Final Study Guide REL 1300-10Introduction to World ReligionsTerms and Ideas and Festivals and Groups/SectsHarappan Culture: early Hindupeople who were impressive builders. Located on the banks ofthe Indus River.Samadhi: absorption into and unity with the divine (as a result of concentration and meditation)Anatman: no atman, no soulAtman : Hindu term for the human soulYoga: the physical and mental discipline through which one “yokes” one’s spirit to a god.Ren / Jen: Ren; Proper behavior between persons. Brahman: Hindu supreme being.It pervades and yet transcends not only human thought but the universe itself. Tantra: consists of a body of ritual practices occasionally sexual and the texts interpreting.Moksha: liberation from the cycle of birth and death.Karma: “action” a system of rewards and punishments attached to various actions. Tied to samsara.Bhakti: Loving devotion to a deity seen as a gracious being who enters the world for the benefit of humans.Puja: Rituals performed in the home. Samsara: the continuing cycle ofdeath and rebirthSyllable Om: considered the beginning of sound in the universe and a manifestation of the Supreme Being.Totem: term for a spiritual kinship between a particular animal or species and a particularfamily or clan.Brahmins: the priestly class of Indian/Hindu culture. Retained the authority to teach and learn the Vedas.Rinpoche: a title of respect for Tibetan teachers or leading monks.Taboo: from Polynesian word Tapu, meaning sacred prohibition.Dharma: Religious and social duty, including both righteousness and faithLinga: representative of Shiva. Upright shaft made of stone.Shaman: the term for primary ritual specialists whose souls leave their bodies and travel to other realms to encounter spirits.Three ways to Liberation: 1. Way to Action 2. Way of Knowledge 3. Way of DevotionMana: Melanesian word denoting a free flowing power in the universe capable of either enhancing or diminishing life.Caste System: the thousands of social and occupational divisions that have developed from the simple fourfold structure laid out in the “Hymn to the Supreme Person”Holi: Spring festival celebrated by throwing brightly colored water or powder.Animism: believing all things including plants have souls. Yoruba: The tradition of West Africa, which suggests that Olodumare reigns but does not rule- their kings are sacred symbols of the townshipsCult: Syncretism: the process in which new traditions have developed that integrate ideas and practices from both indigenous and foreign traditions.Igbo: southeastern Nigerian religious traditions. Sect: Theravada: "Teaching of the elders," the dominant form of theBuddhism in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.The Bodhi Tree Bodhisattva: in Theravada, a being who is on the way to enlightenment or buddahood but has not yet achieved it; in Mahayana, a celestial being who forgoes nirvana in order to save others.Mahayana: "Greater Vehicle"; the form of Buddhism that emerged around the first century in India and spread first to China and then to Korea and Japan.Triple Gem of Buddhism: 1. The Buddha (Siddhartha Guatama) 2. The Dharma (Eternal Truth). 3. The Sangha (Monastic Community). Parinirvana: the ultimate perfection of bliss, achievable only on departing this life, as distinct from the nirvana with the“remainder” achievable while one is still in the present existence.Vajrayana: The tantric branch of Buddhism that became established in Tibet and the Himalayan region, and later spread to Mongolia and eventually India.Wheel of Dharma Nirvana: The state of bliss associated with final enlightenment; nirvana "with remainder" is the highest level possible in this life.Dana Ritual The Four Sights (Buddhism): Sights seen by the last Buddha, Siddhartha which made him start his Great Departure. The sights included: a sick man, suffering old man, dead man, and monkFour Noble Truths: 1. Truth of Suffering 2. Truth of Origin 3. Truth of Cessation 4. Truth of the8 Fold Path Buddha Day Festival Koan:a paradoxical thought exercise used in the Chan-Zen tradition to provoke a breakthrough in understanding by forcing students past the limitations of verbal formulationsand logic.Eightfold Path: 1. Right understanding (Understanding the 4 Noble Truths). 2. Right Thought. 3. Right Speech, 4. Right Conduct 5. Right Livelihood 6. Right Effort, 7. Right Mindfulness, 8. Right Meditation Pure Land Buddhism Pagodas: A multi-storey tower tower, characteristic of Southeastand East Asian BuddhismMantra: an expression of one or more syllables, chanted repeatedly as a focus of concentration in devotion.Zen Buddhism Tian / T'ien: the term for Heaven or God in the first millennium BCE.Mandala: a chart-like representation of cosmic Buddha figures that often serves as a focus of meditation and devotion in the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions.Zazen: sitting meditation in the Chan-Zen tradition,Neo-Confucianism: Attributed to Confucius new thinking that they had developed - People started asking metaphysical questions. Neo-Confucians reformulated Confucian philosophy on the basis of a smaller corpus that they believed Ancestor Cult Dao/Tao: “Way” in Chinese, for Daoists, the idea of the way at once describes the dynamic flow of nature and prescribes naturalness as a guiding principlein human affairs.to teach a legacy of the mind and heart; The Four Books. Ideas thatare asking questions about the nature of the universe. There is a mirror universe that is prefect and that's what our universe is trying to be likeLi: In early Chinese thought, the concept of ritual, including propriety in behavior towards others. Wuwei: Non-action; the path of least resistance , allowing things to run their natural course.Yin & Yang: Yin is the feminineprinciple that is the complement of yang and is characterized as accomadating, soft, moist, and dark. Yang is the masculine principle. Characterized by hard, dry, and bright.People and GodsRama: (Hinduism) Main character in "Ramayana." He wasa prince who was forced into exile. His father, the King, wanted to give him the throne buthe made a promise to one of his wives that her son would be king.He had to leave the kingdom happily (because that is what his father told him to do).He refuses to come back because it was his father's wish that he
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