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Chapter 5
Unit 2
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What 2 religions or ideas are experiencing something of a revival in China today? | Confucianism and Buddhism |
| What was the "age of warring states"? | A period of chaos, growing violence, and disharmony that followed the weakening of the Zhou dynasty. |
| What were the 3 answers to the "age of warring states"? | Legaliam, Confucianism, and Daoism |
| What was the solution to China's problems to Legalists? | Rules or laws clearly spelled out and strictly enforced through a system of rewards and punishments. |
| How did Legalists view people? | Pessimisticly. People were stupid and shortsighted. |
| In Legalism, what 2 groups were promoted and why? | Farmers and soldiers, because they were the only groups in society who performed essential functions. |
| What did Legalist thinking provide inspiration and methods for? | The harsh reunification of China under Shihuangdi and the Qin dynasty. |
| What discredited Legalism? | The brutality of the short Qin dynasty. |
| After Legalism, what did all subsequent dynasties draw upon? | The teachings of Confucius. |
| Who was Confucius? | A thinker and a teacher who spent much of his adult life seeking a political position from which he could put his ideas on how to solve China's problem of disorder into action. |
| What are the Analects? | A short book of Confucius' teachings that eventually created a body of thought known as Confucianism. |
| What was the Confucian answer to China's problem of disorder? | The moral example of superiors and a restored social harmony. If the superior in a relationship set a good example, then the inferior would be motivated to do the same. |
| What is ren? | A part of Confucianism translated into benevolence, goodness, and nobility of heart, that was the essential ingredient of a tranquil society. |
| What did Confucius emphasize, believing that people had a capacity for improvement? How did he do it? | Education as the key to moral betterment. He prescribed a broad liberal arts education, which applied to the practical problems of government. Rituals and ceremonies were also important because they conveyed appropriate rules of behavior. |
| What dynasty is Confucianism associated with? | The Han |
| What was Confucianism's central element? | The education system which prepared students for the series of examinations required to gain official positions. |
| What is filial piety? | Honoring one's ancestors or parents. |
| In Confucian thinking, what did family become? | The model of political life |
| In Confucianism, who were generally potential government officials? How could someone else get the education? | Usuallu only young men from wealthy families could afford the education necessary for passing examinations. On occasion, a village could find the resources to sponser someone's son. |
| What provided a modest element of social mobility in China? | The Confucian-based examination system. |
| Under Confucian values, what were the expectations for government? | Emperors should keep taxes low, administer justice, and provide for the material needs of the people. Those who failed to govern by the moral norms forfeited the Mandate of Heaven and invited upheaval and their replacement by another dynasty. |
| What did Confucius say about religion? | He did not deny the reality of gods and spirits, and advised people to participate in rituals. But since we do not fully understand this life, we cannot possibly know anything about the life beyond. |
| What were the main ideas of Confucian teachings? | Human relationships, effective government, and social harmony. . |
| What did the Chinese elite acknowledge about religion. | That magic, the gods, and spirits were necessary for the lower orders of society, and educated people would find them of little help in striving for moral improvement and in establishing a harmounious society. |
| What legendary figure is Daoism asscoiated with, and what is he said to have done? | Laozi. He is said to have wrote a short poetic volume called Daodejing (The Way and Its Power) before vanishing into the wilderness. |
| What philosopher expressed later Daoist ideas, after Laozi? | Zhuangzi |
| How did Daoists feel about education, moral improvement, and a good government? | They ridiculed them as artificial and useless. |
| What did Daoism urge and what was it about? | Withdrawal into the world of nature and spontaneous and individualistic behavior. It was about the immense realm of nature and its mysterious unfolding patterns. |
| What is the central concept of Daoist thinking? What does it mean? | Dao. It is an elusive notion that refers to the way of nature and the underlying and unchanging principle that governs all natural phenomena. |
| What did Daoism want people to do? | Withdraw from the world of political and social activism and disengage from the public life. Align themselves with the way of nature, having simple living, self-sufficient communities, limited government, and abandoning education. |
