REL 333 Week 4 World Religious Traditions I. – Should have e-mailed to me your Eastern Religious Matrix by now –Your learning teams should be working.

REL 333 Week 4World Religious Traditions I

– Should have e-mailed to me your Eastern Religious Matrix by now

– Your learning teams should be working on the final assignment due next week too.: LEARNING TEAM

– Time: 5 Hours (All time indications throughout the syllabus are for on-ground students.)• Review the objectives from Week Four and discuss additional insights and questions that may

have arisen.• Eastern Religions Learning Team Final Presentation and Paper (due Week Five) APA

– Each Learning Team will complete a paper and presentation about the impact of a contemporary expression of an Eastern religious tradition on a particular society. The following is a list of questions to consider:

– What role do Eastern religious traditions play in modern medicine?– What impact has Hinduism had on modern India’s society?– How is the practice of Buddhism expressed in the United States?– What is the state and practice of ancient Chinese religious traditions in Communist China?

– The paper and presentation should focus on how the societal views of spirituality and religion have been influenced, and how social and political life has been impacted by the selected Eastern religious tradition, then compare and contrast the selected religion to at least one other studied in this course.

– The paper should consist of 2,100-2,450 words. The Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation should comprise 10-12 slides (with narrator notes if they are available) The project must include at least five references in addition to the textbook. Both the Final Paper and the Presentation are due in Week Five.

Week 4 Objectives

• Trace the historical development of Taoism, Confucianism, and Shinto

• Examine the significance and meaning of ritual, symbols, myths, and sacred texts in Taoism, Confucianism, and Shinto

Taoism (also known as Daoism)

Taoism

• The Way of Nature–Taoism; a way of studying and

systematizing human life as well as natural life

–Nature observations and emulation are foremost

Ancient Traditions roots

• Ancestor Worship– Divination

• I Ching (Book of Changes)– Supreme Deity

• Shang-ti• Holy Mother in Heaven (guardian of the seas)

Taoism• Lao-tzu• Lived approx

600 BCEWas a courtarchivist and a contemporary ofConfuciusChuang-Tzu

Lao-Tzu

• Retired from Government service– ‘went west.’–The gatekeeper and the Tao-te-

ching–Supposedly lived for hundreds of

years

Taoism• Tao-te-ching – ‘The Way and the Power’

– About 5000 words– Poetic– Begins by saying that nothing can be adequately

said about the Tao.– Calls for a return to nature and its source (the Tao)– Downplays formal learning– Asserts natural wonder and the harmonization of

nature and humanity

“The Tao that can be named, that is not the Absolute Tao.”

Taoist Ritual and Practice

• Blends temple worship, private devotion, meditation, breathing, and physical techniques.

• Also incorporates alchemy, yoga, good deeds, shamans, superstition, and occult magical practices

• One goal is to become immortal

Taoist practices

• Tai-Chi– Body movements, breathing and relaxed

concentration– Designed to draw chi from the universe and

stimulate its flow through the body

• Feng Shui – (‘Wind and water’)• http://www.artoffengshuiinc.com/

Bruce Lee (1940-1973)

Taoist ethics and Morality

• Wu-wei – ‘non-action.’

• Harmony –– ‘the more forcing, the more trouble…’

• Wu-hsin – ‘no-mind’

The Tao of Pooh• "While Eeyore frets ...

... and Piglet hesitates

... and Rabbit calculates

... and Owl pontificates

...Pooh just is.”

• "Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully."Yes,"said Piglet, "Rabit's clever.""And he has Brain.""Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."There was a long silence."I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."

Taoism• Tao-te-ching – ‘The Way and the Power’

– About 5000 words– Poetic– Begins by saying that nothing can be adequately said about the

Tao.– Calls for a return to nature and its source (the Tao)– Downplays formal learning– Asserts natural wonder and the harmonization of nature and

humanity• most translated after the Bible

– Oral Tradition– Very Ancient– Written by Lao Tzu (?)

“The Tao that can be named, that is not the Absolute Tao.”

