Bagram:
Bagram,
founded as Alexandria on the Caucasus and known in medieval times as Kapisa,
is a small town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan,
about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient
city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir Valley, near today's
city of Charikar, Afghanistan. The town of Bagram also sits right next to
Bagram Airfield, which is the largest U.S. military base in the region.
The location of this historical town made it a key passage
from Ancient India along the Silk Road, leading westwards through the mountains
towards Bamiyan.
Bodhi tree:
The name given to the tree at Bodh Gaya under which the
Buddha sat on the night he attained enlightenment. The tree itself was a type
of fig with the botanical name Ficus religiosa. In the centuries after
the Buddha, the Bodhi tree became a symbol of the Buddha's presence and an
object of worship. King Asoka's daughter, the nun Sanghamitta, took a cutting
of the tree to Sri Lanka where it still grows in the island's ancient capital
of Anaradapura.
The original at Bodh Gaya was destroyed by King Puspyamitra
during his persecution of Buddhism in the 2nd century BC and the tree planted
to replace it, probably an offspring, was destroyed by King Sassanka at the
beginning of the 7th century AD. The tree that grows at Bodh Gaya today was
planted in 1881 by a British archaeologist after the previous one had died of
old age a few years before. Many temples throughout the Buddhist world have
Bodhi trees growing in them which are or are believed to be offspring of the
one from Anaradapura and their worship forms an important part of popular
Buddhist piety.
From: B.M. Barua, Gaya
and Bodh Gaya. Calcutta, Vol. I, 1931, Vol II, 1934. S. Dhammika,
Navel of the Earth. Singapore, 1996.
The Bodhi Tree, also known as Bo (from the
Sinhalese Bo), was a large and very old Sacred Fig tree (Ficus religiosa)
located in Bodh Gaya (about 100 km (62 mi) from Patna in the Indian
state of Bihar), under which Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher and
founder of Buddhism later known as Gautama Buddha, is said to have achieved
enlightenment, or Bodhi. In religious iconography, the Bodhi tree is
recognizable by its heart-shaped leaves, which are usually prominently
displayed.
Buddhism:
Siddhartha Gautama: The Buddha
Historians estimate that the founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha
Gautama, lived from 566(?) to 480(?) B.C. The son of an Indian warrior-king,
Gautama led an extravagant life through early adulthood, reveling in the
privileges of his social caste. But when he bored of the indulgences of royal
life, Gautama wandered into the world in search of understanding. After
encountering an old man, an ill man, a corpse and an ascetic, Gautama was
convinced that suffering lay at the end of all existence. He renounced his
princely title and became a monk, depriving himself of worldly possessions in
the hope of comprehending the truth of the world around him. The culmination of
his search came while meditating beneath a tree, where he finally understood
how to be free from suffering, and ultimately, to achieve salvation. Following
this epiphany, Gautama was known as the Buddha, meaning the "Enlightened
One." The Buddha spent the remainder of his life journeying about India,
teaching others what he had come to understand.
The Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths comprise the essence of Buddha's
teachings, though they leave much left unexplained. They are the truth of
suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of
suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. More
simply put, suffering exists; it has a cause; it has an end; and it has a cause
to bring about its end. The notion of suffering is not intended to convey a
negative world view, but rather, a pragmatic perspective that deals with the
world as it is, and attempts to rectify it. The concept of pleasure is not
denied, but acknowledged as fleeting. Pursuit of pleasure can only continue
what is ultimately an unquenchable thirst. The same logic belies an
understanding of happiness. In the end, only aging, sickness, and death are
certain and unavoidable.
The Four Noble Truths are a contingency plan for dealing
with the suffering humanity faces -- suffering of a physical kind, or of a
mental nature. The First Truth identifies the presence of suffering. The Second
Truth, on the other hand, seeks to determine the cause of suffering. In
Buddhism, desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. By desire,
Buddhists refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of
which are wants that can never be satisfied. As a result, desiring them can
only bring suffering. Ignorance, in comparison, relates to not seeing the world
as it actually is. Without the capacity for mental concentration and insight,
Buddhism explains, one's mind is left undeveloped, unable to grasp the true
nature of things. Vices, such as greed, envy, hatred and anger, derive from
this ignorance.
The Third Noble Truth, the truth of the end of suffering,
has dual meaning, suggesting either the end of suffering in this life, on
earth, or in the spiritual life, through achieving Nirvana. When one has
achieved Nirvana, which is a transcendent state free from suffering and our
worldly cycle of birth and rebirth, spiritual enlightenment has been reached.
The Fourth Noble truth charts the method for attaining the end of suffering,
known to Buddhists as the Noble Eightfold Path. The steps of the Noble
Eightfold Path are Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right
Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.
Moreover, there are three themes into which the Path is divided: good moral
conduct (Understanding, Thought, Speech); meditation and mental development
(Action, Livelihood, Effort), and wisdom or insight (Mindfulness and
Concentration).
