Blog post #20 Buddhism Questions

Buddhism Questions;

1. Siddhartha Gautama was the man who would later become the Buddha.

2. The four passing sights were an old man, a sick man, a corpse and a wondering ascetic. The first three sights were significant and showed the Buddha about reality of suffering and the impermanent nature of life's pleasures. The fourth sight filled Siddhartha with elation and hope: here was a means of over coming his despair.

3.The middle way is a basic Buddhist doctrine and teaching that rejects both the pleasures of sensual indulgence and the self denial of asceticism, focusing instead on a particular approach to spiritual attainment.

4. Gautama had overcome the distractions of fear and passion, represented in legends by Mara and his daughters. He ascended through levels of ever deepening awareness, until he could perceive with perfect clarity the true nature of the human condition.

5. Sangha is the Buddhist community of monks and nuns; it is also one of the three jewels of Buddhism.

6. The Buddha, the Dharma, and and the Sangha.

7. Buddhism and Hinduism both see time as cyclical. They both believe the universe is eternal. They both have this idea of samsara or the wheel of rebirth. 

8. Siddhartha hate the idea of the caste system and the brahman. Buddhists were accepting of women, as the Hindus did.

9. Anatta- "no-self"

Anicca- "impermanence"

Dukkha- "suufering"

10. Anatta means there is no reality within, no essence underlying existence  no eternal substratum that is truly real, enduring beyond the present moment. "the essences of Buddhism is that there is no essence"

11. Karma is actually reborn. The nature of rebirth depends on the status of one's karma.

12.

- Do not take life

- Do not take what is not given

- Do not engage in sensous misconduct

- Do not use false speech

- Do not drink intoxicants

Monks:

- Do not eat after noon.

- Do not watch dancing or shows.

- Do not use garlands, perfumes or ordaments

- Do not use a high or soft bed

-Do not accept gold or silver.

13."suffering" "frustration" "dislocation" "discomfort". Not being comfortable with life.

14. It is the second of the 4 Nobel truths, meaning selfish desire, which causes dukkha

15.  

-Right views

-Right intentions

-Right Speech

-Right conduct

-Right livelyhood

-Right effort

-Right mindfulness

-Right meditation

16. Buddha does not have a model for nirvana. Buddhists do.

17. One has become enlightened; the ideal type for Theravada Buddhists. 

18. "worthy one"

19. Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana.

20. It is the prevalent form of Buddhism in Cambodia; focus on the earliest texts and emphasize monastic lifestyles.

21."The great vehicle"

22. They are fire benders and love music. no Im kidding, lol they harness energy and turn it against self.

23. He is the leader of Buddhism, chosen by destiny!

24. Mostly east asia. china, cambodia, china, china, lol.

Maya and Aztec

Megan
World Religion

17 Jan 2013







1. Locations: Many Maya and Aztec cultures are still alive and flourishing today, located in territories like:  "Honduras and El Salvador through to Guatemala and Belize and north to Yucatán and southern Mexico. Maya regions are ecologically divided into three types of areas.  These are the southern lowlands, the northern lowlands, and the highlands/Pacific slope region. " Maya inhabit 2 different parts of Mexico, the lowlands and the high lands.
2.Cosmology of Maya:  "Mother Earth was created and destroyed three times before this world was made. It contains the mythological version of the creation of the world intertwined with historical facts, creation stories, cosmology, and the adventures of Hunahpu' and X'balanque, the Maya hero twins. According to the Popol Vuh, man was created with the help of Ixpiyakok and Ixmukane. Human beings were created and destroyed several times until, finally, the Creator made them from maize. After consulting with each other, the creator gods, decided to limit the vision and scope of human creatures." So I guess the Cosmology is the fact that the earth was created and destroyed three times and the Popol Vuh basically talks about what happened with this creation story.

3. Symbols: 
<--- earth (according to Maya); symbolized that there are larger forces at work and the transition involves patience.

<--- Rabbit (according to Aztec); Tochtli was a symbol for fertility. It was meant  to represent the goddess of fertility: Mayahuel

<--- storytelling and dance (According to Aztec); This image was a representation of Huehuecoyotl, who is the god of story telling and dance.











4. Aztec: "Coatepec, or Serpent Mountain, was one of the most sacred places of Aztec mythology and religion. Coatepec was the birthplace of the god Huitzilopochtli, and the place where the newly born god, fully armed, managed to kill his sister Coyolxauhqui when she attempted to kill their mother Coatlicue, with the help of her brothers, the Four Hundred Southerners" (Maestri).

