World Religions, Wednesday, 2nd Period [10/11]

[preacher-custer.livejournal.com]

Another night making friends with Mr. Miller and Mr. Daniels has left Jesse a bit less than exuberant this morning. He's standing by an open window when the first student enters and might possibly have flicked a cigarette away like a guy caught smoking in the boys room.

The handouts are waiting with the sign-in sheet and Jesse starts up as soon as everyone has taken a seat.

"When you think about religions, you probably think about a god or gods. Thing is, we've talked about more than one religion in this class that doesn't have that. Buddhism¹ is another one. Buddha's not a god, he's an enlightened person. Anyone has the potential to be a Buddha, if they just wake up and see existence for what it really is. You could argue that Jesus was a Buddha. And Mohammed.

"Siddhartha Gautama² is the guy most folks are probably thinking of when they say 'Buddha.' He's a Buddha, but he's also the Buddha, since he's the guy behind the religion we currently call Buddhism."

"Buddha said, 'I teach one thing and one thing only: suffering and the end of suffering.'

"Unlike religions that want you to go strictly on faith, Buddhist teaching encourages individuals to practice and verify the Buddha's teachings based on their own personal experience, and also after consulting with 'the wise'. If they find the teachings are true - leading to more happiness and less suffering - they can apply these teachings in a practical form into their daily life if they so wish. There's no hellfire and brimstone in the teaching and no insistence that there's only one way to get from here to there."

Jesse then goes on to discuss the various sects and approaches within Buddhism, concluding with Zen Buddhism³.

"Today I want y'all to have a look at koans⁴. Get together with a partner and either talk about one of the example koans. Or, and I'll give extra credit to anyone who does this, come up with a koan of your own."

---

Handout links:
¹Buddhism at Wiki
²Gautama Buddha
³Zen Buddhism
⁴Koans


Syllabus

[ooc: My thanks to wikipedia for the parts I cribbed verbatim.]

Comments

Sign In, Week Six

[preacher-custer.livejournal.com]

Don't fall when you collapse.

Re: Sign In, Week Six

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia Santos

Re: Sign In, Week Six

[enginegirl.livejournal.com]

Kaylee Frye

Re: Sign In, Week Six

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

Cally

The Lecture

[preacher-custer.livejournal.com]

Take notes, pass notes, forge bank notes, just don't piss off the teacher.

Re: The Lecture

[notafairmaiden.livejournal.com]

Gwynn took a lot of notes.

Re: The Lecture

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

Chad's notes aren't as thourough today. Wouldn't it figure it'd be Buddhism this week? He sighed heavily.

Re: The Lecture

[swerval_zero]

Zero scribbled, Isn't that two things?--ask Grandma Shi? in her notebook.

Koans

[preacher-custer.livejournal.com]

Two hands clap and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?

What is the sound of two students discussing and possibly creating koans? Let's find out.

Re: Koans

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia looked over the koans and thought about how it must be nice to have enough time on your hands to sit around and think about these things.

Re: Koans

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

Cally sat down across from Nadia.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Re: Koans

[nadiathesaint]

Nadia looked up and nodded slowly. "Thanks. I'm sorry, too."

Re: Koans

[enginegirl.livejournal.com]

Kaylee sat down and waited for someone to pair up with.

Re: Koans

[notafairmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Hi Kaylee."

Re: Koans

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

Chad looked unusually apathetic about finding a partner today.

Re: Koans

[swerval_zero]

"Not enthusiastic about koans?" Zero asked Chad.

Re: Koans

[l1ttle-billy.livejournal.com]

Billy tapped his pen idly on his note book as he pondered koans.

Re: Koans

[stykera]

"What do you think about these?" Stark asked.

After Class

[preacher-custer.livejournal.com]

The Sons of Katie Elder (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059740/). The original that Four Brothers (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430105/) cribbed from mercilessly.

Jesse sat down to watch John Wayne show how badass he was by doing all of his own stunts only four months after having a cancerous lung removed. Who could ask for a better imaginary friend?

Join him. He'll even share his popcorn.

OOC

[preacher-custer.livejournal.com]

And now we are done-inated.

And my portfolio is in the Art Director's hands. Eeeeee!

Re: OOC

[nadiathesaint]

Yay! Go you! *continues with the crossing of fingers*

Re: OOC

[enginegirl.livejournal.com]

*crosses fingers also*

Re: OOC

[sogothcally.livejournal.com]

EEE! *crosses fingers*

Re: OOC

[connernotconnor.livejournal.com]

So sorry to be all non-participatey this week, but . . . :/

GOOD LUCK THOUGH OMG.

Re: OOC

[preacher-custer.livejournal.com]

Don't even worry about it. I've been seriously non-participatory in all of my classes for the past couple of weeks. B