050830 0510 0605 0702 0704
F T Please report any errors, typographical or otherwise. D R A
World Religions Notes
prepared by the Reverend Vern Barnet, DMn, minister emeritus of CRES, www.cres.org Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171; Email: [email protected] NOT FOR PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, OR QUOTATION WITHOUT PERMISSION. © copyright 2007, 2009
T ABLE OF CONTENTS
Motto Primal faiths Monotheistic faiths he History of Religions is not 8 Ancient Mesopotamian religion 28 Abrahamic religions merely an historical discipline, 9 Ancient Egyptian religion 29 Zoroastrianism T 10 The Greek style, the Roman style 30 Judaism as for example, are archeology and 11 The Maya, the Inca 31 Christianity numismatics. It is equally a total 12 American Indian religions 35 Islam hermeneutics being called to decipher 13 Traditional African religions 38 Sikhism [local notes] and explicate every kind of encounter 14 Wicca 39 Bahá'í [local notes] with the sacred, from prehistory to Conclusions Asian faiths 39 A Pluralistic View our own day. —Mircea Eliade 16 Ancient Chinese religion 41 Comparisons and 17 Hinduism the future of religions Epitomizing texts 18 From the Gita 42 What is sacred? 2 Chief Seattle’s Letter 19 Buddhism in India Capsule summaries 3 The Heart Sutra 20 The enlightened no-self 43 Chart, final exam 4 Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address 21 Buddhism in China 23 Buddhism in Japan / Zen stories History of religions theory 24 Buddhism in Tibet 5 Religion before history 25 Smokey the Bear Sutra 6 Wheat 26 Amitabha’s Vow 7 Myth, ritual, and religious style 27 Thirty-five Voidistic Quotations
World religions can be classified many ways, none of which is without flaws and exceptions. Here, two scholars imply a scheme similar to the one this course uses.
[1] Judaism is a religion of history and as such it may be con- God has already done. The feasts of Judaism are chiefly com- trasted with religions of nature and religions of contempla- memorative: Passover recalls the deliverance of the Jews from tion. bondage in Egypt; Purim, Esther’s triumph over Haman, who Religions of nature see God in the surrounding universe; sought to destroy the Jews in the days of King Ahasuerus; and for example, in the orderly course of the heavenly bodies, or Hanukkah, the purification of the Temple after its desecration by more frequently in the recurring cycle of the withering and re- Antiochus Epiphanes. And this religion looks forward with surgence of vegetation. This cycle is interpreted as the dying faith; remembrance is a reminder that God will not forsake his and rising of a god in whose experience the devotee may share own. The faith of Judaism was anchored in the belief that God through various ritual acts and may thus also become divine was bound to his people by a covenant, at times renewed and en- and immortal. For such a religion, the past is not important, for larged. [emphasis added] —Roland Bainton, Christendom, p3-4 the cycle of the seasons is the same one year as the next. Religions of contemplation, at the other extreme, regard the physical world as an impediment to the spirit, which, abstracted [The Greeks] inquired as to the nature of things, the nature of na- from the things of sense, must rise by contemplation to union ture, the nature of God. The Hebrews desired to know only God’s with the divine. The sense of time itself is to be transcended, will. — ibid, page 17. so that here again history is of no import. But religions of history, like Judaism, discover God “in his [2] “[B]ecoming God” happens individually, communally, and mighty acts among the children of men.” Such a religion is a cosmically. [emphasis added] —Huston Smith, compound of memory and hope. It looks backward to what The Soul of Christianity, p124.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 1 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. Chief Seattle’s Letter This is edited and arranged from several versions of the apocryphal text prepared by screenwriter Ted Perry, inspired by fragments unwittingly attributed to the Chief, for Home, a 1972 ABC film about ecology. 1. The Great Chief in Washington sends falo on the prairie, left there by those who word that he wishes to buy our land. shot them from a passing train. I do not under- 2. How can you buy or sell the sky, the stand how the smoking iron horse is more im- warmth of the land? The idea is strange to portant than the buffalo that we kill only to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air stay alive. or the sparkle of the water, how can you 12. What will happen when the buffalo are buy them? all slaughtered? the wild horses tamed? 3. Every part of this earth is sacred to my 13. Where is the thicket? Gone. Where is people. Every shining pine needle, every the eagle? Gone. sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, 14. What will happen when the secret cor- every clearing, every humming insect. ners of the forest are heavy with the scent of 4. All are holy in the memory and expe- many men and the view of the ripe hills blot- rience of my people. ted by talking wires? 5. We know the sap which courses 15. And what is it to say goodbye to the through the trees as we know the blood that swift pony and the hunt? — For us it is the courses through our veins. end of living and the beginning of sur- 6. This beautiful earth is mother of us vival. . . . all. We are part of it; it is part of us. 7. The perfumed flowers are our sisters; 17. The earth does not belong to the two- the bear, the deer, the great eagle — these leggeds; the two-leggeds belong to the earth. are our brothers; the rocky crests, the juices 18. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the in the meadows, the body heat of the pony children of earth. all belong to the same family. 19. We did not weave the web of life; we 8. The shining water that moves in the are merely strands in it. streams is the blood of our ancestors. The 20. Whatever we do to the web, we do to rivers are our brothers. They quench our ourselves. thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our 21. You may think you own your [God] as children. You must give the rivers the kind- you wish to own our land; but you cannot. ness you would give any brother. 22. To harm the earth is to heap contempt 9. The air is precious to us, for all things on its Creator. share the same breath — beast, tree, man 23. Contaminate your bed, and you will and woman. The white [people] do not one night suffocate in your waste. seem to notice the air [they] breathe. The wind that gave our grandfather his first 24. When the last [of my people] has van- breath also receives his last sigh. The wind, ished, these shores and forests will still hold sweetened by the meadow flowers, also the spirits of my people. gives our children the spirit of life. 25. We love this earth as the newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. 10. Will you teach your children what we 26. So if we sell you our land, care for it as have taught ours? that the earth is our we've cared for it. mother? 27. Preserve it for your children, and love 11. I have seen a thousand rotting buf- it.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 2 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. SHORTER VERSION NOTES The Heart Sutra 1 The Heart Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom, or one so compassionate that one postpones 24 The Sutra on the Essence of Transcendent Knowledge one’s own entrance to Nirvana in or- Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra [Sanskrit] der to aid others. Shingyo [Japanese] 2 a major Bodhisattva embodying compas- sion; nickname: Padmapani, lotus- 1 2 carrier; female in China and Japan. 1 When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was tool- 3 3 saw (intuitively), beheld. ing in the deep Prajnaparamita, he flashed: looking 4 skandhas, aggregates [comprising the down from on high, he saw but five heaps,4 and even presumed being]; see 8-12. 5 in their 5 6 self-nature. they were nothing. Thus he overcame all troubles. 6 7 8 sunya(-ta), void(-ness): Absolute Rela- 2 O Sariputra, form does not differ from empti- tivity, Transitoriness. In Madhyamika, 6 ness, and emptiness is no diff’rent than form; form is pratitya-samutpada, dependent origina- 6 tion, is identified with sunyata. void, and the Void is form. The same is true of sensa- 7 9 10 11 12 an especially sharp disciple of Buddha. tions, thoughts, intentions, and consciousness. 8 9 10 11 13 rupa. vedana. sanjna. samskara. 3 O Sariputra, the nature of ev’rything is empty, 12 vijnana. not arising nor annihilated, not defiled nor immaculate, 13 dharma, here meaning object, event, not deficient nor perfected. matter, and perhaps ultimate reality. 14 a way of abbreviating the 18 Dhatus, 4 O Sariputra, in the Void there is no form, no sen- elements of existence, viz. six types of sation, no thought, no intention, and no consciousness; sense data, six sense organs, six sense no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body or mind; no sound, consciousnesses. 15 smell, taste, touch or thought; no eye-element, and so abbreviating the 12-fold Chain of Cau- 14 sation, subject of much Buddhist dis- forth [thru the eighteen Dhatus]; no ignorance and cussion. also no knowledge, and so on15; no old age and death, 16-19 The Four Noble Truths of Buddha: 16 17 and no ending of decay and death; that life is duhkha, out of kilter, its 16 cause is tanha, “desire” for what is not 5 no Truth of suff’ring, of the cause of suff’- (addictions, compulsions), 18nirodha, ring,17 of the cessation of suffering,18 nor of the Path.19 its cure is giving up, effected by 19marga, the 8-fold path. 6 There is no wisdom, no attainment [, no realiza- 20 20 in some Japanese texts. tion] at all; and there is no non-attainment. 21 literally, “relying.” 7 Because there is nothing to be attained, a Bodhi- 22 thought-coverings, obstacles to percep- sattva coursing21 in the Prajnaparamita has no hang- tion, obscurities, blinders, compulsions, ups.22 unconsciously patterned behavior. 23 literally, “imaginations.” 8 Because of the indiff’rence to personal attain- 24 extinction of selfish desire; full partici- ments, he cannot be upset, and passes far beyond con- pation in the flow of the universe; lib- fusions and paranoia,23 and dwells at last in Nirvana.24 eration. 25 mantram. 9 Buddhas of the past, the present, and time to 26 21 A liberal translation in brackets is pro- come, also coursing in the Prajnaparamita, reach vided for chanting. Other common Supreme Enlightenment. translations: “Gone, gone, gone be- 25 yond, gone altogether beyond; O what 10 Hear, then, the spell of Prajnaparamita — for an awakening; all hail!” and “Gone, what could go wrong? —: gone, gone to the other shore, safely 11 Gaté, gaté, paragaté, parasamgaté, bodhi landed at the other shore . . .” and svaha!26 “Beyond, beyond the beyond, beyond 26 the concept of the beyond; Enlighten- 12 [far out, way out — all right!] ment — Oh, wow!”
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 3 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. from Abraham Lincoln's March 4, 1865 Second Inaugural Address 9. Both parties deprecated war; but one of 20. The prayers of both could not be an- them would make war rather than let the na- swered; that of neither has been answered tion survive; and the other would accept war fully. . . . rather than let it perish. 23. If we shall suppose that American 10. And the war came. slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, 11. One-eighth of the whole population but which, having continued through His were colored slaves, not distributed gener- appointed time, He now wills to remove, ally over the Union, but localized in the and that He gives to both North and South Southern part of it. this terrible war as the woe due to those by 12. These slaves constituted a peculiar whom the offense came, shall we discern and powerful interest. therein any departure from those divine at- 13. All knew that this interest was, some- tributes which the believers in a living God how, the cause of the war. always ascribe to Him? 14. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the in- 24. Fondly do we hope — fervently do surgents would rend the Union, even by we pray — that this mighty scourge of war war; while the government claimed no right may speedily pass away. to do more than to restrict the territorial en- 25. Yet, if God wills that it continue, largement which it had already attained. until all the wealth piled by the bondman’s
two hundred and fifty years of unrequited 15. Neither party expected for the war the toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of magnitude, or the duration, which it has al- blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by ready attained. another drawn with the sword, as was said 16. Neither anticipated that the cause of three thousand years ago, so still it must be the conflict might cease with, or even be- said, “The judgments of the Lord are true fore, the conflict itself should cease. and righteous altogether.” 17. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astound- ing. 26. With malice toward none; with charity 18. Both read the same Bible, and pray for all; with firmness in the right as God to the same God; and each invokes His aid gives us to see the right, let us strive on to against the other. finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall 19. It may seem strange that any men have born the battle, and for his widow, should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in and his orphan — to do all which may wringing their bread from the sweat of other achieve and cherish a just and a lasting men’s faces; but let us judge not that we be peace, among ourselves, and with all na- not judged. tions.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 4 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. RELIGION BEFORE HISTORY SUMMARY. Prehistoric religion arises from bio- dangerous microorganisms and permitting storage. logical and anatomical changes as the species de- Diet improved for our omnivorous ancestors. veloped (the narrow birth canal), the early sense of Coming down from leaping from tree to tree, we awe about the self (dreams) and world (the moon retained predominance of sight over smell (loss of cycle), the development of the first technologies the wet-snout gave lips mobility for speech) and (fire, agriculture), and the growth of social organi- liberated hands for tool-making. Hand-eye co- zation (including ritual). The sacred was disclosed ordination, the opposed thumb and favoring one in human relationships, the world of nature, and hand led to a more complex and flexible brain; within the self. tools (hand-ax, 500,000 BCE) and projectile tools enlarged interaction with the environment. A mys- 0. INTRODUCTION. Since our “animal brain” tical solidarity between the hunted animal and the still governs our energy, drives, and basic func- hunter was celebrated in the sacrifice for survival. tions, and the overlay of culture is quite recent, an The cycles of the moon reflect the female sexual understanding of how our very biology has shaped rhythm. religion prepares us to survey the development of Fifteen thousand years later, agriculture also the world's faiths and our own religious urges and generated a sense of identity between the plant and responses. its consumer. The planting of seed, and later the From the earliest hominids four million years plow, are understood sexually. As men are biologi- ago to the use of written records about 3000 BCE, cally better equipped for the hunt, women are asso- prehistoric religion show the basic — almost ge- ciated with agriculture, and with a division of labor netic — themes in the human approach to the sa- by sex often comes matrilocation, placing the soci- cred. These themes are now often so elaborated as ety in a cosmic setting. Even metallurgy is under- to be unrecognized. Yet they are still potent and stood as a ripening of the earth's fruit (metal was connect us with our ancestors who live in us. first discovered as a gift from the sky — meteorites.) These factors make nature important at 1. THE SACRED IN HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS. this point in religious history. Unlike most mammals, primates rarely give birth to more than one child at a time, enabling parents to 3. THE SACRED IN SELF. The upright posture care for the helpless and dependent baby — one is generates a sense of direction and dimensions for all the mother can best handle. The anatomical the self. We move horizontally forward, back, left, changes from walking on two feet narrowed the right, within four corners of the earth, while the birth canal, requiring birth before further develop- vertical (the sky) symbolizes the transcendent. ment of the fetus, prolonging childhood and social Upright, we do not sleep. Dreaming prone, we learning. The life span increased beyond child- may fly — or meet someone dead or foresee the fu- bearing years and provided parental guidance for ture. The Self may not be confined to the body. In- even the last-born child. Later the care was recipro- tentional burials (from 70,000 BCE) oriented to the cated for the old and the disabled. rising sun suggest belief in survival after death. Bipedalism also meant face-to-face mating, and The trance, the reverie, the sense of awe (at sky, sex was freed from estrus, promoting bonding. Co- sex, fire, breathing, occasional madness of homi- operation in hunting enabled survival. Social order cidal ferocity, darkness), the questions of origin and through kinship and dominance led to the impor- death, the wonder of being are features of the dis- tance given human relationships. Some speculate covery of the sacred in Self. that the increased brain size was preceded by the need to predict the behavior of others. 4. RECOGNIZING THE SACRED. Cave paintings (mostly 15,000-11,000 BCE) and other evidence 2. THE SACRED IN NATURE. Prehistoric hu- (from 20,000) suggest complex rituals (perhaps ini- mans once roamed with and fed on wild herds. By tiations) had evolved as expressions of awe, won- 750,000 BCE fire was used to cook foods der and a sense of participation in the mysteries of (including meat not chewable when raw), killing the universe.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 5 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. specific genetic mutation on one chromosome. Wheat Yet there is something even stranger. Now we have a he largest single step in the ascent of man is the change beautiful ear of wheat, but one which will never spread in T from nomad to village agriculture. What made that pos- the wind because the ear is too tight to break up. And if I sible? An act of will by men, surely; but with that, a strange do break it up, why, then the chaff flies off and every grain and secret act of nature. In the burst of new vegetation at the falls exactly where it grew. Let me remind you, that it is end of the Ice Age, a hybrid wheat appeared in the Middle quite different from the wild wheats or from the first, East. It happened in many places: a typical one is the ancient primitive hybrid, Emmer. In those primitive forms the ear oasis of Jericho. is much more open, and if the ear breaks up then you get Jericho is older than agriculture. The first people who came quite a different effect—you get grains which will fly in here and settled by the spring in this other- the wind. The bread wheats have lost wise desolate ground were people who that ability. Suddenly, man and the harvested wheat, but did not yet know how plant have come together. Man has a to plant it. We know this because they wheat that he lives by, but the wheat made tools for the wild harvest, and that is also thinks that the man was made for an extraordinary piece of foresight. They him because only so can it be propa- made sickles out of flint which have sur- gated. For the bread wheats can only vived; John Garstang found them when he multiply with help; man must harvest was digging here in the 1930s. The ancient the ears and scatter their seeds; and the sickle edge would have been set in a piece life of each, man and the plant, de- of gazelle horn, or bone. pends on the other. It is a true fairy tale There no longer survives, up on the hill of genetics, as if the coming of civili- or tel* and its slopes the kind of wild wheat zation had been blessed in advance by that the earliest inhabitants harvested. But the grasses that the spirit of the abbot Gregor Mendel. are there must look very much like the wheat that they found, that they gathered for the first time by the fistful, and cut happy conjunction of natural and human events cre- with the sawing motion of the sickle that reapers have used A ated agriculture. In the Old World that happened in for all ten thousand years since then. That was Natufian pre- the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East. But it surely hap- agricultural civilization. And, of course, it could not last. It pened more than once. Almost certainly agriculture was in- was on the brink of becoming agriculture. And that was the vented again and independently in the New World—or so next thing that happened on the Jericho tel. we believe on the evidence we now have that maize The turning-point to the spread of agriculture in the Old needed man like wheat. As for the Middle East, agriculture World was almost certainly the occurrence of two forms of was spread here and there over its hilly slopes, of which wheat with a large, full head of seeds. Before 8000 BCE the climb from the Dead Sea to Judea, the hinterland of wheat was not the luxuriant plant it is today; it was merely Jericho, is at best a characteristic piece and no more. In a one of many wild grasses that spread throughout the Middle literal sense, agriculture is likely to have had several be- East. By some genetic accident, the wild wheat crossed with ginnings in the Fertile Crescent, some of them before Jeri- a natural goat grass and formed a fertile hybrid. That acci- cho. dent must have happened many times in the springing vege- Yet Jericho has several features tation that came up after the last Ice Age. In terms of the ge- which make it historically unique netic machinery that directs growth, it combined the fourteen and give it a symbolic status of its chromosomes of wild wheat with the fourteen chromosomes own. Unlike the forgotten vil- of goat grass, and produced Emmer with twenty eight chro- lages elsewhere, it is monumen- mosomes. That is what makes Emmer so much plumper. The Ephesus, 2005 tal, older than the Bible, layer hybrid was able to spread naturally, because its seeds are at- upon layer of history, a city. The tached to the husk in such a way that they scatter in the wind. ancient sweet-water city of Jericho was an oasis on the For such a hybrid to be fertile is rare but not unique among edge of the desert whose spring has been running from plants. But now the story of the rich plant life that followed prehistoric times into the modern city today. Here wheat the Ice Ages becomes more surprising. There was a second and water came together and, in that sense, here man be- genetic accident, which may have come about because Em- gan civilization. Here, too, the bedouin came with their mer was already cultivated. Emmer crossed with another dark muffled faces out of the desert, looking jealously at natural goat grass and produced a still larger hybrid with the new way of life. That is why Joshua brought the tribes forty-two chromosomes, of Israel here on their way to the Promised Land—because “There was no conquest” of the land of which is bread wheat. That wheat and water, they make civilization: they make the Canaan by Joshua. “There are several promise of a land flowing with milk and honey. Wheat and chapters in Joshua on Jericho,” says was improbable enough in Carol Meyers, a professor of Biblical itself, and we know now water turned that barren hillside into the oldest city of the studies at Duke, “but Jericho wasn’t that bread wheat would not world. even inhabited at the time.” have been fertile but for a —J Bronowski, Ascent of Man, 1973, pp64-69. –Newsweek, August 30, 2004
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 6 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. MYTH, RITUAL, AND RELIGIOUS STYLE
MYTH. 1. According to Mircea Eliade and oth- der. ers, myth is a story of sacred events which create 2. Ritual takes place in primordial time, and partici- and shape the world. It is a description of Reality, pants lose their ordinary identities as they become ar- embracing logical opposites in an eternal per- chetypal. In historical time, events are irreversible; in spective. Myth discloses the pattern or paradigm ritual time, events can be repeated, and for archaic so- of the universe, and enables humans to partici- cieties, must be repeated. pate in that pattern, an example of how to live in the vitality of the cosmos. Myth takes place in 3. Myths and rituals awaken awe, rapture, understand- the Beginning, which is the Eternal Now. ing, acceptance, and commitment within us as we face 2. Myth is an account of the manifestation of the mysteries of the universe and the uncertainties of the Fullness of Being. It is a disclosure of what life, furthering a social order by bonding, placing, and the World is. A myth enables us to see how the moving people within it, and guide individuals through individual, all of society, and nature are infinitely the transitions, achievements, disappointments, diffi- interrelated. The eruption of the sacred is a culties, and injuries of life, into death. mythic event which reveals the total connected- ness of all aspects of the World. Thus myth itself 4. Nowadays powerful myths appear as TV commer- is a display of the very reality it reveals. Mythic cials. A great benefit — the person of our dreams — language, with its endless associations, must be will be ours if we use the right mouthwash. We see the contrasted with the literal, where the most limited myth portrayed and are encouraged to adopt the ritual connections are identified. ourselves. Sports — especially team sports, good fight- 3. Mythic time is strong, a prodigious, ener- ing evil, or at least us against them — are also rituals getic time when something new and significant is commanding enormous contemporary devotion. manifested — such as the World. 5. Religious fundamentalists and religious liberals both 4. However, many myths contain secret say myth is “false,” and both miss the point. And while knowledge and require initiation to be under- fundamentalists claim their stories are true and the lib- stood. erals say these stories are false, neither of them appre- 5. The world of myth is archetypal. The secu- ciates the metaphorical nature of the stories. Both are lar world is ectypal. products of Protestant mentality, shared by Catholics 6. According to Joseph Campbell, hero myths since the counter-Reformation, which assumes that lit- follow a three-part sequence: eral truth is the only truth. Thus, as Gregory Bateson (1) separation, (2) initiation, (3) return. points out, the claim that the bread and wine ARE the (1) Leaving ordinary concerns, usual places, very body and blood of Christ is metaphor, while the or customary thinking, protestant equivalent of the Eucharist, the communion (2) one ventures forth into unknown situations service, “in remembrance,” is mere simile; the bread where life forces are encountered through which and wine become just symbols to recall the Last Sup- one wins a decisive victory, and per. This is why Protestant ritual is oriented toward the (3) the empowered hero returns to one’s com- Word and why Catholic worship has emphasized the munity to bestow upon others the benefits of the sacrament. adventure. The hero represents the claims and energies of the sacred. RELIGIOUS STYLE. Religious style is how we stand before the Sacred (afraid, playful, respectful, grateful, RITUAL. 1. If myth is a religious model, a nar- intrigued, denying, perplexed, argumentative, subservi- rative map, a story of paradigmatic reality dis- ent, or rebellious). playing the sacred, not to be confused with mere Style has been distinguished from the content of be- literal truth, then ritual is the enactment of the liefs and images about the Sacred (as gods, or God, or myth in order to participate in the vitality of the the forces of nature, or the creativity possible in human cosmos, to experience the sacred. Ritual is the exchange, or some moral quality in relationships, or an enactment of the mythic model with the effect of evolutionary process, or a sense of ultimate relativity, (re-)creating or (re-)entering the Real World and or the Void). Religious style is probably as important thus healing or initiating one into the Eternal Or- as content.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 7 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. EARLY MESOPOTAMIAN RELIGION
1. The climate of Mesopotamia (“the land be- and scientific discoveries. tween rivers”) was unpredictable; this uncer- 4. The Assyrian Empire reached its zenith tainty, despite the help of irrigation (from 5000 722-612 BCE, the Chaldeans (neo-Babylonians) BCE), became a theme in religion: the style was followed until the Persian Empire engulfed the found in the mood of anxiety. The Sumerians region in 539 BCE. settled on the Euphrates about 3500 BCE, flour- ished 3000-1950, invented cuneiform writing, The Epic of conceived of the zodiac, gave us the minute from a 60-unit arithmetic, and developed myths Gilgamesh about the yearly renewal of the deteriorating world, with the gods fixing destiny for the next 5. Several ver- 12 months. After a great flood, kingship came sions of what has from the sky, anticipating Platonic notions of the been called the pre-existence of words and institutions. A ziggu- “world’s first novel” rat, world-mountain, was built. exist, and it is undoubtedly based on even earlier 2. The Semitic Akkadians conquered the Sum- traditions. erians (Sargon, 2300 BCE), adopted their relig- 6. Gilgamesh is the culture-bringer king of ious outlook, and developed stories about queen Erech, whose people pray for relief from his tyr- Ishtar (Sumerian: Innana) who marries the shep- anny. To challenge the pride of Gilgamesh, the herd Tammuz (Dumuzi), goes to conquer death gods create Enkidu, half-man, half–beast, in the and fails, finds she can leave death's realm only fields who is “tamed” by a sacred prostitute by sending a substitute, and when she observes whom he follows to the city where he meets and her husband happy as sole sovereign, chooses wrestles Gilgamesh to exhaustion, after which him, resulting in six months each year in the un- Enkidu and Gilgamesh become the best of derworld. The alternations of life and death, cos- friends. mos and chaos, sterility and fertility must be ac- 7. After one of their adventures, a goddess cepted. seeks to seduce Gilgamesh; and when he spurns 3. Around 1700 BCE in Babylon (“gate of the her, she makes Enkidu sick. Gilgamesh, full of gods”), Hammurabi produced the oldest well- grief, seeing the death of the man he loves as preserved law code (based on earlier Sumerian/ himself, realizes that he, too, may die, and seeks Akkadian work). Marduk became the national the secret of immortality from Noah, who sur- god, exalted in the Enuma elish. Creator Tiamat vived the Flood. Braving incomparable dangers, threatens to destroy the world. She appoints Gilgamesh follows the instructions of Noah and Kingu supreme to carry out her plan. First secur- obtains a plant which restores youth. Before he ing the allegiance of others, only Marduk braves can eat it, however, a snake swallows it (and is battle. From Tiamat's body, he makes sky and renewed by shedding its skin). earth. Humankind is created from Kingu's blood. 8. Now understanding that he, like other hu- Such stories suggest that the world was made mans, will die, he returns to Erech, to live each from strife, we are created to serve the gods, and remaining moment fully. our nature is ambivalent for we emerge from de- 9. Gilgamesh is retold by Robert Silverberg in monic blood, yet made by divine act. In both his Gilgamesh the King (1984). Among the Sumerian and Babylonian versions, the Epic of many scholarly and popular discussions of the Gilgamesh (from 2700 BCE?) further defines myth is William Irwin Thomson’s account in his our finitude (cf Ecclesiastes 9:7-10). An interest The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light (1981) in divination leads to close observation of nature and Joseph Campbell’s classic, Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949/68).
