Description: This course explores the encounter of East Asian intellectual and religious traditions with the Lotus Sūtra from the fourth to the eleventh century. In the first part of the course, after a survey of the mainstream Buddhist traditions of India, students will explore the main themes of the new movement centered on the cult of the book, within which new classics such as the Lotus Sūtra were being written since around the first century C.E. In the second part of the course, reading materials will dwell on the exegetical endeavors of the early Chinese commentators, and on the later contributions by Japanese and Korean exegetes to the formation of the Tiantai system of scriptural interpretation, concluding with the global reception of the Lotus Sūtra in Europe and America since the nineteenth century.
Student level: Intermediate;
Related Fields: Asian Studies, Religion, History;
Course format: Weekly lectures/discussion sessions; Requirements: Mid-term exam; Final exam/research paper.