Assignment Requirements
First make sure you will read the articles that I upload
There are four schools of Buddhism in China (two philosophical/doctrinal: tiantai and huayan and two practical: chan and Pure land) that had no Indian analogue. These schools also spread to Korea and Japan where further developments took place. Given that East Asia was culturally different from India and/or Central Asia, Buddhism could not be transplanted as it was but had to accommodate and adapt to new environment. Discuss some of the East Asian Buddhist developments with attention to the impact of indigenous traditions and their worldviews whenever applicable. Space for Korean and Japanese developments should be less than the space for China.
Pertinent questions to ask to get started: How did the sinifid schools address the primacy of soteriology that was the hallmark of Indian Buddhism? To break down this question further: How was human potential for ending suffering viewed in East Asian Buddhism? What ideas/theories/rhetoric of Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism were adopted and why? What changes or adaptations were made to the borrowed ideas to meet the local religious conditions and needs? How was meditation practice changed in East Asia? How did devotional, faith-oriented, Buddhism address the issue of soteriology and why?
Please read the readings I upload first, make sure you use the materials from the readings and then you can use extra materials. Your response requires review, synthesis, reflection, and critical appraisal of the material. And it requires endnotes. Cite sources in your endnotes (and not footnotes); citation of passages for illustration,including translated original textual passages, is highly recommended to show engagement but should be in endnotes as well.
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