THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS AND THEIR SCRIPTURES
Judaism and Christianity ---
Islam ---
Zoroastrianism ---
Hinduism ---
Sikhism ---
Jainism ---
Buddhism ---
Confucianism ---
Taoism ---
Shinto ---
African Traditional Religions ---
Native American Religions ---
South Pacific Religions ---
New Religions
Judaism and Christianity
Judaism and Christianity are two monotheistic, ethical religions which
share a part of their scriptures in common; the Bible or Tanakh of the
Jews is the Old Testament of the Christians. These religions share many
common beliefs: (1) there is one God, (2) mighty and (3) good, (4) the
Creator, (5) who reveals His Word to man, and (6) answers prayers. Both
Judaism and Christianity make (7) a positive affirmation of the world as
the arena of God's activity, (8) as the place where people have an
obligation to act ethically, and (9) which should be redeemed from
injustice. Both believe in (10) a future life, as well as a doctrine of
resurrection. Finally, both look to (11) a final consummation of history
and (12) the realization of God's complete sovereignty on earth, through
the coming of a Messiah or, in the case of modern forms of Judaism, a
Messianic age. Besides these similarities of doctrine, Christianity is
bound to pay special attention to Judaism because Jesus and his disciples
were Jews. They lived as Jews; the Jewish Bible was their Bible, and they
criticized Jewish beliefs and practices as reformers from within. Jesus'
life and teachings are largely incomprehensible without an understanding
of the Judaism of his time.
Although Judaism and Christianity share many common elements in their
beliefs, there are also deep differences. First, for Judaism God is one
and unique; for Christianity God is one in His nature but there are three
persons constituting the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Christians believe in Jesus, called Christ, the Messiah, who is the
Incarnation of the second person of the Trinity: therefore adoration is
not given to man but to God who became man. Salvation for mankind is
entirely the gift of God, through the sacrifice of the second person of
the Trinity, who became man and suffered and died in his humanity and
became alive again. Christians believe in Christ and in his passion,
death, and resurrection; they follow his teachings and example; and after
death they expect to share in his glorious resurrection. Judaism, for its
part, is no less conscious of God's grace, but it offers sanctification
through membership in the Jewish people and by regarding the scriptures as
teaching and enjoining a life of holiness. For Jews the Messiah has not
yet come, and they still anticipate the coming of the Messiah or Messianic
age. Their future hope is an earthly vision of a world of peace and
justice. The Christian future hope is expressed by the doctrine of the
Second Coming of Christ, when evil will finally come to an end and the
spiritual blessings already accomplished in Jesus Christ will be
manifested substantially in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Both Judaism and Christianity no longer practice the scriptural laws of
animal sacrifices. But while for Judaism the mitzvot, the ethical and
ritual commandments of the Bible, remain normative, and are elaborated in
the Talmud as the halakah or requirements of life, Christianity has regard
only for the Bible's ethical teachings--i.e., the Ten Commandments.
Christianity emphasizes faith in Jesus Christ, who gives grace,
empowerment, and guidance for living the moral life.[2] Judaism teaches a
life of holiness through performing mitzvot and emphasizes the importance
of adhering to the Bible's standards of social justice as laid down by the
Prophets. The two religions have also diverged on the meaning of the Fall
of Man; Christianity affirms a doctrine of Original Sin which is not
emphasized in Judaism.
These deep differences extend to the way Judaism and Christianity regard
their sacred writings. Judaism regards its sacred books as the complete
source for all the teachings which God requires of his people for their
welfare. For Christianity, the sacred books of Judaism, called the Old
Testament, are taken as a preparation for the final revelation that God
would make through Christ--a revelation that is written in the books of
the New Testament.
Judaism's Bible or Tanakh is made up of the Law (Torah), the Prophets
(Nebi'im), and the Writings (Ketuvim); its books were written over a
period of more than thirteen hundred years of Jewish history, from the
time of Moses until several centuries before the common era. The center
of this scripture is the Torah, the Five Books of Moses. The book of
Genesis contains stories of creation, the Fall of Man, and the lives of
the patriarchs Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy recount the Jews' liberation from
slavery in Egypt and the revealing of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. The
Prophets include the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings recounting
the history of Israel in the days when it was guided by its prophets, and
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Habakkuk, Jonah, Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi, etc., which record the words of individual prophets.
Among the Writings are the book of Psalms containing prayers and hymns;
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job containing wise sayings, discourses on
wisdom, and meditations on the human condition; Lamentations mourning the
destruction of the Temple; Song of Songs, where love poetry has long been
interpreted as describing the mystical relationship between God and Israel
or God and man; and Daniel with its stories of faith in the midst of
persecution.
In addition to the Tanakh, a tradition of Oral Torah, passed down to the
rabbis of the first several centuries of the common era and codified in
the Talmud, which is constituted by the Mishnah and the Gemara, is
authoritative for the observant Jew. One may regard the role of Talmud
and Midrash--early rabbinic interpretation of scripture--as providing the
interpretative perspective for a proper understanding of the Bible. While
much of the Talmud and Midrash is devoted to discussions and codifications
of law, they also contain passages of universal spiritual and ethical
wisdom. The best known collection of the latter is a small tractate of
the Mishnah called the Abot or Sayings of the Fathers.[3] Beyond the
Talmud and Midrash, Jewish tradition also hallows the books of statutory
prayers. The mystical treatise called the Zohar and several other works
together constitute the Kabbalah or mystical tradition which has canonical
status for many Jews. A number of theological works, notably The Guide
for the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) and Shulhan Arukh by
Joseph Caro (16th century) are also held in the highest regard.
The Christian Bible includes the Old and New Testaments. The Old
Testament was the scripture of Jesus and his followers who were themselves
Jews. It is identical to the Jewish Bible but with its books in a
different order. Christians emphasize the prophetic books above all other
parts of the Old Testament, for they are seen to announce the advent of
Jesus Christ.
Roman Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include a number of additional books,
called deutero-canonical books, in the Old Testament. Notable among them
are the wisdom books Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon, the stories of
Tobit and Judith, and the history of the Maccabean revolt with its stories
glorifying martyrdom in I-IV Maccabees. These books circulated among Jews
during the last two centuries before Christ and were included in the
Septuagint, the Greek translation of the scriptures. The New Testament is
written in Greek; the early Christians largely spoke Greek; and they used
the Septuagint as their Old Testament. But these books were not included
in the canon of Hebrew scriptures as fixed by the rabbis at Jamnia in 90
a.d. At the time of the Protestant Reformation, when the Reformers
returned to the Hebrew rabbinic text as their standard, they omitted these
books from their vernacular translations of the Bible--e.g., Luther's
Bible and the English King James Version. They are known to Protestants
as the Apocrypha. The Roman Catholic Church reaffirmed their status as
holy scripture at the Council of Trent (1545-1603), and they remain part
of the Orthodox scriptures as well. Most modern translations of the Bible
now include them.
The New Testament contains the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John. The first three "synoptic gospels" have much in common, recording
the life and sayings of Jesus, his death, and resurrection. The Gospel of
John provides a life of Christ who is portrayed as the mystical source of
salvation. The epistles by the apostles Paul, Peter, James, John, and
others discuss matters of theology, doctrine, faith, and morals for the
early Church of the first century. Paul was the foremost of the apostles,
and his writings include the epistle to the Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians,
Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon. Other letters
attributed to Paul, and which certainly are indebted to his influence,
include Ephesians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews. Acts
of the Apostles is a history of the church from the first Pentecost to the
evangelical tours of Peter and Paul. The Book of Revelation gives a
vision of the end of the world and the Second Coming of Christ. All the
books of the New Testament were written within one hundred years of Jesus'
death, although the final decision about which books would be included or
excluded from the New Testament canon did not come until the fourth
century.
Islam
Islam is the third great monotheistic religion which traces its roots back
to Abraham, and its teachings show many continuities with the Jewish and
Christian scriptures. Islam proclaims Allah, the one God, the Creator,
who is sovereign and good, who answers prayers, and who works with mankind
in history by calling prophets to proclaim God's word. There is a
positive affirmation of the world as God's creation and the arena where
people are obligated to act ethically. Islam offers only two choices for
mankind: belief or unbelief, God or Satan, with the result that they will
attain either Paradise or the fire of hell.
