Bored...
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Brother's Fault
Its my brother's fault that he can't ride his bike to school on a minumum day. Dang these kids these days are hecka lazy. Before I had my license, I always rode my bike to school when it was rain or shine. Now I can't go to Davis and eat sushi. Bummer...
Philosophy Journals
Well I'm done with finals now. I turned in the philosophy journals that I posted below. It all is 50 pages including extra journals that I did.
Journal 1 to 6
Journal 1
Today was the first day of my philosophy class. We discussed the term philosophy because to start a class off, each person must know what philosophy is. Each student in the class was able to say a word relating to philosophy and give an explanation about the relations. Some of the words that were mentioned: religion, scripture, and especially the term known as “Zen”. From religion there were links between many religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism and so on. The word, scripture established a link to the passages for the different religions. As each student received a chance to speak about their mentioned words, our professor talked about the real meaning of the course of philosophy and how it has influenced others.
I think the first lecture was good today because the teacher and students are allowed to participate a lot more than any other class. Most classes have the students sit in class and take notes, quizzes and then tests. Most of the time, participating can be done only to answer a question or read a passage from the reading. In Dr. Schubert’s class, students answer multiple questions and participate in the discussion which I think is good. Also the teacher can turn a simple question into a question that is hard to answer. This class really makes me think in class.
From Dr. Schubert’s lecture I received his definition of philosophy. His definition according to my notes was: of that discipline concerned with formulating, understanding, and answering fundamental questions through the use of reason. Fundamental question examples that were used in our discussion were:
1) What is the ultimate nature of reality?
2) What is it to reason well?
3) What is it to a person to be a good person?
Today we focused on religion, which is our shared values, our beliefs, our way of life, our deities and our spirituality. These were the main terms for religion picked out by the class discussion.
What I thought of today’s lecture: Well it was continuing the lecture from the previous lecture. I learned a lot more of what the class was. At first I signed up for the class because it sounded really interesting and the class is very interesting. I can’t wait to learn about more in Eastern Philosophy.
Journal 2
Today, we have discussed the differences between Western and Eastern philosophy. There are two different categories of philosophy classes at Los Rios Colleges. A person has the choice to choose the side of Western philosophy or Eastern philosophy. Western teaches about the religions in the United States. Eastern philosophy is my current course right now and it seems very interesting because it talks about the religions in the Eastern part of the world such as places in Asia.
The Eastern are elitist, practical and are based on experience. The Western are egalitarian, theoretical and are based on reason.
If the terms “elitist” and “egalitarian” are unclear, I shall provide their definitions according to Harper Collins Webster’s Dictionary.
A) Elitist- the pick or best part of society
B) Egalitarian- a person that believes that all people should be equal and to promote the idea
From the lecture today, I got to have a chance to know more about Western Philosophy which is another course taught by Schubert at Consumnes River College (CRC). The thoughts of the religions on the East and West are different. Western philosophy seems really interesting. I might want to take that course as well when I have time.
Hinduism is the religion that is generic for Indian philosophy. The oldest text of Hinduism includes the Vedas. In these texts contain great knowledge. The Vedas have three different parts just like in Christianity where God is split into three different forms. These forms in Christianity are known as the Holy Father, the Holy Spirit and the Almighty God. The Vedas has three forms known as the Samhita, Brahmana and the Sutra. First I would like to say a few words about these forms about what the names mean. These are Vedic divisions.
Brahma Samhita
It is a Sanskrit Pancarata. It is comprised with verses of prayer spoken by Brahma to Krishna at the beginning of creation. So the main word would be “beginning”.
Brahmana
The Brahmanas explain the Vedic rituals and Vedanta. Vedanta is a school of philosophy within Hinduism dealing within the nature of reality. It also talks about departure.
Sutra
It was a rule that held the two schools of Hindu philosophy together. Sutra refers to scripture and records.
Terms or notes from class discussion today:
The rishis or seers were the communicators of the divine.
The shruti were given authority.
Journal 3
The Upanishads has a thing called Trimurti. Trimurti means “three forms”. So what are these three forms of the Upanishads? (This is basically a re-cap of journal 4) The three forms are Brahma who creates, Shiva who destroys and Vishna who maintains everything.
Monotheism/Henotheism: It is the devotion to a single God while accepting that there exists other gods.
Polytheism: It is the belief and worship of multiple deities. The Greeks used polytheism because they believed in many gods and goddesses.
Through my visit to China, I went to a temple where there were different statues that people worshipped. They were different types of gods and spirits.
(Check out the Main Temple of Dali, China where chickens are sacrificed every week)
Brahman is the one god, divine of all reality, who is pervading the universe. He is involved in creation of the gods and unification of gods. Brahma stops being a human and he becomes a force.
My Question: Brahma becomes a force. What does that mean?
Read Page 68 of the Upanishads in discussion for more information…
Brahman is…
a) world ground
b) the creator and inner controller of all things
c) unitary (union of opposites)
d) omnipresent (everywhere)
e) the essence (“finest” part of everything)
f) the supreme personal good
g) the Self (consciousness)
h) non-dually self aware EXAMPLE: watching yourself in the past like a movie
i) beyond the power of ordinary discursive thought
j) transcendent of nama-rupa “Name and Form”
k) mystically discoverable
Page 76 of the Upanishads says Atman is Brahman.
Page 77 in paragraph two, Prajapati says “That which is seen in the eye, which is the Self. That is immortal, that is fearless, and that is Brahman.”
Class Notes:
____ has characteristics x, y, z by definition.
-------- lacks characteristics x
_____
: . --- is not _____.
This is one diagram of a basic philosophical argument. In Schubert’s class, we use a lot of philosophical arguments.
Material vs. Immaterial
Reality is depended on substance. Those who are materialistic think of their bodies. For example, people like to buy objects such as television sets and materialistic objects that aren’t needed. Those who are immaterial think of their soul which is also known as their mind. The body is known as a gross manifestation.
