RS 168 Midterm

Religions manifest eight possible elements: belief system, community, central myths, ritual, ethics, characteristic emotional experiences, material expression, and _______.

B. sacredness

The belief that all is divine is called

Pantheism

_______ argues that the existence of god can not be proven

Agnosticism

The anthropologist believed that religion was rooted in spiritual worship

E.B Tylor

_______ theorized that belief in God or gods arises from the long-lasting impressions made on people by their childhood experiences.

Sigmund Freud

Rudolf Otto argued that religions emerge when people experience that aspect of reality which is essentially mysterious; while ___________ believed that religion was a noble human response to the complexity and depth of reality.

Carl Jung

Religions express truth _____. For example water can represent spiritual cleansing; the sun, health; a mountain, strength; and a circle, eternity.

Symbolically

In early religions, the most significant female deity was particularly associated with _______ and motherhood has been known by many names.

Fertility

Although there is no agreement on how to speak of ancient religious ways, they are often referred to as _______, primal, native, and oral

Nonliterate

Indigenous religions exist generally within ______ cultures, in which every object has a religious meaning

Holistic

In many native american religions, there is little distinction between human and animal worlds. These native religions see everything in the universe as being alive through the concept of

Animism

Sacred time is "the time of ___________." Among the Koyukon people of the Arctic, it is called "distant time," and it is the holy ancient past in which gods lived and worked. Among Australian Aborigines it is often called Dreamtime, and it is the subject of much of their highly esteemed art.

Eternity

______ is the doorway through which "other world" of gods and ancestors can contact us and we can contact them.

Sacred Space

Most indigenous religions have cosmic tales of their ___________. They frequently speak of a High God and make little distinction between a god and an ancestor.

Origins

In native societies, everyday religious activity and practice are significant, because their primary purpose is often to place individuals, families, and groups in "right ___________" with gods, ancestors, other human beings, and nature.

Relationships

Special rituals mark a person's entry into adulthood. In Native American religions, a common ritual of early maturity is the "vision quest," or "___________."

Dream Quest

The culture that flourished in the Indus River valley before 2000 bce is named the ___________ culture.

Harappa

The ancient scriptures of India are called the ___________. There are four basic text collections: the Rig, the Yajur, the Sama, and the Atharva.

Vedas

Around 500 bce, Indian civilization experienced

such widespread and important changes that

the period is called the _______________ Age.

Axis

In the Upanishads, the term _____ refers to the experiences of the sacred within nature and the external universe while ______ refers to the experience of sacred within ourselves.

Brahman; Atman

The ____ is part of a very long epic poem called the Mahabharata recalling themes in the Upanishads

Bhagavad Gita

Hinduism has a ____ system

Caste

The word yoga means

Union

Shankara believed that spiritual liberation is achieved when the individual personally comes to understand the unity of all things. This view of reality is called _____

Monism

Siddhartha's encounters with an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a wandering holy man, which prompted him to leave his luxurious and carefree life, are called the ___________.

Four Passing Sites

After Siddhartha spent an entire night meditating under a full moon, he finally achieved insight into release from suffering and rebirth. Buddhists believe that he reached a profound understanding, called his

Enlightenment

At the core of what is generally regarded as basic ____ are the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma, and Sangha

Buddhism

According to Buddhism, reality manifests three characteristics: constant change, lack of permanent identity, and the exists of

Suffering

According to a view common to all forms of Buddhism, reality manifests constant change. This view is the foundation for the _______ and the _______

Four Noble Truths; Eight Fold Path

In Buddhism, as in Hinduism, __________ suggests decay and pain

Samsara

Liberation from decay and pain is called

Nirvana

The key notions of ___________ Buddhism are trikaya (the "three-body doctrine"), shunyata ("emptiness"), and tathata ("thatness").

Mahayana

Derivation of the word "religion"

Joining of the natural and sacred world

"re"=again

"lig"=join/connect

E.B Tylor View

Believed religion was rooted in spiritual worship. Noted religions seeing "spirits" as some control over natural forces, and how commonly religions see those who die as spirits. (ANIMISM)

Freud's View

Belief in God arises from long-lasting impressions made by adults by their childhood experiences. Parents play a major part.

Jung's View

Grows out of an individual need to arrive at personal fulfillment. Many religions have insignia with symbols. All for personal fulfillment.

Otto's View

Religions emerge when people experience the aspects of life that are a mystery. We take our reality for granted but when it is disturbed, we are awakened with awe.

Frazer's View

Atheist, magic arose before the evolution of our race

Pantheism

Belief that everything in the universe is divine

Monotheism

Belief in one God

Polytheism

Belief in many gods

"Everyman"

Term to refer to mankind. Someone that all can relate too (Buddha is an everyman)

Shamanism

Human being who contacts and attempts to manipulate the power of spirits for the tribe or group.

What does Buddha mean?

