World Religions: the Spirit Searching

WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT

SEARCHING

Jody Ondich

Ondich
DULUTH
World Religions: the Spirit Searching by Jody L Ondich is licensed
under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
License, except where otherwise noted.
CONTENTS
Introduction 1

I. About Religion
1. Sacred Spaces 21
2. Sacred Texts 29
3. Religion Resources 41

II. East Asian Origins

4. Daoism 47
5. Daoism Resources 82
6. Confucian Thought 84
7. Confucian Resources 98
8. Buddhism 100
9. Buddhist Resources 115

III. Indian Sub-Continent Origins

10. Hinduism 121
11. Hindu Resources 142
12. Sikhism 144
13. Sikh Resources 162
14. Jainism 164
15. Jain Resources 185

IV. Middle Eastern Origins

16. Judaism 193
17. Jewish Resources 220
18. Christianity 222
19. Christian Resources 251
20. Islam 253
21. Muslim Resources 275
22. Baha'i 277
23. Baha'i Resources 298

V. Tribal Traditions: Africa, Australia and the

Americas
24. History, Beliefs, Rituals, Legends 303

VI. European Origins: Paganism, Nordic, Wicca

25. Nature as the Sacred Text 349

VII. Syncretic traditions

Permissions 367
Quiz bank 368
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 1

INTRODUCTION

The human spirit seems to search for meaning in a

whole variety of ways. Some people use science to help
them search. Some practice physical disciplines. Some
find a leader to follow. Some study various philosophies.
And many use some variety of religious tradition or
spiritual expression to order their search, to name their
lives’ meaning, to structure their lives’ activities.
This text is a compilation of materials that talk about
just a few of the many ways that more recent human
groups have created religion and religious practice.
There are indications that truly ancient groups of people
also had religious traditions, but we are going to start,
in this text, with materials found within the last 4,000
years or so. Religions continue to evolve, of course, but
these given traditions in the text will have some basic
information about their histories, their belief, and their
structure, that can help the student of religion
understand them– at least at a basic level.
The text is set up, in part, geographically. Religious
traditions all begin somewhere, and it is the places of
origin that set a tone and feel for each of those traditions.

1
2 JODY ONDICH

There will be chapters indicating specific faiths, and with

each geographic section containing, as well, a whole set
of links to interesting outside resources, many that could
provide additional activities, information, or
assignments.
There will be traditions that are not included here.
Truthfully, the study of humans and religion, spiritual
quests and faith is enormous. One could not possibly
cover it all. But knowing something about various large
and global traditions is essential in our increasingly
mobile and interactive world.
(Because this text uses materials that are Creative
Commons Licensed, there is mixing of materials from
various sources together with my own writing. Errors
are completely mine, and I will certainly look to fix
anything found here. The sources for each chapter are
found at the end of the chapter. Creative Commons
licensing allows for serious editing, and you may find it a
little unusual compared to the normal academic writing.
OER textbooks will frequently be an interesting mashup
of various sources, resources, voices and ideas. The
unifying link in all of this material is that the editing
author chooses what to include, and how to format it.
The major voices in each chapter include that of the
editing author, but also those academics who have made
their materials Creative Commons licensed for use, re-
use and attribution. Their contributions will be in the
bibliography for each chapter of the book, and sometimes
in footnoted sections, as well. Parts of each chapter are
written by these outsides scholars, and parts by the
author of this text. These are frequently woven together
in any one paragraph or page! Understanding how this
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 3

composition process works is helpful when considering

using an OER textbook as a teacher or a student.)

Jody Ondich
Duluth, MN
October 2021
4 JODY ONDICH
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 5

PART I

ABOUT RELIGION

Religion describes the

beliefs, values, and practices
related to sacred or spiritual
concerns.

DEFINITION

The Latin origins of the word “religion”–In

Latin religiō originally meant ‘obligation, bond’. It was probably
derived from the verb religāre ‘tie back, tie tight’ (source of the
English word rely), a compound formed from the prefix re- ‘back’
and ligāre ‘tie’ (source of the English words liable, ligament, etc). It
developed the specialized sense ‘bond between human beings and
the gods’, and from the 5th century it came to be used for
‘monastic life’ – the sense in which English originally acquired it
via Old French religion. ‘Religious practices’ emerged from this,
but the word’s standard modern meaning did not develop until as
recently as the 16th century.

5
6 JODY ONDICH

In J. Ayto, Word origins (2nd ed.). London, UK: A&C Black.

More Definitions
Social theorist Émile
Durkheim defined religion
as a “unified system of
beliefs and practices relative
to sacred things.” To him,
sacred meant
extraordinary—something
that inspired wonder and
that seemed connected to
Émile Durkheim the concept of “the divine.”
Durkheim argued that
“religion happens” in society when there is a separation
between the profane (ordinary life) and the sacred. A
rock, for example, isn’t sacred or profane as it exists. But
if someone makes it into a headstone, or another person
uses it for landscaping, it takes on different
meanings—one sacred, one profane (secular).
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 7

Max Weber believed

religion could be a force for
social change. He examined
the effects of religion on
economic activities and
noticed that heavily
Protestant societies—such
as those in the Netherlands,
England, Scotland, and
Max Weber, 1918 Germany—were the most
highly developed capitalist
societies and that their most successful business leaders
were Protestant. In his writing The Protestant Ethic and the
Spirit of Capitalism, he contends that the Protestant work
ethic influenced the development of capitalism. Weber
noted that certain kinds of Protestantism supported the
pursuit of material gain by motivating believers to work
hard, be successful, and not spend their profits on
frivolous things. (The modern use of “work ethic” comes
directly from Weber’s Protestant ethic, although it has
now lost its religious connotations.)

Karl Marx viewed

religion as a tool used by
capitalist societies to
perpetuate inequality. He
believed religion reflects the
social stratification of
society and that it maintains
inequality and perpetuates
the status quo. For him,
Karl Marx (1818-1883) religion was just an
extension of working-class
8 JODY ONDICH

(proletariat) economic suffering. He famously argued that

religion “is the opium of the people” .

These definitions come from a singularly masculine

approach to the study of religions in our world, and some very
different approaches will come from female scholars, leaders,
and writers.

It may be useful to read this article about the place of

women in religion–Women’s Studies in Religion. Much
of the field of religious studies was considered a male
field of study, and yet women have been key parts of
religions across the globe for all of human history.
To quote the article,

“Although most
religions are male-
dominated in terms
of power structures,
female adherents are This is the photo used by those creating events
with the 1000 Women in Religion Project 1
the majority November 2018 Parliament of the World’s
participants in many Religions

religions, and a small

number of religious movements and sects—such as
Afro-Brazilian healing cults, Japanese Ryūkyū
religion, Christian Science, and Black Carib
religion—can be described as women’s religions to
the extent that the leaders and most of the adherents
are female (see Sered, 1994).
Women’s sacral power is honored cross-culturally
through specialist roles as ascetics, diviners, healers,
mystics, prophets, shamans, and witches. Frequently
women are leading organizers and participants in
purification, fertility, birth, and funerary rites and
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 9

carry the burden of preserving oral traditions.

Within many religions women prepare ritual food
and observe low-profile and often private rites
within the household (e.g., praying, fasting, chanting)
as a means of protecting their families and their
livelihoods from harm.
Although leadership positions are more associated
with male religious roles, women share with men
authority and leadership positions in many religions,
whether as bishops,
priests, and preachers
in certain Christian
denominations, as
priestesses in
traditional African
religion and Haitian
Vodou, as
Conservative,
Reform, and
Swearing-in ceremony of the first ever
GwètòDe held 2/25/2017 at National Black Reconstructionist
Theatre in Harlem NYC. GwètòDe’s are the Jewish rabbis, as
clergy of Haitian Vodou, representing the
interests of Haitian vodouyizan in a specific Buddhist teachers,
geographic region. The Haitian Constitution
of 1987 gave Vodouyizan the same rights as and in the rare but
practitioners of other faiths. not unheard of cases
of Hindu gurūs and
Daoist priests.
Some religions offer females certain roles and
communities that allow them to be independent
from the conventional domestic arrangements of
marriage and childbearing, as in women’s religious
orders in Buddhism and Christianity.
Stories of powerful female heroes, teachers, and
saints are preserved in many traditions. Women have
been active as founders of new religious movements,
including Mother Ann Lee, the eighteenth-century
founder of the Shakers in North
10 JODY ONDICH

America, and
Nakayama Miki, the
nineteenth-century
founder of Japanese
Tenrikyō. In the late
twentieth century
women-dominated
goddess-based
feminist spiritualties
became popular.
Depiction of Nakayama Kokan in Osaka Amid this colorful
doing missionary work. diversity it is clear
that the reasons
women become involved with and remain in
religions are many and complex and are subject to
the influence of various social, political, and
economic factors that inform women’s needs and
desires.”

According to the MacMillan Encyclopedia of

Religions, there is an experiential aspect to religion
which can be found in almost every culture:

[…] almost every known culture [has] a depth dimension

in cultural experiences […] toward some sort of ultimacy
and transcendence that will provide norms and power for
the rest of life. When more or less distinct patterns of
behavior are built around this depth dimension in a culture,
this structure constitutes religion in its historically
recognizable form. Religion is the organization of life
around the depth dimensions of experience—varied in
form, completeness, and clarity in accordance with the
environing culture.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 11

Religion is a social institution, because it includes

beliefs and practices that serve the needs of society.
Religion is also an example of a cultural universal,
because it is found in all societies in one form or another.
While some people think of religion as something
individual because religious beliefs can be highly
personal, religion is also a social institution. Social
scientists recognize that religion exists as an organized
and integrated set of beliefs, behaviors, and norms
centered on basic social needs and values. Moreover,
religion is a cultural universal found in all social groups.
For instance, in every culture, funeral rites are practiced
in some way, although these customs vary between
cultures and within religious affiliations. Despite
differences, there are common elements in a ceremony
marking a person’s death, such as announcement of the
death, care of the deceased, disposition, and ceremony or
ritual.

• Religious experience refers to the conviction

or sensation that we are connected to “the
divine.” This type of communion might be
experienced when people are pray or meditate.
• Religious beliefs are specific ideas members of
a particular faith hold to be true, such as that
Jesus Christ was the son of God, or that
reincarnation exists. Another illustration of
religious beliefs is the creation stories we find in
different religions.
• Religious rituals are behaviors or practices
that are either required or expected of the
members of a particular group, such as bar
mitzvah or confession of sins.
12 JODY ONDICH

Interesting Interview

In this show, you will hear about and explore the connotations
of the word “faith” in four traditions and lives: Buddhism,
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. You will hear Krista Tippet speak
with Sharon Salzberg, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, Anne Lamott,
and Omid Safi. You can click here to read the transcript or click
on the blue arrow to the right to listen to the podcast.

• The Meaning of Faith

Types of Religious Organizations

Religions organize themselves—their institutions,

practitioners, and structures—in a variety of fashions.
For instance, when the Roman Catholic Church emerged,
it borrowed many of its organizational principles from
the ancient Roman military and turned senators into
cardinals, for example. Sociologists use different terms,
like ecclesia, denomination, and sect, to define these
types of organizations. Scholars are also aware that these
definitions are not static. Most religions transition
through different organizational phases. For example,
Christianity began as a cult, transformed into a sect, and
today exists as an ecclesia.
Cults, like sects, are new religious groups. In the
United States today this term often carries pejorative
connotations. However, almost all religions began as
cults and gradually progressed to levels of greater size
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 13

and organization. The term cult is sometimes used

interchangeably with the term new religious movement
(NRM). In its pejorative use, these groups are often
disparaged as being secretive, highly controlling of
members’ lives, and dominated by a single, charismatic
leader.

Example

Listen to this account of Diane Benscoter as she describes being

a Moonie. She shares an insider’s perspective on the mind of a cult
member, and proposes a new way to think about today’s most
troubling conflicts and extremist movements.

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=3#oembed-1

Controversy exists over whether some groups are cults,

perhaps due in part to media sensationalism over groups
like polygamous fundamentalist Mormons or the Peoples
Temple followers who died at Jonestown, Guyana. Some
groups that are controversially labeled as cults today
include the Church of Scientology and the Hare Krishna
movement.
A sect is a small and relatively new group. Most of the
well-known Christian denominations in the United
States today began as sects. For example, the Methodists
and Baptists protested against their parent Anglican
14 JODY ONDICH

Church in England, just as Henry VIII protested against

the Catholic Church by forming the Anglican Church.
From “protest” comes the term Protestant.
Occasionally, a sect is a breakaway group that may
be in tension with larger society. They sometimes claim
to be returning to “the fundamentals” or to contest the
veracity of a particular doctrine. When membership in
a sect increases over time, it may grow into a
denomination. Often a sect begins as an offshoot of a
denomination, when a group of members believes they
should separate from the larger group.
Some sects do not grow into denominations.
Sociologists call these established sects. Established sects,
such as the Amish or Jehovah’s Witnesses fall halfway
between sect and denomination on the ecclesia–cult
continuum because they have a mixture of sect-like and
denomination-like characteristics.
A denomination is a large, mainstream religious
organization, but it does not claim to be official or state
sponsored. It is one religion among many. For example,
Baptist, African Methodist Episcopal, Catholic, and
Seventh-day Adventist are all Christian denominations.
Sunni, Shia and Sufi are all Muslim denominations.
Mahayana, Vajrayana and Theravada are Buddhist
denominations.
An ecclesia, originally referring to a political assembly
of citizens in ancient Athens, Greece, now refers to a
congregation. In sociology, the term is used to refer to a
religious group that most all members of a society belong
to. It is considered a nationally recognized, or official,
religion that holds a religious monopoly and is closely
allied with state and secular powers. The United States
does not have an ecclesia by this standard; in fact, this is
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 15

the type of religious organization that many of the first

colonists came to America to escape. There are countries
that have an official state religion, and these do then have
an ecclesia. You might find the chart (it’s on page 7 of the
link) in this article interesting: Which Countries Have
State Religions?

“In 2010, the Pew Research Center conducted a

demographic study of more than 230 countries and
territories. The results showed that an estimated 5.8
billion adults and children around the globe are affiliated
with a religious group, representing 84% of the 2010
world population—which at the time was 6.9 billion.
Following is the breakdown of groups based on the total
population of followers:

• Christians—2.2 billion followers (representing

31.5% of the world’s population)
• Muslims—1.6 billion (23.2%)
16 JODY ONDICH

• Non-religious people—1.1 billion (16.3%)

• Hindus—1 billion (15.0%)
• Buddhists—500 million (7.1%)
• Indigenous religions—400 million (5.9%)
• Other religions—58 million (0.8%)
• Jews—14 million (0.2%)

ACTIVITY

Check out this interactive map of World Religions

from PBS Learning Media
Source of this Data
The data presented in this interactive map was drawn
from the results of a 2010 Pew Research Center
demographic study of more than 230 countries and
territories. The study relied on more than 2,500
censuses, surveys, and population registers. This
addendum lays information out in text format, country
by country, for those countries not appearing on the
interactive map.

Some of these groupings, including Christianity, Islam,

Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism, are relatively easy to
define because they are organized around a central figure
and a sacred text or texts. While interpretations may
differ concerning the figure or texts, followers around
the world share certain fundamental beliefs. Other
groupings demand further information.”
Indigenous Religions, which include folk religions,
are closely tied to a particular people, ethnicity, or tribe.
In some cases, elements of other world religions are
blended with local beliefs and customs. Examples of folk
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 17

religions include traditional religions from tribes in the

Americas, Australian aboriginal religions, South Asian,
and African tribal traditions.
Non-Religious People refer to people who are
unaffiliated with a religion. This includes atheists (who
believe there is no God or gods), agnostics (who claim
neither faith nor disbelief in God), and people who do not
identify with any particular religion.
The Other Religions category is diverse and consists
of groups not classified elsewhere—often because
surveys do not include them by name. Examples include
Bahá’í, Jainism, Paganism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Taoism,
Unitarianism, and Zoroastrianism. Because many
countries do not collect the data, the Pew Research
Center did not estimate the size of individual religions
within this category.”
Religious syncretism exhibits the blending of two or
more religious belief systems into a new system, or the
incorporation of beliefs from unrelated traditions into a
religious tradition. Examples would include Candomble,
Rastafarian, Vodou, etc.

EXERCISE

Take a few minutes to try Pew Research Center’s Religious

Typology Quiz

• First take the quiz and get your result

• Then check out How Do Religious Typologies
Compare?
18 JODY ONDICH

Key Terms for the study of Religion

Religion:

Polytheism
a belief in many gods
Monotheism
a belief in one god
Pantheism
a belief that everything is god
Atheism
a belief that no god or gods exist
Agnosticism
a belief that no one can really know about the existence
of god
Dualism
a belief that reality is good and evil in conflict
Transcendent
the concept that the sacred is beyond this world
Immanent
the concept that the sacred is within this world
Animism
the religion that believes in the divinity of
nonhuman beings, like animals, plants, and objects
of the natural world
Cults
religious groups that are small, secretive, and highly
controlling of members and have a charismatic
leader
Denomination
a large, mainstream religion that is not sponsored
by the state
Ecclesia
a religion that is considered the state religion
Established sects
sects that last but do not become denominations
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 19

Sect
a small, new offshoot of a denomination
Totemism
the belief in a divine connection between humans
and other natural beings

Syncretism
blending of multiple religious systems into a new system

References:
J. Ayto, Word origins (2nd ed.). London, UK: A&C Black.

Durkheim, Émile. 1947 [1915]. The Elementary Forms of Religious

Life. Translated by J. Swain. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

Marx, Karl. 1973 [1844]. Contribution to Critique of Hegel’s

Philosophy of Right. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
Press.

Weber, Max. 2002 [1905]. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism and Other Writings, translated by Peter R. Baehr and
Gordon C. Wells. New York: Penguin.

“Religion and Public Life.” Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public
Life Project, 16 Feb. 2021, www.pewforum.org/.

“Introduction to Sociology 2e”. Authored by: OpenStax

CNX. Located at: http://cnx.org/contents/02040312-72c8-441e-
a685-20e9333f3e1d/Introduction_to_Sociology_2e. License: CC
BY: Attribution. License Terms: Download for free at
http://cnx.org/contents/02040312-72c8-441e-
[email protected]

“Women’s Studies in Religion .” Encyclopedia of Religion.

. Encyclopedia.com. 15 Mar.
2021 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.
20 JODY ONDICH

Gbh. “World Religions Map.” PBS LearningMedia, GBH, 24 Feb.

2021, wdse.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/sj14-soc-religmap/
world-religions-map/.

Barro, Robert J., and Rachel M. McCleary. 2005. Which

countries have state religions? Quarterly Journal of Economics
120 (4):1331-1370.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 21

1
SACRED
SPACES

“Your sacred space is

where you find yourself
again and again” (Joseph
Campbell)

We all live in a specific

place on the planet, and where we live impacts, in visible
and not so visible ways, the ways that we interact with the
world, with other people, and with our internal self. The

21
22 JODY ONDICH

child raised in prairie or tundra spaces may find the deep

forest intimidating or enclosing. The child from the
seaside may long for water in ways that the desert dweller
may not completely understand.
So the concept of Sacred Space will change from
people to people, during history, dependent on location,
belief and lifestyle. This unit will attempt to help us think
about the concepts that make a space Sacred.

