NEW COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT 1. Basics
COURSE TITLE: RMA 102 Introduction to Indian Philosophy (Zoom synchronous)
BASIC COURSE DETAILS: See Table 1 below. Privileges granted to Registered Students who can opt for Credit, and for Guest Students who can hear it as Audit or ‘pravachana’ is given below in Table 2.
FACULTY: Prof. B. N. Hebbar, Department of Religion, George Washington University, Washington DC.
2. Course Catalog Description This course will start with Vedic Hindu religion and philosophy, then proceed to look at the philosophies of Jainism and Buddhism. It’ll look at Buddhism in detail as not only a major alternative to the Vedic tradition, but its impressiveness in spreading all over East Asia. Finally, the course will look at the seven systems of post-Buddhistic Classical Hindu philosophy through the six-fold method (epistemology, ontology, theology, cosmology, psychology, and soteriology) of inquiry of each system of Classical Hindu thought. The seven systems are: Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika, Sāṅkhya-Yoga, Prabhākara school of Mīmāṁsā, Kumārila school of Mīmāṁsā, Śaṅkara school of Vedānta, Rāmānuja school of Vedānta and Madhva school of Vedānta. Table 1: Basic Course details.
Item Details College Credits 3:0 Term Summer 2021 (May 14- August 20, 2021) Duration 15 Weeks Media Internet based – Zoom Synchronous Friday Time 5:00 PM - 7:30 PM (Pacific) 5:30 AM - 8 AM (IST) Start Date Friday, May 14th, 2021 End Date Friday, Aug 20, 2021 Frequency Every week
3. Detailed Topics 1. Vedic Hinduism: its religion and philosophy 2. Jainism 3. Life of the Buddha (563-483 BCE), his principal disciples, First Buddhist Council (483 BCE) and the formation of the Buddhist Scriptures 4. The Second Buddhist Council (386 BCE); the schools of early Indian Buddhism; The life of Emperor Aśoka (304-237 BCE) and the Third Buddhist Council (247 BCE); spread into Sri-Lanka and continental Southeast Asia 5. Institutions of Theravāda Buddhism and the 4 core Teachings of Buddhism (Three Marks of “Existence”, 12-fold Wheel of Causality, 4 Noble Truths & Noble 8-fold Path)
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6. Fourth Buddhist Council (100 CE) and the emergence of the schools of Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism 7. History of Buddhism in China and schools of Chinese Buddhism and Buddhism in conflict with Daoism and Confucianism. 8. History of Buddhism in Korea and nature of Korean Buddhism 9. History of Buddhism in Japan and schools of Japanese Buddhism and conflict with Shinto 10. History of Buddhism in Vietnam and the nature of Vietnamese Buddhism 11. History of Buddhism in Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim, Ladakh and Mongolia 12. Schools and practices of Tibetan Buddhism 13. Methodology of the study of the systems of Classical Hindu Thought 14. Classical Hindu Philosophy: Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika system 15. Classical Hindu Philosophy: Sāṅkhya-Yoga system 16. Classical Hindu Philosophy: schools of the Mīmāṁsā system 17. Classical Hindu Philosophy: Śaṅkara school of Vedānta 18. Classical Hindu Philosophy: Rāmānuja school of Vedānta 19. Classical Hindu Philosophy: Madhva school of Vedānta 20. Coming of Islam and the stagnation of Indian Philosophy
Table 2: Privileges for different Student types.
Guest Registered Students Sl. # Item Students (Credit) 1 Application Cost None None 2 VaYU Email Provided for Course Information Y Y Access to Synchronous Lectures 3 Y Y First week lecture is free for all to sample 4 Course Cost (in US Dollars) * $ 50 $ 895 - After discount of 50% Learning Management System Access 5 Y Access to Course Materials 6 Class Recordings Y 7 PowerPoint Slides access Y 8 Student Discussion Forum Y 9 Course Completion Certificate Y Assignments Completion & Grading 10 Y (Homework, Quizzes Tests) Graduate Credits Awarded 11 (Course available for transfer to US & Canadian or 3 Credits International Universities upon approval from destination institution – check before registering) 12 Grade Awarded with Transcript (Marks Card) Y * All payments in Credit Card, PayPal or RTGS /ACH Bank Transfers and paid per invoice. We are not setup to accept checks.
