Middle School (6-8),High School (9-12),College and Beyond
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Background Information
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Buddhism has deeply influenced the character and evolution of Asian civilization over the past 2,500 years. It is based on the teachings of a historical figure, Siddhartha Gautama, who lived around the fifth century BCE. As it moved across Asia, Buddhism absorbed indigenous beliefs and incorporated a wide range of imagery, both local and foreign, into its art and religious practices. Buddhism continues to evolve as a religion in many parts of the world.
Elementary School (4-5),Middle School (6-8),High School (9-12)
Resource Type:
Background Information
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The earliest surviving representations of the Buddha date from hundreds of years after his death, so they are not portraits in the usual sense. Buddha images vary greatly from place to place and period to period, but they almost always show these conventional features . . .
Elementary School (4-5),Middle School (6-8),High School (9-12),College and Beyond
Resource Type:
Background Information
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“Asia” is a term invented by the Greeks and Romans, and developed by Western geographers to indicate the land mass east of the Ural Mountains and Ural River, together with offshore islands such as Japan and Java.
Elementary School (4-5),Middle School (6-8),High School (9-12),College and Beyond
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Background Information
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The Buddha—that is, the “Enlightened One”—lived nearly 2500 years ago in northern India. His followers have always seen his life as a shining example to all, but what “really happened” is now impossible to know for certain. Even the earliest stories of his life include miraculous events that may seem hard to take literally. Later versions are even more elaborate, and they differ from one another in many details.
Middle School (6-8),High School (9-12),College and Beyond
Resource Type:
Background Information
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Islam is one of the world’s major religions. It shares with Judaism and Christianity a belief in a single god. The Arabic name for God is Allah. The word Islam means “surrender (to God).” The followers of Islam are called Muslims, which in Arabic means “one who surrenders to God.”
Elementary School (4-5),Middle School (6-8),High School (9-12),College and Beyond
Resource Type:
Background Information
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Balinese stories are continually told and retold. Tales such as the Ramayana are mainly spread through storytelling, shadow plays, masked dance, chants, and other theatrical genres. Learn more.
Middle School (6-8),High School (9-12),College and Beyond
Resource Type:
Background Information
Description:
For more than a thousand years Indonesians have used wayang theater as a method of addressing the conundrums of life. The lively puppet traditions of South and Southeast Asia have portrayed epic stories that shrank the cosmos down to a miniature world. The vast expanse of the earth could symbolically be reduced to the few feet of a puppet stage. The puppeteer’s lamp became the sun, throwing light on myriad creatures who, in their nobility or baseness, make up the world.
Middle School (6-8),High School (9-12),College and Beyond
Resource Type:
Background Information
Description:
Over the centuries, two main branches of Buddhism emerged: a transmission that traveled to Southeast Asia, and a transmission that evolved in East Asia. A further offshoot of the northern transmission also developed. All three branches began in India, and developed further as they moved across Asia.
Middle School (6-8),High School (9-12),College and Beyond
Resource Type:
Background Information
Description:
Only in the past sixty years has “Southeast Asia” been used to refer to the region comprising modern-day Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines. Learn more.