Let’s start with a definition:

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, one of the

definitions of the word sacred is:
“b. Dedicated, set apart, exclusively appropriated to some
person or some special purpose.”

During the summer of 2010, PBS went on a quest to

find sacred spaces in eight cities across America. The
results of that journey is a curated selection which
appears in their City Guides to Sacred Spaces in Atlanta,
Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, New York, Portland,
Santa Fe and San Francisco (downloadable at pbs.org/
godinamerica/outreach). During this the staff thought
long and hard about what it is that makes a space sacred.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 23

Their definition of a sacred space includes the following:

Traditional Sacred
Space – A house of worship
designed and built for a
congregation to
gather, meet and enjoy
community for the purposes
of worship, liturgy and/or
ritual

Civic Sites – engineered

structures, secular in nature
and scope – usually built by
cities, state or government
entities

Landscape Sites –
sequestered spaces with
natural features including
water, trees, parkland which
encourage quiet meditation
and pause
24 JODY ONDICH

Memorial Sites –
markers of an event or
person, burial grounds,
cemeteries, sites of
conscience and memory

Spiritual Places that have

been imprinted over time,
or have been historically
seen as “sacred” a priori –
set aside for the public good

EXERCISE

Take some time to consider what you might have in the way of
Sacred Spaces in your community. There are likely Traditional
Sacred Spaces of some sort. What else can you think of that exists
in your community that is a Sacred Space of some sort?

• Go visit a sacred space, preferably one you have never

visited before. Take a look at things like layout, façade,
intent, function, and form in that space. Can you
describe what happens in this space? Can you describe
why it is considered “set aside”?
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 25

• Read this article from Tricycle, a US Foundation

centered on promoting Buddhist views. Sacred Spaces

Religions of the world use varied places and settings

for rituals, worship, burial, and other activities. Some of
these spaces become more universal in use, as a church
or synagogue or mosque might become, in many ways, a
community center. AA might meet there, exercise groups
gather, pre-schools find housing, clinics, tutoring
centers, counseling centers –all of these may use a sacred
space as well as the original congregation of people who
built it. Some are much more restricted in their use. A
monastery is not going to be open to the public, but lived
in solely by the Buddhist monks or Catholic monks who
dwell there. A labyrinth is limited in use to the walking
of it–this is not a park, nor a playground.

Key Takeaway: Creating Sacred Space

Look at how the concept of Sacred and Space come together in

this modern example from upstate New York: it’s a response to
the Covid pandemic.

• Pandemic grief and hope

Key Takeaways: Sacred Space from the secular

26 JODY ONDICH

George Floyd Memorial at Chicago Avenue & 38th Street, Minneapolis

One key place that has transitioned from secular market space
to Sacred Space is George Floyd Square. Read a bit about this:

• George Floyd Square opens quietly

Places become sacred because of their use, their intent,

their functions. As we look at various religions, we will
be looking at various ways that religions uses particular
kinds of spaces. We also will see, in news articles, in
research, in social media and in reflections that you
create, the ways that spaces become sacred and why they
become sacred.

EXAMPLES

There are a vast diversity of Sacred Spaces. You might enjoy

visiting some that may not have originally occurred to you as
being set aside as somehow sacred:

• Angkor Wat
• Brazilian Forest Reserve
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 27

• Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor

• Okapi Wildlife Reserve
• Joya de Ceren Archeological site
• Taj Mahal
• Masada
• Auschwitz Birkenau
• Singapore Botanic Gardens
• Independence Hall

“God In America.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service,

www.pbs.org/godinamerica/outreach/tour.html.

UNESCO, en.unesco.org/.

“The Buddhist Review – The Independent Voice of Buddhism in

the West.” Tricycle, tricycle.org/.

Adams, Beth. “Earth Altars: Sacred Spaces Honor Pandemic

Grief, Offer Hope for Future.” WXXI News, Public New New York,
2021, www.wxxinews.org/post/earth-altars-sacred-spaces-honor-
pandemic-grief-offer-hope-future.

Deena Winter, Minnesota Reformer July 22. “Quietly, Gradually,

George Floyd Square Is Open to Traffic for the First Time since
His Murder.” Minnesota Reformer, 22 July 2021,
https://minnesotareformer.com/2021/07/22/quietly-gradually-
28 JODY ONDICH

george-floyd-square-is-open-to-traffic-for-the-first-time-since-
his-murder/.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 29

2
SACRED TEXTS

Start by reading this

article from the New York
Times: What is the Meaning
of Sacred Texts?

Karen Armstrong,
author and former nun,
writes, “Our English
word ‘Scripture’ implies a
written text, but most
Scriptures began as texts
that were composed and
transmitted orally,” she
writes. “Indeed, in some
traditions, the sound of
the inspired words would
always be more important
than their semantic
meaning. Scripture was usually sung, chanted or declaimed in a
way that separated it from mundane speech, so that words — a

29
30 JODY ONDICH

product of the brain’s left hemisphere — were fused with the

more indefinable emotions of the right.”
The author of the article regarding Armstrong’s book about
scriptures, Nicholas Kristoff, says,
“Armstrong argues that this approach [literal reading]
misunderstands how Scripture works. It’s like complaining
about Shakespeare bending history, or protesting that a great
song isn’t factual. That resonates. Anyone who has been to a
Catholic Mass or a Pentecostal service, or experienced the
recitation of the Quran or a Tibetan Buddhist chant, knows
that they couldn’t fully be captured by a transcript any more
than a song can be by its lyrics. “

Armstrong states, in a way that helps the reader understand the

difference between something being insightful and something
being factual,

“Because it does not conform to modern scientific and

historical norms, many people dismiss Scripture as incredible
and patently ‘untrue,’ but they do not apply the same criteria to
a novel, which yields profound and valuable insights by means
of fiction,”
Armstrong writes:
“A work of art, be it a novel, a poem, or a Scripture, must
be read according to the laws of its genre.”

Many faiths have a rich history of revered and honored

texts, be they the word of God as revealed to prophets,
oral stories retold by one generation to another over
centuries, or the sayings of a Teacher written down
(eventually) into books. Looking at the history and
context of these writings is useful as one explores the
origins and developments of the world’s major faiths. It is
also important to understand that a number of religious
expressions have used and continue to use oral tradition
in passing on teachings, rituals, stories and rules. In some
places, oral tradition has never been and possibly never
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 31

will be written down in any formal way. In some other

places what is written down for a culture or group or
tribe may come after centuries of oral expression, passing
on stories, ideas, rituals and other values. And all writing
must be set into its context–when was it written, for
whom was it written, why was it written, what function
did it serve? All of these questions help us understand the
role of any sacred text.

Outside Reading

Read a bit of good basic information about sacred texts and

their development, style, and content here at
Britannica: Scripture: Religious Literature . In this you will find:

• A broad definition
• Characteristics of sacred writings
• How western or non-western writings differ

The use of sacred texts helps make tangible the beliefs

and history of a faith tradition. This can be useful in
approaching any particular faith. It can also, in some
ways, freeze a faith tradition in time. Cultural, historic,
and geographic context matters, as one considers what
has gone into making a text what it is. Reading any
text as if it were written today is to miss both the real
meaning, but also to miss the possible richness found
in its words and images and stories. In most faith
traditions, the interpretation of the written word matters
a great deal, and years of study is needed in order to help
32 JODY ONDICH

understand what is involved in something that seems, at

first, to be simple.
Let’s use an example
of how this
interpretation might
work. We will look at a
portion of writing from
the Hebrew prophet
Isaiah. Isaiah lived
in 8th century BCE. He
was a prophet after
whom the book of
Isaiah is named. His call
to prophecy in mid-8th
century BCE coincided
with the beginnings of
the expansion of the
Assyrian empire, which
was just to the east of Israel, and which threatened Israel.
Isaiah proclaimed, in poetry, prose and story, and
certainly in this following parable, warnings from
Yahweh to the people of Israel, whom he claimed were
abandoning their faith and ethics. We are going to look at
a story from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 5, verses 1-7.
If you do not know the agricultural importance of a
vineyard to the people of Israel, nor what work goes into
cultivating vines, then a story about a failed vineyard is
a little hard to follow. What’s the fuss here, and why is
the owner of the vineyard complaining? But if one starts
to understand that parts of the country of Israel are arid,
and only small numbers and types of crops thrive in some
of those places, one starts to have a little more context.
And then when the total disappointment of a failed crop
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 33

clearly means that the owner has no income, that this is a

true catastrophe, then we have even more context.
Still, this narrative is not just a story of a failed grape
crop. This story is making a point to the reader. We must
realize that this is no ordinary vineyard owner, but is
Yahweh, the God of Israel. And these are not really vines,
but are instead the people of Israel who are producing
“sour grapes”, unfit for eating or for making wine. Then
when we look at when this story is written, we see that
the people of Israel at this time are trying to become a
nation like any other surrounding them, and as a people
they are not following the basic commandments of their
faith, nor following Yahweh as commanded in the
covenant that they have with their God.
Surrounding nations are taking notice that Israel has
some decent water resources, has access to the ocean and
ports, and that it is a prime crossroads for trade routes.
The people of Israel are not faithful to their religious
origins, however, and the guidance and protection of
Yahweh seems to mean little to them any more–ambition
and power are seeming to be more attractive to the
people at the time of this prophet. So Yahweh, seen in
the story as the owner of this poorly producing vineyard,
is going to allow the vines–those people– to reap the
consequences of their current behavior and see how they
like those consequences. Yahweh symbolically throws
hands in the air and lets the surrounding nations deliver
those consequences, once the protection of Yahweh is
gone. One can, with a bit more historic and cultural
context, then, read the parable of the Vineyard owner in
the Hebrew prophet Isaiah, chapter 5: 1-7
34 JODY ONDICH

The Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard (NRSV)

5 Let me sing for my beloved my love-song

concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,

and planted it with choice vines;

he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.

3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem

and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard

that I have not done in it?

 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 35

When I expected it to yield grapes,

why did it yield wild grapes?

5 And now I will tell you

what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste;

it shall not be pruned or hoed,

and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.

7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts

is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
but heard a cry!

Analysis

When a reader starts to approach a Sacred Text, it is

important that they do a little research. The reader
should always ask:

• Who wrote this? (was it a priest? a scholar? a

storyteller? a prophet?)
• When was it written? (can you find a reliable
36 JODY ONDICH

date?)
• Where was this written? (location, location,
location matters)
• Who was the audience? ( common people?
religious leaders?)
• What form does this take? (Sayings? story?
poetry? instructions?)

When the reader knows a bit more about the who, what,
where, when and why of any Sacred Text, then the
material can begin to sing.

Exercise

Take a look at the Sacred Texts website for the British Library.
In it are articles, videos, data and reflection from experts in the
fields of sacred writings. British Library: Sacred Texts

• First, note the various traditions being considered in

the site
• Second, be aware that there are more traditions not
considered here then there are present for study.
• Third, look for other sites that may have resources
available. One such, which just offers the texts with no
commentary, is Internet Sacred Text Archive

There are many, many texts found in the religions of

the world, some of which will seem familiar, and some of
which you may never have heard.
They are a fascinating mix of advice, historical style
writings, rules, mythology, ritual, guidance and
encouragement. Each unit in the text will have links to
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 37

original writings for that faith tradition, translated into

English. Almost none of the sacred texts in the world
were written in English, however, so one must be aware
that there are nuances not found in the translation!

“You are what you believe in. You become that which
you believe you can become”
― Bhagavad Gita
“If you realize that all things change, there is
nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not
afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.”
― Lao Tzu, Daodejing
“Whoever destroys a single life is as guilty as
though he had destroyed the entire world and
whoever rescues a single life earns as much merit as
though he had rescued the entire world.”
–Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5; Yerushalmi Talmud 4:9
“He who knows and knows that he knows is a wise
man – follow him; he who knows not and knows not
that he knows not is a fool – shun him”
― Confucius, The Analects

Sacred Texts in so many traditions were created as

something resembling what we would call fiction. They
are written as literature, meant to educate, elevate,
inspire and support us, but not to give us rigid
interpretations of preconceived views nor absolutely
accurate historical narrative, and so reading them thus is
a mistake.

Example: A Mission

Reading Sacred Texts is tricky. Check some advice on how this

38 JODY ONDICH

is being done in modern times! Read about the impact that early
Mesopotamian culture had on Jewish, Christian and Muslim
writings, and how it makes clear that scriptures change with time
and culture and human interpretation. “An especially gifted scribe
would sometimes be required to address current preoccupations
by transforming and adapting the ancient traditions. He was even
allowed to insert new material into the stories and Wisdom
literature of the past. This introduces us to an important theme in
the history of scripture. Today we tend to regard a scriptural
canon as irrevocably closed and its texts sacrosanct, but we shall
find that in all cultures, scripture was essentially a work in
progress, constantly changing to meet new conditions. This was
certainly the case in ancient Mesopotamia. An exceptionally
advanced scribe was allowed—indeed expected—to improvise,
and this enabled Mesopotamian culture to survive the demise of
the original Sumerian dynasties and inform the later Akkadian
and Babylonian regimes by grafting the new onto the old.”

• A Mission to Reinterpret the World’s Sacred Texts

It is a mistake that people make fairly regularly,

however, and this style of reading sacred texts allows the
literalist to condemn or attack others for not reading and
accepting these sacred words in the same way that they,
as literalists, choose to interpret them. Fundamentalists
in various religions can cite passages from the Apostle
Paul to oppose same-sex marriage or the ordination of
women, they can quote the Torah to displace Palestinians
from land in Israel, or they can point to narrow, out of
context passages in the Qur’an to justify violence against
those that they want to attack for other reasons — but all
of that behavior and reading is an abuse and misuse of
those Sacred Texts, and does not reflect the role that they
have always been intended to play. We must know the
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 39

genre, the original audience, the writer, and the intent of

these writings in order to gain the wisdom that they have
on offer for all readers. This is true whether those readers
are believers or whether the readers approach the texts
purely as interested students of this material.

“Discovering Sacred Texts.” The British Library, The British

Library, 27 May 2015,
www.bl.uk/sacred-texts.

Internet Sacred Text Archive Home, www.sacred-texts.com/.

“Scripture.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica,

Inc., www.britannica.com/topic/scripture.

Kristof, Nicholas. “What Is the Meaning of Sacred Texts?” The

New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Nov. 2019,
www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/books/review/the-lost-art-of-
scripture-karen-armstrong.html.

Armstrong, Karen. The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred

Texts. Anchor Books, 2020.

Bhagavad Gita Free PDF – University of Macau. Translated by Lars

Martin Fosse, University of Macau, library.um.edu.mo/ebooks/
b17771201.pdf.

The Analects of Confucius. Translated by Robert Eno, University

40 JODY ONDICH

of Indiana, chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/
Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf.

“Dao De Jing (Eno) – Indiana University Early Chinese

Thought[B\/E\/P374 Fall 2010(R Eno The Dao De Jing
Introduction If You Walk into Borders Books or: Course Hero.”
Translated by Robert Eno, Dao De Jing (Eno) – Indiana University
Early Chinese Thought[B\/E\/P374 Fall 2010(R Eno The Dao De Jing
Introduction

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)New Revised Standard

Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian
Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in
the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.

Clayson, Jane, and Anna Bauman. “A Mission To Reinterpret

The World’s Sacred Texts.” A Mission To Reinterpret The World’s
Sacred Texts | On Point, WBUR, 4 Dec. 2019, www.wbur.org/
onpoint/2019/12/04/karen-armstrong-lost-art-scripture.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 41

3
RELIGION
RESOURCES

“…[It] is my firm belief that all religions aim at making

people better human beings and that, despite
philosophical differences, some of them fundamental,
they all aim at helping humanity to find happiness.”

41
42 JODY ONDICH

― Dalai Lama XIV, Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography

of the Dalai Lama

Useful Links

Pew Research Center Religion and Public Life

Lumen: sociology and religion
Humboldt State University OER for Religion
British Library: Sacred Texts
Harvard’s Pluralism Project
Religion Online
Alta Lib Guides
New York Times Religion and Belief
BBC: Religion
National Public Radio: Religion
Religion in American History: a list from OER
Commons
PBS Religion and Ethics
Ted Ed Lessons on Religion
OER resources on religion from Humboldt University
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 43

PART II

EAST ASIAN ORIGINS

The people of
Ancient China, before
the great traditions of
Daoism, Buddhism and
Confucianism emerged,
already saw patterns in
nature, had concepts of
yin and yang, venerated
their ancestors, and
followed other beliefs
associated with what is
called “the Chinese
way”. Over the
centuries, both Daoism
and Confucianism
Confucius presenting the young Gautama
Buddha to Laozi *Ming Dynasty developed these ideas
further but in different
directions. Combined with Buddhism, these three
traditions impacted the culture, the history and the
practices of Chinese life. By the twelfth century CE,
Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism—known as the
Three Doctrines—were seen as both complementary and
necessary to life in China. From that time moving
forward, these three sets of doctrines often overlapped,
and their rituals, architecture, and art integrated into

43
 44 JODY ONDICH

something more than any one specific element or

influence. This influence spread to southeast Asia, Japan,
Korea, and eventually across the globe.
One of the earliest references to the idea of the sanjiao
(literally “three teachings”) of Confucianism, Daoism,
and Buddhism is attributed to Li Shiqian, a prominent
scholar of the sixth century CE, who wrote that
“Buddhism is the sun, Daoism the moon, and
1
Confucianism the five planets.” Today many of their
ideas have migrated to other continents, been modified,
and adapted to new countries and contexts.

“The three teachings are a powerful and inescapable

part of Chinese religion. Whether they are eventually
accepted, rejected, or reformulated, the terms of the
past can only be understood by examining how they
came to assume their current status. And because
Chinese religion has for so long been dominated by
the idea of the three teachings, it is essential to
understand where those traditions come from, who
constructed them and how, as well as what forms
of religious life (such as those that fall under the
category of “popular religion”) are omitted or denied
2
by constructing such a picture in the first place.”

Example

1. Li’s formulation is quoted in Beishi, Li Yanshou (seventh century),

Bona ed. (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), p. 1234. Translation
from Chinese by Stephen F. Teiser.
2. *The text of this topic, Sanjiao: The Three Teachings, was
adapted, with the author’s permission, from “The Spirits of
Chinese Religion,” by Stephen F. Teiser.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 45

Take a look at this excellent summary of The Three Teachings

from the Center for Global Education: China Initiative.

• The Three Teachings

A little history of the era of Confucius and Lao Tzu

might be helpful, even if presented in a fast and frantic
way!

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from

this version of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=22#oembed-1

Green, John. “Crash Course: 2,000 Years of Chinese History!

