Foreword

Religion is a problem which has beset the whole of mankind ages ago.
History proves that great wars that cost countless lives occurred - all in the name
of religion. This grave problem which gave rise to bloody struggles is not confined
to the days of old, but transcends to this age - the age of the 80-called
sophisticated civilization and intellectual advancement. The world is a witness to
some strife-tom areas. In Northern Ireland, Protestants and Catholics are looked
in bloody struggles - killing each other. In the Middle East the same is happening
with the Arabs and Jews.
Thus, the critically-minded find themselves in a quandary. Their attention is
called by the fact that its religious leaders and founders studied what is known as
theology.
This book will present two concepts as regards religion. We shall know the
meaning of religion as defined and analyzed by men, and the true meaning of
religion in the light of the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.
Likewise presented are some of the various forms of religion 11ke Hinduism
(the alleged man's oldest religion), Jainism and Buddhism which find their origins
in India, also discussed are those that evolved in China, Iike Taoism and
Confucianism, Zoroastrianism which find growth in Persia (now Iran) and Islam
which developed in Arabia. In our short treatment of these religions, some points
on their historical development, the life and teachings of the founder (if they
have) doctrines or beliefs, and practices were mentioned.
It will be noted that Judaism and Christianity are not included for these
have been thoroughly taken up in separate books. Judaism 13 treated in the
history of Israel, and Christianity in the history of the Church founded by Christ.

Quezon City and Baguio City 1976

iv
 Chapter I

HISTORY OF RELIGION

Introduction

The term religion calls attention to the all-important fact that man is a
religious being. There is that in his nature which prompts him to some sort of faith
and worship. With or without special revelation from God, he requires the
satisfaction and consolation and guidance which comes from faith in the unseen
and the eternal.
Arnold Toynbee says: "Religion is manifestly one of the essential faculties of
human nature. No individual human being and no human community is ever
without a religion of some kind." Wherever and however he lived, man has
worshipped and has shown a belief that he possesses an immortal soul.
The Meaning of Religion. This study gives us two biblical meanings of the
term religion:

1. Service to God. The term "religion" is used to describe man's service to God in
accordance with His commandment and statutes as found in the Holy Scriptures
(Dt. 10:12-13; Ps. 100:2-3; Dt. 12:32). Webster's Mind How International
Dictionary defines it as: the personal commitment to and serving of God or a god
with worshipful devotions, conduct in accord with divine commands especially as
found in accepted sacred writings or declared by authoritative teachers, way of
life recognized as incumbent on true believers, and typically the relating of
oneself to an organized body of believers." It came to be applied to the services
and ritual and rules by which faith in and devotion to deity were expressed.
History of Religion

2. A Return to God. When men's right to worship and serve God was forfeited
because of sin his relationship to God was cut off. In such desperate situation of
man God has sounded a call:
From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have
not kept them. Return to me and I will return to you..." (Mal. 3:7). The dictionary
derives the word religion from roller which means literally, to bind back or to the
back.
Thus religion after the fall of mankind came to be applied to man's effort of
turning back to God's ways, His commands and statutes, whence man had turned
aside.
Origin of Religion: In theory and Archeology
In the sixth century B.C., the Greek philosopher Xenophanes wrote: Mortals
think that the gods are begotten, and wear clothes like their own, and have a
voice and a form. If oxen or horses or lions and hands and could draw with them
and make works of art as men do, horses would draw the shapes of gods like
horses, oxen like oxen; each kind would represent their bodies just like their own
forms. The Ethiopians say that their rods are black and flat nosed; the Thracians,
that theirs are blue-eyed and red-haired." The observation is notable; it shows
that already in ancient Greece there were acute minds to perceive the essential
relativity of religious conceptions. Whether Xenophanes was the first to look
critically at religion is not know.

Theory a) The Egyptians. That men, elsewhere had earlier perceived, the
comparative aspect of religion is attested in ancient Egyptian literature. The
Pharaoh Akhenaten, that strange genius who tried to change the ancient
polytheism of Egypt into monotheism, understood that the providence of a single
supreme deity could not be confined to the people of Egypt. Accordingly, in his
famous Hymn to the Aten, -the sun's disk which manifested the presence of his
god - he proclaimed that this supreme and beneficent deity had placed a Nile in
the sky for other peoples: to his mind the main that watered foreign lands was
celestial counterpart of the river Nile which irrigated Egypt. Egyptian priest also
speculated about the beginning of things. But their purpose was theological, not
rationalistic.
History of Religion

The priesthoods of various gods each sought to show that their own
particular deity was the original creator, and that all the other gods were
descended from him. In the theological system composed during the Old Kingdom
period (e. 2778-2423 B.C.) at Memphis by the priests of Ptah, the origin of
religious worship was actually described. The approach, however, was essentially
mythological: Ptah was represented as arranging for the establishment of the
temples and cultus of the other gods. Similar cosmogonies were composed in
ancient Mesopotamia; like the Egyptian systems, they always assumed the
existence of some primordial divine being that was responsible for the creation of
the world and of mankind and its institutions. According to these Mesopotamian
explanations of the origins of things, the human race had been specifically created
to build temples for the gods and to feed them with offerings: hence religion was
essentially divine service, and constituted the reason or justification for existence
of mankind.
b) The Greeks and the Romans. Such early explanations were theologically-
inspired etiologies, and not rationalistic accounts of the origin of religion. The
critical attitude manifest in Xenophanes' statement reveals a very afferent quality
of mind that soon finds farther expression in Greek literature. About the year 450
B.C. the philosopher Anaxagoras scandalized the devotees of traditional religion
in Athens by declaring that the sun was not divine, but a red-hot mass, and the
moon was made of earth, and, therefore, not a goddess; he was condemned for
impiety and exiled from the city. About 300 B.C. Buhemerus of Messine
propounded a theory concerning the origin of the gods which has perpetuated his
memory into modern times as Buhemerism". In a so-called Sacred History, he set
forth his ideas in the form of a fictitious account of his travels. He relates how he
visited an island in the Indian Ocean, named Panchaia. There he found a majestic
temple of Zeus, who was the supreme deity of the Greek pantheon. In the temple
he read, inscribed on a gold stela, a long account of the exploits of Zeus, and of
Uranos and Kronos, who, in Greek tradition, were regarded as the divine rulers of
the universe before Zeus. This account was designed by Buhemerus to show that
these gods had originally been great kings of remote antiquity, who were
subsequently deified.
History of Religion

His explanation of the origin of the gods was not altogether fantastic;
modern research has shown that the deities of many peoples were in origin
ancient heroes, whose deeds caused them to be venerated and ultimately
divinized.
The extent to which the origin and nature of religion could be rationalized
in Graeco-Roman society is seen in the De nature rerum (about the nature of
things) of Lucretius. This Roman poet, who lived during the first century B.C., was
a follower of the Greek philosopher Epicurus (e. 342-270 B.C.) whom he regarded
as the true savior of mankind; for Epicurus, according to him, had been the first to
expose the pernicious nature of religion, which enslaved the human mind.
Lucretius did not deny the existence of gods; but he held that they had no contact
whatever with this world and its inhabitants. He explained the origin of religion in
two ways. First, that men dreamed of the gods as beings of surpassing beauty and
stature, to whom they attributed omnipotence and mortality. Next:
"They observed how the array of heaven and the various seasons of the year
came round in due order, and could not discover by what causes all that came
about. Therefore, their refuge was to leave all in the hands of the gods, and to
suppose that by their nod all things were done. They placed the gods' habitation
in the sky, because through the sky the night and the moon are seen to revolve,
moon and day and night and the solemn stars of night, heaven's night-wandering
torches, clouds and sun, rain and snow, winds, lightning and hail, rapid roaring
and threatening throes of thunder.... unhappy race of mankind, to ascribe such
doings to the gods and to add there to bitter wrath! What groans did they then
create for themselves, what wounds for us, what tears for generations to come?"
The free enquiry into the origin and nature of religion, which characterized
Graeco-Roman society, was essentially speculative. Although many thinkers were
skeptical about traditional religious belief and practice, contemporary scholarship
had no effective criteria or research techniques for a truly scientific investigation
of religion. Whether such would eventually have been formulated is unknown;
the establishment of Christianity as the official religion of the Homan Empire in
the fourth century completely changed the religious situation and the ethos of
academic thought.
History of Religion

c.) Jude-Christian. For the scholars of the Church there was only one true
religion, namely, their own. Its origins clear to them. The Bible was the divine
record of God's dealings with mankind from the very Creation. In a superb
narrative, the purpose of God was vividly presented: the original sin of Adam and
Eve had caused God to plan for the redemption of their posterity, which had been
achieved by the sacrifice of Christ and the founding of the Church. The early
Christians were aware of the existence of other religions: but they easily
accounted for their origin. Judaism was due to the culpable obduracy of the Jews
in rejecting Jesus as the true Messiah and persisting in the now-superseded Old
Covenant, which the coming of Christ had made obsolete. The pagan cults of the
Graeco-Roman world were dismissed as the inventions of the Devil and the
perversity of man. The pagan gods were seen as demons that had enslaved kind
until humanity was emancipated by Christ. It is interesting to note, however, that,
by one of those strange ironies of history, the gods of Greece and Rome did not
entirely lose their influence. Through their being identified with the planets, they
continued an effective existence in astrology, in which even popes and bishops
believed during the Middle Ages.
The emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. faced Christians with a
new religion that threatened the existence of their own. Although they vigorously
opposed it by force of arms, they took no interest in its origin and nature.
Generally, Islam was regarded as a form of heresy: Dante, in the Divine
Commedia, placed Mohammed in the eight circle of Hell, where he was eternally
punished as a schismatic. Of the great religion of Asia, Hinduism and Buddhism,
medieval Christendom had but meager and vague knowledge. Indeed, so great
was the ignorance concerning the life and the teaching of the Buddha that a
garbled version of his deeds was written up by St. John of Damascus (c. 676-756)
as the exploits of two saints named Barlaam and Joasaph. Thus the Buddha
entered the Calendars both of the Roman and the Greek Church as St. Joseph, this
name being a corruption of the Buddhist title Bodhisattva.
The Renaissance marked the beginning of a change in the traditional Christian
attitude to other religions, as it did in so many other ways. The emerging
humanism, with its eager curiosity about the world and human institutions, was
soon stimulated by maritime exploration and discovery.
History of Religion

The horizon of educated men was no longer limited to Europe: exciting

information of new lands and peoples came back with the season and other
adventurers. Some of these newly discovered peoples were barbarous by
European standards; but others, particularly in India and China, possessed
civilizations of high achievement. Europeans began to understand that the world
was not conterminous with Europe, nor were European ways and institutions the
only form of sophisticated living. Then, too, there was the significant fact that all
these different peoples, some highly civilized, had their own religions, to which
they appeared a devoted as were the peoples of Europe to Christianity.
The chief reaction of the European peoples to this revelation of the
existence of vast heathen populations throughout the world was consistent with
their Christian profession. These heathen must be won for Christ. Soon
missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant, were following the merchants, to the
far-off lands, to bring the Gospel to their benighted peoples. But the new
knowledge also stimulated some minds to reflect on the significance of both the
variety and the similarity of religious belief and practice which were thus
revealed. The results of their reflection began to find expression in a series of
publications concerned with explaining the origin of such phenomena. Among
these early essays in the comparative study of religion as the theory advanced in
1724 by the Jesuit scholar Joseph Lafitau. Noting similarities of idea and ritual in
the cults of the aborigines of the New World, in classical paganism, and Catholic
Christianity, Lafitau supposed that there must originally have existed a religion of
nature-rites that was universal among mankind. In 1960 De Brosses, in a work
entitled De culte des dieux fetiches ou parallele de l’ ancienne religion de l’ Egypte
avec la religion actuelle de nigrittie, sought to explain the animal-headed deities
of Egypt in the light of the religious practices of contemporary savages. Even more
revolutionary perhaps was the attempt of Charles-Francois Dupuis, in 1795, to
discern behind the figures of Christ and Osiris, of Bacchus and Mithra, a common
tendency of mankind to personify the sun in its annual course through the
heavens.
These eighteenth-century attempts to rationalize the complex phenomena
of mankind's religious ideas and practices heralded the more scientific work of
the next century. The commercial and political denomination that the leading
European nations - achieved in Asia and Africa produced a rich academic harvest.
History of Religion

Artistic treasures and manuscripts brought home from the East encouraged
the study of oriental Languages and cultures, while the new sciences of
anthropology and ethnology were stimulated by an abundance of material.
Political influence and wealth also enabled archeologist to search such ancient
and hitherto closed lands as Egypt and Mesopotamia. This great mass of new data
was eagerly investigated by European and American scholars; the stupendous
task of reconstructing the past of mankind was at least properly begun. It was
inevitable that much of this research should have concentrated on the origin of
religions.
d.) Other Theories on the Origin of Religion, Friedrich Max Muller. Friedrich
Max Muller (1823-1900), who, a young man, came to Oxford to translate certain
ancient religious texts of India for the East-India Company, and who subsequently
became professor of Comparative Philology there and editor of the great series of
translations entitled Sacred Books of the East. During that time he pioneered a
new line of research. He maintained that a comparative study of language could
reveal common patterns of mythology. Further, that, since language governs
thought, the names given originally to celestial phenomena profoundly affected
their conception. Thus, by giving the sun masculine name primitive peoples
thought of it as a male person - a sun god.
This use of cooperative philology was deemed too doctrinaire by those
concerned with anthropological data. They believed that the original form of
religion could best be understood by studying the cults of the so-called primitive
peoples still existing in the world, such as the aborigines of Australia.
Sir Edward B. Tylor. A foremost exponent of this anthropological approach
was Sir Edward B. Tylor, who published in 1871 a great work entitled Primitive
Culture, which was widely influential. In it Tylor advanced a theory known as
animism to account for the origin of religion. He proposed, as a "minimum
definition," that religion consists in a "belief in spiritual beings," He supposed that
primitive man first acquired the idea of "spirit" (anima) from his experience of
sleep, dress, shadows, breath and death.
History of Religion

Having thus conceived of the spirit as the invisible animating principle in

each of his own kind, primitive man attributed the principle to all entities that
seemed alived, including the sun and moon and other natural phenomena. Since
he was naturally awed by phenomena that appeared powerful, he peopled the
universe with mighty spirits and worshipped them.
Sir James G. Frazer. Of even greater influence than the work of Tylor was
that of Sir James G. Frazer (1854-1942). His approach to the study of religion was
essentially anthropological. The titles or some of the constitutive volume of his
magnum opus, The Golden Bough, indicate its nature and scope: The Magic Art;
Taboo and Peril of the Soul; The Scapegoat; The Dying God; Spirits of the Cora and
of the Wild. Fraser was particularly concerned with the effect of agriculture on
religious ideology and practice. In the annual cycle of the death and resurrection
of the core he saw a factor of tremendous import, the influence of which he
traced in many religions, including Christianity. Following the suggestion of the
German philosopher Hegel, Frazer believed that an "Age of Magic" preceded the
"Age of Religion” and that can first sought to coerce the powers behind the
natural world by ritual magic, before he sought to win their favor by prayer and
sacrifice.
Rudolf Otto. Of the many other attempts to explain the origins of religion
we may notice that of Rudolf Otto (1869-1937), because it posited the operation
of a non-rational or pre-rational factor. In a book published in 1917 under the title
of Das Heilige, Otto maintained that has the faculty of becoming aware, at certain
times and places, of the presence of a mysterious force that is wholly different
from all else in the world of normal experience. This presence evokes a feeling of
the uncanny; and, when experienced, it both terrifies and fascinates. Otto sought,
accordingly, to explain religion as stemming from a “unique original feeling
response,” which preceded any ratiocination about the source or agent of the
experience. The theme of Das Heilige was illustrated from Hebrew, Christian and
Indian sources. Its Inspiration was essentially theological; and it bag exercised a
considerable influence on modern Christian thought.
The Many and diverse theories, advanced during this period by reputable
scholars to account for the origin of religion, are generally impressive for their
learning and ingenuity.
History of Religion

They were mostly patterned on the evolutionary principle, which has

dominated Western thinking since the nineteenth century. The majority are
characterized also by their secular approach and freedom from apologetical
motivation. The theological concept of divine revelation, coon to most religions,
was evaluated only as a datum of religious phenomenology. Despite the
professed concern with the history of religions, this investigation tended to be
based on deductions from the study of primitive societies existent in various parts
of the world. As we noted previously, the early anthropologists believed that the
ideas and institutions of savage peoples closely reflected the chronologically
primitive cultures of mankind. This pre-occupation was probably due to the
contemporary maturity of the science of Prehistory. Although archaeological
research had greatly extended knowledge or the early civilizations of the Near
East, similar advance had not been made in the study of Paleolithic culture. This
defect was serious; for if the beginnings or earliest forms of religion were to be
found anywhere, it would surely be in the remains of the most ancient human
communities that archaeological research and excavation could reveal.
Archaeology. The earliest skeletal remains of true man (Homo sapiens) data
from about 30,000 B.C. With the remains, or related to them, relics have been
found of the culture of these earliest representatives of our race. Although this is
the earliest evidence in the archaeological record, these people, often referred to
as the Cro-Magnons’ from the place where their remains were first discovered,
were obviously the descendants of unknown generations of Homo sapiens. Their
immediate precursors, according to archaeological evidence, were a sub-human
type usually designated Neanderthal Man. The remains of this species date back
to about 100,000 B.C. Even this remote Neanderthal Man had a culture that
included a practice of great significance for our subject.
The evidence concerned here is provided by the burial customs of these
peoples of the Old Stone Age. But first we must appreciate the significance of the
burial of the dead. No other animals so dispose of their dead: generally they just
abandon them where they die. Palaeolithic man, however, did not just bury his
dead as a practical measure to get rid of them; he buried them ritually. This
means that he did things that were not practically necessary to inhumation.
History of Religion

Thus stone implements, ornaments of shell or bone, and food were placed
in the grave; and often the corpse was covered with red pigment. Although there
are no inscriptions to inform us - writing was not invented until the fourth
millennium B.C. - we can make some legitimate inferences from this funerary
equipment. The placing of food and tools or weapons in the grave must surely
indicate that it was believed that the dead would still need such things. In other
words, this evidence suggests that the Palaeolithic peoples believed that death
was not the end, and that the dead survived in some way. The covering of the
corpse with a red pigment clearly had some purpose. Pre-historians generally
agreed that the purpose was magical. In primitive thought red is associated with
vitality, since it is the colour of blood, the life-substance. To cover a dead body
with red pigment suggests, therefore, some magical practice to restore or
maintain its vitality, thus to insure its continued existence for the after-life of the
deceased.

The posture of the corpse in these Palaeolithic burials is also significant.

The dead were rarely buried in the extended position normal to us. Generally they
were laid on their side, with the legs tightly flexed and the hands covering the
face. The meaning of this posture has been much discussed. Some pre-historians
have seen it as merely a more economical form of burial -a flexed body would fit
into a smaller hole. Others have suggested that these crouched burials stimulate
the prenatal position of the infant in the womb. If this interpretation could be
proved, very significant fact would be known about Palaeolithic men's belief. To
lay' a dead person designedly in a prenatal posture in the grave might well signify
some idea that the dead were laid in the womb of Mother Earth to be reborn.
That such a positioning of the corpse was purposeful is certain; but we have no
evidence to show what that purpose was. It is also necessary to note that
sometimes the body was so tightly flexed that it must have been hound in that
position before rigor mortis set in. Such instances could indicate a fear of the
dead: Savage peoples of modem times have been known to bind corpses before
burial, to prevent the dead from returning to hare the living.

Palaeolithic archaeology provides other evidence of religious significance.

On many sites there have been found figurines, carved out of stone or bone, of
women. They are remarkable for two features: the sexual or maternal attributes
are grossly exaggerated, but the faces are blank.
History of Religion

These figurines, known quaintly as "Venuses," are small and portable. From
Laussel, however, in the Dordogne, comes a much larger figure, carved into a
block of hard limestone. This "Venus" of Laussel is not only a remarkable piece of
sculpture; it provides a clue to the meaning of these "Venus” figures. Like the
figurines, the Laussel "Venus" is faceless and has the sexual features accentuated;
in addition it holds in one hand the horn of a bison. It was discovered together
with other sculptured figures, and it appeared to have formed the chief object of
rock-sanctuary, where fertility rites were probably performed.

The emphasis upon the sexual or maternal features in those figures,

together with the fact of the blank faces suggest that they were not portraits of
individual women but represented "women" as the mother," the source of
fertility or continuing life. That these Palaeolitic peoples were urgently concerned
with the fertility is confirmed by their cave-art, as we shall see: for the animals
which they hunted for food are often depicted as pregnant. To these primitive
communities, just managing to maintain themselves against the perils of their
environment, the need to insure that they should have children was a major
preoccupation. It is possible also that their interest in maternity extended beyond
this. The figure of the pregnant female held the promise of the renewal of life to
offset the grim negation of death.

These "Venus" figures, therefore, embodying such hopes and aspirations,

may justly be regarded as religious objects. With the "Venus" of Laussel we may
legitimately go further in our surmise. Since this figure seems to have the chief
cult object of a sanctuary, we may indeed have here the earliest representation of
deity. In other words the Laussel "Venus" may well represent the deification of
the maternal principle, and, as such, be the first depiction of the Great Goddess.
In the archaeological record the "Venus" of Laussel does, in fact, constitute the
first of a long series of such figures that have been found on many ancient sites of
Asia and Europe. They can be traced through the Neolithic Period, into the early
civilizations of the Near East. They doubtless represent a tradition of deifying the
maternal principle that eventually found expression in the Great Goddess
conceptions of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Anatolia and the Aegean area.
History of Religion

It seems, therefore, that the concept of deity had already emerged early in
the Upper Palaeolithic era. That it found expression in terms of a divine mother
naturally leads us on to ask whether the male principle was also deified. The
evidence is far more problematic than that concerning the conception of goddess.
First, we may note there is no evidence of a similar preoccupation with the
generative aspect of the male; indeed, It has been questioned whether these
early peoples understood the male factor in procreation. However that may be,
what constitutes the most likely evidence of the idea of a god seems to have a
quite different significance from that of the “mother goddess”.

This evidence, if such it be, is provided by every strange creation of

Palaeolithic art. It exists, engraved and partly painted, on the wall of one of the
innermost recesses of the cave of the Trois Freres in the department of Ariege,
France. It has the form of being who combines human and animal features. It has
posture suggest the action of dancing.

This fantastic figure is generally known as the "Dancing Sorcerer." There is

some evidence that, in these Palaeolithic communities, sorcerer or shamans may
have disguised themselves as animals and mined their actions in a magical dance.
Their acting would have been part of a hunting ritual, intended either to gain
control of the animals before a hunt or to propitiate their spirits when killed. This
interpretation is reasonable and modern ethnological parallels can be cited in its
support. Moreover, it is generally agreed that Palaeolithic cave-art, such as the
superb examples at Lescaux show, was magical in intent. The depiction of animals
wounded by lances and darts, or as pregnant, was part of hunting magic, designed
to achieve successful hunt and ensure the supply of further animals.

