World Religions Exam Flashcards
Definition: Samsara?
REINCARNATION: the endless cycle of life, death and rebirth: after each life we die and are reborn into a different life.
Definition: Moksha?
Moksha: liberation or release from the iron law of samsara
Definition: Brahman?
Brahman: the Hindu word for the impersonal essence and spirit of the cosmos, which never changes and is one with all that is; in fact all is Brahman.
Definition: Karma? (Hindu)
deeds; human actions, good and bad, that are rewarded and punished by an impersonal law of the cosmos.
What are the 4 roads to Moksha? bb
Way of Knowledge
Way of Devotion
Way of Works
Way of Meditation
What is the way of knowledge? bb
Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta
Ultimate concern for Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta
Moksha (liberation)
Three ways Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta views reality
god
self
world
What is Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta view of gods
a. Gods: appearance – lower level of reality (like a dream or stage play)
What is Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta view of self
b. Self: tangibly real but spiritually unreal; the only full reality is Brahman, which is also the only real aspect of atman (individual self)
What is Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta view of world
c. World: maya (illusion)
What is the basic human problem for Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta
ignorance of Brahman
a. We wrongly identify the finite with the real
b. This keeps us in samsara
What is the resolution for Shankara’s Advaita Vedanta
- Resolution: knowledge of Brahman, which comes by meditation and asceticism
What is the way of devotion?
Hindu Bhakti
Ultimate concern for Hindu Bhakti
Moksha (liberation)
How does Hindu Bhakti view the gods
a. God: real, can save, take different forms
How does Hindu Bhakti view the self
b. Self: finite mode of god; will retain individuality
How does Hindu Bhakti view the world
c. World: real (no levels) but not a place of hope or fulfillment; change is real
What is the basic human problem for Hindu Bhakti
- Basic human problem: samsara because of ignorance (of a personal god) and karma
What is the resolution for Hindu Bhakti
- Resolution: bhakti (love and surrender) and prasada (divine grace)
a. Monkey school – grace and effort
b. Cat school – only grace
Definition: Karma (Buddhism)
: deeds; human actions, good and bad, that are rewarded and punished by an impersonal law of the cosmos.
Definition: Nirvana (Bud)
Nirvana: the “blowing out” of desire that Buddhists seek; a state of no beings, consciousness, or desire.
two types of Buddhism?
Theravada
Mahayana
Thervada ultimate concern?
- Ultimate concern: liberation in nirvana (end of consciousness and individuality)
Theravada view of reality
- View of Reality
a. Gods: they exist but cannot help
b. Self: none; many lives before nirvana in many heavens and hells
c. World: in flux; a process not a thing; no beginning or end
Basic human problem for theravada
- Basic human problem: suffering in samsara because of ignorance of the Buddha’s teachings
Resolution for theravada?
- Resolution: acceptance of the Buddha’s teaching and practice of his virtues and Noble Eightfold Path
Ultimate concern for Mahayana
- Ultimate concern: rebirth in a heaven (such as the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha) or becoming a Buddha.
Mahayana view of reality
- View of Reality
a. Gods: many bodhisattvas and Buddhas
b. Self: none in theory but yes in practice
c. World: either impermanent of (for some Mahayanist philosophers) unreal
Basic human problem for Mahayana
- Basic human problem: suffering in samsara because of ignorance of the Buddha (such as Amitabha) or of absolute Buddha nature
Resolution for Mahayana
a. Pure Land school: call in faith on Amitabha Buddha
b. Other philosophical schools: lose attachment to all theories or meditate with the realization that all that exists is finally only pure thought
Four Noble Truths of Buddhism
Four Noble Truths
- All is suffering
- Suffering is caused by desire
- The way to be rid of suffering is to be rid of desire
- The way to be rid of desire is to follow the Noble Eightfold Path.
Noble Eightfold path of Buddhism
Noble Eightfold Path
- Right understanding
- Right thinking
- Right speech
- Right action
- Right livelihood
- Right effort
- Right mindfulness
- Right concentration
Three characteristics for Buddhism
Three Characteristics of Existence
- Impermanence
- Suffering
- No Self
Four ultimate virtues for Buddhism
4 Unlimited Virtues
- Friendliness
- Compassion
- Sympathetic Joy
- Even-mindedness
Five precepts for Buddhism
5 Precepts
- No killing
- No stealing
- No sexual sin
- No lying
- No alcohol
Ultimate concern for Islam
Paradise
Islams view of reality
a. God: holy, sovereign, powerful; the judge of all; more distant that the Father of Jesus – Allah is never called “Father” in the Qu’ran – but is “closer than the jugular vein”
b. Self: free to choose righteousness or wicked
c. World: good creation of a good God
Basic human problem for Islam
- Basic human problem: shirk (idolatry)
a. When anything or person, other than Allah, is given first priority
b. Failure to obey Allah and accept the revelation of his prophet Muhammad
Resolution for Islam
- Resolution: observance of the Five Pillars
5 Major beliefs of Islam (Basic)
God Angels Prophets of God The Holy Books The Day of Judgement
Islam means…
submission to the will of God
What does Islam believe about God
- God: He is one; He has no partner
a. shirk: the sin of claiming God has a partner – Qur’an offers no forgiveness for shirk
What is Shirk?