Notes:
The Self (notice how Self is uppercased) is more subtle than the body. The Self is also known as your consciousness.
The self (this time it is lowercased) is attached to the body.
In historical times, analogical argumentation was used.
There were two different types of these arguments: two valued logic and multi-valued logic. This is also known as our modern world way of saying “true or false”.
What is Advaita Vedanta? Let’s split it up, shall we? “Ad” means non and “vaita” means dual. So it would mean Non-dual Vedanta.
Illusions are neither real nor unreal.
Ignorance is surely an illusion.
Maya means illusion.
Maya is the phenomenal world, the world of ordinary experience.
Brahma isn’t material stuff.
Brahma isn’t individual existence.
Brahma isn’t Earth.
Journal 4
Vedanta means ending or conclusion of knowledge. “Veda” means knowledge and “Anta” means end or conclusion. Vedanta was similarly referred to the Upanishads. The book we have currently in class is a translated version of the Upanishads.
A simple question: What exactly are the Upanishads?
They are part of the Hindu Scriptures. They discuss philosophy, meditation and the nature of God. Again they are referred as the Vedanta for their mystical and spiritual contemplations of the Vedas.
Quick reflection:
There are scriptures for many religions which include philosophy and meditation. Are these two comparisons alike in any way?
From Class Discussion Notes:
Axioms are the belief or principle accepted without justification and is seen in no need of justification. Some examples of axioms included in the class discussion were:
1) The eternal, unchanging and unitary is more real than the transient, changing and multiplications.
Ex: Real romantic love is unchanging, but professing to someone else is changing
2) The universe is fundamentally fair. This includes suffering.
3) The suffering that’s part of the ordinary human condition is escapable.
To me, the lecture today didn’t make any sense until Schubert gave examples of what axioms were.
Journal 5
In class discussion, we learned about karma. Karma is a Sanskrit that exists in the world today. It is an action or deed based on the things you do. Each action has an external consequence. When reincarnation happens the body dies but the soul attaches to something else. In other words an old man that has lived a really long prosperous life could have gone through a lot of pain and sorrow. He may all of a sudden come to death and reincarnate into a little boy who is one of the richest people on Earth.
Media notices:
Sometimes in media, there are uses of reincarnation in the wrong way. Such as the way they use it in cartoons. Sometimes on Halloween specials an evil spirit will die and transfer to someone’s body and possess them. In religious beliefs, this cannot happen.
A question that I must ask would be, if a person reincarnates back into a human being do they have to go through everything they ever went through all over again?
From the class discussion meeting, Dr. Schubert mentioned it all depends on the balance of karma. The karma must be balanced.
Skandha – group, heap, aggravate: psychological aggravate
The 5 Skandhas
1) Corporeality
2) Sensation
3) Perception
4) Volitimal Formations
5) Consciousness
The Skandhas exist in the Upadana, Trishna, Buddhas and the Arhats.
The Abhidarma Kosha has four kinds of attachments. These attachments are sense, views, rites and rules, and individuality. Trishna causes this attachment.
Journal 6
We read excerpts from “The Sermon of Benures” today. We also read questions that are not tending towards edification in the teachings of the compassionate Buddha.
Terms:
Du (Bad) Kkha (Empty, hollow)
Anitya/annica: impermanence
I didn’t even know what impermanence was until I looked it up in the dictionary. Permanence means fixedness. (Ex from dictionary: The boy has fixed his hair) So impermanence means not fixedness.
Everything in the phenomenal world is “conditioned”.
There are five groups of Dukkha, these are called the skandhas. These skandhas are corporeality, sensation, perception, volitional formations and consciousness.
Notes: Sanskrit is an Indo-European language
Proto à Indo-European
Indo-European à Latin
à Sanskrit
à German à English
From Indo-European language a lot of languages originated from it.
Parts of an item do not make up a self, if you can accept the self does not exist than suffering will end. What is meant by this? An example would be if I bought a can of chicken noodle soup. Would I have to pay for every ingredient in that soup or just the soup can? In the can there may be over a hundred ingredients with a price for each one of them. No like the first sentence says the self is not made up by the parts of the body. It is a hard answer to answer when saying of what it is made up of. The self which is the body is made up of the soul and the body parts. Like the example used in class, the teacher used the example of the exchange of old car parts. The old car parts that were exchanged were not described as the car. A good example of this would be a commercial on television where one lady buys this new healthy microwavable product and it has so many ingredients in it. The cashier rings up the item and it turns out to be over a hundred dollars.
Today was the first day of my philosophy class. We discussed the term philosophy because to start a class off, each person must know what philosophy is. Each student in the class was able to say a word relating to philosophy and give an explanation about the relations. Some of the words that were mentioned: religion, scripture, and especially the term known as “Zen”. From religion there were links between many religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism and so on. The word, scripture established a link to the passages for the different religions. As each student received a chance to speak about their mentioned words, our professor talked about the real meaning of the course of philosophy and how it has influenced others.
I think the first lecture was good today because the teacher and students are allowed to participate a lot more than any other class. Most classes have the students sit in class and take notes, quizzes and then tests. Most of the time, participating can be done only to answer a question or read a passage from the reading. In Dr. Schubert’s class, students answer multiple questions and participate in the discussion which I think is good. Also the teacher can turn a simple question into a question that is hard to answer. This class really makes me think in class.
From Dr. Schubert’s lecture I received his definition of philosophy. His definition according to my notes was: of that discipline concerned with formulating, understanding, and answering fundamental questions through the use of reason. Fundamental question examples that were used in our discussion were:
1) What is the ultimate nature of reality?
2) What is it to reason well?
3) What is it to a person to be a good person?
Today we focused on religion, which is our shared values, our beliefs, our way of life, our deities and our spirituality. These were the main terms for religion picked out by the class discussion.
What I thought of today’s lecture: Well it was continuing the lecture from the previous lecture. I learned a lot more of what the class was. At first I signed up for the class because it sounded really interesting and the class is very interesting. I can’t wait to learn about more in Eastern Philosophy.
