Seminar in Buddhist Studies: Buddhists and Others in China
The Buddha encouraged students to spread his teachings, thus giving rise to the world’s first major missionary religion. As the Buddhist tradition took root across Asia, Buddhists interacted with many other religions and cultures. We will explore a series of these encounters in China, ranging from rivalry and opposition to cooperation to synthesis, along with comparative case studies from elsewhere in the Buddhist world. We will also take up the question of religious labels and affiliation, especially in late imperial China, when many did not confine themselves to one tradition, and explicit commitment to the combined “three teachings” of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism became a distinct form of religious practice. In the end, who is Buddhist, and who is other? 3 hr. sem.