MMW Final Passage ID and Essay

“Sujata bowed to him and shyly asked him to accept her special food offering of rice boiled in cream and sweetened with wild honey. Gautama smiled and ate the delicious rice, the best food he had had since leaving the palace. It made him feel strong and good. Then he rested in the grove until the heat of the day had passed.”

From the reading: “The Life of the Buddha”

context:

1. This passage refers to when Siddhartha Gautama was not a Buddha yet but was very close to enlightenment aka a Boddhitsava

2. he was in his ascetism era (self reouncing), eating one meal per day - very weak

3. the food given to him made him stronger, and gave him a sense of purpose

4. ex. 1 Life of the Buddha

   1. the middle path

      1. avoiding extreme asceticism

      2. a good balance → englightenment

5. ex. 2 Life of the Buddha

   1. his life in the palace vs now (asceticism)

   2. Buddha had to experience rock bottom, represents the asceticism in order to appreciate his palace life which is the indulgence aspect

• significance is him realizing that him starving himself is no good/too extreme. by taking the food, it reminds him of his palace life and he is strengthened by it. Gave him a sense of purpose. Sets off to find enlightenment.

“He saw that the condition for birth lay in processes of becoming already set in motion; that the condition for this was grasping or craving; that the condition for this was desire; and the condition for desire, feelings of happiness, suffering, or indifference; and the conditions for these, sensual contact...”

From the reading: The LIfe of the Buddha

1. context:

   1. About the Buddha’s opinion on the concept of birth

   2. birth is a predecessor for suffering, suffering → desire → grasping/craving

   3. condition for birth: refers to how birth is the opening to life and everything beyond that

      1. opens the door to things like old age, sickness, and death

   4. grasping or craving refers to desire

2. ex. 1 Life of the Buddha

   1. birth is th eopening to suffering but also the path to enlightenment

3. ex. 2 Life of the Buddha

   1. birth is the opening to desire

   2. his mind attained nirvana and reached the end of craving

   3. final rebirth allows us to overcome sensory desires

“Unsteady, indeed, are these boats in the form of sacrifice, eighteen in number, in which is prescribed only the inferior work. The fools who delight in these sacrificial rituals the highest spiritual good go again and again through the cycle of old age and death.”

From the reading: Mundaka Upanishad

1. context:

   1. the teachings of a sage

   2. advises people against relying solely on religious sacrifices

      1. because its not enough to reach enlightenment

      2. therefore the cycle of life never ends

      3. no nirvana. :(

2. ex. 1. Sources of Indian Tradition

   1. the unknown sage says that everyone is childish and foolish

      1. “we have accomplished our aim” after sacrificing

      2. ignorant thinking bc they think sacrifices are all that are needed to go to heaven

3. ex. 2

“At all previous times my familiar prophetic power, my spiritual manifestation, frequently opposed me, even in small matters, when I was about to do something wrong, but now that, as you can see for yourselves, I was faced with what one might think, and what generally is thought to be, the worst of evils, my divine sign has not opposed me, either when I left home at dawn, or when I came into court, or at any time that I was about to say something during my speech.”

From the reading: Apology by Platos

1. context: invididual morals supercede everything

   1. socrates’ conscience → his daemon

   2. his conscience is a divine sign to stop doing “something wrong” the way he carried himself through the trial not apologizing but honestly speaking is what he believes to be just, even when being faced with the worst of punishments: death.

2. ex. 1 Apology

   1. socrates says how people are harmed by doing wrong things, good people are not harmed by other people

   2. value of one’s soul and integrity depends on doing what is just

3. ex. 2 Crito

   1. socrates refusing to escape from prison

   2. escaping would violate what he thinks is right

   3. acting against your conscience is worse than death, supersedes the death punishment (death = worst of evils)

“While in education, where our rivals from their very cradles by a painful discipline seek after manliness, we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger.”

From the reading: Funeral Oration of Pericles

1. athenian excellence is superior to their rival (heavily implied to be Sparta/Persia)

2. (we live exactly as we please) → athenians live through freedom and authenticity, with natural and unenforced courage

   1. In the reading Unity or Annihilation, during the (1) Battle of Thermopylae, Xerxes is proven wrong when he severely underestimates the Spartan will to fight, which was created through the Lycurgan Constitution, a much more painful training process Spartans go through at a young age in order to defend their country. (2nd) Persia on the other hand did not have much of a fighting spirit, despite having a large number of fighting men, they did not have many warriors.

      1. vs. Athens on the other hand (with their rowers during the Battle of Salamis) see freedom not as something to fight for, but exercised freedom in every decision they made → Freedom in action

   2. pg 345 reader: athenians living exactly how they please

      1. games and sacrifices year round

      2. trusting more in native spirit of citizens than system and policy

      3. “plenty of means for the mind to refresh itself from business”

Essay Prompt 2: Some could argue that deep insight and profound wisdom can only emanate from adverse conditions and changes that created a crisis of meaning for a culture. Examining three of the philosophical or religious traditions we have studied, discuss how in each case a specific political or social crisis shaped a fundamentally different way of viewing life and the world. Ultimately, were the new perspectives in each case more similar to or more different from each other? Why?

Prompt 3: Many lectures in our course this quarter have concluded with the question of how certain teachings from a particular tradition can help us to become “a better version of ourselves.” Focusing on three different “traditions” we have studied, define in each case what such an aspiration would mean specifically for that tradition. In essence, what would the aspiration of “becoming better” entail for each tradition and are their respective aspirations more similar or more different from each other?