Modernity and Enlightenment

EUR1100 European Studies Catherine Wyatt 19453175 Natalie Doyle Modernity and Enlightenment /4/04 The Persian Letters (1721), a fictional piece by Charles Montesquieu, is representative of 'the Enlightenment,' both supporting and showing conflict with its ideas. The initial perception of European people, in particular the French, is of a busy people with goals and ambition whose focus is progress; in this way they are able to gain knowledge - a core foundation to Enlightenment. One particular section of the Persian Letters states that the revolt against the authorities was lead by women, who through reason, saw the inequity of their treatment and formed a voice. In Montesquieu's story, their decision to change tradition was part of a powerful movement towards this new found 'light'. The pressure for people to conform was greatly impressed by the King. With the Enlightenment movement, came recognition of this and a rebellion of what Montesquieu calls, the King's "invisible enemies" formed. These were people trying to break the mold and think for themselves, using reason and searching for answers outside what they had been told to believe. However the ignorant authority described in the letters is opposing to this new movement. The King colluded with the Pope and Gaelic church over ways to retain control and openly practice the way of life that the new ideology

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Religious Studies & Philosophy
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Siddhartha as a Hero's Journey.

Siddhartha as a Hero's Journey Herman Hesse's book, Siddhartha lends itself perfectly to a hero's journey. His journey is long, painful, and dangerous, but Siddhartha comes out better because of it. The book was written by Hesse in 1922 and based on a character set in the 500 BCs. It is odd that the book applies to modern India just as it applied to the India of 2 millennium ago (when Siddhartha supposedly lived). This, coupled with a captivating story line makes this a fun book to read, as well as an interesting point of view into early Indian culture. Siddhartha searches for "why" we are on the Earth, and finally finds his answer after many long years. The book begins with Siddhartha as a young boy living with his Brahmin parents in a moderately wealthy city in India. His father is a rich and powerful Brahmin priest, and Siddhartha is expected to follow in his footsteps as a Brahmin. He learns the ways of his people quickly, and at a tender age, his is participating in conversations with his elders. This is the time when Siddhartha starts to here things preached to him. He may have already decided that he must find his own way of doing things instead of falling under the spell of his teachers and elders. He has a thirst for knowledge-- the author puts it well by saying that he is a "vessel that in not full". He discovers that the elders and teachers have only placed a

  • Word count: 1472
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Religious Studies & Philosophy
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The day the Buddha left.

One day, Siddhartha Gautama awoke Minister Channa and ordered him to get his horse Kandaka saddled. Then he went to the son and wife's rooms to see them before he went to the forest. He saw that his wife (Yasodara) and his son by her side were both sleeping. Siddhartha wanted to kiss his son for the last time but he realized that his wife would wake up and his journey to finding truth would be disturbed. He then left the castle and set off with his Horse and his friend Channa. He then got to the river Anoma. Once he crossed the river, Siddhartha took his hair-knot by one hand, and with a sword in the other, cut it off. He then threw up the hair-knot into the sky and it is said that it stayed in the sky. Next Siddhartha took an alms-bowl and yellow robes. And gave Channa his very expensive clothes and ordered him to return to the castle. Channa took the Horse Kandaka and the clothes to the castle. Half way through the journey the Horse Kandaka missed his master Siddhartha and died. So Channa continued the journey all by his own to the Castle. When the Sakya Tribe knew about Siddhartha they all cried out in tears. After leaving Channa, Siddhartha stayed in the mango grove called Anuppiya near the Anoma river for seven days and then he went to Rajagaha (a town). When he went into the town for food, the citizens looked admiringly at the splendid and graceful appearance of

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Religious Studies & Philosophy
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Accounts of the life of the Buddha are just fiction Historically we know very little about the Buddha. Even to this very day, debates still occur as to the dates of his life and death,

