PHIL 213 Class notes, Week 2, Lecture 2

 Rig Veda, Bhagavad Gita, Gita Govinda - Ascetic, Warrior, Trickster/Transgressor

I. Dance of the Gopis

300-800 CE: Development of Puranas, popular literature, of which the Gita Govinda, or the Dance of the Gopis is a part

1. Four kinds of religious life: Brahman-Priest (Sacrifice); Yogi-Ascetic; Lay-Duty; Krishna-Transgression
2. Passion and Devotion
3. Attachment, detachment, non-attachment
4. Four types of attachment

II. Buddhism: The Life of the Historical Buddha

500 BCE: Historical Buddha Sakyamuni

Early Life

1. Prince of the Sakya Clan, son of the Gautama Family, offspring of King Suddhodana and Queen Maya
2. Story of the Holy Seer and the White Elephant
3. Siddhartha Gautama, raised by Aunt Prajapati
4. Princess Yasodhara and son Rahula

Quest for Enlightenment and Development of Sangha

1. Leaving the Four Palace Gates (comparison with Arjuna and Arjuna's brothers)
2. Sramana Culture
3. Six Ascetics
4. Maiden Sujata and the River Nairanjana: Bodhi, Nirvana: Sakyamuni Buddha
5. Good Cousin, Bad Cousin: Ananda, Devadatta
6. Prince Ajatasatru, King Bimbisara, and Queen Vaidehi
7. Prajapati becomes a nun, the formation of the Nun's Order; Story of Kisa Gotami

End of Life

1. Forbidding the creation of images, worship of relics, and recording of scripture
2. Final instructions: "Be a lamp unto yourselves"
3. Parinirvana