Monotheism

Beliefe in only one God

Polytheism

Beliefe in more than 1 God

Pantheism

Beliefe that the devine is manifested in nature itself

Sects

Subdivisions of a larger religious group

Henotheism

Belief in 1 God w/o disbelieving in other Gods

Monotheistic Relgions Include

Christianity, Judaism, Islam, & Sikhism

Shiva

Supreme God of Hindu Henotheism

Pantheist

Favor spiral shapes as a representation of nature

Gods or God

(hinduism)

• General practice of a nuanced form of henotheism
• Brahman is considered the one supreme reality
• exist an infinite # of lesser deities
• Some hindu sects maintain pantheism beliefs

Brahman

• In Hinduism the ultimate reality underlying all phenomena
• primary goal is to reunite w/ the truth
• truth is a singularity, very essence of the universe
• brahman is indistinguishable from the truth
• beyond description
• w/o form, attributes, limits, all-pervasive, all-inclusive, w/o a beginning or an end
• inherent in every single aspect of universe
• unites all things

God or Gods

(Jainism)

• Polytheistic religion
• believe in no one creator
• believe the universe has exisited for all eternity and w/o a beginning
• worship heavenly deities and souls
• deities thought to be guardians
• deities participate in the cycle of life and death

God or Gods

(Buddhism)

• Polytheism
• Worship various devas
• god like beings that accumate a certain amount of karma
• devas have not yet achieved enlightenment of buddha
• combined w/ various folk religions and traditions
• create a hybird religion

Karma

• Belief that the good and evil in a person does will return either in this life or in a later one
• individuals every action has a consequence that affects subsequent lives
• travels w/ atman thur its incarnations
• fator that determines quality of susequent life
• proper actions = rebirth into higher position
• improper actions = lower status

God or Gods

(Judaism)

• Monotheism religion
• God is the one in only creator
• God is the only proper subject of worship
• worship of any other spiritual or physical idol is an offense to God

Yahweh

A form of the Hewbrew name of God used in the Torah

Christianity 

• Monotheism
• God is the one and only creator
• worship of other idols is forbidden

Islam

• Monotheistic
• Believes in a singular God
• God is omnipotent, all powerful, and indivisible
• islam rejects the claim that Jesus wat the physical incarnation or son of God

Allah

Islamic name for God in the Arabic language

God or Gods

(Confucianism)

• Non-theistic
• questioned as a religion
• practice of ancestor worship
• argued to be primarialy an expression of cultural practice and tradition
• no explicit beliefs about supernatural relam or God

God or Gods

(Daoism)

• Presents a patheistic system of beliefs
• no explicit mention of any particular God or gods
• emphasizes divine nature of all things
• Dao or tao stresses unity and encourages followers to live in harmony w/ natural order

Dao or Tao

Path of the morally enlightened individual to inner harmony, peace, and longevity, sometimes called the way

Hinduism

• Considered the oldest living religion
• also known as the eternal way (sanatana dharma)
• emerged in the Indus River Valley (now Pakistan)
• Vedas-collection of sacred texts are believed to have been composed during 1500BCE
• No single dogma, no signle sacred scripture, no single founder
• believe soul is born and reborn into bodies until liberated
• quality of a soul's new life largely determined by karma
• dharma: duty, virtue, or morality
• dharma is the binding force that uphold universe and society
• importance of right and virtuous action
• importance or Vedas and observation of holy days
• third largest religion

Diwali

Hinduism holy day called the festival of lights

4 main denominations of Hinduism

1. Shaivism
2. Shaktism
3. Vaishnavism
4. Smartism

Aryan Legacy

(1500-600 BCE)

• aryan means noble
• sanskirt written language
• resettled valley of indusrelgion they practed called vedism
• priest called brahmins provided knowledge and oversight
• vedas remain fundamental scriptural tests of modern hinduism
• vedism immediate precursor of hinduism

Sanskirt word Shindu

Means River

Vedas

• Sacred scriptures of the hindus, believed to contain divine wisdom revealed to ancient Vedic Sages
• Eternal, sense of always exisiting w/o being
• most defining charateristic of hinduism

Indra

(aryan pantheon)

The God of war:thunderstorms

Agni

(aryan pantheon)

God of fire; messenger of the gods

Soma

(aryan pantheon)

Personification of a certain intoxicating, plant based beverage that caused heightened spiritual awearness

Varuna

(aryan pantheon)

Sky god; expansive water

Mitra

(aryan pantheon)

God of oaths, promises, trust, honesty

Usas

(aryan pantheon)

Personification of the dawn; renewal

Vayu

(aryan pantheon)

The breather of life; god of air, wind

Savitr

(aryan pantheon)

personification or the animating power of the sun

Pusan

(aryan pantheon)

Bringer of prosperity; gaurdian of roads, journeys, marriages, livestock; mover of the sun

Brhaspati

(aryan pantheon)

Lord of prayer; personification of devotion and piety; intercessor to the gods

Surya

(aryan pantheon)

Sun god (ultimate light)

Dyaiis Pitr

(aryan pantheon)

Personification of the heavens; sky father (shining father)

Prithvi

(aryan pantheon)

Personification of the earth; later called prithvi mata (earth mother)

Apas

(aryan pantheon)

God of water

Vishnu

(aryan pantheon)

Personification of universal order

Rudra

(aryan pantheon)

Personification of the roaring wind; god of the hunt

Yama

(aryan pantheon)

Lord of the dead

Axis Age

(600-300 BCE)

• beginning period of extrodinary spiritual activity in India
• spiritual teachers began questioning relevancy of vedas and the authority of the Brahmins
• encouraged the adoption of practicing austerity, abstinence, and discipline
• hinduism inherited beliefs of the aryan caste system
• 3 upper classes twice born
• peasant class considered once born
• asceticism became widespread

Asceticism

Abstinence from worldly pleasures w/ aim of pursing religious and spiritual goals

Siddhartha Gautama

Central figure of buddhism, called buddha (awakened one)

Vardhamana

Mahavira (great hero) and central figure of Jainism

Caste System

Hereditary and hierarchical structuring of social classess w/i traditional hinduism

Brahmin

(varna or society)

• Religious leaders; priests, or other teachers of spiritual orthdoxy; intellectual class
• purpose is to learn, share, and preserve vedas and all relevan spiritual knowledge
• acted as court councilors

Kshatriya

(varna of society)

• Warriors and rulers; governing class; noble or aristocratic class
• purpose is to provide military defense of realm and administration of government
• protect and rule society

Vaishya

(varna of society)

• farmers and merchants, traders, bankers, landloards, and businessmen; entrepreneurial class
• purpose is to produce goods and services
• creat wealth and prosperity
• share it

Shudra

(varna of society)

• pessants, servants, tradesmen, and artisans; laboring class
• purpose is to produce goods, provide services, and to preform manual labor

Dalit

(varna of society)

• pariahs (untouchables)
• purpose is to preform the most menial labor
• usually the filthiest and most unhygienic tasks
• not sanctioned byVedic orthodoxy
• exist in social practice

Brahmacharin

(1st stage of life)

• student (god follower)
• time in the life from academic study and religious training
• celibacy required

Grihastha

(2nd stage of life)

• head of household
• time in life for marriage, kids, providing for ones fmaily
• pursuing and achieving goals of ones occupation
• furfilling ones purpose
• completion of this stage required

Vanaprastha

(3rd stage of life)

• hermit (forest dweller)
• time for retiring from ordinary social affairs
• reliquishing property to heirs and charities
• eschewing personal notority and gross pleasures
• time for seculsion, meditation, introspection, and penance

Sannyasin

(4th and final stage)

• renunciate (thrown down)
• time in life for giving up entirely all wordly attachments
• leaving ones family and home
• embracing the ascetic life of wandering pilgrim or menedicant
• seeking only spiritual wisdom and improvment

Classical era

(300 BCE-500 CE)

