Download Classical India

Classical India
Central Concepts
• INDIA
• Brahman: the universal spiritual reality
behind all perceptions
• Atman: the human soul
• Karma: “actions have consequences”
– not “sin”
Goal of the Ascetics
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mystic ecstasy
enlightenment
unification of Brahman and the Atman
karma: affects the rate of enlightenment
Road to Enlightenment
• getting rid of negative karma
• absence of bodily desires
• then the Atman could merge with Brahman
eternally
Buddhism
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Siddhartha Gautama: the Buddha
The Four Sights
search for enlightenment
the bo tree: illusion and enlightenment
salvation by moderation
– the Middle Path
Central Ideas: all life is suffering
• the Four Noble Truths
– all life is suffering
– desire causes suffering
– suffering can be avoided by non-desiring
– desire can be stopped by meditation and the
Noble Eightfold Path
• Correct knowledge and good habits can
annihilate suffering
Central Ideas, con’t
• The Noble Eightfold Path
– right views, right aspirations
– right speech, right conduct
– right livelihood, right effort
– right mindedness, right rapture
Buddhist Society
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no fixed hierarchies
no priest, but individual responsibility
decisions: free and democratic
equality among Buddhists
Rise of the Mauryan Empire
• Alexander the Great
• Chandragupta Maurya (322-298 B.C.)
• Ashoka
The Dharma
• peace, pacifism, moderation
• roads, hospitals, rest houses
• promoted vegetarianism
– condemned bloody sacrifices
• threatened the Brahmans with loss of
power
• largely unsuccessful
Buddhism?
• declined in India
• successful in China, Nepal, Indo-China,
Japan
– and now, America