The Mandate of Heaven.” Crash Course, PBS Studios, 2012,
youtu.be/ylWORyToTo4.

Asia for Educators, Columbia University. “Sanjiao: The Three

Teachings.” Living in the Chinese Cosmos | Asia for Educators, 2021,
afe.easia.columbia.edu/cosmos/ort/teachings.htm.
46 JODY ONDICH
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 47

4
DAOISM

The Daoists,
beginning with the
supposed founder,
Laozi (Lao Tzu), taught
about nature and its
operation and what it
meant to live
harmoniously with the
Dao. The Dao is said to
be the principle or
power that makes the
universe move through
the patterns and
rhythms seen in nature. Daoism arose around 500 BCE,
during a time when spiritual ideas were developing in

47
48 JODY ONDICH

both the East and the West. The Daoists saw the
trappings of civilization as something artificial or at least
far removed from the Dao, the source of all. Disdaining
formal education, Daoists advocated a more intuitive
path through life best conveyed through stories, or
described using images such as the movement of water.
Simplicity, gentleness, humility, seeing the relative nature
of things, and a certain earthiness were Daoist values.
Yet this apparent ordinariness in approaching life also
embodied a rather different way of looking at the world
and of being in it. Daoists sought a special effortless way
of acting to accomplish one’s purposes, which included
serenity and longevity.

Key Ideas

You will want to know a few key details about the history and
content of Daoism. Take two minutes to watch this Britannica
video, Q and A about Daoism.

• Key leaders
• Basic dates
• Key texts
• Definition of Dao
• Life goals

Two texts form the basis of Daoism: the Laozi and

the Zhuangzi. The Laozi—also called the Daodejing, or The
Way and Its Power—has been understood as a set of
instructions for self-cultivation. A number of terms
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 49

within its teachings are considered key to living within

the Dao.
When we look at very approachable translations of the
1
Daodejing and the Zuangzi by Robert Eno of the
University of Indiana, we get some excellent narrative
from him about this text (and this scholar’s materials have
been made available for free for teaching purposes, and
are included throughout this chapter):
“Everyone familiar with the field of Chinese thought
knows that Daoism sells in America and Confucianism
doesn’t. And it’s no wonder. Daoist books are beautifully
written, poetic, imaginative, and often playful. And as far
as serious thinking goes, Daoist texts sound deeply
profound, while Confucians have a tendency to seem
shallow and pedantic. One of the great attractions of
Daoist texts is actually that the sense of wisdom they
convey is so deep that it frequently seems impossible to
understand what they mean. But when we hear Laozi
utter majestic words such as, “Reaching the ultimate of
emptiness, deeply guarding stillness, the things of the
world arise together; thereby do I watch their return,” it
seems almost sacrilegious to ask precisely what he’s
talking about.
While the Confucians
were an identifiable
school during the
Warring States period
(450-221 BCE), with
teachers and students
who shared an identity
as disciples of the great
Master, Confucius,

1. https://ealc.indiana.edu/people/eno-robert.html
50 JODY ONDICH

there was, during the same period, no group of people

who called themselves “Daoists” or were labeled by that
term. The books we call Daoist are instead independent
works, negative reactions against Confucianism that
share many features, but whose authors were not
necessarily aware of one another or conscious of
contributing towards the formation of a school of
thought.
We do not know, for example, whether the authors of
the Daodejing and Zhuangzi were teachers with students
or merely solitary writers whose words were read and
passed down by friends and admirers chiefly after their
deaths. Only after the Classical period was long over did
scholars group these texts into a single school and coin
a name for it, calling it the “School of Dao” because of
the unique role that the authors of these texts assigned
to the term Dao. For these writers, the Dao was not just
a teaching that they promoted, in competition with the
Daos that other teachers offered.
For Daoists, the term “Dao” referred to a
fundamental order of the universe that governed all
experience and that was the key to wisdom and
human fulfillment.

Activity

Take a moment and listen to this Ted Talk about living in and
with Daoism

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 51

of the text. You can view them online here:

https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=56#oembed-1

The origins of Daoism

Daoism appears to have begun as an escapist movement

during the early Warring States period, and in some ways
it makes sense to see it as an outgrowth of Confucianism
and its doctrine of “timeliness.” That doctrine originated
with Confucius’s motto: “When the Way prevails in the
world, appear; when it does not, hide!” Even in the
Confucian Analects, we see signs of a Confucian trend
towards absolute withdrawal. The character and
comportment of Confucius’s best disciple, Yan Hui, who
lived in obscurity in an impoverished lane yet “did not
alter his joy,” suggest this early tendency towards
eremitism (the “hermit” lifestyle). Righteous hermits were
much admired in Classical China, and men who
withdrew from society to live in poverty “in the cliffs
and caves” paradoxically often enjoyed a type of celebrity
status.
52 JODY ONDICH

The legend of Bo Yi, a

hermit who descended
from his mountain
retreat because of the
righteousness of King
Wen of Zhou, led to the
popular idea of hermits
as virtue-barometers —
Daoist Priests Liturgical Robe Qing Dynasty they rose to the
1644 to 1911 19th century CE silk Jordan
Schnitzer Museum of Art mountains when power
was in the hands of
immoral rulers, but would come back down to society
when a sage king finally appeared. Patrician lords very
much valued visits from men with reputations as
righteous hermits, and this probably created the
opportunity for men to appear at court seeking
patronage on the basis of their eremitic purity. Possibly
during the fourth century, this eremitic tradition seems
to have generated a complex of new ideas that included
appreciation for the majestic rhythms of the natural
world apart from human society, a celebration of the
isolated individual whose lonely stance signaled a unique
power of enlightenment, and a growing interest in the
potential social and political leverage that such
renunciation of social and political entanglements
seemed to promise. The product that emerged from these
trends is the Daodejing of Laozi, perhaps the most famous
of all Chinese books. This, along with the Zhuangzi
attributed to Chuang Zu (or Zhuangzi) forms the
foundation of Daoist thought and teaching.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 53

Key Figures in Daoism

The main Taoist figures were Laozi, or Lao-Tzu (sixth

century BCE) and Chuang-Tzu, or Zuangzi (fourth
century BCE). They are notable for having characterized
the notion of wu wei or non-action, a key element at the
center of Daoist thought.

Laozi

Despite the fact that after his death he became one of

the world’s two or three bestselling authors, Laozi never
actually died. In traditional China, many people believed
that this was so because Laozi had possessed the secret
of immortality and had evaded death by transforming
his body into a non-perishable form, after which, being
able to fly, he had moved his home to heavenly realms.
Modern scholars believe that the reason Laozi never died
is because he never lived. There was never any such
person as Laozi. “Laozi” means “the Old Master.” Lao
is not a Chinese surname and Laozi was clearly never
meant to be understood as an identifiable author’s name.
54 JODY ONDICH

The Daodejing is an anonymous text. Judging by its

contents, it was compiled by several very different
authors and editors over a period of perhaps a century,
reaching its present form perhaps during the third
century BCE. However, the authorial voice in the
Daodejing is so strong that readers of the text were from
the beginning fascinated with the personality of the
apparent author, and among the deep thinkers who
claimed to understand the book, there were some who
also claimed to know all about the man who wrote it.
Pieces of biography began to stick to the name Laozi, and,
to make sure that readers understood that Laozi was a
more authoritative person than Confucius, his biography
came to include tales of his personal relationship to
Confucius. Laozi, it seemed, had actually lived before
Confucius and had actually been Confucius’s teacher.
Confucius had journeyed far to study with the great
Daoist master, whose wisdom he recognized.
Unfortunately, Confucius had not been wise enough to
grasp Laozi’s profound message and Laozi, for his part,
had found Confucius to be a well-meaning but
unintelligent pupil.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 55

Chuang Tzu

More commonly known as Zhuangzi (literally “Master

Zhuang”) lived around the 4th century BCE during the
Warring States period. He is credited with writing—in
part or in whole—a work known by his name, the
Zhuangzi.
The only account of the life of Zhuangzi is a brief
sketch in chapter 63 of Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand
Historian, and most of the information it contains seems
to have simply been drawn from anecdotes in the
Zhuangzi itself. Sima Qian writes:

“Chuang-Tze had made himself well

acquainted with all the literature of his
time, but preferred the views of Lao-Tze;
and ranked himself among his followers,
so that of the more than ten myriads of
characters contained in his published
writings the greater part are occupied with
metaphorical illustrations of Lao’s
56 JODY ONDICH

doctrines. He made “The Old Fisherman,”

“The Robber Chih,” and “The Cutting open
Satchels,” to satirize and expose the
disciples of Confucius, and clearly exhibit
the sentiments of Lao. Such names and
characters as “Wei-lei Hsu” and “Khang-
sang Tze” are fictitious, and the pieces
where they occur are not to be understood
as narratives of real events.”

Zhuangzi is traditionally credited as the author

of at least part of the work bearing his name,
the Zhuangzi. This work, in its current shape
consisting of 33 chapters, is traditionally
divided into three parts: the first, known as the
“Inner Chapters”, consists of the first seven
chapters; the second, known as the “Outer
Chapters”, consist of the next 15 chapters; the
last, known as the “Mixed Chapters”, consist of
the remaining 11 chapters. The meaning of
these three names is disputed: according to Guo
Xiang, the “Inner Chapters” were written by
Zhuangzi, the “Outer Chapters” written by his
disciples, and the “Mixed Chapters” by other
hands; the other interpretation is that the
names refer to the origin of the titles of the
chapters—the “Inner Chapters” take their titles
from phrases inside the chapter, the “Outer
Chapters” from the opening words of the
chapters, and the “Mixed Chapters” from a
mixture of these two sources.
Zhuangzi was renowned for his
brilliant wordplay and use of parables
to convey messages. His critiques of
society and historical figures are
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 57

humorous and at times ironic.

The Daodejing Example from

Psychology
Much of the attraction of the Daodejing is today
the product of its very powerful rhetoric.
It is written in a uniquely resonant style,
and fortunately it is possible to capture The
Wisdom of
some of this resonance even in English
Wu Wei:
translation. The arcane or mysterious Letting
style of the Daodejing is not an accident. Good Things
It seems very clear that the composers of Happen

the text wanted the book to be

mysterious. Part of the message that the
Daodejing is meant to convey is precisely that there is a
type of wisdom that is so subtle and esoteric that it is
difficult for ordinary minds to comprehend.

Key Point

The opening phrase of the text sets its tone: “A Dao that may be
spoken is not the enduring Dao.” What does this say about the
book we are about to read? Among other things, that it will not
tell us what the Dao is, since this is beyond the power of words to
convey.

In the original Chinese, the first line is famously

difficult to understand. Since the term that the text
chooses to use for the word “spoken” is Dao (which
58 JODY ONDICH

includes “to speak” among its meanings), the first six

words of the book include the word Dao three times
(more literally it reads: “A Dao you can Dao isn’t the
enduring Dao.”) Throughout the Daodejing the very
compressed language challenges readers to “break the
code” of the text instead of conveying ideas clearly. Every
passage seems to deliver this basic message: Real wisdom
is so utterly different from what usually passes for
wisdom that only a dramatic leap away from our
ordinary perspective can allow us to begin to grasp it.

Basic ideas of the Daodejing

The Daodejing is often a vague and inconsistent book and

it is sometimes tempting to wonder whether its authors
really had any special insight to offer, or whether they
just wanted to sound impressive. But the book does in
fact articulate ideas of great originality and interest, ideas
that have had enormous influence on Asian culture. The
following eight points are among those most central to
the text:
1. The nature of the Dao. There exists in some sense
an overarching order to the cosmos, beyond the power of
words to describe. This order, which the book refers to as
the Dao, has governed the cosmos from its beginning and
continues to pervade every aspect of existence. It may
be understood as a process that may be glimpsed in all
aspects of the world that have not been distorted by the
control of human beings, for there is something about us
that runs counter to the Dao, and that makes human life a
problem. Human beings possess some flaw that has made
our species alone insensitive to the Dao. Ordinary people
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 59

are ignorant of this fact; the Daodejing tries to awaken

them to it.

Key Takeaway: getting lost may be Dao

Try thinking through these ideas:

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=56#oembed-2

• The uncarved block–pure potential

• Remove ego–it’s not about me
• Get rid of any rigid plans, remove your destination
• Experiences are all valuable
60 JODY ONDICH

2. Changing
perspective. To
understand the nature of
human ignorance, it is
necessary to undergo a
fundamental change in
our perspective. To do
this, we need to
disentangle ourselves
from beliefs we live by
that have been
established through
words and experience
life directly. Our
intellectual lives,
permeated with ideas
expressed in language,
are the chief obstacle to
wisdom.
3. Value relativity. If
we were able to escape
the beliefs we live by and
see human life from the
perspective of the Dao,
we would understand
that we normally view
the world through a lens
of value judgments — we
see things as good or bad,
desirable or detestable.
The cosmos itself
possesses none of these
characteristics of value.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 61

All values are only

(Dàodéjīng) in Lesser Seal script.
human conventions that
we project onto the
world. Good and bad are non-natural distinctions that
we need to discard if we are to see the world as it really
is.
4. Nature and spontaneity. The marks of human
experience are value judgments and planned action. The
marks of the Dao are freedom from judgment and
spontaneity. The processes of the Dao may be most
clearly seen in the action of the non-human world,
Nature. Trees and flowers, birds and beasts do not follow
a code of ethics and act spontaneously from instinctual
responses. The order of Nature is an image of the action
of the Dao. To grasp the perspective of the Dao, human
beings need to discard judgment and act on their
spontaneous impulses. The Daodejing celebrates
spontaneous action with two complementary terms,
“self-so” and “non-striving” (ziran and wuwei). The
inhabitants of the Natural world are “self-so,” they simply
are as they are, without any intention to be so. Human
beings live by purposive action, planning and striving.
To become Dao-like, we need to return to an animal-
like responsiveness to simple instincts, and act without
plans or effort. This “wuwei” style of behavior is the most
central imperative Daoist texts recommend for us.
5. The distortion of mind and language. The source
of human deviation from the Dao lies in the way that
our species has come to use its unique property, the mind
(xin). Rather than allow our minds to serve as a
responsive mirror of the world, we have used it to
develop language and let our thoughts and perceptions be
governed by the categories that language creates, such as
62 JODY ONDICH

value judgments. The mind’s use of language has created

false wisdom, and our commitment to this false wisdom
has come to blind us to the world as it really is, and to
the Dao that orders it. The person who “practices” wuwei
quiets the mind and leaves language behind.
6. Selflessness. The greatest barriers to discarding
language and our value judgments are our urges for
things we believe are desirable and our impulse to obtain
these things for ourselves. The selfishness of our
ordinary lives makes us devote all our energies to a chase
for possessions and pleasures, which leaves us no space
for the detached tranquility needed to join the
harmonious rhythm of Nature and the Dao. The practice
of wu-wei entails a release from pursuits of self-interest
and a self-centered standpoint. The line between
ourselves as individuals in accord with the Dao and the
Dao-governed world at large becomes much less
significant for us.
6. Power and sagehood. The person who embraces the
spontaneity of wu-wei and
leaves self-interest
behind emerges into a
new dimension of
natural experience, and
becomes immune to all
the frightening dangers
that beset us in ordinary Zhang Lu (1464–1538)
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art states
experience. Once that it’s the Green Goat Immortal and the
weakness, poverty, Chester Beatty Library states that it’s the Blue
Goat Immortal
injury, and early death
are no longer concepts
we employ in our lives, we discover that such dangers do
not really exist. Once we are part of the spontaneous
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 63

order of Nature, it presents no threat to us and we gain

tremendous leverage over it. We have the power of the
Dao. This active power is wisdom, and the person who
possesses it is a sage.
7. The human influence of the sage. The selfless
power of the sage endows him or her with a social
prestige that cannot be matched by ordinary people. So
magnificent is the presence of the sage that those who
come into contact with such a person cannot help but
be deeply influenced. As in the case of Confucianism, de
(character, virtue, power) has power over other people,
who will spontaneously place themselves under the
protection of and seek to emulate the sage.
8. The political outcome. As the Daoist sage comes
effortlessly to subdue the world, he will necessarily be
treated as its king. The rule of such a king will be to
discard all human institutions and social patterns that
are the product of human intellectual effort and value
judgments. The people will be returned to a simple and
primitive state close to animal society, and this social
environment will itself nurture in the population a stance
of wuwei. Ultimately, the world will return to the bliss
of ignorance and fulfillment in a stable life of food
gathering, food consumption, and procreation, all
governed by the seasonal rhythms of Nature and the Dao.

Example: The Daoist Farmer

64 JODY ONDICH

There was a farmer whose

horse ran away. That evening
the neighbors gathered to
commiserate with him since
this was such bad luck. He said,
“Maybe.” The next day the
horse returned, but brought
with it six wild horses, and the
neighbors came exclaiming at
his good fortune. He said,
Exhibition “Treasures of China”, Canadian Museum of
Civilization, 2007. Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618 – 907)
“Maybe.” And then, the
Excavated at Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, 1957 This following day, his son tried to
yellow-glazed pottery horse includes a carefully sculpted
saddle, which is decorated with leather straps and saddle and ride one of the wild
ornamental fastenings featuring eight-petalled flowers
and apricot leaves.
horses, was thrown, and broke
his leg.
Again the neighbors came to
offer their sympathy for the misfortune. He said, “Maybe.” The day after
that, conscription officers came to the village to seize young men for the
army, but because of the broken leg the farmer’s son was rejected. When
the neighbors came in to say how fortunately everything had turned out,
he said, “Maybe.”

