Blog Post 21

1) The three functions of the synagogue are an a meeting place, a worship space, and a learning center.

2) In the synagogue, men and women are seated in separate sections. The ark is on the Eastern wall of the synagogue. The Ten Commandments are the laws that God gave to Moses and they are above the door in a synagogue. Torah scrolls contain all of Jewish law and tradition.

3) A rabbi is a Jewish teacher. A man must complete college with completing other classes of the training of a rabbi in order to become a rabbi. Also, he must live in Israel for at least a year in order to learn the Hebrew language. A rabbi is not a clergyman because he does not have the authority to perform certain rituals. The rabbi’s job is to determine and interpret religious laws.

4) The Sabbath is observed on Saturdays as a time to devote yourself to God.

5) The Torah is all of Jewish law and tradition. The Talmud is the oral tradition that explains the teachings of the Torah.

6) Orthodox Jews follow the teachings of the Torah. 

Reform Jews believe that the Torah and their faith are always changing. 

Conservative Jews believe that Jewish laws should be able to help them relate to the current time period. 

Zionist Jews believe that all Jews should return to the Holy Land.

7) Hebrew is the historical language of the Jews.

8) Yiddish is the language of European Jews.

9) “Mazal tov” means congratulations. “Shalom” means hello, peace, and goodbye. “Mitzva” is a precept, commandment, or a good deed done because of a religious requirement.

10) Brit Milah is when baby male Jews are circumcised. Bar/Bat Mitzvah is when a Jewish boy/girl is of the age to receive the commandments. Marriage is a natural part of Jewish life because it provides security and companionship.

11) Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. Yom Kippur is the Jewish Day of Atonement. Hanukkah is the Festival of Rededication/ the Festival of Lights. Passover is when the Jews remember how G-d passed over their houses in Egypt.

12) I knew that the Sabbath was a time to devote yourself to God.

13) I learned that Yiddish is the language of European Jews.

14) Jews have a day of rest and so do we but they are on different days.

15) Men and women don't have to sit in separate sections.

blog 20

1) Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha and founded Buddhism.
2) The Four Passing Signs were an old man (sickness), a sick man (suffering), a dead man (death), and an ascetic (a way to escape the pain of the world).
3) The Middle Way is a teaching that says that the way to enlightenment is to avoid extremes.
4) Gautama gained enlightenment after resisting temptations from Mara and his daughters.
5) The Sangha is a Buddhist monastic community composed of both men and women.
6) The Three Jewels of Buddhism are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.
7) Samsara, “the wheel of rebirth,” is common to both Buddhism and Hinduism cosmology.
8) The Buddha did not approve of the Hindu philosophy and the sacrificial rituals that the brahmin performed.
9) The Three Marks of Existence are no-self, impermanence, and suffering. They are related because they are symbolized by the Four Passing Signs.
10) The doctrine of anatta is the existence of the “no-self.” It is the opposite of the Hindu concept of Atman.
11) In samsara, a person’s energy is passed from one body to the next. Karma determines what type of body the energy will go to in its next life.
12) For all Buddhists: Do not take life; Do not take what is not given; Do not engage in sensuous misconduct; Do not use false speech; Do not drink intoxicants. For Buddhist monks: Do not eat after noon; Do not watch dancing of shows; Do not use garlands perfumes, or ornaments; Do not use a high or soft bed; Do not accept gold or silver.
13) Dukkha can be translated as “suffering,” “frustration,” “dislocation,” or “discomfort.”
14) Tanha is desire, thirst, or craving. Tanha leads to dukkha.
15) The Nobel Eightfold Path consists of the following teachings: Perfect Vision, Perfect Emotion, Perfect Speech, Perfect Action, Perfect Livelihood Perfect Effort, Perfect Awareness, and Perfect Meditation.
16) The Buddha serves as a reminder and example of how to become enlightened while others who become enlightened are merely following in his path.
17) An arhat is a person who has become enlightened but is still alive and has not entered into nirvana.
18) Nirvana means “blowing out.” Nirvana is the end to, or blowing out of, suffering and pain.
19) The three divisions of Buddhism are the Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana.
20) The main focus of Theravada Buddhism is the teachings of the Buddha.
21) Mahayana means the “greater vehicle.” This implies that Mahayana Buddhism is more relatable to the majority of Buddhists than the other sects of Buddhism are.

Blog 19

Biography: Siddhartha was born into a royal family near India. As a child, he was very spoiled because his father wanted to shield him from the harsh realities of life. As he became older, he wanted to leave the palace. When he went into the real world, he was shocked to find terrible things such as sickness, suffering, and death. After coming across these hardships, Siddhartha met a religious man. This inspired him to search for the meaning behind the hardships of life. After wandering for years, he still had not found the answer to his question. He then sat under a tree and vowed to not move until he had come to an answer. After being tempted by many gods, he had finally become the Buddha, or “the enlightened.” The Threefold Way consists of of ethics, meditation, and wisdom. Ethical actions are actions that bring about good, rather than harm, to oneself and others. Meditation is a deep, internal reflection of oneself and one’s life. Wisdom is the culmination of all Buddhist efforts: to become enlightened.