For Islam, the prophets are God's intermediaries to humanity, and Muhammad
(c. 570-632) is the Seal of the Prophets. The prophets: Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Ishmael, Moses, and many others named and unnamed, delivered
God's word to diverse peoples. They each had specific missions, but their
messages are ultimately one: submit the self to the will of God. Jesus is
one of the prophets--though titled Messiah, he has no distinctive
messianic role in the sense that Christians ascribe to him, nor is he in
any sense divine. His message and purpose were consistent with those of
the prophets before and after him. The Qur'an, revealed to Muhammad, is
the perfect and accurate record of God's message by the prophets of every
age.
Islam is a religion to be practiced, and five obligations are required of
every Muslim--called the Five Pillars: (1) confession of faith in God and
in Muhammad as God's messenger, (2) daily prayer at the five appointed
times, (3) fasting during the month of Ramadan, (4) paying an alms-tax and
giving charity to the poor, and (5) pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca
and its sacred shrine, the Kaaba. By fulfilling these obligations and
remembering God often, the Muslim is assured of God's favor both on earth
and at the judgment.
Islam's basic scripture is the Qur'an, which was revealed by the angel
Gabriel to the prophet Muhammad, who according to tradition was
unlettered. Gabriel recited its verses to Muhammad, who in turn taught
them to his followers who memorized them and wrote them down on leaves and
scraps of paper. They were gathered into the definitive text of the
Qur'an within a generation of the prophet's death. The Qur'an has 114
suras, arranged in order of decreasing length.[4] Several interpretations
of the Qur'an are available in English, but no true translation: the
Qur'an was revealed specifically in Arabic, and a translation into any
other language cannot convey the holiness of the Arabic Qur'an.
With regard to the authority of texts beyond the Qur'an, Islam is split
into two large sects, Sunni and Shiite. The many Sufi writings, so
popular in the West, are not regarded as having the authority of scripture
in Islam.
Sunni Muslims revere the Sunnah, the teaching of Muhammad based upon
hadith, the traditions and sayings of the prophet Muhammad as recollected
and transmitted by his companions. Most of the hadith concern the
specifics of Islamic law, but some concern matters of faith, morality, and
eschatology. The six great classical compilers of the Sunnah are: Bukhari,
Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, an-Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah--with Bukhari and
Muslim the most authoritative. These collections are the fruits of `ilm
al-hadith, the Science of Tradition, which established criteria for
deciding the reliability of traditions, classifying them as "sound,"
"good," "weak," or "infirm." The compilations by Bukhari and Muslim, and
several secondary collections of hadith based upon the six compilations,
are available in English translation. Most notable among them is The Forty
Hadith of an-Nawawi, a slim collection of traditions which continues to
inspire with its concise expression of the heart of Islamic spirituality.
Another authoritative tradition in Islam which has been excerpted for this
anthology is the biography of Muhammad by Ibn Ishaq, the Sirat Rasul
Allah, which survives only in the version edited by his disciple Ibn
Hisham.
The Shiite tradition in Islam has its own collections of hadith which
differ only in minor details from the Sunni collections, but these do not
have the authority of the Sunnah and are not quoted in this anthology.
What most distinguishes Shiite Islam is its reverence for `Ali (d. 661),
the son-in-law of Muhammad, who became the fourth Caliph and ruled the
Muslim peoples for seven years until his death as a martyr. `Ali is
regarded as the perfect exemplar of Islam, and his sermons and sayings are
collected in the Nahjul Balagha. For Shiite Muslims the Nahjul Balagha is
a sacred scripture second only to the Qur'an.
Zoroasterianism
The prophet Zarathustra (c. 1000 b.c.) is the founder of Zoroastrianism.
Once the major religion of ancient Persia, Zoroastrianism has had
considerable influence on the thought of Christianity and Islam. Yet
despite its historical importance, today Zoroastrianism exists only as a
remnant. After suffering persecution and expulsion from Iran, the
community of practicing Zoroastrians has dwindled to less than one hundred
thousand Parsis, most of whom live in the vicinity of Bombay, India.
Contemporary Zoroastrians are monotheistic. They worship one God, Ahura
Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom, whose various aspects are personified in
scripture as the archangels Good Mind, Righteousness, Devotion, Dominion,
and others. He is symbolized by the fire, which is at the center of
Zoroastrian ritual. Zoroastrianism teaches an ethical dualism; there is a
constant battle between a wholly good God and the powers of evil. This
struggle occurs within the human breast and necessitates the choice
between good and evil. The soul is immortal, and each will receive divine
justice according to its deeds in life. But good and evil are not equal:
God and Right will ultimately triumph at the end of history. The good
life is one of purity, virtue, industry, and benevolence.
The scripture of Zoroastrianism is the Avesta. Among its books, the main
liturgical text is called the Yasna. At the core of the Yasna are the
Gathas, hymns composed by Zarathustra and his immediate followers, which
make up chapters 28-34, 43-51, and 53 of the Yasna. They are at the
center of Zoroastrian worship. The other books of the Avesta include the
Videvdad, a collection of purificatory laws, the Visparad, a collection of
ritual litanies to all spiritual lords, and the Yasht, containing
Zoroastrian epic literature. This anthology quotes selections mainly from
the Gathas. In selecting suitable translations of their allusive poetry,
the editor has favored translations which express their meaning for
contemporary believers.
Hinduism
The Hindu religious tradition defies description by any simple list of
doctrines and practices. Some branches are monistic and see divinity as
pervading all reality, some are largely dualistic and posit reality as the
interrelation of the divine Spirit (Purusha) and primordial material
nature (prakriti), some are monotheistic and revere a personal God, and
still others worship the Nameless and Formless God with many names and
forms. A Hindu may worship God in the form of Krishna or Shiva, or seek
unity with the impersonal Brahman, yet he will regard all these as symbols
for one Ultimate Reality. Whether a Vedantist who sees Reality as
impersonal or a devotee of the Goddess Durga, he finds sanction for his
views in the same scriptures. As it is stated in the Rig Veda: "Truth is
one, and the learned call it by many names."
If one might hazard a list of common features of Hindu faith and practice,
it might include: (1) Brahman or Ultimate Reality is both personal and
impersonal and appears in many forms; (2) it is accessible through a
variety of paths (margas): knowledge (jnana yoga), devotion (bhakti yoga),
and action (karma yoga); and (3) it is realized by those sages who have
attained union or communion with that Reality. (4) On the other hand,
creation and the phenomena of worldly life are temporal and partial; they
conceal the total Truth and its realization. (5) Hindus further hold the
doctrine of karma, which says that each thought, word, and action brings
appropriate recompense, thereby upholding the moral government and
ultimate justice of the cosmos; and (6) the doctrine of reincarnation,
understood as a dreary round of continued suffering or a continuous series
of fresh opportunities to improve one's lot. Inequality of endowment and
fortune is explained as the working out of karma and not as the result of
some discrimination by God. Hindus also uphold (7) the authority of the
Vedas; (8) the traditions of family and social life, with its four stages
of student, householder, spiritual seeker, and ascetic who renounces all
for the sake of spiritual progress and the welfare of all; (9) the four
goals of life: righteousness (dharma), economic wealth (artha), pleasure
(kama), and spiritual freedom (moksha); and (10) the validity and
viability of the ideal social order and its attendant duties, which have
degenerated into the caste system. The many sects of Hinduism, with few
exceptions, share these features in common. Those Indian faiths which
protested several of these features, such as Jainism, Sikhism, and
Buddhism, soon became distinguished from the Hindu fold.
Hinduism's long tradition has produced many sacred works. The most
ancient and authoritative are the revealed literature (shruti): these are
the Vedas that include the Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads.
The four Vedas, the Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda,
have been transmitted orally from generation to generation for more than
three thousand years. They are written in verse and contain hymns, ritual
formulae, chants, and prayers. An exact method of traditional Vedic
chanting has preserved most of the vedic hymns from corruption. Many of
the Vedic hymns are addressed to deified powers of nature which are
understood as manifestations of cosmic truth. Some refer to partaking of
soma and the horse sacrifice, rituals that are rarely practiced by modern
Hindus. Nevertheless, a proper understanding of the ancient Vedas shows
them to contain all the essential elements of Hindu thought. It is those
Vedic passages of eternal relevance that are excerpted in this anthology.
