Religious Studies: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Chinese Traditions

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the functions of religion, key terms in Hinduism and Buddhism, and central concepts in Confucianism and Daoism.

Social function

A role of religion focused on creating and maintaining community.

Liminality

A place of transition, entry, or transformation; a threshold where community bonding and renewal can occur.

Phenomenological approach

A method focusing on the lived subjective experiences of believers by bracketing personal biases and using empathetic description.

Rta

The order and stability of the world and cosmos in Vedic tradition.

Aparusya (Aparuseyatvam)

The quality of being not of human authorship; used to describe Vedic texts revealed to sages.

Bandhu

The bond or correspondence between microcosm and macrocosm, where the human body is a miniature replica of the entire universe.

Atman

One’s own essence or 'self' in Hindu philosophy.

Brahman

The principle of ultimate reality that must be drawn out of a student.

Veda

Sacred knowledge and a body of literature from $1500\,BCE$ to $500\,BCE$ that allows for prosperity and cosmic stability.

Dharma

Commonly translated as duty, law, religious merit, ethics, or right-ness; literally to bear, carry, hold, or maintain.

Avataras

Meaning descent, incarnation, or manifestation; the forms in which a deity like Viṣṇu enters the world.

Advaita

A school of Vedānta teaching non-dualism, where ultimate reality and the self are identical, like a wave and water.

Kuṇḍalinī Yoga

A practice involving the raising of corporeal energy from the abdomen to the crown of the head via cakra and nadi.

Nirvāṇa

Meaning 'blowing out'; reaching enlightenment and the cessation of suffering.

Tathāgata

A title for the Buddha meaning 'one who has gone thus' to a state of spiritual perfection.

Dukkha

The Buddhist Noble Truth that no living being can escape suffering or unsatisfactoriness.

Anatman

The core Buddhist insight of 'no-self'; the idea that there is no personal essence.

Sutta Piṭaka

The basket of the Pali Canon containing the main discourses of the Buddha.

Arhat

A 'worthy one' or 'perfected person' in Theravada Buddhism who has ended all greed, hatred, and delusion.

Sunyatā

Emptiness or voidness; the Mahayana teaching that all things lack an independent, permanent core and are instead interdependent.

Upāya

Skillful or expedient means used as a pragmatic method toward achieving enlightenment.

Bodhisattva

An awakened being motivated by Bodhicitta to postpone their own final nirvana to save all living sentient beings.

Mandate of Heaven

A Zhou dynasty concept stating that good governance is a duty to heaven and requires good moral character to maintain the right to rule.

Ren

Confucian term for 'humanness' or 'benevolence', emphasizing the importance of relationships.

Junzi

The 'gentleman' or exemplary Confucian person who embodies harmony, righteousness, and ritual propriety.

Xin

The 'heart-mind' which Mencius believed was innately good and possessed 'four sprouts' of virtue.

Wuwei

Daoist principle of 'non-action' or 'doing nothing'; acting in concert with the Way, free of self-intention.

Pu

The 'uncarved block'; a state of having little thought of self and few desires, responding without storing.

Jing

In Daoist inner alchemy, the 'life-essence' associated with the abdominal region.

Satori

The Zen Buddhist term for 'sudden enlightenment' reached through self-power.