The so-called "Dancing Sorcerer' could thus represent such a masked

dancer. But, if this interpretation be accepted, another problem has to be faced.
Why should the depiction of such a dance be made, when the actual dance could
have been staged at any time? It is possible to think up answers to the question; a
different Interpretation, however, merits consideration. The figure is so placed in
the cave that it seems to dominate the representations of other animals. The cave
gives the impression of having been a sanctuary, of which the figure was the most
significant object.
History of Religion

Such considerations have led some eminent French pre-historians to regard

it as a representation of a kind of divine "Lord of the Beasts, "conceived by the
Palaeolithic hunters as the owner of the animals they hunted. Since these animals
constituted the main source of their food, such a being would be of supreme
significance, and worshipped as such. If, then, the so-called "Dancing Sorcerer
represents a kind of embryonic deity, we say conclude that Palaeolithic man's
urgent concern about his food supply induced him to imagine a supernatural
being, combining human and animal attributes, whose favour must be won, if
game was to be plentiful and easy to catch.

We have now surveyed what seems to be the most likely evidence of

Palaeolithic man's religion. The conclusions drawn must necessarily be treated
with the greatest caution, considering the nature of the data available. They
indicate that the earliest representatives of our race were concerned about three
fundamental issues: birth, death and the food-supply. Their approach to each of
these problems was essentially practical, though it was based upon intuitions of a
supernatural or religious character. Death demanded action that involved
economic loss; that they so responded attest the strength of their conviction
about the reality of post-mortem survival. The mystery of birth evoked a response
that produced the conception of a Divine Mother, the source of life. The necessity
of providing their food resulted not only in the development of weapons and
hunting techniques. The Palaeolithic hunters also believed that they could
reinforce their own strength and skill by magical means. Their cave-art, which
supplied this, may also have served to express their belief in a supernatural being
that owned and controlled the animals, and, as such, had to be propitiated.

Such, then, are the earliest forms of religion as revealed by archaeological

research. That they were compounded with magic is not surprising; for magical
elements are to be found even in the great religions of today. These findings may
not be as spectacular as some of the theories about the origin of religion, based
on other considerations. And they do not reveal the actual beginnings of religion.
They have the virtue, however, of being drawn from the earliest evidence
available.
History of Religion

Obviously a long period of development lies behind the culture of man in

the Upper Palaeolithic period; and somewhere back in that remoter past the first
manifestations of religious thought and practice lie.

It is possible that future archaeological discoveries will provide information

of these beginnings. For the present we must be content with knowing something
of the nature of religion as soon as Homo-Sapiens appears in the archaeological
record. That something is very significant for our understanding of human ideas
and institutions.

Current Developments in History of Religions

In recent decades such scholars as G. van der Leeuw, Joachim Wach, and
Mircea Eliade have stressed the sociological and phenomenological study of
religion. In their attempts to establish a scientific basis for the study of religions,
they use a descriptive approach, which makes it necessary to consider seriously all
experience of religious phenomena, physical or supernatural.

This brief summary of a century of development in the study of religious

origins should indicate that the problem is important, but insolvable. In our
approach, we crow upon the available materials to describe, rather than to
explain, man’s religions; to facilitate our description, the world's religions are
classified into four groups and each group is treated as a larger unit. These four
classes are (1) the religious outlook of primitive or preliterate peoples; (2) the
outlook of world view represented by the monotheistic religions of biblical Iands;
(3) the world view represented by the religions of India, and (4) that represented
by the nature and ancestor worship of the religions of China and Japan.
History of Religion

A Working Classification of Religions

Although there is much overlapping between some religions, and although
an increasing number of persons, especially in Western Europe, North America,
and the countries now under communist influence, deny any religious affiliations,
the approximately three billion people in the world may be divided according to
religious classification as follows:

1. Primitive peoples. Uncivilized, preliterate, scattered around the world, but

concentrated in Central Africa, South America, North Asia and the Pacific Islands,
these number about two hundred millions. The religious point-of view common to
such peoples underlies that of the three other groups of religions.

2. Members of religions originating in biblical lands. Judaism, Zoroastrianism

(Parsis), Christianity, and Islam claim approximately one and one-quarter billion
people. These religions hold in common several basic beliefs, separating them
from the other three groups. These are belief in a single, creator god
(monotheism), in a real world of time and space in which each person is placed
(created for a single life span, and in a destiny of reward and punishment based
upon once belief and practice in this earthly life.

3. Members of religions originating in India. Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism

claim about six hundred million people in South Asia. In common these hold that
each person is reborn into this present world according to the deeds (karma) of a
previous life, and that man's highest destiny is to escape this cycle of rebirth.

4. Members of religions of East Asia. Taoism, Confucianism, and Shintoism claim

about one billion believers under their influence. They are blended with various
forms of Buddhism. Although they maintain the importance of this present world
of time and space, these religions have no creator god in the Biblical sense.
Instead, the two elements of nature and ancestor worship are blended with
varying emphasis and degree.
 Chapter II

HISTORY OF RELIGION ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE

Having been through with the task of surveying the studies and
investigations conducted by peoples of different persuasions as to the meaning,
origin and history of religion, we shall now engage ourselves in comparing them
with the teachings of the Bible. Biblically, the term religion means service and fear
of God, and walking in all His ways, loving and worshiping Him with all heart and
soul - not based on man's will but based on the commandments and statutes of
God (Dt. 10:12, 13).

It is man's obligation to serve God, because God created him and owns him
(Ps. 100:2-3). The proper way to know and love God is to obey His
commandments (I John 2:3; 5:3). This is the whole duty of man (Ec. 12:13), and it
is the very way to realize the purpose for which he was selected by God: to be
holy and blameless before Him in love (Eph. 1:4). No one has the right to change
the commandments of God because His instruction is strict: everything that He
commanded shall be carefully obeyed, adding nothing to it, taking nothing from
it. For if man were to serve and worship God which is not based on His commands
but on teachings and precepts of men, then his worship is made vain by God
(Mat. 15:9).

The Origin of Religion. Religion began in the Garden of Eden when the first
man created by God, Adam, was given the commandment which must be the
guiding principle of his life and thereby he could practice religion or perform
service to God. God commanded the man, saying, "You may freely eat of every
tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not
eat of it, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Gen. 2:16-17). But this
command was violated by the first men and instead listened to the serpent or the
devil (Gen. 3:1-5; Rev. 22:9). Hence, the statement of the Bible that God made
man upright, but he had sought out any devices was fulfilled (Ec. 7:29). As a result
men were cursed by God.
History of Religion According to...

They were driven out of the Garden of Eden as it is written: "He drove out
the man; and at the east of the Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a
flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life" (Gen.
3:21). In short, God has abandoned man and is separated from Him. Because of
sin committed by man, he was sentenced to suffer two deaths: the first is the
cessation of breath and the second is death in the lake of fire which is called
second death (Rom. 6:23; Rev. 20:14).
The consequence of the fall of man. Through one man (Adam) sin came into
the world and so death spread to all then because all men sinned - one is
righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God; all have
swerved, one and all have gone wrong, no one does good, not a single one" (Rom.
1:12; 3:10-12). So the whole world is held accountable to God, kept in store for
the destruction of ungodly men on the Day of Judgment (Rom. 3:19; II Pet. 3:7,
10).
The worst consequence of man's straying from the commands of God is the
loss of his right to serve God. Even if he serves and establishes his own religion, it
would all be futile for his sins have made a separation between him and God
which made God hid His face from man, so that He does not hear” (Is. 59:2). If he
calls upon Him, God will not answer; if he seeks to diligently, he will not find Him
(Prov. 1:28).
The Religion Evolved by Men Who Were Rejected to God. But since it is
inherent in men to recognize God or he is inherently religious, he strived to
develop some kind of service and worship, and established a religion. But what
sorts of religion have been evolved by men who were rejected by God? They have
made crooked roads for themselves and have been led to darkness as it is written:
"their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts
are thoughts of iniquity, desolation and destruction are in their highways. The
way of peace they know not, and there is no justice in their paths; they have
made their roads crooked, no one who goes in them knows peace. Therefore
justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us, we look for light,
and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope for the
wall like the blind, we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as
in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men" (Is. 59:7-10).
History of Religion according to…

Their religion therefore is estranged from the statutes of God or from the
straight path, which is the right Judgment of God or his words that serve as "a
lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Ps. 119:137, 105). From these men
swerved, and sought out many devices (Ec. 7:29).
Indeed men rejected the straight path, the words of God. They made their
own crooked paths or ways, examples of which are the so-called "The Middle
Way" and "The Noble Eightfold Path" of Buddhism, "The Way of the Tao" of
Taoism, "The Way of the Kami" of Shinto, "The Way of the Ancestors" of
Confucianism, etc.
And from worship of the true God who created the heavens and the earth
and all that are therein, men turned to the worship of "graven images in the form
of any figure, the likeness of male and female, the likeness of any beast that is on
the earth, the likeness of any winged bird, that flies in the air, the likeness of
anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water
under the earth" (Dt. 4:16-19).
This we can prove in Hinduism, the alleged oldest religion of man. It regards
the whole universe as an Incarnation of God and hence everything in heaven, on
earth, and under the earth may be worshipped, thus the total number of its gods
is 333,000,000. Brahman, its supreme god has three manifestations: Brahma,
Vishnu and Shiva, who are all men-gods and have respective mates who are
goddesses themselves.
Also, we find in Hinduism images in the form of figures in the likeness of
anything that creeps on the ground, winged bird that flies in the air, beasts on
earth and fish in the water. Its god Vishnu lies on Ananta, many-headed serpent,
Vishnu usually rides through the heavens on Garuda, a man-bird.
The monkey-god, Hanaman, is Rama's (Vishnu's another Incarnation) chief
helper. Another lower deity is Varuna, riding Makars, a monster fish; likewise the
Nagas, snake gods, and the Ashvins with the head of a horse and the body of a
man.
Men also worship "the sun and the moon and the stars, all the hosts of
heaven" (Dt. 4:19).
History of Religion According to...

We have seen this fulfilled. Some of the gods and goddesses worshipped in
Hinduism which are on the lower level than the chief deities of the trinity
(Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) are Surya, the sun-god, with his seven horses;
Chandra, the moon-god; Vayu, the wind god; Ushas, the dawn goddess whose
cows represent the days of the week; thousand-eyed Indra, god of the firmament;
and the Maruts, who are in charge of storm clouds.
Such forms of worship are not confined in Hinduism. “Ama terasu, the sun
goddess, (is) the chief deity in the Shinto pantheon..." Her brother Susa-no-wo,
the storm-god is also worshipped, and Tsuki-yomi, the moon-god, and many other
nature deities.
Taoism like Hinduism and Shinto has many gods. It has a god for almost
everything. It worships the spirits of animate and inanimate objects, also
ancestors and great historical figures. It also worships a great number of stars.
In Confucianism on the other hand, Heaven and Earth are worshipped and
also the ancestors.
And what's more, they sacrificed to demons which were no gods; to gods
they have never known, to new gods that have come in of late (Dt. 32:17). "The
Yakshinis and the Yakshas, demon followers of Kubera, god of wealth and Savana
the demon king are all Hindu gods. Demon worship is also found among peoples
of Himalaya. When Padma Sambhava, the eighteenth-century guru from India
preached the enlightenment or teachings of Buddha in the Himalayan lands, he
found it rife with worship of spirits, demi-gods, and demons. As regards "new
gods that have come in of late," this was likewise fulfilled. In Mahayana Buddhist,
Bodhisattvas or savior gods evolved. Lao Tzu (founder of Taoism) and Confucius
(founder of Confucianism) were raised to the ranks of gods.
They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling
mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles (Rom. 1:22). For they were led to
believe that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art
and imagination of man (Acts 17:29). This brings to our mind the Buddhist temple.
Wat Benjamabopitr, which shelters a golden age of Buddha. Images of Buddha
are not only found in gold but in stone, silver, etc.
History of Religion According to...

In Islam, Mohammedans have also an object of worship known as the Black

Stone framed in silver. This is found in Kaaba, Sacred shrine in Mecca.
And although there are those who attempted to serve the true God, yet
their “zeal for God... is not enlightened." They attempted to establish religion but
"being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God" they did not submit to
God's righteousness. And instead of establishing the religion of God they seek to
establish their own" (Rom. 10:2-3). The result is the proliferation of religions.
Moreover there are people who would rather not in any religion and who
deny the existence of God. "They say to God, Depart from us! We do not desire
the knowledge of thy ways"! (Job 21:1). Atheists emerged - people who
recognized no God and who say that all things are the result of natural
phenomena.
They are fools because the Bible says: "The fool says in his heart ‘There is
no God’” (Ps. 14:1).
Its Effect Upon Man’s Life. "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge
God, God gave them up to a base mind and to proper conduct. They were filled
with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder,
strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent,
haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless,
heartless, ruthless” (Rom, 1:28-31). God has purposely abandon men to wicked
ways, so as to make them believe what is false: "So that all may be condemned
who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (II Th. 2:12-
12).
The Chance Given by God. Because of God's great love, He gave men a
chance before the Day of Judgment comes, as it is written: "From the days of your
fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return
to me, and I will return to you...." (Mal. 3:7). It is from God's statutes that man has
turned aside, hence, he was separated; it is in these same statutes man must
abide so that he could return to God.
History of Religion According to…

Thus, religion, after the fall of man came to be applied to man's effort of
turning back to God's ways, to His commands and statutes, whence on had turned
aside.
The Setting Apart. In order that men who turned back to God could become
His own people, He sets them apart. As attested to by the Bible: "But know that
the Lord has not apart the godly for himself: the Lord hears when I call to him
(Ps.4:3).
Seth. The proof that God sets apart the righteous for himself is His choice of
Abel and His acceptance of Abel's offering rather than Cain's. Setting apart by God
began with Seth, one of the children of Adam and Eve. It was during that time
when men began to call upon the name of the Lord (Gen. 4:25-26). But when men
began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them,
the sons of God (this is Seth's generation) saw that the daughters of men were
fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose although it was against the
will of God. As a result of such intermingling of the sons of God and the sons of
men, the wickedness of man became great in the earth and every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So the Lord and, "I will blot out
man whom I have created from the face of the ground, man and beast and
creeping things and birds of the air” (Gen. 6:1-2, 5, 7).
Noah. After Seth's generation turned away, God chose and set apart Noah,
a righteous and blameless man to whom he gave the right to served Him. And
God said to Noah: "I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is
filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside
and out with pitch" (Gen. 6:8-9, 13-14). For God will bring a flood of waters upon
the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven;
everything that is on the earth shall die. Noah, his wife, their sons and their son's
wives were supposed to come into the ark together with two of every living thing
to keep them alive. Also, he took with him every sort of food that is eaten, and
stored it up to save their food. Noah did this; he did all that God commanded
(Gen. 6:17-22). And when the waters prevailed and increased greatly upon the
earth, the ark floated on the face of the waters. Everything on the dry land in
whose nostrils was the breath of life died. Only Noah was left, and those that
were with him in the ark (Gen. 7:18, 22-23).
History of Religion According to…

The people then cannot complain that they were not given a chance for
Noah truly preached God's righteousness. So God preserved Noah, a herald of
righteousness, with seven other persons, when he brought a flood upon the world
of the ungodly (II Pet. 2:5).
After the flood God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to be fruitful
and multiply, and fill the earth (Gen. 9:1). But Noah's generation did not obey the
commandment of God. Instead, they resolved to build a city and a tower with its
top in the heavens lest they be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole
world. It was an outright violation of God's command, and could not be tolerated.
So God confused their language that they may not understand one another's
speech, and thereby scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the
earth (Gen. 1:-8).
Abraham. When the generation of Noah turned aside from the statutes of
God, God chose a man, from whom the people who will serve Him will come. He
called Abraham and set apart. He told him, "Go from your country and your
father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will bless you, and make your
name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and
him who curses you I will curses and by you all the families of the earth shall bless
themselves" (Gen. 12:1-3). And what is most important is what God said to him:
"...I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after
you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you
and to your descendants after you" (Gen. 17:7). The right to deity and serve God
was given to Abraham and his descendants. And God confirmed this right to Isaac,
to Jacob and to the Israelites (Ps. 105:9-10). And Israel came to Egypt through
Joseph and the Lord made them very fruitful and made the stronger than their
foes (Ps. 105:23-24). The descendants of Israel very fruitful and increased greatly
and there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. He took a
cunning method with their race, oppressed their ancestors and forced them to
expose their infants, to prevent them from surviving.
Moses and the Israelites. At that time Moses was born, was brought up for
three months in his father's house and when he was exposed, was adopted by
Pharaoh's daughter, He was brought up as her own son. Moses was instructed in
all the wisdom of the Egyptians and he was mighty in words and deeds. After forty
years he visited his brethren, the sons of Israel.
History of Religion According to…

And when he saw one of them being wronged he defended the oppressed
man and avenged him by striking the Egyptian. When this was discovered he fled
and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became father of two sons.
And when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of
Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. When he saw it he wondered at the sight;
and as he drew near to look, the voice of the Lord came, "I am the God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob." Moses trembled and did
not dare to look. And the Lord said to him, "Take off the shoes from your feet, for
the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the ill-
treatment of my people that are in Egypt and heard their groaning, and have
come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt" (Acts 7:17-
22, 30-34).
For God Himself told Israel: "For you are a people holy to the Lord your
God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out
of all the people that are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were
more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love upon you and
chose you for you were the fewest of all peoples; but it is because the Lord loves
you, and is keeping the oath which he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has
brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of
bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt" (Dt. 7:6-8). Although there
were many nations at that time Israel alone had God, and God recognized her as
His own people.
"They are Israelites," said Apostle Paul, and to them belong the sonship, the
glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises" (Rom.
9:4). People who are alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, are considered
strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the
world (Eph. 2:12). Only the Israelites were given the right to serve God and to
receive His promises.
But the people of Israel did not abide in the covenant of God. They did not remain
keeping is words. "They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers,
who refused to hear My words; they have gone after other gods to serve them
the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I
made with their fathers" (Jer. 11:10).
History of Religion According to...

In view of this, God declared: "My people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest
to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will forget your
children" (Hos. 4:6). And worse, the Israelites were cursed by God, as it is written:
Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me. Therefore I
profaned the princes of the sanctuary; I delivered Jacob to utter destruction and
Israel to reviling" (Is. 43:27-28).
By the turning away of the people chosen and set apart by God for himself,
we will notice the continuing fulfillment of what is stated in Palms 14:3 that:
"They have all gone astray..." And also that which is written in Ec. 7:29: "God
made man upright, but they have sought out many devices."
The Redeemer. Man was once more given another chance by God after
repeated turning aside from His proven by the Holy Scriptures: "Thus says the
Lord: 'Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good
way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls..." (Jer. 6:16). Christ is the good
way in whom all man should walk to find their way back to God. As He declared: "I
am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me"
(John 14:6). Because of God's front love for men He gave his only Son that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the old path and the good way that lends to God.
For man is God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10). Nevertheless, at
the very beginning Christ was not in existence corporally, but "...he promised
beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his
Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh..." (Rom. 1:1-3). And
even before the promise concerning Christ was made, He was already in the mind
of God before the foundation of the world" (I Pet. 1:20, The Catholic New
Testament).
After the fall of Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, the Savior was
promised, referred to as the "seed of the woman" (Gen. 3:15). He was also called
"the seed of Abraham" (Gen. 17:7), und when Apostle Paul explained who the
seed is he said that that seed is Christ (Gal. 3:16).
History of Religion According to...

Apostle Paul also cited the prophecy of Isaiah: "Through the number of the
children of Israel he as the sand of the sea, remnant shall be saved... and as Esaias
said before, 'Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as
Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah" (Rom. 9:27-29).
God purposely created man for Christ's adoptions pointed out in the Bible:
"He destined us in love to be His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the
purpose of His will... In him we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph. 1:5, 7).
God know beforehand that the man whom He created will sin and will be
condemned to die in the lake of fire. He therefore foreordained Someone who
can adopt man. That Someone is our Lord Jesus Christ in whom there is
redemption because through His blood man is redeemed from the curse of the
law (Gal. 3:13). Through Him man can return to God.
The Way. So that man may be able to return to God through Christ, God
made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of His will, according to is
purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all
things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth (Eph. 1:9-10). "For in him all
things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities - all things were created
through his and form. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together
(Col. 1:16-17). Even all the things in heaven were subjected to Christ in
accordance with the will of God. Thus the Scriptures say: "Who has gone into
heaven and is at the right band of God, with angels, authorities, and powers
subject to him" (I Pet. 3:22).
How could the people before the birth of Christ be gathered in Him? The
regulations for form of worship during the pre-Christian era manifested the belief
and anticipation of those people in the coming of the Savior. As a proof of this,
they offered sacrifices such as goats, calves, and the bloods of these animals were
used to purify those who were blemished.
History of Religion According to...

But at the coming of Christ, the High Priest, purging is no longer through the
blood of goats and bulls, because Christ entered once for all into the Holy Place,
taking not the blood of goats and calves but His own blood, thus securing an
eternal redemption (Heb. 9:1, 9-12). "For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with
the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the
purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God" (Heb. 9:13-14).
Here we can mention what those who were set first did like Abel who
offered sacrifice to God (Gen. 4:3-4), Noah who "offered burnt offering on the
altar" (Gen. 8:20), Abraham who “built an alter to the Lord and called on the
name of the Lord" (Gen. 12:7-8). But the offerings done by those chosen people
of God ceased when Christ offered Himself once for all (Heb. 10:8-14). It was
enough for the sanctification of those who believe in Him (Rev. 10:10). From then
on, there is no need "to offer sacrifices daily ... he did this once for all when he
offered up himself"(Heb.7:27).
The Church of Christ. How can the people be gathered together in Christ
after Jesus had offered Himself up in sacrifice? Christ was made the head of the
Church which is His body, as it is written: And he has put all things under his foot
and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the
fullness of him who fills all in all" (Eph. 1:22-23). The fact that through the Church
which is the body and Christ Himself its Head men will be gathered together in
Him is proven by Apostle Paul when he said: "For as in one body we have many
members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though
many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another (Rom.
12:4-5). All members are gathered in this one body or Church. And to stress that
man must be a member of the Church Apostle Paul said: "Now you are the body
of Christ and individually members of it" (I Cor. 12:27).
History of Religion According to…

So, men may be gathered together in Christ after He offered Himself up, by
entering the Church which is His body. Thus, to realize this, Christ instructed men
to enter in Him "I am the door," then said, "If anyone enters by me, he will be
saved..." (Jn. 10:9).
But which Church should be entered in or joined by men? The Church
founded by Christ, which He calls "My Church" (Mt. 16:18). The Apostles call it
Church of Christ" (Acts 20:28, Lamsa). All men gathered together in this Church.
This is the express will of the Lord God.
Anyone who refuses to join the Church of Christ refuses to be subject to
Christ, because the Church alone is subject to Christ (Eph. 5:24). And since the
Church alone is subject to Christ hence this alone will be saved by Him: “For the
husband is the hand of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and
is himself its savior (Eph. 5:23). The body that will be saved by Christ is the Church
of which he Himself is the Head, namely, the Church of Christ (Col. 1:18; Acts
20:28, Lamsa).
Christ will save His Church because He loves her and gave Himself up for
her (Eph. 5:25), that is, by redeeming or purchasing her with his own blood, as it is
written: “Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the
Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the CHURCH OF CHRIST which he
has purchased with his blood (Acts 20:28, Lamsa Version).
God's Righteousness. The Church is Christ's means of salvation. Because
this is the righteousness of God as pointed out by Paul: "For our sake he made
him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness
of God” (II Cor. 5:21). Without the Church of Christ, salvation cannot be justified.
For it is not just to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as
the wicked. God will not do that. "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?"
(Gen. 13:25). Thus, God's law states: "The fathers shall not be put to death for the
children, nor all the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be
put to death for his own sin" (Dt. 24:16).
History of Religion According to...