The Three Jewels are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The Buddha is important as he serves as an example of how to live one’s life and how to achieve enlightenment. Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha, is important as it serves as a story of how to effectively become enlightened. The Sangha is the practice of following in the footsteps of other Buddhists who have gone before you. Additionally, it is learning from another Buddhist.

The Four Noble Truths are: 1) All existence is suffering; 2) The cause of suffering is craving; 3) The end of suffering comes with the end of craving; and 4) There is a path that leads away from suffering.

The Nobel Eightfold Path consists of the following teachings: Perfect Vision, Perfect Emotion, Perfect Speech, Perfect Action, Perfect Livelihood Perfect Effort, Perfect Awareness, and Perfect Meditation.

Mayan and Aztec culture

Location: The Mayans and Aztecs were located in Mexico and Guatemala.






Cosmology: According to Aztec cosmology, the universe is in a very delicate equilibrium. Opposing divine forces are competing for power. This equilibrium is in constant danger of being disrupted by shifting powers of the gods, of the elemental forces that influence our lifes. This struggle cannot be won by any god.

Sacred Symbols: Symbolism was a part of every day life for the people of central Mexico.  Symbols were used in writing, in keeping time and dates, in names and titles, on buildings and in artwork, and even in clothing.  It identified and explained the gods, showed social level, and foretold good and bad fortune.

Sacred Locations: Coatepec or Serpent Mountain was one of the most sacred places of Aztec mythology and religion. Some of the common features of Maya sites are the north-south orientation, the paved ceremonial plazas in the center of the pyramids with small temples on top, palace structures on lower platforms, and at least one ball court.  The commonalties within these structures have roofs decorative by masonry and plaster vertical projections whose sole purpose was aesthetic beauty and power.    

Major Gods: 

Ah Kinchil

In Maya mythology, Ah Kinchil is the sun god.

Ah Puch

In Maya mythology, Ah Puch is the god of death.

Ahau Chamahez

In Maya mythology, Ahau Chamahez was one of two gods of medicine.

Ahmakiq

In Maya mythology, Ahmakiq is a god of agriculture. He locks up the wind when it threatens to destroy the crops.

Akhushtal

In Maya mythology, Akhushtal is the goddess of childbirth.

Bacabs

In Maya mythology, the bacabs are the canopic gods. They stand at the four corners of the world supporting the heavens.

Centeotl

In Aztec mythology, Centeotl was the corn god. He was a son of Tlazolteotl and the husband of Xochiquetzal.

Chalchiuhtlicue

In Aztec mythology, Chalchiuhtlicue was the goddess of running water. She was the sister of Tlaloc.

Chantico

In Aztec mythology, Chantico was the goddess of hearth fires and volcanoes.

Shamanistic Practices: Shamans are specialists in the state of ecstasy, a state of vision that allows them to move freely beyond the ordinary world, beyond death, beyond the real world to deal directly with gods, ancestors, or anything within the spirit world. Shamans will perform ceremonies as a plea for assistance from that supernatural world. To the Mayan, the shamans call for rain for relief from drought that could threaten life itself. They were the do-ers or h-men could communicate the needs of the people. They were blessed with their ability to perform the rituals effectively and bring rain. The ancient Mayan, shamans were not only those individuals who could enter a portal into the other world; they were the kings of cities.

Rituals: The Mexica world was full of omens, both good and bad. One had to constantly be alert for signs and pay strict attention to daily routine and ritual. A bird singing, a stone overturned, the sound of the wind - every aspect of nature was speaking and the Aztec had to listen, intently. There was one religion and the earth was doomed. Melancholy, pessimism, and dread engulfed the Aztec mocking life itself. Human sacrifice was a religious practice characteristic of pre-Columbian Aztec civilization, as well as of other mesoamerican civilizations such as the Maya and the Zapotec.

Images of Art

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Vocab Words

Cosmology- Study of origins and a religions view on the fate of the universe and how it works.
Pantheism- belief that everything composes an all-ecnompassing, immanent God, or that the universe or nature is identical with divinity.
Polytheism-the belief in or worship of more than one god.Monotheism-the doctrine or belief that there is only one God.Transcendence- beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experienceempathy- the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.Axis mundi- center of the worldrevelation- the divine or supernatural disclosure to humans of something relatingto human existence or the worldDivination-the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means.Taboo-a social or religious custom prohibiting or restricting a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing.Totem-a natural object or animal believed by a particular society to have spiritual significance and adopted by it as an emblem.Trickster figure- a god, goddess ,spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behaviorVision quest- an attempt to achieve a vision of a future guardian spirit, traditionally undertaken at puberty by boys of the Plains Indian peoples, typically through fasting or self-torture.