REL 333 Week 4 World Religious Traditions I

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REL 333 Week 4World Religious Traditions I
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• Should have e-mailed to me your Eastern Religious
  Matrix by now
• Your learning teams should be working on the
  final assignment due next week too. LEARNING
  TEAM
• Time 5 Hours (All time indications throughout
  the syllabus are for on-ground students.)
• Review the objectives from Week Four and discuss
  additional insights and questions that may have
  arisen.
• Eastern Religions Learning Team Final
  Presentation and Paper (due Week Five) APA
• Each Learning Team will complete a paper and
  presentation about the impact of a contemporary
  expression of an Eastern religious tradition on a
  particular society. The following is a list of
  questions to consider
• What role do Eastern religious traditions play in
  modern medicine?
• What impact has Hinduism had on modern Indias
  society?
• How is the practice of Buddhism expressed in the
  United States?
• What is the state and practice of ancient Chinese
  religious traditions in Communist China?
• The paper and presentation should focus on how
  the societal views of spirituality and religion
  have been influenced, and how social and
  political life has been impacted by the selected
  Eastern religious tradition, then compare and
  contrast the selected religion to at least one
  other studied in this course.
• The paper should consist of 2,100-2,450 words.
  The Microsoft PowerPoint presentation should
  comprise 10-12 slides (with narrator notes if
  they are available) The project must include at
  least five references in addition to the
  textbook. Both the Final Paper and the
  Presentation are due in Week Five.

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Week 4 Objectives

• Trace the historical development of Taoism,
  Confucianism, and Shinto
• Examine the significance and meaning of ritual,
  symbols, myths, and sacred texts in Taoism,
  Confucianism, and Shinto

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Taoism (also known as Daoism)
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Taoism

• The Way of Nature
• Taoism a way of studying and systematizing human
  life as well as natural life
• Nature observations and emulation are foremost

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Ancient Traditions roots

• Ancestor Worship
• Divination
• I Ching (Book of Changes)
• Supreme Deity
• Shang-ti
• Holy Mother in Heaven (guardian of the seas)

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Taoism

• Lao-tzu
• Lived approx
• 600 BCE
• Was a court
• archivist and a
• contemporary of
• Confucius
• Chuang-Tzu

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Lao-Tzu

• Retired from Government service
• went west.
• The gatekeeper and the Tao-te-ching
• Supposedly lived for hundreds of years

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Taoism
The Tao that can be named, that is not the
Absolute Tao.

• Tao-te-ching The Way and the Power
• About 5000 words
• Poetic
• Begins by saying that nothing can be adequately
  said about the Tao.
• Calls for a return to nature and its source (the
  Tao)
• Downplays formal learning
• Asserts natural wonder and the harmonization of
  nature and humanity

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Taoist Ritual and Practice

• Blends temple worship, private devotion,
  meditation, breathing, and physical techniques.
• Also incorporates alchemy, yoga, good deeds,
  shamans, superstition, and occult magical
  practices
• One goal is to become immortal

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Taoist practices

• Tai-Chi
• Body movements, breathing and
  relaxed concentration
• Designed to draw chi from the universe and
  stimulate its flow through the body
• Feng Shui (Wind and water)
• http//www.artoffengshuiinc.com/

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Bruce Lee (1940-1973)
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Taoist ethics and Morality

• Wu-wei non-action.
• Harmony
• the more forcing, the more trouble
• Wu-hsin no-mind

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The Tao of Pooh

• "While Eeyore frets ... ... and Piglet
  hesitates... and Rabbit calculates ... and Owl
  pontificates...Pooh just is.
• "Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully."Yes,"s
  aid Piglet, "Rabit's clever.""And he has
  Brain.""Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has
  Brain."There was a long silence."I suppose,"
  said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands
  anything."

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Taoism
The Tao that can be named, that is not the
Absolute Tao.

• Tao-te-ching The Way and the Power
• About 5000 words
• Poetic
• Begins by saying that nothing can be adequately
  said about the Tao.
• Calls for a return to nature and its source (the
  Tao)
• Downplays formal learning
• Asserts natural wonder and the harmonization of
  nature and humanity
• most translated after the Bible
• Oral Tradition
• Very Ancient
• Written by Lao Tzu (?)