But Christ had no sin. He never committed sin as Apostle Peter testifies: "For to
this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an
example that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was
found on his lips" (I Pet. 2:21-22), All men sinned (Rom. 5:12), except our Lord
Jesus Christ. So in order for Christ to save men without violating the law of God
and for salvation to be in accordance with the righteousness of God, Christ
created in Himself the one new man out of two, so making peace (Eph. 2:15). The
two which compose the one new man are Christ who is the Head, and the Church,
which is the Body of Christ (Col. 1:18). And even if Christ was nailed and died on
the cross, He bore the sins of His body, or of the Church - the Church of Christ (I
Pet. 2:24; Acts 20:28, Lamsa).
Therefore if man is separated from the Church of Christ, he himself will
answer and die for his own sin as Christ said: "I told you that you would die in
your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he" (Jn. 8:24),
Christ likened Himself to the vine and the believers to the branches. "Apart from
me," He declares, "you can do nothing" (Jn. 15:5). Those who are separated from
Christ can do nothing because men sinned and "without the shedding of blood
there is no forgiveness of sins" (Heb. 9:22). Man who is purified from dead works
by means of the blood of Christ have now the right to serve the living God (Heb.
9:14). They are now in the true religion.
Whoever is outside the Church will be judged by God (I Cor. 5:13). And even
if those who are outside the Church of Christ would strive to serve or diefy God,
they are deprived of that... right, for those who are separated from Christ are
Godless, in short, God refuses to be deified by them (Eph. 2:12). And those who
entered the Church of Christ but have not persisted shall be in the lake of fire
which is the second death (Jn. 15:16; Rev. 20:14).
The First-Century Church Founded by Christ Was Apostatized. But the
Church founded by Christ in the first century did not continue to obey the
doctrines of God. They turned away from God like the ones whom He set apart in
the past. They were deceived into following the doctrines of the demons and
departed from their faith (I Tim. 4:1). Two of the doctrines of the demons were
mentioned by Apostle Paul in I Tim. 4:3: "Forbidding marriage and "abstinence
from meat." These we may find in the Catholic Church which upholds these two
doctrines (The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 328; The Question Box, p. 440).
History of Religion According to...

Apostle Paul calls the leader of apostasy, the man who turned away from the faith
the man of sin because this man will oppose and exalt himself against God, as it is
written: "Who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of
worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be
God" (II Th. 2:14).
The man of sin opposes and exalts himself against God by disobeying the
command which forbids any man to be called father on earth (Mt. 23:9), that is,
like the Fatherhood of God in heaven. God is the Father of the soul because all
souls belong to Him, He being the Creator (Ezek. 18:4). Whoever allows himself to
be called the father of the soul is a transgressor, opposing God and exalting
himself against God.
Apostle Paul's prophecy is fulfilled in the person of the Pope and the priests
of the Roman Catholic Church. They teach their members to call each of them
father of the soul, and that the Pope is the highest father of the soul on earth
(Iglesia ni Cristo, p. 12 trans. A Catechism For Non-Catholics, p. 78).
The apostasy of the Church founded by Christ was also prophesied by
Apostle Peter. According to him, false prophets will arise from the Church of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and they will bring in destructive heresies even denying the Lord
Jesus Christ (II Pet. 2:1). They denied Jesus Christ in His position as the Rock and
Head, and they rejected His name which is found in the name of His Church, the
only name by which man must be saved. (I Pet. 2:3-5; Eph. 2:20-22; 5:23; Acts
14:10-12).
According to the teachings of the Catholic priests the rock upon which the
Catholic Church is founded is Apostle Peter (What They Ask About the Church, p.
11); the Pope is the successor of Apostle Peter and is also the Head of the Catholic
Church (A Catechism For Inquirers, p. 55). The Roman Catholic Church also
rejected the name of our Lord Jesus Christ by changing the name of the Church.
The name Church of Christ was replaced by the name "Roman Catholic Apostolic
Church" (Apostles Creed, p. 191).
It is clear that the Church founded by Christ in the first century did not
continue to obey the doctrines of God. It apostatized or turned away from God
and needed the doctrines of the demons. And it was the Roman Catholic Church
who led the apostasy.
The Church of Christ in the Philippines. When the Church established by our
Lord Jesus Christ in Jerusalem during the first century was apostatized men were
deprived once again of the right to serve and deify God because they have been
rejected by God.
History of Religion According to...

But like what had occurred since the beginning, whenever the people set apart by
God for Himself turns away from Him, He sets apart another to carry on the
obligation of serving and worshiping Him. Even if the first Church of Christ had
been apostatized, it reappeared in the Philippines in the last days - since
according to our Lord Jesus Christ, He has "other Sheep" (note they are Christ's
sheep and not Brother Felix Manalo's) - that are “not of this fold" He was referring
to the Church which He founded in the first century. These other sheep are not of
that fold. Then who were the sheep who were already in the fold? Apostle Peter
says, "For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off,
every one whom the Lord our God calls to Him" (Acts 2:39). Here Apostle Peter
distinctly points out the three groups of people who will become members of the
Church of Christ: 1) "to you" 2) "to your children" 3) "to all that are far off" (every
one whom the Lord God calls to Him). The first two were already in the fold
during that time. They were the Jews and Gentile members of the Church of
Christ in the first century (Rom. 9:24). The third group was not yet in the fold, the
members of this group were yet to be called and they were far off. The "far",
whence these other sheep of Christ will come whom God will call to become
members of the Church of Christ is the Far East (Is, 43:5-6, Moffatt). It is the
Philippines, a country in the Far East (World History, p. 445).
According to the prophecy of Isaiah, these other sheep of Christ will be
called by the name created by God for His glory (Is. 43:7). The name created by
God for His glory in Christ. (Acts 2:36), hence the name Church of Christ (Rom.
16:16).
Regarding these "other sheep” of Christ who were not yet in the fold then,
Christ said that He must bring them also, and they will heed His voice, so there
shall be one flock and one shepherd (Jn. 10:16). "Flock" means the Church of
Christ (Acts 20:28, Lamsa Version). It is clear therefore that the other sheep of
Chris are to be made Church of Christ by our Lord Jesus Christ.
This seemed unbelievable to many. "How could Christ establish His Church
in the Philippines when in fact He was already in heaven in 1914 and never did set
foot in the Philippines?” they ask. Christ explained how a man could be made
Church of Christ: he must hear the words of Christ and do them (Mt. 7:24-25).
History of Religion According to...

Everyone then who hears these words of Christ and does them will be like a wise
man who built his house upon the rock. The house refers to the Church (I Tim.
3:15), and the rock refers to Christ (Eph. 2:20-22).
But not to all preachers must we hear the words of Christ. It is only to the
messengers we must hear because they alone have the authority to preach (Rom.
10:14), and to hear the messenger is to hear Christ. It is not surprising then that
here in the Philippines Christ re-established His Church in 1914, for there is a
messenger sent here by God who is none other than Brother Felix Manalo, whom
we believe to be the Last Messenger of God.
Through his preaching function, God once again set apart another group of
people, who were given the right to deify and serve Him thereby establishing the
true religion amidst the estranged and irreligious mankind.
Last Work of Salvation which Will Never Be Estranged. The Church of Christ,
which begun in the Philippines through the instrumentality and leadership of
Brother Felix Manalo, will never estranged. There will never be another apostasy
like that which occurred to the people called earlier by God. This is God's last
work of salvation, because what will follow is the work of reaping, as it is written
in Rev. 14:9-15: "And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud
voice, "If any one worships the beast and its image, and receives a mark on his
forehead or on his hand, he also shall drink the wine of God's wrath, poured
unmixed into the cup of his anger, and he shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb and
the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; and they have no rest, day
or night, these worshippers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the
mark of its name.” Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep
the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from
heaven saying, 'write this: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.’
Blessed indeed,' says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labors, for their
deeds follow them!' Then I looked, and lo, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud
one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his
hand.
History of Religion According to…

And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who
sat upon the cloud, Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for
the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.

The third angel or messenger in this prophecy is the Last Messenger of God,
Brother Felix Manalo, who warns those who have received a mark on their
forehead and right hand which are the members of the Catholic Church. Blessed
are they who will be embraced by this last work of salvation. Blessed indeed are
the members of the Church of Christ who have had endurance in keeping the
commandments of God or those who remain in the true religion, for if they die,
"they may rest from their labors." This mission of the last messenger will continue
until the reaping time or the end of the world (Mt. 13:39). They are the ones
whom Apostle Paul referred to as the people "who are alive, who are left until the
coming of the Lord," who together with the dead Church of Christ members who
will be raised first from the dead on Judgment Day, will meet the Lord in the air so
that where He is, they will be also (I Th. 4:16-17; Jn. 14:2-3).

After learning, in this chapter that the true religion established by Christ,
and is therefore God's way of salvation in the last days is the Church of Christ
(Iglesia ni Cristo), we shall find in the succeeding chapters some of the numerous
religions man established for the purpose of serving God in his own way. As
already revealed in the words of God we can prove that the ways established by
man are crooked as a consequence of his transgression and turning away from
the Lord's way. Hence, the result of this is the proliferation of innumerable
religions with various gods, beliefs and practices.
 Chapter III

HINDUISM

Introduction

In theory, Hinduism is the simplest of all religions; it has no central authority, no

hierarchy, no direct, divine revelation, and no rigid, narrow moral code. In
practice it is so complex that on city streets comers and village paths, countless
gurus-religious teachers-sit for hours each day, surrounded by disciples and
bystanders, endlessly dissecting its subtleties.
Its contradictions make it puzzling. It has one god, Brahman, who is the
eternal spirit. But it also has three hundred thirty three (333) million gods.

History

Hinduism has no founder or uniform dogma. Generally regarded as man's oldest

living religion, Hinduism started itself. The very name Hinduism derives not from
doctrine but from geography--the Sanskrit word Shindu or Indus, ocean or river.

The origins of Hinduism go back 4,000 years. It has grown up in India and can be
identified with the main stream of Indian culture. Over four millenniums, new
cults and philosophies have enriched it; waves of reform have challenged it. Other
religions have brought their witness to India and strengthened rather weakened
this tolerant, marvelously diverse faith.
Hinduism

It is not amazing, therefore, why its 450 million followers, most of them in India
and nearby lands, some dwelling on Pacific islands, in Africa, and in the New
World believe that Hinduism is the fountainhead of all religions.
We may for the sake of convenience divide the history of Hinduism into
three broad periods: Vedic, Epic, and Classical.
Vedic Period. In the Vedic age, which extended to about 600 B.C., Hinduism
depended almost entirely on the Vedas for its doctrines and practices. In the
earliest Vedic hymns, we find many gods, often representing natural forces; but
there is also the idea of the Deity emerging from such polytheistic conceptions as
those of the storm-god Indra and the god of the cosmic order, Varuna. There is an
evolution toward monotheism, the belief in a single god, and monism, the
doctrine that there is only one ultimate reality. This evolution was effected
through an important religious phase known as "henotheism, the tendency to
worship one god out of the pantheon at a time, treating him as the highest and
ascribing to him the powers of the others. The highest expressions of this trend
towards monotheism and monism are found in the thirteen Upanishads,
speculative treatises concerned with man and the origin of the universe. The
modes of Vedic worship were simple. They centered around the sacrifice as
defined in the Vedic prose writings known as Brahmanas. The ends sought were
both of this world and of the next.
The Upanishads (about 800 B.C.) - The term means "to sit down near” from
the words shad ("to sit"), upa ("near") and ni ("down"). It refers to the time when
the sages no longer wandered but gathered their pupils at their feet to share a life
of work and meditation. The term reflects the nature of these writings which are
essentially dialogues in which a teacher instructs a pupil. They contain the
answers that the renowned teachers of that period gave to questions about life
and the universe.
The speculative thought of the Upanishads tends in the direction of a
monistic world view in which all reality is derived from a single principle.
Hinduism

It is based upon the assumption that all that truly exists is the Brahmanatman (the
cosmic spirit beyond this world of time and space), that this present world is
maya conditioned by time and space, and that the goal of religion is to free the
atman (soul) of the individual from its successive rebirths to ascend the scale of
merit until-after a life of rectitude, self-control, nonviolence, charity reverence for
all living creatures, and devotion to ritual -- it wins liberation from worldly
existence to achieve union with Brahman (the ultimate god).

Epic Period. In the Epic period, after about 600 B.C., Hinduism took on a
popular form. A new type of sacred book appeared which adopted the narrative
for to achieve a popular appeal. In this period the great epics Mahabharata and
Ramayana were composed; they are revered next to the Vedas themselves,
especially the exalted Bhagavad Gita, a section of the Mahabharata that is itself a
dramatic poem. The multitudes of gods were now made to fall into an order. The
three phases of world-creation, preservation, and destruction were assigned to
three different aspects of the Godhead, called respectively Brahma, Vishnu, and
Shiva (Siva), known together as Trimurti (three aspects). Also definitively
formulated in the Epic period was the doctrine of incarnation, according to which
god appears in this world from time to time in incarnate forms, or avatars, in
order to preserve righteousness and punish the unrighteous. There are no more
revered or loved figures in India than Rama and Krishna, both incarnations of
Vishnu. Temple worship became popular. The leading cults of Hinduism,
especially Vaishnavism (the worship of Vishnu) and Shaivism (the worship of
Shiva) developed in the Epic period. The texts of the various sects, the agamas,
were composed. Also dating from this period is the code of Manu, which not only
is the most authoritative legal document of the faith but also sets forth an
account of the creation of the universe and the ordering of society.

a) Mahabharata. "The Great Bharata” epic tells of early rivalries in the land
of Bharat which is India. In its present form, it is a complex work. The main epic
consisted of about 18,000 couplets, but additions of all kinds of legends, lore and
traditions have expanded it by some five times.
Hinduism

It thus constitutes a prime source for knowledge of the popular religion of India.
The main story concerns an ancient rivalry between two sets of cousins, the five
Pandavas and the one hundred Kurus. The five Pandavas, of the house of Bharata,
lose their kingdom to the Kurus by trickery, and the epic recounts their years in
exile, their return to reclaim their kingdom, and the final annihilating battle
between the relatives. The battle is used as a framework of the famous Bhagavad-
Gita.
b) Bhagavad-Gita. "The song (gita) of the adorable one", sometimes called
the "New Testament of Hinduism," is primarily a dialogue between the most
famous fighter of the Bharata brothers, Arjuna, and his charioteer, Krishna, who
reveals himself in the course of the poem to be none other than the god Vishnu,
who has taken human form in order to reveal the way of salvation by bhakti, or
devotion, to Krishna as Bhagavad, or Lord.
c) The Ramayana. "The story of Rama" is the older of the two main epic
poems of India. A poem of 24,000 couplet verses, it is ascribed to the sage
Valmiki, and in its present form comes from about the time of Christ. It tells how
the god Vishnu manifested himself in the form of Rama, son of Dasaratha. In the
story Rama is betrothed to Sita, who is abducted by the demon Ravana. The main
part of the epic tells of the wanderings of the chief characters and of the help of
the monkey-god, Hanuman, in the great battle to vanquish Ravana and free Sita.
This epic is known all over South Asia, much as the Gospel stories are known
throughout Christendom.
d) The Laws of Manu. This collection of social and religious laws dates from
about the time of Christ. The legendary author, Manu was the first man, born of
the god Brahma. These laws are in verse and describe in detail the rules for the
"twice-born" or three upper classes. It probably originated with a school of
Brahmans (priest) known as the Manavas.
Classical Period. It was in the early centuries of the Christian era that the
Classical systems of Indian philosophy were founded. The philosophical systems
naturally exerted a powerful influence on the religious doctrines.
Hinduism

Each of the Hindu cults received a metaphysical foundation. A great philosopher

of the eight century, Shankara, reformed Hinduism on all its levels, showing that
every genuine belief and form of worship had its place in the scheme of spiritual
disciplines.
Several other reformers followed Shankara, and successive waves of bhakti
(devotion) movements swept the country. Saintly poets appeared all over the
land and spread the gospel of devotion to god through moving songs. Even in the
recent past there have been saints and sages serving as the spiritual guides of the
people. It is through constant renewal in the lives and teachings of an unbroken
line of seers and saints that Hinduism has been able to live and flourish in spite of
the adversities of India's complicated history
Two outstanding medieval thinkers, who worked and wrote during the
scholastic age of Europe, deserve mention:
a) Shankara (about 788-830 A.D.). Born in southeast India, Shankara
opposed the waning Buddhism of his day and helped to revive Hindu theology. He
founded schools and wrote extensively; his works include commentaries on the
Upanishads and the Gita. He followed the Vedanta school and his system is
known as advaita (undivided) monism. He taught inana-marga, salvation by the
path of knowledge. Although he accepted the idea of a creator god for the
common man, he conceived of the ultimate deity as an impersonal entity without
human or other qualities. He is the principal influence in current Indian
philosophy.
b) Ramanuja (about eleventh century A.D.). This theistic thinker stressed
bhakti-marga, the path of devotion. Also from Madras area, Ramanuja alledgedly
founded some seven hundred monastic centers and wrote commentaries on the
Gita and other classics. In his qualified monism (oneness of all gods and all living
things), the lord Vishnu is the source of all, but the individual self, when it
achieves moksha (release), continues to have independent existence in Vishnu's
care.
Hinduism

Several important sects stem from Ramanuja. His position, that Vishnu has a
personal concern for his created beings has interesting parallels to the Christian
doctrines of faith and grace.
Hindu Doctrines
1. Conception of God. Theistic Hindu cults conceive god as the creator, preserver,
and destroyer of the Universe. He is the Supreme Being, Brahman, who is both
the creator of all and the totality of all creation. From these three functions arose
the doctrine of the Hindu Trinity, consisting of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.

Hindus are worshiping a host of gods, Hinduism has one god, and it also has
333 million gods. In the tolerant Hindu religion, the worship was both permitted
and encouraged. Now its supernatural world swarms with gods resembling men
and animals, with demons, heroes, ghosts and heavenly dancing girls.

2. The Sacred Scriptures. Devout Hindus believe that their most ancient scriptures
are of divine origin. The oldest Hindu sacred writings are the Vedas. The bards
who first recited the Vedas ages ago were "rishis”, inspired seers who were said
to have received them direct from Brahman. Although never given official
canonical status, some of the Vedas are acknowledged even by skeptical
historians to date back 4,000 years.

The two divisions of the Hindu Scriptures are:

1. Shruti (what is heard or revealed) - Collectively called Vedas.

a) Ancient Vedas
b) Brahmanas
c) Aranyakas
d) Upanishads
Hinduism

2. Smriti (What is remembered) - embraces the great epics and the Puranas
– tales of gods and ancient kings -- as well as philosophical and sectarian texts.

3. The Goal of Hinduism. The goal of Hinduism is to achieve union with god. Union
with god is achieved through ritual and the common ideals of Hindu ethics: purity,
self-control, detachment, truth, nonviolence, charity, and compassion toward all
living creatures.
The ways to approach god. As one can ascend to the top of a house by
means of a ladder or a bamboo or a staircase or a rope, so diverse are the ways
and means to approach god, and every religion in the world shows one of these
ways. Different creeds are but different paths to reach the Almighty.

4. The Nature of Man. Man is "soul" or "spirit". Every being which possesses
senses is a soul. But man alone has the possibility of making spiritual progress. All
other creatures must be born into the human species before they can progress
toward the goal of perfection. The Hindus believe that the soul is eternal. Even
god does not create a soul.

5. Reincarnation. This is a basic belief of Hinduism. Every creature that dies goes
to a heaven, hell or purgatory - depending on the life it has led - and is later born
again. At death the soul does not perish but passes, or transmigrates, to another
body, where it is reincarnated as a new life.

The fortunes of the soul in each rebirth are determined by its behavior in
former lives. This law of Karma (literally action) states that no sin ever goes
unpunished and no virtue remains unrewarded; if a man does not receive
punishment or reward in this life, he will, in some succeeding life. By his behavior
a man determines whether his rebirth will be in higher station or lower, whether
he will be reborn as a man, as a god, or as the lowest insect.
Hinduism

What happens at death is the shedding of one physical body, and, at birth, the
taking on of a new one. The mind and its faculties, however, continue to
accompany the soul until it is released from bondage.

Since a Hindu's goal is his release, through death, from a long series of
reincarnations, the greatest event in his life is his death. When he is about to die,
he goes, if possible, to Benares, where the Ganges (River) will wash him free of
sin.

6. The Messengers of God. The Avatara or Savicur is the messenger of god.

Whenever there is a decline of religion in any part of the world, god sends his
Avatara there. It is one and the same Avatara that, having plunged into the ocean
of life, rises up in one place and is known as Krishna, and diving down again rises
in another place and is known as Christ. The Avataras (like Rama, Krishna, Buddha,
and Christ) stand in relation to the Absolute Brahman as the waves of the ocean
are to the ocean.

Hinduism has shown a great capacity for absorbing ideas and adapting to
prevailing condition. It absorbed much of the Christian message: gurus began to
teach the Sermon on the Mount and many of them made a place for Christ as the
10th incarnation of the god Vishnu.

7. On Spirituality. To the Hindu spirituality means to return to the spirit, to divest

one's self of the world of men and matter, to be beyond good and evil. When a
man this state, he may be physically alive, but spiritually he has returned to
Brahman.

8. Vegetarians. Since Hindus see god in everything, they revere all life. Because of
this, they practice nonviolence to animals and are mostly vegetarians. For a Hindu
to consume beef is a sacrilege, tantamount to cannibalism. "All that kills...cows",
warn the scriptures, "rot in hell for as many years as there are hairs on the slain)
cow." Hindus bow to all Cows they pass.
Hinduism

"One should cease from eating all flesh…cessation from them produces great
fruit" (Ordinances of Manu).

