MA, Postgraduate Diploma, and Postgraduate Certificate

             Web-based interactive Distance-Learning:

           Study from the comfort of your own home

                                     Part-time

Site last updated January 13th, 2011.

Note that Prof. Peter Harvey, who runs the programme, will be retiring at the end of the 2010-2011 academic year, so that the Sunderland course will end then.

However, a new version of the course, using the same course materials and Professor Harvey as a consultant, will be delivered by the University of Wales, Newport, from January 2012 (subject to validation). Enquiries about this should be directed to Dr Nick Swann: Nick.Swann@newport.ac.uk - see here for details.

Click here to see what students say about the course.

The programme is led by Peter Harvey, Professor of Buddhist Studies, who is one of the two founders of the UK Association for Buddhist Studies. His publications include: 

-An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices, Cambridge  University Press, 1990, 374 pages. 

-The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvana in Early Buddhism, Curzon Press, 1995, 293 pages 

-An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations, Values and Issues, Cambridge University Press, 2000, 478 pages. 

Click here for further details of publications

The Certificate
Core module and one option (in 2009-2010 the option running is the Buddhist Meditation and Psychology module)
This takes two 15-week semesters to complete: including an induction week, and breaks at Christmas, Easter, and between semesters,  from 23rd  September to late June. 

The Diploma
The core module and three options 
This takes four semesters, over two years to complete: 
September-June in year one and September-June year two. 

The MA
The core module and three options, plus a 15,000 word dissertation. After the Diploma element is complete, the dissertation module takes two semesters to complete, from  September to May.

All students are registered on the MA, but may leave with the Certificate once BUDM01 and one other taught module are passed, and may leave with the Diploma once BUDM01 and three other taught modules are passed.

 Modules
    Buddhist Traditions
    Dissertation
    Buddhist Ethics
    Buddhist Meditation and Psychology
    Buddhist Philosophy
    Pali Language
    An other possible module
Delivery mode
Assessment
Course aims
Course fees
Computer requirements
Entrance qualifications
Applying for the course
Books needed for the first module, Buddhist Traditions
Possible source of funding for UK students

Modules

Core for all Programmes: Buddhist Traditions
Introduction; Buddhist languages and scriptures; The Indian context; The story of the Buddha; Rebirth, other worlds and gods;  Rebirth according to karma;  The Four Ennobling Truths: dukkha and its origins;  The three marks: impermanent, dukkha, not-Self;  Conditioned Arising;  The Third Ennobling Truth: Nirvâ.na; The Fourth Ennobling Truth: the  Ennobling Eightfold Path;  Noble persons;  Monastic and lay disciples and their  precepts;  The nature of the Buddha;  Early symbols and images of the Buddha;  Early Abhidhamma, schools and schisms;  The history and practice of  Southern Buddhism;  The origin and nature of the Mahâyâna; The Perfection of Wisdom Sûtras; The path of the Bodhisattva; Buddha Lands and heavenly Buddhas and Bodhisattvas; Mahâyâna perspectives on  Buddhahood: the 'Three body' doctrine;  The Tathâgata-garbha  (Buddha-nature) and the Avata.msaka  Sûtra;  Tantric Buddhism;  The history and practice of  Northern (Tibetan) Buddhism;  The history and practice of Eastern  Buddhism; Ch'an/Zen Buddhism; Pure Land and Nichiren schools and later Japanese Buddhism; Comparative overview of the module

Core for MA: Dissertation module, the first part of which will be research methods.