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The Point of Taoism

• To study the order and system of natural life so
  that one can order ones own life to move with the
  flow. The path will necessarily weave as the
  cosmos around you changing
• Requires great mental and physical discipline

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Life in Harmony

• Experience the transcendent unity in all things,
  not separation
• reconcile opposites on a higher level of
  consciousness
• Everything has its place and function in life
• no good or bad, small or large, disfigured or
  beautiful

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Life in Harmony continued

• Experience the universe that is directly
• cooperating with the ways things are, not making
  judgments, setting standards of morality, not
  labeling
• Three in the Morning

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A Low Profile

• A Taoist has a low profile in the world
• like a valley, allowing things to flow into life,
  like a stream
• Not working for recognition, doing it because it
  is their function to do it
• nourishes the ten thousand things of material
  life
• No possession of accomplishments, works
  effortlessly

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The Way of Water

• Flowing Water
• Water doesnt fruitlessly attack
• effortlessly flows around and over, gently
  removing obstacles

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Wu Wei

• doing nothing
• nothing contrary to nature
• not expending unnecessary energy
• non-interference
• nothing is evil, things are just out of balance
• Civilization with rigid views on morality, and
  intellectual attempt to improve what is generates
  chaos

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Chi-kung

• Very similar to Hindu meditation practice
• Ching - generative force
• Chi - vitality
• shen - spirit
• management of ones life-force is VERY important

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Mystical Practices

• I Ching
• Life is chaotic, sometimes answers dont come
• the brick wall scenario
• with meditation, washing, ask your question
• a direct line to the spirit world
• Tai-chi chuan
• Philosophical vs. Popular Taoism
• Search for Elixir of Immortality

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Mystical Practices
Qin Shi Huang Di
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Gods and Priests

• Some Taoists have priests, deities, and so on
• Eight Immortals
• humans who gained immortality with their own
  magic powers
• Hsien
• numerous gods
• ancestral spirits
• magic making
• ritual
• priests

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8 Immortals

• Zuang Guolao
• Zhong-Li Quan
• Han Xiang-Zi

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8 Immortals

• He Xian-Gu
• Lan Cai-He
• Li Tie-Guai

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8 Immortals

• Lu Dong-Bin
• Cao Guo-Jui

From http//www.asianartmall.com/8immortalsarticl
e.htm
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Confucianism
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Confucius Kung Fu-tzu
551-479 BC
Confucius
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Confucius, the Buddha, and Lao Tzu Tasting Vinegar
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Confucianism

• Kung Fu-tzu (Master Kung)
• Teachings called Juchiao (the teaching of the
  scholars)
• Life Story
• Gentleman Scholar
• Jen (human-heartedness, humanity)
• Golden Rule
• Social Hierarchy
• Rituals Li
• Filial Piety - Yi
• Ancestor Worship
• Mencius Mandate of Heaven

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Confucianism

• Confucius brought together many old traditions,
  applied his own wisdom, and put things in many
  small sayings that were easy to remember
• Emphasized rituals
• as the way to preserve
• order in society

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Confucianism

• Confucius not recognized as a sage until after
  his death
• Mencius (Meng Tzu) Hsun Tzu

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Central Teachings

• Tradition
• Jen
• Li
• Veneration of ancestors
• Food and wine offerings
• Silent prostrations at ancestral temples,
  gravesites, and homes

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Nature of the Divine

• Gods, Spirits and ancestors
• All supported the moral order
• Violating the moral order was to violate your
  ancestors

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Sacred Texts

• Five Classics
• I Ching
• Book of History
• Classic of Rites
• Spring and Autumn Annals
• Four Later Books
• Analects of Confucius
• Book of Mencius
• The Great Learning
• The Doctrine of the Mean

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Art
Poem on Mountain Ming Dynasty
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Art
Wu Dao-Zi Tang Dynasty
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Art
Han-Gan White Horse Tang Dynasty With Poem from
the Emperor in 1746
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Forbidden City
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Forbidden City
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Forbidden City
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Forbidden City
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Forbidden City
Female (Left) and Male (Right) Lions Guarding the
Residences
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Forbidden City
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Shintoism
??
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Shintoism

• Originated in Japan
• Has no founder
• Came to be known as Shinto in response to
  incursion of Buddhism

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Shinto Definitions

• Shinto
• State Shinto
• Kami
• Torii
• Ki
• Aikido
• Amaterasu
• Hirohito

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Shintoism

• Kami
• misogi,
• Kinship with
• nature
• Purity
• Purification
• Rituals

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History

• The indigenous religion of Japan (790 AD)
• no name until Buddhism arrived
• used by governments to inspire nationalism
• returned to grassroots after war and separation
  of Church and state
• People of the land
• agricultural
• plant, tend, harvest
• sun and moon cycles
• Spr. - Summer - Fall - Winter cycle
• Mount Fuji is sacred embodiment of divine
  creativity
• land thrust up from the sea
• Fuji-san is its name
• friendship and intimacy
• Simplicity and naturalness are the honored traits

