Greetings All-
I hope everyone is safe and healthy, and that your family and friends are safe and healthy as well. Maybe soon we'll be seeing each other again, but in the meantime, it is for times like this that this blog exists. For the foreseeable future, everything I post online will be found here, but links to each post will be provided in Google Classroom, on FinalSite, and through Remind, so whatever your chosen method of checking in, you'll be able to stay updated and keep up with the work for my class.
As most of you should know, I handed out the notes pages for the first three presentations on Buddhism on the Friday before Coronapalooza began. But if you need copies of those pages, don't worry, I'll always post printable PDFs along with each presentation in case you missed them (they're under the heading for the presentation, below). Just keep in mind that I'm sticking to my requirement of handwritten notes for the class, meaning that when (not if, I am after all, nothing if not a bright, cheerful optimist) we return, I'll expect you to have those notes just in case I were to give a review quiz to see how well you kept up...
But without further ado, let's get this party started. Below you will find my first official video presentation, and I made it easy- it's the Buddhism I presentation I started on Friday. I ended at various points in different classes, so I just recorded the whole darn thing. Finish what we didn't get to in your class, so we're all on the same page. The second presentation will be posted soon, so I suggest you be caught up with your notes for this presentation by Wednesday, March 18.
Buddhism I: Intro; The Birth and Early Life of the Buddha
Relevant Notes Pages:pp 29-30
pp 31-32
Once you've finished with the video, below I've embedded a little quiz, just to test your knowledge. Take it if you wish...it's not required, and I don't see your grade. It's just a way to see what you learned. There are also some question below the quiz which you might want to contemplate...they might eventually make their way onto a test in the future...
Buddhism I: Quiz
Buddhism I: Questions
- What are some similarities between the story of the birth of Siddhartha and the Gospel Infancy Narratives of the birth of Jesus? Why do you think the similarities exist? What purpose do they serve in their respective stories?
- What role does the Hindu concept of dharma with respect to castes and birth sex play in the birth and life of Siddhartha? How might dharma explain some aspects of the story that are otherwise difficult to understand and possibly even offensive to Westerners?
- Given what you have learned so far, what do you think accounts for the near disappearance of Buddhism in India? What accounts for its great success in places like China or Japan?
- I commented in the presentation that Karl Jaspers would no doubt agree with the implicit assumptions in Siddhartha's life story about how poverty, suffering, and death can inspire the religious imagination, while wealth and prosperity can diminish it. Do you agree or disagree, and why? What would Marx and Nietzsche think, and why?
