Midterm
1. Renee Kangas
2. Caramel_diva84
3. renee.kangas@gmail.com
4. I completed 8 posts.
Post 1 -May 26 Post 5 -June 9
Post 2 -May 30 Post 6 -June 9
Post 3 -June 1 Post 7 -June 10
Post 4 -June 6 Post 8 -June 10
5. I have completed all of the assigned readings required for the posts. I have read chapters one through five in Smith’s book The Illustrated World Religions. I have read all of the assigned readings on the internet for example: When Scholars Study the Sacred, When God’s Decay, The Politics of Mysticism, The Enchanted Land, the website titled Jainism Simplified (I skipped about three sections), reviewed the link below regarding Jainism, Why I Don’t Eat Faces, and Lions in the Punjab. In regards to the required literature I have read the Tao Te Ching and Wisdom of the Buddha.
6. I went to the Hare Krishna Temple in Culver City. I learned about the chanting and becoming a vegetarian and the importance of the two to this religion. I have to admit that I have the words that were chanted permanently stuck in my head. I also have started to decrease the amount of meat I consume because I am not comfortable with as Lane presents the argument, eating faces.
7. No time for extra credit this half of the semester, hopefully next half though. I watched the movie Seven Years in Tibet with Brad Pitt, but I was unable to write a review in time.
Main Essay Questions
1. In order to create a new religion I would want to first determine if I wanted a religion to actually become successful in order to praise a God or if I was simply doing this for profit. If I only wanted to profit from this investment then I would not have to work as hard because a religion created for profit usually does not last as long as a “true” religion would. Every new religion begins as a cult. That is the definition of a cult, a new religion. Even if I decided that I wanted to cheat and branch off of an existing religion claiming that I was bringing the religion back to the classic, true ways my religion or sect would still be considered a cult. Once society accepted my religion, since I would not just be a sect, then the religion once regarded as a cult would become regarded as a religion. The first steps that I would take in order to create a religion would be to note Smart’s requirements for a society to be classified as a religion. According to Smart, religion is defined as containing seven specific components in order to be classified as a religion. These seven components consist of myths, rituals, experiences, doctrines, ethics, social aspect and material forms. By myth Smart means stories about people and events in order to provide followers with proof of their faith and the truth that this religion holds. Rituals are the daily, weekly, annual activities that followers perform in order to experience closeness to whatever or whoever is worshiped. Experiences are the independent feelings that a follower feels while performing the rituals or recreation of religious myths. A doctrine is the faith system itself and ethics are the moral codes that are followed in day to day life. The social aspect refers to the church and other activities with followers of the same religion. Lastly the material forms consist of anything physical such as literature, particular clothing styles, objects and even people, any physical thing that brings an individual closer to what is considered holy or sacred. With the understanding that all of these requirements must be met, I would have some work ahead of me ensuring that I could provide each of the seven items listed above. Having established all that Smart explains is necessary; the next step would be determining how I would spread the word that I have a religion. It appears that the next logical step would be to consider Blackmore’s study of memes. Blackmore explains that memes are key ideas that are repeated and transferred from one person to another. A key element that a meme must have is a “catchy-ness” in order for it to become stuck in people’s minds long enough for it to be transferred to the next individual that will follow the same process. Not every meme will survive the test of time but some have which is partially the reason that religion has not decayed. If the rituals and prayers and literature that Smart speaks of do not carry enough weight to keep a religion going then the memes will hopefully take over to ensure that the newly formed cult will become a religion and possibly a world religion.
2. When determining how to answer this question it is very easy for many people “to ride the fence” on such an issue. I am personally going to present an argument that claims religion will not decay but rather evolve over time. It is easy to explain why religion will not decay by refuting Peter Berger’s secularization thesis that states as religious skepticism increases, religion will loose its adaptability and essentially decay. Berger’s argument has been incorrect to the present day and will continue to be proven wrong. Secularization is actually itself a reason that religion will not decay. As individuals begin to become less involved in particular religions, new cults will arise and probably grab their attention. This is where cults and sects come into play; cults more than sects are subjected to scrutiny, especially from parents thinking that some unknown religion brain-washed their children. What most people do not realize is that a religious movement known as a cult simply means that the religion is not recognized by their specific community, although it possibly could be recognized and in fact very popular in another region. There are many different types of religion around the world and as long as any of them are around, religion has not yet disappeared. A very important and common form of religion is known as orthodox religions. Orthodox religions attempt to reach out to secularists in particular who desire to return to the basic moral principals that modern religions have turned away from or forgotten. Orthodox religions usually are sects that have broken away from an established religion that want to return to the basics and set the religion back on the right course. As more religions enter the scene and attract followers a logical explanation for this change are the people that desire the change. Today, a group of people known as the baby boomers are reaching their middle ages. This is a time when individuals begin to question everything that they represent. Baby boomers are the generation that grew up living in a world that believed people were naturally evil and are now claiming the opposite that individuals are actually, naturally good. Baby boomers focus on individual religious experiences, the betterment of themselves, learning more about the world that they inhabit and having a more tolerant view regarding other religions and the unknown. Wade Clark Roof wrote in A Generation of Seekers how baby boomers are soul searching and will continue to discover new religions and ways to revive the old in order to find the inner-development that they are so desperately searching for. The baby boomers generation may not occupy the Earth forever but they will pass down their discovered thoughts regarding religion to the next generation through memes and parenting. This passing of information and beliefs from one generation to the next will eliminate the opportunity for religion to decay.
3. I choose not to answer this question, but to instead answer question 4.
4. The proper methodology on how to study religion has been a process that has taken years to perfect and be transformed into the most academic and non-biased study as humanly possible. There are multiple ways that a person can study religion. For example to name a few there are: theology, which is the study of a religion as if a believer themselves; anthropology of religion (a type of religious study), this is the study of the humans involved in the religion in order to determine why the religion was originally created; and religious studies, the academic research of a religion to be done as unbiased as possible. The last type defined was religious study, this is the particular type of study that scholars should use when learning about religion. In order to study religion as unbiased as possible the individual’s objective should be to investigate the “origins and content” of a specific religious group “without addressing the truth-value of them” (Diem). Karl Mannheim believes that a scholar can never fully complete an unbiased study because the way a person was raised contains automatic biases. In response to this statement Ninian Smart said that there are different levels of sin, meaning that although there may be some bias a study with less bias is still better than a study done with complete prejudice. Smart separated studying religion into three categories, antipathy, sympathy and empathy. Antipathy is viewing the religion being studied negatively or trying to discover how to eliminate the perversion within the religion. Sympathy is defined as knowing the truth and viewing other religions with a biased outlook. The final category is empathy or a neutral view of religion, trying to understand the logic behind the religion as if a follower in order to provide an accurate description. The final category was the one that Smart felt was the best choice of the three that he recognized. Another man named Peter Berger describes three categories that although similar to Smarts have a slight variation to each. Berger’s three categories are reduction, deduction and induction. Reduction is believed to be reduced to “its social origins” in order to determine the material reasons for why it was created. Deduction is defined as knowing that there is a truth and believing that “your” truth is the only truth. Induction attempts to evaluate a religion as a follower without attempting to believe in any truths that the particular religion believes. Ken Wilber thought that a religious study needed to divide religions depending on the effects it had on the mind. Ken Wilber’s three categories are prerational, rational and transrational. Prerational meant that a follower would believe in the mystic and conform to the group’s rationality without questioning the logic behind the beliefs. Rational is a scientific approach demonstrating that an individual can change their thinking if new evidence is presented to them. Transrational means that some rational thought is needed but there are “higher spiritual experiences” that can be reached through actions such as meditation that could be described as mystical. The study of religion has been going on for many years. There have been many new developments that provide scholars with a better way to study religions among other things. Currently scholars are using a combination of the way religions were studied in the past and also more recently discovered techniques. Religious studies are currently done using the following three methods: a study of the religion done as a follower but not accepting all the truths, the second stage is a study of the social aspects of the religion and trying to find its origins. The final stage of the religious study is to determine the effects of the religion on a persons mind and whether or not the religion is helpful or harmful to an individual.