Journal 2
Today, we have discussed the differences between Western and Eastern philosophy. There are two different categories of philosophy classes at Los Rios Colleges. A person has the choice to choose the side of Western philosophy or Eastern philosophy. Western teaches about the religions in the United States. Eastern philosophy is my current course right now and it seems very interesting because it talks about the religions in the Eastern part of the world such as places in Asia.
The Eastern are elitist, practical and are based on experience. The Western are egalitarian, theoretical and are based on reason.
If the terms “elitist” and “egalitarian” are unclear, I shall provide their definitions according to Harper Collins Webster’s Dictionary.
A) Elitist- the pick or best part of society
B) Egalitarian- a person that believes that all people should be equal and to promote the idea
From the lecture today, I got to have a chance to know more about Western Philosophy which is another course taught by Schubert at Consumnes River College (CRC). The thoughts of the religions on the East and West are different. Western philosophy seems really interesting. I might want to take that course as well when I have time.
Hinduism is the religion that is generic for Indian philosophy. The oldest text of Hinduism includes the Vedas. In these texts contain great knowledge. The Vedas have three different parts just like in Christianity where God is split into three different forms. These forms in Christianity are known as the Holy Father, the Holy Spirit and the Almighty God. The Vedas has three forms known as the Samhita, Brahmana and the Sutra. First I would like to say a few words about these forms about what the names mean. These are Vedic divisions.
Brahma Samhita
It is a Sanskrit Pancarata. It is comprised with verses of prayer spoken by Brahma to Krishna at the beginning of creation. So the main word would be “beginning”.
Brahmana
The Brahmanas explain the Vedic rituals and Vedanta. Vedanta is a school of philosophy within Hinduism dealing within the nature of reality. It also talks about departure.
Sutra
It was a rule that held the two schools of Hindu philosophy together. Sutra refers to scripture and records.
Terms or notes from class discussion today:
The rishis or seers were the communicators of the divine.
The shruti were given authority.
Journal 3
The Upanishads has a thing called Trimurti. Trimurti means “three forms”. So what are these three forms of the Upanishads? (This is basically a re-cap of journal 4) The three forms are Brahma who creates, Shiva who destroys and Vishna who maintains everything.
Monotheism/Henotheism: It is the devotion to a single God while accepting that there exists other gods.
Polytheism: It is the belief and worship of multiple deities. The Greeks used polytheism because they believed in many gods and goddesses.
Through my visit to China, I went to a temple where there were different statues that people worshipped. They were different types of gods and spirits.
(Check out the Main Temple of Dali, China where chickens are sacrificed every week)
Brahman is the one god, divine of all reality, who is pervading the universe. He is involved in creation of the gods and unification of gods. Brahma stops being a human and he becomes a force.
My Question: Brahma becomes a force. What does that mean?
Read Page 68 of the Upanishads in discussion for more information…
Brahman is…
a) world ground
b) the creator and inner controller of all things
c) unitary (union of opposites)
d) omnipresent (everywhere)
e) the essence (“finest” part of everything)
f) the supreme personal good
g) the Self (consciousness)
h) non-dually self aware EXAMPLE: watching yourself in the past like a movie
i) beyond the power of ordinary discursive thought
j) transcendent of nama-rupa “Name and Form”
k) mystically discoverable
Page 76 of the Upanishads says Atman is Brahman.
Page 77 in paragraph two, Prajapati says “That which is seen in the eye, which is the Self. That is immortal, that is fearless, and that is Brahman.”
Class Notes:
____ has characteristics x, y, z by definition.
-------- lacks characteristics x
_____
: . --- is not _____.
This is one diagram of a basic philosophical argument. In Schubert’s class, we use a lot of philosophical arguments.
Material vs. Immaterial
Reality is depended on substance. Those who are materialistic think of their bodies. For example, people like to buy objects such as television sets and materialistic objects that aren’t needed. Those who are immaterial think of their soul which is also known as their mind. The body is known as a gross manifestation.
Notes:
The Self (notice how Self is uppercased) is more subtle than the body. The Self is also known as your consciousness.
The self (this time it is lowercased) is attached to the body.
In historical times, analogical argumentation was used.
There were two different types of these arguments: two valued logic and multi-valued logic. This is also known as our modern world way of saying “true or false”.
What is Advaita Vedanta? Let’s split it up, shall we? “Ad” means non and “vaita” means dual. So it would mean Non-dual Vedanta.
Illusions are neither real nor unreal.
Ignorance is surely an illusion.
Maya means illusion.
Maya is the phenomenal world, the world of ordinary experience.
Brahma isn’t material stuff.
Brahma isn’t individual existence.
Brahma isn’t Earth.
Journal 4
Vedanta means ending or conclusion of knowledge. “Veda” means knowledge and “Anta” means end or conclusion. Vedanta was similarly referred to the Upanishads. The book we have currently in class is a translated version of the Upanishads.
A simple question: What exactly are the Upanishads?
They are part of the Hindu Scriptures. They discuss philosophy, meditation and the nature of God. Again they are referred as the Vedanta for their mystical and spiritual contemplations of the Vedas.
Quick reflection:
There are scriptures for many religions which include philosophy and meditation. Are these two comparisons alike in any way?
From Class Discussion Notes:
Axioms are the belief or principle accepted without justification and is seen in no need of justification. Some examples of axioms included in the class discussion were:
1) The eternal, unchanging and unitary is more real than the transient, changing and multiplications.
Ex: Real romantic love is unchanging, but professing to someone else is changing
2) The universe is fundamentally fair. This includes suffering.
3) The suffering that’s part of the ordinary human condition is escapable.
To me, the lecture today didn’t make any sense until Schubert gave examples of what axioms were.
Journal 5
In class discussion, we learned about karma. Karma is a Sanskrit that exists in the world today. It is an action or deed based on the things you do. Each action has an external consequence. When reincarnation happens the body dies but the soul attaches to something else. In other words an old man that has lived a really long prosperous life could have gone through a lot of pain and sorrow. He may all of a sudden come to death and reincarnate into a little boy who is one of the richest people on Earth.
