• Religious dimensions of classical Confucianism
• Self and society in classical Confucianism
• Culture (wen) and learning (xue / hsüeh) in Confucian thought
• The relationship of ren (jen) and li
• The relationship of heaven and humanity
• Women in early Confucianism
• Theories of government
• Theories of human nature
• Confucian self-cultivation
• Confucianism as religious humanism

2) Classical Daoism

• Huang-Lao Daoism
• Critiques of language in Daoist philosophy
• Zhuangzi's critique of knowledge
• Water symbolism and the feminine in the Laozi
• Wu-wei and spontaneity
• Daoist conceptions of self, society, and nature
• Daoist influences on Chinese art

3) Cosmology and Popular Religion

• Permanence and change in Chinese religious thought
• Meanings of nature in Chinese thought
• Principles of Chinese cosmology and science
• The cosmology of Chinese cities
• Institutional and diffused religion in China
• The family in Chinese religions
• Ancestor worship
• Gods, ghosts, and ancestors
• Divination
• The Yijing (I Ching)
• "Civil religion" in China
• Women in popular religion
• Feng-shui ("geomancy")
• Pilgrimage in China
• Sacred mountains in China
• Popular religion in Taiwan
• The history and cult of Mazu
• The history of Yiguandao (I-kuan Tao)

4) Daoist religious experience and practice

• Daoist conceptions of the body
• Daoist meditation
• Daoist alchemy
• Self-cultivation in Daoism
• Daoist ritual
• Women in Daoism
• Revelation in Daoism
• The Daoist Canon (Daozang)
• The Way of the Celestial Masters (Tianshi dao)
• The Orthodox Unity (Zhengyi) sect
• The Complete Perfection (Quanzhen) sect
• Daoist sacred mountains
• Daoism and political movements in China
• Daoism and traditional Chinese medicine

5) Chinese Buddhism

• The Chinese transformation of Buddhism
• Emptiness in Chinese Buddhism
• Meditation in Chinese Buddhism
• The development of Chan Buddhism
• The Platform Sutra: history and myth
• Major Chan teachers of the Tang dynasty
• Major Chan teachers of the Song dynasty
• gong'an practice vs. "silent illumination"
• Pure Land Buddhism in China
• Madhyamika (San-lun) Buddhism in China: the philosophy of Jizang
• The Tiantai Buddhist synthesis
• Huayan Buddhism
• Women in Chinese Buddhism
• Popular Buddhist movements in China
• Buddhist sacred mountains and pilgrimage
• Chinese Buddhist art / iconography

6) Neo-Confucianism (see bibliographies on Handouts page)

• Religious dimensions of Neo-Confucianism
• The revival of Confucianism in the Northern Song
• Daoist and Buddhist influences on Neo-Confucianism
• The social-historical background of Neo-Confucianism in the Song
• Neo-Confucian critiques of Daoism and Buddhism
• Theories of mind in Neo-Confucianism
• The problem of evil in Neo-Confucianism
• Women in Neo-Confucianism
• What is new in Neo-Confucianism?
• Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian synthesis
• The Lu-Wang school of Neo-Confucianism

7) Western religions in China

• Christianity in China
• Islam in China
• Judaism in China
• The Taiping Rebellion
• The "Chinese Rites Controversy"
• Catholic churches in China
• Protestant churches in China

8) 20th-century critiques and revival of Chinese religion

• Early 20th-century critiques of religion in China
• Religion in the People's Republic of China
• Theories of religion in the PRC
• The Falun Gong movement
• New religious movements in China
• New religious movements in Taiwan
• The "New Confucians"
• The Buddhist Compassion Relief (Tzu Chi) Society in Taiwan
• Buddhist and Daoist institutions in contemporary China
• Government control of religion in China

Edit date: 8/31/09