Sessions 8&9 - May 8

[Miguel Diaz]

For all these years, I’ve thought that I reached the state of nirvana somewhere between Potala Palace in Tibet and Kathmandu Nepal while on an overland trip. I was wrong. The depth and complexity of the influence of Buddhism in all of East Asia is truly extraordinary. I found Professor Lori Meeks’ lecture on Japanese Buddhism to be informative and enlightening. Although I spent a little over six months living in Osaka, Japan, and even though I’ve visited Kyoto, I didn’t study the history of Buddhism while in Japan or any time after that.

Professor Meeks stated that Buddhism was introduced to Japan in 552 CE, and that Buddhism was brought overt to Japan as a part of greater continental culture: art, architecture, law, and Confucian learning. She mentioned that Buddhism gave Japanese people a new world view.

I believe that as teachers, and as students ourselves, we can at least try to understand and appreciate the worldview of others. I would ask my students to study Buddhism, and explain how it shaped, or reshape, the worldview of citizens of countries where it was introduced. (They can select two or three countries in East Asia.) I would also ask my students to be conscience of their own biases as Westerners and as citizens of the 21st Century.

In his book, “The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution” James Hannam wrote, “One of the essential lessons of history is that if we use our own categories to describe the past we will seriously misjudge it. Instead, it is important to understand where people in the Middle Ages were coming from and to understand them on their own terms.”

I believe that James Hannam’s advice can be applied to understanding the spread of Buddhism in East Asia.

[Daniella Leiato]

I found this week's readings and the webinar so fascinating! Over the summer of 2020, I took a deep dive into learning about Buddhism after reading some literature by the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh. I focused my research and reading on Tibetan Buddhism, and I did not expand my research into looking at Japanese Buddhism. After listening to Professor Meeks discussion of Japanese Buddhism, I was interested in learning more about Japanese Buddhism within traditional Japanese political and social structures - namely the way in which religion shifted people's perspective of the world and those around them (how the same religion can manifest itself differently depending on the context).

 

In my English classroom, I can teach students about and analyze Japanese Buddhism in the same way that we analyze motifs, allusions, and recurring themes/symbols from Christianty and Catholicism (ex: light and dark, good and evil, etc.). It would be interesting to have students analyze common religious symbols in literature through an East Asian perspective (ex: looking through a Buddhist lens). While an assignment like this will take a lot of scaffolding, it is definitely worth it to open up students' perspective of how religion has impacted/influenced literature contemporarily and throughout history.

 

[Miguel Diaz]

I really enjoyed Professor Meeks’ presentation on Buddhism in Japan. Someone in class mentioned the zombie apocalypse while Professor Meeks was showing artwork depicting Hell Beings. This gave me an idea. I am thinking about asking either middle school or high school students (next time I teach either) to present their artistic rendition of Hell Beings, Hell in Dante’s Inferno, and the zombie apocalypse. I would select short articles and/or excerpts from literature explaining a brief history of the aforementioned and a description of each. I would also select some artistic renditions of each from around the time the works were written. I think the students would enjoy an activity like this one. I am not joking.

[Morgan Burt]

I really like your comment about how we study how European cultures force their cutlures and religions on imperialized nations. I also liked the idea of positive outcome of exploration. Within the reading and the lecture, the idea was brought up about how Christianity was a push back and a positive for women in China. It was mentioned that "women converts and students excelled in life and work outside of their home."  Although there was a large emphasis on men, single women missionaries helped to lead "a quiet gender revolution"

[Tara Corral]

I completely agree with you that it was very interesting to see how Chrisitanity served as a cataclysm for women to gain more of a consciousness. With my understanding of religion and Christianity I have always seen the role that is placed on woman as generally submissive. It was interesting to see how this dynamic was changed in China with women using it as opportunity to break from traditional roles and gain a form of independence. Especially in the manner that women began to learn so much and if I am correct created their own missions. It is however a disappointment that this does not get acknowledged especially as many women were the founders or back bone to specific Religion Icons in China. Without their help they would not have paved the way. It is though not surprising as this can be seen in plenty of parts of the world where there is sensoring of information. 

