The Sayings of Jesus

Jesus had many sayings in his day that strongly expressed his purpose and desires on Earth. A particular quote from Jesus that I favor is “Turn the Other Cheek.” From my understanding Jesus is trying to change the common peoples way of thinking, which at the time, focused more on feeding one's thirst for revenge towards others wrong doings. So as an opposition to the “An eye for an eye” way of life, Jesus purposed the “Turn the other Check” idea. In cases were one would find it tempting to return an immoral or unjust act, whether it be steeling from someone who stole from you or as said by Jesus, “…if anyone strikes you on the right cheek”, try not returning the unwelcomed favor and instead prove to that person that the spiteful act they committed upon you, in no way affected you. By allowing someone to strike your cheek and then turning and allow them to strike the other, you not only belittle their actions but in doing so you force them to look towards another way of resolving problems. Clearly force of action is the unjust way of solving a problem because it often involves the degradation of another being. Therefore, the act of turning the other cheek, forces the offender to look for another way of solving their issues, eventually influencing them to think of a more positive way of problem solving.  


My mother is a great supporter of this powerful quote. As a young urban child I often found myself in fights with other kids my age because of the cruel things some would say to me. In retaliation I would often verbally and physically respond which put me in altercations that led to school suspensions. My mother would often tell me not to respond to such immature behaviors from my fellow classmates, but the natural urge within me to retaliate often overcame my abilities to ignore such. Now that I am in my second year of collage I have come to the realization that perhaps my mother was right. Over the years I have been able to gain more control of my emotions and have experienced situations in which avoiding certain incidents prevents their escalation. When a person continuously bothers you, try not paying attention, because it is the response to ignorance that fuels it. Eventually, whoever it is that is bothering you will get tiered and often goes away.

I have personally found this to be a great solution to verbal abuse. However, I cannot say the same about physical abuse. This form of abuse makes it a lot more difficult because it involves physical pain which more often than not can be quite challenging to do. Not to say that it is impossible, it just requires a higher level of mind control which unless trained for is easier said than done. Nonetheless, this is the message Jesus was trying to send. We as humans have the power to control our nature and that is what makes use a truly special species.  
 

The Favored Children of God

The idea that Jewish people consider themselves to be the "chosen" people of the Lord does not come out of the blue. There are textual writings in the Tanakh (Jewish Bible) that imply a favoritism of the Jewish race amongst all other races. This is primarily evident in the sacred text of the Torah Nevi’im and Ketuvim, which incorporate scriptural writings of Jewish transcendentalists. One of the many stories that sustain the idea of the Jewish people being the “chosen” ones is the story of Moses. The sacred text of the Torah explains how God used Moses, a common shepherd, to aid him in the liberation of his people the Israelites from the inhuman bondage of the Egyptian empire. Before this time God made a pact with the fore fathers of the Israelites promising to take care of the Jewish people and watch over them as long as they maintained their glorification of the one and only Lord. This covenant had not been kept by the Jewish people nevertheless, the Lord was optimistic. He would once again reestablish his name amongst the Israelites and would take advantage of this time of suffering to prove his power and once again instill their belief in God as their one and only all powerful Lord. This covenant is an indication of God’s special relationship with the Israelites and his strong devotion in steering them towards a righteous path. The covenant God made with the Israelites after their liberation from Egypt, was the third covenant God made with these people. This demonstrates God’s persistence and most importantly unwillingness to give up on the Israelites.  This leads many Jewish people to believe that they indeed are the “chosen” people of God because why else would the all mighty Lord devote so much effort in people who consistently defied Him.          

Confucianism VS Taoism



Confucianism and Taoism are composed of the belief that heaven and earth both coexist on the same playing field. That such an ultimate existence does not necessarily lye in a place, but rather within humanity itself. Confucius’ purpose was primarily to instill order within his neighboring states and ultimately the whole world. He believed that if human beings acknowledged the fact that one should act in a proper fashion despite ones natural instincts, it would be possible to create a habit of proper conduct. Confucius believed that an efficient way of instilling such etiquette would be to pass down old traditions carried out from an era in which selfish acts were never of concern. That through traditional teachings from one generation to the next, proper values can be used as the foundation for cultivating a civilized society. Ultimately Confucianism consisted of reforming an uncivilized society as a whole and noticing how each individual has an important impact on how society is reformed. Taoism on the other hand worked on a more independent level. Taoists focused on developing oneself and allowing nature to take its course. It emphasized that through natural action the truest form of humanity could be achieved. Taoist believed that through natural action things would naturally rectify themselves. This does make sense if one were to examine the fact that when problems exist it is in human nature to want to find a solution towards correcting the problem.  Through this idea came the Taoist’s incorporation of the Ying and the Yang symbol. This symbol would represent natures desire to create balance despite the cause of the imbalance.        

