Timeline

https://www.preceden.com/timelines/274460-buddhism---hinduism

Axial Age: Classical Hinduism

• Transformations of thought in the Axial Age (c. 800–200 B.C.E.) led to the re-evaluation of Vedic ritual and new ideas about the nature of human existence.

• Deeper spiritual questions led to the examination of human nature and the possibility of an afterlife.
• (This evolution in Indian religion was roughly contemporaneous with similar developments in other civilizations, including ancient Greece, China, Mesopotamia, and Israel.)
• The function of religion changed from that of cosmic maintenance to one of personal enlightenment and transformation.

• Classical Hinduism established the central problem of human existence for Hindus – samsara, the cycle of continual transmigrations of the soul.

• Karma, even good karma, keeps a person bound to the cycle of transmigration. One path the Hindu tradition offers for the attainment of moksha, or ultimate release, is the path of wisdom.

• The path of wisdom found in the Axial Age, when the most important Hindu responses to the anxieties about death and rebirth were recorded in a collection of texts called the Upanishads. The oldest of the Upanishads was probably composed between 800–400 B.C.E., but actually written down much later.

• Modern Hinduism has had to face challenges brought by the advent of Islam and Western culture.

Kinds of Stories

Booker's 7 basic types of story plots

https://tobedwithatrollope.wordpress.com/2007/12/11/the-seven-basic-plots-wh-we-tell-stories-by-christopher-booker/

1-2

• Overcoming the Monster — Stories like Beowulf, ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, Jaws, and many of the James Bond films, where a hero must defeat a monster and restore order to a world that has been threatened by the monster’s presence.

• Rags to Riches — These stories feature modest, generally virtuous but downtrodden characters, who achieve a happy ending when their special talents or true beauty is revealed to the world at large. Includes any number of classics such as ‘Cinderella’, David Copperfield, and the Horatio Alger novels.

3-4

• The Quest — A hero, often accompanied by sidekicks, travels in search of a priceless treasure and fights against evil and overpowering odds, and ends when he gets both the treasure and the girl. The Odyssey is a classic example of this kind of story.

• Voyage and Return — Alice in Wonderland, Robinson Crusoe on his desert island, other stories of normal protagonists who are suddenly thrust into strange and alien worlds and must make their way back to normal life once more.

5-7

• Comedy — Not always synonymous with humour. Instead, the plot of a comedy involves some kind of confusion that must be resolved before the hero and heroine can be united in love. Think of Shakespeare’s comedies, The Marriage of Figaro, the plays of Oscar Wilde and Gilbert and Sullivan, and even War and Peace.

• Tragedy — As a rule, the terrible consequences of human overreaching and egotism. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Julius Caesar, Anna Karenina…this category is usually self-evident.
• Rebirth — The stories of Ebeneezer Scrooge and Mary Lennox would fall into this basic plot type, which focuses on a threatening shadow that seems nearly victorious until a sequence of fortuitous (or even miraculous) events lead to redemption and rebirth, and the restoration of a happier world.

In group consider

In Which of these categories would you place Siddhartha? Why?

• Overcoming the monster
• Rags to Riches
• The Quest
• Voyage and Return
• Comedy
• Tragedy
• Rebirth

Buddhism 101

Introduction to Buddhism

Buddhism

Introduction

• During its 2,500-year history, from the time of the Buddha to the present day, Buddhism has grown from a tiny religious community in northern India into a movement that now spans the globe.

• the tradition begins simply with a human being – Siddhartha Gautama who found a solution to the problem of human suffering.
• Buddhists focus on his experience, and they deny the existence of a single, almighty God.
• The most basic Buddhist expression of faith is called the triple refuge:

• I take refuge in the Buddha;
• I take refuge in the Dharma [ the Buddhas teaching ];
• I take refuge in the Samgha [ the community of the Buddhas followers ].

Buddha

• The doctrine of reincarnation or rebirth is known as samsara (literally, wandering). Samsara was not considered a pleasant prospect. For many people, it was not an opportunity as much as it was a burden, and they tried to find a way out.
• The release from samsara is found in moksha
• Four Noble Truths are:

1. the truth of suffering (Gurkha): all is suffering
2. the truth of the arising of suffering: it is from desire
3. the truth of the cessation of suffering (also known as nirvana or nibbana): i.e. cease from desire
4. the truth of the path that leads to the cessation of suffering: via 8-fold path

The path to nirvana is divided into eight categories:

• right understanding,
• right thought,
• right speech,
• right action,
• right livelihood,
• right effort,
• right mindfulness,
• right concentration.

The logic might be expressed in 3 categories:

• sila, or moral conduct;
• samadhi, or mental concentration; and
• pa-a, or wisdom

Mahayana arose as reform ca. beginning of common era

• spread to China, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Vietnam

• One of the Mahayana traditions most important innovations is the bodhisattva ideal. A bodhisattva is a Buddha-to-be or future Buddha who does not attempt to go straight to nirvana but returns to this world to help others along the path.
• emptiness: Hinduism there is an eternal self. Buddhism there is “no-self”
• non-duality (physical / spiritual)

Politics and Buddhism

• Complex histories of relationship between politics and Buddhism throughout Asia

• Played out over a millenia throughout Asia

• Burma / Myanmar
• Tibet
• China
• Japan

Chinese adoption of Buddhism blended with an adaptation of Chinese Taoism

The Tao that can be told of is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; The Named is the mother of all things.
The Tao is empty like a bowl.
It may be used but its capacity is never exhausted.

Quick overview of Buddha

https://youtu.be/ZTI3P9zx-oY