RELG 285   Buddhist Traditions

Students will explore the many faces of Buddhism across time and space and seek to understand what has made Buddhism so successful. Some of the major themes running through Buddhism in various times and places include the allure of the motif of renunciation, the roles of scripture and literature in orienting devotion and community, an economy of merit wherein material goods and respect are offered to the Buddha and his community of monks and nuns in exchange for better rebirth and, ultimately, salvation, and Buddhism’s confrontation with modernity, the West, and science.