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 8 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIGION
While many religious styles we are familiar with are concerned with change and the mean- cumstances. Misdeeds are aberrations, foolish- ing of the unique, to the ancient Egyptians it ness, in the context of the cosmic order; but seemed self-evident that anything significant such mistakes were not considered sinful acts of must be permanent like the universe itself — rebellion against God. Like the Greeks, the an- static, orderly and whole. There are no surprises cient Egyptians considered pride a loss of the and no freedom; there is justice and dependabil- sense of proportion rather than a crime against ity. The life of the universe expresses its mean- God. ing in the rhythmic movements of the sun and the Nile in the larger unvarying cosmos, and the OSIRIS MYTH. Osiris was the pharaoh-god of individuality of persons and pharaohs — or his- ancient Egypt, and his story shows how a pri- torical events — are therefore unimportant. The mal religion sees in the sun the power of gov- unique is meaningless. ernment, hears in the birdsong the voice of commerce, and feels in the wind the touch of 1. MYTHOPOETIC PERCEPTION. Using human affection and assurance. practical, concrete but nonlinear images, the Osiris journeyed out of Egypt, and when he Egyptians understood and expressed their world returned, he brought the gift of agriculture to in many ways to capture its richness. No single his people. Osiris brought back fruit trees and or coherent theory, no central dogma, no en- the grape vine, and his sister-wife Isis taught forced divine message could do justice to a uni- people how to grow barley and wheat. He was verse alive from end to end; many gods were acclaimed by his grateful subjects, but his jeal- necessary to comprehend the natural order. The ous brother Seth invited him to a party to honor sun was Re (noon), Kheprer (rising), Atum Osiris — and to kill him. As a joke, Seth of- (setting), Horus, Harakhte, Amon. The sky was fered a coffin to anyone big enough to fill it. Hathor, Nut, Vulture. Osiris was the tallest of Egyptians, and after the other guests had tried it out for size, Osiris lay in it, and Seth and his crew sud- 2. THE STATIC WORLD VIEW. Since mean- ing is found in permanence, the changing for- denly nailed the lid shut and sol- tunes of individuals and of royal households did dered it with molten lead, and not matter ultimately. Nature is static; and so threw it into the Nile, which car- the social order, a part of nature, must also re- ried it to sea. He was washed main unchanging. As the sun rules the day, so ashore in Syria, and a tree grew the pharaoh rules the state, which is simply his around the coffin. The tree had been made into sphere of activity, in which he has absolute (but a pillar in the palace of the king, who gave the not arbitrary) power; as the sun gives life, so the pillar to Isis when she at last found her dead pharaoh champions justice. husband. As Isis traveled back to Egypt, she left the coffin for a short time to see her son Horus. 3. MAAT. This term translates as “order, truth, While she was gone, Seth appeared, cut the justice, fitness.” The Egyptians made no dis- body into fourteen pieces and scattered them tinction between the pragmatic and the ethical. along the Nile. Isis again began her search, and How could they? Their world was secure, un- the sun god Re was so impressed with her devo- like the Mesopotamian mood of uncertainty or tion that he sent Anubis to her with the art of the Hebraic style of anxiety. Specific divine mummification. The body was pieced together, commands were therefore unnecessary, and the and Osiris returned to life, but chose to become criterion for behavior was how to fit the cir- king of the Underworld, as his son Horus had defeated Seth for the throne.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 9 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. THE ANCIENT GREEK STYLE
1. AUTHENTICITY. The Greek religion was 3. THE FESTIVAL. The Greek festivals en- “biotic,” humanistic, concerned to understand courage the saying and acting of things ordinar- what it means to be human. A signal achieve- ily — in the work-a-day world — not expected, ment of the epics was the conception of the thus opening opportunities to explore the self gods as authentic humans. Carrying anthropo- and others in new ways. This playfulness is morphism to its limits, the tragedians wrestled both a great compulsion and a great freedom; with the moral responsibilities of the gods. such play is free from purpose, godlike, and Myths were changeable aids in understanding creates the world. human affairs. The mythic formula is not “I am like Mars,” or “My position is like that of When children play, they may make something Mars,” but rather “I am Mars.” Since the myth twice as real as the average adult who is so pre- was quoted in life, the bios remained in its cor- occupied that he skims the surface of life, not rect relation to the myth. living fully. One can regard playing games ei- ther as stepping into a role, putting on a mask, 2. PROPORTION. A common Greek view or stepping out of a role, taking off the ordinary was that virtue and beauty consisted in proper mask, denying the conventional role in order to proportion. Virtue was the golden mean be- live in a sacred world as a holy being. tween two extremes, both of which were vices. Thus cowardice is a lack of willingness to deal “Man is most nearly himself when with danger; recklessness is a thoughtless over- he achieves the seriousness of a eagerness to deal with danger; and courage is child at play.” —Heraclitus, the mean, the proper proportion, between the Greek philosopher, about the Fifth two. Century BCE.
THE ANCIENT ROMAN STYLE
1. THE NUMINA. The early Roman religion 3. SCRUPULOUS CAREFULNESS. Religo, involved extraordinary impersonal potencies to bind fast (cf “ligament”), and religio, consci- found not only in gods but certain boundary entious regard for sacred things, contrast with stones, rivers, groves of trees, etc. These were neglecto, neglecting. The religious style is duti- practical distinctions, logically derived, of the ful compliance, and auguries were sought as world, honored by ritual and protected by law, aids in fulfilling the will of the gods. Stoicism, a spiritual path adopted later by some emper- which developed from ritual. ors, advocated conformity to nature.
2. CONVENTION. The early religion of the household was writ large with the development However good an opinion we may have of ourselves, of the state; the king’s hearth became the yet we do not excel the Spaniards in number, the Gauls in strength, the Carthagenians in state’s. Civil law developed from the priest- cunning, the Greeks in arts, nor the hood. Julius Caesar was made a god by the Ro- Italians and Latins in the inborn sense man Senate, and other religious questions were of home and soil. We do, however, settled by legislation. Religion was a conven- excel all people in religiousity and in that unique wisdom that has brought tion, to be scrupulously observed, not from sen- us to the realization that everything is subordinate to timent but in terms of fulfilling a contract. the rule and direction of the gods. —Cicero
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 10 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. RELIGION OF THE MAYA The early formative period of Maya culture begins A Quirigua stela gives a date 400,000,000 years around 1500 BCE, and the classic period is from before its erection; our long time unit, the millen- 300 to 900 CE. The Maya were obsessed with time nium, is 1,000 years; the Maya kinchil- [“chronovision“]. Kinh (= sun = day = time) was a tun was over 3 million years long. A divinity creating and organizing the world. Even thousand years before Europe, the Maya space was a manifestation of time, and power was calculated the year accurate to 1 part in rotated among city segments on a time basis. Every 5 million; they used the concept of zero centuries be- moment was a manifestation of forces, hostile or fore the West. If the Maya did not worship time it- beneficent, but always divine. Each moment was self, with each period deified [“pan-chronotheism”], the arrival, departure, and presence of varying di- they at least had a most complete liturgical calendar vine faces in combination, shaping the nature of to which they responded actively, sensing the divine reality. Time was measured not as a point but as an (circular) sequence as a key to meanings. “elapsement,” the total reality involved. THE LONG COUNT or INITIAL SERIES began 4 Ahau 8 Cumku, 3113 BCE . THE CALENDAR ROUND (52 years) = 1/5 x Sacred Round [tzolkin] x Vague year (365 days) = 1/5 [13 #d-day cycle x 20 named-day cycle (=260 days)] x [20 #d days x 18 months + 5 days] TIME UNITS kinh=1 day; uinal=20 kins; tun=18 uninals; katun=18 tuns; baktun=20 katuns; 13 baktun unit=5,129 years; pictun=20; baktun=7,890 yrs; calabtun=20 pictuns=157,808 yrs; kinchiltun=20 calabtuns=3,156,160 yrs = 1,152,000,000 days;
RELIGION OF THE INCA Pre-Incan civilization began at least 7000 years ancestor of the ruling Inca, was the high ago, but the Inca emerged about 1000 CE and god Virachocha (or Pachacamac). The reached greatest florescence from 1430-1525. Like households worshipped the Huacas, simi- the Romans, they built on other cultures and were lar to the numina of the Romans. masters of social organization. The Andean Royal Two standards of punishment obtained: one for the of- Road of 3250 miles is longer than the longest Ro- fender who, say, stole food; and a more severe punish- man road from Scotland to Jerusalem. The moral ment for the overseer who should have anticipated the norm was “Do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy.” need for food. Their success in integrating many eco- The Inca religion grew out of concerns with food logical zones in one united economy is perhaps the most supply and curing, resulting in extremely high pro- visible proof of the benefit of an authoritative, organiz- ductivity, without written language. Above even ing, assimilating power for the common good. the most worshipped state god, Inti, the sun, the
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 11 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS
Although some generalizations about Native 2. HEALING is necessary when one loses har- American religions are possible, differences can mony with nature. In hunter-gatherer societies, be found at almost any point, whether it be social healing is effected through a medicine man organization (Iroquois vs Natchez), sacrifice (with a special vision) or a shaman (possessed (Winnebago vs Pawnee), afterlife (Navaho vs by a spirit). Here personal relationships with the Quileute), violence (Pueblo vs Apache), creation supernatural are more important than in the or- (Zuni vs Eskimo) or Supreme Being (Hopi vs ganized planting tribes with their priests where Pawnee). Beware generalizations . . . . words and objects become the tools. The planter ceremony (such as healing the earth of 1. NATURE AND HUMANKIND. The world drought) was performed for the group and, al- is alive and infused with wakan, wonderful though all joined the ceremony, each person power, which can cause strength or injury ac- was not required to have a vision. The hunters cording to use. Many Indians felt the world was emphasized the ordeal as a way of discovering basically good and provides for all needs. Nature self, a charismatic style. In healing, it is not the is therefore respected and revered; they and na- disease that is treated but the patient. Today if ture had a symbiotic relationship: where we see one falls from a horse, one may go to the Anglo ecology from a human view, the Indian vision for bone-setting, but buy a healing rite to deal was reciprocal with nature. with the psychic forces that made one accident- In general, the wakan spirits were reasonable prone in the first place. and approachable; humans had only to reenact the Beginning Events to keep the world orderly. 3. CEREMONY may be the essence of Indian However, the creator(s) and helpers were — like life, and movement is the essence of Indian us — thoughtless or bungling at times, and so ceremony. By remembering and revering items mischief appears. But evil is not from human of the world, one is assisted by spirits, harmony fault: there is no need for pardon as there was no is restored, the partnership renewed. The buf- “original sin.” Crucifixion as atonement is a for- falo hunt was a religious pilgrimage. In the Na- eign concept. vaho chantways (curing ceremonials), mythic Culture Hero taught us how to use wakan to beings are called on and transferred to the pa- make our way and to obtain a long and plentiful tient in the retelling of a story of salvation from life: we must be careful not to offend potential trouble, illustrated by song, rite, and the companions and helpers who populate nature. “sandpaintings” through which the transference With a focus on the proper relationship to nature, is made. (There may be no better example of little attention to “human ethics” is needed: when the relationship between myth and ritual.) Note you concentrate on the purpose of a ceremony, the Navaho individualism adapting the Pueblo there is little energy left for envy or hate; peace group rite materials. and unity are prerequisites for an effective cere- mony. Our ethical rules are often separated from a feeling of relation to the universe; the Indians needed no ethical rules because their ceremonies produced awarenesses required for social bond- ing, etc. But the resulting ecology was not merely practical, to insure food supplies; it was also psychic — touching the earth is touching the TERMINOLOGY. There is no consensus on what term is best to describe North American aboriginal peoples. unconscious, united with the self. Thus ethical The most common are Indians, American Indians, Native injunctions are unnecessary. Americans, and First Nations People.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 12 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. TRADITIONAL AFRICAN RELIGIONS
As with Native American religions, the 1000 or DISORDER. Disorder may be caused by im- so traditional religions of Africa are diverse, in- balance, closed passages, “hot emotions,” or cluding those of tribal peoples, of hunting-and- “diseases of humans.” The social sign of or- gathering bands, and of urbanized cultures. To- der is generosity; the biological sign is good day half of the 300 million Africans practice tra- digestion. “Diseases of God” (like germs) are ditional religions. (Christianity and Islam are the evidences of order. But the paradigm witch, two significant nontraditional religions.) Thus practicing selfishness, inverts social order and there will be many exceptions to these generali- causes sickness, as can harsh words, conflict, zations. ill-will.
