HREL 44701/SALC 48304: Ritual in South Asian

Spring Quarter 2005 Christian K. Wedemeyer Friday 14:00-16:50 Swift 303A Marty Center Library Office Hours Tu/Wed 11–12 [email protected]

Course description:

Though many claim (based on a selective reading of canonical Buddhist literature) that the Buddha's "original teaching" involved a rejection of ritual activity, actual Buddhists seem to have been engaged in a wide variety of ritual activities in every historical period of which we have surviving evidence. In this course, we will explore some questions surrounding ritual practice in Buddhism, and analyse a range of ritual activities attested in Buddhist communities of South Asia. An attempt will be made to link the results of this work with current developments in ritual studies more generally.

Course readings are available on electronic reserve at Regenstein Library.

Schedule of Class Meetings:

Week One (1 April 2005): Introduction/Orientation

Week Two (8 April 2005): Ritual as an Interpretative Category: Genealogy and Utility Readings: Bell, Ritual, pp. 1-89 Asad, “Toward a Genealogy of the Concept of Ritual” Bell, “Performance”

Week Three (15 April 2005): Ritual in Buddhism: Approaches to the Theravāda Traditions Readings: Spiro, Buddhism and Society, pp. 191-275 Trainor, “Relics and the Presence of the Buddha,” pp. 136-188 Bell, Ritual, pp. 91-137

Week Four (22 April 2005): Anthropology of Sherpa Ritual (Lay Ritual I) Readings: Ortner, Sherpas Through Their Rituals, pp. 1-61, 157-169 Jackson, “A Fasting Ritual” in Tibet in Practice, pp. 271-292 Bell, Ritual, pp. 138-169

Week Five (29 April 2005): Daily Rituals (Lay Ritual II) Readings: Sharkey, Buddhist Daily Ritual, pp. 1-63 and 269-297 (skim pp. 64-156) Gellner, “A Newar Buddhist ” Schopen, “On Marking Time in Buddhist Monasteries” Tambiah, “A Performative Approach to Ritual”

Week Six (6 May 2005): Rituals of Place (Lay Ritual III/Elite Ritual I) Readings: J.Z. Smith, To Take Place, pp. 96-117 Skorupski, “An Analysis of the Kriyāsaṃgraha” Kriyāsaṃgraha, pp. 19-72 Handurukande, Three Texts on Caitya Worship, pp. i-xxv (skim), 102-129 Lewis, “Mahāyāna Vratas in ” Ritual in South Asian Buddhism Spring 2005

Week Seven (13 May 2005): Rituals of Self (sādhana) (Elite Ritual II) Readings: Sarvadurgatipariśodhana Tantra, pp. 1-34. “Longevity Method of White Tārā” English, Vajrayoginī, pp. 109-204 Decleer, “The Working of Sādhana” Jennings, “On Ritual Knowledge”

Week Eight (20 May 2005): Rituals of Other I (consecration/pratiṣṭhā) (Elite Ritual III) Readings: Bentor, Consecration of Images and Stūpas, pp. 1-89. Kriyāsaṃgraha, pp. 139-155 Swearer, “Consecration Traditions in Other Buddhist Cultures”

Week Nine (27 May 2005): Rituals of Other II (fire rituals/homa) (Elite Ritual IV) Readings: Mahāvairocana Uttara Tantra, pp. 393-12 Skorupski, “Tibetan Homa Rites,” pp. 403-417 Strickmann, “Homa in East Asia,” pp. 418-455 Verardi, “Homa and Other Fire Rituals in Gandhara,” pp. 1-55 Granoff, “Other People’s Rituals”

Week Ten (3 June 2005): Presentation of Student Projects Readings: none

**Final Paper due Wednesday 8 June 2005 in Swift 201 by 3:00PM**

Course Reading Bibliography (n.b. newer editions may be available and/or used)

Bell, Catherine. Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Asad, Talal. “Toward a Genealogy of the Concept of Ritual,” in Talal Asad, Genealogies of Religion (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), pp. 55-79.

Bell, Catherine. “Performance,” in Mark C. Taylor, ed., Critical Terms for Religious Studies (Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 1998), pp. 205-225.

Spiro, Melford. “Buddhism as a Ritual System,” in Buddhism and Society (New York, Evanston and London: Harper and Row, 1970), pp. 191-275.

