TRANSCENDENCE IN INDIA

Themes

• transcendence
• Brahmanism, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism

Background

• Environment: Indus river valley, Ganges plain
• Development
  • Vedic period: 1500-500 B.C.E.
  • regional kingdoms c. 1000-321 B.C.E.
    • Upanishads c. 800-400 B.C.E.
    • Mahavira 540-468 B.C.E.
    • Buddha 563-483 B.C.E.
  • Mauryan dynasty 321-185 B.C.E.
    • Asoka 268-232 B.C.E.
    • Theravada Buddhism
  • Diffusion and disintegration c. 180 BCE-CE 320
    • Mahayana Buddhism
    • spread of Buddhism outside India

Development of Hinduism

• Brahmanism: Vedas
  • Indra
  • Purusha
• Hinduism:
  • Upanishads
    • karma
    • Brahman and Atman
    • Chandogya Upanishad
  • Bhagavad Gita
    • caste
    • Arjuna and Krishna *
• Main traditions
  • transcendence and meditation: Svetasvatara Upanishad
  • karma =
  • gyana =
  • bhakti =
  • dharma:
• Questioning traditions
  • urbanization
  • ascetics
  • Jainism: Mahavira *

Buddhism

• significance:
• environment and development: N. India, 7th cen. B.C.E. -C.E. 200
• context:
• Gotama Buddha *
  • kshatriya, Nepal
  • old age, disease, death
  • asceticism
  • Enlightenment:
  • preaching: Spinning the Wheel, Deer Park, stupa *
  • on caste
  • death
• Theravada Buddhism
  • worldview: man caught in transitory, unreal world
  • 4 Noble Truths:
  • Noble 8-fold Path and the Middle Way:
  • Nirvana
  • monasticism *
• Mahayana Buddhism
  • 3 jewels:
  • bodhisattvas
  • yoga, mantras
• summary on Buddhism
  • attitude toward the body: Milindapanha
  • a nun's life: Isidasi

Spread of Hinduism and Buddhism

• Bentley, chapter 11
• migration
  • Silk Road transmission
    • Central Asia: non-Mahayana
    • China: Mahayana Buddhism
  • Southeast Asia via South Asia
• Buddhism in China
  • Taoism and Confucianism
  • schools:
    • Lotus School 6th century
    • Flower Garland School 6th-7th centuries
    • Pure Land: Amitabha
    • Meditation: Ch'an (Zen)
  • cultural mix:
  • spread to Korea and Japan
• images of the Buddha and bodhisattva
  • Avalokiteshvara bodhisattva of Infinite Mercy, Cambodian 10th-11th cen. C.E. [Alt Avalokiteshvara]
  • Kuan Yin Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, Goddess of Mercy [Alt Kuan Yin]
  • Maitreya "Buddha to Come," Pakistan, 2nd-3rd cen. C.E. [Alt Maitreya]
  • Pu-tai, Laughing 10th cen. Chinese "Maitreya" [Alt Pu-tai]
  • Korean Maitreya *
  • Japanese Maitreya [Alt Maitreya]
• John Young Muesuem of Art, Krauss Hall

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