• 3rd century
• Mauryan Empire Buddhist
• Vedic trditions never discouraged
• Practice of vedism started to move towards worship of a single deity from amoung a pantheon of gods
• cults primarily formed around vishnu, Shive (or Rudra), Shakti (personification of female power)
• This is when the religion got it's name of hinduism

Mahabharata

Major religious epic of acient India and a major text of Hinduism

Bhakti movement

(500-1200)

• bhakti means devotion
• appears in study of hinduism in several contexts
• refered to here as a movement that produced a body of original, devotional hyms written not in sanskrit, but in common language of the time
• 1st in Tamil, then later in hindi, bengali, gujarati, punjabi, marathi, ect.
• intensely personal poems where worshiped deity is addressed as master, parent, or lover

Muslim Era

(1200-1750)

• beginning of 13th century
• muslim rulers not tolerant of either hinduism or buddhism
• islam was mainly accepted by those who follwed buddhism; embraced strongest in kashmir, bangkadesh, and pakistan
• other buddhist fled to tibet or nepel
• islam more influenced by hinduism than the other way around
• greater tolerence toward hinduism happened during the 16th and 17th century

Syncretism

A blending of religions or philosophical beliefs and practices

British Era

(1750-1950)

Tried to convert those that follwed hinduism to christianity which caused a crisis or faith amoung devot hindus

Rammohan Roy

(1772-1833)

• Rationalistic apologist or hinduism as a relevant and essentially monotheistic religion
• fouth to eliminate supersition, caste discrimination, & agregious practices
• called for universal education
• formed brahmo samaj
• inspried tattvabodhini sabha

Dayananda

(1824-1883)

• hindu fundamentalist
• proclamied infallibility & autonomy of orginal Vedas
• post vedic scripture rejected as well as polytheism
• fought to eliinate untouchable dalit caste, child marriage, & subjugation of women
• founded arya samaj

Vivekananda

(1863-1902)

• Deciple of ramakrishna
• argued the importance of mystical experiences 
• emphasized ecumenical, monistic tendicies w/i hinduism
• founded ramakrishna mission

Guru

A holy teacher; term used by Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism

Mohandas Gandhi

(1869-1948)

• Political organizer at the heart of India's successful independence movement
• Championed concept of civil resistance
• Argued for the merging or secularist european ideas w/ hinduism
• held the title of mahatma (sainted)
• fougth to emilinate the untouchable class

Sanatana Dharma

Eternal Way

Swaminarayan Akshardham

• in New Delhi
• world's largets hindu temple

Key Beliefs of Hinduism

• Never instatutionalized
• no one founder or mythology
• no single comprehensive doctrine
• common beliefs include Vedas, Brahman, atman, moksha, karma, dharma

Reincarnation 

Belief that a soul can be reborn into a new body after death

Atman

• an individuals souls, its animating spirt in hindu belief
• aspect of brahman, derived from it
• eternal
• continues to exist even when host body has perished
• seeks reunion w/ brahman
• achieving such reunion requires atman to live many lives
• continuosly reborn in consecutive hosts( reincarnation
• transmigration of the soul

Samsara

In Buddhism and Hinduism, the endless cycle of birth, suffering, death and re birth

Maya

• Everyday world
• Maya means illusion
• all phemomena of world are merely apperences, momentary manisfestations of human ego
• believe humans become ignorant of devine nature

Yoga

Hindu spiritual discipline which includes breath control, simple meditation, and adoption of specific bodily postures

Moksha

• means emancipation
• in indian religions, liberation from cycle of death and rebirth
• ultimate goal of human existance
• three trditional paths (marga)
• Karma-marga; path of duty
• jnana-marga; path of knownledge
• bhakti-marga; path of devotion

Karma-Marga

• path of duty
• performance of good works, and the faithful observence of proper religious practice

Jnana-marga

• path of knownledge
• sustained, systematic study of ethical works, training in contemplative arts, and the practice of meditation

