1Integrative Texts and Contexts
Document created for course participants
Outline of world religions
[referencing Huston Smith)
Defining religion
A religious story, rising out of religious experiences, encoded in symbols,
shared with a community, and enacted in rituals. [Andrew Greeley]
story
experiences
symbols
community
rituals
Hinduism
Atman-Brahman—hidden self-Godhead
Jiva—individual soul
Samsara—passage of individual jiva through sequence of bodies
Karma—absolute moral law of cause and effect
Maya—provisional illusions
Darshan—seeing the divine image in limitless manifestations
Path of Desire—pleasure and success of wealth, fame, power
Path of Renunciation—duty and liberation
Yoga—union
Jnana yoga—way of knowing through learning and thinking “Who am I?”
Bhakti yoga—way of loving devotion
Karma yoga—way of work
Raja yoga—way of psychophysical exercises
Moksha—liberation
Tat Tvam Asi—That Living-thing Thou Art
Satcitananda—being, knowing, joy
Samadhi— sam+adhi > “together with the Lord”
Lila—play of the Divine in Cosmic Dance
Stations of life
brahmins-seers, kshatriyas-administrators,
vaishyas-artisans-farmers, shudras-follower servants
Stages of life
1. student> 2. householder (family, vocation, community) >
3. forest dweller (retirement-contemplation) > 4.sannyasin (transparency)
Buddhism
Siddhartha Gautama Sakyamuni, Buddha—the Enlightened One; Sakyamuni-silent sage of the Sakya clan
Buddhism is a religion 1. devoid of authority, 2. devoid of ritual, 3. skirting speculation, 4. devoid of tradition, 5. requiring intensive self-effort, 6. devoid of the supernatural.
Buddhism is 1. empirical, 2. scientific, 3. pragmatic, 4. therapeutic, 5. psychological (rather than metaphysical), 6. egalitarian, 7. directed to individuals
Three Marks of Existence
Anicca-impermanence
Dukkha-suffering, and anatta-no soul.
Anatta—“no soul,” or dualistic identity separate through many lifetimes
Karma—chain of causation, lineage of desires and dislikes, a flame passed from candle to candle, throughout which the will remains free
Skandas—skeins of bodily existence
Three Vows—I take refuge in the Buddha (guide); I take refuge in the Dharma (way); I take refuge in the Sangha (community).
Four Noble Truths
I Life is dukkha—suffering, pain, dislocation, conflict, constriction:
1. trauma of birth2. pathology of sickness3. morbidity of decrepitude,
4. phobia of death5. bondage to dislikes6. separation from love.
II Dukkha is caused by tanha, desire for private fulfillment which separates by selfishness
III Release from dukkha comes with overcoming tanha
IV The Eightfold Path:
1. Right Views (outlook, what the problem is)
2. Right Intent(focus, what one really wants)
3. Right Speech (attention to language)
4. Right Conduct (understand behavior)
Five Precepts:
Do not killDo not stealDo not lie
Do not be unchasteDo not drink intoxicants
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort(will)
7. Right Mindfulness (continuous self-examination unto deliverance)
8. Right Concentration (extirpation of poisons of delusion, craving, hostility)
Yana—raft or ferry
Mahayana—the Big Raft
centered in karuna-compassion and
the boddhisattva, one who renounces nirvana for the good of others
Hinayana—the Little Raft; also Theravada, Way of the Elders or sangha
centered in bodhi-wisdom and
the Arhat-perfected disciple
Vajrayana—the Diamond Way of Tibetan Tantra
Upayas—skillful means for channeling physicla energies
Mantras—chants
Mudras—hand gestures of sacred dance
Mandalas—circular icons
Yantras—sacred diagrams
Satori—mystical experience of at-one-ment in Zen
Nirvana—“to blow out” or “to extinguish” the boundaries of the finite self
Prajnaparamita—Perfection of Wisdom texts
Confucianism
Jen—right relationship
Chun tzu—right living
Li—propriety
Rectification of Names
Doctrine of the Mean
Five Constant Relationships
I Parent / Child
II Husband / Wife
III Older Sibling / Younger Sibling
IV Elder Friend / Younger Friend
V Ruler / Subject
Family
Age
Li—ritual
Te—government
Wen—arts
Taoism
Wu-wei—never forcing; no wasted effort
I Philosophy
II Practice (chi)—matter / movement / mind
III Teachings
Judaism
Revelation—disclosure
Meaning in God
In the beginning God… Genesis 1:1
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness….” God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26 and 27
Meaning in Creation
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the Earth were completed in all their vast array. Genesis 1:31—2:1
Meaning in Human Existence
Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4 [Shema]
sin—“to miss the mark”
freedom
Meaning in History
divine purpose
collective action
field of opportunity
uniqueness of experience
intervention
chosen people
Meaning in Morality—dangers of power, wealth, sex, and speech
Decalogue (Ten Commandments)
Meaning in Justice
prophetic tradition—future depends on justice; individual responsibility
Meaning in Suffering—instructive and redemptive; vicarious
Meaning in Messianism—conditions of life will improve
Hallowing of Life—ritual
The Chosen People
Christianity
Gospel > The Good News
Love never ends. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
God’s love through Christ in imago Dei frees one from ego, guilt, and fear of death
The Great Commandment
One of the teachers of the law...asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these. Mark12
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command… This is my command: Love each other. john 14
Incarnation—Jesus is Yahweh’s extension in the world; Christ is fully God, fully human
Atonement—reconciliation and recovery of wholeness: at-one-ment
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" —which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark 15
In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself. 2 Corinthians 5
Trinity—in Pentecost, the visitation of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete or Counselor
The Church—mystical body, teaching authority, sacramental agency
Faith in resurrection produced the Church.