Media notices:
Sometimes in media, there are uses of reincarnation in the wrong way. Such as the way they use it in cartoons. Sometimes on Halloween specials an evil spirit will die and transfer to someone’s body and possess them. In religious beliefs, this cannot happen.
A question that I must ask would be, if a person reincarnates back into a human being do they have to go through everything they ever went through all over again?
From the class discussion meeting, Dr. Schubert mentioned it all depends on the balance of karma. The karma must be balanced.
Skandha – group, heap, aggravate: psychological aggravate
The 5 Skandhas
1) Corporeality
2) Sensation
3) Perception
4) Volitimal Formations
5) Consciousness
The Skandhas exist in the Upadana, Trishna, Buddhas and the Arhats.
The Abhidarma Kosha has four kinds of attachments. These attachments are sense, views, rites and rules, and individuality. Trishna causes this attachment.
Journal 6
We read excerpts from “The Sermon of Benures” today. We also read questions that are not tending towards edification in the teachings of the compassionate Buddha.
Terms:
Du (Bad) Kkha (Empty, hollow)
Anitya/annica: impermanence
I didn’t even know what impermanence was until I looked it up in the dictionary. Permanence means fixedness. (Ex from dictionary: The boy has fixed his hair) So impermanence means not fixedness.
Everything in the phenomenal world is “conditioned”.
There are five groups of Dukkha, these are called the skandhas. These skandhas are corporeality, sensation, perception, volitional formations and consciousness.
Notes: Sanskrit is an Indo-European language
Proto à Indo-European
Indo-European à Latin
à Sanskrit
à German à English
From Indo-European language a lot of languages originated from it.
Parts of an item do not make up a self, if you can accept the self does not exist than suffering will end. What is meant by this? An example would be if I bought a can of chicken noodle soup. Would I have to pay for every ingredient in that soup or just the soup can? In the can there may be over a hundred ingredients with a price for each one of them. No like the first sentence says the self is not made up by the parts of the body. It is a hard answer to answer when saying of what it is made up of. The self which is the body is made up of the soul and the body parts. Like the example used in class, the teacher used the example of the exchange of old car parts. The old car parts that were exchanged were not described as the car. A good example of this would be a commercial on television where one lady buys this new healthy microwavable product and it has so many ingredients in it. The cashier rings up the item and it turns out to be over a hundred dollars.
Journal 7 to 10
Journal 7
The Mayana is the doctrine of Atman that implies to all arising dharma (phenomenon). The sunyta is emptiness. The Theravada means doctrine of the elders. Hinayama means lesser vehicle. Mahayana is the great vehicle, it says do not give up what is important to you, just don’t attach to other things.
What attracts people to Buddhism?
Buddhist doctrine is enlightened for anyone.
It offers moksha, which is the release of the soul.
My thoughts:
Buddhism is something that a lot of people become attracted to. I’ve noticed that some people who watch and enjoy a lot of Asian cultural things may sometimes revert from their religion to Buddhism. People who watch Japanese animation become interested in Japanese Buddhism for a reason. Japanese and Chinese culture has become popular in the United States.
Theravada accepts the doctrines of Antman. Mahayana extends the doctrine to everything. Mahayana is split up into schools. These schools are the Madhyamika which cannot conduct in metaphysical reality and their ultimate reality is empty.
Schools:
a) Yogacara – idealist school, independently unveiled
b) Nichirin – a school in Japan
c) Zen – mature product of Chinese Taoism
Buddha emphasizes compassion for enlightment. Bodhisattva puts off Buddha in order to assist others to obtain Nirvana. Bodhisattva does not enter Nirvana though. The doctrine of Parinamana is the transfer of merit, you get what you deserve.
Important!
j/ren – humanity
j/ren j/ren – person of j/ren
chun tzu – game
Journal 8
Confucius believes than the jen ren equals goodness. He also believes in benevolence. Confucius uses fu-li to follow the rituals of society. First, what is fu-li? In Schubert’s lecture, fu stands for discipline or submission of self and li stands for ritual. So fu-li means the path that trend to ____.
Through Hsun Tzu, social relations are developed.
a) ruler/minister
b) father/son
c) older brother/younger brother
d) husband/wife
e) friend/friend
Hsun Tzu’s social relations are also in the modern time today. We have friends; we have a father and a mother. People become married. Some have younger brothers or sisters. The father/son relationship can also be like teacher/student relationship.
In the excerpts from Mo Tzu, human nature has different people thinking if it is good or bad. Mencius thinks it starts out good and ends to be good. Hsun Tzu thinks the human nature is evil or bad. Kao Tzu thinks it is neutral. All of them are Confucians. Also all of them think people can become good.
Analogical Arguments are used in Mo Tzu. Analogical arguments have a structure.
X, Y: things
A, B: properties (features)
The structure:
X has A
Y has B
X has B
Then Y has B
Mo Tzu describes the nature of man and a willow tree has righteousness and can become wooden cups and wicker baskets. They are not originally good and they require outside influence.
Journal 9
For an introduction of the new section of lectures that we will be studying I want to introduce Tao which is pronounced (Dao) and Te which is pronounced (Day). Tao is the world and its reality in its totality. The Te is one’s particular appropriate relationship to the world. Tao Te can also mean “what is our relationship to the world?”
In class I received a handout that tells more about the symbol of Tao. The character for Tao is composed of several ideograms. The square with two horizontal dashes inside it represents a head with little tuffs of hair on top, the head of a leader. It is combined with the marks of feet running and stopping, which is now written in modernized script, and means “to advance.” Together they symbolize the higher mind, along with the feet, advancing on the same path.
Everyone has noticed the yin-yang symbol on martial arts uniforms or Asian media. The symbol is not authentic. The yin and yang are two alternate premeditates. The world arises from the interplay of the yin and the yang. The yin and the yang also permit change. The yin can be described as the cloudy and the overcast. The yin is yielding. The yang can be described as banners waving in the wind. It can be known as the sun. It is firm and easy to be understood. The yin and yang can be described as the dark and light side of mountains or rivers.