The awakened one, enlightened one

Siddhartha Gautama

"Founder of Buddhism", his experiences paved the religion. He was born in Nepal where he was born from his mother's side and priests knew he would be special. Father kept him isolated so he could not experience suffering. He escaped and experienced it anyway.

Axial Age

Broad religious and philosophical thought that occurred in a variety of locations from the 8th-3rd century

Brahman

Spiritual essence of the universe

Atman

Spiritual essence of all individual human beings

Samsara

The everyday world of change and suffering leading to rebirth

Moksha

"Liberation from personal limitation, egotism, and rebirth.

Vedas

four collections of ancient prayers and rituals

Upanishads

Written meditations on the spiritual essence of the universe and the self (ramayana and mahabrata)

Three Jewels of Buddhism

Buddha: ideal human and teacher

Dharma: teachings

Sangha: community of monks and nuns

Three marks of Reality

Suffering, impermanence, no soul or ultimate reality

Zen

Enlightenment by direct intuition through meditation (Mahayana Buddhism)

Bodhisattra

"Enlightenment being" in Mahayana, a person with deep compassion, especially one who does not enter nirvana but is constantly reborn to help others- a heavenily being of compassion.

Karma

The moral law of cause and effect that determines the direction of rebirth

Satchitananda

description of the subjective Brahman. Fullness of Brahman. "Being, kindness, joy"

Dharma

Buddhist Teachings

Epiphany

Sudden or striking realization

Mahavira

An extreme aesthetic who founded the religion Jainism and thought of several Hindu concepts, such as karma, in a very concrete way

Guru Nanak

Indian religious leader who founded Sikhism in dissent from the caste system of Hinduism

Ninian Smart's 8 characteristic elements of religion

1. Belief System: interpretation of universe

2. Community: shared by a group

3. Central Myths: stories retold

4. Ritual: belief through ceremony

5. Ethics: rules about human behavior

6. Emotional Experience: dread, guilt, awe

7. Material expression: statues, objects

8. Sacredness: distinction to ordinary with emphasis

5 Characteristics of Indigenous Religions

Oral stories, animism, respect for nature, importance in tribes, use of dance and music

Outline of Buddha's life

Born into nobility in Nepal. He had an unusual birth and father made sure to protect him from suffering. By 30, Buddha escapes and after encountering old age, sickness, death, and then an ascetic. He joins an ascetic group and deprives himself of everything. He then is able to see both sides to life: deprivation and everything. He retreats to solidarity and discovers under the Bodhi tree that the answer is from within. He then creates his own sermon to discuss his teachings.

4 wants of Hinduism

Want for pleasure: sex and food

Want for worldly success: fame

Want for duty: fulfilling work

Want for liberation: no reincarnation

4 Kinds of Yoga

Kharma Yoga: action/selflessness

Jhana Yoga: knowledge/intellect

Bhakti Yoga: devotion/love all

Raja Yoga: discipline/energize body

4 Stations in Life/ 4 Stages in Life

Stages:

1. Student: Learning

2. Householder: marry, children, job

3. Retirement: enjoyment of life

4. Forest Dweller: return to solidarity-no love or hate

Stations:

1. Seers: Brahmin/Priests

2. Warriors

3. Merchants

4. Sudra: Laborers

Buddha: 4 Noble Truths

1. Life is Suffering: be aware of this. Death, separation, birth, etc

2. Cause of Suffering is Desire: the more we are attached, the more we suffer

3. Cure is to Remove Desire: remove selfish attachment. If we have no desire, we have no suffering

4. To remove desire, follow Eight Fold Path

Buddha's Eightfold Path

Right view

Right thought

right speech

right action

right livelihood

right effort

right mindfulness

right concentration

Why is Buddha an "Everyman"?

He is a universal symbol. Parts of his life everyone can relate too. He asked many questions in reference to suffering (4 Passing Sites)

Columbus Day v. Indigenous Peoples Day

Celebrated to show victories of indigenous people and a representation of how they will not be erased. These populations will always be powerful no matter what land was stolen.

3 Schools of Buddhism

1. Theravada: unchanged elders. little ritual, for the few, little metaphysics, to be an arhat (complete nirvana), wisdom

2. Mahayana: emphasizes that everyone, not only monks, can obtain nirvana. calls for compassion. human being is positive. Three-Body Doctrine: nature is expressed in three ways

3. Vajrayana: Tibetan Buddhism. Very unique and has a spiritual leader (dhalai lama)

Three Major Jain Virtues

• Right Perception (truth of reality)

• Right Knowledge (freeing from doubts)

• Right conduct (the way in which one lives to reach kevala)

Parable of the Blind Man and why it's significant for the study of world religions.

- Parable of the blind men is when each of the blind men touch different parts of an elephant and think that it's a different animal e.g touching the trunk and then saying it's a snake. This is significant to the study of world religions because it shows that no single religion knows the whole truth and that this is why we should be mindful and respectful and look at religion as a whole and not just the sum of it's parts.