The Brahmanas are prose amplifications of the Vedas. Two of them are
quoted in this volume: the Sathapata Brahmana and the Tandya Maha
Brahmana. There are 108 Upanishads, composed at various times (900 b.c. to
200 b.c.); they belong to one or another recension of the Vedas or
Aranyakas. Etymologically, "upanishad" means "sitting near," and the
Upanishads record the philosophical and mystical teachings given by the
ancient sages as they sat surrounded by their disciples. The commentaries
of Shankara (d. 750 a.d.) highlighted eleven principal Upanishads: the
Isha, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Aitareya, Taittiriya,
Chandogya, Brihadaranyaka, and Svetasvatara. The Maitri Upanishad is also
regarded as significant by many authorities. A few Upanishads such as the
Svetasvatara may be interpreted in a predominantly monotheistic sense as
teaching devotion to a personal God, but the general trend of the
Upanishads is to identify Reality as supra-personal Brahman, who is "not
this, not that"--beyond any particular description, and is one with the
Atman or universal Self residing in the heart of each person. They teach
that liberation is to realize the Atman within while transcending the
ego-self that is identified with the psycho-physical organism, its actions
and desires. The most widely known Hindu scripture is the Bhagavad Gita.
Composed several centuries before the beginning of our era, it is but one
book of the great epic the Mahabharata. However, the authority and
influence of the Bhagavad Gita is such that it is usually raised to the
status of an Upanishad. It has been called "India's favorite Bible," and
with its emphasis on selfless service it was a prime source of inspiration
for Mahatma Gandhi. Sharing many affinities with the older Upanishads,
the Bhagavad Gita sanctions several paths for realizing the highest goal
of life. But it is also distinctively monotheistic, teaching that
devotion (bhakti) is the supreme way to approach God and receive His
grace. Other later Hindu texts are called sacred traditions (smriti), of
lesser authority than the shruti. These include the great epics, the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Episodes from these epics are familiar to
every Indian school child, and they provide the themes of countless
popular dramas and movies. The Ramayana recounts the story of Rama, who
is an avatar or incarnation of Vishnu, and his wife Sita. It exalts the
ideals of family life as superior to claims of rule and wealth. Rama
obeys his father even though it means giving up his kingdom and dwelling
in the forest. Then, when Sita is abducted by the evil demon-king
Ravanna, Rama must go through many trials until he can mount an expedition
to defeat Ravanna and regain his wife. Sita's perfect virtue is manifest
as she faithfully goes into exile with Rama and later preserves her
chastity during the captivity under Ravanna. The Mahabharata recounts the
civil war between the clan of the Kauravas, led by the evil Duryodhana and
his cohort Karna, against the Pandavas who are championed by Arjuna and
Krishna. Krishna is, like Rama, an avatar of Vishnu (the name used by
Vaishnavas to designate the One God) under human conditions and
limitations, but in the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad Gita he reveals
his transcendental form to Arjuna. Throughout the epic the virtues of
courage, devotion to duty, and right living are extolled. Another group of
smriti texts are the collections of dharma, duty or law as it relates to
members of society. The Laws of Manu is the most important of these, and
we also include excerpts from the collections of Narada, Vasishtha, and
Apastamba. Regarding the laws in these collections, the editors have
chosen to avoid those controversial matters relating to the caste system.
Despite the Vedic origins of varnashrama dharma, the degenerate caste
system is probably the one feature of Hinduism which is repudiated by most
modern Hindu reformers and intellectuals. This is in keeping with the aim
of World Scripture, to accentuate the positive features of religion. The
Puranas are medieval collections of laws, stories, and philosophy which
largely reflect the teachings of older scriptures but also illustrate them
with concrete stories and examples. They are enormously influential in
the popular religious expressions of modern India. The most well-known of
these is the Srimad Bhagavatam or Bhagavata Purana, the scripture of
Krishna's life and teachings, his childhood exploits, and his love of the
adoring cowherd girls, which is central to the religion of Vaishnavite
Hindus. Another Vaishnavite scripture, the Vishnu Purana, contains a
prophecy about Kalki, a future avatar. The Shiva Purana, Skanda Purana,
and Linga Purana are among the scriptures of Shaivism. The Garuda Purana
and Matsya Purana contain descriptions of the afterlife and the effects of
karma on a person's destiny. The Markandeya Purana contains a story of a
king whose compassionate attitude closely resembles that of a bodhisattva,
and a description of the victory of the Goddess Durga, a popular Hindu
deity. Many other Puranas exist, and more are still being written, adding
to the fascinating variety of India's religious landscape. Tantras are
manuals of religious practice. Tantrism in both Hinduism and Buddhism
uses yogic techniques, symbolic ritual, and the transmutation of ordinary
desire in order to transcend all desires by identification with Ultimate
Reality. This last feature has given Tantrism a scandalous reputation for
purportedly licentious rites, but in fact all genuine Tantric practice
requires as a prerequisite mastery over ordinary desires by total ascetic
self-control. These texts are represented here by the Kularnava Tantra.
Hindu philosophers, saints, and poets have produced a voluminous
literature which is largely beyond the scope of an anthology limited to
scripture. We mention the sutras, and their commentaries laying out the
six orthodox philosophical systems (darshanas): Vedanta (the Brahma Sutra
of Badarayana and commentaries by Shankara, Ramanuja, and Madhva), Yoga
(the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, Sankhya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, and Purva
Mimansa. These texts delve into specialized realms of philosophy; in large
measure, the religious content of these systems is already covered by the
Vedas and Upanishads upon which they heavily draw.
We also cannot do justice to the literature of the medieval saints who
expressed their devotion to Shiva or Vishnu in dance, poems, and love
songs in the vernacular languages of the many states of India. In
Tamil-nadu the Nayanars adored Shiva and the Alvars sang of Vishnu: chief
among them was Nammalvar who wrote of the devotee as a woman totally
immersed in love with her husband Vishnu. Of Hindi poets the foremost was
Kabir, whose poetry joining Hindu and Islamic Sufi concepts has become an
enduring source of wisdom for all Indians; we meet some of his verses as
they have been incorporated in the Sikh scriptures. Others include
Tulsidas, who wrote the Hindi version of the Ramayana, and Jayadeva, whose
Gita Govinda, a poem in Sanskrit describing the love of Radha and Krishna,
is widely performed in temple dances. These and countless other saints
continue to express the Hindu tradition in forms that are ever new.
Of these devotional movements, the Lingayats of Karnataka province in
southwest India are worthy of special mention because of their distinctive
beliefs and reforming spirit. The Virashaiva movement, founded by
Basavanna (12th century a.d.), rejected the caste system, disputed the
authority of the Vedas, opposed image-worship, and taught a personal
religion of devotional monotheism that dispensed with temple and
priesthood. Basavanna's reforms have justly been compared to those of
Martin Luther. His Vachanas are venerated as scripture.
Sikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion with about twenty million adherents. It
teaches devotion to God and denial of egoism as the basis for the good
life. A relatively modern religion, it was born in the fifteenth century
in the Punjab in northern India under the inspiration of Guru Nanak. He
and the four Gurus who followed him sought to cut through the differences
between Hindus and Muslims and among castes, teaching that inner intention
and purity of devotion, not doctrine or social status, are the measure of
a person before God. Each of these Gurus spoke as a reformer within his
own community, as a Hindu among Hindus and a Muslim among Muslims; their
intention was to reform from within, though now they speak to us as
founders of an independent religion. For under the pressure of
persecution, Sikhism developed under the last five Gurus into a distinct
religious community with its own code of conduct and distinctive forms of
dress.
The writings of the first five Gurus were compiled by Guru Arjan Dev, the
fifth Guru, into the Adi Granth. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, ended the
succession of Gurus and invested the Adi Granth as the Guru Granth Sahib,
the eternal living Guru. Since then, the Guru Granth has been the object
of ultimate sanctity and the source of sacred inspiration; it is the
highest authority for the Sikhs.
The Adi Granth is a collection of verse compositions, grouped together
into ragas, the musical meters according to which they are sung. The
pagination is standardized in the Punjabi text, along with notation
indicating which Guru authored the verse: M.1 indicates verses of Guru
Nanak; M.2, those of Guru Angad; M.3, those of Guru Amar Das; M.4, those
of Guru Ram Das; M.5, those of Guru Arjan Dev; and M.9, of Guru Tegh
Bahadur. In line with the expansive spirit of the Gurus, the Adi Granth
also contains verses from Hindu and Muslim poets of that age such as
Kabir, Ravidas, Surdas, Farid, and Ramanand.
Jainism
Jainism is the religion of about ten million people in India, with its own
distinctive scriptures, history, and a long philosophic tradition.