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
1 Corinthians 15
For as in one body we have many members, so we who are many, are one body
in Christ. Romans 12
Roman Catholicism—authority in Apostolic Succession
Sacraments—Baptism, Confirmation, Matrimony, Unction, Reconciliation, Eucharest
Eastern Orthodoxy—authority in the Fathers and in consensus
Protestantism—authority in <priesthood of all believers>salvation by grace through faith
Protestant principle—warning against absolutizing/idolatry
Parousia—the Second Coming of Christ
Basileia—the Reign of Love
Islam
Islam > s-l-m “peace” compare with “shalom” and “Jerusalem”, also “surrender”
In the beginning God… Allah > Al “the” + Ilah “God” compare with Hebrew Elohim
Adam > descending to Noah > Shem [Semites} >
Abraham X Hagar >Ishmael > Arabs > Muhammad > Muslims
Abraham X Sarah >Isaac > Hebrews > Jews
Coming after Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, and Jesus, Muhammed is the Seal of the Prophets.
On the Night of Power, in cave at Mount Hira, Muhammad was visited by the angel who instructed him to proclaim, There is no god but God!La ilaha illa ‘llah
Qur’an > “recitation”, the Standing Miracle, facsimile of the Uncreated Koran
“If Christ is God incarnate, the Koran is God inlibriate.” (liber, book)
Koran continues Hebrew and Christian scriptures, God’s earlier revelations;
Jews and Christians are also “People of the Book.”
“The Qur’an does not document what is other than itself. It is not about the truth: it is the truth.”
God—the all-powerful, individual, and invisible
Judaism has Shema, but confines teachings to people of Israel;
Christianity has Gospel, but wrongly deifies Jesus ( Trinity not Unity);
Allah is not well understood in parental or anthropomorphic metaphors
Creation—by deliberate act of the will of Allah; material world is worthy (Islamic science)
The Human Self—is of divine origin, marred by ghaflah, or forgetfulness of this origin
Individuality of human soul is everlasting; once created the soul never dies.
Human beings are called to gratitude and surrender (islam).
Day of Judgment—leads on the basis of the soul’s Reckoning to heavens or hells
Five Pillars
Shahadah, “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His Prophet.”
Prayer, on arising, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, before sleep
Charity
Ramadan, holy month of fasting, commemorating revelation to Muhammad and journey (ten years later) from Mecca to Medina (Hijrah, migration)
Pilgrimage to Mecca
Islamic law
economics / status of women; polygyny / race relations / use of force (jihad) must be defensive or to right a wrong
Bahá'í
"The Bahá'í Faith upholds the unity of God, recognizes the unity of His Prophets, and inculcates the principle of the oneness and wholeness of the entire human race. It proclaims the necessity and the inevitability of the unification of mankind."
“Bahá'u'lláh is the Messenger of God for this age and the Promised One of all religions.”
Bahá'u'lláh means‘The Glory of God.’ He suffered 40 years of imprisonment and was exiled from Iran to 'Akká in the Holy Land where He passed away in 1892.
The teachings of the Bahá'í Faith (quotations from Bahá'u'lláh) include:
Oneness of God
Oneness of Religion
"Every Divine Revelation hath been sent down in a manner that befitted the circumstances of the age in which it hath appeared."
"Know of a certainty that in every Dispensation the light of Divine Revelation hath been vouchsafed unto men in direct proportion to their spiritual capacity."
"Know thou assuredly that the essence of all the Prophets of God is one and the same. Their unity is absolute. God, the Creator, saith: There is no distinction whatsoever among the Bearers of My Message."
Oneness of Mankind
"Ye are all the leaves of one tree and the drops of one ocean."
Religion should be the Cause of Love and Affection
"Religion should unite all hearts and cause wars and disputes to vanish from the face of the earth, give birth to spirituality, and bring life and light to each heart. If religion becomes a cause of dislike, hatred and division, it were better to be without it, and to withdraw from such a religion would be a truly religious act."