Yang and Yang
Natural Balance



Hinduism and its foundation for Buddhism

The idea that all was created from the body parts of Purusha or “The One”, who was believed to be the greatest of all divine powers, influenced the belief that all living things were born into a specific rank. This ranking system is known as castes, in which the feet of Purusha created all living things that are considered servants or Shudras, its thighs created the householder population or the Vaishya. Following, came the sacrifice of Purusha’s arms which in turn created the Kshatriya or the warrior rank, and finally the Brahmins which were considered the highest of all the ranks and were created from Purusga’s mouth. These ranks were said to be determined depending on your previous life and if one lived there previous life properly or as the Hindu religion saw life to be lived, than one would rise in rank until ultimately reaching the goal. Hinduism’s belief in samsara or the endless cycle of life, death, and reincarnation is the problem that the Hindu religion seeks to solve. Its goal is to reach ones inner spiritual being and reuniting once again with Purusha, never again to deal the tediousness of samsara’s clench of the spirit within. This is known as moksha.

Ascetic (pic info)

            Reaching moksha being the ultimate goal, has lead to the belief of three primary paths that one can take in order to achieve such liberation. Given your circumstances you may choose to either go with Karma Yoga, which through good actions will spring you from samsara. You may also choose the way of devotion known as Bhakti Yoga. Finally u may choose the path of knowledge known to be Jnana Yoga. This particular path required intense seclusion from society and all that is dear to the common man including family. Those who chose the path of Jnana yoga would be known as ascetics. Their practice aside from withdrawal from society was to achieve a deeper level of knowledge and wisdom, and to realize that what we see is an illusion of the mind or maya.  This new level of knowledge would lead towards the compilation of the Upanishads and guide these ascetics towards moksha. The rigorousness of Asceticism for many is nearly impossible, it requires complete lose of all senses leave no room what so ever for distractions. This in turn would allow one to reach full concentration and begin to ponder upon unanswerable questions and seek what is truly real.

            Hinduism is the foundation upon which Buddhism was built. For this reason Buddhism has many characteristics of its mother religion, Hinduism which influenced its structure. According to Huston Smith’s book “The World’s Religion” the way of Buddha or dhamma was formed as a change in what was thought to be unnatural or abnormal about Hinduism. That many of the Hindu religion’s rituals, authorities, and other attributes where being taken advantage of by those few who felt were in power. For example, Buddha’s site of the exclusion that the Brahmins, from the Hindu religion, had invoked upon those who were ranked lower than their own caste provoked Buddha to preach about how the way of Buddha was open to all. He made sure that there was no exception to his religion that all may come and be received with open arms. Opposite of what the Hindu religion was becoming during his time. He also pushed forth the idea that there is no need to force oneself to a life of religious rites and ceremonies. That such acts actually further constricted the human spirit. These are only a couple of the attributes from the Hindu religion that Buddha used to inform his religion of dhamma.

In the article “What did Jesus Mean by ‘Judge Not’?” written by Skye Jethani, it explains how the quote, “Judge not, and you will not be judged? “Is frequently misinterpreted and used in a way that is the complete opposite of what it originally was intended to imply. According to Jethani, circumstances in which Jesus spoke these words indicate that he was trying to prevent people from judging and castrating other people as human beings. The significance of Jesus’ quote was to judge and disagree upon a person’s ideas not who they are. Unfortunately, given the time period in which these words were uttered caused for such a quote be taken in a more literal and inhuman way. For example, segregation between blacks and whites, or the Jewish belief that if one was not Jewish and doesn’t not follow their religious believes, that one is condemned. Overall, the idea that many Christians have, concerning Jesus’ judgment quote in the Bible (Luke 6:37) is more contradictory than anything else.

I personally could not agree more, given the facts that were presented in this article. Despite the fact that am not too familiar with the context within the Bible, it is easy to see the contradiction and misinterpretation of what Jesus, a man said to have sacrificed himself for all of mankind, meant and what his followers believe he meant. The fact that words can easily be taken out of context and be misconstrued in a way that implies the reciprocal of what was intended boggles my mind. Especially when looking back at all the injustice and suffrage that has happened because of it.  

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First Time For Everything

How’s it going bloggers, this is my first blog; ever. I am currently a college student and as a result my World Religions class is requiring me to blog about religious ideas, articles I’ve read, and anything else that is religion related. Aside from this course being a requirement, I chose this course because religion has never been a big part of my life and there for I don’t know much about any specific religion at all. I also feel that religion is a major topic of the world and is the reason behind many epic events that have occurred on this planet. Over all through these blogs I hope to inspire others to have an open mind about religious opinions and gain an interest in its art. ENJOY!

Fill it with something new and interesting.