Robert Hicks 09/09/05 Homework 3 (AO2) Accounts of the life of the Buddha are just fiction Historically we know very little about the Buddha. Even to this very day, debates still occur as to the dates of his life and death, although most scholars tend to agree that the Buddha lived for around eighty years. There is archaeological evidence such as, monuments, inscriptions and there are the Sanskrits; this leads me to believe that there is a very distinct possibility of his existence. Most of the accounts of his life are very similar and only alter in certain aspects of the tale and not in the main structure of the story. There are many many accounts from many parts of the world; I would have thought that there would have been a lot more discrepancies between the differing versions, considering how far apart they may have originated from. Like all accounts of history, we depend on information being passed down, mainly through written evidence and tales of myth and legend. The problem with this is that legends are altered through time, key aspects and facts are changed slightly or sometimes significantly altered (Chinese whisper syndrome). The myths probably do more damage to the credibility, some of the reports of Siddhattha being born at six months old or his mother becoming pregnant by a six tusked elephant are very hard to stomach. Although there is

  • Word count: 538
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Religious Studies & Philosophy
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Buddhism In China

Shannon Scott Jessica Johnson Ms. Reagan English 2H 29 August 2002 With Peace Comes Life, With Life Comes Peace "Religion is as healthy and normal as life itself" (Dole 34). The world today is overflowing with beliefs and religions. Asia, one of the most influential continents in the world, is a place filled with a society rich in culture and religion. The most prominent religion that shapes Asia is Buddhism, a religion solely based on a necessity for peace, nirvana. In China, Buddhism is much more than trite; it is the thriving, chief religion. Within the faith, there is a deep history and a well-rooted integration into the Chinese culture, great beliefs, a vast geography, and many considerable contributions. The immense history of Buddhism is a profound legacy that enriched China spiritually and relates well to the rest of the Chinese culture. The scripture was first introduced into China around A.D. 64 during the Han Dynasty. Unfortunately, the religion was not very popular among the Chinese community (Buddhism In China). The fact that Buddhism was hard to understand and that it was foreign, led to the teachings' unpopularity. After the fall of the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty brought on more hope to the religion. There were three Chinese Buddhists who started to establish different types of Buddhism. A man named Hui Yuan started the pure Land Buddhists; he

  • Word count: 1080
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Religious Studies & Philosophy
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Religion without science is blind

"Religion without science is blind, science without religion is lame" Nowadays, people believe that science and religion don't have anything in common at all. Science permits you to see what is proven day to day. Religion is based upon belief, belief in things that cannot be seen, but experienced. This belief is only accepted by faith and it spreads out because someone says it's true. Throughout many years science and religion were thought to be two rival forms of knowledge. Time has passed and people are starting to realize that, the statement mentioned before may not be true, that science and religion may be more united than we had thought previously. In fact, we can describe them as different ways of looking at the world that complement each other instead of contradicting each other. This idea is recent, since we all know that science and religion have been in "war" during a long time. In the following points I am going to explain briefly two examples of conflict between science and religion: * Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was an Italian astronomer. He studied the planets and stars. One of his most important discoveries was that he found out that our earth orbited the sun. This was good news until people swapped the idea that our earth was the center of the universe, something that they were taught until then. The Catholic Church reacted since they taught what the Bible

  • Word count: 769
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Religious Studies & Philosophy
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Buddhism - the Folk traditions

Buddhism The Folk Traditions. The Buddha was brought up in the rich, privileged, ruling class. People who have studied Buddha's life presume that he followed the Classical Vedic or early Hindu education. The Religious background of the Buddha can be divided in to three groups. The Vedic religion of the Aryan culture, the Shramana movement of non-conformist religious teachers. Lastly there is the Ancient folk beliefs, which we will go in to more detail about. The Ancient folk Tradition in the sixth century came before the Vedic age, it was not influenced by the religion of the Brahmins. The ordinary people, Kshatriyas who followed the folk tradition had their own beliefs and practices, many of which were very ancient and pre-Aryan. These included beliefs about spirits, devils, omens, spells and divination. Some of these teachings were noted in the scriptures 'Upanishads'. It is also believed that the Ordinary people focused on the god Brahma, not as one of many gods but as the creator god. Groups of Kshatriyas decided to set out alone into the mountains and turned their backs against the world. In the Mountains they exercised yoga and mediation which lead them to experience different stages of spirituality which then became known as the 'Brahman' which would prove they had experienced the Absolute Reality. The Buddha was critical of many folk ideas, and beliefs. Although

