Meeks - Buddhism and Its Spread (Thur)

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the number of scrolls cited in "Chinese Pilgrims Meet the Buddha" are the actual numbers that XuanZang actually brought back to China and why Buddhism thrive in regions around Nepal, including Sri Lanka but not in India?

[Anonymous]

It is amazing that a philsophical belief that is contrary in so many ways to Chinese cultural tradition should become widespread throughout China and East Asia. However, like the religions of Christianity and Islam, it found mass converts because it offered people both equality and control over their own destiny. In China, which was both hiearchical and patriarchal, it offered men and women the opportunity to escape the social obligations of confucianism. It offered people at the lower end of the social hiearchy an alternative that may have been more personally gratifying than meeting the obligations of their daily lives.

A lesson plan for this concept would involve students considering the universality of the major religions (Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism) of east asia.
edited by gmora on 8/1/2016

[Anonymous]

@gmora "It offered people at the lower end of the social hiearchy an alternative that may have been more personally gratifying than meeting the obligations of their daily lives" one of the reasons why Buddhism became so successful. I also read that Buddhism's more abstract concepts were packaged in Taoist terminology so that it was easier for the Taoists to convert to Buddhism.

[Anonymous]

Professor Lori Meeks has wealth of information of Buddhism and its spread thru Asia. I would incorporate some of the resources she has listed in one first unit in 10th world history. The first unit is based on the, "moral ethical principles in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, in Judaism, and in Christianity to the development of Western political thought." I think the students should be exposed to multiple religions to be able to form their own ideas and conclusion about the influences of religion on countries and their governments.

[Anonymous]

I think Buddhism and Christianity have somethings in common. Buddhism says: life is suffering. Christianity says: human are born in sin. Both Buddhism and Christianity require people to do right things.

[Anonymous]

It's remarkable to know that there is a type of hell in Buddhism. They way Karma works seems also to be a way to justify the rich vs. poor and take advantage of taht belief for the people in power. I can see this being used in the classroom as a comparison between religions and posing the question as to which religion is more fair?

[Anonymous]

I remember learning about Buddhism in College, however, we never went in depth about its dogma. Dr. Lori Meek’s presentation is fascinating, she possesses great knowledge about the subject and it’s very pleasant listening to her. I’m thinking how I’ll incorporate some of this information into my class, the fact that I work at a Catholic school might complicate things a bit. One thing I can do is have my students interview their international peers coming from China, Korea and Japan and ask them about their religious life, they can come to class and report on the information they obtained using the target language. Another assignment could be having them investigate about religion in specific communities in South America where we can mostly find East Asian communities, for example, Brazilian-Japanese community in Sao Pablo or Japanese-Peruvian communities in Lima.

Questions for students projects:
What type of religious practices are found in Japanese-Peruvian (Brazilian, Argentinian, Ecuadorian…) communities? How are these multi-ethnic communities?
How do people identify themselves? Is there acceptance/rejection from the non-asian population?

[Anonymous]

There are many genres in Buddhism, so does Christianity. Some genres believe Jehovah, Jesus, and holy spirit are three different entities. sone believe they are a holy trinity.

[Anonymous]

In Lori Meeks presentation on Buddhism, it was interesting that she mentioned there could be
multiple buddhas at one time in Mahayana Buddhism. The question about the Dalai Lama being a Buddha or Bodhisattva was an interesting one. I myself was interested in the same question and did some research regarding the history and future of the Dalai Lama who believes that he will not be reincarnated. The selection process for the next Dalai Lama is also incredibly interesting as this starts at a very young age to determine whether or not the child is truly a reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.

For anyone interested in anything dealing with the Dalai Lama I would recommend this website: http://www.dalailama.com/biography/a-brief-biography The topics for the tabs on the right to search are “The Dalai Lamas,” “Reincarnation,” and the “Brief Biography,” including the Future of the Dalai Lama at the end of the Biography.

[Anonymous]

When I taught about Japan in my 7th grade history class and, two years ago, in my geography elective class, one of the more interesting topics was that of religion. The reason being that Japan has two "main" religions-Buddhism and Shinto; one is foreign and the other is native but there is a very interesting balance. The way I taught the two religions was through many pictures since I had visited so many shrines and temples during my stay there. Another way I taught about Shinto was through films like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Both of these films places emphasis on the kami, or gods, that surround the Japanese people. These gods are found within nature and I felt that showing these films sufficiently showed that to be true. One of the questions I have is how is it that Japanese society has found such a harmony between the beliefs and lifestyles of the two religious systems?

[Anonymous]

Prof. Meeks, a very knowledgeable scholar in the field, offers a very informative and enlightening presentation! Nirvana, a fascinating concept and perhaps one of the cental theme in Buddhism is so difficult to explain to students. I prefer not to focus too much on it in the classroom and focus more on the Buddhist ethics.

[Anonymous]

Guanyin was male entity in India. Later it became a female entity in China. I really want to what makes this happen.

[Anonymous]

During a break today, I had a conversation with Professor Clay about the Dalai Lama and his successor. Professor explains that there were two groups who searches for the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. One would be the exiles of Tibet and the other is People's Republic of China. Dalai Lama fears that the whole process could become political and dangerous for the Tibetan candidate. To help deter this action, "[font=arial]His Holiness would leave clear written instructions about this. Bear in mind that, apart from the reincarnation recognized through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China."[/font]
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[Anonymous]

Another central but difficult idea to explain to students is that of emptiness or "no-self" or not-self." The Buddha rejected the Hindu idea of an enduring soul that transmigrates from one llife to another, and challenged his critics to find this so-called self. Not only can the soul not be substantiated, but what we typically see, as Prof. Meeks pointed out, that the self is a result of casues and conditions. The self therefore, cannot exist on its own if it depends on something else.

[Anonymous]

This idea of “Karmic Legacy” in fascinating! I do not get to teach Buddhism to my students, but I think that they would be very interested in karma and its track across time. This idea of karma moving with you over multiple lifetimes and having karmic debt would make for a great discussion starter. I would be interested in having students decide how much karmic debt different actions would cost. For example, as a class, creating a list of actions that are deemed as bad in our society, and then having them give it a karmic cost in groups. I think students would have different perspectives on the costs for various actions, and how much should be paid in future lives to make up for those actions.

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