Big Five - Lecture notes on the big 5 religions PDF

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Lecture notes on the big 5 religions ...

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Big Five: Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam  DIVERSE RELIGIONS 

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Western & Eastern religions: o Eastern:  Hinduism  India  1 billion in the world  Buddhism  Started in India and spread throughout Asia  600 million in the world  Jainism  Indian religion  10 million people  Can have a religious overlap with Hindus  China  Confucianism o Resurgence  Daoism  Buddhism o Resurgence o Western:  Judaism  15.5-16 million  U.S. & Israel  Huge impact on other religions (Christianity & Islam)  Christianity  2+ billion worldwide  Islam  1.5-1.6 billion world  Christianity & Islam population is about half of the world  Believe that they have something for everyone Religion has to evolve and adapt or it will die out

Historical Approach   

Animism everything had a spirit o First types of early human religion Polytheism  belief in many gods o Animism lead to polytheism Monotheism  belief in one God o Came from polytheism

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Most advanced form of religion (according to some)

Psychological Approach 

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How does religion function? What does it do? o Freud  book “The Future of an Illusion”  Though religion may be a way for people to cope  Example: post 9/11 attacks  more people coming in to services  Look for comfort, answers  Said if you are healthy and strong then there is no reason to be religious No correlation between mental illness and religious behavior ********

Sociological Approach  

Religions meet certain social functions in society See as one-way street o Is a two-way street  religion can influence culture and vice versa Religion is a by-production to the culture Love Mormons o In early days they practice polygamy o Believe in Bible but also had the Book of Mormon o There was a split with Smith for polygamy and are now 2 different religions

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Phenomenological Approach    

Thought other approaches were too Said religions are complex and wanted to study them as a system Descriptive method Looked at religion as a complex whole

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Indigenous Religions o Primal, basic, First Peoples, traditional, tribal (how some consider these religions) o Observations (generalizing) :  Myth  stories, not true, not always believable  Don’t believe they have a universal message  Some of the religions are dying out  growth is very important  Put emphasis on power o Shakers  If you joined you had to give over your private land to the community  Celibacy  Couldn’t have children (this impacted the growth of the religion)

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General characteristics of Indigenous religions (survival strategies)  Taboo  something forbidden  Examples: food restrictions, clothing, sexual, contact with certain objects, language  Fetishes  objects that are endowed with power  Get power on your side by wearing to be protected o Examples: wearing a cross, rosary, prayer beads, rabbits foot, four leaf clover  Magic manipulating the forces of nature  Sympathetic magic  you believe that by doing something on a small scale, that the gods will replicate it on the large scale  Gives the human the opportunity to participate  to help the feeling of hopelessness  Fertility  land to produce (god named Baal)  Participation ***  Knowledge/Divination  the interpreting and reading of signs  Examples: palm reading, astrology,  Totem  an emblem; something to represent the group  Sacrifice  give the God something to curry something in that favor  Examples: royal children, lambs, valuable items  Aztecs went to war to get people to sacrifice  Ancestor veneration  Common misperception  not as much worshipping ancestors as to respecting them  Proper burial is important  More about keeping ancestors in the communication loop – when they go to the tomb they are telling stories more than asking for things  Survival Religious specialists  Not every religion has a specialist (you could make the sacrifice for themselves)  Will often live in the margins of society  Priest  Specialized knowledge, techniques, know how to do it  Have monopoly power which can lead to corruption  Oracle  usually about the future  Seek out about something that is going to happen, reads signs to predict what’s going to happen, future oriented  Mediums  specialization in communicating with the dead  Possession  Women more commonly used  Past oriented

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Shaman  person who has the ability to enter into altered state – direct contact with some other type of reality May be at threat or risk because of encounters with the majority

HINDUISM   

Originally referred to as Sanatana Dharma  meaning “eternal law” Indus River  when Muslims came into that part of the world, to differentiate themselves they called themselves “indu’s” Challenges when talking about Hinduism o Can’t exactly talk about the beginning  no founding figure o So many texts – Hindus don’t agree on which ones are most important o o

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No central authority Sheer diversity  some declare God is one, others declare God is many

