Lecture part 2 Flashcards
Hinduism: Karma
“action” - Specifically ritual action, ritual sacrifice
Hinduism: Dharma (2)
- Moral duty - what is expected of you in society based on age and gender
- Cosmic order - world functioning according to natural law
Hinduism: Darma and how it related to both human morality and balance in the cosmos is similar to what other principal in which religion?
Ma’at in ancient Egypt
Hinduism: Astika
Those who believed in the Vedas (a sacred text)
Hinduism: Nastika
Those who did NOT believe in the Vedas (aka, other religions)
Hinduism: 3 things known that the Vedic religions did
- Worship of goddesses
- Practice of meditation
- Sacrifice
Hinduism: the Aryan society was a caste system broken up into 4 levels. What are they
Brahmins (priests/ritualists)
Kshatriyas (warriors/administrators)
Vaishyas (merchants/artisans)
Shudras (servants/slaves/manual labourers)
Hinduism: Sruti, term to describe the Vedas literally means, what does it imply
“that which was heard”
Implied that it was a revealed knowledge
Hinduism: Agni god
God of fire
God of brahmins and Brahmin of the gods
> the deity that carries religious sacrifices up to the gods
Hinduism: Indra god
God of storms, lightning and warriors
Hinduism: Yama god
God of death
Hinduism: sacrifice is a common theme in this religion, therefore it is not surprising that their creation story centres around what
Sacrifice and from that all the world and the Veda were created
Pantheism
the divine is present in everything that exists in the world but does not extend outside the world
Panentheism
the divine is present in everything that exists in the world but also exists outside of the world
Hinduism: what is the justification for the caste system (Vedas)
It was thought that the god who sacrificed himself divided himself into parts and these parts became the 4 levels of the caste
Hinduism: becoming an ancestor - reaching the “World of Fathers” (Vedas)
People could commission brahmans to make sacrifices on their behalf to open up passage to the heavenly realm when they die
Hinduism: Pitra
the ancestral soul
Hinduism: Petra
A hungry ghost - because the living do not provide food for it
Hinduism: Commensal community
The living are responsible for feeding the dead
Hinduism: Upanishads
“secret teachings” Texts that are also seen as Vedas
Hinduism: Sannyasa
“purification of everything” at a certain point in a person’s life, they can renounce their obligations and relationships, and instead spend all of their time seeking religious truth
Hinduism: in the upanishadic tradition, the Divine is Brahman. Meaning?
“the Undivided, Uncreated Absolute” rather than god being an easily characterizable essence (like an element), there is one, all encompassing god that permeates everything that exists
Hinduism: 3 terms used to define the Upanishadic God
“Being, Awareness, and Bliss)
Hinduism: Samsara (upanishadic)
Cyclical time and reincarnation
Hinduism: Samsara lead to a new meaning of karma
All human actions are karma (not just rituals) and the consequences of actions are not felt in this life, but rather influence the person’s rebirth
Hinduism: Atman
Human self
Hinduism: Relationship between atman and Brahman
The atman (human self) is at a fundamental level, one with Brahman
Hinduism: What is the purpose of meditation in Upanishadic Hinduism?
There are illusions that keep us from realizing our one-ness with Brahman, and meditation will allow us to break through the illusion and tap into the part of ourselves that knows this connection
Hinduism: can the atman be separated from the Brahman?
No
Hinduism: Moksha
“liberation”
The goal of Hinduism is to reach liberation by experiencing the oneness with Brahman
(Realizing that all pain and suffering is just an illusion)
Hinduism: Jnana
The path of knowledge t0 moksha (wisdom, need to experience it)
Hinduism: The Upanishadic perspective of death and the afterlife summarized from story
Every human has an inner self. This is what transits from life to life in the cycle of samsara. It is not created, it exists eternally because it is one with Brahman, and the goal of this process is to realize that identity
Hinduism: is the Upanishadic religion pantheistic or panentheistic?
There are schools of thought for both
Hinduism: The Upanishadic teachings later morphed into what?
Hindu Devotionalism
Hinduism: Is there a “better” path to liberation according to Bhagavad Gita?
No, they are all equally good
Hinduism: Path of action (Bhagavad Gita)
Giving the fruits of your actions to the divine
Hinduism: Path of Knowledge (Bhagavad Gita)
Knowledge from direct, personal experience with the divine. Knowing your purpose in life is one with the divine
Hinduism: Path of Devotional Love (Bhagavad Gita)
Focus on a personal relationship between the individual and the divine.