Hindu_ Practices

It is generally accepted principle in India that conduct, not creed, counts;

that, if the right disciplines are practiced, true insight will follow.

The various cults and schools of Hinduism agree in practice because their
aim is the same, to liberate the soul from its bondage to the temporal cycle of
birth and death. It is called moksha, release. The pursuit of moksha, however,
does not imply an escapist other-worldliness. The joys of this world are not
spurned by the Hindu. Besides release, three other ends are recognized by the
Hindu teachers: economic prosperity, sense pleasure, and righteousness. These
are, however, instrumental and not intrinsic ends. Prayers for length of life,
worldly wealth, good progeny, and the pleasures of existence are not infrequent
in the ancient texts. But these should be acquired and enjoyed in such a way as to
prevent regression in the scale of spiritual evolution. If righteousness becomes
the basis of economics and pleasure, then one progresses towards the final goal
of liberation. This is the rationale of all Hindu religious practices.

External Worship. a) Vedic Ritual. The Vedic ritual consisted of sacrifices

offered to the gods for various purposes. Sacrificial material such as ghee
(clarified butter) or rice grain was given as an offering to the gods, either by
consigning it to the sacred fire or by spreading it out on a bed of sanctified grass.
The mode of sacrifice was at first simple, but became more complicated with the
passage of time.

b) Classical Ritualism: the Mimamsa School. In the classical period of Indian

thought, there arose a "fundamentalist" school of philosophy named Mimamsa,
which grounded its entire teaching on the ritual sections of the Veda. The
followers of this school maintained that the duty of the individual wag simply to
obey the commands of the Veda.
Hinduism

From such obedience would be generated an unseen potency affording the

individual enjoyment in heaven after death. Very soon, however, the Mimamsa
school realized that heavenly enjoyment could not be the ultimate goal of man, it
was compelled to admit moksha, release, as the final end. Even so, the school
insisted that the performance of ritual acts was the only means to release.
According to the revised scheme, one should avoid the optional rites and perform
the other sacrifices conscientiously. If one kept strictly to this regimen all his life,
one would attain release at death.

c) Private Worship. In later Hinduism, religious practices based on the

scriptures of the popular cults, known as the agamas or tantras, came largely to
replace the Vedic sacrifices. There are several domestic or household rites taught
in these sacred texts. No important event in the household is unassociated with
religious ceremony. The birth of a child, giving it a name, the first feeding with
solid food, sending the child to school, graduation, marriage, and the funeral all
have their appropriate rites. The purpose of these ceremonial acts is to give a
spiritual significance to the journey of life. There ought to be no wedge, driven
between the secular and the sacred, for the sanctification of the entire life of man
is the aim of religion.

Besides celebrating the chief events occurring in his family, the

householder must perform every day five sacrifices – the sacrifice to the gods,
consisting in propitiating the sacred fire or worshiping the family deities; the
sacrifice to the seers, which takes the form of studying the Vedas and other
sacred books; the sacrifice to the ancestors by oblations of water; the sacrifice to
the lower animals (especially Cows), which means feeding them; and the sacrifice
to guests by entertaining them and giving alms to such of those that are poor. The
conception of the five daily sacrifices unites the various orders of being - the
divine, the human, and the subhuman - and the different periods of time — past,
present, and future.
Hinduism

The most significant event in the orthodox Hindu household is the daily
ceremonial worship of the family deity. The shrine room is the central place in the
house. At least once a day the deity, in the form of an image, is worshiped. There
may be many images in a household. Five are usually placed on the pedestal of
worship known as the panchayatana. The image of the principal deity, for
example Vishnu or Shiva, occupies the center, with the other four arranged on the
sides. The worshiper first invokes the presence of the deity in the image, and then
treats the god he has invited as he would an honored guest. The images are
bathed, dressed and decorated; food, water, and flower offerings are made;
ceremonial lamps are waved in front of the images, incense and camphor are
burned; and the gods are finally requested to retire. Each act of worship is
accompanied by a set formula or prayer. In certain forms of tantrika worship,
mystic designs called yantras are used in place of carved images, and syllables
with secret meanings are uttered. These forms of worship are highly technical,
and one may not adopt them without expert guidance.

d) Public Worship. The worship in temples follows the model of domestic

worship, but on a much larger scale. No visitor to India will fail to be struck by the
grandeur of these temples. The towers which typically serve as entrances to the
temples reach to the skies as symbols of the aspiration of the human soul for the
infinite. The temples themselves are constructed on the plan of the human body.
The most holy place within the temple, the sanctum sanctorum, symbolizes the
heart center where god takes his seat.

Apart from the worship of the principal and auxiliary deities in a temple
several times a day, there are festivals connected with each temple which are
occasions for congregations of devotees from far and near. The pious Hindu at
some time in his life visits the main temples of the land and other places of
pilgrimage. He climbs the hills to commune with god and bathes in the sacred
rivers to remove his physical and mental dirt. He keeps a religious calendar and
fasts and feasts as occasion demands – to celebrate the victory of good over evil
or the incarnation of a god.
Hinduism

The Surrender of the Ego. External worship, however, is not the final discipline. As
a devotee progresses spiritually, his devotion is supposed to become less formal
and external, and more real and internal. God demands, not material offering, but
the offering of one's heart, the surrendering of one's ego. In the traditions of
Shaivism and Vaishnavism alike, there are several stories of saints who had
neither high birth nor much learning, but who were able to realize god even
through uncouth and uncivilized modes of worship. The aim of devotion is to turn
the mind to god. It is the sublimation of the baser passions and desires through
the devotee's unswerving loyalty to god.

a) Raja-yoga. The same objective can be achieved through a technique

called raja-yoga, taught first in its complete form by an ancient sage named
Patanjali (c. 150 B.C.). This technique involves eight stages, usually known as the
"limbs of yoga." The first two constitute ethical training, consisting of certain
restraints and observances. The restraints are non-injury, truthfulness, non-
stealing, continence, and non-possession. The observances are cleanliness,
contentment, penance, study of scripture, and devotion to god. The third and
fourth stages in yoga are training in steady posture of the body and control of the
breathing process. Then comes the withdrawal of the senses from their objects.
The last three stages, which constitute yoga proper, are concentration,
contemplation, and absorption. These three are but different degrees of the mind
control which is the aim of yoga.

b) Vedanta and Karma-yoga. Although Patanjali considered his yoga to be a

sovereign and self-complete path to the goal of release, it is more generally
regarded as an auxiliary to the path of devotion already described and to the way
of knowledge. While theism takes devotion to be the main discipline, absolution
teaches the path of inquiry as the principal means of release, Ignorance of the
truth is the root of bondage, according to absolutism, and ignorance can be
dispelled only by knowledge. The path to knowledge is that of study, reflection,
and realization.
Hinduism

The Vedanta texts should be studied first under a competent teacher. Then their
import should be reflected upon. But a mere intellectual understanding of the
Vedantic truth is not enough. It must be realized intuitively. Persistent inquiry
should be made until the intuitive wisdom is achieved. And when wisdom dawns,
there is release.

Statistics
According to the 1974 Britannica Book of the Year, the world population of
Hinduism is 515,580,500.
 Chapter IV

JAINISM

Introduction

Jainism is a religion which developed in early India. It took its name from
the word Jiva (conqueror"), a title designated to Vardhamana Mahavira founder
of the movement. Its very goal is to attain the highest perfection of the nature of
man, which, it holds was in its original purity free from all pain and the bondage
of life and death. This religion started earlier as a reform movement in Hinduism,
Jainism is considered a religion of love and kindness because it stresses on equal
kindness tom ward all life, even toward the meanest.

History

The Jains hold that their faith is eternal and has been revealed through the
successive ages of the world by the tirthan-karas, (great teachers or Jinas or
"victorious ones") a line of saints or prophets, 24 in number, each of whom
attained perfection and absolute freedom and then preached Jainism to the
world, The first thirthankara, Risabha, is traditionally the founder of Jainism, but
though his name occurs in the Vedas and the Puranas very little else is known of
him; nor is there historical evidence of the other tirthankaras. The actual and
historical founder of Jainism was Vardhamana called Mahavira ("Great Hero"), the
twenty-fourth tirthankaras, and an older contemporary of Gautama Buddha. After
attaining enlightenment through hard-work and meditation, he preached Jainism
for thirty years.
Jainism

Jainism has never been torn by philosophic dispute; however about A.D. 82
two principal sects diverged on two points of rules and regulations for monks. The
two sects who exist until now are:
1. Digambara. Living in the warmer zone of south India, the Digambara
believe that to become a saint, a man should own nothing, and wear no clothing.
Hence, nudism begun by Mahavira is practiced. They also denied that women are
eligible for salvation.
2. Shvetambara. Living in a cooler region to the north, this sect wear
clothes and followed a less rigorous order.
Vardhamana Mahavira. Mahavira was born about sixth century B.C. in
northeast India of the Kshatriya class (warrior or nobleman) He was the son of a
petty king. He married and had one daughter. It is said that on his parent’s death,
in his thirtieth year, he renounced his home, and became a religious devotee and
recluse. For twelve years he practiced the most rigorous kind of asceticism
searching for salvation. For the final thirteen months of his quest, he wandered
completely naked. Finally he experienced moksha, "release" the experience of
blissful nonattachment to the world. Because of this, he is called Jina, the
conqueror. He spent the last thirty years of his life teaching his doctrines and
founding an order of monks, the Sangha ("congregation"). After his death, at
Pavapuri (also Bihar), his followers continued to increase, and around the time of
Christ, appear to have been an important group in India. Since his death, Pavapuri
has been one of the chief places of Jain pilgrimage; a number of temples have
grown up, and Diwali, the Hindu New Year festival, is a day of great pilgrimage for
the Lord Mahavira.

Development of Jainism. As Jainism grew and prospered Mahavira and

other teachers, historical and legendary were deified. Many beautiful temples
were built. Cult, images, festivals, offerings of flowers and incense were
instituted.
Jainism

However, as time passed, the line between Hindu and Jain became more and
more unclear. Some Hindu gods as Rama and Krishna were drawn into the Jain
pantheon. Hindu Brahmans started to preside at Jain's death and marriage
ceremonies and temple worship. The caste system which primitive Jainism had
rejected, also become part of later Jain doctrine.
Doctrines and Practices

A. The Scriptures of Jainism

The Jains were able to preserved two main canonical writings called the
Angas, or "limbs," and the Upangas, or "secondary limbs”. Most are written in a
late popular dialect of Sanskrit and contain sets of monastic rules, parables and
stories, legends and myths. The more important have been translated into
English. In addition to these the Jain community over the centuries produced a
fairly large and important body of literature.

B. Doctrines of Jainism

1. Cosmos. Mahavira taught that the world is made up of 2 eternal

substances: the Jiva, life or soul, and the Ajiva, nonliving. The universe might be
imagined to consist of levels or layers of existence in each of which jivas dwell; at
the lowest level is evil and restricting; at a higher level is the world of animals and
men; still higher is the world of gods or higher beings; and at the top is a state
unconditioned by time and space in which free jivas dwell, all-knowing and
blissful.

2. Deity. In the true sense Jainism has no god. The gods they know are in no
way different from other jivas or living beings, except that they stay temporarily
at the level of existence for gods. But each will be reborn at a higher or lower
level until liberation from rebirth is attained and each god is a jiva who is
responsible not only for his final achievement of moksha, or release.
Jainism

He can neither help others nor receive help in his cycle of rebirths. Thus, Jainism
may be thought of as a theistic.

3. Man. Man is a jiva reborn into this world. His body is made up of various
forms of ajiva, or matter. What determines his rebirth and present level of life as
a man are his karma. Karma, in Jainism, consists of matter in a fine atomic form
which clings or sticks to a jiva soul; the more karma that clings, the heavier it
becomes, and the lower one's rebirth, conversely, the being at a higher level of
existence has less karmic weight to drag it down. Through all the series of rebirths
which a jiva experiences, the jiva remains unchanged and unharmed by karma's
clinging - just as a diamond is changed, whether it rests in filth, the stomach of a
dog, or a platinum setting. Thus, man's jiva is in no way different from that of a
jiva living in rocks or roaches, stallions or gods. But each jiva is free to choose and
learn how to alter its present pitiable condition of existence, trapped in ajiva, time
and space.

4. Man's Plight. Since in its free, untrammeled state a jiva is omniscient and
blissful, man's plight is to have his true essence, his soul or jiva, trapped in
existence and in the cycle of rebirths. In addition, any activity or thought causes
karma to stick to one's soul, weighting it down. Although, good karma does not
cling too closely, it still enmeshes man and all bad actions and thoughts add
greatly to the burden of karma, causing him to sink deeper into the lower levels of
life. Likewise karma permeates the pure substance of jiva, driving out its purity
and introducing suffering and ignorance.

5. Salvation. Because thoughts and actions cause karma to stick to one's

jiva, salvation can only be achieved by ceasing to think or act. This somewhat
absurd conclusion is actually followed: one must think and act only if it is
absolutely necessary.
Jainism

Penance for wrong thoughts and acts, and the disentanglement of karma from
one's jiva by strict asceticism make it possible for a man to experience kevala
(alone, solitary), glimpsing final release (moksha) while still attached to this world.
It is identical with the nirvana of the Buddhists. He whọ thus sloughs off his
burden of karma is called jina or conqueror.
6. Conduct. In Jainism the ideal way of life is strict asceticism. Jains believe
that through it man would avoid wrong thought and action, and improve his level
of rebirth. Jainism's two levels of adherents - the holy man (monk) and the
layman - take vows:
a) not to harm any living creature (ahimsa)
b) to be absolutely truthful
c) not to steal.
d) to be chaste in thought and deed
e) to practice nonattachment to the world by the strict limitation
of possessions. For the holy man, the last two require celibacy
and poverty. Perhaps the main contribution of Jainism to Hindu
life is the teaching of ahimsa or noninjury of animal life. Jainism
upholds an absolute respect for life. Man's primary duty is the
evolution and perfection of his soul and that of his fellow creatures.
Thus in Jainism, non-hunting of any living creature, lower or higher
insect or human being, is the cardinal principle. This is the reason
why Jains avoid agriculture since ploughing, for example kills
worms. Hence, most Jains engage in merchandising and banking.

Furthermore, all Jains must observe the "Three Gems", the treasures of the
faith. They are right knowledge, right conception, and right actions.
7. Destiny. If one's jiva does not slough off all karma by the time of death,
the remaining karma will cause a new linking of one's jiva with ajiva, and rebirth
at a predetermined level will result.
Jainism

Since all bad thought and action cause karma to cling, suicide is forbidden,
although one is allowed, under the most carefully prescribed conditions, to lie
down out of doors and, by abstaining from food and drink, to allow death to
come. For the Jina who dies freed from Karma, the Jain Nirvana, moksha (release)
occurs. In this state, the jiva floats free of all attachments and enters the highest
level of existence in which the jiva is blissful, all-knowing, and free from karma,
never again to be reborn.

Statistics

The attitude of Jainism toward other forms of religion is that of non-

criticism. It does not compete with other religions and has never cared for the
propagation of its faith. Its adherents totaled just over 1,600,000 in the early
1960's with the Digambara majority in the south and the Shvetambaras in the
north. Among its followers are found the rich merchants of Gujarat and
Maharastra, forming about 0.45% of the total population of India.
 Chapter V

BUDDHISM

Introduction

Buddhism is the oldest of the world's three missionary religions existing for
nearly 2,500 years. From the title of "The Buddha" (meaning in Sanskrit "the Wise,
the enlightened"), Buddhism, next to Christianity, is the most extended religion. It
is widely spread in Ceylon, Nepal, Burma, Siam, Cambodia, China and Japan
counting some 180,000,000 adherents. And even in the United States it calls to
100,000 followers. More than any other force, religious or philosophical, it shaped
the civilization of Asia, having stimulated the arts and influenced the great Tang
Dynasty culture of China in the Seventh to Tenth Centuries A.D. and brought
civilization to Japan, Being so widespread and having so many facets it has been
called a "family of religions." rather than a single religion.

History

Diverse opinions had previously prevailed as to the time and place of the origin of
Buddhism. Some looked upon it as a relic of the original religion of Hindustan (the
land of the Hindus); a relic of a widespread primeval worship, whose ramifications
it was endeavored to trace by identifying Buddha with the deities of the ancient
Egyptians, and with other mythological personages. Others believed that it could
not be older than Christianity and must have originated in a blundering attempt
to copy that religion, so striking are the many points of resemblance that present
themselves. Although the means are still wanting of giving a circumstantial history
of Buddhism, the main outline is no longer doubtful.
Buddhism

It arose in the 6th century B.C., as an offshoot of the prevailing Hindu religion of
north India in what is now Bihar, west 07 Bengal. According to the Buddhist
books, the founder of the religion was Gautama Buddha.

Gautama, The Buddha. The founder of Buddhism was born about 567 B.C.,
in the town of Kapilavastu in southern Nepal, about 100 miles north of Benares.
His father was a petty ruler of the Kshatriya class (noblemen), the petty rajah on
Kapilavastu, on the southern border of the District of Nepal. He was a prince
named Siddhartha. He is often called Sakya, which was the name of the family,
and also Gautama. The name Sakya often becomes Sakya-muni (muni, in Sanskrit,
means "solitary'), in allusion to the solitary habits assumed by the prince. To
Gautama is frequently affixed Sramana, meaning "ascetic". Of the names or titles
given to him the most important is Buddha, which is from the root budh, "to
know," and means "enlightened" or "he to whom truth is known." The legend
about Gautama shows that his followers believed that he had renounced the
greatest possible earthly security and splendor in order to find the true way to
salvation.

Gautama's traditional life-story tells how his father was informed by a seer
at the birth of his son that Gautama was destined to become the greatest earthly
ruler of history. If, however, he were to see four things – disease, old age, death,
and a monk who had renounced the world - then the boy would abandon his
earthly heritage to become the founder of a way of salvation for all the world. His
father tried to keep his son from these experiences, so that he might pass on to
him his kingdom, Thus, he built a great palace in the midst of a park and gave
orders that neither the sick, the aged, a dead body, nor a monk should be allowed
near the palace. The boy grew up shielded from the world and was married to a
beautiful girl, Yasodhara, who bore him a son. Despite his father's orders that he
remain in his palace, he rode out into the world. As he was being driven through
his park, he saw first a man tottering with age, a corpse being carried to its grave,
and finally a mendicant monk in ochre robes whose appearance was peaceful and
whose body was healthy.
Buddhism

Gautama asked what each vision was, and when he was told, he began to
meditate on the meaning of life and upon his new knowledge that each of us
must grow old, may be wracked with disease, and eventually must die. But the
serene appearance of the monk helped him to make "the great resolve." It is said
that one night a great feast with drunken revelry was held in Gautama's palace;
finally, he alone was awake and sober. He surveyed the scene of debauchery and
was revolted by its apparent meaninglessness. Then he decided to renounce
forever his life of security, which also involved self-indulgence, pleasure and
material comfort. He left his sleeping wife and son and departed from his palatial
home to take up the life of a wandering mendicant. It had already become
common practice in India for a man to renounce his family and to seek salvation
as a student and monk. He shaved off his hair and put on the yellow robe of a
mendicant.

The next part of the legend tells how he studied the Upanishads with the
best teachers of the day, but he finds their doctrine unsatisfactory. He then tried
the other way of salvation -- asceticism for six years. He was so thorough in his
practice that five monks began to follow him as their leader. Gautama became a
living skeleton, but found that this way is equally vain. Once when the daughter of
a herdsman came by and offered him a bowl of curds, Gautama ate. Because of
this, his five followers deserted him as unworthy of their respect. But Gautama
seated himself under a Bo tree and vowed he would not move until he had
attained the secret of Enlightenment. In a vision the armies of Mara (death or
evil), the demon attacked him with storms, rains, rocks and blazing weapons, and
Mara himself offered the wealth of the world if he would desist from his purpose.
But Gautama sat unmoved meditating. He triumphantly withstood the temptation
by the demon Mara. After 49 days of meditation Gautama experienced the bliss
of nirvana, of ultimate salvation. Whatever this experience was it is described as
the act of becoming awake, bodhi, and at that moment Gautama became the
Buddha, the 'one who had fully awake', or enlightened.
Buddhism

The scene of this final triumph received the name of Bodhimanda ('the seat of
intelligence’), and the tree under which he sat was called Bodhidruma (the tree of
intelligence), whence Bo tree, Buddhists believe the spot to be the center of the
earth.
After his tremendous experience, Gautama returned to the world and
traveled to the holy city of Benares where, in a park outside the town, he met
again with the five monks and preached to them his first sermon on the meaning
of life and the way to salvation. For the next 45 years the Buddha traversed
northern India, preaching and making converts to his religion. An order of monks,
the Sangha, was founded, and by the time of his death, the new religion had
thousands of adherents.

The Development of Buddhism. The great paradox of Buddhism is that a

way of life that began with the teaching "to live is to suffer," and demands the
annihilation of all desires and attachments to the world, should become a great
missionary faith. Gautama, after his enlightenment, returned to the world and
preached his doctrines. Then he commanded his disciples to "go forth... for the
help of the many, for the well-being of the many out of compassion for the
world". In the third century B.C. the great king Asoka, who welded most of India
into an empire, became a convert and by his patronage made Buddhism an
adjunct to the throne and a sweeping movement. Tradition says he sent
missionaries to preach throughout Southeast Asia, had contact even with Egypt
and Greece. Tolerant of other gods and ideas, Buddhism flowed and absorbed
and diversified. And in the 2 1/2 millenniums since Buddha it has split into three
main divisions: the Hinayana, the Mahayana and the Tantric.

A. Hinayana (Theravada). During the early years after Gautama's death, his
followers gradually began to differ in their opinions on what was most important
in the search for understanding of life, thus resulting to the rise of different
Buddhist sects with varied interpretations of Gautama's teachings. To certify the
accuracy of the doctrine and the rules of the Sangha the first great council was
held in the 5th Century B.C. in Rajagaha.
Buddhism

In the 4th Century B.C. the Council of Vesali was held and by this time there was a
dispute over the stringency of the monastic rules for obtaining Buddhahood.
From these emerged two separate schools of thought, the Hinayana and the
Mahayana. The third council was held in 3rd Century B.C. called by Emperor
Asoka, and as a result of this Buddhist missionaries were sent throughout India,
Syria, North Africa, Greece and Ceylon (now Shri Lanka). By this time, Hinayana
Buddhism was strong and developed. It is the branch of Buddhism that claims to
have changed least from the form of the Buddha's teachings. Also referred as
Southern Buddhism, detractors label it Hinayana because of its teaching that
nirvana is obtainable only by a few who follow strictly the way of the Buddha. But
this sect prefers to be called Theravada (Way of the Elders). The underlying basis
of their faith is that one is responsible for his own salvation. A person's past,
present, future - all are up to him. There is no god who can arrange for one's
salvation. The ideal Hinayana Buddhist is the "arhat" or holy man, thus Hinayana
stresses the monastic life or the Sangha (Monastic Order). Yet paradoxically, from
earliest times their monasteries have possessed great wealth and much land
given by pious laymen, or by members taking the vow of poverty upon joining the
order. Today, this sect prevails in Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos,
where it has built beautiful temples and contributes to education in Burma and
Thailand.

