HINDUISM, BUDDHISM, and TAOISM

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HINDUISM, BUDDHISM, and TAOISM

• Kindred religions

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Common elements

• Emphasis on
• Acceptance of things the way they are
• Overcoming desire
• Humility
• Recognizing that a human life is always extremely
  short and personal achievements are strictly
  limited
• Belief in a particular way of life dharma
• Belief in a universal principle of merit karma

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Common elements

• View of good and bad is more like learning to
  ride a bicycle than learning spelling
• Rather than a personal god who metes out
  punishment for breaking rules, these religions
  are based on universal forces or principles which
  lead to pain and discomfort if they are ignored
  (like someone who rides a bicycle recklessly can
  get hurt)

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Hinduism

• An ethnic religion of the Indian subcontinent

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HINDUISM

• A label that includes a wide range of
• Religious practices
• Customs
• Beliefs
• Sacred places
• Deities
• Hinduism is tolerant of this variety and does not
  condemn certain religious practices or beliefs as
  evil

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Origins of Hinduism

• Indo-Europeans were polytheistic and worshipped
  cattle
• Brought their beliefs to the Indus Valley by
  relocation diffusion from 1,400 BC
• Rig Veda (oldest Indo-European document, written
  ca. 1,200 BC) is the foundation of Hinduism
• The diversity of religious practice in India
  suggests a process of syncretism (combination of
  cultures) during a phase of expansion diffusion

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Fundamental beliefs of Hinduism

• Reincarnation
• Karma
• Caste system (4 main castes or varnas, many
  sub-castes or jatis)
• Brahmin
• Kshatriya
• Vaisya
• Shudra
• Sanctity of the cow

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Five Major Doctrines

• Truth is one, Sages call it by different names
• Rig Veda, 1.164.46
• All Mankind is One Family
• Hitopadesha, Subhashita Ratna Bhandagare
• Law of Karma - As you sow, so shall you reap
• Mahabharata, Shantiparva 299.42 BG 18.60
• That mode of living which is founded upon total
  harmlessness towards all creatures or in case of
  genuine necessity upon a minimum of such harm,
  is the highest morality
• Mahabharata, Shantiparva 262.5-6
• Whenever there is a decline of virtue, God
  incarnates Himself on earth to uphold
  righteousness
• Bhagavad Gita 4.7, 4.8
• www.hindunet.org

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Brahman/Paramatman

• Brahman is the supreme reality
• Brahman has two aspects, transcendent (impersonal
  and unknowable) and immanent (personal and
  knowable)
• In the impersonal aspect, Brahman lies outside
  the realm of human description and can only be
  sensed as a presence within oneself and the rest
  of the universe
• God is immanent, the universe is the
  manifestation rather than the creation of God
• In the personal aspect, Brahman can be known in
  various formsthe many Hindu deities and the rest
  of creation

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Deities (gods/goddesses)

• Brahma creative force
• Vishnu sustaining force (incarnated as Krishna
  and others)
• Shiva force of renunciation, release,
  self-mastery
• Hanuman (incarnation of Shiva who has Rama in his
  heart) epitome of devotion
• Ganesha (son of Shiva Parvati) remover of
  obstacles

• Saraswati (Brahmas consort) human creative
  force, arts sciences
• Lakshmi (Vishnus consort) prosperity, love,
  beauty, delight
• Kali/Parvati/Durga (Shivas consort) power,
  transformation, destroyer of evil

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Representations of Deities
Hanuman service, devotion, intelligence, strength
Krishna (an incarnation of Vishnu) divine love
Saraswati arts and sciences, knowledge, purity
Shiva Renunciation, self-mastery
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• Ganesh
• Remover of obstacles
• Source of knowledge (legend attributes the
  Mahabharata to Ganesh)
• One of the most commonly-seen icons

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Hindu iconography Images are meant to recall the
various aspects or powers of a god, not to be
literal representations of a physical form. For
example, four arms on a god are not meant
literally to represent a four-armed god.
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He has four hands, elephant's head and a big
belly. His vehicle is a tiny mouse. In his hands
he carries a rope (to carry devotees to the
truth), an axe (to cut devotees' attachments),
and a sweet dessert ball -laddoo- (to reward
devotees for spiritual activity). His fourth
hand's palm is always extended to bless people.
A unique combination of his elephant-like head
and a quick moving tiny mouse vehicle represents
tremendous wisdom, intellegence, and presence of
mind. www.hindunet.org
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Ganesh Son of Shiva and Parvati Was protecting
his mother while she bathed. His father returned
and cut off Ganeshs head, not knowing the person
who kept him from his wife was his own son. Shiva
solved the problem by replacing his sons head
with the head of a passing elephant
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Buddhism

• An offshoot of Hinduism that is dominant in
  regions other than its cultural hearth

