Four Noble Truths

1. Dukkha
2. Samudaya
3. Nirodha
4. Magga

suffering - life is suffering - suffering exists

To recognize that it exits: 3 categories

1. ordinary suffering - common everyday suffering                     ex.: birth, old age, sickness, grief
2. Suffering produced by change                                                 - nothing is permanent     -attachment = suffering
3. Suffering from a result of change                                            - your perceptions causes suffering                                      - things we have no control over until we reach nirvana      - ex: natural disasters   

Samudaya

• the origin of Dukkha is tanha
• greed  
• desire
• empty the self of all desire
• to reach nirvana - elimination of all your identities

Nirodha

• to end Dukkha (suffering) 
• to end tanha (desire)
• to extinguish the self --to achieve liberation

Magga

• the path
• to end desire
• follow the noble eight fold path in order to end desire

Noble Eight Fold Path

1. Right Understanding
2. Right Thought
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Cencentration

Right Understanding

• points back to the 4 noble truths
• one must understand them

Right Thought

• right mind
• selfness
• detachment
• love and non-violence

Right Speech

• telling the truth
• how you speak
• not to hurt anyone with words
• not to be impolite
• avoidance of gossip
• noble silence
• knowing when not to speak

Right Action

• not to lie
• not to destroy life
• not to steel
• no adultery
• not to take intoxicated drink
• actions that produce good

Right Livelihood

• springs out of right action
• one must be in an occupation that promotes life and does no harm
• can't be a drug dealer, trade alcohol --bartenders, waiters, or one who kills animals

Right Effort

• has to do with intent
• to be committed to the Noble 8 Fold Path 
• the will to develop a right mind

Right Mindfulness

• attention to place and time
• to be in the moment
• simply pat attention to those people and things around us and be mindful of their (other's people's) needs
• out of the attention comes compassion

Right Concentration

• attempting to achieve trace like state --mediation

Noble 8 Fold is representative of the 3 principles of Buddhist teaching and practice

1. wisdom
2. ethical conduct
3. mental discipline

Wisdom

Paths:

1. Right understanding

2. Right Thought

Ethical conduct

Paths:

3. Right Speech

4. Right Action

5. Right Livelihood

Mental Discipline

Paths:

6. Right Effort

7. Right Mindfulness

8. Right concentration

Methodology

•        historical/cultural criticism – acknowledges that religions emerged from historical events and environment which greatly affected them
•        literary criticism – it is important to criticize sacred texts, as well as word origin. What did that word mean then?

o   Literary form

o   Rhetorical character of a text

§  Rhetorical – art of persuasian 

Hermes

•        Hermeneutic – a way of discovering or unpacking the meaning of a text. You are looking for what is not there as well
•        Hermeneutic of Suspicion – questioning the text. What does the author want?

Feminist Critical Analysis

• theory: idea ®women= human
• praxis: movement – the effort to make that equality a reality so that women have the same rights/privileges/ opportunities that other people enjoy
• Feminism – about defending the fact that women are human beings

• observation
•  99.96% of cultures
•  for 5,000 years of recorded history have a system similar to a patriarchy

o   patriarchy –a system of organization in which dominant men hold dominant power and other men hold power in descending power

o   kyriarchy – comes from greek word “master” and “lord”

Feminist Critical Analysis

•       androcentrism – the tendency to think/write/act as if men constitute the center and ideal human being and anyone who is not a men is subsequent to them
•        Aristotle : women and girls were seen as deformities and if a girl was born then something went wrong which led to a girl being born instead of a boy
•       Phoebe- in greek – diakanos – translated as “helper” or “servent”
•       Apollo and Thomas – in greek – diakanos – translated as “deacon”

Reuther’s Writing

1.     The Hermenentical Circle: revelatory experiences that say something about the group and are a basis for the religion. This is the nature of religion

2.     Crises of Tradition – a new revelatory experience which is so far from tradition that the religion is reformed or another section is formed. This happens frequently because religion is always changing

3.     The Prophetic Principle – throughout the Biblical tradition, there is a tradition that God is on the side of the oppressed. He doesn’t “like” when people are oppressed