World Religions: Asia Edition

This course will give your young learner insights on the important historical, doctrinal, and cultural characteristics of five major Asian religions, as well as contemporary topics within these traditions.  

The aim is creating a respectful appreciation for the diversity and distinctiveness of many southeast Asian cultures including India, China, and Japan.  The focus will be on Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Shinto.  But we will also be addressing (to a lesser extent) other Asian religions including Jainism, Sikhism, Parsi, and Zen.

The approach will be historical, descriptive, and secular; no personal opinions are offered, only the findings of secular academics will be taught.  This is because Religious Studies is a secular academic discipline not based in any religious tradition nor opposed to any.  It is history and culture, pure and simple. 

The class will be presented as an interactive lecture with plenty of time for student questions, though students comfortable with just listening are absolutely welcome too, of course! 

This class is prepared especially for young learners.   The material will be made approachable just for them.  For parents, the following is a (very) technical and detailed list of topics and terms for each week of the course.  The actual weekly lessons will be delivered so that young learners will easily find it informative and engaging!   

Week 1 – Hinduism 
Topics include the Indus River Valley civilization (circa 3300 BCE), the syncretization with Ancient Persian religion (circa 1800 BCE), the Persian fire god Agni in Hinduism, Brahman (ब्रह्मन), the Trimurti and Pantheon (Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer), the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Laws of Manu (Manusmṛti), Bhagavad Gita, and Mahabharata, the cosmological concepts of vasudhaiva kutumbakam and the Veil of Maya, the paths of Karma Yoga (action), Bhakti Yoga (devotion), Raja Yoga (asceticism), Jnana Yoga (knowledge), the sadhu, and the concepts of Saṃsāra, Mokṣa, Ahisma, Tat Tvam Asi (तत् त्वम् असि), Dharna, Adharma, and Karma.

Week 2 – Buddhism 
Topics covered include the legends surrounding Siddhārtha Gautama (c. 560-480 BCE) and his transformation into the Buddha, the origins and distinctions between Theravāda (Hīnayāna), Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna, and Huayan as well as their geographic distribution of these movements in southeast Asia, the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, the doctrines of Dukkha and Tanha, the eight-fold path, the Wheel of Dharma, the five skandhas of the anatman, the Buddha Nature (Buddha-dhatu) of Mahāyāna, quotes from the Nirvana Sutra, Pratītyasamutpāda or the Twelve-Fold Chain of Dependent Arising, and the Metta Sutta.   

Week 3 – Taoism 
Topics covered include filial piety, ancestor veneration, polytheism in early China (11th Century BCE), beneficial light spirits (Shen) and evil dark spirits (Kuei) and the place of sacrifice, rituals, and propitiation, the cosmological mystical forces of Yin and Yang, The I Ching (Yi Jing) and divination, the historical origins of Shang Ti and the development of T’ien / Tiān, 天, Lao-tzu (Laozi) the founder of Taoism (also known as Daoism), the Daodejing (“The Great Book of Dao and Virtue”), the Dao (the Way) and the cosmological forces of Qi / Ch’i and Ziran, the virtue of “effortless action” (wuwei), Taoism as reflected in Tai Chi, discussion of Taoist quotes from the Tao Te Ching, and Taoism today.  

Week 4 – Confucianism 
Topics covered include reconstructing the biography and legends of Confucius (Kong 孔 with honorific fuzi 夫子), feudalism in ancient China, hierarchy and flourishing in Confucianism, the cosmological mysticism of Li and Jen as social ideals, Confucianism as virtue ethics, becoming a “Son of Heaven” ( 天子 or Tiānzǐ ), Mencius (Mengzi” 孟子) and the Analects of Confucius, Confucian quotes from the Analects, Confucianism under Chairman Mao and Confucianism’s resurgence today.  Finally, Miura Baien (1723-1789) and Neo-Confucianism in Japan.  

Week 5 – Shinto 
Topics covered include the sun goddess Amaterasu (天照), the historical developments in the 6th Century that lead to a nationalistic self-understanding of Shinto (from shen and tao, meaning “the way of the gods”) which is also known as kami-no-michi (“the way of the kami”), the kami in animism and ancestor veneration, house shines, Tori gates, 1889 and the Tokugawa Shogunate, State Shinto (Jinja), Domestic Shinto, Skuha / Kyoha Shinto, Aesthetics (Mono no aware, Wabi, Sabi, Yūgen), and the contemporary emergence of Shinto as a world religion beyond Japan.