How to study belief systems

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How to study belief systems

• Buddhism
• Christianity
• Islam
• Hinduism
• Judaism
• Confucianism
• Daoism
• Shintoism
• Paganism
• Agnosticism

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1500BCE
660
1440
30CE
622
563
600
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Tenets or teachings

• How are they collected
• Books of learning
• Books of Law
• Who does the teaching and where
• Monasteries
• Monks
• Actual foundation of the religion

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Organization

• Secular outside religion
• Sacred religious veneration or reverence
• Denomination
• Sect
• Cult
• Orthodoxy
• Correct thought
• Heresy is violation of the correct thought
• Pious or Piety is to adhere or adhering to the
  tenets and orthodoxy of your religion

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Nature of Religion

• Who are the leaders
• What kind of background do they have
• Degree of aggression
• How are they organized
• Hierarchy
• Religious Institutions and bureaucracies
• Connection with political authority

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Categorize them

• Universal
• adherents believe what they think is proper for
  ALL human kind
• have a means of transmission
• are not inextricably linked to a nation,
  ethnicity, or place
• are dominant somewhere
• Ethnic
• Simple
• Complex ethnicity and religion are joined such
  as Hinduism where you are born into the religion
  and it is your way of life
• Syncretic
• Exclusive vs.Non-exclusive
• Im right and you are wrong vs. whatever you want
• Islam, Christianity, Judaism vs. Hinduism,
  Buddhism,
• Pantheon
• Polytheistic many gods
• Monotheistic one god
• Dualistic pits equally evil gods against good
  gods
• Schisms and divisions

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Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism and Shintoism

• Is Confucianism a religion?
• 5 Principle Relationships

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Shinto

• Ethnic Religion
• Found almost exclusively in Japan
• The spirits of the Japanese Islands are located
  on the islands
• These spirits are called Kami
• Way of the gods
• Rituals celebrate the beauty of nature
• Began prior to 6th century bce
• Worship of nature
• Animistic
• Kujiki or The Records of Ancient Matters written
  ca. 7th century CE
• Kanji is the symbol and represents the shrine of
  the religion

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Perspective on lifeDharmic Religions

• Samsara
• Present in Janism, Hinduism and Buddhism
• Syncretic religion of Sikhism
• Endless cycle of suffering caused by birth, death
  and rebirth
• Life is a cycle
• Endless knot
• Wheel of life

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Hinduism

• Combination of traditions of the bhakti and the
  Aryans from 2000 to 1200 BCE
• Vedas and the Upanishads
• Epics Mahabharata and Ramaya?a.
• The Bhagavad Gita, a longer statement of the
  principles of Hinduism from the Mahabharata,
  spoken by Krishna
• is sometimes called a summary of the spiritual
  teachings of the Vedas
• Vishnu and Shiva most common of hundreds of
  deities
• Cow sacred and its slaughter forbidden -Nearly
  200 million cattle in India which is about 15
  of world total cows
• Cows provide work, milk, ghee, dung, fertilizer
• Goshalas old age homes for old cows

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Hinduism

• Hinduism has splintered into diverse religious,
  some regarded as separate religions
• Jainism ancient outgrowth, claiming perhaps 5
  million adherents
• Traces its roots back over twenty-five centuries
• Reject Hindu scriptures, rituals, and priesthood
• Share Hindu belief in ahinisa and reincarnation
• Adhere to a stern asceticism
• Sikhism arose in the 1500s, in an attempt to
  unify Hinduism and Islam
• Centered in the Punjab state of northwestern
  India
• Has about 19 million followers
• Sikhs practice monotheism and have their own holy
  book, the Adi Granth

