Review:
This was, surprisingly, one of my favorite classes at Tufts. Walser has a very approachable, friendly and helpful demeanor and his enthusiasm for the material will keep you interested and engaged (even at 8am in a damp basement classroom). I learned so much about Buddhism from this course; it was nice to feel like I actually accomplished something rather than just memorizing by rote. He's an amazing lecturer and very easy to reach outside of class. While the class is not easy by any means, he will help you through it every step of the way. There's no busy work which is GREAT - everything you discuss in class is just to further your understanding. I'd love to take more classes with him.

Workload:
There were a LOT of obscure and very difficult readings to slog through - definitely the worst part of the course. The good news? You can pretty much skim most of them and still be just fine, since even the people who read them cover to cover will still be confused and need clarification. The grades are based on a midterm paper and final paper, which are challenging but definitely not impossible (even without doing all the readings).

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