Options:

Buddhist Ethics
Introduction; The impact of Buddhist karma theory on its ethics; Ethics and the early Buddhist analysis of reality; The role of ethics within the ordinary and Ennobling Eightfold Path; Buddhist and Western ethical theories;  Assessing degrees of culpability in the Suttas and Vinaya; The nature of Buddhist lay precepts; Ethics and monasticism;  The nature and role of lovingkindness and compassion; Family ethics and social ideals; Mahâyâna Bodhisattva-precepts;  Skill in means and the compassionate breaking of precepts; Ethics in the later forms of Mahâyâna Buddhism; Engaged Buddhism and social justice; Politics, punishment and human rights;  Buddhism, war and peace: theory; Buddhists' involvement in war and conflict; Buddhist peace activities; Attitude to and treatment of animals;  Buddhism and environmentalism; Lay and monastic economic ethics; 'Buddhist economics', capitalism, socialism and consumerism; Suicide and self-immolation; Euthanasia and organ donation; Abortion, other procedures that kill embryos, and contraception; Abortion in Buddhist cultures, and the relation of law and morality; Buddhism and sexual equality: theory; Buddhism and sexual equality: practice;  Homosexuality and other forms of 'queerness'.

Buddhist Meditation and Psychology
Models of the mind, its potential and hindrances to growth; Some principles of meditation; Samatha (Calm) meditation: role and goals;  Mindfulness of breathing for calm;  Developing the 'immeasurable' emotions; Other Samatha meditations; Character types; The Samatha-yâna and Vipassana-yâna; The four Satipa.t.thânas and Vipassanâ meditation; Mindfulness of the body, feelings, mind-states and dhammas; Contemporary Theravâda methods of practising Vipassanâ meditation; The thirty-seven dhammas which contribute to awakening; Models of the path: the seven purifications, the five paths; Skilful, unskilful and variable mental factors in Abhidhamma thought; ´Samatha and Vipa´syanâ in Northern Buddhism; ´Samatha and Vipa´syanâ in Eastern Buddhism; Pure Land visualizations and single-minded chanting; Chanting as meditation; Tantric visualization methods; The variety of ma.n.dalas and their uses; The five tantric 'families'; The six yogas of Nâropa, andMahâ- and Anu- yoga; Mahâmudra and Dzogchen; Zen: some general features; Zen Just Sitting meditation; Zen kôan meditation and kenshôs; The role of the teacher in meditative training and the ethics of the teacher-pupil relationship; Problems and dangers experienced by meditators; The meeting of Buddhist meditation and western Psychology.

Buddhist Philosophy
Introduction and the Early Buddhist theory of truth; The 'Buddhist empiricism' thesis; Past lives: empirically checkable claim, metaphor, or irrelevant ancient dogma?; Buddhism on the cosmos and life on earth; Abhidhamma literature and principles; The perceptual process and resting consciousness in Abhidhamma thought; Conditioned Arising: its nature, and how it is known; Buddhist perspectives on desire and its problems; On self-development and  'everything is not-Self'; The Pudgalavâdin/ Personalist controversy; Philosophical issues in Buddhist karma and rebirth theory; 'Freedom of the will', conditioning and responsibility; Wrong view, right view and right seeing/no view; The undetermined questions on the world; The 'life principle' and the between lives state; Abhidhamma and the 'mind-body' problem: twin-type process-pluralism, not substance dualism; The nature of Nirvâ.na; The enlightened one as untraceable in life and beyond death; The Sarvâstivâdins and Sautrântikas on the nature of time; The Madhyamaka on emptiness and the transcending of views; Madhyamaka analyses: essence, causality, motion, time; Paul Williams' critique of ´Sântideva: rebirth, identity and the Bodhisattva's altruism; The Yogâcâra 'Mind-only' perspective; The nature of the 'Buddha-nature’; The Avata.msaka Sûtra and Hua yen philosophy; Non-dualism; Reality in Dôgen's Zen; The 'Critical Buddhism' debate on the orthodoxy of East Asian Buddhism; Zen, nature and the arts.

