Course Description
The relationship between Buddhism and Western literature. Students will study representative writers who engaged with Eastern spirituality. Topics examined in this course include Europe’s search for Shangri-La, religious encounter narratives, literary modernism and modernist Buddhism, the Beat Generation, and Buddhist Orientalism and Occidentalism.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be expected to engage critically with the
material on a level that conforms with the standards of
scholarship set forth by the Graduate School. They will be
expected to produce at least one publishable paper and one book
review.
Athena Title
Buddhism and Western Lit
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The objective of this course is to introduce students to the interactional history of Buddhism and Western culture through literary works. Students will broaden their knowledge of Buddhism, East-West exchange of ideas, and Western literary reactions to Eastern spirituality. They will also develop critical thinking skills and cross-cultural and inter-religious communication skills.
Topical Outline
W 1: Introduction: Europe’s Historical Encounter with Buddhism W 2: Theravada Sutras: Excerpts from Long and Medium-Length Discourses and Dhammapada W 3: Mahayana Sutras: Heart Sutra; Diamond Sutra; Vimalakirti Sutra W 4: Edwin Arnold, The Light of Asia W 5: Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha W 6: Rudyard Kipling, Kim W 7: James Hilton, Lost Horizon W 8: Review and Midterm W 9: William Butler Yeats and Fernando Pessoa, Selected Poems and Essays W 10: Samuel Beckett, Act Without Words; How It Is; and Murphy W 11: Olive Schreiner, “The Buddhist Priest’s Wife” and Undine W 10: J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye; Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums W 11: Gary Snyder, Turtle Island; Alan Ginsberg, Selected Poems W 12: Jorge Luis Borges, Selected Short Stories and Essays W 13: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, the Sea W 14: Charles Johnson, Oxherding Tale W 15: Conclusion: The Shift From Textual to Experiential Buddhism and its Reflection in Literature
Syllabus