MA Buddhist Studies

The purpose of the dissertation is to enable students to demonstrate their capacity to carry out a substantial piece of independent academic work on a selected topic in Buddhist Studies. Students will be assessed on their capacity to define a topic for examination, to articulate a coherent scheme for examining this topic, to gather the necessary information, and to analyse and present this information in a way which satisfactorily assesses the topic which they have set themselves.

This module constitutes the core course for the MA Buddhist Studies. It is designed to provide students with a broad understanding of the major processes and dynamics at work in the growth and development of Buddhism as a pan-Asian religion and with the key methodological tools required to approach this major cultural force in its fascinating diversity. This course is co-taught by the four key scholars of Buddhism in the Department of the Study of Religions at SOAS, whose regional and disciplinary expertise fully complement each other, thereby offering the course its unique breadth. As a foundation in Buddhist Studies, the course will offer the necessary background to the other courses of the MA, which possess a more regional, thematic or disciplinary focus.

This module explores maritime connectivity and the dynamic role played by Southeast Asian Buddhist and Hindu polities, circa 200 – 1400 CE. It does so through the art historical and archaeological evidence, drawing on a diverse range of material including sacred sculpture and monuments, textual sources, archaeological sites, and shipwrecks. The course critically investigates the role maritime Southeast Asia played in the formation of regional religious identities and art styles. Incipient Southeast Asian polities drove the development of the first millennium CE maritime networks linking the region with the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia. By highlighting interconnectivity, the module complements other offerings within the department that focus on the aforementioned areas by enabling students to situate these cultures within a larger Indian Ocean World context.

This course explores the image of the so-called Historical Buddha as a product of theoretical and practical concerns – and as a site of their (re)production, past and present. We gauge the difficulties and potentialities of developing interpretive tools engaging with and derived from Buddhist points of view.

The mandala is one of the most intriguing artistic expressions of Asian art due to its wide adoption and continuous reinterpretation. Of multivalent symbolism and meaning in religious practice, mandalas occur in numerous forms, formats and functions. This module examines the meanings and uses of the Buddhist mandala in the history of Buddhist art and architecture in Asia.

The module provides an introduction to Chinese language with emphasis on practical written and spoken Chinese. It covers some simple newspaper articles and internet texts.

The module provides students with a basic knowledge of Chinese and practice of using Chinese in a variety of everyday situations. It allows students to interact with Chinese speakers in Chinese.

The module provides students with a general knowledge of Chinese and practice of using Chinese in a variety of general situations. It allows students to interact with Chinese speakers in Chinese.

This module aims to introduce students more basic vocabulary and grammar points at beginner and elementary level. At the end of the semester, successful students are expected to be able to read and write simple texts and communicate on basic everyday topics and function at A1 of CEFR or Band 2 of HSK.

In this module students will learn to communicate in relatively simple tasks that require a direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters in both everyday and college contexts. You also practice in describing aspects of their background and matters in areas of your immediate need and academic interests.

The objective of this module is to prepare students to understand the main points on familiar matters regularly encountered in contexts such as university, leisure, etc. It builds on knowledge gained in the early beginners’ level, developing further students’ understanding of some aspects of Japanese customs and cultures and encouraging them to reflect on intercultural understanding.

In this module students will learn how to communicate effectively and appropriately in a variety of contexts, styles, and modes. On completion of this module students should be able to communicate in both concrete and abstract topics, including unfamiliar ones, using complex oral and written texts.

Korean.

In this module, students will learn how to communicate in very simple Japanese on concrete and familiar everyday topics. Both spoken and written Japanese will be taught from the very first day. On completion of this module, students should be able to convey very simple information about themselves, their family and friends, their belongings etc., and ask questions about others. They will also learn to socialise with Japanese-speaking people in familiar everyday contexts. From the beginning, they will be exposed to Japanese cultures as reflected in various situations and expressions used therein.