Although a part of the greater Indian culture, Jainism, like Buddhism, is
a non-Vedic religious tradition, rejecting the authority of the Vedas,
Upanishads, and other Hindu scriptures and their deities. Noted for its
rigorous asceticism, Jain thought has influenced the greater Indian
culture especially through its doctrine of ahimsa, non-injury to all
living beings. Jainism teaches a strict doctrine of karma, which binds a
person to suffer rebirth and retribution for all evil actions. A person
must therefore liberate himself or herself from the fetters of karma by
taking a vow of asceticism and thenceforth avoiding all violence in deed,
in word, and in thought. All passionate desire begets violence, and is
itself the result of the karmas of a deluded consciousness which must be
eliminated. Jainism does not accept a creator God or personal God; instead
each person has within himself or herself the potential to realize
perfection and become a paramatman, a soul freed from all karmic fetters
and able to reach the highest point in the universe.
Mahavira, born Nataputta Vardhamana (599-527 b.c.), realized this
perfection and became a Tirthankara, the Fordfinder, who discovered the
Path to salvation. A near contemporary of the Buddha, he is twenty-fourth
in a long succession of Tirthankaras extending back to Rishabhadeva of the
Vedic period.[5] Popular Jainism venerates him to the point of worshipping
him as a divine source of grace, thus adding a personal, devotional
element absent from Jain philosophy.
There are two branches of Jainism, divided over whether a monk may or may
not wear clothing: the Shvetambaras allow clothes and the Digambaras
demand total nudity, as they each believe was the practice of Mahavira.
The canon of Jain scriptures (agamas) begins with the sermons of Mahavira,
written down by his disciples in ancient languages of Ardhamagadhi and
Shauraseni Prakrit, called Purvas. The oldest of these, however, have
been lost, and thence the two Jain communities reconstructed different
canons from the collections of surviving scriptures, now written in
Prakrit and Sanskrit.
The scriptures according to the Shvetambara Jains are composed of twelve
limbs (angas) and 34 subsidiary texts (angabahya). The first limb is the
Acarangasutra, which contains laws for monks and nuns and the most
authoritative biography of Mahavira. The Sutrakritanga is the second limb
and contains Jain doctrines expounded through disputes with other Hindu
and early Buddhist teachings. Among the angabahya the best known is the
Uttaradhyayana Sutra, an anthology of dialogues and teachings believed to
be the last sermon of the Mahavira, and the Kalpa Sutra, containing
biographies of the Jinas. Other scriptures of the Shvetambara canon
include the Upasakdasanga Sutra, Dashavaikalika Sutra, and Nandi Sutra.
The Digambara Jains believe that most of the original Purvas have been lost
and dispute the authenticity of the Shvetambara scriptures. To the small
surviving portion of the ancient Purvas they add a large number of
scholastic expositions (anuyoga). These expositions constitute the
scriptures of the Digambara tradition. Among them are the writings of
Kundakunda (1st century a.d.): the Samayasara, Niyamasara, Pravacanasara,
and Pancastikaya; the Anupreksa of Kartikeya (2nd century a.d.), and the
Samadhishataka of Pujyapada (6th century a.d.). The Tattvarthasutra of
Umasvati (2nd century a.d.) is a systematization of Jain doctrine into
concise aphorisms in the style of the Hindu Vedanta Sutras; its Digambara
commentaries include the Sarvarthasiddhi of Pujyapada, the
Tattvartharajavartika of Akalanka (8th century a.d.), and the
Tattvarthaslokavartika of Vidyanandi (9th century a.d.). The
Tattvarthasutra is recognized as authoritative, with only minor
differences, by both Digambara and Shvetambara sects. Another exposition
which is accepted by both sects is the Sanmatitarka by Siddhasena (5th
century a.d.), a treatise on logic concerned with establishing the
simultaneous validity of several viewpoints on reality. Surviving
fragments of the Purvas spawned commentaries such as the Gomattasara of
Nemichandra (950 a.d.) and the Jayadhavala by Virasena (820 a.d.). Legends
and biographies of saints are found in the Adipurana of Jinasena (9th
century a.d.); their praises are sung in the Dvatrimshika of Siddhasena;
while the Aptamimamsa of Samantabadhra (5th century a.d.) gives
philosophical arguments for the Jina's perfection, omniscience, and
purity. The Mulacara of Vattakera (2nd century a.d.) contains monastic
rules comparable to those in the Acarangasutra, while the
Ratnakarandasravakacara of Samantabadhra and the Sagaradharmamrita of
Ashadhara (13th century a.d.) provide ethical instruction for lay people.
This listing does not nearly exhaust the selection of anuyoga cited
herein. Among the extra-canonical works, we include several passages from
the Nitivakyamrita of Somadeva (10th century a.d.), a Jain classic on
polity.
Buddhism
The Buddha, born Siddhartha Gautama (c. 581-501 b.c.)[6], taught in India,
where Buddhism flourished for nearly fifteen hundred years and where most
of its basic scriptures were written. There Buddhism evolved into many
schools, of which two major branches survive: Theravada Buddhism which
spread to Sri Lanka and throughout Southeast Asia, and Mahayana Buddhism
which spread northward to Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan.
Eventually Buddhism would nearly disappear from India, and these two
branches thence developed independently until this present ecumenical age.
Theravada Buddhism, the "teaching of the elders," claims to preserve the
original teaching of the Buddha. It teaches the ideal of the arahant
(Skt. arhat), one who has achieved liberation from all fetters of selfhood
and craving. The goal of liberation, Nibbana (Skt. Nirvana), can be
reached through self-purification and proper understanding of the Dhamma
(Skt. Dharma), which is specifically the Four Noble Truths: (1) all
existence is dukkha, suffering: we must inevitably live with things we
dislike and separate from things we like; (2) suffering is due to grasping
for existence and craving (tanha) for the pleasures of sense and mind; (3)
the cessation of suffering comes with giving up all craving and grasping;
and (4) the practice that leads to the cessation of suffering is the Noble
Eightfold Path. This path to salvation requires constant practice and
training; there is no appeal to divine grace.
More important than ascetic practices, which can be counterproductive by
promoting a false sense of pride, is the realization that the self has no
reality; it is a mirage born of conditioning and is, like the body,
impermanent. As there is no self, also there is no God in the sense of a
Being with whom one could identify his Self (as in the Hindu Atman).
Buddhism demotes the Hindu deities to the level of spirits, conditioned by
their own past lives as human beings and hence liable at some time to be
reborn; they are not yet liberated.
The path of the monk, who has abandoned ties with worldly life, greatly
facilitates progress towards the ultimate goal. Lay people generally
pursue the more modest goal of gaining merit by ethical living and
contributing to the welfare of the order of monks. Yet the Theravada
tradition has its lay saints who achieved the highest meditative states
and became wholly enlightened.
The Theravada scriptures are written in Pali, a language formerly of
northwestern India; with the advent of Buddhism Pali became the common
language among the Buddhist monks of South Asia. The canon of Theravada
scriptures is called the Tipitaka (Skt. Tripitaka) or Three Baskets, and
they are divided as follows: the Vinaya Pitaka, collections of rules and
precepts for the order of monks; the Sutta Pitaka, discourses and
dialogues of the Buddha; and the Abhidhamma Pitaka, scholastic and
philosophical treatises. Most of the passages selected from the Tipitaka
for this anthology are taken from the books of the second basket, the
Sutta Pitaka.
The most well-known and widely quoted scripture among them is the
Dhammapada or Verses of Righteousness. A book of pithy sayings on
Buddhist practice and ethics, it has been called the Buddhist counterpart
to the Bhagavad Gita, and it is a basic text for the education of school
children in Theravada Buddhist countries. Another basic text is the
Khuddaka Patha or the Short Section; it is layman's prayer book containing
a simple catechism, precepts, and teachings. Three other important books
containing material stemming from the Buddha himself are the Sutta Nipata,
the Udana, and the Itivuttaka. They contain short, often rational
teachings by the Buddha about the way to the liberation on leading a life
of balance and self-control, and condemnations of prejudice and
traditionalism. The Theragatha and Therigatha are verses describing the
experiences of early monks and nuns, and the Petavatthu is a book of
stories of ghosts and spirits: these are among the 15 books comprising the
division (nikaya) of the Sutta Pitaka called the Khuddaka Nikaya.
The remainder of the Sutta Pitaka contains texts organized by divisions:
the Digha Nikaya, long, mainly narrative discourses; the Majjhima Nikaya,
medium length discourses on the application of Buddhist teaching or
dhamma; the Samyutta Nikaya, prescriptions on Buddhist life connected by
subject; and the Anguttara Nikaya, numerically arranged discourses.
Beyond the Pali Tipitaka are semi-canonical works of wide acceptance: from
the Jataka stories of Buddha's previous lives, the Visuddimagga or Path of
Purification by Buddhaghosa, and the Questions of King Milinda where the
Greek King Menander (2nd century b.c.) inquires of the Buddhist sage
Nagasena. We have made use of the traditional biography of the Buddha,
the Buddhacarita by Ashvaghosha (c. 100).
