RELIGST 1B06 Lecture Notes - Lotus Sutra, Infomercial, Ethnography

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RELIGST 1B06
• Professor: Mark Rowe

Document Summary

Is an ethnographer; travels and talks to different people: studies living forms of the traditions. Suggests that his findings are between the ideal (in texts, statutes) or in the real world (churches, synagogues, mosques) Suggests that the lotus sutra is the infomercial that ends all infomercials : tells you about being perfect and advertises it in a sort of ways. Studying death and funerals in japan: job of funerals is to transform the dead into a monk. Their heads are shaven, given a new buddhist name, etc. In zen funerals, koan ~ these kinds of questions that cannot be answered logically. Mu~ does a dog have buddhist nature (most famous) Christianity~ can god create a more powerful being that himself. Part of the zen funeral includes them asking the deceased a koan, but that non-answer is mu . Basic line is that real buddhism died centuries ago but argues this isn"t true. Some of this comes from normative judgments.