5. The religion of Sikhism has been very difficult to find an accurate history of due to the revitalization group known as Singh Sabha. Historians in the past had gotten their knowledge of the Sikhism religion from Singh Sabha a nineteenth century orthodox group that was attempting to reclaim the Sikhism identity. During this time the members of the Singh Sabha were afraid that Sikhism was merging with Hinduism and therefore portrayed Sikhism as a strict religion that was not open for change. When what actually happened was the elimination of the Sikhism evolution from its origination. Sikhism began in the early 1600’s by a guru currently known as Nanak. Nanak was the first of 10 acknowledged gurus. Nanak is responsible for the creation of the Sikhism religion itself. Sikhism was needed during this time period; it has been said that Muslims and Buddhists needed to find a common ground. The only loophole that accompanies this idea is that Nanak says that there are no Muslim and Buddhist religions. Therefore Sikhism may be a combination of the two religions and many more, but Sikhism was not created as a bridge between the two primary religions at that time. Sikhism is currently considered a world religion. Although Sikhism began as a small gathering of people at Kartarpur and followed the Sant traditions as W.H. McLeod explains, it has transformed itself into a religion that claims twenty million followers. The religion Sikhism reached its status as a world religion because of its religious writings, unique style and claims to a homeland; although these are not the only reasons.
Sikhism has survived many changes in leadership along with basic principles over the years. Sikhism may be one of the newest world religions but many people follow it. Although there have been changes to ideals the 5k’s have managed to stay consistent, with the option of obeying them in certain sects or branches of Sikhism. The 5k’s are kesh- long hair wrapped in a turban, kanga- a comb placed in the kesh, kara- a silver or bronze bracelet (silver representing strength), kaach- short briefs and finally kirpan- a sword for protection and to demonstrate that Sikhs are not afraid to fight for their religion (this last k has become optional depending on what sect a person follows, the non-violent sects do not wear swords). Even though there have been changes within the religion it has changed in order to survive the elements that surround the religion and its people. After Nanak passed away and designated his successor guru, Angad, no changes were noted during Angad’s time. From this point forward each leader had a new difficulty or continued issue that needed to be attended to. The changes mostly resulted from the Sikhs trying to adapt to the surrounding societal pressures. Some of the leaders built satsangs for Sikhs to hold services at, some of the gurus needed to protect the Sikhs from other religions and regions from destroying the religion so they adapted a more militant way of life. The Sikhs had to relocate multiple times and continued to stay strong even after the death of the tenth guru Gobind Singh. Gobind Singh had four children all of whom died in battle protecting the Sikhs. The only option left for Gobind Singh was to make the Holy Scriptures themselves the eleventh guru which still holds true today. Although some sects of Sikhism believe that an actual physical live guru needs to exist besides the text.
6. Huston Smith’s editorial on Hinduism was quite interesting. He explains that Hinduism is based on what people want. What people want is determined by two things, chronological and psychological age. Hinduism allows for a person to desire, it is considered natural for the growth process. Every person has the desire for pleasure and success. Once these desires have been fulfilled and have then grown tiresome the individual begins a search for what they really want. What a person really wants is on a different level then the previous desires. The desires just discussed are considered finite desires while what one really wants is infinite understanding. As Hindus say; what we really want is to be, to know, and to be happy (p 22).
Now that we know what the goal is there are multiple paths to reach that goal. There are four different paths one can take in order to reach God. Multiple paths were created, each with their own specific name, because every individual was created differently. Although there are four paths a person can combine any or all in order to find the path that best suits him/her. The four paths are through knowledge, love, work and psychophysical exercises. Any of these paths individually or all of these paths combined can lead one to God if they are pure of heart (and by this I mean they truly want to find God).
The first way to God, through knowledge, is known as jnana yoga. Jnana yoga is aimed toward personalities that like to reflect on events. The key to jnana yoga is discrimination according to Smith; determining between one’s physical self and the self as a “being”. In order to become one with God through jnana yoga one must complete three stages. The first stage is listening. During this stage the individual is expected to listen to sages and scriptures through which the individual realizes that “one’s essential being is Being itself” (p 27). The second stage is thinking. During the second step one is to examine their thoughts and sometimes even their language for inconsistencies. Smith gives the example that during a play people wear masks to play another role but the true self is hidden beneath, Smith explains that we as humans are also wearing a mask of our true beings. In the third and final step as Smith describes it, shifting self-identification to one’s abiding part. In laments terms separating one’s identity away from the physical body. In this stage the individual should attempt to shadow the body and watch its actions as if another, separate person.
Another way to God is through love which is commonly known as bhakti yoga. One major difference between bhakti yoga and jnana yoga is the belief that God is a part of one’s self. Bhakti yoga believes in the otherness of God, bhakti yoga focuses on loving another, rather than a part of one’s self. The second difference is that bhakti yoga will adore God and not identify with God. In bhakti yoga there are three important features, the repeating of God’s name, the different forms of love and finally ishta. Repeating God’s name while working and just whenever throughout the day will remind the devotee to fall in love with God and keep him/her near to heart. The second item, different forms of love is referring to the kinds of love one may experience throughout life. The love between a man and a woman, a parent for a child or a servant for their master; these are all forms of love that people experience and help to demonstrate how to love God. The final one, ishta, simply means to choose an object and that one object will help to bring one closer to God. The devotee is to use this item as a reminder of God, not to replace God, but to bring the individual closer to God mentally and emotionally.
The way to God through work is known as karma yoga. Karma yoga is recommended for personalities that have an abundance of energy. Becoming closer to God through work is actually very simple. Instead of the individual worker for their personal benefit they devote their work to God. They do not work for themselves but rather as a dedication to God. When the work is done for the benefit of God then the individual is working in ways toward God and not away from God (for personal benefit). Karma yoga can be combined with other forms of yoga such as the two previously described above. Different combinations or paths depends on the personality of the individual to determine what best suits them and what combination.