Karma
Contrary to what is accepted in contemporary society, the
Buddhist interpretation of karma does not refer to preordained fate. Karma
refers to good or bad actions a person takes during her lifetime. Good actions,
which involve either the absence of bad actions, or actual positive acts, such
as generosity, righteousness, and meditation, bring about happiness in the long
run. Bad actions, such as lying, stealing or killing, bring about unhappiness
in the long run. The weight that actions carry is determined by five conditions:
frequent, repetitive action; determined, intentional action; action performed
without regret; action against extraordinary persons; and action toward those
who have helped one in the past. Finally, there is also neutral karma, which
derives from acts such as breathing, eating or sleeping. Neutral karma has no
benefits or costs.
The Cycle of Rebirth
Karma plays out in the Buddhism cycle of rebirth. There are
six separate planes into which any living being can be reborn -- three
fortunate realms, and three unfortunate realms. Those with favorable, positive
karma are reborn into one of the fortunate realms: the realm of demigods, the
realm of gods, and the realm of men. While the demigods and gods enjoy
gratification unknown to men, they also suffer unceasing jealousy and envy. The
realm of man is considered the highest realm of rebirth. Humanity lacks some of
the extravagances of the demigods and gods, but is also free from their
relentless conflict. Similarly, while inhabitants of the three unfortunate
realms -- of animals, ghosts and hell -- suffer untold suffering, the suffering
of the realm of man is far less.
The realm of man also offers one other aspect lacking in the
other five planes, an opportunity to achieve enlightenment, or Nirvana. Given
the sheer number of living things, to be born human is to Buddhists a precious
chance at spiritual bliss, a rarity that one should not forsake.
Galilee:
Ancient Map of Galilee
Henry IV—quotes about fathers/sons/destiny:
Harry, I do not only marvel
where thou spendest thy time, but also how thou art accompanied. For though the
camomile, the more it is trodden on, the faster it grows, so youth, the more it
is wasted, the sooner it wears. That thou art my son I have partly thy mother’s
word, partly my own opinion, but chiefly a villanous trick of thine eye and a
foolish-hanging of thy nether lip that doth warrant me. If then thou be son to
me, here lies the point: why, being son to me, art thou so pointed at? Shall
the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher and eat blackberries? A question not
to be asked. Shall the sun of England prove a thief and take purses? A question
to be asked. There is a thing, Harry, which thou hast often heard of, and it is
known to many in our land by the name of pitch: this pitch, as ancient writers
do report, doth defile; so doth the company thou keepest. For, Harry, now I do
not speak to thee, in drink but in tears; not in pleasure, but in passion; not
in words only, but in woes also. And yet there is a virtuous man whom I have
often noted in thy company, but I know not his name.
–Falstaff as
King Henry
Wearest thou? Ungracious boy,
henceforth ne'er look on me. Thou art violently carried away from grace. There
is a devil haunts thee in the likeness of an old fat man. A tun of man is thy
companion. Why dost thou converse with that trunk of humors, that bolting-hutch
of beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack,
that stuffed cloakbag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with the pudding in
his belly, that reverend Vice, that gray iniquity, that father ruffian, that
vanity in years? Wherein is he good, but to taste sack and drink it? Wherein
neat and cleanly but to carve a capon and eat it? Wherein cunning but in craft?
Wherein crafty but in villany? Wherein villanous but in all things? Wherein
worthy but in nothing?
-Prince Hal as King Henry
I know not whether God
will have it so
For some displeasing
service I have done,
That, in his secret
doom, out of my blood
He’ll breed
revengement and a scourge for me.
But thou dost in thy
passages of life
Make me believe that
thou art only marked
For the hot vengeance
and the rod of heaven
To punish my
mistreadings. Tell me else,
Could such inordinate
and low desires,
Such poor, such bare,
such lewd, such mean attempts,
Such barren pleasures,
rude society
As thou art matched
withal, and grafted to,
Accompany the
greatness of thy blood,
And hold their level
with thy princely heart?
-King Henry IV
For thou has lost thy
princely privilege
With vile
participation. Not an eye
But is aweary of thy
common sight,
Save mine, which hath
desired to see thee more,
Which now doth that I
would not have it do,
Make blind itself with
foolish tenderness.
-King Henry IV
I shall hereafter, my
thrice gracious lord,
Be more myself.
-Prince Hal
Do not think so. You
shall not find it so.
And God forgive them
that so much have swayed
Your Majesty’s good
thoughts away from me.
-Prince Hal
This in the name of
God I promise here,
The which if He be
pleased I shall perform,
I do beseech your
Majesty may salve
The long-grown wounds
of my intemperance.
If not, the end of
life cancels all bands,
And I will die a
hundred thousand deaths
Ere break the smallest
parcel of this vow.
-Prince Hal
Stay, and breathe
awhile.