[Morgan Burt]

Within the reading, the idea was presented that Christianity was spread throughout China through missionaries sent by the West. It is the assumption that these men and women from foreign countries made history in China. However, the women converts in China are left out of the narrative. According to the text, women were able to help change culture and evangelize. Women who studied the Bible, also furthered their education becoming nurses, doctors, teachers, etc. There was an "escalating demand for women's education.  Although many women do not get credit for their role in the church and society, the author does not claim that the Bible is inherently sexist. Instead the argument is made that if the focus is on a "post biblical femisnist stance" then the "positive experiences of contemporary women within the biblical religion" is ignored. Instead the shift and focus should be on the positive experiences of Chinese women in regards to faith and spirituality.

 

[Tara Corral]

I was thinking about your statement how we don't see the positives beside the fact that it civilized a country. I am wondering if this isn't emphasized as much in history or in the classroom so that it doesn't make this action ok. In terms of other cultures and their lost of infomration as well as beliefs through the use of Christanity leads to problems. I think it would be good to talk with the class about potential draw backs from accepting Christanity and how that affects a culture. Or should cultures continuously be changing and adapting? 

[Morgan Burt]

Thanks for your comments Miguel. When you discussed the idea of reaching Nirvana, it sparked a thought for me. In my Psychology class, one unit of the course focuses on humanistic approaches to psychology and also moral development. I would like to take a deeper dive into Nirvana. My thought is, I wonder if I can make any sort of connection of Nirvana to Self-Actualization & Maslow or maybe even to Kholbergs stages of moral development. Thanks for sharing, it really helped me make connections to one of my courses.

 

[Miguel Diaz]

I was surprised to learn that women played an important role in the growth and development of Christianity in China. In the introduction to her book, Professor Mary Li Ma argues that the role of women in Christianity has been marginalized in both the mainland and the diaspora of Chinese communities. It would be interesting to study the similarities and differences on the roles that women played in the development of Christianity in the West and China respectively. It has always been my impression that religions, like political organizations, have always been predominantly dominated by males. Or as Professor Ma, might argue, the men have taken all the credit for nearly everything.

[Johnny Walker]

Patriarchy is a recurring theme across global socieities, and religion and belief systems certainly reinforce the patriarchy. In terms of Chinese patriarchy, I introduce the concept of "foot binding" early in the year and we discuss its relationship to Confucian patriarchal values and how it pesisted into the 20th century. Then, as demonstrated in the Russian Revolution as well as China, communist feminism engaged in a top-down approach to bring greater equality, rights, and responsibilities to Russian and Chinese women. However, strong patriarchal customs and cultural forces in both Russian and Chinese society tended to erode, limit, and undermine the gains women made following a Communist Revolution (in terms of right to divorce and working roles). 

In the AP European history curriculum, there is a focus on the Protestant Reformation and how it served to both liberate and undermine women's roles in the community. Martin Luther's writings, while critical of papal authority, also place women in subservience to men. And, while Catholicism represents an extreme patriarchy, the abolition of nunneries under Protestantism often took away one of the refuges of Catholic women where a nunnery could offer opportunities for safety, learning, and sisterhood. 

To hear from Dr Ma that despite the overwhelming majority of current Chinese Christians are women, the leadership is exclusively male, was disheartening. I was further dismayed to learn that the fastest growing and most popular form of Christianity in China are American fundamentalist operations. To see that Americans are exporting such right wing beliefs that align with the Promise Keepers or Focus on the Family who reject secular feminism, LGBTQ community, religiouis tolerance, and support strong male leadership as solutions to the marriage problem, is absolutely embarrassing, frightening, and ultimately undermining of the democratic values and soft diplomacy that run counter to the American mission throughout the world. I wonder how the State Department views the work of these religious fundamentalists and how they present a risk to American interests worldwide.

[Johnny Walker]

Miguel, I absolutely agree with you that these "zombie" depictions would make for excellent student engagement and a place for serious analysis. I also loved the scrolls that depicted the "Hungry Ghosts". I think that we can expose students to the humor and engagement of these depictions, but also bring in complex analysis to research and decipher the broader cultural, social, economic, and political implications of these "zombie" portraits. The scenes of hungry ghosts usually take place where there is refuse, waste, or "unclean" images of people's lives. As students look at the different locations depicted in the hungry ghost scrolls, they could describe and analyze how Japanese culture during the time period viewed certain professions, evaluate the technology of the era and describe methods of sewage, describe attitudes toward pregnancy and birth, and describe the treatment and attitudes toward the dead.

