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Introduction

Welcome to Sculpting Humanity! I’ll be using this as a space to voice my understanding of topics covered in my East Asian Humanities course in the Fall of 2021. This is my first blog so this will be a journey in many ways. 

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Zen Buddhism in Japan: A Tale of Two Schools

Zen Buddhism is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China, as Chan Buddhism. Zen focuses on spiritual practice and the use of self-discipline, mindfulness, meditation ( zazen ), and dedication to understanding one's own "Buddha nature", in the hopes of attaining enlightenment. In the thirteenth century Zen Buddhism became deeply rooted in Japan and, as with Chan Buddhism, would develop into two main schools: Rinzai and Soto. Despite being distinct schools "Rinzai and Soto were not so much antagonistic rivals as they were different alternatives." (Bresnan 497) Springing from the same root stock these branches of Zen differ in ways that would appeal to different audiences in thirteenth century Japan, perhaps explaining the lack of antagonism. The fundamental differences between Rinzai and Soto includes the social class they appealed to when they became established in Japan and; more importantly, their specific meditative practices and how these practi...
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The Legacy of Tara - Goddess of Compassion

 As a part of my Humanities journey, I found myself combing through the virtual galleries of a number of museums, searching for a piece of art that piqued my curiosity. My search ended in The British Library with the picture of a bronze and gold statue of Tara, Goddess of Mercy and Compassion.  Figure of the goddess Tara found in The British Museum While the artist is unknown, the statue was found on the east coast of Sri Lanka and dates back to 700-750 CE. At 143 centimeters (4 feet, 7 inches) the statue is nearly life-size and is cast in one piece of solid bronze and gilded in gold. It's also believed that the eyes and hair were once inlaid with gems.  This piece struck me since I had never heard of the goddess Tara (who appears in the Buddhism and Hinduism) and I haven't spent much time learning about female bodhisattvas, which some believe Tara to be. So, I decided to do some research about this piece to understand what the piece represents, how it reflects the time/l...
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The Bhagavad Gita

       The Bhagavad Gita (also referred to as the Gita ) is an incredible piece of Hindu scripture. Consisting of 700 verses, the Gita is a small piece of a the much larger, 200,000 verse epic,  Mahabharata . There is no consensus as to the authorship of the Gita , some attribute the piece to the sage Vyasa (also Veda Vyasa) who is a key character in the Mahabharata. The dating is estimated anywhere between the 5th and 2nd century CE, depending if one believes the Gita was written at the same time as the Mahabharata  or written after and inserted into the larger text. In this post I'll be focusing on the Gita, providing a brief synopsis, my reactions, and a case for why you should consider reading it, if you haven't already. For those of you interested in the Mahabharata,  here's a video (the first in a series) to help introduce you to the massive epic.      The Bhagavad Gita presents itself as a conversation between Arjuna and his chari...
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