| How was Daoism regarded by elite Chinese? Why? | As complementing rather than contradicting. It is because of yin and yang, which expressed a belief in the unity of opposites. |
| Could a Confucianist also be a Daoist? | Yes |
| How did Daoism enter popular religion? | People wanted to use the power of the dao for practical uses, which came to include magic, fortune-telling, and the search for immortality. It also provided an ideology for peasant uprisings such as the Yellow Turban Rebellion. |
| What did the peasants in the Yellow Turban Rebellion want? | A utopian society without the oppression of government and landlords. |
| How was Indian religion different from Chinese religion? | In China, they piad little attention to the gods, spirits, and speculation about religious matters. India did. India also did not have a historical founder. |
| What is the Indian religion called? Where did it spread to later? | Hinduism. Southeast Asia. |
| How was Hinduism like Judaism? | It was associated with a particular people and territory, and wasn't a missionary religion seeking converts. |
| Where did the term "Hinduism" derive from? | Outsiders-Greeks, Muslims, and later the British. |
| What are the Vedas? | A collection of poems, hymns, prayers, and rituals in Hinduism. They were the earliest sacred texts and were written by Brahmin priests. |
| What happened to the Brahmins from performing sacrifices and rituals? | They acquired enormous wealth and power, sometimes exceeding that of kings and warriors. |
| Why did Brahmins generate growing criticism? | Their rituals became machanical and formal and they required heavy fees to perform them. |
| Why did the Upanishads come about? | From the dissatisfaction of the wealth and power of the Brahmins. |
| What were the Upanishads? | Another body of sacred texts that sought to probe the inner meaning of the sacrifices prescribed in the Vedas. |
| What is Brahman? | The World Soul, or the final and ultimate reality in Hinduism. |
| What is the atman? | The individual soul, which was a part of the Brahman. |
| What was the final goal in Hinduism? | To achieve union with Brahman. |
| What is moksha? | Union with Brahman, and ending the illiusion of existence. Self freedom. |
| What is samsara? | rebirth/reincarnation |
| What is karma? | Doing pure actions will result in rebirth in a higher caste. |
| How could one achieve moksha? | By knowledge ot study, detaching action in the world, doing one's work without regard to consequences, or having a passionate devotion to some diety or through extended meditation practice. |
| Where did the ideas of how to achieve moksha come from? | Brahmin priests or wandering ascetics who withdrawn from ordinary life to pursue their spiritual development. |
| What religion emerged at about the same time as Hinduism? | Buddhism |
| Who is Siddhartha Guatama? What did he do? | The founder of Buddhism. He set out on a six-year spiritual quest, and achieved enlightenment at 35. He then taught what he had learned and gathered. |
| In Buddhism, what was the central and universal feature of human life? | Experiencing life as imperfect, impermanent, and unsatisfactory. |
| What was the cause of being unhappy with life in Buddhism, and how could people fix it? | Having a desire or craving for individual fulfillment and attachment to the notion of an ego. It could be fixed by living a modest and moral life combined with meditation practice. |
| What could those who followed the Buddhist path expect to achieve? | Nirvana, an indescribable state in which individual identity would be extinguished along with all greed, hatred, and delusion. |
| What happened when a person reached nirvana? | That person would experience an overwhelming serenity, as well as an immense loving-kindness and compassion for all human beings, even in the midst of difficulty. |
| What Hindu elements found their way into Buddhism? | The idea that ordinary life is an illusion, the concepts of karma and rebirth, the goal of overcoming ego, the practice of meditation, and the hope for final release from the cycle of rebirth. |
| How was Buddhism different from Hinduism? | Buddhism rejected the authority of the Brahmins and wasn't interested in speculation about God and the creation of the world. It also challenged the caste system. |
| What was the reasoning for not speculation about God or the creation of the world in Buddhism? | Individuals had to take responsibilty for their own spiritual development with no help from human authorities or supernatural beings. |
| Why did Buudha challenge the caste system? | He felt the neither caste position or gender was a barrier to enlightenment. This possibility was available to everyone. |
| How were women nuns treated in Buddhism? | They were in a seperate order than men, and were subjected to a series of rules that clearly subordinated them to men. |
| Why did thousands of women join the Buddhist order of nuns? | So they could find a degree of freedom and independence unavailable to them in Indian society. They ran their own affiars, were forbidden to do chores, and devoted themselves to the search for awakening. |
