Graduate Institute
Santa Fe
Spring 2008 Seminar Reading List
Eastern Classics Program
Week One
1. The Laws of Manu, Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty (translator), Penguin, chapters 1, 2, 3 (1-60), 6, 9 (1-104), 10, 12
2. Bhagavadgita, Books 1-9 [recommended edition: The Bhagavadgita in the Mahabharata, J.A.B.Van Buitenen (translator)]
Week Two
3. Bhagavadgita, Books 10-18
4. Kalidasa, Kumarasambhava
Week Three
5. Kalidasa, Meghaduta (Cloud Messenger). Available in Kalidasa: The Loom of Time, Chandra Rajan (translator), Penguin Classics.
6. Kalidasa, Shakuntala
Week Four
7. Abhinavagupta, Dhvanyaloka (with the Locana of Abhinavagupta), selections with supplemental material by Keith and Perry. Through page 119; photocopy available from bookstore.
8. Dhvanyaloka, selections through page 696, same photocopy.
Week Five
9. Digha Nikaya. (The Long Discourses of the Buddha): 16 (“The Great Passing The Buddha’s Last Days”) [Recommended edition of Digha Nikaya: Maurice Walshe (translator), Wisdom publications;]
10. Majjhima Nikaya (The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha): 19 (“Two Kinds of Thought”), 26 (“The Noble Search”), 36 (“Greater Discourse to Saccaka”). [Recommended edition: Bhikku Nanamoli (translator), Wisdom Publications. Please note that the translations available on the website www.accesstoinsight.org are decent but occasionally quirky.]
Week Six
11. Majjhima Nikaya: 28 (“Greater Discourse on the Simile of the Elephant’s Footprint”), 141 (“The Exposition of the Truths”); Digha Nikaya (The Long Discourses of the Buddha): 15 (“Great Discourse on Origination”).
12. Digha Nikaya: 2 (“Fruits of the Homeless Life”); Majjhima Nikaya: 117 (“The Great Forty”)
Week Seven
13. Majjhima Nikaya: 10 (“The Foundations of Mindfulness”), 22 (“Simile of the Snake”), 148 (“The Six Sets of Six”)
14. Nagarjuna, Madhyamika-shastra, 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.]
Week Eight
15. 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”)16. 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”)
*** SPRING BREAK***
Week Nine
17. Vimalakirti Sutra, Robert A. F. Thurman (translator), chapters 1-6
18. Vimalakirti Sutra, chapter 7 to end of text
Week Ten
19. Lankavatara Sutra, Suzuki and Goddard (translators), chapters 1-6 (pp.277-315)
20. Lankavatara Sutra, chapters 7-13 (pp.315-56)
Week Eleven
21. Gaudapada, The Great Karika on the Mandukya Upanishad. Edited by Nikhilananda in an Indian paperback, pp. 223-368 (Mandukya Upanishad and Gaudapada commentary only; omit other commentaries)
22. Shankara, Commentary on the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, Swami Madhavananda (translator), I.iv (pp.64-136)
Week Twelve
Week Thirteen23. Shankara, Commentary on the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, IV.iii (pp.415-86)
24. PAPERS DUE. Diamond Sutra and Heart Sutra. Photocopy of the Heart Sutra available from the bookstore.
25. Hui Neng, Commentary on the Diamond Sutra, Thomas Cleary (translator)
26. The Sutra of Hui Neng (or Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch), chapters 1-5 (translations by Price/Wong and Cleary are both acceptable)
Week Fourteen
27. Sutra of Hui Neng, chapter 6 to end
28. Li Bai: “Listening to the Lute…,” “On Visiting Taoist Recluse…,” in Chinese Poetry
(Wai-Lim Yip, translator), pp. 182-183; “Ascend the Phoenix Terrace,” p. 203; “To See Off Meng Hao-Jan…,” p. 238; “Remembering Our Excursion in the Past…,” “The Song of Chang-Kan”, pp. 269-275; “Jade Steps Grievance,” p. 278
Week Fifteen
29. Wang Wei: “Mount Chung-Nan” in Chinese Poetry, p. 185; “Answer to Vice-Prefect Chang,” p. 186; “Bird Singing Stream,” “Deer Enclosure,” “Bamboo Grove,” “Rill of the House of the Luans,” “Hsin-I Village,” pp. 224-228; After “Source of the Peach Blossom Spring,” pp. 248-251.
30. Du Fu: “New Moon,” in Chinese Poetry, p. 193; “Night Feast at the Tsos,” p. 195; “Night Up in the Tower,” p. 204; “Looking at Mount Tai Shan,” p. 279.
Week Sixteen
31. Chu Hsi, Chu Tzu ch’uan-shu (selections). Pages 605-633 in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy
32. Chu Hsi, Chu Tzu ch’uan-shu (selections) and Chu Tzu wen-chi (selections). Pages 634-653, and 593-604 in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy