Major Classical Religions & Philosophies – Vocab 2

Hinduism

• Origins & Historical Context

  • Emerged in the Indian Sub-continent after Indo-Aryan migrations from the Eurasian steppe.

  • Indo-Aryan incursions displaced the earlier Indus Valley peoples between 2000-1500 BCE

  • Early religious ideas preserved orally as the Vedic religion; written down as the Vedas by \text{c. }700\,\text{BCE}.

  • Considered by many scholars the oldest continuously-practiced organized religion.

• Core Beliefs & Cosmology

  • Reality is cyclical: an endless series of rebirths (samsara).

  • Ultimate human aim: moksha—union with Brahma/Brahman, the cosmic principle.

  • Achieving moksha requires accumulating good karma by fulfilling one’s dharma (duty).

  • Dharma is caste-specific; even poor performance is acceptable if the role is discharged faithfully.

  • Karma determines rebirth in a higher or lower caste until moksha is won.

• Social Consequence → Caste System (Varna)

  • Brahmin – priests & academics.

  • Kshatriya – warriors & kings.

  • Vaishya – merchants & landowners.

  • Sudra – commoners, peasants, servants.

  • “Untouchables” – outcasts (street sweepers, latrine cleaners).

  • Result: a rigid, divinely-sanctioned social hierarchy that persisted for millennia.

• Significance & Legacy

  • Provided a stable socio-religious structure.

  • Offered an explanation for social inequality as karmic justice.

  • Supplied later Indian empires with a ready-made ideological order.

Buddhism (Reaction & Reform)

• Founder & Setting

  • Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) in Northeast India

  • Crept up as a response to Hindu rigidity—especially caste immobility.

• Four Central Insights

  1. Life = suffering (dukkha).

  2. Cause = desire & greed for material gain or status.

  3. Cure = eliminate desire.

  4. Method = Eightfold Path (right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration).

• Nirvana & Rebirth

  • By extinguishing desire, one breaks the cycle of rebirth and attains nirvana—a transcendent state beyond suffering.

  • Accessible to anyone regardless of caste, making it socially revolutionary.

• Political Reception

  • Unpopular with most monarchs (its anti-elitist ethos threatened their prestige).

  • Exception: Mauryan Emperor Ashoka the Great (r. \text{c. }268-232\,\text{BCE}).

  • Adopted Buddhism after the bloody Kalinga War.

  • Issued edicts, sponsored stupas, dispatched monks & missionaries.

• Spread & Geography

  • Flourished briefly in India; radiated outward through missionaries, merchants, and Silk-Road networks to South, Central, Southeast, and East Asia.

• Ethical Emphasis

  • Compassion, non-violence, mindfulness, and monastic discipline.

Zoroastrianism (Persia’s Monotheistic Pioneer)

• Chronology & Sources

  • Proto-roots: \text{2}^{\text{nd}}\,\text{millennium BCE}; textual record by \text{5}^{\text{th}}\,\text{cent. BCE}.

  • Prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra) among Iranian-speaking peoples.

  • State religion of Persia for >1200 years.

• Theological Innovations

  • Monotheism: Ahura Mazda = supreme creator.

  • Dualistic Cosmos: eternal struggle between Good (Spenta Mainyu) and Evil (Angra Mainyu).

  • Moral Free Will: humans choose alignment with Good or Evil.

  • Eschatology: a future Saoshyant (messiah) will secure Good’s victory.

  • Afterlife: judgment over the Chinvat Bridge; righteous enter paradise, wicked fall.

• Social Teachings

  • Encourage Truth, Charity, Gendered spiritual equality, Civic duty.

  • Inspired Persian kings (Cyrus, Darius) to rule for the welfare of all subjects.

• Influence on Later Faiths

  • Supplied template for Second-Temple Judaism, Christianity, and even Islamic angelology.

Second-Temple Judaism

• Timeline

  • Oral origins much earlier; written canon begins \text{c. }6^{\text{th}}\,\text{cent. BCE}.

  • Named after the Second Temple rebuilt under Persian king Cyrus the Great.

• Pre-exilic Traits

  • Embedded in Mesopotamian milieu; contained henotheistic/polytheistic residues.

• Post-exilic Transformation (Persian Impact)

  • Shift to strict monotheism (Yahweh alone).

  • Adopted:

  • Cosmic Good v. Evil conflict.

  • Free will in ethical decisions.

  • Prophecy of a future messiah to triumph for Good.

• Scriptural Canon

  • Tanakh (Torah, Prophets, Writings).

