Transcript Ancient China

Buddhism
• Read “The Inside
Story” on p. 103,
dealing with
BUDDHISM!!!!!!!
• Answer the
question in bold at
the beginning.
• John Green- China
Buddhist Origins
• Founded by Prince
Siddhartha Gautama
– (the Buddha = enlightened
one)
– Believed suffering caused
by attachment to things
• Rid yourselves of material
attachments and one will
reach wisdom
• Need wisdom to reach
nirvana: ultimate reality;
perfect peace, free from
suffering
Buddhism is not like the polytheistic/monotheistic religions we have studied.
There is no deity/god/great being at the center.
Buddhist Teachings
• 4 Noble Truths:
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–
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–
ordinary life is full of suffering;
suffering is caused by the desire to satisfy yourself;
end your desire for selfish goals and you end suffering
The way to end desire is to follow Eightfold/Middle Path
• Eightfold/Middle Path: (see diagram on next slide)
– right views, right intentions, right speech, right actions, right lifestyle, right
effort, right mindfulness, right concentration
Clarifying Buddhism:
• Ethicalist religion (based on morals) – no gods/goddesses
• Anyone can reach nirvana at any time, no caste system
• If don’t reach nirvana in this life, you are reincarnated
• 3 main sects (like Christian denominations- Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, etc): Theravada, Mahayana, Tibetan
• Mostly in East/Southeast Asia (however anyone can be Buddhist)
Would you still envy your friend or NEED the shoes, headphones, car, jewelry,
clothing, newest Apple IPHONE 60000  , etc- IF you learned that your suffering/
NEED/ desire could be controlled and that there are more important things in life?
* Most religions emphasize getting rid of attachments to material objects*
Ancient China
Shang Dynasty
1750-1122 BC: Shang
farming community w/aristocracy
-upper class,
-wealth based on land ownership
• Believed in afterlife and spirits
Worshiped ancestors
-used oracle bones to know future
• Collapsed b/c of immoral leadership
Zhou (“Jsho”) Dynasty
• 1045-256 BC
• Believed Heaven was highest spirit/force
• Mandate of Heaven
– Heaven ruled on earth through a just leader
• Whoever had power had the support of Heaven
• Ruler had to rule well to keep mandate
• If the ruler didn’t rule well then he lost the mandate
• Led to cycle of dynastic change (see slide)
• Family was the basic social unit, very important
– Filial piety: good of the family more important than the individual
– You did NOT dishonor the family. Rules were rules, you were always supposed to make
your family proud and look good in society.
• Patriarchal society
• Ended with Period of the Warring States (a civil war)
Cycle of Dynastic Change
Dynasty rules successfully
New dynasty
gains power
Central gov’t begins to
collapse
Rebellions/invasions
Dynasty collapses
Confucianism
• Founded by followers of
Confucius (Kongfuzi)
– They wrote his ideas in the
Analects
– Dismayed by moral decay,
emphasized 2 things: duty
and humanity
• Duty: the individual was
governed by the good of
community.
Daoism
• Based on teachings of
Lao Tzu
• Wrote Dao De Jing (The
Way of Life)
– True way to follow Heaven
is through inaction and
peace
– Emphasized spontaneity
and balance (yin and yang)
– Nature was used as an
example
The Way of Life (Dao de Jing)
• 78- Under heaven nothing is more
soft and yielding than water.
• 76- Men are born soft and supple;
Yet for attacking the solid and
dead, they are stiff and hard.
strong, nothing is better;
Plants are born tender and pliant;
It has no equal.
dead, they are brittle and dry.
The weak can overcome the strong;
The supple can overcome the stiff.
Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
Under heaven everyone knows this,
is a disciple of death.
Yet no one puts it into practice.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.
(Think about the damage erosion can
The hard and stiff will be broken. cause. One tiny drop of water by itself
The soft and supple will prevail. does nothing instantly, but over time it
can wear away stone).
Moral taught?
Moral taught?
Legalism
• Believed humans
were evil by nature
• Could only follow right
path through strict
laws and harsh
punishments
•
Modern equivalent:
– The Puritans of the British
colonies
Qin (“Chin”) Dynasty/Empire
• Qin Shi Huangdi
– Great Emperor of Qin
Dynasty
• Believed in Legalism
• His regime had 3
parts
– Military
– Civil (all non-military)
– Censorate- spied on
people in other 2
branches !!!!!
(power/trust issues)
The Great Wall &
Terra Cotta Soldiers
• Great Wall
– Originally many disconnected
walls to keep out northern
invaders
– Qin Shi Huangdi ordered them
to be connected (forming the
Great Wall)
– Many died from brutal
conditions, buried in the
wall
• Qin Shi Huangdi– His tomb had army of terra
cotta (clay) soldiers made to
guard him after death