Final Exam Study Guide

You should be able to answer questions (multiple choice, true /false, fill-ins) on the terms, people and concepts listed below:

Characters in the novel: Main characters and Seconday characters in the  Second half of the story Princess Iron Fan (Rakshasi), Bull Demon King, Princess Jade  Countenance, White Turtle, Tu Di (earth god, local spirit), Daoist Immortal Zhen Yuan Zi (Wuzhuang Temple Master), Prince Natha.

Places:  Second half of the story. You should be able to identify the following places and the events that took place there: Cloud Ladder Cave, Flaming Mountain, Palm Leaf Cave, Mount Emerald Cloud, Cloud-touching cave, Mountain of Gathering Thunder, Craggy Rock Mountain, Emerald Lagoon, Wild Goose Pagoda

Places in India: Bodh Gaya, Jade Gate, Kapilavastu, Lumbini, Sarnath, Kushinagara Kashmir, Nalanda.

Buddhist: Wheel of 6 Paths of Being, nirvana, transmigration of souls, reincarnation/rebirth, deva, Diamond Sutra, Heart Sutra, sangha, stupa, Tripitaka, yoga, Ananda, Kasyapa, Sakyamuni, Four Noble Truths, Eight Fold Path, samsara, dharma, basic defilements, the Five Precepts, The Three Jewels, the four main places in the life of the Buddha: Bodh Gaya, Lumbini, Sarnath and Kushingara, Nalanda monastery, Dunhuang,

Confucian: I Ching (Book of Changes), Lun Yu (The Analects), Chun Qui (Spring and Summer Annals), ju, li, jen or ren, hsiao, shih, chung, Confucian stratification system, cosmology (world view)

Communism: Ideology, Mao Tse-dung, Liu Shaoqi, Chou Enlai, Great Leap Forward, Great Cultural Proletarian Revolution.

Bernstein: You should be able to identify the sites visited by Xuanzang and what he did there; his return journey and reception upon return to China.You should know the important sites in the life of the Buddha (Bodhgaya, Lumbini, Sarnath, Kushinagara) You should be able to discuss the point of view of the author in the text.  You will not be asked about India other than those references to the life of the buddha as this course is focusing mainly on China.
 

ESSAYS

You should be prepared to answer any of the following essays:

1. Select one of the stories from the second half of the novel or shown in class and use it to illustrate Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian ideas that appear in the story. Describe the characters, action and moral of the tale.

2. Define the concepts of yin/yangand provide examples of their meaning from a story in Journey to the West.

3. What are the four most important sites identified with the life of the Buddha and what occurred at each? Which of these sites was visited by Xuanzang on his journey and who did he find there?

4. On his journey to get the sutras, what were the greatest difficulties Xuanzang had to overcome? What enabled him to succeed?

5. In what ways does the story of Xuangzang in Journey to the West differ from the man of history?

6. Select one of the stories and discuss the way in which morality is presented.  Which moral issues are concerned and how are they handled in the story?

7. What similarities and differences does Bernstein see between himself and Xuanzang as he travels through the same territory.

You should also be able to discuss at least one of the stories from the A Journey to the West, in the later half of the book in terms of the morality of the story from Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist perspectives.

Remember to bring a blue book and scantron sheet to the exam.

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