The Point of Taoism

• To study the order and system of natural life so that one can order ones own life to move with the flow. The path will necessarily weave as the cosmos around you changing– Requires great mental and physical

discipline

Life in Harmony

• Experience the transcendent unity in all things, not separation

• reconcile opposites on a higher level of consciousness– Everything has it’s place and function in life

• no good or bad, small or large, disfigured or beautiful

Life in Harmony continued

– Experience the universe that is directly• cooperating with the ways things are, not

making judgments, setting standards of morality, not labeling

– Three in the Morning

A Low Profile

– A Taoist has a low profile in the world• like a valley, allowing things to flow into life, like a stream• Not working for recognition, doing it because it is their

function to do it• nourishes the “ten thousand things” of material life• No possession of accomplishments, works effortlessly

The Way of Water

– Flowing Water• Water doesn’t

fruitlessly attack– effortlessly

flows around and over, gently removing obstacles

Wu Wei• doing nothing

–nothing contrary to nature–not expending unnecessary energy

• non-interference–nothing is evil, things are just out of balance

»Civilization with rigid views on morality, and intellectual attempt to improve what is generates chaos

Ch’i-kung• Very similar to Hindu meditation

practice–Ching - generative force–Ch’i - vitality–shen - spirit

• management of ones “life-force” is VERY important

Mystical Practices

• I Ching• Life is chaotic, sometimes answers don’t come

– the brick wall scenario

• with meditation, washing, ask your question– a direct line to the spirit world

– T’ai-chi chuan– Philosophical vs. Popular Taoism

• Search for Elixir of Immortality

Mystical Practices

Qin Shi Huang Di

Gods and Priests• Some Taoists have priests, deities, and so on

– Eight Immortals• humans who gained immortality with their own magic

powers

– Hsien• numerous gods• ancestral spirits• magic making• ritual• priests

8 Immortals• Zuang Guolao

• Zhong-Li Quan

• Han Xiang-Zi

8 Immortals• He Xian-Gu

• Lan Cai-He

• Li Tie-Guai

8 Immortals• Lu Dong-Bin

• Cao Guo-Jui

From: http://www.asianartmall.com/8immortalsarticle.htm

Confucianism

Confucius Kung Fu-tzu

Confucius

551-479 BC

Confucius, the Buddha, and Lao Tzu Tasting Vinegar

Confucianism• Kung Fu-tzu (Master K’ung)

– Teachings called Juchiao (“the teaching of the scholars”)– Life Story

• Gentleman Scholar• Jen (“human-heartedness, humanity)• Golden Rule• Social Hierarchy• Rituals – Li• Filial Piety - Yi• Ancestor Worship• Mencius – Mandate of Heaven

Confucianism• Confucius brought together many old traditions, applied his own wisdom, and put things in many small sayings that were easy to remember

• Emphasized rituals

as the way to preserve

order in society

Confucianism

• Confucius not recognized as a sage until after his death

• Mencius (Meng Tzu) & Hsun Tzu

Central Teachings

• Tradition• Jen• Li• Veneration of ancestors

– Food and wine offerings– Silent prostrations at ancestral temples,

gravesites, and homes

Nature of the Divine

• Gods, Spirits and ancestors–All supported the moral order–Violating the moral order was

to violate your ancestors

Sacred Texts• Five Classics• I Ching• Book of History• Classic of Rites• Spring and Autumn Annals• Four Later Books

– Analects of Confucius– Book of Mencius– The Great Learning– The Doctrine of the Mean

Art

Poem on Mountain – Ming Dynasty

Art

Wu Dao-Zi – Tang Dynasty

Art

Han-Gan White Horse – Tang Dynasty With Poem from the Emperor in 1746

Forbidden City

Forbidden City

Forbidden City

Forbidden City

Forbidden City

Female (Left) and Male (Right) Lions Guarding the Residences

Forbidden City

Shintoism

: 神道

Shintoism• Originated in Japan• Has no ‘founder’• Came to be known as Shinto in

response to incursion of Buddhism

Shinto Definitions• Shinto• State Shinto• Kami• Torii• Ki• Aikido• Amaterasu• Hirohito

Shintoism

• Kami •misogi,• Kinship with

– nature• Purity• Purification

– Rituals

History• The indigenous religion of Japan (790 AD)

– no name until Buddhism arrived• used by governments to inspire nationalism

– returned to grassroots after war and separation of Church and state

• People of the land– agricultural

• plant, tend, harvest– sun and moon cycles– Spr. - Summer - Fall - Winter cycle– Mount Fuji is sacred embodiment of divine creativity

