Hindu Terms

• Moksha

• Dharma

• Karma

• Ahimsa

• Reincarnation

• Avatar

Hinduism • Main religion today in Indian

subcontinent• No Founder – Ancient Aryans

began telling parables• Main texts – the 5,000 year old

Vedas – collections of stories• believed in one spiritual entity

that made up everything – called Brahman

• Brahman showed itself through avatars, representations

There are no original pictures of the Vedas because no one wrote the stories down till thousands of years later

Vishnu

Ganesha

Dancing Shiva

Beliefs• Believed in Reincarnation

- If you live a life according to your dharma (duty to your caste), your karma (Brahman’s consequence for you behavior), will carry you to the next level

- if you do wrong, you go down

• Caste System, like a class system, once born into a certain level, you could not move up or down your entire life

• After you reach the highest caste level, you reincarnate and achieve moksha (oneness with Brahman)

• Also believed in non-violence, Ahimsa

warriors

priests

Merchants/Farmers

Servants

The caste system was created by the Aryans because they were fierce warriors and imposed it on people they conquered

If you were a God, what would your avatar be?

Hindu RitualsHindu Rituals

• Daily – there is NOT a single ritual that ALL Hindus MUST follow

– Most perform worship in the form of prayer or recitation at dawn and dusk

– Generally, a Hindu must bathe before performing a worship or prayer ritual – cleanse oneself before approaching a god

– Most rituals are performed at home

• Rituals at home involve drawing good luck symbols on the ground, offering food to an idol in their living room

• Yearly – Festival of Ganesha – festival for those who worship Ganesha – God of prosperity

Hindu Temples• Brahmin in India are responsible for the ritual

offerings – many live in monasteries, dormitories for – In US they act in a more pastorly role – organizing corporate

worship and services

• Temples are designed architecturally to reflect the levels of the caste system

• Each temple has many gods depending on the avatars that the people of the local region believe in

• Choosing a site of a temple– Soil testing - whichever type of soil it is, that’s the caste it will

serve• White = Brahmin• Red = Kshatriya• Yellow = Vaisya• Black = Sudra

Other Hindu Beliefs

Buddhism

• Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 BC), the founder of Buddhism

• Mauryan Emperor Asoka (272-231 BC) supported Buddhism

• Sent out missionaries to proselytize

• Reincarnation – the soul comes back after death

• Sacred Text – Tripitaka – or three baskets of knowledge – sayings of Buddha

All Buddhists believe The Four Noble Truths

- all life is full of suffering

- the cause of suffering is the desire for illusions like riches, power, and long life.

-the only cure for suffering is to overcome desire

- the way to overcome desire is to follow the eightfold path

• Reincarnation – the soul comes back after death

The Eightfold Path

Right views

Right aspirations

Right speech

Right conduct

Right livelihood

Right effort

Right mindfulness

Right contemplation

Nirvana

Review

• What are the two words for achieving oneness with Brahman in Hinduism and Buddhism?

• Who founded each religion?

• What are the main spiritual texts of each religion?

• What leader is responsible for the spread of Buddhism?

Deccan Plateau

• Dravidians – lived to the south of the Mauryan Empire, in the Northern Deccan

Maurya Empire• Responsible for

the spread of Buddhism

• 321 – 185 B.C. – Height of Empire

Chandragupta – conquered part of the Deccan Plateau

Mauryan Leaders• Chandragupta maintained

order through well-organized bureaucracy

• Many officials managed every aspect of society and trade – shipyards, road building, factories

• Had brutal secret police to report corruption and dissent

• Trained women warriors to guard palace

Mauryan Leaders

• Asoka – grandson of Chandragupta – conquered the rest of the Deccan

• Converted to Buddhism – rejects non-violence

• Sends missionaries to spread Buddhism around India

• Set up stone pillars proclaiming Buddhist sayings

Read p 84. Asoka Biography – and answer question on piece of paper.

Decline of Maurya Empire

• Asoka’s death

• Rivaling kingdoms of the Deccan

Silk Road – ancient trade route

Guptas• Golden Age of Indian

Empires

• 500 years after the Mauryans – 320 – 500 A.D.

• Capital city – Patiliputra

• Relaxed rule – much power resided with governors

• Faxian – Chinese Buddhist monk visited and wrote about the Gupta rule

Advances

• Education: Buddhist Monastery at Nalanda – taught mathematics, religion, medicine, physics, language

• Mathematics: Gupta empire brought concept of zero, decimal system, Arabic numerals

• Literature: Kalidasa the most famous poet and playwright of the Gupta Empire

• Medicine: small pox vaccinations, plastic surgery, surgery

• Arts: Dancing – Read page 84

Decline of Guptas

• Weak leaders

• White Han invaders

Assignment

• Read pp. 86-88 – take notes on the lives of ancient India

Notes Quiz1. Who was responsible for spreading Buddhism to China through, in part,

missionaries?

