Please note: Due to alternative arrangements for teaching and
assessment in place from 18 March 2020 to mitigate against the restrictions in
place due to COVID-19, information shown for 2019/20 may not always be accurate.
Please note: you are viewing unit and programme information
for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
| Unit name |
Death and Afterlife in Buddhism |
| Unit code |
THRS30101 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
H/6
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
|
| Unit director |
Dr. Langer |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None
|
| Co-requisites |
None
|
| School/department |
Department of Religion and Theology |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
This unit will examine the issues relating to death in Buddhist theory and practice. Students will get acquainted with perspectives on death as formulated in the Buddhist textual tradition, but also with ritual practises dealing with such an event. Themes covered will include 'deathlessness' (nirvana); various kinds of death and the associated rites, renunciation and ordination as a form of 'symbolic death'; relic cults; death and the regeneration of life and post-mortem rituals.
Aims:
- to develop an overall sense of the importance of death in Buddhism;
- to gain an in-depth knowledge of certain significant topics specific to a Buddhist tradition or practice;
- to encourage reflection on the nature of rituals related to death in a religious context;
- to develop skills in the researching, reading and presentation of complex material;
Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of the unit students will be expected to have:
- an overall sense of the importance of death in Buddhism;
- an in-depth knowledge of certain significant topics specific to a Buddhist tradition or practice;
- developed reflection on the nature of rituals related to death in a religious context;
- skills in the researching, reading and presentation of complex material
And additionally (specific to Level H) to:
- Incorporate a consistently strong grasp of detail with respect to content
- Argue effectively and at length (including an ability to cope with complexities and to describe and deploy these effectively)
- Display to a high level skills in selecting, applying, interpreting and organising information, including evidence of a high level of bibliographical control
- Describe, evaluate and challenge current scholarly thinking
- Discriminate between different kinds of information, processes, interpretations
- Take a critical stance towards scholarly processes involved in arriving at historical knowledge and/or relevant secondary literature
- Engage with relevant theoretical, philosophical or social constructs for understanding relevant works or traditions
- Demonstrate an understanding of concepts and an ability to conceptualise
- Situate material within relevant contexts (invoking interdisciplinary contexts where appropriate)
- Apply strategies laterally (perhaps leading to innovative results).
Teaching Information
Seminars - 3 hours per week
Assessment Information
One summative coursework essay of 3000 words (50%) and one unseen examination of two hours comprising 2 questions out of 6 (50%).
Reading and References
- Bryan J. Cuevas and Jacqueline I. Stone (eds). The Buddhist Dead: Practices, Discourses, Representations, Honolulu: University of Hawai'I Press 2007.
- Doniger O'Flaherty, W. (ed.) 1980. Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian Traditions, Berkeley, University of California Press
- Allen Klima, A. 2002. The Funeral Casino: Meditation, Massacre, and Exchange with the Dead in Thailand, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2002.
- Langer, R. 2007. Buddhist Rituals of Death and Rebirth: A study of contemporary Sri Lankan practice and its origins, Abingdon: RoutledgeCurzon.
- Donald S. Lopez, Jr., Buddhism in Practice, Princeton U.P., 1995.