It is not hard to see how a philosophy along these lines

could have emerged from a group of hermits who had
withdrawn out of social disillusionment. The anti-
Confucian elements of the Daodejing should also be easy
to identify. The most important metaphors that the text
uses to symbolize the Dao and the sage are an uncarved
block of wood and an undyed piece of cloth, which
contrast clearly with the Confucian celebration of the
elaborate ritual patterns institutionalized by legendary
sage kings. What is more surprising, however, is that the
Daodejing proved to be a very popular text among the
ruling class of late Classical China. This was the result
of the fact that it seemed to provide a paradoxical path
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 65

to social and political wealth and power through the act

of renouncing interest in wealth and power. “The sage
places his person last and it comes first,” the Daodejing
tells us. Daoists who arrived at feudal courts in the
Classical period found that they could attract the interest
of ambitious men by linking their Dao of selflessness to
an outcome in accord with the most selfish of ambitions.
One important difference between the ideas of the
Daodejing and those of the Confucian writers is that while
the Confucians made very clear the practical path that
people needed to follow to achieve wisdom – the ritual
syllabus of the Confucian Finishing School – the
Daodejing is extremely vague when it comes to practical
advice.
66 JODY ONDICH

The following terms are

considered key in Daoism, found in the Daodejing:

道 Dao—This term is often translated as “the Way,” but

the increasing use of the Chinese term in contemporary
English makes it better to leave the term untranslated.
In ancient texts, the word Dao actually possesses a wide
range of meanings. the word Dao derives its modern
meaning of a path or way; from the formula of the dance,
the word derives a meaning of “formula,” “method”; from
the spoken element of the incantation, the word derives
the meaning of “a teaching,” and also serves as a verb “to
speak.” All ancient schools of philosophy referred to their
teachings as Daos. Confucius and his followers claimed
that they were merely transmitting a Dao — the social
methods practiced by the sage kings of the past: “the
Dao of the former kings.” Texts in the tradition of early
thought that came later to be called “Daoist” used the
word in a special sense, which is why the Daoist tradition
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 67

takes its name from this term. Daoists claimed that the
cosmos itself followed a certain natural “way” in its
spontaneous action. They called this the “Great Dao,” and
contrasted it to the Daos of other schools, which were
human-created teachings, and which they did not believe
merited the name Dao in their special sense.
德 de (character, power, virtue)– In its early uses, de
seems to refer to the prestige that well-born and
powerful aristocrats possessed as a result of the many
gifts they dispensed to loyal followers, family members,
and political allies (rather like the prestige associated
with a Mafia godfather). Later, the term came to be
associated with important attributes of character.
Although it can be used to refer to both positive or
negative features of person, it usually refers to some form
of personal “excellence,” and to say that someone has
much de is to praise him. The concrete meaning of this
term varies among different schools. Confucians use it
most often to refer to a person’s moral dispositions
(moral according to Confucians, at any rate), and in this
sense, the word is often best rendered as “character” or
“virtue.” Daoists, however, speak of de as an attribute of
both human and non-human participants in the cosmos,
and they often describe it as a type of charismatic power
or leverage over the limits of nature that the Daoist sage
is able to acquire through self-cultivation. As such, it may
be best rendered as “power.” The title of the famous book,
Daodejing means “The Classic of the Dao and De,” and
in this title, de is best understood as a type of power
derived from transcending (going beyond) the limits of
the human ethical world.
心)
心 Xin (mind/heart)–In Chinese, a single word was
used to refer both to the function of our minds as a
68 JODY ONDICH

cognitive, reasoning organ, and its function as an

affective, or emotionally responsive organ. The word,
xin, was originally represented in written form by a
sketch of the heart. There are really four aspects fused
in this term. The mind/heart thinks rationally, feels
emotionally, passes value judgments on all objects of
thought and feeling, and initiates active responses in line
with these judgments. Sometimes, the “unthinking”
aspects of people, such as basic desires and instinctual
responses, are pictured as part of the mind/heart.
However, the Daodejing, typically uses the term xin to
denote the cognitive mind and its functions of
contemplation, judgment, and so forth, all of which the
text views as features that distance human beings from
the Dao.
仁 Ren (benevolence)–No term is more important in
Confucianism than ren. Prior to the time of Confucius,
the term does not seem to have been much used; in the
earliest texts the word seems to have meant “manly,” an
adjective of high praise in a warrior society. Confucius,
however, changed the meaning of the term and gave it
great ethical weight, using it to denote a type of all-
encompassing virtue which distinguishes the truly ethical
person. Confucian texts often pair this term with
Righteousness, and it is very common for the two terms
together to be used as a general expression for “morality.”
Other schools also use the term ren, but they usually
employ it either to criticize Confucians, or in a much
reduced sense, pointing simply to people who are well-
meaning, kind, or benevolent. The Daodejing employs the
term in this reduced sense, and tendentiously contrasts
it with the amorality of the natural world and those who
emulate the Dao.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 69

聖 Sheng (sage)–All of the major schools of ancient

Chinese thought, with the possible exception of the
Legalists, were essentially prescriptions for human self-
perfection. These schools envisioned the outcome of
their teachings — the endpoint of their Daos — in terms
of different models of human excellence. A variety of
terms were used to describe these images of perfection,
but the most common was sheng, or shengren 聖人,
which we render in English as “sage person” or, more
elegantly, “sage.” The original graph includes a picture
of an ear and a mouth on top (the bottom part merely
indicates the pronunciation, and was sometimes left out),
and the early concept of the sage involved the notion of
a person who could hear better than ordinary people.
The word is closely related to the common word for “to
listen” (ting 聽). What did the sage hear? Presumably the
Dao.
天 Tian (Heaven)–Tian was the name of a deity of the
Zhou people which stood at the top of a supernatural
hierarchy of spirits (ghosts, nature spirits, powerful
ancestral leaders, Tian). Tian also means “the sky,” and for
that reason, it is well translated as “Heaven.” The early
graph is an anthropomorphic image (a picture of a deity
in terms of human attributes) that shows a human form
with an enlarged head. Heaven was an important concept
for the early Zhou people; Heaven was viewed as an all-
powerful and all-good deity, who took a special interest
in protecting the welfare of China. When the Zhou
founders overthrew the Shang Dynasty in 1045, they
defended their actions by claiming that they were merely
receiving the “mandate” of Heaven, who had wished to
replace debased Shang rule with a new era of virtue in
China. All early philosophers use this term and seem to
70 JODY ONDICH

accept that there existed some high deity that influenced

human events. The Mohist school was particularly
strident on the importance of believing that Tian was
powerfully concerned with human activity. They claimed
that the Confucians did not believe Tian existed,
although Confucian texts do speak of Tian reverently
and with regularity. In fact, Confucian texts also seem
to move towards identifying Tian less with a conscious
deity and more with the unmotivated regularities of
Nature. When Daoist texts speak of Heaven, it is often
unclear whether they are referring to a deity, to Nature as
a whole, or to their image of the Great Dao.

Qi/Ch’i Chinese term for air, bodily energy of

a person or other things within creation. In traditional
Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts, the life-
force or energy that flows within an individual’s body
Qi increases with health and decreases with depression
or illness. Early Daoist philosophers and alchemists, who
regarded qi as a vital force in the breath and bodily fluids,
developed techniques to alter and control the movement
of qi within the body; their aim was to achieve physical
longevity and spiritual power.
無為 Wuwei (non-striving)–Wuwei literally means
“without [wu] doing [wei].” The initial component, wu,
indicates absence or non-existence. As a verb, the second
term, wei, means “to do; to make,” and therefore the
compound term wuwei is sometimes rendered as “non-
action”: an absence of doing. However, in the Daodejing,
the term is used to characterize the action of the Dao in
its creative role and ongoing transformations, and clearly
describes a manner of action, rather than an absence of
action. The term wei 為 is both phonetically and
graphically cognate to a word generally used pejoratively
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 71

to mean “fake; phoney”: wei 偽. The third century BCE

Confucian thinker Xunzi, however, uses the term wei 偽
in a difference and, for him, very positive sense, meaning
that which humans accomplish through planning and
effort. In this, Xunzi was challenging Daoist celebration
of the processes of the non-human, “Dao-governed”
world, which are precisely “without wei 偽”: that is,
unplanned and free of any purposive intent. This is
probably the best way to understand how wuwei
functions in Daoist texts: action that occurs without the
agency and intent that is characteristic of behavior
governed by the human mind. The Daoist sage has
perfected the ability to respond to his environment in
this purpose-free way.
自然 Ziran (spontaneous, natural) –Like wuwei, ziran
is a compound term; The initial component (zi) means
“self; in itself,” and the second term, ran, means “as things
are; things being so.” Hence, ziran describes a thing as it
is in itself, without regard for forces that may act upon
it: spontaneous. The term ultimately came to be used
as a noun, meaning “Nature” (the non-human, or
noncognition-influenced elements of the world we live
in). In the translation here, ziran is rendered flexibly in
context. For example: “To be sparse in speech is to be
spontaneous (ziran)”; “That the Dao is revered and virtue
honored is ordained by no one; it is ever so of itself.
(ziran)” ; “Assisting the things of the world to be as they
are in themselves (ziran)” . Ziran and wuwei are closely
related terms in the Daodejing, since a thing or person
that is spontaneous in the manner of its being may be
understood to be acting without purpose and effort. In
appreciating Daoist thought, it is useful to accommodate
the notion that the ideals of ziran and wuwei do not
72 JODY ONDICH

inherently foreclose the notion of exerting purposive

effort in the pursuit of a cultivated state of purposeless
spontaneity.

Don’t Force Anything – Alan Watts Wu Wei

While wuwei may be simple in the abstract (just behave

more or less like your dog does), in practice there are
problems (hey, nobody filled my dish!). The text stresses
the concept of nonaction or noninterference with the
natural order of things. Dao, usually translated as the
Way, is difficult to describe. It has been likened to a path,
a river, a balance of nature, as well as a vast void, and is
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 73

considered the origin of nature. If you spend one hour

following the imperative to eliminate value judgments
and the desires associated with them, you will discover
that without a teacher or model rules to follow, it is
difficult to follow the Dao of the Daodejing.
It may also be
described as the origin
of the forces of yin and
yang. Yin, associated
with shade, water, and
feminine. and yang,
associated with light,
fire, and male, are the
two alternating phases
of cosmic energy; their
balance brings cosmic
harmony. The familiar image of the symbol reflects the
intertwined duality of all things in nature, a common
theme in Daoism. No quality is independent of its
opposite, nor so pure that it does not contain its
opposite. These concepts are depicted by the division
between the portions, and the smaller circles within the
large regions.
Another important concept in Daoism is ch’ang, i.e. the
property of being constant, enduring, eternal. The
central goal of Daoism is the attainment of ch’ang-sheng
pussu, i.e. immortality. Philosophical Daoism conceives
immortality as spiritual and explains it as enlightenment
and oneness with the highest principle, the Dao, or The
Way. A person who has attained oneness with the Dao is
called chen-jen, i.e. a pure human being.
74 JODY ONDICH

The Zuangzi

The Zhuangzi was one of the earliest texts to contribute

to the philosophy of Daoism. Much of it teaches the
reader to embrace a philosophy that disengages from
such things as education, fashion, politics and the like,
and instead encourages the cultivation of our natural
inborn skills. One is taught to live a simple and natural
life. This is still considered a full and rich life, but not one
tied up in culture or other artificial activity.
The literary style of the Zhuangzi is unique, and the
format of the text needs to be understood before reading
selections from it. Most of the chapters are a series of
brief but rambling essays, which mix together statements
that may be true with others that are absurd, and tales
about real or imaginary figures. It is never a good idea
to assume that when Zhuangzi states something as fact
that he believes it to be true, or that he cares whether
we believe it or not. He makes up facts all the time. It is
also best to assume that every tale told in the Zhuangzi is
fictional, that Zhuangzi knew that he had invented it, and
that he did not expect anyone to believe his stories. Every
tale and story in the Zhuangzi has a philosophical point.
Those points are the important elements of Zhuangzi’s
book (for philosophers, at any rate; the book is famous as
a literary masterpiece too).

Example: a story
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 75

To wear out one’s spirit-

like powers contriving some
view of oneness without
understanding that it is all
the same is called “three in
the morning.” What do I
mean by “three in the
morning?
” A monkey keeper was
handing out nuts. “You get
three in the morning and
four in the evening,” he said.
All the monkeys were
furious. “All right,” he said.
“You get four in the
morning and three in the
evening.”
The monkeys were all
delighted.
Two monkeys, China, Qing dynasty, 19th century, There was no discrepancy
nephrite, Honolulu Museum of Art
between the words and the
reality yet contentment and
anger
were stirred thereby – it is just thus with assertions of “this is so.”
Therefore, the Sage brings all into harmony through assertion and
denial but rests it upon the balance of heaven: this is called
“walking a double path.”

Zhuangzi’s chief strategy as a writer seems to have

been to undermine our ordinary notions of truth and
value by claiming a very radical form of fact and value
relativity. For Zhuangzi, as for Laozi, all values that
humans hold dear — good and bad; beauty and ugliness–
are non-natural and do not really exist outside of our
very arbitrary prejudices. But Zhuangzi goes farther. He
attacks our belief that there are any firm facts in the
world. According to Zhuangzi, the cosmos is in itself an
76 JODY ONDICH

undivided whole, a single thing without division of which

we are a part. The only true “fact” is the dynamic action of
this cosmic system as a whole. Once, in the distant past,
human beings saw the world as a whole and themselves
as a part of this whole, without any division between
themselves and the surrounding context of Nature.
But since the invention of words and language, human
beings have come to use language to say things about the
world, and this has had the effect of cutting up the world
in our eyes. When humans invent a name, suddenly the
thing named appears to stand apart from the rest of the
world, distinguished by the contours of its name
definition. In time, our perception of the world has
degenerated from a holistic grasping of it as a single
system, to a perception of a space filled with individual
items, each having a name. Every time we use language
and assert something about the world, we reinforce this
erroneous picture of the world. We call this approach
“relativism” because Zhuangzi’s basic claim is that what
we take to be facts are only facts in relation to our
distorted view of the world, and what we take to be good
or bad things only appear to have positive and negative
value because our mistaken beliefs lead us into arbitrary
prejudices.
The dynamic operation of the world-system as a whole
is the Dao. The partition of the world into separate things
is the outcome of non-natural, human language-based
thinking. Zhuangzi believed that what we needed to do
was learn how to bypass the illusory divided world that
we have come to “see before our eyes,” but which does not
exist, and recapture the unitary view of the universe of
the Dao. Like Laozi, Zhuangzi does not detail any single
practical path that can lead us to achieve so dramatic a
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 77

change in perspective. But his book is filled with stories

of people who seem to have made this shift, and some
of these models offer interesting possibilities. One of the
most well known of these stories is the tale of Cook Ding,
a lowly butcher who has perfected carcass carving to a
high art. In the Zhuangzi, Cook Ding describes how the
world appears to him when he practices his dance-like
butchery:

When I first began

cutting up oxen, all I
could see was the ox
itself. After three
years I no longer
saw the whole ox.
And now — now I
meet it with my spirit
and don’t look with Ox statue in Zhouzhuang Jiangsu China
my eyes. Perception
and understanding
have come to a stop and spirit moves where it wants.
I go along with the natural makeup, strike in the big
hollows, guide the knife through the big openings,
and follow things as they are.

Key ideas in the text of the Zhuangzi include:

1. Relative magnitudes in time and space: Ordinary

human life exists in arbitrary dimensions of size
and duration. Why should we believe that the
human perspective has any intrinsic validity,
and why should we not wonder whether we
could experience the world from other
standpoints?
2. The emptiness of words: Zhuangzi attempts to
78 JODY ONDICH

show not only the arbitrary way that words

“slice up” the unity of the cosmos, but also the
way our faith in words gradually undermines
our sensitivity to lived experience.
3. The imperative of self-preservation: the person
who learns to dance towards self-preservation
in every act, never allowing empty values such
as loyalty, righteousness, or ren (the cardinal
Confucian virtue of reciprocal moral empathy)
to distract him from his main task of evading
the dangers of the political world.
4. The non-distinction between life and death: Despite
his commitment to self-preservation in the
context of dangerous times, Zhuangzi claims
that the line human beings draw between life
and death is a non-natural one, and there is no
reason for us to cling to life or fear death. The
Dao embraces all as one, and once we come to
view who we are only in terms of our
participation in the Great Dao, we discard the
illusion that somehow participation as a live
human being is somehow more important or
more desirable than participation as a rotting
corpse fertilizing the fields, or in any of the
endless forms that we may emerge as thereafter.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 79

Background and History

If you want more detail, you should take the time to read this
article on the history of the development of Daoism and Daoist
thought from Columbia University. Defining Daoism: a Complex
History

• “The Classic on the Way and Its Power (Dao de jing)

describes how the original whole, the dao (here meaning
the “Way” above all other ways), was broken up: “The
Dao gave birth to the One, the One gave birth to the
Two, the Two gave birth to the Three, and the Three
gave birth to the Ten Thousand Things.”(1) That
decline-through-differentiation also offers the model
for regaining wholeness. The spirit may be restored by
reversing the process of aging, by reverting from
multiplicity to the One. By understanding the road or
path (the same word, dao, in another sense) that the
great Dao followed in its decline, one can return to the
root and endure forever.”
• “Daoism has always stressed morality. Whether
expressed through specific injunctions against stealing,
lying, and taking life, through more abstract discussions
of virtue, or through exemplary figures who transgress
moral codes, ethics was an important element of Daoist
practice.”
80 JODY ONDICH

Augustin, Birgitta. “Daoism and Daoist Art.” In Heilbrunn

Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/daoi/
hd_daoi.htm (December 2011)

Taoism. (2001). In A. P. Iannone, Dictionary of world philosophy.

Routledge. Credo Reference: http://lscproxy.mnpals.net/
login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/
routwp/taoism/0?institutionId=6500

Asia for Educators, Columbia University. “Defining ‘Daoism’: A

Complex History.” Living in the Chinese Cosmos | Asia for Educators,
afe.easia.columbia.edu/cosmos/ort/daoism.htm.

Coutinho, Steve. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, iep.utm.edu/

zhuangzi/. “Zuangzi”

Dao De Jing. Translated by Robert Eno, University of Indiana,

2010 scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/23426/
Daodejing.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y.

Zhuangzi: The Inner Chapters. Translated by Robert Eno,

University of Indiana, 2019, scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/
bitstream/handle/2022/23427/Zhuangzi-
updated.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y.

Hansen, Chad, “Daoism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of

Philosophy (Spring 2020 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 81

<https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2020/entries/daoism/>.

“Qi.” Britannica Academic, Encyclopædia Britannica, 14 Mar.

2017. academic-eb-com.lscproxy.mnpals.net/levels/collegiate/
article/qi/23931.

White, Mark D. “The Wisdom of Wei Wu Wei: Letting Good

Things Happen.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 9 July 2011,
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/maybe-its-just-me/201107/
the-wisdom-wei-wu-wei-letting-good-things-happen.
82 JODY ONDICH

5
DAOISM
RESOURCES

“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience,

compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and in thoughts, you return to the
source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are. Compassionate

82
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 83

toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.”

— Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching 67 (tr. Stephen Mitchell)

Useful Links

Britannica on Daoism
Dao de jing: translated by Robert Eno
Zhuangzi: The Inner Chapters translated by Robert
Eno
Alta Lib Guides: Daoism
Daoism and Art: The Met
Stanford Encyclopedia: Daoism
Center for Global Education: Daoism
Chad Hansen’s Chinese Philosophy Pages
84 JODY ONDICH

6
CONFUCIAN
THOUGHT

Confucianism was
the official religion of
China from 200 BCE
until it was officially
abolished when
communist leadership
discouraged religious
Confucius Sculpture, Nanjing at Confucian practice in 1949. The
Temple Area religion was developed
by “Confucius”, which is
the name by which English speakers know Kong Qiu 孔
丘, born near a small ducal state on the Shandong
Peninsula in 551 BCE. His teaching encouraged personal
and governmental morality and the importance of

84
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 85

correct social and familial relationships. These ideals, if

followed, would lead to a world of peace, justice,
kindness and order.

