ASIAN 4441 - [Mahayana Buddhism]

(crosslisted) RELST 4441
(GHB) (CA-AS, GLC-AS) (EC-SAP)

Spring. Not offered: 2020-2021. Next offered: 2021-2022. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: one course with significant Buddhist content.

D. Boucher.

This course will explore the origins and early developments of a movement in Indian Buddhism known as the Great Vehicle. We will intensively examine a small slice of this movement’s voluminous literature so as to better understand its call for a new spiritual orientation within Buddhism. Topics of discussion will include the career of the bodhisattva, the lay/monk distinction, attitudes of Mahayanists toward women and other Buddhists, and the development of Buddhist utopias and transcendent buddhas. (RL)