E103 TOPICS: Electronic Zen-The Sound of One Hand Clapping (3 cr)
MW 2:30-3:20 JH A100 (McRae)

Zen Buddhism is often described as a kind of religious experience that
cannot be understood by the ordinary rational mind.  Intentionally
illogical sayings such as "the sound of one hand clapping" are used in
order to force the religious practitioner to dispense with rational
analysis in favor of some type of profoundly intuitive and
non-discriminating understanding.

This is a public university, however, where we work to explore
difficult issues by reading, research, discussion, and writing, and
just because Zenheads say what they're doing is beyond rational
analysis doesn't mean we shouldn't go ahead and try to understand what
they're up to after our own fashion.  In fact, the academic study of
Zen presents us with some very interesting problems.  First,
obviously, how do we go about studying the irrational using the
rational mind?  Looked at in this way, the study of Zen has a lot in
common with the study of other forms of religious mysticism - although
we'll have to decide, of course, how useful it is to think of Zen as
mysticism.  Second, are there any strategic benefits that lead the
proponents of Zen to declare it irrational, beyond culture and
history?  That is, what do such claims do for the people who make
them, and do they mask rational patterns they might prefer to have
hidden?  Third, how do claims for the irrationality of Zen relate to
assertions that bind the religion to Chinese or Japanese (or Korean)
culture, i.e., that Zen represents the very heart of Asian culture (or
one of the East Asian cultures), or that Zen cannot really be
understood unless you're Chinese, or Japanese, or Korean?

Over the course of the semester we'll move through a series of
questions designed to explore the problems described just above.  Each
week lectures and readings will introduce a basic problem in the
understanding of Zen by rational, academic means, presented in an
order based on logical and methodological concerns rather than
historical sequence.

There will be no tests, and all grading will be done on the basis of
section participation and the completion of assignments.  In addition
to their role as discussion meetings, sections will be led by AIs as
exercise and cooperative work labs.  In fact, students will have the
option of participating in a monitored and guided electronic mail
discussion section rather than a conventional "face-to-face" meeting.

Assignments will be designed to maximize mutual assistance and
collaboration, and they will include exercises intended to achieve
mastery of basic skills of library and archival research, expository
writing and editing.  All assignments for this course will be designed
so as to create contributions for a World Wide Web site for the study
of Zen Buddhism.  Students will be required to master the ordinary use
of Netscape Navigator and to communicate by electronic mail; all
assignments will be written for use on the Web and to be submitted
electronically.  However, students will not have to learn any kind of
programming or computer-related technology beyond the ordinary use of
mouse and keyboard, and lots of assistance will be made available.