The final way to God is through psychophysical exercises known as raja yoga. Raja yoga is for scientific minds or experimental minds. Raja yoga is meant to prove or disprove a hypothesis through experiments. The self in raja yoga is believed to have four layers: the body, a conscious layer within the mind, the individual subconscious and being itself. “Its method is willed introversion; its intent, to drive the psychic energy of the self to the deepest part. (p 34)” According to Smith there are eight steps in order to prove this hypothesis. The eight steps are: (1-2) the first two steps are basically making sure one’s life or surface water, as Smith refers to it, is calm. This is done (in step one) by practicing five “abstentions” (from injury, lying, stealing, sensuality and greed) and step two the five “observances” (cleanliness, contentment, self-control, studiousness and contemplation of the divine). Step three keeping the body from distracting the mind during these experiments; this is why many devotees sit in the “lotus position” (described by Smith as “an alert but relaxed position). Step four is focusing on consistent breathing. Step five is contemplation on the experiment at hand or removing the sense preceptors so not to be distracted by other things going on around the devotee. Step six is learning to conquer the mind and force it to concentrate on one object until all distractions have been eliminated. This is usually the most difficult step. Step seven and eight are “deeper” versions of step six. In step seven the devotee must eliminate his view of the object focused on or as Smith refers to it, eliminating the knower. In step eight or the climatic stage known also as Samadhi, the object itself becomes eliminated. “Now the knower is confronted with total being” (p 38).
Hindu’s view God in many different ways, depending on one’s choice of path to God determines how they view God. God could be a part of one’s being or could be a companion or friend. Hindu’s do not believe in one human version of God they believe that he is what makes up the ocean and each individual ripple that lies within. Hindu’s believe that God is infinite.
Hindu’s believe that the self is reincarnated. That there are stages of life one must go through in order to achieve the ultimate goal and that would be realizing the being in oneself or finding God. This is how Hindu’s determine where on the path one is. There are many lifetimes and each comes with a lesson. Also each life affects the next life through karma. Smith describes this as dealing oneself a hand of cards. You may have dealt yourself a set of cards but in the next life you have the choice of how you want to play them.
Hindu’s view the Universe as Maya “the world appears the way we see it, but that is not the way it really is” (p 53). The universe is made up of galaxies, infinite galaxies. There are worlds above and worlds below, some are better some are worse; this is how Hinduism view’s the universe that they live in. *The universe in which Hindu’s live has six characteristics: 1. a multiple world that contains infinite galaxies, 2. a moral world where karma presides, 3. a middling world that will never replace the paradise that is the spirits destination, 4. a world that is maya, 5. a place of learning to shape one’s soul and finally 6. a world that is lila (the play of the divine in its cosmic dance).
*A side note for the teacher….Some of the words I used directly from the book, mostly in the last paragraph simply because I do not know how to describe them otherwise. If this causes a problem please let me know and I will somehow alter this information to be more so in my own words, but I did the best that I could and sometimes Smith’s descriptions are either the best or I simply do not know how to word them any differently. (for example the very last sentence in the previous paragraph)
7. Buddhists believe that there are questions in the universe that divide people everywhere not just cause the divisions of Buddhism. The questions relate to how an individual views God and the world. Buddhists are divided by whether a person places wisdom above compassion or if compassion is held higher than wisdom. If a person believes that each individual should lead their own search to find peace then they place wisdom above compassion. If an individual believes that the universe understands grace then compassion is placed higher than wisdom. This is how the two main sections of Buddhism are separated. The names that were created for both groups mean rafts or ferries for bringing people across the river of life. Each group has a variation of the word yana within the name. The latter group that encompassed laypersons or a person that felt religion was not a “full-time job” gained the name Mahayana (the Big Raft) meaning “Buddhism for the People” since this was the larger group of the two that appealed to the majority of people. The smaller group obviously took the name Hinayana meaning the Little Raft. The Hinayanas did not appreciate this name so they changed it and is now also known as Theravada Buddhism meaning the Way of the Elders. Theravada Buddhism claimed to be the original Buddhism lead by Buddha. These two groups differed greatly on their logic behind why each form of Buddhism was different. The Mahayana’s believed that they were the “right” Buddhists because they believe that Buddha came to the people after finding nirvana and helped others to find it also. The Theravada Buddhists believe that they are the “right” Buddhists because Buddha found nirvana by himself alone and not using group therapy to help reach this state of peace. Theravada Buddhism believes that those that each individual determines the progress that is made where with Mahayana Buddhism the group progresses together. Mahayana Buddhism believes that nirvana is reached when everyone has reached it, whereas Theravada Buddhism believes that this path can only be taken by the individual alone. The ideals of each group are also different due to the differences in approaches. The Theravada Buddhists aim for arhat which means the disciple that has gone out alone on a quest to find nirvana. The Mahayana Buddhists aim for the disciple known as bodhisattva meaning that once an individual has reached nirvana they return to Earth in order to help the rest of the group also find nirvana.
After the main split between the two forms of Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism remained fairly intact while Mahayana Buddhism divided again into many smaller schools. The primary two schools were Zen in Japan and Vajrayana in Tibet. First Zen Buddhism believes that the secret of Zen remains in the secret of the flower. What makes Zen Buddhism different from the other Buddhism’s is that Zen disciples do not express their religion in words. They believe that Zen can better be described by saying what it is not, rather than what it actually is because words cannot provide an accurate description of Zen. Vajrayana is popular in Tibet. Vajra was the Indian Thunder-God that turned into a staff made of diamonds. The diamond represents strength because the diamond can cut all surfaces but the diamond itself cannot be cut. Vajrayana cannot completely be defined unless we talk about Tantra. Tantra is the basis for Vajrayana. Tantra has two origins, first meaning to extend Buddha’s teachings and the second, means the intersecting of things. Tantra is the way of expressing oneself through sex, speech, vision and gestures.
Although there are multiple paths of Buddhism they all are similar in the way that each path of Buddhism is represented by a raft. These rafts although different shapes and sizes is meant to bring the devotee from the shore they are on, the shore that represents people’s ignorance. Once on the raft heading toward the opposite shoreline, the world that was known becomes smaller and smaller and more blended together until it disappears. While on the raft the devotees have put themselves at the mercy of the crewman taking the raft from one shore to the other. The crewmen represent the teachers of the devotees. Once the opposite shoreline has been reached the devotees discover a world that is as real as the first and the devotees head off to explore the new world.
8. Jainism so far appears to be the most difficult to understand as an outsider. There are three types of everything and each has its own name, meaning and place in the lifecycle. Despite the difficult specifics that need to be known IF an individual choose to follow Jainism the basic principles behind the religion seem to be fairly straight forward. Jainism is as old as nature itself. This is because Jain followers (monks, nuns & householders) believe that every living creature contains a soul. Each soul may be at different levels of complexity, but each living specimen has a soul. Each of these soul-containing things (animals, plants and so forth) deserves to be treated with respect. Jainism does not necessarily honor a specific God, unlike other religions, Jainism followers feel that each soul contains 4 elements; infinite knowledge, infinite awareness, infinite power and the last is that “worldly” souls cannot attain the last three items until they have become liberated. A minor difference that separates Jainism from most western religions is that Jainism separates its followers into two distinct groups liberated jivas and non-liberated jivas. The first group, liberated jivas, is a group that karma cannot touch; they are above karma and worldly issues. The latter group, non-liberated jivas, has karma and is stuck in the cycle of life (birth and death).
