Biblical studies notes no.2

Hinduism:

Place and time of origin: begun in india, with no single founder over 5000 years ago about (2000 BCE) Pantheistic religion. (over 330 million gods)

• Not a single religious tradition or one way to do it, there are many rituals and beliefs included

Hinduism is: 

Polytheistic - many gods

Pantheistic - they believe god is in everything 

Definitions-

Brahman - lifeforce and biggest force in the universe, the creative force in the universe. From brahman everything came and will return. All things are linked back to brahman

Atman - life force that  exists in every living thing → a part of brahman living inside of you giving you life

Dharma- your duty, a goal in a hindus life to complete (your dharma is assigned by your social class so there are different dharmas)

Karma -

Reincarnation - 

Moksha - being released from the cycle of rebirth 

Vedas - sacred texts of hinduism 

Samsara - 

You want to be able to fulfill your dharma which is fulfilling the role of your caste 

Castes in the caste system

• Brahmins - the priests and teachers

• Kshatriyas - warriors and rulers

• Vaishya - merchants and traders

• Shudras - servants 

Buddhism

Origins of Buddhism 

1. Name of the founder - Siddhartha 

2. When was the founder born - around 500 BC

3. Original religion of the founder of Buddhism - Hinduism

4. What age did siddhartha leave the palace - 29 years of age  

5. What are the 4 sights that Siddhartha saw on the road 

1. - Suffering 

2. - Oldman

3. - Sick man

4. - Deadman 

The 4 Noble Truths 

Truth 1. - everything is temporary, nothing exist forever, therefore is all suffering 

Truth 2 - Suffering come from desire 

Truth 3 - suffering ceases when desire ceases

Truth 4 - 8 fold path

The eight-fold path 

1. Right understanding 

2. Right thought 

3. Right speech

4. Right action 

5. Right livelihood 

6. Right effort

7. Right mindfulness 

8. Right conservation 

Buddha’s 4 critiques of Hinduism 

1. THE MIDDLE PATH 

2. THE CASTE SYSTEM 

3. BRAHMANS 

4. GOD, THE SOUL AND THE SELF 

Types buddhism 

Theravada  Buddhism 

Definition - A school of Buddhism that emphasizes the original teachings of the Buddha, focusing on individual enlightenment through monastic life and meditation

Goal - It is the complete and final end of suffering a state of perfection 

Countries that are dominant - Sri Lanka, Thailand, cambodia, Laus 

Mahayana Buddhism 

What is it - a broad collection of Buddhist traditions emphasizing compassion, the pursuit of enlightenment for all beings, and the role of Bodhisattvas (spiritual heroes) who delay their own enlightenment to help others

Goal - Is to become a buddha and to become a Bodhisattva

Bodhisattva - Someone who ha been enlightened or has delayed researching nirvana in order to show others the way 

Islam

Key Terms:

• Islam- Way of submission and peace

• Muslim- One who submits to Allah

• Allah- Arabic word for God

• Holy text-Qu’ran- Recitation 

  • Messeages Muhammad received via angels

  • Treated with reverence- do not place it on the ground, wash hands before touching

• Sira- Life 

  • Biography of Muhammad

  • Written 125 years after his death

  • Written by Muslim scholar (Ibn Ishaq)

  • 2-3 Centuries after his death

• Hadiths- Reports 

  • Individual reports about Muhammad, not regarded as divine

• Sharia- Submission to Allah’s law (path to watering hole)

• Tawhid- Existence and unity of God

• Angels- Mala’ika

• Books of Allah- Katubullah

• Rasul- Prophets

• Akhira- Resurrection for an afterlife

• Fate/predestination- al Quadar

End goal and Key Beliefs:

• To follow Sharia

• To follow the Qu’ran

• Jihad- Struggle or striving- to be a faithful Muslim 

  • by the heart - refers to the inner, spiritual battle of the heart against vice, passion, and ignorance.

  • by the tongue - means speaking the truth and spreading the word of Islam with one's tongue.

  • by the hand - involves choosing to do what is right and to combat injustice and what is wrong with action, or one's hand.

  • by the sword - refers to defending Islam and waging war against its enemies with the sword.

• Options when in contact with military expansion: 

  • Conversion – to Islam

  • Protection – keep way of life but pay a tax

  • Battle – military jihad

Key People:

• Muhammed, Founder of Islam 

  • He is known as ‘the Prophet’.

  • Born in 570AD

  • Began Islam in 610 AD

  • An angel spoke to him in a cave and told him to speak Allahs words

Key Features:

• Prayer- dawn, midday, mid afternoon, sunset, and evening

• Tax- there is a 2.5% tax on people in Muslim countries to help the poor and orphans, to reward volunteers in war, and to spread Islam throughout the world

• Ramadan- a holiday where Muslims will give up all sexual activity, drink, and food during daylight hours, and then will break their fast after sunset

• Mecca- Every adult who is able to should come to the Mecca on the 12th month of the Islamic year

• Spend an afternoon and evening on Arafat and call out to Allah for mercy from midday till sunset

• Throw pebbles at stone pillars to ‘stone the devil’

• Feast of Sacrifice- mass sacrifice of sheep and goats to mostly feed the poor

• Walk around the Kaba 7 times

• Major forms of Islam are Sunni (90%) and Shia (10%), whereShia is much more traditonal

• Five Pillars of Islam are the declaration of faith (shahada), prayer (salat), almsgiving (zakat), fasting (sawm), and pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj).

Hinduism

Origin:

• Began in India

• Has no single founder.

• Began over 5000 years ago.

• Not a single definitive religious tradition; there are various beliefs and rituals included.

Key Terms:

• Polytheistic- Believes in more than one god

• Panthetistic- Believes that god is in everything

• Brahman- The life force of the universe, the creative force behind the universe 

  • From Brahman, everything int he universe came and everything will return

  • All the gods in Hinduism are expressions of Brahman

  • All things can be linked back to Brahman

• Atman- The life force that exists in every living creature 

  • A part of Brahman living inside of you, which gives you life

• Dharma- Duty

• Karma- a force that balances the universe 

  • Hindu understanding of the consequences of our actions

• Reincarnation- the cylcle of being reborn to live another life

• Samsara- the cycle of being trapped in birth, rebirth, and death

• Vedas- Hindu holy texts, a collection of writings that spans hundreds of years

• Bhagavad Gita- a 700 verse Hindu scripture written in Sanskrit about Prince Arjuna fulfilling his destiny 9dharma) as a warrior, and the god Krishna informs him that he msut follow this path because it is his desntiny

• Puja- Daily worship

• Caste System- A social system which divided people based on which caste they were born into 

  • Decided jobs, mairrage options, social treatment, money, and power

  • (top to bottom caste) Brahmin, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras, Dalits

End Goals and Key beleifs:

• To complete one’s dharma, which is informed by your social class, meaning everyone has different dharma

• The karma you create in life by acting in line with your dharma will determine whether you reincarnate and what it looks like (good or bad)

• You are trapped in your body by your bad karma

• Ultimate goal is to escape Samsara

Key People:

Key Features:

• Hindus follow their dharma by the path of duties, path of knowledge, or the path of devotion 

  • Following your caste duties, accumulating good karma by living according to one’s caste, perform these actions with a sense of ‘detachment’

  • Meditation and preistly knowledge, devoting oneself to a life of contemplation, becoming a ‘Sadhu’, achieving mythical states of mind, denial of all pleasures and bodily comforts, perform these actions with a sense of ‘detachment’

  • Devoting oneself to a god, paying homage to your god in temple worhsip such sa offering food or money to the deity, setting up a shrine in your home and performing puja

Buddhism

Origin:

• Founded by Siddhartha Gautama, a Hindu prince

• He was born around 500 BC

• It was prophesied he owuld be a powerful ruler or a holy man

• His father, to ensure he became kind, sheltered him in the palace

• at age 29, Siddhartha snuck out of the palace and saw an old man, a sick man, and a dead man, three types of suffering

• He encountered a Hindu ascetic who had given up everything in life to meditate and reach enlightenment

• He was so imressed by the ‘look of peace’ on his face that he wanted to giv eup his life as a prince to find the secret to the end of suffering and to enlightenment

• He left his wife and newborn

• He started fasting, meditating, being homeless and travelling

• He rejected Hinduism

• One day sitting under this tree in Nepal, he had his realisation: 

  • Buddhists believe this is the moment he reached enlgihtenment

  • He became Buddha

  • He established his 4 noble truths and the 8 fold path

Key Terms:

• Enlightenment- Deep spiritual knowledge, an awakening to the answers about big questions about life and existence, a way to solve the problem of suffering, freeing oneself from being attached to the world.

• Samsara- cycle of reincarnation

• Nirvana- the extinguishing of desire

• Karma- Accumulated with any form of desire

• Arhat- Fully awakened being

• Bodhisattva- enlightened being

End Goal and Key beliefs:

• Enter Nirvana to escape the cycle of Samsara and cease to exist

• Any form of Karma is bad

• Karma traps one int he cycle of Samsara

• Suffering exists, is caused by attachment and desire for things, ceases when attachment ceases, freedom from attachment is possible throught practising the 8 fold path

• Everything is temporary, therefore it is all suffering

• Hinduism was rejected because of four things 

  • The Middle Path- indulgind in all of the pleasureable things in the world will not bring you satisfaction, but depriving yourself and only fasting with not do this either

  • The Caste System- There is no distinction between humans, anyone can reach enlightenment

  • The role of Brahmans- Buddha rejected the idea that Brahmans are the closest to reaching Moksha and are the most wise, instead he thought that everyone is ignornat about the truth regardless of caste

  • God, the soul, and the self- Budha believed that god does not exist, we do not actually exist, and that we are just guessing about these ideas, meaning there is no point asking these questions ont he path to wisdom

• Types of Buddhism- Theredeva and Mahayana 

  • Theraveda Buddhism, oldest form of Buddhism, more common in India, Thailand, Sir Lanka, and Cambodia, Goal is to become an arhat, focused on meditation and denial of self control, atheistic

  • Mahayana Buddhism, mainly practised in China, South Korea, Japan, most commonly practiced form of Buddhism, aim is to become a bodhisattva, involved dedication towards Buddha statues, you dont actaully exist, and realising this will allow you to reach nirvana