| Who did Buddhist teachings in India most appeal to? | Women and lower caste groups. |
| Who gave state support of Buddhism in India that helped it gain a foothold as a distinct tradition seperate from Hinduism? | Ashoka |
| What groups of people were most involved in Theravada Buudhism? | Monks and nuns. |
| What was Theravada Buddhism? | Buddha was portrayed as a wise teacher, not a god. It was more pyschological than relgious, a set of practices rather than beliefs, and gods played little role in the search for enlighenment. Indiviuals had to reach enlighenment on their own. |
| What was Mayhayana Buddhism? | People could have help in reaching enlighenment. Buddha was portrayed as more of a god, and people postponed their own nirvana in order to assist those who were still sufferring. |
| In Mayhayana Buddhism, what were bodhisattvas? | Spiritually developed people who postponed their own entry into nirvana in order to assist those who were still suffering. |
| What is Mayhayana Buddhism called and why? | The Great Vehicle. Everyone could reach enlighenment by acts of piety and devotion. |
| Which form of Buddhism was more popular? | Mayhayana |
| Why did Buddhism decline in India? | Monastries were gaining wealth and the economic interests of their leading figures seperated them from ordinary people. Also competition from Islam and the growth of a new kind of popular Hinduism. |
| What was the new Hinduiam expressed in? | Widely known epic poems known as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. |
| What did the new Hinduism more clearly indicate? | Action in the world and the detached performance of caste duties might also provide a path to liberation. |
| What is the Hindu text Bhagavad Gita? | It tells a story of warrior-hero Arjuna who is upset over killing his kinsmmen. He is assured though, that by performing his duty as a warrior selflessly without regard to consequences would lead to release from rebirth. |
| How could ordinary people in the new Hinduism make spiritual progress? | By selflessly performing the ordinary duties of their lives. |
| What was also becoming extremely prominent at the time of the new Hinduism in India? | Devotion to one or another of India's may gods and goddesses. |
| What is bhakti? | The worhsip of one of India's gods or goddesses. |
| What did the bhakti movement involve in India? | The intense adoration of and identification with a particular deity through songs, prayers, and rituals associated with many emerging cults. |
| Who were the 2 most popular deities in India? | Vishnu, the protector and preserver of creation and associated with mercy and goodness, and Shiva, who represented the devine in its destructive aspect. |
| What was the first of the great universal religions of world history? What happened to it? | Buddhism. It was absorbed into the emerging popular Hinduism. |
| What distinctive monotheistic religions were practiced in the Middle East? | Persian Zoroastrianism and Judaism |
| What 2 religions were the basis for Christianity and Islam? | Zoroastrianism and Judaism |
| Where was Zoroastrianism practiced? | The Persian Empire |
| Who founded Zoroastrianism, and what did he do? | Zarathustra. He was appalled by the endemic violence of cattle raids, so he recast the Persian polytheism into a vision of a single, unique god, Ahura Mazda. |
| Explain Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu? | Ahura ruled the world and was the source of light, truth, and goodness. Angra was evil and got in a struggle with Ahura. Ahura wins, with the aid of a savior who would restore the world to its earlier purity and peace. |
| Who is the good and bad god in Zoroastrianiam? What happened to those who aligned themselves with each? | Ahura Mazda(good) and Angra Mainyu(evil). Those aligning with Ahura were granted new bodies and got eternal life in paradise. Those aligning with Angra were condemned to everlasting punishment. |
| What did Zoroastrian teaching place great emphasis on? | The free will of humankind and the necessity for each individual to choose between good and evil. |
| Why did Zoroastrian religion never spread widely beyond the region? | It never became an active missionary religion. |
| What occured that was disastrous for Zoroastrianism, even though it pulled through? | Alexander the Great's invasion of the Persian Empire and the subsequent Greek-ruled Seleucid dynasty. |
| What other parts of the empire did Zoroastrianism spread to? | Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia. |
| What led to the final decline of Zoroastrianism? | The arrival of the Islam and an Arab empire. |
| Who are the Parsis? | The few believers of Zoroastrianism who fled to India after the decline. They have continued their faith into present times. |
| How is Zoroastrianism like Buddhism? How is it different. | It vanished from its place of origin. It is different because it did not spread beyond Persia in a recognizable form. |