Jainism can be described as nature in its simplest form. Jivas believe that there are two kinds of energies in the universe; intellectual and mechanism. The technical term for the energy of intelligence is life; jivas refer to it as Chetana. Chetana is described as the more powerful energy because it is an emotional energy. The energy of intelligence embodies silence, prayer, love, dedication and sympathy. Jada used to describe the energy of mechanism or matter. Jada is the scientific energy that sustains the universe. There are three main forces that make up this energy; the energy of gravitation, magnetism and electricity. These two energies combined, Jada and Chetana, create the universe and the beings that are held within.
Jainism is a very unique religion due to the beliefs that jivas have, and even though it is different from other religions it is possible to find the similarities as well. For example, take Taoism and if these two religions were to be compared closely there in fact a few similarities. Taoism believes that if everything was left alone and desires were eliminated the world would be content. Jainism presents that the energy that travels through the universe is ultimately good with barriers in its way. Both religions believe that the universe is good by nature regardless of what is occupying the space within. Another similarity between Taoism and Jainism is the respect for the Earth itself. Jivas believe that every object whether alive or not has an energy to it and must be respected. Taoism believes that the Earth should be respected and every animal (including humans) should be treated the same, as part of Tao. Now that some of the similarities have been displayed the differences have also. Jainism focuses more on the energy within nature being the focus of their religion whereas in Taoism, the “energy” that Jivas see is everything, the air, the plants, humans, not just the energy but the entire being itself.
9. Taoism is a difficult religion to define. The word tao contains three different meanings. The word tao actually means path or the way. The problem is that the word way can be defined as multiple things. The first meaning of way is the way of ultimate reality which cannot be fully comprehended. It includes everything; the ground, the atmosphere and even the unknown. The second tao is the way of the universe which is described as the spirit that is found in all of nature. This spirit or energy is never ending. The third tao is the way of human life. Tao in this last sense means that every human is striving for the center or nirvana as Buddhists refer to it. The difference between Taoism and Buddhism is that in Taoism the center revolves around the relationships held with other human beings. Now that the word tao has been defined, the religion of Taoism has also been divided into three sections. All three types of Taoism have differences between them and not until the differences have been explained can the similarities be noted. The first type of Taoism is known as philosophical Taoism. This form of Taoism attempts to stretch te (or power) as far as possible by being efficient. Philosophical Taoism is also known as school Taoism because the Chinese believe that philosophy seeks power and that power is knowledge. School Taoism teaches the ideas of wu wei which means pure effectiveness. The next kind of Taoism is known as Ch’i which means vital energy. This second form of Taoism absorbed some of the ideals of raja yoga in attempting to control mind, matter and movement. The Taoists that follow Ch’i Taoism attempt to remove the obstacles that are in the way of energy that is trying to enter or leave the body. There is energy found in solids, gases and the cosmos. The third and final form of Taoism is the most widely known, religious Taoism. Religious Taoism believes in helping everyone that cannot find the magical powers that the mind possesses themselves. Religious Taoism believes that there is an energy that can be trained or controlled. Religious Taoism institutionalized the kind of faiths that provide for fait healers and other alike that get there power naturally. Taoism holds many concepts that could help the community at large. Society today is always in a hurry, they think that nothing is ever fast enough. The problem that I see is that most people are not slowing down enough to realize that they are creating their own problems. If more people were to read the Tao Te Ching maybe there would be a community wide realization that people do not have to try so hard to combat the “evil” nature of our society. If society realized that it has created the atmosphere that we live in then people would understand that it can be fixed and with very little effort. The most important change that needs to be applied is the way that we as individuals view each other and what we teach our children. I personally feel in love with the utopian atmosphere that Lao Tzu presents but I realize that until our way of life changes in America, this type of living cannot survive, especially in a market economy. After being exposed to Lao Tzu’s teachings I try to be aware of what I am doing and how it will affect others but at the same time Lao Tzu says that this will come without force right? (Naturally)
Confucius had five main ideals that he proposed and taught. The first ideal was Jen. Jen refers to the relationships between human beings and being able to care for one another unconditionally. The second ideal was chun tzu. Chun tzu is the actual approach of how we interact with others. Confucius compares chun tzu to the ideal housewife, one who is so comfortable in her surroundings that she attempts to accommodate her guests before anything else. The third ideal is known as li. The first part of li is following Confucius’ teachings regarding family, one’s age, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Five Constant Relationships and the Recertification of Names. Each of these demonstrates how one individual should act toward another in order to create harmony in a society. Once all of these are adhered to the actions become a sort of ritual by habit and become a “sacred dance” in Smith’s opinion. The fourth ideal is known as te or power. Power more specifically means leading by example. When people in power rule with ethical standards then the people below will adhere to the same standards; this philosophy leads to a moral society in which everyone is fair and just. The fifth and final ideal, wen, eludes to the fact that whatever nation contains the most culture, will also have the most political power.
The Confucian Project is a task that lacks expiration. The entire purpose of the Confucian Project is to create a society based on life. In order to define life it must first be explained that life is the meeting point that adjoins every human relationship. Relationships are the purpose of life itself. Each relationship a person has throughout their life will bring them closer to the self. The difference here between most other religions and Confucius’ beliefs is that the self is “a center of relationships” therefore there is no actual self that one is searching for. People grow simply by having positive relationships with other people and many as many as possible. Now there are Five Constant Relationships that every person must experience. The five relationships are between a parent and child, a husband and wife, elder sibling and junior sibling, elder friend and junior friend, and ruler and subject. Each of these relationships are similar by the latter should show respect to the elder or person of higher stature. The problem is that the person in the higher position must understand that the respect that they should receive must be earned. The ultimate goal of the Confucian Project is for every individual in a society to become a chun tzu, “a fully realized human being, through expanding one’s empathy indefinitely”. A society that follows the teachings of Confucius will reap benefits far beyond ever imagined here in the United States. If everyone could learn that working together rather than working against one another would create the opportunity to solve many critical issues and eliminate the hatred that some people feel. I personally would like to experience this type of society or at least know that it exists to watch its development, because honestly the closest thing that I have seen in the United States is the building of the railroad. This does not exactly fit the description but that is how disappointing reality is that no other group pf people have worked so hard in order to reach one common goal and they were getting paid.
Confucius and Taoism have many similarities. Both religions desire to have peace among their people. Both religions believe that the success of a nation is imperative to have individual contentment. With all of the similarities there are also a few differences that are actually pretty important. Confucius believed that a person’s life revolved around the relationships with other people. Lao Tzu did not believe that this was necessary which he demonstrates by putting himself into solitude for the last years of his life. Followers of Confucius were united together under his teachings. Where with Taoism, there are three different variations of the religion. Despite the differences between the two religions they created a beneficial society within China for many years.
10. I would have to say that after studying all of the different religions the religion that most attracted me was Confucianism. Although Confucius was a terrible politician he kept his goal in mind and began traveling around to give his advice to whoever would listen. He was not bitter that his dreams were not achieved because the dream was not his. Confucius taught everyone and anyone that would listen and follow his teachings. Confucius may not have been as successful as he had hoped during his lifetime has left a legacy and a religion that has withstood the test of time. Confucianism has the ideas that people’s religions and lives should revolve around creating and keeping positive relationships with as many people as possible. The core of Confucianism is based solely on the relationships that one has with the world and other human beings. When people are helping people and being kind to one another, many positive things come as a result. When this happens there is more peace, happiness and contentment in the world which creates a better atmosphere to focus on more important things than worldly issues.
