World Religions: Figures and Terms

Unit 1: Aboriginal Spirituality and Ancient Religions

Person or Term / Religion / Identify / Religious Importance
Animism / Aboriginal Spirituality / The attribution of a living soul to plants, animals, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena. /
  • Belief that everything is alive
  • All living things reside in close connection and harmony with one another and move in cycles
  • Spirits return to the environment in afterlife

Zoroaster / Zoroastrianism / A man who felt that polytheism was failing to meet the needs of the people in Persia. He meditated and realized that the universe was ruled by one God named Ahura Mazda. He spent the rest of his life preaching and teaching about Ahura Mazda. His early efforts were met with failure. His life is a legend because the historical record is largely unreliable. /
  • Legend has it that he laughed when he was born (instead of crying)
  • Tamed wild beasts in his youth, performed miracles, fought off evil
  • Zoroaster’s bears striking resemblence to that of Jesus of Nazareth (born to a virgin, ancenstry can be traced back 45 generations to the Persian version of Adam, at 30, went off to the desert and received a revelation that changed many lives)

Ahura Mazda / Zoroastrianism / The Wise Lord; the God of Righteousness; revealed to Zoroaster when he was meditating. /
  • The God of the Zoroastrianism religion

Dakhma / Zoroastrianism / A circular, open-air structure for the disposal of dead bodies. /
  • Still today in India and until 1971 in Iran
  • Corpses placed in centre so that elements and scavengers consume/dispose of the body, returning it to nature
  • When only bones remain, they are swept into a well in the centre of the dakhma
  • Built on high rocky ground away from populated areas
  • Criticized today because of health issues (decaying bodies in open air) and environmental issues (vulture population cannot consume the number of human corpses produced)

Ahisma / Jainism / A doctrine of non-violence toward all living beings. /
  • Central Jain belief; considered by some as the noblest form of religions conduct
  • Avoiding physical violence, commitment to all life forms on earth, survival of planet, mentally and emotionally damaging conduct to oneself or others
  • According to Jain tradition “the clearest and most intelligent path to liberation”

Mahavira / Jainism / The man who “reorganized” the way people approached religious life. He wasn’t the founder; he re-established what was already taught. /
  • Jains believe that he is 1 of the 24 holy teachers who came to teach people the way of mastery
  • His life was dedicated to ahisma
  • Gave up all wordly possessions except for one piece of clothing and became a strict vegetarian (practice of asceticism)

Ascenticism / Jainism / The process of self-deprivation; denying oneself of food, clothing, cleansing, and pleasure in order to achieve a higher spiritual goal /
  • Common Hindu practice in India during 599-527 BCE
  • Practiced by Siddhartha Gautama Mahavira (Buddha) and Vardhamana Mahavira

Karma / Jainism / The law of cause and effect—for every action, there is a consequence. /
  • Affects people while they live their life on earth and also has an impact on their next life

Moksha / Jainism / The salvation from the cycle of rebirth. /
  • The goal of the present life is to pay one’s karmic debt in order to achieve moksha
  • Results in the elimination of the effects of karma in one’s life and is achieved through meditation and right conduct

Reincarnation / Jainism / The rebirth of a soul over many lives until it achieves release. /
  • Jains believe the concept that one has an eternal sould that is reborn into different bodies over the course of many lives

Sallekhana / Jainism / A holy ritual of gradual fasting to the point of death. /
  • Eating disorders are not considered to be sallekhana
  • Not considered to be a form of suicide even though people participating in it are willingly proceeding to their own deaths
  • Considered to be a sacred and holy practice, not self-destruction
  • Only to be undertaken by spiritually fit individuals (monks, nuns) and most be supervised by religious authorities.
  • Death with dignity and dispassion; results in liberation and achievement
  • Complete renunciation of worldy possessions
  • Allows participants to die in full mediattive awareness, maintaining their vows until the end of earthly existence

Jiva / Jainism / The soul. Jains believe that both animate and inanimate beings have a soul. /
  • Even the building blocks of nature, atoms, posses individual souls, according to Jain belief

Tao / Taoism / The way; to practice the way of nature and to understand how to achieve balance between opposing forces. /
  • The force that existed before all things
  • By giving birth to one, Tao gave the world a mechanism for balance. The birth of two means the birth of opposites. The birth of three refers to the existence of heaven, earth, and humanity. Thus, all creation can be related back to Tao, the great silent source of harmony

Lao Tzu / Taoism / Traditionally the founder of Taoism, a man named Li Erh who was an archivist at the royal palace of Luoyang, the capital city of the Chou dynasty. /
  • Scholars are uncertain of his existence:
-Lao Tzu means “old master” which is a title and not an actual name
-Wisdom associated with Lao Tzu seems to be an amalgam of the work of three different people
Wu wei / Taoism / Not doing; leaving things alone and letting nature take its course. /
  • Not an invitation to laziness or sloth
  • Spiritual request to leave things alone (eg. A person should not manipulate others’ thoughts and minds into thinking in a certain manner. Instead, one should have faith in the Tao and allow people to find their own way.)

Confucius / Confucianism / A younder contemporary of Lao Tzu whose philosophies shares some of the main components of Taoism. /
  • Born in Lu province (China) in 551 BCE
  • His mother was his first and most important teacher, led to his mastering of the six arts (ritual, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and arithmetic).
  • His father was the commander of a district in Lu, died when Confucius was three years old
  • Upset by lack of morality in the province of Lu

5 Virtues / Confucianism / For a Confucian, practicing the Five Virthues helps them follow the Way of Heaven. /
  • Like yin-yang, the Five Virtues co-relate and are necessary for balance and a sense of peace
-jen: goodwill, sympathy, politeness, generosity, diligence, perseverance
-yi: rightness, respect duty as guardians of nature and humanity
-li: art of right conduct, demonstrating inner attitude in outer expression
-chih: wisdom; expressed by demonstrating jen, yi, and li
-hsin: faithfulness and trustworthiness
Shinto / Shinto / Comes from the chinese term shin Tao, “the way of the divine”. /
  • No founder, no ritual use of scripture
  • Evidence of practice began to emerge about 2500 years ago (roughly the same period as Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Taoism, Confucianism).
  • Focuses on mythology and nature worship
  • Ability to coexist with other religious movements

Kami / Shinto / The spirits that underlie all existence. /
  • Literally means “high” or “superior”
  • Commonly used in relation to the words god or deity.
  • More often than not, it refers to spirits

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