Download World Religions

World Religions
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Standard
• Analyze the development and historical
significance of Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism,
Christianity, and Islam
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Hinduism
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Hinduism
• Born in the Indus River Valley around 2500 B.C.
• No single founder or sacred text
• Most complex religion in the world
– Countless gods and goddesses
– system of rituals, cults, institutions, practices, and
doctrines
• Though believed by many to be a polytheistic
religion, the basis of Hinduism is the belief in
the unity of everything
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Brahman
• “God is one, but wise people
know it by many names” – key
proverb of Hinduism
• Brahman – the all-powerful and
unchanging spiritual force of
the universe
• Too complex for most to
understand so they worship a
variety of gods that give a form
to it.
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Hinduism
• The purpose of life is to realize that we are
part of God and by doing so we can leave this
plane of existence and rejoin with God
– Achieved by the cycle of birth, life and death
• One's progress towards enlightenment is
measured by his karma.
• This is the accumulation of all one's good and
bad deeds.
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Reincarnation
• Your karma
determines what form
you take in your next
life.
• Selfless acts and
thoughts as well as
devotion to God help
one to be reborn at a
higher level.
• Bad acts and thoughts
will cause one to be
born at a lower level –
animal or object
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Dharma
• The religious and moral
duties of an individual.
• Your duty varies according to
class, occupation, gender, or
age.
• Karma & Dharma insure the
social order by supporting
the caste system
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Caste System
• consists of four major social categories:
– Brahmin
• highest rank and act as the priests and spiritual and intellectual
leaders of Hindu society
– Kshatriya
• the rulers and warriors who protect and promote the material wellbeing of society
– Vaishya
• farmers, merchants, and others who contribute to the economy
– Sudra
• the workers and servants who supply the menial labor for the upper
three ranks.
• Another class, the "untouchables”
• Excluded from all aspects of society!
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Ahimsa
• Key moral principle of Hinduism
• Means non-violence
• All people and things are aspect of brahman
and should be respected.
– Cows worshipped by some in India
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Main Hindu Gods
• Brahma – the creator
• Vishnu – the Preserver
• Shiva – the destroyer
Brahma
Shiva
Vishnu
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Jainism
• Extreme form of
Hinduism
• Emphasizes meditation,
self-denial, ahimsa
• To avoid killing anything –
carry a broom to sweep in
front of their feet
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Red Dot
• It represents a third eye,
the inner eye, the third-eye
chakra
• tradition holds that all
people have three eyes,
the two outer ones used
for seeing the outside
world, the third one
focusing inward toward
God
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End of Section
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Buddhism
• One of the world’s most influential religions
• Founded by Siddhartha Gautama 600 B.C.
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Siddhartha Gautama
• Born 566 B.C., to a high-caste family
• Prophet predicted he’d be a wandering holy
man
– Parents basically locked him away in Palace
• He lead a life of luxury
• Left palace one day – saw suffering for the
first time. (sick, old and dead)
• Left palace to find life without suffering
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Siddhartha Gautama
• Wandered for years seeking
answers
• Fasted and meditated.
• For 48 days, he sat beneath a
banyan tree, tempted by evil spirits
• Revealed an understanding of
suffering and sorrow
• He was now “the enlightened one”
or Buddha
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Four Noble Truths
• All life is full of suffering, pain and sorrow
• The cause of suffering is the desire for things
that are really illusions (riches, power, and
long life)
• The only cure for suffering is to overcome
desire.
• The way to overcome desire is to follow the
Eightfold Path.
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Eightfold Path
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•
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Right views
Right aspirations
Right speech
Right conduct
•
•
•
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Right livelihood
Right effort
Right mindfulness
Right
contemplation
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Buddhism
•
•
•
•
Commit to leading a moral life
Avoiding evil words and actions
Practice meditation to achieve enlightenment
Final goal being nirvana.
– Union with the universe
– Release from the cycle of rebirth
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Buddhism
• Eightfold Path is a middle ground between
pleasure and self-denial.
• Belief in karma
• Stresses moral principles such as:
– Honesty
– Charity
– Kindness
• More of a philosophy than religion?
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Buddhism
• Sacred Text – Tripitaka
– Three Baskets of Truth
• Golden rule– “overcome anger by not growing angry. Overcome
evil with good. Overcome the liar with truth.”
• Buddhism spread across Asia but declined in
India- being absorbed as another Hindu god.
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Questions for you?
• What are three basic teachings of Hinduism?
• According to Buddha, what actions would
allow people to escape worldly suffering?
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