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A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden—beliefs and practices which united into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them."

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Durkheim's de?nition

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"[Religion is] ... the feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine."

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Gerald James Larson

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[T]he religious aspect points to that which is ultimate, infinite, unconditional in man's spiritual life. Religion, in the largest and most basic sense of the word, is ultimate concern."

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Tillich's de?nition of religion

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1. A discourse whose concerns transcend the human, temporal, and contingent, and that claims for itself a similarly transcendent status. . . .2. A set of practices whose purpose is to produce a proper world and/or proper human subjects, as de?ned by a religious discourse to which these practices are connected. . . .3. A community whose members construct their identity with reference to a religious discourse and its attendant practices. . . .4. An institution that regulates religious discourse, practices, and community, re-producing them over time and modifying them as necessary, while asserting their eternal validity and transcendent value.

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transcendence (Bruce Lincoln)

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God or Gods belief system

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theistic

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no God or Gods belief system

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nontheistic

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belief in many Gods

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Polytheism

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belief in one God

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Monotheism

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which acknowledges a plurality of gods but elevates one of them to special status.

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henotheism

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powerful source of sacred truth.

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myth

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In certain beliefs and philosophies, the "axis mundi" is the center of the world. May be naturally occurring (e.g., a mountain, tree, stalk, column of smoke) or the product of of human work (tower, ladder, staircase, pillar, totem pole). cottonwood tree is a kind of axis mundi (Latin, "the center of the world"), a symbol that scholars of religious studies and mythology have recognized in cultures and traditions globally.

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axis mundi

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a famous Lakota religious leader. In a book titled Black Elk Speaks (1932), he tells of his life and of a great vision. He opens by saying: "It is the story of all life that is holy and is good to tell, and of us two-leggeds sharing in it with the four-leggeds and the wings of the air and all green things; for these are the children of one mother and their father is one spirit." Famous medicine man and holy man of the Ogala Lakota (Sioux). Important religious vision when he was 9 years old. Traveled to England with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in 1887. Leader in the revival of the Sun Dance. He?áka Sápa (Black Elk) praying on Harney Peak (1931)

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Black Elk

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"religion is a cultural system integrating teachings, practices, modes of experience, institutions, and artistic expressions that relates people to what they perceive to be transcendent"

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Textbook Definition

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Among the Cherokee, Selu was the First Woman and goddess of the corn. (Her name literally means "maize" or "corn" in the Cherokee language.) Selu is the mother to two mischievous twin boys—known as the Twin Thunder Boys. Selu is able to produce corn by rubbing her stomach or by defecating. Her twin sons see her doing this and believe she is a witch, so they plot to kill her. Selu knows her sons' murderous intentions, and tells them to clear a large piece of land. In her dying instructions, she tells her sons to drag her bleeding body around the cleared land seven times. Wherever her blood falls, corn grows.

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Selu (the Corn Mother)

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Rite of passage in many Native American cultures. Purpose is to experience a vision that will provide guidance in life. Sometimes preceded by purification in sweet lodge. Seclusion in nature, often with fasting and praying. Upon return, person may share his vision with tribe elders so that it may be interpreted.

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The Vision Quest

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Daughter of Francois Xavier Mamentouensa ("Chief Rouensa"), chief of the Illiniwek Indian tribe in Illinois the late 17th/early 18th century. "Many struggles were needed before she could be induced to consent to the marriage, for she had resolved never to marry, in order that she might belong wholly to Jesus Christ. She answered her father and mother, when they brought her to me in company with the Frenchman whom they wished to have for a son-in-law, that she did not wish to marry; that she had already given all her heart to God, and did not wish to share it. Such were her very words, which had never yet been heard in this barbarism." -- Father Jacques Gravier, in his mission journal of February 15, 1694

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Marie Rouensa

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A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one, and that high sanction of his destruction has been an enormous factor in promoting Indian massacres. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man." -- Capt. Richard H. Pratt (1892) Founder of Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania

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Mission Schools

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New religious movement in the late 1880s / early 1890s Founded by Wovoka (1856-1932) (also known as Jack Wilson), a Northern Paiute religious leader Wovoka had a prophetic, millennialist vision during an eclipse Ghost Dance spread quickly among Native American groups