Elimination of Prejudices
The Purpose of Life
"All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization… Those virtues that befit [human] dignity are forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all the peoples and kindreds of the earth."
The Potential of Man and the Importance of Education
Self-Education
The Primal Religions
Orality
Place versus space
Atemporality
Symbolism
Native American religions largely believe in a world of unseen powers, gods, spirits and wonders. Most believe in a sky god who rules at the center of the universe, associated with the axis mundi, the world pillar. Another widespread belief is in the interdependency of all things in the universe. The actions of all beings, including humans, animals, and supernatural persons, are intertwined. Interdependence calls for a proper balance and harmony. Worship strengthens bonds between humans and other beings. Sacred fools and clowns remind us that we are not divine and often seem ridiculous.
They had what the world has lost: the ancient, lost reverence and passion for human personality joined with the ancient, lost reverence and passion for the Earth and its web of life. Since before the Stone Age they have tended that passion as a central sacred fire. It should be our long hope to renew it in us all.
// John Collier, Indians of the Americas
Fred Alan Wolf: For both the shamanic cultures of Peru and Australia as well as Native American cultures, the central core of their culture is that nature is alive and conscious. When you walk the land you're walking on a living being. And it's not just a question of metaphor for them, it's not a question of belief for them, it's a question of reality for them. And when you walk in that presence in that sense of spiritual presence always there, it totally changes the way you model things. Now, one of the problems I'm having with western models in general is that we've lost spiritual presence as a basis… The spiritual presence is basically something that's alive and conscious, out of which, then, we can build holograms, we can build automobiles, whatever model you want to use. Or quantum computers, it doesn't matter, because that's just the technology of today that we're using. But it's the acknowledgment that science as a whole needs to take, of spiritual presence per se, as conscious, as fundamental. Now whether we talk about it as the ground of being or as knowledge, I think we're really going even deeper into something which is purely subjective and alive and conscious. And that's everything that is. And I want to know if you model from that point of view, would it change anything that you've said so far?
Edgar Mitchell: No, I don't think so because I totally agree with just what you have said. But I've been trying to keep myself grounded very firmly in what the scientific model would be because jumping with both feet to the spiritual model doesn't allow you, as we've all understood, to have much rapport in the academic, scientific community at all. And…we're providing a mechanism via the quantum hologram which does extend our understanding of some of the internal conscious experience, namely, all of the so-called psychic non-local stuff… Does it explain all? No, I don't think so. But it does allow me to say in the model that nature is an alive, learning, intelligent, creative organizing system itself.
FAW: It seems to me… we've got a world that's on the verge of chaos. And a lot of hungry people, and a lot of wars still; what I'm trying to say to science, to us as scientists as a whole, is that we ourselves need to transform. Because the world really, the world, meaning other than just the United States of America and our culture, really is looking. I mean we need to incorporate the world in our model.
EM: Fred, there is utterly no disagreement with what you [and others] have said here.
//Quantum Holography and the Physics of ConsciousnessIONS Symposium, November 1999
On the dialogue of world religions
There is no single Hindu perspective on ultimate reality. In the Upanishads, the key to salvation is to know that Brahman, the ultimate reality of the cosmos, is the same as the self. Since each individual is one with the entire universe, there is nothing to desire and nothing to fear or flee.
Buddhism does not rely on transcendent reality or accept any theory about the source of the universe but rather offers a concrete, practical path of liberation. Contemporary Buddhists emphasize the radical interdependence of beings in the cosmos. Life is suffering. The cause of suffering is our desire to attach ourselves to persons or things under the illusion that we are independent selves who can actually dominate them. The end of suffering is possible.
The sages of Israel assumed that wise persons outside of Israel knew the one God, as is implied in the positive use of images and wise sayings from other traditions. St. Paul quoted non-Christian Greek writers as witnesses to the one God and cited non-Christian affirmations that God is close to each person and can be worshipped even when unknown.
Islam acknowledges that God gave both the Torah and the Gospel as well as the Qur’an, according to which anyone who makes true surrender of heart to God is a Muslim.
The Constitution on the Church from Vatican II, declares the all-embracing salvivic will and plan of salvation of God. The Declaration on the Non-Christian Religions concludes with this sentence, “The Catholic religion rejects nothing of all that which is true and whole in these religions.”
Judaeo-Christian systematic theology
The transcendental and metaphysical claims of revealed religion—namely the communication of the uncreated, absolute and ultimate reality of the divine with created human beings—are the concerns of theology. The ultimate theological context is Totality. Our experiences as moral agents and as beings sensitive to beauty direct consciousness to this high transcendence. The self-surpassing of the individual is the essence of being human, of responsibility, of religious experience including mysticism, the possibility of divine self-communication, and of intimations of life after death. These ultimate questions we cannot forget or evade.