Tracing the Way This page intentionally left blank Tracing the Way Spiritual Dimensions of the World Religions HANS KüNG Translated by John Bowden continuum LONDON NEW YORK Continuum The Tower Building, .11 York Road, London SE1 7NX 370 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017-6503 Copyright © 2002 Hans Küng Translation copyright © 2002 John Bowden First published 2002 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 0-8264-9423-4 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Typeset by Centraserve Ltd, Saffron Walden, Essex Printed and bound in Great Britain by The Bath Press Ltd Contents List of illustrations xii Preface xiii I INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS 1 The dream of a lost paradise Native inhabitants in a false light 'Primitive man' - uncivilized? Let's stop talking about 'primitive' cultures The earliest traces of religion Even 'Stone Age people' have a cultural history Women economically independent Men are dominant in politics and ritual People without religion? 'Primal religion' - nowhere to be found The art of the Aborigines What is in heaven? And who formed the earth? 'Dreamtime' The eternal law: tjukurpa The fight between the snake woman Kuniya and the snake man Liru Why women paint their bodies What is totem and what is taboo? The initiation dance: primal time and primal law Unwritten ethical norms A primal ethic Colonization: Cook and the consequences Triumph for the whites - tragedy for the blacks Aborigines in the supermarket: the conflict between two cultures Keeping the old religion alive A question for native inhabitants throughout the world Primal times: Australia and Africa Human beings come from Africa We are all Africans under the skin The Late Stone Age revolution Guardian spirits - only African? Sacrificing goats even today Spiritual healing - not automatic Against witchcraft Africa's great centuries vi CONTENTS They were black Africans Oracle: 'What does the future hold?' Stagnation of the black African peoples Imperialistic colonization 'Southern Rhodesia': a prime example of colonialism The motives of colonialism and imperialism The churches share the responsibility Christ Africanized African creativity The African Independent Churches Land of stones A continent with a future Hope: the African contribution to a global ethic II HINDUISM 37 A joyful religion Krishna's dance Who is a Hindu? The eternal order Strengths and weaknesses Mother Ganga Why bathe in the Ganges? After the Indus culture, the Aryans A structured society Where do the castes come from? The spirit of the Vedas still blows today The holy scriptures of the Hindus The ritual of fire and the eternal cycle Reincarnation and belief in karma The crisis of the Vedic view of the world: the Upanishads The quest for unity The mystery of the fig: that is what you are Religion and eroticism Tantrism in the twilight The new high gods: Vishnu and Shiva The classical epics A Hindu trinity? Polytheism? How does God relate to the world? Three models Varanasi: the most holy of pilgrimage cities The bath of purification - not baptism Why burn corpses in Varanasi? Pilgrims, Brahmans, sannyasins, priests Temple and mosque Renewal instead of rigidity or loss of meaning India: the model of a democratic constitution India: economically backward and socially split Hindu ethics Spiritual renewal: Ramakrishna The encounter between the religions of East and West: Vivekananda CONTENTS vii The 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions The Ganges of rights rises in the Himalayas of responsibilities III CHINESE RELIGION 78 Lion dance Singapore: modern and traditional Chinese Men and women of different cultures live together Ancestor worship at the centre of popular religion Gifts for the dead The two sides of popular religion The question of ethical standards Confucianism or common values? Western criticism and the Eastern reply Ethnic and religious harmony instead of confrontation China: a continent in itself A state of many peoples with a common script Early Chinese society had a religious orientation Shamans and soothsaying No separation between monarchy and priesthood The ancient Chinese world-view Archaic elements live on in present-day popular religion The distinction between religion and superstition Conflict instead of harmony A third religious river system Ethical humanism Confucius: one wise man among many Comparison with another 'master' Confucius himself The central teaching: humanity Explication of humanity: the Golden Rule Basic human relationships Humanity: the basis for a shared fundamental ethic A single Chinese state: the first emperor China's classical period: the Han dynasty Confucian state religion: Confucius - the master Acupuncture: paradigm shift in medicine A holistic view of human beings What does 'dao' mean? Daoism: the anti-Confucian opposition movement Daoism: a religion The Daoist 'church' Yin and yang: to intervene or not to intervene? Daoism and Confucianism permeate each other The advance of Buddhism China's golden age: the Tang dynasty Religion from outside Buddhism Sinified A renewed Confucianism of the 'high Middle Ages' The end of the Chinese Middle Ages: Mongol rule Confrontation with modernity viii CONTENTS The strategy of an indirect mission from above A pedagogical-diplomatic adaptation The tragedy of Christian mission in China Reaction against the missionaries Five great revolutionary movements Is there still Christianity in China? A future for Chinese religion? Domination of the market? Latent religion breaks through The Temple of Heaven: harmony between heaven and earth The contribution of Chinese religion to a global ethic The Great Wall IV BUDDHISM 131 Archery: an exercise in attentiveness The Buddha: one of the great guides for humankind The Buddhist creed Gautama's way to enlightenment The tree of enlightenment The wheel of teaching An ethic of unselfishness An answer to primal questions: Four Noble Truths Striking parallels Buddhist and Christian monasticism: similarities Monasticism: central only to Buddhism A community made up of monks and lay people Monastic schools: learning and debating Helps towards meditation: mandalas The basic obligations of Buddhists The first paradigm shift: original community to mass religion The Emperor Ashoka - the model Buddhist ruler Buddhism - a religion of state and cult: the 'Little Vehicle' The split in the Sangha The 'southern route' of Buddhism: Sri Lanka and lower India A Buddhist 'Middle Ages': justification by works The 'northern route' of Buddhism: China-Korea-Japan The second paradigm shift: the 'Great Vehicle' A tension between monastic and lay existence From the religion of an elite to a two-class religion Buddhism becomes Japanese, Shinto is 'Buddhified' The more-than-earthly Buddha Several eternal Buddhas Confrontation with modernity Three Buddhist options Calligraphy: 'Zen' Buddhist meditation: sitting in contemplation (Zen) Discipline, work, everyday life The Zen garden: the emptiness of all things Buddhist faith: trusting invocation of the name of Buddha (Shin) Buddhist liturgy CONTENTS ix Social and political Buddhism: establishment of the Buddha kingdom (Nichiren) Social commitment lived out Buddhist ethic and global ethic Transition to a new global constellation Archery: a demand on the individual V JUDAISM 163 A Jewish wedding in New York The riddle of Judaism Jewish dress? A community of fate The homeland of the Jewish people A people which did not always exist Abraham: an immigrant Abraham: the first leading figure of the prophetic religions Strife over Abraham Against commandeering Abraham The hour of the birth of the people of Israel: the exodus Moses: a second leading figure of the prophetic religions The covenant on Sinai: the centre of Jewish religion The solution to the riddle The Sinai covenant presupposes a covenant with humankind The Decalogue - the basis for a shared fundamental ethic Israel: first of all a tribal society Israel becomes a state David: a third leading figure of the prophetic religions The prophets in opposition to priests and king The downfall of both kingdoms: the end of the monarchy Israel becomes a theocracy The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple Why Judaism survived The Jewish Middle Ages The formation of Orthodox Judaism Anti-Judaism in the Christian church The Jews in medieval Germany: Worms Jewish secret teaching: Kabbala Jewish Enlightenment: Moses Mendelssohn Exit from the ghetto Modern Reform Judaism The dispute over trends Every individual has a name A future for Jews in Germany The complicity of Christians The rebirth of the state of Israel The Palestine question Two olive branches Judaism between secularism and fundamentalism The Decalogue as an ABC of human behaviour What will the future be? X CONTENTS VI CHRISTIANITY 195 Is Christianity to be despaired of? A living Christian community Liturgy and social commitment What is the essence of Christianity? Witnesses of faith A joyful message A dramatic fate Appointed son of God The common roots of Judaism, Christianity and Islam The great dispute in the earliest church The loss of Jewish roots Christianity becomes Greek The hierarchy is established A silent revolution 'from below' Constantinople: the second Rome From Christian faith to orthodox dogma The Slavonic world: religious and cultural split