In this module, students will learn how to communicate in simple, but structured Japanese on concrete and general everyday topics. Both spoken and written Japanese will be taught, including more Kanji characters than those covered at Japanese 1A. On completion of this module, students should be able to convey simple information about them with some elaboration when asked, and to continue the conversation by asking about others

Korean 1A is available to students on a wide variety of programmes across SOAS. This module aims to offer opportunities for students to acquire introductory/basic communicative knowledge and skills needed to participate in the target language community so that they can apply these in the context of their academic or professional needs, regardless of their degree programme. Successful students will gain the ability to read and write short simple texts, and communicate on simple everyday topics.

Korean 1B is available to students on a wide variety of programmes across SOAS. This module aims to offer opportunities for students to acquire introductory/basic communicative knowledge and skills needed to participate in the target language community so that they can apply these in the context of their academic or professional needs, regardless of their degree programme. Successful students will gain the ability to read and write short simple sentences consisting of past and future tense, and honorifics, and communicate on familiar topics concerning their everyday life.

The module covers several basic constructions of the language, enabling students to acquire basic skills in reading, writing, comprehension and speaking. Emphasis will be placed on good pronunciation and on the social and linguistic conventions of everyday conversation.

This module develops knowledge of several basic constructions of the language, enabling students to develop their skills in reading, writing, comprehension and speaking. Emphasis will be placed on good pronunciation and on the social and linguistic conventions of everyday conversation.

The module covers several basic constructions of the language, enabling students to acquire basic skills in reading, writing, comprehension and speaking.

This module develops knowledge of several basic constructions of the language, enabling students to develop their skills in reading, writing, comprehension and speaking.

The module aims to develop students’ language skills through grammar work, translation, prose composition, and conversation at the lower-intermediate level. Previous knowledge of the language is consolidated and developed by further class work on linguistic structures, sentence construction, and conversation. Students are introduced to a wide range of language using diverse materials from contexts such as journalism, literature, recorded conversations, social media and so forth. Regular homework tasks reinforce the class learning, encouraging students to read, write and speak the language with more accuracy and confidence.

The module provides teaching and learning of the language at intermediate level with an emphasis on the practical written and spoken language. It covers word and sentence structure as well as idiomatic use and awareness of linguistic register. Communicative practice and structural knowledge is established through reading and discussing texts as well as listening to authentic language samples.

This module will offer a main narrative of Taoism as a recognisable tradition of religious ideas and practices throughout the history of China.

This module examines the relationship between philosophical thought and religious practice. It is often assumed, without due interrogation, that philosophical insight springs from religious experience, that religion possesses the capacity to construe cognitive gateways through which philosophical understanding emerges. Thus, on the one hand, the module seeks to establish the soteriological dynamics that shape the processes leading to philosophical insight. On the other hand, it explores the ways in which philosophical systems shaped religions practice. These two areas of investigation focus on the experience of the individual. Third, the module maps the interconnections between communal religious practice in ritual and philosophical theory. It sets out the processes and stages through which philosophical structures emerge as a result of collective religions experience.

The course explores the transition of Indian Buddhist meditation practices to Tibet and the ways in which they found accommodation in their new geographic and cultural setting. It will commence with a study of issues at stake in the Great Debate of Lhasa and then proceed with an analysis of the advanced systems of meditation cultivated by the rDzogs chen communities.

This is a thematic course on one aspect of the Buddhist tradition in East Asia, mainly China and Japan. The subject of the course may be different every year. The first topic to be analysed will be the esoteric tradition (mi-jao/mikkyo). In the following years other major systems of Buddhist thought, such as the Tiantai/Tendai and the Pure Land traditions, will be explored. The course will address the history of the selected tradition, its specific doctrinal tenets, its textual corpus and its major deities, and the forms of worship that characterize it. Attention will be devoted to the influence that the selected form of Buddhism exerted in the formation of the culture of China and Japan (with more emphasis given to Japan).

This course offers an advanced introduction to the history, doctrines, beliefs and practices of Buddhism in China. This thematic history will explore the transition from ‘Buddhism in China’ to the formation of ‘Chinese Buddhism’, and the emergence of its distinctive identity in the wider context of Buddhism as a cross-cultural religious tradition and Buddhism as an identity marker of Chinese culture.