Blog Post 19: Intro. to Buddhism

Siddhartha Gautama lives in present day area between India and Nepal. He was living there in the 6th century before Christ. His exact birth date is unknown but he was born in Lumbini, near the Nepalese-Indian borderto his father , King Suddhodana who at the time was ruler of the Sakya tribe and his mother Oueen Mayadevi. He is considered the founder of Buddhism. The major teachings of Buddhism include Three Jewels, Threefold Way, 4 Noble Truths, and the Noble Eight fold Path. The three jewels are the foundation of forms of Buddhism and the first jewel is Buddhism, the second is Dharma, and third is the Sangra. The Threefold Way is a progressive path which focuses on ethics,mediation, and wisdom. The Four Noble Truths is the central doctrine of Buddhist tradition. The include 1. Life means suffering, 2. The origin of suffering is attachment, 3. The cessation of suffering is attainable 4. The path to the cessation of suffering. The Noble Eight fold Path is the principal teachings of the Buddha.

Blog Post 18: Primal Religions Questions

1. They are called primal because they are both unique and that form of religion was before the traditional religions came about. Some characteristics include mythic,  rituals, and worshiping of more than one god.

2.  Elements include  forms of life, and creation of first human beings.Also created symbols and tribes.

3. Every Aboriginal person.

4. Totem: the natural form being any emblem or symbol.

Taboo: prohibits anything in society considered inappropriate.

5. Rituals are essential both in identity and experience.

6. Their ancestors.

7. The  purposes served by the Aboriginal initiation rites is to

awaken people to their spiritual identity.

8.      1. The two lower teeth of a boy  are knocked out and buried in the ground.

         2. Blood poured.

9. The Yoruba’s people live in Nigeria, Benin and Togo.

10. It is beleived to be where Yoruba’s god,  Orishna-nla first began to create the world.

11. Yoruba understanding of cosmos.

The Yorubas depict the world as two separate divisions: heaven and earth. Heaven being the invisible homes of the Ancestors and Earth being the visible experience of human beings. The entire purpose is to maintain balance in the world.

12. Olorun is the major god of the Yoruba tribe.

13. The orishas are the lesser dieties, than Olorum. and significant  because they have sacred power.

14. Name and describe two orishas.

    1. Ogun- the god of Iron and war.

    2. Orisha-nla- recognized as creator of Earth.

15.  A trickster figure is a mischievous supernatural being.

16. Two types of Yoruba ancestors are family and defied.

17.  the role of the Yoruba ritual practitioner is to help people communicate with their ancestors.

18 . Divination is basically telling the future and is considered essential.

 

19.   Scholars believe  humans came to North America by crossing over the Bering Strait.

20. The religion of the Plains is vital to North America because they share similar cultures.

 

21. Wakan Tanka is the name given by the Lakota that means supreme reality.

22. Inktomi is the spider and also a god.

23.The Lakota believe that four souls depart from a person at death. The soul meets an old woman , who determines whether or not the soul is to live in the world of ancestors or back to earth as a ghost.

24. Spiritual Power is what individuals try to gain access to during vision quests.

25. The sweat lodge is a hut covered with animal skin that helps the vision quest.

26. A typical vision in vision quest happens at the end of the day,and  is communicated through the vision that is seen.

27.  A medicine man proceeds the sun dance in the Blackfeet tribe?

28. The axis mundi is the center of the universe in the form of a carved tree.

29. They believe their bodies are the only thing they truly own.

30.The Aztec  defy primal religion because they were a very populated society and spread over most of  South America. But they were similiar because they both did rituals.

31.Mesoamerica was located in Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.

32.Quetzalcoatl created order in the world in the ancient city, Tenochtitla.

33.  Topiltzin  Quetzalcoatl in rule during the golden age.

34.The Aztecs called their present age the golden age.

35.The Aztecs understood the spatial world as having four quadrants, extending outward from the universe.

36.The Aztecs considered  each human  mundi because they made the world divine.

37.The special capabilities of the Aztec was being able to understand the human body and communication.

38. The historical coincidence that contributed to the fall of Tenochtitlan was

the veneration of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

39. The "Day of the Dead" shows survival because it embraces the recognition of their ancestors.

40. What three themes are shared in this chapter?

Three themes shared in this chapter are communication, nature of religion, and the desire to acquire knowledge. 

Blog Post 17: The Yoruba

1. The Yoruba religion was developed by the Yoruba people in Nigeria and Benin. The Yoruba people themselves are a West African ethic group predominantly in Nigeria. Geographically, they share borders with the Borgu (a region in western Nigeria) in the northwest. The Yoruba have nearly 40 million people in total and approximately 35 million in 2012 making them one of the largest ethnic groups in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Source (http://yorubanation.net/about/)

2. Their cosmology view of the world includes many things about what we do before life on earth. They believe that prior to when we are born, we stand before God and choose our destiny. Also they believe we decide before we arrive on earth how we plan to contribute to the world including where we live, who we love, and the day we will die. Finally they believe when we are born into a world all of our plans and promises, they are dis remembered and we claim the destiny we prepared for ourselves.