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Kami

• The divine
• Kamikaze - divine wind
• Spirits, any type
• the kami are EVERYWHERE
• Shrines to honor them
• Groves of trees
• always an enclosure to show where the Holy begins
• torii - tall gate frames
• bridges over streams
• water is particularly cleansing
• places provided to wash
• public hall - offering hall - sacred sanctuary
• only High Priest goes to the latter
• priesthood is often hereditary, takes years to
  learn all of the nuances
• no images in worship, all is in nature

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Kami continued

• Home worship too
• a high shelf with a shrine
• generally only a mirror inside
• greet sun with clapping and prayer, and offerings
• Rice - health
• Water - cleansing and preservation of life
• Salt - harmonious seasoning of life
• by daily incorporating the worship of the kami
  into everyday life one will be in harmony with
  nature

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Evil or Sin?

• No sin in Shinto
• Good and evil distinctions are for lesser people
• world is a beautiful, enjoyable
  place
• Sexuality is not bad per se
• communal bathing is traditional
• Impurity is cause of misfortune
• tsumi
• unkind interaction among humans
• corpses
• menstruation
• humans interacting against nature
• natural disasters

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And sin? continued

• No repentance required. Purification required
• physical - I.e. washing with water
• spiritual - I.e. and enlightening moment
• unity of universe
• oharai
• stick of wood from sacred tree with white
  streamers attached
• kami wind, remember?

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Shinto Buddhism?

• Shinto for life events, Buddhism for death events
• Often the two are worshipped side by side
• theologies are very different

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Shinto Confucianism?

• Hierarchy
• social cohesion
• alliance was formed to attempt to overthrow the
  Buddhist influence

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State Shinto

• Emperor Meiji
• Shinto became spiritual basis for government
• Emperor was long thought to be the offspring of
  the sun goddess
• imperial family would almost always consult the
  shrine to the sun goddess for matters of
  importance.
• Way of the kami should govern the nation
• administered by government officials
• priests were suppressed and/or done away with
• tool to enlist popular nationalism
• Emperor was a God, worthy of protection, and
  Japan should expand

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Various Elements

• Eternal life-force
• chi
• Self-generating
• Yin and Yang
• yin female, dark, receptive
• yang male, bright, assertive
• wisdom is in recognizing their ever shifting,
  always in balance cycle. The follower will flow
  with these cycles.
• The cycle is called the TAO (the way)

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Prayers and notes on a Shinto shrine
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Chuang Tzu

• Important Taoist
• Butterfly Story
• Chuang-Tzu once dreamed he was a butterfly. When
  he awoke, he no longer knew if he was a butterfly
  dreaming he was a man, or a man who had dreamed
  he was a butterfly.

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Japanese BathsGrandma Grandson
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Calligraphy
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Shinto
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Shin (Divine Being) Do (Way)

• Japanese in origin
• Strictly a Japanese order
• Confucianism - informs organizations and ethics
• Buddhism and Christianity - ways to understand
  suffering and afterlife
• Shinto - living in harmony with the natural world

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State Shinto continued

• Hirohito
• Meiji grandson
• thought to be a God
• Declared himself human at the end of WWII
• thus sending Japan headlong into our century

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Shinto Today

• Non-proselytizing
• nature oriented
• relationship oriented
• A good example of the definition of an indigenous
  religion
• for so it is...

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• Questions

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• II. Philosophy of Religion
• A. Philosophy of religion is NOT meant to
  convert students or to trigger emotional
  arguments between students with differing beliefs
• B. Philosophical study of religion is meant to
  enable students to expand understanding, think
  critically, and reflect on the nature of their
  own religious beliefs
• C. In principle, there is no reason that
  philosophy, science, and religion cannot coexist

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Purposes (Function) of Myth

1. Teach about ourselves (explain origins)
2. Provide explanations
3. Provide examples or models of behavior
4. Create meaning for yourself
5. Entertainment (social solidarity)

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Methods of Studying Religion

1. Sympathetic (participant-observer) feel for
2. Dispassionate (apathetic) feel not
3. Normative (antipathetic) feel against
4. Empathetic (Understanding through acquaintance)
   feel within
5. Analytical study and do critical analysis of the
   claims of the religion

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Dimensions (Aspects) of Religion

• From Ninian Smart (The World Religions (1989)
  10-21.)
• Ritual (Practice)
• Experiential (mysterium tremendum et
  fascionosans emotional)
• Mythic (Stories/narratives with sacred
  significance)
• Doctrinal (beliefs philosophies)
• Ethical (commandments actions legal)
• Social (Institutional Community)
• Material (Artistic)
• Historical real live events

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