China and India3

8/11/2019 China and India3

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CHINA AND INDIA

Bringing us up to speed



INDIA IN THE BEGINNING

The Indian Peninsula has many difficult geographical featuresthat made settling difficult. The mountains create a “rain shadow” that blocks northern Asia's

weather from going south.

India has three tropic seasons – the Hot season (May- July), the

Monsoon season (August- September), and the in-between season(rest of the year).

This seasonal abnormality and the tectonic plates that formed theHimalayan mountains causes floods, shifting rivers, mud volcanos,and uplift that moves the sea.

The first settlers in the Himalayan Mountain Area were called theHarappans, after the great city of Harappa.



INVASION

Around 1500 BC, Northern barbarians on horse-drawnchariots invaded.

These are an Indo-European group of invaders we’ve

seen as the Hittites. The Indian branch of this race isknown as the Aryan (the Pure).

Aryan race successfully conquers the Harappans, andpushes them deep into southern India (they are still there

to this day).

The collections of verbal songs and stories (called the“Vedas,” are still being sung to this day.



VEDIC RELIGION

The favorite God of the Aryans was Indra,the God of War.

Aryans tended to see everything as sacred,including sounds and language (such as thecosmic syllable “Om”).

This spiritual exploration lead to drug abuse(Soma) as a way to attain an enlightenedstate.



COWS

To the Aryans, cows were how wealth wasmeasured.

In Sandskrit (the Aryan language), the word forwar literally meant “to seek cows.” the word forprotection was “guard cows,” and even our word“daughter” comes from the sanskrit for“milkmaid”

This value led the obvious conclusion – worshipping the cow.



THE CASTES

Worried about racial purity among their

conquered peoples, the Aryans divided the

people into 4 separate Varna (colors).

Sudra (Workers)

Vaisya (Merchants)

Kshatriya (Warriors/ Nobles)

Brahmin (Priests)



THE GREAT WAR

The stage is finally set for the climax – a

major war that ends the Vedic Age.

War is recorded in the Mahabharata



THE NEW RELIGION

After the events recorded in the Mahabharata,the Aryans began to think philosophically aboutthe afterlife.

In the beginning, the Aryans saw new worlds toconquer endlessly.

As they settled down into India, however, theybecame more interested in this world, and moreimportantly, what happens after death.



THE SOUL OF THE UNIVERSE

The universe has a soul, called the Brahman.

Brahman wasn’t anything you could perceive in thephysical world. It lies within everything.

There is also an individual soul, called the Atman(breath). To probe the secrets of your soul, all youhad to do was concentrate on your breathing.

This leads to meditative breathing as a tool toachieve enlightenment.



SELF-DENIAL

The Brahmin that starvation and exposure

could heighten senses.

It was believed that self-denial could grant

you mystic powers.

Teachers of this art were called Gurus

(teachers).



AFTER LIFE?

Because the Brahman is immortal, after you died, it left your bodyand entered another body (reincarnation).

Over the course of your life, good and bad deeds (Karma)accumulate in a sort of spiritual bank.

Similar to Egyptian concept off weighing the heart to be foundworthy of the afterlife.

Depending on your deeds, you were reincarnated into a higher or

lower creature.

In short, early suffering was the result of bad karma in a previouslife.



THE END OF THE OLD GODS

As this new system became established, the

older Aryan nature gods became less

important, leaving only 3 left standing.

Brahma, creator of the universe.

Shiva, the Destroyer of the universe

Vishnu, Preserver of the universe



THE CHANGE IN ARYAN PHILOSOPHY

Note that this change represents a shift from theoptimism of the old Aryan Vedic religion.

Why pity the wretched? It’s their Karma.

Fated to die over and over, never rememberingthe past mistakes.

Result – by 600 BC, there were countlessschools of enlightenment and spirituality.



THE ENLIGHTENED TWO

The Prince Gautama was born around 567 BC

Was walled in a city-sized palace his who life,

until he escaped and saw the world.

He returned, married, had a child, and leftforever.

After years of studying the Hindu traditions, hecame to the conclusion that there was more tothe spritual life that it promised.



THE TREE

Abandoned by his students, Gautama sat downin the shade of a tree to meditate. He vowednot to move until he understood.

After 49 days, he understood, and went to tellhis former followers.

This was his first sermon, “Setting in Motion theWheel of the Law.” After this Gautama becameknown as the “Buddha,” or “Enlightened One.”



VARDHAMANA

Founder of the Jain sect.

Joined a sect called “Free From Bonds,” which

was essentially radical self-denial.

When he was deemed ready, he was sent outinto the world with only a robe.

After 13 years in the world, his robedisintegrated, and enlightenment struck.



MAHAVIRA

Vardhamana changed his name to Mahavira(“great hero”), and began preaching ultinateself-denial.

His followers were naked, and plucked theirbeards out hair by hair.

They revered life as strongly as self-denial. Nofollower was allowed to take any animal life.This included not eating certain plants, in casethey contained tiny animals that the eye couldn’tsee.

China and India3

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