Source (http://www.godpaths.com/yoruba-religion.html)

3. The Yoruba, use symbols to avoid forming their minds to abstract entities during worship. The Yoruba use many items to symbolize their religious experience. They use wood, metal carvings, iron shafts and plants and animals as symbols of gods and ancestral spirits. In other words, Divinities and ancestors are their objects of worship and reverence.

Source(http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDoQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fobafemio.weebly.com%2Fuploads%2F5%2F1%2F4%2F2%2F5142021%2F04-1_162.pdf&ei=HjwFUf-wGoeG0QHbnoDoAw&usg=AFQjCNHDzYlDiQ6M_qKnpg-4ov06ZyWb4g&sig2=ymd1TMyOSVA5a4Z9mnyvIA&bvm=bv.41524429,d.dmQ) download link

4. It seems like a scared location to the Yoruba people is anywhere where sacrifices are being made. But one location is the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove. To them, Osun is the goddess of fertility and she is seen as a symbol of identity for all Yoruba people. The landscape of the grove and covered with sanctuaries, shrines, scriptures, and art works. As you can see a very holy ground. Source (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1118)

5. The Yoruba major god and all powerful gods is Olódùmarè. He is believed to live in the sky and is considered most respected by Yoruba worshipers. Another one of their gods is Ajogun. They are beings which give of negative forces that cause illness, accidents, depression, or other sorts of general disaster.

6. The Yoruba totems come in the form of art and sculpture.  An example is a set of two twins which are sacred in Yoruba tradition.  In the city of Ife, there are Taboos that are general that is, that affect everybody and there are some that are peculiar to certain families ), for example, it is a taboo for members of the following compounds to have dogs as pets.   (http://www.yorubareligion.org/_con/_rubric/detail.php?nr=1393&rubric=News)

7.

The role of shaman in the Yoruba religion is the belief that their traditions of worship revolve around their god and goddesses. Also the role of the shaman is a path of healing and getting power for the “good”.

Source (http://www.paganlibrary.com/reference/what_is_shamanism.php)

8. Body and Spirit Possession is one ritual performed by the Yoruba. It is often done with an elaborate dance ritual where certain Orishas are educed with drumming and chanting. And as the priest dance the Orishas rise and “mount” the body and souls of those involved in ritual. Another common ritual for new Yoruba life is titled the Ori Inu.  This is the reading of the inner head and takes place after the child is three months old.  The translation for this reading again comes from Eshu. This practice identifies which ancestor or deity the child is most closely related to and this information helps the parents prepare for the child’s future.

http://www.godpaths.com/yoruba-religion.html

Extra Credit Blog: "I Confess" by Alfred Hitchcock

 Look up Alfred Hitchcock's biography and find some articles about his Catholic faith.  How do you think his faith informs his view of the cinema?  Give examples from "I Confess" (or other Hitchcock movies) to make your case.  (400-600 words, 25 points)

From reading articles about Alfred Hitchcock it tells that the reason for his Catholic faith was because of his strict upbringing by his parents. His parents were so strict about his religion so much that he described his childhood as lonely and the fact that he was obese. Because of the strictness of his parents, it resulted him to come up with ideas of becoming wrongfully treated in his movies. Patrick McGilligan, a biographer, wrote, “Catholicism pervades his films, albeit a brand of Catholicism spiked with irreverence and iconoclasm.”   Also, most of his educations were from Catholic schools. He attended a convent school called Howrah House, and  St. Ignatius College.  Attending those types of schools definitely had an impact on his faith even though he rarely talked openly his faith. In the movie “I Confess” his faith is showcased. The movie is about a murder mystery about a man that had committed a murder to cover a robbery. The plot of the film is that he confesses to a priest, but the priest cannot report it and it puts him in a difficult situation. From this plot of the movie alone, tells that Hitchcock questioned the religion his was brought up by because of the ways he was punished. The man in the movie, Keller is ultimately punished by confessing his sins and the priest telling on him. Also, Hitchcock might have just wanted to challenge his faith. In a quote about “I Confess” he says “We Catholics know that a priest cannot disclose the secret of the confessional, but the Protestants, the atheists and the agnostics all say, ‘Ridiculous. No man would stay silent and sacrifice his life for such a thing.’

Answer the question on the movie poster: "If you knew what he knew what would you do?"  Tell me why, and compare your own reaction to the priest in the movie. (15 points, 300-400 words)

"If you knew what he knew what would you do?" – I what did opposite of what the priest did in my opinion. It was his obligation as a priest to keep the things people tell him between the person telling him and his self.  Yeah, he probably did the right thing by getting Keller jailed up but he broke his duty of oath. In my opinion, two wrongs don’t make a right and he just should have kept his confession quiet.  If I saw that the man was big enough to confess his murders like he did, I would actually be proud of the man for doing it. In other words, I believe everyone deserves a second chance and being a man and fessing up is a good start. I was shocked by the way the priest ratted that man out. I know he was threatened and everything but I would have still handled the situation differently than he did. I would have sat down the man down and say look I’m a priest, and your secret is safe with me and that is the bottom line. Being a “tattle tale” can get you into trouble as well, so in my opinion the best option for the priest was to stay true to his brotherhood and to himself by keeping the secret.