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The Ghost Dance

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U.S. Supreme Court found a state could deny unemployment benefits to a person fired for violating a state law prohibiting the use of peyote, even if the use was part of a religious ritual

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Employment Division vs. Smith

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A term "typically applied to religions that engage with a wide community of living beings with whom humans share this world or particular locations within it. It might be summed up by the phrase 'all that exists lives' and, sometimes, the additional understanding that 'all that lives is holy.'" — Graham Harvey, "Animism—A Contemporary Perspective"

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animism

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the science that deals with the general features of the universe, including the earth. The branches of cosmography include astronomy, geography, and geology. a description or representation of the universe or the earth.

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Cosmography

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Mystical function - stories "eliciting and supporting a sense of awe before the mystery of being" Cosmological function - stories that "render a cosmology, an image of the universe ..." Sociological function - stories that "support the current social order, to integrate the individual organically with this group" Pedagogical function - stories that "initiate the individual into the order of realities of his own psyche, guiding him toward his own spiritual enrichment and realization"

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Joseph Campbell's Four Functions of Myths

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Established in 1879 by an act of Congress to transfer records related to Native Americans from the Interior Department to the Smithsonian. Ethnology: "a branch of anthropology that analyzes cultures, especially in regard to their historical development and the similarities and dissimilarities between them." James Mooney

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Bureau of American Ethnology

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a common character in various traditional creation myths. In these stories a supreme being usually sends an animal into the primal waters to find bits of sand or mud with which to build habitable land.

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earth-diver

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Nkisi are spirits, or an object that a spirit inhabits Frequently applied to objects used throughout the Congo Basin in Central Africa that are believed to contain spiritual powers or spirit

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Nkisi

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Religious idols made by the Kongo people of the Congo region. Nkondi are a subclass of nkisi that are considered aggressive. Nkondi means "hunter" in the Kongo language.

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Nkisi Nkondi

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Famadihana is a funerary tradition of the Malagasy people in Madagascar. Known as "the turning of the bones." Typically only every 7 years. Bodies of ancestors are brought out of family crypts, rewrapped in cloth, and corpses danced with.

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Famadihana

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Sacrifice Divination Spirit Possession

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3 Communication with Spirit World

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Cultural anthropologists. The Turners performed fieldwork among the Ndembu of Zambia from 1951 to 1954. Influential theories of symbols, ritual, and rites of passage.

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Edith & Victor Turner

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"The Ihamba affliction runs like this: the patient has been bitten by the tooth of a dead hunter, an object normally kept as an amulet helpful for hunting. When the tooth is neglected, so the Ndembu told us, it enters someone's body and travels along the veins, biting and inflicting a unique disease. This thing is both a spirit and a tooth, as the actions of the doctors attested. It is removed by means of cupping horns after a lengthy ritual." Only a drum ritual can cure it -- Edith Turner (1992)

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Ihamba Affliction

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refers to the communities throughout the world that are descended from the historic movement of peoples from Africa, predominantly to the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, among other areas around the globe.

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Diaspora

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Originated in the Caribbean and developed in the French Empire in the 18th century among West African slaves. Closely related to, West African Vodun as practiced by the Fon and Ewe. Incorporates elements of other African religions, Roman Catholicism, spirituality, and mysticism. Today is dominant religion in Haiti.

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Vodou

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religion practiced by several African groups

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Vodun

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Also known as Regla de Ochá or La Regla de Lucumí. between 1820-1860, ~275,000 Yoruba-speaking people came to Cuba, where they were known as Lucumí A syncretic religion of Caribbean origin. Today is very prominent in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Merges aspects of Yoruba mythology, brought to New World by Yoruba slaves, with Roman Catholicism and indigenous American traditions. Similar to Yoruba religion called Candomblé, found particularly in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.

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Santeria

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a spirit that reflects one of the manifestations of God in Yoruba religion

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orisha

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The Hialeah, Florida ordinance prohibited the "unnecessary" killing of "an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption." The Supreme Court held the ordinance to a standard of strict scrutiny: state action required a compelling governmental interest and had to be "narrowly tailored" to advance that interest. Justice Anthony Kennedy: "religious beliefs need not be acceptable, logical, consistent or comprehensible to others in order to merit First Amendment protection."

