A River Sutra Essays

  • Human Elements in Gita Mehta’s A River Sutra

    2543 Words  | 6 Pages

    impossible. Most of the holy places are located on the banks of the rivers, sea shores and mountain ranges. They have special significance and they are considered sacred. It is the goal of the Hindus to bathe in the waters once in their life time, to be cleansed of their wrong doings .(3)The Hindus have a close and sentimental pious attachment to all the rivers in India. The Narmada is one of the most sacred rivers of the seven holy rivers, originates from the Maikali ranges at Amarkantak in MP and flows

  • Woman Emperor Wu Zhao

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    was a strong ideological force for Wu Zhao to use to justify her accession to the throne. Wu Zhao legitimize her sovereignty by using the translation of the Buddhist Sutra as an ideological support. Fazang, one of the greatest translator, wrote a commentary on the Flower Garland Sutra. He marked "The Commentary on the Great Cloud Sutra provided the prophecy that she would guide the Great Zhou by turning the Golden Wheel" (Rothschild 142). Universality is one of the most important principle in Flower

  • A Comparison of Ginsberg and Kerouac

    1276 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ginsberg and Kerouac are an interesting comparison because of their unique symbiotic relationship. Not only was each a literary influence on the other, but they actually appear in each other's works. In Ginsberg's "Sunflower Sutra," he and Kerouac sit between a railroad and a river to watch the sun set over San Francisco. Kerouac points out a sunflower, and Ginsberg begins one of his mystical visions ... The primary image in the poem is a ... ... middle of paper ... ...g to live in a real

  • Bodhisattva Guanshiyin Analysis

    2012 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Earliest Tales of the Bodhisattva Guanshiyin – Tale 7 When Han Dang was riding a boat across the Hutuo River, his boat submerged in midstream due to huge waves. He called out the name of Guanshiyin for help. After calling Guanshiyin’s name, Han Dang saw a white creature swimming in the water; dragon. Within seconds, the strong current came to a stop and the wind ceased. As the water only reached up to his knees, he was able to sail back to the sandy bank. Han Dang was hence saved. Methodology:

  • Perfectionism Is the Enemy of Perfection

    2911 Words  | 6 Pages

    argument in regards to his journey in overthrowing the Buddha. In traditional Buddhism, Devadatta is seen as a selfish, greedy, jealous, cousin to the Buddha, who attempts three different times to kill him, before growing ill. Whereas in the Lotus Sutra, Devadatta is commended for being a good friend to the Buddha in helping him become fully endowed with the six paramitas. These six paramitas consists of pity, compassion, joy, and indifference, which also included thirty-two features, eighty characteristics

  • The Idea Of Bodily Desire

    1611 Words  | 4 Pages

    concepts, Alcibiades steps in. He is confused because he himself is in love with philosophy, but he is also lost in bodily desire. According to the ideology of Socrates as expressed in Plato's work "Symposium" the musician girl from Mehta's "A River Sutra" is at the bottom of Diotima's ladder because she is so entirely infatuated and obsessed with the love of physical beauty, and not Socrates ideal, which is love of wisdom. In the same way, one might say that also Alcibiades is lost in bodily desire

  • Hinduism Research Paper

    1467 Words  | 3 Pages

    A main text in the Hindu society is the Kama Sutra. The University of Wyoming says this about the Kama Sutra: “This includes: the producing and enjoyment of art, music, dance, drama, literature, poetry, and sex. (The "Kama Sutra," which may be one of the best-known Hindu texts in the West, is about the aesthetic pleasure of men and women; it discusses beauty, music, dance and sexual activity

  • The Sacred Books In Hinduism And Buddhism

    1581 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sacred Books, in my opinion, are the most important things that can preserve the knowledge of religion. When transmitted orally certain interpretations may occur, especially when translated into different languages. India was a mother of many religions, particularly Hinduism and Buddhism. Hinduism “has no one identifiable founder, no strong organizational structure to defend it and spread its influence, nor any creed to define and stabilize its beliefs; and in a way that seems to defy reason, Hinduism

  • Animals In Buddhism

    1918 Words  | 4 Pages

    When my family first arrived in the dirty city of Bangkok, one of the first things my little sister asked me was “Why are there so many dogs everywhere?” Being the dog lover that she is, she was extremely disappointed to learn that these dogs were not only nobody’s pets, but that she also couldn’t pet them unless she wanted to get some weird fungus or sickness on the first couple days of her vacation. As I explained to them that the reason for all the dogs was because Thailand is mainly Buddhist

