Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Assignment for Monday, 2/2
Finish the Hinduism chapter in Inside World Religions (pp. 29-41). Probable quiz.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Bhaktifest (January 1/28 assignment)
The bhakti packet you'll get in class includes poems about Krishna-Radha from Bengal, biographies and poems of the Shaivite saints Basavanna and Mahadeviyakka, and the biography and poems by the Sikh founder Guru Nanak. Enjoy. As you read the packet, you'll no doubt feel compelled to express yourself at some point. Please do, in the Comments to this post, go off for at least 100 words on something interesting. You may start posting immediately, and I'd like to start looking at some of your posts this week in class before and after our ishtadevata presentations. As usual, you may not repeat an earlier post (though if you've already written something and someone beats you to the punch by minutes, you don't need to change your essay).
Image from Wikimedia Commons
On Wednesday, we'll have a quiz on the packet (a pretty hard quiz), and I'll check to make sure everyone has turned in at least one good blog entry.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
On Wednesday, we'll have a quiz on the packet (a pretty hard quiz), and I'll check to make sure everyone has turned in at least one good blog entry.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Friday 1/16 assignment for class
As you know, I'll be out Friday, and you need to go to the Bullpen. You should have your Gitas (if you forget, you may use an online translation). Read at least chapters 11 and 18, and post one good blog on the lines or the idea of your choice (at least 100 words). If you finish, work on your PowerPoint presentation.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Ishtadevata PowerPoint due Wednesday, 1/21
See directions in the Useful Things area to the right. No two people in the same class can do the same deity, and so reserve your god or goddess in the Comments to this post. Make sure to say what period you're in. There are millions of deities to choose from, but here's one list you might pick from.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 here
Gita 3:43. "Be a warrior and kill desire, the powerful enemy of the soul."It's becoming more clear that the real battle Arjuna is fighting is the battle each of fight every day. Whereas you might have thought in chapter 2 that Krishna was urging Arjuna to kill his kinsmen, now the great battle of Kurikshetra is a grand metaphor. Like all heroes of myths, we are all on our own epic journeys with our own monsters to face. Arjuna's chariot is a metaphor for his body, and when he's troubled he turns inside, to his charioteer, Krishna, God who lives (according to this Hindu view) in all of us. The problem still remains, though: How does he defeat "the powerful enemy of the soul." And why is desire so bad? Is even desire for heaven selfish? (The Gita says yes!) How can we break the chains of karma? No matter how enlightened we are, we still have daily ups and downs, don't we? How can we find the peace that Krishna describes?
Gita 3:43. "Be a warrior and kill desire, the powerful enemy of the soul."It's becoming more clear that the real battle Arjuna is fighting is the battle each of fight every day. Whereas you might have thought in chapter 2 that Krishna was urging Arjuna to kill his kinsmen, now the great battle of Kurikshetra is a grand metaphor. Like all heroes of myths, we are all on our own epic journeys with our own monsters to face. Arjuna's chariot is a metaphor for his body, and when he's troubled he turns inside, to his charioteer, Krishna, God who lives (according to this Hindu view) in all of us. The problem still remains, though: How does he defeat "the powerful enemy of the soul." And why is desire so bad? Is even desire for heaven selfish? (The Gita says yes!) How can we break the chains of karma? No matter how enlightened we are, we still have daily ups and downs, don't we? How can we find the peace that Krishna describes?
Chapter 2
Post Chapter 2 blogs here.
Chapter 2 has some of the most famous lines in the Gita, but it seems to me that it doesn't yet have the most sophisticated theology. Krishna is just warming Arjuna up before he takes him to the highest truths.
Chapter 2 has some of the most famous lines in the Gita, but it seems to me that it doesn't yet have the most sophisticated theology. Krishna is just warming Arjuna up before he takes him to the highest truths.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Assignment for Wednesday,
Get an email account (probably GMail) that is anonymous, yet where I can recognize you. Use your first name and an initial last name, for instance, with an 09 for your class. You'll need this for our blogging.Read the Bhagavad Gita Intro (13-30) and then chapters 2-5, and find some lines in chapters 2-3 that interest you and some lines in chapters 4-5 that interest you. Write blog entries where you 1) copy the lines, and 2) write at least 100 words discussing them. If you pick lines from chapter 2, post in the Comments section Chapter 2 above, etc.... You are NOT allowed to pick lines that have already been posted for the chapter, so you need to at least skim all the entries posted before yours for that chapter.
So each of you will have 2 entries in 2 different areas above. There will also be a short quiz on Wednesday to encourage you to read well.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Assignment for Friday, January 9
Read pp. 18-29 in your textbook, and bring your books to class on Friday. Mark passages you don't understand so that we can discuss them in class. We will have a quiz, and I will collect your notebooks.
Sample quiz question: Write a paragraph on the Aryans.
Sample quiz question 2: Write a paragraph on avatars.
Sample quiz question 3: Fill in a map of South Asia with the current countries' names. (Here they are.)
Sample quiz question: Write a paragraph on the Aryans.
Sample quiz question 2: Write a paragraph on avatars.
Sample quiz question 3: Fill in a map of South Asia with the current countries' names. (Here they are.)
Namaste
Welcome to Eastern Religions! Bookmark this site, for it will have assignments, links, pictures, videos, and good stuff from your classmates, too.
One of the things about this class that is very different is an experiential component. 25% of your grade comes from your direct experience with religions we're studying: You'll be going to temples, interviewing Muslims, seeing Buddhist movies, etc.... Class lectures and discussions will be fascinating (I hope), but you'll never forget dancing at a Hindu ceremony or interviewing a Buddhist woman. Note that on the right hand side of this blog there's a link to places to go and also to movies to see. Get started as soon as you can!
One of the things about this class that is very different is an experiential component. 25% of your grade comes from your direct experience with religions we're studying: You'll be going to temples, interviewing Muslims, seeing Buddhist movies, etc.... Class lectures and discussions will be fascinating (I hope), but you'll never forget dancing at a Hindu ceremony or interviewing a Buddhist woman. Note that on the right hand side of this blog there's a link to places to go and also to movies to see. Get started as soon as you can!
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