HREL 44701/SALC 44701: Ritual in South Asian Buddhism Spring Quarter 2011 Christian K. Wedemeyer Tuesdays 15:00–17:50 Swift 310B Swift Hall, Room 403 Office Hours Wed/Thu 15–16:00

wedemeyer@uchicago.edu Course description: Though some claim 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 analyze 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 via Chalk (http://chalk.uchicago.edu/).

Schedule of Class Meetings: Week One (29 March 2011): Introduction/Orientation Week Two (5 April 2011): Ritual as an Interpretative Category: Genealogy and Utility Readings: Bell, Ritual, pp. 1–89 Asad, “Toward a Genealogy of the Concept of Ritual” Sharf, “Ritual” Miner, “Body Ritual among the Nacirema” Week Three (12 April 2011): Ritual in Mainstream and Southern Buddhism Readings: Spiro, Buddhism and Society, pp. 191–275 Trainor, “Relics and the Presence of the Buddha,” pp. 136–188 Bell, Ritual, pp. 91–137 Bell, “Performance” Week Four (19 April 2011): Rites of Passage in Himalayan Buddhisms (Lay Ritual I) Readings: van Gennep, Rites of Passage, 1–25, 189–194

Ortner, Sherpas Through Their Rituals, pp. 1–61, 157–169 Jackson, “A Fasting Ritual” in Tibet in Practice, pp. 271–292 von Rospatt, “The Transformation of Monastic Ordination into Rite of Passage”

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Week Five (26 April 2011): Daily Rituals and Rituals of Time (Lay Ritual II) Readings: Sharkey, Buddhist Daily Ritual, pp. 1–63 and 269–297 (skim pp. 64–156, if possible) Gellner, “A Newar Buddhist Liturgy” Brough, “Nepalese Buddhist Rituals” Schopen, “On Marking Time in Buddhist Monasteries” Bell, Ritual, pp. 138–169 Week Six (3 May 2011): Rituals of Place and Vratas (Elite Ritual I/Lay Ritual III) Readings: J.Z. Smith, To Take Place, pp. 96–117

Kriyāsaṃgraha, pp. 19–72 Lewis, “Mahāyāna Vratas in Newar Buddhism” Handurukande, Three Texts on Caitya Worship, pp. 102–129 Week Seven (10 May 2011): Rituals of Other I (consecration/pratiṣṭhā) (Elite Ritual II) Readings: Bentor, Consecration of Images and Stūpas, pp. 1–89 Kriyāsaṃgraha, pp. 139–155 Swearer, “Consecration Traditions in Other Buddhist Cultures”

Wallis, Mediating the Power of Buddhas, 87–126

Week Eight (17 May 2011): Rituals of Other II (e.g.homa) and Meaning in Ritual (Elite Ritual III) Readings: Mahāvairocana Uttara Tantra, pp. 393–412

Skorupski, “Tibetan Homa Rites,” pp. 403–417 Strickmann, “Homa in East Asia,” p. 418–455 (skim)

Staal, “Meaninglessness of Ritual” Penner, “Language, Ritual, and Meaning” Week Nine (24 May 2011): Rituals of Self (sādhana) and Transgression (Elite Ritual IV) Readings: Sarvadurgatipariśodhana Tantra, pp. 1–34 Wedemeyer, Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism, pp. 155–307 Jennings, “On Ritual Knowledge” Week Ten (31 May 2011): Presentation of Student Projects Readings: none

**Final Paper due Monday 6 June 2011 in Swift 204 by NOON**

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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.

Sharf, Robert H. “Ritual,” in D.S. Lopez, Jr., ed. Critical Terms for the Study of Buddhism (Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 2005), pp. 245–270.

Miner, Horace. “Body Ritual among the Nacimera,” American Anthropologist, New Series, vol. 58, no. 3 (June 1956), pp. 503–507.

Spiro, Melford. “The Buddhist Cultus,” “The Ceremonial Cycle I,” “The Ceremonial Cycle II,” and “Crisis Rituals,” 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

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

van Gennep, Arnold. “The Classification of Rites,” “The Territorial Passage,” and “Conclusions,” in The Rites of Passage. Trans. Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1960.

Ortner, Sherry. “Introduction,” “Surface Contours,” “Nyungne,” and “Conclusions” in Sherpas Through Their Rituals (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978), pp. 1–61, 157–16.

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

von Rospatt, Alexander. “The Transformation of the Monastic Ordination (pravrajyā) into a Rite of Passage in Newar Buddhism,” in J. Gengnagel, U. Husken, and S. Raman, eds. Words and Deeds: Hindu and Buddhist Rituals in South Asia (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005), pp. 199–234.

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.

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.

Brough, John. “Nepalese Buddhist Rituals,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, vol. 12, no. 3/4 (1948), pp. 668–676.

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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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Wallis, Glenn. Mediating the Power of Buddhas: Ritual in the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002.

“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.

Staal, Fritz. “The Meaninglessness of Ritual,” Numen, vol. xxvi, no. 1 (June 1979), pp. 2–22.

Penner, Hans H. “Language, Ritual and Meaning,” Numen, vol. xxxii, no. 1 (July 1985), pp. 1–16.

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

Wedemeyer, Christian K. Making Sense of Tantric Buddhism: History, Semiology and Transgression in the Indian Traditions. New York: Columbia University Press, forthcoming.

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.