B. Mahayana. The teachings of Theravadin Buddhism offer salvation and

nirvana only to the arhat who has renounced this world. A man who marries and
has a family and who seeks to earn a living as a regular member of society may
become a lay follower of Buddhism, but he is excluded from those destined for
nirvana, Due to this restriction, Buddhism, lacked an essential ingredient of a
missionary religion: the element of universality which gives hope to anyone,
without restriction, who is seeking present salvation and final release. This
element was supplied by Mahayana Buddhism, the Greater Vehicle. This Northern
Buddhism dates in the first century B.C. from the years immediately following the
death of Gautama, when his followers were yearning for the old days when he
was with them. Always they treated his memory with reverence. Some of them
soon came to attach special importance to anything that reminded them of his
life.
Buddhism

The meeting places of some disciples gradually began to look like temples. Great
changes took place in the interpretations of the scriptures. Thus, arose a newer
form of Buddhism called Mahayana.

Go Although the Buddha himself seems to have taught that there are no
gods who can help man for his salvation, one of the distinctive characteristics of
Mahayana is the Bodhisattva, a being whose "essence is enlightenment." This is a
person who is attuned to the sufferings and hopes of all human beings that he
refuses to enter nirvana until all others have achieved salvation with him.
Gautama after his enlightenment did not immediately enter nirvana but instead
returned to the world and for forty-five years, preached his doctrine. Perhaps it
was only logical that his later adherents should teach that even after his death he
had not completely deserted mankind. In any case, the doctrine of Bodhisattvas
allows for many such beings who have been victorious and achieved buddhahood,
but who are still available, as helpers to those who call upon them in faith. Thus,
by incorporating into its scheme the local gods of the different areas Mahayana
Buddhism has become a religion of savior gods. An illustration of Bodhisattva's
place in this form of Buddhism is the story of Amitabha. Although Amitabha was
originally a Bodhisattva, he is now referred to as a Buddha, since in Mahayana
there are many Buddhas. Amitabha Buddha or "Buddha of Infinite Light" is next to
Gautama in the hearts of Buddhists. According to legends, Amitabha was a monk
who lived infinite ages ago. He made a vow that he would devote all his wisdom
and merits to saving others. Through the years he built up what might be called a
"Treasury of Merit," a tremendous checking account of goodness. Mahayana
Buddhists believed that anyone in need of merit can draw upon this account by
meditating upon the compassion of Amitabha and praying to him.

Another important development which made Mahayana appealing to

masses of followers, instead of just the few monks, was its idea of life after death.
Some Mahayana sects elaborated a conception of hell to which the souls of evil
doers passed at death, while a goddess of compassion known as Kuan Yin was
developed to guide the faithful to the Promised Land.
Buddhism

The Doctrines, of Mahayana Buddhism

1. The Cosmos. The metaphysical teaching of the Mahayana is known as the

doctrine of the void (sunyata). This frequently involves a kind of monism, or
idealism, in which the concept of nirvana becomes not extinction, but "the void"
emptiness, the unconditioned. All that is truly important is said to be timeless,
and except under rare circumstances, ultimately unknowable whereas the world
is believed to be transient and perishing.
2. Deity. Gautama denied that there are any gods who can help man, but in
Mahayana deification resulted - particularly of powerful bodhisattvas deemed
Buddhas-to-come. It is probably from Hinduism that this pattern is derived.
Hinduism teaches three levels of divine beings. The highest is the paramatman, or
world soul; next is the level of the Tri-murti, or secondary manifestations of the
ultimate, and finally the incarnate savior gods, or avatars, which lived among men
for salvation. In Mahayana we find an almost similar scheme in the three levels
and three bodies of the Buddhas:
a) The Dhyani Buddhas. Possessing a dharma-kaya, or absolute body
they are "Buddhas of meditation" being always engaged in peaceful
meditation. They are a peculiar kind of Buddhas who are not required to
pass through the stage of a Bodhisattva. They voluntarily abstain
themselves from the act of creation for to create is the work of their
emanations, the Divine Bodhisattvas. Having entered nirvana forever,
they never again would have contact with the world of space and time.
This corresponds to the paramatman of Hinduism.
b) The Bodhisattvas have a sambhoga-kaya, the body of bliss or the
refulgent body of the Buddha. It is a very subtle body which manifests itself
in the various conditions of bliss in the superhuman beings for preaching
the noble truths and for arousing in the minds of other Buddhas and lay
Bodhisattvas joy, delight and love for the noble religion. This corresponds
to the level of the Hindu god, Vishnu, for though they live in paradise they
have power to come to the aid of men.
Buddhism

c) The Manushi Buddhas. These are the mortal or human Buddhas

having a nirvana-kaya or body of transformation. These Buddhas have lived
among men, as did Gautama, and are comparable to Krishna as the avatar
of Vishnu. A manushi Buddha is beyond the prayers of men once he has
entered nirvana.

3. Man. Man is a conscious being, of a high level that because of his past
karma is reborn. He is caught in time and space, and his true goal is to escape this
cycle of rebirth (endless round of lives).

4. Man's Plight. Man's present sorrow is caused by his ignorance of the

causes of his rebirth and of the nature of the ultimate truth. Suffering and
transmigration can be made to cease only if a person ceases his uncontrolled
craving and attachment to the world.

5. Salvation. In the Mahayanas, salvation has two levels. One gives man
help if he turns to some great Bodhisattvas, who by their accumulated merit save
people from hell, and assure rebirth in heaven to all those who devoutly repeat
the name of their favorite Bodhisattva. But in the midst of time and space nirvana
is to be found by those who follow the path of knowledge and search on the true
significance of life. This is the second level of salvation in this form of Buddhism.

6. Conduct. This Northern Buddhism emphasizes a high order of ethical

living. Although it does not require complete renunciation of the world, this sect
stresses nonattachment to the world and selflessness, The Dhammapada, a
scripture summarizing the path of the law is widely taught. Faith in a Bodhisattva
also carries the belief that a Mahayana Buddhist should do good, not only to
acquire good karma but also to please the savior god.
Buddhism

7. Destiny. Buddhism inherited from Hinduism the doctrine that rebirth,

and possible intervening existence in hells or temporary heavens, is the fate in
store for those who do not, in this existence, achieve nirvana. Thus as stated
earlier, some Mahayana sects did conceived a hell to which the souls of evildoers
passed at death. A goddess of compassion named Kuan Yin, compared to the
Catholic Madonna was developed to guide the faithful to the Promised Land. Also
in China the Ch’ing T’u, or "pure land" sect (Jodo sect in Japan) teaches that, if
one has faith in the Bodhisattva Amitabha, and repeats in faith his name, at
death, Amitabha will take the faithful to the pure land of bliss.

C. Tantric. The third branch of Buddhism, Tantric, sprouted about 750 A.D.
when a Buddhist Indian monk crossed the mountain in Tibet, where Buddhism
already existed in scattered monasteries. There he preached a different and
peculiar form of the doctrine known as Tantrism, a mixture of Mahayana
Buddhism and certain magical and mystical doctrines derived from Hinduism.
Invoking deities by magic and rituals, it expanded the pantheon with an array of
new divinities - personifications of Buddha's thoughts and acts, female
counterparts of deities, even demons. In Tantric teaching the male gods gain
power through union with their female counterparts. Devotees seek to attune
themselves with this primal power through elaborate rites, some involving sexual
union as well as use of wine, meat, flesh and parched grain.

Each division of Buddhism musters claim that it represents the original or

true form. Actually, each developed, by stressing specific elements within the
early faith. And as Buddhism spread, it articulated its insights in words and
symbols that differed from country to country. In Southeast Asia it learned to
speak the language of kingship. In Tibet it learned to speak with shamans
(monks). In China it picked up the language of the family. But its essence remains
the message of Siddharta Gautama: "Seek In the impersonal for the eternal man,
and having sought him out look inward - thou art Buddha".
Buddhism

Buddhism Sects

Lamaism. It is the form of Buddhism so different from those, elsewhere

that has assumed among the peoples of Tibet and Mongolia. The name is derived
from the Tibetan lama (blama), properly a title of the monks in the higher ranks of
the hierarchy. This Tibetian form of Buddhism with its priesthood of lamas, or
superior ones was founded by Padma Sambhava, the eight-century guru who
spread the enlightenment of Buddha in Himalayan lands rife with worship of
spirits, demigods, and demons. Hindu and Buddhist cults of Tantrism, together
with the age-old demonolatry of Tibet made up Tibetian Lamaism. Out of
Lamaism, with its popular prayers, ritual dances and exorcism of devils grew
Tibet's theocratic state dominated by Dalai and Panchen Lamas, believed to be
living incarnations of Buddhist holy beings of the past. Lamaists, like other
Buddhists, believe that all beings strive through many lives to achieve the peace
of perfection. Some, like Padma Sambhava who have won release through good
works choose to return – for the good of man - for yet another turn of the wheel
of life.
Reformed Lamaism with its elaborate ritual of the religious services, the
ceremonial dresses of the monks, their organization in hierarchical ranks, and the
local divisions into diocese, dependent on a central authority, have been noticed
and compared with similar features in the Roman Catholic Church.
Zen Buddhism. Once Gautama was handed a gift of a golden flower and
asked to preach the secret of the doctrines. Gautama held the flower aloft and
looked at it in silence, indicating that the secret lay not in words but in profound
contemplation of the flower itself. From this mystical and legendary act
descended the doctrine of Zen, regarded by many scholars as the noblest in
Buddhism. Thus, this sect emphasizes meditation as a means to transcendental
wisdom and mental tranquility. Zen was brought to China where it was called
Ch'an, in the Sixth Century by the Indian missionary Bodhidarma, who is reported
to have spent nine full years meditating with his face to a wall, saying nothing to
anyone.
Buddhism

In the 12th Century, two schools of Ch'an, Rinzai and Soto, migrated to Japan,
where the sect was given its present name. The goal of Zen is spiritual
enlightenment, or satori, and there are two chief ways of achieving it. Rinzai
involves whacking the heads of the students, shouting at them, setting them
difficult tasks and propounding paradoxical statements called koan to help nudge
their minds into a perception of the truth and become one with the universe.
Rinzai masters believe that enlightenment comes in a sudden flash of intuition
(insight) during disciplined meditation. In contrast, Soto Zen, while also adopting
koan, stresses quiet, seated meditation with no conscious attempt to reach a
definite goal. Zen is unique in that it has no written scriptures, and in fact
considers books as inadequate to define the state of enlightenment. Its monks
besides shunning books, shun preaching, discussion or theories holding that
enlightenment is attained through individual effort. They teach that the simplest
daily acts contain the essential mystery of life. Even tea drinking or gardening can
become a means to understanding. Zen monks live simple, working in the fields,
begging for their food, eating little and meditating. Much of the simple eloquence
and orderliness of Japanese culture --- as in ceramics, drama, flower arranging,
architecture as well as swordsmanship and judo are inspired by Zen.

The Scriptures of Buddhism

Since Buddhism does not require orthodoxy in belief, there is no closed

canon of scriptures. Accordingly if all the Buddhist sacred writings were gathered
together, they would fill hundreds of shelves. Nevertheless, there is an early body
of scripture which is held as basic by most Buddhist sects, the Scriptures of
Theravadin or Hinayana Buddhism, known as the Tipitaka, or The Three Baskets.
They are in the early Pali dialect of Sanskrit of northeast India. Tradition states
that at the death of the Buddha, a council of five hundred elders was called to
determine the accuracy of the teachings of the Buddha as preserved by the
community. Probably there was no recording of oral traditions until about the
first century B.C. The Tipitaka is therefore relatively late and may represent many
centuries of composition and compilation.
Buddhism

The Tripitaka. This name is the more common Sanskrit title of the Tipitaka,
and refers to the form in which it appears as the basic scripture for the southern,
or Theravadin. Buddhism of Ceylon (Shri-Lanka), Burma, and south Asia. The three
divisions are:
1. The Vinaya Pitaka is the basket or collection of discipline, consisting of
the rules of the Order.
2. The Sutta Pitaka is the basket of discourses, of the dialogues between
Buddha and his disciples on the teachings of the religion.
3. The Abhidhamma Pitaka is the collection of teachings on metaphysics.

The Teachings of Gautama Buddha

What the Buddha learned - and later taught through his Enlightenment
must be considered against the background of traditional Hindu beliefs, for
Gautama was born a Hindu, and Buddhism itself was a protestant revolt against
orthodox Hinduism. The Buddha was of the Kshatriya class and may have reacted
against the Brahman teaching that only members of the highest Brahman caste
(class) could hope to end the cycle of life without at least one more rebirth. He
rejected the authority of the Vedas and Upanishads and denied the monistic
doctrine of Hinduism that man has an atman (soul) which is of the same essence
as the paramatman. From Hinduism Buddha, accepted the doctrine of karma, and
of rebirth, but denied the belief that this present world is maya (has no final
reality). Also he accepted the concept of the world as an abode of ignorance and
sorrow from which wise men should seek release by taming the appetites and
passions of the flesh.

Although he agreed with the Hindus on such concepts and objectives, he

disagreed about the right methods to achieve the objectives. His experiments
with violent austerity had convinced him that the spectacular mortifications of
the body practiced by many Hindu ascetics of his time were vain and useless.
Buddhism

He preferred what he called the Middle Way between asceticism and self-
indulgence and believed that the wise man avoided both extremes in a life of
calm detachment. He also disapproved of the Hindu caste distinction, believing all
men to be equal in spiritual potentiality.

The kernel of his teaching lay in two pronouncements which formed the
subject of his sermon at Benares and which have since been known throughout
the Buddhist world as the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path The
Truths deal with the cause and cure of human suffering, and the Path is the
practical technique of action by which the cure can be achieved.
The Four Noble Truths are the following:
(1) Suffering is universal :)
(2) The cause of suffering is craving
(3) The cure for suffering is the elimination of craving
(4) The way to eliminate craving is to follow the Middle
Way, a technique which embodies the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Path consists of (1) right knowledge, (2) right intention, (3) right
speech, (4) right conduct, (5) right means of livelihood, (6) right effort, (7) right
mindfulness, and (8) right concentration, or meditation. This path leads to the
cessation of craving and, finally, to nirvana, the cessation of rebirth.

THE MIDDLE WAY. If to live is to suffer, then the easiest way to cease to suffer
would be to cease to exist to commit suicide. For Gautama Buddha, however, the
very desire to cease to be was also a craving that had to be overcome. The Noble
Eightfold Path was not to be that of complete self-denial, as was the way of the
Jains. Instead, he taught a modified asceticism - the Middle Way - between self-
indulgence, like that he had known as a prince, and the ascetic way of complete
self-denial, which he had found to be useless.
Buddhism

The Doctrines of Buddhism

When we turn to a description of Buddha's world view, we find him

reluctant to discuss metaphysics. Like other religious leaders, such as Confucius,
Socrates and Jesus, Gautama stressed the need for man to understand his present
lot than to speculate upon the origins and nature of the universe, or the nature of
life after death. Any reconstruction of his metaphysics is actually a reading back
into his thoughts of later points of view; there is therefore much disagreement on
this matter among both Buddhist and Western scholars. At the same time,
Gautama must have presented to his hearers a point of view with which they
were familiar. On this assumption, it would appear that Gautama rejected the
monistic view of the world and man found in much of the thought of the
Upanishads, but followed instead a dualistic position of the sort that later
developed into the orthodox Hindu system known as Samkhya.

1. The Cosmos. One possible interpretation of the Buddha's view of the

cosmos, then, is that he taught a dualism of matter and spirit, Matter is called
prakriti, which constitutes the physical world. To prakriti is added a spiritual
principle called purusha (person), and there is an infinite number of purushas. The
world, therefore, is real and a living being is a purusha confined to existence in
this world.

2. Deity. Like Mahavira (founder of Jainism) Buddha denied belief in any

god who might influence man's life. But he undoubtedly believed in deities who
lived in heavenly spheres; in fact in many of the stories of the Buddha's previous
lives in the famous Jakata Tales, the Buddha appears in the form of a god. But in
his way of salvation no god is important. He believed that no outside power can
come to man's aid.
Buddhism

3. Man. Man is a spirit or person who has been reborn because of past
karma into his present life. The prakriti (matter) which makes up his physical body
is described in various Ways. One refers to the various aspects of man's nature as
skandhas, "aggregates of grasping" the five elements of which are bodily form,
sensation, perception, mental elements and consciousness, Another system of
thought analyzed man's nature as composed of seventy-five dharmas or
constituent elements. Both systems regard man as a phenomenon, resulting from
the causative factor of a karma-bearing purusha which acts as a sort of magnet to
bring together real elements to produce a temporary being. The original birth
which began the wheel of life probably was caused by avidya (ignorance), and
partly by the asavas (fetters) of craving.

4. Man's Plight, Man's very existence in a real world is his basic plight,
caused partly by past karma and ignorance. All desire and attachment to the
world hold man in bondage to rebirth. His life is filled with fear, anxiety, and
hopelessness. And he is enslaved by the mistaken belief that he is an ego or true
self as long as he is attached to this world in which to live is to suffer. The Four
Noble delineates the nature of man's plight for the Buddhist.

5. Salvation. The path that Buddhists follow is that taught by Gautama

which he described as the "Middle Path between extremes. The extremes to be
avoided were the life of sensual indulgence and the life of drastic asceticism. Both
led to out-of-balance living. Neither led to the true goal of release from suffering.
Gautama discovered that neither extreme was wise, for neither brings happiness.
The Fourth Noble Truth, the Noble Eightfold Path which follows the middle way
between self-indulgence and extreme asceticism, is the Buddhist way to find
meaning in a world characterized by suffering, and is the way to the cessation of
craving and to peace.

6. Conduct. Buddhist ethics are admired for the total demand which they
make upon the faithful. The Noble Eightfold Path stresses the importance of self-
discipline which leads to a life of good works and inner peace.
Buddhism
This stress is made explicit in the five vows which are required of all who join the
Sangha (the monastic order), a practical code of conduct called Five Precepts.
These are (1) to abstain from killing, (2) to abstain from stealing, (3) to abstain
from sexual immorality, (4) to abstain from lying, (5) to abstain from the use of
intoxicants and narcotics. It is clear that from these precepts even the thought of
hatred or lust is renounced.

The sanction and motivation which prompt obedience to this high ethic is
to be understood in connection with Buddhist teachings about the nature of man
and his salvation. Although there is no god to obey, two compelling reasons
support right conduct: the need to root out self-centeredness or ego in one's life,
and the desire to follow as religiously as possible the life of Buddha.

7. Destiny. When the Buddha was asked what happens after death to the
monk who attains liberation, he answered that he had not tried to answer this
question. He had sought out and explained the causes of becoming-of birth,
growth, decay, and death — and the way to put an end to this becoming. But
what happens when one ceases to “become” he had not explained. The ultimate
goal of the Buddhists is called nirvana, a term used earlier by the Hindus. The
minimum meaning of nirvana is the extinction of all craving, resentment and
covetousness. To the Buddhist extinction of craving and other improper attitudes
was true happiness. Another meaning of Nirvana which is just as important to
most Buddhist is that it is the release from all future reincarnations, escape from
the cycle of rebirth. Following the foregoing analysis of the future of man's plight
and his salvation, Buddhist nirvana can be understood as the waning of the tanha,
the craving, desires, passions, which serve to perpetuate the cycle of rebirth.
Remove the fires of craving, man's purusha (consciousness) would be freed from
all attachment to the world.

Since the fate of the liberated after death was left open, Buddhists discuss
a fourfold possibility or “tetralemma": after death the liberated being may either
exists or does not exist; if it exists, it is either conscious or unconscious. In the
history of Buddhist thought, Buddhist philosophers have taken almost every
conceivable position on that question.
Buddhism

D. How does one become a follower of the Buddha. From earliest times,
anyone who wanted to follow in the path of the Buddha to seek salvation and
nirvana renounced the world and made his declaration of faith: "I go to the
Buddha for refuge; I go to the Dhamma for refuge; I go to the Sangha for refuge."
This is the way one declares his desire to become a follower of the Buddha, to
seek to understand and follow the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Lightfold Path
with its attendant dhamma (religious law), and to enter the fellowship of the
Sangha and submit to its discipline. To this day, one who takes this step is striving
to live as an arhat, “worthy one" or saint. Those who feel that they are not ready
to lead the life of poverty and chastity of an arhat may serve the arhats as lay
members. Without the strong support of the lay community, the Sangha could
not have survived. Throughout Buddhist history, pious lay men and women have
contributed generously, both to the Sangha and to mendicants, thereby gaining
good karma which will aid them in their own spiritual pilgrimages through their
cycles of lives.

Worship

Since the death of Gautama Buddha in about 483 B.C., monks and laymen
alike revere relics of his body, including teeth and hair which are preserved and
enshrined. Homage is paid to Gautama's person as a symbol of the Buddhist way.
The relics are housed in domed or tower-like shrines, called stupas or pagodas,
found in cities and countryside throughout the Buddhist world. Both monks and
laymen, especially in south Asia, flock to these shrines and walk around them (a
practice known as circumambulation) to make offerings of food and to meditate
on the doctrines taught by Buddha. Since authentic relics are few, some of the
Asian stupas house other reminders such as images, sacred writings and prayers.
Stupas are the sites of many activities practiced by Buddhist laymen in
order to acquire merit that leads to rebirth in a better life.
Buddhism

Building stupas is in itself an act of merit, but a layman also earns merit through
offerings, pilgrimages, meditation, helping to feed the monks, assisting in the
upkeep of the stupas and participation in public ceremonies.

Although Buddha forbade the practice of idolatry, countless statues were

dedicated to him. Nikko which is a town of numerous shrines, temples, pagodas
and mausolea, is the main center of Buddhist worship. Buddhist devotees make
annual pilgrimages to Nikko. Foods, gifts, incense are offered to shrines,
monasteries, pagodas and images. Service begins with a period of meditation.
This is followed by the singing of several hymns and the reading of the Sutra and
the priest's sermon. The service is ended by the offering of incense.

Statistics

According to the 1974 Britannica Book of the Year, the estimated

membership of Buddhism in the world was 223,655,500.
 Chapter VI

SHINTO

Introduction

Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan. Its comprehensive brief meaning

is found in the meaning of the title. The word Shinto is composed of the Chinese
words shen and tao, which mean spirit and way. The Japanese equivalent is kami
no michi, signifying “the way of the Kami", or "The way of the Gods” that is the
ceremonies and beliefs that evolved in connection with the worship of the
ancestral Japanese deities. The term Shinto, however, came into existence after
the introduction of buddhism into Japan and was distinguish the original Japanese
religion from Buddhism. While Shinto has no founder, no official sacred
scriptures, and no official dogma, it has preserved its beliefs and practices.

History

The history of the religion maybe divided into three periods. The first
terminates in the 6th century, A.D., the second in the eight century A.D., and the
third continuing until the present time.
In the first period the religion had no name, dogmas, nor sacred writings.
The objects worshipped were the kami or deities. Accordingly, all the heavenly
and earthly forces, great men both living and dead, and many inanimate ana
animate beings such as plants, rocks, birds, fishes as well as earthquakes, thunder,
water, sun and moon were kami. In addition to nature deities, the ancestors
constitute an important part of their pantheon. Jimmu Tenno (first Japanese
emperor) is believed to be the grandson of the Sun-goddess Amaterasu. It is said
that he descended to the sacred islands to rule the Japanese people.
Shinto

The rites were purifications by water from crimes and defilement. The
offerings were anything of value, swords, arrows, spears, and especially cloth. The
prayers were thanksgiving and lists of offerings.

The Development of Shinto Quasi - Scriptures. The second period begins

with the sixth century when Buddhism and Confucianism were introduced in
Japan. The native gods of Shinto were considered as incarnations of Buddha.
Buddhist priests became the custodians of the Shinto shrines and introduced their
own ritual, images and ornaments. Shinto and Buddhism were amalgamated and
were called Ryobu ("Two Aspects") Shinto. It was during this period when the oral
myths and traditions of Shinto were assembled and recorded for the first time.
The first, the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters) is dated 712 A.D., and the second
dated 720 A.D. is the Nihongi also called Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan). Both
were written in Chinese script. Although Shinto has no concept of scripture as
comparable to the Bible or Koran these two documents are considered quasi-
scriptures of Shinto.

In the eighteenth century a succession of great scholars animated by a love

for antiquity and a hatred of all things foreign, attacked Buddhism and
Confucianism and sought for the reestablishment of pure Shinto. They taught that
its essence was obedience to nature and to the emperor. They produced
important effects in literature and in politics but Shinto was too indistinct and ill-
defined to gain religious hold of the people. The sentiment aroused was utilized
by the revolutionists of 1865-68 when the western clans overthrew the
government of the Shogun and restored the Emperor to the head of the
government. At the restoration Buddhism was disestablished and Shinto put in its
place. It was proclaimed the national religion in 1871 and Shinto shrines were
decreed to be the place of worship for all subjects of the emperor. All Shinto
priests were appointed by the government. At this time the religion was called
State Shinto or Shrine Shinto. However, after World War II, Gen. MacArthur
disestablished State Shinto. The former State Shinto was thereby reduced to the
status of an ordinary sect and receives no financial support from the government.
Shinto

Doctrines and Practices

1. The Cosmos. The basic concept of Cosmic creation in Shinto is found in

Kojiki. It tells of a cosmic egg to form heaven and earth. The purer or positive
portion of the egg-shaped mass ascended to form the sky, and the grosser,
negative portion descended to form the earth and sea. From this beginning, in
time different deities appeared, and finally a male and female couple, Izanagi and
Izanami. These mated and produced the sacred Japanese islands and other
deities. Accordingly, the Japanese islands are believed to be the center of the
earth and of divine origin as were their first inhabitants who later sprang from the
gods.
2. Deity. The basic concept of deity in Shinto is the concept of kami. Kami
seems to describe anything holy, unusual, or connected with the world of the
spirit. The universe is populated with "eight hundred myriads of kami beings"
Amaterasu, the sun-soddess; Tsuki-yomi, the moon-god, and Susa-no-wo, the
storm god. The storm god represents the capricious and destructive forces of
nature working against the benign rule of the sun-goddess. In addition,
outstanding natural objects, such as Mount Fujiyama and the Japanese islands
themselves are regarded as Kami beings. In addition to nature deities, the
ancestors constitute an important part of the Shinto pantheon.
3. Man. Shinto teaches that all living beings are possessed of kami nature. A
fox or a cat has kami power in it. In this sense, man is conceived as divine or spirit-
possessed. Man, then, has two aspects, his bodily part and his kami nature, which
he is to nourish and keep pure. But even here there are degrees of kami
possession, man being superior to woman, while the emperor is superior to all
humans because he is a direct descendant of the kami Amaterasu.
4. Man's Plight. Shinto teaches that there are two main causes of misery
and evil in the world. The first has to do with actions which might unleash
dangerous kami potency. It also teaches that any violation of the many tabus can
cause misfortune. The second cause of misfortune is the displeasure of ancestors
or of the gods.
Shinto

Trouble will ensue if they are neglected, like not informing them of activities of
the family or nation or not propitiated with offerings of food and wine.

5. Salvation. Salvation is to be found, first of all, in observing all tabus and

avoiding persons and objects which might cause pollution. The gods and
goddesses of agriculture are propitiated by offerings prayers, and ceremonies of
purification in which the emperor acts on behalf of the nation. Fetishes are also
employed as means to fight the power of demons. But the most important law of
salvation calls for obedience to the emperor as a kami. If all obey the emperor
and work for the common good of the Japanese nation, harmony, peace, and
prosperity will prevail.

The famous ritualistic suicide known as hara-kiri is practiced by a loyal

subject who fails in his duty. Even if he is not to blame for his failure, by this
ultimate sacrifice the Shinto believer shows his faithfulness and sincerity. Through
hara-kiri he will become immortal like the ancestral kami.

6. Conduct. Kami power in itself is amoral; it is simply force possessing no

qualities of good or evil. It therefore, is dangerous rather than malicious. Man as a
being possessed with kami has no god to obey but needs only to know how to add
just to kami in its various manifestations. Shinto thus lacks an ethical, or rather, if
one truly expresses his kami nature and follows the tabus and rules of society, he
is doing right.

Into Shinto were introduced specific ethical teachings from two sources.
The first was the Confucian ethic from China. The five relationships of life and the
requirement of filial piety were adopted, but the Japanese emphasis omitted the
element of Shu or reciprocity. Obedience to one's superior was taught, but little if
anything was said about justice and kindness as the correct response to
obedience. The other contribution to ethics was Bushido, the cavalier ethic
associated with Buddhism.
Shinto

Yet this vaunted code was for the fighting Knights, or samurai, and was not
necessarily applicable to the commoner. Good conduct under Shinto, therefore,
basically requires man to fit into the group pattern and to express his kami
nature.

7. Destiny. Shinto teaches a cult of ancestors which is like certain Confucian

teachings, but is probably of independent origin rather than the result of
borrowing. Since one's kami nature will survive death, a man desires to be worthy
of being remembered with approbation by his relatives. Therefore it is preferable
to die than to fail in duty to one's family or nation. The famous kamikaze pilots of
World War II acted on this principle. Kamikaze means “divine wind," and refers to
a providential storm which destroyed the Chinese invasion fleet of Kublai Khan off
the coast of Japan in the thirteenth century. A kamikaze pilot, by his brave but
suicidal action in the national cause, exemplified the height of loyalty to the
emperor and his people. He then became an illustrious ancestor; joining the eight
hundred myriads of kami being's in the spirit world.

From Mahayana Buddhism was borrowed the teaching of eternal life and
also of the more specific concepts of a heaven and a hell as abodes after death.

Shinto Worship

The Shrine. The Shrine is the place of worship in Shinto. Most shrines are
dedicated to deities, but some are dedicated to historical figures such as Emperor
Meiji and General Nogi Maresuke. There are many types and kinds of shrines from
the Grand Shrine of Ise, to small obscure roadside oratories unattended by a
priest. Most of the special national shrines enshrine the spirits of persons who
made important contributions to the nation. There are two main units of a shrine:
an inner sanctuary, and an oratory. A shrine dedicated to mountain or forest
deities does not have an inner sanctuary. Larger shrines have additional buildings,
such as a hall of reciting prayers (norito-den), a hall of offerings (hei-den) and a
hall of liturgical dance prayers (kagura-den).
Shinto

The entrance of the shrine is marked by a torii, a simple gate marking off
the sacred compound. The torii is a distinctive symbol of the Shinto religion.

Shinto Priests. The Shinto priests are so by heredity, but anyone with
proper training can become a priest. The main training center is Kokugakuin
University in Tokyo .
They are supported by income from their shrines and other offerings from the
laity. The priests have no pastoral relations with the parishioners, their main duty
being to serve the deities and offer prayers. They lead official services on
important religious days. They do not preach at regular services each week. They
are responsible for protecting the sacred objects in the shrines. Frequently they
have another occupation besides the priesthood.

The worshippers. Since the recent war there have been dramatic changes in
Japanese life and manners. It is impossible to predict how the ancient ceremonies
of Shinto will be continued in the years ahead. The peace treaty signed between
Japan and the United States and the withdrawal of occupation forces may lead to
a re-emphasis on native Japanese culture. Or it may not. The emperor, by his own
decree, has stated that he is no longer to be regarded as divinely descended from
the sun-goddess. Yet the habits and feelings of loyal Japanese subjects may have
been barely affected by his statement. The Japanese continue to go to the shrines
of their different gods and goddesses, to pray for good crops or food or national
prosperity. They wash their hands and rinse their mouths at an ablution basin.
Then they approach the oratory, bowing reverently to the inner sanctuary and
clapping their hands to show respect, as Oriental people often do. Then they give
an offering of money or rice, take off their shoes, and enter the prayer hall.

On special occasions the priest may be asked to do a simple rite of

purification (harai) in which a branch of the sacred tree (Cleyera japonica, an
evergreen of the tea family) is waved three times before the worshipper, after
which he makes offerings and secure charms at the shrine office.
Shinto

Shintoists use not images of their gods, but symbols of them. On their god
shelves are tablets or slips of paper on which are written the names of the gods
they wish to honor. A light burns there, and the family places flowers and a bit of
wine or rice cake there daily, if possible. Loyal Shintoists try to hold brief prayer
ceremonies before the god shelf each day.

Statistics
According to the 1974 Britannica Book of the Year, the estimated members
of Shintoism in the world is 63,150,000.
 Chapter VII

TAOISM

Introduction

Taoism (pronounced dhowism) is the popular religion of the Chinese

people. It was originally a system of philosophy, the greatest exponent and
founder of which according to legend, was a Chinese savant named Lao Tsu (Lao
Tze), "the Old Master". Considered the chief rival to Confucianism in influencing
Chinese way of life and thinking, it is estimated that one out of ten persons in
China professes the faith.

History

The beginning of Taoism as a philosophical system is difficult to trace.

Whether Lao Tzu b. 604 B.6.), founded the movement is disputed. Nevertheless,
Tao Teh Ching (The Way and Its Power), a book attributed to him has become the
basic document of Taoist philosophy and religion, and the philosophical
movement is said to have begun with it. The philosophy of the movement
emphasized spontaneity, naturalness, and individualism. It urged the
performance of all things according to Tao, the natural way, and the acceptance
of all things in their natural state. It preached frugality, simplicity, serenity and
enlightenment. These were all dedicated to the search for "long life and lasting
vision," for "companionship with nature, and for peace of mind." The movement
opposed the educational system of Confucianists, and advocated the theory that
the people should be kept in innocence (not in ignorance). Passion, unnecessary
invention, all forms of bondage, war, taxation, and militarism were opposed. It
preached that the ideal life is based on knowledge of nature.
Taoism

In the course of history, the purity of Taoism was polluted with

superstition. It gradually changed from a philosophical movement into a religious
movement searching for immortality, inward power and superhuman ability
through divination and magic. The original knowledge of nature taught by Lao Tzu
was perverted into magical attempts to gain power over nature. The decline of
the movement occurred when Buddhism reached China. Taoism absorbed beliefs,
ceremonies, forms, and the idea of temples for worship by the first century B.C.
this religious movement had become organized called Huang Lao, or the Yellow
Emperor and Lao Tsu, vigorously promoted by priest-magicians (fang shih) and
enjoyed Imperial patronage.

As the fang shih movement continued to earn followers, both religious and
political reformers desired to incorporate it into their own schemes. In this, Chang
Tao-Ling (b. A. D. 34), the historical founder of the Taoist religion, was most
successful. He made use of Lao Tzu not only because the Huang Lao was powerful
but also because in Lao Tzu's Tao Teh Ching are found enough vague phrases such
as "the spirit of the Valley", "long life", "equality of things and opinions", the one,
etc., which could be so interpreted as to give his movement a mysterious and
magic character. By his Taoistic healing and writing, he attracted many followers
to the Dragon and Tiger Mountain where he lived. His followers were required to
give five bushels of rice each, thus his movement was called "the Way (Tao) of
five Bushels of Rice" and "Rice Bandits," Called the Heavenly Teacher, the religion
he organized was named the "Way of the Heavenly Teacher." He was said to have
compounded and swallowed the elixir of life and bequeathed his secrets to his
descendants thus establishing a hereditary Taoist papacy. It was believed that the
soul of each Pope is supposed to pass by transmission into the body of his
successor. The hereditary title of the Heavenly Teacher (the Pope of Taoism) was
held by Chang Tao-Ling's descendants who continued to spread his religion and
won Imperial favor. During the Tang Dynasty Taoism enjoyed state patronage.
Taoism

Lao Tzu was honored by Imperial order as the Most High Emperor of Mystic Origin
ranking him above Confucius and the Buddha, Taoist temples were ordered
established throughout the empire. In the following dynasties however, although
Taoism always enjoyed Imperial respect, it never again existed as a state cult, but
as a religion of the mass, especially the illiterate and the superstitious, Present-
day Taoism consists of polytheism, magic, astrology and animism. It has been
marked by a proliferation of sects and societies. At present, however, only two
sects are existent.
1. Cheng I Chiao (the True Unity Sect). Founded by Chang Ling, it
emphasized man's nature which is his real self or spirit, and relies on charm and
magic formulae to preserve man's original nature. It is the "self-power" sect of
Taoism.
2. Ch'uan Chen Chiao (the Preserve-Purity Sect). It is traced to Lu Tsu but as
actually founded by Wangche. The "other-power" sect of Taoism, it stresses
man's life which is man's vital force, and depends on medicine and diet to prolong
life.

Lao Tzu. The reputed founder of Taoism is commonly said to have been
born in 604 B.C. in the province of Honan, China. Since early times, however,
there has been confusion about his historical identity and whether there ever was
such a person. Tradition says that he was born as Li Erh, lived as a recluse and
served as custodian of documents in the Chou court, whom Confucius vent to
consult on rituals. When he retired in his old age, he become disgusted with the
society of his day and decided to travel westward and was never heard from
again.

Legend says that as he was about to pass out of Honan the gatekeeper is
reported to have asked him to write down his philosophy. This he did and wrote
his teachings in a book called Tao Teh Ching. Then he continued his journey into
the wilds of Asia.

As the ancient priests-magicians movement became popular in the Chin

and Han dynasties (249 B.C. - 200 A.D.), Lao Tzu became a popular object of
worship.
Taoism

While this movement was incorporated into Chang Tao-Ling's "Way of Five
Bushels of Rice," in the first century A.D. he was considered the founder of the
religion which assumed the name Taoism. Later Taoist tradition made him the
historical member of the Taoist Triad or the Trinity of the Three Purities under the
name of Lord Lao. The Buddha was regarded as his incarnation. In 666 A.D. he
was honored by Imperial order as the Most High Emperor of Mystic Origin, Again
in 1013, he was honored as the Most High Lord, Today he is worshipped either as
a member of the Triad or separately. The other members of the Triad are the Jade
Emperor and Ling Pao, Marshal of the Supernatural Beings.

Doctrines and Practices of Taoism

A. Taoist Scripture. Tao Teh Ching, the book ascribed to Lao Tzu is a very
small one with only 5000 characters. It consists of eighty-one short poems on the
meaning of Tao. It contains no names of persons or places. Its language and
apparent meaning are simple but on closer inspection are seen to be not only
profound but capable of being interpreted differently.

B. Beliefs. The objective of Taoist worship is twofold, to seek blessings and

immortality. To this end, Taoism has developed the most elaborate system of
alchemy in the world. By means of alchemy, Taoists hope to realize the Three
Original Principles of Taoism, namely, Essence, Vital Force, and Spirit.

Taoism as a Philosophy

1. The Cosmos. The term Tao originally meant the revolution or the way of
the heavens about the earth. This movement of the heavens was regarded as the
cause of the phenomena on earth. The Tao was located about the celestial pole,
which was considered to be the seat of power because all revolves about it.
Taoism

In the course of time the Tao was viewed as the universal cosmic energy behind
the visible order of nature. The Tao produced the yin and the yang, the negative
and the positive, female and male principles of nature. These by their interaction
brought forth heaven and earth, Heaven and earth gave birth to all beings. The
human order is the product of the eternal energy.

2. Deity. Taoism contains no concept of deity in the sense of a creator or

personal god. The universe exists naturally, by its own reflection of Tao. There is
no god to pray since prayer cannot be answered by Tao. The universe in its cosmic
actions follows Tao, and the world should do so too.

3. Man. Man existed through the interaction of the yang and yin and as
such it is also an expression of the Tao. Man is a natural phenomenon that must
find its place in the rhythmic order of nature. Man is not unlike animals, trees,
and other things, since they, too, are expressions of this natural way or Tao, were
one to ask why it is that tigers kill and man thinks, the answer is that each is
following his Tao: for one is to kill; for the other, to think.

4. Man's Plight. If man is but an expression of the Tao, why then is there
evil in the world, why famine, misery, greed, disease, war etc.? Such undesirable
things are caused by failure to know and to follow Tao. More than this, they are
caused by active opposition to Tao, by flaunting the natural way and by senseless
attempts to improve upon nature.

5. Salvation in Taoism man must only follow Tao to be saved. Man must
learn its way and seek to conform to it. Cease trying to remake nature and society
into a humanly conceived utopia for this will cause strife and trouble. Follow the
non-doing. For non-doing is like water which drops on a stone. The water follows
its Tao, seeking its level, yet it wears a way the hardest stone. Animals live by Tao;
they do not fight wars, make slaves of other animals, or torture their enemies.
Only man builds economic and political systems and sets rules for society.
Taoism

Because of such artificial systems there are greedy men, criminals and tyrants.
Accordingly, the Taoists condemn the Confucianists for teaching propriety, or
social morality, and urge men instead to go "back to nature."

6. Conduct. If ethics is taken to mean a system of rules Taoism is opposed

to morality. It believes that if all men were to follow Tao and to refuse to try to
improve upon the natural way with man-made laws, all would be well. There
would be no theft if possessions were not valued; no adultery, if there were no
laws of marriage. A "man of Tao" is gentle, greedless, humble, simple in his needs,
unambitious. He knows the way of heaven and follows it. Thus he is "moral"
without needing laws, and virtuous without having any rules of virtue.

7. Destiny. Since man is an aspect of Tao, death is but another incident. In

original Taoism there is no positive view of life after death, but only the idea that
man dies because he will be changed into a new aspect, as a leaf crops from a
tree to become leaf mold.

Taoism As A Religion

1. Deity. Taoism has one of the most thickly populated pantheons in the
world. Aside from creating many deities of its own, such as the Jade Emperor, the
Three Rulers, the Three Pure Ones, the many immortals, the 28 stars, it has
adopted most of the original deities, and even some Buddhist gods. It worships
the spirits of inanimate and animate objects as well as ancestors and renowned
historical persons. To these it has added ten great "Heavenly Grottoes," 36
subsidiary "Heavenly Grottoes," and 72 "Blessed Places" where Taoist True Men
and immortals rule and expect people to seek the Way (Tao). Imitating the
Buddhists, the Taoists have their own 33 heavens which they have increased to
81.
Taoism

2. Conduct. Although Taoism concerns itself a great deal with spirits and
immortals of the other world, it is its ethical teaching that has kept it alive. To
most followers, the religion is essentially a sanction of ethics. In addition to the
Five Precepts (not to kill, not to drink alcohol, not to lie, not to steal, and not to
commit adultery) borrowed from Buddhism, Taoism advocates Ten Virtues,
namely, filial piety, loyalty to the emperor and teacher, kindness towards all
creatures, patience, remonstration of evil deeds, self-sacrifice to help the poor,
setting living creatures free and planting trees, digging wells and building roads,
teaching the unenlightened and promoting welfare, and studying the holy
writings and offering to the gods.

Organization

In organization, the Taoist religion is a wholesale imitation of Buddhism. Its

system of clergy is similar to that of the Buddhists in elections classification
ordination and transmission. The priests called Tao shih, are of two types. There
are the "home Tao shihs" who stay with their family, either wearing the Taoist
robe or not, and there are the regular Tao shihs who renounced their homes,
adopt vegetarianism, and live in monasteries. Both are required to fast on
occasions, to recite the holy writings and to perform in ceremonies. Taoist priests
are considered brewers of love potion, elixirs of immortality and other magic
drinks. A woman desiring to have a child would consult him, and a dutiful son
seeking to protect his deceased father from evil spirits would seek an amulet or
incantation from him.

Worship

Modern Taoism is a polytheistic religion of mysticism and supernatural

belief. Much of its outer form of worship, including its gods and idols, has been
borrowed from Buddhism.
Taoism

Greatly influencing Taoism, Buddhism provided the model for Taoist Worship in
temples.

Statistics

According to the 1974 Britannica Book of the Year, 1972 estimated world
membership of the Taoist religion was 31,367,700.
 Chapter VIII

CONFUCIANISM

Introduction

Confucianism traces its origins to the life and teachings of one man,
Confucius. This religion is called in Chinese Ju Chia (the School of the Learned) and
Ju Chiao (the Teaching of the Learned). However, many people hold that
Confucianism is not a religion having no clergy, church, sacred scripture, or creed.
Indeed, if religion is interpreted as an organized system, Confucianism, in the true
sense, is not a religion. Nevertheless, the worship of Heaven and ancestors has
been so strongly promoted by Confucianists. In their philosophy of human nature,
their general conclusion is that, endowed by Heaven, human nature is good. They
believe that Heaven's outstanding quality is jen or love, as evidenced by the
unceasing production of things. To them Heaven is the highest spiritual reality --
superhuman, the source of truth and goodness, completely overwhelming and
mysterious.
By virtue of this attitude towards Heaven, ancestors, human nature, the
universe and destiny Confucianism, while not a religion in the strict sense, is
religious. This religious character is not found in any fanaticism, external
observance formal organization, or irrational beliefs.

History

Advocated by Confucius in the Sixth Century B.C., Confucianism have been

an important movement that has dominated every aspect of Chinese culture and
thought for 2,500 years, and those of Korea and Japan for almost as long. Just as
Taoism evolved from a school of thought into a cult, so, in time it did acquire the
aspects of a religious cult.
Confucianism

Under successive dynasties state worship was accorded to Confucius - not as a

god, but as a sage and as an ideal. The first sign that he had become an object of
veneration came in 195 B.C. when the emperor Kao Tsu, founder of the Han
Dynasty visited his tomb and offered sacrifices. In 136 B.C., the Emperor Wu made
Confucianism the basic discipline for the training of government officials.
From that time onward emperor after emperor sought to outdo his
predecessors in honoring Confucius' name. In 59 A. D. sacrifices were ordered for
him in all urban schools, During the Seventh and Eight centuries temples were
erected in every prefecture of the empire as shrines to him and his principal
disciples. Twice a year the emperor would visit the great temple in Peking and
after kowtowing would apostrophize the sage.
As the centuries passed, posthumous titles were heaped on Confucius. He
was named Progressively Prince, Venerable Sage of Former Times and Sacred
Teacher of Antiquity. He was raised to the rank of the gods and awarded the same
sacrifices as the sun and the moon. Finally, in 1906, the last Manchu emperor
elevated him to a position on a par with Heaven and Earth, the highest objects of
worship. Although the cult of Confucianism languished after the empire, the
Nationalist government in 1934 proclaimed Confucius' birthday a holiday -- on
occasion still observed today by free Chinese in Formosa and others who venerate
the sage. The national holiday of Confucius' birthday was abolished when the
Communists gained control of China in 1949. During that time Confucianism faced
an uncertain future. Old traditions, of which Confucianism formed a substantial
part, were cast aside; the Communists do not look to past sages for sanction, they
have not felt the need for a mandate from Heaven. The family system, the central
Confucian institution, has been minimized. Nevertheless, the Confucian temple in
his native place has been well kept Confucian classics and commentaries have
been published, and Communists leaders have said that they should learn from
Confucius as they should learn from other great men and that they should absorb
the "democrat elements" of Chinese civilization, which means largely Confucian
civilization, regardless of what the Communist government may do, Confucianism
has shown its strength to weather all kinds of storms.
Confucianism

It has survived both benevolent and ruthless regimes in China. In the west more
and more study is devoted to Confucianism. Confucianism is changing, but it is
reasonable to believe that it will remain essentially Confucian.

Confucius. Confucius was born in the province of Lu, in the present

Shantung, in the year 551 B.C. His surname was Kung, his personal name (used by
superiors) was Chiu, and his courtesy name (used by inferiors) was Jung-ni. To his
surname there was appended a courtesy title, dz (equivalent to "sir"), or fu-dz
(honored sir). The English word "Confucius" was Latinized from "Kung-fu-dz".

His father was a magistrate at a city in Lu and his mother was a peasant.
When he was three years old, his father died and so was raised up by his mother
in great poverty. His mother carefully cherished his love of learning, but
information about his early education is scanty. At nineteen he married and the
following year he became a keeper of a granary, then cattle and sheep, and later
became a laborer in different branches of government work. He instituted
reforms which impressed his sovereign. Induced by the disregard for law
countrymen to examine more closely the ancient writings, he began to gather
pupils. Although only twenty-two, his reputation attracted many young men to
his house. The death of his mother when he was twenty-four afforded him
opportunity to offer a tribute to her memory and to revive an old custom of
retiring from office in order to mourn three years. His example has been followed
to the present day. The next ten years of his life was devoted to further study and
instruction of his disciples, all the while rising in influence as a public teacher and
learned man, qualified to rule and advise in affairs of the state. At about the age
of fifty he was appointed magistrate of the town of Chung-tu. The influence of his
virtue and the wisdom of his administration made a speedy change in the state of
the place. The next year he was promoted to be minister of crime, in which
position he introduced many reforms to simplify and enforce the administration
of justice.
Confucianism

Neighboring lords became envious and successfully induced the ruler of Lu to

remove the sage from office. During the next thirteen years he travelled from
state to state, offering his service to the rulers, he was politely consulted by them,
but no one would put his doctrines into practice, Confucius was searching for
honest men and for rulers who wished good government. He was never offered a
position which he considered worthy of him, and met with resistance and apathy.
Eventually, he returned to his home province to study, teach, and write. He
taught culture, human conduct, being one's true self and honesty in social
relationships. He became the first Chinese educator to offer education to any who
cored to come, with or without tuition.

The last decade of his life as spent on two important projects: the selection,
editing, and use in his teaching of those ancient writings which he felt contained
the true way of life for man and society and the development of a system of
instruction which led to the establishment of the permanent school which
survived him. At the age of 72 he died in his hometown. His wife are only son,
Kung Li, had died before him; but he was honored and mourned by many of his
faithful disciples. At his death, Confucius is reported to have expressed the belief
that the world had ignored his efforts to reform society and to establish it upon
sound principles. But history has proved otherwise.

Doctrines and Practices

A. The Confucian Scriptures, The Confucian scriptures has two main divisions: the
Five Classics (Wu Ching) and the Four Books (Ssu Shu).
a) The Five Classics (Wu Ching). This includes four early writings edited by
Confucius and one ascribed to him. The word Ching (pronounced jing) or classic
means "regular" or "canonical."
1. The Shu Ching (Book of History) contains ancient chronicles, court
records, and traditions from the second millennium B. C.
Confucianism

2. The I Ching (Book of Changes) consists of a series of diagrams based on

whole and broken lines, with commentary, not unlike, in intention, a modern
horoscope.
3. The Shih Ching (Book of Poetry) consists of over three hundred cultic
rites and secular songs and Odes. It affords some insight into early Chinese
religion.
4. The Li-Chi (Book of Rites) contains cultic rites and court ceremonies,
5. The Ch'un Ch'iu (Spring and Autumn Annals) is supposed to have been
written by Confucius himself, although this can scantily be proved. The book is a
chronicle of events in the province of Lu from 722 to 481 B.C., during the time of
the Chou dynasty.

NOTE: The Hsiao Ching (book of Filial Piety), a sixth classic, is sometimes
included in this list. In the Confucian system of education, this short essay on the
values of filial piety was the first work to be memorized by students.

b). The Four Books (Ssu Shu) is about Confucius and his writings written by
later Confucian scholars.

1. The Lun-Yu or Analects (Discourses of Confucius) consists of twenty

books or chapters, mostly relating short anecdotes about Confucius. These are
composed of questions asked by disciples and other persons, and his replies, as
well as of stories telling how he acted in different situations. It is a prime source
for his life and teachings.
2. The Ta Hsueh (Great Learning) is attributed to a grandson of Confucius,
Tzu Szu, and is a work on ethics and politics, expending a chapter of the classic,
the Li-Chi.
Confucianism

3. The Chung Yung (Central Harmony) likewise is ascribed to Tzu Szu, and
deals with the basis of moral law.
4. The Meng Tze (Book of Mencius) is by the orthodox interpreter of
Confucian thought who lived from 372-289 B.C. His writings include extensive
traditions about Confucius and a clear elaboration of much of the latter's thought,
especially on the theme of human nature.

B. Confucian Principles.
Before we study the beliefs and practices of Confucianism, it is important to
consider and analyze several basic concept of this religion.
Filial Piety. The belief in a hierarchy of all relationships is basic to Chinese
thought. The son is inferior to his father and owes hsiao, respect and obedience,
to him. So, too, the wife is inferior to her husband and owes him corresponding
hsiao, the younger brother, servant, and citizen owe hsiao to elder brothers,
master, and emperor.
Shu. Obedience by the inferior to his superior (hsiao) is matched by a
reciprocal response called shu from the superior. The father, husband, older
brother, master, and emperor properly reciprocate with condescension and with
justice to those beneath them in position. Shu is the basis of Confucius’ maxim:
"What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others”.
Jen (pronounced run) has been translated as "benevolent love" and is the
sum of virtues possible only for the mature and superior man; the boy or the
inferior man is capable only of hsiao.
I (pronounced ǝe) is an ethical equivalent to duty; it describes the right
behavior of a decent member of society.
Chih (pronounced gee), means knowledge, wisdom, the insight or
experience of the mature man.
Confucianism

Hsin (shin) means truth, sincerity; its stress on integrity redeems

Confucianism from the charge of exaggerated formalism.

Li means politeness, propriety, has the outward aspect of face saving, and
of always acting like a true gentleman. It also, however, has to do with that force
of inner character which includes the whole man.
The Chun Tze (pronounced jewin dzu) To Confucius the term means "sons
of the princes," or nobility. He taught that the true gentleman or nobleman was
such because of his character. Believing that endowed by heaven, all men are
born good, Confucius tried to create true nobility by proper education and by the
inculcation, in their minds of all the virtues.
The four classes. In the Confucian hierarchy there are four social classes.
The lowest social rank is that of the merchant, who trades what others produce.
Next is the artisan, who makes things out of what the former grows. Higher still
comes the famer, who produces the necessities of physical life. And highest is the
scholar, who alone can become the chun tze. Considered a social outcast, is the
soldier for he destroys what others produce. Nevertheless anyone can become a
scholar and rise in social rank. To this day, the scholar stands first in the Confucian
hierarchy.

C. Doctrines of Confucianism.
1. The Cosmos. Confucius referred to himself as a transmitter of the best of
the past; he denied being an innovator. He held the traditional belief that the
universe is made up of heaven, the earth, and "the ten thousand things," i.e., the
world of men, animals, and plants. The overarching sky represented the way of
heaven," and was good and natural.
2. Deity. Confucius held a more personal conception of the way of nature
(Tao) than that taught by Taoism. Two terms for a sort of natural deity appear in
the Analects.
Confucianism

One is the term Sheng Shang-Ti which means something like "exalted ancestor"
and might refer to a sky-god of ancient origin. The other term is T'ien, which
means sky, or heaven. Confucius said that heaven supported his work and that it
was necessary for the chun tze to know the ways of heaven. He also believed in
prayer to heaven.

3. Man. Man must realize his natural goodness endowed by heaven. This
requires education and inculcation of the virtues. The hope of developing the
chun tze in an ideal society discloses the humanistic character of Confucian
thought. Yet a class society is assumed; man is superior to woman, and the virtues
of hsiao and shu assure the superior-inferior relationships of feudalism.

4. Man's Plight. Confucius believed that he lived in a day when the ancient
ways were ignored; proper relationships between classes and the sexes were
upset; and heaven, earth, and the ways of men were out of harmony. Such a state
was caused by men's failure to follow the proper way of the ancients; because of
this failure disasters - war famine, and human degradation -- threatened to
destroy culture and society.

5. Salvation. The answer to man's need was simple: return to the way of the
ancestors. Man must study the ancient writings in order to understand the
ancient way of virtue. Instead of thinking that nobility is a matter of birth, realize
that it is a moral achievement, open to all, though attained by few. For Confucius,
the golden age lay in the past and his concern was to recreate it.

6. Conduct. The right way to act is to follow the way of the ancients. The
ideal of chun tze pertained to the man who always knew what was right and
followed his knowledge, The ideal is based however, upon the assumption that
the “five relationships," with their accompanying virtues of hsiao and shu, are
true teachings and should be followed. It was held that injury is to be treated with
justice, as is proper in the ideal society, and kindness is to be repaid with
kindness. Li, or propriety is the guide to right conduct, and the action of a
gentleman is the norm.
Confucianism

7. Destiny. When Confucius was asked about death, he replied: "Why do

you ask me about death when you do not know how to live?" Here, as in relation
to the concept of deity, Confucius was on agnostic, Nevertheless, he did not
oppose the traditional view, and throughout its history, Confucianism has
stressed heavily the cult of ancestors, Accordingly, it is proper to revere the
memory of the ancestors and to think in terms of some sort of survival of a spirit
after death, In this connection, we find much emphasis upon the need to have
sons who will honor the father as an ancestor, so again, even in relation to
destiny, Confucius turned men's thoughts, not to the future, but to the past, to
the way of the ancestors.

D. Some Confucian Fractices.

1. Followers of Confucianism honor and serve their dead relatives. They
believe that the more elaborate the funeral ceremonies and the more frequent
the subsequent memorial rites, the better the prospect that the departed will
become a happy and friendly spirit. Confucius said, "to serve those now dead as if
they were living, is the highest achievement of true filial piety”. Thus, Chinese
have set aside a day honoring the dead which is called spring festival. During this
time Chinese flock to the cemetery, clean the graves of their ancestors repaint
headstones and weed plants. In the graveyard are offered food and money.
2. The Confucian ethics of filial piety has resulted in such practices as
parental choice of spouses for their children, parental decision in all family
matters, property-holding in the name of the father and ancestor worship.
3. Confucianism has promoted worship of heaven, commemoration of
great men.

Worship

Traditionally, the emperor, on behalf of the people, performed annual rites

at the altar of Heaven to give thanks and pray for a good year.
Confucianism

Ancestral rites have been regularly performed and Confucian doctrine dictates
that they are done seriously, not because ancestors will give rewards and
punishment but in order to continue the human relationship, which should not be
terminated with death. Temples were built for great men and seasonal rites
performed for them, not in the belief that they had become gods but as
expression of respect, Confucius is naturally the greatest of the great, and a
Confucian temple could be found in every prefecture. The great sacrifice is
offered him, and the titles of duke and king is conferred on him from time to time.

Statistics
According to the 1974 Britannica Book of the Year, the estimated
membership of Confucianism in the world was 275,898,865. (as of mid-year 1972)
 Chapter IX

ZOROASTRIANISM

Introduction

Zoroastrianism which is also called Mazdaism refers to the ancient religion

of Persia before Mohammedanism reached Iran. A highly ceremonial and ethical
religion, it upholds a standard, of moderation and kindliness to all. It calls upon
man to choose between good and evil, right and wrong, to affirm and improve the
world, not to deny and escape it.

History

Zoroastrianism evolved in the sixth century B.C. Its chief expounder was a
reformer of the old Iranian religion named Zarathustra, usually known under the
Greek form of his name, Zoroaster.
Zarathustra. Zarathustra was born in Eastern Persia (Iran). He appears to
have lived in the sixth or fifth centuries B.C. He was the son of a priest of a
pastoral tribe. As a boy he showed much concern for others and was deeply
interested in finding the truth of religion. At the age of thirty, or a little older, he
had a decisive religious experience in which he encountered the angel Vohu
Manah (literally ‘Good Thought'), an emissary from God, the angel transported
him in spiritual form to the great spirit Ahura Mazda, the "Wise Lord! - Henceforth
Zarathustra's name for God. This prophetic experience was followed by other
revelations in the next decade of Zarathustra's life. As a consequence, he felt
called to preach a purified faith against the existing polytheism.
Zoroastrianism

Zarathustra met opposition and, at first, encountered little success.

The Development of Zoroastrianism. Toward the end of Zoroaster's

prophetic ministry, Cyrus the Great created the Persian Empire by overthrowing
the Median rule of Astyages. Cyrus rapidly expanded his new kingdom and in 539
B.C. conquered Babylon. Under Cyrus, the Jews as well as other national groups
were allowed to return to their homeland and to re-establish their religion,
although under Persian political control. It is probable that during this period of
tolerance Judaism borrowed many theological concepts from Zoroastrian
thought.
In 525, Cyrus’ son, Cambyses, conquered Egypt; then, after a brief period of
confusion, Darius Hystaspis or Darius I, became the new Persian emperor. His long
rule (522-486) involved unsuccessful attempts to extend the empire into Europe;
he lost the battle of Marathon, 490 B.C. His successor, Xerses, suffered a decisive
naval defeat at Salamis. It has been suggested that had the Persian been
successful in their attempts to rule Europe, the West might have become
Zoroastrian rather than Christian. But this did not occur, and in 331 B.C. Alexander
the Great took over the Persian Empire. After the breakup of Alexander's empire,
the Parthians from Bactria ruled Persia until 212 A.D.
At this time, the new Persian Empire was founded by Artaxerxes, who
began the Bassanian line. During the Bassanian period, Zoroastrianism became
the state religion and experienced a genuine renascence. The Pahlavi texts, which
include much theological and metaphysical speculation, were composed at this
time. But in 637 A.D., the rapidly expanding Islamic movement reached Persia,
and Muslim rule proscribed Zoroastrianism. Since the Muslims regarded the
Zoroastrians as a "people of book," or believers in prophetic religion they were
treated with tolerance. The restrictions in the area of politics and economics
which were placed upon non-Muslims, however took their toll, and Persia soon
became dominantly Muslim.
In the eight century, a group of Zoroastrians fled to western India, where
they became known as Parsis, from the word for Persia.
Zoroastrianism

Through the centuries, they accommodated their practices to those of the Hindus
around them, but in the last century, there has been a revival of interest in their
religion. Under the influence of Western scholars, the Parsis reformed some of
their practices. One practice for which they are still famous is based on the early
Zoroastrian teaching of the sacredness of fire and earth, which led to the
prohibition of both cremation and burial of the dead. Instead, the Parsis place a
corpse on a platform in a hollow tower and wait for the vultures to clean the
bones, which are removed at intervals for special burying.
Today, the Parsis are concentrated around Bombay. They are a respected
and influential group whose numbers are increasing at the present time.

Doctrines and Practices

A. The Scriptures of Zoroastrianism. The sacred book of Zoroastrianism is the

Avesta. It consists four main divisions:
1. The Yasna, contains seventeen poems or hymns. It is a collection of
liturgical writings that includes the most important texts, the Gathas, The Gathas
are attributed to Zoroaster himself. They are sacrificial prayers preserved as part
of the Avesta.
2. The Visparad contains innovations of ‘all the Lord's’ for use at festivals.
3. The Yashts are a collection of hymns to various Gods.
4. The Vendedad contains prescriptions about purifications - a compendium
of Laws and mythology.

B. Doctrines of Zoroastrianism:
1. The Cosmos. Zoroaster's cosmos consisted of three levels: heaven, earth,
and an underworld which was created by the deity Ahura Mazdah and was under
his control.
Zoroastrianism

This world which he created is limited by tine and space.

2. Deity. Zoroastrians hold that the chief god is Ahura Mazda, the "Wise
Lord." He is the creator of the universe, god of light and truth, the final judge and
redeemer, Ahura Mazdah, (Ormazd in modern Persian) they say has a twin - -
Angra Mainyu, the Lord of Darkness and of Lies, the devil. These two gods are
involved in a cosmic battle to settle the issue between good and evil. Each of
them has a group of attendants akin to the angels and demons. Ahura Mazdah is
assigned six Amesha Spentas, the holy immortal ones. Originally the Amesha
Spentas were the representations of the most important attributes of thura
Mazdah. Later they were personified as angelic companions around his throne.
These are Vchu Mano, Good Mind; Asha, Righteousness; Kshathra, sovereignty;
Armaiti, Devotion; Hauvatat, Welfare; and Ameretat, Immortality. The evil
counterparts of the Amesha spentas are the da evas, labeled by Zoroaster as false
gods. One other important divine being in the Zoroastrian mythology is the
Shaoshyant, the figure of an expected savior. He is to come in judgment and to
inaugurate the kingdom of heaven, which represents the rule of Ahura Mazdah.

3. Man, Zoroastrians believe that man, created by Ormazd, has body and
soul or spirit. Being created by him he is responsible to his demand. In
Zoroastrianism, man has but one life in which to determine his destiny. This
doctrine stresses moral struggle, rather than the search for knowledge, as the
primary goal of man.

4. Man's Plight The present plight of man is caused by disobedience to the

will of Ahura Mazdah as proclaimed by his prophet and also caused by active
rebellion against the will of the god. Man is responsible for his disobedience and
therefore guilty of self-will.

5. Salvation, Salvation is obtained by obeying the will of Ahura Mazdah as it

was revealed and preached by his prophet. Zoroaster.

6. Conduct. The sanction or motivation for right conduct is the need to

please Ahura Mazdah; as well as the desire to be a soldier in his army fighting
against evil.
Zoroastrianism

The greatest virtue is truth. The other three cardinal virtues are good thoughts,
good works, and good deeds.
Zoroastrian ethics is focused or maintaining life and preserving purity; it
extols marriage and condemns asceticism and fasting as well as adultery and
fornication.
7. Destiny. What happens to man after his death is in the hands of his god.
A man chooses to serve or to disobey his god, but the final results of this choice
will not be realized after death, unless of course, one's god chooses to inaugurate
his kingdom now. The righteous Zoroastrian, therefore, will be rewarded with a
place in a heaven where he will be with Ahura Mazdah and will share in his
blessed existence. Those who have chosen to follow the path of Angra Mainyu
have been led a stray by lies and enticing promises, and after death will suffer
terrible torments in an underworld.
When the Shaoshyant comes to inaugurate the Kingdom of Righteousness
there will be a resurrection on a final judgment. At the end of a cosmic year,
lasting some twelve thousand earthly years, there is to be a general resurrection
of both the good and the bad and all will pass through a purging stream. To the
souls of the righteous it will be as warm milk, to the wicked like molten metal. All
sin will be burned away by the stream and all mankind will be forever with Ahura
Mazdah.

C. Practices:

1. At the age of ten each Zoroastrian receives 9 shirts and a girdle which he
is supposed to wear until death.
2. Method of disposing of the dead. Zoroastrians hold that fire and earth
are Sacred thus the prohibition of both cremation and burial of the dead. They
expose their dead to bird of prey in special enclosures known to outsiders as
Towers of Silence.
3. Prayer for the dead. Prayers and ceremonies with recitations, offerings of
flowers, etc., are done in honor of the dead, especially at New Year.
Zoroastrianism

Worship

The chief ritual of Zoroastrianism is the fire ceremony. The sacred fire is
maintained continuously in an inner chamber of the temple by priests who wear
special protective cloths over their mouths to prevent contamination of the pure
fire. Worshippers come to the threshold with their offerings, and receive in return
ashes from the sacred fire. In the course of the ceremony, all the Gathas are
recited. The Sacrifice is done for the good of persons dead or alive.
Ahuna Vairya is the most sacred prayer of the Zoroastrians which is
believed to contain the germ of their whole religion.
Every Parsee child is initiated at the age of seven, in a ceremony at which
he is invested with the sudreh and the kusti. Five times a day (at sunrise, midday,
in the afternoon, at dusk, and at midnight) a Parsee should recite set prayers in
Avestan Pahlavi and Gujarati. Moreover he should pray (and untie and retie his
kusti) on rising, when washing, eating and relieving himself, and in numerous
particular circumstances.

Statistics

According to the 1974 Britannica Book of the Year, the estimated

membership of Zoroastrian throughout the world is 181,050 (as of mid-year
1972).
 Chapter X

ISLAM

Introduction

Islam is the youngest of the world's major religions. It is an Arabic word

which means "surrender," that is "surrender and submission to the will of Allah".
Founded in Arabia by the Prophet Mohammed, the religion is sometimes
erroneously called "Mohammedanişm" with the mistaken implication that its
followers, the Moslems ("submitters"), worship Mohammed himself rather than
follow the religion he preached. To the Moslems, Mohammed is the greatest
prophet who ever lived, the last of the messengers sent by God. Considering their
religion as the fastest growing, Islam centers on the simplest, most
straightforward of creeds: There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his
prophet.

