Download World Religions

World Religions
Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
In this unit we will discuss the belief
systems of the “big 5”
▪ We are looking at the “big 5” not from a standpoint of who is correct
or who is stupid for believing this stuff, but as a way of understanding
▪ I encourage you to keep an open mind, I do not what you to change
your beliefs, believe me, I don’t have a dog in this fight.
▪ Feel free to ask questions, and we will try to help your understanding
Before we get started
▪ All religion’s followers are divided up into three levels of practice
▪ 1st- Orthodox- these are the people that believe every aspect of the
religion and live their life expressly by their religious texts, doctrines,
and tenants. To stray from this would be an unforgivable sin.
A group of Orthodox Jews in their daily dress. Note the dark clothing, head coverings
for outside on top of their yamakas, and have their distinctive payots (side curls)
Before we get started
▪ All religion’s followers are divided up into three levels of practice
▪ 2nd- Conservative- this is the largest spectrum of the groups. These
are people who identify themselves very closely to the religion
running to those that identify but don’t live every aspect of their lives
around the faith.
Before we get started
▪ All religion’s followers are divided up into three levels of practice
▪ 3rd- Liberal- these are the people who loosely identify with their faith.
They may say that they are a part of the religion, but really don’t
follow too closely at all. However, if pressed, they will maintain that
they are, in fact, a member of the faith.
Before we get started
▪ Additionally, there are some other terms associated with religious
beliefs
▪ Agnostic- are people who say that there is no proof for or against
higher beings.
▪ Deists (modern)- are people who believe in a higher being but not in
organized religion.
▪ Atheist- are people that do not believe in any extraterrestrial (nonearthly) beings or systems that created things.
Religion - world distribution
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Category 4
Hindu
First a little history/geography
▪ Hindu was founded in India
▪ India is a Sub-continent- that means that it was originally part of
another continent and moved into the position it is today.
▪ India broke off of Antarctica and sped (9eographically) through the
Indian Ocean to crash into the Asian land mass millions of years ago.
▪ This created the largest fender-bender in world history and resulted
in the Himalayan Mts.
▪ As a result, India now became a part of Asia
India
First a little history/geography
▪ Now lets listen to John Green explain the first civilization in India
Religion - world distribution
First a little history/geography
▪ So no one knows what happened to the first Indian cultures but we
know that they came up with the beginning doctrines of Hindu
▪ The Dravidian culture was the next to take over
▪ They were peaceful people that concentrated on farming
▪ As such, they did little to prepare for warfare
▪ Eventually, they were taken over by a more warlike group called the
Aryans, who hijacked the Hindu faith and added to it to make it more
conducive to their rule.
First a little history/geography
▪ The biggest impact of the Aryans was the Caste System
▪ The Caste System is a social system, that despite modern Hindu
interpretations is actually still in effect although not talked about as
much.
▪ It consisted of:
– Four main classes, that one was born into and there was no upward social
mobility.
– The only way to move socially except downward if you married beneath you or
stopped worshipping Hindu
Caste System
First a little history/geography
▪ The top two classes consisted of the Aryans and they could marry
▪ The bottom two classes consisted of the Dravidians and they could
marry
▪ If any of the two classes married, the top would drop down to
become a member of the lower class.
▪ Untouchables (Harijans) were people who had not followed Hindu or
rejected it and as such, were not to be a part of society. They have to
exist on the fringe and rely on handouts, etc.
▪ Technically, any non-Hindu would be in this class, but traditionally,
you would have had to been a part of Indian society for it to be really
enforced.
Hindu- the belief system
▪ Lets look at Hinduism 101 from hip hughes and afterward we will look
at some highlights of it.
Hindu
Hindu- the belief system
▪ Most believe that Hindu is a polytheistic system (many gods), but
really it is a hybrid.
▪ The main Diety is Brahman
▪ Brahman is the creator-omnipotent-cosmic-everywhere all the time
entity
▪ Brahman can take any form
▪ There are two chief forms that Brahman exists in on the earthly plain
– Vishnu- the Preserver
– Shiva- the Destroyer
Hindu
▪ These are considered separate entities but are a part of Brahman. In other
words, Brahman still exists separately but can also manifest as any other
god at any time that exists separately at the same time.
