ASIA 1700 - Introduction to Tibetan Civilization
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2024 / Fall 2024 / Spring 2025 / Fall 2025
Surveys the dynamic history of Tibet from its earliest known origins to the present. Offers interdisciplinary perspectives on Tibetan civilization, including religion and politics, society and culture, arts, and literature. Topics include the role of Buddhism in Tibetan society, from the early empire through the rule of the Dalai Lamas; diverse narratives that inform the memory of Tibet�s past and construct a shared cultural identity; civil war, sectarian conflict, and ecumenical projects; and modern Tibetan responses to Chinese policies, both domestically and in diaspora abroad.
ASIA 3550 - Tibetan Buddhism
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2026
Explores Tibetan Buddhism through literature and film, including sacred biographies, treatises on the Buddhist path and films providing a visual window into Tibetan life worlds. We examine different kinds of Tibetan journeys: moving through the life cycle, treading the path of self-cultivation, embarking on solitary retreat, traversing from death to rebirth and traveling on pilgrimage and into exile. Same as RLST 3550.
ASIA 4650 - Art and Science of Meditation
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2025 / Spring 2026
Broadly interdisciplinary and skill-based, this course offers an in-depth theoretical, practical, and experiential exploration of meditation informed by cutting-edge scientific studies. Students read traditional contemplative masterworks in translation, survey current neuroscientific and psychological research on meditation, and employ critical subjectivity in the application of evidence-based contemplative techniques. That is, students train in secularized meditation that is proven to develop three specific skillsets: relaxation and stress reduction; attentional focus and distraction reduction; and compassion and emotional resilience.
ASIA 4700 - Enlightened Visionaries, Dirty Tricksters and Warrior Heroes: Masterworks of Tibe
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2024 / Fall 2024 / Spring 2025
This course surveys an array of Tibetan literary masterworks from ancient times to the present. Students read English Translations of Tibetan materials that are informed and contextualized by modern scholarship. Rather than focus on doctrinal works that comprise the majority of Tibet�s textual corpus, this course explores Tibet�s great narrative traditions, in both prose and verse, from folktales and trickster stories to heroic warrior epics to the aftermath of enlightenment in Buddhist biographies. Through this literature, students become familiar with the various cultural, intellectual, and historical movements that have shaped the Tibetan literary landscape. This is a discussion-based seminar where students take active roles in directing the conversation towards the topics of their greatest interest. Recommended prerequisite: ASIA 1700.
RLST 3300 - Foundations of Buddhism
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024 / Fall 2025
Introduction to Buddhist thought and practice in the variety of its historical and cultural contexts. The course begins with an exploration of narrative, cosmology, doctrine and ritual in early Buddhism and the Theravada of South and Southeast Asia. Through case studies, we then trace diverse conceptions of the Buddhist path in Tibet and East Asia where the Mahayana spread. Same as ASIA 3301.
RLST 3550 - Tibetan Buddhism
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2025 / Spring 2026
Explores Tibetan Buddhism through literature and film, including sacred biographies, treatises on the Buddhist path and films providing a visual window into Tibetan life worlds. We examine different kinds of Tibetan journeys: moving through the life cycle, treading the path of self-cultivation, embarking on solitary retreat, traversing from death to rebirth and traveling on pilgrimage and into exile. Same as ASIA 3550.
TBTN 1110 - Beginning Tibetan I - DILS
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2024
Provides a thorough introduction to the colloquial Tibetan language, emphasizing speaking and listening in the Lhasa dialect. Trains students in basic conversations and the idiomatic and syntactical features of Tibetan through drills and dialogues.
TBTN 1120 - Beginning Tibetan II - DILS
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2024 / Spring 2025
Continuation of TBTN 1110; provides a thorough introduction to the colloquial and literary Tibetan language, emphasizing speaking and listening in the Lhasa dialect. Trains students in basic conversations and the idiomatic and syntactical features of Tibetan through drills and dialogues.
TBTN 2110 - Intermediate Tibetan I - DILS
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2025
This DILS (Directed Independent Language Study) course on Intermediate Tibetan will introduce students to intermediate grammar, sentence construction, conversation topics, and readings in modern Tibetan. This will include introduction to Tibetan grammatical markers and particles, morphology, syntax, and vocabularies using a range of authentic materials. Formerly TBTN 2120.
TBTN 2220 - Intermediate Tibetan II DILS
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2024
This DILS (Directed Independent Language Stud) course on Intermediate Tibetan will introduce students to intermediate grammar, sentence construction, conversation topics, and readings in modern Tibetan. This will include introduction to Tibetan grammatical markers and particles, morphology, syntax, and vocabularies using a range of authentic materials.
