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[RELI] 290, Life in a Buddhist Monastery, Fall 2020
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Michael Walsh
THEMATIC CLUSTER: Miscellaneous
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Buddhist monasteries are complex, hierarchical spaces within which the monk or nun must learn to discipline their body, generate transferable merit, and come to a deeper understanding of life and death as realized through the daily routine of the monastery. Monastics are ordinary people living an extraordinarily alternative lifestyle. In this Intensive, we explored the tensions between textual ideals and material lived lives within monastic space. Our readings included primary and secondary texts. In addition to the Community Engaged Learning weekend spent at Tsechen Kunchab Ling, students also visited, as part of a research project, other Buddhist monasteries in the region and discovered the continuities and discontinuities between monastic institutions.
DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE:
The instructor met with the OCEL in the year before to discuss the possibility of developing a weekend long retreat at the Tsechen Kunchab Ling monastery into a more sustained engagement that also included other local monasteries through the semester. The instructor identified other monasteries. Unfortunately, students were unable to leave campus due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, the students were able to virtually visit various monasteries.
OCEL’S ROLE:
Brainstormed ideas with the instructor about converting the one-off retreat to the monastery into an intensive.
PARTNER:
FORMAT:
Semester-long, Students met with the instructor weekly.
NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 2
CREDIT VALUE: 0.5
FUNDS REQUESTED FOR:
- Transportation for students
- Lodging for students
REFLECTIONS: