Relstudies Lecture Notes PDF

F(9/11) What is Religion; 01b - Many have attempted to define religion Karl Marx (1818- 83) - Religion is the ‘opium’ of the masses - Teaches people to accept their fate with the promise of a ‘eternal award’ - Religion is man-made; super natural things do not exist; a cultural produc...

F(9/11) What is Religion; 01b - Many have attempted to define religion Karl Marx (1818- 83) - Religion is the ‘opium’ of the masses - Teaches people to accept their fate with the promise of a ‘eternal award’ - Religion is man-made; super natural things do not exist; a cultural product of society - Marx believed that with improved political, societal, and economic conditions, religion would become irrelevant (he believed communism would make religion irrelevant) - The elites promote religion to stop people from taking their power; keeps the suffering masses in their place Max Muller (1823- 1900) - “As there is a faculty of language, there is a faculty of faith” - Much like how people are born with a predisposition towards the learning and use of language; Muller suggests there is also a natural instinct/ need to be involved in religion - People have a natural interest for the super natural Huston Smith (1919- 2016) - Humans have an impulse to relate themselves to the “whole” - “The religious problem” - Humans want to understand how they relate to the universe Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917) - “Animism” the belief in spiritual beings - Every religion has a belief in spiritual beings James George Frazer (1854-1914) - Human thought has developed in 3 ways; magic, religion, then science - Religion is a phase in the development of human thinking Emile Durkeim (1858-1917) - Key to understanding religion is found in individuals relationship with society - Collectivity of people is crucial to religion - Not god, but society; god is a symbolic expression of society (09/16) William James (1842-1910) - Religion consists of two parts; An uneasiness… Its solution - There is something wrong about us as we naturally stand; the solution is a sense that we are saved from our wrongness by making connection to powers via religion - Humans are born with a ‘sinful nature’ (common idea in many religions) 02a: Why study world religions? - Learn the ability to see the world through someone else's eyes - Promotes peace, harmony, understanding, compassion - Religion has been associated with negative things - Learning more about religion helps one understand how religion is ‘misused’ - Global ethic document (parliament of world religions) - Investigating the history of the human ‘soul’ - Humans share a natural instinct / desire to figure out what life is about, and how we fit into it - A drive towards religion, or spirituality Seeing the world through a set of glasses How you interpret the world is affected by three things - Genetics - A need to find a connection to the greater whole - Embedded in our genes, a ‘spirituality’ - Past experiences - Some may associate religion with positive feelings, or negative, depending on their experiences - Strong opinions do not necessarily mean that it is the right/ wrong answer - Thoughtful consideration 02b: How should we study world religions Categorization - Religion is a device that can be used to categorize people - Within this ‘category’, their are sub categories, and it may go on - We do this because people like order, and don’t like chaos Sources for the study of world religions - Religions have a history; they are always changing 1. Study of scripture, or sacred text 2. Archeological study 3. Through intrepid individuals (third person reports) 4. ‘First person reports’ The first two categories are needed for reconstructing historical elements of a religion. The last two are valuable for understanding modern elements of a religion. 9/18: Secular humanism, Freud, Maslow, Dawkins Secular Humanism: a non-religious approach to life - Does not include or resort to anything supernatural/ divine - Secular humanist believe the fate of human beings is in the hands of humans Humanism = A school of thought about humanity - Human beings have great potential Sigmund Freud Freud’s take on the mind - Father of psychoanalysis - He took interest in the mind - Neuroses; a disorder that you are suffering, the cause is an element in the unconscious mind that is difficult to deal with; events are pushed into this unconscious mind; the person may forget but mental disturbances may arise - Everyday people who could function in the world, but they had psychological problems, ‘troubled minds’ - Freud developed methods to figure out what the neurosis triggering trauma was - Freud developed psychoanalysis as he worked/ studied with his patients - Conscious/ unconscious mind Take on religion - Freud; a godless jew - He felt that he couldn't treat patients without understanding religion - Phylogenetic theory of religion: How did religion first enter the species, the origin of religion (highly speculative) - Ontogenetic theory: Despite how advanced civilization is, religious people still exist - Religion helps people cope with the fear of the natural world - Religion helps people compensate for the repression required in civilized society - ‘Terrors or nature’; religion helps people cope with this (natural death, violence, illness, etc) - Religion explains the forces of nature by saying that supernatural beings control them; by turning these forces into ‘beings’, it makes people believe that they can appease to them - Personifies the forces of nature - People have to repress their desires in order to fit in with society; Religion gives people reason to follow the rules of society - Death is not the end; voluntarily following society means paradise, opposite means hell - Freud calls religion an illusion; it is a product of wish fulfillment Abraham Maslow - Psychologist - Believed that the origin of religion came from healthy minds (opposite of Freud) - Father of humanistic psychology - Hierarchy of needs - When needs are satisfied, people move up the ‘ladder’/ pyramid - Maslow studied people with healthy minds - He believed that religion was beneficial for people - When the world is dichotomized (into the sacred and the profane) the outcome is terrible - Organized religion; 1] divided a unified world into two parts science and religion, 2] held spiritual values captive - Claimed that organized religions all started the same way; one individual has an experience that gave them a certain view 09/23: 04a, 04b Introduction to India - India is