1. HINDUISM, BUDDHISM, and TAOISM
Kindred religions

2. Common elements Emphasis on: Acceptance of things the way they are
Overcoming desire
Humility
Recognizing that a human life is always extremely short and personal achievements are strictly limited
Belief in a particular way of life: “dharma”
Belief in a universal principle of merit: “karma”

3. Common elements
View of good and bad is more like learning to ride a bicycle than learning spelling
Rather than a personal god who metes out punishment for breaking rules, these religions are based on universal forces or principles which lead to pain and discomfort if they are ignored (like someone who rides a bicycle recklessly can get hurt)

4. An ethnic religion of the Indian subcontinent
Hinduism
An ethnic religion of the Indian subcontinent

6. HINDUISM A label that includes a wide range of:
Religious practices
Customs
Beliefs
Sacred places
Deities
Hinduism is tolerant of this variety and does not condemn certain religious practices or beliefs as evil

7. Origins of Hinduism
Indo-Europeans were polytheistic and worshipped cattle
Brought their beliefs to the Indus Valley by relocation diffusion from 1,400 BC
Rig Veda (oldest Indo-European document, written ca. 1,200 BC) is the foundation of Hinduism
The diversity of religious practice in India suggests a process of syncretism (combination of cultures) during a phase of expansion diffusion

8. Fundamental beliefs of Hinduism
Reincarnation
Karma
Caste system (4 main castes or varnas, many sub-castes or jatis)
Brahmin
Kshatriya
Vaisya
Shudra
Sanctity of the cow

9. Five Major Doctrines Truth is one, Sages call it by different names
Rig Veda,
All Mankind is One Family
Hitopadesha, Subhashita Ratna Bhandagare
Law of Karma - As you sow, so shall you reap
Mahabharata, Shantiparva ; BG 18.60
That mode of living which is founded upon total harmlessness towards all creatures or [in case of genuine necessity] upon a minimum of such harm, is the highest morality
Mahabharata, Shantiparva
Whenever there is a decline of virtue, God incarnates Himself on earth to uphold righteousness
Bhagavad Gita 4.7, 4.8

10. Brahman/Paramatman Brahman is the supreme reality
Brahman has two aspects, transcendent (impersonal and unknowable) and immanent (personal and knowable)
In the impersonal aspect, Brahman lies outside the realm of human description and can only be sensed as a presence within oneself and the rest of the universe
God is “immanent,” the universe is the manifestation rather than the creation of God
In the personal aspect, Brahman can be known in various forms—the many Hindu deities and the rest of creation

11. Deities (gods/goddesses)
Brahma: creative force
Vishnu: sustaining force (incarnated as Krishna and others)
Shiva: force of renunciation, release, self-mastery
Hanuman (incarnation of Shiva who has Rama in his heart) : epitome of devotion
Ganesha (son of Shiva & Parvati): remover of obstacles
Saraswati (Brahma’s consort): human creative force, arts & sciences
Lakshmi (Vishnu’s consort): prosperity, love, beauty, delight
Kali/Parvati/Durga (Shiva’s consort): power, transformation, destroyer of evil

12. Representations of Deities
Hanuman
service, devotion, intelligence, strength
Krishna (an incarnation of Vishnu)
divine love
Saraswati
arts and sciences, knowledge, purity
Shiva
Renunciation, self-mastery

13. Ganesh
Remover of obstacles
Source of knowledge (legend attributes the Mahabharata to Ganesh)
One of the most commonly-seen icons

14. Buddhism
An offshoot of Hinduism that is dominant in regions other than its cultural hearth

16. BUDDHISM
An outgrowth from Hindu mysticism (tradition of wandering ascetics)
Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) lived about 563BC in the foothills of the Himalayas
Raised as royalty
Exposed to hardship & suffering in his 20s
Lived as ascetic for 6 years
Achieved enlightenment or nirvana by adopting the “middle way”; taught for 45 years throughout India

17. Branches of Buddhism Therevada (Hinayana) Mahayana
SE. Asia and Sri Lanka
Focus on meditation & personal perfection
Mahayana
China, Japan, Korea, Tibet
Belief in enlightened beings (bodhisattvas) who have perfected themselves to the point they are capable of leaving the cycle of death and rebirth because they have reached nirvana
Bodhisattvas remain in human form to help others reach nirvana (perfect contentment, release of attachments, and release from cycle of death & rebirth)

18. Buddhism Four Noble Truths
Life is suffering (dukkha) or “out of joint”
Cause of Dukkha is “desire for private fulfillment---craving and aversion”
There is a means by which such a resolution is possible overcoming craving and aversion gives rise to freedom from suffering
8 fold path leads to this freedom

19. Buddhism
Eight Fold Path suggest a way to behave that provide the optimal conditions to shift our thinking and resolve the Four Noble Truths.

20. The Eightfold Way Spiritual work is required right understanding
right thinking
right speech
right conduct
right livelihood
right effort
right mindfulness
right concentration
What does this all mean?
Compassion, patience, serenity achieved through meditation and self-discipline
Spiritual work is required
The eightfold way leads to Nirvana
Sanskrit for "to extinguish“: means to extinguish ignorance, hatred and earthly suffering
More religious iconography

21. Buddhist Iconography
“The hollow of the bell symbolizes the wisdom cognizing emptiness. The clapper represents the sound of emptiness. The eight lotus petals are the four mothers and four goddesses and the vase represents the vase containing the nectar of accomplishment.”
Buddha Dharma Education Association

