E-Learning Courses on Women in Buddhism

The Numata Center for Buddhist Studies in cooperation with Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts offers an e-learning course on the topic of Asian Buddhist Women. The course consists of a series of lectures by a group of international scholars who will present their research on the situation of women during various periods in the history of Asian Buddhism, based on textual studies and archaeological evidence.

The Numata Center for Buddhist Studies in cooperation with the Women in Buddhism Study Initiative offers an e-learning course on the topic of women in Indian Buddhism. The course consists of a series of lectures by a group of international scholars who will present their research on the situation of women during various periods in the history of Indian Buddhism and in comparison with other Indian religious traditions, based on textual studies and archaeological evidence.

Participants in the class will gain knowledge of the complexity of the situation of women in Indian Buddhism based on current academic research, alerting them to the different facets of the problem of gender discrimination as well as to the agency of women and the strategies women have adopted in order to pursue their aspirations.

The e-learning course to be held in 2014 builds on the foundation of the 1. International Conference on Buddhist Women's Role in the Sangha, which was held at the University of Hamburg in 2007, by continuing the same theme, namely the topic of bhikkhuni/bhikshuni ordination. This topic is of high priority at present in the Theravada and Mulasarvastivada monastic traditions. The course intends to offer sound academic research on the legal questions, based on a study of the relevant Vinaya material, followed by an updated regional survey on the current situation of nuns in the Theravada and Mulasarvastivada traditions.

The first e-learning course would offer a starting point for further e-learning courses to be offered in subsequent semesters to further explore the various themes within historical and modern topics on Women in Buddhism.

2011
Purification, Ethics and Karma in Early Buddhist Discourse
The lectures held during the summer semester of 2011 covered the first twenty discourses of the Madhyama-āgama.

2012
The Arahant and the Four Truths in Early Buddhist Discourse
The lectures held during the summer semester of 2012 covered the chapters 3 and 4 (discourses 21 to 41) of the Madhyama-āgama.

2013
Tranquility and Insight
The lectures held during the summer semester of 2012 covered the chapters 3 and 4 (discourses 21 to 41) of the Madhyama-āgama.

Audio files of the lectures can be audited or downloaded as mp3-files, together with the respective lectures notes as pdfs.