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Hinduism vs. Buddhism

• Hinduism teaches that ones role in life is
  defined by ones birth into a certain class, or
  caste. (varna)
• Reaching the highest state of being is called
  moksha and often called nirvana, this is the
  reuniting with the Brahman after climbing through
  the varna (caste system), as a result of actions
  in their life and subsequent lives
• Buddhism rejects the Hindu division of human
  beings into rigidly defined castes.
• Instead, Buddhism teaches that all human beings
  can reach nirvana, or ultimate reality, as a
  result of their behavior in this life, their
  actions
• Karma and Dharma
• Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path
• Divided into Mauyana and Therevada
• Buddhism also differs from Hinduism in its
  simplicity. Hindus worship a multitude of gods,
  whereas Buddhists are forbidden from worshipping
  any god, even Buddha himself.
• For this reason, many consider Buddhism to be
  more of a philosophy than a religion.
• Buddha believed that our thoughts create our
  reality. He believed that the physical
  surroundings of humans were simply illusions and
  that sorrow and suffering were the result of an
  attachment to the things of the world. By
  practicing right mindfulness, as taught in the
  Eightfold Path, we keep our minds in control of
  our senses.

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Buddhism

• Karma is the force generated by a persons
  actions that determines how that soul will be
  born into the next life.
• The present life is a reflection of ones actions
  in the previous life.
• What people do in their current life determines
  what their next life will be.
• Dharma
• Right way of life
• The better you live the more likely you can reach
  liberation or Nirvana
• Siddartha Gautama (lived sometime between 563-400
  BCE) meditates and is released
• Called the Buddha
• Tipitaka contains the words or speakings of
  Siddartha Gautama

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Buddhism

• Four Noble Truths
• Suffering exists
• Suffering arises from attachment to desires
• Suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases
  
• Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing
  the Eightfold Path
• Eightfold Path
• Wisdom (panna) Right View
• Right Thought
• Morality (sila) Right Speech
• Right Action
• Right Livelihood
• Meditation (samadhi) Right Effort
• Right Mindfulness
• Right Contemplation

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Image changes with the region
The Buddha is the enlightened person, a role
model to emulate not a god to try to please or
placate
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Sects of Buddhism

• Theravada
• Traditionalreligious life is a solitary
  individual journey (monk)
• Reaching Nirvana is simply ceasing to be
• Focus on meditation and personal perfection
• Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

• Mahayana
• China, Japan, Korea, Tibet
• Belief in enlightened beings (bodhisattvas) who
  have perfected themselves to the point they are
  capable of leaving the cycle of death and rebirth
  because they have reached nirvana
• Bodhisattvas remain in human form to help others
  reach nirvana (perfect contentment, release of
  attachments, and release from cycle of death
  rebirth)

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How it spreads

• Pilgrims
• Trade routes
• Geographic conduits/crossroads/ obstacles
• Stages
• Conversion or forced acceptance
• Exclusive or dual acceptance
• Proselytizing trying to convert someone to a
  religion
• Mission (latin root is to send off) duty to
  conduct such as Hajj
• Diaspora

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Cultural and Biological Exchanges Along the Silk
Roads

• The Spread of Buddhism and Hinduism

Insert map on page 257
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Dharmic release from suffering

• Hinduism
• Ayrans
• Vedic Era
• Vedas
• Polytheistic
• Altman
• Soul
• Moksha
• Liberation (from the cycle of reincarnation)
• Scriptures
• Vedas
• Upanishads
• Ramayana
• Mahabharata
• Bhagavad Gita
• Dharma
• behavior
• Artha
• Worldly gain

• Buddhism
• Karma
• Cause and effect
• Dharma
• Right behavior/true path
• Therevada
• The old way mostly practiced in SE Asia
• Mahayana
• Goal is to achieve enlightenment rather than
  liberation
• China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea
• Lamanism is Tibetan Buddhism (Red Hat vs. Yellow
  Hat secret societies)
• Nepal
• Samsara
• Suffering
• Nirvana
• Liberation
• Bodhisattvvas
• Humans who have reached Enlightenment and choose
  to stay in this world and not go to Nirvana
• Eightfold Path

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Daoism

• Nature or the flow of the universe
• Three Jewels
• compassion, moderation, and humility
• Yin and Yang
• Nonaction
• Yielding and harmonious
• Placing ones life in harmony with nature
• Pu is simplicity or without illusion
• It is not a thing
• The spokes of the wheel require empty space
  between them to work
• The hollowness of the vase makes it a vase
• Empty space allows things to exist
• Silence allows sound to be
• The no-thingness of the Dao is the inner Source
  of all things
• Founder is Lao Tzu about 6th century BCE
• I Ching or Tao Te Ching are the writings

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Confucianism

• Duty and Humanity
• Confucius believed that duty is expressed in the
  form of a work ethic, in which individuals
  working hard to fulfill their duties enable
  society as a whole to prosper.
• He also believed that rulers have a duty to set a
  good example, following a kingly way to gain
  the respect of their people. If rulers have this
  respect, their societies will prosper.
• Confucius also held that humanity is a sense of
  compassion and empathy for others.
• One should not do to others what one does not
  want done to oneself.