▪ To make things more complex, each of these gods also is genderless and
may appear as either male or female.
▪ However, each of them is considered to be a male dominated figure and as
females, they are considered to be the wives of the male gods.
▪ These wives are collectively called the Shaktis- Parvati (Brahman), Uma
(Vishnu), and Amapurna (Shiva).
▪ Together, they then created all the next tiers of gods-Krishna, Gnesh,
Rama, Skandra, Hanuman, Sikita, etc.- which, of course, all the same as
Brahman.
Hindu
▪ Hindus may worship any of the forms of the gods and it is considered
to be as if you are worshipping Brahman.
▪ Each person gets to pick their god and they then make a shrine to it
as they see fit. Although the father of the household makes the
overall god for the home, each person within may still have their own
shrines.
▪ How each entity is worshipped is explained in the Vedas, which are
the original holy texts of Hindu.
Hindu
▪ Look at the Hindu idea of creation from the Rig Veda, Mandala 10,
hymn 129, Creation (PASS OUT THE READING)
▪ Answer the following questions about this reading:
– Why do you think that the author mentions water in both the 1st and 3rd stanza
(hint: what does every living thing need to survive)
– What does stanza 3 suggest brought forth the ONE
– When stanza 5 says the cord was stretched, what do you think this is referring to
(hint: what do most religions think is up and down)
– Stanza 6 says that the gods came later to this world, what do you think this
means? (remember what you looked at earlier in regard to Brahman and his
creation of other gods)
– What do you think the last line means in Stanza 7 in relation to Hindu creation?
Hindu
▪ Later on, there were two other significant texts created to go along
with the Vedas, the Brahmans and the Upanishads.
▪ Both were commentaries on the faith and consist of hundreds of
volumes.
▪ In them, we see the details of how the Hindus view the cosmic
relationship of everything
Hindu- the Cosmic system
▪ Hindus know exactly where we are in the Cosmic system of the
universe and man
▪ It all revolves around Brahman and his existence
▪ Brahman is eternal but goes through periods of alertness and rest
– Brahman’s cycle is measured in Cosmic Cycles known as Yugas
– There are four Yugas in a Mahayuga
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
KritaYuga= 1, 728,000 human years
Tetra Yuga= 1.296,000 human years
Dvapara Yuga= 864,000 human years
Kali Yuga= 432,ooo human years
1000 Mahayugas = one day in the life of Brahman (311,040,000,000,000 human years)
Hindu- the Cosmic system
▪ Brahman’s years are made up of 360 of his days
▪ He goes in 100 year cycles of alertness and rest
▪ When he reaches the end of his 100 years, he will rest for the next 100
years, during which everything will fall into nothingness.
▪ And at the end of the 100 years of rest, he will re-emerge to bring
everything back into existence and the whole thing starts again.
▪ We are presently in the 1st day of the 51st year of Brahman. Today
began on Friday, February 18, 1302 bc. (so today is Brahman’s
birthday and it will be for the next several million of our years)
Hindu- the Samsara system
▪ Now what does this have to do with anything, well lets get to the
heart of what Hindu faith believes in
▪ Hindus believe in a system of re-incarnation called the Samsara
System
▪ In essence, you have to achieve certain goals to be able to get out of
the system
▪ What follows is an explanation of it
Hindu- the Samsara system
▪ First we must remember that Brahman is everything and everything
exists within Brahman
▪ So, everything has a soul called an Atman
▪ Your soul has a record-a kind of notebook-called a Karma
▪ Your Karma is carried with you throughout all of your existences.
▪ While you are alive, you are supposed to live in a Hindu way and
abide by its tenants and also you are supposed to achieve the four
goals of Hindu. They are:
Hindu- the Samsara system
▪ Artha- wealth and power-relative to your social position. Meaning
you must get enough within your class to be successful at your level.
