RLB229 Tibetan Buddhism in Western Interpretations

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2007
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Jana Valtrová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Dušan Lužný, Dr.
Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Lucie Čelková
Timetable
Thu 16:40–18:15 G24
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course is focused on particular problems of presentations of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. The course is methodologicaly based on works of such scholars as D. Lopez, P. Bishop, M. Brauen etc. Lectures show on concrete material various approaches towards Tibetan Buddhism, its representations including their social consequences among Westerners and Tibetans as well.
Syllabus
  • 1) Introductory lecture - list of relevant publications, conditions for succesfull competion of the course, outline of the term; 2) “Myth of Tibet” examined – a survey of the development in the studies about Western images of Tibetan Buddhism (A. Bharati, T. Shakya, D. Lopez, P. Bishop, M. Brauen etc.), development of methodological approaches; 3)Tibetan Buddhism in the Reports of Christian Missionaries (Odorico of Pordenone, Ippolito Desideri, E.-R. Huc) – Tibetan Buddhism presented as a distorted Christianity; 4)Lamaism – the Wrathfull Form of Buddhism? Discussion about the usage of the term “Lamaism” in academic writing, the “occult” image of Tibetan Buddhism; 5) Lost Horizon and flying monks – creating the “Myth of Tibet”. Lecture will analyse James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon and books by British author Lobsang Rampa (alias Cyril Hoskin) which enormously contributed to the creation of the myth of Tibet as a “spiritual land”; 6) The image of Tibetan Buddhism in Czechoslowakia before 1989 – this particular topic should demonstrate the influence of political situation on presentation of particular religion in a certain context; 7) Tibetan Buddhism as viewed in German speaking countries before and after WW II – ideas, expectations and fears, Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity; 8) Buddhism in the West or “Western/European/American...etc.” Buddhism? Change of a tradition while it is transmitted into a new cultural milieu is demonstrated on the comparative analysis of a Kalachakratantra initiation performed nowadays very often in Western countries; 9)Tibetan Buddhism in modern Western societies – comparative survey, tendencies, trends and differencies; 10)Tibetan Buddhism in a visual culture - traditional iconography and modern media, its impact on the presentations of Tibetan Buddhism
Literature
  • ROZEHNALOVÁ, Jana. Tibetský buddhismus očima křesťanských misionářů (17. - 19. století) (Tibetan Buddhism as described by Christian missionaries (17th - 19th c.)). Nový Orient. Praha: Orientální ústav AV ČR, 2005, vol. 60, No 1, p. 15-19. ISSN 0029-5302. info
  • ROZEHNALOVÁ, Jana. Zrcadlo orientalismu - obrazy Tibtu v českém prostředí (The Mirror of Orientalism: Images of Tibet in Czech context). Mezinárodní vztahy. Praha: Ústav mezinárodních vztahů, 2005, vol. 40, No 3, p. 44-62, 18 pp. ISSN 0323-1844. info
  • ROZEHNALOVÁ, Jana. Obzor znovu nalezený - bádání o vysněném Tibetu (Horizon rediscovered: Studies on Tibet Imagined). Sacra aneb Rukověť religionisty. Brno: Občanské sdružení Sacra, 2003, vol. 3, No 1, p. 18-27. ISSN 1214-5351. info
  • LUŽNÝ, Dušan and Luboš BĚLKA. Podoby buddhismu na Západě (Faces of Buddhism in the West). In Lopez, Donald Jr., Příběh buddhismu. Průvodce dějinami buddhismu a jeho učením. 1st ed. Brno: Barrister and Principal, 2003, p. 209-221. Buddhismus. ISBN 80-86598-54-3. info
  • ROZEHNALOVÁ, Jana and Luboš BĚLKA. Tibetský buddhismus a západní imaginace. Slavnost Kálačakry ve Štýrském Hradci (Tibetan Buddhism and Western Imagination: The Kalachakra Initiation in Graz). Religio: Revue pro religionistiku. Brno: Česká společnost pro studium náboženství, 2003, vol. 11, No 1, p. 53-76. ISSN 1210-3640. info
  • MACFIE, Alexander L. Orientalism. 1st pub. London: Longman, 2002, vii, 242. ISBN 0582423864. info
  • LENOIR, Frédéric. Setkávání buddhismu se západem. Vyd. 1. Praha: Volvox Globator, 2002, 334 s. ISBN 8072074962. info
  • Imagining Tibet : perceptions, projections, & fantasies. Edited by Thierry Dodin - Heinz Räther. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001, xiii, 465. ISBN 0861711912. info
  • ŽAGABPA, Cipön Wangčhug Dedän. Dějiny Tibetu. Translated by Josef Kolmaš. Praha: Lidové noviny, 2000, 428 s. ISBN 80-7106-410-6. info
  • Orientalism : a reader. Edited by A. L. Macfie. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000, x, 382. ISBN 0748614419. info
  • BRAUEN, Martin, Renate KOLLER and Markus VOCK. Traumwelt Tibet - westliche Trugbilder. Bern: Paul Haupt, 2000, 296 s. il. ISBN 3-258-05639-0. info
  • SCHELL, Orville. Virtual Tibet :searching for Shangri-la from the Himalayas to Hollywood. 1st ed. New York: Metropolitan books, 2000, 340 s. ISBN 0-8050-4381-0. info
  • KING, Richard. Orientalism and religion : postcolonial theory, India and "the mystic East". London: Routledge, 1999, viii, 283. ISBN 0415202582. info
  • WESSELS, C. Early Jesuit travellers in Central Asia, 1603-1721. Delhi: Book Faith India, 1998, xi, 233. ISBN 8173031053. info
  • LOPEZ, Donald S. Prisoners of Shangri-La : Tibetan Buddhism and the West. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998, x, 283. ISBN 0226493105. info
  • SAID, Edward W. Orientalism. London: Penguin Books, 1995, xi, 396 s. ISBN 0-14-023867-0. info
  • BATCHELOR, Stephen. The awakening of the west : the encounter of Buddhism and western culture: 543 BCE-1992. 1st pub. London: Aquarian, 1994, xvi, 416. ISBN 1855383438. info
  • BISHOP, Peter. Dreams of power : Tibetan Buddhism and the western imagination. 1st publ. London: Athlone Press, 1993, 162 s. ISBN 0838635105. info
  • DESIDERI, Ippolito. Cesta do Tibetu. Translated by Josef Hajný. Vyd. 1. Praha: Odeon, 1976, 461 s. URL info
  • HUC, Évariste Régis. Cesta do Lhasy, kterou se svým druhem P. Josephem Gabetem v letech 1844 až 1846 vykonal a podle vzpomínek vypsal P. Evariste-Régis Huc někdejší misionář v říši Čínské. Edited by Joseph Gabet, Translated by Václav Durych. Vyd. 2., v MF 1. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1971. info
  • HILTON, James. Ztracený obzor. Vyd. 6., v Odeonu 1. Praha: Odeon., 1970, 228 s. URL info
Assessment methods (in Czech)
Na vybrané hodiny kurzu bude stanovena četba povinná pro všechny účastníky kurzu, obsah textů bude diskutován na hodinách. Pro ukončení zápočtem je nutná aktivní účast studentů na hodinách, pro udělení kolokvia navíc student zpracuje seminární práci v rozsahu cca 7-10 normostran na zvolené téma. Tyto práce budou prezentovány v posledních dvou/třech hodinách kurzu.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Zápis mimo religionistiku je podmíněn souhlasem vyučující.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2016, Autumn 2018, Spring 2021.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2007, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2007/RLB229