TL3V250047.5 ECTSQ1EnglishBachelor
Asian Philosophies: Daoism, Cha’n, and Zen Poetic Approaches to Ecologies of Experience
FaculteitFaculty of Humanities
NiveauBachelor
Studiejaar2026-2027
Beschrijving
Course goals
Students:
- gain insight into the relational and processual modes of thinking characteristics of (what we now call) Daoism, Buddhism, Huayan, Ch'an, and Zen;
- gain insight into core concepts in Indigenous Chinese, Indian, and Japanese thinking, grouped around intra-activity, impermanence, and non-anthropocentrism;
- gain insight into poetic language in contemplative texts as a 'tool' to open new ways of seeing, experiencing, and thinking;
- are introduced to essential writers/poets/philosophers who flesh out these relationships;
- are equipped with the skills to research, explicate, and formulate a position on these relationships;
- learn to express their point of view in spoken and written language;
- increase their awareness of how they respond to their environment and how they sense and experience it. Meditative practices, reflection assignments, and exercises contribute to achieving this goal.
Content
In this course, we introduce students to core concepts in Indigenous ways of thinking from China, India, and Japan, now known as Daoist, Buddhist, Huayan, and Ch'an/Zen. Students work toward understanding, operationalizing, and comparing these concepts in two assignments: 1] a midterm collaborative video essay that explicates one concept, using a present-day example (from nature, art, literature) as a filter, and 2] a final comparative analysis of two traditions that includes a reflection on the student's learning process. The main goal of the course is to familiarize students with a relational and ecological mode of thinking in Daoism, Buddhism, Huayan, and Ch'an/Zen: nothing has stable, let alone permanent, separate existence. Instead, all 'things' emerge provisionally through interactions. If there is a metaphysics here, it is processual, not one based on substance. Crucially, since everything emerges interactively, all 'things'--small or big, human or other animal, live or dead matter--matter equally in their infinite and entangled particularity. Students assess the relevance of these modes of thinking to today's world, their phenomenal experiences, their discipline, and/or contemporary (comparative) philosophy. Through weekly guided meditations based on the outlined teachings, students also learn to practice the concepts studied and the insights derived from the texts.
COURSE SET-UP
Week 1. The course opens by 'setting the scene': a historical overview of the modes of thought now called Daoist, Buddhist, Huayan, and Ch'an/Zen. How did they evolve, in which historical settings, how did they differ from contemporary modes of thinking, how did they spread, and how can we compare them amongst each other?
Week 2. The idea of interdependence: how to think ecologically. Pratītyasamutpāda in Buddhism, shi/fei, qi and yinyang relations in Daoism, Indra's Net, uji in Dōgen.
Week 3. Do-not-doing: how to drop goals and clinging. Wuwei and ziran in Daoism, not/attachment in Buddhism, 'presencing' and expression, shikantaza in Ch'an/Zen.
Week 4. Perspectival agility: how to change your mind constantly. Letting go of the raft in Buddhism, perspectival agility in Zhuangzi (Daoism), seeing otherwise in Zen.
Week 5. Emptiness: how to see something in nothing, and vice versa. Wu, sangwo & xu in Daoism, súnyatā in Buddhism and Ch'an/Zen, 5 skandha's & not-self in Buddhism.
Week 6. Compassion: how (not) to be angry and pay attention. Karunā in Buddhism, tz'u and ziran in Daoism, jihi and zazen in Dōgen's Sōtō Zen, nonduality.
Week 2. The idea of interdependence: how to think ecologically. Pratītyasamutpāda in Buddhism, shi/fei, qi and yinyang relations in Daoism, Indra's Net, uji in Dōgen.
Week 3. Do-not-doing: how to drop goals and clinging. Wuwei and ziran in Daoism, not/attachment in Buddhism, 'presencing' and expression, shikantaza in Ch'an/Zen.
Week 4. Perspectival agility: how to change your mind constantly. Letting go of the raft in Buddhism, perspectival agility in Zhuangzi (Daoism), seeing otherwise in Zen.
Week 5. Emptiness: how to see something in nothing, and vice versa. Wu, sangwo & xu in Daoism, súnyatā in Buddhism and Ch'an/Zen, 5 skandha's & not-self in Buddhism.
Week 6. Compassion: how (not) to be angry and pay attention. Karunā in Buddhism, tz'u and ziran in Daoism, jihi and zazen in Dōgen's Sōtō Zen, nonduality.
CORE TEXTS
We read excerpts from Daodejing, Zhuangzi, Buddhist sutra's, Zen master Eihei Dōgen's writings, poetic writings by Zen nuns, and critical reflections on the source texts.
Additional information
This is course is part of the minor Global Asia.
This course has priority rules and a waiting list. Your enrolment is guaranteed if you are:
- enrolled in the minor Global Asia.
- a student in the BA Literary Studies.
- an exchange student and meet the course’s entry requirements.
In all other situations, you will be placed on a waiting list if you enrol in this course. For any remaining slots in the course, lots are drawn among the students on the waiting list.
This course is equivalent to the following course:
Literature and Philosophy (TL3V22001)
If you have already completed this course, you may not take Asian Philosophies due to too much overlap in content.
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