Notes

The founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama, was born in the year 567 BC, in India. The real story begins nine months before his birth, however. One night his mom had a dream. In the dream she was visited by Brahma in elephant form. Brahma touched her stomach with his trunk. Nine months later she gave birth to Sid.
Sid was not born in the traditional fashion, however. He exited out of his mother’s side, landed on the floor, walked 7 steps in all directions, then turned to his mother and said, ”This is my last incarnation” and then fell to the ground a normal child.
Sid’s mom and dad (the king) apparently took this in stride, but five days after his birth, life got even more strange. A prophet came to see the child, and, having seen the child, proclaimed, “He will either be a great Buddha (enlightened person, usually in a religious area) or a great king.” Sid’s dad did not like that; he wanted his son to be a great king. Therefore he decided upon a great plan: to deny from Sid all the things in the world that might turn him toward religion, such as pain, suffering, death, sickness, and aging. He kept the boy in an enormous palace, and made sure that anyone who was sick, showed signs of getting old, who had died, or who was in pain was kept from Sid.
For the first 29 years of his life the plan worked. Then one day Sid came across someone who was singing a sad song. Sid asked the person why they were singing such a song (he never heard a sad song before) and the person responded that someone they knew had died. Thus Sid learned about death. He confronted his father, demanding to know the truth about the world. His father agreed to allow him to see the rest of the city. Then next morning Sid, in the midst of a large caravan, left the palace and entered the city.
Sid’s dad had instructed his guards to clear out any sick or poor people before Sid could see them and paid every else to smile and wave (hoping that by boring Sid, he would not want to come in again). But the guards missed a single beggar. Sid saw him, just as the guards managed to chase him off. Sid leaped off the float and ran after the beggar. He ended up in the poorest section of the city. There he saw death, sickness, pain, and suffering. He confronted his father with the truth and his dad told him to deal with it. His world shattered, Sid ran away, looking for a land where there was no pain or death.
After 6 months of trying, Sid realized that their was no such place. Desperate for hope he turned to religion. He tried Hinduism and self-denial. Neither worked for him. In the end, he tried meditation. After 49 days Sid opened his eyes and smiled. Despite the temptations of demons and the falling of rain, he had discovered the truth (actually the truths).
The Four Noble Truths:
1) Life is suffering because life is out of sync.
2) Life is out of sync because of our desires.
3) The only way to get life back in sync is to eliminate desire.
4) The only way to eliminate desire it to follow the eight-fold path.
The Eight Fold Path:
1) Right understanding
2) Right Purpose
3) Right Speech
4) Right Behavior
5) Right Job
6) Right Effort
7) Right Awareness
8) Right Meditation
- Sid’s philosophy stated that if you follow all of these steps, in the end you will achieve Nirvana (Extinction of all worries and cares). When you die, then you will pass through moksha and become one with God. Because of Sid’s efforts, Buddhism spread around India, but did not replace Hinduism as the primary religion.
- W History Ch.11
* Indus River Valley Civ
- unknown language
- unknown culture
- unknown math
- good sewer lines
- good at Cardinal directions
- good at engineering
* Aryans
- nomads
- racist Cowboys ( people that conquered )
* Social hierarchy
- Priests ( upper upper class )
- warriors and elites ( upper class )
- merchants ( middle class )
- laborers/Peasants ( lower class )
- Dasa or slaves ( lowest class )
* Hinduism
- combination religion
Aryan
Dasa
Vedic
* Atman
- sexless and formless
* Reincarnation
- is the atman moving from shell to shell from container to container
- a container is the one that holds the atman
God
Priests
Elites
Merchants
Laborers
Dasa
Animals
Plants
Rocks
* mantra
Obey darma get good karma
Disobey darma get bad karma
* Moksha
- become one with God
* Gods of Hinduism
- 2 ways to see gods
- Brahman or pieces of God
- brahma - has four faces associated with springtime associated with a greater portion of God
- Vishnu - per sever associated with summertime
- Shiva - destroyer portion of God that destroys things associated with fall and winter ( powerful )
- Kali - destructive and murderous portion of God married with shiva
You can't worship her because her worshipers
* Siddhartha - his story is a combination of theology and fact, we know he was born around 567 his dad was king of a small country, and we know that his mom gave birth outside of the castle. According to budis nine months before Sid was born his mom had a dream. In the dream she saw the Hindu god of creation Rahma, came to her in the form of a white elephant. Rahma touched her on the side with his trunk which means or sign that she's pregnant and she gives birth while she's driving on the road in a carriage. They took her out of the carriage and into the woods. As there walking she gave birth but the baby didn't come out of her vagina but the side and did a ninja style took seven steps and flower sprouted.