History

Founded in the seventh century, Islam began as a religious movement in

Arabia and quickly spread through the Middle East. It encompassed many diverse
peoples who came to call themselves Moslems, or believers, uniting them into a
vast monotheistic State. In less than ten years after Mohammed's death, by
conquest and conversion, Islam shook the foundations of Byzantium and Persia,
the two most powerful civilizations of the era. In less than a century it reached
parts of Asia, Africa and Europe, controlling an area larger than that of the Roman
Empire at its peak. Consequently it was to make Arabi the common language of
some 90 million, to dictate a way of life for one out of every seven persons living
on earth, and to exert a powerful influence on the West.
Islam

Mohammed. Mohammed was born in the city of Mecca about 570 A.D.
Mecca during his birth was a prosperous city and a religious center to which the
pagan Arab tribes made pilgrimages to worship at the city's numerous shrines. Of
these the most revered was a rectangular edifice called the Kaaba containing
various idols. Mohammed's name in Arabic means "highly praised". In his youth
he had an ample opportunity to observe current religious practices, for the
Quraysh, the powerful tribe to which he belonged, were custodians of the Kaaba
and concessionaires to the pilgrims who came to visit the shrines. He early
developed distaste for idolatry and with it a growing respect for Jewish and
Christian monotheism. Mohammed never knew his merchant father, named
Abdullah who had been a member of the reputable and dominant Quraysh tribe.
After Mohammed's mother died when he was six his grandfather cared for him
briefly for the old man soon died after. Then his paternal uncle, Abu Talib,
became his adoptive father, and it was he who reared the boy to manhood. As a
young man with no fortune of his own he did various odd jobs for a living. Then
he went to work as an agent for a woman named Khadija, a widow with
considerable business interests. On her behalf he traveled with caravans as far as
Syria which was then a part of the powerful Christian Byzantine empire and he
must have come in contact with many Christians there, then he was twenty five
he married Khadija who bore him three sons, all of whom died in childhood, and
of four daughters only one, Fatima, survived him and bore him descendants. For
the remaining twenty five years of Khadija's life Mohammed remained faithful to
her.
In the year 610 A.D., when Mohammed was 40 years old, he began to have
a series of disturbing visions; his marriage relieved him of most of his financial
cares and gave him considerable time to himself. Often he would escape the
bustle of the city by retiring to a cove on the near-by mountain of Hira to
meditate; sometimes he went alone, sometimes with his family. Here certain
spiritual insights came to him.
Islam

One eventful day when he had gone to Hira with his family and was asleep in the
cave the angel Gabriel, according to tradition, appeared to him. “Mohammed,
read," the angel commanded:
"Read in the name of thy Lord who created
Who creates man of blood coagulated.
Read! Thy Lord is the most beneficent,
Who taught by the pen,
Taught that which they knew not unto men".

Mohammed told Khadija what had happened who immediately went to a

hanif or holy man and unhesitatingly pronounced his verdict: Mohammed had
been visited by the same heavenly inspiration that had descended to Moses, and
he was to be the prophet of his people. Mohammed, however, did not assume
this role at once. For a long time he received no further messages from God, and
he suffered fears and self-doubt. He then had a second revelation ordering him to
begin his work, to "rise and worn" the people, Mohammed actually started
preaching publicly in Mecca in 613 A.D. He taught that Allah was not one god
among many but the solitary and eternal sovereign of the universe and that men
must thank him for their existence and worship only Him. He preached that all
believers were equal before God, and that the rich must share their wealth with
the poor. At the same time he warned that men's destiny was in God's hands:
there would be a Day of Judgment for all men. However, most of the aristocratic
Quraysh not only refused to accept him as a prophet but greeted him with fierce
opposition. They saw a threat to their whole privileged way of life from a faith
that made piety rather than position the measure of human worth. They also
feared that if Mohammed won large number of followers, he could eventually
convert his religious power into vast political power and dominate the city. And
finally, they saw Mohammed's attack on their pagan gods leading to a loss of
profitable trade for the Quraysh merchants sell ritual robes, "sacred" food and
water to pilgrims who came all over Arabia to worship at the Kaaba, Mecca's
holiest pagan shrine. They ridiculed him, calling him a liar and a "poet" saying that
his revelations were the products of his own imagination.
Islam

They even subjected some Moslems to stoning and beatings. Fortunately, both
Khadijah, and Mohammed's uncle Abu Talib, had prestige and influence and were
able to protect him against attack. After a time opposition become so severe that
he advised a group of his followers to flee to Abyssinia and established a
community there. Meanwhile, Mohammed and his followers in Mecca were being
subjected to even more severe attacks. At about, this time his wife died, then his
uncle who through him Mohammed enjoyed clan protection. In September 622
A.D., Mohammed warned of a plot against his life, obeyed a vision telling him to
leave Mecca for Yathrib, a nearby city. This momentous Hegira, or migration,
marks the start of the Moslem era, for with it Islam grew to political power. And
Yathrib was renamed Medina, "the City of the Prophet".

In Medina, Mohammed became both the religious and political leader.

With the rapid expansion of the community, however, economic needs especially
food, soon became pressing. Emboldened Moslems began raiding Meccan trade
caravans to retaliate for the city's opposition to the Prophet's mission. In March
624, Mohamed himself led some 300 of the faithful against a larger force sent by
Mecca to punish the raiders. He won, and believers took this triumph as divine
espousal of their cause. In 628 Mohammed set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca with
1,400 of his followers. The Meccans, hearing about this force, sent out 200
horsemen to stop it. Fighting threatened, but the two sides agreed upon a treaty
that provided for a ten-year truce, and for the Moslems to return to Medina on
the condition that they could come back to Mecca on pilgrimage the following
year. Both sides saved face, but Mohammed had won a victory by establishing
himself as the equal of the Quraysh, as a result of having entered into treaty with
them. Also, by having set out upon a pilgrimage -- an old pagan custom -- he had
shown Arabs that Islam was a religion with an Arabian character.
Islam

The following year Mohammed led 2,000 Moslems on the promised

pilgrimage to the Kaaba. But subsequent clashes between Moslems and Meccans
ended the truce. And in 630 A.D., Mohammed marched on Mecca to settle the
issue with a force of 10,000 men. Meccans offered only token resistance.
Mohamed rode triumphantly into his native city, exclaiming, "Truth has come and
falsehood has vanished", and set about the destruction of the pagan idols that
filled the holy place. Later a tradition was established forbidding anyone but
Moslems to enter the city. The purified Kaaba in Mecca was now the spiritual
Centre of Islam, just as Medina was its political capital.

By the time of his death, Mohammed had received pledges of loyalty from
all over Arabia and his movement was rapidly expanding. In 732 he died of a fever
brought on by old war wounds. Abu Bekr, the Prophet's dearest friend and closest
adviser was chosen the first Caliph ("successor"). Under him the religion
continued its amazing expansion.

The Development of Islam. One year after Mohamed's death the forces of
Islam burst out of the Arabian Peninsula into the world in the seventh century and
spread north, west, and east. Under the generalship of the first three caliphs, Abu
Bekr, Omar and Othman, it took less than two decades to invest the richest
principalities of the Near East. Syria fell in 635, Iraq in 640, Egypt in 642, and in
650, the entire Persian Empire. Because their armies advanced so rapidly, they did
not have time to convert nor govern their new territories in the beginning. They
found exacting tribute and granting tolerance to all who paid it already satisfying.
Yet a great number of their conquered subjects embraced the new faith.

The expansion movement of the Arabs carried them eastward to India,

westward to the Atlantic, and across the strait of Gibraltar into Spain, Portugal
and France. At last, in one of the decisive battles of history, they were halted by
the Franks at Tours. Yet their energies were not yet spent. The Ninth, Tenth and
Eleventh centuries were the golden age of Islam.
Islam

Awakened by exposure to the Greco-Roman, Byzantine and Persian heritage,

Islam evolved a brilliant culture of its own. Art, philosophy, poetry flourished in
Baghdad and other great cities of the Arab Empire; mathematics and medicine
advanced; Moslem architects created masterworks like the mosque of Cordova.
And the message of Islam continued to spread, carried by merchants and
wandering Sufis (mystics) across Asia to the Indonesian islands.

Nevertheless for all its tremendous victories, Islam since the start was
troubled by an internal discord. The first disputes had arisen over the question of
Mohammed's successor, and out of these early conflicts rifts evolved that last to
this day. In time, too, doctrinal differences gave rise to schismatic sects and
splinter groups. But in a way Islam stood outwardly intact. Today it looms, as it
has through the ages, a religious monolith astride the middle latitudes of three
continents. Though it’s once great empire has been dismembered by the surgery
of modern nationalism and debilitated by economic adversity, Islam remains
welded together by the binding force of the faith, From Morocco to the Malaca
strait, Moslems profess the same beliefs, utter the same prayers, and turn their
eyes toward the same holy city. It is these things that still render Islam, for its
diverse millions, the kingdom of God on earth.

Islam Sects. Over the centuries, power and theological struggles spawned
division of Islam. The three most important Islam sects -- Sunnis, Shiahs and
Khoriji - originated in disputes over the office of the caliph (khalifa), the head of
the Moslem community as successor of Mohammed.

1. Sunnis (from Sunnah, meaning "custom and law"). The largest numbers
of Moslems belong to the orthodox or conservative group called the Sunnis. They
hold that the caliphate is an elective office and must be occupied by a member of
the Meccan tribe of the Quraysh. Sunnis derived their name from the Sunnah, a
collection of the tradition of Mohammed's followers which is embodied in the
Hadith (Traditions). For them the Koran and the Sunnah are the sources of Islam's
doctrine and practice. The Koran reveals the word of Allah.
Islam

The Sunnah tells of actions and sayings of Mohammed and of early customs of
Moslems.

2. Shiah (from shi’ah, "the partisans of Ali"). About fifty million Muslims,
mostly in Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Algeria, northern India, and Pakistan, belong to the
non-conforming unorthodox group called the Shiahs. The Shiahs regard Ali, the
cousin and son-in-law of Mohamed, and his descendants as the only rightful
caliphs, for them the caliphate was a God-given office and not one to be given by
human appointment. They believe that Mohammed left the guidance of the
faithful in the care of Ali. Therefore, Ali, they say was the divinely appointed
leader, the Imam of the Muslim community. Shiahs believe that the three caliph’s
proceeding Ali held the caliphate unlawfully and in disregard for the Prophet's
wishes. For this reason, most Shiahs curse these men in their daily prayers.

The Shiahs reject all the Sunna books of Hadith or tradition, but have
collections of traditions of their own and claim to follow the Sunnah, or way of
the prophet, even as the Sunnis do. To the creed “There is no god but Allah and
Mohammed is His Prophet," they add, "and Ali is the vice-regent of God."

3. Khariji. This sect like the other two originated in arguments over the
caliphate, The Kharijis believe that the office of the caliph is open to any pious
believer, even though he is a black slave. If he commits a major sin he must be
deposed. They hold that the commission of any major sin by a believer is
apostasy, and he must be ostracized or killed, unless he does a thorough
admission of guilt and public penance. The Kharijis consider themselves as the
only Moslems. They have their own legal system and collections of Hadith. They
are too puritanical and forbid music, luxury, celibacy, games, tobacco and anger.
Concubinage is allowed only with the consent of the wives. Intermarriage with
other Muslims is rare, and is heavily frowned upon.

4. Ahmadiyya, One of the most important sectarian developments is the

Ahmadiyya, Founded by a reformer named Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in 1879, the
Ahmadiyya viovecent evolved in Punjab, India.
Islam

Ahmad claimed that he was the bearer of a new revelation, a new interpretation
of Island for the modern era, and that his coming was prophesied both in the
Bible and the Koran, He also claimed to be not only the promised Mahdi, a
Moslem version of the Messiah, but also the promised messiah. He proved this by
citing likeness of his own character and personality to that of Jesus his gentleness
of spirit, the peaceful character of his teaching, his miracles and the
appropriateness of his teaching to the need of his age. Islam he said was to be
propagated by precept, not by holy war, by missionaries, not by the sword. A few
years after his death in 1908, his followers split into two groups: the original
Kadianis, with headquarters at Kadian, who supported Ahmad's claim to be a
prophet, and the seceders, with headquarters at Lahore who discarded this idea
and formed a society for the propagation of Islam. At present both groups have
mission works around the world.

Doctrines and Practices

A. The Scriptures of Islam. To Moslems, the Koran is the word of God. A

book of about the same length as the New Testament containing 78,000 words, it
is one of the most remarkable scriptures in history which has moulded the lives of
millions of people and given birth to a powerful and enduring religion known as
Islam. Unlike the holy books of the Jews and Christians, which are collections of
religious narratives, laws, poems, proverbs, prophecies and prayers, dating from
various periods and written by different men, every word in the Koran was
delivered to the world through the lips of a single man, the Prophet Mohammed,
over a 22-year period in the early seventh century.

The Koran is composed of 114 suras or chapters which have been arranged
approximately by length, the longer suras coming first and the shorter ones
toward the end. Most of the suras were written down during Mohammed's
lifetime while the rest were put together from memory after his death, The
contents are jumbled and, since the style is poetic, many allusions are obscure,
Moslems hold that the Koran is an exact copy of the original in heaven, thus no
translation can substitute for the original Arabic.
Islam

Although the Koran represents Allah's complete revelation to Mohammed,

many teachings, rulings, and sayings of the prophet also were preserved by the
Moslem community. Since Islam expanded rapidly, many situations arose for
which the Koran contained no explicit instructions. Traditions recounting the
prophet's deeds and sayings eventually were codified in the Hadith. The actual
text of a saying preserving a Hadith or tradition is called a Sunnah ("custom")
meaning that this was Mohammed sway (custom) of acting or thinking. Hence, his
sayings and customs served as a second basis, besides the Koran, of the belief and
practice of Islam.

B. The Message of Mohammed. The teachings of Mohammed have been

preserved with more accuracy than those of the founder of any other religion.
Although Moslem theology was developed to a high degree by the Doctors of the
Law, Ulama (learned ones), especially in the Near East, North Africa, and Southern
Europe, the basic beliefs and practices of orthodox Moslems throughout the
world of Islam, from Morocco to the Philippine Islands, are contained in the "Five
Doctrines" and the "Five Pillars of the Faith." These are all mentioned in the
Koran, although there is still change in detail, and more in interpretation, in letter
Islamic thought.
C. The Five Doctrines of Islam. There are five beliefs to which Moslems
must subscribe.

1. Belief in one true God, Allah. The name which is said to have been the
name of a god before the time of Mohammed is derived from the root ad’illah,
meaning, the god. To Moslems Allah have seven characteristics. He has absolute
unity, and is all-seeing, all-hearing, all-speaking, all-knowing, all-willing and all-
powerful. He is the Sole Creator, hence no sharers in his power and those who
associate other gods with Him are guilty of the supreme sin of shirk ("ascending
partners to god"). Moslems hold that true salvation lies in total submission to His
will as revealed in the Koran. It is only He who can save and destroy, thus
submission to Him is important being the author of all true Salvation.
2. Belief in the prophets and their preaching. In Islamic doctrine there are
twenty-eight prophets of Allah, including Mohammed.
Islam

Most of them are well-known biblical persons and include Adam, Noah, Abraham,
Moses, David, Jonah, Jesus and John. Each of these prophets had brought the
word of God in his own lifetime, but men kept straying from it, and a new prophet
had to be sent so that men could find again the path to salvation. Chosen by God
to deliver His words which would guide men henceforth until Judgment Day was
Mohammed, the last of the prophets.

3. Belief in Mohammed's revelations. To the Moslems, all the revelations

the Prophet received from God found in the Koran ore infallible. Some of the
most devout Moslems memorized the entire Koran and recite these revelations
which are a part of Islamic Worship.

4. Belief in angels. Primarily, these celestial attendants are conceived as

God's messengers, but they are also thought to perform other tasks, such as
supporting His throne, guarding the gates of Paradise and Hell and interceding
with God for men. Only two angels are mentioned by name in the Koran: Gabriel
who revealed to Mohammed that he had been called by Allah, and Michael who
executed Allah's commands for the universe, such as sending the winds and rains.

5. Belief in a final Judgment Day. Moslems believe that after death there
would be a Day of Judgment for all men. Those who opposed the teachings of
Mohammed and the will of God would go to Hell, while the blessed would go to
Paradise. Only Allah knew when the world will end, but the Koran warns that the
final day would be announced by a shattering trumpet blast, and the dead would
be summoned from their graves to be judged by their deeds on earth. Those who
will go to heaven would have their "book" (the record of their actions) placed in
their right hand, and the damned would have it put in their left hand.

D. The Five Pillars of Islam. These pillars on which Islam rested comprise the
obligations all Moslems must perform as invoked by the Koran.
Islam

1. Faith. A Muslim must recite the shahada, the profession of the faith
which is: "there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is His Prophet." The shahada
must be recited at least once in a lifetime, aloud and correctly, and with
conviction in front of any Moslem.

2. Prayer. To a Muslim, prayer was the most important duty of his religion;
through prayer he paid homage to God acknowledging that he owed to Him his
existence and all that he possessed. Two kings of prayer are recognized by
Muslims: du'a, the private prayer which is not obligatory, and the salat, a defined
form of worship required of all believers. This consists of five daily prayers
preceded by necessary solutions. Although the Koran mentions only four, the
actual practice of the Prophet was five: before sunrise, just after noon, in the late
afternoon, immediately after sunset, and the last one, about two hours later. The
recitation of prayers which must be performed while facing Mecca can be said
with equal validity anywhere: at home, in on open air in a place of work. Prayers
could be said individually or preferably, in congregation: but once a week-- at
noon on Friday -- the faithful are enjoined to pray together in their mosques.

3. Almsgiving. By donating part of what he owned, a Moslem is believed to

purify the rest of his wealth. There are two kinds of alms: the first sadaqa, is given
voluntarily, while the second, is mandatory. In the olden times sharing was legally
required in the form of a yearly “tax" which was collected and spent by the state
to meet many of Islam's needs: supporting the poor, widows and orphans, helping
slaves to buy their freedoms, and equipping volunteers for the holy wars. The
zagat or alms then was paid in kind or cash, depending on the nature of man's
wealth. Now it is often paid in the form of a voluntary pledge, to help the needy
and to support Moslem schools and mosques.

4. Fasting. Fasting is a frequent religious act of a Moslem.

Islam

One fast that is important for all believers is that which occurs during the ninth
month of the Moslem year - Ramadan - the month in which the Koran was first
revealed to Mohammed. With the exception of the sick and aged, young children,
pregnant women and those on long journeys, all believers must refrain between
sunrise and sunset from taking food and drink. Moslems hold that fasting is a
good reminder to put spiritual things first and brings man nearer to God. Although
supposed to pass the daylight hours in meditation, prayer, and reading the Koran,
in actual practice many simply sleep. Hence trade and public affairs slow down
markedly during the day. But once the sunset cannon sounds, life or the ordinary
activities begin again. When Ramadan has passed, the little Bairam begins -- a
festival somewhat similar in spirit to Christmastime, marked by grateful prayers,
expansive goodwill and the giving of presents.

5. Pilgrimage. Once in his lifetime a Moslem must make a hadji, or

pilgrimage to Mecca. Annually, during the twelfth month of the Moslem calendar
the paths to Mecca are choked with pilgrims, Mohammed urged his followers to
make the hadji every year, but since the journey is costly, and after reaching
Mecca, great physical endurance is required for participation in all aspects of the
rite, each person is asked to go at least once in his lifetime if he is free of age, and
physically and mentally able. One is even allowed to have another person make
the Hadji for him by proxy.

Pilgrims from different lands approach the holy city as members of the
same family, wearing the same seamless white garments to remind themselves
that all men are equal before God. Rank and race and wealth forgotten they join
in the sacred ceremonies of the pilgrimage. There are three main rituals
prescribed. The first of these, done on arrival, is the sevenfold circumambulation
of the Kaaba the holiest shrine in Islam.
Islam

Next comes the Lesser Pilgrimage, which entails running seven times between
two small hills across Mecca, recapitulating Hagar's frantic search for water for his
son, Ishmael. The third, which is the most important ceremony, is the Greater
Pilgrimage to the Mount of Mercy in the plain of Arafat, where from noon to
sunset the pilgrims "stand before God". Here, according to legend, Adam and Eve
were reunited after their expulsion from Eden. Over the centuries, the Hadji has
proved to be the great unifying force of Moslems.

Other Doctrines and Practices

To live a holy life Muslims follow a body of moral and legal ordinance
contained in the Koran. We shall mention some specific teachings which are
distinctive to Muslim practice.

1. Moslems hold that man is composed of body and soul. As a creature he is

supposed to obey and serve Allah by complete submission to His will. He does not
need to understand the will of Allah -- in fact, it is impossible, but he must submit
to it.
2. Muslims are forbidden to eat pork, gamble, drink intoxicating beverages
and practice usury.
3. According to the Koran, Muslims may take four wives. However,
Mohammed asked that men examine first their circumstances and temperament
before they did so.
4. Divorce in an Islamic land still depends on the simple repudiation of the
wife, repeated by the husband three times, stating "thou art dismissed." It is
possible for a wife to get a divorce, but the proceedings in such cases are
considerably complicated. Inequality of rights among the sexes is established by
both low and custom since the Koran teaches that women are inferior to men.
Today, however, Islam is moving toward greater emancipation for women.
Islam

Higher education is now open to them and a growing number have the right to
vote. Many women take the precaution of writing into their marriage contracts a
proviso that if the husband does not live up to his obligations, the wife shall be
granted a divorce or annulment. Also, the inheritance laws are so specific in
protecting the rights of widows and orphans, as well as the rights of a wife who is
mistreated by her husband. But in spite of such privileges insured to the present
Muslim women, they are still expected to be retiring and modest.
5. Circumcision, although not mentioned in the Koran, is practiced by
Moslems around the world as a natural part of their faith.
6. In Islam the measure of a man's goodness is the way he acts toward his
brothers. They are taught to respect each other's lives and property and to be
faithful in their promises to each other. To Muslims, all a man believes can be told
from what he does, as this Muslim proverb shows: "No one of you is believer until
he loves for his brother what he loves for himself”.

Worship Services

In Islam, public worship is held in buildings called mosques. On Fridays

(yaum al-jum'a, "the day of the assembly) special services are held. A
congregational prayer is offered led by an imam, or prayer leader and includes
listening to a sermon (khutba), in which a preacher, usually the imam uttered
certain formulas praising God and Mohammed, and also talks about matters
concerning public interest. It also consists of prescribed ejaculations, and the
recital of parts of the Koran, Special congregational prayers are offered in the
middle of the morning on the two festival days called ids, ore immediately
following the month of fasting and the other following the pilgrimage.
Islam

During worship services worshippers’ face the kiblah (direction of prayer), which
was at first Jerusalem, but was changed by Mohammed to Mecca, Muslims do not
have ordained priests. The imam who leads worship services is a lay religious
leader. Before entering a mosque, Muslims must ritually wash themselves in the
courtyard. The mosques are usually elaborately decorated, but no
representations of animal or human figures are allowed since idolatry is
prohibited.

Statistics

According to the 1974 Britannica Book of the Year, the estimated

membership of Islam throughout the world is 513,174,500.
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