Indian Epics

I was studying with a friend in my apartment while doing the Jataka Part C readings, and decided to read the stories aloud to her as I went. I have two younger siblings to whom I've read aloud in the past, and it's not something new to me, but this was the first time I had done it with stories that I would later have to write about. Reading aloud caused me to pay more attention to the details of the story, rather than just the overall theme and characters. It especially focused my attention on the dialogue and the important role it plays in story telling. Saying something in a certain tone or with certain inflection can totally change its meaning in the story, or at least have some influence over its perceived impact in the story. Reading aloud also forced me to slow down and enjoy the story more, as I had to go much more slowly than if I were just reading silently to myself. I really enjoyed reading the stories out loud, and will probably continue to do it in the future.

How to Turn on the Part of your Brain that Controls Motivation: This article was fascinating. It talks about a study that was done that stuck people in an MRI and asked them to motivate themselves, lighting up the part of the brain that controls our motivation. When they were just laying there and told to get themselves psyched up, they were not able to do it. But once they were shown some sort of meter that helped them to visualize the part of the brain being activated, they were better able to motivate themselves as they saw their successes.  This seems consistent with what I already knew about humans - we tend to be more successful and encouraged when we see signs of success, even if they're very small. We have a strong ability to latch onto even the smallest of things and using them to push ourselves to a goal.  It seems consistent with the reasoning behind having mantras - we can self motivate if you try something often enough, and really think it's working. Ma...

I made this using AutoMotivator , and came up with my own title and text. I just wanted to make something to remind myself of a life lesson I'm currently learning.

I started this journey by being interested in the execution by elephant suggested in the Jataka story of the elephants who refused to take part in the execution of the group of virtuous men who had been falsely accused of crimes. Execution by Elephant: This means of execution was normally used by rulers in Asian and East Asian countries. The ruler's display of power, wealth, and authority through using elephants was effective over many centuries. It is thought that it came into practice because although they have the power to squish us, elephants are very docile and trainable. The practice was used to reinforce the idea of divine right to the throne, as any ruler using elephants was seen to not only have power over men, but given the ability to control beasts as well. Here is a representation of the public execution by elephant.  White Elephant:  I came to this article because many of the elephants used by royalty in recorded history were white, or albino. Originall...

In The Hawk and the Osprey , I found it interesting that they described all the animals as living in distinct directions relative to the lake. I didn't really understand why that was relevant to the story, but the meaning could have just been lost in translation. I liked the fact that all of the main characters were working together toward the good, because in many of these stories there is one evil and one good character, and it was refreshing to see everyone unified toward a common cause. In Grandmother's Golden Dish,  I was surprised that the Bodisat did not do some great deed other than be honest. In so many of the other stories, his actions go above and beyond all expectations of generosity and kindness. He was still good and righteous in this one, but I was expecting him to come back to that family with more riches, or be merciful and give something to that other merchant after a lesson was learned or something like that. In The Elephant that Spared Life , the theme o...

For this week I read: The Bull That Demanded Fair Treatment, The Bull that Proved His Gratitude, Horse that Held Out to the End, The Monkey that Saved the Herd, The Mallard that Asked for Too Much, The Merchant Who Overcame All Obstacles, The Elephant that Was Honored in Old Age, and The Faithful Friend.  In The Bull That Demanded Fair Treatment, the common theme of the importance of respectful treatment of all living things is shown. This theme is consistent in most stories, and is usually only acceptably broken when the object of disrespect has compromised their own personal integrity in some way. Again in this story, the main character traits were played out through dialogue, either to the self or to other characters in the story. In The Bull that Proved His Gratitude, a similar story comes about - there is a bull treated very well, he wants to make a living for his owner, he pulls some heavy things, and in the end is rewarded by further adoration from his owner. T...

I tend to enjoy the tales that are more dialogue heavy. A lot of the authors rewriting these ancient stories are really able to convey the attitudes of the characters through dialogue. These tales have the main purpose of conveying a lesson, and the attitudes of the key players especially are crucial for the reader to understand the intended lesson. For example, in The Hare that Ran Away , one of the lessons learned from the story is the danger of unchecked rumors, and the panic they can cause. In the end of the tale, the Lion leads the Hare to the original source of her fear, and it is crucial that she is the one at the end of the story telling all of the other animals she raised a false alarm. I also read an alternate version of The Monkey and the Crocodile , in which the Monkey outwitted the Crocodile trying to get to his heart by saying Monkeys kept their hearts on trees to keep them from being harmed while swinging between trees. In the version I first heard, the Crocodile had t...