Too bad you didn’t get off the waitlist!

Year in and year out, Buddhism: East Asian, taught by Professor Michael Como, is one of Columbia’s hottest courses. It makes sense, considering the class counts for a Global Core credit, and Como is a certified Columbia GOAT. According to his course evaluations, Professor Como is “a legend.” Fifteen years of CULPA reviews concur (one 2013 user wonders, “If Professor Como has a silver nugget, what does it take to get a gold?”).

This semester, 300 students joined an instructor-managed waitlist with only 160 spots. Everyone and their mother wanted to get into the course. 140 hopefuls ended up disappointed, but not me: I was one of the chosen. Professor Como saw something in me. What that something was, I’ll never know… but I’m here to tell you all about this fabled course.

Before each lecture, Professor Como writes a full outline of the day’s content on the board. We have never gotten past the first half (somewhere around point 2C). Como kicks off with a review session, during which he recounts everything we learned in the previous class. For a student of perfect attendance such as myself, it’s a great time to settle back and smugly verify that I know all this information already. For the less diligent, it’s a great time to show up 15 minutes late.

Como then launches into a series of stories describing the transmission of Buddhism across Asia, from monks wandering the Chinese hells to demons wreaking terror on Japanese villages. He sprinkles in anecdotes about his own family (his wife is a devout Buddhist). From this, we have learned that Como is “one of the three best son-in-laws in Chinese history.” I’ve yet to see evidence debunking this claim. 

As Professor Como continually reminded us, “This is your class.” He dedicates at least half the lecture time to fielding questions from the audience and tailors the lecture to students’ curiosities. From the first time you participate, he will remember your name. If someone ventures a question that looks ahead of the lecture, Como will stop, stare, call the student out by name, and jab the blackboard: “Do I look like I’m on 3A?!” The unlucky pupil hangs his head. “No…” While I appreciate the interactiveness of these pedagogical methods, we do often end up on 20-minute tangents (probably contributing to our inability to get through the outlined material). There’s always some CS major wondering if, for a bodhisattva, nirvana is like an asymptote…

All in all, I have to say Buddhism: East Asian has been my favorite course at Columbia. I recommend it to anyone. As for getting off the waitlist, though, I can’t help you there. Like I said, I don’t know what innate power of mine inspired Professor Como to take me on as a disciple. But I will note that 90% of my class was STEM students; I wonder if he let them in so they could have at least one passionate intellectual experience in their lives. I’m kidding.

Lecture room via Columbia University Registrar