Meeting the Master

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=58#oembed-1

1
We have open access materials from Robert Eno of the
University of Indiana, made available for educators.
“Confucius’s father was a member of the low
aristocracy of the medium sized state of Lu 魯. According
to our best sources, he was an important aide to a major
aristocratic, or “grandee” family. During his prime, this
family had served the greatest power holders in Lu by
controlling a domain assigned to them on Lu’s southern
border, near a small, non-Zhou cultural area called Zou
鄹. Shortly before Confucius’s birth, the family’s domain
was relocated to the north, but Confucius’s father, having
by his primary wife and his concubines produced no
healthy sons to carry on his line, and being now an older
man, chose at this time to take as a concubine a woman
of Zou. She soon gave birth to Confucius. Three years
later, Confucius’s father died, and Confucius apparently

1. https://ealc.indiana.edu/people/eno-robert.html
86 JODY ONDICH

grew up with his mother’s family in the border region

between Lu and Zou. Reaching adulthood, he traveled to
the feudal center of Lu to seek social position, based on
his father’s standing and connections.

When Confucius sought his

fortune in Lu, he probably
appeared there as a semi-
outsider, the son of a “mixed”
union between a man of Lu,
who had long resided in Zou,
and a woman of that non-Zhou
place. But Confucius made his
reputation as a strong advocate
of a puristic revival of Zhou
traditions in court conduct,
religious ceremony, and every
aspect of ordinary life. He
became expert in these
traditions, and it was on the
basis of this knowledge and the
persuasiveness of his claim that the way to bring order
back to “the world” was to recreate early Zhou society
through its ritual forms, or “li,” that Confucius became
known. The details of what Confucius saw as legitimate
Zhou culture and why he thought its patterns were tools
for building a new utopia are the principal subjects of the
Analects.
His mastery of Zhou cultural forms allowed Confucius
to become a teacher of young aristocrats seeking polish,
and through their connections, he was able to gain some
stature in Lu. Ultimately, he and some of his followers
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 87

attempted to implement a grand restorationist plan in Lu

that would have shifted power back to the ducal house.
Shortly after 500 BCE, when Confucius was about fifty,
the plan failed, and Confucius was forced to leave his
home state. For about fifteen years, he traveled with a
retinue of disciples from state to state in eastern China,
looking for a ruler who would employ him and adopt
the policies he advocated. The Analects pictures some key
moments in these travels, which ultimately proved
fruitless. A few years before his death, one of Confucius’s
senior disciples, a man named Ran Qiu, arranged to have
Confucius welcomed back to Lu, where he lived out his
days as a teacher of young men, training them in the
literary, ritual, and musical arts that he saw as central to
the culture of the Zhou.
An extraordinary teacher, his lessons—which were
about self-discipline, respect for authority and tradition,
and jen (the kind treatment of every person)—were
collected in a book called the Analects.”
Some religious scholars consider Confucianism more
of a social system than a religion because it focuses on
sharing wisdom about moral practices but doesn’t
involve any type of specific worship; nor does it have
formal objects. In fact, its teachings were developed in
context of problems of social anarchy and a near-
complete deterioration of social cohesion. Dissatisfied
with the social solutions put forth, Confucius developed
his own model of morality to help guide society.

Additional Reading
88 JODY ONDICH

For more detail, read Columbia University’s page on Confucius

and the Confucian Tradition, part of their materials on Living in
the Chinese Cosmos: The Three Teachings

• Confucius and Confucian Tradition

Confucius focused on human fulfillment in the social

work–through relationships– for he believed that the
way of life flowed through the human world just as it did
in the rest of nature. Troubled by the political turmoil
and what he perceived as a decline in civilization during
his lifetime (you might want to read more about this, as
China was in political turmoil at the time he lived),
Confucius advocated installing a program of
comprehensive education and the cultivation of special
virtues in all people. He wanted to develop individuals
who could be social leaders and who could create a
harmonious society. In Confucian thinking, to a great
extent, human beings are who they are because of their
relationships. Careful
attention to the duties
and obligations of a
person’s different
relationships with
others was a central
focus of his teaching.
One must live up to the
highest expectations or
standards of various social roles one occupied, beginning
with the family. (xaio)
So being a dutiful child, caring spouse, responsible
parent, thoughtful friend–these are all the things that
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 89

he emphasized in his teachings about how to achieve

an ethical society. His emphasis was always on the
community, not the individual’s well-being.
The excellent or noble person (junzi) would have an
inner integrity and a deep consideration for others (ren).
This person would have mastered the social graces—all
those countless rituals of propriety (li) that allow for
smooth interaction between people. The noble person
would avoid extremes in life, maintaining equilibrium
and harmony. Additionally, the aesthetic self would be
developed, demonstrated in a love for all the arts
associated with civilization, such as poetry and literature,
calligraphy, dance, painting, and music (wen). By
automatically choosing to do what is right (after years of
practice and study and by fulfilling one’s job duties and
social obligations properly), one would be united with the
force of the universe, and the ancestors.

Sutra of Filial Piety from British Library Collection

90 JODY ONDICH

Confucianism is one of the Three Teachings of China,

its three most influential religious and philosophical
systems. Confucianism became state-sponsored during
the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE). Buddhism and
Daoism blended, in ritual and practice, with
Confucianism and created a popular set of religious
practices, some of which are still a part of Chinese
practice.

A short timeline of Confucian impact on Chinese culture:

551 to 479 BCE Life and teaching of Confucius

470-c.380 BCE Arguments against Confucian
teachings by Mozi
372-289 BCE Confucian revival
221-202 BCE Confucianism is suppressed by the Qin
Dynasty.
136 BCE The Han Dynasty introduces civil service
examinations modelled on Confucian texts.
9th century CE Confucianism is reborn as Neo-
Confucianism.

Example of modern interpretation

Melvyn Bragg examines the philosophy of Confucius. In the 5th

century BC a wise man called Kung Fu Tzu said, ‘study the past if
you would divine the future’. This powerful maxim helped form
the body of ideas, which more than Buddhism, more than Daoism,
more even than Communism has defined what it is to be Chinese.
It is a philosophy that we call Confucianism, and as well as
asserting the importance of learning from the past it embodies a
respect for heirachy, ritual and parents. But who was Confucius,
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 91

what were his ideas and how did they succeed in becoming the
bedrock for a civilisation? With Frances Wood, Curator of the
Chinese section of the British Library, Tim Barrett Professor of
East Asian History at SOAS, the School of African and Oriental
Studies at London University, and Dr Tao Tao Liu, Tutorial
Fellow in Oriental Studies at Wadham College, Oxford University.

In Our Time: Confucius

The Analects (translation, Robert Eno)

“The Analects of Confucius, which is composed of about

five hundred independent passages, is divided into
twenty “books.” Some of these books seem to have
originated as strips authored, over a period of years, by
a single group, and separated into bundles according to
dominant themes. Others of the books seem to have
originated independently, and been brought together
with the larger number of books at a later date. Within
each book, the order of passages appears to have been
disrupted over time, to greater or lesser degree, either
by disarrangements that occurred after the string of a
92 JODY ONDICH

bundle broke, or because part of the composition process

involved conscious rearrangement and insertion of later
passages into existing bundles / books, in order to adjust
the way the message of the overall text was conveyed.
All of the books bear the traces of rearrangements and
later insertions, to a degree that makes it difficult to see
any common thematic threads at all. If a full account of
these alterations in the text could be made, it would likely
provide a clear and valuable reflection of the way that
the Confucian school and its various branches developed
over the first two or three centuries of the school’s
existence. Recent finds of early manuscripts dating from
c. 300 BCE have thrown additional light on these
processes of text development
Although this is not clear on initial reading, the ideas
of the Analects are importantly influenced by the literary
character of the text, and the fact that it is presented
chiefly as conversational interplay among a relatively
limited cast of characters: Confucius (“the Master”), his
disciples, and a group of power holders with whom
Confucius interacts. The Analects was almost certainly
used as a teaching text for later generations of disciples,
who were taught not only the text but much detail about
the contexts and characters now lost to us, and it is
certain that the original audience of the text developed a
grasp of the rich nuances conveyed by the way statements
in the text are distributed among its various speakers.
Most importantly, the disciples in the Analects provided
a range of positive and negative models readers could
emulate as they attempted to find their way into
Confucian teachings, and develop into the true inheritors
of the Dao of discipleship.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 93

Example: What are the main teachings of Confucius?

Dr. Anu Mande is professor of World History courses at

Fullerton College in California. She also has a Youtube Channel
with some excellent materials. Here is a short presentation on
Confucian thought, and if you would like to focus on the 5 Great
Relationships, start at 17:20 in the video. The whole video (21:36
minutes) is well worth watching!

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=58#oembed-2

The philosophy conveyed through the Analects is

basically an ethical perspective, and the text has always
been understood as structured on a group of key ethical
terms. These (along with some terms key to other early
streams of Chinese thought) are discussed in more detail
in the Glossary to follow.
There is a group of key terms whose meaning seems
to be so flexible, subtle, and disputed that it seems best
to leave them untranslated, simply using transcription for
them.

The first set of these terms include:

Ren 仁 – a comprehensive ethical virtue: benevolence,

humaneness, goodness; the term is so problematic that
many Analects passages show disciples trying to pin
94 JODY ONDICH

Confucius down on its meaning (he escapes being

pinned).
Junzi 君子 – often used to denote an ideally ethical
and capable person; sometimes simply meaning a power
holder, which is its original sense.
Dao 道 – a teaching or skill formula that is a key to
some arena of action: an art, self-perfection, world
transformation.
Li 禮– the ritual institutions of the Zhou, of which
Confucius was master; the range of behavior subject to
the broad category denoted by this term ranges from
political protocol to court ceremony, religious rite to
village festival, daily etiquette to disciplines of personal
conduct when alone.
Tian 天 – carrying the basic meaning of “sky,” Tian
becomes a concept of supreme deity, often translated as
“Heaven,” sometimes possessing clear anthropomorphic
features, sometimes appearing more a natural force.
In addition to these items, other complex key terms are
rendered by very vague
English words, the meaning of which can only emerge as
contextual usage is noted.

Two more difficult terms include:

de 德 – a very complex concept, initially related to the
notion of charisma derived from power and gift-giving,
developing into an ethical term denoting self-possession
and orientation towards moral action. “Virtue” might be
a possible choice of translations
wen 文 – denoting a relation to features of civilization
that are distinctive to Zhou culture, or to traditions
ancestral to the Zhou; wen can refer to decoration,
written texts, and personal conduct, but most
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 95

importantly, it points to the behavioral matrix underlying

Zhou li. “Pattern” could be a simple, if inadequate,
translation.

Finally, a set of important terms can be translated with

some accuracy into English, but only with the
understanding that the conceptual range of the Chinese
term may not match English perfectly; in some cases,
alternate English translations are used.
These include:
Right / Righteousness (yi 義)– often a complement to
ren, denoting morally correct action choices, or the moral
vision that allows one to make them.
Loyalty (zhong 忠) – denoting not only loyalty to one’s
superiors or peers, or to individuals, but also to office; an
alignment of self with the interests of others, or of the
social group as a whole.
Trustworthiness / Faithfulness (xin 信) – derived from
the concept of promise keeping, meaning reliability for
others, but also unwavering devotion to principle.
Respectfulness / Attentiveness (jing 敬) – derived from
the notion of alertness, and fusing the attentiveness to
task characteristic of a subordinate and the respect for
superiors that such attentiveness reflects.
Filiality (xiao 孝)– a traditional cultural imperative,
obedience to parents, raised to a subtle level of
fundamental self-discipline and character building.
Valor (yong 勇) – in a feudal era marked by incessant
warfare, bold warriors and adventurers were common;
for Confucians, valor concerns risk taking on behalf of
ethical principle.

These terms help convey the emphasis on relationship,

96 JODY ONDICH

obedience, ethics, and social structure that are found at

the heart of Confucian ideals.

Key Takeaway: Modern ideas about Confucian Thought

Check out these simple articles from Harvard’s Pluralism

Project on the ideas in Confucian thought and how they traveled
to America.

• Confucius and Sons

• The 21st Century: A Confucian Revival?

How Confucius influenced–and still influences!–China

“Imperial China was famous for its civil service examination

system, which had its beginnings in the Sui dynasty (581-618
CE) but was fully developed during the Qing dynasty. The
system continued to play a major role, not only in education
and government, but also in society itself, throughout Qing
times.”

• Civil Service Exams in China, past and present

 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 97

“In Our Time, Confucius.” Edited by Melvyn Bragg, BBC Radio 4,

BBC, 1 Nov. 2001, www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00547k8.

Eno, Robert. The Analects of Confucius, University of Indiana,

2015, chinatxt.sitehost.iu.edu/
Analects_of_Confucius_(Eno-2015).pdf.

Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. (2011). In Big

ideas simply explained: the philosophy book. Dorling Kindersley
Publishing, Inc. Credo Reference: http://lscproxy.mnpals.net/
login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/
dkphilbook/hold_faithfulness_and_sincerity_as_first_principles/
0.embed?institutionId=6500

“Confucianism.” The Pluralism Project, Harvard University, 13

Nov. 2014, pluralism.org/confucianism.

Mande, Anu. Confucianism Explained, 10 June 2020, youtu.be/

Bj9JaYxsP4U.

Asia for Educators, Columbia University. “Confucius and the

‘Confucian Tradition.’” Living in the Chinese Cosmos | Asia for
Educators, 2021, afe.easia.columbia.edu/cosmos/ort/
confucianism.htm.
98 JODY ONDICH

7
CONFUCIAN
RESOURCES

“He who learns but does not think is lost. He who

thinks but does not learn is in great danger.”
Confucius, The Analects

98
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 99

Useful Links

Analects: translated by Robert Eno

Confucius: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Confucius: Britannica
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Confucius
Center for Global Education: Confucianism
Harvard University’s Pluralism Project: Confucianism
Confucian Weekly Bulletin
National Association of Scholars: Confucian Institutes
in America
Confucian resources: Library of Congress
100 JODY ONDICH

8
BUDDHISM

Originating in
northern India in the
5th-6th century BCE
Buddhism is concerned
with the universal
searching for
enlightenment. The
Buddha lived as Prince
Siddhartha Gautama
before renouncing his
family as an adult and
leaving his life of
privilege in search of
enlightenment. The
Buddha lived and taught in north-east India in the 5th

100
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 101

century BCE, dying in his eightieth year. The Theravāda

tradition puts his death in 486 BCE, while the Mahāyāna
tradition has it in 368 BCE. Recent scholarly research
suggests his most likely dates were 484–404 BCE.

Telling the Story of Buddha: Siddhartha Gautama

Film segments from the excellent PBS film: The Buddha (there
are transcripts beneath the video if you would rather read this
material) The total viewing time for these segments, together, is
about 45 minutes.

• Birth and Youth

• Seeking 3 parts, see under the title of the segment
• Enlightenment 3 parts, see under the title of the
segment

Buddhism teaches that all of life is suffering, caused by

desire. To cease suffering one must end desire and this
can be achieved through following the Noble Eight-fold
Path (eight rules that guides the life and morals of a
follower). Buddhists believe that all actions bring reward
or retribution.
Buddha rejected many aspects of the Hinduism
traditions and beliefs of his day. These included rejecting
the caste system, an emphasis on rituals, and the belief in
a permanent spiritual reality. He accepted Hindu ideas on
karma and rebirth and the notion of liberation, which he
called nirvana instead of moksha. In the centuries after
his death, several schools emerged that eventually
 102 JODY ONDICH

crystallized into the great branches of Buddhism

recognized today: Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana.

Branches

Theravada is the only

surviving conservative
school whose goal was to
pass on the Buddha’s
teachings unchanged.
Theravada Buddhism
centers on the
interdependence of the
community of monks with
ordinary people. Monks
pursue nirvana supported by the people, who gain merit
(good karma) by providing them with food, clothing, and
provisions for the monastic life. Monks, in turn, are role
models who offer advice, and run schools, meditation
centers, and medical clinics. “In Theravada (Southern)
Buddhist countries, the monks (bhikkhus) are easily
recognized because they wear the characteristic orange
robe, have their heads shaven, and go about barefoot.
They are given a new name and the robe, and will live
according to a code of 227 rules (the Vinaya). A monk
1
may decide to disrobe (cease being a monk) at any time.”

1. https://www.thebuddhistsociety.org/page/the-spread-of-
buddhism
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 103

The Mahayana
branch subdivided into
many different schools
and introduced
innovations in
teachings and the
practice of Buddhist life
for ordinary people.
The Mahayana ideal
was the deeply compassionate person called a
bodhisattva, who refused to fully enter nirvana, but
stayed among people to help others end their suffering.
The historical Buddha was deemphasized by a worldview
that saw the universe populated by many Buddhas and
bodhisattvas. Major schools of this form of Buddhism
include Shingon, Tendai, Pure Land, Nichiren, and Zen.
In Mahayana (Northern) Buddhist countries there are
two main branches, the Tibetan with monks wearing the
characteristic maroon robe, and the Far Eastern Zen,
which also has an unbroken line of nuns, where the robes
are black or grey.
104 JODY ONDICH

Associated with
Tibetan
Buddhism, Vajrayana
combines Mahayana
principles of living and
teaching with various
ritual practices
incorporating mantras,
mudras, and mandalas.
An interesting feature is
the transmission of
leadership through
Dalai Lama reincarnations of other
lamas (leaders).
“Tibetan Buddhism is to be found not only in Tibet, but
right across the Himalayan region from Ladakh to
Sikkim, as well as parts of Nepal. It is the state religion of
the kingdom of Bhutan. It also spread to Mongolia and
parts of Russia (Kalmykia, Buryatia and Tuva) Tibetan
refugees have brought it back to India, where it can be
found in all the many Tibetan settlements. In modern
times it has become very popular in the West. Tibetan
Buddhism takes as its motivating spiritual ideal the way
of the bodhisattva, the altruistic intention to attain
enlightenment for all beings. All Tibetan traditions place
special emphasis on the teacher-student relationship.
This distinctive approach is based on the Indian ideal of
the guru (Lama in Tibetan). The Vajrayana or Tantra is
not considered separate from the Mahayana, but has a
special connection within it, as it is based on an altruistic
Mahayana motivation. Tantra is a path of transformation
in which you work under the guidance of a suitably
qualified teacher to allow you to access subtler and
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 105

deeper states of consciousness such as transforming the

2
emotions and ego.”

Four Noble Truths

• Dukkha –all life is suffering, as one is incapable of

finding ultimate satisfaction. This is an innate
characteristic of existence in the realm of samsara (the
life cycle that includes reincarnation);
• Samudaya–the origin, the arising of this suffering is
craving, desire, wanting. Dukkha comes together with
this taṇhā (“craving, desire or attachment”);
• Nirodha– the cessation, the ending of this dukkha, this
suffering, can be attained by the renouncement or
letting go of this taṇhā, the craving and desire;
• Magga–the way one gets rid of craving is through the
path, the Noble Eightfold Path. This is the path leading
to renouncement of tanha and cessation of dukkha.