Maya: Sacred Cenotes and the Chicxulub meteorite; (----->) 
5.Maya gods: 
good: Hunab Ku is the supreme diety or the creator god. The words actually mean "Only God," or "One God" which goes against the idea of polytheism because they do have more then one god, this one just seems to be of a superior stance. 
Ah Punh- Maya god Of death
Trickster- the Maya trickster was the figure of a rabbit who bagged gravel and sold it as hard yellow maize
Aztec gods:
Trickster: Tezcatlicopa who tried to convince people that canabalism was right I think?
Good: the sun god was most important, and its name was Huitzilopochtli. He was also the god of war.
Bad: Xolotl had backwards feetand caused man to fall into the underworld.
6.
7.Shaman are held very highly in both the Mayan and Aztec culture; they are healers by using the plant life that surrounded them, but also they were the only people who could communicate with the divine.
8. Ritual feasts were given in honor of the gods in Mayan culture. Aztec sacrifices were an important aspect of the Aztec religion. At the root of these Aztec rituals was the belief that the gods needed to be nourished by human beings. This was accomplished throughhuman blood. A part of the Aztec religion, therefore, was to participate in bloodletting, which is intentionally harming and drawing blood from the body.
9. Aztec Calender

Aztec people

Mayan Calender

Mayan People










Works Cited:

Aztec Symbols." Aztec Symbols. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.

 Maestri, Nicoletta. "Coatepec." About.com Archaeology. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.

"Maya Sacred Sites." Maya Sacred Sites. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.

 "Mayan Symbols." Mayan Symbols. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.

 "Overview of Maya and Aztec Civilizations." Overview of Maya and Aztec Civilizations. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.

Buddhism

Megan
Mr. Sanchez
February 10 2013

Intro: 
Buddhism allows one to understand the true nature of reality. Buddhism uses meditation, which develops qualities like awareness, kindness and wisdom. It is not a religion of a western view, for there is no real "god" or thing to be worshiped. 
Teachings:

There is constant change in Buddhism, and it takes advantage of this. Through meditation, Buddhists develop methods of working through the mind. 
Three Jewels:
The Buddha: The Buddha refers both to the historical Buddhaand Buddhahood. Going to refuge to Buddha is a symbol of your devotion and you see him as the ultimate teacher and spiritual example. 
The Dharma: is the primary teaching of the Buddha, or how he understood things. It means truth. They include records of Buddha's life. it is the practices outlined within scripture. 
The Sangha: The spiritual community. It is people who share in the same spiritual lives. this goes to the idea of Buddhism being a way of approaching life.
The Three Fold Way: there are three stages: Ethics, Meditation, and Wisdom. Another formulation of the path is the Threefold Way of ethics, meditation, and wisdom. This is a progressive path, as ethics and a clear conscience provides an indispensable basis for meditation, and meditation is the ground on which wisdom can develop.
The 4 Noble Truths: All existence is dukkha. The word dukkha has been variously translated as ‘suffering’, ‘anguish’, ‘pain’, or ‘unsatisfactoriness’. The Buddha’s insight was that our lives are a struggle, and we do not find ultimate happiness or satisfaction in anything we experience. This is the problem of existence. The cause of dukkha is craving. The natural human tendency is to blame our difficulties on things outside ourselves. But the Buddha says that their actual root is to be found in the mind itself. In particular our tendency to grasp at things (or alternatively to push them away) places us fundamentally at odds with the way life really is. The cessation of dukkha comes with the cessation of craving. As we are the ultimate cause of our difficulties, we are also the solution. We cannot change the things that happen to us, but we can change our responses.  There is a path that leads from dukkha. Although the Buddha throws responsibility back on to the individual he also taught methods through which we can change ourselves, for example the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Buddha’s ‘Noble Eightfold Path’ is a further ‘unpacking’ of the ‘Threefold Way’ and is perhaps the most widely known of the Buddha’s teachings. It is ancient, extending back to the Buddha’s first discourse and is highly valued as a treasury of wisdom and practical guidance on how to live our lives. Traditionally the teaching is seen as highlighting eight areas or ‘limbs’ of ‘right’ practice (Sangharakshita prefers ‘perfect’ to ‘right’), which sit in mutual relationship to one other and are each essential elements in an integrated approach to the Dharma:

1.      Right Understanding or Perfect Vision

2.      Right Resolve or Perfect Emotion

3.      Right Speech or Perfect Speech

4.      Right Action or Perfect Action

5.      Right Livelihood or Perfect Livelihood

6.      Right Effort or Perfect Effort

7.      Right Mindfulness or Perfect Awareness

8.      ​Right Meditation or Perfect Samadhi