“l’age pivotal” or the axial age or great revolutions in thought and religion 1000 bce – 350...
TRANSCRIPT
“L’Age Pivotal”or The Axial Age
or Great Revolutions in Thought and Religion
1000BCE – 350BCE
Comparative Essay
• Compare how political turmoil led to intellectual and cultural creativity, during the period 1000 to 350 BCE in East Asia and South Asia
The World, c. 500 BCE
Most revolutions in thought occurred near one of the four river valley societies.
Mesopotamia
Yellow River (Huang He)
Nile
Indus
The Greeks & their mates
Generalizations
• Fringe regions develop on the borders of the river basin hearths
• Thinkers, teachers, prophets emerge from a world at war
• New types of political & social organizations emerge
• Cultural ideas develop into cultural identities• “Second Generation” societies
– Built on predecessors - tended to keep many original traditions
Commonalities of GREAT Revolutions• Sanctified (Made Holy):
– Time: sacred calendar, rituals, events like marriage
– Space: shrines, pilgrimage sites– Language and literature; Sanskrit,
Tripitaka, Torah– Art: art and music used to inspire religious
feelings– Organization: membership makes you
accepted
CRISIS• Each Revolution in Thought occurred at a time
of crisis– Iron tools made armies more powerful– Old societies disintegrating
• China - Period of Warring States– Zhou regime fractured– Huge competing Chinese armies– Population rising
• India – Invasion!– Aryans moved into India assimilating much of native
population• Greece – Unrest/search for meaning
– Unsatisfying religion– Warring city states
"We're surrounded. That simplifies the problem!"
Case Study I: China
New Ideas Emerge - “The Hundred Masters”
• Confucius (Kong Fuzi)- Confucianism
– Searches for clues to good governance– Government by junzi (superior man)
• Laozi - Daoism
– Follow the order of nature, do nothing
• Xunzi – Legalism
– Men & women are innately bad– Need for strong authoritarian rule
• Scholars were bureaucrats & not free thinkers as in Greece & South Asia
A person is born with a liking for
profit
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and
is not intent on arriving
Respect yourself and others will
respect you
Kong Fuzi
Laozi
Xunzi
Case Study II: South Asia
• The Vedas - collections of songs and prayers, most important is the Rig Veda
• The Vedas are a priestly perspective (priests would be interested in maintaining the status quo and their own high positions in society(POV)
Aryan Invasions
• Aryans spread from Indus Valley to Ganges Plain
• Raj- kingdoms- emerged– Ruled by Kshatriyas– Some are oligarchies
• Aryan oral traditions is finally preserved using Sanskrit and Prakrit
Hinduism• Aryan and Dravidian beliefs fused to create Hindu
religion• Very defined social order created stability• Occupation defined role (Varna)
– Priests and Teachers– Warriors and Nobles– Farmers, Artisans and Merchants– Landless Peasants and Serfs
• Jati - sub-castes, occupationally related• Untouchables are added later (outcastes)• Upward mobility impossible• Foreigners are absorbed into the caste system-
stability
Written alphabet challenged hegemony of BrahmansUpanishads “sitting down near”
Discussions about the universe
Gender in Vedic Society
• Patriarchal
• Women have no public authority
• Women explicitly under men’s control
• Law Book of Manu - confirms second class status of women
• Sati recommended
New Ideas Emerge• Jainism - developed from Hinduism
– Mahavira – meaning "great hero" • He was the last of 24 prophets, who taught Jainism
– Ascetic• You can achieve liberation of your soul through
meditation and self-denial• All living things have an immortal soul – step on no
ant!
– Not possible for peasants– Popular with traders
BuddhismFounded by Siddhartha Gautama– Four Truths
• Suffering exists• Suffering arises from attachment to desire• Suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases• Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path
– Must follow “Noble Eightfold Path”• Right understanding, intent, speech, action, livelihood, effort,
mindfulness, concentration
– People are caught in a cycle of death and rebirth
– There’s no place for the supernatural– Patronized by urban merchants
Better than a thousand hollow words, is one
word that brings peace.
It is better to travel well than
to arrive All living beings long to live.
No one wants to die
Non-violence is the highest religion
• Don’t forget the Greeks! We won’t!
Comparative Essay
• Compare how political turmoil led to intellectual and cultural creativity, during the period 100 to 350 BCE in East Asia and South Asia