2. https://www.thebuddhistsociety.org/page/tibetan-buddhism/
106 JODY ONDICH

The eight Buddhist practices in the Noble Eightfold Path

are:

1. Right View: our actions have consequences,

death is not the end, and our actions and beliefs
have consequences after death.
2. Right Resolve or Intention: the giving up of
home and adopting the life of a religious
mendicant in order to follow the path; this
concept aims at peaceful renunciation, into an
environment of non-sensuality, non-ill-will (to
loving kindness), away from cruelty (to
compassion).
3. Right Speech: no lying, no rude speech, no
telling one person what another says about him
to cause discord or harm their relationship.
4. Right Conduct or Action: no killing or
injuring, no taking what is not given, no sexual
acts, no material desires.
5. Right Livelihood: beg to feed, only possessing
what is essential to sustain life;
6. Right Effort: preventing the arising
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 107

of unwholesome states, and

generating wholesome states,
7. Right Mindfulness: “retention”, being mindful
of the dhammas (“teachings”, “elements”) that are
beneficial to the Buddhist path.
8. Right Concentration: practicing four stages
of dhyāna (“meditation”), which culminates into
equanimity and mindfulness. In the Theravada
tradition and the Vipassana movement, this is
interpreted as concentration or one-
pointedness of the mind, and supplemented
with meditation, which aims at insight.

The Three Fires

(1) Desire/Thirst, (2) Anger (3) Delusion

“Your house is on fire, burns with the Three Fires;
there is no dwelling in it’ – thus spoke the Buddha in his
great Fire Sermon. The house he speaks of here is the
human body; the three fires that burn it are (1) Desire/
Thirst, (2) Anger and (3) Delusion. They are all kinds of
energy and are called ‘fires’ because, untamed, they can
rage through us and hurt us and other people too!
Properly calmed through spiritual training, however,
they can be transformed into the genuine warmth of real
3
humanity.”
Buddhists promotes virtues such as kindness, patience
and generosity. The virtues of wisdom and compassion
are valued most of all. Ahimsa or harmlessness,
connected with a respect for all things, is described, in

3. https://www.thebuddhistsociety.org/page/fundamental-teachings
108 JODY ONDICH

part, by the term compassion. This desire to cause no

harm to all beings includes animals, plants, and the world
in general. In addition, this is a tradition that asks one
to think and reflect on all one’s actions. Buddha himself
told his followers not to believe statements or teachings
without questioning, but to test each one for themselves.
Buddhists try to practice these Buddhist virtues
actively in their everyday lives. The final goal of all
Buddhist practice is to bring about that same awakening
that the Buddha himself achieved through an active
transformation of the heart and passions and the letting
go of “self”.

Summary information about Buddhism: Harvard University

Buddhism in Brief
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 109

The term ‘Buddha’ is

not a name but a title,
meaning ‘Awakened
One’ or ‘Enlightened
One’. The man
Siddhartha Gautama is
not seen as unique in
being a Buddha, as
Buddhas are seen to
have arisen in past eons
of the world, and will
do so in future. They
are not incarnations of
A statue of the Buddha from Sarnath, Uttar a God, but humans who
Pradesh, India, circa 475 CE. The Buddha is
depicted teaching in the lotus position, while have developed ethical
making the Dharmacakra mudrā.
and spiritual
perfections over many
lives. A Buddha is seen as one who becomes awakened to
the true nature of reality, and awakened from ingrained
greed, hatred and delusion. They are enlightened in being
able to clearly see the nature of the conditioned world,
with its many worlds in which beings are reborn, and
Nirvana, the timeless state beyond all rebirths. Moreover
a Buddha is seen as a wise and compassionate teacher
who shows people the path beyond suffering.
Devotees founded temples and monasteries and
sponsored the writing of holy texts.

Read and watch a short video about the development of Buddhist Texts
 110 JODY ONDICH

4
Peter Harvey has written for the British Library about the
development of sacred texts within the varied branches of
Buddhism. The article begins with a longer description of the
enlightenment of Buddha, and then moves into talking about
Buddhist Texts.
“How were the Buddha’s teachings collected?
Soon after his death, 500 disciples who were
enlightened Arahats, free of further rebirth, gathered to agree what
he had taught, and arranged these into two kinds of text that
could be communally chanted: Vinaya, on monastic discipline, and
the Suttas, or discourses. At that time, writing was little used in
India, but there was a well-developed tradition of passing on
detailed texts orally. Different group of monks in time had slightly
different versions that they passed on, but there is a remarkable
overall agreement. The form preserved by the Theravāda school,
in Pāli, was written down for the first time around 20 BCE in Sri
Lanka, running to over 40 modern volumes.
The Suttas do not focus on the person of the Buddha, but
his Dhamma (Pāli, Sanskrit Dharma): his teachings, the realities
they point to, especially the nature of the world and the Path to
Nirvana, and experiences on the Path, culminating in Nirvana.
The Buddha said, though, that ‘he who sees the Dhamma sees me’.”

4. Peter Harvey is Emeritus Professor of Buddhist Studies at the

University of Sunderland. He was one of the two founders of the
UK Association for Buddhist Studies and edits its journal,
Buddhist Studies Review. His books include An Introduction to
Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices (Cambridge
University Press, 1990, and 2013), An Introduction to Buddhist
Ethics: Foundations, Values and Issues (Cambridge University
Press, 2000), and The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness
and Nirvana in Early Buddhism (Curzon, 1995), and he has
published many papers on early Buddhist thought and practice
and on Buddhist ethics. Most recently, he edited an extensive
integrated anthology of Buddhist texts, Common Buddhist Text:
Guidance and Insight from the Buddha (2017) published for free
distribution by Mahachulalongkorn-rajavidyalaya University,
Thailand.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 111

• The Buddha and Sacred Texts

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=50#oembed-2

As the Buddha’s teachings spread across Asia, different

sects stressed particular aspects of the quest for
enlightenment. In addition to spreading the practices
and beliefs of Buddha, it is also true that Buddhism had
a strong influence on the early trade routes in Asia.
Buddhism started its development from India, and
reached other regions along what are known as the Silk
Roads. Because beliefs moved along the trade routes,
as well as material goods, Buddhism practices changed
from place to place, developing within particular
communities according to the traditions of those
cultures. Buddhist monasteries were built and
established along the developing trade routes, so that one
would say that these faith communities were linked to
economic growth. The commercial exchanges that
occurred contributed to the improvement of the
Buddhist monks’ lives. Because of the Buddhist concept
of Dāna (generosity), monks received contributions from
the merchants and traders along the Silk Roads. In
return, monks provided spiritual guidance.
The development of trade amongst merchants of the
region along the Silk Roads resulted in a further
112 JODY ONDICH

expansion of Buddhism towards eastern Asian lands,

including in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. In
addition, Buddhism moved north, to Japan, Korea, and
areas in northern China. Goods and travelers from the
Silk Roads moved north and Buddhism was one of the
most influential imports brought to Japan along the trade
routes. The ancient capital city of Nara, Japan, contains
many Buddhist temples. Valuable items from the Silk
Roads merchants and travelers are found in Nara’s
Shosoin Treasure Repository of the Emperor.

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from

this version of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=50#oembed-1

Ted Talks from practitioners of Buddhism

Buddhism has spread well beyond Asia, and is somewhat

familiar even in Western Countries. Check out these stories and
reflections from Western Buddhists.

• All It Takes is 10 Mindful Minutes

• The Habits of Happiness
• We Can Be Buddhas
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 113

“Buddhism.” The British Library, The British Library, 20 Sept.

2018, www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/themes/buddhism.

Harvey, Peter. “The Buddha and Buddhist Sacred Texts.”

Discovering Sacred Texts, The British Library, 21 Sept. 2019,
www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-buddha-and-buddhist-
sacred-texts.

The Buddhist Society: The Spread of Buddhism, 2021,

www.thebuddhistsociety.org/page/the-spread-of-buddhism.

“The Silk Roads Programme.” UNESCO Silk Roads Programme |

Silk Roads Programme, 2021, en.unesco.org/silkroad/.

“Buddhism in Brief.” Buddhism in Brief, Harvard University, 19

Apr. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG4R-rmX7HA.

“The Buddha.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 2010,

www.pbs.org/thebuddha/.

“The Buddhist Review – The Independent Voice of Buddhism in

the West.” Tricycle, 2021, tricycle.org/.

Puddicombe, Andy. “All It Takes Is 10 Mindful Minutes.” TED,

Ted Talks, 2012, www.ted.com/talks/
andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes.

Ricard, Matthieu. “The Habits of Happiness.” TED, Ted Talks,

114 JODY ONDICH

2004, www.ted.com/talks/
matthieu_ricard_the_habits_of_happiness.

Thurman, Robert. “We Can Be Buddhas.” TED, Ted Talks, 2006,

www.ted.com/talks/robert_thurman_we_can_be_buddhas.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 115

9
BUDDHIST
RESOURCES

“It is like a lighted torch whose flame can be distributed

to ever so many other torches which people may bring
along; and therewith they will cook food and dispel
darkness, while the original torch itself remains burning

115
116 JODY ONDICH

ever the same. It is even so with the bliss of the Way.”

― Buddha Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuni, The Sutra
Of The Forty-Two Sections

Useful Links

Discovering Sacred Texts: Buddhism

Website of the Dalai Lama

Alta Lib Guides: Buddhism

The Buddhist Society

The Expansion of Buddhism: Harvard University

Tricyle: the Buddhist Review

Buddhist Digital Resource Center

Buddhism Resources: Library of Congress

 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 117

PART III

INDIAN
SUB-CONTINENT
ORIGINS

4 symbols of Dharmic Traditions

There are 4 traditions called Dharmic Religions:

Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Most people
have heard of Hinduism and Buddhism. They may not,
however, have heard of Jainism and Sikhism, which are
also religions common to India and the subcontinent.

117
 118 JODY ONDICH

“Dharma is a concept of social order and duty that

sustains the whole universe. A person’s placement in a
caste (varna) and birth group (jati) is one element of
1
dharma.”

Although in many ways these traditions are similar in

beliefs, there are surprising differences between them as
well, and the source of each of the other three traditions
is Hinduism. Because Buddhism has spread so widely to
East Asia, it is covered in the section of this book that
deals with traditions from that part of the world, even
though it is one of the four Dharmic traditions and did,
in fact, originate in the Indian sub-continent. But the
Jains and Sikhs are still primarily located in the Indian
subcontinent, and it is these, along with Hinduism, that
we will consider in this unit.

Hinduism developed out of the beliefs brought to India

by Aryan invaders from Central Asia in the 2nd
millennium BCE. The earliest written formulation of
these beliefs and religious practices is found in the Vedas,
collections of hymns and rules for the performance of
rituals.

1. Copyright © 2021 The President and Fellows of Harvard College

from Dharma: The Social Order, an article from the Pluralism
Project
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 119

Hinduism later absorbed

many different philosophies
and practices. The three
main deities, called the
Trimurti, are Brahma, Shiva
and Vishnu. They represent
the universal concepts of
creation, destruction and
preservation. Hindus believe
Trimurti, Cave No. 1, Elephanta Caves in dharma, a universal law
that defines the right
conduct in life, and karma, the power of actions to
determine the form of one’s future rebirth. The ultimate
goal in life is to break the endless cycle of incarnations
(saṃsāra) and achieve mokṣa, union with the Divine.

Both Jainism and Sikhism were born out

of Hinduism and include in their ideas a
rejection of the Vedas, the main scriptures
of the Hindu faith.

Jainism was founded by Vardhamana

Jnatiputra or Nataputta Mahavira
(599-527 BC), called Jina (Spiritual
Conqueror). The Jains believe that there is
no real god, and that everything has always
been and always will be, without a
beginning and an end. No one really
knows how many Jains there are in the
world, since many Jains identify
themselves as Hindu.
120 JODY ONDICH

For Sikhs, Guru Nanak founded Sikhism in

the late 15th century CE based on
universal love. Sikhism has ten gurus, or
people who created the texts and beliefs of
the religion. Their beliefs are codified in
the writings called the final guru, the Guru
Granth Sahib. Sikhism is based in the
Punjab region of India. Sikhs believe in
one God, also sometimes referred to as
Allah, just as the divine is referred to in
Islam.

Dharma Civilization Foundation, 2021, dcfusa.org/.

Sharma, O.P., and Carl Haub. “Change Comes Slowly for

Religious Diversity in India.” PRB, Population Reference Bureau,
2021, www.prb.org/resources/change-comes-slowly-for-
religious-diversity-in-india/.

Dharma: The Social Order.” The Pluralism Project, Harvard

University, 2021, pluralism.org/dharma-the-social-order.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 121

10
HINDUISM

Hinduism is also
known as ‘sanatana
dharma‘ to Hindus.
Considered the oldest
organized religion in
the world, Hinduism
originated in the Indus
River Valley about 4,000 years ago in what is now
northwest India and Pakistan. With about 1.2 billion
followers, about 15% of the world’s population,
Hinduism is the third largest of the world’s religions.
Hindus believe in a divine power that can manifest as
different entities or avatars. Hindu practice has many
seemingly independent centers of tradition, often with
distinctive sacred texts, deities, myths, rituals, saintly
figures, codes of conduct, festivals and so on, but on

121
122 JODY ONDICH

closer scrutiny these different centers can be seen to link

up with each other. This also explains how, while other
faiths and civilizations have come and gone, Hinduism
continues to thrive and put out new shoots and roots,
even when old ones have died away. Diversity is accepted
in Hindu traditions, as it considers each path one of
value.

Hinduism expansion in Asia, from its heartland in Indian Subcontinent, to the rest of Asia,
especially Southeast Asia, started circa 1st century marked with the establishment of early Hindu
settlements and polities in Southeast Asia.

Three main incarnations of the divine, called the

Trimurti—Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva—are sometimes
compared to the manifestations of the divine in the
Christian Trinity. They are considered the deities of
creation, preservation and destruction. They are a part
of Brahman–the One Ultimate Reality. Although there
are many deities beyond these three, and many images of
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 123

those deities, in various shrines, temples and holy places,

there are no images of Brahman. That One Ultimate
Reality is unknowable and beyond human
comprehension. But all deities are a part of that One
Ultimate Reality. And human goals are to become united
with that One–to achieve moksha.

Hinduism percent population in each nation World Map Hindu data by Pew Research

History

Hinduism developed within a group of tribes who

referred to themselves as Aryans. There are disputes
concerning where they originated; some scholarship says
that they were already present in western India, others
that they came into the area from Central Asia, or even
that they came from further west, including eastern
Europe. It is known that the Aryans began to assert their
presence in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent at
about the beginning of the second millennium BCE,
interacting with the Indus civilization that already
existed there. The Indus civilization is so named because
it seems to have spread out from settlements on the Indus
124 JODY ONDICH

river. They called the Indus river ‘Sindhu’, and it is from

this term that ‘Hindu’ comes. Hinduism thus signifies the
Aryans’ culture and religious traditions as they developed
over time, incorporating elements from other cultures
that the Aryans encountered along the way.
The religious tradition that emerged early on (almost
before anything that looks like modern Hinduism) had a
variety of gods and was centered on priests performing
sacrifices using fire and sacred chants. This is much like
traditions in many places around the continent.
The Indus river valley
people create sacred
texts, collectively called
the Vedas, that contain
hymns and rituals from
ancient India and are The Rig Veda is one of the oldest and most
mostly written in important texts in the śruti tradition of
Hinduism.
Sanskrit. The term
Vedas means
‘knowledge’. The Vedas were believed to have arisen from
the infallible ‘hearing’ (śruti), by ancient seers, of the
sacred deposit of words whose recitation and
contemplation bring stability and wellbeing to both the
natural and human worlds. The Vedas are believed to
have developed over a span of 2000 years. The hymns in
particular were largely directed at transcendent powers,
most of whom were called devas and devīs (misleadingly
translated as ‘gods’ and ‘goddesses’). These powers,
individually or in groups, were thought to exercise
control over the world through cosmic forces. In this
early phase of the Veda, there is reference to a One (ekam)
that undergirds all being. During later periods of this
earliest pre-Hindu tradition, questioning and changes in
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 125

spiritual philosophy produced the Upanishads, an

addition to the Vedas. These are also written in Sanskrit
and contain some of the central philosophical concepts
and ideas of the Hinduism we now know. These works
record insights into external and internal spiritual reality
(Brahman and Atman) that can be directly experienced.
Hindus generally believe in a set of principles called
dharma, which refer to one’s duty in the world that
corresponds with “right” actions. Hindus also believe in
karma, or the notion that spiritual ramifications of one’s
actions are balanced cyclically in this life or a future life
(reincarnation).

Introduction to Hinduism: Discovering Sacred Texts in the British

Library, PBS Learning

This excellent introduction to Hinduism is found at the really

impressive British Library website exploring Sacred Texts of the
world. Start here:

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=48#oembed-1

After this, watch this simple introduction to Hindu Concepts

from PBS Learning Media:

• Core Tenets of Hinduism

Two other dharma-texts of a different order,

126 JODY ONDICH

the Mahabharata (‘The Great Tale of the Bharatas’) and

the Ramayana (‘The Coming of Rama) came later. Both
compositions were originally compiled in Sanskrit verse
over several hundreds of years, beginning from about the
middle of the first millennium BCE. The Mahabharata
narrates the story of the rivalry between two groups of
cousin warriors, the Pandavas and the Kauravas. With the
aid of hundreds of supporting characters and intriguing
sub-plots, the story contains teaching about the nature
of dharma. Embedded in book 6 of the Mahabharata is
perhaps the most famous devotional sacred text of
Hinduism, the 700 verse Bhagavad Gita, or ‘Song of
(Krishna as) God’. The Gita, as it is often called, mainly
contains teachings by Krishna, as Supreme Being, to his
friend and disciple Arjuna about how to attain union
with him in his divine state.

The Ramayana recounts

the adventures of the exiled
king Rama and his various
companions as they make
their way to the island-
kingdom of Lanka – off the
southern tip of India – to
rescue Rama’s wife Sita, who
had been abducted by
Ravana, the ten-headed
ogre-king of Lanka. For a
great many Hindus, the
Ramayana, and devotion to
Rama 1816.
Painted in South India the avatar (the chief
representation of the
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 127

Supreme Being in human form) Rama offers an accessible

path to salvation.

The mysticism and

abstractness of
materials in the Vedas is
balanced with practical
religious elements that
form the everyday
spirituality of most
Hindus. This practical
A finely illustrated manuscript version of the
approach described in Bhagavad Gita, one of the most inspiring
the Gita states that one expressions of Hindu spirituality, produced in
Rajasthan. in the 18th century.
should first work to
meet one’s social
obligations in life. Then the Gita recommends four paths,
or yogas, that take into account one’s caste and
personality type. The paths of knowledge (jnana), action
(karma), devotion (bhakti), or meditation (raja) may be
practiced. Other yogas combine elements of these four.
Yoga is considered a form of spiritual work in Hinduism.

