Primary Source: Ashoka

In what ways and for what reasons might this story from the Ashokavadana have appealed to various groups of early Buddhists?

The story from the Ashokavadana appealed to various groups of early Buddhists because it taught that Buddhism did not discriminate based on caste. The king, Ashoka, would bow to any Buddhist monk even though they come from all four castes. Ashoka explains that caste should not determine the character of a person but rather preaches for equality and the qualities of the person should determine the character of a person. More specifically, this type of story would appeal to members of the lower castes (shudras and vaishyas) because to them, they would feel inferior since they cannot become monks and also think it is unfair how they are below the brahmins and kshatriyas. Another way how this story would have appealed to early Buddhists is because a story is easier to understand and can be taught to children as well because it is short and has a moral. In addition, because the story involves Ashoka, the king, and Yasas, the minister, people would feel safe in following a state-sanctioned religion.

My awesome map of Classical China

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Chinese Dynasties vs Indian Dynasties

Both dynasties functioned through a bureaucracy. In terms of success, Chinese centralization prevailed with unification while Indian centralization only led to a temporary unification. The Chinese dynasties were more successful imperially due to the absorption of northern Vietnam and Korea. The Chinese were also able to fend off their aggressors known as the Xiongnu by launching an invasion campaign. However, the Gupta Dynasty of India fell to the White Huns. The Qin and Han dynasties of China saw a large growth in landmass while the Mauryan and Gupta dynasty saw overall decline. The Qin and Han dynasties faced decline through internal rebellion while the Mauryan and Gupta dynasty saw decline through financial difficulties and invasions. In terms of political organization, China faced a centralized ruler while in India, local government and administration left in hands of allies of various regions.

Mencius vs Xun Zi

What does Mencius believe about human nature? What does Xun Zi believe about human nature? Who do you line up with? Why?

Mencius believes that human nature is inherently good. For example, in Book 2, part 1, chapter 6. Mencius claims that, "Men have these four principles just as they have their four limbs". He believed that all men had the qualities of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge.

Xun Zi expresses his belief that human nature is bad. He believes that humans are born with a love for profit in which they will struggle and snatch from each other. He believes that humans must be disciplined like a warped piece of wood.

I agree with Xun Zi because he believe that human nature is bad and can be corrected by education. Without educating people on good morals, they will not know anything good. Without discipline, people will not be forced to become better humans. In today's times, parents can give punishments to their child to fix their behavior by grounding them or taking something away from them. I believe Mencius's view is too optimistic and is giving the benevolence of human nature too much credit.

Confucian Analects

1. Confucianism is not a religion. It is a philosophy. It is not a religion because it lacks the prevalence of a godly figure found in most religions during the time. The philosophy instructs how human beings should live their lives but there is no explicit mention of a God looking over them.

2. The first two chapters of the Analects suggest that a person is not born good or bad and that a person has the choice to be good or bad. For example, The Master explains that "If for three years he does not alter from the way of his father, he may be called filial" (9-10). This quote shows that a person can be good by being not altering from the way of his father but can be bad if he does alter. The Master also claims that, "...you will have few occasions for repentance" (18). This shows that people of that time were given second chances to get their act together which implies that people are capable of change. Finally, The Master gives insight on how to get people to revere their ruler by telling Chi K'ang to "Let them advance the good and teach the incompetent;-- then they will eagerly seek to be virtuous" (19). This quote explains that a ruler can teach bad people and get to them to strive to be good.

My awesome map of Classical Persia

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Chapter 7: Primary Source

The assumptions that Zarathustra makes about human nature and the capacity of human beings to make morally good choices out of their own free will are that righteousness always prevails. The one who is truthful and honest will always succeed over one who is evil.

History Head Comments

Hello Xin!

I really like how you circle the number in sharpie so then it is clear what theme each image relates to and I admire how you were able to associate one picture with two themes. However, you could have been neater with the timeline perhaps by using a ruler. Mayan and Egyptian societies were similiar in architecture because they both built pyamid-like structures. They differed in organization because Egypt was a unified state with a pharoah as the supreme ruler while the Maya were organized in small city-kingdoms. Why did you choose not to have an outside picture for theme two?

-Amit Patel

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Hello Johnathon!

I really like the simplicity of your poster. The layout is also very organized. However, I believe it would have looked better if you had cut out the head. I see a picture of a river on your poster which reminds me of the differences between Mesopotamian and Mayan society because the emergence of Mesopotamian society revolved arond the Tigris and Euphrates river valley whereas Mayan society had no major river but instead settled on the Yucatan peninsula. Both societies had similiar organization. Mesopotamia had a decentralized rule with kings ruling over city-states similiar to how the Maya was organized in small city-kingdoms. For image #4 on the outside, what animal is being depicted?

-Amit Patel

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History Head: Mesoamerica

The First (and certainly not last) Test and Essay

      I was surprised about the choices you gave us (China, India, Mesopotamia, and Egypt) because I was expecting a prompt with two societies already given since that is how most AP World compare and contrast prompts are like (which I found out through some Internet research). Because I had to choose two societies, I feel I wasted too many minutes trying to pick which societies I would write about. For the next essay, I plan to create a chart for each society and list similarities and differences. I believe I did well on the essay because I tried to hit all the points from the rubric. But it was not so easy because we were not told specifically how to structure compare and contrast essays. I was a bit unsure what to add to my introduction after my thesis and after I rephrased my thesis in the conclusion without sounding redundant.  

      I feel I did worse on the test than the essay. Or perhaps the few questions I know I got wrong linger in my mind too much. Much of the phrasing of questions or answer choices I noticed came verbatim from the textbook. However, I feel that if I had given the chapters a good thorough reading instead of skimming the night before, then I would have performed better. For both the essay and test, I felt that I spent copious amounts of study time although perhaps I may not have studied the correct way to approach them.