1. Renee Kangas
2. Caramel_diva84
3. renee.kangas@gmail.com
4. I completed 8 posts.
Post 1 -May 26 Post 5 -June 9
Post 2 -May 30 Post 6 -June 9
Post 3 -June 1 Post 7 -June 10
Post 4 -June 6 Post 8 -June 10
5. I have completed all of the assigned readings required for the posts. I have read chapters one through five in Smith’s book The Illustrated World Religions. I have read all of the assigned readings on the internet for example: When Scholars Study the Sacred, When God’s Decay, The Politics of Mysticism, The Enchanted Land, the website titled Jainism Simplified (I skipped about three sections), reviewed the link below regarding Jainism, Why I Don’t Eat Faces, and Lions in the Punjab. In regards to the required literature I have read the Tao Te Ching and Wisdom of the Buddha.
6. I went to the Hare Krishna Temple in Culver City. I learned about the chanting and becoming a vegetarian and the importance of the two to this religion. I have to admit that I have the words that were chanted permanently stuck in my head. I also have started to decrease the amount of meat I consume because I am not comfortable with as Lane presents the argument, eating faces.
7. No time for extra credit this half of the semester, hopefully next half though. I watched the movie Seven Years in Tibet with Brad Pitt, but I was unable to write a review in time.
Main Essay Questions
1. In order to create a new religion I would want to first determine if I wanted a religion to actually become successful in order to praise a God or if I was simply doing this for profit. If I only wanted to profit from this investment then I would not have to work as hard because a religion created for profit usually does not last as long as a “true” religion would. Every new religion begins as a cult. That is the definition of a cult, a new religion. Even if I decided that I wanted to cheat and branch off of an existing religion claiming that I was bringing the religion back to the classic, true ways my religion or sect would still be considered a cult. Once society accepted my religion, since I would not just be a sect, then the religion once regarded as a cult would become regarded as a religion. The first steps that I would take in order to create a religion would be to note Smart’s requirements for a society to be classified as a religion. According to Smart, religion is defined as containing seven specific components in order to be classified as a religion. These seven components consist of myths, rituals, experiences, doctrines, ethics, social aspect and material forms. By myth Smart means stories about people and events in order to provide followers with proof of their faith and the truth that this religion holds. Rituals are the daily, weekly, annual activities that followers perform in order to experience closeness to whatever or whoever is worshiped. Experiences are the independent feelings that a follower feels while performing the rituals or recreation of religious myths. A doctrine is the faith system itself and ethics are the moral codes that are followed in day to day life. The social aspect refers to the church and other activities with followers of the same religion. Lastly the material forms consist of anything physical such as literature, particular clothing styles, objects and even people, any physical thing that brings an individual closer to what is considered holy or sacred. With the understanding that all of these requirements must be met, I would have some work ahead of me ensuring that I could provide each of the seven items listed above. Having established all that Smart explains is necessary; the next step would be determining how I would spread the word that I have a religion. It appears that the next logical step would be to consider Blackmore’s study of memes. Blackmore explains that memes are key ideas that are repeated and transferred from one person to another. A key element that a meme must have is a “catchy-ness” in order for it to become stuck in people’s minds long enough for it to be transferred to the next individual that will follow the same process. Not every meme will survive the test of time but some have which is partially the reason that religion has not decayed. If the rituals and prayers and literature that Smart speaks of do not carry enough weight to keep a religion going then the memes will hopefully take over to ensure that the newly formed cult will become a religion and possibly a world religion.
2. When determining how to answer this question it is very easy for many people “to ride the fence” on such an issue. I am personally going to present an argument that claims religion will not decay but rather evolve over time. It is easy to explain why religion will not decay by refuting Peter Berger’s secularization thesis that states as religious skepticism increases, religion will loose its adaptability and essentially decay. Berger’s argument has been incorrect to the present day and will continue to be proven wrong. Secularization is actually itself a reason that religion will not decay. As individuals begin to become less involved in particular religions, new cults will arise and probably grab their attention. This is where cults and sects come into play; cults more than sects are subjected to scrutiny, especially from parents thinking that some unknown religion brain-washed their children. What most people do not realize is that a religious movement known as a cult simply means that the religion is not recognized by their specific community, although it possibly could be recognized and in fact very popular in another region. There are many different types of religion around the world and as long as any of them are around, religion has not yet disappeared. A very important and common form of religion is known as orthodox religions. Orthodox religions attempt to reach out to secularists in particular who desire to return to the basic moral principals that modern religions have turned away from or forgotten. Orthodox religions usually are sects that have broken away from an established religion that want to return to the basics and set the religion back on the right course. As more religions enter the scene and attract followers a logical explanation for this change are the people that desire the change. Today, a group of people known as the baby boomers are reaching their middle ages. This is a time when individuals begin to question everything that they represent. Baby boomers are the generation that grew up living in a world that believed people were naturally evil and are now claiming the opposite that individuals are actually, naturally good. Baby boomers focus on individual religious experiences, the betterment of themselves, learning more about the world that they inhabit and having a more tolerant view regarding other religions and the unknown. Wade Clark Roof wrote in A Generation of Seekers how baby boomers are soul searching and will continue to discover new religions and ways to revive the old in order to find the inner-development that they are so desperately searching for. The baby boomers generation may not occupy the Earth forever but they will pass down their discovered thoughts regarding religion to the next generation through memes and parenting. This passing of information and beliefs from one generation to the next will eliminate the opportunity for religion to decay.
3. I choose not to answer this question, but to instead answer question 4.
4. The proper methodology on how to study religion has been a process that has taken years to perfect and be transformed into the most academic and non-biased study as humanly possible. There are multiple ways that a person can study religion. For example to name a few there are: theology, which is the study of a religion as if a believer themselves; anthropology of religion (a type of religious study), this is the study of the humans involved in the religion in order to determine why the religion was originally created; and religious studies, the academic research of a religion to be done as unbiased as possible. The last type defined was religious study, this is the particular type of study that scholars should use when learning about religion. In order to study religion as unbiased as possible the individual’s objective should be to investigate the “origins and content” of a specific religious group “without addressing the truth-value of them” (Diem). Karl Mannheim believes that a scholar can never fully complete an unbiased study because the way a person was raised contains automatic biases. In response to this statement Ninian Smart said that there are different levels of sin, meaning that although there may be some bias a study with less bias is still better than a study done with complete prejudice. Smart separated studying religion into three categories, antipathy, sympathy and empathy. Antipathy is viewing the religion being studied negatively or trying to discover how to eliminate the perversion within the religion. Sympathy is defined as knowing the truth and viewing other religions with a biased outlook. The final category is empathy or a neutral view of religion, trying to understand the logic behind the religion as if a follower in order to provide an accurate description. The final category was the one that Smart felt was the best choice of the three that he recognized. Another man named Peter Berger describes three categories that although similar to Smarts have a slight variation to each. Berger’s three categories are reduction, deduction and induction. Reduction is believed to be reduced to “its social origins” in order to determine the material reasons for why it was created. Deduction is defined as knowing that there is a truth and believing that “your” truth is the only truth. Induction attempts to evaluate a religion as a follower without attempting to believe in any truths that the particular religion believes. Ken Wilber thought that a religious study needed to divide religions depending on the effects it had on the mind. Ken Wilber’s three categories are prerational, rational and transrational. Prerational meant that a follower would believe in the mystic and conform to the group’s rationality without questioning the logic behind the beliefs. Rational is a scientific approach demonstrating that an individual can change their thinking if new evidence is presented to them. Transrational means that some rational thought is needed but there are “higher spiritual experiences” that can be reached through actions such as meditation that could be described as mystical. The study of religion has been going on for many years. There have been many new developments that provide scholars with a better way to study religions among other things. Currently scholars are using a combination of the way religions were studied in the past and also more recently discovered techniques. Religious studies are currently done using the following three methods: a study of the religion done as a follower but not accepting all the truths, the second stage is a study of the social aspects of the religion and trying to find its origins. The final stage of the religious study is to determine the effects of the religion on a persons mind and whether or not the religion is helpful or harmful to an individual.