> The most accessible of the three
Hinduism: Bhakti
Devotional love of the divine
> Individuals and families having personal relationships with the gods and making personal sacrifices
Hinduism: All of the devotional traditions are unified by one factor
they are all focused on bhakti
Hinduism: What is the goal of devotional Hinduism
To be unified with the god at the centre at your chosen devotion after death
Hinduism: Naraka
The hells
Hinduism: What is the fear of devotional Hinduism
Naraka: hell
Hinduism: Is Karma only actions?
No, it is also the mindset you have when you perform the action
Hinduism: Antyesti
“final sacrifice”, a funeral
Hinduism: Steps in a Hindu funeral
- Cleansing the body (those who did the cleansing are impure)
- Transportation of family to burial ground
- Cremation –> releasing the spirit (note: the importance of fire in ritual/sacrifice)
- the ashes are collected and disposed of in sacred waters
Hinduism: Shraddha
Memorial rites - the goal of the rites is to construct a body for the soul of a deceased loved one in order for it to become an ancestor (pitra)
Hinduism: Rite of Renunciation
Being symbolically cremated to have their body “die” to be reborn
Jainism: Mahavira
The twenty-fourth tirthankara who founded Jainism, rejected the caste system
Asceticism
“striving/effort” severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.
Jainism: Jina
“conqueror”
Conquerors of human nature, pleasures of the self, material life
Jainism is a ____________ religion
renunciant
Jainism: tithankara
“ford maker” a person who makes a path for people to cross a body of water (samsara). He is showing you WHERE to cross, but does not help you/carry you across. It is up to the individual to carry themselves across
Jainism: 5 vows
non-violence (ahimsa) non-attachment sexual continence honesty avoidance of theft
Jainism view of the cosmos:
The world is _______.
View the cosmos in the shape of a ___________:
Living world in the ______/______ area. Hells are ________ the living world and get _____________ worse. Heavens are _______ the living world and get ____________ better: the top level being the abode of ___________ _______.
uncreated person middle/navel below.... progressively above... progressively liberated beings
Jainism: Karma as a material substance means/implication
your karma can physically weigh you down and drag you to a lower level of hell.
Jainism: You are reincarnated when?
Immediately after death.
Jainism: belief of souls/ “jiva”
All living things that have a sense can feel pain and therefore have a soul. This is why you are not allowed to harm living beings
Jainism: Goal as renunciants
Goal is to separate the body from the jiva as much as possible so that there is no karma holding it down at death.
Jainism: “Sallekhana“
“The good death” in Jainism. Die while reciting a prayer
Voluntarily decide to take in less and less nourishment until you die.
It is also having the right attitude towards the process
Jainism: Punya
“virtue”. The influx of karmic matter due to good activities of the mind, body, and speech with the potential of producing pleasant sensations.
Jainism: what is a key thing that distinguishes Jainism from Hinduism
Jainism’s rejection of Vedic sacrifice
Also change in funerary practices
Is Jainism monistic or dualistic?
Dualistic - all things are made up of souls and matter
Jainism: Is there a commensal community ritual for a person after they have died (food offerings)?
No, because a person is reborn right away so they do not need to be nourished by their ancestors in the afterlife
Early Buddhism: Buddha
“enlightened/awakened” The Awakened One
Early Buddhism: does early Buddhism deny the presence of the spirits from Hinduism?
No, it accommodates them into their beliefs, but believes that they are also susceptible to the cycle of samsara
Early Buddhism: the 4 sights that the Buddha sees that makes him renounce his position as a prince and become the buddha
An old man (aging)
A funeral (death)
A sick man (disease)
An ascetic (someone who sees the suffering and believes anyway)
Early Buddhism: Bodhisattva
A being whose essence is enlightened but hasn’t truely achieved being a Buddha yet
Early Buddhism: the middle way
Regular life is too distracting to seek religious truth
Extreme asceticism is also too much, it clouds the mind and they can’t meditate properly
There is a path between those two that leads to true enlightenment
Early Buddhism: achieving liberation is something you do through _______
experiential effort, like meditation
Early Buddhism: Nirvana
“extinguishing or blown out”
getting out of the cycle of samsara
When you reach nirvana you are no longer generating karma, however you are still continuing on in your current human life
Early Buddhism: Sangha
The community of monks and nuns established by the Buddha
Early Buddhism: parinirvana
Final or ultimate nirvana
When a being who has achieved nirvana dies. The are fully and completely outside the cycle of nirvana