Mahayana Buddhism, the Great Vehicle, is divided into many schools, each
with its own favorite scriptures. These schools concur with most of the
fundamental doctrines found in Theravada Buddhism (which it calls the
shravaka-vehicle), including the doctrines of no-self and the conditioned
nature of worldly reality. But many Mahayana schools identify an eternal,
transcendent reality, Tathata (Suchness), the Truth or Law which governs
this Universe. For the enlightened, everything is considered as a
manifestation of this Truth; within human beings it is present as the
Buddha Nature, the pure Mind, which is realized as one develops on the
path to Buddhahood. Suchness is by no means a Creator God in the sense of
Western religions; from the Buddhist point of view the word "God" is too
often loaded with connotations from other traditions to be helpful for
understanding Buddhism. Nevertheless, we find that Mahayana Buddhism
contains doctrines of Ultimate Reality and grace that are absent from the
doctrines of the Theravada school.
In addition, Mahayana Buddhism teaches the ideal of the bodhisattva (the
"Bodhisattva-vehicle"), the man of great compassion who gives himself for
the liberation of all beings. The absence of the reality of self means
that all things are interrelated and indivisible, hence the salvation of
the individual is inseparable from compassion for others. A third
distinctive feature of Mahayana Buddhism is that certain great
Bodhisattvas, which we may regard as the symbolic manifestations of the
Buddha's perfections of wisdom, morality, charity, and compassion, are
worshipped on the popular level as spiritual benefactors. In popular
Buddhism Kuan Yin (Jap. Kannon; Skt. Avalokitesvara), Amitabha Buddha,
Samantabhadra, and other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are worshipped and
entreated for grace and succor.
The vast Mahayana collections of scriptures are written in Sanskrit and
collected in Chinese and Tibetan Tripitakas. Each of the several Mahayana
schools of Buddhism venerates certain particular canonical scriptures,
supplemented by texts from the founders of the school. Yet despite the
proliferation of schools, all of them share a common core of belief and
practice, and hence there is much repetition in content among the various
scriptures. Most Mahayanists also accept the authority of the texts in
the Pali canon.
Among the most beloved of Mahayana scriptures is the Lotus Sutra
(Saddharma-Pundarika). It teaches the doctrine of the One Vehicle, which
promises that regardless of their particular sect and way of Buddhist
practice, all beings will surely attain Buddhahood. It contains the
doctrine of the eternal cosmic Buddha, whose abundant and universal grace
is the source of this salvation. Furthermore, the Buddha's salvation is
available to all through faith in the Sutra--the emphasis on faith has led
some Christian scholars to liken the Lotus Sutra to the Gospel. This
sutra is especially central to the Chinese T'ien-t'ai (Jap. Tendai) school
and the several sects inspired by Nichiren (1222-1282) in Japan.
Buddhists of the Pure Land schools, including in Japan the Jodo Shu
founded by Honen and the Jodo Shinshu founded by Shinran, rely on the
grace of Buddha Amitabha or Buddha Amitayus, the Buddha of Infinite Light,
to bring them into the Western Paradise (Sukhavati). Their total reliance
on grace, to the exclusion of human efforts which are condemned as a form
of self-seeking, is comparable to Lutheran Protestantism. The scriptures
of the Pure Land schools include the two Sukhavativyuha Sutras, which
describe the vows of Buddha Amitabha to lead all people to that Pure Land,
and the Meditation on Buddha Amitayus (Amitayur Dhyana Sutra).
The Garland Sutra (Avatamsaka Sutra) is the scripture of the Chinese
Hua-yen (Jap. Kegon) school. It is a vast collection full of rich imagery
and containing a wide range of teachings. Among them: Buddha is presented
as a cosmic principle and a manifestation of that principle, representing
Enlightenment itself; all things, all causes, all effects, are
interdependent and interpenetrating and should not be regarded from a
partial viewpoint; and the career of the bodhisattva is represented as
spanning ten stages of ever expanding awareness, inner peace, and
compassion for all other beings. The Gandhavyuha Sutra, the thirty-ninth
book of the Garland Sutra, sometimes stands on its own. It describes the
journeys of a seeker who travels all over India receiving religious advice
from fifty-five teachers from all walks of life and ultimately realizes
the highest truth.
The sutras on the perfection of wisdom (prajnaparamita) are widely
studied. This literature comprises sutras of various lengths: from the
short Heart Sutra (Prajnaparamita-hridaya Sutra), which takes up less than
one page, to massive sutras in 18,000, 25,000 and 100,000 verses. The
earliest and most formative for all the wisdom schools is the Perfection
of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra),
which deals with the doctrine of Emptiness (Sunyata) and the path of the
bodhisattva who "courses in perfect wisdom" to realize the six
perfections. Perhaps the most famous wisdom sutra is the Diamond Sutra
(Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra). Its brief and paradoxical
utterances which confound ordinary logic lead one to a deeper apprehension
of Emptiness.
Out of this tradition arose the meditation (Chin. Ch'an, Jap. Zen) schools
of Buddhism, comprising those which teach a gradual enlightenment--the
Japanese Soto Zen school--and those which emphasize sudden
enlightenment--the Rinzai school which was popularized in the West by
Suzuki Daisetzu. Ch'an was much influenced by Taoist naturalism, and this
has shaped Zen practice and the Zen ethos in Japan as well. The classic
Chinese expression of Ch'an is the Sutra of Hui Neng, also called the
Platform Sutra, by Hui Neng the sixth Patriarch (638-713) and founder of
the school of sudden enlightenment. This sutra's main teaching is the
identity of each person's original mind with Buddha nature. Sudden Zen
employs the koan. These are pithy and paradoxical statements which teach
emptiness by confounding the intellect, forcing the student back on his
own direct apprehension of Reality. The student may only gain entry into
truth by intuition, never by logic, and thence he may experience insight
(Jap. satori) corresponding with the Buddha's enlightenment. This
anthology includes selections from the collection of koans known as the
Mumonkan or Gateless Gate. It is a commentary on a group of forty-eight
koans compiled by Wu-men Hui-k'ai (Jap. Mumon Ekai) of Sung dynasty China.
The Lankavatara Sutra is a philosophical source for much of Zen doctrine;
it teaches that false discriminations of subject and object occur because
of the seeds of defilement which accumulate in the subconscious mind; in
reality all discriminated entities are empty; they are nothing but
creations of our mind.
A vast compendium of Buddhist teachings which is little known in the West
is the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, whose main theme is the Buddha nature which
is full of compassion and transcends the impermanent world of activity.
Better known is the Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti, in which a lay
bodhisattva shows himself superior at argument and possessed of more
supernatural powers than a congregation of Buddha's greatest disciples. It
teaches that one may aspire to Buddhahood while living in the midst of the
world--to be in the world but not of the world. This teaching is
fundamental to Nagarjuna's approach, where samsara and nirvana are
equated: in other words, nirvana is not a goal in the future but can be
actualized in the present. In the Surangama Sutra Buddha teaches one
disciple who nearly falls into lust the way to control the mind and hence
to progress towards Enlightenment. In the Lion's Roar of Queen Srimala a
woman lay follower evinces deep insight as she teaches about the Original
Mind which is inherently free of defilement. The Golden Light Sutra
(Suvarnaprabhasottama), popular in Japan, includes teachings on political
theory. The Sutra of Forty-two Sections is a popular ethical text
inspired by Theravada teachings.
In Tibet, the great teachers of Mahayana Buddhism: Nagarjuna, Shantideva,
Aryadeva, Vasubandhu, Dharmakirti, and others, are venerated as great
bodhisattvas, and among Tibetan Buddhists their writings are frequently
quoted as scripture. The works of the founders of the four traditions of
Tibetan Buddhism: Gyalwa Longchenpa, Sakya Pandita, Milarepa, and Lama
Tsongkhapa, are also venerated. World Scripture includes excerpts from
the works of the above authorities which are available wholly or partly
translated into English, in particular Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamaka Karika
and Precious Garland and Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of
Life (Bodhisattvacharyavatara). Nagarjuna was a formidable logician who
gave the foundational philosophical expression to the doctrine of sunyata
and to the identity of samsara and nirvana. Shantideva's work expresses
the ethic of the aspiring bodhisattva, who lives in the world unattached
to self while doing gracious deeds for the sake of others.