5. The religion of Sikhism has been very difficult to find an accurate history of due to the revitalization group known as Singh Sabha. Historians in the past had gotten their knowledge of the Sikhism religion from Singh Sabha a nineteenth century orthodox group that was attempting to reclaim the Sikhism identity. During this time the members of the Singh Sabha were afraid that Sikhism was merging with Hinduism and therefore portrayed Sikhism as a strict religion that was not open for change. When what actually happened was the elimination of the Sikhism evolution from its origination. Sikhism began in the early 1600’s by a guru currently known as Nanak. Nanak was the first of 10 acknowledged gurus. Nanak is responsible for the creation of the Sikhism religion itself. Sikhism was needed during this time period; it has been said that Muslims and Buddhists needed to find a common ground. The only loophole that accompanies this idea is that Nanak says that there are no Muslim and Buddhist religions. Therefore Sikhism may be a combination of the two religions and many more, but Sikhism was not created as a bridge between the two primary religions at that time. Sikhism is currently considered a world religion. Although Sikhism began as a small gathering of people at Kartarpur and followed the Sant traditions as W.H. McLeod explains, it has transformed itself into a religion that claims twenty million followers. The religion Sikhism reached its status as a world religion because of its religious writings, unique style and claims to a homeland; although these are not the only reasons.
Sikhism has survived many changes in leadership along with basic principles over the years. Sikhism may be one of the newest world religions but many people follow it. Although there have been changes to ideals the 5k’s have managed to stay consistent, with the option of obeying them in certain sects or branches of Sikhism. The 5k’s are kesh- long hair wrapped in a turban, kanga- a comb placed in the kesh, kara- a silver or bronze bracelet (silver representing strength), kaach- short briefs and finally kirpan- a sword for protection and to demonstrate that Sikhs are not afraid to fight for their religion (this last k has become optional depending on what sect a person follows, the non-violent sects do not wear swords). Even though there have been changes within the religion it has changed in order to survive the elements that surround the religion and its people. After Nanak passed away and designated his successor guru, Angad, no changes were noted during Angad’s time. From this point forward each leader had a new difficulty or continued issue that needed to be attended to. The changes mostly resulted from the Sikhs trying to adapt to the surrounding societal pressures. Some of the leaders built satsangs for Sikhs to hold services at, some of the gurus needed to protect the Sikhs from other religions and regions from destroying the religion so they adapted a more militant way of life. The Sikhs had to relocate multiple times and continued to stay strong even after the death of the tenth guru Gobind Singh. Gobind Singh had four children all of whom died in battle protecting the Sikhs. The only option left for Gobind Singh was to make the Holy Scriptures themselves the eleventh guru which still holds true today. Although some sects of Sikhism believe that an actual physical live guru needs to exist besides the text.
6. Huston Smith’s editorial on Hinduism was quite interesting. He explains that Hinduism is based on what people want. What people want is determined by two things, chronological and psychological age. Hinduism allows for a person to desire, it is considered natural for the growth process. Every person has the desire for pleasure and success. Once these desires have been fulfilled and have then grown tiresome the individual begins a search for what they really want. What a person really wants is on a different level then the previous desires. The desires just discussed are considered finite desires while what one really wants is infinite understanding. As Hindus say; what we really want is to be, to know, and to be happy (p 22).
Now that we know what the goal is there are multiple paths to reach that goal. There are four different paths one can take in order to reach God. Multiple paths were created, each with their own specific name, because every individual was created differently. Although there are four paths a person can combine any or all in order to find the path that best suits him/her. The four paths are through knowledge, love, work and psychophysical exercises. Any of these paths individually or all of these paths combined can lead one to God if they are pure of heart (and by this I mean they truly want to find God).
The first way to God, through knowledge, is known as jnana yoga. Jnana yoga is aimed toward personalities that like to reflect on events. The key to jnana yoga is discrimination according to Smith; determining between one’s physical self and the self as a “being”. In order to become one with God through jnana yoga one must complete three stages. The first stage is listening. During this stage the individual is expected to listen to sages and scriptures through which the individual realizes that “one’s essential being is Being itself” (p 27). The second stage is thinking. During the second step one is to examine their thoughts and sometimes even their language for inconsistencies. Smith gives the example that during a play people wear masks to play another role but the true self is hidden beneath, Smith explains that we as humans are also wearing a mask of our true beings. In the third and final step as Smith describes it, shifting self-identification to one’s abiding part. In laments terms separating one’s identity away from the physical body. In this stage the individual should attempt to shadow the body and watch its actions as if another, separate person.
Another way to God is through love which is commonly known as bhakti yoga. One major difference between bhakti yoga and jnana yoga is the belief that God is a part of one’s self. Bhakti yoga believes in the otherness of God, bhakti yoga focuses on loving another, rather than a part of one’s self. The second difference is that bhakti yoga will adore God and not identify with God. In bhakti yoga there are three important features, the repeating of God’s name, the different forms of love and finally ishta. Repeating God’s name while working and just whenever throughout the day will remind the devotee to fall in love with God and keep him/her near to heart. The second item, different forms of love is referring to the kinds of love one may experience throughout life. The love between a man and a woman, a parent for a child or a servant for their master; these are all forms of love that people experience and help to demonstrate how to love God. The final one, ishta, simply means to choose an object and that one object will help to bring one closer to God. The devotee is to use this item as a reminder of God, not to replace God, but to bring the individual closer to God mentally and emotionally.
The way to God through work is known as karma yoga. Karma yoga is recommended for personalities that have an abundance of energy. Becoming closer to God through work is actually very simple. Instead of the individual worker for their personal benefit they devote their work to God. They do not work for themselves but rather as a dedication to God. When the work is done for the benefit of God then the individual is working in ways toward God and not away from God (for personal benefit). Karma yoga can be combined with other forms of yoga such as the two previously described above. Different combinations or paths depends on the personality of the individual to determine what best suits them and what combination.
