the Cook" [handout]
  • Cook, How to Raise an Ox, pp. 133-150 ("Raihai Tokuzui") [CR; also online, trans. by Stanley Weinstein]
  • Paula K. Arai, "Sōtō Zen Nuns in Modern Japan: Keeping and Creating Tradition," in Mullins, et. al., Religion and Society in Modern Japan [CR and online]
11 Apr 7-11   Hakuin (1686-1769) and Rinzai Zen Practice
  The kōan
  Film: "Principles and Practices of Zen"  
       
  Read:
  • Excerpts from Hakuin [handout]
  • Kraft, Zen, chs. 3 (Kapleau), 4 (Eido), 5 (Low)
  
 
Blind Man Crossing Bridge, by Hakuin		  
Li Bo Walking and Chanting a Poem, by Liang Kai
12 Apr 14-18 Zen Poetry and Art
   
Read:
  • Kraft, Zen, ch. 6 (Watson)
  • Haiku by Bashō [handout]
  • The Ten Oxherding Pictures [handout]
  • Diane Divelbess, "Zen and Art" [handout]
  • Start on next week's reading

 
Bashō's most famous haikū:
  The old pond,
a frog leaps in,
the sound of water.
(In Bashō's calligraphy; click here for more on this)

13 Apr 21-25   Zen in America  
       
  Read:
  • Fields, How the Swans Came to the Lake: 109-113, 119-129 (ch. 7),
    135-140, 168-272 (chs. 10-12), 339-380 (chs. 15-16)
  • Kraft, Zen, ch. 10 (Kraft), Epilogue (Collcutt)
14 Apr 28-May 2   Problems of Zen in America
  Film: "Zen Center"
  Read:
  • Prebish and Tanaka, The Faces of Buddhism in America [CR]:
    50-78 / 303-305 (Hori)
Friday, May 2: Quiz 3
Friday, May 9: Second paper due

Meditating Daruma, by Nobutada (1565-1614)
Edit date: 2/21/08
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