Buddhism in Tibet includes both orthodox Mahayana doctrine and esoteric
Vajrayana doctrine with its Tantric practices. Tantric practice, as in
Hinduism, uses yogic techniques, symbolic ritual, and the transmutation of
ordinary desire in order to transcend all desires by identification with
Ultimate Reality. The Hevajra Tantra, Kalacakra Tantra, and Guhyasamaja
Tantra are excerpted here; also included is the Tibetan Book of the Dead
(Bardo Thodol) which contains instructions for the soul on its journey into
the next life.
Confucianism
The religious world of China can be described as a complex blending of
many currents. The indigenous religion, characterized by reverence for
ancestors and striving for harmony with the forces of nature, was elevated
on the one side by the ethical ideals of Confucianism and on the other by
the mystical ideals of Taoism. With the introduction of Buddhism, which
after some conflict, harmonized with the older Chinese traditions, it
could be said that the traditional Chinese spirit became a blend of the
Three Teachings (san chiao): Confucianism in matters of education and
ethics; Taoism in regard to personal enlightenment as well as when
threatened by sickness or bad fortune; and Buddhism in regard to death and
the afterlife--these in addition to the traditional sacrifices offered to
the departed of the family and nature spirits. Modern western influences
on China, both through Christianity and Communism, have yet to be fully
integrated wit h this rich tradition. Because China's religious
traditions are so interwoven in the Chinese soul, it may be misleading to
discuss Confucianism or Taoism as independent religions, though this is
how they are customarily treated in the West.
Confucianism is a system mainly of ethical relations, defining values of
family life and the administration of the state. It also incorporated the
traditional Chinese veneration of ancestors and engendered a cult of
Confucius as the official patron of education and culture. Confucius
(551-479 b.c.) himself was a reformer who sought to lift up the most
humane elements in existing traditions of government and social life. He
urged his students to pursue an ideal of conduct, which he refereed to as
the way of the gentleman or the superior man. The superior man is
sincere, filial toward his parents, loyal to his lord, adheres to social
and religious forms (li), practices reciprocity--the Golden Rule, and has
a broad knowledge of culture. Most of all, he is humane (jen) towards his
relations, friends, and associates. Based on the obligations of filial
piety and the ethic of humaneness, society is ordered according to the
Five Relations: sovereign and subject, father and son, elder brother and
younger brother, husband and wife, and friend and friend. Yet it can
hardly be said that China as a whole has always lived up to Confucius'
teaching.
The ruler especially should be endowed with the virtues of the superior
man, and rule by example, rather than by force. A king who governs by raw
force does not deserve the name. A government that does not have the
support of the people will lose the Mandate of Heaven and will inevitably
be overthrown; hence there can be justification for revolution.
Confucius said little about divinity, but Confucianism has a religious
side with a deep reverence for Heaven and Earth, whose powers regulate the
flow of nature and influence human events. The cosmology of yin and yang
predates both Confucianism and Taoism, and is incorporated into both. The
ways of man should conform to the principles of the cosmos, or else they
will be frustrated. Therefore the Confucianist may consult the I Ching,
divining the changes in these natural forces in order to guide his life
properly. There is profound respect for nature, for all the myriad things
partake of Principle that is also the basis for a sincere mind.
The canonical scriptures of Confucianism are the Five Classics and the
Four Books. The Five Classics are, with some exceptions, the ancient
sources which Confucius himself studied, from which he drew his teachings,
and upon which he left his interpretive stamp. The Book of Songs (Shih
Ching) contains ritual and mythic odes, love songs, and songs describing
political life of China's ancient rulers from the tenth to seventh century
b.c.e. The Book of History (Shu Ching) contains speeches and decrees
attributed to the early Chou dynasty (1122-722 b.c.), especially
surrounding the reigns of the Confucian culture heroes: Kings Wen and Wu
and the Duke of Chou. The Spring and Autumn Annals (Ch'un Ch'iu) are
chronicles of the state of Lu. The Book of Ritual (Li Chi) is a
compilation of materials dealing with rites and proper social forms,
expressing the conviction that adherence to rules of social and ritual
propriety is an outward reflection of inner sincerity and uprightness.
The I Ching, (Book of Changes), is canonical for both Confucianism and
Taoism, but of its many ancient recensions only the version with
Confucius' commentary survives as one of the Five Classics. As mentioned
above, the I Ching is traditionally used for divination; but its
commentaries imbue the book's oracles with Confucian values. Its yin-yang
cosmology lies at the root of a metaphysics that has been adopted by
Confucianists and Taoists alike. Taoist handbooks on the I Ching
emphasize its use as a manual for divination, a guide for meditation and
spiritual growth, and as the foundation for systems of medicine, painting,
and martial arts.
The Four Books were selected by the Neo-Confucianist scholar Ch'eng I
(1032-1107). Together with the commentary by Chu Hsi (1130-1200) they are
the standard works of Confucian orthodoxy and the core of traditional
Chinese education. They are: the Analects (Lun y), a collection of
aphorisms by Confucius himself; the Great Learning (Ta hseh), a foundation
text for education; the Doctrine of the Mean (Chung Yung), a philosophical
exposition of Confucian thought;[7] and the Mencius, the work of
Confucius' greatest successor (372-289 b.c.). In addition to the Five
Classics and the Four Books, we have included selections from the Classic
on Filial Piety and some passages on the life of Confucius from the
classic of Chinese historiography, the Shih Chi by Ssu-ma Ch'ien (c.
145-85 b.c.).
Taoism
The Taoist viewpoint stands in a complementary relationship to
Confucianism, emphasizing the free and easy original nature of the
individual, unsullied by social convention, against Confucianism's
strenuous efforts to mold society and its emphasis on social forms and
ethical norms. The two traditions have coexisted in a balance,
complementing each other like male and female, summer and winter, yang and
yin. A Confucianist statesmen could retire to the country and find joy in
the natural aesthetic fostered by Taoism.
Taoism teaches that the way to a good society is not through educating man
to society's norms, but through stripping them away to arrive at a state
of nature. The Taoist sages seek mystical identification with the great
pattern of nature, the impersonal Tao, through meditation and trance. In
attaining union with nature and its Tao, the sage becomes nameless,
formless, and simple, yet paradoxically gains the Tao's te, which may be
translated "virtue" or "power." By doing nothing (wu-wei) he attains
everything because he will spontaneously unite with nature and find his
own original self. But to cling to human distinctions and to try and
force a certain result is to go out of harmony with the Tao and accomplish
nothing. The ideal Taoist ruler should do nothing to encourage wealth or
power, for that would just lead to thievery and usurpation. Rather he
should "empty people's minds and fill their bellies" in a state of
primitive simplicity.
The chief scripture of philosophical Taoism is the Tao Te Ching. It is
attributed to the legendary Taoist founder Lao Tzu, who is traditionally
believed to have lived slightly before Confucius. Written in a terse and
cryptic style, it is difficult to translate, as the many divergent English
translations attest. The second Taoist scripture is the Chuang-tzu, whose
earliest strata date from the fourth century b.c. Its vivid imagery, in
parables and metaphorical tales, contains the essence of early Taoist
thought.
A chief emphasis of Taoism is the pursuit of long life. In the popular
mind, Taoist sages are thought to have attained longevity and to have
become virtually immortal. Institutional Taoism--in contrast to the
philosophical Taoism of the texts described above--promoted systems of
inner hygiene that have become popular throughout the Orient: through
proper diet and exercise and by regulating breathing one opens the inner
channels of the body to nature's vital forces. The achievements of
Chinese medicine and the various schools of martial arts are all practical
outgrowths of Taoism and rely upon Taoist science and metaphysics. Taoism
also includes a vast canon of mystical and ritual texts, most of them
unavailable in English. There is a pantheon of Taoist deities, immortals,
and ancestors from whom people may seek favors and beseech expiation for
their sins. Taoist texts often emphasize divine rewards and punishments
which affect both one's lifespan and destiny in the hereafter. In this
anthology, popular religious Taoism is represented by two ethical tracts:
the Treatise on Response and Retribution (T'ai-Shang Kan-Ying P'ien) and
the Tract of the Quiet Way (Yin Chih Wen).
Shinto
Shinto is the indigenous religion of the Japanese people. It coexists
with Confucianism and Buddhism, and the three religions are intertwined,
molding Japanese culture, ethics, and attitudes towards life and death.