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Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah

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Symbolic Routine Repetitive

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3 Attributes of Ritual

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6 Characteristics of Ritual Formalism: rituals utilize a "restricted code." Traditionalism: rituals often incorporate archaic or anachronistic elements; are often concerned with historical precedent. Invariance: rituals are carefully choreographed, striving for perfect repetition. Rule-governance: rituals tend to be governed by rules. Sacral symbolism: rituals frequently include objects that function as signs. Performance: rituals create a theatrical atmosphere.

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Catherine Bell

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makes use of an extensive corpus of texts, is practised among Yoruba communities. The word Ifa refers to the mystical figure Ifa or Orunmila, regarded by the Yoruba people as the deity of wisdom and intellectual development.

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Ifa Divination

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Separation Transition (liminality) Incorporation

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Gennep's 3 Stages of Rites of Passage

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Scheme of Indo-European migrations, of which the Indo-Aryan migrations form a part, from c. 4000 to 1000 BCE.

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Indo-Aryan Migration Theory

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living being

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Jiva

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Self, Soul

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?tman

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(Law of Causation) "Karma encompasses all action: physical, mental, emotional, psychological, and ritual" (Brodd, p. 92). Phala: fruit, result of action. "People are bound to samsara because of karma and its results" (Brodd, p. 93).

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Karma

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Emancipation, liberation or release. Release from sa?s?ra, the cycle of death and rebirth. A person's ?tman reunites with Brahman and is never born again into cyclic existence.

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Moksha (Liberation)

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Hindu dharma "can refer to religious prescriptions and ordinances, sacred duty, law, moral virtue, and social or caste obligation" (Brodd, p. 94). How we know what to do, according to who we are. Dharma is "that which brings about well-being both in this life and in the hereafter" (Brodd, p. 94). Term "dharma" is also found in Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.

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Dharma ("Right Way of Living")

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Impersonal force that pervades creation and is genderless, pervasive, infinite, and eternal. Underlies all existence, including the gods. Is the true nature of all that exists. Another example of henotheism: There is a plurality of gods, but one of them is elevated to a special status. Not to be confused with Brahma, a Hindu god, or brahmin, a particular caste or varna.

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Brahman (Ultimate Reality)

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Different ways to escape sa?s?ra, including: Renouncing the world Surrendering to God Meditation Ritual action A sadhu is a religious ascetic who is solely dedicated to achieving mok?ha through meditation and contemplation of Brahman.

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Sa?s?ra

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Jñ?na yoga: Path of knowledge, wisdom, introspection and contemplation. Involves deep exploration of the nature our being by systematically exploring and setting aside false identities. Bhakti Yoga: Path of devotion, emotion, love, compassion, and service to God and others. All actions are done in the context of remembering the Divine. Karma Yoga: Path of action, service to others, mindfulness, and remembering the levels of our being while fulfilling our actions or karma in the world. *Raja Yoga: A comprehensive method that emphasizes meditation, while encompassing the whole of Yoga. Directly deals with the encountering and transcending thoughts of the mind. *Not one of the 3 classical margas (paths) to moksha described in The Bhagavad Gita.

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Four Margas (Paths) of Yoga

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Brahmacharya (student) Grihastha (householder) Vanaprastha (retired) Sannyasa (renunciation)

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Ashramas (Four Stages of Life)

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A system of hierarchical social organization based on occupation. "Varna is determined by birth and is propagated through endogamy, or marriage within a particular group" (Brodd, p. 95). Often translated as "caste." Literal meaning is "color." Closely related to the idea of class (Brodd, p. 95).

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The Varna System

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Additional classification system to varna. J?ti means "birth." Denotes the thousands of clans, tribes, communities and sub-communities, and religions in India. A j?ti is typically associated with a specific job function or tribe. Religious beliefs or linguistic groupings may define some j?tis. A person's surname often reflects a j?ti association. (Talwar = Swordsman/Sword, Gandhi = perfume seller, Jhaveri = jeweler, Dhobi = washerman) Thousands of j?tis in India. Relative status vary by region.

