pg. 223 Sources from the Past

This story from Ashokavadana might have appealed to various groups of early Buddhists because it has a moral in it and it shows a different perspective of the caste system. For lower class buddhists, it could appeal to them because higher castes above them still worship them and deem them important. For higher castes, it could have appealed to them showing how even the emperor will bow down and prostrate themselves to the Buddhists. The moral of the story could appeal to Buddhists because its about what they believe because the story explains how some people are "obsessed" with the caste system and they shouldn't because they are "harming themselves and others."

Map of Ancient China

Chinese Dynasties and Indian Dynasties

The Chinese Dynasties and Indian Dynasties were very different form each other, yet they had some similarities. But all in all, China had a better time maintaing their Dynasites than India did. One of the big differences was that in China, religion played an important part in their political system with the emperor, but in India, religion wasn't such a big part. In China, some rulers ruled their people with the ideas of Confucianism, while in India, some of their rulers used a handbook called the Arthashastra to rule their kingdoms. Ashoka of India, used Buddhism though. The rulers in India didn't expand as much as the emperors in China. The empires in China were way bigger than the empires in India. But in terms of safety, India was the best place to be. No one was robbed when they were traveling and they didn't need traveling papers. In China, that wasn't the case. China had nomads sometimes in their lands and nomads do whatever they want, which included stealing occasionally, and China was usually at war with its neighbors trying to get more land, so people like the Xiongnu would attack Chinese settlers. Another big difference was how the Dynasties fell. For example, the Han Dynasty fell because of land reform issues and such, while the Mauryan Dynasty fell because the empire was paying their soldiers too much and the soldiers weren't even doing anything besides drinking and it was a time of peace so there wasn't really anything to do anyways.

Mencius and Xun Zi

Mencius is an optimist. From his writing, we can see how he wants everyone to act good so that it benefits the other people around them or the people in the empire. He also believes that everyone should help each other for the benefit of the economy and empire. He also says, "The feeling of commiseration is the principle of benevolence. The feeling of shame and dislike is the principle of righteousness. The feeling of modesty and complaisance is the principle of propriety. The feeling of approving and disapproving is the principle of knowledge." those are some of the things he believes are associated to each other and things that people should feel and do.

Xun Zi is a pessimist and believes in strict rituals and swift punishments. He believes that desires cause disorder and destruction of a kingdom and he feels that everyone is over come with negative feelings such as grief, despair, and depression. He also believes that sages are the only people that can do the correct rituals and have the correct feelings. He thinks that: "They are born with fears and hatreds. If they follow them, they will become violent and tendencies toward good faith will dies." He means to say that people are generally born bad per se and when they give in to fears and hatreds, any of the good inside the person will die. Xun Zi likes to compare humans to a piece of wood meaning that if heat is applied, they can shape the wood however they want, but it take a lot of force and "torture" to do it.


I believe with Mencius's ways. I am an optimist, meaning I believe in the good in everyone. I believe in many of the things he believes in such as the ideas that will make people happy. One was how if the king employs talented men int he position that he deserves, then other scholars will love him and want to work for him too. I also believe people are filled mostly with good, endless something had happened to them to make them bad. I also believe about what he says about how most people can't bear to see other people suffer, it makes the good people sad for them and wanting to help. I feel the same way. I want to help people in any way I can, just like the example he uses in Book 2, Part 1, Chapter 6, Number 3, about how if a child was about to fall in a well, you'd feel distressed and go to try and help them and stop the child from falling in the well.

Confucianism

1. I believe that this sort of religion. I believe it's more of a philosophy rather than religion. In a religious text, there are strict rules and guidelines to follow, God is mentioned a lot, there's reference to heaven and hell, and everyone must be good endless they want to have a horrible afterlife. In this text, however, there are rules, but they make it seem you don't necessarily have to follow them; there's a choice. They don't mention any God, just a Master, and they only make reference to Heaven a couple times.

2. This reading does support having people born neutral. In book I, chapter VI, the text says, "The Master said, 'A youth, when at home, should be filial, and, abroad, respectful to his elders. He should be earnest and truthful. He should overflow in love to all, and cultivate the friendship of the good. When he has time and opportunity, after the performance of these things, he should employ them in polite studies.'" the word "should" is throughout that passage because it's showing how the child has a choice in what he wants to do. He can do the good things, or not do them and be bad. "The Master said, 'The superior man is catholic and no partisan. The mean man is partisan and not catholic.'" (II, XIV) this passage is showing how the man has a choice to either follow the religion that they deem "good," or to follow the religion that they deem "bad." The man has a choice though, to follow what he wants. "The Master said, 'I do not know how a man without truthfulness is to get on.'" (II, XXII). This certain passage is showing what the Master thinks about people who lie. Everyone has a choice as to wether or not they want to be truthful, or not truthful. The Master is merely stating how he feels about people who are untruthful.

The Persian Empire Map

Pg. 176 Question

What assumptopns does Zarathustra make about human nature and the capacity of human beings to make morally good choices out of their own free will?

I believe that Zarathustra is making the assumption that they are good and bad people out in the world, and the number is always balanced so that if there's a good person, there's an evil person. He believes that the person has a choice of choosing which path to take though. They could take the path of good and truthfiulness, or the path of evil and untruthfulness. Zarathustra believes that most people would read his pasage and want the joy of salvation that he promises of rather than long punishment in the after-life.

Comments for the Poster Project

One:
Hey Rachel! I love your timeline! It must have taken a while to put down all those dates, but they look great! Your choice of photos is also really good. If you'd have to change anything, I'd say that you should change the size of your external photos and make them bigger so that they could fill up more space and you could see them clearer. India is similar to Mesopotamia because they had similar hierarchies. But India is different from Mesopotamia beacause they had different belief systems. I thnk that it's pretty interesting to chose a female symbol for an internal picture. What made you decide to put the symbol on the poster rather than just a picture of an actual woman?
~Sam

Two:
Tim! Hey! I agree that the images for your history head are great and that everything is nice and organized, but also, you had a timeline with a lot of events on it, which is good! I like it! You could've made your title a little bigger so that it pops out and people could totally tell that it was a poster from Mesoamerica. India is simialar to Mesoamerica because they both had hierarchies and religon played an important part in their societies. A difference between India and Mesoamerica is that the Mesoamericans had a rich culture including art, alters, and pryamids, while the Indians didn't have those. As I was looking at your photos, I noticed we had a similar photo, which would be the one with the hierarchy. Where'd you find that photo?
~Sam

Themes Project

My Poster

First Test and Essay

I have to say I was very surprised at both the test and essay. The test was alright, it was easier than I thought it would be. I thought all of the questions were goin gto difficult thinking questions, but I was glad that there was a mix in the questions. Some were straight-forward and easy, while some were harder and required a lot of thinking back on the chapter. I think the test went pretty well though. I was pretty prepared for the test, I didn't really know what to expect since it was the first test, but now I know what to study...which is pretty much everything. For the next test I'm pretty much goin going to do the same thing, but study a little harder and longer. The essay however threw me off. I didn't know what to study and I studied the wrong things for that essay. Next time I know I'll do better because now I know what things I should study! It wasn't a hard essay, I just didn't study the right things. All in all, though, everything was pretty good. The next test and essay will be a bit easier now.