Key Terms:

The termBrahman stands for a monistic outlook that

128 JODY ONDICH

sees one invisible and subtle essence or source of all

reality—human, divine, and cosmic. All is ultimately one.
(Monism is the metaphysical and theological view that all
is one, that there are no fundamental divisions between
anything, and that a unified set of laws underlie all of
nature. The universe, at the deepest level of analysis, is
then one thing or composed of one fundamental kind
of stuff.) Brahman is the term used to describe “god” as
this Oneness of the universe. Supreme Universal Spirit
might serve as a better or more broad way to express this
concept of Brahman. (do not confuse Brahma from the
Trimurti with Brahman. They are completely different!)

Atman is the innermost spirit within all human beings,

which ultimately is identical with Brahman. Sometimes
we talk about the soul in about the same way. It refers to
the real self beyond ego or false self.

Maya reflects a sense of magic and mystery and accounts

for the perception of different forms or multiplicity in
the world. Maya hides or veils the underlying unity of all
things.
For more than two
thousand years in
Indian society there has
been an organization of
the society in the form
of the Caste system,
although this phrase is a
19th century term.
Organization of Indian
society had its own structure that, with the coming of the
British in the colonial era, took on a much more rigid
approach.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 129

Varna is a term that literally means type, order, or class

and it groups people into classes, a structure that was first
used in Vedic times. The four classes were the Brahmins
(priestly people), the Kshatriyas (rulers, administrators
and warriors), the Vaishyas (artisans, merchants,
tradesmen and farmers), and Shudras (laboring classes).
It had an additional category, identifying people beyond
societal status, considered the untouchables.
Jati is a term used in India to refer to a person’s lineage
and kinship group. Indians identify themselves by the
community they belong to and these jati are sub-groups
of specific castes. The status of the jati one is born into
is still a factor in marriage selection, even though the
strict isolation of caste in India is softening. Each jati, or
subgroup of a caste level, has a set of jobs common to
their position, but this can change with effort on the part
of the community. Jatis are much less obvious in their
caste associations than was previously thought.
The Indian Constitution outlawed the concept of
Untouchability in 1947 upon receiving Indian
independence from Britain, and the group called Dalit
(once considered the untouchables) are working even
now towards their civil rights.

The Indian Government has established special

quotas in schools and Parliament to aid the lowest
jatis. Caste discrimination is not permitted in
gaining employment and access to educational and
other opportunities. But this does not mean that
caste is illegal or has faded away. Caste groups as
political pressure groups work very well in a
democratic system. Caste may provide psychological
support that people seem to need. Economists and
political scientists are finding that caste is no real
 130 JODY ONDICH

barrier to economic development or political

1
democracy.

Key Takeaway: The Dalit movement in the 20th century

Take some time to read this interview about the Dalits in

modern India. Michael Collins is a 2020 Kluge Fellow from the
University of Gottingen. Collins is working on a project titled “From
Boycotts to Ballots: Democracy and Social Minorities in Modern India.”
Boris Granovskiy, who recently detailed at the Kluge Center, interviewed
Collins on his work.
The 20th Century Transformation of the Dalit Movement in
India

Karma and rebirth/reincarnation are important

aspects of the Hindu worldview. Justice is built into the
very fabric of reality. The moral consequences of one’s
actions will be experienced in this life or the next. So a
belief in reincarnation is central to Hindu belief. One
moves up or down the caste ladder depending on the
caliber of one’s life just lived.

Moksha represents the idea of final liberation or

freedom from all limitations, especially the round of
death and rebirth. Moksha entails going beyond egoism
and identifying with the unity and sacredness that
everything shares. After enough lifetimes, and learning
achieved, one eventually leaves the cycle of rebirth and is
liberated.

1. https://asiasociety.org/education/jati-caste-system-india
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 131

There are 4 goals in life:

According to Hinduism, the meaning (purpose) of life

is four-fold: to achieve Dharma, Artha, Kama, and
Moksha.
The first, dharma, means to act morally and ethically
throughout one’s life. However, dharma also has a
secondary aspect; since Hindus believe that they are born
in debt to the gods and people, dharma calls for Hindus to
remember these debts. These include debts to the Gods
for various blessings, debts to parents and teachers, debts
to guests, debts to other human beings, and debts to all
other living beings.
The second meaning of life according to Hinduism
is Artha, which refers to the pursuit of wealth and
prosperity in one’s life. Importantly, one must stay within
the bounds of dharma while pursuing this wealth and
prosperity (i.e. one must not step outside moral and
ethical grounds in order to do so). So it is considered
good to prosper, but not at the expense of others.
The third purpose of a Hindu’s life is to seek Kama. In
simple terms, Kama can be defined as obtaining
enjoyment from life. Again, this is not to be done at the
expense of others, but it is considered a good thing in life
to have joy and pleasure.
The fourth and final meaning of life according to
Hinduism is Moksha, enlightenment. By far the most
difficult meaning of life to achieve, Moksha may take
an individual just one lifetime to accomplish (rarely) or
it may take several. However, it is considered the most
important meaning of life and offers such rewards as
liberation from reincarnation, self-realization,
enlightenment, or unity with God. Often, in human lives,
132 JODY ONDICH

people focus on this goal as elders. As a young person,

the other goals may be more important, or more
demanding.

There are stages to human living, too, according to

Hinduism:

Ashrama, also spelled asrama, Sanskrit āśrama, in

Hinduism, is any of the four stages of life through which
a Hindu ideally will pass.
The stages are those of:
(1) the student (Brahamacari), marked by chastity,
devotion, and obedience to one’s teacher,
(2) the householder (Grihastha), requiring marriage,
the begetting of children, sustaining one’s family and
helping support priests and holy men, and fulfillment of
duties toward gods and ancestors,
(3) the forest dweller (Vanaprastha), beginning after
the birth of grandchildren and consisting of withdrawal
from concern with material things, pursuit of solitude,
and ascetic and yogic practices, and
(4) the homeless renouncer (Sannyasi), involving
renouncing all one’s possessions to wander from place
to place begging for food, concerned only with union
with brahman (the Absolute).
Traditionally, moksha (liberation from rebirth) should be
pursued only during the last two stages of a person’s life.

Exercise: Flashcards
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 133

One fun way to get a handle on difficult or new terms is

through flashcards. Try these, just for fun

• Brainscape on Hinduism

The Divine

The multiple gods and goddesses of Hinduism are a

distinctive feature of the religion. However, Professor
2
Julius Lipner explains that Hinduism cannot be
considered polytheistic and discusses the way in which
Hindu culture and sacred texts conceptualize the deities,
as well as their role in devotional faith. (the full texts, of
which this material is only excerpts, can be found at The
Hindu Sacred Image and Iconography, Hindu Deities )

2. Julius Lipner is Professor Emeritus in Hinduism and the

Comparative Study of Religion in the Faculty of Divinity at the
University of Cambridge. He specializes in Hindu philosophical
theology and modern Hinduism and in the relationship between
Hinduism and Christianity. His published works include The Face
of Truth: A Study of Meaning and Metaphysics in the Vedāntic
Theology of Rāmānuja (1986), Brahmabandhab Upadhyay: The
Life and Thought of a Revolutionary (1999), Ānandamath or The
Sacred Brotherhood (2005), Hindus: their religious beliefs and
practices (2nd ed. 2010), and Hindu Images and their Worship
with special reference to Vaişņavism: A Philosophical-Theological
inquiry (2017), and numerous journal articles. He is an Emeritus
Fellow of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of the
British Academy.
134 JODY ONDICH

“One of the most striking features of Hinduism is the

seemingly endless array of images of gods and goddesses,
most with animal associates, that inhabit the colorful
temples, and wayside shrines and homes of its adherents.
Because of this, Hinduism has been called an idolatrous
and polytheistic religion.
Hinduism can be likened to an enormous banyan tree
extending itself through many centers of belief and
practice which can be seen to link up with each other
in various ways, like a great network that is one, yet
many. The concepts of deity, worship and pilgrimage in
Hinduism are a prime example of this ‘polycentric’
phenomenon.
Deities are a key feature of Hindu sacred texts. The
Vedic texts describe many so-called gods and goddesses
(devas and devīs) who personify various cosmic powers
through fire, wind, sun, dawn, darkness, earth and so on.
There is no firm evidence that these Vedic deities were
worshipped by images; rather, they were summoned
through the sacrificial ritual (yajña), with the
deity Agni (fire) generally acting as intermediary, to
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 135

bestow various boons to their supplicants on earth in

exchange for homage and the ritual offering. Some Vedic
texts speak of a One that seemed to undergird the
plurality of these devas and devīs as their support and
origin. In time, in the Upanishads, this One (Brahman)
was envisaged as either the transcendent, supra-personal
source of all change and differentiation in our world
which would eventually dissolve back into the One, or as
the supreme, personal Lord who was the mainstay and
goal of all finite being. In both conceptions, we have the
basis for subsequent notions of a transcendent reality
that is accessible to humans by meditation and/or prayer
and worship.

Exercise: watch this short video about Hindu deities

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
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worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=48#oembed-2

Avatars

It is in the Bhagavad Gita that we first find sustained

textual evidence of developed thinking about devotional
faith in a personal God, named Krishna. In this text,
Krishna teaches his friend and disciple, Arjuna, about
his divine nature and relationship with the world, and
136 JODY ONDICH

how the devoted soul can find liberation (moksha) from

the sorrows and limitations of life through loving
communion with him. Here, also for the first time in
Hinduism, we encounter the doctrine of the avatāra (also
known as avatar), which teaches that the Supreme Being
descends periodically into the world in embodied form
for, according to the Gita, ‘re-establishing dharma,
protecting the virtuous and destroying the wicked.’ The
doctrine of multiple avatars with their specific objectives
was to develop subsequently over the centuries in various
sacred texts.

Places of worship

The first archaeological evidence we have of standing

temple construction and its implication of image-
worship of the deity occurs in about the 3rd century
BCE – of a Vishnu temple (in eastern Rajasthan) and of
a Shiva temple not too far away. Presumably, since these
were constructions of mud, timber, brick, stone etc., the
process of temple-building had begun appreciably
earlier, though we cannot say exactly where or when. We
can also assume from textual and archaeological evidence
that image-worship in Hinduism was present by about
the 6th to the 5th century BCE.

Companions

Most deities have an animal associate (vāhana) which

helps identify the deity and express the latter’s specific
powers; this was achieved too by an artistic device that
attributed multiple body-parts, such as hands and heads,
adorned by weapons and other objects, to the image.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 137

There are many stories, especially in the Purāṇas, which

describe the origin and role of the vāhana and the
weapons and other attributes associated with the image.

Worship

Other than by forms of

temple worship, which
include both personal
prayer and various
rituals conducted by
priests, the deity may be
worshipped at home
too, in a format called
puja. In its simplest
form, puja usually
consists of making an
offering of flowers or
fruit to an image of a An artist’s pencil sketch representation of one of
the reliefs of ‘Dancing Ganesha’ in the
god at a home shrine. It Hoysaleswara Temple complex.

can also happen by way

of meditation (dhyāna). Dhyāna can include highly
specialized kinds of visualization of the deity invoked, in
which the deity is often envisaged as communicating
with the worshipper.
Another form of worshipping the deity in Hinduism
is through pilgrimage (yātrā). Pilgrimage is a way of
creating a sacred landscape, of indicating that the whole
world, including the pilgrim, belongs to the deity and is
under its rulership. Through every pilgrimage, Hindus
encounter a tīrtha, a sacred ford or crossing-point
between heaven and earth, by which they may come to
terms with this world of sorrows and arrive at the
 138 JODY ONDICH

threshold of liberation. Over time, a great

many tīrthas have developed across the Hindu sacred
landscape.”

How to look at Hindu mythology

You may be finding the concept of the divine, or dealing with all
these deities, really confusing. Try listening to this Ted Talk,
which may help:

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
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worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=48#oembed-3

Bhakti
3
Dr Rishi Handa looks at bhakti in Hinduism, exploring
its common modes, the Hindu concept of enlightenment
and how to achieve it, the importance of the Divine
Name and the veneration of forms of the deities.
“If any aspect of religiosity can be said to pervade India,
it is bhakti. In a land whose culture is filled with a
plethora of devīs (goddesses) and devas (gods), it is the
foremost way by which Hindus express and experience
the Transcendent.

3. Dr Rishi Handa is Head of Sanskrit at St James Senior Boys

school.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 139

Bhakti is best rendered in English as ‘loving devotion’,

but it is much more than that. While common objects
of bhakti can be one’s guru (teacher) and one’s country,
this bhāva (emotion or feeling) is typically directed
to īśvara (the divine, ‘God’). Bhakti can be articulated
through gratitude, honoring of the deities, engaging in
formal ritual service to a deity, hymn-singing, reading
devotional scriptures, and constantly remembering the
name of one’s deity. This list is certainly not exhaustive.

The nine modes of bhakti

According to a number of Hindu texts, there are nine

ways of expressing bhakti. These differ depending on the
text. According to two of the key Purāṇas of Hinduism,
the Bhāgavata Purāṇa centred on Krishna (also spelt
Kṛṣṇa), and the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (focused on Vishnu, also
spelt Viṣṇu), the nine ways are:

1. Shravana: Hearing the Lord’s virtues, glories and

stories.
2. Kīrtana: Singing the Lord’s glories in the form of
hymns.
3. Smarana: Remembering the Lord at all times.
4. Pādasevana: Serving the Lord’s Feet.
5. Archanā: Honouring the Lord.
6. Vandanā: Prayer and prostration unto the Lord.
7. Dāsya bhakti: Being a servant of the Lord.
8. Sākhya bhakti: Friendship with the Lord.
9. Ātma-nivedana: Self-surrender to the Lord.
140 JODY ONDICH

A little summary…

You might be feeling a little overwhelmed by all of this detail

and history. Try a summary from Crash Course:

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=48#oembed-4

“Discovering Sacred Texts: Hinduism.” The British Library, The

British Library, 13 Sept. 2019, www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/videos/
hinduism.

Lipner, Julius. “Hindu Deities.” The British Library: Discovering

Sacred Texts, The British Library, 3 Dec. 2018, www.bl.uk/sacred-
texts/articles/hindu-deities#authorBlock1.

Lipner, Julius. “The Hindu Sacred Image and Its Iconography.”

The British Library: Discovering Sacred Texts, The British Library, 17
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 141

May 2019, www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-hindu-sacred-

image-and-its-iconography.

Lipner, Julius. British Library, Discovering Sacred Texts, 2019,

www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/sacred-texts-in-hinduism.

Breiner, Andrew. “The 20th Century Transformation of the

Dalit Movement in India.” The 20th Century Transformation of the
Dalit Movement in India | Insights: Scholarly Work at the John W. Kluge
Center, 31 July 2020, blogs.loc.gov/kluge/2020/07/the-20th-
century-transformation-of-the-dalit-movement-in-india/.

“The Core Tenets of Hinduism.” PBS LearningMedia, GBH, 16

Dec. 2020, illinois.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/sj14-soc-
hinduism/the-core-tenets-of-hinduism/#.WiF-ukqnFPY.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,

www.britannica.com/.

Green, John. “Crash Course Hinduism.” Crash Course, 11 Sept.

2012, youtu.be/0tpVZrsvK-k.

“Indian Pantheons: Crash Course World Mythology #8.” Crash

Course, 14 Apr. 2017, youtu.be/V_NJAJGCKD8.

Johnson, Jean, and Donald Johnson. “Jati: The Caste System in

India.” Asia Society, 2021, asiasociety.org/education/jati-caste-
system-india.
142 JODY ONDICH

11
HINDU
RESOURCES

“The essence of Hinduism is the same essence of all

true religions: Bhakti or pure love for God and genuine
compassion for all beings.” – Radhanath Swami

142
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 143

Useful Links

Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

Harvard University’s Pluralism Project: Hinduism
Alta Lib Guides: Hinduism
British Library: Sacred Texts/Hinduism
Pew Research Center Religion and Public Life:
Hinduism
Hinduism in the News: the BBC
Asia Society
Hinduism: Library of Congress
144 JODY ONDICH

12
SIKHISM

144
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 145

The Sikhs are a later

development in the
Dharmic traditions, and
came about through
one man, initially, Guru
Nanak. Gurus are
central to Sikh beliefs
and values, and there
are 10 that were
followed in the
beginning as this
tradition developed.

19th century mural painting from Gurdwara

Baba Atal depicting Nanak

Getting Started: a little history and background

An overview of the founding of the Sikh religion started by

Guru Nanak.

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
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We then use materials from a number of articles

 146 JODY ONDICH
1
written by Eleanor Nesbitt , through the British Library
Sacred Texts site:
” There are currently about 24 million Sikhs
worldwide. The majority live in the Indian state of
Punjab. They regard Guru Nanak (1469–1539 CE) as the
founder of their faith and Guru Gobind Singh
(1666–1708 CE), the tenth Guru, as the Guru who
formalized their religion. Religions and religious
teachers do not exist in a vacuum: India, in the Gurus’
time, was ruled by Mughal emperors who were Muslim.
Punjabi society was a mix of Muslims and Hindus.
The Sikh religion has evolved from the Gurus’
teachings, and from their followers’ devotion, into a
world religion with its own scripture, code of discipline,
gurdwaras (places of worship), festivals and life cycle rites
and Sikhs share in a strong sense of identity and celebrate
their distinctive history.
A central principle of the Gurus’ teaching is the
importance of integrating spirituality with carrying out
one’s responsibilities. Sikhs should perform seva
(voluntary service of others) while at the same time
practicing simaran (remembrance of God). The ideal is to
be a sant sipahi (warrior saint) i.e. a person who combines

1. Written by Eleanor Nesbitt Eleanor Nesbitt is Professor Emerita

(Religions and Education) at the University of Warwick. Her
ethnographic studies have focused on Christian, Hindu, Sikh and
'mixed-faith' families in the UK. She has published extensively on
Hindu and Sikh communities. Her recent publications include:
Sikhism A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn 2016, Oxford
University Press) and (with Kailash Puri) Pool of Life: The
Autobiography of a Punjabi Agony Aunt (2013, Sussex Academic
Press). She is co-editor of Brill's Encyclopedia of Sikhism and her
forthcoming publication is Sikh: Two Centuries of Western
Women's Art and Writing (2020, Kashi Books).
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 147

spiritual qualities with a readiness for courageous action.

Guru Nanak, the first Guru, and Guru Gobind Singh,
the tenth Guru, continue to feature prominently in Sikhs’
experience of their religion.

Who was Guru Nanak?

