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Showing posts from February, 2013

ISRP 2/26

Fill out this sheet throughout the course of class. Mudras: Hand signs that people make in Buddhist art to show various attributes they have. Explained here. Presentation on Buddhist art. Homework is to read this and also this , then type a paragraph response with thoughts, ideas, and questions. Bring that typed paragraph to class next Tuesday, March 5.

ISRP 2/19

Presentation  from class (in case you missed it due to absence or deficient attention). For homework, students are to watch this video: Watch Teachings, part 3 on PBS. See more from The Buddha.  and also this video:  Together the videos are around 5 minutes, so please, no whining!

ISRP February 5

Is there anything you want more of from this class? Suggestions were given in class, but if you feel that you didn't get a chance, then email me. I then tried to transition from philosophy to religion by pointing out that while philosophy attempts to answer the questions "what is right?" and "what is real?," religion definitively answers them. Without defining religion, I claimed that two important components of it are: required beliefs, called "dogma" (more or less, these are taken to be axioms), and shared stories and rituals, that is, a culture. For example, the Christian faith has various dogmata, such as: the Bible is the word of God, Jesus was the son of God, Jesus rose from the grave, etc. These are required beliefs. However, examining these required beliefs, one would never come up with the Easter Bunny or Easter egg hunts; these rituals, though part of the faith as it is practiced today, are separate from the dogma. We discuss

ISRP January 29

In bullet points: Attendance What are you greatful for? Hand back midterms - retakes Thursday at lunch. What does the word "good" mean?  What does it mean when applied to people? Write your own moral dilemma. Sam showed students their grades in the class.