Week 11: Famous Last Words

This week has been another rollercoaster. It seems like every week I expect the week to be better than the last, but it just keeps getting worse... What gives! Hopefully it all ends soon. I can only hope.
This week I have done two different readings. I thought the readings went really well, and I like both of them. I best remember the stories about Buddha’s life. It was very interesting to hear about the mythology of how Buddha came to gain ultimate knowledge and how he refused to go to Nirvana because he wanted to tell the people of his wisdom and to follow him.

I think my best writing for this week was my storytelling post. I really enjoyed retelling the story of Buddha’s life even though it may not have been the best ending for Buddha. I thought this was really excellent to read the life of Buddha and be able to retell this in my own words! I have also encountered some really cool projects from other people this week.

My other classes this week are going pretty good. I am down to 9 hours now of course work, but it feels like a huge course load. I am excited though because this course, my online course is almost over. There have been no apparent connections between my coursework this week and my other other classes. It is funny because almost every semester I usually feel a connection with my other classes. Good news this week though, I have officially enrolled in my last semester here at the University of Oklahoma. I will be graduating in May and moving onto a PhD program!

Looks like everything is going to turn out just fine!

University of Oklahoma (Image Source) 

Week 11: Review

Screen Shot of Course Announcement from November 3

For this review I decided to review the course announcement about experiment of Maati Baani music. I have herd this music before in the beginning of this course and I really fell in love with their music style. I thought this music was also great. I loved the mix of traditional India music with an electric twist. It was absolutely fabulous.

I recommend everyone take a look at this awesome band and their music.

Week 11 Storytelling: Buddha and Archaeology

Once upon a time thee lived a graduate student that had just received their PhD in Anthropology. This PhD’s name was Buddha and he was so happy because he had just attained perfect knowledge. He was so happy that he wanted to tell the world so he did a live feed on Twitter for one whole week. The second week after his got his PhD Buddha wanted to travel the world with his new knowledge. The third week Buddha, PhD again did a live feed on Social Media, but this time on Facebook so he could reach even more people.

“Wow,” exclaimed an onlooker, “You are so brave for getting all this knowledge. You should go an be an archaeologist.

“No,” Buddha said, “First, I must teach everyone in the world about the knowledge of archaeology. I cannot go on to work full time as an archaeologist, because people will not know about this knowledge if I do not show them.”

Buddha set out on his adventure to educate the world about his knowledge, but he encountered some problems along the way.

First, he went to a small town in western Oklahoma. It was here that he discovered problem number one.

“People of this fine small town. Listen to my story as I tell you the truth about archaeology. Let me educate you on the wisdom I have to offer,” Buddha exclaimed.

Buddha’s words fell on death ears. The people of the small town were too busy doing their daily chores to listen to the words Buddha had to offer.

Archaeology Mammoth (Image Source)

“What am I going to do,” thought Buddha, “how am I going to get people to listen?”

Buddha moved to a larger city. He thought, “Maybe if people aren’t busy farming they will have time to listen.” Again Buddha, PhD attempted to have people listen.

“People of Dallas, I am here to tell you about my ultimate knowledge. Archaeology is awesome and has a lot to teach us about life,” but again the knowledge of Buddha fell on deaf ears as the people of Dallas could not afford to spend time to listening to crazy people on the side of the road.

Buddha went back to his alma mater, not educating anyone. He was sad in his heart, but he discovered that in his heart he was truly passionate about doing archaeology.

Authors Note:
I based this story off of the Life of Buddha. In the original story, buddha attains ultimate knowledge and finds himself unable to convince people of his teachings. He refuses to enter nirvana, in my story nirvana is being an archaeologist, until he persuades people of his teachings. In the end of the story he finally does convince two people of his teachings, but in my story I thought that modern people may have been less willing to hear the story of Buddha. So mine has a sadder ending.

Week 11: Reading Diary B

Source: Buddha

This week I decided to read The Life of Buddha: Part Two Sacred Text (Source Here)

• Buddha has ultimate wisdom, but refuses to enter nirvana before teaching his wisdom to others. 
• He turns girls into hags from seducing him, but is kind when they admit their faults
• Trapusha and Bhallika are the first to have faith in Buddha
• Buddha is hesitant to share his knowledge because he doesn’t think people will understand
• Buddha attempts to make Rudraka hear his words, but instead he preaches to disciples. 
• The disciples do not acknowledge Buddha, but when he tells them “truth” they become faithful in him

Week 11: Reading Diary A

This week I decided to read Shiva

Sati secretly praised Shiva and was deeply in love with him, but Shiva did not offer homage to her father. Shia and Sati ended up marrying each other. Daksha never did like Shiva. Daksha called upon the gods and goddesses to discuss Shiva. When Sati found out she was very upset and told her father she hated him so much she would rather be dead than be his daughter. He became so upset that he killed his own daughter. Understandably, Shiva was upset and got a demon to kill Daksha. The gods and goddesses were very frightened by Shiva’s power and wanted to stop him. They were told to make peace with him. 

Shiva Statue (Source)