the birthplace of Hinduism and Buddhism - India isolated from the rest of Asia; mountains along northern India - As a result, India developed a unique culture - Comprised of different cultures/ languages: a lot like Europe, where it was composed of multiple kingdoms - Linguistic/ cultural difference between north vs south India The Indus Valley Civilization - Along Indus River - British discovered ancient ruins, cities - Very orderly, good technology (plumbing, etc) - Possibly hieroglyphics, or just highly complex written language - Likely in contact with mesopotamia - Indus Valley civilization was before Hinduism Indo-Aryans: Founders of Hinduism - Sir William Jones - Linguistic prodigy; studied Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, as well as several others - Lawyer; Judge in India - Discovered that there were similarities in languages from India all the way to West Europe, meaning they all started from one place, LIKELY - Indo Europeans: People from India to places in Europe originate from these people - Most modern European languages are Indo-European - Ancient Persian, and ancient Sanskrit almost identical Intro to Indian Religions Hinduism 3500 years (~1400 BCE - Present) Buddhism 1800 years (~ 500 BCE - 1300 CE) Concepts shared by Hindus and Buddhists - Class, or Varna 1. Brahmin Priests 2. Ruler/ warriors  3. Commoners 4. Servants - Society is Hierarchical - Social class is hereditary - People in higher classes are more ‘pure’ than lesser classes - Majority of population in bottom two classes - Varna system recognizes distinction between Indo-Aryan and non-Indo-Aryan origins (bottom classes were indigenous, darker complexion) - Hinduism justifies hierarchical society, as the Varna system existed since the time of creation - Buddhust do not believe this notion Reincarnation and Karma - First 800 years, Hinduism did not believe in reincarnation, until the Buddhist created the notion - Reincarnation common to all Indian religions - Reincarnation not random, tied with karma - Karma= bad deeds mean bad rebirth, vice versa - Cyclical existence viewed as prison; the ‘problem’ that needed to be solved - Religion could teach one to solve this problem - Wordly Renunciation: getting rid of worldly attachments to focus on religion, and getting a good rebirth 09/25: 05a, 05b Origins of Hinduism - ‘Om’ a sacred syllable - ‘Hindu’ a label given, not indigenous term - ‘Indo-Aryans’ founders of Hindu tradition, meaning it is a creation of people who came outside India Indo Aryans - Organized into loosely affiliated tribes - Semi-nomadic cattle herders - By their own description, they were war-like - Spoke Sanskrit - Domesticated the horse Indo-Aryan/ early Hindu religion - Early Hindus believed that spirits/ gods inhabited the world, who were associated with some sort of natural phenomenon (aminism) - Hymns created to praise deities - Gods kept world in order - Fire sacrifices to please gods - Belief in afterlife a place you go to when you die, not very specific Rig-Veda - Collection of 1028 hymns, used to praise gods/ goddesses - 1400~1000 BCE; hymns created throughout this entire period - Hymns collected and put into ‘book’ to make Rig Veda - Originally, hymns had to be memorized, not written - Hymns come from divine revelation - Over 600 of the hymns addressed to either Indra (king of gods), Agni (god of fire), and Soma(resided in the Soma plant, offered to gods and imbibed by priests in rituals) - Indra represents self image of Aryans - Soma plant: stalk grinded, juice collected; had consciousness altering properties; similar to opioids - Vishnu: god of expansion~early on is a minor deity, becomes important - Rudra: God of storm~minor, but will become important later in tradition Fire Sacrifice - Foodstuffs offered to gods by being thrown into fire; the gods ‘ate’ the smoke - Hymns are dedicated to specific gods - ‘Hired experts’ or ‘priests’ carried out rituals - In exchange, gods granted, wealth, food, health, protection from harm, etc - Social class created as a feature of the creation of the world Vedic Period (1400-500 BCE) - Period when Vedas/ Vedic canon were composed/ revealed; 1000 years where the vedas came into tradition Early Vedic period~(1400-1000 BCE) North West India - Composing hymns collected in rig veda - Tribes (tribal chiefs) - Herding economy - Life in world is good, as you only live once - Afterlife Middle Vedic period(1000-700 BCE) North Central India - Founding of kingdoms, first hindu kings - Early Hindu society changed drastically - Politics and religion intertwined - Kings divinely appointed - New sacrifices for just the kings - Sacrifices elaborate and complex - Life still fairly rural Late Vedic period(700-500 BCE) North East India - Rise of cities~permanent settlements, no longer nomadic - Shift from cattle herding to rice cultivation economy; leads to population boom - Trade - Trade leads to interaction with different cultures/ people - Trade allows for people to accumulate wealth~printing money (10/02) 06: The Upanishads William James’ Problem-solution model - Problem: ‘Insecurity’ of life on earth - Solution - Sacrifices offered sense of control - Sacrifices brought goof worldly things, better afterlife - Ensured stable society (husband-wife-son was basic unit) Challenges during late vedic period - Overcrowding; people seeking opportunity - Traditional rural-based family ties break down - Alienation/ isolation: - Differences in wealth between people; separation of rich and poor - Poverty/ slums - Leads to sickness and epidemics - Flooding/ droughts Changes to Hinduism in late vedic period - Upanishads written, ‘secret doctrines’ - Final texts of vedic canon - About 12-13 upanishads, each short - Old information/ ideas, being pitched as kept secret, (debatable, likely new)  - Likely pitched as being a new idea so that people didn’t reject the Upanishads, or view them suspiciously - Contradicts aspects of what came before - Upanishds introduced: - Reincarnation, Karma, Samsara, moksha (liberation of samsara) - Upanishads condescending view of ritual fire sacrifices; rural life is simple, ‘quaint’ - Reincarnation weakens family ties - Fire sacrifices cannot get you out of cycle of reincarnation; samsara is a prison, a ‘problem’ - New Solution: - Realization of the truth will set you free - Brahman: the one true ‘soul’ of the world - Through certain practices (meditation, separation from worldly things/creature comforts), boundaries of individuality weaken which leads to liberation - Brahman; ‘being’, ‘consciousness’, ‘bliss’ - Shift from polytheism to monotheism (10/07) 07: Hindu Dharma Dharma: Your sacred duty that you owe to the world Dharma as Cosmic Order - Dharma= things in the universe that make sure everything runs properly; gods upheld this version of Dharma - Gods needed to stay healthy to maintain order: via sacrifices Dharma as social order - Shifts to this meaning with the emergence of cities - Concern about social order - What is your part in maintaining social order Goals of life 1. Sensual pleasure; Kama 2. Wealth and status; Artha 3. Righteousness; Dharma 4. Liberation; Moksha Twice born: Upper classes, indo-aryan. Allowed to study the vedas (men only). Once born: Servant class. Not allowed to study the vedas. Dharma stages of life 1. Student 2. House-holder 3. Forest-dweller 4. Complete world renunciation Solving tension - Live the first half of life participating in world (early stages of life) - Then turn to spiritual liberation for second half Paying off debts - Person born owing ‘3 debts’ - To the gods; paid by sacrifices - Vedic seers; paid by study of vedas - Ancestors; paid by having children Laws of Manu - Manu = first man on earth - 1st century BCE-2nd century CE roughly - Written by Brahmin priests - ‘Normative, prescriptive text’ how things ought to be Points of interest 1. Relationship between vedas, and laws of manu 2. Dharma according to social class 3. Use of stages of life, theology of debts 4. Descriptions of ascetic practice 5. Distinctions between men and women Vedas/ laws of manu relationship - Vedas must be seen as the foundation for dharma - Everything that can be known about faith is in the Vedas Dharma according to social class - Brahmins are teachers in society studies the veda;, Brahmin knows duties of all classes - Other classes give Brahmins gifts  - Ruler/ warrior livelihood is use of weapons - Farming, trade for commoners Stages of Life, Debts - One has to pay off debts before seeking liberation Ascetic practice - Bath graduate=graduation from student phase World renunciation - Leaving village for wilderness, to focus on religion - Anti-violence Distinctions between men and women - Women not taught sanskrit - Laws of manu not aimed at women 10/09: 08; Hindu epic mythology - Presents a picture of the world in what we have seen so far Mahabharata - Great story of India Ramayana - Adventures of Rama Approximately 200 BCE - 400 CE - Written by one person, author unknown - They are post-vedic texts - Roughly contemporaneous with the laws of manu - Texts contain everything that makes an epic, however are inherently religious scripture Vedas and Epics - Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma are far more important than the vedic Gods - Vishnu is the most powerful god, supreme god of gods - Creates, sustains, then destroys the universe - Therefore, universe goes on in a cycle Yugas create cycle of existence - In the time the universe exists, it goes through smaller cycles 1. Krta-yuga 2. Treta-yuga 3. Dvapara-yuga 4. Kali-yuga - At the end, Vishnu restores the world and brings another Krta-yuga period Avataras of Vishnu - Physical forms of vishnu that descend to earth Devotion (Bhakti) - Supreme cosmic gods don't need sacrifices to be sustained - If you are devoted to them, they are devoted to you, followers offer devotion Pilgrimage (yatra) - Epics create new religious practice Epic Stories in brief - About struggles to sustain or preserve the earth - Vishnu descends to earth only when he is needed - Good vs evil - Valmiki said to have written the Ramayana, as he witnessed it Ramayana - Demon causing problems on earth, and beating up on the vedic gods - Vishnu has to incarnate on earth in order to defeat demon; chooses to be born into a kings family in north India - Rama (Vishnu) learns to fight the demons as he grows up, eventually ‘saves the day’ - Rama exiled to forest for 14 years before he is made a king - Ravana the demon kidnaps sita, Rama's wife - War between monkeys and demons to save Sita - Rama kills Ravana, Vishnu fulfills his goal in getting rid of Ravana - Saves Sita Mahabharata - Lord Krishna (Vishnu incarnate) is not central hero in the story  - Gods and demons fighting in heaven, demons descended to Earth as wicked kings - War between cousins in who gets to inherit the throne; breaks out into war - Lead up to war~war~post war events - All of India is at war (10/21) 09: Explosion of Hindu Mythology; Puranas Puranas- Collection of ancient tales - Massive expansion of mythology - Collection of stories, not consistent - Puranic trinity; brahma, vishnu, shiva; creator, preserver, destroyer - Who is the highest god? Vishnu or shiva Vishnu avatars in puranas - Sometimes comes to earth as a animal - For world to be created, vishnu grows flower from his naval, brahma makes the world - In hinduism, Buddha is an avatara of Vishnu - Kalkin; avatara to come to reset the world and restart cycle Vishnu as a tortoise - Gods and demons work together to church ocean of milk to find elixir of immortality - Stories of Krishna expanded on - Baby Krishna: brings about maternal instinct - Adolescent Krishna: is freaky, a great lover - Adult Krishna: A hero, great warrior - Lakshmi: Vishnu's wife - Goddess of fortune - Mount is a white owl Shiva in Puranas - Appears as a ‘world renouncer’ - Associated with asceticism - Lives in Himalayan mountains - Began as Rudra as a minor vedic deity in the rig veda - Wife is Parvati; daughter of himalayan mountains  - Mount is a bull - ‘Shiva linga’ worshiped in this form - Sex organs are symbolic of creative power - Father of Ganesha, and Skanda (god of war) Ganesha - God of good fortune, overcoming obstacles Skanda - God of war Shiva as ascetic Shiva as family man Shiva as Linga Shiva nataraja (lord of dance) - His dance of destruction (fulfills his role in the universe) Brahma in Puranas - Sometimes also depicted as a creator - Wife is goddess Sarasvati - Goddess of learning - Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Ganesha; helpful to those living normal lives Tantras - Revealed texts (approx 6th century) - Goddess cults - Texts depict goddesses as being very powerful - Durga, demon slayer New forms of religious practice - Ritual worship of images adopted (puja) - Images treated as living being (deities inhabit images) - Prasada; blessed food - Red mark on forehead shows someone was at a puja - Fires not always necessary at puja 10/23 10:a ~ intro to Buddhism Shramanas - ‘Strivers’ - Non-hindu religious leaders from Northeast India - Believes in certain aspects of upanishads - Salvation = escape from samsara - Social class system (varna) is a man-made concept - World is eternal and uncreated; no such thing as a creator god - Religious texts are not revealed, rather written by man - Fire sacrifices do not get you salvation Jain tradition - Mahavira ‘great hero’ - Exists in India today Ajivika tradition - Makkhali Gosala - Lasted 1500 years, would die out Buddhism - 13th century Buddhism dies out in India - Survives in other parts of the world - “The parable of the poison arrow” 10b-c: Life of Buddha/ Buddhist scriptures - Facts about his life written down from his conversations - Autobiographical statements made about his life Life of Buddha (Ashvagosha’ biography 2nd century BCE) - 5th century BCE; Kapilavastu - Buddha born into royalty, miraculous conception as Siddhartha Gautama - Miracles at his birth - Seers say he will be either a political, or religious leader; King doesn’t want him to become a religious leader - Buddha marries and has a kid while as a prince - The prince is Naive and doesn’t really understand the world  - When seeing the world, gods make 3 sights that disturb him, and a 4th of a world renouncing shramana - Made him renounce the world at 29 - Went to teachers to learn to meditate - Practices several forms of meditation, including harsh asceticism (not as buddha) - Realizes that enlightenment is achieved through a balance of luxury and asceticism, not too far to either side - Sits under Bodhi tree, ‘tree of enlightenment’ - Confrontation with demon ‘Mara’, achieves enlightenment at 35 - Achieved nirvana and becomes Buddha, ‘awakened one’ - Teaching campaign for 45 years, died at 80 - Pari-nirvna - Relics of Buddha divided among followers, and buried in stupas - First buddhist council 6 months after Buddha death Vinaya - rules for monks/nuns Sutras - sermons/ conversations of Buddha Abhidharma (systematic Buddhist philosophy) (10/28): 11 - Fundamental Buddhist Doctrines 11a: - Buddha suggests that people have a natural desire for ‘something good’, eg, could be satisfaction, sense of stability that everything is good - Things get in the way of this, negative thoughts etc; leads to a constant need of pleasant distractions - Mind is a sixth sense; seeks out pleasant things - “Sense pleasures” - Habitual sense pleasures do not lead to true happiness Fundamental doctrines - “Four noble truths” - “Eightfold path” Three characteristics of existence - Impermanence - Everything that arises is undergoing change  - Constant change characterizes things in the world - You mentally project qualities unto things - Unsatisfactoriness/ suffering - “Duhkha” - Anything that isn’t quite right, a ‘bad hole’ - Anything that you experience is Duhka, ultimately satisfying as its subject to impermanence - Complete lack of self - “An-atman” - Our ‘soul’ is constantly changing is not an ‘eternal unchanging self’ as hindus say - There is no self or soul, it is only an idea humans have we do not really have it Five aggregates of clinging (skandhas) 1. Form 2. Sensation 3. Perception 4. Karma formations 5. Consciousness - We cling to these to bolster the ‘self’ Drivers of our behavior (3 root evils) - Greed, hatred, delusion - Avoiding unpleasant things leads to hatred - Ignoring pleasant and unpleasant things leads to delusion - Greed arises from chasing pleasant sensations Dependant origination - How do things arise in the world=prior causes and conditions - Change isn't random Nirvana - State that remains once all the ‘junk’ is removed - It is eternal, it never arose, has always existed Four noble truths - The fact of duhkha (suffering) - The cause of suffering] - The end of suffering  - The path leading to suffering Like: 1. The symptom 2. The diagnosis 3. The prognosis 4. The medicine 10/30, 12: Becoming a buddhist - Three refuges - The Buddha - His teachings/ Dharma - His Sangha/ community - I take refuge in… ^^^ Buddhism as a missionary religion - The message is important, not the ‘words’/ no language associated with Buddhism - Levels of commitment - Lay person - Novice monk/ nun - Fully ordained monk/ nun 5 precepts 1. To abstain from taking life (very strict, but may vary) 2. To abstain from taking what is not given (not taking anything unless it is given) 3. To abstain from sexual misconduct (no sex, unless married for lay people) 4. To abstain from false or hurtful speech (only speaking whenever it is the truth, or helpful to someone) 5. To abstain from intoxicants (clouds the mind, results in ignorance) 5 further precepts for novice monks/ nuns 1. To abstain from eating afternoon (no solids, ascetic thing, eating is a craving) 2. To abstain from shows of dancing, singing, music, drama (Pleasant distraction) 3. To abstain from wearing personal adornments (giving in to the ego) 4. To abstain from using high or wide beds (symbol of wealth)  5. To abstain from handling money (materialistic, greed) (this rule causes a split in buddhism) Monks /nuns - Subject to the Vinaya - Minor rules - Serios rules that can result in being expelled, permanently or for a time - They want everyone in the monastery to live the same way, to produce harmony - What your next life is depends on your commitment Division of the Buddhist tradition into Nikayas (different schools) - 18-20 schools 2 centuries after death of Buddha (1 of these would survive) Ashoka - First Buddhist emperor - 3rd in line from the founder - Ruled much of modern India - Wins war in Kalinga - He visits Kalinga and sees the death and destruction - Thinks “what have I done” - Converts to Buddhism as a lay person - Edicts of Ashoka, his thoughts and ideas carved in stone - Ashokan stupas; he fancied some up to show support for Buddhism - Allows for Buddhism to spread Further developments in scripture/ doctrine - Abhidharma (systematic Buddhist philosophy) - Dharma - a thing you can directly experience - Things that aren't Dharma are not real, conceptual Mahayana - Reform movement - Anonymous buddhist monks looking at how Buddhism operates, and critiquing it - Buddhist teachings should focus on attaining nirvana - Argued that Buddha was a supreme being, god-like 11/4: 13 - Growth of Mahayana Buddhism Mahayana Buddhism - Buddha never left after his death; kind of like Christianity where Jesus is always with you - Wrote new Buddhist sutras; since Buddha still exists, he can tell them things which they can make new sutras with; hundreds over the centuries - As it developed, Mahayana Buddhism differs from Buddhism drastically (strays from its original intentions) Past lives - In Buddhism, past lives