Buddhism

To end suffering and to reach Nirvana is the main goal of Buddhist people. When learning about Buddhism, the information is usually cornered to India itself, but the reading had a clear understanding overall. Buddhism is inevitable unfolding of a distinct and self-identical entity and more a dynamic process of borrowing, conflict, and interaction between and within traditions. The Buddha has preached over forty years to many different audiences and there was a concern that those teachings might not be remembered in the future.

The two major branches of Buddhism are recognized as the Theravada ("The School of the Elders") and Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle"). Theravada, the oldest surviving, has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, whilst Mahayana, which is found throughout East Asia. A third branch later on came to be known as, Vajrayani, which is often classified as the modernization of Buddhism.

Like other religion they too wanted to receive eternal freedom by reaching The Nirvana through the eight steps of Enlightenment, so they can get rid of their narrow minds and be free from all sins. Thus, the teaching of Buddha is of a single flavor but benefits begin in a variety of ways according to their capacity. The Buddha knows the abilities and dispositions of his disciples and causes them to hear his dharma in a way most suitable to them.

Iranian Traditions and Zoroastrianism

Iranian traditions are based upon the investigation of the pre- literary history of the Iranians using comparative philology as a method of determination. Since the primary language is yet identified, Frye deduces that the best means of discovering its origin would be to start from the Indo-European language, as this approach will give “the most adequate explanation of the divergences found in all of the language of the family”. The central idea is basically to acknowledge the unity of language supposedly brought a unity of social and religious beliefs.

The study of Indo- European religions had developed partly as a result of Dumezil’s theories which Frye reveals to be a mixture of belief and scepticism among today’s scholars. The next revelation lead him tot the Aryans as he was able to postulate an Indo-Iranian unity from related vocabulary, grammar, religious and social concepts from a common origin. Frye managed to show parallel concepts between the Iranians and tribal singers into one unified epic composed the Indians without any discernible chronology as various stories of different dates. These concepts of Indo-European existence proved to be very controversial as it was all relative to other distant classifications and divergences.

Zoroastrianism has a long oral tradition. Its prophet Zarathustra lived before the Iranians knew how to read or write. The Avesta, their collection of Holy texts, was set down in a particular invented alphabet around the fourth and fifth centuries. There was no real historical data or scriptures on Zoroaster’s arrival and most about him is known from the Gathas which are the attributions of the prophet himself.

Zoroastrians believed that the world was created in 7 stages. The major deities are organized into a Trinity, the three great ethical beings, similar to the Christian religion - Ahura Mazda or "Wisdom", Ahura Mithra or "Covenant", and Ahura Varuna or "Oath". Zoroastrians has a bit similarity with Christianity and Islam in my point of view, as it has the same understanding of one God and the belief of eternal life after death. Much of the texts speak about the struggles one has to make to remain good and pure. Even though some people might think Zoroastrianism as monotheistic way but many scholars today points out its lack of information.

Sogdians

The first article, “The Merchant Empire of Sogdians”, focuses more on the trading routes and forms of exchange between the Sogdians and other people. Chinese Stories describes the Sogdians as born to their trade. Their language Aramaic was mostly used all around the silk route. They were partly responsible for the widespread of religions, such as, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism eastwards along the silk route. Their trading activities were acknowledged through the “Ancient Letters” found by Stein near the beacon at the end of the Great Wall. The other two articles focused more on their activities in Northwest China and Sogdiana. Many hierarchy levels of classes were seen. They excelled in trade because they could assimilate with neighboring people easily due to their friendly characteristics and high-ranking positions. They barely fought any wars due to, their unique military strategy, which helped them to focus on trade and welfare. For example, merchant was known to be the highest level as the Sogdians prioritized trade over anything. Many Archaeologists said that the sixth century was when Sogadian culture at its highest peak, evidence received through the vast artistic objects, such as, paintings, sculptures, glasswork and many more.

