RLBcB546 Buddhismus a násilí

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Martin Špirk, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Jana Valtrová, Ph.D.
Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Kristýna Čižmářová
Supplier department: Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
RLBcA002 Buddhism I && RLBcA003 Buddhism II || NOW( RLBcA003 Buddhism II )
Although the course is taught in Czech, English knowledge is necessary for work with assigned texts and audiovisual material.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
Buddhist traditions are often portrayed in Western discourses as exclusively exotic and pacifist. The course aims to reveal a mask formed by similar stereotypes and to provide students with a thematic overview and the latest knowledge related to the comprehensive issue of the phenomenon of violence in the Buddhist world. The first lectures will introduce social and anthropological perspectives (models) to study the relationship between religion and violence. Subsequently, students will learn the basic Buddhist terminology, get acquainted with relevant ethical concepts of Buddhist doctrine, and orient themselves in the history and current relationship between specific Buddhist traditions and internal, external, and symbolic violence. Through the workshop and independent work with selected texts and recommended audiovisual materials, students will also gain practical skills in creating materials for their conference paper, presentation, and defense.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, students will be able to:
  • to get acquainted with relevant Buddhist ethical concepts and terminology, which is connected with the issue of Buddhism and violence;
  • briefly discuss basic topics related to internal/external and symbolic violence in specific Buddhist traditions across time and space;
  • identify and interpret the most common stereotypes that appear in Western discourses and the media about Buddhist traditions;
  • independently create, present, and defend a draft conference paper.
    • Syllabus
    • Introduction: organization, course content, and requirements
    • Religion and violence in anthropological and sociological perspective
    • Buddhism and violence: facts and fiction
    • Basics of Buddhist ethics: key values and their adaptation concerning violence
    • External Violence I: Buddhists at War Throughout History
    • External violence II: current conflicts + peace activities of Buddhist movements in the modern world
    • External violence III: social control (punishments, racism, gender), Buddhists vs. natural world
    • Internal violence I: asteciticm, self-harm, contraception/abortion
    • Internal violence II: euthanasia, suicide, self-immolation
    • Symbolic violence
    • Workshop on the creation of conference papers I
    • Workshop on the creation of conference papers II
    Teaching methods
    Lectures; discussions; home-reading; workshop and individual work related to the design, presentation, and defense of the draft of the conference paper
    Assessment methods
    1) Students choose one of the offered topics. 2) Based on each topic's recommended literature, they submit a written draft of a short conference paper (approx. 2-3 standard pages) and a presentation. 3) At the colloquial meeting, they will present their draft. 4) During the discussion part of the course, students are expected to be active. The activity is evaluated on a scale of 0-3 points. A maximum of 30 points can be obtained per semester; the limit for meeting the requirement for activity is 60% (20 points). If a student does not meet this requirement during the semester, she/he may lose one of the colloquial attempts.
    The written draft and presentation must be submitted by the deadline and are scored by a maximum of 10 points; it is necessary to obtain a min. 6 points. All students will receive feedback on their work. If they do not reach the minimum rating, they have another attempt to correct it.
    IF THE STUDENT DOES NOT SUBMIT A DRAFT OR PRESENTATION BY THE DEADLINE, THE EVALUATION OF THE COURSE IS "N" (no-pass).
    Language of instruction
    Czech
    • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/RLBcB546