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The Five Basic Relationships

• According to Confucius, each person had a
  specific place in society and certain duties to
  fulfill. Confucius hoped that if people knew what
  was expected of them they would behave correctly.
  Therefore, he set up five principal relationships
  in which most people are involved.
• These relationships were
• (1) ruler and subject
• (2) father and son
• (3) elder brother and younger brother
• (4) husband and wife and
• (5) friend and friend.
• All, except the last, involve the authority of
  one person over another. Power and the right to
  rule belong to superiors over subordinates that
  is, to older people over younger people, to men
  over women.
• Each person has to give obedience and respect to
  "superiors" the subject to his ruler, the wife
  to her husband, the son to his parents, and the
  younger brother to the older brother. The
  "superior," however, owes loving responsibility
  to the inferior.

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Legalism

• Legalism was adopted during the Qin dynasty by
  the Emperor Shih Hwangdi as Confucianism is
  rejected.
• Confucianism is later reinstituted during the Han
  dynasty
• Not only does Confucianism prompt superior men
  within the governmental structure, during the Han
  dynasty a system of merit is adopted and the
  institution of the scholarly gentry is created
• Men from landowning families were selected to be
  trained and then tested to work within the
  government
• Legalism proposed that humans are evil by nature.
  
• The only way to make people follow the correct
  path is by harsh impersonal laws and stiff
  punishments.
• Legalists did not believe that government by
  superior men could solve societys problems as
  do the proponents of Confucianism

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Islam, Christianity and Judaism
Abraham
Judaism 18 Million
Islam 1.3 Billion
Christianity 2 Billion

• Abraham
• Founding patriarch who was sent by God to
  organize his people and lead them to another life
  in another area
• Ethical Monotheism
• One God sets the standards and will guide a
  person through life
• Believers must have faith in this God

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The spread of universal religions from 300-1500 CE

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Roman Catholic or early Christian

• Jesus Christ as a savior
• Paul of Tarsus built the structure of the church
• Constantine adopted Christianity for himself
• Theodosious adopted Christianity as the official
  religion of the Roman people
• Edict of Milan proclaims religious tolerance and
  allowed the practice of Christianity to flourish
  without prosecution
• Council of Nicea established the doctrines of the
  church
• Pope leads as a representative of God on earth
• Schisms
• Eastern Orthodox Church established in Byzantine
  Empire adopts Greek as its official language
• Priest can marry
• Icons allowed as pictures but not as statues
• Split final in 1053 (note Crusades begin 1077)
• Protestant movement begins with the Lutheran
  Church as the protests of Martin Luther begin in
  1517

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Infrastructure of Roman Catholic Church

• pope (cardinal with the curia)
  l leader of
  the western church
• Bishop
• managed a diocese administered the
  sacraments confirmation
  and ordination
  appointed and removed parish
  priests managed
  church property
• archbishop
• had all the powers of a bishop had some authority
  over bishops and other dioceses in the province
• parish priest
• conducted church services administered all the
  sacraments except confirmation and ordination
  supervised moral and religious instruction and
  moral life of the community

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Diffusion of Christianity

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Origin and Diffusion of Islam
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POSTCLASSICAL ERA, 500 TO 1000 C.EArabic to Islam
Insert Chronology Chart on page 325
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The Medinan Caliphate