Bhakti-marga

• path of devotion
• all consuming expression of love for a personal deity

Dharma

• understood to mean duty
• maintenance of the order of things
• essential to the eventual attainment of moksha
• governs the moral conduct and daily religious practice of individual followers
• improves ones karma
• principle of cosmic order and the religious and moral duty in accord w/ that order
• important tent of Hinduism, jainism, and buddhism

Sanatana Dharma

Prepetual maintenance of the order of things

4 Pursuits of Life according to the science of Dharma

1. moksha; release from the reincarnation and reunion w/ god
2. dharma; fulfillment of prescribed religious duties and social obligations, virtuous behavior, right action
3. artha; attainment of financial security and material gain, worldly success and power
4. kama; pursuit of sensory and bodily pleasure

4 most popular sects in india today

1. vaishnavism; believers in vishnu as supreme being
2. shaivism; believers in shiva as supreme being
3. shaktism; believers in shakti as supreme being
4. smartism; emphazing reliance on scriptures, especially the smriti

Shakti

In hinduism, a deity that is the personification of feminine energy

4 veda types

1. rig-veda; most acient veda, contains 1028 hyms and several myths
2. yajur-veda; collection of verses to be sung at sacrifical ceremonies
3. sama-veda; contains berses to be used during arcane portions of rituals
4. atharva-veda; contains hymns and information for practical religious purpose

all 4 vedas contain

• samhitas; verses of hymns
• brahmanas; explnations of the verses
• aran-yakas; reflections on the verses
• upanishads; speculation inspired by the verses

Shruti

(word for vedas)

Heard wisdom received by divine revelation

Smriti

(secondary to vedas)

remembered wisdom recieved by tradition

 Ramayana

• epic of rama
• story of the abdution of sita, and her rescue by her husband rama, a paragon of virtue

Mahabharata

• great epic of the bharata dynasty
• indias immense national epic, the adventures of krishna, and a compendium of dharma

Bhagavad-gita

• song of the lord
• ethical arguement between krishna and arjuna from the mahabharata, offers a moral code and a path to moksha

Puranas

• antiquities
• a collection of myths, ledgens, and genealogies of gods, heros, and saints

vedangas

• appendices to the veda
• technical texts relating to the preformance practice of sacrifical ceremonies

Darshanas

• visions
• philosophical and metaphysical texts

Sutras

• threads
• collections of aphorisms that comprise the contents of religious manuals

Tsntras

• looms
• esoteric writings concerned w/ mystical practices

puja

In indian religions, acts of worship, reverence

Jainism

• ancient indian religion
• Ganges river basin eatern india
• 6th century BCE
• independent religion
• believers should vanquish earthly passions & attain enlightenment
• universe is eternal,uncreated, has always existed
• 4 million followers

Karma

(jainism)

• physical subtance
• attaches self to a persons souls, weighing it down and preventing it transcending death and rebirth
• riding self of karma allows soul to escape reincarnation

Nirjara

• passionless exsistance
• monks live in seclusion, meditate constantly, reliquish wordly possessions, fast, and practice absolute nonviolence (ahimsa)

Tirthankaras

• equivalent of prophets
• guide jainism in adhering to their faith
• 24 of them

History of Jainism

• founded 2600 years ago
• one of indias oldest religions
• central historical figure vardhamana (mahavira

Vardhamana

• also known as Mahavira (the great hero)
• son of a powerful chieftain of the kshatriya class
• age 30 he renounced his possessions and lived and solitde for a decade
• took on 11 deciples that were from rich powerful brahmin families
• by time of death he had attracted 50000+ followers

Digambara

• sky-clad sect found primarily in southern india
• follows model of mahavria in advocating virtue of nudity of monks (wear robes in public
• wielded tremenndous political authority between 6th and 12th century CE (marked height of influence)
• theological texts written in sanskrit, prakrit, and kannada
• replaced by lingayat hindus 

Shvetambara

• white-clad sect found primarily in northen india that rejects virtue of nudity of monks
• underminded by muslims who persecuted and marginalized them

