Socially engaged Buddhism marks a radical reinterpretation of some basic Buddhist

ideas. Engaged Buddhists have interests in politics, justice and gender

issues as well as environmental concerns. Engaged Buddhism often challenges the

place and status of the monastic in Buddhist society and raises questions about the

nature of liberation, and how liberation can be achieved. The module will explore a

number of figures and movements widely regarded as part of engaged Buddhism

and will explore how Buddhism responds to issues of gender inequality and ethical

dilemmas related to abortion and euthanasia.

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the module a student will be able to:

• Evaluate arguments about a specific form of modern Buddhism, and how this movement relates to other forms of Buddhism
• Develop skills useful in other areas of research, namely, the understanding, evaluation, and critiquing of different ideas, both philosophical and historical
• Form arguments about the history, ideas and practices of engaged Buddhism
• Understand a range of Buddhist doctrines and how these can be used in meditative theory, or as part of a political message
• Use the basic vocabulary of engaged Buddhism to understand the different movements associated with it
• Identify, define, investigate and solve problems within Buddhism related to ethics and politics
• Appreciate how traditional forms of Asian Buddhism react and respond to notions of modernity, gender and hierarchy
• Explore how soteriological ideas can be understood as both personal ontological goals and social realities

Lectures and seminars

Skills that will be practised and developed

Academic skills:

• An ability to follow complex arguments and discuss these ideas with others in a clear and understandable way
• An ability to understand concepts, ideas, and knowledge of historical periods
• An ability to understand and explain to others diverse philosophical interpretations of key ideas

Subject-specific skills:

• An appreciation of the complexity of different periods of Buddhist history
• An understanding of diverse Buddhist schools of thought, both historical and cultural

• A sensitivity to Buddhist traditions offering radically different interpretations of key Buddhist doctrines, and the reasons for these disagreements
• An understanding of cultural differences in Buddhist thought, practice and behaviour

Assessment will be both formative and summative. 

Summative

Essay (2000 words)

Exam (1.5 hours)

Syllabus content

Lectures and seminars may include:

• Introduction to Buddhism
• Engaged Buddhism: traditional or modern?
• The basic teachings of Buddhism: tools for engaged Buddhism; schools of Buddhism
• Historical periods, cultural differences: what makes Buddhism ‘Buddhism’?
• The ascetic: Buddhism and the renunciation of the world
• Thich Nhat Hanh and the 14 principles of Engaged Buddhism
• The problem with ‘views’ and beliefs
• Westward Dharma: The idea of ‘Protestant Buddhism’
• The colonial influence on ‘modern’ Buddhism
• Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism to ‘escape’ from the caste system
• Buddhism and politics
• Aung San Suu Kyi and politics in Myanmar
• Sulak Sivaraksa: Buddhism with a small ‘b’
• Engaged Buddhism in Tibet: the Dalai Lama and peaceful protest
• Sarvodaya in Sri Lanka
• Soka Gakkai in Japan
• Problems with gender? The lost feminine in Buddhism
• The notion of the ideal ruler, the Dhammaraja in Buddhism
• Buddhadasa, politics and Buddhism: ‘Dictatorial Dhammic Socialism’
• Engaged Buddhism and ethical issues: abortion, euthanasia, gender and suicide
• Millenarianism and engaged Buddhism
• The Santi Asoke and Dhammakaya movements in modern Thailand
• Buddhism, blasphemy; modern and traditional uses of the sacred

Indicative Reading List

Āriyaratna, E., Buddhist Economics in Practice in the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri Lanka, Salisbury, 1999.

Bartholomeusz, T.J., Chandra Richard De Silva, Buddhist Fundamentalism and Minority Identities in Sri Lanka, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998.

Berkwitz, S.C., South Asian Buddhism: A Survey, London, 2010.

Chakravarti, U., The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1987.

Faure, B., The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender. Princeton, 2003.

Goldstein, M., Kapstein, M., Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet: Religious Revival and Cultural Identity, Berkeley, 1998.

Gross, R., Buddhism after Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism. Albany, 1993.

Harris, I., Buddhismand in Twentieth-Century Asia, London, 1999.

Haynes, J., Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics, London, 2009.

International Network of Engaged Buddhists, Radical Conservatism: Buddhismin the Contemporary World: Articles in Honour of Bhikkhu Buddhadasa's 84th Birthday Anniversary, Sathirakoses-Nagapradipa Foundation, 1990.

Jerryson, M.K., Juergensmeyer, Mark, Buddhist Warfare, New York, 2010.

Kaza, S., and Kraft, K., Dharma Rain: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism, Boston, Mass, 2000.

Keown, D., The Nature of Buddhist Ethics. London: Macmillan, 1992.

__________, Buddhism & Bioethics, Basingstoke, 1995.

__________, (ed.). Contemporary Buddhist Ethics. Richmond, Surrey, 2000.

Keown, D., Prebish, C., Husted, Wayne R (eds) Buddhismand Human Rights, London, 1998.

__________, Encyclopedia of Buddhism, London, 2007.

Lopez, D., Buddhism & Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, Chicago, 2008.

__________, Buddhism in Practice, Princeton, N.J, 1995.

McMahan, D., The Making of Buddhist Modernism, Oxford, 2008.

Nhat Hanh, Thich, Reconciliation: Healing the Inner Child, Berkeley, 2010.

Olivelle, P; Leoshko, J; Prabha R., Reimagining Asoka: Memory and History, OUP, India, 2012.

Prebish, C., Historical Dictionary of Buddhism, Lanham, Md., 1993.

Queen, C., and Sallie K., (eds.). Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.

Queen, C., Engaged Buddhism in the West, Somerville, MA., 2000.

Queen, C., Prebish, C., Keown, D., (eds.). Action Dharma: New Studies in Engaged Buddhism. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003.

Singh, A., and Verma, Ajay, B.R. Ambedkar: The Buddha and his Dhamma, Oxford, 2011.

Sivaraksa, Sulak, Loyalty Demands Dissent: Autobiography of an Engaged Buddhist, Berkeley, 1998.

Smith, B.,. Religion and Legitimation of Power in Sri Lanka. Chambersberg, PA: Anima Publications, 1978.

Tambiah, S., World Conqueror and World Renouncer: A Study of Buddhism and Polity in Thailand against a Historical Background. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.

__________, Buddhism Betrayed? Religion, Politics, and Violence in Sri Lanka, Chicago, 1992.

Tarocco, F., The Cultural Practices of Modern Chinese Buddhism: Attuning the Dharma, Routledge, 2007.

Woodhead, L., Religions in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformations, London, 2002.

Online:

Journal of Buddhist Ethics

Journal of Contemporary Buddhism