22. The Buddha Image
The Buddha is the enlightened person, a role model to emulate not a god to try to please or placate

23. Buddha
Founder: Siddhartha Gautama became Buddha (“the enlightened one”) 563BC – When Daniel wrote the book of Daniel!
Four sights insights:
Old man (aging inevitable)
Sick man (sickness inevitable)
Corpse (death—human fate)
Monk (salvation through withdrawal from the world)
Sitting under the bodhi, Tree of Wisdom, reached nirvana (unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed)

24. Nirvana State of perfect spiritual independence
Four Noble Truths + Noble Eightfold Path = Dharma

27. Four Noble Truths Life is suffering (dukka)
Cause of suffering: desire (for permanence)
End suffering: eliminate desire (attachment)
Eliminate desire: Eight-fold path (the “middle way”—between extremes of self-indulgence and self-denial)

28. Eight-fold Path Wisdom: Right belief—understanding 4 Noble truths
Right thought—free from ill will and cruelty
Morality:
Right speech—no lying, harsh, or vain talking
Right conduct—good ethics
Right occupation—no harm to any living thing
Withdrawal from the world:
Right effort—avoid, overcome, develop, maintain
Right mindfulness—fully conscious of self
Right meditation—on a single object, wholeness

29. Later Buddhist developments—Mahayana (“Greater Vehicle”)
Buddha began to be worshipped as a god—relics
Boddhisatvas (“enlightened being”) could help others; served as examples of spiritual excellence
Buddhist monasteries accepted gifts as acts of generosity that merited salvation
Educational institutions promoted the faith

30. Vajrayana “Vehicle of the Thunderbolt”
Tantric (manuals)—male and female energies become the focal point of spiritual development.
Process of visualization

31. Tantric Mandala

32. Coming of Age

33. Maitreya
Waiting 5,670,000,000 to descend to this world to rescue humanity
‘Messiah’ figure—mountain will split

34. Buddhism Today
99.4% of Buddhists are in Asia (.34% in North and South America)
Comprise 6% of the world population

35. THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM
Buddhism under the (Hindu) Gupta empire ( C.E.)
A. Buddhists worship Buddha as a sort of divine guide to
enlightenment.
B. Hindu brahmins allow worship of Buddha as AVATAR of
Vishnu.
C. Buddhist monks and nuns live in monasteries.
D. Lay population supports monks and nuns through charitable
donations.
E. Relics of the Buddha, housed in shrines
F. Buddhist cults stressing personal devotion (= bhakti) –
Faithful gather for fasting, meditation, spiritual exercises.

36. A. Confucianism and Buddhism become entrenched.
TANG China ( AD )
A. Confucianism and Buddhism become entrenched.
(Later Tang emperors suppress Buddhism.)
B. Buddhism (1st Mahayana, then Theravada) spreads to
Korea/Japan/Vietnam.
C. Confucianism does not spread so easily.
D. Japan: Buddhism is adopted in 7th c. C.E. and coexists with
SHINTOism (indigenous religion with gods representing
forces of nature).
Itsukushima Shinto shrine, Japan

37. TAOISM – evolved from Buddhism and Hinduism
A philosophy about how to live life well
Derived mainly from the writings of Chuang Tzu (ca. 250 BC) and Lao Tzu (6th c. BC)
Teaches a “way” or “path” that is beneficial to one who follows it
Eliminates unhappiness & conflict
Facilitates achievement of goals
Aligns oneself with universal forces

38. Assumptions of Taoism
Going with the flow of the universe (the Tao) is the most effective way to get things done
Animals, children, even drunks go with the flow; the rest of us have to unlearn our habits of resistance and force
If you are doing something the right way (living in the Tao) you will achieve your goals without feeling that you have exerted yourself
If others become angry with you or admire you too much this is a sign that you are failing to go with the flow (follow the Tao)
One who lives life well lacks nothing, because he or she desires nothing that is difficult to obtain
Accept that things need to run their course, and do not resist the natural tendency of things to work out in a certain way
Is it any wonder that Taoists make use of water metaphors?

39. Chuang Tzu on sensation
Love of colors bewilders the eye and it fails to see right. Love of harmonies bewitches the ear, and it loses its true hearing. Love of perfumes fills the head with dizziness. Love of flavors ruins the taste. Desires unsettle the heart until the original nature runs amok.
These five are enemies of true life. Yet these are what men of discernment claim to live for. They are not what I live for. If this is life, then pigeons in a cage have found happiness! (12:15, p. 118)

40. Chuang Tzu on humility
If a man is crossing a river and an empty boat collides with his own skiff, even though he be a bad-tempered man he will not become very angry. But if he sees a man in the boat, he will shout at him to steer clear. If the shout is not heard, he will shout again, and yet again, and begin cursing. And all because there is somebody in the boat. Yet if the boat were empty, he would not be shouting, and not angry.
If you can empty your own boat crossing the river of the world, no one will oppose you, no one will seek to harm you....
Who can free himself from achievement, and from fame, descend and be lost amid the masses of men? He will flow like Tao, unseen, he will go about like Life itself with no name and no home. Simple is he, without distinction. To all appearances he is a fool. His steps leave no trace. He has no power. He achieves nothing, has no reputation.
Since he judges no one, no one judges him. Such is the perfect man: His boat is empty. (20:2, 4, pp )

41. Lao Tzu on action
The Tao abides in non-action, Yet nothing is left undone. If kings and lords observed this, The ten thousand things would develop naturally. If they still desired to act, They would return to the simplicity of formless substance. Without form there is no desire. Without desire there is tranquility. In this way all things would be at peace.

42. Tao
To name Tao is to name no-thing. … Tao is a name that indicates without defining.
Tao is beyond words and beyond things. It is not expressed either in word or in silence. Where there is no longer word or silence Tao is apprehended. (25:11, p. 226)

43. New Trend – Catholics and Buddhists