▪ Kama-pleasure and satisfaction of desires. Meaning take advantage
of the good times in life.
▪ Dharma-right conduct. Within the constraints of Hinduism
▪ Moksha- release. Eventually the goal of all Hindus is a release from
Samsara.
Hindu- the Samsara system
▪ So you live your life and when you die, your Karma is read by
Dharma. Your entire life is revealed- all sins and virtues. Practically
everyone falls short and has to re-enter the system.
▪ Depending on how bad you failed, you may be sent back to the
bottom of the food chain. In other words, you may have to start over
as an insect. You then must live out an existence as an insect and
when that insect dies, you transmigrate into the next plain of
existence-maybe a mouse, then a dog, then a monkey, then a cow,
then a human once again.
▪ Only humans can have a choice in how they live and thus make it to
Moksha
Hindu- the Samsara system
▪ Most are stuck in this system over and over.
▪ It is only through discipline, withdrawal, and meditation that one can
attain the proper lifestyle and thus get release.
▪ So you finally live the right life and do everything correct. What
happens now.
– You get MOKSHA
– This means release to blend with Brahman
– Once released, you become a part of god and the feeling is NIRVANA, which
means complete sensation- thus why the band picked it.
Transition to Buddhism
▪ In India, there once was a prince named Siddhartha Guatama
▪ He was raised under Hindu but did not find it fulfilling, so he searched
for other answers
▪ His search brought him to the idea of Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism
▪ Lets watch some of this film about the life of the “Buddha”
Buddhism
Buddhism
▪ Story of the White Lotus
▪ Old , Sick, Dying
▪ The cold reality
▪ The Great Renunciation
Buddhism
▪ 3 Characteristics
– Impersonality- you are not born alone, unsubstantiality you are not special over
anyone else.
– Impermanence- nothing lasts forever, chance is always present
– Imperfection- there is no such thing, to hold out for it is to bring sorrow
Buddhism
▪ 4 Noble Truths
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–
–
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Life is subject to sorrow
This this sorrow is caused by ignorance, which results in desire/attachment
That this sorrow can be eliminated by the elimination of desire/attachment
The way to eliminate desire/attachment is to follow the 8 Fold Path
Buddhism
▪ The Middle Way-avoid Austerity and Sensuality
– Right Views- see life as it is, in accord with 3 characteristics, appreciate the 4
noble truths
– Right Mindedness- have friendly thought toward everything
– Right Speech- speak kindly, truthfully and accurately
– Right Action- act skillfully and sympathetically, not in vain or violently
– Right Livelihood- have a living that does not infringe on others
– Right Endeavor- seek self perfection by rejecting ignoble qualities and acquiring
and fostering noble qualities
– Right Mindfulness- self-awareness and compassion resulting in self-reliance and
equanimity
– Right Concentration- contemplation culminating in intellectual intuition and
wisdom
Buddhism
▪ 5 precepts
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–
–
–
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Do not kill
Do not steal
Do not lie
Do not misuse sex
Do not consume alcohol and drugs
Buddhism
▪ 3 practices
– Sila- practice virtue, good conduct, and morality
▪ All living entities are equal
▪ Golden rule
– Samadhi-concentration, mediation, and mental development
– Prajna- discernment, insight, wisdom, and enlightenment
Buddhism
▪ Later on other Buddhas come around and they begin to change what
Siddhartha Guatama had originally said
▪ The 9th Buddha was the one who introduced the ideas of Hinduism
into the mix
▪ He said “ Truth is eternal, Brahman is Truth and Reality, The Vedas are
the ultimate authority, Everyone should strive to achieve Dharma,
Individual souls are immortal, and the Goal of the individual soul is
Moksha.”
▪ This turns Buddhism from a life philosophy into a religion
Buddhism
Judaism
Buddhism
▪ 3 practices
– Sila- practice virtue, good conduct, and morality
▪ All living entities are equal
▪ Golden rule
– Samadhi-concentration, mediation, and mental development
– Prajna- discernment, insight, wisdom, and enlightenment
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