Journal 10
Before we begin going through Tao Te Ching, we have to understand the way of the Chinese language. Without knowing how the Chinese language is written it is hard to understand and of Chaung Tzu or Tao Te Ching.
The Chinese language has many oral “dialects”, many of which are, in linguistic terms, full languages and can be as different as French is from German. Even those who may speak the same linguistic language, e.g. Cantonese, may have trouble understanding each other, similar to how people who speak the British English might have trouble understanding people who speak English in the deep Southern United States. In fact, sometimes a person from one village will have trouble understanding a person from a neighboring village in China.
In contrast to the diversity of oral languages, there is only one written Chinese language. No matter what oral dialect a person speaks, all literate Chinese people can understand the written Chinese language. So no matter where you go in China, if you know the written Chinese language, you can always communicate with the literal locals.
There are two forms of each character. There is traditional and simplified. The simplified characters are now the main use in the main lands and in classroom at Chinese schools. Unlike Western languages, Chinese does not have an alphabet. Each character represents a whole word or an idea. This is from another handout I received. It is true because in Southern China I went to a village and my dialect was a little different than the people speaking there.
The Mayana is the doctrine of Atman that implies to all arising dharma (phenomenon). The sunyta is emptiness. The Theravada means doctrine of the elders. Hinayama means lesser vehicle. Mahayana is the great vehicle, it says do not give up what is important to you, just don’t attach to other things.
What attracts people to Buddhism?
Buddhist doctrine is enlightened for anyone.
It offers moksha, which is the release of the soul.
My thoughts:
Buddhism is something that a lot of people become attracted to. I’ve noticed that some people who watch and enjoy a lot of Asian cultural things may sometimes revert from their religion to Buddhism. People who watch Japanese animation become interested in Japanese Buddhism for a reason. Japanese and Chinese culture has become popular in the United States.
Theravada accepts the doctrines of Antman. Mahayana extends the doctrine to everything. Mahayana is split up into schools. These schools are the Madhyamika which cannot conduct in metaphysical reality and their ultimate reality is empty.
Schools:
a) Yogacara – idealist school, independently unveiled
b) Nichirin – a school in Japan
c) Zen – mature product of Chinese Taoism
Buddha emphasizes compassion for enlightment. Bodhisattva puts off Buddha in order to assist others to obtain Nirvana. Bodhisattva does not enter Nirvana though. The doctrine of Parinamana is the transfer of merit, you get what you deserve.
Important!
j/ren – humanity
j/ren j/ren – person of j/ren
chun tzu – game
Journal 8
Confucius believes than the jen ren equals goodness. He also believes in benevolence. Confucius uses fu-li to follow the rituals of society. First, what is fu-li? In Schubert’s lecture, fu stands for discipline or submission of self and li stands for ritual. So fu-li means the path that trend to ____.
Through Hsun Tzu, social relations are developed.
a) ruler/minister
b) father/son
c) older brother/younger brother
d) husband/wife
e) friend/friend
Hsun Tzu’s social relations are also in the modern time today. We have friends; we have a father and a mother. People become married. Some have younger brothers or sisters. The father/son relationship can also be like teacher/student relationship.
In the excerpts from Mo Tzu, human nature has different people thinking if it is good or bad. Mencius thinks it starts out good and ends to be good. Hsun Tzu thinks the human nature is evil or bad. Kao Tzu thinks it is neutral. All of them are Confucians. Also all of them think people can become good.
Analogical Arguments are used in Mo Tzu. Analogical arguments have a structure.
X, Y: things
A, B: properties (features)
The structure:
X has A
Y has B
X has B
Then Y has B
Mo Tzu describes the nature of man and a willow tree has righteousness and can become wooden cups and wicker baskets. They are not originally good and they require outside influence.
Journal 9
For an introduction of the new section of lectures that we will be studying I want to introduce Tao which is pronounced (Dao) and Te which is pronounced (Day). Tao is the world and its reality in its totality. The Te is one’s particular appropriate relationship to the world. Tao Te can also mean “what is our relationship to the world?”
In class I received a handout that tells more about the symbol of Tao. The character for Tao is composed of several ideograms. The square with two horizontal dashes inside it represents a head with little tuffs of hair on top, the head of a leader. It is combined with the marks of feet running and stopping, which is now written in modernized script, and means “to advance.” Together they symbolize the higher mind, along with the feet, advancing on the same path.
Everyone has noticed the yin-yang symbol on martial arts uniforms or Asian media. The symbol is not authentic. The yin and yang are two alternate premeditates. The world arises from the interplay of the yin and the yang. The yin and the yang also permit change. The yin can be described as the cloudy and the overcast. The yin is yielding. The yang can be described as banners waving in the wind. It can be known as the sun. It is firm and easy to be understood. The yin and yang can be described as the dark and light side of mountains or rivers.
Journal 10
Before we begin going through Tao Te Ching, we have to understand the way of the Chinese language. Without knowing how the Chinese language is written it is hard to understand and of Chaung Tzu or Tao Te Ching.
The Chinese language has many oral “dialects”, many of which are, in linguistic terms, full languages and can be as different as French is from German. Even those who may speak the same linguistic language, e.g. Cantonese, may have trouble understanding each other, similar to how people who speak the British English might have trouble understanding people who speak English in the deep Southern United States. In fact, sometimes a person from one village will have trouble understanding a person from a neighboring village in China.
In contrast to the diversity of oral languages, there is only one written Chinese language. No matter what oral dialect a person speaks, all literate Chinese people can understand the written Chinese language. So no matter where you go in China, if you know the written Chinese language, you can always communicate with the literal locals.
There are two forms of each character. There is traditional and simplified. The simplified characters are now the main use in the main lands and in classroom at Chinese schools. Unlike Western languages, Chinese does not have an alphabet. Each character represents a whole word or an idea. This is from another handout I received. It is true because in Southern China I went to a village and my dialect was a little different than the people speaking there.
