RELS 1506 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Indus River, Mahayana

• School: University of Iowa
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RELS 1506
• Professor: Kalzang Bhutia

Document Summary

India and nepal 1st come to mind: pakistan. In ancient times, also afghanistan (1st century bc) Ganges (gangic) valley where: vedic/brahminic traditions originated. Civ of asia started around indus river (u p) uttar pradesh and bihar: where center, where tradition started. Born in comfort and privilege: disillusioned after witnessing suffering. 6 years later, under bodhi tree he had (cid:862)ulti(cid:373)ate awake(cid:374)i(cid:374)g(cid:863) to truth of sufferi(cid:374)g: called buddha, or enlightened one. Buddha not just a name, but a title. Buddha refers to enlightened teacher: took place in gengenic valley. Buddhism traveled along trade routes through south asia: gaya=ancient city: where siddhartha meditated for 6 years. 3 main traditions of buddhism: theravada: spread to sri lanka, mahayana: spread to china, korea, japan and vietnam, vajrayana/tantric: spread to malaysia. Ti(cid:373)e period we"re fo(cid:272)usi(cid:374)g o(cid:374)=5th-6th century bce: actual spread of buddhism. This spread originally was under the reign of king ashoka: ashoka= patron of buddhism, sent missionaries. Places like sri lanka, se asia, indonesia.