2. What is the main way that Buddhism came to China?

3. What ancient leader united all of India by conquering the Deccan Plateau?

4. Where is the Deccan plateau?

5. Fill in the blank: Moksha is to Hinduism as _______ is to Buddhism.

6. Dharma is your ____ to your caste.

7. What is Karma? Describe it in your own words.

8. Hindus believe in reincarnation. Explain in 2 sentences how that relates to the social caste system.

9. What are the two words for achieving oneness with Brahman in Hinduism and Buddhism?

10. Who founded each religion? Hinduism __________ Buddhism _________

11. What are the main spiritual texts of each religion?_________, ___________

12. What leader is responsible for the spread of Buddhism?

Extra Credit (1 pt each): 1. What is the Jewish Holy book?2. Who is considered the father of the Jews, or the founder of Judaism?

• Group 1 – Family Life, p. 87-88

• Group 2 – Wisdom of Confucius, p. 89

• Group 3 – Legalism, 90-91

• Group 4 – Daoism

• Group 5 – Buddhism in China

Presentation Must Include:

• Founder – or how the religion arrived there

• Give (approx.) dates of founder and religion

• Mention important vocabulary or facts

• List sacred text • Describe moral teachings,

sayings, and philosophy

Groups: 1 – Family Life, p. 87-88 (this

group can follow the subheadings

in your book)

2 – Wisdom of Confucius, p. 89

3 – Legalism, 90-91

4 – Daoism, 90-91

5 – Buddhism in China, 92 (use the section on Indian Buddhism)

*You will have 2 minutes to make your presentation.

*Determine who will speak and when.

*Take notes while another group is speaking.

Word BankVedas Tripitaka alphabet represents sounds represents things no founder

Euphrates River code of law wedge-shaped used for priests to worship

caste system stone pillars monotheistic Polytheistic Tigris River Siddartha Gautama

“carriers of civilization” pictogram nirvana moksha reincarnation

silk road Deccan plateau fertile crescent judgment Day afterlife

Yearly floods united the subcontinent Sumer, Assyria, Babylon Akhenaton and Nefertiti

GPS EQ: answer the following at the bottom of your test:1.Name the two ways in which Buddhism got to China, and identify which one is the most important way.2.Describe how Hindus link the caste system to their religious beliefs.

Homework: Fill in Qin, Zhou, kung Tzu, Mandate of Heaven, and Confucianism on your guided notes.

What is the vocabulary word that means non-violence?

Ahimsa

http://teachersites.schoolworld.com/webpages/ACleary/

What word refers to a physical or mental action or motion that is performed regularly and has religious or spiritual

meaning behind it?

ritual

What are the Dalits?

Untouchables – or god’s children

Who advocated for the Dalits in the 1930s and 1940s?

Mohandas Ghandi

Which light-skinned, ancient, Indo-European group came from the Northern part of India and conquered the Southern darker skinned people putting them into the caste system?

Aryans

What word means duty, or obligation, to your caste?

Dharma

What is the name of the Elephant God, the God of prosperity and intelligence?

Ganesha

What is the word that is the English equivalent of a ‘worship service’?

Puja or Pooja

What does jalit mean?

caste

Which ancient book stresses the importance of the caste system and fulfilling one’s duty?

The Baghavad Gita

Who is the Warrior prince who must kill his family and friends in order to please the God Krishna?

Arjuna

What word means representation of a God, or a God’s persona?

Avatar

Why do Hindus believe they are NOT a polytheistic religion?

Because they worship the avatars, or representations of the one spirit, Brahman

How is racism incorporated into the caste system?

Often in India, the darker one’s skin, the lower one is in the caste levels

Why has Southern India largely broken away from the caste system in politics?

• It has a strong economic base allowing more wealth, so that all levels benefit

• Technological advances have allowed those of lower castes to become rich and move up

What is the name for the main religious Hindu text, an at least 4,000 year old collection of scriptures that form the

basis of Hindu belief?

The Vedas

What is the goal of the cycle of reincarnation?

To achieve Moksha

OR

To break out of the cycle of suffering through life and reincarnation

What does it mean to achieve Moksha - what happens to the person’s soul?

It becomes one with Brahma/Brahman

What are the main gods that are worshipped in Hinduism?

Brahma

Shiva

Vishnu

Ganesh/Ganesha

Parvati (Ganesha’s mother)

How does one get to the next caste level?

By fulfilling one’s duty to one’s caste, even if that means collecting cow patties

How does a Hindu temple reflect the belief in the caste system?

It has many archictectural levels just like the castes

Where do most Hindus worship and perform the rituals?

In the home

What group of people makes up the highest caste level before Moksha?

Brahmin or Preists

Place a Wager

Why do you think that the majority of lower caste people in India followed the strict caste system for so many years without rebelling

against it?Possible answers:

-many in the lower castes rationalized that if they had to endure a life of suffering, that they would at least get relief eventually by making it to the next level – their suffering would last forever…

-the warrior castes oppressed those castes below them and the lower castes had no choice but to obey them, kind of like American slavery

-warrior castes had to explain why certain groups of people were left out of financial prosperity and were subjugated under them, thus they began to believe they were better than other groups of people – obviously god wanted them in charge because they had done something to deserve it