Buddhism Book Film and Art Reviews One of the main goals of this course is to train students in accessing, processing, and understanding sources.
Students will be required to write a review, comprising a minimum of 1,500 words in length, of a source such as a book, a film, or a piece of art. The review will demonstrate the student’s abilities to adequately describe, analyze, and interpret primary data, be it textual, material, visual, or audiovisual. Students will have to choose one of the following twelve assignments:
Buddhism Book Film and Art Reviews Assignments
Book reviews
-Review of Charles Allen, The Buddha and the Sahibs. London: John Murray, 2002. An very readable account of the rediscovery of the Buddhist sites of India.
-Review of Alan Klima. The Funeral Casino. Meditation, Massacre, and Exchange with the Dead in Thailand. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.A hard-core reportage-cum-ethnography of military violence, gambling, and the religious significance of corpses.
-Review of Janwillem van de Watering. The Empty Mirror. Experiences in a Japanese Zen Monastery. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973.A sensitive and no-nonsense first-hand narrative of a crime author’s time as a Buddhist novice.
Film reviews
-Review of The Burmese Harp(Japan, 1956), by Kon Ichikawa.
-Review of Angulimala (Thailand, 2003), by Sutape Tunnirut.
-Review of The Cup(Bhutan, 1999), by Khyentse Norbu
Art reviews
– Comparative review of the installations/sculptures: Shroud by Jakkai Siributr(2011), The Buddha’s Face, by Zhang Huan (2010), and Eternity Buddha in Nirvana, by Xu Zhen(2016-17).
– Comparative review of the paintings/prints: Pin Drop Silence, Eleven-Headed Avalokitesvara, by Tenzing Rigdol (2013), Spiritual Mind and Modern Technology, by Rabkar Wangchuk (2013), Sujatha offers Buddha his first meal becoming Buddha by Sumana Dissanayake(undated).
– Comparative review of the photographs: Untitled, [two Japanese Zen monks (komuso) on their alms round], Julian Cochrane(1904), Buddhist priests,[colonial postcard of Srilankan monks], anonymous(1890s), and Mongolian Lama by Thomas Child (1870s).