| What elements of Zoroastrianism found its way into Judaism? | The conflict of God and an evil counterpart(Satan), the notion of a last judgement and ressurected bodies, a belief in the final defeat of evil by the arrival of a savior(Messiah), and the remaking of the world at the end of time. |
| What group of people was Judiasm born to? | The Hebrews. |
| What do the traditions recorded in the old testament tell of the Hebrews? | Of an early migration from Mesopotamia to Palestine under Abraham. A portion of these people fled to Egypt, where they were first enslaved and then rejoined Palestine. There they established a small state, which later split in two: Isreal(N) and Judah(S). |
| Who were the tiny Hebrew communities ruled by? Who was Isreal conquered by? | Assyria(conquered Isreal), Babylon, and Persia. |
| What happened when Assyria conquered Isreal? | Many of its inhabitants were deported to distant regions, where they assimilated into the local culture. |
| What happened when Judah came under Babylonian control? | Its elite class was exiled. In Babylon, they began calling themselves Jews and created a religios tradition rather than building a powerfuul empire. |
| Who was the Jew's God, and what was he like? | A masculine figure named Yahweh. He was very powerful and jealous, and demanded their exclusive loyalty. |
| Why was it difficult for the Jews to only worship Yahweh? | They turned from a pastoral life to agriculture, and many of them were continually attracted by the fertility gods of neighboring peoples. Their neighborss goddesses were also attractive. |
| Why was Judaism not quite monotheism? | The repeated demands of the Hebrew prophets to turn away from other gods show that those deities remained real to many Jews. |
| What did Yahweh do in return for the Jews obedience and devotion? | He considered them his chosen people, favoring them in battle, causing them to grow in numbers and bringing them prosperity and blessing. |
| How was Yahweh seen? | As a god of utter holiness and purity, set far above the world of nature, which he had created. |
| What was different about Yahweh than in Daoism and Hinduism? | Yahweh was encountered as a divine person who people could actively communicate with. |
| How was Yahweh transformed? | From a god of war who ordered the destruction of the original inhabitants of the Promised Land, to a god of social justice and compassion for the poor. |
| What 2 religions did Judaism provide the foundation for? | Christianity and Islam |
| What was the set of ideas in Judaism? | Singular, personal, seperate from nature, engaged in history, and demanding social justice and moral righteousness above sacrifices and rituals. |
| How are Greek thinkers different from other civilizations? | They generated no lasting religios tradition of world historical importance. |
| Why did Greek thinking evolve the way it did? | The diversity and incoherence of Greek religious mythology may have presented intellectuals with a challenge to bring some order to their understanding of the world. It's geographic position, and the growing role of law in Athens. |
| What were the defining characteristics of the Creek cultural tradition? | Emphasis on argument, logic, and the relentless questioning of recieved wisdom, its confidence in human reason,and its enthusiasm for puzzling out the world without much reference to the gods. |
| What was Greek thinking about? | Asking questions. |
| What Greek philosophers taught who? | Socrates taught Plato, Plato taught Aristotle, Aristotle taught Alexander the Great. |
| Who was Socrates? | An Athenian philosopher who wrote nothing and constantly questioned the assumptions and logic of his students. He urged the pursuit of wisdom and virtue instead of wealth and living well. |
| Why was Socrated sentenced to death? | He was critical of Athenian governemtn and sometimes said nice things about Sparts, the enemy of his city. |
| What did many Greek thinkers apply the rational and questioning way of knowing to? | Nature. |
| What did the Greek philosopher Thales do? | Predicted an eclipse of the sun and said the moon reflected the sun's light. He also came up with the idea that water was the basic stuff from which all else derived, for it existed as a solid, liquid, and gas. |
| What did the Greek philosopher Democritus do? | Suggested that atoms, tiny particles, collided in various configurations to form visible matter. |
| What did the Greek philosopher Pythagoras do? | Believed that beneath the chaos and complexity of the visible world lay a simple, unchanging, mathematical order. |
| What did Greek thinkers have in common? | A commitment to a rational and nonreligious explanation for the material world. |
| Who is the Greek thinker Hippocrates? | He came to believe that the body was composed of 4 fluids , when, out of balance, caused various ailments. He also traced to origins of epilepsy to heredity. The Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors is named after him. |
