iTRA #3a DUE by 11:30 am
gTRA #3a in class

Application Exercise 3a

(same as above)

REVIEW IN DEPTH:

• "Excerpts from Borobudur" (ASA: RDR, 115-22)
• "The Royal Way of Supreme Compassion" (RAP: RDR,123-26)
• "Auspicious Things" (RAP: RDR, 127-34)

PREPARE NOTES addressing the following focus:

Rakeesha is one of the more enthusiastic participants in OCSS City Repair's youth programs. As a result of her trip to Mount Shasta and her ongoing participation in the nature immersion program, she has come to realize the value of both time for reflection and a community of people with which to reflect. Now she is feeling drawn to connect more deeply to one of the communities of religious people that she sees around her, to develop habits of reflection that strengthen her community ties.

Knowing that you have studied Asian forms of religious reflection that strengthen community, she consults you to help her decide between three options she is considering:

A. a friend of Rakeesha who is part of the Church of the Later Day Saints (LDS) has invited her to go on a road trip to visit Canyon de Chelly, an important Native American site of the Southwest, and the great LDS temples of Utah & surrounding states. (She wouldn't be able to see the inside of the temples unless she converts, which she's not sure about yet, but she is interested in seeing these sites all the same.)

B. Rakeesha's brother attends a weekly Muslim prayer group that involves extended chanting of the many names of God found in the Qur'an. She has heard him talk about how much peace and compassion he experiences from this practice.

C. a friend of hers from high school has been going to a local synagogue to study Midrash, the detailed explanations of ancient Jewish sages regarding the many fascinating stories found in the Hebrew Bible (wha Christians call "The Old Testament"). Rakeesha doesn't know if she would want to or could even convert to being Jewish, but she does have a lot of questions about the Bible stories she's heard her grandmother tell.

Having heard from you that the practices of these traditions share certain features with Southeast Asian Buddhist practices, Rakeesha asks for your advice about what she should try first.

YOUR NOTES: Gather evidence from the sources associated with the three medieval Southeast Asian practices assigned for this unit (see reading guide) that helps you evaluate WHICH OF THE ABOVE OPTIONS RAKEESHA SHOULD TRY FIRST, given that her GOAL is to find some form of religious reflection that reinforces the community of people who reflect.

• Identify community roles & relationships, actions, objects, words and spaces/locales associated with the Southeast Asian Buddhist sources that show the way(s) the reflection of people who practiced reinforcing their community
• Keep in mind the very different socio-historical context of medieval Southeast Asia, but also note ways that those practices are similar to the contemporary ones proposed above.

*MAKE SURE TO CITE PAGE NUMBER(S) FOR EACH EXAMPLE*