The final way to God is through psychophysical exercises known as raja yoga. Raja yoga is for scientific minds or experimental minds. Raja yoga is meant to prove or disprove a hypothesis through experiments. The self in raja yoga is believed to have four layers: the body, a conscious layer within the mind, the individual subconscious and being itself. “Its method is willed introversion; its intent, to drive the psychic energy of the self to the deepest part. (p 34)” According to Smith there are eight steps in order to prove this hypothesis. The eight steps are: (1-2) the first two steps are basically making sure one’s life or surface water, as Smith refers to it, is calm. This is done (in step one) by practicing five “abstentions” (from injury, lying, stealing, sensuality and greed) and step two the five “observances” (cleanliness, contentment, self-control, studiousness and contemplation of the divine). Step three keeping the body from distracting the mind during these experiments; this is why many devotees sit in the “lotus position” (described by Smith as “an alert but relaxed position). Step four is focusing on consistent breathing. Step five is contemplation on the experiment at hand or removing the sense preceptors so not to be distracted by other things going on around the devotee. Step six is learning to conquer the mind and force it to concentrate on one object until all distractions have been eliminated. This is usually the most difficult step. Step seven and eight are “deeper” versions of step six. In step seven the devotee must eliminate his view of the object focused on or as Smith refers to it, eliminating the knower. In step eight or the climatic stage known also as Samadhi, the object itself becomes eliminated. “Now the knower is confronted with total being” (p 38).
Hindu’s view God in many different ways, depending on one’s choice of path to God determines how they view God. God could be a part of one’s being or could be a companion or friend. Hindu’s do not believe in one human version of God they believe that he is what makes up the ocean and each individual ripple that lies within. Hindu’s believe that God is infinite.
Hindu’s believe that the self is reincarnated. That there are stages of life one must go through in order to achieve the ultimate goal and that would be realizing the being in oneself or finding God. This is how Hindu’s determine where on the path one is. There are many lifetimes and each comes with a lesson. Also each life affects the next life through karma. Smith describes this as dealing oneself a hand of cards. You may have dealt yourself a set of cards but in the next life you have the choice of how you want to play them.
Hindu’s view the Universe as Maya “the world appears the way we see it, but that is not the way it really is” (p 53). The universe is made up of galaxies, infinite galaxies. There are worlds above and worlds below, some are better some are worse; this is how Hinduism view’s the universe that they live in. *The universe in which Hindu’s live has six characteristics: 1. a multiple world that contains infinite galaxies, 2. a moral world where karma presides, 3. a middling world that will never replace the paradise that is the spirits destination, 4. a world that is maya, 5. a place of learning to shape one’s soul and finally 6. a world that is lila (the play of the divine in its cosmic dance).
*A side note for the teacher….Some of the words I used directly from the book, mostly in the last paragraph simply because I do not know how to describe them otherwise. If this causes a problem please let me know and I will somehow alter this information to be more so in my own words, but I did the best that I could and sometimes Smith’s descriptions are either the best or I simply do not know how to word them any differently. (for example the very last sentence in the previous paragraph)
7. Buddhists believe that there are questions in the universe that divide people everywhere not just cause the divisions of Buddhism. The questions relate to how an individual views God and the world. Buddhists are divided by whether a person places wisdom above compassion or if compassion is held higher than wisdom. If a person believes that each individual should lead their own search to find peace then they place wisdom above compassion. If an individual believes that the universe understands grace then compassion is placed higher than wisdom. This is how the two main sections of Buddhism are separated. The names that were created for both groups mean rafts or ferries for bringing people across the river of life. Each group has a variation of the word yana within the name. The latter group that encompassed laypersons or a person that felt religion was not a “full-time job” gained the name Mahayana (the Big Raft) meaning “Buddhism for the People” since this was the larger group of the two that appealed to the majority of people. The smaller group obviously took the name Hinayana meaning the Little Raft. The Hinayanas did not appreciate this name so they changed it and is now also known as Theravada Buddhism meaning the Way of the Elders. Theravada Buddhism claimed to be the original Buddhism lead by Buddha. These two groups differed greatly on their logic behind why each form of Buddhism was different. The Mahayana’s believed that they were the “right” Buddhists because they believe that Buddha came to the people after finding nirvana and helped others to find it also. The Theravada Buddhists believe that they are the “right” Buddhists because Buddha found nirvana by himself alone and not using group therapy to help reach this state of peace. Theravada Buddhism believes that those that each individual determines the progress that is made where with Mahayana Buddhism the group progresses together. Mahayana Buddhism believes that nirvana is reached when everyone has reached it, whereas Theravada Buddhism believes that this path can only be taken by the individual alone. The ideals of each group are also different due to the differences in approaches. The Theravada Buddhists aim for arhat which means the disciple that has gone out alone on a quest to find nirvana. The Mahayana Buddhists aim for the disciple known as bodhisattva meaning that once an individual has reached nirvana they return to Earth in order to help the rest of the group also find nirvana.
After the main split between the two forms of Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism remained fairly intact while Mahayana Buddhism divided again into many smaller schools. The primary two schools were Zen in Japan and Vajrayana in Tibet. First Zen Buddhism believes that the secret of Zen remains in the secret of the flower. What makes Zen Buddhism different from the other Buddhism’s is that Zen disciples do not express their religion in words. They believe that Zen can better be described by saying what it is not, rather than what it actually is because words cannot provide an accurate description of Zen. Vajrayana is popular in Tibet. Vajra was the Indian Thunder-God that turned into a staff made of diamonds. The diamond represents strength because the diamond can cut all surfaces but the diamond itself cannot be cut. Vajrayana cannot completely be defined unless we talk about Tantra. Tantra is the basis for Vajrayana. Tantra has two origins, first meaning to extend Buddha’s teachings and the second, means the intersecting of things. Tantra is the way of expressing oneself through sex, speech, vision and gestures.
Although there are multiple paths of Buddhism they all are similar in the way that each path of Buddhism is represented by a raft. These rafts although different shapes and sizes is meant to bring the devotee from the shore they are on, the shore that represents people’s ignorance. Once on the raft heading toward the opposite shoreline, the world that was known becomes smaller and smaller and more blended together until it disappears. While on the raft the devotees have put themselves at the mercy of the crewman taking the raft from one shore to the other. The crewmen represent the teachers of the devotees. Once the opposite shoreline has been reached the devotees discover a world that is as real as the first and the devotees head off to explore the new world.
8. Jainism so far appears to be the most difficult to understand as an outsider. There are three types of everything and each has its own name, meaning and place in the lifecycle. Despite the difficult specifics that need to be known IF an individual choose to follow Jainism the basic principles behind the religion seem to be fairly straight forward. Jainism is as old as nature itself. This is because Jain followers (monks, nuns & householders) believe that every living creature contains a soul. Each soul may be at different levels of complexity, but each living specimen has a soul. Each of these soul-containing things (animals, plants and so forth) deserves to be treated with respect. Jainism does not necessarily honor a specific God, unlike other religions, Jainism followers feel that each soul contains 4 elements; infinite knowledge, infinite awareness, infinite power and the last is that “worldly” souls cannot attain the last three items until they have become liberated. A minor difference that separates Jainism from most western religions is that Jainism separates its followers into two distinct groups liberated jivas and non-liberated jivas. The first group, liberated jivas, is a group that karma cannot touch; they are above karma and worldly issues. The latter group, non-liberated jivas, has karma and is stuck in the cycle of life (birth and death).
Jainism can be described as nature in its simplest form. Jivas believe that there are two kinds of energies in the universe; intellectual and mechanism. The technical term for the energy of intelligence is life; jivas refer to it as Chetana. Chetana is described as the more powerful energy because it is an emotional energy. The energy of intelligence embodies silence, prayer, love, dedication and sympathy. Jada used to describe the energy of mechanism or matter. Jada is the scientific energy that sustains the universe. There are three main forces that make up this energy; the energy of gravitation, magnetism and electricity. These two energies combined, Jada and Chetana, create the universe and the beings that are held within.