| Who is the Greek thinker Herodotus? | He wrote about the Greco-Persian wars, and came up with the assumption that human reasons lay behind the conflict, not simply the whims os the gods. |
| Who was the Greek philosopher Plato? | Made a design for a good society in the The Republic. It would be led by educated guardians ruled by a philosopher-king. They would be able to grasp a world in which goodness, beauty, and justice prevailed. These were the only people fit to rule. |
| Who is the Greek thinker Aristotle? | He catalogued the constitutions of 158 Greek city-states, identified hundreds of animals, wrote about logic, physics, astronomy, weather, and reflected on ethics. |
| How did Aristotle see virtue and a god government? | Virtue was a product of training and habit and could be learned. Government should be a mixed system , combining the principles of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. |
| Why was rationalism not the whole of Greek culture? | The gods of Mount Olympus continued to be a reality for many, and the death of Socrates showed that philosohpy could be a threat. |
| Who is the Greek thinker Herodotus? | He wrote about the Greco-Persian wars, and came up with the assumption that human reasons lay behind the conflict, not simply the whims os the gods. |
| Who was the Greek philosopher Plato? | Made a design for a good society in the The Republic. It would be led by educated guardians ruled by a philosopher-king. They would be able to grasp a world in which goodness, beauty, and justice prevailed. These were the only people fit to rule. |
| Who is the Greek thinker Aristotle? | He catalogued the constitutions of 158 Greek city-states, identified hundreds of animals, wrote about logic, physics, astronomy, weather, and reflected on ethics. |
| What was classical scholarship neglected in favor for? | Christian writers. |
| How did Aristotle see virtue and a god government? | Virtue was a product of training and habit and could be learned. Government should be a mixed system , combining the principles of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. |
| What did Greek legacy play a role in? | Formulating an updated Christian theology, fostering Europe's Scientific Revolution, and providing a point of departure for much of European philosophy. |
| Why was rationalism not the whole of Greek culture? | The gods of Mount Olympus continued to be a reality for many, and the death of Socrates showed that philosohpy could be a threat. |
| When was much of the Greek legacy rediscovered? | After the 12the century when European scholars gained access to classical Greek texts. |
| How did Rome interact with Greek culture? | It helped spread the culture within the Mediterranean basin, and some Roman figures sent their children to be educated in Athens at the academy Plato founded. |
| What did Greek legacy enter long before the European rediscovery? | Islamic culture |
| What was classical scholarship neglected in favor for? | Christian writers. |
| What did Greek legacy play a role in? | Formulating an updated Christian theology, fostering Europe's Scientific Revolution, and providing a point of departure for much of European philosophy. |
| When was much of the Greek legacy rediscovered? | After the 12the century when European scholars gained access to classical Greek texts. |
| What did Greek legacy enter long before the European rediscovery? | Islamic culture |
| How were Jesus and Buddha similar? | Both were wisdom teachers who challenged the conventional values of their time. They urged rejection of wealth and emphasized love and compassion ad the basis for a moral life and called for personal transformation of followers by letting go of suffering |
| What about Jesus was different from Buddha/Guatama? | He had an intense devotionon one God and performed miracles. He had alower class background, had a brief public life, and was crucified. He also spoke more on the behalf of the poor and oppressed. |
| What about Guatama was different from Jesus? | His message ignored the supernatural, involved no miracles, and tuaght a path of intense self-effort aimed at ethical living to end suffering. Buddha had a publc life of 40 years, and died of natural causes. |
| What did both Buddha and Jesus never have any intentions of doing? | Founding a new religion. |
| What were Jesus and Buddha transformed into by their followers? | Gods. Both said anyone could follow what they did. |
| Who is Saint Paul? | An early convert whose missionary journeys in the eastern Roman Empire led to the founding of small Christian communities than included non-jews. He helped it become a world religion. |
| Who is the Greek thinker Herodotus? | He wrote about the Greco-Persian wars, and came up with the assumption that human reasons lay behind the conflict, not simply the whims os the gods. |
| Who was the Greek philosopher Plato? | Made a design for a good society in the The Republic. It would be led by educated guardians ruled by a philosopher-king. They would be able to grasp a world in which goodness, beauty, and justice prevailed. These were the only people fit to rule. |
