Asian Philosophies: Buddhism and Jainism
PHIL/REL ST 117
Winter 2020
Tues/Thurs 5:00-6:20pm
Professor: Brianne Donaldson
Email: [email protected] Classroom Location: Humanities Hall 231 DESCRIPTION: What we call "Jainism" and "Buddhism" today emerged as reforming philosophies in approximately the 5th c. CE in the Ganges plain of India. While both of these non-Vedic views were rooted in the universal importance of daily action (vs. ritual), they offered distinct frameworks of what is real, how to know, and how to act. In this class, we will parse these paths through secondary texts, textual translations, while also considering the living practices of living Buddhist and Jain communities globally and in our southern California neighborhood. |
Opening Recitation:
Khāmemi savva-jīve, savve jive khamantu me/
metti me savva-bhūesu, veraṃ majjha na keṇavi//
I ask pardon of all creatures, may all creatures pardon me.
May I have friendship with all beings and enmity with none.
--Pratikramaṇa-sūtra, 49
Source: R. Williams, Jaina Yoga: A Survey of the Medieval Śrāvakācāras (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, [1963] 1991), 207.
Khāmemi savva-jīve, savve jive khamantu me/
metti me savva-bhūesu, veraṃ majjha na keṇavi//
I ask pardon of all creatures, may all creatures pardon me.
May I have friendship with all beings and enmity with none.
--Pratikramaṇa-sūtra, 49
Source: R. Williams, Jaina Yoga: A Survey of the Medieval Śrāvakācāras (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, [1963] 1991), 207.
Student Learning Objectives:
1. Explain how Jainism and Buddhism are both independent and co-constituted traditions
2. Identify key terms unique to each tradition's history, philosophy, practice, and community
3. Analyze translations excerpted from primary sources within each tradition
4. Experience the lived, diaspora tradition of Jainism or Buddhism through site visits
1. Explain how Jainism and Buddhism are both independent and co-constituted traditions
2. Identify key terms unique to each tradition's history, philosophy, practice, and community
3. Analyze translations excerpted from primary sources within each tradition
4. Experience the lived, diaspora tradition of Jainism or Buddhism through site visits