World Religions FInal

Where do we find Hinduism?

India and South Asia

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in past: SE asia, cambodia, vietnam

Hinduism Characteristics

oldest living religion

2500 BCE to 1500 BCE

no historical founder

no common creed

polytheism

Dharma

revealed by Vedas

means to sustain: duty, law, religion

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all beings are born with dharma

Obligations to the family and social grp

ones individual dharma is situational, dependent on social status and stage of life. No universal dharma.

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If you are a soldier and you kill someone on a battlefield, you are fulfilling your dharma, or duty. If you are a scholar and kill someone, you are violating your dharma, -> dharma is contingent on your situation

Samsara

hinduism: Cycle of life and death that is to be avoided ideally

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karma drives this

Karma

Everything we do has consequences

Could be good or bad consequences

Brahman

the all pervasive reality that underlies the particular things we experience 

The unity that grounds all being

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Each deity= a manifestation of an aspect, facet, or expression of Brahman

Atman

the individual self/entity as part of brahman

Moksha

hinduism: liberation, knowledge of ultimate nature of reality

Vedas

the myths, rituals and speculations on the divine

oral tradition

vedic sanskrit

oldest Vedas is the Rig Veda

Vedic deities

also called devas

3 classes: Celestial (sky), atmospheric (air), and terrestrial (earth)

natural world blends eith divine

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Agni (fire), indra (lightning), soma( plant)

Varna(s)

comes from hymn in rig veda that recites orgin of cosmo in sacrifice of cosmic man

• Brahmin- priests, scholars

• Kshyatriya- warriors, kings, royal/ruling families

• Vaishya- merchants, agriculturalists, artisans

• Shudra- servants

• Untouchables- dalits, harijans

Aims of Life

Dharma

Artha- gain wellness, material wealth

Kama- pleasure

Moksha- spiritual emancipation, fulfill dharma, knowledge of ultimate nature of reality

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aims are interlocking

dharma at center

must fulfill dharma to attain moksha

Bhagavad Gita

Trimurti

Brahma (creator)

Vishnu (preserver)

• Rama- model of the good king, worshipped along with wife sita and monkey god hanuman

• Krishna- status as a god slowly revealed in heroic deeds, prone to playing tricks as child in service of the good

Siva (destroyer)

Devi

represents female power

the great goddess

can be any number of goddesses

Shakti (+ Goddesses)

means female power

parvati, lakshmi, sarasvati, sita, kali , devi

Puja

worship

performed by priest or laypeople

in home, temples or other locations

Darshan

seeing and being seen

the deity gives darshan

devotees receive darshan

Vedic Period

1500-500 BCE

named after the Vedas- oral tradition

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vedic religion included rites of sacrific to the vedic gods

^ maintaining the cosmic order

fire was the center of the sacrifice, usually sacrifice was animals, ghee, butter, milk, or soma

gods served as intermediary btwn offering and divine realm

these rituals are still performed today

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Where did Jainism originate?

India

Jainism Characteristics

developed in 6th cent BCE from NE India

takes name from veneration of jinas

series of founders- tirthankaras

monastic practice

Mahavira

great hero

24th and final jina

dates of life uncertain

prince of royal fam

leaves fam to pursue spiritual awakening through ascetic parctices

seeks to eliminate karma from himself

attains full enlightenment (kevala) by squating in the sun, avoiding the shade of a tree

last person to reach this

transmits teachings to disciples

Jina

spiritual conquerors who enable overcoming the world of samsara

Svetambara sect of monks/nuns

white clad

allow women

Digambara sect of monks

naked

do not allow women

Ahimsa

non violence

• Very strict

• Some monks and nuns wear muhpatti or mouth shiellf to avoid ingesting tiny flies or other life forms

• No deliberate killing

• Vegetarian diet

• Includes verbal insults, approving of a violent act, encouraging of the act, or wanting someone to suffer

Satya

telling the truth

Asteya

non stealing

Aparigraha

non ownership, non attachment

forbids ownership of anything for ascetics who do not technically own the items that they use, such as the whisk, bow, and clothes

Brahmacarya

restraint in the area of sexuality, chastity

monks and nuns will not touch a person of the opposite sex

marital fidelity for laity

Buddhism in the World

vast majority in Asia

originated in India

inc in north america and europe now

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Spread from india north and south

Buddhism characteristics

4th largest world religious tradition

spreading to US

Three Jewels/Refuges

Buddha- Awakened One

Dharma- teaching taught by Buddha over the 45 yr period after his awakening, embodied in a series of scripture, upholds the cosmic order