COSMOLOGY. Most Africans revere a su- THE COSMOS/SOCIETY IS RITUALIZED. preme, ultimate Unity, a creative power and or- Every act is sanctified through ritual, with the der of the world — in one language Nzambi, in main ceremonies concerning illness, puberty another Imana. Multiple deities are refractions and sex roles, death, and food. Rituals in the of God, though some believe local culture he- life-cycle increasingly point to more inclusive roes are sent from God, each worthy of respect. participation in the cosmos. Thus a baby’s rit- Some never worship the Unity because the Unity ual is modest, at puberty a child is welcomed needs no attention, where the lesser powers must into his generation, and marriage and parent- be appealed to. Regardless of belief in God, the hood further enlarges the self. The possession attention is focused on the sensory world trance is a positive approach to discover the (nature, ancestors, society) as the reality to be inner meaning of some question. Each act im- celebrated, ordered with health and fertility as plies all others, and a cosmos/society of mate- norm. There is little speculation about God as rial implication is celebrated. God is considered wonderful beyond compre- hension. A STRUCTURAL RATHER THAN INDI- The Unity manifests itself as Duality and Di- VIDUAL SALVATIONAL RELIGION. Like versity. Duality is the realm of the ancestors, and most primal religions, African traditional re- of the mediation-healers. Many Africans place a ligions are concerned with the [social] struc- special reverence on twins. The world of Diver- ture of the present concrete world, rather than sity is the realm of “minkisi,” medicines such as with [individual] salvation for the future. Re- herbs, fetishes, drums (“therapy groups“). ligion pervades all aspects of life, and there- The Unity is creative, the author of the life of fore is complex, rather than a simple way to the world infused with its power. heaven. It is also sensory, rather than belief- oriented. In every act in the present world, one THE PERSON AND SOCIETY. Each person is unites all aspects of the every-day world in a composed of many souls, with many obligations. single, radiant vision, and participates in the When one fails to honor the social relationships, order of the universe-society — and thus in illness results. A person is not understood to be sacred reality. “separate” in the Western sense. Illness is thus often sociosomatic, and curing may require THE SACRED is the social order in the cos- treating not only the “identified patient” but also mic setting, with the everyday both natural and the relatives and perhaps even those in a neigh- transcendent. Thus the relative and boring village. It is in human social life that the particular are infused with ultimate ultimate Unity is fully realized. meaning.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 13 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. WICCA
icca (or witchcraft) is one of many pre- — prepared for this page by Ryan Khan W Christian folk religions of Europe and the epending upon how you look at Wicca, it is Mediterranean. The word “witch” was once D either one of the newest or one of the oldest thought to mean “wise” or “wise person.” There- religions in the world: Wicca is a recently created, fore , witchcraft was the “craft of the wise.” Recent Neopagan religion. The various branches of Wicca arguments contend that it comes from the root wik or can be traced back to Gardnerian Witchcraft which was weik, meaning “to shape,” “to bend,” or “to turn.” Then founded in the UK during the late 1940s. Wicca could imply “shaper/bender (of reality).” For many Wicca is based on the symbols, seasonal days of celebra- years the term “witch” has been used popularly to encom- tion, beliefs and deities of ancient Celtic society. Added to pass all beliefs other than one’s own. We see now this this material were Masonic and ceremonial magickal com- was wrong. ponents from recent centuries. In this respect, it is a religion Witchcraft is one of many pagan religions showing an whose roots go back almost three millennia to the formation increase in converts from “traditional” Western religions. of Celtic society circa 800 BCE. The term “pagan” comes from the Latin paganus, mean- A follower of Wicca is called a Wiccan. Wicca and other ing “peasant,” “country dweller,” or “one of country Neopagan religions are currently experiencing a rapid ways.” Taken in this context, farmers are Pagans. To a growth in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. This is seen par- witch the term pagan is not an insult but a compliment, a ticularly among some teenagers, who are rejecting what recognition of one’s faith. they feel is the autocracy, paternalism, sexism, homophobia, Wicca is a matriarchal, or feminine, religion where the and insensitivity to the environment that forms part of some cycles of the moon dictate when the members meet to more traditional religions. Many North Americans of Euro- worship. As a lunar religion, Wicca celebrates change pean descent, who are keen to discover their ancestral heri- more than consistency. Wicca seeks to balance the dif- tage, are also attracted to this religion. ferent energies within all of us — masculine and femi- nine, positive and negative, or any other set of diametri- About deities: Depending upon one's point of view, Wicca cally opposed energies. Wiccans do not believe in the can be considered a monotheistic, duotheistic, polytheistic, single God of Christianity. Nor do they believe in the or atheistic religion: Christian devil. Wiccans believe in the God and Goddess Wicca is monotheistic: Some Wiccans recognize a single that manifest in all of nature and are accessible to all. supreme being, sometimes called "The All" or "The One." Most American Witches are educated in the healing prop- The Goddess and God are viewed as the female and male erties of herbs and some in midwifery. Historically, in aspects of this single deity. many communities they were the healers. Wicca is duotheistic (a.k.a. rarely as bitheistic): Wiccans The word “Witch” refers to both men and women. often worship a female Goddess and a male God., often “Warlock” is derived from the Saxon waer loga, meaning called the Lady and Lord. “oath breaker,” not a male Witch. Wicca is polytheistic: Wiccans recognize the existence of Wiccans can practice alone or in groups called many ancient Gods and Goddesses, including Pan, Diana, “covens.” Covens can be as small as two or as large as Dionysius, Fergus, etc. they want. Traditionally a coven’s size is 13, correspond- Wicca is atheistic: Some Wiccans view the God and God- ing with the 13 lunar cycles in a year. dess as symbols, not living entities. Depending upon which The main symbol for Wiccans is a five-pointed star in definition of the term "Atheist" that you adopt, these Wic- a circle with one point up, also called a Pentagram or cans may be considered Atheists. Pentacle. The star represents the human body, the five senses, and the five elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Terminology: Terms relating to Wicca are confusing, as Spirit). This is also the same symbol that Satanists use, they are with so many other religions: Wiccans often refer but they have two points up representing the goat or man to themselves as Neopagans. The term "Neopagan" in- immersed in the physical world. Where Christians use the cludes all faith groups which are based on attempted recon- cross in the traditional way, Satanists pervert the Cross, struction of ancient, extinct religions. However, not all and Pentagram, by inverting them to insult others’ beliefs. Neopagans are Wiccans. The umbrella term "Neopagan" Contrary to popular belief, Wicca is a very responsible includes followers of many other earth-centered faith tradi- religion. True Wiccans do not practice “Black Magic.” tions, like Druidism, and Asatru. Wiccans often refer to The Wiccan creed “And it harm none, do what thou wilt.” themselves as Pagans. Unfortunately, this term has at least Wiccans believe what they do to others will come back to six different meanings, some of which are rather negative. them three-fold. Therefore why would they cast a spell on "Pagan" is often used as a general-purpose snarl word to someone if they knew it would come back to them attack others. In its positive sense, Paganism includes stronger than they sent out? Neopaganism as well as many other religions. Some Wic- cans consider Wicca and Witchcraft to be synonyms. Oth-
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 14 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. ers differentiate between Wicca, which they view to be a re- ing popularity." 1 ligion, and Witchcraft, which they perceive to be the practice "Witches do not worship the devil...Witches are more of magick. Under this definition, Witchcraft is not a religion interested in magical arts and the divinity of nature... and thus can be performed by members of any religion. Wiccans are considered pagans because they worship sev- Most Wiccans practice magick. However, some do not eral nature gods instead of a single god." 2 and concentrate on the spirituality of the Wiccan religion. "The World Christian Encyclopedia estimates 6 mil- Wicca and Satanism: “It seems to be necessary to preface lion Americans profess to be witches and engage in prac- every discussion of Witchcraft with an explanation that, no, tices like these. They are a sub-group of over 10 million Neo-Pagan Witches aren't Satanists. The Christian anti-God, persons the encyclopedia says call themselves pagans, Satan, has no place in Pagan pantheons, either mythologi- who practice "primitive" religions such as Druidism, Odin cally or theologically.” 1 worship and Native American shamanism." 3 Because of extensive religious propaganda dating from In this sense, "Pagan" refers to a group of religious the late Middle Ages, Wicca has often been linked to Satan- traditions, and should be capitalized, as Christianity, Is- ism. Wiccan beliefs and practices are no closer to Satanism lam and Judaism are. than they are to Buddhism, Hinduism, or Islam. In fact, Wic- cans do not recognize the existence of an all-evil supernatural —http://www.religioustolerance.org/paganism.htm being similar to the quasi-deity Satan. He is found mainly in Christianity and Islam. ______However, there are three superficial points of similarity between Satanism and Wicca: Both use a five pointed star as a symbol. Satanists align it Quotations: so that two points are upwards. Wiccans orient their star with "We are not evil. We don't harm or seduce people. We two points downwards, except in special cases. are not dangerous. We are ordinary people like you. We Both generally perform their religious rituals within a cir- have families, jobs, hopes, and dreams. We are not a cult. cle marked on the floor or ground. This religion is not a joke. We are not what you think we Most Wiccans and Satanists engage in magick; however, are from looking at T.V. We are real. We laugh, we cry. Wiccans are limited to non-manipulative, consensual, posi- We are serious. We have a sense of humor. You don't tive magick. have to be afraid of us. We don't want to convert you. And please don't try to convert us. Just give us the same It is also important to realize that some conservative Chris- right we give you--to live in peace. We are much more tians consider all non-Judeo-Christian religions to be Satanic. similar to you than you think." Margot Adler They believe that when followers of these religions worship "If you take the Christian Bible and put it out in the their Gods and Goddesses, they are really worshipping Satan wind and the rain, soon the paper on which the words are and/or his demons. For this reason, they consider Buddhism, printed will disintegrate and the words will be gone. Our Hinduism, Islam, Wicca, and hundreds of other religions to bible IS the wind and the rain." Herbalist Carol McGrath be either Satanism or inspired by Satan. as told to her by a Native-American woman. "I don't think witchcraft is a religion. I would hope the —http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_intr.htm military officials would take a second look at the decision ______they made." G.W. Bush (R), as Governor of Texas. Inter- viewed on ABC's Good Morning America, 1999-JUN-24. . . . He disapproved of Wiccan soldiers being given the same aganism" in this sense refers to a range of spiritual religious rights as others in the military. "P paths which are Earth centered -- involving their "We should educate people that 'Witch' is not evil but members living in harmony with the Earth and observing its ancient and positive. The first time I called myself a cycles. These are often Neopagan religions based on the dei- 'Witch' was the most magical moment of my life." Margot ties, symbols, practices, seasonal days of celebration and Adler. 3 other surviving components of ancient religions, which had "When one defines oneself as Pagan, it means she or been long suppressed. For example: The Druidic religion is he follows an earth or nature religion, one that sees the based on the faith and practices of the ancient Celtic profes- divine manifest in all creation. The cycles of nature are sional class; Followers of Asatru adhere to the ancient, pre- our holy days, the earth is our temple, its plants and crea- Christian Norse religion; Wiccans trace their roots back to tures our partners and teachers. We worship a deity that is the pre-Celtic era in Europe. Other Neo-pagans follow Ro- both male and female, a mother Goddess and father God, man, Greek, Egyptian and other traditions. who together created all that is, was, or will be. We re- Some typical quotations which demonstrate this meaning of spect life, cherish the free will of sentient beings, and ac- "Pagan" are: cept the sacredness of all creation." Edain McCoy "Witchcraft, or Wicca, is considered part of the occult, but has little relationship to Satanism. Wicca is pagan (pre- —http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm/ Christian, as opposed to anti-Christian) and is currently gain- agnostic.htm
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 15 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. ANCIENT CHINESE RELIGION
INTRODUCTION. Ancient Chinese thought can be sym- tivity, proportion and wonder, simplicity and economy, and bolized by the yin-yang (or t’ai chi, Supreme Ultimate), a spontaneity. unity of apparent opposites which constantly mutually Tao, “the Way,” can be understood as 1) the transcen- arouse and retire each other in a dynamic balance of the ro- dent, ultimate reality, 2) the immanent rhythm of the uni- tary division and fit of the two sigmoidal parts, each with verse, and 3) how one may order one's life in harmony with the seed of generation of its opposite within. As Chinese the nature of the universe, as a practical mode of living. thought attends more to actions and qualities than to Tao is not God, but as the ancient said, “like a preface to “things,” the yin-yang accounts for becoming, being and God.” extinction in expressing the harmonious, orderly and bal- According to Taoism, force produces its opposite, as anced nature of the universe. Evil is the imbalance of yin rules produce violations. Virtue thus obtains not in accentu- (female, receptive, dark, cool, moist, earth, valley) and yang ating the positive but rather in flowing with the changes, (male, etc.). “rolling with the punches,” recognizing the seeds of oppo- The I Ching or Book of Changes uses hexagrams derived sition in every event and the relativity of all situations. from the yin-yang as a basis for divination. The I Ching CHUANG-TZU (b 396 BCE) conceived of Tao as the way antedates both Confucius and Lao-Tzu, with both schools of unceasing transformations, and gave Taoism a "process commenting. orientation" by elaborating the dynamic character of the Confucius (b 551 BCE) and Lao-Tzu (b 604 or 570 Way, from which yin and yang mutually arise, influence BCE) lived during troubled times. Their religious views and destroy each other unceasingly. were developed in that context of decaying social cohesion. TAOIST LANDSCAPE PAINTING. Taoism can be read CONFUCIANISM.— CONFUCIUS opposed both Legalists in Chinese Landscapes (especially Sung Dynasty) by not- (who advocated harsh force by the government to keep or- ing: der) and Idealists (like Mo Ti who said good will is the only 1. SPACE. Western space is often measured, definite, genuine solution). Confucius urged “deliberate tradition” limited, with position indicating importance; space itself is through which the values chosen through study of the past empty except as it is filled with matter. Space in these Chi- provided social order and human dignity by being internal- nese (and later, Japanese) landscapes is often immeasur- ized through every pattern of social use and relationship. able, infinite, undefined or vaguely defined, a vehicle itself His five principles are: 1) jen, humane aim; 2) chun-tzu, for expression; the landscape is not a location but rather is self-possessed grace; 3) li, [a] ritual, life itself a continuing the universe. Western perspective is (as defined by the ceremony, dignifying participants and creating human com- Renaissance) concerned to find one’s point of view, from munity; and [b] propriety (cf. the Rectification of Names, which one finds the vanishing point; the static eye is iso- the Doctrine of Means, the Five Relationships); 4) te, virtue, lated, localized, and whence the scene is observed. In Chi- power, moral example; and 5) wen, art as a cultural ennoble- nese perspective, the eye is everywhere, there is no single ment. THE NOBLE PERSON IS RELATED TO SOCI- point of view, for the observer is in the landscape, every- ETY AS A HOLY VESSEL IS RELATED TO THE where, part of the picture. CEREMONY: NOT AS A UTENSIL, BUT AS AN ES- 2. ORGANIZATION [cf musical temperament]. West: SENTIAL OF THE SACRED ACTS. by perspective, geometrical devices. Chinese: void, mod- ule, gestalt (avoiding endings, geometric forms). TAOISM.— LAO-TZU in his brief work of 5,000 charac- 3. DETAIL. West: details galore, often emblematic; ters, Tao Te Ching, “The Way and Its Power,” emphasizes explicit. Chinese: sketchy, implied. doing things the easy way, flowing like water. Wu-wei is 4. NATURE. West: conflict, violence, human aliena- often translated “inaction,” sometimes as “non- tion from nature. Chinese: things in their natural habitat, meddlesome” or “non-aggressive action.” Huston Smith no divine/human split; nature is human nature, too. renders it “creative quietude,” and Alan Watts “growing” in 5. TECHNIQUE. Chinese painter's brush is used by the contrast to “making” or “doing.” It can also be rendered very spirit of that which is painted; the object of the paint- “going with the grain” or “absence of strain.“ Eastern mar- ing is the painting itself, an expres- tial arts often use this principle by designing defenses which sion rather than a representation, turn the force of the aggressor away, rather than outright through a spontaneous (but disci- resistance, for “force is followed by a loss of strength.” The plined) movement, the process por- Tao Te Ching lays the troubles of the world to civilization's trayed. distractions, to self-seeking, to morality and rules and to complicated government. It praises yielding, a sense of rela-
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 16 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. HINDUISM
These notes neglect the development of Hinduism Various sutras expound the different Hindu phi- through its long history, with only this mention of losophies. Development hint: The Aryan, nomadic the Aryan invasions mixing with the southern Vedas invoked Forces rather than territorial gods; Dravidian culture, the development of monotheism the Brahmanas showed since the gods were influ- and monism from earlier polytheism, the shift from enced by priestly sacrifice, the sacrifice is stronger focus on sacrifice to mystical union with the One, than the gods (the nature of sacrifice = the nature of and the rise of the orthodox and heterodox schools. the universe) — the soma into the fire is the inex- haustible offering poured into the unquenchable fire; Hindus locate great meaning in change and multi- the Upanishads identify the offering with food and plicity as a manifestation of one unity. This may the fire with the individual life force (in the explain the extraordinary ideological tolerance of belly) — hence no need for priests and (re-) Hinduism, which recognizes — and celebrates — development of yoga, turning inward. the fact that different people are in different places at different times; and to be where one is, is good ¶ FOUR LEGITIMATE GOALS: kama, pleasure; for the time. Thus no creedal conformity is ex- artha, worldly success; dharma, observing the ethi- pected, although rites and customs bind adherents cal guides to better all; and moksha, liberation. together. The universe itself changes. In each kalpa, ¶ FOUR STAGES OF LIFE: student, householder, cosmic age, the universe is created and destroyed. retirement, sannyasin. ¶ FOUR STATIONS (castes): Brahmins, seers; ad- Hinduism is not an historical religion: what is im- ministrators; producers; followers, workers. portant to Hindus did not take place in any specific ¶ PATHS (margas): karma, works, duties; jnana, point in history, as for Christians the life and death knowledge; bhakti, devotion; raja, religious contem- and resurrection of Jesus as actual historical events plation usually involving a preliminary step, hatha are central. Instead, Hinduism assumes the con- yoga, physical disciplines. stancy of continuing and continual change with in- trinsic meaningfulness; and while its theologies GODS (330 million of them) include the triad suggest that all is illusion, and that Something be- Brahma the creator, Vishnu the sustainer, and Shiva yond is ultimately real, the practicing Hindu attends the destroyer. Rama and Krishna are incarnations of to the many forms and kinds of changes he experi- Vishnu. Brahman is the universal soul and Atman is ences, no one of which has greater value than an- the individual phenomenal self; the Hindu affirma- other. Where the goal of Western religion is com- tion is Brahman is Atman, Atman is Brahman. Nir- munion with God over the chasm of history, Hindus guna Brahman is Brahman Without Attributes; Sa- expect union in the timeless realm. guna Brahman is Brahman With Attributes: the im- mediate Source of the world. Hinduism is not, as often assumed, a negative or denying religion; on the contrary, by encouraging DEFINITIONS each person to find God as himself, Hinduism, karma, law of cause and effect through rich understandings of change and multi- reincarnation, living more than one life plicity, is an affirmative, solicitous and joyful relig- nirvana, extinction, freedom from rebirth ion. maya, illusion; the phenomenal world samsara, ceaseless flux of becoming Important terms and ideas yoga, “yoke,” union
SCRIPTURES include the four Vedas (4,000 to lila, (god’s) divine play which creates and destroys 1,000 BCE), early hymns and prayers; the Brah- the cosmos manas, worship textbooks attached to the Vedas; neti, neti, [God is] not this, not that the Upanishads, religious and philosophical specu- Tam tvam asi, That thou art lations on the Vedas; sometimes all three scriptures are considered the Vedas. Om, sacred syllable connoting four The epics are the Ramayana and the Mahabha- stages of awareness rata, of which the Bhagavad Gita is a part.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 17 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. from Peter Brook's production of the Mahabharata, the scene which is an abridgment of the fragment called the Bhagavad Gita
Brook: Krishna as a god knows that war is inevitable, but Krishna as a human everything possi- ble to make this war impossible. Arjuna is born a warrior. To be a warrior is his duty, his dharma; he must fight. . . . He must learn to fight without being eaten up by the passions of war.
1. Arjuna: Krishna, my legs grow weak, my mouth bers of his spirit. He showed him the deepest move- is dry, my body trembles, my bow slips from my ments of his being and his true battlefield where you hand. Uncles, cousins, nephews, and Drona, my need neither warrior nor arrows, where each man must teacher, they are all there. I can't bring death to my fight alone. It's the most secret knowledge. He showed own family. My resolution is gone. I can't defend him the whole of truth. He taught him how the world myself. I will wait here for death . . . . I am in an- unfolds.] guish. I can't see where my duty lies. Teach me. 11. Arjuna: I feel my illusions vanish, one by one. Now 2. Krishna: Victory and defeat are the same. Act, if I am capable of contemplating it, but do not reflect on the fruit of the act. Seek de- show me your universal form. tachment. Fight without desire. 12. I see you. In one point I see the entire world. All the 3. Arjuna: You say forget desire, seek detachment. warriors hurl themselves into your mouth and you grind Yet you urge me to battle, to massacre. them between your teeth. They wish to be destroyed and Your words are ambiguous. I am confused. you destroy them. Through your body I see the stars. I see life and death. I see silence. Tell me who you are. I 4. Krishna: Don’t withdraw into solitude. Renun- am shaken to the depths. I am afraid. ciation is not enough. You must act. Yet action mustn’t dominate you. In the heart of action, you 13. Krishna: I am all that you think, all that you say. must remain free from all attachment. Everything hangs on me like pearls on a thread.
I am the earth’s scents, and the fire’s heat. 5. Arjuna: How can I put into practice what you I am appearance and disappearance. are demanding of me? The mind is capricious, un- I am the trickster’s hoax. stable, evasive, feverish, turbulent, tenacious. It's I am the radiance of all that shines, harder to subdue than taming the wind. I am time grown old.
6. Krishna: You must learn to see with the same eye a mound of earth and a heap of gold, a cow 14. All beings fall into the night and a sage, a dog and the man who eats the dog. and all beings are brought back into daylight. There is another intelligence beyond the mind. I have already defeated all these warriors. But he who thinks he can kill 7. Arjuna: Passion drags us away — darkness, and he who thinks he can be killed are both mistaken. doubts, our senses. How can I find this intelli- No weapon can pierce the life that informs you; gence? With what will? no fire can burn it, no water can drench it, no wind can make it dry. 8. [Krishna led Arjuna through the tangled forest Have no fear, and rise up, because I love you. of illusion. He began to teach him the yoga of wis- dom and the mysterious path of action. He spoke 15. Now you can dominate your mysterious and incom- for a very long time, between the two armies pre- prehensible spirit. You can see its other side. Act as you paring to destroy themselves.] must act. I myself am never without action. Rise up.
9. Arjuna: All men are born into illusion. How 16. Arjuna: My illusion is dissolved, my error de- can one reach the truth if one is born in illusion? stroyed. By your grace now, I am firm. My doubts are dispersed. I will act according to your word. 10. [Slowly Krishna led Arjuna through all the fi-
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 18 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. BUDDHISM IN INDIA
THE HISTORICAL BUDDHA. Siddhartha (personal discovering other Enlightened Beings giving aid, and en- name) Gautama (family name), the Buddha (the man who gaging in endless speculation, the liberals formed many woke up), was born into a princely family, the Sakyas, in schools in many countries and are generally labeled MA- northern India 563 BCE. According to legend, a prophecy HAYANA [Greater Vehicle], often stressing the virtue of caused his father to remove all traces of pain from his compassion, employing ritual, and accepting grace. See son's life; but finally he saw the Four Passing Sights (old following comparisons. age, disease, death, and sadhu) and with the Great Renun- ciation determined to discover their cause. Leaving fam- BUDDHISM IN INDIA originated as a “Hindu protes- ily and comfort, he tried studies and asceticism for 6 tantism,” a religion of intense self-effort devoid of years. Turning from them, he found Enlightenment under authority, ritual, speculation, tradition, and the supernatu- the Bo Tree. With cool head and warm heart, he decided ral: a therapeutic, practical and democratic response to to share his wisdom. In his first sermon in the deer park Hindu corruptions, in contrast to which Buddha seems to at Sarnath, he used the image of the wheel (chakra) of law have rejected the reality of Atman [Pali anatta, Skrt anat- to propound FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS: man] (cf Hume and James). He thus reinterpreted karma 1. Dukkha — Life is
The three jewels of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dharma DEVELOPMENTAL SKETCH. Following his death at (teaching), the sangha (community) 80, the First Great Council was held. Ashoka called the Third (3rd Century BCE), which inspired missions. The Three characteristics of being: Sixth concluded in Rangoon, 1956. Eventually Bud- anicca, transitoriness dhism as a separate religion disappeared from India anatta, no self-nature dukkha, suffering (some Hindus claim him as an avatar of Vishnu). Conser- vative tendencies formed the THERAVADA [Doctine of Metta, friendliness, loving kindness the Elders — also called HINAYANA, Lesser Vehicle] in Paticcasamuppada, dependent co-origination, the causal chain Sri Lanka (Ceylon), Thailand (Siam), and Burma, where Dharma, law, teaching, duty, reality, indefinite and indefinable individual effort was emphasized. Glorifying Gautama, elements
A GENERAL, ROUGH-AND-READY COMPARISON OF TWO BUDDHIST APPROACHES
BEST NAME Theravada [Teaching of the Elders] Mahayana [Greater Vehicle] BUDDHA unique historical person transcendent, cosmic power; a savior IDEAL a saint, Arhat, the perfection of wisdom (mind), prajna or Bodhisattva, the perfection of compassion (heart), karma OBTAINING with little ritual or metaphysics; prayer confined to medi- with rich ritual, elaborate metaphysics; includes petition- SALVATION tation; achieved through self-effort, for we are on our own ary prayer; achieved by grace for there are powers desir- in the Universe; full-time job; monk-oriented ing to help us; accessible to lay people NIRVANA cessation of craving (tanha) phenomenal world without discriminations h, LOCATION “Southern” “Northern” n Smit Husto d from STANCE conservative liberal, adaptable dapte chart a VARIETY less much more
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 19 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. The Enlightened No-Self
1. From the Diamond Sutra (Vajracchedika) 2. From Knots by R D Laing, 1970
1a. [No beings have been led to Nirvana] 2a. “Although innumerable beings Have been led to Nirvana The Lord: Here, Subhuti, one who has set no being has been led to Nirvana” out on the career of a Bodhisattva should re- flect in such a wise: “As many beings as there are in the universe of beings, compre- Before one goes through the gate hended under the term ‘beings,’ — egg- one may not be aware there is a gate born, or womb-born, or moisture-born, with One may think there is a gate to go through or without form, with perception, without and look a long time for it perception, with neither perception nor non- without finding it perception, — as far as any conceivable uni- One may find it and verse of beings is conceived; all these it may not open should lead to Nirvana, into the realm of If it opens one may be through it Nirvana which leaves nothing behind. But, As one goes through it although innumerable beings have thus one sees that the gate one went through been led to Nirvana, no beings have been led to Nirvana. And why? If in a Bodhisat- was the self that went through it tva the perception of a ‘being’ should take no one went through a gate place, he would not be called a ‘Bodhi- there was no gate to go through being’ in whom the perception of a being no one ever found a gate should take place or the perception of a liv- no one ever realized there was never a gate ing soul, or the perception of a person. 2b. “By those who know 1b. [Forsaking non-dharmas] the discourse on dharmas
As like unto a raft The Lord: Bodhisattvas, great beings have no notion of a dharma, Subhuti, nor a notion Dharmas should be forsaken, of non-dharma. They have no notion or non- Still more so no-dharmas” notion at all. For if these Bodhisattvas should have the notion of a dharma, then Hearing that dharmas, they would thereby seize on a self, a being, and still more so, no-dharmas on a soul, on a person. A Bodhisattva should be forsaken should therefore certainly not take up a some are of the opinion dharma, nor a non-dharma. Therefore this that there is no gate saying has been taught by the Tathagata in a that is their opinion hidden sense: “Those who know the dis- there is no way of knowing course on dharma as a raft should forsake dharmas, and how much more so non- except to go dharmas.” through it
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 20 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. BUDDHISM IN CHINA
CHINESE BUDDHISM, begun by Indian Bodhidharma, HWA YEN [from the Sanskrit Avatamsaka or mixed with philosophical Taoism, enabling the process Gandavyuha sutra, “Garland” or “Flowery orientation of Buddhism, difficult to express in Indo- Splendor”] (Jap, KEGON) conceived of the European languages, to flower. Void dynamically in elaborating the principles of non-obstruction (asvabhava, “no self- T'IEN-T'AI (Jap, TENDAI) developed Mahayana teach- being,” relativity) and totality. The Absolute li ings of the presence of the Buddha nature in every sen- and the phenomenal shih penetrate each other, tient being with the Chinese concepts of substance and and all phenomena are mutually interdepend- function. The phenomenal, relative world is affirmed as ent. the process of the Absolute. This “One-and-All School” was begun by Tu CH’AN (Jap, ZEN) further developed meditation as a Shung (557 - 640 CE, T’ang Dynasty), sys- method to Enlightenment, direct inner experience of the tematized by Fa Tsang (643-712) and flour- Buddha-nature of oneself. ished until 1000 CE. Many of the early Hwa Yen masters were also Zen masters — Hwa PURE LAND (Jap, JODO-SHIN) affirms the saving Yen describes the world as the Buddha sees it grace of Amida Buddha and rebirth in the Western Para- (theory), and Zen trains one to experience the dise through the recitation of his name. world as a Buddha (practice). In Hwa Yen, the one-way projection of the HWA YEN, also spelled HUA YEN, is described below. Yogacera doctrine of a Mind-Only storehouse is transformed into a “kaleidoscope of multi- To see a World in a Grain of Sand, dimensional, mutual projections and interpene- And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, trations [Chang, Buddhist Teaching of Totality, Hold Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand, x].” A philosophy of totalistic organism, it And Eternity in an Hour. formed the intellectual basis for many practic- — William Blake, 1803 ing ch’an (zen).