• The Problem of Succession
• Abu Bakr (leader of prayers- companion and fourth
  convert) and Companions
• Ali (cousin and adopted son of Muhammad, husband
  of Fatima, second convert) and Abbas (uncle of
  Ali and the Prophet)
• The Medinan Caliphate (successor/representative)
• Abu Bakr (r. 632-634)
• Umar (Omar ibn al-Khattab) (r. 634-644)
• Uthman (Ummayyad clan) (r. 644-656)
• Ali (r. 656-661)
• The Sunni-Shiite split

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Dar al-Islam

• The Expansion of Islam
• The Early Caliphs and the Umayyad Dynasty

Insert map on page 310
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Islamic Influence

• Islamic and Hindu Kingdoms
• The Introduction of Islam to Northern Southern
  India
• The conquest of the Sind (711)
• Merging of cultures
• Sultanate of Delhi (1206)
• The Chola Kingdom (850-1267)

• African Influence

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Spread and schisms of Buddhism
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Tolerance for other religions

• Methods used to keep the true nature of their
  religion
• Wars
• Ethnic cleansing
• Marriage
• How do they convert others
• Persecution

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African Diasporic (Afro-Caribbean Syncretic)

• History/Founder
• The origins of the Afro-caribbean sects (Known
  variously as Vodoun, Santeria/Lukumi, Candomble,
  Ifa, Palo Mayombe, etc.) are shrouded in the
  ancient past. Most were brought to the Americas
  by Yoruban slaves, (except for Palo, which is
  Bantu) who blended their tribal beliefs with
  Catholicism, spiritism, and even native belief.
• Varieties of Yoruban descended religions are
  practiced in almost every country in the world.
  Most of the examples given in this guide conform
  mainly to Santeria/Lukumi beliefs, but there is a
  thread of commonality between all of them.
• The most common of the syncretic faiths are
• Santeria (Lukumi, Regla de Ocha)
• Vodoun (Voodoo)
• Macumba (sometimes Quimbanda) and it's branches
  Umbanda and Candomble
• Palo Mayombe
• Current leader/governing body
• No central governing bodies.
• Believers are largely autonomous, many consider
  themselves Catholic.

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How it spreads

• Pilgrims
• Trade routes
• Geographic conduits/crossroads/ obstacles
• Stages
• Conversion or forced acceptance
• Exclusive or dual acceptance
• Proselytizing trying to convert someone to a
  religion
• Mission (latin root is to send off) duty to
  conduct such as Hajj
• Diaspora

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Buddhist Temples
Temple in Bhutan
Wat or Temple in Thailand
Gelugpa Temple, Mongolia
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Hindu Temples
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Mosques
Mombasa
Medina, Saudi Arabia
India
England
Sudan
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Jewish Synagogue
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Sacred space

• Conflict can result of two religions venerate the
  same space
• Example of conflict in Jerusalem
• Muslim Dome of the Rock site of Muhammads
  ascent to heaven
• Wailing Wall remnant of greatest Jewish temple
• Cemeteries also generally regarded as type of
  sacred space

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How to study belief systems

• Dharmic Religions
• Natural order
• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Thervada
• Mayayana
• Zen
• Janism
• Sikhism

• Abrahamic Religions
• From Abraham
• Christianity
• Catholic
• Orthodox
• Protestant
• Islam
• Sufi
• Shiite
• Sunni
• Judaism
• Orthodox
• Confucianism
• Daoism
• Shintoism
• Paganism
• Animistic
• Agnosticism

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Learned travelers and leaders spread culture

• Who was Ibn Sina and what were his works?
• Ibn-Rushd?
• Ibn-Khaldun?
• Ibn Battuta?
• Mansu Masa?
• Harun al Rashd?

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Growth of World Religions In Big Era Four
Hinduism From lst millennium BCE Buddhism From
5th century BCE Christianity From 1st century CE
Judaism Communities scattered widely in Southwest
Asia, Northern Africa, and Europe, especially
from the first century CE.
Outline Map Microsoft Encarta Reference Library
2002
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Sikhism

• Symbols of the faith The Five K's Clothing
  practices of stricter Sikhs symbolize unity,
  truthfulness, faith, identity, justice
• Kesa (long hair, never cut)
• Kangah (comb)
• Kacha (short pants)
• Kara (metal bangle)
• Kirpan (a ceremonial dagger)