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The J?ti System

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the most ancient Hindu scriptures, written in early Sanskrit and containing hymns, philosophy, and guidance on ritual for the priests of Vedic religion. Believed to have been directly revealed to seers among the early Aryans in India, and preserved by oral tradition, the four chief collections are the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda. Vedas" means "knowledge."

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Vedas

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is a Sanskrit term that means "fruit" of one's actions in Hinduism

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Phala

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Part of the Vedas. Often referred to as Ved?nta, interpreted as "last chapters, parts of the Veda" or "the object, the highest purpose of the Veda." Upanishads are speculative texts describing some of the central elements of Hinduism. In particular, describe the ultimate nature of reality (Brahman), the self or soul (?tman), and the path to liberation (Moksha). Considered foundation for Hindu philosophical thought. More than 200 Upanishads. Approximately first dozen are oldest (pre-Buddhist, in 8th to 6th c. BCE) and are considered the most important. Widely admired by Western philosophers and writers, including Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, American Transcendalists, and T. S. Eliot.

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Upanishads

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700 shlokas (Sanskrit verses) within the Hindu epic Mahabharata. Consists of a dialogue between prince Arjuna and his guide and charioteer Krishna. Arjuna struggles to fulfill his Dharma as a Kshatria (warrior). Considers different methods of moksha, including path of action, path of knowledge, and path of devotion. Emphasizes marga of bhakti: a mode of worship that consists of unceasing and loving remembrance of God. Deemed the easiest path out of samsara that allows people to live in this world. Bhakti suggests a particular relationship with God: "God is imagined as a friend, a confidante, a lover, a child, or a master" (Brodd, p. 103).

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The Bhagavad Gita

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A Sanskrit epic poem composed 200 BCE - 200 CE. Typically attribute to the Sanskirt poet Valmiki. Ramayana means "The Journey of Rama." Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, is one of the popular Hindu deities. Important source for Hindu notions of Dharma. Consists of 7 books, with 24,000 verses. Regarded as a great work of Indian literature, along with the Mahabharata. Has inspired art, theatre, movies, books, dance. See Brodd, pp. 99-101 for summary of story.

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Ramayana

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Hindu epic that is the longest work of epic poetry in the world: 100,000 verses! Like the Ramayana, concern with dharma evident. Also discusses the Four Aims of Life (purusharthas). See Brodd pp. 101-103 for summary of story. Imprortantly, contains the Bhagavad Gita.

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Mahabharata

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Majority of Hindus (~70%). Vishnu and his avatars (including Rama and Krishna) recognized as supreme deities. Vishnu is regarded as creation's originator and sustainer. Identification of Vishnu: pale blue, with four arms. Padma (lotus flower) in his lower left hand, the Kaumodaki gada (mace) in his lower right hand, the Panchajanya shankha (conch) in his upper left hand, and the discus weapon in his upper right hand. Vishnu's consort Lakshmi also important.

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Vaishnavas

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Second largest Hindu community in India (~26%). Devotees of Shiva, whom they regard as creator, preserver, destroyer, revealer, and concealer of all. Generally speaking, Shaivas pursue asceticism more than other sects of Hinduism. Nataraja: depiction of God Shiva as the cosmic dancer who performs his divine dance to destroy the universe so Brahma may start the process of creation.

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Shaivism

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<5% of Hindu population. Shaktis focus their worship on Shakti or Devi - the Divine Mother figure. Devi is married to Shiva, so Shaivas and Shaktis share some things in common. Shaktis: "Shiva without Shakti is shava." The Greatness of Devi: 5th c. Sanskirt text that describes source of universe as feminine.

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Shaktism

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A prayer ritual performed by Hindus to honor and worship one or more deities or to celebrate an event. (Brodd textbook translate the term simply as "worship.") Performed on many different occasions and in different settings: Individual, daily pujas, often performed in the home. Occasional temple ceremonies and annual festivities. In honor of milestone events, such as birth of baby, a wedding, a new home. Puja rituals are also held by Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.

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Puja (or Poojan)

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"worship with light" A part of puja. Lamps fueled by ghee (clarified butter) or camphor are lit and waved in a clockwise motion in front of a deity (a murti) or a divine element (such as the Ganges). May have descended from Vedic fire rituals.