  • Analysis Of Dharma Bums

    1132 Words  | 3 Pages

    -In Siddhartha the river or the nature that surrounds everyone is related to the mountain that Japhy is talking about which is connected to peace through spiritual settings. What was Ray Smith’s previous goal in life before het met Japhy Ryder? - Ray’s goal was to devote himself completely to his religion and practice it’s ways to perfection; to gain good merit (Karma/Dharma) in order to become a Buddha or hero in paradise. What is the significance of the line from the Diamond Sutra? -The line for the

  • Obon

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    Obon is short for Urabon and can be traced etymologically to the Sanskrit word Ullambana, literally meaning to “hang upside down”. It implies that one must withstand unbearable suffering while being hanged upside down. In the Buddhist script Urabon Sutra, a story is told where a son saves his mother from Hell by making offerings to monks. Through the merits of his actions, his mother was saved from Hell, ascended into divinity, and became a Buddha. Thusly, to save people from Hell (being hanged upside

  • Hinduism

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    religion as there is no single founder but grew over a period of 4,000 years in the region of the Indus River, better known today as the subcontinent of India. Hinduism does not have a specific theological system, a single system of morality, or a central religious center of organization. The word Hinduism “is derived from a name applied by foreigners to the people living in the region of the Indus River, and was introduced in the nineteenth century under colonial British rule as a category for census-taking”

  • Poem Analysis: To Get To Sourdough Mountain

    2060 Words  | 5 Pages

    both ritual and meditation. Snyder later told an interviewer for The New Yorker, “They said, ‘O.K., we’re going to see if you are one of us.’ They told me to climb up a five-hundred-foot vertical rock pitch while chanting the Heart Sutra. Luckily, I knew the Heart Sutra, so that was

  • Comparing Hinduism and Buddhism

    1930 Words  | 4 Pages

    connected to each other. Some of the practices of the two religions are similar in various ways and there are several examples to show this. Hinduism first started in India around 1500 BC. The word Hindu comes from the Sanskrit word sindhu, or river. The Hindu community define themselves as "those who believe in the Vedas", or also "those who follow the way, or dharma, of the four classes and the stages of life. The four classes being the varnas and the stages of life being the ashramas.

  • A Comparison of Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    A Comparison of Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac Why. Excuse me. Why. Does. Excuse. Why me. I mean. Excuse me. Why. Does. It . Always end up this way. Like this. A performance. It's my best excuse. And. I'm on the wagon. Again. Why. Excuses. Sitting in the state of a daydream. No. Falling. A performance. Why what it comes down to. Poetry. And. My two main men. Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Both use their individual voice to perform the buddhistic beat they feel is part of their poetry/ their

  • The Relationship Between Confucianism And Buddhism

    2938 Words  | 6 Pages

    hold in China. Once trade brought the religion within China’s bor... ... middle of paper ... ...Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2012. Web. 6 October. 2012. LaFleur, William R. Buddhism: A Cultural Perspective. Ed. Robert S. Ellwood. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1988. Neelis, Jason. Early Buddhist Transmission and Trade Networks: Mobility and Exchange within and beyond the Northwestern Borderlands of South Asia. Leiden: Brill, 2011. Powers, John. Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism.

  • Zen Buddhist Perspectives on Modern Education

    3345 Words  | 7 Pages

    wish to expound on Zen Buddhist perspectives on modern education. The history of Buddhist education is long and complex. In early centuries (400 BCE- 800 CE), Buddhist monasteries in India and China functioned as educational centers where vinaya, sutras and other subjects were taught. Many men and women were refugees from social injustice and the sangha provided them with education, security and dignity. Spirituality and pedantry were always combined in Buddhist education. But from a Zen perspective

  • Cultural Expectations of Young, Aristocratic Women Living in the Heian Era

    1301 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Heian era Japan, the way people expected young women to look and act differs strongly from today’s standards. Aristocratic women faced the harshest scrutiny, and those who didn’t live up to the cultural values faced judgement from people. Every action, outfit and sentence uttered faced the criticism of maids, parents, and suitors. Many of these were based on the Buddhist religion, while others stemmed from the popular culture. One is able to better understand what these expectations specifically

  • Buddhism

    2338 Words  | 5 Pages

    Buddhism Buddhism is one of the biggest religions founded in India in the 6th and 5th cent. BC by Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha. One of the great Asian religions teaches the practice of the observance of moral precepts. The basic doctrines include the four noble truths taught by the Buddha. Since it was first introduced into China from India, Buddhism has had a history that has been characterized by periods of sometimes awkward and irregular development. This has mainly been the result

  • The Pros and Cons of Pornography

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    For centuries, humans have been creating explicit images to depict their sexual fantasies and desires. Times have drastically changed, however, since the first known sex guide, Kama Sutra, was illustrated in 5th-century India (King 412). The selling of sexually explicit material is a multibillion dollar industry (King 411). Today, with just the click of a mouse, millions world-wide are able to access pornography and see their sexual fantasies come to life (King 418). According to King, “One third