Assessment for English 231—Non-Western Lit

 

Part A—Critical Thinking with ENGL 231 concepts and texts

 

  1. List three common themes present in both the analects of Chuang Tzu and in The Bhagavad Gita.

 

1.__________________________________________________________

 

2.__________________________________________________________

 

3.___________________________________________________________

 

 

  1. How is the practice of wu-wei like the concept of “The Empty Boat”?

 

a.       The boat is idle and useless like a man is who is practicing wu-wei.

b.      If one is empty of ambition and desire one is in conflict with no one.

c.       An empty boat like a man of Tao is free of sorrow.

 

 

  1. In the Bhagavad Gita, in the chapter “Divine Manifestations” what is the effect of  Krishna’s hundreds of “I am’s”? What sense of the “Divine” emerges? How does this view of the Divine differ from the God of Christianity?

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Name two similarities between wu-wei and Krishna’s main message in the Bhagavad Gita that one must “act but not be attached to the fruits of one’s actions?”

 

1.      _______________________________________________________

 

2.      _______________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

  1. In the Bhagavad Gita, what is the main difference between the self and the Self?

 

 

 

 

  1. When Rumi says in “The New Rule,” “…break all the glasses and fall toward the glassblower,” he means

 

 

Part B—Understanding Non-Western World Literature concepts

 

  1. According to Merton in the introduction to The Way of Chuang Tzu, what is the main difference between “The Great Tao” and “The Tao of Man”? (The Tao of Chuang Tzu versus the Tao of Confucius?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. What best defines the concept of wu-wei?

 

a.       Non-action

b.      Perfect action

c.       In-action.

 

  1. A distinctive feature of Rumi’s use of  the word “love” in his poetry is

 

a.       that it is pious and pure

b.      it evokes images of carnal love between a man and woman

c.       it sounds as if it is referring to love between men

 

d.      be drunk with God and unruly

e.       it doesn’t matter what you do, God loves you as you are

f.        forget the things created by man and fall in love with God.

 

 

  1. In “The Turtle” Chuang Tzu compares himself to the turtle because

 

a.       he’s dirty and slovenly like a turtle.

b.      he desires a simple life in tune with his true nature

c.       all he wants to do is fish.

d.      a turtle shell is used for ceremony and he too is used for other purposes.

 

  1. What is samsara?

 

a.       detachment.

b.      bliss

c.       the endless cycle of death and reincarnation.