the sin of claiming God has a partner
What does Islam believe about Angels
- Angels: hierarchy between God and man
a. Gabriel is of the highest rank
b. Each person has 2 angels assigned to them: good & bad deeds
c. Jinn are at the bottom of hierarchy
What does Islam believe about prophets of God
- Prophets of God – each nation has received a prophet to proclaim that God is one. Each one given for a particular age, but Muhammed is the only prophet for all time (Seal of Prophets)
What does Islam believe about the holy books
- The Holy Books: 4 received by highest-ranking prophets
a. Tawrat (received by Moses: the Torah)
b. Zabur (received by David: the Psalms)
c. Injil (received by Jesus: the Gospels)
d. Qur’an (received by Muhammed)
e. Only the Qur’an has been preserved in an uncorrupted state
What does Islam believe about the day of judgement
- The Day of Judgment: deeds weighed in the balance
a. Paradise or hell
b. Only God knows the results
c. Muslims have no assurance they will be accepted by God
5 Major pillars (obligations) of Islam
- Profession of faith (shahada)
- Prayer five times daily (salat)
- Almsgiving (zakat)
- Fasting during Ramadan (siyam)
- Pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj)
Ultimate concern for Judaism
- Ultimate concern: atonement with God (which means restoration of fellowship)
Judaism view of reality
- View of reality:
a. God: Creator, one, personal, infinite, holy, just, loving; demands observance of his Torah
b. Self: free to do good or evil; union of body and spirit (no disembodied soul after the resurrection)
c. World: good creation of a good God
Judaism basic human problem
- Basic human problem: sin, which separates people from God
Judaism resolution
a. Adherence to Torah by free will, which atones for sin, restores fellowship, and brings reward in the life to come
b. Messiah will destroy evil and restore the good; traditionalists say the Messiah is a man; modernists, an age
8 basic differences between Traditional Jews and Modernist Jews
Torah God Morality Human Nature Israel Religious Practice The World to Come Messiah
Traditional view of torah
Every letter & word from God (also the Talmud: rabbinic commentaries on the Torah)
Modernist view of Torah
Only inspired in parts, known through modern reason and experience
Who is God (to a jew)
God: Monotheistic, Creator, Spirit, Lawgiver, Guide of History Humanity’s helper
Traditional Jew view of God
Performs miracles
Modernist Jew view of God
Does not perform miracles
What is modesty to a Jew
Morality:
Live decently to honor God;
OT prophets showed us how to seek justice and compassion for all
Traditional Jew view of morality
Perform mitzvoth and keep the commandments
Moral life is spelled out by the 613 mitzvoth of Torah
Modernist jew view of Morality
Perform mitzvoth and keep the commandments; general principles of justice and compassion are found through modern reason & experience
What do both jew groups believe about humanity
free to do what God commands
Insist that while we will never be perfect, by repentance we can turn back to God and use God-given willpower to do what he has told us to do
Traditional jew view of Israel
God’s chosen nation because of merits of the Fathers; lives to communicate God’s truth to the nations
Modernist jew view of Israel
Agree that the Fathers chose God and this is why God chose them; other nations can be ‘chosen’
Trad. Jew view of religious practice
Everything Jews have done in historic liturgies and daily practices represent God’s will in Torah – pay close attention to small details
Mod. Jew view of religious practice
Rituals are merely human devices, making us feel close to what is good and divine - subject to improvement
To jews, what is the world to come?
The World To Come:
Believe in recompense after death (good rewarded, evil punished);
affirm immortality and resurrection
To trad. Jew what is the world to come?
Literal concept
To mod. Jew what is the world to come?
We can’t know anything more precise than the fact of life after death
To trad. jew, what is the messiah
Will be a man, pray for his coming;
He will not be God, but he will abolish evil and establish goodness
To mod. jew, what is the messiah
Looking not to a man but a messianic age;
Not the result of God’s efforts, but of mankind’s work in pursuit of dreams for justice and goodness;
Dreams are inspired by God, and Torah helps us understand them, but man brings the age to reality
