26 e) Review of major belief systems – Buddhism & Hinduism (more a way of life than a belief system.)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism

“Buddhism  is a nontheistic religion or (Pali : dhamma), “right way of living”, that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices largely based on teachings attributed to (Siddhartha) Gautama Buddha, commonly known as the Buddha (“the awakened one”). According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE. He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end their suffering through the elimination of ignorance and craving. Buddhists believe that this is accomplished through direct understanding and the perception of dependent origination and the Four Noble Truths. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is the attainment of the sublime state of Nirvana, by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path (also known as the Middle Way).

Two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized: Theravada (“The School of the Elders”) and Mahayana (“The Great Vehicle”). Theravada has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar etc.). Mahayana is found throughout East Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan etc.) and includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Shingon, and Tiantai (Tendai). In some classifications, Vajrayana—practiced mainly in Tibet and Mongolia, and adjacent parts of China and Russia—is recognized as a third branch, with a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, while others classify it as a part of Mahayana.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism

Hinduism  “Unlike other religions in the World, the Hindu religion does not claim any one Prophet, it does not worship any one God, it does not believe in any one philosophic concept, it does not follow any one act of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not satisfy the traditional features of a religion or creed. It is a way of life and nothing more”.

Part of the problem with a single definition of the term “Hinduism” is the fact that Hinduism does not have a single historical founder. It is a synthesis of various traditions, the Brahmanical orthopraxy, the renouncer traditions and popular or local traditions.”

“Hinduism is the dominant religion, or way of life, in South Asia. It includes Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism among numerous other traditions, and a wide spectrum of laws and prescriptions of “daily morality” based on karma, dharma, and societal norms. Hinduism is a categorisation of distinct intellectual or philosophical points of view, rather than a rigid, common set of beliefs. Hinduism, with almost one billion followers is the world’s third largest religion, after Christianity and Islam.

Hinduism has been called the “oldest religion” in the world, and some practitioners refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, “the eternal law” or the “eternal way” beyond human origins. Western scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots, and no single founder. It prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings (ahimsa), patience, forbearance, self-restraint, compassion, among others.                                                                                                               Hindu practices include daily rituals such as puja (worship) and recitations, annual festivals, and occasional pilgrimages. Select group of ascetics leave the common world and engage in lifelong ascetic practices to achieve moksha.”

Stay tuned for more on this subject next week

26 d) Review of major belief systems –

Catholics & early sects
Was originally a Jewish reform movement which grew under the influence of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth (son of Joseph) and later by Saint Paul. It was considered a Jewish sect for about the first 100 years.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Christianity “Early Christianity is the period of Christianity preceding the First Council of Nicaea in 325. It is typically divided into the Apostolic Age and the Ante-Nicene Period (from the Apostolic Age until Nicea). The first Christians, as described in the first chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, were all Jewish, either by birth, or conversion for which the biblical term proselyte is used, and referred to by historians as the Jewish Christians. The early Gospel message was spread orally; probably in Aramaic, but almost immediately also in Greek. The New Testament’s Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians record that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included Peter, James, and John. Paul of Tarsus, after his conversion to Christianity, claimed the title of “Apostle to the Gentiles”. Paul’s influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than any other New Testament authors. By the end of the 1st century, Christianity began to be recognized internally and externally as a separate religion from Judaism which itself was refined and developed further in the centuries after the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple.
Numerous quotations in the New Testament and other Christian writings of the 1st centuries, indicate that early Christians generally used and revered the Jewish Bible (the Tanakh) as Scripture, mostly in the Greek (Septuagint) or Aramaic (Targum) translations.
As the New Testament canon developed, the Letters of Paul, the canonical gospels and various other works were also recognized as scripture to be read in church. Paul’s letters, especially Romans, established a theology based on Christ rather than on the Mosaic Law, but most Christian denominations today still consider the “moral prescriptions” of the Mosaic Law, such as the Ten Commandments, Great Commandment, and Golden Rule, to be relevant. Early Christians demonstrated a wide range of beliefs and practices, many of which were later denounced as heretical.” Most prominent among these were the Gnostics or “knowers”. In the early church where were well over 100 documents that were referred to as Gospels or the Good News. The culling out of these to arrive at the four that appear in the current New Testament commenced in approximately 185 AD: Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel
“Of the many gospels written in antiquity, only four gospels came to be accepted as part of the New Testament, or canonical. An insistence upon there being a canon of four gospels, and no others, was a central theme of Irenaeus of Lyons, c. 185. In his central work, Adversus Haereses Irenaeus denounced various early Christian groups that used only one gospel, such as Marcionism which used only Marcion’s version of Luke, or the Ebionites, who seem to have used an Aramaic version of Matthew as well as groups that embraced the texts of newer writings, such as the Valentinians . Irenaeus declared that the four he espoused were the four “Pillars of the Church”: “it is not possible that there can be either more or fewer than four” he stated, presenting as logic the analogy of the four corners of the earth and the four winds. His image, taken from Ezekiel 1, or Revelation 4:6–10, of God’s throne borne by four creatures with four faces—”the four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and the four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle”—equivalent to the “four-formed” gospel, is the origin of the conventional symbols of the Evangelists: lion, bull, eagle, man. Irenaeus was ultimately successful in declaring that the four gospels collectively, and exclusively these four, contained the truth. He also supported reading each gospel in light of the others.”
The remainder of the New Testament narrative was determined during the council of Nicaea in 325 AD under the influence of Emperor Constantine. It is indeed interesting that the “Church” was seemingly kidnapped by the Romans once they understood both the political and economic opportunities. It is equally amazing that they have overcome the many examples of immorality and corruption that have infected the “faith” over the past two millennia. These include, but by no means are limited to: Source: http://www.christian-history.org/western-great-schism.html
“The Western Great Schism began on September 20, 1378 with the election of Clement VII in Avignon, France. He was the second pope elected by the same college of cardinals in six months, and for the first time in history there were two “legitimate” claimants to be head of the church in Rome.”
The inquisition which involved torture and in some cases execution of belief system heretics and which was not abolished by the Church until the 19th Century! More recently are the revelations of sexual abuse of minors by priests (which was kept under wraps for millennia).

stay tuned next week for more on this subjetc

26 c) Review of major belief systems – Islam

Islam was the first major monotheistic break away from the Roman Catholics and their numbers are on par with that group. It is the 2^nd largest major belief system after the Christians as a whole.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam                                                                                     “Islām is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion articulated by the Qur’an, an Islamic holy book considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Allāh), and for the vast majority of adherents, also by the teachings, normative example and way of life (or sunnah); it also is composed of prophetic traditions (or hadith) of Muhammad (c. 570–8 June 632 CE), considered by most of them to be the last prophet of God. An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim (sometimes spelled Moslem).

Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable and that the purpose of existence is to worship God. Muslims also believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. They maintain that the previous messages and revelations have been partially misinterpreted or altered over time, but consider the Arabic Qur’an to be both the unaltered and the final revelation of God. Religious concepts and practices include the five pillars of Islam, which are basic concepts and obligatory acts of worship, and following Islamic law, which touches on virtually every aspect of life and society, providing guidance on multifarious topics from banking and welfare, to family life and the environment.

Most Muslims are of two denominations: Sunni (75–90%) or Shia (10–20%). About 13% of Muslims live in Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country, 25% in South Asia, 20% in the Middle East, and 15% in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Stay tuned next week for more on this topic