"You know, my friend, that even as a young man, when we lived with the ascetics in the forest, I came to distrust doctrines and teachers and to turn my back to them. I am still of the same turn of mind, although I have, since that time, had many teachers. A beautiful courtesan was my teacher for a long time, and a rich merchant and a dice player. On one occasion, one of the Buddha’s wandering monks was my teacher. He halted in his pilgrimage to sit beside me when I fell asleep in the forest. I also learned something from him and I am grateful to him, very grateful. But most of all, I have learned from this river and from my predecessor, Vasudeva. He was a simple man; he was not a thinker, but he realized the essential as well as Gotama, he was a holy man, a saint" (141).…
Alexander the Great lost his father and became a king at the age of 20. While he was king, he expanded Macedonian territory. He did this through conquest and was never defeated in battle. In fact, he conquered half of what was known in the world at the time. He also founded a city in Egypt and named it “Alexandria” (after himself, of course) and…
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Buddhism, originally from India, was widely accepted at first because of it power to diminish the caste system. Buddhism gained most of its popularity during 220 CE and 570 CE after the downfall of the Han Dynasty. Once power was regained though it can easily be understood why people in the upper class began to disapprove of the new religion. While the Chinese initially accepted Buddhism into their culture during a down fall of the dynastic rule, once power was regained many began to point out the lack of Buddhism in historical text and supposed negative effect it was having on the Chinese people. An additional document from the perspective of an underclass citizen who converted to Buddhism would be more helpful in understanding the overall appeal that people had to Buddhism.…
Over its long history Buddhist has developed into a wide variety of forms, ranging from an emphasis on religious rituals and worship of deities to a complete rejection of both rituals and deities in favor of pure meditation. But all share in common a great respect for the teachings of the Buddha, ‘The Enlightened One’”(Religion Facts). Originally Buddhism was centered on the individuals who lived in moderation to decrease their suffering, but evolved into monks and nuns who worshipped Buddha as their god. One of the main beliefs of Buddhism is true enlightenment, also known as nirvana. In this novel the main reason Hsun-ching tried to get the sutra was so Wei-ching could achieve enlightenment but he soon realizes, “It is as Buddha said all along: Enlightenment cannot be found in books. It must be experienced directly! Foolish as I was, I did not take him at his word” (260). Another example of Buddhism in the novel is when Wei-ching talks about how the must temporarily soil themselves to help someone else perform a good deed, “Wei-ching picked his teeth for a moment, then said ‘It is true that one should not eat meat or dink liquor. But it is even more true that Buddhist must be compassionate. That man needed to prepare us a good meal, to redeem himself for ignoring religion during his life. If we had refused, we would have prevented him carrying…
Chandragupta Maurya was the first state to bring a centralized & unified gov’t to India.…
Help! Teacher! Help! Asoka is calling to a Buddhist teacher which he wants help from him to become a Buddhist. This was Asoka trying to become better after the battle of Kalinga which he felt remorse after all the killing (HA). He took the land of Kalinga for the good of his own people, and his empire (Doc). The time period was 268 BCE to 232 BCE and Asoka was the new king of the Mauryan Empire (BGE). The Mauryan Empire was located in India. These are only some of the reason that Asoka was an Enlightened Ruler not a Ruthless Conqueror.…
Gilgamesh was the King of Uruk. His reputation inspired the Epic of Gilgamesh/5th king of Uruk(2500 BC), reigned 126 yrs/lugal “big man”(leader) wealthy young man, warrior…
Emperor Asoka expanded his empire and achieved many great things through violence and peaceful means. However, it is clear that Emperor Asoka was a good ruler for many reasons. There are many reasons why Emperor Asoka was a good ruler. According to the text, Emperor Asoka treated his people like his children. Secondly he gave up war and violence.…
