Trevor Riegle November 5th, 2014
Mr. Houston Lecture 21st Journal Entry UGC 111LR-P210 Recitation
In Mr. Lawler’s twenty-first lecture the two most significant topics that I believe he covered has to do with Zen Buddhism and Judaism. When Mr. Lawler first talks about Zen Buddhism, he talks about the stages of how it evolved into what it is today. It started out being a ritualistic religion in which it was run by priests that was said to mediate between the heavens and the people. This was significant because it was an “external religion,” a religion in which they just go through the everyday motions. But then came Buddha and he attacked this “external religion” and taught people to find the religion within themselves. This stage of evolution is significant because it allowed religious institutions to be in collaboration with the State. It allowed them to recreate the external religion and use it internally in everday life. What is significant about this evolution into Zen Buddhism is it allowes them to go back to the originl simplicity of Buddha’s message which was “you are Buddha, so kill the Buddha outside you.” It is external and internal, you must return to the teaching and see that the pattern repeats. Mr. Lawler then gets into talking about the Jewish people and how they came relevant in history. Jewish people started out as nomadic patriarchalistic society. They were dependent on nature but then controlled nature as society transformed.