They were not just considered merchants but art enthusiast. Their diffusion of art was evident as it influenced the art of other cultures. It was seen all around central Asia. Another thing that caught my eye was the burification process, which was the same as the Egyptians.


Brief idea of the two main religions at that time was, Zoroastrianism is a blend of Buddhism and Hinduism. It’s dualistic by nature and accepts Ahura Mazda as the sole God to worship and has theme of light versus dark. This religion has spread all the way to India and is still practiced in many countries. On the other hand, Manichaeism is a mix of Christianity and Buddhism. Manichaeism views the world as the struggle of good versus evil. The success of Sogadian culture through its vast trading of goods is well known all around. Its impressive architectural ideas, sculptures and paintings were found in many influential places. Their cultural eloquent and innovative minds lead to many vast advances, which are used till today.

Chinese Diplomatic Missions to Middle India in the Seventh Century.

China and India shared great history together, even though it did not get enough attention from people. But, close investigation proved that they shared diplomatic channels maintained by sundry groups of people with various intentions. Many tributary missions from China to Indian were recorded, which strengthen their relations and helped maintain their diplomatic ties. This also, helped “understand the significant contributions of individuals to pre-modern Sino-Indian relationship”. There were four significant Tang embassies dispatched between 641 and 658. This reading focused more on the underlying motives of sending Tang diplomats, which unveiled emperor Taizong’s own personal interest in Indian logetivity doctors and provided better viewpoint on Xuanzang’s pilgrimage to South Asia. It also, helped understand the role of Buddhism in bridging the geographical gaps.

Four individuals that helped strengthen the ties of the channel were Taizong, Xuanzang, Wang Xuance and the Indian King Harsha. All of them had eventful moments. Xuanzang was a famous Buddhist pilgrim, who helped initiate contact between the Tang court and the kingdom of Kanauj. Many famous leaders saw Xuanzang at that time. He also persuaded King Harsha of India to open diplomatic channels to China. The next influential person was Emperor Taizong, “his interest in logetivity drugs and doctors as possible reason of sustaining official intercourse between China and India”. He was made aware that many of his people were dying from health problems and he too was suffering from many problems. Wang Xuance acted as the official Chinese ambassador to India. The transmission of Buddhism was seen through many years between the two countries.

Therefore, this showed many individuals motives for diplomatic ties with India. Many of them were personal gains and others were rather political or military based. There interactions strengthened the history of their intentions.

KUSHAN CULTURE

“In India art is not an object but a conception that stands before us”. The history of India and its culture can be drawn from a very long period. Their stylistic sculpture and art can be quiet mesmerizing. Their monuments such as the stupas and other major landmarks deserve the global attention it receives till today. Key findings can be traced from the first century till the third century AD, when the Kusana Empire flourished, from the Gangetic plains to the central Asian regions. The Kusana king Kaniska I, was not only renowned for being a powerful ruler but also, for his interests in arts and sculptures. The Kusana Empire ruled over India for about three hundred years and produced work of arts reflecting indigenous traditions and external influence. Their Empire included trade routes that stretched from the Mediterranean to India till China. This permitted exchange and diplomatic relations between Rome and India. This helped transmit culture and religion in India. Many artistic trends emerged at that time. Two of the influential school of sculpture that was famous at that time was called Mathura and Gandhara.  All this was not done by only one figure; there were many influential figures behind it. Like Kaniska II and Kanisk III, they all contributed to this admittance of fine arts.  

The location of the empire gave the ruler vast advantage of the trade routes. The adoption of Roman coinage and sending emissaries to Roman court helped maintain close ties with the Romans. It was also noticed that, the existence of Buddhism in the Kushan Empire was momentous. Lui’s article states that there was a large amount of Buddhist art and sculptures; this shows the popularity of the religion. It was found in many locations through the Empire. There were many other religions but Buddhism seemed to be the prominent one. It brought many changes to Kushan culture.

