A Temple That Lives With Nature

                   
      Bronze Goat Daoist Temple is one of the most famous Doist temples in China. It is located in the northwest part of Chengdu, in Sichuan Province. It was built in Dynasty Tang which was a time period that Daoism was flourishing over China. In this temple many important exhibits of Daoist culture are on display such as scriptures,sculptures,artwork. It's believed that temples are the places to observe Dao, the way. Ultimately this temple was built in the middle of nature to represent the beliefs and habits of Daoist people. They live in the middle of nature, isolated and try to harmonize with the environment around them.

Refer To Gain Strength

Analects

     The Analects is the collection of sayings and ideas of Confucius and was put together by his students after he died. It has achieved its final form during the mid Han dynasty. Statues and the value of the Analects grew by the end of this time period that it could be valued more than the 5 Classics, which represented basic Chinese values. Analects have been one of the most widely read and studied books of China for the last 2,000 years and continues to have values today. People who followed Confucius could always turn back and refer to this text over and over again to strengthen their knowledge about the philosophy and their beliefs.

Confucius Believes

   
      This is Confucius, China's most influential scholar and the founder of Confucianism which helped and inspired China during the Han, Tang and Song dynasties. He lived in a time period where many states were fighting wars in China. This period was called the Spring and Autumn period of Zhou dynasty. He did not like the society and the government at that time and he wanted to bring order. Confucius was influenced by 5 books that reflected basic Chinese values that helped him develop his beliefs. He believed that social order, harmony and good government could be restored in China if society were organized around relationships and respect.

Settling The Mind

    Buddhist monks explain the importance of meditation in this video. According to Buddhism meditation makes a human being get closer to enlightenment and nirvana, the release of the soul. Buddha himself had to meditate to be an enlightenment being and to learn about life. It's not only important for getting closer to nirvana and enlightenment but also to settle your mind,getting rid of anger,temper,jealousy. Buddhism is going through the emotions that disturb you and trying to get rid of them so that it will bring joy. Also Meditation is the only medicine for mind like how it was mentioned in the video. Of course it's is not the only way to reach the goal. Some Buddhists have different practices, for instance listening to mantras (sacred sounds), performing mudras (making hand gestures and symbols),etc. Finally many people around the world meditate in order to have positive emotions and to settle the mind, it has gone global by spreading around the world with people interactions and media.

Everything Complements Each Other

Yin and Yang is one of the most famous symbols in the world with no doubt. It's believed that the two energy of yin yang make up the universe and are the basis of Chinese medicine. Obviously the main question about it is that how can it be a religious practice? here's how. The birth place of yin and yang is actually from the Chinese philosophy called Daoism. Daoism is the philosophy which a person should harmonize with nature by creating a balance and understanding yin yang, this reason Daoists practice on it during their whole life, some by meditating, some by doing yoga and some by doing diet. The thing that they're trying to understand, accept and perform about the yin yang is that everything about nature is balanced and relative to another, they all rise from the common source Dao,which is the way. Yang is characterized as creative, assertive,positive, and light, while yin is receptive, yielding,negative and dark. They are complementry even tough sound like opposite. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, for instance shadow can not exist without light. Lastly, the reason that yin and yang is famous all around the world is that it draws attention by the depth meaning of it and people eventually learn it when they interact with different cultures.

That Cliff Looks Like a Buddha!

Leshan Giant Buddha

   Without a shadow of a doubt this is the most amazing Buddha statue in the whole world! Leshan Giant Buddha is carved out of a cliff face in Sichuan, western China. Thousands of workers and sculptures worked on it and it took almost a century to complete (713-803). The sculpture stands above 233 feet and has 11 feet fingers on each of its enormous hands!!Both the statue and the area that it takes place (Maunt Emei Scenic Area) had been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. Ultimately Buddha is the main element for Buddhists and they carry out their beliefs to art by making statues and carving to remind their goal in this life.  

The Light Source

Tripitaka texts

             Tripitaka is the collection of main religious texts in Buddhism. Tripitaka means "Three Baskets" referring to the three categories of it: Sutras, Abhidharma, Vinaya. Each one has their own main idea and they make up the Buddhist canons. Sutras involve descriptions and parables of Buddha which may lead the reader to enlightenment. Abhidharma involves philosophical and physiological discourse and interpretation of Buddhist doctrine. Lastly Vinaya contain rules and regulations for monastic life. Ultimatly these texts help Buddhists finding their way to reach enlightenment and nirvana,which is the main goal. 