are irrelevant - In Mahayana, past life times relevant - You may have started Buddhism in past lives, each lifetime they are closer to perfecting themselves - Path of Arhat is not true path, true path is path of the Bodhisattva Lotus Sutra - Dates to 2nd century BCE - Chapter 3 of lotus sutra; “why did you teach Arhat if it's not a real path?” - Buddha responds in parable - Arhat is a basic form of Buddhism meant to bring Buddhists in the right direction - Buddha has ‘skillful means’ - Once people spot flaws in Arhat, they switch to Bodhisattva, the true buddhist path Why did Buddha keep himself a secret (as being a godlike being) - Buddha is being skillful; he is doing what needs to be done to move people forward; he is not a liar Celestial Bodhisattvas - Individuals so advanced they don’t have to be rebirthed as a human - Avalokiteshvara~godlike, celestial Bodhisattva - One of many that develops a cult following Multiple Buddhas, different worlds - Different planets have their own Buddhas - Amitabha's pure land  - Not like our world; it is heavenly, perfect 3 bodies of Buddha - Buddhas Dharma body; consists of everything in the universe - Human Buddha - Form where he is still active in world Life as a Bodhisattva (13b) - 6 Mahayana perfections; cultivate these virtues and use them to the benefit of all living beings 11/06: Introduction to China - 14 “The three teachings” Confucianism Daoism Chinese Buddhism Language and geography - East asian written language vastly different from others (pictographs) - Pinyin system is what we use - 3rd or 4th largest country - Civilization starts 15-1600 BCE - Yellow and Yangtze rivers markers for where ancient civilization was Dynasties of China in order - Shang dynasty - Chou dynasty - Ch’in dynasty - Han dynasty - Six dynasties - Sui dynasty - Tang dynasty - Song dynasty - Northern sung - Southern sung - Yuan dynasty - Ming dynasty  - Ching dynasty Modern China - Divided into states - Lower lands ideal for civilization - Agriculture and population in East Xia (mythological) Shang (earliest ‘civilization’) 1600-1059 BCE Zhou 1050-221 BCE Shang dynasty - Formed around yellow river - 1600-1050 BCE - Offerings and sacrifices - Falls under the rubric of animism - World is inhabited with spirits and gods who have some control over the world - Offerings to ancestors - Human sacrifices (captured prisoners), dogs, horses, chariots,other animals - The god “Shangdi” - No offerings to him since he is too remote, offering to lesser gods who can intercede on your behalf - Supreme deity - Divination - Reading signs in the present to determine the future - Shamans - Oracle bones; reading the cracks to answer a question Zhou dynasty - Knocks Shang dynasty, becomes dominant family - King Wu - Duke of Zhou, steps in as Regent after death of Wu, prepares his nephew Cheng to become king - Religion - Tian (heaven) also means Shangdi, eventually Shangdi would be replaced with this concept - Mandate of heaven; grants rulers to right to rule China, also takes away this right  - Politics and religion intertwined - Honors system - King transfers some of his power to a governor through a religious process, so on - Must be obedient to your superior - 8th century BCE Zhou capital is sacked, forced to move East (Easter Zhou, time of weakness and degeneration) - Loss of respect for King leads to interfighting (Warring states period last 250 years of Zhou dynasty - Mass death - ‘ Age of hundred schools of philosophy’, attempts to fix China - Confucianism - 5 Chinese classics - Book of history - Book of songs - Book of changes - Record of rites - Spring and autumn annals - Daoism - Logicians - Legalism - Mohism 11/11: 15 - Teachings of Confucius The 3 teaching 1. Confucianism 2. Taoism 3. Buddhism - Confucius: a secular humanist - Focus on moral human behavior His life - 551 - 479 BCE - Born in latter (eastern) Zhou dynasty in Lu - Conflict around him, during his upbringing Social classes of Zhou Dynasty Beneath king: 1. Nobles or aristocrats (royal family) 2. Ministers of the royal court 3. Government bureaucrats 4. Common gentlemen (Confucius) 5. Peasants (farmers and craftsmen) 90% of population First 50 years of his life - He received a good education due to his social class - His parents died when he was young - Married around 19, had a son and daughter (possibly divorced later) - Went into service of a nobleman, likely military service - Deep interest in politics - Exiled from his home state for supporting a losing side in a conflict - Last 20 years of his life he was a wanderer As a teacher and master (50-70) - Young men went to him for education - ‘Disciples’ referred to Confucius as ‘master’ - Disciples came from various classes - 500 sayings of Confucius put into a book “Lunyu/ the anelects of Confucius” - ^ the teachings of Confucius Problem confronting him - Deeply concerned with politics, how bad China was going - It was the rulers fault that things were going badly, they were a bad example for the people - Behavior of the peasants was a measure for the behavior of the higher-ups - He saw the warring states period coming (happened a few years after his death) - Talking to rulers about what the right thing to do is; Confucius ignored - During his life he never got rulers to listen to him, may have died feeling like a failure, though he tried his best no one listened to him - 300 years after his death his teachings came to light The goal and the path to the goal (teachings of Confucius - Attaining true human goodness - Morality, people behaving correctly - How to determine what is right, and then pursuing it with all your heart - Studying how the great sages of past China behaved  - Human goodness (ren) - Acquates being good with happiness, true happiness comes about with doing what's right Right and wrong - Will of heaven that people act with human goodness - There is always a right and wrong (modern western society would disagree) - Right and wrong is context driven - All humans have a potential to be good; people first have to want to be good, which only happens when ruler class people do the right thing - Determine what is right vs wrong by looking at past role models, such as the Duke of Zhou The way of the ancients - ‘Way of former kings’ - Confucius did not have innate knowledge, he studied the past, transmitting what has been taught to him - Following the way of the ancients should be the main focus in life - First priority is always doing the right thing, even if you have to suffer because of it - Virtues - Humaneness - Moral rectitude - Loyalty - Filial piety - Honesty - Courage - Indifference to others Generating gentlemen - Transforming his disciples into “gentlemen” - They would go out into the world and teach people to do the right thing - ‘Small man’ vs ‘gentleman’ Confucius - Confucius offers no ideas of something ‘divine’ that could motivate a person to be good - What's good for society will be good for you; that motivates people - “Ritual”- etiquette, common courtesy - Religious rituals are orderly, civilized; he wanted society to be like that  - People have to follow the rules in order to be ambitious, to do the right thing 11/13: Teachings of Mencius and Xunzi - 16 - The followers of Confucius - People who encountered his teachings Teachings of Mencius (372-289 BCE) - An interpreter of Confucius - Born 100 years after Confucius death - Born in state of Lu - Warring states period in full swing during his life Mencius: Human goodness - The inability to endure the sufferings of others - A quality that all people had, that made it difficult to witness the sufferings of other people - Concentric circles of sympathetic compassion - Family - Neighbours - Village - State - Country - World - 4 innate virtues; leads to certain results - Sympathetic compassion = Benevolence - Shame = Dutifulness - Courtesy and modesty = A devotion to ritual - A sense of right and wrong = wisdom - Human nature was inherently good for Mencius, bad circumstances lead to people doing evil caused by rulers - The way of the ancients - Helps a person develop their inner potential - Training a person to be good regardless of circumstances Teachings of Xunzi (312-230 BCE) - Born in Northern China - Warring states period worse during the time of Xunzi, things got worse over time  - Because of how bad the conflict was, Xunzi concluded that people can't be naturally good - People are inherently evil - By following the teachings of Confucius, you can become good - He didn't like the Zhou dynasty way of ruling - He thought a dictator would be the best way to fix China - Openly hostile to common religious beliefs, was nonsense to him Conclusion - Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi; the Confucians of the warring states period - Rise of the Han Dynasty (206-220 BCE) would embrace Confucianism - A golden age in Chinese history because of Confucianism - They adopted Xunzi’s view of Confucianism, a more pessimistic view, more dictatorial Introduction to Daoism - Arose around the same time of Confucianism, during the warring states period in the Eastern Zhou dynasty - A response to China’s trouble - “Dao” a way, or path Philosophical Daoism - Arose during warring states period - Humans are important, but more importantly are embedded in the much larger universe - Cosmic-centric (Confucianism human-centric) - Humans are animals, simply a species in the world - The great Dao - A universal cosmic force that runs through all things in the world - Ultimately the origin of all things, and drives it - Things do happen ‘naturally’, but because there is a greater force controlling it - Discerning the natural patterns in the world created by the Dao, and blending in with them rather than fighting against them - A natural pattern: eg, death, you can fight against it or accept it. A river; changing it could result in disaster, so trust in the natural world. - Human society is not natural - Laozi, Zhuangzi, authors and their texts Laozi - Author of the Dao de Jing - Alive at the same time as Confucius - Laozi depicted as a regular guy - Legendary biography - Born at the age of 82, born an old master - When he was old, he went west to leave china - Left his wisdom (Dao de Jing) with border guards, and then left the country - Dao de Jing - De = virtues - Jing = Classic book - Dao de Jing = The classic book of Dao and De - Very short in texts, only about 5000 chinese characters - Divided into two parts, 81 chapters - Full of cryptic, unclear messages - Yin Yang polarity and Wu wei 11/18: Dao de Jing/ Laozi - 17 Understanding Dao de Jing - Classic text on ‘Dao’ - Non-action means trying to understand the natural patterns of the world, and blending in with them - “Dao is like water” - Filial piety does not exist if you live following Dao: there are no problems Yin and Yang - Balance - Opposite poles aren't “good” or “bad” - A dynamic harmonious balance - World needs a bit of everything, a balance is good - We naturally see one set of poles as better than the other, but that is not true Virtues of the (de [virtue]) of the Daoist sage 11/20: Buddhism comes to China - 18 - Buddhism arrives during Han Dynasty Qin Dynasty - Qin Dynasty takes over all other states after warring states period (221-206 BCE) - Qin Shi Huang: Self proclaimed emperor, wanted Chinese history to begin with him - Legalism - Personally ruled the entire country with an iron fist - Centralized government - Spent time traveling China with an entourage to secure his power - Tore down walls separating states, greatly expanded great wall of China - Planned a massive burial tomb for himself (terracotta warriors) Rise of Han Dynasty (206 BCE -220 CE) - After Qin’s death his dynasty collapsed due to him being so unpopular - Han Dynasty replaces Qin Dynasty - 400 year long ‘golden age’ - Confucianism takes off, becomes Han Dynasties ideology/ religion/ main policy Buddhism in China - Establishment of Silk Road allows for trade between China and Roman Empire - Kushan Empire invades Northern India, creating a bridge between India and the Silk Road - Buddhism spreads to middle east, but is squashed by Islam - Earliest reference to Buddhism in China in 65 CE - Buddhist missionaries spread Buddhism to China - Sounded like Daoism to them due to translations of Sanskrit - Elements of Buddhism not accepted - Begging by monks and nuns: Begging considered lowest of low in China - Samsara, all life is suffering: Chinese Buddhism - 3 Major schools in China focused on a specific sutra - Chan/ Zen Buddhism - Would influence how Daoism, and confucianism would evolve Religious Daoism - Religious Daoism takes off during collapse of Han Dynasty - Various elements already existing would be incorporated into religious Daoism - Divine revelation - Three separate revelations create 3 schools - Way of the celestial masters - Zang Daoling gets revealed divine teaching by Loazi who is a god - Practice of alchemy - Attempting to achieve immortality by mixing herbs and chemicals 11/25: Neo-confucianism - 19 - Started 18-1900 years after life of Confucius - Influence of Buddhism - Arises during Song