Download Taoism (sometimes spelled Daoism)

Confucianism
Know your place and do your duty.
Confucius
The Chinese philosopher Kong Fu Zi or Confucius lived from 551 to
479BC. During this time the Zhou dynasty was in decline and Chinese
society was falling apart due to violence and poor leadership. Many
people were left poor while various groups fought over power. This
saddened Confucius, who wished that China could have a stable and
peaceful society again.
Confucius believed that if people and governments behaved
properly, society would be orderly and peaceful. He spelled this out
in a code of behavior called Li, which requires respect, honesty, hard
work, politeness, and generosity. Every person should know their
place in society, follow the rules, and be respectful, especially of
their parents.
An orderly society was built on Five Key Relationships:
1. ruler and subject
2. parent and child
3. husband and wife
4. older sibling and younger sibling
5. friend and friend
While people are expected to respect and obey their superiors,
Confucianism also requires leaders to be good role models. Confucian
philosophy is influential in China and Japan.
Buddhism
Escape from suffering.
The Buddha
Buddhism was started by an Indian prince named Siddhartha
Gautama, also known as “The Buddha” or enlightened one, around
the year 530 BC. Siddhartha was raised in a life of luxury, but was
deeply disturbed to learn that many people in the world suffered
from old age, illness and death. He set out to find a way to end this
suffering. After years of self sacrifice and meditation, the answers
he found became the religion of Buddhism.
Buddhism teaches that there are four noble truths:
1. Suffering is a part of life.
2. Suffering is caused by selfish desires for things you don’t
have.
3. To end suffering, you must learn to let go of selfish desires
and achieve enlightenment.
4. To be freed of selfish desires, you must live a life of
moderation and discipline called the Eightfold Path.
Good Buddhists lead simple, moral lives and never kill, steal, lie, or
use drugs or alcohol. They are taught to be patient, compassionate
and avoid excess.
Like Hindus, Buddhists believe in karma and reincarnation. They also
believe in the idea that nirvana or enlightenment will free someone
from the cycle of life, death and rebirth. Buddhists do NOT believe
in a system of castes that punish people for bad deeds in a past lives.
Although Buddhism started in India, today it is practiced mainly in
Japan, China, Cambodia, and Thailand.
Hinduism
Good karma will reward you for doing the right thing.
Vishnu the Preserver
Hinduism is the world’s oldest religion, incorporating many diverse
beliefs and practices that date back more than 4,000 years. Many of
these beliefs are found in a series of books called the Vedas.
Hindus believe in reincarnation. This is the idea that humans have
souls that last forever and that these souls exist in a continuous
cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Hindus also believe in Karma, the
idea that there are consequences for good and bad actions.
Someone who does good things gains good Karma and good things
will happen to them. Someone who gains bad Karma, on the other
hand, will experience bad events in their life.
Some Hindus also believe in a strict system of four rigid social classes
called castes, each with different jobs, rights and privileges. When
you are reincarnated, your karma (good or bad) from your past life
determines which caste you are born into. You remain in this caste
until you die. The ultimate goal for Hindus is to eventually achieve
nirvana, a state of enlightenment that frees the soul from the cycle
of reincarnation.
The Hindu religion includes multiple gods. The most important of
these are Brahma, the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the
destroyer.
Hinduism is mainly practiced in India.
Shinto
Worship the spirits in nature.
A Shinto gate marks the barrier between the living world and the spirit world.
Shinto is a nature-based religion from Japan which means “way of
the gods.” According to Shinto belief, all objects in nature contain
sacred spirits called kami. This includes plants, rocks, trees and
animals. Kami are often worshipped at family or community shrines,
where the spirits of deceased relatives live.
While Shintoists don’t believe in any one main god, some kami are
ranked higher than others. The highest ranking kami is Amaterasu,
the sun goddess. According to tradition, the emperor of Japan is a
descendant of the sun goddess and therefore a god himself. Shinto
was the official religion of Japan until the end of World War II.
Shinto rituals emphasize purity and worship of nature. Holy water
and salt are used to cleanse and purify things. Bells, drums or gongs
are used to attract good kami or scare away bad kami. Examples of
these rituals can be found in the sport of Sumo wrestling. Before
each match, competitors spread salt to purify the wrestling ring,
then stomp their feet loudly to scare off bad kami. Each match is
presided over by a referee dressed as a Shinto priest while the Sumo
ring is covered by a Shinto shrine.
Another well known example of Shinto rituals involves the making of
Samurai swords. Only Shinto priests were entrusted to make these,
as only a priest could ensure that the steel blade was inhabited by a
powerful kami.
Shintoism is practiced almost exclusively in Japan.
Islam
Submit to the will of Allah, the one true god.
India’s Taj Mahal is the world’s most famous landmark and shows Muslim and Hindi influences.
Islam is a monotheistic religion that originated on the Arabian
Peninsula in Southwest Asia around the year 622. The word “Islam”
means “submission,” reflecting the religion's core belief of
submitting to the will of God.
Muslim beliefs and practices are spelled out in their holy book, the
Qur’an, which followers believe contains the actual words of God, as
revealed to Muhammad.
The most important of these practices are the Five Pillars of Islam,
which guide Muslim life. They are
1.Faith - Muslims are required to assert their belief in monotheism by
reciting “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet.”
2.Prayer - Muslims are required to perform formal prayer facing the holy
city of Mecca 5 times each day.
3.Charity – Muslims are required to donate some of their income to charity.
4.Fasting – During the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims refrain from eating
or drinking during daylight hours.
5.Pilgrimage – All Muslims who can afford to do so are required to
participate in a religious journey to Mecca at least once in their lifetime.
Islam is divided into two major sects which disagreed over who
should have replaced Muhammad as the leader of the religion.
Sunnis believed that any Muslim could be the leader, while Shias
believed that only blood relatives of Muhammad should have ruled.
Today, around 85% of all Muslims are Sunni and 15% are Shia.
The largest Muslim populations in Southern and Eastern Asia are
found in India, Pakistan and Indonesia.
Ethnic & Religious
Groups
Definitions
Ethnic Group - a collection of people who
share a common and distinctive culture,
religion, race or language.
Religious Group – a collection of people who
share the same spiritual beliefs (creed,
practices, and rituals).
Ethnic identity is often associated with the
everyday lives of people such as where they live,
how they dress, how they speak and what their
customs are like. Religious identity is directly
linked to their spiritual beliefs and practices,
such as which god they worship, the moral rules
they follow, and what they believe will happen
after they die.
These identities will sometimes overlap, as many
members of a particular ethnic group may share
the same religious beliefs – the religion of their
parents. Most religions welcome followers from
any and all ethnic groups.