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4. Faculty Details Course Faculty: Prof. B.N.Hebbar https://religion.columbian.gwu.edu/bn-hebbar
Prof. B.N. Hebbar teaches Religions of the East and a variety of specialty courses such as Indian Philosophy, Zoroastrianism, Shintoism, Doctrine and Debate in World Religions, Minor Religions of India, South Asian Buddhism etc. He was a recipient of the Bender Teaching Award in 2006 at George Washington University.
He had his traditional and academic education in India and lived for some time in Sri-Lanka and Thailand studying Theravada Buddhism. He received his bachelors and master’s degrees from George Washington University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Utrecht (Netherlands). He also has a D.Litt. from the University of South Africa. He taught at the University of Maryland Honors Program for a decade.
He has lectured on Eastern religions at the Virginia Theological Seminary, the Smithsonian Resident Associate Program and at the Johns Hopkins Osher Program. He has lectured on Hindu bioethics at seminars in NYU Medical school and Harvard Medical school, and authored many articles on Hindu bioethics. He has advised the Pentagon Board of chaplains in Hindu religious matters during the First US-Iraq War. As an advisor to the International Buddhist group, he has received awards from the Cambodian and Korean Buddhist communities. He is currently the Executive Vice-President of the International Buddhist Association of America (IBAA) - an association of the 13 Buddhist-majority nations of the world.
He has authored articles on South Indian Vaisnavism in Harper-Row Dictionary of Religions and in the Journal of Vaisnava Studies, and, two articles in the Journal of Indian Philosophy & Religion in 2016 and 2017. He has authored three books: The Sri-krsna Temple at Udupi (Nataraj Books, 2005), Visistadvaita and Dvaita (Nataraj Books, 2005), and Who is the Supreme God: Visnu or Siva? (Nataraj Books, 2011).
5. Registration 5.1 Currently Enrolled VaYU Students If you are already a student at VaYU, you should skip the ‘Registration’ process below. You will be sent a separate communique on registration to ‘Summer 2021 Courses.’ 5.2 New VaYU Students (Credit)
Student applicants who wish to take the course for Credit should fill up the complete Application form Sections 1- 13 following the steps in the Appendix. They will be enrolled as a Regular VaYU Student with the privileges listed in Table 2. 5.3 Guest VaYU Students (Audit) A Non VaYU student who want to be a “Guest Student” should fill the Application to enroll using the steps in the Appendix. They will be enrolled as a Guest VaYU Student with the privileges listed in Table 2.
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Appendix: Steps to complete VaYU Enrollment Application
1. Go to the link www.vayuusa.org 2. Click on My Application on the top Menu.
3. On the following screen as a New Student click the "Apply Now" button next to New Applicant, unless you already have set up your login in the VaYU portal
4. Enter your email and the CAPTCHA filter 'I am not a Robot' 5. You will now see the screen below. Fields that are mandatory are indicated by a '*.'
6. Enter all your demographic information in Section 1 Applicant Demographic Details.
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7. In Section 2 Program Information o In the Academic Program dropdown field, select Humanities & Arts. o In the Degree/Non-Degree ‘Radio button’ field select Non-Degree student. o In Non-Degree Summer Courses ‘Multiple-choice’ field select one or more courses you would like to take during Summer. o Select the Term and the Year in the dropdowns. o Also enter in Section 3, the 'Type of Student' - Credit or Audit
8. Fill all sections from Section 4 Marketing to Section 7 Military Service if you are a "Guest Student." If you are a Regular Student, you will have to fill all the Sections 1-13.
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9. At any point, you can save and exit the application as long as the mandatory fields are filled in. You can return to your application the same way you entered in Step 2. You will use the password provided to you in the email you entered in Step 3. 10. You will be sent an invoice for the course fee. You can pay it using credit card or ACH/RTGS Bank Transfer. Sorry, we are not set up to take checks. DO NOT SEND CHECKS. 11. Once your invoice is paid, you will be enrolled in the course. 12. Question? Send email to [email protected].
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