Art had a great impact on Gandharan Buddhist art. Retrieving ancient art and sculpture in orderly form is very challenging. Buddha images were found simultaneously in both the Mathura and Gandhara schools, around the beginning of the Kaniska era. If it comes to question that, which school had a bigger impact on creating Buddha image? It would definitely be Mathura, at least from an ideological perspective.  The spread of Buddhist art and culture had a great impact on people during that time.

                                     

                                (TOP: COIN KNOWN AS THE BODDO COIN

BOTTOM LEFT: SCULPTURE OF BUDDHA BOTTOM RIGHT:STATUE OF KANISKA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z4Uhsk4W2U

(Video if you are interested to see some of the sculptures)

Riddle of the Desert Mummies

These are some of the pictures from the movie we watched in class. Enjoy!!

Assimilation of Chinese Traditions

             “Myth is a very important tool for constructing ethnicity, especially in traditional societies”. To my understanding the actual meaning of myth is basically a traditional story, concerning early history of people, which have been lead on from one generation to another.  When I was young, my Grandmother used to tell me many myths, which included supernatural beings and events that marked history.

It amuses me how people before our time used to believe things so easily without any solid evidence. Let us start of by talking about; Bret Hinsch’s essay “ Myth and the Construction of Foreign Ethnic Identity”. Here he talks about how early Historians categorized myths into to different version, which are native and Sinicised. His main focus was the manipulation of ethnic identity of the distinctive people of Xiong-nu, Xianbei, and Chaoxian for political and military reasons. The Chinese used this against foreign people to divert their thoughts psychologically and to control others. Using myths they mastered the manipulation of ethnic identities.

Through reading this I figured that Chinese people at that time were really sophisticated. Like, many Chinese would Sinicise the myths for foreign people and endowed them with primitive Chinese identity. This was their attempt to incorporate foreign people into their culture. One of the other reasons was to keep their enemies distant by asserting the scare factor. The cultural differences made China’s enemies seem incomprehensible and threatening.  One reaction to this subject was to tell stories that disparaged their opponents. These myths helped enforce Chinese supremacy. Sometimes they would assert myths that would actually do the opposite. Like they would tell myths that would cancel out the vast cultural difference, which helped to reduce the psychological pressure.

This reading was quite interesting and aroused many questions in my mind. It interests me in knowing, that how Chinese people used several techniques to assimilate their message to their audience. It was quite effective at that time as many people were not educated and sophisticated enough to judge the truthfulness of the message, received.

What Is Religion?

Religion is highly an infamous word to describe as it has different meanings to it. Religion can be described in many ways. It can be said to be the belief in something sacred or a moral code believed to have a supernatural basis .Religion can be broken up to three main factors which includes psychological, sociological and historical factors, which helps to understand and identify the concepts of religion in a broader perspective. Definitions of religion tend to suffer from one of two problems: they are either too narrow and exclude many belief systems which most agree are religious, or they are too vague and ambiguous, suggesting that just about any and everything is a religion.  An example of a narrow definition is seen when religion is described as a belief in God and a vague example would be is to consider religion as a worldview.

Religion has always been with us from the early ages till present day. It has taken the central place in the lives of many people across the globe. It is powerful and it shows no sign of disappearing. It incites commitment, expression, action, and intense debate. Furthermore, the essence of religion is really deep and overwhelming, which the practioners consider to be the divine or the absolute. Scholars usually set out to study the historical roots of the background of the people. According to scholars religions are complex enterprises that mix moral, metaphysical and historical affirmations. Most scholars start from the assumption that the beliefs and behaviours they examine are products of human thought, intention and emotion. Religious activity needs instead to be approached through humanistic categories. It is best understood when scholars apply to it the same rules of analysis, evidence and logic used in philosophy, history and literature

I belief that the exact definition of religion various from one person to another due to the fact that every person is unique in their own way, which basically means is that they have different beliefs and values, which helps in forming the true terminology of religion.