  • Word count: 352
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Religious Studies & Philosophy
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Book report: Siddhartha from Herman Hesse

Book report: Siddhartha from Herman Hesse Resume Siddhartha is the son of a respected Brahmin. Handsome, intelligent, and well educated, everybody thought he was destined to become like his father, a talented priest. Yet Siddhartha was not happy of his fate. Tormented by doubt with regard to the practice of his father's religion, he finally decided to leave everything behind and to become a Samana. Followed by his friend Govinda, Siddhartha learned how to practice self-denial. Voluntarily retired from civilization, Samanas devoted their life to kill the sensuous self through severe bodily restriction. The killing of desire would lead to a state of expurgated self through which the divine soul would be reached. Yet after meditation, Siddhartha inevitably returned to the torment of the human life cycle. Distrustful of the Samanas, he and Govinda left the community for the Buddha whose rumor of saintliness was spreading around. After meeting the Buddha, Govinda decided to become one of his disciples, while Siddhartha realized that no more teaching could bring him the knowledge for salvation but his own experience through which self-enlightenment would occur. Thus Siddhartha left to meet whom he felt to be Siddhartha. Convinced of having lost his time trying to flee from himself, he began to open his sense to the diversity of the world and reflected that meaning and reality were

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Religious Studies & Philosophy
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Compare the Buddhist understandings of life after death with on other view

Compare the Buddhist understandings of life after death with on other view We are all aware that, at least in a physical sense, we will one day inevitably cease to exist, yet this universally known fact has produced many different conclusions about what may happen after and Buddhist thought differs extremely from that of Christianity. The issue is inexorably linked to eastern and western views of causation and what constitutes personal identity as these play a major role in influencing beliefs about the afterlife. Indeed to even talk of 'life after death' seems linguistically problematic; we are trying to approach two contradictory phrases 'life' and 'death' and to reconcile them. The way in which to do this largely depends on whether one's personal view is that of a cyclical universe or a linear one, for example it may seem easier from a Buddhist viewpoint to literally talk of 'life after death' as the belief in rebirth means that to a Buddhist there is literally a life, another living existence, after one's earthly body has died. From a Christian perspective however the phrase has an entirely different meaning, through resurrection and the intervention of God one continues to the afterlife although in a very different way than reincarnation. The most obvious point that should be made in reference to Buddhist understanding of life after death are the doctrines of karma,

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Religious Studies & Philosophy
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Outline the inward journey and the outward journey experienced by Buddha, Nicky Cruz and Lord Fenner Brockway - Explain what spirituality means to you after studying the 3 case studies.

Outline the inward journey and the outward journey experienced by Buddha, Nicky Cruz and Lord Fenner Brockway. Explain what spirituality means to you after studying the 3 case studies. To me, spirituality is being in harmony with yourself and others around you. It's having the feeling that there are other people to care for and that we (as individuals) are small creatures in a big world. I ask myself 'Is that it? What is there more to life?' In this essay I am going cover the various issues that appear in the paths of the Buddha, Nicky Cruz and Lord Fenner Brockway when they experienced their inward and outward journeys. Prince Sidhartha Gautama was kept away from the outside world by his father so he never saw any of the bad things that happen in life. The one time that he ventured out of the grounds he saw death, old age and illness he was confused and puzzled. Having been brought up in the lap of luxury he had never experienced these things before. He asked himself, 'Why are there these things? What causes this?' To help answer his questions he tried many different things. He first tried the Ascetic lifestyle, which was a very simple life, but after seven years of no luck he tried another method. He sat under a tree to meditate. Suddenly it came to him; it was that everything in life changes even if we don't want it to. You have to accept these things and in result of

  • Word count: 760
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: Religious Studies & Philosophy
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