Journal 11 to 13
Journal 11
An action in Tao Te Ching can be gained or lost. The goal is to empty the mind and work with one’s spirit. The one who must do this has to align their nature. This is called Ziran. Ziran means self way.
In the book of Tao Te Ching, people have to find the “wei”. The “wei” is the doing. The “Wei wu Wei” is the doing the not doing. Tao Te Ching consists of different passages that some people can see them as Chinese proverbs. In Chuang Tzu, there is a mediocre cook and there is Cook Ting. The mediocre cook uses his skills to cook and he chops meat swiftly and in beauty. (Ming à Shih) Cook Ting slashes and hacks the meat. Cook Ting uses his spirit to cook. He is doing the not doing. One example is on how a typical college student studies for a midterm. How does he/she do it? Do they hang out with friends at a library or bubble tea shop to study together? Do they go to a quiet place to study? Do they ask for guidance from their teacher? A student who is effortless knows how to study.
Martial Arts Example
To find wei, a child comes into a martial arts temple. He asks the sensei about how he should train. It would take 15 years to train, 20 years to do double the training and 30 years if the child trained both day and night. His training methods just increased his years of training. He understands that he must find his own wei. He has to empty his self and inhibit his master.
From notes:
Energy à Quality Action Has à Performance of Action
Tao Te Ching Chapters 1-3
Ming Chia known as the Names School maintains language and knowledge. Ming Chia determines ibject and what their names apply to. For example take a normal ordinary chair. It can be called a metal chair, a seat or a piece of furniture.
The two primary figures of Ming Chia are Hui Shih and Kung Sun Lung. Hui Shih was Chaung Tzu’s teacher. In Chuang Tzu, a passage said: I go to Yueh today and I arrive there yesterday. So in English terms we can take the date today which is November 6th and say that we go to Yueh. We can say on November 7th that we arrived there yesterday. Another passage says “The heavens are as low as the earth and the mountains are as low as the marshes”. The advantage point at looking at things is special and earthly properties have a similar relation. Another passage said: that which has no thickness cannot be increased in thickness and yet it is so great as to cover a thousand miles. The universe covers a thousand miles but it changes. It is hard to describe this passage.
Hui Shih rode on a horse one day and wanted to get past a gate that said no horses allowed. Hui Shih claimed his horse was not a horse because it was white and these are some of his arguments:
1) The word “horse” denotes a shape. The word “white” denotes a color. Therefore a white horse is not a horse.
2) When a horse is required a yellow or black horse is included. A white horse is excluded so the white horse is not a horse.
The language fixes, reality (Tao) is not fixing.
Great similarity differs from little similarity. This is called little similarity indifference. All things are similar and individually all things are different; this is called great similarity difference.
Page 3 Chapter 1 verse 3 --- Give up trying to use it
“The nameless is the beginning of heaven and the earth.” – Tao Te Ching Chapter 1 v. 3
Journal 12
A Taoist point of mind believes that they must acquire stillness. Their mind has to come to a rest through meditation. Building spiritual temples doesn’t give any merit and copying scriptures is a total waste of time due to the story of Bodhidharma. The things we see are they real or are they a dream? The Taoist view shows that each thing has its own inner nature. According to Te there is power and virtue.
Here is a poem about the true and false mind from The Book of Five Rings
It is the mind
That is the mind
Confusing the mind.
Do not leave the mind
O mind, to the mind.
The Taoist stages are over-developed. There is the contemplative which is reclusive. There is the purposive which is possible to walk two roads. There is the religious which contains Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. It is all included in the central doctrine of Wu Wei. (Chaung Tzu pg. 40 and pg. 126)
Now we begin studying Zen. The basic principles of Zen are:
1) No dependence on words
2) Seeing clearly into one’s own Buddha nature
3) Direct pointing at reality
4) Direct transmission from mind to mind
Zen masters teach monks about Zen. They teach them that they must empty their mind first before obtaining Zen. They must accept disgrace willingly and also accept reality. To understand Zen masters, you have to go beyond the teachings and symbols. General Mahayana scriptures have a lot of symbols. They do not need the monastery for enlightenment. Zen says scriptures have no meanings. They must recognize their own Buddha nature. Normal activity such as jogging can be an enlightenment of Buddha or not. It doesn’t matter if they are a cook or a wood carpenter to obtain Satori. They will have to obtain prajna which is the wisdom to know the truth and not knowing. Theravada extinguishes desires by excavation. Mahayana extinguishes desire by assisting. One way of holding back senses is to do yoga. Zen uses tathagata which is also known as p’u. One good book to read based off of Tao Te Ching is the Tao of Pooh. Buddha means awareness. They use language to find meaning.
Journal 13
This week we watched a video based on Zen practices throughout China and Japan. Zen masters do hard training on martial arts such as kendo, aikido and jujitsu. Different Zen monks do different practices. Such as Japanese Zen monks do practices for the tea ceremony. Chinese Zen monks do practices such as plays or dance ceremonies. They meditate during the day by walking and sitting in one position. Their main goal is attain satori. Zen monks use writing to express their thoughts and their mind. They go through non-attachment which is to be open minded and attached. Some of them become naturalists, who make nature for a test. They live in a temple with three halls of silence. These three halls are the meditation, dining and bathe halls. Most of the time they meditate day and night in the meditation hall. In the dining hall they eat limited amounts of food and tea. Sometimes they are able to drink sweet sake on an occasion. At the end of every month they take a test by their master or they go out to practice begging.
At the end of the Lunar Calendar, each monk goes through Satori which is also known as enlightenment. This is the final part. They roshi which is to control their mind and body. In their test by Zen masters, they are asked a question. They may not use real life logic. They must find themselves in their mind. The first step is Za’Zen. The next is Za’Sui. Za’Sui is the period of time where they meditate for 7 days without laying down. They do takkuhatsu which is training to become beggars.
