HIST 107 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Santa Barbara City College, Mahayana, Pure Land
Document Summary
Cross cultural boundaries (has to be applicable in other paradigms) The values of a culture have to feel familiar, not super weird. Take one idea and another and say they"re pretty similar (like how nirvana and moksha are pretty similar and nonaction in daoism) Patterns of expansion bring physical goods and ideas. All have these in common these 3 main things. Top-down: comes from elites to the peasants. Merchant diaspora: from the middle, spreading through networks as merchants. Bottom up: from the more downtrodden people spreading up to elites. Bodhisattvas: people with so much kharma that they"re about to get to. Nirvana, but don"t go so they can help other people. Devote yourself to personal worship of them so you can go to. Makes this easier for people who can"t be monks. Transferred by silk road merchants (they like the bodhisattva idea) Chant his name and you"re born into nirvana.
