RELS 261 Between Empire and Appropriation: Buddhism in the Modern World
Buddhism is found worldwide today and is cited as an influence in a wide variety of settings, including psychology, self-motivation movements, education, statecraft, art, music, and science. However, its historical beginnings as a religious movement 2,500 years ago in India are often left out of these discussions. Buddhism is instead commonly presented as it has been reimagined by different agents as “more of a philosophy than a religion” and compatible with Western Enlightenment ideals, such as rationalism, empiricism and science. This course will provide a critical perspective on the process through which Buddhism has been constructed by various intellectual and political agents as it has developed in the modern era. Rather than attributing these characteristics of the tradition to inherent elements in some timeless ahistorical Buddhism, the course will instead encourage critical reflection on the broader cultural, political and economic processes that have influenced the development of modern Buddhism, including global networks of trade and technological exchange, colonialism (and anti-colonialism), cosmopolitanism, nationalism, the rise of secularism, and globalization between India, China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Britain and America.