Iku created the tea ceremony. Through serving tea, a monk can discover the awakening principles of Zen. Mostly everything is done in silence especially eating a meal. In Zen training, you need posture.
From past experience, I’ve gone near a temple in China. I saw monks walking around the temple. Most of them did things in motion. They each followed each other like their minds were empty.
An action in Tao Te Ching can be gained or lost. The goal is to empty the mind and work with one’s spirit. The one who must do this has to align their nature. This is called Ziran. Ziran means self way.
In the book of Tao Te Ching, people have to find the “wei”. The “wei” is the doing. The “Wei wu Wei” is the doing the not doing. Tao Te Ching consists of different passages that some people can see them as Chinese proverbs. In Chuang Tzu, there is a mediocre cook and there is Cook Ting. The mediocre cook uses his skills to cook and he chops meat swiftly and in beauty. (Ming à Shih) Cook Ting slashes and hacks the meat. Cook Ting uses his spirit to cook. He is doing the not doing. One example is on how a typical college student studies for a midterm. How does he/she do it? Do they hang out with friends at a library or bubble tea shop to study together? Do they go to a quiet place to study? Do they ask for guidance from their teacher? A student who is effortless knows how to study.
Martial Arts Example
To find wei, a child comes into a martial arts temple. He asks the sensei about how he should train. It would take 15 years to train, 20 years to do double the training and 30 years if the child trained both day and night. His training methods just increased his years of training. He understands that he must find his own wei. He has to empty his self and inhibit his master.
From notes:
Energy à Quality Action Has à Performance of Action
Tao Te Ching Chapters 1-3
Ming Chia known as the Names School maintains language and knowledge. Ming Chia determines ibject and what their names apply to. For example take a normal ordinary chair. It can be called a metal chair, a seat or a piece of furniture.
The two primary figures of Ming Chia are Hui Shih and Kung Sun Lung. Hui Shih was Chaung Tzu’s teacher. In Chuang Tzu, a passage said: I go to Yueh today and I arrive there yesterday. So in English terms we can take the date today which is November 6th and say that we go to Yueh. We can say on November 7th that we arrived there yesterday. Another passage says “The heavens are as low as the earth and the mountains are as low as the marshes”. The advantage point at looking at things is special and earthly properties have a similar relation. Another passage said: that which has no thickness cannot be increased in thickness and yet it is so great as to cover a thousand miles. The universe covers a thousand miles but it changes. It is hard to describe this passage.
Hui Shih rode on a horse one day and wanted to get past a gate that said no horses allowed. Hui Shih claimed his horse was not a horse because it was white and these are some of his arguments:
1) The word “horse” denotes a shape. The word “white” denotes a color. Therefore a white horse is not a horse.
2) When a horse is required a yellow or black horse is included. A white horse is excluded so the white horse is not a horse.
The language fixes, reality (Tao) is not fixing.
Great similarity differs from little similarity. This is called little similarity indifference. All things are similar and individually all things are different; this is called great similarity difference.
Page 3 Chapter 1 verse 3 --- Give up trying to use it
“The nameless is the beginning of heaven and the earth.” – Tao Te Ching Chapter 1 v. 3
Journal 12
A Taoist point of mind believes that they must acquire stillness. Their mind has to come to a rest through meditation. Building spiritual temples doesn’t give any merit and copying scriptures is a total waste of time due to the story of Bodhidharma. The things we see are they real or are they a dream? The Taoist view shows that each thing has its own inner nature. According to Te there is power and virtue.
Here is a poem about the true and false mind from The Book of Five Rings
It is the mind
That is the mind
Confusing the mind.
Do not leave the mind
O mind, to the mind.
The Taoist stages are over-developed. There is the contemplative which is reclusive. There is the purposive which is possible to walk two roads. There is the religious which contains Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. It is all included in the central doctrine of Wu Wei. (Chaung Tzu pg. 40 and pg. 126)
Now we begin studying Zen. The basic principles of Zen are:
1) No dependence on words
2) Seeing clearly into one’s own Buddha nature
3) Direct pointing at reality
4) Direct transmission from mind to mind
Zen masters teach monks about Zen. They teach them that they must empty their mind first before obtaining Zen. They must accept disgrace willingly and also accept reality. To understand Zen masters, you have to go beyond the teachings and symbols. General Mahayana scriptures have a lot of symbols. They do not need the monastery for enlightenment. Zen says scriptures have no meanings. They must recognize their own Buddha nature. Normal activity such as jogging can be an enlightenment of Buddha or not. It doesn’t matter if they are a cook or a wood carpenter to obtain Satori. They will have to obtain prajna which is the wisdom to know the truth and not knowing. Theravada extinguishes desires by excavation. Mahayana extinguishes desire by assisting. One way of holding back senses is to do yoga. Zen uses tathagata which is also known as p’u. One good book to read based off of Tao Te Ching is the Tao of Pooh. Buddha means awareness. They use language to find meaning.
Journal 13
This week we watched a video based on Zen practices throughout China and Japan. Zen masters do hard training on martial arts such as kendo, aikido and jujitsu. Different Zen monks do different practices. Such as Japanese Zen monks do practices for the tea ceremony. Chinese Zen monks do practices such as plays or dance ceremonies. They meditate during the day by walking and sitting in one position. Their main goal is attain satori. Zen monks use writing to express their thoughts and their mind. They go through non-attachment which is to be open minded and attached. Some of them become naturalists, who make nature for a test. They live in a temple with three halls of silence. These three halls are the meditation, dining and bathe halls. Most of the time they meditate day and night in the meditation hall. In the dining hall they eat limited amounts of food and tea. Sometimes they are able to drink sweet sake on an occasion. At the end of every month they take a test by their master or they go out to practice begging.
At the end of the Lunar Calendar, each monk goes through Satori which is also known as enlightenment. This is the final part. They roshi which is to control their mind and body. In their test by Zen masters, they are asked a question. They may not use real life logic. They must find themselves in their mind. The first step is Za’Zen. The next is Za’Sui. Za’Sui is the period of time where they meditate for 7 days without laying down. They do takkuhatsu which is training to become beggars.