The most important change had to be that the spread of Buddhism was stagnating. Prior to its stagnation, it was converting on a regular basis and reached many millions of people, however, there was a point where regions began to just stay with their religions, because of the perks that came to being of that religion. In Islamic lands, you had to pay a non-islamic tax, and in Europe, forget about being anything but Christian, and really the only places Buddhism could have an impact was where it already was. This is why Buddhism remained only in Central and South-East Asia and failed to spread any further. It did though change the people and faith of the areas it was dominant. In Japan, the traditional Samurai’s who were Shinto (and became Bushido after Buddhism’s addition), adopted aspects of Buddhism in order to better serve their home life. It allowed the Shinto believers and warriors to reach enlightenment (Nirvana-Nevermind, great album). This was great for them, because it, in their eyes, allowed them to understand themselves, their enemy, their surroundings, and all aspects, giving them the edge in battle. So Japan’s warrior mindset allowed for China’s Buddhist ideal to spread, because it benefited the mentality of the…
The Mauryan Empire was perhaps the largest empire ever to dominate the Indian subcontinent. Administration of Mauryan dynasty emote a stupendous instance, in which the top order established solemn groundwork for their descendants.Chandragupta Maurya, the founder king of the Mauryan Dynasty, represents the quintessence of the Mauryan kings, who materialised the very idea of political unification of India.…
Prince Siddhartha had saw that many people in his kingdom were all miserable so then he was known as the enlightened one. After his death, came an Emperor named Asoka who became a convert. He was the leader of a large and powerful empire so he then traveled from the Punjab to the Bengal then from the Himalayan foothills to Mysore. He sent missionaries to carry Buddhas teachings to distant people. With the help of all of this, the religion had spread as far sourth as Sri Lank and then went west into the Mediterranean, north into Tibet, and eat into China, Korea, Japand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.…
Despite this, a great many number of people believe that the Buddha’s life is a crucial factor in your step to becoming a Buddhist. They deem the Buddha to be a very positive role model who teaches the righteous way to live. The Buddha’s life illustrates the hard work gone into reaching enlightenment. Unlike most religions, the Buddha did not realise the truth overnight, he had to work it out himself via trial and error to learn his lessons and reach nirvana. For instance, he first thought asceticism was the path to enlightenment, however, after a while he realised asceticism was only going to kill him slowly and he proceeded to seek another road. The story of Buddha’s life isn’t just a testament to these acts; it’s the lessons of his life that helped him attain enlightenment. Not only are these informative lessons, they are also very inspirational for the…
Alexander the Great, son of Phillip II was born on July 20, 356 BC, and became one of the most legendary kings in Macedonian history (Smith). Princess of Olympia, mother of Alexander, was a very powerful woman and, because of this, Alexander did not want to disappoint her. It did not take him long to prove his value to his mother and everyone else around him. Alexander became king at the young age of 20 and six years later conquered the powerful Persian Empire (Smith). Over time he became one of the greatest military leaders. He ended up dying of an unknown disease on June 10th 323 BC (Gale). That marked the end of the powerful empire he built. After his death the empire got divided up into parts and ruled by many different leaders (Smith).…
The historical and cultural aspects are present, especially in a traditional Jewish upbringing. For this reason, spirituality plays a large role in the convert from Judaism to Buddhism. Many Jews feel as if there is a lack of spirituality in practicing the religion. JUBU Connections, he discusses how “Buddhism seems to hold an ‘instant spirituality, just add water’ image, while Judaism is viewed as barricaded from spiritual experience by laws and rituals” (CITE 64). Many Jews identify with the religion’s cultural aspects, and the lack of spirituality empowers them to begin their search. When looking at Eastern religions, such as Buddhism, the spiritual facets appear more accessible than solely a cultural background. In his book The New Buddhism: the western transformation of an ancient tradition, James William Coleman reflects upon a survey he conducted on American Jewish Buddhists. According to Coleman’s results, the majority of participants indicate their reasons for practicing Buddhism rests in a desire for spiritual growth and to rid themselves of individual problems. While some seek enlightenment, others are just dissatisfied with their spiritual journey…