  • Emphasized covenantal law, ethical monotheism, communal identity.

Christianity

• Foundations

  • Emerged 20-33\,\text{CE} in Roman-occupied Judea.

  • Followers chronicled miracles & teachings of Jesus of Nazareth—deemed the promised Jewish messiah.

• Message & Appeal

  • Spiritual salvation, love of neighbor, forgiveness, equality before God.

  • Attractive to oppressed Jews seeking deliverance from Roman rule.

• Roman Opposition & Spread

  • Authorities feared Jesus as potential rebel; executed him (crucifixion).

  • Early Christians persecuted; nevertheless missionaries (esp. Paul of Tarsus) traveled extensively across the empire.

  • Trade routes & urban centers enabled diffusion into the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and Europe.

• Long-term Influence

  • Became state religion of Rome by 380\,\text{CE}; foundational to Western civilization, later global in scope (>2 billion adherents today).

Legacy of the Greeks & Persians

• Administrative Blueprint

  • Post-Alexander Hellenistic kingdoms adopted Persia’s centralized bureaucracy.

  • Model transmitted to Romans, later Arabs, and other Afro-Eurasian states.

• Intellectual Contributions (Greece)

  • Philosophical method: skepticism, logic, systematic observation—precursors to empirical science.

  • Canonical thinkers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.

  • Ethics, metaphysics, politics, biology, formal logic.

  • Works translated & expanded by Arab, Persian, Indian scholars—fueling advances in mathematics, medicine, optics, and astronomy.

Confucianism (China’s Ethical-Political Framework)

• Historical Context

  • Confucius (Kong Fu-zi) lived 551-479\,\text{BCE} during the Spring & Autumn / Warring States eras—times of social chaos.

• Literary Corpus

  • Teachings compiled by disciples in the Analects.

• Three Nested Levels of Harmony

  1. Individual

  • Pursue education, integrity, honesty, and moral self-cultivation.

  1. Family

  • Uphold a rigid patriarchy; filial piety (respect for parents/elders).

  • Male heads must protect & provide for dependents.

  1. State

  • Well-ordered families → orderly state.

  • Subjects owe loyalty; rulers must act virtuously & justly.

• Political Role

  • Offered ideological antidote to warfare, promoting unity under a moral ruler.

  • Suppressed by the short-lived Qin Dynasty, later resurrected by the Han as official state doctrine.

• Broader Impact

  • Defined Chinese bureaucracy via civil-service exams.

  • Shaped East Asian social norms (Korea, Japan, Vietnam) for centuries.

Comparative & Connecting Themes

• Monotheism vs. Polytheism

  • Zoroastrianism pioneered regional monotheism → influenced Judaism → Christianity → Islam.

• Caste / Social Mobility

  • Hindu caste immobility prompted Buddhist reforms; Confucian hierarchy stresses role but allows moral advancement.

• Messianic Expectation

  • Zoroastrian Saoshyant → Jewish Messiah → Jesus in Christianity.

• State Utilization of Religion/Philosophy

  • Ashoka’s Buddhist policies; Persian kings’ Zoroastrian righteousness; Han use of Confucianism; later Roman adoption of Christianity.

• Trade & Missionary Networks

  • Silk Roads disseminated Buddhism, Christianity; sea lanes carried Hinduism & Buddhism to Southeast Asia.

• Intellectual Syncretism

  • Greek rationalism blended with Islamic, Indian, and Western thought → advancement in sciences.

Numerical & Chronological Quick-Reference (All in LaTeX)

• Hindu Aryan migration: 2000-1500\,\text{BCE}

• Vedas written: 700\,\text{BCE}

• Buddha’s era: 6^{\text{th}}-5^{\text{th}}\,\text{cent. BCE}

• Mauryan Empire: 322-187\,\text{BCE}

• Ashoka reign: 268-232\,\text{BCE}

• Zoroastrian textual record: 5^{\text{th}}\,\text{cent. BCE}

• Second Temple period begins: 6^{\text{th}}\,\text{cent. BCE}

• Jesus’ ministry: 20-33\,\text{CE}

• Confucius: 551-479\,\text{BCE}

• Roman adoption of Christianity (Theodosius): 380\,\text{CE}

Ethical & Practical Takeaways

• Religions/philosophies often emerge as critiques of existing structures (Buddhism vs. caste, Confucianism vs. war).

• State patronage can amplify or suppress belief systems (Qin suppression, Mauryan support).

• Concepts like free will, universal ethics, and messianism spread across cultures, illustrating intellectual cross-pollination in antiquity.