Transcript Other Religions

Other Religions
Jainism
 Jain, a break-off from Hinduism, is an ethical system
which believes that our souls are originally perfect, but
karma corrupts the soul; yet the soul can be purified
through right living.
 Jainism, a religion that branched out from Hinduism and
Buddhism, has the main goal of reaching moksha
(breaking the cycle of reincarnation) by avoiding as
much karma as possible.
Sikhism
 Sikhism, a blend of Hinduism and Islam, believes in the
cycle of reincarnation as a means for coming closer to
satnam (the monoist deity) and emphasizes an
individual’s religious state rather than the performance
of certain rituals.
 Sikhism, which takes elements from Hinduism and
Islam, follows monistic pantheism, believe in the cycle of
reincarnation which is broken when you achieve union
with satnam.
Baha’i
 Baha’i, a break-off from Islam, is a monotheistic religion
that teaches that most religions are valid, emphasizing
unity of God, religion and humanity.
 A recent religion, Baha’i is monotheistic and combines all
main religions, stressing unity of God, religion and the
human race.
Shinto
 Shinto is a polytheistic Japanese ethical system in which
adherents worship their ancestors and Shinto gods,
while also permitting Buddhist religious thought and
practices.
 Shinto, a Japanese ethical system, is polytheistic and
focuses on the four affirmations or beliefs, yet also
borrows from Buddhism for the understanding of the
afterlife.
Confucianism
Confucianism—Basic Data
Christianity
Confucianism
Adherents
2 billion (32%)
6.3 million
Leading Person
Jesus
Kung Fu Tze
(Confucius)
Holy Book
Bible
Analects (sayings of
Confucius)
Clergy
Bishops, Priests
None
House of Worship
Church
None
Theology
MonotheisticTrinitarian
Non-Theist
Soteriology
Passion of Christ
Duty
Holidays
Easter
None
Fasting
Lent (Advent)
Moderation in all things
Kung Fu Tze
 551 BC (BCE)
 Born of low-level nobility
 Desired to be politician in order to improve society and
bring about good government
 His integrity, principles and ideals prevented him
 Turned to teaching his political theory
 Died 479 BC (BCE) with only modest success
What is Confucianism?
 Not really a religion but an ethical system
 “How can you hope to understand the spirits? First you
must seek to understand the living”
 Seeks a well-ordered society
 Opposed to self-interest
 Seeks the common good
Well-Ordered Society
 Keys to a well-ordered society
 Social order, harmony, and good government should be
based on family relationships.
 Respect for parents and elders is important to a wellordered society.
 Education is important both to the welfare of the individual
and to society
 At the heart of these three key elements is tradition
 Tradition must be deliberately and consciously enacted by
the individual
 Tradition shifts from an unconscious to a conscious foundation
Importance of Rituals
 Rituals are the “glue” that cultivates good human beings
and good relationships
 The rituals are
 Ren: goodness or human-heartedness; it can be
understood as the notion that a relationship is not an
objective thing but rather a relational event.
 Chun Tze: the noble person; the ideal partner or
participant in a relationship.
 Li:
 (1) the proper manner or orderliness with which sacred ritual
acts are carried out;
 (2) the idea that one's social comportment is just such a ritual
act
 De: power by moral example; ruling by how you handle
yourself and behave is better than ruling through
intimidation and fear
Li: The Five Basic Relationships
 The Five Basic Relationships are
 parents and children
 spouse and spouse
 older and younger siblings (brothers and sisters)
 older and younger friends
 ruler and subject (and by extension, employer and
employee; teacher and student)
 Family relationships are the basis of the others
 Xiao ("Filial Piety"): the veneration and respect for all
members of one's family
Daoism (Taoism)
Daoism—Basic Data
Christianity
Daoism
Adherents
2 billion (32%)
2.7 million
Leading Person
Jesus
Chuang Tze
Holy Book
Bible
Dao De Jing
Chuang Tze
Clergy
Bishops, Priests
None
House of Worship
Church
None
Theology
MonotheisticTrinitarian
Non-theist
Soteriology
Passion of Christ
Right being
Holidays
Easter
None
Fasting
Lent (Advent)
Balance, Harmony
Daoism in Perspective
 Religion in China has essentially been a threefold hybrid
of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism.
 Confucianism is about relation
 Buddhism is about release.
 Daoism is about balance.
 Some Chinese say that
 In business, one should be a Confucianist,
 in retirement and withdrawal from worldly activities, one
should be a Daoist,
 Just prior to death, one should be a Buddhist.
 For the Chinese, "covering all the bases" is not a
trivializing of the sacred.
 The three religions demonstrate that we are multi-faceted
Daoism—Philosophy
 An attempt to codify and organize the wisdom and
experience of the natural world
 The Dao (“Way”) and the De (“Power”)
 The Doa is
 the "transcendent Dao," or the Dao of ultimate reality. In
this sense, the Dao is the very ground of all being, the
principled source of all that is.
 the "immanent Dao," or the Dao of the universe. This is the
energies and rhythms of nature that are all around us.
 To be with or in the Dao is to be in balance and to live one's life
in accordance with the natural rhythms and patterns of the
universe.
 If one's life or affairs are in turmoil and conflict, one is not living
in accordance with the Dao . For this reason, the Dao is often
associated with the metaphorical image of water.
Daoism—Philosophy
 The De is
 Efficiency: Making the most out of the least
 Harmony without friction, without extremes, within the
rhythm and energies of the universe
 Wu Wei, or "actionless action." Not “going with the flow”
(being carried along) but acting in harmony with the tide
(maximizing the tide’s energy).
 Right being leads to right doing
 For the Confucianist, right doing leads to right being
Daoism—Religion
 The natural order is more important than the social
order.
 A universal force guides all things.
 Human beings should live simply and in harmony with
nature.
Daoism—Religion
 Harmony is demonstrated by the yin & yang
 The circle represents harmony of yin ( earth, female,
passive) and yang (heaven, male, active); natural order
 Non-ceasing interaction of give and take, the rhythm
and interplay of the universe as it ebbs and flows
 It is not about opposites in a conflict that must be
resolved