Dynasty Neo-Confucianism - Reform movement designed to go back to original confucianism - Differs from old confucianism in many ways Lead up to Song Dynasty - After fall of Han Dynasty, 350 years of political disunity - Six Dynasties period (220-581 CE) - Unity returns with Sui Dynasty (581-618 CE) - Partial to Buddhism - Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) - Second golden age - “3 teachings” named. Complementary when you put all 3 together - Separating these traditions into external, and internal focuses Song Dynasty - Northern (960-1126), Southern Song (1127-1279) - Becomes souther Song after invading barbarians - Confucianism questioned after fall of Northern Song - Leads to reform movement - Rise of neo-confucianism - Belief that there were things wrong with confucianism, and it needed to be fixed - The 13 confucian classics Zhu Xi, rise of neo-Confucianism - Zhu Xi born 1130, after collapse of Northern Song - Founder of neo-Confucianism - Practiced zen Buddhism for 10 years, which would influence the creation of neo-Confucianism - Moved toward Confucianism - Decided that after Mencius, Confucianism went off track - 13 classics converted to the four books - The great learning - Comes from confucius - Also written by close disciple of confucius - The analects of Confucius - Maintaining perfect balance - Ascribed to grandson of confucius - The mencius - Ascribed to Mencius - Declared everything that what wasn't one of the 4 books could be thrown out - Interpretive lens; universal principles Confucius focused on - 1. Principle (underlying essence) - 2. Vital force (chi/ form) - “The study of principle” - Innate perfect virtue is the principle of human beings - Vital forces is different between people - Attaining sagehood - You understand the Dao - Only a few have achieved this - Starts by studying the 4 books - “Sagehood” like achieving nirvana - 1313; neo confucianism becomes relevant, replacing traditional confucianism Chinese popular religion - Combination of elements of other religions - Human has a physical body and a yin soul/ yang soul - Yang becomes an ancestor, yin becomes a spirit/ ghost 11/27: Introduction to Japan - 20 - Covering 6th century onward Japan - 4 main islands - Mountainous, forests - Relatively speaking, the islands are young - One family has only ruled Japan - Meiji period (1868-1911) first time emperor reclaims full power after time of military rule by Shogunates - Yamoto; birthplace of civilization in Japan Japan before and after 6th century CE - 6th century - Buddhism arrives in Japan, and many aspects of Chinese culture - Written language emerges, borrowed elements from Chinese ‘Japan’ - Japanese call Japan Nippon/ Nihon - Chinese called japan “land of the rising sun” which in china sounded like Japan Syncretic nature of Japanese religion - No religion exclusivism enforced, you can be whatever you want to be Intro to Shinto - Indigenous religion of Japan - Shen-dao (chinese,= gods, way) turns into Shinto - Love and respect for the natural world - Four periods of Shinto - First period: converse earliest form of Shinto we know about - Second period: longest period, 6th-19th century. Represents evolution of Shinto - Third period: Meiji emperor retakes power of Japan, changes Shinto, “purified of its contamination of Buddhism” - Fourth period: end of WW2 to present Shinto in first period - Animism; belief in spiritual beings  - Early Shinto: perfect picture of animism - Lacked: - A founder - Canon of scripture, nothing written (or oral), no doctrines - No moral code - Consisted of loose folk tradition dominated by local customs - No strict organization - The Kami - Term used for spiritual beings - Not ‘scary’, but protector beings - Early Shinto includes trying to enter harmonious relations with Kami - 3 different kinds of Kami 1. High gods on a mythological scale, live in heaven and create things/ do stuff 2. Nature spirits inhabiting the island 3. Ghosts/ spirits of dead people (implying an afterlife): if somebody dies under unfortunate circumstances, the spirit stays and haunt an area - Livelihoods correlated to a specific Kami, - Included, farming, fishing, and hunting - If you needed to go somewhere for your livelihood, you had to figure out who the local Kami were and make good relations with them Purification - Kami are offended by impurity - Ritual of washing hands and mouth in a shrine before you approach a Kami - People become impure when they; - Come in contact with impure things - Unkind interactions with people, or with the environment Abode of a Kami - Abode of Kami marked by torii, or shimenawa - Torii - a gate like structure leading to a shinto shrine - Shimenawa - Ropes signaling abode of a Kami - Mt Fuji considered abode of a Kami Shinto priests - Individual cannot pray without assistance of a priest Buddhism in Japan - Buddhism first goes through Korea before into Japan - Korean King sends a letter about Buddhism to Japanese emperor 12/02: Shinto in its second period - 21 - Up until end of Samurai dictatorship - Time when China had significant influence in Japanese culture - Nara period - Heian period - 700 year military dictatorship by Samurai Shinto in Nara period (710-784) - First major capital city built in Japan - Prior to Nara, Japanese moved capital everytime an Emperor died - Tang Dynasty capital was studied, and was reproduced in Japan as Nara - Nara becomes a ‘Buddhist utopia’ - Country almost bankrupted because of money spent on Buddhist structures - Outside of city, Shinto was dominant - Some Emperors made it illegal for Buddhism spreading outside the city - As long as the royals had good Karma, the nation would be strong - With Chinese texts flooding into Japan, Shinto texts were made so that they wouldn’t go extinct Chronicle of ancient matters Chronicle of Japan - Claimed to have been orally passed down - Some aspects do appear to be ancient Japanese mythology, while other parts are clearly influenced by China Shinto Mythology - In the beginning there was only a chaotic mess - Overtime the chaos developed into the heavens, and the ocean - In the heavens deities started to appear out of the mist, and would mist away - Things would become more stable, and deities would become more lasting - Deities Izanagi and Izanami create the japanese islands, starting with Onogoro island  - Izanami gives birth to lesser Kami (which would eventually morph into Japanese people) - Izanami descends into Land of Yomi when she dies giving birth - Izanagi gets chased out of Yomi, and then makes it impossible for