The graduate program consists of courses from four distinct strands:
On the eve of his passing, the Buddha instructed his students to take as their next “teacher” not an individual, but “the teachings”—the philosophy and practices leading to self-knowledge and a clear understanding of the nature of reality. This vast body of knowledge, initially passed along in an oral tradition, gradually coalesced into a collection of works known as the tripitaka—the Buddhist classics.
In the Buddhist Texts strand, the emphasis is placed on studying Buddhism not merely as an historical event, but as a living philosophy and embodied discipline. Students learn about, from, and through the texts.
Comparative Hermeneutics (2 courses)
Buddhist Hermeneutics (3 courses)
Buddhist Hermeneutics is concerned with defining and applying the theoretical framework, interpretive models, and experiential elements of inquiry derived directly from Buddhist sources and from within the Buddhist tradition itself. The texts come embedded with a systematic and critical discipline of inquiry—one characterized by rigorous probing, radical questioning, and careful analysis of both the object of study (the text) and the subject (the person reading the text).
The texts pose questions rather than dictate answers. What did the Buddha actually say? How do we know? Where does authority reside? What is the role of doubt? How does each individual construct a world of meaning, and how can that world be transformed and deepened into a site of liberation?
Each course emphasizes critical subjectivity—an approach that entails close reading of primary sources done in conjunction with a “laboratory” experience consisting of meditation and mindfulness exercises. This unique hermeneutical tool, where intellectual inquiry is informed and enhanced by contemplative practice, allows students to gain a fuller appreciation of the Buddhist texts as both philosophical treatises and dynamic methods of inquiry.
Language Tutorials (2-4 courses)
Courses in Sanskrit or Classical Chinese are designed to bring students into a direct encounter with primary works in and through the source languages in which they were formulated. The goal of the Language Tutorials is not to provide mastery of Chinese or Sanskrit, but to open a door to accessing Buddhist texts in their original languages, so as to experience a more nuanced and direct voicing of the ideas and fundamental questions they raise.
Master of Arts in Buddhist Classics Unit Distribution
The Master of Arts program consists of a minimum of 42 semester units, with courses from four strands. The table below illustrates the number of semester units required from each strand over two years.
The course code is italicized in the table below. Each course is designated by a 4-letter program code, followed by a 3-digit course code. The BUCL program code indicates courses offered in the Master of Arts in Buddhist Classics. The first digit of the 3-digit course code indicates the year in which the course is taken, the second digit indicates the strand to which the course belongs, and the third digit indicates the sequence in which the course is taken.
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Total units per strand | |||
| Fall | Spring | Fall | Spring | ||
| Buddhist Classics | BUCL 511& 512 6 units | BUCL 513 3 units | BUCL 611& 612 6 units | BUCL 613,BUCL 614 6 units | 21 units |
| Comparative Hermeneutics | BUCL 521 3 units | BUCL 522 3 units | 6 units | ||
| Buddhist Hermeneutics | BUCL 531 3 units | BUCL 631 3 units | BUCL 632 3 units | 9 units | |
| Language Tutorial | BUCL 541 or BUCL 551 3 units | BUCL 542 or BUCL 552 3 units | (BUCL 641 or BUCL 651 3 units*) | (BUCL 642 or BUCL 652 3 units*) | 6–12* units |
| Total units per semester | 12 units | 12 units | 9-12* units | 9-12* units | 42-48* units |