Notes

China and the Search for Order:
-After the Zhou dynasty had substantially weakened, a period of disorder and turmoil followed. This led most of china to begin to think of an answer. There were many solutions thought of for this problem. Here are some of them:
-The Legalist Answer: One answer to the problem of disorder was a philosophy known as legalism. To legalist thinkers, the solution to china's problems layed in rules or laws enforced through a system of rewards and punishments. The legalists generally had a pessimistic view of human nature. They believed that most people were stupid and shortsighted. To them, only the state and its rulers could act in their long-term interests. Legalist thinking provided inspiration and methods for the harsh reunification of china under Shihuangdi.
-The Confucian Answer: A man by the name of Confucius believed that he had found the key to solving China's problem of disorder. He spent much of his adult life trying to identify a political position from which he could put his ideas into action, but he could not find such an opportunity. After his death, his students compiled his teachings into a short book called Analects to which later scholars commented endlessly on his ideas creating a body of thought that came to be known as Confucianism. The Confucian answer to China's problem was very different than that of the Legalists. Not laws and punishments, but the moral example of superiors was key to Confucianism. For Confucianists, human society consisted of primarily of unequal relationships: the father was superior to the son, the husband to the wife, the older to the younger brother. They believed that is the superior party behaved with sincerity, benevolence, and genuine concern for others, then the inferior party would aspire to become more like the superior. Rituals and ceremonies were also important because they conveyed the rules of appropriate behavior in the many and varying circumstances of life.
-The Daoist Answer: A legendary figure by the name of Laozi penned a short poetic volume before vanishing in the wilderness of China on his water buffalo. Daoist ideas were later expressed in a more explicit fashion by the philosopher Zhuangzi. Daoist thinking ran opposite to Confucianism. The Daoists encouraged behavior that was spontaneous, individualistic, and natural. They turned the spotlight on the immense realm of nature and its mysterious unfolding patterns. Yin Yang came from Daoism. Believed everything was solved with harmony and balance with nature.

Cultural Traditions of Classical India:
-The cultural development of India was far different than that of China.
-Indian elite culture mainly focused on the divine and all things spiritual with enthusiasm and generated elaborate philosophical visions about the nature of ultimate reality.
-Their religion, later called Hinduism, grew stronger and bigger over time eventually spreading to Southeast Asia.
-Hinduism was derived from outsiders (Greeks, Muslims, and later the British)
-Hinduism dissolved into a variety of gods, spirits, and beliefs.
-The Vedas were sacred texts of Hinduism which provided some commonality. They were compiled by priests called Brahmins. They were originally translated orally. They tell of small competing chiefdoms, of numerous gods rising and falling, and of the elaborate ritual sacrifices that Brahmin priests required.
-Performing these rituals with great precision allowed the Brahmins to acquire enormous power and wealth, sometimes exceeding even that of kings and warriors. Brahmins also generated growing criticism, as ritual became mechanical and formal and as Brahmins required heavy fees to perform them.
-After this, another set of sacred texts were created called Upanishads. They were composed by anonymous thinkers. These were mystical and philosophical
-Brahman was the idea of the World Soul, the final and ultimate reality. It was a primal ultimate energy or divine reality infusing all things, coming after the material objects, gods, and individual persons.
-Atman: The individual human soul.
-The atman was a part of Brahman. Union with Brahman was the final destination or goal in life.
-Moksha: Union with Brahman, an end to our illusory perception of a separate existence.
-Samsara: Rebirth or reincarnation.

The Buddhist Challenge:
-Hinduism was founded by a prince from a small north Indian state named Siddhartha Gautama, when he set out on a six-year spiritual quest to achieve insight or enlightenment, which he finally did at age 35. For the rest of his life, he taught others what he had learned during these 6 years.
-A small but growing community came to see him as the Buddha, the Enlightened One, a human being who had awakened.