Course Schedule and Catalog

Department: Religion

Meeting: 1:00PM - 3:30PM R (11-JAN-2027 - 23-APR-2027) 

Part of Term: Full Term

Grade Mode: Standard Letter

Course Type: Lecture

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Distribution Group: Distribution Group I

Method of Instruction: Face to Face

Credit Hours: 3

 

Section Max Enrollment: 30

Section Enrolled: 0

Waitlisted: 0 (Max 99) 

Current members of the waitlist have priority for available seats.

Enrollment data as of: 2-NOV-2026 3:01AM

 

 

Final Exam: No Final Exam

 

Description: This course introduces the cultural background of Buddhism in modernity and in traditional Asia. The class consists of cognitive, affective, visual, and aesthetic registers. Select films are discussed on their own aesthetic and narrative terms and their themes (impermanence, death, rebirth, sites of contesting ritual and secular perspectives, and these are juxtaposed with analogous issues found in our readings. A further register is engaging in simple, secular contemplative exercises which allow students to explore classic meditative arts of quieting the mind, cultivating kindness, and the power of the introspective imagination. These exercises also serve as an intro to the value of nuanced attention to ordinary experienced, principles central to the rapidly emerging discipline of micro-phenomenology.