The Hua-yen philosophy represents the highest develop- Thus Buddhism is not historical in the Judaic ment of Chinese Buddhist thought. sense of God’s will being revealed through his- — Wing-tsit Chan torical events, nor non-historical in the Hindu sense of cyclical time through which the indi- As to the Avatamsaka-sutra, it is really the consumma- vidual is led to realize identity with Self, but tion of Buddhist thought, Buddhist sentiment, and Bud- rather trans-historical, for history's relative dhist experience. To my mind, no religious literature in worth is affirmed as a necessary process to- the world can ever approach the grandeur of conception, ward Buddhahood for all living beings. Never- the depth of feeling, and the gigantic scale of composi- theless, human history has no unique signifi- tion as attained in this sutra. It is the eternal fount of life cance; other histories in innumerable universes from which no religious mind will turn back athirst or have equal meaning. Histories are not dramas only partially satisfied. devised by God, but are the results of the col- — D T Suzuki lective (natural) karmas of sentient beings.
During my thirty-five years of association with Bud- Fa Tsang’s famous explanations to Empress dhism, I have always asked this question: “Of all Bud- Wu Tse-T’ien include the discourse “On the dhist Schools — Hinayana, Mahayana and Tantra Golden Lion” (see below). He also built her a alike — which one truly holds the highest teaching of room with mirrors on all walls, the floor and Buddhism?” The answer is now a clear-cut one: it was ceiling, with an image of the Buddha in the the Hwa Yen School of China. center of the room, to illustrate in the countless — Garma Chen-Chi Chang reflections how the simultaneous arising of dif-
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 21 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. ferent realms is natural and harmonious. Producing dust, present are Buddhas without number.” Ken a small crystal ball, he illustrated how the large Wilbur [160], however, maintains that “all of the room mirrors and the small ball and mirrors mutu- lower is ‘in’ the higher, but not all the higher is in ally generate (through karma) and contain images the lower.” Wilbur [163-164] lists six levels, of each other. This static metaphor did not illus- physical, biological, mental, subtle, causal, and trate the non-obstruction of times, and of time and ultimate, and finds a “holo-archy within each space, but it does hint at the recursive nature of the level” and a “hierarchy between each level.” Hof- Dharmadhatu, the universe, best discussed in stadter does a much better job illustrating Douglas R Hofstadter’s Gödel, Escher, Bach “tangled hierarchies” consistent with Hwa Yen. (about half as long as the sutra). Chang specifically illustrates Hwa Yen by citing A recursion is a pattern contained in a larger the physical, biological, causal, and such levels of version of itself, such as telling a story about tell- a glass of water [122-3]. His account of shih-shih ing a story, two parallel mirrors, Fibonacci num- wu-ai [153 ff] makes Wilbur’s mention of it [258] bers, the “A” below, or the graph reproduced from doubtful. Further, the Treatise on the Golden Lion Hofstadter’s book [139]. The sutra uses the meta- advances the view that the palace statue depends phor of Indra’s net to display the recursion of to- upon the craftsman, the gold, the artifact, the spe- tality. A vast network of pearls hangs over Indra’s cies of the lion, and our imagination. “Principle heavenly palace. In each gem one sees all others and fact appear together.” reflected in it and itself reflected in all the others The sutra says, “Since everything in this world ad infinitum. In such manner, each object and is caused by the concurrence of causes and condi- event in the world affects, nay, is, all others. tions, there can be no fundamental distinctions A metaphor Fa Tsang might use today is the among things. The apparent distinctions exist be- holograph, a record of the appearance of an object, cause of people's absurd and discriminating or in newer forms, of an event. Where a photo- thoughts.” — Avatamsaka, 16. graph uses a lens to focus light reflected from a Capra [Tao of Physics, 292] summarizes the chessboard, a holograph uses coherent light from a teaching: the “universe is an interconnected whole laser to record the light waves interference pattern. in which no part is any more fundamental than the Cutting the holograph in half will produce two other . . . .” holographs each with the whole image. (Thus holograms seem three-dimensional, and viewing The consequence of this vision is the perfection the hologram from different angles produces dif- not only of understanding but also of compassion. ferent perspectives.) Any part contains the whole. Any point is a gate to the entire universe. A Chang says the Hwa Yen understanding of Sun- A A A A yata (Voidness) is that no thing, whether concrete A A or abstract, mundane or transcendental, has an in- A A A A A dependent or isolated existence, but all things de- A A pend upon one another for their existence and A A functions. Mutual penetration is explained in three terms: simultaneous-mutual-arising, simultaneous- mutual-entering, and simultaneous-mutual- containment.
Thus Hwa Yen’s even-handed, simultaneous em- brace of totality differs from evolutionists who claim that the lower produces the higher, and also from Ken Wilbur [Holographic Paradigm and Other Paradoxes, 258-263], who claims, while cit- ing the sutra, that the transcendent hierarchies call forth the lower. The sutra says, “In every speck of
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 22 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. BUDDHISM IN JAPAN
In Japan the Chinese Ch’an [Skrt dhyana; Pali Q: What is the Buddha? Here: Five pounds of flax. jhana, “meditation”] became Zen, informed by Something of clay, with gold-leaf. He isn’t Buddha. Taoism and Shinto affinities for nature. Because of Dry shit. The bamboo grove out back. The moun- the non-dual relationship between humans and na- tains are traveling over the sea. ture, Zen values spontaneity, jiji muge hokkai, what The student-master relationship is favored over happens naturally, harmoniously, unimpeded. One scriptures, as the approach depends on sudden en- does not master archery — rather the arrow shoots lightenment (satori), often after long preparation. itself. This combines a perception of cosmic duality Zen has a highly developed but spare esthetic. with sensory, esthetic immediacy. Especially in Rinzai Zen, rational attempts to understand the na- Other Japanese schools include the rationalist TEN- ture of things are dismissed; metaphysics is rejected DAI, the devotional JODO [Pure Land, Ching-t’u in in favor of the practical. China] emphasizing grace, NICHIREN — social- Student: Teach me the first principle of Zen. political schools including SOKA GAKKI, and Master: Have you eaten supper? S: Yes. M: Then SHINGON — founded by Kobo Daishi, a combina- wash your bowl. Sensitive to the limits of language, tion of Mystery/True World schools of China, with Zen identifies the Buddha-nature with the Void. mystery subdued and rational elements included.
SAMPLE ZEN STORIES
Joshu asked a monk who appeared for the first time in the the rival pupil, the teacher suggested: “When you meet that hall, “Have I ever seen you here before?” The monk an- boy tomorrow, ask him the same question. He will give swered, “No sir, you have not.” “Then have a cup of tea,” you the same answer, and then you say: ‘Suppose you had said Joshu. no feet—then where would you be going?’ That will fix He turned to another monk. “Have I ever seen you here him!” before?” he asked. “Yes sir, of course you have,” said the The next day the two boys met. The boy from the South second monk. “Then have a cup of tea,” said Joshu. temple said: “Where are you going?” Later, the managing monk of the monastery asked “Wherever the wind will blow me,” replied the other. Joshu, “How is it that you make the same offer of tea what- This again silenced the boy from the South temple, so ever the reply to your question?” At this Joshu shouted, he went back to consult his teacher. “I tell you what,” said “Manager, are you still here?” the teacher, “tomorrow you ask him: ‘Suppose there is no “Of course, Master!” the manager answered. “Then wind?’” have a cup of tea,” said Joshu. The next day the two boys met again. The South temple boy said: “Where are you going?” Sekkyo said to one of his monks, “Can you get hold of The other answered, “To buy vegetables.” Emptiness?” “I'll try,” said the monk, and he cupped his hands in the The disciple Seihei once asked the master Suibi if he would air. please tell him the basic principle of Buddhism. He did “That's not very good,” said Sekkyo. “You haven’t got this by asking: “Why did Bodhidharma come out of India anything in there!” into China?” “Wait,” said Suibi. “Later, when there is no “Well, master,” said the monk, “please show me a better one around except us two, I will tell you.” way.” During the day they were alone together several times, Thereupon Sekkyo seized the monk's nose and gave it a and several times Seihei started to ask his question again, great yank. but each time the master put his fingers to his lips. Finally, “Ouch!” yelled the monk. “You hurt me!” Seihei insisted on an answer. Suibi took him outside. “That's the way to get hold of Emptiness!” said Sekkyo. “There is no one here. Tell me!” said Seihei. Suibi whispered, “These bamboos here are tall. Those bamboos There were two Zen temples in the town of Kyoto, and there are short. That is why Bodhidharma came to China!” each had a bright young student who was sent on errands. The North temple sent its boy every day to buy vegetables. The master Tozan was weighing some flax. A monk came On his way he was met by the boy of the South temple. up to him in the storeroom and said, “Tell me, what is Bud- “Where are you going?” asked the South temple boy. dha?” Tozan answered, “Here: five pounds of flax.” “Wherever my feet will carry me,” replied the other. This answer silenced the South temple boy, and he went back and told the story to his teacher. Not to be outdone by
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 23 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. BUDDHISM IN TIBET
The Vajrayana [“Diamond Vehicle”] is so striking it Public ceremonies include four com- can be considered a third major form of Buddhism al- ponents. though it is often classified as a variety of Mahayana. 1. The MANTRAS are mystical Sometimes called Lamism and Mantrayana, it is a ma- syllables for chanting. Om Mani jor force in American Buddhism due to the settlement Padme hum [Om! the jewel is in the here of Tibetan refugee leaders. Originating in India lotus, hum!] is the most important. (where a Hindu form has developed) and brought by 2. MUDRAS are hand and body Padmasambhava in the 8th Century to Tibet where it gestures by which one comes into con- was also shaped by the indigenous Bon religion and tact with the gods. best exemplified by Milarepa (1052-1135), it is also 3. MANDALAS are frames into known as Tantric Buddhism because of its use of tan- which gods, demons, etc are placed as tras [manuals] of magical and psychological doctrines a visualization aid to cosmic aware- about shakti, natural energy. Right-handed (or White) ness. Shaktism is refined; left-handed (Black) is more typical 4. PUJA are worship offerings of of the violent, taboo-breaking acts of Tibetan religion. prayers, incense, flowers, and such.
Quite unlike Gautama's counsel of moderation, Tan- ORGANIZATION. trayana insists that the way to overcome passion (cf The four main sects: tanha) is through passion: you feed the fire all there is 1. Nyingmapa, “ancient ones,” “Red until it is exhausted of its own accord. The great natural Hats,” tracing their lineage to Padma- forces are a union of male and female elements. Sambhava. Through sexual union in which the passive male is 2. Kargyupa, founded by Marpa aroused by his consort to highest energy (the awaken- (11th Century) and finds inspiration in ing of Kundalini) for propulsion to Enlightenment, the Indian teacher Naropa. nonduality and the Void itself can be experienced. Thus 3. Saskyapa (begun in the 11th Cen- time is not something we pass through, but rather we tury), first to establish the idea of spew out now what we take the past to be. Tantrikas priestly monarchy. reverse this process of genesis by breaking bonds with 4. Gelugpa, “merit system ones,” the world of convention to arrive at undifferentiated en- “Yellow Hats” (founded in the 15th ergy. Century as an outgrowth of Tsong- Kha-Pa’s reform), headed by the The esoteric ceremonies, involving worship of demons Dalai Lama. and terrifying deities and immoral conduct as soterio- logical practices, lead Walter Kaufman to remark that Tantra is not only deliberately the opposite of the early Pali teachings, but also that it is “remarkable that for all its antinomianism, Tantra maintained the ancient prohi- bition against killing. To make Buddhism compatible with that remained for Zen [samurais to achieve].” Ac- tually, the demons are psychological metaphors to aid one’s personal integration. The rich Tibetan cosmology is psychological, not astronomical, for each person is a microcosmos. Vajrayana emphasizes direct, intuitive insight.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 24 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. Smokey the Bear Sutra Anonymous (Probably Gary Snyder)
1. Once in the Jurassic, about 150 million years ago, the her; Great Sun Buddha in this corner of the Infinite Void gave a 12. Trampling underfoot wasteful freeways and needless sub- great Discourse to all the assembled elements and energies: to urbs; smashing the worms of capitalism and totalitarianism; the standing beings, the walking beings, the flying beings, and the sitting beings-even grasses, to the number of thirteen 13. Indicating the Task: his followers, becoming free of cars, billion, each one born from a seed, were assembled there: a houses, canned food, universities, and shoes, master the Discourse concerning Enlightenment on the planet Earth. Three Mysteries of their own Body, Speech, and Mind; and fearlessly chop down the rotten trees and prune out the sick 2. “In some future time, there will be a continent called limbs of this country America and then burn the leftover America. It will have great centers of power called such as trash. Pyramid Lake, Walden Pond, Mt. Rainier, Big Sur, Ever- glades, and so forth; and powerful nerves and channels such 14. Wrathful but Calm, Austere but Comic, Smokey the Bear as Columbia River, Mississippi River, and Grand Canyon. will Illuminate those who would help him; but for those who The human race in that era will get into troubles all over its would hinder or slander him, head, and practically wreck everything in spite of its own strong intelligent Buddha-nature.” 15. HE WILL PUT THEM OUT. 16. Thus his great Mantra: 3. “The twisting strata of the great mountains and the puls- ings of great volcanoes are my love burning deep in the earth. 17. Namah samanta vajranam chanda maharoshaba; Spha- My obstinate compassion is schist and basalt and granite, to taya hum traka ham mam be mountains, to bring down the rain. In that future American Era I shall enter a new form: to cure the world of loveless 18. “I DEDICATE MYSELF TO THE UNIVERSAL DIA- knowledge that seeks with blind hunger; the mindless rage MOND eating food that will not fill it.” BE THIS RAGING FURY DESTROYED”
4. And he showed himself in his true form of SMOKEY THE 19. And he will protect those who love woods and rivers, BEAR. gods and animals, hobos and madmen, prisoners and sick people, musicians, playful women, and hopeful children; 5. A handsome smoky-colored brown bear standing on his hind legs, showing that he is aroused and watchful. 20. And if anyone is threatened by advertising, air pollution, or the police, they should chant SMOKEY THE BEAR’S 6. Bearing in his right paw the Shovel that digs to the truth WAR SPELL: beneath appearances; he cuts the roots of useless attachments, and flings damp sand on the fires of greed and war; 21. DROWN THEIR BUTTS 7. His left paw in the Mudra of Comradely Display — indi- 22. CRUSH THEIR BUTTS cating that all creatures have the full 23. DROWN THEIR BUTTS right to live to their limits, and that deer, rabbits, chipmunks, 24. CRUSH THEIR BUTTS snakes, dandelions, and lizards all grow in the realm of the Dharma; 25. And SMOKEY THE BEAR will surely appear to put the enemy out with his vajra-shovel. 8. Wearing the blue work overalls symbolic of slaves and laborers, the countless men oppressed by a civilization that 26. Now those who recite this Sutra and then try to put it in claims to save but only destroys; practice will accumulate merit as countless as the sands of Arizona and Nevada, 9. Wearing the broad-brimmed hat of the West symbolic of the forces that guard the Wilderness, which is the Natural 27. Will help save the planet Earth from total oil slick, State of the Dharma and the True Path of man on earth; all true paths lead through mountains — 28. Will enter the age of harmony of man and nature,
10. With a halo of smoke and flame behind, the forest fires of 29. Will win the tender love and caresses of men, women, the kali-yuga, fires caused by the and beasts stupidity of those who think things can be gained and lost whereas in truth all is contained vast and free in the Blue Sky 30. Will always have ripe blackberries to eat and a sunny spot and Green Earth of One Mind; under a pine tree to sit at.