| Who is the Greek thinker Aristotle? | He catalogued the constitutions of 158 Greek city-states, identified hundreds of animals, wrote about logic, physics, astronomy, weather, and reflected on ethics. |
| How did Aristotle see virtue and a god government? | Virtue was a product of training and habit and could be learned. Government should be a mixed system , combining the principles of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. |
| Why was rationalism not the whole of Greek culture? | The gods of Mount Olympus continued to be a reality for many, and the death of Socrates showed that philosohpy could be a threat. |
| How did Rome interact with Greek culture? | It helped spread the culture within the Mediterranean basin, and some Roman figures sent their children to be educated in Athens at the academy Plato founded. |
| What was classical scholarship neglected in favor for? | Christian writers. |
| What did Greek legacy play a role in? | Formulating an updated Christian theology, fostering Europe's Scientific Revolution, and providing a point of departure for much of European philosophy. |
| When was much of the Greek legacy rediscovered? | After the 12the century when European scholars gained access to classical Greek texts. |
| What did Greek legacy enter long before the European rediscovery? | Islamic culture |
| How were Jesus and Buddha similar? | Both were wisdom teachers who challenged the conventional values of their time. They urged rejection of wealth and emphasized love and compassion ad the basis for a moral life and called for personal transformation of followers by letting go of suffering |
| What about Jesus was different from Buddha/Guatama? | He had an intense devotionon one God and performed miracles. He had alower class background, had a brief public life, and was crucified. He also spoke more on the behalf of the poor and oppressed. |
| What about Guatama was different from Jesus? | His message ignored the supernatural, involved no miracles, and tuaght a path of intense self-effort aimed at ethical living to end suffering. Buddha had a publc life of 40 years, and died of natural causes. |
| What did both Buddha and Jesus never have any intentions of doing? | Founding a new religion. |
| What were Jesus and Buddha transformed into by their followers? | Gods. Both said anyone could follow what they did. |
| Who is Saint Paul? | An early convert whose missionary journeys in the eastern Roman Empire led to the founding of small Christian communities than included non-jews. He helped it become a world religion. |
| What did early Christianity reflect, like Buddhism? | Prevailing patriarchal values. |
| Who were usually the earliest converts to early Christianity? | Lower-stratum people-artisans, traders, and many women. |
| What accompanied the spread of the Christian faith? | Reports of miracles, healings, and the casting out of demons. Also the way members cared for one another. |
| Why was Christianity persecuted in the Roman World? | It was monotheistic, and their denial of other gods caused them to be called atheists. |
| What ended the persecution of Christianity in Rome? | Emperor Constantine's conversion and growing levels of state support. |
| Why did Constantine convert to Christianity? | The Romans started killing Christians. He saw a red sky in the cross and decided to covert. |
| What did Roman rulers use Christianity for? | To hold together a diverse population in a weakening imperial state. |
| What did emperor Theodosius do? | Enforced a ban on all polytheistic ritual sacrifices and ordered their temples closed. Christians were rewarded, and it became the official state religion. |
| Where did Christianity also find a home, other than Rome and Europe? | Parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. |
| How was the establishment of Buddhism different from that of Christianity? | Buddhism was never promoted to exclude other faiths, and harmony was sought through religous tolerance rather than uniformity. It also died out and was absorbed into Hinduism. |
| What elements did Christianity adopt from the Roman world? | The cult of saints and the dating of the birth of Jesus to the winter solstice. |
| As Christianity spread within the Roman Empire and beyond, what did it develop? | A hierarchial organization, with males dominating. |
| Why was Christianity divided into the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox? | The bishop of Rome gradually emerged as the dominant leader, or pope,in the west but his role wasn't recognized in the east. |
| What did doctrinal differences do to churches? | Had them in frequent controversy about the nature of Jesus. |
| Who are anathemas? | Those who disagreed with the church and were expelled. |
| What was Buddha's practice of metta? | Loving-kindness |
| How were conflicts in Buddhism different than those in Christianity? | Relgious differences in Buddhism seldom gave way to violence, and it didn't develop a religious hierarchy. |