Iku created the tea ceremony. Through serving tea, a monk can discover the awakening principles of Zen. Mostly everything is done in silence especially eating a meal. In Zen training, you need posture.
From past experience, I’ve gone near a temple in China. I saw monks walking around the temple. Most of them did things in motion. They each followed each other like their minds were empty.
Journal 14 to 15
Journal 14
Mu Shin… To transcend motion is the highest meditation. Chuang Tzu contends that we can appear to be still but aren’t really still. Zen practices is doing the not doing, in other words it is Wei Wu Wei. The goal of Zen is to see one’s own nature. It is not to create disillusions. This is enlightenment. Not engaging in appearance is wisdom. To look on life is different than death. “Nirvana is an empty mind.” Nirvana is emptiness. Zen is commited to the descendant that transcends. The Self is a conceptual fiction. Using the mind to study reality will not allow you to understand reality or the mind. This is understanding the not understanding. The absence of understanding is not true understanding. When reality depends on you that which is fake becomes real. When you depend on reality that which is real becomes fake. To see form or hear corruption is liberation. Mahayana Zen is social. Zen teaches living in enlightenment in social paths. Be in harmony of what we do. Form and mind are both pure. Zen says that there is no heaven or hell.
Schubert argues that Zen is not a religion it is a philosophy. Zen practice is a form of psychotherapy. A book to read based on Zen is Alice in Wonderland.
When we fail to see clearly we need to practice itelligence za’zen. We can love and enjoy. We can be liberated. It is okay for someone to be okay when they are enlightened.
Journal 15
We want to be somewhere else or something else sometimes. This is called unenlightenment. A man who lacked compassion once said, “Do I need my material covered?” He was not wanting to be at the place he was at the moment. During Zen meditation practice, the meditation can not be bothered. Sharp experience is okayness. Thich Nhat Hanh who was a Vietnamese monk wrote a book on Zen. He dwelled in awareness. He could smile and breathe in awareness.
In a cold classroom, do you feel cold? You have a choice to choose if it is or not. Choices are problematic. There is also the choice of emotions. Anger can be transformed into something else. Internal formation that depend on reality are unenlightened. Those who are afraid to bring in conscience mind practice breathing and smiling. To feel suffering we must understand it. There are steps to becoming one with feeling. First you need to recognize each feeling as it arises. Second, you must best to become friends with your fear. Don’t feel fear. The problem most time is drowning in your own fear. Lastly, calm your feelings. Become one with the feelings.
Extra Journal (Reflection of the Class)
I think this class was really great. From start to finish, I learned a lot in the class. Even though I won’t be in Schubert’s class anymore, during free time I may want to gather some more information on what I had studied in his class and learn more. Schubert was a great teacher and I am glad that I took his course.
Sources of Reference:
In my journal entries, I included passages from:
a) The Upanishads: Breath of the Eternal by Swami Prabhavananda and Fredrick Manchester
b) Confucius: The Analects translated by D.C. Lau
c) The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha by E.A. Burtt
d) Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings translated by Burton Watson
e) Tao Te Ching translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English
f) The Book of Five Rings translated by Thomas Cleary
Mu Shin… To transcend motion is the highest meditation. Chuang Tzu contends that we can appear to be still but aren’t really still. Zen practices is doing the not doing, in other words it is Wei Wu Wei. The goal of Zen is to see one’s own nature. It is not to create disillusions. This is enlightenment. Not engaging in appearance is wisdom. To look on life is different than death. “Nirvana is an empty mind.” Nirvana is emptiness. Zen is commited to the descendant that transcends. The Self is a conceptual fiction. Using the mind to study reality will not allow you to understand reality or the mind. This is understanding the not understanding. The absence of understanding is not true understanding. When reality depends on you that which is fake becomes real. When you depend on reality that which is real becomes fake. To see form or hear corruption is liberation. Mahayana Zen is social. Zen teaches living in enlightenment in social paths. Be in harmony of what we do. Form and mind are both pure. Zen says that there is no heaven or hell.
Schubert argues that Zen is not a religion it is a philosophy. Zen practice is a form of psychotherapy. A book to read based on Zen is Alice in Wonderland.
When we fail to see clearly we need to practice itelligence za’zen. We can love and enjoy. We can be liberated. It is okay for someone to be okay when they are enlightened.
Journal 15
We want to be somewhere else or something else sometimes. This is called unenlightenment. A man who lacked compassion once said, “Do I need my material covered?” He was not wanting to be at the place he was at the moment. During Zen meditation practice, the meditation can not be bothered. Sharp experience is okayness. Thich Nhat Hanh who was a Vietnamese monk wrote a book on Zen. He dwelled in awareness. He could smile and breathe in awareness.
In a cold classroom, do you feel cold? You have a choice to choose if it is or not. Choices are problematic. There is also the choice of emotions. Anger can be transformed into something else. Internal formation that depend on reality are unenlightened. Those who are afraid to bring in conscience mind practice breathing and smiling. To feel suffering we must understand it. There are steps to becoming one with feeling. First you need to recognize each feeling as it arises. Second, you must best to become friends with your fear. Don’t feel fear. The problem most time is drowning in your own fear. Lastly, calm your feelings. Become one with the feelings.
Extra Journal (Reflection of the Class)
I think this class was really great. From start to finish, I learned a lot in the class. Even though I won’t be in Schubert’s class anymore, during free time I may want to gather some more information on what I had studied in his class and learn more. Schubert was a great teacher and I am glad that I took his course.
Sources of Reference:
In my journal entries, I included passages from:
a) The Upanishads: Breath of the Eternal by Swami Prabhavananda and Fredrick Manchester
b) Confucius: The Analects translated by D.C. Lau
c) The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha by E.A. Burtt
d) Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings translated by Burton Watson
e) Tao Te Ching translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English
f) The Book of Five Rings translated by Thomas Cleary
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