Shinto is centered on the worship of the myriad deities called kami. The
kami embody what is numenous, or spiritual. They include the spirits
embodied in natural objects and phenomena--wind and thunder, sun,
mountains, rivers and trees; ancestral and guardian spirits of the nation
and of its clans--especially the Imperial family; and the spirits of
national heroes and people who have contributed to civilization. Chief
among the kami is Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess and patron deity of Japan. In
spite of this polymorphism, the kami operate harmoniously for the world's
benefit, and hence they are often regarded as a collective whole and may
be referred to by some authors as "God." Unlike western religions, there
is not a great distinction between man, nature, and the deities; man is
endowed with life and spirit from the kami and his ancestors, and finally
he becomes a kami. The kami may be revered anywhere, but most worship
takes place in shrines, which are usually located in beautiful natural
surroundings. Through devotion to the kami, one can be united with them
and attain the state of having a bright, clear mind.
Shinto ethics stresses makoto, literally "roundedness," which connotes
inner harmony and sincerity. The good is found in sincerity of heart,
good will, and cooperation. Evil is to possess an evil heart, selfish
desire and hatred, and to cause social discord. Thus, ethics is not
defined by a code of commandments; instead it is a matter of inner
sincerity and harmonious human relations.
The living Shinto faith is mediated by the shrines and the rituals
performed there. Every home has its kamidana, or god-shelf, which is the
focus of daily offerings and worship. The local shrine with its annual
festival is the focus of the community. More important shrines are
visited on special occasions: weddings, New Year's Day, and public
holidays. The kagura is danced at the shrines by the miko, female
attendants who are a survival of an earlier shamanistic heritage. In
Shinto outstanding personages, such as the Emperor, are regarded as
ikigami, living kami--meaning that the divine is already manifested in
them. It is wrong, however, to equate their status with God in an
absolute sense (a mistake that is sometimes made in speaking of the
Emperor's "divinity").
Shinto is not a religion mediated by written scriptures. Nevertheless,
certain writings are central to Shinto and embody its spirit. The classics
of Shinto are the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, which contain the mythology
of the kami, the founding of Japan and its imperial line, and the records
of the early emperors. Shinto ritual texts excerpted include Engishiki on
purification and the Kagura-uta, ritual dances. There are a number of
oracles associated with Shinto shrines which have wide influence. The
Man'yoshu is a collection of poetry from the Nara period
(700-1150).
Later sources of Shinto include poetry and didactic texts: One Hundred
Poems about the World (Yo no naka hyaku-shu) by Moritake Arakida (c.
1525), which has been called the "Analects of the Ise Shrine" and is used
in children's moral education; Divine Injunctions (Jingikun) by Ekken
Kiabara (1630-1714); Records of the Divine Wind (Shinpuki) by Mochimasa
Hikita (ca. 1660); One Hundred Poems on the Way of Death (Shido hyaku-shu)
by Naokata Nakanishi (1643-1709); and One Hundred Poems on the Jeweled
Spear (Tamaboko Hyaku-shu) by Norinaga Motoori (1730-1801).
African Traditional Religions
There are more than one hundred million adherents of the various
traditional religions of Africa, North America, South America, Asia, and
the South Pacific. While many of these religions are restricted to
village and tribal societies, others are vigorous in urban areas, where
they offer dimensions of the sacred in the midst of an industrializing
society. Some are even expanding to the status of world religions: the
Yoruba religion, for example, has more than 30 million adherents and has
spread from its homeland in Nigeria to Brazil and the Caribbean where its
variants go by the names Candomble and Santeria.
African traditional religion shows belief in a Supreme Being, a
transcendent Creator, who is at the same time immanent in His or Her
involvement in the lives of human beings and as the Sustainer of the
universe. African names for God are built on one or another of God's
attributes: as Creator he is called Nzame (Fang), Mu'umba (Swahili),
Chineke (Igbo), Ngai (Gikuyu), and Imana (Ruanda-Urundi); as the Supreme
Being his name is Oludumare (Yoruba), Mawu (Ewe), and Unkulu-Nkulu (Zulu).
As Grandfather or Great Ancestor he is called Nana (Akan) and Ataa Naa
Nyonmo (Ga); among the Kalibari she is Opu Tamuno, Great Mother. As Orise
(Yoruba) he is the Source of All Being; as Yataa (Kono) and Nyinyi (Bamum)
he is everywhere present; Chukwu (Igbo) means Great Providence who
determines destinies; Onyame (Akan, Ashanti) means the One who Gives
Fullness. As the Spirit of the universe he is Molimo (Bantu); as Heaven
or the Spirit of the sky he is called Nhialic (Dinka), Kwoth (Nuer), Soko
(Nupe), Olorun (Yoruba); and by the Igbo name Ama-ama-amasi-amasi he is
Who is Never Fully Known. Despite the many names and representations of
God which vary from one part of Africa to another, the people recognize
that they all refer to one Supreme Being, whose dominion extends through
the length and breadth of the universe.
Below the Supreme Being, and more immediately felt as influencing human
affairs, is a constellation of subordinate deities and ancestral spirits.
Human beings depend upon the intercession and activity of good deities and
spirits to protect them from disease and misfortunes which are often
caused by malevolent powers and spirits. Prayers, offerings, rituals, and
an ethical life help gain God's blessing and the assistance of good
deities and ancestors. African traditional religions also place great
importance on the community. Members of the same village or community are
expected to help each other and share each other's burdens, as social
solidarity is the norm. The community is held together by its traditions,
as expressed in ritual and handed down by elders, priests, shamans, and
gifted spiritual leaders.
Native American Religions
Native American religions recognize that the natural world is pervaded by
the primary generative spiritual forces. In the Native American world
view, all beings are related, both physically and emotionally, and there
is no sharp distinction between natural and supernatural entities. This
world with its divine powers is symbolized in ritual by the six
directions: North, South, East, West, the zenith, and the nadir, and by
the living entities which represent them. Hence the zenith is understood
as Grandfather (day) Sky, represented by Father Sun and the Thunderbirds;
the night sky, especially Grandmother Moon, is understood as female. The
nadir is Mother or Grandmother Earth, including all of her aspects which
give life and nourishment: Water, Corn Mother, Buffalo Mother, etc. In
many modern Native American cultures, the totality of the spiritual forces
may be referred to by a single term, examples being K'che Manitou in the
Ojibwa language of the Algonquin and Wakan Tanka in Lakot of the Sioux.
The goal of Native American religions is wholeness, to bring individuals,
the community, and all their relations (Earth, plants, animals, spirits)
into harmonious balance, to complete the circles of life, to walk in
beauty. Native American rituals are oriented toward communal wholeness.
Thus, the ritual use of tobacco, unique to the Americas, creates communion
both among the participants and with the sacred beings to whom tobacco is
offered in the sacred pipe. In many rituals, the participants strip
themselves to their essential being in order to approach the spirits with
humility and openness. Rituals of the sweat lodge, fasting, the sun
dance, the vision quest, and those using psychoactive substances all serve
to create the means for direct apprehension and communication with
spiritual beings. Through these means, individuals develop relationships
with spiritual entities that enable them to successfully live their lives
for the good of their communities.
Shamanism is widespread in most traditional religions. The shaman is
specially gifted with the ability to communicate with the spiritual world.
Since the unseen spiritual forces are recognized as in control of many
phenomena on earth, a shaman may be called upon to heal physical and
mental illness, to ferret out criminals, or to discover the reason for bad
luck. The shaman may go into a trance for many hours, accompanied by
dancing and the presentation of ritual objects. Other participants may
join in the trance as well, as they try to cure the afflicted soul.
South Pacific Religions
The traditional religions of the South Pacific are represented by a
tradition from Tahiti and a legend of the Maori of New Zealand. Maori and
Polynesian legends celebrate the prowess of those ancestors who bested the
elements, explored and settled new islands, and won preeminence over their
brethren. These heroes sometimes attained their goals through clever
ruses, sometimes were adept at magic, and sometimes showed bravery in war.
Some emerged as heroes despite low social status; some were impetuous and
had to atone for their own mistakes; many had to deal with strife within
their own families. Yet underneath is a deep longing for peace and
harmony, even though it is rarely attained.
New Religions
The new religions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with an
aggregate membership of over 130 million people, comprise the fastest
growing segment of the religious life on this planet. They demonstrate
the continued vitality and freedom of the spirit, which ever seeks to
break out of conventional institutional forms. Most of the new religions
may be regarded as offshoots of older religious traditions. Although they
are often grouped together on sociological grounds, from the viewpoint of
their religious content they resemble their parent religions far more than
they resemble each other. Some new religions have been accepted by their
parent communities as expressions of orthodoxy: for example the Hare
Krishna movement is accepted by many Hindus and some of the African
independent churches have been reconciled with the leaders of mainline
Christianity. Others, like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the followers of Yogi Bhajan, claim
that they are continuous with an established world religion despite
conflict with its leaders and institutions.
