(About Motet conferencing software)
Motet Conference - Opening topics:
2) Sankara's Atmabodha [discussion archive]
3) The Bhagavad-Gita [discussion archive]
New Motet/e-mail Conference Topics - discussion archives:
Vajrayana Buddhism - teachings and development (e-mail)
First Comments on Motet Postings
on Buddhism:
questions we can ask of the "data" presented to us - as these
questions suggest
hypotheses (e.g., "top-down," "bottom-up" models, etc.) about
what happens to "religion" as it encounters new social/political/economic/cultural
contexts - hypotheses which
can be confirmed or disconfirmed by additional examples we encounter
"The Vocabulary of Myth" - an overview of different economic stages and social structures, correlated with both Eastern and Western religious motifs, myths, goals, authorities, etc.
Introductory Notes on Myth and the Emergence of Hinduism - summary comments on Fenton, with additional comments drawn from Kohler.
Discussion stress points, notes (Fenton, ch. 4) on The Bhagavadgita and "The Way of Devotion"
The Emergence of Buddhism - including discussion of the development of the concept of Dharma
Mahayana ("Great Vehicle") Buddhism
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind - Discussion Questions
Final Writing Assignments and Resource
List: Chinese Conceptions of Order; contemporary examples of "religion,"
politics and culture (Japan and India, including Gandhi); the problem of
religious pluralism.