Associate Level Material

Appendix G

Eastern Religion Elements Matrix

Hinduism / Buddhism / Confucianism / Daoism
Countries of origin / India / India and Tibet / China / China
Historical figures and events / Diwali, Festival of lights
No major figures / Buddha, Abhidhamma Day - Full moon day in October, Bodhi Day (Enlightenment Day)
Are some of the events that Buddhist celebrate / Confucian / Tao Te Ching
Central beliefs / That everything in the world is sacred/ / That knowledge is power. Have some similarities to hindu / Confucianism is sometimes concerned as a philosophical system than a religion. But they have humanities at its core / They believe in one’s spirit and in magic
Nature of God / Hindus have a belief in one supreme being but have more than one god / They do not have a god but a core of beliefs that they follow / Does not have a god per say but believes in heaven. / The jade emperor is a deity but not necessarily
Texts / While there are multiple texts they fall under two categories viz sruti and the smritri / They have multiple texts but those text fall in one of two categories those two categories are
The Canonical Texts, and the Non-canonical Texts / The main text for Confucianism is the five classics. They all are what devotees of this religion practices. / Tao-te Ching is the main text for Daoism
Ritual and practice
(sacred elements & their meaning) / Hindus have many rituals and practices to many to list but they all revolve around the central beliefs that everything is sacred and should be revered / They practice three prostrations or the three gates and they mean body, mid and speech
Each of these are for the person doing to become more than they are. / They really do not have practices other than having strong ethical grounds / They focus on a person’s own spirituality
Ethics and morality / Hindus morality and ethics should be the model that the rest of the world should follow / Buddhist are of the same ethics and morality as hindu’s / They are proud of their ethical and moral grounds which are strong. / They are very ethical and moral

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