We have alluded previously to the problems of defining scriptures for
these new religions. In some cases the founder is still alive and giving
messages which have yet to be digested into scripture. Many religions
which regard themselves as continuous with their parent tradition utilize
the parent tradition's scripture in teaching their doctrines. A few have
distinctive texts suitable for inclusion in World Scripture--be they
official scripture, an interpretation of an older scripture, the informal
record of new revelations, or a collection of the founder's speeches.
First, there are new sects and movements in Hinduism both in India and the
West, for example, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, the Theosophical Society,
Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj, Ananda Marga, Transcendental Meditation, the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Hare Krishna), and
movements centering on Meher Baba, Sathya Sai Baba, Bhagwan Rajneesh, and
others. Some of these movements are eclectic and controversial in
relation to their orthodox traditions, yet to a large extent their
teachings are founded upon traditional scriptures which are well
represented in World Scripture. For example, the International Society
for Krishna Consciousness is a sect of Vaishnavite Hinduism which relies
upon the Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagavatam. The same consideration
applies to the western missions of Buddhists (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche,
Hsuan Hua), Sikhs (Yogi Bhajan, Kirpal Singh), and Taoists (George Ohsawa,
Macrobiotics).
The rapid industrialization of Japan in the last century brought with it
the rise of a number of new religions, many of which have missionary
presences around the world. Several Buddhist lay movements are offshoots
of the branch of Japanese Buddhism founded by Nichiren (1222-1282) and
rely upon the Lotus Sutra as their scripture. These include Rissh-o
K-osei Kai, whose leader, Nikky-o Niwano, has been much involved in
international peace movements, and S-oka Gakkai, founded by J-ozaburo
Makiguchi, whose political wing, the Komeito party, is a strong force in
the Japanese Diet. Another new religion with Buddhist roots is Agon-shu,
which uses the Dhammapada and other Theravada sutras as scripture combined
with esoteric Shingon Buddhist practices.
The new religions with Shinto roots have unique scriptures of their own.
First among the new religions of Japan was Tenrikyo. Founded by Miki
Nakayama (1798-1887), its central scriptures are three collections of her
revelations: Mikagura-uta, Ofudesaki, and K-oki. They teach that God,
Tsukihi, is the divine Parent who longs for people to purify their minds
from defiling "dust" and receive healing power and grace. Tsukihi means
Sun and Moon, indicating the union of yin and yang, male and female.
The main sanctuary at Tenri is believed to be at the place of the creation
of the world, and in the ritual ten couples dance around the central
column of this shrine which symbolizes the central pillar of the earth.
The millennium is coming when heavenly dew will descend on the shrine at
Tenri and enter the planet's omphalos. Tenriky-o encourages voluntary
charitable activity and loving deeds to remove the dust that accumulates
on one's character.
Other new religions have combined Shinto with ideas from Christianity,
Buddhism, and Shamanism. -Omoto Kyo, The Great Foundation, was founded by
Nao Deguchi in 1892. Internationalist from the beginning (i.e.,
advocating the use of Esperanto), and for a time suppressed by the
government, it teaches that God is the all-pervading Spirit, demanding
that people work for unity and universal brotherhood. We include excerpts
from its scripture Michi-no-Shiori.
Sekai Kyusei Kyo, The Church of World Messianity, was founded by Mokichi
Okada (1882-1955), a former staff member of Omoto Kyo who in 1926 received
revelations and was empowered to be a channel of God's Healing Light
(jorei) to remove illness, poverty, and strife from the world and
inaugurate a new messianic age. Okada's teaching is represented by the
scripture Johrei, which has been edited and translated by the Society of
Johrei, an offshoot of Okada's movement.
The founder of Mahikari, Yoshikazu Okada (1901-1974), was a member of
Sekai Kyusei Kyo before receiving his own revelations in 1959 which have
been collected into a scripture called Goseigen. The two sects Mahikari
and Sukyo Mahikari both practice a nearly identical form of healing called
okiyome, in which God's Light (jorei) is focused through a pendant worn by
the practitioner called the omitama.
The doctrines of Seicho-no-Ie, that mind is the sole reality and that the
body can be healed through faith and mental purification, bear a marked
resemblance to those of Christian Science. The teachings of its founder
Masaharu Taniguchi, who had also been a member of Omoto Kyo, are
represented by the Nectarean Shower of Holy Doctrines, Song of the Angel,
and Holy Sutra for Spiritual Healing.
Perfect Liberty Kyodan, founded by Miki Tokuharu in 1926, combines
elements of Shinto and Buddhism. It worships "the Supreme Spirit of the
universe" but also stresses the role of ancestral spirits as part of one's
karma. In stressing Life is Art, Perfect Liberty Kyodan draws upon the
Buddhist teaching of non-self, by which what is truly authentic in a
person comes to spontaneous expression.
[INSERT: New section on Shinreikyo]
Korea, since the 1960s, has seen the emergence of religious movements
seeking to rediscover the indigenous Korean religion, that ancient
religion which is believed to have prevailed prior to the importation of
Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity. These movements include the Tan
Goon Church, named after Tan Goon, the ancestor of the Korean people; the
Tae Jong Church, the Han Il Church, the Chun Do Church, and countless
small groups of folk religionists. The ancient thought of Korea has been
preserved in several scriptures, the most important being the Chun Boo
Kyung. This scripture is a chart of 81 Chinese characters, arranged in a
square of nine rows and nine columns. The chart is quite cryptic, and its
characters can be read in every possible combination of rows, columns, and
diagonals. Yet it has yielded extensive interpretations revealing the
principle of Heaven which governs man and the cosmos and by which life can
pros per. This natural law is expressed by the significant numbers one to
ten.
The Baha'i Faith grew out of nineteenth century Islam, and much of its
teaching is congruent with traditional Islamic, and especially Sufi, ideas
of man's mystic love for and union with God. It departs from Islam,
however, with the proclamation that humanity has entered a new age of
world unity and that the spiritual impulse for the new age has been given
by God's new messenger and messiah, Baha'u'llah. The Baha'i scriptures
have been gleaned and assembled from the many letters of Baha'u'llah, his
forerunner the Bab, and his first disciples. We have included selections
from Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, the Book of Certitude
(Kitab-i-Iqan), the Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah, and Epistle to the Son of
the Wolf. Now more than five million strong, there are Baha'i communities
in most nations of the world.
Among the Christian-based sects and new religions, many retain the Bible
as their scripture, although it is given distinctive interpretation
through the revelations to their founders. Among them are the Seventh-Day
Adventists and the Jehovah's Witnesses, sects born out of nineteenth
century American Protestant millennialism which have large missionary
presences throughout the world. In the twentieth century, new Christian
groups tend to be more charismatic. They include the independent churches
in Africa such as the Kimbanguists in Zaire and the Brotherhood of the
Cross and Star in Nigeria. The Rastafarians are prominent in the
Caribbean.
Other new religions in the Christian family supplement the Bible with
their own distinctive scriptural texts. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, with a membership exceeding seven million, has three
revealed scriptures: the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl
of Great Price. The Book of Mormon is a translation from golden plates
received by Joseph Smith after the visitation of the angel Moroni.[8] It
tells the story of God's dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas
and Jesus' appearances among them. Doctrine and Covenants contains
revelations, prophecies, and decrees by Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and
other early Latter-day Saint leaders by which the church was constituted.
The Pearl of Great Price is a selection of revelations and translations,
including translations of certain Egyptian papyri containing writings
purported to be by Abraham and Moses and an autobiographical account of
Joseph Smith's call. These scriptures teach distinctive doctrines
concerning the nature of God, salvation, and the hereafter, and instruct on
rituals such as the baptism of the dead and eternal Temple marriages.
The Church of Christ, Scientist relies on Science and Health with Key to
the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. It contains her spiritualized
interpretations of biblical texts, where she meditated especially on the
healing miracles of Jesus. Christian Science teaches that mind is the
sole reality, while belief in the reality of matter is an illusion.
Disease and death, being properties of matter, are also illusory, and
hence disease can be healed through mental power alone.
Other new religions take their inspiration from sources outside of the
major world religions. These sources include the traditions of Hermetic
philosophy, alchemy, witchcraft, nature religions, spiritualism,
astrology, and psychology. In the West there has been a proliferation of
New Age and human potential groups, and as a representative of this group,
we have chosen passages from the texts of the Church of Scientology,
founded by L. Ron Hubbard. His writings describe a systematic
psychological technique for purifying the mind from negative influences
embedded in the subconscious mind in order to realize a state of "clear"
and spiritual freedom.
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