Posts

Humanities Story

-
Image
Book Reviews of 2021 I don't usually read a lot of books these days. The books I usually end up reading are more likely textbooks for my classes at Cosumnes River College. However, the books that I did read are from my Asian Humanities 320 class. Although there were some parts of the book that were a bit too difficult to understand, there were also parts of the book that I did enjoy reading about and took a keen interest in.   Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought by Patrick S. Bresnan, 1999 The Awakening From reading this book, I was able to learn a lot about the different cultures in Asia. Some of the chapters I read about were the Indus Valley Civilization, Hinduism, Buddhism, China, and Japan. It was interesting to know how some of the early civilizations were able to adapt and pass down their knowledge to the next generation. Patrick S. Bresnan's Awakening was definitely a wonderful book to read. The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners by Jac
Post a Comment
Read more

Museum Visit

-
Image
Museum The museum that I visited is called the National Museum of Ancient Art where I focused more on the  Parting with Words: Gentleman Artists of the Mind dynasty section. I chose this museum because I was intrigued by some of the art that was displayed here in this museum.  One category of the art display that caught my attention were the paintings called "Painting with words," where it displays paintings from the Ming Dynasty such as "In Full Flower" for example. During the Ming Dynasty, there were three genres that came to be known as the "Three Perfections" due to their phenomenal expressions of Chinese literati culture. Those three genres include calligraphy, painting, and poetry. In Full Flower JSTOR The JSTOR article that I have identified with in comparison to my museum visit is called "A Chinese Painting of the Ming Dynasty."  The reason why I chose this article is because the artist T'ang Yin comes from the Ming Dynasty just like
Post a Comment
Read more

Zen Buddhism

-
Image
Zazen Zazen, Sanzen, and Samu are three important factors in the Zen Monastery. Before I decide which of the three I consider the greatest importance, I want to give a brief description of each of the three techniques in the Zen Monastery starting with Zazen. Zazen Zazen is a form of sitting meditation with a cross-legged posture in Japanese Zen Buddhism.  Regarded as an insight to the nature of existence, the purpose of zazen for the meditator is to suspend any judgmental thinking and "completely focus his conscious on the existential reality of the moment, and stay with that" (Bresnan 496). In Japanese, this technique is called shikantaza, as it allows the meditator to fully grasp the moment. Below is a quick beginner's tutorial of Zazen meditation: Sanzen Sanzen Sanzen is a type of "meeting in dokusan with the roshi" (Bresnan 512). In other words, Sanzen is a private interview between master and student. In a Sanzen, a student would be let in to a roshi'
Post a Comment
Read more

The Silk Road

-
Image
Introduction The Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of trade routes connecting China and Europe that was established during the Han Dynasty when China opened trade routes to the west.  From the video " The Silk Road: Where East Meets West: Episode 1 ," there was one detail that I noticed that wasn't in Patrick Bresnan's  Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought. In the text, traveling "the Silk Road necessarily splits into a northern and a southern route when it reached the desert of the Takla Makan" (Bresnan 378). In the video, passing through those routes where the Great Wall of China used to stretch out is the Yangguan (Yang Pass), a pass where there once was a gate where "you paid you toll and passed though" ( Silk , 37:11 - 37:15). For how this reflects the environment, it is important to learn as much as we can about the location so that we can have a better understanding of their origins. Map of the Silk Road Mogao G
Post a Comment
Read more

Daoism and Confucianism

-
Image
  Confucius Introduction In 255 BCE, the Zhou Dynasty would reach it's end due to the Period of Warring States, where the country of China was ravaged by constant feudal warfare, ruined crops, armies and conquest, and the suffering of the peasants. By the end of the Zhou Dynasty, history would "see the appearance of many new social philosophies, all of them seeking to be a blueprint for the right ordering of society and government. That was a natural response to the turmoil of the times" (Bresnan 304). Because of this, the Period of Warring States would also be known as the Period of a Hundred Philosophies. Two that were mentioned in Patrick Bresnan's  Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought were Confucianism and Daoism (also known as Taoism) with Confucianism being one of the earlier schools founded by Confucius. After reading both chapters on Confucianism and Daoism, there were specific questions about Confucius from the book that caught my atte
Post a Comment
Read more

Buddhism: The Story of Theravada and Mahayana

-
Image
Introduction Buddhism In Patrick Bresnan's Awakening: An Introduction to the History of Eastern Thought , chapters 11 and 12 speak about two different types of Buddhism: Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism respectively. At one point in history, "Buddhism is broadly divided between two great traditions, Theravada (also known as Hinayana) and Mahayana"  (Bresnan 243). Although "Mahayana would become the larger and historically more influential movement"  (Bresnan 243), Theravada would precede the Mahayana for its well-organized movement. Throughout reading through both of these chapters, there were specific questions from the book that I would like to address. I find that by addressing these, we'd come to learn more about both types of Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism The first question I would like to address is the differences between samatha and vippasana meditation. Samatha meditation is a type of meditation appropriate for beginners as "it promotes
Post a Comment
Read more

The Bhagavad Gita: The Path to Enlightenment

-
Image
Introduction Was Bhagavad Gita directly written by God/Sri Krishna The Bhagavad Gita: A Walkthrough for Westerners  by Jack Hawley is a book that recounts a conversation between Arjuna, one of the five princes of the Pandava brothers, and Krishna, Arjuna's charioteer who happens to be a Hindu deity.  Realizing that the enemy he is facing are friends, teachers, and his own kin, Arjuna would lose his resolve to fight as "his attitude seems to waver and he appears confused"  (Hawley 7).  Arjuna believes that even if he were to fight and win for his kingdom, nothing good will come out of it as he would cause a grievous sin by killing those he once cared about.  As Arjuna asks Krishna for his advice on what he should do, "Krishna transforms into His true role as the Divine Teacher" (Hawley 13) and proceeds to to respond to Arjuna's concern through a spiritual discussion.  Through these discussions, Krishna explains three different types of yogas to Arjuna in orde
Post a Comment
Read more