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World Religions
Religious Dispersal
Indus Valley Civilization
• Civilizations developed around the Indus River,
extending from the Himalayan Mountains to the coast
of the Arabian Sea.
• Although there were thousands of settlements in the
area, the main ones were the cities of Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro.
• The advanced civilization known as the Harappan
culture flourished for hundreds of years.
– Evidence of master planning
– Sewer/waterworks
Arrival of the Aryans
• Nomadic tribe began to move from their
original homeland in Central Asia. They
overtook the Harappans and created a new
society based on Aryan culture and
institutions.
– Brought religious beliefs…reincarnation
– Caste System
• Flexible at first, but no so over time
• YouTube - The Untouchables - India
Hinduism
• Hinduism
• Oldest religion still practiced
– 1500 BCE
• No specific founder
– evolved over centuries
• ancient rishis (sages/priests)
– taught what they had discovered through meditation
• Four texts knows as the Vedas are the sacred writings of
Hinduism
– the oldest written 3,500 years ago!
• The “Vedic Age”
• Rig Veda
– Upanishads
Gods
• Hindus believe there is one
main God, Brahman, and
many humanlike Gods and
Godesses
• Brahma
– the creator of the universe
• Vishnu
– the preserver of the
universe
• Shiva
– represents destruction and
re-creation
• There are many more deities,
but these are the most
significant
• Goal of Hinduism is to attain moksha, or unity with God
• many paths to moksha
• all involve following your Dharma
– Dharma – the moral and ethical aims of human life
• “duty” that a person must do
– follow dharma and break the cycle of rebirth (reincarnation) samsara
– attain moksha!
• Values involved in dharma:
• all life is sacred
– all creatures and humans have souls and are part of the world
soul
– Ahimsa – non-violence to all living things
– no meat (20-40% vegentarianism)
• The cow? (Christians:sheep as Hindus:cow)
• Earthly guidance?
-Enter the Avatar
Buddhism
• Siddhartha Gautama (563-483 B.C.E.)
• Gave up comfortable life to search for cause of
suffering
• Received enlightenment under the bo tree
– Achieved through intense meditation and simple life
– Became the “Buddha”
• enlightened one / “awake” one
• Gave first sermon about 528 B.C.E. at the Deer
Park of Sarnath
• Organized followers into a community of monks
Beliefs of Buddhism
• Buddhist doctrine: the dharma
• The Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold
Path are the way to end suffering
– Suffering is caused by desire
– Religious goal
• personal salvation, or nirvana
– a state of perfect spiritual independence
The Four Noble Truths to Life
• 1. All human life is suffering
• 2. All suffering is caused by human desire
• 3. Human suffering can only be ended by
ending human desire and reaching a state of
not wanting
• 4. You can only end desire by following the
“Eightfold Path”
Eightfold Path
• The Eightfold Path – by following these, one can
end the cycle of rebirth and attain nirvana
•
1. right understanding/knowledge
•
2. right thought/purpose
•
3. right speech
•
4. right action
•
5. right livelihood/living
•
6. right effort
•
7. right mindfulness
•
8. right concentration/meditation
Appeal of Buddhism
• Appealed strongly to members of lower castes
– did not recognize social hierarchies of castes
– All people could reach Nirvana through right living
– used local languages, not Sanskrit
• Development of Buddhism between 3rd
century B.C.E. and 1st century C.E.
• Two Sects
– Mahayan and Theravata
• Mahayan: Probably not what Buddha had
intended
-Buddha became a god
-boddhisatva--"an enlightened being"
-Monasteries began to accept gifts from wealthy individuals
• Hinduism gradually replaced Buddhism in India.
Buddhism moved into Eastern Asia.
-Achieve salvation through meeting caste
responsibilities
• Politically attractive FOR ruling classes
Buddhist Symbols
• The Lotus
– The roots of a lotus are in the
mud, the stem grows up through
the water, and the heavily
scented flower lies above the
water, basking in the sunlight.
This pattern of growth signifies
the progress of the soul from the
primeval mud of materialism,
through the waters of
experience, and into the bright
sunshine of enlightenment.
Though there are other water
plants that bloom above the
water, it is only the lotus which,
owing to the strength of its
stem, regularly rises eight to
twelve inches above the surface.