living beings to get into Yomi (Yomotsu Hirasaka) - Amaterasu: comes from left eye of Izanagi, (sun) and becomes most important deity - Purification of nostrils leads to storm god: Susanowo - Amaterasu is displeased - Sees chaos on Japanese islands - Sends her grandson Ninigi with a Sword, mirror, and jewels, so he can rule Japan - Ninigi takes up life on earth, and his offspring become the Royal family of Japan Imperial house of Japan - In theory related to Ninigi, and Ameterasu herself - Emperor considered a living god in Shinto - Jimmu Tenno; first human emperor of Japan - Comes from Kyushu, and conquers Yamato (where Japanese civilization begins) 7th century BCE, still mythology 1. Japanese islands were created by Kami 2. Japanese people descend from lesser Kami 3. Royal family are descendants from most important Deity in Shinto (Amerasu) - Ise shrine: dedicated to Amaterasu - Izumo shrine: dedicated to Okuninushi - Shrines are meant to degrade and torn down, then the shrine moves with a big ceremony Shinto in Heian period (794-1185) - Capital moved to Heian (Kyoto) - Buddhist institution became corrupt since they became too rich in Nara - Emperor moved away to get away from the meddling an corruption of Buddhist - Split with China, more original Japanese culture develops - Important texts - Kogoshui: justifies Shinto rituals through connections to Shinto mythology - Engishiki: Encyclopedia of all things shinto Relations between Shinto and Buddhism - An attempt made to play nice between the two religions - Shinbutsu Konko: mixing of Kami and Buddhas - Kami equivalent to Buddhas/ Bodhisattvas - Too much blending - Some wanted to keep Shinto pure and separate to keep Royal family legitimate Shinto during Shogun era (1185-1868) - Samurai take over nation - Royal family allowed to exist, but had no power - Royal family became more self obsessed, problems arising elsewhere in Japan, leading to local armies being formed (Samurai) - One of these local armies beat all the others, and then claimed power over Japan (emperor could do nothing) - Shogun takes over Japan, Kamakura Shogunate established - Samurai lean more towards Zen Buddhism - Shinto responds to Samurai takeover - Ise shinto arises Muromachi Period - Different samurai group takes over - Yoshida shinto arises - Kami are more powerful than Buddhas/ Bodhisattvas Tokugawa Period - Interested in neo-confucianism - Influenced Shinto 12/04: Shinto in its 3rd and 4th periods - 22 Rushing into modern world - Samurai cut Japan off from the rest of the world - National seclusion policy - Meiji restoration (meiji period 1868-1911) - Meiji Emperor found that Japan was very behind all the other powers of the world - Tokugawa Yoshinobu; last shogun - Cultural influence from Europe/ USA - Emphasis on wanting to catch up with other powers of the world - Buying military technology on mass from west Reconstruction o Shinto - Issues for the Meiji Emperor - Needed security from external threats - Internal threats: fear of another Samurai dictatorship - Wanted to embrace Shinto, and purify it from any outside influence - Confucianism built into Shinto - Uses work from older Shinto scholars - Norinaga: completed a study on “Chronicle of ancient matters” - The “one right way” was revealed to the world but only exists in Japan now (one true religion) - Critiqued other religions and their philosophies (mainly China) - The real world is not understandable by men - Complexity of Kojiki and Nihon Shoki means that Shinto is true; if you can make sense of a tradition it means it is not true - Japanese were first to receive the sun - Also reinforced emperors right to rule Reconstructionist Shinto - Emperor making Shinto into something that he prefers, says he is “purifying it” - Develops “state Shinto” - Not a religion, but national duty and ethic; duty of all Japanese to follow Shinto - Emperor wanted all people to be completely loyal to him, and make shinto shrines, perform rituals - Other religions can’t be taught; State Shinto taught on the daily as part of education - Unpatriotic to follow Buddhism  - Allowed for Emperors to pursue very ambitious goals - Emperors envision a vast Japanese Empire - Leads to invading other nations, leads to Participation in WW2 - Successful for a time; taking over parts of China, SE Asia, Korea, expanding into the Pacific 4th Period Shinto (post WW2) - Occupying Americans abolish state Shinto, and say Shinto is in fact a religion - American dictate a freedom of Religion - Hirohito forced to admit he is a man, and not a god on national radio - Shinto becomes a continuation of 2nd era Shinto; Japan feels they were manipulated by State Shinto - After WW2 much of population becomes atheist Shinto practices - Various kinds of shrines - Thousands of little shrines scattered throughout Japan - Standard shinto shrines; larger shrines have a few standard features - Inner shrine where only priests can go - Hall of offerings (food and drink to Kami) - Hall of prayers where people are allowed to go - Each major shrine is devoted to a single Kami - Inner shrine has a shintai (body of a Kami), an object that represents to power of a Kami - These items kept carefully; most priests don’t actually know what the shintai is because they don’t bother to look at it - Shintai is typically a simple material object, or a scroll of paper with the Kami’s name on it - Amaterasu shrine at Ise: Shintai are sword, mirror, and jewels; the Japanese Imperial Regalia - Shrine made dedicated to Meiji emperor and his wife, who were deified and now considered Kami - Shinto birth ceremony - Baby can be blessed at a shinto shrine - Shinto weddings - Weddings at bigger shinto shrines - Similar to a christian marriage - Shinto prayers - Prayers to Kami done by priest  - Anyone can go to a shrine to make a prayer whenever they want to, even if hall of prayers is not open - Praying: clapping to get attention of Kami, and bowing - Prayer papers: write a prayer on a paper and tie it to a rope - Priests gather papers and ritually burn them when ropes are full - Shinto festivals (matsuri) - Festival for a new emperor - Emphasis on agriculture calendar - Solemn prayers/ offerings, then becomes a party - Kami sometimes put on a chariot and taken outside the shrine - Shinto fire festival: once a year men run down a mountain carrying torches - Amulets - Sold at shrines - Amulets for different purposes - Selling amulets funds shrines - Shinto is still very alive in Japan today - Flayed after WW2, but thrives now since memories of State Shinto fades away