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Hinduism Class and caste Karma & Moksha The 4 Paths of Salvation The 3 Debts and the 4 Stages of Life Judaism and Islam Sanctification & Purity The Five Pillars of Islam. (Q. 2) How do we organize society?. Classes of Aryans had been relatively fluid Warriors Priests
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Hinduism Class and caste Karma & Moksha The 4 Paths of Salvation The 3 Debts and the 4 Stages of Life Judaism and Islam Sanctification & Purity The Five Pillars of Islam (Q. 2) How do we organize society?
Classes of Aryans had been relatively fluid Warriors Priests “working classes” Hinduism: Class System
Classes fixed Keep subjugated peoples (the “Dasas”) “in their place” Incorporate conquered peoples Society settled down Warriors demoted (put lower) Hinduism: Class System (2)
Brahmins: priests, magicians → teachers Kshatriyas: warriors & rulers Vaishyas: merchants, upper-class farmers Shudras: servants “Out-castes” (didn’t even belong) = “Dalit” New Class System
Classes are sub-divided into castes Castes are “job sub-classifications” A Brahmin could be a scholar, temple priest, or astrologer Castes give “a place for everyone [male]” in a community A minutely defined hierarchy Classes and Castes
How do we tell a man that he must be what his father was? Karma “Action” Life must be infinitely repeated This solution becomes a problem The Problem of the Class System
You could live a good life Do sacrifices, please gods …but you had to go through cycle of life, death, rebirth This cycle is samsara (WW, p. 9) Good karma is still karma How do we avoid rebirth? The Problem of Karma
“Liberation” …from the cycle of life, death, rebirth Attachment to “me” and “my” actions Liberation is non-attachment Asceticism (self-denial, denial of needs and pleasures) meditation The Solution of mokshaWW, pp. 78-79
Social duties created karma Men wanted to get off the wheel of life Needed synthesis of duty and moksha Persona: Krishna, Arjuna World’s Wisdom, ch. 1: §17 “Arjuna’s distress?” Karma = “action” The Bhagavad Gita: Introduction
How can one do one’s social duties and still achieve moksha (liberation)? World’s Wisdom, ch. 1: §§ 18-23 §18 §20 §§ 21-23, esp. 22e The 3 answers of the Gita
The “3 answers” ➛ 3 Ways Jnana yoga: mystical wisdom Raja Yoga: physical discipline Karma yoga: duty Rituals, Caste, dharma Do your job without desire Bhakti yoga: devotion, “love” Ways of “Salvation”
Laws of Manu (200 BCE — 200 CE) Three “Debts”(for “twice-born” males) Study (of Vedas) Sacrifice (to ancestors) Sons (to sacrifice to you) Karma Yoga (1)
Student Householder receives sacrificial fire from father at marriage Retirement, forest-dweller Sannyasin, ascetic Karma Yoga: Four Stages of Life
Sanctification, holiness, and purity Animal → Human Fit to relate to God To be “set apart,” different Ethnic → moral Judaism: kosher, “family purity” Islam: halal Judaism and Islam
Halakha(h): A legal text of Judaism Rabbis Students Teach Apply as judges Torah: God’s teaching Given to Moses In two forms: written and oral Legal organization of Judaism
Moses Spoke Rabbis Spoke Joshua Spoke The “Dual Torah”:Written & Oral God Spoke God Spoke Moses wrote Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Judah the Patriarch wrote Deuteronomy
Hebrew Bible = Tanak (T-N-K) Torah = teachings, law Nevi’im = prophets (incl. History) Kethuvim = writings, “miscellaneous” The Texts of Judaism
“No transparency of meaning” The Mishnah Written “edition” of the Oral Torah Judah the Patriarch, c. 200 CE The Talmud The Mishnah + Gemara (“commentary”) 200-500 CE Texts of Judaism (2)
The Blessing of the Torah “Fencing the Torah” Make sure one doesn’t break Capture all possible problems, Example: “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” Add to the legal traditions… The (Dual) Torah
Set apart Higher meaning, restraint and self–discipline Holiness God is holy: separate from all impurity we (Jews) are to be holy “sanctification of the name”: show that God is holy Sanctification
“I give thanks before Thee, O Lord my God and God of my fathers, that Thou has set my lot among those who sit in the House of Study and the Synagogue, and hast not set my lot with those who frequent the theatres and circuses; for while I labor to inherit Paradise, they labor for the pit of destruction” Sanctification
Complete, absolute surrender to God All reality circumscribed by him Sufficiency within God “Success”=salvation Threatened by shirk (“idolatry”) Idol is less than ultimate “Come out on top” = be allied with God “Islam” = submission
(1) Shahada(h) “There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Prophet [Rasul]of God” Profession of faith Tawhid Unity= to unify under God Task of bringing everything under God’s authority Five Pillars of Islam (1)
(2) Salat Prayer (worship ) five times day Ritual purification (wudu) Prayer; prostration (as total submission=muslim to God) (3) Zakat religious tax, give to needy (4) Sawm: fasting; month of Ramadan (ends with Eid al Fitr) Five Pillars of Islam (2)
(5) Hajj Pilgrimage to Mecca Mentally, physically, and financially able Embodies unity of Muslim community Enact founding events of Islam Five Pillars of Islam (3)
Circumambulation of Ka’bah Seven times, beginning and end Mt. Mercy: hear Muhammad’s last sermon Stoning “the devil,” tempting Abraham Running between the hills, Zamzam Hajj
The Structure of Authority Shari’a(h): the law Hadith (Written) “sayings” Sunna(h) “the tradition” Qur’an
Sunna (of umma): Unwritten tradition Collective body of wisdom and practice The actions of Muhammad Hadith: Written traditions of sayings Develop Shari’a Analogy consensus The Tradition and Sayings
What is the Sacred? What is ‘god”? What gives life meaning and energy? How do we organize society? How should we live (morality and ethics)? What sort of rituals do we carry out? How do we worship god, the sacred forces in reality? Basic Questions in World Religion (Reprise) 1
Hinduism: Dharma, Virtue and Ethics Buddhism Confucianism Judaism Christianity Islam Q. 3: How should we live?
Dharma = duty, according to caste, stage of life, role (e.g., father, mother) Virtues Cardinal: Self-control, charity, compassion Non-violence (ahimsa) Truthfulness, non-stealing, non-possession Vices Lust, anger, greed, delusion, pride, malice Hindu Morality
The Buddha is a dead teacher Teaches the Four Noble Truths Suffering Desire Nirvana Eight-fold Path Buddhism: Review
For those willing to leave the “house-hold” Wisdom Ethical Conduct Mental Discipline The Eight-Fold Path (outline)
Understanding Thoughts Speech Conduct Livelihood Effort Mindfulness (see WW, 107) Meditation The Eight-Fold Path
The Buddha: teacher of way to nirvana Dharma: teaching Four Noble Truths Eightfold Path Ten Precepts Sangha: the (monastic) community of those who follow the teaching The Triple Gem
Five Precepts for Laypeople: don’t destroy life steal Engage in sexual misconduct “unchaste life” monks and nuns must not engage in any sexual conduct Lie Take intoxicants Dharma: Ten Precepts
Don’t eat after midday Don’t use ornaments Don’t watch entertainment Don’t use high or luxurious beds (Monks only) Don’t use money Monks, nuns, and novices keep first nine Precepts Dharma: Ten Precepts