Definitions

Question 1

Yoga

Answer 1

method of training designed to lead to integration or union

Question 2

Religion

Answer 2

Etymologically, “to knit or bind together”

Ways of connecting, primarily, the profane and the sacred

Question 3

Worship

Answer 3

“The purpose of worship is to shift from peripheral awareness to focal awareness the mystery and wonder of the world”
- Huston Smith

Question 4

Ennui

Answer 4

Not just boredom, but a weariness wears on the soul, to the point of death

Opposite of joy

Question 5

Samsara

Answer 5

continual state of rebirth

NOT to be confused with Samana!

Question 6

Essential aspects of God

Answer 6

Brahma = Creator

Vishnu = Sustainer

Shiva/Kali = Destroyer

Question 7

puja

Answer 7

practice of worship

Question 8

murti

Answer 8

image (of God; i.e., the figurines)

Question 9

prana

Answer 9

breath (yoga)

Question 10

jiva

Answer 10

life
vibrant energy that permeates creation

Question 11

karma

Answer 11

“Your actions inform the state of your soul”
- David Arnold

Question 12

moksha

Answer 12

liberation

“release from finitude that restricts us from limitless being” (Smith)

Question 13

Ethics

Answer 13

How are you going to live in your worldview?

Question 14

Worldview

Answer 14

“The big picture”
Vision of reality
What is really true

Question 15

Jnana

Answer 15

Path to enlightenment through knowledge

Series of thought experiments designed to make one realize the existence of the eternal Self

3 stages: learning (scriptures) reflection (thought experiments) shift identity to eternal Self

Question 16

Bhakti

Answer 16

Path to enlightenment through love

Unreserved, unlimited, unmotivated love towards a personal God, to the degree that the ego is effaced

Rituals, mythology, and images are a vehicle for that love

Question 17

Karma yoga

Answer 17

Path to enlightenment through work

Turning all one’s effort to work so that it becomes an act of worship

2 branches: act of service (bhakti) or act of intellect (jnana)

In both cases, the object is to efface the ego

Question 18

Raja

Answer 18

Path to enlightenment through psychophysical experiments (meditation)

Eight steps: 1 and 2 eliminate distractions in the form of cravings; 3 meditation pose; 4 control the breath; 5 summon “the zone” 6 mental exercises to retain focus; 7 remove awareness of the self; 8 union with the divine

Question 19

transpersonal/impersonal

Answer 19

conception of the divine as an entity that transcends a personality

(I think of it as a web or a force: something that flows through all things and connects us all together)

Question 20

personal

Answer 20

conception of the divine as a specific personality

Question 21

Four Noble Truths

Answer 21

Buddhism’s core philosophy:

1. dukkha: life is out of joint
2. tanha: the cause of this “suffering” is the craving for personal fulfillment (i.e., gratifying the ego)
3. The solution is to overcome craving/the ego
4. The method for doing so is the Eightfold Path

Question 22

The Eight-Fold Path

Answer 22

1. Right Views = worldview, a framework for understanding life
2. Right Intent = true commitment to the task
3. Right Speech = watching one’s language (kindness)
4. Right Conduct = training oneself away from selfish action
5. Right Livelihood = professions that promote life rather than destroying it
6. Right Effort = true dedication, not merely a wishy-washy desire to accomplish it; steady plodding
7. Right Mindfulness = awareness of self (thoughts, feelings) that attains the degree of meditation
8. Right Concentration = meditation

Question 23

Six aspects of religion

Answer 23

Authority = organization/mentor figures
Ritual = repeated actions to commemorate important points of life/year/day
Speculation = theology, metaphysical theory
Tradition = the accumulated knowledge transmitted to later generations
Grace = the belief - despite all the evidence to the contrary - that Reality/God is benevolent
Mystery = the sense that that to which we are drawn—the divine—is beyond our capacity to understand
“We humans are drawn to that which is beyond what we can know” - David Arnold

Question 24

Roshi

Answer 24

Zen master

Question 25

Zazen

Answer 25

seated meditation, Zen practice of contemplating the koan

Question 26

koan

Answer 26

Zen problem to contemplate, of such apparent nonesense that it forces the mind to break the barrier to enlightenment, or satori

Question 27

sanzen

Answer 27

private consultation with the Zen master while contemplating the koan
1. verify or reject the answer the student has come up with
2. sustain the student’s energy and focus

Question 28

satori/kensho

Answer 28

state of enlightenment which is the goal of the koan