                                        

                                                  

                   

The Enlightened One

The Buddha

This is the Buddha, first human being to reach enlightenment. Budha is reffered as Siddharta Guatama which is the founder of Buddhism. When he was a kid, Siddharta's mother saw a dream that a child will be born which destined to become the greatest ruler or an enlightenment being. The destined child was prince Siddharta. His father, the king wanted him to be the greatest ruler, so he didn't want his child to go out and see the world,the pain and the suffering.One day when Siddharta was walking around the palace he saw an old man, a sick man and a dying man. Eventually he realized the suffering in the world and wondered why. He left the palace to seek answers to his questions and after 40 years of meditation, pain, fasting he got his answers and reached enlightenment. He showed the way for others and after he was dead he got worshiped by his followers which are the Buddhists.

Setting The Way

  

    
     Early Buddism remained centered on the Ganges Valley and spreaded gradually from it's ancient heartland India. This is the 1st Buddhist council which was formed after the death of Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. The objective was to record all Buddha's teachings in to the doctrinal teachings as known as Dharma, and to settle certain disciplinary problems and to establish the main rules of the new religion. It was the first time that the religion Buddhism was formally written and established, after this the religion would evolve and eventually spread out thru the world. This historical first council become known as Pancasatika because 500 hundred fully enlightened monks had taken part in it. There were two councils overall and after those the members become known as Sangha which is the Buddist community of monks,nuns,novices and laity. Sangha is one of the "Three Jewels" of Buddhism. 

Taking Bath To Purify

Ganges River

    Water is considered purifier in many religions and Hinduism could be one of the biggest example. The picture as shown is a scene from the Ganges River, the sacred water for Hindus and which is personified as goddess known as Ganga. It is believed that bathing in the river makes the soul get closer to the liberation of rebirth, moksha,which is the salvation of the soul ,and washes away sins. Even sacred statues of deities are bathed in the Ganges after being first created. Now the river hosts for thousands of Hindus every single day who are bathing, drinking, chanting it's name and praying. However scientists found out that the water of Ganges River is not clean and contains many harmful bacteria. Many people are getting sick but they never will stop using it since they believe in, this way they were able to advertise to the world how important the river is for them and how strong their beliefs are.

The Holy Temple

                                                  

                  

        

This is the Meenakshi Amman Temple in  the temple city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. The temple receives an annual revenue of sixty million with 15,000 visitors a day and  25,000 on Fridays. The temple is 51.9 meters (170ft) high and at least 600 years old. There are an estimated 33,000 sculptures in it and amazes a person every single time with thousands upon thousands of stone figures at it's exterior, you can check out more images from this site: lhttp://www.kuriositas.com/2013/03/meenakshi-amman-temple-indias-dazzling.html.  Meenakshi is an avatar of Hindu goddess Pravati which is Shiva's wife(Shiva is on of the main god and he's the destroyer). She is on of the few female deities to have major temple devoted to. This temple reminds Hindu people about their gods and they come here to worship.

The Key To Spirituality

An early script from 19th century.

 Upanishads are the holy Hindu scriptures which are used as a guide to free souls from reincarnation.

The purpose of it was to interpret and explain the hidden meanings of Vedas which form the main holy texts of Hinduism. Upanishad means "sit down with" master to learn about the Atman(soul) so it's written as a dialogue between a teacher and a student. In the course of dialogues, the two explore how a person can achieve liberation from desires and suffering, which is described as moksha. Upanishads lead to the evolution of many basic Hindu beliefs like karma,dharma,moksha,Brahman... Many people around the world appreciate the text and the depth meaning of it. German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, impressed by the Upanishads, calls the texts "the production of the highest human wisdom".

The God Of Protection

The picture above is one of the most important Hindu god, Vishnu. He is the one who protects and incarnates, meaning that comes to the world with different appearances. He gets worshiped by a lot of  Hindus and maintain a lot of  temples. In the picture he is holding four objects and they all represent Vishnu's responsibilities. First object is a conch and it's sound symbolize the sound of creation. The second one is chakra or discuss and stands for the mind. Third one is a lotus flower, it shows his glory and liberation. Lastly, the fourth one is a mace which represents mental and physical strength.

New Guests, New Religion

Aryans migrating to India

       Aryans, which are the Indo European people crossed the Indus River Valley and settled into India as how it's shown on the map. Since new people were brought, the country was upon violence and disorder.  Their biggest conflicts were with the people who originally lived in India, aka Dasas. In order to rule them, they made a social class structure called "The Caste System", which later on led to a new religion, Hinduism. The Caste System originally known as Varnas, separated Indian society into 4 groups: 1)Brahmins 2)Kshatriya 3)Vaishya 4)Sudra; along the Dalits who lived outside the caste system and were considered  unclean. Now it's more than 3,000 years old and still on action by Hindus.