This seminar focuses on reading Indonesian texts from a variety of perspectives.  We will develop a set of methods and tools to help us read, analyze and interpret a variety of texts in Indonesian and/or Malay.  We will approach the text as a link between author and audience against the broader social, cultural and political environment.

This course prepares graduate students to teach R&C and gateway courses, consolidating skills and developing confidence in the classroom. The course will give students practical experience in creating and adapting materials for use in the classroom, while consolidating their understanding of the basic principles of teaching university-level reading and writing. This seminar is discussion based and is centered on student participation and in-class presentations by participants.

The course will focus on Hindi literature from the pre-modern and the modern periods. Topics will vary from year to year.

Topics and readings vary.

Advanced readings in Sanskrit literature, including Sanskrit ornate poetry with emphasis on the canons of poetic analysis of the Indian aesthetic tradition.

This seminar provides an introduction to a broad range of Tibetan Buddhist texts, including chronicles and histories, biographical literature, doctrinal treatises, canonical texts, ritual manuals, pilgrimage guides, and liturgical texts. It is intended for graduate students interested in premodern Tibet from any perspective. Students are required to do all of the readings in the original classical Tibetan.

This graduate seminar focuses on reading a wide spectrum of Indian Buddhist texts in the Sanskrit (or Pali) original introducing the students to different genres, and different aspects of Indian Buddhism. The students taking the course for two units (rather than four) will be expected to prepare thoroughly every week for the reading of Buddhist texts in the original. They will also be expected to read all related secondary literature that is assigned to supplement the study of the primary source material.

Tibetan Buddhists view the moment of death as a rare opportunity for transformation. This course examines how Tibetans have used death and dying in the path to enlightenment. Readings will address how Tibetan funerary rituals work to assist the dying toward this end, and how Buddhist practitioners prepare for this crucial moment through tantric meditation, imaginative rehearsals, and explorations of the dream state.

The emergence of the tantras in seventh and eighth-century India marked a watershed for religious practice throughout Asia. These esoteric scriptures introduced complex new ritual technologies that transformed the religious traditions of India, from Brahmanism to Jainism and Buddhism, as well as those of Southeast Asia, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan. This course provides an overview of tantric religion across these regions.

This course is a broad introduction to the history, doctrine, and culture of the Buddhism of Tibet. We will begin with the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet in the eighth century and move on to the evolution of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhist literature, ritual and monastic practice, the place of Buddhism in Tibetan political history, and the contemporary situation of Tibetan Buddhism both inside and outside of Tibet.