Seems to start in 2 civilizations o Indus Valley Civilization  3500 BCE  Built big cities, well built  Didn’t have defensive fortification – no walls  Had a centrally located structure used for water  Found a lot of objects with “seals”  Seals  small baked clay tablets  A lot had animals, some had humans, some writing (code hasn’t been cracked) o Aryan Civilization  Came out of Persia (moving east into the valley)  1750 BCE  Leave behind vedas  oldest text (considered old and important)  Written by the priests  Tell us about chief God named Indra (deity), Agni (fire), Soma (earth), o Soma is also a drink priests would make to take them to an altered state o Worshipped through sacrifices  Can be credited with the social structure put in place  Caste System  Priests  most status  Warrior  rulers  Merchant  producers  Workers  Untouchables  doing undesirable jobs

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3 concepts  Dharma  Everyone has it  spiritual duty/responsibilities  Laws of Manu  lays out expectations in regards to Caste  Primary task in life  fulfill Dharma  Karma  What goes around comes around (what we consider it to be)  “The absolute moral law that governs your advancement or regression in life” o Absolute moral law 

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System became inflexible, born into caste, it determined much of your life, what jobs you could get/not get, who your friends/family could be Likely to have a racial component to it Present  still around, fading

 You will get exactly what you deserve  The engine of Hinduism  Sometimes call it fate Samsara  We call it reincarnation  Maybe don’t get a life you deserve this time, but it will affect your next life

Stages of Life o Student o Householder  Many don’t get past this stage o Forest Dweller  Leave and go study with teachers o Sannyasi  Person who neither love nor hate anything Brahman  the one reality o Some would call him the “One God” o Source of all things (didn’t use the word creator) Atman  the spark, permanent, eternal o All living things have some type of ultimate reality in them o Goes through this cycling  Brahman  the source of the Atman  Start out simply, attached themselves to plants  Then attaches itself to lower animals  Attaches itself to a human o Can cycle down into the top caste o Lives and dies in all of these cycles

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 If it cycles back to the Brahman  Moksha Liberation Path up the mountain to get to Brahman  Karma Marga  Path of works/action  Takes longer, works its way around the mountain  Make progress on this path by your Darma/Caste  Texts   Jnana Marga  Path of knowledge / path of self-help  Obtain the ultimate goals of one life  Commitment, sacrifice, hard  (straight up the mountain, off the path)  Mysticism  inner experiences  Focuses on the master/disciple relationship  Follow the Upanisads  texts about the 3 types of knowledge o Abstract thinkers  philosophers 

o Suggests that this was some type of religious reform or systems Knowledge of 3 things to make progress on this path (brahman, human being, and techniques/yoga) o Brahman  What is Brahman 

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the source, the origin, the generator, everything comes and will return to Brahman, it is NOT a creator, beyond the senses  Wants to become one with Brahman Human Being  what is a human being?  All living things have atman  causal body  part that makes decisions/thinks (mind)  Has a relationship to karma  karma accumulates and builds up as we go through life  a subtle body  will experience the implications of karma after the life of one and transferring into the life of another.  In the next life everything but the atman will die away & only the atman will transfer into a new life  an outer body techniques/meditation YOGA  body mind and spirit  to be one

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technique that will bring together the atman and Brahman  Raja yoga  “royal”;  Restraint  Ahimsa = non violence  Discipline  asceticism (see their bodies as part of the problem) / purity  Posture  Lotus position (seating, legs crossed)  Breath control  Sensory withdrawal  Concentration  may use some type of imagery  Meditation  unbroken flow of thought that stems from concentration  Samadhi  absorbed enlightenment / the realization of Brahman … becoming one with Brahman / a state of consciousness / complete forgetfulness of everything else / temporary o If you attain this state, then you gain insight (maybe about karma)  How do you know when you get there? o Only you can know when you’ve obtained it Bhakti Marga  Ski lift mentality  A path of love or devotion o Personal relationship with a deity  What to see God and want to be known by the God  1 God  Brahman  god without form o Ways this God can take form  Brahma  has a body, said to be the creative force in the universe  Has a partner, Sarasvati  Vishnu  the preserver  Has a lot of avatars, Krishna === Rama (child) o He is Vishnu in another form o  Partner  Lakshmi  Shiva  the destroyer  (trimurti – the first 3)  Partner  Parvati o Child  Ganesha  Debi  goddess

Avatar  a representation of you in another form  Share traits  This concept enables Hinduism for a lot of deities o One reality that takes many forms  Some may only worship one deity, some may worship more of one primary deity & then some others  The Epics (texts) o Ramayana  Story of King Rama o Mahabharata  10x longer than the Christian Bible  Maha  great King Bharata  The story of India/the Indian Empire o Bhagavad Gita – Song of the Lord  single most popular sacred text  Conflict  comes to war  Krishna and Arjuna (warrior who has a moment of crisis)  Krishna talking basically what it this text is  love is best o Goals/Aims of Life  Sensory stimulation/pleasure  Kama Sutra  Material – wealth, status  Social responsibility/service to others  Moksha  What will ultimately satisfied us  Atman being one with Brahman Hindu Gods and Goddesses o Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva  The Big 3, Trimurti  Brahma multiple faces  Vishnu  blue skin  Shiva  Spire o Dattatreya  Multiple faces  gods can be combined in different ways o The Curse of Shiva o Indra  Body covered with eyes  God sees all, the universe depends on the sight of the gods o Agni o

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Brahma and Saraswati  Saraswati is more popular  Holding a musical instrument  Saraswati Puja  ritual of worship  Puja  making an offering (fruits, vegetables, milk, butter, liquids)  Could be short or long Vishnu and Lakshmi  Resting on the ocean with a serpent  Dressed luxuriously  Avatars of Vishnu  10 total, with one still to come  Varaha, boar avatar of Vishnu o Vase, conch shell, boars head  Blue Shiva Nataraja  Tiger skin  fearlessness  Has a lot of symbolism in dress  Shiva as yogi  Shiva Lingam with OM symbol  most common The Divine Family  Shiva, Parvati and Ganesha Krishna “King” Rama and Sita  Avatar of Vishnu  Hanuman  warrior, monkey-headed Has a lot of symbolism Hindu gods look like human but they are not human!!!! Two types of goddesses  Goddesses of Breast  “ideal” woman, mother, submissive wife  Represents fertility  Goddesses of Tooth  Fierce, blood thirsty, dominant  In charge Parvati  Breast Shiva and Uma Lakshmi Durga  Tooth and Breast  Shown riding companion animal (lion or tiger)

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Kali

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 Tooth  She demands blood Santoshi Ma  New goddess  In a movie

Darsan o Divine sight, seeing the divine o Like receiving a blessing by the god or a living person o Looking for and expecting when they are in the presence of one of these people

Buddhism ---- Jainism 

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Start around the same time 500’s BCE o What was going on in India that these two religions rose around the same time? o Hinduism had already been around. Priestly dominant. May have decided that they don’t need priests. Could have started through reform efforts Both have historic founders Both reject caste Both rejected priests

Jainism    

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Followers called Jains / jina  means to conquer (conquered their body) Small  5-10 million in the world Asceticism  punishing your body / your body is your problem o Says that there is just one way, through rigorous discipline (unlike Hinduism) Vows o Ahimsa  nonviolence towards all living things ***very important  Seem to be the ones to originate it  Going to be vegan, affects lifestyle (occupation)  most were merchants  Some may carry a broom so they don’t step on insects o Truth Telling  honest as a group o No stealing o Faithful in relationships o Limit their wealth Mahavira Symbol  (swastika with three dots and a curved line above it) o Their way of looking at the universe

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o Swastika  the birth o Three dots  right faith, knowledge, conduct o Line  liberation Most are in India

All accept karma and reincarnation

Buddhism  

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At least 500 million Buddhists in the world Siddhartha Gautama o 560-480 BCE o Buddhists love to tell stories about this figure  Begins with his birth  miraculous events – born/conceived in an unusual manner (white elephant, no pain when mother giving birth)  Very advanced child – lotus plants showed up anywhere he walked o Born in Northern India o Born into a Hindu setting  father was in the warrior caste, so he was in the warrior caste  Told the father  son was going to be a great King or teacher  Wants him to be a King  Would have him live in 3 palaces – experiencing the best o Great Renunciation  When Siddhartha walks away from his life  Meets with 5 other people and takes on this new lifestyle  Through this he is able to understand the different wonders of the world  like karma o Mara would appear and try to tempt him o Siddhartha becomes the Buddha  the awakened one/the one who woke up  He woke up from his illusion o Goes to find his 5 friends trying to tell them about his new wisdom o Spends the next 40 years teaching o Sangha  a community of Buddhists o His ashes were taken and distributed in the different Sangha’s Seems to follow the Hindu path of knowledge Nontheist – doesn’t saying to follow a God. There may be God’s. a lot of diversity in Buddhism 4 Noble Truths o All existence is suffering / or characterized by suffering

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To be separated from something we love, or being linked to something we dislike o Suffering is caused by craving/desire o Suffering can be ended o Follow the Eightfold Path (might think of as Buddhist lifestyle) Sometimes referred to as the middle way o First half – has everything o Next half – tried extreme renunciation o The middle between the two is the best...