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BUDDHISM

• An outgrowth from Hindu mysticism (tradition of
  wandering ascetics)
• Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) lived about 563BC
  in the foothills of the Himalayas
• Raised as royalty
• Exposed to hardship suffering in his 20s
• Lived as ascetic for 6 years
• Achieved enlightenment or nirvana by adopting the
  middle way taught for 45 years throughout India

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Branches of Buddhism

• Therevada (Hinayana)
• SE. Asia and Sri Lanka
• Focus on meditation personal perfection
• Mahayana
• China, Japan, Korea, Tibet
• Belief in enlightened beings (bodhisattvas) who
  have perfected themselves to the point they are
  capable of leaving the cycle of death and rebirth
  because they have reached nirvana
• Bodhisattvas remain in human form to help others
  reach nirvana (perfect contentment, release of
  attachments, and release from cycle of death
  rebirth)

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The Eightfold Way

• right understanding
• right thinking
• right speech
• right conduct
• right livelihood
• right effort
• right mindfulness
• right concentration
• What does this all mean?
• Compassion, patience, serenity achieved through
  meditation and self-discipline
• Spiritual work is required

• The eightfold way leads to Nirvana
• Sanskrit for "to extinguish means to extinguish
  ignorance, hatred and earthly suffering

More religious iconography
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Buddhist Iconography

• The hollow of the bell symbolizes the wisdom
  cognizing emptiness. The clapper represents the
  sound of emptiness. The eight lotus petals are
  the four mothers and four goddesses and the vase
  represents the vase containing the nectar of
  accomplishment.
• Buddha Dharma Education Association
  http//www.buddhanet.org.au/budstudy/buddhism/hist
  ory/b_bell.htm

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The Buddha Image
The Buddha is the enlightened person, a role
model to emulate not a god to try to please or
placate
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Diffusion of Buddhism
Can people in our culture who have not grown up
in a Buddhist household consider themselves
Buddhists? To what extent is the diffusion of
Buddhism a case of stimulus diffusion in which
popular culture takes an element of folk culture
and turns it into a fashion with a set of
commodities?
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Taoism

• A spiritual philosophy

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TAOISM

• A philosophy about how to live life well
• Derived mainly from the writings of Chuang Tzu
  (ca. 250 BC) and Lao Tzu (6th c. BC)
• Teaches a way or path that is beneficial to
  one who follows it
• Eliminates unhappiness conflict
• Facilitates achievement of goals
• Aligns oneself with universal forces

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Assumptions of Taoism

• Going with the flow of the universe (the Tao) is
  the most effective way to get things done
• Animals, children, even drunks go with the flow
  the rest of us have to unlearn our habits of
  resistance and force
• If you are doing something the right way (living
  in the Tao) you will achieve your goals without
  feeling that you have exerted yourself
• If others become angry with you or admire you too
  much this is a sign that you are failing to go
  with the flow (follow the Tao)
• One who lives life well lacks nothing, because he
  or she desires nothing that is difficult to
  obtain
• Accept that things need to run their course, and
  do not resist the natural tendency of things to
  work out in a certain way
• Is it any wonder that Taoists make use of water
  metaphors?

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Chuang Tzu on sensation
Love of colors bewilders the eye and it fails to
see right. Love of harmonies bewitches the ear,
and it loses its true hearing. Love of perfumes
fills the head with dizziness. Love of flavors
ruins the taste. Desires unsettle the heart
until the original nature runs amok. These five
are enemies of true life. Yet these are what men
of discernment claim to live for. They are not
what I live for. If this is life, then pigeons
in a cage have found happiness! (1215, p. 118)
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Chuang Tzu on humility
If a man is crossing a river and an empty boat
collides with his own skiff, even though he be a
bad-tempered man he will not become very angry.
But if he sees a man in the boat, he will shout
at him to steer clear. If the shout is not
heard, he will shout again, and yet again, and
begin cursing. And all because there is somebody
in the boat. Yet if the boat were empty, he
would not be shouting, and not angry. If you can
empty your own boat crossing the river of the
world, no one will oppose you, no one will seek
to harm you.... Who can free himself from
achievement, and from fame, descend and be lost
amid the masses of men? He will flow like Tao,
unseen, he will go about like Life itself with no
name and no home. Simple is he, without
distinction. To all appearances he is a fool.
His steps leave no trace. He has no power. He
achieves nothing, has no reputation. Since he
judges no one, no one judges him. Such is the
perfect man His boat is empty. (202, 4, pp.
168-171)
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Lao Tzu on action

• The Tao abides in non-action,Yet nothing is left
  undone.If kings and lords observed this,The ten
  thousand things would develop naturally.If they
  still desired to act,They would return to the
  simplicity of formless substance.Without form
  there is no desire.Without desire there is
  tranquility.In this way all things would be at
  peace.

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Tao
To name Tao is to name no-thing. Tao is a
name that indicates without defining. Tao is
beyond words and beyond things. It is not
expressed either in word or in silence. Where
there is no longer word or silence Tao is
apprehended. (2511, p. 226)