Pali language
The language of the Pali Canon, the most complete collection of early
Buddhist texts, and the language of later Theravada Buddhism. The module is based around Warder's Introduction to Pali

Delivery mode
Each taught module will have two sessions per week. Each of these will involve: 

a) accessing material on the WebCT site which introduces and discusses ideas and directs students to read specific passages from:

• several coursebooks,
• material from a coursepack
• quality websites, such as Access to Insight , Journal of Buddhist Ethics and  Mahayana Buddhist Sutras in English. 
• where appropriate, pictures and sounds on  course CD

Assessment
Assessment in the core module and the Buddhist Philosophy module is by a 5000 word essay, plus a requirement to contribute to a specified minimum of discussion-postings, of a required level. In other taught modules, asessment is by a 4000 word essay (80%) and either  a book review or website review (20%), depending on the module.

Course aims

• To provide students with the opportunity to engage in specialist study at postgraduate level within an area of Religious Studies.
• To provide students with a critical understanding of issues in Buddhist thought, history and practice.
• To meet the need of students who wish to develop an in-depth understanding of Buddhism from the basis of an existing knowledge of some aspects of Buddhism and  successful undergraduate study, normally in a Humanities or Social Science discipline (see below).
• To provide a high quality off-campus course to students around the world through various electronic means and existing published material.
• To provide students with the necessary research skills to enable them to produce a sustained piece of independent research.

• independent research.

   European Union students resident in the UK: 
MA (4 taught modules and the dissertation (double module)): £3600, at £1200 per year for three years.
Diploma (4 taught modules): £2400, at £1200 per year for two years.
Certificate (2 taught modules): £1200

   International students: 
MA  (4 taught modules and the dissertation (double module)): £6600, at £2200 per year for three years.
Diploma (4 taught modules): £4400, at £2200 per year for two years.
Certificate (2 taught modules): £2200.

Yearly fees are payable by three  installments, on the 31st of October, 31st January, and 30th April. 

Monks or nuns may be eligible for a 20% fee reduction. 

In Receipt of Benefit? 
If you are a UK student in receipt of one of the following benefits you may be eligible for waiver of tuition fees: Income Support, Working Families Tax Credit, Disabled Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Income related Job Seekers Allowance, Incapacity/Disability Benefits. Contact  the Student Support Fund Office: 0191-515-2946 or 0191-515-2090

In addition to course fees, students will need to spend around £175 per module on required books. 

Computer requirements
The only critical thing here is browser comaptibility and its tuning. To check this, go to: http://vista.sunderland.ac.uk/webct/entryPageIns.dowebct   and click on Check browser.

Entrance qualifications
Applicants should be at least 21 and:
a) have a good first degree (first or second class honours) from a UK or Irish University, 
or 
a degree of equivalent standard from a University elsewhere (USA Grade Point Average of at least 3.0, or a Graduate Record Examination score of at least 550; further guidance non-UK degree equivalence can be gained by e-mailing: international@sunderland.ac.uk),
or 
a higher degree. 
The above should normally be in a Humanities or Social Science discipline, though others will be considered, subject to the submission of a 2000 word piece of written work, whose title will be negotiated with the programme leader.

b) applicants’ formal or informal educational background should have familiarised them with key Buddhist ideas. Where this cannot be demonstrated, they will be asked to submit a 2000 word piece of written work, whose title will be negotiated with the programme leader.

For those who do not satisfy a), above, the programme will also consider for entry by APEL (Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning) those who have produced other evidence of capacity for the study of Buddhism at postgraduate level.

Applicants need  a basic ability to use e-mail and negotiate websites
 

Where an applicant’s first language is not English, they need to have attained:
 -Band 6 in the IELTS (International English Language Testing Scheme) 
 or 
-TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score of at least 550 in the paper-based test or 213 in the computer-based test
 or
 -a pass in the University’s own English Language Proficiency Test.

.
For any queries you have on the programme, or to  register initial interest in it,  e-mail Peter Harvey at: peter.harvey@sunderland.ac.uk
 

Applying for the course
For information on how to apply, click here.

Books needed for the first module, Buddhist Traditions
For a list of these,  click here.

Possible source of funding for UK students
See website of the Arts and Humanities Research Board:  click here.

Work of Professor Harvey in the field of Buddhist Studies

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