Holy Scriptures Study (Week 4; Vayera) 118.2.29
Torah
Vayera
Bereshit 18:1 – 22:24
Adonai’s Angels appear before Avraham’s tent
Avraham pleads for innocent people of Sodom
Adonai’s Angels visit and annhiliate Sodom and Gomorrah
Lot flees with 2 daughters
Avraham visits Gerar
Sarah gives birth to Yitzak
Hagar and Ishmael cast out from Avraham
Peace treaty with Abimelech
Avraham saved from sacrificing Yitzak
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Why does Sarah become pregnant immediately after description of situation with Abimelech?
Why is Avraham so unprotective of Hagar and Ishmael?
What distinguishes Avraham from other child sacrificers?
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Bhagavad Gita 7 – 8
Jnana and Vijnana promised
Earth, water, fire, air, akasha, mind, intellect, ego described as 8 divisions of prakriti
Description of omnipresence of Brahman
3 gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas) comprise maya; maya deludes people
Different motivations for finding Brahman (spiritual life): alleviate suffering, to understand life, achieve life’s purpose, people of wisdom (wisdom highest: see Brahman in everything)
Nature of Brahman exists beyond birth and death
Delusion arises from duality of attraction and aversion
Descriptions of Brahman, adhyatma, adhibhuta, adhidaiva, adhiyajna
Brahman: highest nature; source of Creation
Adhyatma: presence of Brahman in each creature
Adhibhuta: perishable body
Adhidaiva: Purusha, eternal spirit
Adhiyajna: supreme sacrifice made to Brahman
Remembering Brahman, through meditation, at time of death; Om
Description of paths of rebirth and liberation
Meditation exists higher than study and selfless service, austerity, and giving
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Consideration of other religious traditions (particularly Judaism and Islam) that describe the nature of God (and the miracles of, and Creation from, God) existing everywhere.
Is there a xenophobic tendency within the description of the “Northern Path of the Sun” (light) leading to liberation and the “Southern Path of the Sun” (dark) leading to rebirth?
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Samanna Phala Sutta
(Fruits of the Life of a Recluse)
King Agatasattu travels to visit the Buddha
Agatasattu fearful from silence of the Buddha and the Sangha
Agatasattu prays for his son to have such calmness
Agatasattu asks about the fruits of the life of a recluse
The Buddha asks about previous answers to same question
1st previous answer: absence of consequence for transgressions or for benevolence
2nd previous answer: absence of cause for transgressive or benevolent behaviour
3rd previous answer: description of annihilationism
4th previous answer: description of 7 permanent phenomena: Earth, water, fire, air, ease, pain, and soul
5th previous answer: description of 4 restraints: water, evil, evil washed away, sense of evil at bay
6th previous answer: equivocation
The Buddha: description of a slave who leaves for the life of a recluse
Agatasattu describes reverence for the recluse; Buddha: this is one fruit
The Buddha describes arrival of an Arahat and teaching another to become a recluse
Description of the “mere moralities”
Guarding the door of the senses and experiencing ease
Mindful and self-possessed: fully conscious of all actions and purpose for highest goal
Contentment: satisfied with austere living
Recluse finds serene location to meditate
Transcendence to purity of thought
Metaphors of experience of awakening
1st Jhana: state of joy and ease from detachment; includes reasoning and investigation; metaphor of perfumed soap
2nd Jhana: serenity of concentration without reasoning and investigation; metaphor of well
3rd Jhana: serene, self-possessed and at ease, aloof from joy; metaphor of lotus flowers in a tank
4th Jhana: putting away ease and pain, elation and dejection, reaching pure self-possession and equanimity; metaphor of clean robe
Awareness of body; Wondrous Gift; Heavenly Ear; Penetration of hearts of others; memory of previous states; Heavenly Eye
Destruction of the Deadly Floods
Kitari Ariyasaccani: Pain, Origin of Pain, Cessation of Pain, Path to the Cessation of Pain
Deadly Floods, Deadly Taint of Lusts, Deadly Taint of Becomings
Destruction of rebirth; attainment of higher life
Agatasattu admits murder of his father
The Buddha accepts Agatasattu
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(What is story regarding Agatasattu’s son?) Interesting correlation between Agatasattu’s son and Agatasattu’s father.
Consideration of “austerity” of the Buddha with teaching within the Bhagavad Gita (meditation exceeding austerity)
What is a “pure thought”?
What is doctrine of forgiveness that the Buddha teaches through accepting Agatasattu after his confession?
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Matthew 14 – 17
Herod perceives Jesus as John the Baptist; description of Herod beheading John the Baptist
Jesus feeds crowd of 5,000 men with additional women and children with 5 loaves and 2 fish, with 12 baskets left over
Jesus walks on water
Peter tries to walk on water
Pharisees and scribes ask about absence of washing hands; Jesus references Isaiah (“precepts of men”) and teaches disciples “cleanliness of actions”
Gentile woman pleads for healing of her daughter
Jesus heals additional people
Jesus feeds crowd of 4,000 men and additional women and children, with 7 loaves of bread and a few fish
Scribes ask for a sign and Jesus rebukes
Jesus: “beware of the leavening (teaching) of the Pharisees and Sadducees”
Peter proclaims Jesus as the Christ; Jesus proclaims Peter as “the Rock”
Jesus prophesies his destiny
Jesus climbs mountain with Peter, James, and John; voice from God, with Moshe and Eliyahu
Jesus explains John the Baptist as Eliyahu
Jesus heals epileptic boy that disciples unable to heal
Jesus pays Peter’s tax with a shekel from a fish
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Do people actually eat an increase of food from the 5 loaves and 2 fish, or are people simply genuinely fulfilled with the much smaller portions that are given; (water and wine idea)?
Vegetarianism and Jesus’ doctrine regarding clean hands and clean acts
Metaphysical consideration of cleanliness: leprosy and diseases being derived from previous transgressions
Consideration: what is Jesus’ doctrine regarding taxation and spirituality/religion? Jesus seems to rebuke conventional government, but then provides Peter with the means to pay the tax (to “abstain from causing offence”)? Does Jesus actually conform to conventional authority, or is there significance that the shekel is provided through a miracle? Is there significance in the fact that Jesus actually abstains from directly paying the tax (and instead, simply telling Peter how to do so)? What are lessons for contemporary circumstances with conventional government and taxation?
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Al Nisa (The Women)
Justice to orphans
Marriage to women
Rules for inheritance
4 witnesses for the indecency of a woman
Requirement for compliance of woman in marriage
Description of separation between husband and wife
Prohibitions regarding marriages
Description of relationships between men and women
Description of cleanliness, sobriety before praying
Address to Jews
Description of chastisement; Gardens
Description of behaviour of unbelievers
Fighting in the way of Allah
Reference to the Messenger
Intercession in a good, bad cause provides a share of it
Command to investigate “belief” of others before making judgment
Maintaining regular prayer
Asking for forgiveness
Belief in Allah, Messenger, Book, Angels, and Last Day
References to Christians and Jews
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Is unlimited polygamy permitted/condoned?
What exists beyond the “carrot and the stick”?
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