Current course offerings

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Course description

Many concepts and practices from Hindu and Buddhist traditions have entered popular culture and influenced the well-being industry and the therapies of modern psychology. Where did these ideas come from? And how did they develop, change, and come to be appropriated in contemporary practices and discourses? This course will explore key ideas such as sacrifice, karma and rebirth, the eternal self, the no-self doctrine, dharma, non-violence, the emanating Universe, yoga and meditation, devotionalism, non-dualism, and emptiness, as they developed in Buddhist and Hindu traditions, frequently in response or tension with the other. The approach will be to read primary sources from the rich history of these intellectual traditions and reflect on the influence of these ideas into the modern period.