COURSE DESCRIPTION
The ‘Eight Schools’ is a traditional Buddhist classification system used throughout East Asia for understanding the relationship between various Buddhist traditions. This course uses the Eight Schools model to look at modern trends in Buddhist practice found throughout the world today corresponding, beginning with the ancient traditions of renunciation and monasticism of Southeast Asia, and concluding with the highly advanced, esoteric teachings of the remote, mountainous temples of Tibetan, China and Japan.
Suggested Reading
Buddhist Thought, A complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition by Paul Williams
Mahayana Buddhist, The Doctrinal Foundations by Paul Williams
The Essentials of the Eight Traditions, by Gyōnen 凝然, tr. from the Japanese by Leo M. Pruden