• land thrust up from the sea• Fuji-san is it’s name

– friendship and intimacy

– Simplicity and naturalness are the honored traits

Kami• The divine

– Kamikaze - divine wind• Spirits, any type

– the kami are EVERYWHERE• Shrines to honor them

• Groves of trees• always an enclosure to show where the Holy begins

– torii - tall gate frames– bridges over streams

» water is particularly cleansing» places provided to wash

• public hall - offering hall - sacred sanctuary– only High Priest goes to the latter

» priesthood is often hereditary, takes years to learn all of the nuances• no images in worship, all is in nature

Kami continued

• Home worship too– a high shelf with a shrine

• generally only a mirror inside– greet sun with clapping and prayer, and offerings

» Rice - health» Water - cleansing and preservation of life» Salt - harmonious seasoning of life

– by daily incorporating the worship of the kami into everyday life one will be in harmony with nature

Evil or Sin…?• No sin in Shinto

– Good and evil distinctions are for lesser people– world is a beautiful, enjoyable place– Sexuality is not bad per se

• communal bathing is traditional• Impurity is cause of misfortune

– tsumi;• unkind interaction among humans• corpses• menstruation• humans interacting against nature• natural disasters

And sin…? continued

No repentance required. Purification required

• physical - I.e. washing with water• spiritual - I.e. and enlightening moment

– unity of universe– oharai

• stick of wood from sacred tree with white streamers attached

– kami wind, remember?

Shinto Buddhism?

• Shinto for life events, Buddhism for death events

• Often the two are worshipped side by side– theologies are very different

Shinto Confucianism?

• Hierarchy• social cohesion• alliance was formed to attempt to overthrow the

Buddhist influence

State Shinto• Emperor Meiji

– Shinto became spiritual basis for government– Emperor was long thought to be the offspring of the

sun goddess• imperial family would almost always consult the shrine to

the sun goddess for matters of importance.– Way of the kami should govern the nation

• administered by government officials– priests were suppressed and/or done away with

• tool to enlist popular nationalism– Emperor was a God, worthy of protection, and Japan should expand

Various Elements

– Eternal life-force• ch’i

– Self-generating

– Yin and Yang• yin = female, dark, receptive• yang = male, bright, assertive

– wisdom is in recognizing their ever shifting, always in balance cycle. The follower will flow with these cycles.

» The cycle is called the TAO (the way)

Prayers and notes on a Shinto shrine

Chuang Tzu

• Important Taoist– Butterfly Story:Chuang-Tzu once

dreamed he was a butterfly. When he awoke, he no longer knew if he was a butterfly dreaming he was a man, or a man who had dreamed he was a butterfly.

Japanese Baths:Grandma & Grandson

Japanese Baths:Grandma & Grandson

Calligraphy Calligraphy

Shinto

Shin (Divine Being) Do (Way)

• Japanese in origin– Strictly a Japanese order

• Confucianism - informs organizations and ethics• Buddhism and Christianity - ways to understand

suffering and afterlife• Shinto - living in harmony with the natural world

State Shinto continued

• Hirohito– Meiji’ grandson

• thought to be a God– Declared himself human at the end of

WWII• thus sending Japan headlong into our

century…

Shinto Today

• Non-proselytizing• nature oriented• relationship oriented• A good example of the definition of an

indigenous religion– for so it is...

I. Questions:

II. Philosophy of Religion

A. Philosophy of religion is NOT meant to convert students or to trigger emotional arguments between students with differing beliefs

B. Philosophical study of religion is meant to enable students to expand understanding, think critically, and reflect on the nature of their own religious beliefs

C. In principle, there is no reason that philosophy, science, and religion cannot coexist

Purposes (Function) of Myth:

1. Teach about ourselves (explain origins)

2. Provide explanations3. Provide examples or models of

behavior4. Create meaning for yourself5. Entertainment (social solidarity)

Methods of Studying Religion:

1. Sympathetic (participant-observer): feel for

2. Dispassionate (apathetic): feel not3. Normative (antipathetic): feel

against4. Empathetic (Understanding

through acquaintance): feel within5. Analytical: study and do critical

analysis of the claims of the religion

Dimensions (Aspects) of Religion:

From Ninian Smart (The World Religions (1989): 10-21.)

1. Ritual (Practice)2. Experiential (mysterium tremendum et

fascionosans; emotional)3. Mythic (Stories/narratives with sacred

significance)4. Doctrinal (beliefs; philosophies)5. Ethical (commandments; actions;

legal)6. Social (Institutional; Community)7. Material (Artistic)8. Historical: real live events