THE NATURE OF ASIAN RELIGION
We live in an increasingly international world, where relations between Asian countries and those of Europe and the Americas have become more crucial than ever before. Modern science and technology have created for the first time in recorded history a universal pattern of civilization, a world society which desperately needs some understanding of diversity. There is great diversity among world religions. For hundreds of millions of Asians, their religion—no matter what form it takes—is a vital concern of their daily lives, not a mere one day-a-week observance. The peoples of non-Western cultures see religion as integrally related to and inseparable from all the other areas of life and experience. They generally look upon their religion as the basis of their culture, which gives form and meaning to the rest of existence. Our attempt here is to understand certain beliefs about the transcendent, humanity, and the universe that have been the basis of well-established cultures and beautiful art in the Asian world. Asian philosophy is a way of life.
- Hinduism
- Buddhism
- Lao Zi
- Zen
- Mao Ze-Dong
1. We live in a world society that desperately needs some understanding of its diversity, especially the great diversity among world religions.
2. The peoples of Asian cultures view religion as integrally related to and inseparable from all other areas of life and experience.
THE HINDU TRADITION
1. Hinduism has been practiced for some 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest
religious traditions in the world.
2. The purpose of Hindu philosophy is to see the truth and to apply the truth to
problems of everyday life.
3. Hindu Scripture is extensive and when collected includes the Vedas and the
widely read Bhagavadgita.
4. Four major periods of Hindu thought include Vedic polytheism; the Vedanta and the presentation of Absolute Brahman; Bhakti, or the literature of devotional theism, including the Bhagavadgita; and the modern period.
5. Central to Hindu philosophy is Brahman, the one unchanging reality that transcends space, time, causality, and all particular things.
6. The concept of the self, atman, is closely allied with Brahman.
7. Four main values of Hinduism are: artha (wealth), kama sensuality, dharma (duty or righteousness), and moksha (enlightenment or release from finitude).
8. Karma, the law of cause and effect in human life, determines the dharmic form that atman will take in each new existence.
9. The four ashramas, or stages of life, are student, householder, forest dweller, and renunciant.
10. Yoga is a technique of physical and spiritual training by which the bodily and psychic energies are controlled, unified, and directed in order to attain liberation from the world.
THE BUDDHIST QUEST FOR ENLIGHTENMENT
1. Siddhartha Gautama was the founder of Buddhism, which flourished in India for more than a thousand years. He became known as the Buddha or “Enlightened One.”
2. The central core of Buddhist philosophy is found in “The Four Noble Truths.”
3. The Noble Eightfold Path can lead to nirvana,the experience of cessation of suffering, the liberation from human striving.
4. Two main branches with various subdivisions arose in Buddhism, the main divisions being Theravada and Mahayana.
CONFUCIUS AND LAO-ZI
1. Confucius and Lao-Zi attempted to organize the wisdom of the time into a more orderly system. Philosophy among the Chinese has been practical and this-worldly. They emphasized moral problems and social philosophy.
2. Traditional Chinese philosophy proposes a system of ethical realism in which man occupies a high place in nature.
3. Confucianism was concerned mainly with personal and social relations, whereas Daoism cultivated a sense of oneness with the order of the universe.
MAO ZE-DONG
1. Marxism may be regarded as the religion of China today with Mao Ze-dong as its founder.
THE VALUE SYSTEM OF THE JAPANESE
1. The Japanese value system began in an early tribal society. Standards and values were based mainly on respect for external authority, ensuring a smoothly functioning society. In Japan, since the end of World War II, there has been considerable movement toward a capitalistic society similar to that of Western Europe and America.
2. Shinto, literally “the way of the Gods,” is the name used to cover many activities and beliefs of the Japanese.
3. Zen Buddhism, the most influential sect of Buddhism in Japan, stresses the universe as one indissoluble substance, one total whole, of which man is only a part. Zen focuses on everyday, ordinary experience, on living the experience of each moment.
4. Individual virtues and cultural values are reflected in the Bushido code and respect for external authority; however, contradictory elements can be found, as in systems of other societies.
REFLECTIONS
1. There are basic sources of misunderstanding between East and West: economic and technological differences; contrasting ideals; differences in outlook on reality and satisfying desires; respective differences concerning time, and attitudes toward nature.
2. The things approved and disapproved differ in minor details; there is considerable agreement about morals and values.
Glossary Terms
ATMAN : The Hindu concept of the soul or self after enlightenment. The true self of each individual is identical with Brahman. The true destiny of the self is the realization of union with Brahman.
BHAGAVADGITA: A particular Hindu scripture that has the form of a dialogue between the hero Arjuna and Krishna, an incarnation of the God Vishnu. The most well-known of the Hindu Scriptures; called the Gita and the Song of the Lord. (Sometimes written Bhagavad-Gita.)
BODHISATTVA: A term used in Buddhism for a person aspiring to enlightenment, one who is a Buddhato-be; a Buddhist wise and holy person.
BRAHMAN: The central concept in Hindu philosophy of the impersonal supreme being or ultimate reality. The primal source and ultimate goal of all beings, with which Atman, when enlightened, knows itself to be identical.
KARMA: In Hinduism, the cosmic law of sowing and reaping, of cause and effect in human life. The law determines the form that will be taken in each new existence or rebirth. Action is seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad.
NIRVANA: The extinction of the finite, changing, desiring self. A cessation of striving that liberates and enlightens one. The elimination of ignorance, lust, and selfishness, which are at the root of suffering.
SHINTO: The name given to the many activities and beliefs of the traditional Japanese religion.
TRANSLITERATION: The spelling of words translated from a different foreign script. For example, Arabic script, dissimilar to the script of English words, can yield Qur’an or Koran, Muslim or Moslem, and various English spellings of “Mohammed.”
UPANISHADS: A group of philosophical treatises, usually in dialogue form, composed between the eighth and sixth centuries B.C.E. They comprise part of the Hindu Scripture and represent an advance beyond the Vedas, having as their principal message the unity of Brahman and Atman.