11. Round-bellied to show his kind nature and that the great 31. AND IN THE END WILL WIN HIGHEST PERFECT earth has food enough for everyone who loves her and trusts ENLIGHTENMENT.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 25 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. Amitabha’s Vow In practicing with his teacher, Dharmakara learned Gary Snyder of many Buddhas, and that each Buddha resided in a land of perfection. He asked his teacher to manifest the myriad of these lands so he could contemplate the spe- “If, after obtaining Buddhahood, anyone in my cific perfection of each realm. If one offered a perfec- land gets tossed in jail on a vagrancy rap, may tion in musical sounds, another might contain the most I not attain highest perfect enlightenment. delicious food, and so on. Dharmakara meditated on what he had seen for five wild geese in the orchard kalpas. (A kalpa can be considered the length of time it would take for a hunk of rock 100 miles wide, deep and frost on the new grass high to be worn away to nothing by a garment brushing up against it once every hundred years.) “If, after obtaining Buddhahood, anyone in my After being thus absorbed, Dharmakara determined land loses a finger coupling boxcars, may to found a realm which would combine the various I not attain highest perfect enlightenment. forms of excellence he had seen in all the other lands. But of course to do this, he himself had to accumulate mare’s eye flutters sufficient merit to be able to create such a place. Thus for countless kalpas he performed good deeds on behalf jerked by the lead-rope of others. He took 48 vows to insure, among other things, that stone-bright shoes flick back the pure and happy land he was creating would be available to any sincerely desiring it to escape karma ankles trembling: down steep rock and be reborn there. (Karma is the law of moral cause and effect which brings a person, in this life or the “If, after obtaining Buddhahood, anyone in my next, the consequences of one’s acts.) land can't get a ride hitch-hiking all Ten kalpas ago, Dharmakara achieved his goal and directions, may I not attain highest now shines in his land, emitting 7,056,000,000 rays of perfect enlightenment. light in every direction from his body of unimaginable size and glory, though he can also shrink to a mere wet rocks buzzing eight feet high. His land is sometimes called the West- ern Paradise. He became the Buddha Amida. Amida rain and thunder southwest (the Japanese form of Amitabha, the Chinese name) means “infinite light.” A statue of Amida is on the hair, beard, tingle stairs to the third floor of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. wind whips bare legs The story echoes and amplifies the tale of Siddhar- tha, a prince who abandoned his royal sway to bring we should go back relief from suffering to others and became the historical Buddha. we don’t Amida is interpreted variously in different schools of Buddhism, but he is generally regarded as an exam- ple of active compassion, of doing good on behalf of others. Despite the extravagance of the story, the mes- 513. 040630 THE STAR’S HEADLINE: sage is simple. Merely by reciting Amida’s name or at- Universe draws us to enlightenment tempting to imagine him, one is saved. The Amida schools can be compared with Luther- Once upon a time, millions of eons ago, a king anism in Christianity, which emphasizes salvation not heard the Buddha preach. The king was so through our own merit, but by God’s grace. There is stirred that he decided to relinquish his rule so something about the universe that draws us to Enlight- that he might pursue Buddhist studies as a monk. enment. Amida can also inspire us to imitate his com- He took the name Dharmakara which means passionate acts. Perhaps this way we can create the “storehouse of Buddhist doctrine.” Pure Land now. —Vern Barnet
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 26 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. Voidistic Quotations
1. Zen “pushes contradictions to their ultimate limit where one 25. There are people doing everything, and I just don’t think that has to choose between madness and innocence.” —Thomas anything’s It. —Jerry Garcia Merton 26. True religion is a movement, not a position; a process, not a 2. If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else result; a growing tradition, not a fixed revelation. —S Radhak- do you expect to find it? —Dogen rishnan 3. The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen 27. Teach us to care, and not to care. —T S Eliot you bring up there. —Robert Pirsig 28. One never knows, does one? —Fats Waller 4. Zen is the unsymbolization of the world. —R H Blyth 29. You can never do merely one thing. —Garrett Hardin 5. Everything the same; everything distinct. —Zen proverb 30. Men make their religion a historical religion. They see God in 6. A painting of a rice cake does not satisfy hunger. —Ancient Judea and in Egypt, in Moses and in Jesus, but not around them. saying We want a living religion. As the faith was alive in the hearts of Abraham and Paul, so I would have it in mine. I want a religion 7. The map is not the territory. —Alfred Korzbyski not recorded in a book, but flowing from all things. When we 8. In walking, just walk. In sitting, just sit. Above all, don't have broken our God of tradition and ceased from our God of wobble. —Yun-men rhetoric, then may God fire the heart with his presence. —R W 9. To study Buddhism is to study the self. To study the self is Emerson to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by 31. I laugh like a flower, not just mouth laughter. / From non-being all things. To be enlightened by all things is to drop off our I burst forth with gaiety and mirth. / But love taught me another own body and mind, and to drop off the bodies and minds way of laughter. / The neophyte laughs according to profit and of others. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no- gain. / Like a shell, I laugh when broken. — Jalal-uddin Rumi trace continues endlessly. —Dogen 32. One day a man approached Ikkyu and asked: “Master, will you 10. I’m astounded by people who want to “know” the universe please write for me some maxims of the highest wisdom?” Ik- when it’s hard enough to find your way around China- kyu took his brush and wrote “Attention.” “Is that all?” asked town. —Woody Allen the man. Ikkyu then wrote: “Attention. Attention.” “Well,” said 11. The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself com- the man, “I really don’t see much depth in what you have writ- pletely. —Carl Jung ten.” Then Ikkyu wrote the same word three times: “Attention. Attention. Attention.” Half-angered, the man demanded, “What 12. One day Chao-chou fell down in the snow, and called out, does the word ‘Attention’ mean, anyhow?” Ikkyu gently re- “Help me up!” A monk came and lay down beside him. sponded, “Attention means attention.” —Zen story Chao-chou got up and went away. —Zen story 33. From wonder to wonder existence opens. —Lao-Tzu 13. The self says, I am; the heart says, I am less; the spirit says, you are nothing. —Theodore Roethke 34. For enlightenment may be the freedom of knowing there is no enlightenment to seek. Enlightenment is knowing there is no 14. Life is what happens when you're busy making other Enlightenment. —Vern Barnet plans. —John Lennon 35. Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence. —Robert Fripp 15. How can you think and hit at the same time? —Yogi Berra 36. There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths. It is trying 16. When an ordinary man attains knowledge, he is a sage; to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil. —Alfred North when a sage attains understanding, he is an ordinary Whitehead. man. —Zen saying 37. Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through 17. Things derive their being and nature by mutual dependence it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over and are nothing in themselves. —Nagarjuna rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are 18. The Universe is an interconnected whole in which no part timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of is any more fundamental than any other, so that the proper- the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters. —Norman Mac- ties of one part are determined by those of all the other. — lean Fritjof Capra 38. It’s hard to know when to respond to the seductiveness of the 19. The world is one, namely many. —Kitaro Nishida world and when to respond to its challenge. If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely chal- 20. The final belief is to believe in a fiction, which you know lenging, that would be no problem. But I rise in the morning to be a fiction, there being nothing else. The exquisite truth torn between the desire to improve the world and a desire to is to know that it is a fiction, and that you believe it will- enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. —E.B. ingly. —Wallace Stevens White 21. The holiest of holies is empty. —Sam Keen 39. God reveals himself by veiling himself and veils himself by 22. The highest purpose is to have no purpose at all. —John revealing himself. —Suhrawardi Cage 40. Nothingness is being, and being is nothingness. —Azriel of 23. Don’t believe anything. —Buckminster Fuller Gerona 24. No one’s mouth is big enough to utter the whole thing. — 41. Form is void, and the Void is form. —Prajna Paramita Hri- Alan Watts daya Sutra
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 27 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. CLASSICAL MONOTHEISTIC RELIGIONS
udaism is a religion of history and as sons is the same one year as the next. God has already done. The feasts of J such it may be contrasted with relig- Religions of contemplation, at the Judaism are chiefly commemorative: ions of nature and religions of contem- other extreme, regard the physical Passover recalls the deliverance of the plation. Religions of nature see God in world as an impediment to the spirit, Jews from bondage in Egypt; Purim, the surrounding universe; for example, which, abstracted from the things of Esther’s triumph over Haman, who in the orderly course of the heavenly sense, must rise by contemplation to sought to destroy the Jews in the days bodies, or more frequently in the recur- union with the divine. The sense of of King Ahasuerus; and Hanukkah, ring cycle of the withering and resur- time itself is to be transcended, so the purification of the Temple after its gence of vegetation. This cycle is inter- that here again history is of no im- desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes. preted as the dying and rising of a god port. And this religion looks forward with in whose experience the devotee may But religions of history, like Juda- faith; remembrance is a reminder that share through various ritual acts and ism, discover God “in his mighty acts God will not forsake his own. The may thus also become divine and im- among the children of men.” Such a faith of Judaism was anchored in the mortal. For such a religion, the past is religion is a compound of memory belief that God was bound to his peo- not important, for the cycle of the sea- and hope. It looks backward to what ple by a covenant, at times renewed and enlarged.
—Ronald H Bainton,Christendom, pages 3-4 ditions seek to understand the nature of the divine 1. The classical monotheistic faiths (Judaism, Chris- through historical events of moral significance. tianity, and Islam) are concerned with historical 4. They are sometimes referred to as “religions of events and processes. These religions are sometimes the Book” because of the centrality given their Scrip- called “Hebraic” or eschatological traditions, and tures: the Torah, the Bible, the Qur’an, Das Kapital. some scholars include Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, There is a tendency toward doctrinal concerns sel- American Civil Religion, Baha’i, and Marxism in dom found in non-Hebraic faiths. Because of the this family because of their similar interest in the strong role of the scriptures, emphasis is often found social manifestation of the “sacred,” that on which on mediated rather than immediate revelation (with our lives depend. Monotheism claims that one single Zen being a strong contrast). supreme power governs or intervenes in history and 5. Beginning with the Hebrew notion of a cove- human community. nant between God and his people, the notion of a hu- 2. Their prophets present understandings of the man community in special relation to God has been meaning of history, the Hebraic faiths claim to be central, while ideas of individuality developed later. monotheistic: one single supreme Power governs or The Chosen People, the Church, and the Umma (like intervenes in history. This God is revealed through the Party and the Khalsa), are all understood as the historical processes, and especially in singular vehicle through which God’s will (or Justice) is ac- events of a people (the Passover, the Resurrection, complished in history. the Hijra, etc). This contrasts sharply with the an- 6. With Zoroastrianism, the monotheistic tradi- cient Egyptians who found importance not in histori- tions can be called “eschatological” because of the cal events but rather in the permanence, regularity, emphasis on understanding time moving from the be- and order displayed in the realm of nature, and with ginning toward an End, often with a final overthrow the Asian religions which locate the sacred through and destruction of evil in a Last Judgement. Zoroas- the domain of consciousness. trianism has had an enormous impact on Hebraic 3. While their neighbors conceived of the gods as faiths. For example, Satan was reinterpreted to be a natural powers, the Hebrews (with personhood as cosmic being, a personification of evil, a leader of the highest metaphor for divinity) focused on the in- rebel spirit. The Zoroastrian teaching of bodily resur- terpersonal and the social (including the political) as rection also influenced subsequent religious develop- the realm for divine activity. If harmony is a key to ments. Its missionary style has sometimes been imi- the Egyptian view, the Hebraic passion for meaning tated by the Hebraic religions. The avowedly mono- went to the heart of the profound disharmony be- theistic religions are sometimes in the danger of tween God’s will and the existing social order. moral self-righteousness and dualistic thought (good God’s creation is good, and should be enjoyed; evil is totally separate from evil — a striking contrast to (sin = missing the mark) must be protested in order Taoism, for example). that those goods be shared more equally. These tra-
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 28 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. ZOROASTRIANISM Today, some followers (largely in Indian but also in Kansas City) are called Parsis.
Scripture: AVESTA including Yasna, Visparad, totally beneficent and ultimately triumphant Vendidad, Yashts. The Yasna contains hymns over Angra Manyu (later “Ahriman”), the evil known as the Gathas, probably the oldest portion. one, the lie. “There are two great parties in the world . . . , one good and one wicked, and we Zoroaster (Greek form of Zarathustra) was born are summoned to side with the good and fight either before 1000 BCE or around 600 BCE, in against evil. We are called to make a momen- the harsh climate and frequently invaded land of tous choice, but the decision is easy because all ancient Iran. He was well-educated and offered good is on one side and all evil on the other. medical and other care to the suffering. Per- Precisely this simplicity has proved irresistible plexed by the endless task of dealing with suffer- to simple minds. It hallows hatred, glorifies an ing, he withdrew to discover its origins. The dif- inhumane self-righteousness that denies the en- ference between day and night gave him a meta- emy all moral qualities, and assures those who phor for the utter irreconcilability of good and oppose the wicked of a glorious final triumph.” evil. Good must always be good, and evil always — Walter Kaufmann evil. Zoroastrianism is sometimes considered a dual- One version of the story: Against the polytheistic istic religion, emphasizing personal action in culture, he taught for ten years with only a cousin the battle against evil. While Ahura Mazda is as a convert. Finally, after a three-day debate totally good, his powers are presently limited, judged by King Vishtaspa, his view triumphed, though greater than evil. Good will triumph be- challenging the Magi of the court (whence cause evil has no foresight, attending only to magic) who plotted against him. Zoroaster was present benefit, nor learning from the past. The thrown in jail, but when the king's horse went crises we face will continue in unceasing con- lame, was the only one able to cure it, so his flict until the Last Judgment, when evil will be teachings again became the state religion. Zoro- annihilated. aster wanted to expand his teachings beyond Iran and persuaded the king to tell Turan the debt Iran Modern Zoroastrians consider their faith to be owed Turan would not be paid unless Turan con- monotheistic. Several families live in the Kan- verted to Zoroastrianism. Turan refused and the sas City area. first of the world’s “holy wars” ensued, with Zo- roaster slain (martyred) in the temple, kneeling Zoroastrianism has had an enormous impact on before the sacred fire. But ultimately Iran won, Hebraic faiths. For example, Satan was reinter- and missionaries were sent to other lands. preted to be a cosmic being, a personification of evil, a leader of rebel spirits. Further, Judaism, Zoroastrianism became the official religion of Christianity, and Islam all developed teachings what was one of the world's great empires, en- of the future, of last things [eschatology], often during for a thousand years. Today most of the with a final overthrow and destruction of evil in 200,000 Parsis live in India (in Bombay and a Last Judgment. The Zoroastrian teaching of Agra), a few in Iran, New York, and Kansas bodily resurrection also influenced subsequent City. They are highly educated, devoted to good religious developments. Its missionary style and works, and few in number. The religion today forced imposition of its faith also have been does not convert. imitated by the later Hebraic re- ligions of Christianity, The good power is Ahura Islam, and Marxism. Mazda (later “Ohrmazd”),
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 29 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. JUDAISM
1. THE MAJOR THEME of Judaism is HOSEA punishment corrective; "lack of that God is revealed through historical knowledge" causes the national distress. SOME IMPOR- processes, and especially in singular ISAIAH holiness, god universal, Mes- TANT DATES IN events (the Passover, the Covenant, etc); siah not warrior-king, Yahweh = ethical JEWISH demands, Jerusalem never falls. this is in sharp contrast to the ancient HISTORY JEREMIAH Deuteronimic reform fails; Egyptians who found importance not in “new covenant”; individual responsibility. historical events but rather in perma- BCE EZEKIEL nationalistic; ritualistic; pun- 1800? Abraham nence. While their neighbors conceived ishment vindictive; moral atomism. of the gods as natural powers, the He- 1200? Exodus DEUTERO-ISAIAH vicarious suffer- 1000 David brews (with personhood as the highest ing; redemption of Israel alone "too slight 930 Kingdom divided metaphor for divinity) focused on the in- a thing"; true monotheism. 722 Assyrians take Samaria terpersonal and the social (including the 620 Deuteronomic reforms political) as the realm for divine activity. 5. FROM SPACE TO TIME. Where 586 Temple destroyed; If harmony is a key to the Egyptian view, previous traditions located the sacred in Babylonian Exile the Hebrew passion for meaning went to the natural world, Judaism, constructing 515 Temple rebuilt history, sanctifies time. 165 Maccabees regain the heart of the profound disharmony be- temple tween God’s will and the existing social 6. LIFE IS HALLOWED in Judaism by order. “Whereas the gods of Olympus CE fulfilling the Torah and its rituals: the 70 Rome destroys tirelessly pursued beautiful women, the Sabbath for rest, the festivals for rejoic- temple God of Sinai watches over widows and ing, the rites of passage (circumcision, 140 Jewish government orphans [Smith].” God's creation is good, bar mitzvah, kaddish) to place the indi- restored and should be enjoyed; evil (sin = miss- vidual in the context of the community 200 Mishnah promulgated ing the mark) must be protested in order observing the divine will. Major holi- 500 Babylonian Talmud that those goods be shared more equally. days are Rosh Hashanah (New Year), roughed out The Jewish tradition has sought to under- Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), Suk- 1096 First Crusade; Jews stand the nature of the divine through kot (harvest), Simhat Torah (rejoicing of massacred historical events of moral significance. Law), Pesah (Passover), and Shavuot 1179 Third Lateran (Pentecost — Torah given at Sinai). Ha- Council issues 2. THE LAW, the Torah, are terms of the nukkah is a minor holiday with visibility anti-Semitic decrees Covenant. The Mosaic law contrasts with from Christian attention. 1190 Inquisition at Aragon 1244 Paris Talmud burning the Code of Hammurabi with its laws re- 7. JEWISH MOTIFS 1. The initiative 1290 Jews expelled from specting one’s status in society. For the England Hebrew people, there is one law for all, of God; God starts every story. 2. The unlikely object: God does it the hard 1492 Jews expelled from including the stranger. The earlier doc- way. 3. The unlikely setting (like the Spain 1546 Luther denounces Jews trine of ius talionis is not applied me- wilderness). 4. Favoring the later born, 1553 Talmud burned in chanically. rather than the firstborn. 5. Terror and Italy retreat: You don't mean me?! 6. Ordeal, 3. THE MAJOR AFFIRMATION of Ju- 1670 Jews expelled from persistence of faith through ordeal. 7. daism is the SHEMA: Shema Yisraeil, Vienna Rejuvenation of corporate life after or- Adonai Eloheinu Echad! [Hear, O Israel, 1760 d. Baal Shem Tov, deal. Hasidism the Lord our God, the Lord is One!] 1789 US 1st Amendment 8. MAJOR SHAPES OF JUDAISM 1791 Full French 4. THE PROPHETIC TRADITION. IN AMERICA MOSES, through whom the covenant was citizenship made, to whom God's name was revealed Orthodox: belief in the authority 1825 Full Maryland (Yahweh = “I will be what I will be”), and by of the Torah as divine and unchang- citizenship whom the Law was delivered. ing revelation. 1873 Reform Judaism ELIJAH only one God in Israel; voice of Reform: advocates change of tra- began conscience, not nature-god; champion of jus- dition to conform to modern condi- 1897 Zionism begun tice. tions; liberal. 1917 Balfour Declaration AMOS justice supranational; punishment Conservative: reaction against 1934 Nuremberg laws retributive; ritual no substitute for morality; early Reform; adapts Torah to mod- 1938 All German Day of Yahweh = punishment for sin, not synagogues burned ern situations. military victory. 1942 “Final Solution”
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 30 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. CHRISTIANITY
Christianity has three criticized for showing no appre- 1. VARIETY. Christianity is the main branches, Roman ciation for the value of intelli- largest, at least nominally, of all Catholicism, Eastern gence, for his refusal to interfere the world religions as traditionally Orthodoxy, and in political affairs, and for his defined, with nearly one of every Protestantism, which developed from fearful, ignoble death (cf Socrates, three human beings counted the 16th Century Reformation. Buddha). ‘Christian’ one way or another. Protestantism has further branched into hundreds of denominations Huston Smith writes of the range 4. EMPHASIS ON DOCTRINE. arising from geographic, creedal, and of thought and activity called organizational differences. Doctrines As a historical religion, Christian- ‘Christian’: “Nearly two thousand common to Protestantism include ity emphasizes human failings and years of history have brought an justification by faith through grace limitations, often conceived as astounding diversity to this relig- (salvation is the gift of God and cannot suffering, alienation, or sin. Chris- ion. From the glittering scene of a be earned), the priesthood of all tian authorities have often felt that pontifical High Mass in St Peter’s believers (each person may approach the correct view on these matters to the quiet simplicity of a Quaker God directly, without any was of utmost importance, so meeting, from the intellectual so- intermediary), and the authority of creedal requirements became a phistication of Thomas Aquinas to scriptures (the Bible is considered the feature of Christianity to a degree Negroes in Georgia singing, ultimate guide for spiritual questions, seldom appreciated by adherents though some traditions balance the ‘Lord, I want to be a Christian,’ of other religions without doc- from St. Paul’s, the Parish Church Bible with other sources of understanding). General forms of trinal concerns. of the British Empire, to Kagawa polity (church governance) include in the slums of Tokyo, or thou- episcopal (authority centered in 5.0 HISTORICAL DEVELOP- sands pressing forward in Madi- bishops), congregational (each local MENT. Christianity developed son Square Garden at the appeal group governs its own affairs with lay from Judaism (the Jewish theme of Billy Graham — all this is leadership equal to clergy), and of the “suffering servant,” for ex- Christianity.” While Islam has presbyterian (regional groups of ample, was seen fulfilled in Jesus, been surprisingly adaptable to clergy and lay leaders governing and he was identified with the re- various cultures and while Bud- certain matters for local congregations cent notion of a Messiah dhism has taken extreme forms in while relating to a national assembly). (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek), its development, Christianity has “Anointed One.” Greek and Ro- been so diversely elaborated that it may comprise as man thought and practices and the rich mixture of large a theological apparatus as any other faith, and religions in the Empire contributed to the new relig- hence cannot be summarized without substantial ion, shaped then by political events, and then in turn argument. Christianity shaped temporal affairs. 5.1. Following a career of perhaps three years, Je- 2. A HISTORICAL RELIGION. Nevertheless, most sus was crucified apparently because of his challenge might agree with Smith in characterizing Christian- to Jewish leadership under Rome. His followers, at ity as “. . . basically an historical religion. That is to first scattered, began to interpret his death as an act say, it is not founded primarily on universal princi- of sacrifice and love for them, and thus they were ples, but in concrete events, actual historical hap- placed in a rightful relationship with God. His resur- penings. The most important of these is the life of a rection led them to missionary activities as they little-known Jewish carpenter who . . . was born in a awaited his return, with victory over death to be stable, died at the age of 33 as a criminal rather than shared by all. At Pentecost they were filled with the a hero, never traveled more than 90 miles from his Holy Spirit and considered themselves ekklesia, birthplace, owned nothing, attended no college, “called out,” and became the Church, the body of marshaled no army and instead of producing books Christ, extended largely through the work of Paul. did his only writing in the sand.” After the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the break be- tween Jews and Christians was certain, as the mis- 3. THE PERSON OF JESUS. Thus considerable sion into the Gentile world continued. Selected writ- attention has been given to the character of Jesus ings of the early church were added to the Jewish Bi- and his relation to Divinity. Jesus has also been ble to become the Christian Scriptures.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 31 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. 5.2. Christians came to dominate the Roman Em- broken for his followers. Neither the “worst men pire in 313 CE, became the Catholic (Universal) can do (crucify the one who loves them most) nor Church and persecuted the Jews. Benedict (480- even the seemingly inexorable laws of nature 547) developed the monastery as an institution (death) can block God’s work [Smith],” and thus within the Church and his Rule had enormous influ- the Resurrection is the key to Christian faith and ence on the West. After centuries of drift and chang- redemption. The notion that God would voluntarily ing political fortunes, a split between Eastern assume human form and suffer in history for the (Orthodox) and Western (Roman Catholic) sake of humankind astonished the Greeks and Ro- churches occurred in 1054. mans. Unlike Asian religions focused on a transcen- 5.3. In the middle ages, Roman religious orders dent realm, where creation and destruction are un- flourished, including the formation of mendicant derstood as mutually arising events, the Christian’s orders. Flowers of mysticism bloomed with Francis world is the finite, uncertain sphere of moral his- of Assisi (1182-1226) for four centuries, and from tory, where faith assures an ultimate triumph of Muslim preservation of Greek texts, especially Aris- good, begun through the incarnation of the divine totle, scholastic thought, preeminently that of Tho- into the ordinary world, and redeemed through vi- mas Aquinas (1225-1274) synthesized faith and rea- carious suffering on our behalf, revealing to us a son into our own time. model for living, but more profoundly, assuring us 5.4. With Martin Luther in 1517 and John Calvin of divine acceptance. The highest hope of norma- in 1534, Reformers defined themselves against Ca- tive Western Christianity is eternal communion tholicism and against each other, and creeds gained with God made possible by Christ’s reconciliation. new importance. Protestants repudiated the papacy 6.3. Like all Hebraic faiths, Roman and Ortho- and emphasized the authority of the Bible and salva- dox Christianity emphasizes the group. The claim tion by grace. The English Puritans, who helped to that salvation is possible only within the church, the shape American traditions, protested against a half- body of Christ, is like saying that a finger severed reformed English Church, and movements prolifer- from the body will die. Life without the help of ated and splintered. In 1948 the World Council of other members of the body is impossible. The Churches was formed, and since the Second Vatican Church is the mystical but real body of Christ, Council (1962-65), the Roman Church has actively manifesting his love in the world awaiting his re- joined the ecumenical mood. turn, and doing his works. 5.5. The rise of secularism in America and other 6.4. For the Orthodox, who stress the diversity in parts of the world has been accompanied by the loss the Trinity, the best expression of theology and of vigor of “mainline” Protestant denominations and spirituality is found in the liturgy, always an act of diminished respect for the authority of the Roman both clergy and laity, for the purpose of worship is Church, and has generated a reaction seen in the the mystical union with God, for God became hu- growth of fundamentalist and evangelical move- man that humans might become God. In the liturgy ments on one hand, and New Age movements on the the icons, made possible by the Incarnation, unite other. the church on earth and the church in heaven. 6.5. The Protestant doctrine of justification by 6.0 THEOLOGY. Important theological issues in faith insists that religion must be a deeply personal, Christianity include these: continuing experience, beyond perfunctory perform- 6.1. The dogma of the Trinity, developed after ance. No one else’s beliefs, so long as they remain the close of the canon of Scripture, states that God external to one’s own inner being, can save. Even is one in substance in three persons; thus the man one’s good works are insufficient, for ultimately it Jesus was also God in a way no other human can is love alone which can redeem. appropriate. 6.6. The Protestant Principle warns against mis- 6.2. Liberals tend to focus on the ethical teach- taking the finite for the Infinite, the relative for the ings of Jesus, rather than on the claim of Incarna- Absolute, the particular for the Universal, the mani- tion, but Jesus taught nothing that was not already festation (idol) for God. The Protestant Principle present in the literature of his day. It is the claim and the doctrine of justification by faith provide made for him as a person, rather than a claim about theological background for the tendency toward in- his teaching, that normalizes Christian thought. In dividualism in Protestant Christianity. Christ God became human. Love was manifested so fully that the confines of guilt, fear and the ego were
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 32 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. A DIFFERENT VIEW OF JESUS Jesus' teaching. from E. A. Burtt, Types of Religious Philosophy, Rabbi Neusner, a Reform Jew, amiably dissents from Rev. Ed., Harper, 1951. pp 334-338. Jesus’ interpretations of the Torah: “Where Jesus diverges
from the revelation by God to Moses at Mount Sinai, he is That Jesus was a man of remarkable human sympathy wrong and Moses is right.” Starting with the Sermon on the and of self-sacrificing heroism is clear. Also, that in his Mount, Rabbi Neusner says Jews can appreciate Jesus’ teaching the best moral insights and social attitudes opening Beatitudes (“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs preached by his predecessors, which still today challenge is the kingdom of heaven. . . ”). more widespread and effective realization, were detached He also endorses the way Jesus develops three of the Ten from much that is irrelevant in their previous context, is Commandments: “You shall not kill” is extended to avoid- clear. And doubtless he radiated an indefinable personal ing anger and insults (Matthew 5:21-22). quality, capable of arousing not only devoted attachment, * “You shall not commit adultery” also means don't even but also wondering awe, such as few of the great men of look at another woman lustfully (Matthew 5:27-28). history have possessed. But candid examination of the * “You shall not bear false witness” includes not swear- Gospel stories discloses another side to the picture, ing (Matthew 5:33-37). which in view of the moral and intellectual problems of contemporary life demands, in humanist eyes, honest rec- But Rabbi Neusner objects that Jesus “directly contradicts ognition. the Torah” at other points. Jesus had no appreciation of the value of intelligence * Rather than “honor your father and your mother,” Jesus as the most dependable human faculty for analyzing the says that “I have come to set a man against his father, and a perplexities into which men fall and for providing wise daughter against her mother” (Matthew 10: 35-37). Rabbi guidance in dealing with them. Simple and childlike Neusner thinks that Jesus undermines the primacy of the trust in the Heavenly Father and humble obedience to his family in social organization and threatens Israel as a com- will was the sum and substance of life's wisdom to him. munity. His theory of the world, which to his mind justified this * Instead of “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” confident faith, is squarely opposed to the scientific natu- Jesus felt free to work on the seventh day by picking crops ralism that a frank assessment of experience increasingly and explained, “The Son of man is lord of the Sab- compels modern men to accept. Far from thinking of bath” (Matthew 12:8). nature as an objective, law-abiding order, to which man Rabbi Neusner is concerned not just about Jesus’ liberal must patiently learn how to adjust himself while assum- interpretation of Sabbath rules but his claim to authority. ing responsibility intelligently to transform those parts of “At issue here as everywhere else is the person of Jesus it that are amenable to human control, he believed it to himself.” In supplanting Israel's Sabbath, Jesus claims that be directly subject in all its details to the purposive care he personally “takes the place of the Torah.” Most Chris- of a personal being. Every hair of our head is numbered; tians would agree that's a fair summary. no sparrow falls without his supervision. Repent of your On other matters, Rabbi Neusner opposes Jesus’ teach- sins, have faith in God, and love your neighbor as your- ing, “Do not resist one who is evil” and “love your ene- self, is his counsel. mies” (Matthew 5:38-48). He insists that the biblical law
and prophets consider resisting evil a religious duty. “The
Torah sanctions warfare and recognizes legitimate power.” WHERE I DISAGREE WITH JESUS By Richard Ostling (Associated Press) He does note that the Jewish Scriptures recommend “a soft answer” to counter anger (Proverbs 15:1) and the giving of Much Jewish-Christian dialogue merely rehashes histori- food to a hungry enemy (Proverbs 25:21). He is willing to cal grievances or fosters superficial good will. More sub- accept the explanation that in Matthew 5, Jesus defines ideal stantive discussion is hampered by Orthodox Judaism's personal relationships within the community of faith, not policy of shunning talks with Christianity. public justice. Rabbi Jacob Neusner wants to fill that vacuum and But if so, that’s just the point, he continues. Jesus talks “take up an argument postponed for nearly 2,000 years.” almost exclusively about individuals’ moral choices. His claim is overly grand, but he does make a noteworthy “Nothing I heard from Jesus spoke of covenant, nothing of contribution in A Rabbi Talks With Jesus, which was re- Israel, nothing of obligation of the whole of Israel, all to- cently revised and reissued. Rabbi Neusner, a prolific gether and all at once.” Similarly, the law of Moses also author, teaches ata the University of South Florida and at tells how government should organize and deal righteously Bard College in New York. with conflicts, while Rabbi Neusner understands Jesus to The book sidesteps modern scholars' endless argu- continually speak about the coming kingdom of heaven as if ments about whether Jesus actually did this or said that. “the here and now doesn't matter.” Rabbi Neusner raises The rabbi prefers to take the four Gospels in their en- perennial, complex questions: What parts of the Old Testa- tirety and to confront Jesus as believed in by ordinary ment are binding for followers of Jesus? And specifically, to Christians. He skips the Gospels’ miracles and Jesus’ what extent does the social teaching of the Torah apply to crucifixion and resurrection, concentrating instead on Christianity?
