This document provides a syllabus for a class called "The Buddhist Imaginary" that will examine how Buddhists imagine the cosmos and their place within it. It notes that whether these imaginations are considered "correct" or "incorrect" by modern standards is beside the point. The primary focus will be on what makes Buddhist conceptions of the world unique. A quote is provided about the complexity and flexibility of Buddhist doctrines in how they can be interpreted. Key Buddhist terms like the Four Noble Truths and important figures like Gautama Buddha are also defined.

1. LTWL 135
THE BUDDHIST IMAGINARY
jhj jhj jhj jhj jhj jhj
syllabus available at:
http://profcohen.net/ltwl135

2. “What are we to say of a doctrine which is sometimes
represented as one of almost perfect Theism; sometimes as
direct Atheism; sometimes as having the closest analogy to
what in a Greek philosopher, or in a modern philosopher, would
be called Pantheism; sometimes as the worship of human
saints or heroes; sometimes as altogether symbolical;
sometimes as full of the highest abstract speculation;
sometimes as vulgar idolatry? Strange as it may seem, the
same doctrine is, I believe, capable of assuming all these
different phases; no one of them can be thoroughly understood
without reference to the other.”
! -- Frederick Maurice, Religions of the World & Their Relations
to Christianity, 1847

3. The primary question we will ask in this class:
What is distinct about the ways in which Buddhists
imagine the cosmos and their place or role within the
cosmos?
Whether Buddhists imagine the world “correctly” or “incorrectly” by 2012 norms is beside the point
“Religious ideas exist, because they are believed; they exist objectively, as social facts.”
-- Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss, ‘Essai sur la nature et fonction du sacrifice’, Anne´e Sociologique (1898),
p. 137.

4. buddha = awakened;
past passive participle of the verb √budh = to wake up
buddha = someone who has awakened
Śākyamuni Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha
************************
Four Noble Truths
! duḥkha
! cause of duḥkha
! cessation of duḥkha
! path to the cessation of duḥkha

5. Eighteenth-century spellings of Buddhist terms
Shakyamuni ! ☞ ! Samonocodum
Buddha ! ! ! ☞ ! Bhooddha
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Boudhou
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Buddoo
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Butta