Basic doctrine

• jain is derivied from snaskirt verb ji meaning to conquer
• there exist an on going stuggle between forces of enlightenment and those of bodily passions
• those who vanquish passions and attain enlightenment refered to as jain
• follwers of jina are known as jaina (followers of conqueror)
• jainism is a weapon one wields to achieve a spiritual conquest

anekantevada

• means multiple viewpoints
• essential to the souls emancipation

The five Great Vows

• pledges that Jain monks must make in order to become initiated

1. Ahimsa-vow of nonviolence and peace
2. satya-vow of truthfulness
3. asteya-vow of nontheft
4. brahmacharya-vow of celibacy and sexual abstinence
5. aparigraha-vow of poverty and nonmaterialism

The three jewels of jainism

• 3 qualities that a soul must possess in order to become emancipated

1. right view
2. right knowledge
3. right conduct

Gods and creation

• polytheistic religion no god of creation
• when a person destorys all karmas he becomes liberated soul
• liberated soul become god of jain religion

Schism

• white clad believe monks should wear white robes and women and men are on the same level and equally capable forms to achieve moksha
• sky-clads believe monks should be naked and that women are not on the same level as men and can not be reincarnated as a women

Agamas

• trditions
• sacred scriptures of the jains
• 45 liturgical texts
• white-clads accept all texts
• sky-clads accept only two karmaprabhrita (karma chapters) and kashayaprabhrita (kashaya chapters)

Sikhism

• one of the youngest religions
• one of the most culturally influential faiths in southeat asia
• founded by guru nanak (born into a hindu family)
• pulled from both hinduism and islam
• Monotheistic20 million followers

Nanak

• founder of sikhism
• born in punjab
• felt pressence of god at age 29
• satnaam (true god)
• waheguru (wondrful teacher) today
• minimized rituals

Adi Granth

sacred scripture of sikhism

Nanak
(1469-1539)

Founder of Sikhism

Angad
(1504-1552)

Created gurmiki, the alphabet used in Sikh religious literature.

Amar Das
(1479-1574)

Wise and effective administrator. Eliminated many Hindu practices.

Ram Das
(1534-1581)

Founded the holy city of Amritsar.

Arjan
(1536-1606)

Son of Ram Das. Built the Golden Temple. Codified the Adi Granth. Martyred. Tortured to death by Mughal Emperor Jahangir.

Hargobind
(1595-1644)

Son of Arjan. Militarized Sikhism. Raised an army, fortified the cities, successfully repelled several Mughal invasions.

Har Rai
(1630-1661)

Grandson of Hargobind. Pacifist. Ineffective administrator.

Har Krishan
(1556-1664)

'The child guru.' second son of Har Rai. Died of smallpox at age eight.

Tegh Bahadur
(1621-1675)

Martyred. Imprisoned and decapitated by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

Gobind Rai
(1666-1708)

Son of Tegh Bahadur. Militant. Created the Khalsa. Earned the surname, Singh ('lion'). Ended the caste system among Sikhs. Proclaimed the Adi Granth the next and final guru.

Sikhs must Not

• be unfaitful to spouse
• believe in superstitions or the occult
• brag, lie, slander, or betray
• cut their hair or their childrens hair
• have premarital or extramarital sexual relations
• live as an ascetic, recluse, begger, monk, or celibate
• participate in ritual animal sacrifice
• pierce their nose or ears to wear ornaments
• steal, gamble, or form dubious associations
• take hemp, opium, liquior, or tobacco
• wear a veil or keep face hidden by a veil

gurdwara

a temple and place of worship for sikhism

The khalsa

• membership in the elite order requires

1. kesh-uncut hair, worn in a topknot, covered by a turban
2. kirpan-a ceremonial sword
3. kara-a steel wrist bracelet
4. khanga-wooden comb, also used as a hair clip
5. kachhera-cotton boxer shorts

3 Principle deities

• Brahma-creator
• Vishnu-perserver
• Shiva-destroyer

Sikh

Disciple