Session 2 (July 30) - Lori Meeks, USC

[Joseph Kenney]

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda or Big Wild Goose Pagoda (Chinese: 大雁塔

I toured this pagoda in 2005 when I visited China.  During my self-guided tour, I came across a hand crafted red swastika for sale.

While I teach Social Science, I was unaware of the historical background, especially its connection to Buddhism.  That quickly changed when a resident monk educated me to the original meaning.

I followed up with further research.

Cultural appropriation is a timely topic.  I will incorporate the swastika to my existing lesson as another example.

I will also use the indepth overview of Buddhism from both videos to enhance my lesson.

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[Megan Hsiao]

Because the topic of religion is very broad, I have never really tried to incorporate a unit of religion in my Chinese curriculum. After viewing the lectures and readings, my knowledge of religion has been enhanced by having an overview of the origin and the foundation of Buddhism. I especially like the idea that Prof. Meeks mentioned in the lecture about the challenges of spreading Buddhism in China. In particular, how Buddhism could cross the boundaries of the pre-existing Chinese traditions such as Confucianism and Daoism and later became accepted in Chinese society was interesting. In my opinion, the conflict of practicing filial piety and becoming a monk in Buddhism still exists in the Chinese society. Narrowing down teaching Buddhism in a Chinese class, I think I would start from the focus of the concept of Chinese “filial piety” by letting the students talk about why Chinese people emphasize on hierarchical relationships in the family and how they practice filial piety and the roles of ancestors in Chinese culture. After knowing the concept of Confucianism/filial piety, I will give the students a brief overview of the religions in China and then have students reflect upon these pre-existing traditions as the challenges for Buddhism in China.

[Jonathan Tam]

The spread of Buddhism is something that I found interesting in this seminar - especially its challenge to Confucianism and Daoism. It seems to have attracted all the benefits of pre-existing beliefs and challenge other aspects such as Confucianism’s hierarchical and definitive nature. The most interesting spread of Buddhism to me was in Japan where the emperor confided in local tribes to determine whether to allow the religion to spread. The occurrence (or lack of occurrence) of plagues in Japan allowed for Buddhism to flourish and thrive. And quite surprisingly something that I found remains today where Covid is constantly testing our country’s beliefs - in science, politics, and religion. Soon after, Japan established schools to increase the spread of Buddhism as well as its complexity in Japan which helped make it their own niche form of Buddhism.

[Megan Hsiao]

Heather, thanks for sharing your experience and I agree that as a teacher, we need to let the students understand respecting different cultural or religious practices is very important. Additionally, sharing personal experiences is a very engaging way to introduce a serious topic such as region. I personally feel it is hard to talk about Buddhism in my Chinese class mainly because of my christianity background and teaching at a Catholic high school. Also, my knowledge of Buddhism is very limited although I grew up in Taiwan where Buddhism practices are nothing new to me. In order to make teaching this topic in a more friendly and cultural way, I normally like to use movies as a discussion hook. For example, when showing the Disney movie “Mulan” in class, I usually pause at the part when Mulan went to the ancestors to get their “blessings” and ask students to write down what they have observed as Chinese cultural practices and it’s interesting to find that some students will wonder about whether Chinese people worship ancestors and what is the religion in China. Filial piety is also a common theme that could be found in many Chinese legends and stories. For teaching in an area where students have little exposure to other cultures, using movies (Kung Fu Panda might be a good one regarding Chinese culture) that they are familiar with might be a good option.

[Ray Clark]

Thanks for mentioning that again. Being raised largely in Germany, I have vague recollections of hearing about the origins of the swastika having to do with Buddhism, but somehow it was relegated to the attic of my mind.  With you mentioning cultural appropriation here, it gives me a whole other jumping off point, as I strive to make my lessons relevant & exciting in this new educational model.  I appreciate the nudge in a new line of thinking.

 

[Ray Clark]

Thanks for mentioning that again. Being raised largely in Germany, I have vague recollections of hearing about the origins of the swastika having to do with Buddhism, but somehow it was relegated to the attic of my mind.  With you mentioning cultural appropriation here, it gives me a whole other jumping off point, as I strive to make my lessons relevant & exciting in this new educational model.  I appreciate the nudge in a new line of thinking.

 

[Joseph Kenney]

hi, your connection to Gremany is beyond powerful at many levels. glad i could be a nudger:}

[Sandra Makielski]

First, thank you to Professor Meeks and the comprehensive, yet accessible, PowerPoint overviews.  They are thorough but easy to take in.  The visuals were helpful.  Thank you, especially, for the maps.

While reviewing the material, I spent my energy thinking about ways to incorporate this material, heavily modified, into my classroom.  One approach might be to divide the students into small groups to look at the 6 different schools of Buddhism in Japan.  It would be a real achievement to be able to break down the schools into their elements and communicate their main ideas.

The many examples of art would be a great way to tell some of the stories of the Buddha.  Art History examples are often used in DBQ's and AP Testing so this would be an excellent opportunity to incorporate art into the curriculum.  I think I would again divide my students into groups, share one piece of art  with each group, and have the group analyze the work to learn about Buddhism.  Another approach might be to share 6 works of art and have the students match the art to a particular point in the Buddha's life.

Another lesson idea would be to look at dispassion.  This would be a great discussion with egocentric teenagers.  Wouldn't this topic be interesting if connected to leadership?

 

[Jessica Ng]

Hi Deborah. THANK YOU for that tidbit about Guanyin. It piqued my interest because I grew up with her, front and center in my family's living room altar, white-robed with a thin vase in one hand and a willow branch in the other. I know her as Kwun Yum because we're Cantonese. My mother would, and still does, tell her legends from memory to anyone who would listen.