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Arati

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Major 10-day Hindu festival in honor of the god Ganesh (remover of obstacles and bestower of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune). Observed in Indian and in Indian diaspora communities around the world. Clay images of Ganesh (murtis) installed in temporary public shrines. Murtis may also be installed in the home. Usually occurs in August or September. In 2015, begins on September 17. At conclusion of festival when Ganesh's spirit departs the murtis, clay idols are typically immersed in bodies of water.

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Ganesh Chaturthi

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Festival in honor of Durga, the Mother Goddess. The biggest festival of the year in Kolkata. Celebrates victory of good (Durga) over evil (Mahishasur the demon).

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Durga Puja

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or Deepavali, the "festival of lights") is an ancient Hindu festival celebrated in autumn (northern hemisphere) every year. Diwali is the biggest and the brightest festival in India. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness.

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Diwali

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the absence of anthropomorphic or theriomorphic representational, mimetic images of deities or other religious personages"

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Aniconicism

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an old man a sick man a corpse an ascetic

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The Four Sights:

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The Truth of Dukkha: life is filled with suffering The Truth of the Origin of Dukkha: desire (craving, clinging) is the origins of dukkha; The Truth of the Cessation of Dukkha: ending desire means that rebirth, dissatisfaction, and redeath can no longer arise; The Truth of the Path Of Liberation from Dukkha: following the Noble Eightfold Path will liberate us from dukkha.

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The Four Noble Truths

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Remember what Siddhartha saw when he left the palace: old age, illness, and death. Desire also produces duhkha. "A lurking sense of dissatisfaction underlies even those aspects of life that we delight in and cherish most because they will inevitably pass no matter how hard we try to hold on" (Brodd, pp. 159-160).

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Duhkha ("Suffering")

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"[T]here are 5 'aggregates' or 'components' (skandhas) that together make up our sense of being: form, feeling, perception, mental formation, and consciousness. The skandhas give rise to a false sense of identity through apprehending them as an integrated and autonomous whole" (Brodd, p. 157). "A movement toward the cessation of suffering comes from letting go of this idea of 'me' and 'mine,' allowing one to flow mindfully in the shifting river of being" (Brodd, p. 157).

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Anatman ("Non-Self")

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all dharmas ("things") arise in dependence upon other dharmas "if this exists, that exists; if this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist." A pragmatic teaching. "... all things are the result of antecedent causes and our sense of independent existence is merely an illusion" (Brodd, p. 158, emphasis original).

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Dependent Co-Origination (Prat?tyasamutp?da)

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he Three Jewels, also called the Three Treasures, Three Refuges, Precious Triad, or most commonly the Triple Gem Pali: Tiratana, Sanskrit: ???????? (triratna), are the three things that Buddhists take refuge in, and look toward for guidance, in the process known as taking refuge.

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The Three Jewels

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cosmic law and order

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Buddhist Dharma

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Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from 269 - 232 BCE. Converted to Buddhism after witnessing massive number of deaths in the Kalinga War, which he had waged. Revered as "first great royal sponsor of the Buddha's teachings and as the ideal model for all later Buddhist kings" (Brodd, p. 190).

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Ashoka the Great

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One who has attained nirvana in the present life. Signs of an arhat: one who is free of all greed, hatred, delusion, ignorance, and craving. Freeing himself from desire, he will not be reborn. The ideal of Theravada Buddhism.

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Arhat ('one who is worthy')

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'an awakened being.' One on the verge of awakening. In Mahayana its refers to an adept who has made of the vow of the bodhisattva to remain in samsara until all beings are free

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Bodhisattava

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The philosophy of this school is straight forward. All worldly phenomena are subject to three characteristics - they are impermanent and transient; unsatisfactory and that there is nothing in them which can be called one's own, nothing substantial, nothing permanent.

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Theravada

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Mahayana Buddhism is divided into two systems of thought: the Madhyamika and the Yogacara. The Madhyamikas were so called on account of the emphasis they laid on the middle view. Here, the middle path, stands for the non-acceptance of the two views concerning existence and nonexistence, eternity and non eternity, self and non-self.

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Mahayana

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a dome-shaped structure erected as a Buddhist shrine.

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stupas

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