142259 VO Topics in 'Engaged Buddhism': Classical Sources and Contemporary Settings (2025S)

This lecture series investigates the application of Buddhist thought and teachings to socio-political issues, related to what has been called, as of the late twentieth century, 'Engaged Buddhism'. Buddhism, of South Asia and otherwise, is often characterized as 'world-denying' in character: for all of its ethical and ritual concerns, its central aim, arguably, is to detach oneself from the world and escape rebirth in it. Historically, however, Buddhists have always been invested in the state of the world and society. Some scholars and practitioners have argued that this engagement took on a different character in the globalized, modern era; others have argued that it 'was ever thus'.
These lectures will reflect on both the pre-modern and modern history of Buddhism, and Buddhist ethics in particular, with regard to various socio-political concerns. What role should Buddhism have in relation to the state, and political power? Can Buddhism, inherently pacifist, endorse violence? How far does Buddhist teaching recognize differences in gender, or give privilege to one in particular? What attitude should Buddhists endorse with respect to the natural world, especially given modern concerns about its fragility?
The present course cannot hope to cover the breadth of 'classical' or contemporary Buddhist ethics. Rather, our primary aim will be to look at pre-modern Buddhist sources that have informed, or could inform, more recent attitudes with respect to the state, society, human lives and the natural world. Lectures will have a discursive element, and encourage discussion about the diversity of the Buddhist world and the different stances that forms of so-called 'engaged Buddhism' can take with respect to concerns of twenty-first century society.