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 33 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. 4. Conquest and Reformation A Timeline for Christianity 1453 Constantinople falls to Islam (Ottoman Turks) Some dates are disputed 1480 Inquisition, begun in 1233, bought to Spain 539 BCE Cyrus founds Persian Empire; 538 releases Jews 1486 Pico della Mirandola, 23, Oration on Human Dignity 333 BCE Alexander wins Battle of Issus, defeats Persia 1492 Reconquista of Spain; Columbus 63 BCE Rome conquers Palestine [250 BCE+ Septuagint] 1517 Luther’s 95 Thesis (Pope Leo X) 1520 Charles V elected Emperor (king since 1506) 1530 Pizarro invades Peru; Inca Empire falls 1. Jesus and the Early Church 1534 Society of Jesus formed by Ignatius of Loyola 27-30 Ministry of Jesus 1534 Henry VIII, Thomas Cranmer: Church of England 36 Paul’s Damascus conversion; 50-62 writes 1536 Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion 70 Jerusalem temple destroyed 1545-1563 Council of Trent: Counter-Reformation 90 Academy of Jamnia: Jews expel Christians 1611 King James Version (Authorized) ► Apologists Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origin, Cyprian, 1638 Peace of Westphalia ends Thirty Years War Irenaeus; St Anthony the hermit; cenobitic monasticism; heresies ► Colonization and Catholic missions; Erasmus, Thomas and occasional local and general persecution, worst under Dio- Moore, Zwingli, Anabaptists, John Knox; Bach; Rembrandt, cletian; apostolic succession; eucharist and baptism developed. Michelangelo, Bernini; Renaissance style (dome)
2. The Church and the Empire 5. Revolution and Revival (See also §7) 313 Constantine’s Edict of Milan ends persecutions 1649 Cromwell leads Puritan Revolution 325 Council of Nicea — homoousios vs homoiousios 1687 Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica 367 Athanasius’ Easter Letter listing canonical books 1738 John Wesley’s new birth 381 Council of Constantinople reaffirms Christ coequal 392 Theodosius makes Christianity sole legal faith ►Milton, John Bunyan. 405 Jerome’s VulgateThere is, inessentially, effective no confirmsevidence for canon the existence of (See also §7) 410 Goths sack AbrahamRome — and the476 other Roman patriarchs, emperor and—despite deposed more 6. Modernity than a century of intensive study of Pharaonic Egypt— 426 Augustine’sonly City the ofbarest God wisps finds of supportmeaning for thein Rome’sExodus, the fall 1689 Act of Toleration (England) 451 Council of centralChalcedon: event in ChristJewish theology.two unmixed There arenatures accounts of 1755 Lisbon earthquake Egyptian raids into Palestine that brought back 1759 Voltaire’s Candide ► Gnostic, Donatist, Arian, Pelagian, and other heresies; St Patrick captives, presumably as slaves, and a dispatch from a 1870 Vatican I Council with Pius IX, anti-Modernist to Ireland, Romanesqueborder architecture.guard in the early 12th century B.C., reporting that two people had escaped from Egypt into the Sinai. 1893 World Parliament of Religions, Chicago 3. The MiddleOn the basis Ages of what has been found so far, “there was 1923 Ottoman Empire, born 1281, collapses not Exodus, at least not of hundreds of thousands of 1930 Gandhi’s salt march 1947 Independence/Partition 526 Rule of Benedict people making a miraculous escape across the desert,” 1948 Israel declared 590-604 Pope GregoryWilliam Denver the Great says. “And there was not conquest” of 1949 Dead Sea Scrolls discovered 732 Charles Martelthe land defeats of Canaan Muslims by Joshua. at Poitiers “there are (Tours) several chapters in Joshua on Jericho,” says Carol Meyers, a 1962-5 Vatican II Council 800 Charlemagneprofessor consecr of Biblicalated Holy studies Roman at Duke, Emperor “but Jericho 909 Cluny foundedwasn’t (permeation) even inhabited at the time.”988 Russia Some things converts do ► Protestant missions, social gospel; redefinition of mission 1054 Great Schismcheck Eastern/Western out: an Egyptian artifact, churches the Merneptah — filioque stele, refers to a victory by Pharaoh’s Army over the Israelites 1095 First Crusadein about (Pope 1200 Urban B.C. ThatII); 1099date falls Jerusalem in the period taken when 7. American Invention 1073-1085 Pope theGregory minimalists VII deny(reforms) that Jews even lived in the Holy 1620 Mayflower lands at New Plymouth 1182-1226 FrancisLand. of AssisiThis particular question is so politically fraught, 1731 First Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards 1187 Saladin takesaccording Jerusalem to Claire from Pfann, Christians a New Testament scholar in 1791 Bill of Rights added to US Constitution Jerusalem, that minimalists have accused their 1170 Canturbury’sopponents Thomas of forgingBecket evidence murdered to bolster under the ZionistHenry II 1895 Niagara Falls Fundamentalism 1198-1216 Pope case.Innocent –Newsweek, III brings August papacy 30, 2004 to zenith 1901 Pentecostal Church begun, Topeka, KS 1215 IV Lateran Council; Magna Carta forced on King John 1925 Scopes Trial 1225-1274 Thomas Aquinas, influenced by Aristotle 1963 Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech
1309-1377 French Papacy — “Babylonian Captivity” ► Thomas Paine, Jefferson, Greek Revival Style, Lincoln, 1347-51 Bubonic Plague in Europe Emerson, Whitman, Billy Graham, education, liberalism, neo- 1378-1423 Great Western Schism orthodoxy
► Western chaos after Rome falls; focus on sins; church stronger than state at times; Byzantine Empire flourishes; Nestorian and 8. Contemporary Themes Monophysite controversies; iconoclasm; Franciscan and Domini- can orders (mendicants) founded; investiture dispute; Cistercian ► Liberation movements (esp women’s, gay, environmental) reforms and Bernard of Clairvaux; military monastics; Scholasti- ► Ecumenical, New Age movements cism (Realism vs Nominalism), Anselm, Abelard, Bonaventura, ► Religious pluralism William of Ockham; Gothic cathedrals, steeples; reformers Wy- ► Terrorist face of Islam and theocratic face of Christianity cliff, Huss, Savanarola; Dante; feudalism fades as nationalism ► Gospel of Greed—“Ownership Society” ►Overwhelming secularism . . . . rises.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 34 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. ISLAM
THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM (Din) 3. Divinity is claimed for no man. Abraham proclaimed A calligraphic 1. SHAHADA: La ilaha illa Allah, wa God’s oneness. Muslims revere Abraham as the prophet expression of the shahada, Muhammadun rasulu Allah — there is no who revealed God’s oneness, Moses for the gift of the the profes- god but God [Allah] and Mohammed is Ten Commandments, Jesus for the message of love. But sion of faith his prophet. Mohammed is the seal of the prophets because he 2. SALAT: prayer five times daily fac- showed how to put these elements of religion into prac- ing Mecca. tice. Mohammed was not divine. Thus Islam is unitarian 3. ZAKAT: almsgiving, charity for the poor and un- rather than trinitarian in theology, and (except for theo- fortunate; traditionally one-fortieth of one’s means. logians) perplexing questions like whether God can sac- 4. SAWM: fasting during the daylight hours of the rifice Himself on the cross are avoided altogether — but lunar month of Ramadan. so are questions seeking to relate the evil in the world to 5. HAJJ: pilgrimage to Mecca at least once during a transcendent deity who is the source of all. Islam is one’s life if physically and financially possible. basically a non-theological religion. It sees negligence ISLAM (akin, SALAM, “peace”) means “surrender more than sin, and social order is more a concern than [to God].” Its full meaning might be expressed as “the individual salvation. It is more legal and practical in its perfect peace that comes when one’s life is surren- orientation, concerned with behavior more than thought. dered to God.“ Perhaps the Qur’an (“reciting”) occupies a place in Is- lam similar to Christ in Christianity, for Christians find THE BASIS OF ISLAM is the claim that God is One. God revealed in Jesus, and Muslims find Him revealed Allah means “the God,” so the Word of Unity, the Cry in the Arabic Qur’an (no genuine translation is thought of Mohammed, means “There is no god but the God.” possible.) Mohammed made this claim against the barbaric soci- ety into which he was born, where an animalistic 4. Thus Islam is more a way of life than a set of beliefs. polytheism led to senseless tribal wars, unstable fam- The question is not whether you understand the nature of ily life, chaotic morality, and general social disorder. God, but whether you follow Allah’s will. Oriented to This monotheistic faith (tawhid) is far more rigorous this world, Muslims consider an attack on Islam an at- than Christianity, for in Islam: tack on culture. Thus no “death of Allah” theologians have appeared. Islam regards itself suited to the average 1. No distinction is made between the spiritual and man — it makes no claim to reform character, just to material. Thus there is no monastic or ascetic tradi- regulate behavior. Christianity, as a religion concerned tion; there are no sacraments; no doctrine of “original with motivation and attitude, is too difficult. sin”; no miracles — save the Qur’an; no priests and Life is governed by the shari’a, the Law, with “four no celibacy. While Christianity is experiencing the roots”: The Qur’an, the sunna (traditions [Hadith] of the onslaughts of secularism and decline, Islam — which prophet’s practice), the ijma (consensus of the commu- by its nature encompasses materialism — is in places nity through its leading scholars), and the qiyas growing so rapidly one may call it a revival. [The (analogical judgments derived from the first three Sufis, mystics sometimes considered heretical, are im- sources). Its scope is enormous, including areas not dealt portant exceptions in their apparent other-worldliness with in Western law. and asceticism.] 5. SOME LEADERSHIP TERMS. A MUEZZIN calls 2. There is in theory no separation between political the faithful to prayer. An IMAM is a leader of congrega- and religious spheres and leadership, as Mohammed, tional prayer for the Sunnis; the Shi’a make belief that President Sadat, and the Ayatollah Khomeini illus- every age produces an Imam to make Mohammad’s trate. The dominant faith in two dozen countries, and truth contemporary a sixth Pillar of Islam. A MULLAH the second largest world religion, Islam is often the is an exponent of the Law; a MUFTI is a lawyer; a MU- basis for national government and generates a strong JTAHID is a teacher giving legal rulings on his own sense of national unity. Since the Qur’an provides a authority, powerful in the Shi’a, where an AYATOL- legal system, the rules of society are religious. Relig- LAH is a great Mujtahid. JIHAD means struggle, as in ious/national leaders do not provide priestly mediation seeking always to do the right thing, a high form of because each person has a direct relationship with Al- which is education; its use as war is secondary though lah; thus, except for anomalies like Iran, no anti- politically powerful. clericalism has developed.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 35 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. ISLAMIC HISTORY gained power. Islam survived Mongol SOME KEY DATES CE approximate dating; conquests and schools of law flour- AH begins with the Hegira.