Will the real Buddha please stand up?
• YouTube - History series - Buddhism, Origins
and interaction with Greek philosophy
Ancient China
• China was the last great civilization to come to
full power.
• The Shang Dynasty: Organized government,
system of writing, advanced skills in making
bronze vessels
• The Zhou Dynasty: Best known for The
Mandate of Heaven
– The idea that the king had a divine right to rule
passed down from Heaven
• The Qin Dynasty: Built the Great Wall to keep
nomadic rivals out. Much of the wall we see
today was built long after the Dynasty ended.
• The Han Dynasty: Population increased rapidly,
boundaries of the empire spread greatly.
• The Family in China: based on the idea of Filial
Piety, or the family’s responsibility to obey and
worship the male head of the family. Society was
based on Male Supremacy.
Religion in China
• Confucius (551-479 B.C.E.)
• Confucius / Kong Fuzi
– Educator and political advisor
– Sayings compiled in Analects by disciples
• Confucian ideas
– Man?
• fundamentally moral and ethical in character. If man would live in harmony
with the purpose of the Universe, everyone would prosper.
– Practical
• Sought a solution to social and political chaos rather than spiritual
enlightenment
• formation of junzi
– "superior individuals“ and the 5 Constant Relationships
– Look to the past
• edited and compiled Zhou classics for disciples to study
5 Constant Relationships
“Parent and child, husband and wife, older sibling and
younger sibling, older friend and younger friend, and
ruler and subject. Each person in the relationship had
a duty to the other. Parents should be loving, and
children should revere their parents. Husbands should
fulfill their duties and wives should obey. The elder
sibling should be kind, and the younger sibling
respectful. The older friend should be considerate and
the younger friend deferential. Rulers should be
benevolent, and subjects loyal.”
-With these rules, social order could be reached.
-How do you feel about these relationships? Are they
rules you follow in your own relationships?
Key Confucian Values
• Ren
– a sense of humanity, kindness, benevolence
• Li
– a sense of propriety, courtesy, respect, deference to
elders
• Xiao
– filial piety, familial obligation
• Goal?
-Bring social and political order to China
Key Confucian Figures
• Mencius (372-289 B.C.E.)
– spokesman for the Confucian school
• Believed in the goodness of human nature (ren)
• Advocated government by benevolence and humanity
• Xunzi (298-238 B.C.E.)
– less positive view of human nature
• Believed that humans selfishly pursue own interests
• Preferred harsh social discipline to bring order to society
• Advocated moral education and good public behavior
Daoism
• Daoism founder
– Laozi OR Lao-tzu
– allegedly wrote the Daodejing OR Tao Te Ching
• Classic of the Way and of Virtue
• Criticism of Confucian activism
– Ambition and activism had only brought the world to chaos
• Confucianism seeks to work on social/political scale, not spiritual
– Preferred philosophical reflection and introspection
• a life in harmony with nature
– Humans should tailor behavior to passive and yielding nature of
the Dao
• the way of nature, the way of the cosmos
– eternal principle governing all the workings of the world
Understandings of Daoism
• Dao is passive and yielding, does nothing yet accomplishes
everything
– “… refers to a power which envelops, surrounds and flows through all
things, living and non-living. The Tao regulates natural processes and
nourishes balance in the Universe. It embodies the harmony of
opposites (i.e. there would be no love without hate, no light without
dark, no male without female.)”
• Doctrine of wuwei
– disengagement from worldly affairs, simple life
– Advocated small, self-sufficient communities
• Political Implications
– Counterbalance to Confucian activism and Legalism
– “Confucians by day, Daoists by night”
• Practical vs. the spiritual
The Yin Yang
Taoism in Star Wars
YouTube - Lukes training by Yoda in the Force
on Dgobah
"Lots of people talk to
animals," said Pooh.
"Not that many listen though."
"That's the problem."
" Not like Pooh, the most effortless Bear we've ever seen."
"Just How do you do it, Pooh?"
"Do What?" asked Pooh.
"Become so Effortless."
"I don't do much of anything," he said.
"But all those things of yours get done."
"They just sort of happen," he said.
Using your notes, compare and contrast the common
characteristics of early religions in Asia and South Asia.
How were they used to shape society?
Hinduism/Buddhism
Confucianism
Daoism