Graduate Institute in Eastern Classics

Spring Seminar Reading List

Monday and Thursday, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.

Week One

  • Bhagavadgita, Books 1-9 [recommended edition: The Bhagavadgita in the Mahabharata, J.A.B.Van Buitenen (translator)]
  • Bhagavadgita, Books 10-18

Week Two

  • Selected readings on Charvaka from Jayarasi Bhatta, Tattvopaplavasimha, A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, pp. 236-46.
  • Kalidasa, Kumarasambhava

Week Three

  • Kalidasa, Shakuntala Available in Kalidasa: The Loom of Time, Chandra Rajan (translator), Penguin Classics.
  • Abhinavagupta, Dhvanyaloka (with the Locana of Abhinavagupta), selections with supplemental material by Keith and Perry. Through page 119; photocopy available from bookstore.

Week Four

  • Dhvanyaloka, selections through page 696, same photocopy.
  • [Our selections from the Pali Nikayas are all contained in Early Buddhist Discourses, ed. and trans. John Holder, Hackett Publishing. The editions by Wisdom Publications are also excellent. In addition, www.accesstoinsight.org has interesting but sometimes idiosyncratic translations of the entire canon.] “Discourse on the Noble Quest,” “Discourse to the Kalamas,” “The Greater Discourse on Cause.”

Week Five

  • “The Greater Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness,” “The Greater Discourse on the Destruction of Craving,” “Discourse of the Honeyball”
  • “Short Discourses from the Samyutta Nikaya,” “The Shorter Discourse to Malunkyaputta,” “Discourse on the Parable of the Water Snake,” “Discourse to Vacchagotta on Fire”

Week Six

  • “Discourse to Prince Abhaya,” “Discourse to Potthapada,” “Discourse on the Threefold knowledge”
  • “Discourse to Assalayana,” “The Lion’s Roar on the Wheel-Turning Monarch,” “Discourse to the Layman Sigala”

Week Seven

  • Lotus Sutra (prose portions only of each chapter unless otherwise indicated): chapters 1, 2 (all), 3 (all), 4 (all), 5 (all), 7 (only the parable in the last three paragraphs of the final prose section), 8
  • Lotus Sutra (prose portions only of each chapter unless otherwise indicated): chapters 10, 11 (verse only), 12 (all), 13 (all), 14, 16 (all), 20, 21, 23, 25, 28 (all).

Week  Eight

  • Nagarjuna, Mulamadhyamakakarika, Jay Garfield (translator), chapters 1-9. Concentrate on 1 (“Examination of Conditions”), 4 (“Examination of the Aggregates”), 7 (“Examination of the Conditioned”), 8 (“Examination of the Agent and Action”). [Please note that the Garfield commentary is extremely helpful, but one should aim eventually at finding one’s own way through the argument.
  • Nagarjuna, chapters 10-19.Concentrate on 10 (“Examination of Fire and Fuel”), 12 (“Examination of Suffering”), 13 (“Examination of Compounded Phenomena”), 17 (“Examination of Actions and their Fruits”), 18 (“Examination of Self and Entities”)

SPRING BREAK

Week Nine

  • Nagarjuna, chapters 20-27. Concentrate on 22 (“Examination of the Tathagata”), 24 (“Examination of the Four Noble Truths”), 25 (“Examination of Nirvana”), 26 (“Examination of the Twelve Links”)
  • Vimalakirti Sutra, trans. Robert A.F. Thurman, 1-6.

Week 10

  • Vimalakirti Sutra, 7-end
  • Shankaracharya, Commentary on the Vedanta Sutras (from The Vedanta Sutras, tr. George Thibaut, Sacred Books of the East v.34), Sutras 1-3 and commentary, pp.3-22); and Shankaracharya, Upadesha Sahasri  (tr. Swami Jagadananda, pp.1-32)

Week 11

  • Shankaracharya, Vedanta Sutras, Sutras 4-5 and commentary, pp.22-53); Upadesha Sahasri, pp.33-70)
  • Ramanuja, Commentary on the Vedanta Sutras (from The Vedanta Sutras, tr.George Thibaut, Sacred Books of the East v.48), Sutra 1 and commentary, pp. 1-61.

Week 12

  • Ramanuja, pp.61-119.
  • Jayadeva, Gita Govinda   [ESSAYS DUE]

Week 13

  • Diamond Sutra and Heart Sutra. Photocopy of the Heart Sutra available from the bookstore.
  • Hui Neng, Commentary on the Diamond Sutra, Thomas Cleary (translator)

Week 14

  • The Sutra of Hui Neng (or Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch), chapters 1-5 (translations by Price/Wong and Cleary are both acceptable)
  • Sutra of Hui Neng, chapter 6 to end

Week 15

  • The Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean (in A Sourcebook of Chinese Philosophy, tr. And ed. Wing-Tsit Chan, pp.84-114)
  • Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi), selections from Complete Works, in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, pp. 605-633

Week 16

  • Zhu Xi, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy pp.634-53, 593-604
  • Wang Yang-Ming, Inquiry on the Great learning and selections from Instructions on Practical Living, in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, pp.659-91