INITIAL PHASE. Mohammed was born about 570 ished. Sufism rose. Great scientific, 570 Muhammad born CE in Mecca and was orphaned as a young child. intellectual, economic, artistic and ad- 610 The revelations begin First a shepherd, he developed a reputation as a ministrative achievements made Islam 622 Hegira — Migration to skilled conductor of trading caravans, but never a dominant world power, with the Medina gained literacy. He entered the service of a wealthy Christian sphere often comparatively 630 M returns to Mecca widow, Khadija, years his senior, and at age 24 backward. In 1187, Saladin, an Egyp- 632 M dies; four “rightly married her and became a prosperous merchant. He tian sultan, retook Christian Jerusalem. guided califs” follow 638 Jerusalem won became acquainted with Jewish and Christian be- The Alhambra was constructed in 661 Calif Ali killed; liefs. When he was 40, he had a vision in the cave 1230, in Moorish Spain. Umayyads make Da- of Mount Hira, north of Mecca. The angel Gabriel mascus capital commissioned him to teach the reality of one God MODERN PHASE. The modern pe- 680 Ali’s son Husayn killed to fractious, polytheistic Mecca. riod begins about 1500, and includes at Kerbala three great Muslim empires, the Otto- 732 Charles Martel de- feats Muslims at Tours Mohammed’s wife believed and encouraged him. man (1299-1919) which controlled the 750-1517 Abbysaids make His teachings became more pointed against the Middle East and north Africa, the Sa- Baghdad capital; powerful and rich, who became his enemies. favid centered in Iran and extended Sufism develops Slowly his followers increased. In 622 CE he nar- into parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, 900s Muslims extend an- rowly escaped assassination and fled to Yathrib/ and the Mogul which dominated al- cient learning and cre- ate basis for modern Medina, where his teachings had found acceptance. most all of India. In 1453 the Ottoman science The Muslim calendar begins with this flight, or the Empire replaced the Byzantine in the 969 Fatamids take Egypt Hegira. Mohammed governed Medina with con- conquest of Constantinople. With 990-1118 Seljuk Empire vincing authority. Eight years after the Hegira he Suleiman the Magnificent in 1520, the 1099 Crusaders take Jeru- returned to Mecca and demolished the 360 idols. Ottomans attempted modernization and salem Soon Arabia was under Islam. He died two years established trade with the West. With 1187 Saladin retakes Jeru- later, in 632. subsequent loss of vigor in Islam and salem 1230s Alhambra begun the rise of mercantile and military 1250 Mamluk Dynasty Rule to 661 was continued by four able Meccan forces in Europe, beginning with Na- 1299-1919 Ottoman Em- caliphs (“successors”), three of whom were assassi- poleon’s occupation of Egypt, Islamic pire nated. Islam was extended to the frontier of India in lands were colonized and Westernized, 1369-1405 Tamerlane the East, and into Spain in the West. (Ole! is the a process still under way. In 1922 1453 Ottomans take Con- Spanish way of saying Allah!) Unlike the persecut- Ataturk secularized the Turkish state, stantinople ing Christians, Muslims protected Christians and and in 1962 the Algerians ended rule 1492 Last Muslims de- feated in Spain Jews because of the Muslim respect for the Bible. there by the French. A resurgence of 1502 Safavid Empire, Iran The Ummah (religious community) ruptured when Islamic feeling and power has accom- 1520 Ottoman Suleiman Ali was killed in 661 (and his son Husayn in 680); panied the discovery of oil deposits in the Magnificent his backers and non-Arab Muslims anticipated the the Middle East, and in reaction to the 1526-1739 Mughul Empire, SHI’ITE division from SUNNI Islam over the dis- Jewish occupation of Palestine. Yet India pute of rightful succession to the caliphate. (The today three-quarters of the world’s 1648 Taj Mahal 1798 Napolean’s occupa- Sunnis came to affirm a choice by consensus and Muslims are non-Arab, with the largest tion of Egypt extends the Shi’ites demanded honoring of the blood rela- national group in Indonesia (120 mil- the West’s colonial ex- tionship, and the presumed spiritual inheritance of lion), 25 million in Russia, 10 million ploitation of the Muslim Mohammed’s special character. The Sunni majority in China, and about 100 million in Af- world subordinates Mohammed to his message, and the rican countries. Islam is the second 1922 Atatturk secularizes Turkey Shi’ites magnify his place as the founder of a spiri- largest religion, traditionally defined, 1947 Partition of India tual autocracy.) In 661 the Umayyad dynasty began with one fifth of the world’s popula- 1948 Israel created and the capital was moved to Damascus. This pe- tion. 1962 Algerians expel riod was marked with fluid interpretations of law —adapted from Abingdon French and doctrine. Dictionary of Living Religions 1967 Six-Day War discred- its secularism, foments religious revival MIDDLE PHASE. In 750, the Abbysaids moved SUNNI and SHI’A 1973 OPEC oil embargo the capital to Baghdad, and Persian and other influ- 1979 Iranian revolution ences were incorporated, with attention to architec- One tenth of Islam today are Shi’a, 2001 Terrorist attacks re- tural, literary, and scientific splendors. The notion mostly in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan new interest in Islam that the caliph was first among equals was aban- and India. The main divisions in Shi’a doned and the perquisites were enhanced. Shi’ite are the Isma’ilis (who believe that the messianism developed, and regional caliphates seventh Imam [Madhi] was the final,
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 36 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. and will return on the Last Day), and the larger Twelvers ful! Say: He is (who believe in the twelfth Imam as Madhi). Ninety per- Allah, the One! cent of Islam follows the Sunni, mainly in Arab states, in Allah, the eter- North, West, and East Africa, and in India and Indonesia. nally Besought of
All! He begets Another artistic expression of the shahada. SUFISM not nor was be- SUFI is Arabic and one possible etymology is in the term gotten. And there is none comparable unto him. [111, meaning “wool-clad.” Dating perhaps from the Eighth The Unity] Century as a reaction to the worldliness of the Umayyad [3] Is he not closer than the vein of your neck? You Dynasty, the early practitioners wore woolen garments to need not raise your voice, for he knows the secret whis- signify their renunciation of worldly comforts. Sufism is a per, and what is yet more hidden. . . . He knows what is mystical inflection of Islam, roughly analogous in Judaism in the land and in the sea; no leaf falls without his to Kabbala and forms of Hasidism. At times rejected or knowledge; nor is there a grain in the darkness under suspect for ascetic practices and perceived slight of the the earth, nor a thing, green or sere, but it is recorded. shari’a, the Sufis have been regarded as troublesome by [6:12, 6:59, The Cattle] Muslim officials because of their emphasis on inner reali- zation of, or blissful union with, God, in rituals other than [4] By the star when it sets, your companion does the normal public prayers. The direct experience of God not err, nor is he led astray, neither does he speak from (unmediated by the Qur’an, the tradition, or the state) is mere impulse. The Qur’an is no other than a revelation the meaning of Sufi life. Sufi philosophical monism was given to him: the Lord of Mighty Power taught it to troublesome until al-Ghazzali’s explanation made it ac- him. . . . [53:1-5, The Star] ceptable to the mainstream. Other great Sufi teachers in- [5] Place no other god beside Allah. . . . And the clude the Rabi’a, al-Junaid, Ibn Arabi, Attar, and Rumi. Lord has decreed that you serve none but him and Sufism led to religious orders (like the Benedictines in goodness to your parents. If they become old with you, Christianity), but is not confined to orders. The height of one or both; do not say “Ugh” to them or scold them Sufism was during the Ottoman and Mogul empires but speak to them with reverence. Your Lord knows (1500-1800), with perhaps over half the male population well what is in your hearts, whether you are righteous, affiliated with Sufi orders. and he forgives those who return. Give what is right to However, the word sufi can also simply refer to any- your kinsman and to the poor and the wanderer . . . . one who pursues a direct, personal relationship with God Slay not your children, fearing poverty; we shall pro- and who lives with righteous awareness of His presence. vide for them and you. Slaying them is a great sin. And In this sense, any practicing Muslim can aspire to be a shun fornication, for it is an abomination and a wicked sufi. way. Do not touch what belongs to the orphan . . . . In 1910, in London, Hazrat Inyat Khan, an Indian, es- Give full measure when you measure, and weigh with tablished the Sufi Order in the West. Today, Idries Shah, true scales . . . [17:22 ff, The Israelites] Pir Vilayet Kahn (who has spoken in Kansas City from [6] Whoever goes astray, he himself bears the whole time to time), and Sam Lewis have introduced the West to responsibility of wandering. [10:103, Yunus] When the a neo-Sufism somewhat syncretistic in worship and em- sun is folded up and the stars fall, and when the moun- brace and not confined to traditional Islam. tains are set in motion . . . And the seas boil . . . Then
every soul shall know what it has done. [81:1-14, The EXCERPTS FROM THE QUR’AN Covering Up] Every man’s actions have we hung round
his neck, and on the last day shall be laid before him a More than any other scripture, the Qur’an (also wide-open Book. [17:13, The Israelites] spelled “Koran”) cannot adequately be translated. The [7] Defend yourself against your enemies; but attack Arabic idiom, the sound of the poetry, and the intensity them not first; God hates the aggressor. [2:190, The of religious sentiment make the Qur’an (which means Cow] “reciting”) not just the meaning of Allah’s thought, but [8] Let there be no compulsion in religion. [2:256, the very word of Allah. The Cow] To everyone we have given a law and a
way . . . And if God had pleased, he would have made [1] Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds! The you all one people. But he has done otherwise, that he compassionate, the merciful! Master of the Day of might try you in that which he has given severally unto Judgement! Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do you: wherefore press forward in good works. Unto God we cry for help. Guide us on the straight path, the path shall you return, and he will tell you that concerning of those to whom you have been gracious — worth which you disagree. [5:48, The Food] Unto you your whom you are not angry, and who go not astray. [Sura religion, and unto me my religion. [109:6, The Unbe- 1, The Opening] lievers] [2] In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merci-
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 37 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. Some Kansas City Star Columns anyone may enter from any direction. The langar, name) was changed by the free kitchen instituted by Guru Amar Das, is encountering Yogi Bhajan’s About Local Sikhs and the Faith open to the public. Food served there is eaten Kundalini Yoga, a highly By Vern Barnet with everyone, dignitary or ordinary person, energetic and integrative seated on the floor, on the same level. In order to physical and spiritual form include those with religious dietary restrictions, 624. 060823 THE STAR’S HEADLINE: of meditation. Karta Purkh, only vegetarian food is prepared. Sikh hospitality All are Human Beings on the Battlefield now a member of the Kan- is famous. sas City Interfaith Council, The commitment to equality is suggested even For several years now, a group of friends and guests of said, “I found that the experience I was seeking in the Punjabi language in which “God” has no many faiths around the area have gathered about once a through the alteration of mind by the use of gender, where in English “God” has historically month for dinner at various homes and restaurants, and drugs was available in a healthy” practice, peel- generated masculine pronouns. Sikhism has no I’ve been lucky enough to be included. ing “away the onion layers of fear, superstition, formal priesthood, and the reader of the scrip- If you enjoy the inspiration that can come from interre- anxiety, desire, doubt, denial, confusion, neuro- ture, the granthi, may be male or female. ligious dialogue, you, dear reader, may want to start your sis, regret, intellectual vanity, societal training, In common with Hinduism, Sikhism has a well- own group. Let me tell you about a conversation I had at guilt, habit and egoism to see what was really developed sense of devotional life and the revela- the last dinner, at the Peach Tree near 18th and Vine. at my core, why I was there and what I was to tion of the divine within each person. I sat across from Reva Narula, an 18-year old who left do with that knowledge. In common with Islam, Sikhism is monotheis- her parent’s home in Leawood last week-end to become a “I truly feel that (Yogi Bhajan) is still alive tic and emphasizes the obligation to work for freshman at Hamilton College. Her mother is Sikh and her within his teachings. He never proselytized any justice. Those who are initiated into the order of father is Hindu. of us but his . . . life inspired us to be like him. the Khalsa follow in the tradition of the Gurus In the course of conversation, she mention an incident His yogic teachings were the methods we could who promoted justice at all costs. in the life of Shree Man Sant Bhai Kanhaiya Ji (1648-1718), all use, no matter what religion we adhered to, A person’s social status or caste had been about whom I had never heard. I thought you’d find the to live . . . in truth and faith and full confidence indicated by the name one bore. So when the story interesting. that we are doing the right and righteous Khalsa was begun, the men, regardless of their Kanhaiya as born in what is now Pakistan. His father thing.” Sikh Dharma, like all religions is “how an backgrounds, received the new name Singh which was a successful merchant and raised Kanhaiya in an aris- enlightened person is to live his or her life. He means lion, and the women, Kaur, which means tocratic environment. showed us this by his example.” princess, so that all would be equal. But Kanhaiya was not interested in material things and Members of the Khalsa may also observe “the enjoyed the company of saintly folks and serving others. five K’s”— kesh (uncut hair), kanga (comb), kara When poor people were forced to labor for the wealthy, he 257. 990728 THE STAR’S HEADLINE: (steel wrist band), kirpan (sword) and kaccha (a volunteered to take their places. Sikhs share belief in the one true God kind of trousers). Each has a meaning. For exam- His spiritual quest led him to meet Guru Tegh Bahadur, ple, the kara, a circle, is a statement that God is the ninth Sikh Guru, who perfected Kanhauya in the faith. In the last thousand years, several religions one without beginning or end. In 1704 he found himself at Anandpur where Sikhs and have arisen with the desire to recognize the The Sikh faith has no internationally cele- Mughal soldiers were in war. He took water to any soldier virtues of existing faiths. Sikhism, for example, brated weekly holy day but rather follows local thirsting, regardless of their faith, friend or foe, while the grew out of the meeting of Hinduism and Islam customs, so in Shawnee, visitors are welcome battle raged. in the Punjab about 500 years ago. most Sundays. Some Sikh soldiers lodged a complaint against him for Today Geet Duggal, a 16-year old Sikh who aiding the enemy. Summoned by Gobind Singh, the succes- will be a junior this fall at Oak Park High School, sor Guru, he said, “I saw no Mughal or Sikh on the battle- proudly speaks about his faith in the context of 532. 041110 THE STAR’S HEADLINE: field, just human beings, all with God’s spirit. Have you not a culture dominated by Christianity. Yogi still alive in his teachings taught us to treat all of God’s people the same?” “Both Christians and Sikhs have a holy book.
Guru Gobind Singh embraced and blessed him and said, We Sikhs don’t celebrate Christmas or think Later he would be known as Yogi Bhajan. At the “You are right; you have understood the true message. that Jesus is coming back, but we all believe in age of eight he began to study yoga. At sixteen, Take water—and these bandages and ointment for the the one God.” he was declared a master of Kundalini Yoga. At wounds of all who suffer.” Geet gets questions often because he covers eighteen, he led his village of 7,000 people on a With this story in mind and the differences in religion his uncut hair with a patka, a square piece of 32-mile trek from what is now Lahore, Pakistan, between her mother and father, later I asked Reva about cloth tied tightly around his head. When he is to New Delhi, India, during the turmoil of the her view of interfaith exchange. While treasuring the contri- older, he will wear a turban. 1947 partition creating boundaries between these butions of each tradition, she said that identifying oneself “The patka was actually developed by a two countries. solely by one’s religious label can be dangerous. Rather, as cricket player in India,” he said, “because it is In 1968 he came to the United States, began she has learned from her parents, the core of genuine faith easier to manage than a turban.” teaching, and founded 3HO, the Healthy Happy teaches us to care about each other because ultimately As part of his work to attain the rank of Eagle Holy Organization. In 1971, his efforts led to the that core is the same in all of us. Scout, he discovered that the Scouts had no incorporation of Sikh Dharma in the U.S. His ef- Sikh material for him as he prepared for the forts to bring a Sikh ministry to the West were “God and Country” award. So he wrote an recognized by Sikh authorities in Amritsar, India, 609. 060503 THE STAR’S HEADLINE: article on his faith. Geet’s work is now posed on and he came to know three US presidents and Sikhs emphasize importance of equality the internet at http://members.tripod.com/ other political and religious leaders around the Sikhs. world. This Oct 6, at age 75, he died at his home With about 23 million adherents, the fifth largest faith on Geet wants people to know that “Sikhs do not in New Mexico. the planet is Sikhism, after Christianity, Islam, Hinduism seek converts. We believe in treating everyone At the memorial service, former UN ambassa- and Buddhism. We are fortunate here to be a regional equally. We are loyal citizens.” dor, now New Mexico Governor, Bill Richardson, center for Sikhs with the Midwest Sikh Association in He welcomes learning about his own and spoke with humor and gravity about their 30-year Shawnee and, for American converts, with the Sat Tirath other faiths. He says he has never encountered friendship and his advice about Richardson’s Ashram in Kansas City. Both are listed on the Harvard prejudice. weight, his pronunciation of Spanish, his politics University Pluralism Project web site, www.pluralism.org, Religious bigotry persists, but our opportuni- and even about international security issues. and the Shawnee gurdwara (temple) is profiled. ties for understanding multiply. In America, Richardson saluted his work for world peace, Originating in the Punjab region of India, Sikhism devel- even in Kansas City, world faiths are meeting Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa, the leader of the oped in a context of encounter between Islam and Hindu- each other, usually with respect. Kansas City Sikh Dharma community, knew Yogi ism. Although considered a separate revelation, Sikhism Bhajan well, and studied with him each year. I shares characteristics with both other faiths. In fact, the asked Karta Purkh to comment on Yogi Bhajan’s Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, contains material 246. 990512 THE STAR’S HEADLINE: motto, “If you can’t see God in all, you can’t see from both Muslim and Hindu writers as well as unique Sikhs seek discipline of the faith God at all.” Karta Purkh said that Yogi Bhajan messages. The Christian New Testament appeared after “saw within everyone that divinity that he ac- the death of Jesus, but the Sikh scripture was composed “A Sikh seeks to understand and appreciate all knowledged within himself. There was no one and compiled directly by the religion’s founders. paths to God, even unto death,” says Karta undeserving of his love and compassion.” Beyond From Guru Nanak’s early insight that, in God, the differ- Purkh Singh Khalsa, Sikh representative on the yoga and Sikhism, “his wisdom extended into the ences of religion mean no difference in our shared human- Kansas City Interfaith Council. realms of communication, the healing arts, busi- th ity, Sikhism has emphasized and defended the dignity of all This year Sikhs observe the 300 anniversary ness, religion and government.” A founder of the spiritual paths. Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded for sav- of the founding of the Khalsa, a voluntary order International Peace Prayer Day, Yogi Bhajan ing Hindus from a Mughal persecution. for those who agree to rules of pure living in- traveled the world promoting tolerance, peace Opposing the caste system of the time, the Sikhs ex- cluding “defense of the defenseless.” The Sikh and equality for everyone. pressed their egalitarian style in many ways. The Golden faith itself began 500 years ago in northern Karta Purkh is an American whose life (and Temple at Amritsar, for example, has four doors so that India.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 38 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. In 1675 a ruler was forcing Hindus to abandon their Guru Gobind Singh (1675-1708), in northern faith. The Sikh leader Guru Tegh Bahadur was be- India. A Pluralistic Perspective headed for standing with the Hindus. The Sikhs present 1. Kesh is uncut hair. “It means we cannot were so terrorized that none claimed his body for burial. improve on God’s work.” 664. 070530 THE STAR'S HEADLINE: In 1699 Bahadur’s son, Guru Gobind Rai, decided that 2. The kanga is the comb worn in the hair. We can see the holy in many faces “This reminds us to keep clean and to respect the continuing persecutions required that Sikhs “be readily identifiable.” our bodies so we are always ready to worship He asked his followers if any of them would give his God.” The men form several lines, shoulder to head for the faith. “One at a time, five stepped forward. 3. The kara is a steel wrist band, an em- shoulder. Now they bow, now prostrate The Guru took each into his tent and returned for the blem of “slavery only to God.” themselves, now sit on their legs and raise next with a bloody sword. After escorting the last one, 4. The kacchera, a kind of underpants, one finger, signifying there is but one God. he returned with all five, now transformed and clothed signifies “chastity or loyalty to one partner.” I am with my Muslim kin at Friday prayer. with five marks of the Sikh faith.” Khalsa said. 5. The kirpan is a small dagger, sometimes This may not be my own faith tradition, but The marks include unshorn hair covered with a turban embedded in the comb, which calls the “Sikh and a steel bracelet. to be ready at all times to defend those who I have faith in my Muslim sisters and broth- He called the brave disciples Khalsa, or Pure Ones. cannot defend themselves. ers here. The initiation ceremony included drinking sweetened “Sikhs wear these symbols to remind our- I think of other places of worship I have water from a common bowl, significant because the five selves of our duty to our own consciousness,” visited, some of which I have unintention- came from different castes, and the Khalsa meant says Karta Purkh. ally violated because of my ignorance, but equality. I admire those whose sacred intentions are The Guru himself was then initiated, and took the expressed even in the way they dress. where the grace of the other worshippers name Khalsa with the others. Women were named made me nonetheless welcome. Kaur, which means princess. Such varied customs! * The Christian Eucharist, with the wafer and wine called the body and blood of the 137. 970409 THE STAR’S HEADLINE: Savior. . . . Vaisakhi, a celebration of renewal for Sikhs A Capsule View of Bahá'í * Arti in the Hindu temple, a flame of- On Sunday, Sikhs in Kansas City and around the world fered to a deity, then as it is passed celebrate Vaisakhi. 43. 950621 THE STAR’S around, the worshippers cupping their Gurdit Singh, a young Kansas City Sikh with degrees HEADLINE: Baha’i faith is hands over the flame and raising palms to in religious studies from the University of Kansas and the ‘newest world religion’ forehead as a purification. Harvard, explains the holiday as a “festival of commit- * Folks sitting in meditation in silence ment, hope and renewal.” What is the Baha’i faith? announced and ended with the striking of a Vaisakhi (sometimes spelled Baisakhi) implores any Melvin Page, Jr., a Kansas bell in the shape of a huge bowl producing seeker (which is what “sikh” means) to commit to a City Baha’i leader, answers: path of discipline. the most gorgeous, lush sound at the Bud- “The Baha’i faith is the newest of “In the Sikh tradition, this commitment takes the dhist temple. the world religions. Only recently has form of a dynamic teacher-student (guru-sikh) relation- * The joy of the Jewish congregation as ship which reached its culmination during the Vaisakhi the public come to recognize that it is, the Torah scroll is taken from the ark, read of 1699,” Singh says. in fact, a major religion, one worthy of from, paraded through the synagogue and “Then the Sikh prophet-teacher, Guru Gobind Singh, study and reflection. established a new voluntary order of the Sikhs called kissed as it is returned to the ark. “The Baha’i faith began in Persia Khalsa. * The warm conversation as folks eating (now Iran) in the middle of the Nine- The Khalsa consists of seekers who dedicate their lives together in the langar, the Guru’s kitchen in teenth Century. It was directly pre- to the high standards by which Sikh gurus themselves the Sikh gurdwara, preserving the intention lived. These ideas include: 1) the absorption of the ceded by the Babi faith, founded in of universal service with the elimination of individual soul into the Infinite Soul; 2) an egalitarian 1844 by the Bab, whose name means class distinctions. and democratic environment for spiritual life; 3) subor- ‘Gate’ or ‘Door.’ He foretold the coming dinating politics to ethics, and 4) observing the five ‘K’s’ * The sweating of nearly naked bodies in of a new Prophet of God, just as John of the faith, such as kesh (unshorn hair) covered by a a hut of branches covered with animal hide the Baptist had foretold the coming of turban. in darkness punctuated with the opening of “By reinforcing these ideals, Vaisakhi creates the Christ. a flap so hot stones can be added to the pit vision of a new, hopeful, and rejuvenated humanity. “In 1863, a distinguished Persian in the center, in the Lakota inipi ceremony, Many Sikhs commit themselves to following the Khalsa nobleman announced that he was not or sweat lodge. ideals on this day by undertaking a formal baptism only the One promised by the Bab, but called the amrit ceremony. * Shouting a Japanese chant standing also the Promised One of all the world’s “In Punjab, where Sikhism began, Vaisakhi (which under a powerful waterfall after consuming religions, Who would usher in an age of falls around April 13), also marks the beginning of the a little sake and salt in a loincloth and head- agricultural year and is accompanied with festive songs peace for all humankind. His name was band in a Shinto misogi ritual. and dances.” Baha’Ullah, which means ‘the Glory of A visitor from another planet might find Singh recommends the Sikhism homepage: www. God.’ sikhs.org. nothing in common to these religious cere- “Baha’Ullah called upon women and monies emerging from different times and men to give up their prejudices and to cultures, and be puzzled why I find them all recognize the kinship of all humankind 66. 951129 THE STAR’S HEADLINE: so stirring. Sikhs’ clothing reveals their sacred intentions as children of one, loving God. He said Should such a visitor suddenly join me as the time had come for humanity to the Muslims around me offer salaams, Why do Sikhs wear turbans? unite under a common faith. He re- A Sikh male is easily recognizable by the long scarf greetings of peace, to one another, I would vealed a plan for world civilization to be wound around his head. “The turban shows a sense of say: built on a foundation of love and jus- respect for God. We are always in the presence of our We human beings have encountered the Creator,” says Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa, director of the tice.” holy, the infinite, and wish to govern our- 3HO Sikh Ashram in Kansas City. Originating from Islamic traditions, selves thereby. “Cotton cloth is a natural covering for the ‘Tenth the Baha’i faith came to the United But we are finite. The wars, oppressions, Gate’ of yoga, a link between the human and the di- States in 1892, and to Kansas City by vine.” Boys usually begin wearing a turban as soon as and other cruelty you find on planet earth 1945. The Baha’i temple in the Chicago they are able to tie it. Turbans come in many colors, sometimes arise when people confuse a suburb of Wilmette is world-famous. though some groups of Sikhs choose to wear only a finite idea of the holy with the holy itself. particular color. Karta Purkh wears mostly white. Like the other monotheistic religions Still, I am moved whenever I see people Some Hindus also wear turbans, and not all Sikhs of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Sik- recognizing our limitations as we reach to do. hism, the Baha’i faith looks toward a But there are five other signs, five “K’s,” which iden- honor what is beyond our knowing. future in which present hopes will be tify a Sikh who has joined the Khalsa brotherhood. —Vern Barnet These signs were instituted by the tenth Sikh teacher, fulfilled. —Vern Barnet
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 39 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. Are All Religions One?