Thou hast redeemed thy
lost opinion
And showed thou mak’st
some tender of my life
In this fair rescue
thou hast brought to me
-King Henry IV
O God, that one might
read the book of fate
And see the revolution
of the times
Make mountains level,
and the continent,
Weary of solid
firmness, melt itself
Into the sea, and
other times to see
The beachy girdle of
the ocean
Too wide for Neptune’s
hips; how chance’s mocks
And changes fill the
cup of alteration…
When Richard, with his
eye brimful of tears,
Then checked and rated
by Northumberland,
Did speak these words,
now proved a prophecy?
“Northumberland, thou
ladder by the which
My cousin Bolingbroke
ascends my throne”—
Though then, God
knows, I had no such intent,
But that necessity so
bowed the state
That I and greatness
were compelled to kiss—
“The time shall come,”
thus did he follow it,
“The time will come
that foul sin, gathering head,
Shall break into
corruption”—so went on,
Foretelling this same
time’s condition
And the division of
our amity.
-King Henry IV (Part
2)
There is a history in
all men’s lives
Figuring the nature of
the times deceased,
The which observed, a
man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of
the main chance of things
As yet not come to
life, which in their seeds
And weak beginnings
lie intreasurèd.
Such things become the
hatch and brood of time,
And by the necessary
form of this,
-Warwick (Part 2)
My gracious lord, my
father,
This sleep is sound
indeed. This is a sleep
That from this golden
rigol hath divorced
So many English kings.
Thy due from me
Is tears and heavy
sorrows of the blood,
Which nature, love,
and filial tenderness
Shall, O dear father,
pay thee plenteously
-Prince Hal (Part 2)
How quickly nature
falls into revolt
When gold becomes her
object!
For this the foolish
overcareful fathers
Have broke their sleep
with thoughts,
Their brains with
care, their bones with industry.
For this they have
engrossèd and piled up
The canker’d heaps of
strange-achievèd gold.
For this they have
been thoughtful to invest
Their sons with arts
and martial exercises—
When, like the bee,
tolling from every flower
The virtuous sweets,
Our thighs packed with
wax, our mouths with honey,
We bring it to the
hive and, like the bees,
Are murdered for our
pains. This bitter taste
Yield his engrossments
to the ending father.
-King Henry IV (Part
2)
The quarrel of a true
inheritor.
But if it did infect
my blood with joy
Or swell my thoughts
to any strain of pride,
If any rebel or vain
spirit of mine
Did with the least
affection of a welcome
Give entertainment to
the might of it,
Let God forever keep
it from my head
And make me as the
poorest vassal is
That doth with awe and
terror kneel to it.
-Prince Hal (Part 2)
“Happy am I that have
a man so bold
That dares do justice
on my proper son;
And not less happy,
having such a son
That would deliver up
his greatness so
Into the hands of
justice.”
-Prince Hal (Part 2)
Herod Antipas:
Herod Antipas -a nickname derived from Antipatros- was the
son of the Jewish king Herod the Great and his wife Malthace; he was full
brother of Archelaus and a half brother of Philip. With his brothers Archelaus
and Philip, he was educated in Rome, a kind of honorable detention to guarantee
his father's loyalty. In his father's testament, Herod Antipas was appointed
tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea (the east bank of the Jordan). The Roman emperor
Augustus confirmed this decision and Antipas' reign could begin (4 BCE).
In 17 CE, he founded a new capital, which he called Tiberias,
to honor the Roman emperor, Tiberius. Unfortunately, it was discovered that he
was building this city on top of an old Jewish graveyard. This caused great
unrest among his subjects. For a long time, no pious Jew would enter Tiberias,
which was populated by Greeks and Romans.
However, Herod Antipas was a Jewish leader, or liked to pose as a Jewish leader. For example, he is known to have celebrated Passover and Sukkoth in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, his subjects were not convinced by their leader's piety. Jesus of Nazareth compared him to a fox, an animal that was ritually unclean.
He was first married to Phasaelis, a daughter of Aretas IV,
an Arabian leader. Later, he divorced her in order to marry Herodias. She had
been the wife of Herod Antipas' half-brother (who was also called Herod).
Marriage to the ex-wife of one's brother was not uncommon, but Herodias was
also the daughter of another half-brother, Aristobulus. Marriage to one's niece
was also permitted, but marriage to a woman who was both one's sister-in-law
and one's niece was unusual.
According to the Gospel of Mark, John the Baptist
criticized the king and was consequently killed. Flavius Josephus writes that
Herod Antipas' subjects were convinced that the war with Aretas that broke out in
36, and the Arabian successes during this war, were a divine punishment. The
author of the Gospel, however, offers a different explanation: Antipas'
daughter Salome had been dancing in public, much to the delight of her father,
who asked her to ask a present, and was shocked to learn that she demanded the
head of the Baptist. The readers of this story must have understood that
Antipas a terribly wicked man, because no loving father would ask his daughter
to dance in front of strangers.
In 37, Herodias' brother Agrippa became king of the realms
of Philip. She thought that the royal title ought to be given to her husband
and made a plan to make Herod Antipas king. The emperor did not agree and
exiled the tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea to Lyon in Gaul.
Indus:
The Indus
River is a major river, which flows through Pakistan. It also has courses
through China and India.
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