In addition, as a synthesis, it would be interesting to analyze American attitudes and the intention of artists related to creating zombies whether they represent mindless consumerism, the threat of communism, environmental catastrophe, or any other of the many societal or political critiques in which zombies occupy a central yet changing role as avatars for satire and criticism.

[Johnny Walker]

I really appreciated the graph depicting the popularity of Christianity in China that Dr Ma created for the lesson. It serves as a fascinating example of the ebbs and flows of foreign influence in China, Chinese political and economic policies, as well as cultural changes within China. I'm thinking about using it to review 20th century China with my AP World students. It would be interesting to place another chart of China (perhaps GDP over time or foreign trade over time or the amount of Chinese students studying in the United States over time) to coincide with this Chart. 

And, while the growth of Protestant Churches over time is heavily involved with attitudes toward the United States, I'm curious about what other nations influence China through the spread of Protestantism. For example, do Korean Protestant Churches also evangelize in China? I would imagine that along with KPOP, the Korean Christian community has likely made similar inroads in China. And if so, do they also espouse the same political philosophies as the fundamentalist American Protestant denomenations?

 

[Todd Rutley]

The 1950-2018 increase in real GDP per capita is strongly positively correlated with increases in the number of churches (estimated correlation coefficient of 0.84). Remember that correlation does not signify causation. Also, be careful of relating this to Max Weber's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" because that is a Eurocentric concept. 🙂

Xi Jinping is not happy with this trend of rising Christianity.  If you know what is happening in Hong Kong, Tibet, or Xinjiang, or if you know how Falun Gong practitioners are treated in China, you know what comes next in the CCP playbook - REPRESSION. 

As Xi said in April 2016 “We must resolutely guard against overseas infiltrations via religious means. …Religious groups must adhere to the leadership of the CPC, and support the socialist system and socialism with Chinese characteristics… They should "merge religious doctrines with Chinese culture, abide by Chinese laws and regulations, and devote themselves to China's reform and opening up drive and socialist modernization in order to contribute to the realization of the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation." 

References

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2016-04/24/content_38312410.htm

https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/march/sinicization-china-wants-christianity-churches-more-chinese.html

China adopts new anti-espionage regulation, to name key institutes susceptible to foreign infiltration. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202104/1222185.shtml

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115hhrg33238/html/CHRG-115hhrg33238.htm

Historical GDP data source: https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2020?lang=en

The historical GDP data and chart in Excel available on request from [email protected]

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[Johnny Walker]

I really enjoyed the paragraph in Dr Ma’s introduction on page xx that explains the importance of incorporating women’s voices into the historical narrative. While I regularly incorporate feminism, identify the patriarchy, and have attempted to de-emphasize the role of Great Men of history, I am always looking for sources to elaborate and argue for why such a reappraisal of the historical narrative is so important. I’m going to use the second paragraph in which Ma makes this argument. She includes quotes from “Women and Ideas and What Men Have Done to Them” and the claim of Harvard religion scholar Catherine Brekus that “if historians do not become more self-conscious about who is included in their stories and who is not, they will perpetuate the fiction that male leaders alone have made history.” I look forward to using this excerpt to expose my students to this idea next year, and make a habit in our classroom of identifying patriarchal narratives and dismantling them. It would be a fascinating unit project to begin with a patriarchal or white supremacist or elitist narrative and then expose students to documents that reveal the contribution of women or people of color or working class people to undermine the previous narrative. The summative assignment would be students writing a critique of the historian's narrative. I currently do this for textbooks that downplay the nature of the Armenian Genocide and the Rape of Nanking, but I have not attempted this in order to illuminate and expose the role of the historian in dismantling the patriarchy or white supremacy.

[Miguel Diaz]

It is really difficult to make the argument that religion is apolitical when the leadership of a nation, such as Japan, imported religion as part of a package of continental culture, which they then used to solidify their reign. When I read the phrase “continental culture” as a package, I immediately thought of the bento box lunches I used to eat in Japan. A bento box is a good thing. Faith is also a good thing.

What I found really remarkable, is that Japanese elites were willing to adopt something as powerful as a religion (Buddhism) that was first established elsewhere. I would be really interested to learn if students in Japanese K-12 Schools are taught this part of their history openly and honestly.

 

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