CHLIT 4435 - [Chinese Buddhist Texts]

(GHB) (LA-AS)

Fall. Next Offered: 2019-2020. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: one semester of literary Chinese.

D. Boucher.

This seminar is designed to introduce students to the idiom of Buddhist Chinese. We will start by reading selections from the early translations to gain a grounding in the vocabulary and syntax that came to characterize literary Buddhism in China. From there we will survey some of the so-called apocryphal texts (Buddhist “sutras” produced in China) and look at samples from important writers and schools, depending on student interests. This course is open to students in any area of East Asia with an interest in developing skills in Buddhist texts. (RL)