Trainor, Kevin. “Relics and the Presence of the Buddha,” in Relics, Ritual, and Representation in Buddhism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 136-188

Ortner, Sherry. “Introduction,” “Surface Contours,” “Nyungne,” and “Conclusions” in Sherpas Through Their Rituals (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978), pp. 1-61, 157-169

Jackson, Roger. “A Fasting Ritual” in Donald S. Lopez, Jr., ed., Tibet in Practice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), pp. 271-292

Sharkey, Gregory. “Introduction,” “Context,” “Core,” “Daily Order,” and “Analysis” in Buddhist Daily Ritual: The Nitya Puja in Kathmandu Valley Shrines, pp. 1-63, 64-156, and 269-297

2 Ritual in South Asian Buddhism Spring 2005

Gellner, David. “A Newar Buddhist Liturgy: Śrāvakayānist Ritual in Kwā Bāhāḥ, Lalitpur, Nepal,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 236-252.

Schopen, Gregory. “On Marking Time in Buddhist Monasteries: On Calendars, Clocks, and Some Liturgical Practices,” in Paul Harrison and Gregory Schopen, eds., Sūryacandrodaya: Essays in Honour of Akira Yuyama on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday (Swisttal-Odendorf: Indica et Tibetica Vorlag, 1998), pp. 157-179.

Tambiah, Stanley. “A Performative Approach to Ritual,” in Ronald L. Grimes, ed., Readings in Ritual Studies (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1996), pp. 495-511.

J.Z. Smith, “To Take Place,” in To Take Place (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1987), pp. 96- 117.

Skorupski, Tadeusz. “An Analysis of the Kriyāsaṃgraha,” in Paul Harrison and Gregory Schopen, eds., Sūryacandrodaya: Essays in Honour of Akira Yuyama on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday (Swisttal-Odendorf: Indica et Tibetica Vorlag, 1998), pp. 181-196.

Skorupski, Tadeusz. Kriyāsaṃgraha: Compendium of Buddhist Rituals (Tring: The Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2002), pp. 19-72.

Handurukande, Ratna. Three Texts on Caitya Worship in Relation to the Ahorātravrata (Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 2000), pp. i-xxv, 102-129.

Lewis, Todd L. “Mahāyāna Vratas in Newar Buddhism,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 12, no. 1 (1989), pp. 109-138.

Skorupski, Tadeusz, trans. Sarvadurgatipariśodhana Tantra (Delhi: Motilal Banardidass, 1983), pp. 1-34.

“Longevity Method of White Tārā,” in Glenn H. Mullin, ed., Meditations on the Lower Tantras (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1983), pp. 95-104.

English, Elizabeth. Vajrayoginī: Her Visualizations, Rituals, and Forms (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2002), pp. 109-204.

Decleer, Hubert. “The Working of Sādhana,” in Martin Brauen and Per Kværne, eds. Tibetan Studies (Zürich: Völkerkundemuseum, 1978), pp. 113-123.

Jennings, Theodore W., Jr. “On Ritual Knowledge,” in Ronald L. Grimes, ed., Readings in Ritual Studies (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1996), pp. 324-334.

Bentor, Yael. “Introduction” in Consecration of Images and Stūpas in Indo-Tibetan Tantric Buddhism (Leiden: Brill, 1996), pp. 1-89.

Swearer, Donald K. “Chapter 8: Consecration Traditions in Other Buddhist Cultures,” in Donald K. Swearer, Becoming the Buddha (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004), pp. 211-234.

“Mahāvairocana Uttara Tantra,” in Stephen Hodge, trans., The Mahā-vairocana-abhisambodhi Tantra (London: Routledge-Curzon, 2003), pp. 393-412.

Skorupski, Tadeusz. “Tibetan Homa Rites,” in Fritz Staal, Agni, vol. II (Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1983), pp. 403-417.

Strickmann, Michel. “Homa in East Asia,” in Fritz Staal, Agni, vol. II (Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1983), pp. 418-455.

3 Ritual in South Asian Buddhism Spring 2005

Verardi, Giovanni. Homa and Other Fire Rituals in Gandhara (Napoli: Instituto Universitario Orientale, 1994), pp. 1-55.

Granoff, Phyllis. “Other People’s Rituals: Ritual Eclecticism in Early Medieval Indian Religious,” Journal of Indian Philosophy, vol. 28, pp. 399-424.

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