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Unit 5 |
English 203:
Literature of
the NonWestern World
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Questions:
Chat:Consider
these questions before you log-on to the chat session. You
do not have to write essay answers, but you should look at relevant passages
of the text & jot down several points before the chat session so that
you can easily contribute to the discussion.
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Explain why Rama is indifferent to the power that
he seems to have lost when he is exiled. Who
is Rama & what is his purpose in life?
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When Lakshmana discovers that Rama will be exiled,
he says that will use force to install Rama on the throne. What
is Rama’s response? Remember
who or what Rama is or personifies. How
does force/violence/himsa relate to Rama?
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Explain Krishna’s message or consolation. Arjuna
is reluctant to kill his relatives in a civil war. How
does Krishna console him?
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If you follow Krishna’s advice, what outlook on life
should you have? Would you
have an outlook like a Confucian or a Daoist or a Calvinist or what?
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The
Gita
says (620):
“Action imprisons [us in] the world/ unless it
is done as sacrifice;
freed from attachment, Arjuna,/ perform action
(dharma) as sacrifice!”
Explain how this might work, e.g., in the military
or in politics (Arjuna is a prince).Does
this sound like a workable ethics?Remember
that the point of ethics in Asia (China, Japan, & India) is to reduce
anxiety by paying off one’s obligations.
Short Answers:
When you finish answering the questions,
to the: