RLBcA003 Buddhism II

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 4 credit(s) (plus 1 credit for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: k (colloquium).
Taught in person.
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Jana Valtrová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Luboš Bělka, CSc. (lecturer)
Mgr. Martin Špirk, Ph.D. (assistant)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Jana Valtrová, Ph.D.
Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Kristýna Čižmářová
Supplier department: Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
RLBcA002 Buddhism I && ! RLA21 Buddhism
Knowledge about history and teaching of Buddhism provided by the course Buddhism I.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 90 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/90, only registered: 0/90, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/90
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course Buddhism II follows up the course Buddhism I. The aim of the course is to present basic outlines of Buddhist teachings and practices in the period from the beginning of our era to the modern times. Throught various Buddhist texts and iconographic material the students learn about its culturaly specific forms and gain an overview of its transformations in various periods of history and societies.
Learning outcomes
The student will be able to:
- to describe key moments in the history of Buddhism from Buddha´s death until modern times;
- to practice basic Buddhist terminology in Sanskrit or Pali;
- to define basic terms of Buddhist teaching and understand difference among particular Buddhist schools;
- to recognize the most important sources to the study of particular Buddhist schools;
- to differentiate forms and (self)presentations of Buddhism in modern society
Syllabus
  • Introductory lecture;
  • Buddhism in India;
  • Beginnings of Mahayana, prajnaparamita;
  • Introduction to Mahayana philosophy and literature;
  • Buddhist art and ritual;
  • Buddhism and the Silk road;
  • Tantric Buddhism;
  • Buddhism in China;
  • Buddhism in Tibet;
  • Zen;
  • Buddhism in the West;
  • Final test.
Teaching methods
Lectures, reading, class discussions, written assignements.
Assessment methods
Colloquim
Colloquim is recommended to students of other disciplines except of Religion studies. Requirements for colloqium is:
(a) written test
60% of correct answers is needed to pass.
Exam
Exam is compulsory for all students of Religion studies. Prerequisites for the exam are written test and two short written commentaries to selected texts. Commnetaries have to be delivered in time, each is evaluated with max. 15 points. For succesful competion it is necessary to achieve 60% of points for both commentaries (i.e. 18 points together). The exam is oral and is focused on:
(a) examining students knowledge according to given list of themes;
(b) examining students interpretation abilities within these themes.
In case of failure in test at the end of semester, it becomes a part of the exam. The oral exam represents 100% of final evaluation.
Detailed schedule of the course, list of themes subject to the examination and list of recommended literature are published in the Study materials of the course.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Information on completion of the course: Posluchači religionistiky povinně ukončují zkouškou.
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
General note: Posluchači religionistiky povinně zapisují v 2. semestru studia.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
Teacher's information
For a detailed course syllabus and graduation requirements, see the Course Study Materials. The interactive curriculum in IS serves as an electronic support for the course.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/RLBcA003