Sangha- primarily refers to monastic community, critical to spread of dharma

Three Marks of Reality

Dukkha - suffering, events serve as occasions of suffering

Anitya/Anicca- everything that arises must pass

Anatman - non self

Four Noble Truths

• all life entails suffering

• suffering is caused by desire

• removing desire removes suffering

• the way to remove suffering is the eightfold path

Vehicles of Buddhism

Theravada

• way of elders

• earliest form of buddhism

• south and SE asia

• focused on preserving original teachings and the Arhat ideal

Mahayana

• the Greater Vehicle

• more religious, more gods/figures

• dominant in China, Korea, Japan

• ideal of bodhisattva

• Lotus Sutra

Vajrayana

• india in 7th cent BCE

• Dom in tibet, nepal, mongolia

• combines mahayana with hindu tantric practices

• dalai lamas

• yoga

Bodhisattva

work for the enlightenent of others, can be human but also trancendent

open to monks and laity

Lotus Sutra

buddha taught lower level and higher level truths

used by Mahayana buddhists

• 2 important themes

  • Universal accessibility to buddhahood

  • Need to fit teaching to audience

• parable of burning house→ skillful means

Emptiness/Shunyata

extension of interdependent origination

all things are empty of self existence

Trikaya

used by Mahayana buddhists

believe that buddha has 3 bodies/modes of being

• nirmanakaya - transformation body - body of the historical buddha (and of the other buddhas of present and past)

• Sambhogakaya- bliss body- this is the buddha worshiped in mahayana, the buddha who teaches the higher doctrines of the sutras

• Dharmakaya- truth body- this is the ultimate reality as it truly is and is experienced by enlightened minds. True nature of the buddha

Interdependent Origination

all things arise in connection with prior conditions

* a flower comes into being through things that are not it

Expedient/Skillful Means

buddha taught different things to diff people bc they needed to hear different things 

Tailors teaching to different times and places and listeners

Emphasizes cultivation of proper mental disposition for the novice to perceive the truth of the dharma rather than conveying info abt the dharma

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Nirvana

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* An individual quest for nirvana is illusory 
* No ultimate distinction between nirvana and samsara 
* __You cannot enter nirvana if other beings are not also part of that journey__

Arhat

worthy one, has attained Nirvanic experience and has been transformed by that experience

Pure Land

• Originated in india

• Most popular form of buddhism in east asia

• Focuses on the veneration of a celestial buddha

• Called the easy path

• Emphasizes salvation through the compassionate grace of the Buddha (amitabha)

• Amitabha created the pure land as a space of respite from suffering: always keep him in mid and you will be reborn in his pure land

Chan/Zen

• Originated in china

• Focuses on meditation, it is their mental disposition

• Meditation alone is sufficient, since no distinction between practice and realization

The Life of the Buddha

• his father keeps him in the palace, surrounds him with sensual pleasures and insulates him from “ anything that could perturb his mind.”

• Siddharth engages in pleasures and fathers a son

• On an outing the prince encounters 3 disturbing sights

  • An old man

  • A diseased man

  • A corpse

  • The fourth sight comes later: ascetic

• He had not idea such things existed since he was so sheltered

  • Sights are not self- interpreting. They require the prince's reflection on the experience. He connects them to a more general principle about the nature of reality

• Ascetic inspires him to become an ascetic and live that lifestyle

  • Becomes “awake” to the impermanence and suffering of reality

• For 6 yrs he studies with the ascetics trying to mortify the body

• Eventually he determines that earring out the body does not produce complete mindfulness

• Revokes asceticism and meditates, eventually accepts nourishment from old woman (nandabala) and that is when he attains enlightenment

• ^ seeks the middle way between sensuality and asceticism

• Strengthened by womans gift he sits under the fig tree and has strength to attain enlightenment (at moment of enlightenment, perceives the reality of non self)

• Resolves to assist in the freeing of all living beings, spends next 45 years until the end of his life teaching the path to freedom

Dao (confucianism)

order

Tian

ultimate moral force that supports Dao

confucianism

Kongzi/Confucius

supposed founder of confucianism

lower noble class, good education, modest administrative career

spent latter yrs of life teaching disciples and counseling rulers

only became influential after death when disciple collected sayings

instituted as China’s state ideology

Laozi

Daodejing attributed to him

unclear if single historical figure

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Zhuangzi

second foundational classic of Daoism

attributed to poet and philosipher of the same name

uncertain date (warring states)

parables, anecdotes, playful stories

complete rununciation of the society

Daodejing

anthology of sayings by multiple authors

37 chapters on The Way, 44 on the vitrue

Analects

the composition of master kongs sayings by his disciples after his death

20 bks

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Junzi

a cultivated individual who embodies specific virtues

proper aim of government→ welfare of people

Yin Yang

2 polar energies

complementary forces

Ideal order consists in harmony/balance of their interaction 

harmony is preferable, disharmony is not

cosmos is involved in flow of alternation and change

Confucian virtues

ren (benvolence)- involves all other virtues, inner potential for goodness

li (ritual propriety)- Bc we live in society we need to behave in a proper way

shu (reciprocity)- You perfect yourself through relationships with other human beings

xiao (filial piety)

wen (cultivation)

