Essay Four - Buddhism Prompts

Requirements: 

1. Your essay should be word-processed, double-spaced, one-inch to one and one-half inch margins. It should be spell-checked. Pages Numbered.

2. You should have a cover page with title, date, and your name. 

3. Each paragraph should be numbered.   Bold the thesis. After the end of the essay, attach an outline of the essay with the thesis clearly stated and at minimum a line for each paragraph.

4. Each essay should be approximately  3 pages long (not including the Works Consulted or cover pages).

5. You must include a Works Consulted/Cited Page.  I will assume that you have read and understood Harvey, Writing with Sources on when and how to cite sources. CAREFUL AND CORRECT CITATION IS REQUIRED. WHEN IN DOUBT, CITE. Remember that simply paraphrasing or changing every third word is not OK. Quote and cite or radically summarize and cite. Use quotation marks when quoting or indent if quote is five lines or longer. Guessing at where your information comes from is not OK. Use page numbers in your in-text citations, footnotes or endnotes. Book or journal titles are italicized or underlined.  

6. Your essay should define any key terms used, use examples to illustrate and support your argument where appropriate, and discuss likely alternatives or respond to objections.

Essays will be graded for both form and content as indicated in  Points to Consider in Evaluating an Essay. 

Choose One of the following questions/prompts:

1. Harris sees Buddhism both in its early literary materials and in the early Buddhism practiced by peasants and forest dwelling monks as having implicit (but not explicit) resources for the development of an "authentic" Buddhist environmental ethic. However, he sees the evidence as ambiguous and provides an "appraisal of the evidence for and against Buddhism as an ecologically aware tradition." (115) Pick one of the pieces of positive and one of the pieces of negative evidence that Harris offers that you find most telling. Discuss and evaluate these two pieces of evidence in terms of Harris' goal of appraisal.

2. Harris sees Buddhism both in its early literary materials and in the early Buddhism practiced by peasants and forest dwelling monks as having implicit (but not explicit) resources for the development of an "authentic" Buddhist environmental ethic. However, he sees the evidence as ambiguous and provides an "appraisal of the evidence for and against Buddhism as an ecologically aware tradition." (115) Describe and evaluate at least two assumptions of Harris' approach. Is the question of whether Buddhism is or is not an "ecologically aware tradition" a well-founded question or are there problems with the question itself?

3. Pick one of the key concepts of Buddhism such as no-self, interdependent arising, non-attachment, emptiness, samsara (cycle of rebirth), karma, right mindedness, etc. and compare and contrast how two of the pieces we read utilize the concept.

4. Select one of the key illustrations Cook uses and explain what it is meant to illustrate and whether this point is useful in developing a Buddhist environmental philosophy/theology. The illustrations include but are not limited to the following:

    a. Indra’s net (p.2)

    b. Ten Coins (pp. 2-3, 9)

    c. Western portrait vs. Asian landscape paintings (pp. 5-8)

    d. Nose and body (pp. 9-10, 11)

    e. yogi and tiger (pp. 9 - 11)

    f. lice and horse’s piss (pp. 11, 16)

    g. tripod (p. 13-14)

    h. chop stick in a drain (pp. 18-19)

4. Both Harris and Swearer discuss the importance of the forest and the relation between the forest and "civilization" . What are the issues involved and how do they bear on a Buddhist environmental ethic?

5. Briefly describe the Hua-yen view of interdependence and causation as outlined by Cook. Then explain why Harris in the article we read (p. 125) finds it problematic. Finally, discuss whether Harris’ s response is well-taken.

6.. What is one key similarity and one key difference between Buddhadasa and Phra Prayudh as described by Swearer? How significant do you find these? Why?

7. First: What are Harris' main criticisms of eco-Buddhism according to Swearer and how does Swearer think Buddhadasa and Phra Prayudh might be expected to respond to these criticisms? (pp. 39-40) Second: Do the responses Swearer imagines satisfactorily deal with the criticisms?

8 Argument analysis. Pick a main conclusion of any of the authors we read for the section of the course focusing on Buddhism. Charitably, show how the author reached this conclusion (presuppositions, reasons, etc.) and offer an assessment of the argument.

9. ***Wild Card. Topic of your choice, but get approval of instructor first.