How fully has the proponent [of the view that all and my life are marked by the symbols of so anthropologist from Mars make of our fam- religions are at their core the same] tried and many different historic faiths because whatever is ily's rituals and the cultic objects in our succeeded in understanding Christianity’s claim coming, in the world and in me, must in some house? We celebrate a Seder at Passover. that Christ was the only begotten Son of God, or way include what has gone before. Those who We often attended Catholic Masses, never the Muslim’s claim that Muhammad is the Seal ridicule "eclecticism" as superficial or stupid ex- missing on Christmas Eve. A straw Mexi- of the prophets, or the Jews’ sense of their being press their own bias. The most "successful" re- can Indian crucifix blesses our living room, the Chosen People? How does he propose to rec- ligions in history have all been syncretistic. The and a Jewish mezuzah enclosing a text from oncile Hinduism’s conviction that this will al- difference is that previously the fusing of old tra- the Torah stands watch at our doorway. A ways remain a ‘middle world’ with Judaism’s ditions occurred at a civilization level. Today we serene Buddha gazes down from just over promethean faith that it can be decidedly im- can do it on a much smaller scale. the inside windowsill of our front room. proved? How does the Buddha’s ‘anatta doc- As men and women of faith in the present Nearby stands Ganesha, the elephant god, trine’ of no-soul square with Christianity’s belief century, marked as it is by planet-wide communi- who is the Hindu patron of sagacity and in . . . individual destiny in eternity? How does cations and the uncovering of previously un- worldly wisdom. . . . Theravada Buddhism’s rejection of every form known civilizations of the past, we have available . . . In this sense most of the world's of personal God find echo in Christ’s sense of to our spirits rich veins of religious wealth hardly faiths are moving not toward secularization relationship to his Heavenly Father? How does imagined before. The symbolic treasures of the but toward what I would call "terrestrial- the Indian view of Nirguna Brahman, the God full sweep of human history are available to us- ization"; that is, they are becoming alterna- who stands completely aloof from time and his- everything from the oldest cave drawing to the tive ways of deepening and symbolizing hu- tory, fit with the Biblical view that the very es- newest image of utopian hope. They are avail- man existence on earth, into varied modes sence of God is contained in his historical acts? able, furthermore not just to be catalogued and of escaping it. I doubt, however, that these Are these beliefs really only accretions, tangen- observed but to be shared and used. But how do changes will ever create some syncretistic tial to the main concern of spirit? The relig- we go about it? For myself, I need a company of world church. I hope not, for in religion as ions . . . may fit together, but they do not do so confreres that is much smaller than humankind in everything else both truth and survival are easily. with whom to quarry and refine the deposits. But better served by heterogeneity and variega- —Huston Smith no merely ethnic or sexual or racial group will tion than by unification and uniformity. But ] do . I need a community that has not yet quite the current "liberation" movements in the Theologians recognize today a kind of universal emerged, a church that has not been funded, a world religions will assuredly provide a religious consciousness which assumes disparate collective interiority still in the making. But point for dialogue and for mutual conversa- if overlapping forms. They see that although a what does all this mean for the churches we al- tion. This planetary pole reminds the theo- theologian, like any human being, brings his own ready have today? . . . logian whose particular pole is Christianity history and that of a people into any situation, he Imagine what kind of world it would be if in- that his own ideas of liberation are in no can no longer think and write exclusively in stead of merely tolerating or studying them, one sense ultimate, that they have arisen within terms of one community of faith. This would could actually be, temporarily at least, a Sioux a particular cultural climate whose over- confine him to a preplanetary past. The Chris- brave seeing an ordeal vision, a Neolithic hunter tones they carry. tian must consciously respond to Moslems and prostrate before sacred fire, a Krishna lovingly . . . The particularistic pole is important Hindus-to a larger, highly diverse, indeed world- ravishing a woods full of goat girls, a sixteenth- too. Without it a theologian sloshes around wide family of faith. A Buddhist can no longer century Carmelite nun caught up in ecstatic in an oozing swamp of vague global religi- write as though he were isolated from Christian- prayer, a prophet touched by flame to go release osity, just as without the universal pole he ity of Islam. He must in some way relate his a captive people. One need not be a follower of sits locked into a stifling provincialism. thinking to other specific traditions that impinge Carl Jung and believe that all these figures are Like the juxtaposition of different melodies, on it, and eventually to the religiousness of the already present in our archetypal unconscious the two poles keep theology attuned and at- entire human family. Some of the most forceful waiting to be awakened, though that might very tentive. No future theology can avoid mov- religious pioneers of our century would not have will be true. Even if it is not, we still have ing between both poles, especially if it is to made the impact they did if they had not crossed enough records, cave scrawlings, memoirs, amu- serve the genuine liberation of homo over and drawn heavily on another tradition. lets and oral reports to help us find our way into sapiens, not just of Western man. Gandhi's use of Christianity and Martin Luther these people's lives, it we would let ourselves. . . . What we need now are communities King's of Hinduism exemplify this borrowing And we still have, in however precarious condi- of shared symbol and decisional power that process. tion, people's religions, the infinitely valuable are non-exclusive in character and global- The borrowing we need today, however, unabsorbed traces of forms of consciousness that local in focus. By "global-local" I mean we should not mean that the historical particularity are older, richer and more complex than need a universal church that will correspond of a living religion is dissolved in some universal ours. . . . to our growing awareness that the only ade- pabulum. Theology should discard both the . . . I will not write off Zen or the Taj Mahal quately inclusive religious community is ideal of an abstract universal science and that of or druidic worship or the Koran as "theirs." They human kind itself. But this universal church a global religion unsullied by the strain of con- are mine too. My ancestors have been mostly must at the same time nurture the growing crete history. Religion at its best is one of the Protestants, but that does not have to delimit me. re-emergence of human community at the guardians of human eccentricity. So theology I will not let the Catholics keep St. Theresa or the local level, the one where we exist daily in must move back and forth between the particular Unitarians have Michael Servetus or the Jews neighborhood and polis. . . . tradition in which it arises and the heterogeneous have Martin Buber or the Hindus have Lord . . . What I am predicting, or maybe hop- religious consciousness of mankind. Theology Krishna all for themselves. I live and work in a ing for, is a form of political and religious today is "opening out" both in its sources and in miscellaneous pandemonium of Marinis, Kenne- life that is both local and universal, with rea- its focus of attention. But it remains responsive dys, Stefanskys, Bronsteins, Eichfelds, Arugos, sonable stages in between but with our instead of merely descriptive. . . . Fosters, and Chos. Everything I enjoy in life de- sense of belonging refocused to the two We live during a historical period in which a pends on pluralism, variety and crossbreeding. ends of the spectrum. I foresee a new re- new religious sensibility is struggling to be born. Within a span of weeks I have sensed the pres- ligio-political form that gives maximum It is far too easy to criticize this barely emergent ence of the holy at an Apollo temple in Delphi, a freedom to those who interact at the most new expression of the spirit, because at this stage Toltec pyramind in Xochicalco, and a Moslem continuous levelof life (local) and that really it seems diffuse, vague or eclectic. My house mosque on the island of Rhodes. What would an does include all people (universal).
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 40 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. Interfaith Stances COMPARISONS
and THE FUTURE OF RELIGIONS
Barnet’s Three Attitudes SOME COMPARATIVE CATEGORIES 1. Imperial 2. Romantic 1. whether “founded” or evolved; if founded, founder’s stature 2. locus of the sacred, real, ultimate meaning 3. Encountering 3. accessibility of the sacred 4. Character, nature of salvation, and means thereto 5. the nature of the religious community Smith’s Three Relations 6. esthetic (savoring) or moral (saving) orientation 7. role of religious leadership; lineage, ordination, recognition, etc 1. Superiority 8. the faith's relation to culture and political order 2. Identity 9. the religion's view of other religions 10. tolerance and variation characteristic within the religion 3. Differences without judgment 11. importance of ritual, authority, belief, tradition, and scriptures (light of sun through stained glass) 12. orientation toward the individual, toward nature, or toward society 13. understanding of the cause, nature and cure for suffering and evil 14. view of time (historical, transhistorical, non-historical, circular); Knitter’s Models oriented toward harmony or conflict 15. monotheist, polytheist, dualistic, nondualistic, monistic, etc. 1. Replacement 16. spare or elaborate (theologically, artistically, organizationally) 17. esoteric or public; other-worldly or practical 2. Fulfillment 18. understanding the ultimate as transcendent or immanent 3. Mutuality 19. psychological or ontological 20. literal, metaphorical, or mythical 4. Acceptance
Eck’s Three Approaches SOME FACTORS INFLUENCING THE FUTURE OF RELIGIONS 1. Exclusivism 1. political, economic, social, and military contact 2. Inclusivism 2. scientific models 3. Pluralism 3. religious leadership and popularizers 4. tolerance for secularism 5. aggrandizement through ecumenism 6. scholarly attention 7. artistic expression 8. drugs 9. media Barnet’s Three Dimensions 10. travel 11. experiential accessibility NATURE —ecological not hierarchical order SIX POSSIBLE NEAR FUTURES UNIVERSAL SELFHOOD —action without attachment 1. The triumph of secularism: destruction of the environment, the loss of per- sonal identity into addictions, dependencies, and oppressive behaviors, and SOCIETY social disintegration such as poverty, exploitation, crime, and war —working for justice and peace for all 2. The disappearance of religions a) the French “Philosophes” b) the Marxist critique 3. The preeminence of one religion over all others 4. The emergence of a new and dominating religion 5. The synthesis of major faiths into a universal religion
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 41 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. What is Sacred? — Suggestive Capusule Answers
Religion arises from questions like What is so important that my life depends on it, and what must I do to understand, assimilating, integrating, for the no Enlightenment), immediacy of honor, and share it? — and from experiences which seem to common good perception, spontaneity answer this question. In philosophy the question is “What is real?” In Information Science, the query might be, “What is the structure of all ●VAJRAYANA BUDDHISM AMERICAN INDIAN data?” In theological language we ask “What is sacred?” The sacred is Undifferentiated Energy contrasted with the profane, the secularistic, the fragmented, the Natural Relatedness celebrated and partial, the instrumental, the means. The sacred is supreme worth, (resplendent in ceremonial method) fundamental significance, ultimate value, utmost concern. restored in ceremonial movement Despite their importance, usually these questions and experiences individually differentiated are found at the periphery of awareness. Worship — considering things of worth — is attending to, beholding, the Sacred as the focus AFRICA of awareness. Religion is a way of living out our worship experiences Social Order in the cosmic setting, so that our lives have transcendent meaning, coherence, order and ONOTHEISTIC ELIGIONS relationships informed by a sense of the Sacred. M R with the everyday both natural and The religions of the world seem to answer these questions differ- ently. The phrases below suggest these different responses in content, transcendent In general, Monotheistic traditions are emphasis or style. The rich and complex responses to these questions evoking myster- “historical,” with a critical view of the ex- ies of existence cannot be categorized exactly. Nevertheless, the isting social order and a sense of duty to religions of the world can usefully be placed in three great families, ASIAN RELIGIONS Primal, Asian, and Monotheistic, for a preliminary, superficial look. In correct or improve it; eschatological, with general, the Primal ways find the sacred in nature, the Asian faiths in In general, Asian faiths are “psycho- the psyche, and the Monotheistic traditions in history and human an ethical/legal accent. relatedness; the Primal is natural, the Asian is personal, and the Mono- logical,” concerned with personal spiritual theistic is social. development, a “therapy” for the trance of Almost immediately exceptions appear — many African religions ZOROASTRIANISM (charted as “Primal”) are highly sophisticated in human relatedness, as existence, with great attention to modes of was the Asian religion Confucianism; Shinto is largely a nature relig- The Wise Lord, calling each person ion. Further, in many traditions there are schools or strands which tend consciousness. in duty to choose in the battlefield of to complement the main insight of the faith, as Asian-like Sufi mysti- cism complements the Monotheistic historicity of Islam. life, and ensuring good’s ultimate Despite these exceptions, this rough summary can be a useful CONFUCIANISM preview to vigorous study using this outline as a research program. victory over evil Epitomizing texts are available on request. The Rite, revealing social and cosmic relations in deliberate tradition JUDAISM
RIMAL ELIGIONS God revealed through historical, P R TAOISM unique events, as persons and The Way of natural flow; yin and yang In general, Primal faiths are “ontological,” groups make moral choices celebrating the world the way it is rather dynamically balanced; growing, not than seeking to change it or its structure, “doing” CHRISTIANITY God in human form, acting in history, with human life understood as an aspect HINDUISM of nature. healing the broken with community The Dance, remembering and forget ting the Supreme Identity in Multiplic- ISLAM ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA ity, in lila; the ultimate unity expressed Submission to one Supreme Power, A cosmic order out of strife, behind in a never-ending variety of forms governing and unifying all aspects the unpredictability and limitations of culture and life of life JAINISM Self-contained bliss of the world SIKHISM ANCIENT EGYPT free from the bondage of activity, The one Truth present everywhere, What remains the Same, society one avoiding harm to others (ahimsa) in self and gurus calling us to with nature, richly mythopoetic and righteous community and service orderly BUDDHISM The emptiness out of which all UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISM ANCIENT GREECE things flow, including the twin The individual’s own insights and Human Authenticity in moral and virtues of Enlightenment: wisdom moral perceptions, with a supportive esthetic proportion, revealed in festal (knowing that the self and all things community process are void) and compassion (feeling style AMERICAN CIVIL RELIGION the identity of all sentient beings Providence shaping a just nation called ANCIENT ROME reaching out of suffering) to lead the world into freedom and Scrupulous Carefulness, compliance ●INDIAN BUDDHISM with conventions arising from progress the Practicality of Moderation numina, Potencies leading to Wisdom and Compassion BAHÁ’Í MAYA ●HWA YEN BUDDHISM God who sends prophets with growing Cyclical time manifesting present, Interpenetration of all things, in pro- revelation of the Truth, including the arriving and departing forces in cess; the whole in each part; absolute unity of religions and humanity relativity; the Voidness of Totality; cosmic order MARXISM the emptiness of all categories INCA Matter in economic form throughout ●ZEN BUDDHISM Power, authoritative, organizing, history leading to a classless society Enlightenment (knowing there is
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 42 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. A Way of Looking at Our Desacralized Society and the World’s Religions as a Whole System Crisis Examples of secularism’s crises 6-Jun-10 Faith Family Sacred found in Perver- CAVEATS sion 1. Specialization can deprive us of a sense of the whole. This is a research program aiming to rem- Environ- Super- pollution (toxic wastes, as from the auto) PRIMAL Nature edy that. mental overpopulation; loss of diversity of species (ecological stition 2. With any generalization, Ancient Egyptian, Greek, and exceptions and qualifications deforestation; global warming Roman; Mayan, Incan; American Indian and Tribal interdependence) abound. Examples: Shinto is Asian damaged and dying oceanic life African; and many others. but is a nature religion, Sikhism is sometimes called syncretistic, and Marxism may be atheistic. None- Personal addiction (substances, consumerism, power) Consciousness Narcis- theless, this scheme may be useful Identity dependencies (handling others’ feelings) ASIAN sism as a starting point for study. Hinduism, Buddhism Jainism, (inner awareness, 3. This outline does not charac- prejudice (sexism, racism, homophobia) Confucianism, Taoism, etc. Larger Self) terize any particular faith. loss of sense of vocation and direction See note, right, and below 4. Religions are dynamic; this for Sikhism summary chart does not limn historical development. Social violence (in movies, games, real lives); terrorism MONOTHEISTIC History Self- 5. Primal faiths can be just as Cohesion exploitation (disparity between rich and poor) Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Right- sophisticated as Asian and Mono- Sikhism, Bahá´í, Zoroastrian- of covenanted eousness theistic. disengaged citizenry (private over common weal) ism, Unitarian Universalism, community 6. In any richly developed faith, Marxism, American Civil elements of many other faiths can using religion for political or partisan purposes Religion, etc. also be found, though they may not be as frequently emphasized. The Four Wisdom Treasures — Our task is to apply them and find they are one.
PRIMAL faiths NATURE is to be respected more than controlled; it is a process How terms are used emphasize which includes us, not a product external to us to be used or dis- posed of. Our proper attitude toward nature is awe, not utility. Secular ►fragmented, broken, partial, divided, unre- lated, disconnected; the profane. WHO WE ARE IS DEEPER THAN WE APPEAR TO BE; this mean our ASIAN faiths Sacred ►ultimate worth, the network on which all de- emphasize acts should proceed beyond convention, spontaneously and respon- pends, cornerstone of all values, holy, holistic, wholesome, sibly from duty and compassion, without ultimate attachment to cosmic connectedness or well-being, sensed in “peak experi- their results. ences” which shape or direct or give meaning to life, opening us to the Infinite in nature, personhood, society. MONOTHEISTIC THE FLOW OF HISTORY TOWARD JUSTICE is possible when persons in community govern themselves less by profit and more by the Religion ►arises from the search for, and encounters faiths emphasize with, the sacred: we discover how to live in the world; the covenant of service. holy evokes wonder, grows in gratitude, matures in service.
LIBERATION Those disempowered by a secular age may, through the varied Spiritual ►breathing with a sense of what really counts. movements show struggles, show THE IMPULSE TOWARD THE SACRED in fresh ways. CRES, ww.cres.org, [email protected], Box 45414, KCMO 64171
Final Examination
QUESTION 1: What is sacred?
• Define and illustrate the term “sacred.” • Name and describe the three families of faith in the course theory and where you might disagree with the generalization. • Show how the religions studied deal with the nature of the sacred, • how the answers compare and contrast, • how you evaluate the varied understandings of the sacred, and • what new answers might be possible on the basis of the traditions surveyed, • Describe unresolved issues important to you. • Assess of the value of religious pluralism, if any. • Set forth your personal answer to the question, “What is sacred?” draw- ing on what you have learned in this course.
QUESTION 2: What grade do you believe would be appropriate for your work in this course — and why?
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 43 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU. D R A F T communal worship. With about 23 million adherents, the fifth largest Sikhism Attributions to be added. faith on the planet is Sikhism, after Christianity, Is- History and Basic Practice. lam, Hinduism and Buddhism. We are fortunate here Facts Living in family units is a part of to be a regional center for Sikhs with the Midwest The word “sikh” means “learner” or the spiritual live. Sikhs are encour- Sikh Association in Shawnee and, for American con- “disciple” and is used by those in the re- aged to give ten per cent of net verts, with the Sat Tirath Ashram in Kansas City. ligious tradition begun with the first of ten earnings to charity. Sikhs do not Both are listed on the Harvard University Pluralism human gurus, or teachers, Guru Nanak smoke, use alcohol, or gamble. (1469-1539) in the Punjab region of Each day begins with washing and Project web site, www.pluralism.org, and the northwestern India. Nanak sought to rise mediation. Shawnee gurdwara (temple) is profiled. above the Hindu-Muslim conflict of his Following baptism, a Sikh wears Originating in the Punjab region of India, Sikhism day by devotion simply to God. He re- the “five K’s”— developed in a context of encounter between Islam garded no religion or people superior to * Kesh (uncut hair): represents and Hinduism. Although considered a separate reve- others. obedience to God with as little lation, Sikhism shares characteristics with both other In practice, the monotheism of Islam interference with nature as possible faiths. In fact, the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth and a Hindu devotional style of worship (a turban is worn by men to keep were integrated. The Hindu emphasis on the uncut hair neat) Sahib, contains material from both Muslim and God within was joined with Muslim atten- * Kanga (small comb): keeps the Hindu writers as well as unique messages. The tion to social justice. Unlike Hindus, hair from becoming matted Christian New Testament appeared after the death of Sikhs use no images in their worship. * Kara (circular bracelet of steel): Jesus, but the Sikh scripture was composed and com- Nanak rejected the caste system of his the circle represents eternity and piled directly by the religion’s founders. time. the steel strength From Guru Nanak’s early insight that, in God, the The second guru, Angad, developed * Kirpan (small sword): a re- Gurmukhi, a distinctive script for the minder to defend truth and justice; differences of religion mean no difference in our Punjabi language. The fourth guru, Ram nowadays kirpan brooches are of- shared humanity, Sikhism has emphasized and de- Das, founded the holy city of Amristar, ten worn instead of useable swords fended the dignity of all spiritual paths. Sikh Guru famous for its “Golden Temple” on water. * Kaccha (Kacchera) (white under- Tegh Bahadur was beheaded for saving Hindus from The tenth guru, Gobind Singh, founded pants): purity and modesty. a Mughal persecution. the Sikh brotherhood, the Khalsa, and Baptized men take the name Opposing the caste system of the time, the Sikhs announced that on his death (1708) their Singh which means lion, and expressed their egalitarian style in many ways. The guru henceforth would be scriptures com- women take the name Kaur which piled in Gurmukhi which he completed, means princess. This practice Golden Temple at Amritsar, for example, has four including Hindu and Muslim texts. Called originated in order to remove doors so that anyone may enter from any direction. the Guru Granth Sahib, all copies are names that indicated caste. The langar, the free kitchen instituted by Guru Amar identical, with 1,430 pages, containing Communal worship is held in a Das, is open to the public. Food served there is eaten several languages. gurdwara (guru's door), but serv- with everyone, dignitary or ordinary person, seated About 2 per cent of India's population ices can be held anywhere the is Sikh; in the world there are about 25 on the floor, on the same level. In order to include Guru Granth Sahib is present. those with religious dietary restrictions, only vegetar- million Sikhs, with perhaps more than half Shoes are not worn in the gurd- a million in the United States. While most wara’s worship space and all must ian food is prepared. Sikh hospitality is famous. are “cradle” Sikhs, immigrants or children cover their heads. Men and women The commitment to equality is suggested even in of immigrants, some came to the faith sit separately on the carpeted floor. the Punjabi language in which “God” has no gender, through Yogi Bhajan, a master of Kun- There is no Sabbath, but commu- where in English “God” has historically generated dalini yoga, who brought the Sikh teach- nal worship days are often chosen masculine pronouns. Sikhism has no formal priest- ings to the West and, in 1969, founded the on the basis of the dominant cul- hood, and the reader of the scripture, the granthi, 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organiza- ture; thus in the US, Sunday is tion). selected. The gurdwara includes a may be male or female. kitchen to prepare the langar, the In common with Hinduism, Sikhism has a well- Basic Teachings communal meal, eaten together to developed sense of devotional life and the revelation There is but one God whose names and demonstrate everyone is equal. The of the divine within each person. qualities are infinite; God is present every- meal is vegetarian so as to include In common with Islam, Sikhism is monotheistic where and within everything. Reincarna- everyone. and emphasizes the obligation to work for justice. tion is the transmission of the soul from Sikhs observe some Hindu festi- Those who are initiated into the order of the Khalsa one body after death to another in a new vals, with additional meanings. life until the soul is liberated. Divali, for example, a Hindu festi- follow in the tradition of the Gurus who promoted Sikhism requires that one’s work be val of lights, is observed by Sikhs justice at all costs. morally upright, one’s mediation faithful, recalling the release of the sixth A person’s social status or caste had been indicated and one’s wealth shared with others. Since Guru from prison, and Vaisakhi (or by the name one bore. So when the Khalsa was be- all are children of God, we are obliged to Baisakhi) is a new year festival and gun, the men, regardless of their backgrounds, re- defend the helpless. The “five thieves” to also commemorates the founding ceived the new name Singh which means lion, and be avoided are pride, anger, greed, attach- of the Khalsa. Gurpubs are festi- the women, Kaur, which means princess, so that all ment, and lust; and the “five weapons” vals marking the birth or death of a against them are contentment, charity, Guru. would be equal. kindness, positive attitude, and humility. The chief symbol for Sikhism is The Sikh faith has no internationally celebrated There is no priestly class, and women may a circle with a double-edged weekly holy day but rather follows local customs, so be the granthi, reader of the scriptures in sword, the khanda, in the middle in Shawnee, visitors are welcome most Sundays.
“World Religions” Notes © 2007, 2009 by Vern Barnet, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171, [email protected]; 6/6/2010, page 44 DRAFT — Not for publication — Please report errors, misattributions, and other problems. THANK YOU.