Jainism is a very unique religion due to the beliefs that jivas have, and even though it is different from other religions it is possible to find the similarities as well. For example, take Taoism and if these two religions were to be compared closely there in fact a few similarities. Taoism believes that if everything was left alone and desires were eliminated the world would be content. Jainism presents that the energy that travels through the universe is ultimately good with barriers in its way. Both religions believe that the universe is good by nature regardless of what is occupying the space within. Another similarity between Taoism and Jainism is the respect for the Earth itself. Jivas believe that every object whether alive or not has an energy to it and must be respected. Taoism believes that the Earth should be respected and every animal (including humans) should be treated the same, as part of Tao. Now that some of the similarities have been displayed the differences have also. Jainism focuses more on the energy within nature being the focus of their religion whereas in Taoism, the “energy” that Jivas see is everything, the air, the plants, humans, not just the energy but the entire being itself.
9. Taoism is a difficult religion to define. The word tao contains three different meanings. The word tao actually means path or the way. The problem is that the word way can be defined as multiple things. The first meaning of way is the way of ultimate reality which cannot be fully comprehended. It includes everything; the ground, the atmosphere and even the unknown. The second tao is the way of the universe which is described as the spirit that is found in all of nature. This spirit or energy is never ending. The third tao is the way of human life. Tao in this last sense means that every human is striving for the center or nirvana as Buddhists refer to it. The difference between Taoism and Buddhism is that in Taoism the center revolves around the relationships held with other human beings. Now that the word tao has been defined, the religion of Taoism has also been divided into three sections. All three types of Taoism have differences between them and not until the differences have been explained can the similarities be noted. The first type of Taoism is known as philosophical Taoism. This form of Taoism attempts to stretch te (or power) as far as possible by being efficient. Philosophical Taoism is also known as school Taoism because the Chinese believe that philosophy seeks power and that power is knowledge. School Taoism teaches the ideas of wu wei which means pure effectiveness. The next kind of Taoism is known as Ch’i which means vital energy. This second form of Taoism absorbed some of the ideals of raja yoga in attempting to control mind, matter and movement. The Taoists that follow Ch’i Taoism attempt to remove the obstacles that are in the way of energy that is trying to enter or leave the body. There is energy found in solids, gases and the cosmos. The third and final form of Taoism is the most widely known, religious Taoism. Religious Taoism believes in helping everyone that cannot find the magical powers that the mind possesses themselves. Religious Taoism believes that there is an energy that can be trained or controlled. Religious Taoism institutionalized the kind of faiths that provide for fait healers and other alike that get there power naturally. Taoism holds many concepts that could help the community at large. Society today is always in a hurry, they think that nothing is ever fast enough. The problem that I see is that most people are not slowing down enough to realize that they are creating their own problems. If more people were to read the Tao Te Ching maybe there would be a community wide realization that people do not have to try so hard to combat the “evil” nature of our society. If society realized that it has created the atmosphere that we live in then people would understand that it can be fixed and with very little effort. The most important change that needs to be applied is the way that we as individuals view each other and what we teach our children. I personally feel in love with the utopian atmosphere that Lao Tzu presents but I realize that until our way of life changes in America, this type of living cannot survive, especially in a market economy. After being exposed to Lao Tzu’s teachings I try to be aware of what I am doing and how it will affect others but at the same time Lao Tzu says that this will come without force right? (Naturally)
Confucius had five main ideals that he proposed and taught. The first ideal was Jen. Jen refers to the relationships between human beings and being able to care for one another unconditionally. The second ideal was chun tzu. Chun tzu is the actual approach of how we interact with others. Confucius compares chun tzu to the ideal housewife, one who is so comfortable in her surroundings that she attempts to accommodate her guests before anything else. The third ideal is known as li. The first part of li is following Confucius’ teachings regarding family, one’s age, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Five Constant Relationships and the Recertification of Names. Each of these demonstrates how one individual should act toward another in order to create harmony in a society. Once all of these are adhered to the actions become a sort of ritual by habit and become a “sacred dance” in Smith’s opinion. The fourth ideal is known as te or power. Power more specifically means leading by example. When people in power rule with ethical standards then the people below will adhere to the same standards; this philosophy leads to a moral society in which everyone is fair and just. The fifth and final ideal, wen, eludes to the fact that whatever nation contains the most culture, will also have the most political power.
The Confucian Project is a task that lacks expiration. The entire purpose of the Confucian Project is to create a society based on life. In order to define life it must first be explained that life is the meeting point that adjoins every human relationship. Relationships are the purpose of life itself. Each relationship a person has throughout their life will bring them closer to the self. The difference here between most other religions and Confucius’ beliefs is that the self is “a center of relationships” therefore there is no actual self that one is searching for. People grow simply by having positive relationships with other people and many as many as possible. Now there are Five Constant Relationships that every person must experience. The five relationships are between a parent and child, a husband and wife, elder sibling and junior sibling, elder friend and junior friend, and ruler and subject. Each of these relationships are similar by the latter should show respect to the elder or person of higher stature. The problem is that the person in the higher position must understand that the respect that they should receive must be earned. The ultimate goal of the Confucian Project is for every individual in a society to become a chun tzu, “a fully realized human being, through expanding one’s empathy indefinitely”. A society that follows the teachings of Confucius will reap benefits far beyond ever imagined here in the United States. If everyone could learn that working together rather than working against one another would create the opportunity to solve many critical issues and eliminate the hatred that some people feel. I personally would like to experience this type of society or at least know that it exists to watch its development, because honestly the closest thing that I have seen in the United States is the building of the railroad. This does not exactly fit the description but that is how disappointing reality is that no other group pf people have worked so hard in order to reach one common goal and they were getting paid.
Confucius and Taoism have many similarities. Both religions desire to have peace among their people. Both religions believe that the success of a nation is imperative to have individual contentment. With all of the similarities there are also a few differences that are actually pretty important. Confucius believed that a person’s life revolved around the relationships with other people. Lao Tzu did not believe that this was necessary which he demonstrates by putting himself into solitude for the last years of his life. Followers of Confucius were united together under his teachings. Where with Taoism, there are three different variations of the religion. Despite the differences between the two religions they created a beneficial society within China for many years.
10. I would have to say that after studying all of the different religions the religion that most attracted me was Confucianism. Although Confucius was a terrible politician he kept his goal in mind and began traveling around to give his advice to whoever would listen. He was not bitter that his dreams were not achieved because the dream was not his. Confucius taught everyone and anyone that would listen and follow his teachings. Confucius may not have been as successful as he had hoped during his lifetime has left a legacy and a religion that has withstood the test of time. Confucianism has the ideas that people’s religions and lives should revolve around creating and keeping positive relationships with as many people as possible. The core of Confucianism is based solely on the relationships that one has with the world and other human beings. When people are helping people and being kind to one another, many positive things come as a result. When this happens there is more peace, happiness and contentment in the world which creates a better atmosphere to focus on more important things than worldly issues.
posted by Renee Kangas at 10:02 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home