The article you linked was very informative, and I found a different one that focuses more on her importance in Hong Kong, where my mom is from, and gives a few more details about her transformation from male to female.

https://zolimacitymag.com/story-of-kwun-yum-mother-goddess/

I think a discussion around gender would be very interesting; it's probably a topic students haven't explored or questioned in the context of religion and the representation of religious figures. Guanyin/Kwun Yum's transformation seems mostly based on her qualities and things she symbolized being considered feminine. I wonder if students could consider figures from religions they are familiar with, make a list of their attributes, and examine whether/how gender has an impact on their perceptions of these figures?

[Ray Clark]

Is it possible for someone to expound a little on the questions that the historical Buddha refused to answer?  A few of them are mentioned, but maybe I missed where they are discussed further. I think these might be interesting to have students ponder why he might not answer those questions; see if they fit into certain categories, etc.

[Alma Ochoa]

In doing the readings and listening to the lectures, I was so fascinated by the comparisons and similarities of Buddhism and Christianity.  Such as leaving the house hold life and living a religious life and take a life of poverty.  I find it intriguing to know that the Christian gospels were written about four decades after the crucifixion and learn that the first recordings of the Buddha were written some four centuries after his death.  I find it incredible that the Buddha’s impact was so great that it was able to survive by word of mouth for some 400 years before something was written down.

Professor Lori Meeks’ comments on the Four Noble Truths specifically the fourth one, Cultivating of dispassion really stuck a cord.  Which is the cessation of desire, the cession of attachment to the notion of one self.  She mentioned that in this truth we “internalize the idea that death comes to us all.”  This really resonated with me because it is something that really has help me focus and what is most important in life.  In the end no matter how much money we have or how many material things we have accumulated it will not matter because we will not be able to take it with us.  However, I did find the practice of meditating over bones was a little creepy and out of my comfort zone. 

Thank you very much Professor Meeks for your time.        

[Shane Markowitz]

This was a fascinating exploration of some of the background behind Buddhism and its diffusion in different East Asian countries. There are numerous avenues that could be explored with students. One possibility would be to engage students with comparing/contrasting the dynamics of the spread of Buddhism in various countries and different barriers/facilitating conditions present (e.g. elite opposition to the practice of alms in China, state protection in Japan, filling gaps in Confucianism, traders, etc...). This could potentially be linked to the contemporary era by thinking through how minority religious practices are treated today in our societies. As others have mentioned, another possibility would be to open up a more extension examination of the Silk Road and possible mapping exercises. Students could, furthermore, compare/contrast the predominance of Buddhism in past and present on a map and interrogate historical change over time.

[Shane Markowitz]

That's an interesting point regarding respect for local rules and culture. I spent a few months in Myanmar in the past and a recurring annoyance among locals was disrespect shown towards pagodas (e.g. tourists climbing up on pagodas in Bagan to get a better view of the sunset). Bagan even constructed viewing towers to try to dissuade the practice, though tourists still continue to do it anyway. It's also interesting that the practices vary from country to country - while socks, for example, are acceptable generally in Thailand, the requirement in Myanmar is to visit the pagoda barefoot. In Myanmar, in some temples, women are prohibited from entering as well and that's a point of contention among both Burmese women and tourists.

[Juana Evink]

I known about the origins of Buddhism since college, but it's nice to review it. I always being fascinated about how Gautama Siddhartha became the buddha, left his wife and infant son to search for enlightenment. The spread of Buddhism took centuries, but it eventually arrived in Asia, each country adapted it to their culture and religions. In the video Professor Meeks provide  alot of great and interesting information about Buddha, Buddhism, and Mahayana Buddhism.   According to the video lecture and the readings the spread of Buddhism in East Asia had some overlaps as well as differences.

I found intesrested how in one of the readings it mentions how women had palyed an important role in the spread of Buddhism. The BUddha order monks and nuns including female relatives. Professor Meeks mentioned that some nuns were autoritative teachers of Buddhism, and there are some strong nun orders in Korea and Taiwan. Other lay women had also helped spread Buddhism practices, but it's still mostly men who are the main Buddhist representatives. I'm glad Professor Meeks, also clarify that Buddhidm is a religion, not just a philosophy.

[Juana Evink]

All the readings for this sesssion can be great resources for a lesson on Buddhism for Middle Schoolers, yet they will need to be shorten and modified specially for English learners. The history textbook doens't do a great job on the the origins and spread of Buddhism, it's short and mostly superficial. I found this reading to be particularly useful in introducing vocabulary and informaton of the origins and spread of Buddhism to my students. I will have to modify it nad only use parts of the reading, it's too long for my 6th graders. I like how this reading mentions that Buddhism teaches love, compassion, and promotes nonviolence, I think my students would like that.  One idea that can help explain why Buddhism was able to spread from India to East Asia, in a few centuries and eventually even to California by the 19th century is that it accomodates to religious traditions of the cultures it encounters, it doesn't force people to accept its teachings. Also, it one of the few religions that mentions the importance of women in the spread if the religion. In the reading it mentions that it was the Buddha's step mother who encouraged him to let women seek nirvana by renouncing the world and becoming nuns.

The other readings mentions how Buddhism faced some challenges in being accepted in Japan, Korea, and China.It had to adapt to the religuious traditions of the country, respect their old ways. Eventually Buddhism gain acceptance in this places and continue spreading around the world.

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