Wu Wei

non action

Daoism

effortless action

Shangdi

ruler of first verifiable historic period

* Viewed as the controlling power of the cosmos. Could only be petitioned by the shang rulers 

tian soon replaces shagdi as chief power

Warring States

479-221 BCE

competition of rival states encouraged consolidation of various political philosophies

__The teachings and texts of both confucianism and Daoism take shape during the collapse of the Zhou dynasty and the start of warring states period__

Dao in Daoism

natural order that permeates the entire cosmos

nonbeing

the primordial soup

Judaism characteristics

15 mill world wide

TaNaKH

term used for the Torah, Nevi’im (prophets books), and Ketuvim (proverbs, psalms)

Temple

unified monarchy under king david and solomon ( 1000-920 BCE)

religious leadership separated from monarchy

priest control temple and conduct sacrifices

__temple service central__

hereditary preisthood

temple viewed as gods house

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Synagogue

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religious center outside of temple and priestly control

emerges first in diaspora and then in judea

2nd temple judaism

Exile Judaism

587 BCE-539 BCE

destruction of first temple

removal of jerusalem elite to captivity in babylon

first jewish diaspora

Rabbi

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replaces priest in rabbinic judaism as religious authority

not hereditary

marked as an expert in the Torah

anyone can attain

Rabbinic Judaism

__no more temple__

__Torah substitutes for temple service__

study replaces sacrifice, God is present during Torah study

rabbis become central authority, interpreters of torah and mediators btwn God and israel

__diaspora religion__

Torah

law, instruction, teaching

first 5 bks of jewish bible

genesis, exodus, liviticus, numbers, deuteronomy

Gods external will, intention, thought

preexists the cosmos, used by God to create the world

Oral Torah

body of teachings imparted by God to Moses on Sinai but never written down. then transmitted orally

Mitzvah/Mitzvot

marks adulthood for males and females

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bring inner divine balance/harmony

unites sexually male and female aspects

Yeshiva/Beit Midrash

a place where Jews gather to study the Talmud

Mishnah

first post biblical sacred text for Jews

Written Oral Torah

Rabbinic Period

Talmud(s)

Commentaries to Mishnah

palestinian and babylonian

Midrash

rabbinic biblical exegesis

commentaries to hebrew bible

Second Temple Judaism

israel is mostly now under reign of successive imperial powers but is allowed to reestablish religious practices

priesthood is primary national and religious authority → now political official→ intermediary with foreign powers

__synagogue emerges, expands access to divine presence__

cont production of religious writings

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__Pharisees__

* belief in oral torah

Shekinah

the divine feminine

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Moses Maimonides

• Jewish philosopher

• Transformed judaism

• 13 jewish dogmas- who is an “israelite” (in good standing) is now determined by belief (not birth or practice)

• Reorganized and codified all jewish law

• developed new understanding of God and how he is present to believers

Kabbalah

Tradition of jewish mysticism that goes very far back, tracing roots to TaNaKh

* How to come close to God and how to bring Gods power into the world 

Reform

look for the ethics in the religion. Focus on keeping the spirit of the Torah, not necessarily the letter

Orthodox

torah is timeless gift, keep all commandments joyfully

Conservative

approach torah with respect but understand its history and adapt it

Hasidism/Hasidic

1760

god is everywhere and in everything

everyone can experience union with God

emotion over intellect

Old Testament (contrast TaNaKH)

Collection of books in the bible that are before Jesus

New Testament

include the gospels and other accounts of Jesus’s life

Gospel

recount jesus’s life and death

matthew

mark

luke

john

written most likely by disciples of these said individuals

Kingdom of God

God’s realm

both spiritual and earthly realm apply

Synoptic Gospels

matthew mark and luke

Paul

a disciple of Jesus

used to persecute Jews until he was converted on a journey by God who spoke to him and temporarily blinded him

became an avid disciple of Jesus

Baptism

sacrament utilized to mark the renouncement of sin and proclaim our devotion to God

Eucharist

transubstantiation

mass as re entering the enactment of Christs sacrifice

Constantine

recognized christianity as legitimate religion in 313

convenced and presided over council of nicea

first christian emperor

Christendom

the entire body of christians

Trinity

God, Jesus and the Holy spirit

Incarnation

the belief that God became flesh in Jesus

Original Sin

effect of adam and eves transgression

social consequences of sin

Augustine

bishop from northern africa

wrote confessions

develops idea of original sin

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Orthodoxy

oldest most coninuous of christian branches

eastern christianity

russia, serbia, bulgaria, armenia, greece

Icon/Icon veneration

form of worship in orthodox church

aim is to make God visible

direct gaze, frontal pose

wall of icons

Catholicism

primarily western form of christianity

continuously developing from 5th cent ce