Guru Nanak was born

in 1469 in Talvandi, a
place now renamed
Nankana Sahib, in the
state of Punjab in
present-day Pakistan.
His parents were
Hindus and they were
Khatri by caste, which
This painting shows Guru Nanak sleeping inside meant that they had a
the main mosque in Mecca with his feet towards
Kaaba. An upset Muslim cleric is asking him to
family tradition of
turn his feet away from the symbol of God. account-keeping. The
name ‘Nanak’, like
Nanaki, his sister’s name, may indicate that they were
born in their mother’s parents’ home, known in Punjabi
as their nanake. Guru Nanak’s wife was called Sulakhani
and she bore two sons. Until a life-changing religious
experience, Nanak was employed as a store keeper for the
local Muslim governor.
One day, when he was about thirty, he experienced
being swept into God’s presence, while he was having
his daily bath in the river. The result was that he gave
away his possessions and began his life’s work of
communicating his spiritual insights. This he did by
composing poetic compositions which he sang to the
148 JODY ONDICH

accompaniment of a rabab, the stringed instrument that

his Muslim travelling companion, Mardana, played. After
travelling extensively Guru Nanak settled down,
gathering a community of disciples (Sikhs) around him,
in a place known as Kartarpur (‘Creator Town’).
Guru Nanak’s poems (or shabads) in the Guru Granth
Sahib (scripture) give a clear sense of his awareness of
there being one supreme reality (ik oankar) behind the
world’s many phenomena. His shabads emphasize the
need for integrity rather than outward displays of being
religious, plus the importance of being mindful of God’s
name (nam) and being generous to others
through dan (pronounced like the English word ‘darn’)
i.e. giving to others. His poems are rich in word-pictures
of animals and birds and human activities such as
farming and commerce.

Example of the central concept in Guru Nanak’s ideas

Watch this story by Jagjit Singh from the organization “Zero

Hunger with Langar” about his meeting with a Muslim Imam in a
village in Africa. Sharing Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s simple message of
One God and Many paths, and respecting ALL. Be the best you
Sikh, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jew you can be!

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 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 149

Guru Nanak’s importance results not just from his

inspirational teaching but also from the practical basis he
provided for a new religious movement: he established
a community of his followers in Kartarpur and he
appointed a successor, Guru Angad, on the basis of his
devoted service. Guru Nanak is respected as ‘Baba
Nanak’ by Punjabi Muslims as well as by Sikhs and
Punjabi Hindus.
Each year Sikhs celebrate his birthday on the day of the
full moon in November. Like other gurpurabs (festivals
commemorating a Guru) it is marked by an akhand
path (pronounced like ‘part’), a 48-hour, continuous,
complete reading of the Guru Granth Sahib which ends
on the festival morning. Commemorative events in 2019
celebrated the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak’s birth.

What is the concept of Guru in Sikhism?

At first Nanak was called ‘Baba Nanak’, with ‘Baba’ being

an affectionate term, like ‘grandfather’, for an older man.
These days he is better known as Guru Nanak. Just as the
word ‘Sikh’ means learner, so ‘Guru’ means teacher.

Key Takeaway

“Just as the word ‘Sikh’ means learner, so ‘Guru’ means teacher.

”

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150 JODY ONDICH

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Sikhs explain ‘Guru’ as meaning ‘remover of darkness’.

There have been just ten human Gurus. Their lives
spanned the period from Nanak’s birth in 1469 to the
passing away of Guru Gobind Singh in 1708. Since then
the Sikhs’ living Guru has been the Guru Granth Sahib,
the sacred volume of scripture. The Guru Granth Sahib
is much more than a book: it is believed to embody the
Guru as well as containing compositions by six of the
ten Gurus. The preeminent Guru (Nanak’s Guru) is God,
whose many names include ‘Satguru’ (the true Guru) and
‘Waheguru’ (a name which began as an exclamation of
praise).

Centrality of the Guru Granth Sahib

The Guru Granth Sahib is the sacred text of the Sikh

community and the embodiment of the Guru. It is central
to the lives of devout Sikhs, both in the sense of being
physically present in the gurdwara (place of worship) and
as Sikhs’ ultimate spiritual authority. Moreover, each day
devout Sikhs hear or recite the scriptural passages that
constitute their daily prayers and the Guru Granth Sahib
also plays an integral part in life cycle rites and festivals.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 151

As the Granth Sahib

is Sikhs’ spiritual
teacher, their Guru, it is
honored as a sovereign
used to be, centuries
ago in India. The
1430-page volume is
The Chauri is a whisk that is waved when the enthroned under a
Guru Granth Sahib is being read. canopy and it reposes
on cushions on the
palki (literally palanquin i.e. the special stand). An
attendant waves a chauri above it when it is open and
being read: the chauri is a fan consisting of yak tail hair
set in a wooden handle. When not being read, the volume
is covered by red and gold cloths known as rumalas, and
in many gurdwaras, after the late evening prayer, it is
ceremonially carried to a special bedroom where it is laid
to rest.
Those Sikhs who keep the Guru Granth Sahib at home
honor it in a room of its own. If a copy is temporarily
housed in a Sikh’s home for the duration of a
path (reading of the entire volume) strict rules are
observed – for example no non-vegetarian food is kept
or cooked. In other words, the house is temporarily a
gurdwara.

Example of the Guru Granth Sahib

The sheer size of the Gurū Granth Sāhib and the rituals that are
observed when it is enthroned and opened for recitation, make for
difficulties in its use as a book of private devotion. From quite
152 JODY ONDICH

early on it therefore became common to compile gutke or short

anthologies of the principal hymns, the best-known being those
called pañj-granthī, containing five major hymns. Over time other
hymns were also added.

This gutkā (anthology) was prepared between 1828–1830 for

Mahārānī Jind Kaur, popularly known as Rānī Jindān
(1817–1863). It consists of three compositions from the Gurū
Granth Sāhib, beginning with Gurū Nānak’s Sidh Gosṭi, followed
by Bāvan Akharī and Sukhmanī, two compositions by the fifth
spiritual master of the Sikhs, Gurū Arjan.

Sikhs believe that all ten human Gurus embodied the

same spirit of Guruship and that their different styles
were appropriate to the differing circumstances in which
they lived. Guru Nanak’s first four successors, Guru
Angad Dev, Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das and Guru
Arjan Dev, were also poets. Their compositions, together
with Guru Nanak’s, became the basis of the Guru Granth
Sahib. While their spiritual emphasis seamlessly
continued Guru Nanak’s, each made a distinctive
contribution to Sikh community life. Guru Angad
formalized the Gurmukhi script in which the scripture
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 153

is written. It was almost certainly developed from the

shorthand that accountants used for keeping their
accounts, as a simpler version of the script that is still
used for the older language of Sanskrit.
Sikhs turn to the Guru Granth Sahib for guidance
when they face a dilemma. The time-honored method is
for the volume to be opened at random and for the words
of the hymn at the top of the left-hand page to be taken as
the Guru’s response. This guidance is called a vak. A vak
is taken each day in all gurdwaras and the words are
displayed for everyone to read.

Life Style Features of Sikh Life

Guru Amar Das made the langar a key feature of Sikh

life: a shared vegetarian meal eaten by people of all ranks
sitting together regardless of their social status. His other
innovations included setting up a Sikh place of
pilgrimage and appointing preachers to lead local Sikh
congregations. His son-in-law and successor, Guru Ram
Das appointed stewards-cum-missionaries to organize
worship and collect offerings and he started the
settlement which in due course was renamed Amritsar.

In observant Sikh families a child’s name is chosen on

the basis of a vak, as the first word of the hymn on the
left-hand page provides the initial for the infant’s given
name. So, if the first word began with ‘s’, names such
as Sukhvinder, Satnam and Simran might be considered.
Most Sikh forenames are unisex: in a boy’s case his name
will be announced as, for example, ‘Satnam Singh’ while
a girl would be ‘Satnam Kaur’.
The Guru Granth Sahib is literally at the heart of the
154 JODY ONDICH

rite of anand karaj (marriage), as – linked by a scarf that

hangs over the groom’s
right shoulder – the
couple walk around it
clockwise four times,
with the groom leading
the way and the bride
following close behind
him. She is helped on
her way by her close A Sikh couple getting married. Anand Karaj
male relatives. Before ceremony.

each round, the

officiant reads one stanza of Guru Ram Das’s hymn
entitled Lavan (Guru Granth Sahib, page 773) and
the ragis (musicians) sing this again as the bridegroom
precedes the bride around the palki. The stanzas of
the Lavan evoke the progress of the human soul and the
enthroned scripture is witness to the marriage. The
service concludes with six verses of Anand Sahib (Guru
Amar Das’s composition on pages 917-922 of Guru
Granth Sahib), followed by the Ardas (congregational
prayer) and a distribution of karah prasad (made from
ghee, sugar, wheat flour and water).
At a Sikh’s funeral, the late evening prayers (kirtan
sohilla) are recited and, following someone’s death, the
entire Guru Granth Sahib is read over a period of up to
ten days (this is known as a sahaj path or sadharan path).
The ashes of the deceased person are immersed in a river
– in many cases the river Satluj at the town of Kiratpur in
north India.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 155

Sikh Worship

Sikhs worship in
Gurdwaras.
A gurdwara is a
building in which Sikhs
gather for
congregational
The Darbar Sahib of a Gurdwara in New Delhi, worship. However,
India.
wherever the Guru
Granth Sahib is
installed is a sacred place for Sikhs, whether this is a
room in a private house or a gurdwara. The word is often
translated as ‘doorway to the Guru’ and it means the place
in which the Guru, embodied in the Guru Granth Sahib,
is resident and honoured. In the 18th and 19th centuries
the word gurdwara gradually replaced the earlier term
‘dharamsala’ for rooms used for religious purposes
during the Gurus’ lifetimes.
There are gurdwaras in every country where Sikh
communities have settled. In the UK alone there are
probably about 300 gurdwaras. In the early years of Sikh
settlement in the UK, rented premises served
as gurdwaras. The next stage was to purchase a building
and modify it for Sikh worship. An increasing number
of gurdwaras are purpose-built, with architectural
features inspired by historic gurdwaras in India.
In a gurdwara both men and women must wear a head
covering to show their respect for the Guru Granth Sahib
and footwear must be removed on entering the building.
No tobacco or non-vegetarian food is allowed inside and
no-one may enter under the influence of alcohol. In the
worship hall it is respectful to bow before the enthroned
156 JODY ONDICH

Guru Granth Sahib and then sit on the floor, cross-legged

and facing the Guru Granth Sahib.
Most of the Sikh historic gurdwaras are in north India
though some are in Pakistan. (In the Gurus’ time, and
until 1947, the Punjab region was not bisected by a
national frontier, as Pakistan had not been created.) The
architecture of major historic gurdwaras, involving fluted
cupolas (gumbads), is influenced by Mughal style. Famous
gurdwaras in Pakistan commemorate Guru Nanak’s life:
in Nankana Sahib a gurdwara marks the place where he
was born and at Kartarpur Sahib a gurdwara stands where
he founded a settlement and (in 1539) passed away.
Equally well-known is Panja Sahib gurdwara in Hasan
Abdal (about 40 kilometres north-west of Islamabad),
where a rock bears what is believed to be the imprint of
Guru Nanak’s hand.
The title ‘sahib’ in the names of cities (e.g. Anandpur
Sahib) and major gurdwaras expresses Sikhs’ reverence
for locations associated with their Gurus’ lives.
Five notable gurdwaras in India are known
as takhts: takht means throne or seat of authority.

Example of a Gurdwara: HARIMANDIR SAHIB(Golden_Temple)

 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 157

Sikhs emphasize the fact that Harmandir Sahib has entrances

on all four sides, reminding them that the gurdwara is open to
every sort of person. This symbolises a Sikh commitment to
equality regardless of gender, religion or ethnicity. According to
tradition, at Guru Arjan Dev’s invitation, a pir (Muslim spiritual
master) laid the gurdwara’s foundation stone, so affirming inter-
religious friendship.

The Akal Takht (‘throne of the Timeless One’) is in

Amritsar (Punjab), facing the Harmandir Sahib (Golden
Temple), and it is the highest seat of authority. The Akal
Takht was first established by Guru Hargobind and the
two nishan sahibs (pennants flying from flagpoles,
honored and clad in orange cloth) are a reminder of his
two swords that signified the principle of miri piri (a
balance of worldly and spiritual authority).
158 JODY ONDICH

What are the Sikh festivals?

The Sikh religious calendar consists of melas (literally

‘fairs’) and gurpurabs (anniversaries of Gurus). The
Vaisakhi festival in April is the
most important mela,
a commemoration of
the founding of
the Khalsa in 1699 at
the first khande di
pahul on what was
already a spring harvest
day in the calendar of A demonstration of the Vaddah Chakar, the Sikh
Punjabi celebrations. martial arts weapon, during the 2010 Vaisakhi
Festival in Southampton
Notable gurpurabs are
the birthdays of Guru
Nanak (celebrated on the day of the November full
moon) and Guru Gobind Singh; the shahidi (martyrdom)
days of Guru Arjan and Guru Teg Bahadar and the
anniversary of the day when the Guru Granth Sahib was
installed in the Harmandir Sahib.
Until recent years Sikh festivals were observed
according to the north Indian Bikrami calendar. As most
anniversaries were determined by the phase of the moon,
the date would vary each year by the secular western
calendar. In the 21st century many Sikhs instead follow
the Nanakshahi calendar in which most festivals’ dates
have a fixed date according to the secular calendar.
48 hours before the morning of the festival, an akhand
path begins. On major festivals there is an
extended kirtan in the gurdwara and, in some cities,
Vaisakhi or the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh may be
celebrated with a nagar kirtan. This means that the Guru
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 159

Granth Sahib, duly enthroned and attended, is driven

slowly through the streets. Panj piare, dressed in orange,
blue or white, provide the vanguard and hundreds or
thousands of Sikhs follow in joyful procession, while
refreshments are offered to the walkers by volunteers
along the route.

The evolution of a religion…from the Khan Academy

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of the text. You can view them online here:
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Listening to a modern Sikh woman talk about love.

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of the text. You can view them online here:
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160 JODY ONDICH

Nesbitt, Eleanor. “Origins and Development of Sikh Faith: The

Gurus.” The British Library:Discovering Sacred Texts, The British
Library, 3 Dec. 2018, www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/origins-
and-development-of-sikh-faith-the-gurus.

Nesbitt, Eleanor. “Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction | Eleanor

Nesbitt.” A Very Short Introduction: Oxford Press, Oxford Press, 23
June 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNPhLQmR5W0.

“Guru Nanak’s Universal Message in 60 Seconds!” Sikhnet.com,

YouTube, 26 Nov. 2019, www.youtube.com/
watch?v=RfcBI_cXe74.

Nesbitt, Eleanor. “Sikh Prayer and Worship.” The British Library:

Discovering Sacred Texts, The British Library, 3 Dec. 2018,
www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/sikh-prayer-and-worship.

Nesbitt, Eleanor. “Sikh Sacred Places.” The British Library:

Discovering Sacred Texts, The British Library, 17 May 2019,
www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/sikh-sacred-places.

“3 Lessons of Revolutionary Love in a Time of Rage | Valarie

Kaur.” Ted Talks, 5 Mar. 2018, www.youtube.com/
watch?v=5ErKrSyUpEo.

“Sikhism Introduction.” Khan Academy: Sikhism Introduction,

Khan Academy, 2021, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 161

history/renaissance-and-reformation/sikhism/v/sikhism-
introduction-khan-academy-world-history.

“Continuity: Connections to Hinduism and Islam.” Khan

Academy: Sikh Connections to Hinduism and Islam, Khan Academy,
2021, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/
renaissance-and-reformation/sikhism/v/continuity-sikhism-
connections-to-hinduism-and-islam.
162 JODY ONDICH

13
SIKH
RESOURCES

“There is but One God, His name is Truth, He is the

Creator, He fears none, he is without hate, He never dies,
He is beyond the cycle of births and death, He is self
illuminated, He is realized by the kindness of the True
Guru. He was True in the beginning, He was True when

162
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 163

the ages commenced and has ever been True, He is also

True now.”
― Guru Nanak

Useful Links

The Sikh Coalition

Sikhri
Sikh Resources: UC Santa Cruz
National Sikh Campaign
Alta Lib Guides: Sikhism
Pluralism Project: Sikhism
Sikh Resources: Library of Congress
 164 JODY ONDICH

14
JAINISM

We begin looking at the Jain faith tradition with help

1
from Nadini Balbir , from the British Library Sacred

1. Nalini Balbir is a Professor of Indology at Sorbonne Nouvelle

University Paris, where she teaches Sanskrit. She has specialized
in research on various aspects of the Jain tradition. Her
publications include a Catalogue of the British Library Jain
manuscripts (2006, with co-authors K V Sheth, K K Sheth and C B
Tripathi). She has also contributed to the JAINpedia website

164
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 165

Texts website. If you would like to read the full text in

the original, with illustrations, you would enjoy reading
here:
An Introduction to the Jain Faith
“The Jain faith is one of the oldest faiths in India. Its
presence is attested since the 6th–5th century BCE. This
was the time when Mahavira preached in the eastern part
of India, then known as Magadha. Since then the faith
has been present on the Indian subcontinent, without any
break. There is no way to historically pinpoint when it
began; virtually no archaeological Jain ruins predate this
time in India, but the earliest
evidence there is
suggests that Jainism
was already a well-
established faith. Today
the Jains form a
significant minority in
Indian society, even
though they make up
hardly one percent of
the total population,
and have important
District wise Jain population percentage India diaspora communities
census 2011 in the UK, North
America, Singapore,
Belgium, etc.

which includes digitized Jain manuscripts from various London

collections.
166 JODY ONDICH

Who do the Jains worship?

The Jain faith does not believe in a creator god like

Hinduism or the Abrahamic faiths. In a way similar to
Buddhists, the Jains venerate perfect ascetics who have
been provided with valid authority on account of their
career and abilities. They are named Jinas (‘Conquerors’)
or Tirthaṃkaras (‘ford-makers’, because they have
crossed to liberation) who provide ultimate models to
the followers, the Jains. Mahavira was the twenty-fourth
Jina. His predecessors are not historical figures, but this
does not affect their place in respect and worship. Their
existence lays emphasis on the idea of lineage which is at
the center of Jainism. Mahavira is thus a continuator and
a reformer rather than a founder, which he is often said
to be.

An interesting perspective

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What is a Jina?

All Jinas led similar lives. They were born as princes in

royal families and withdrew from society in order to take
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 167

up religious initiation, either before or after marriage,

depending on the case.
The first stage of their ascetic life was full of tests that
they had to overcome, showing their perseverance when
faced with challenges. This spiritual evolution finally led
to full enlightenment, known in Jainism as omniscience
(kevalajñāna). When a Jina reaches this state they are then
able to grasp everything everywhere whether it relates
to past, present or future. They can then teach others
the principles of the doctrine. This takes place during a
general assembly where the Jina sits at the center, heard
and seen by all beings wherever they are.
He then utters the divine sound which results in
teaching expanded by him and his direct disciples, and
builds around him a community of monks, nuns and lay
followers. When his lifespan comes to an end and he has
attained full perfection, the Jina leaves the human body
for good and attains liberation from the cycle of rebirths.

What are the main features of the Jain worldview?

The Jain faith can be best labelled as a path to liberation

or a path of purification. This is defined as consisting of
correct faith, correct understanding and correct conduct.
The Jain teaching in its multiple shapes is an expansion
of these ‘three jewels’, the sequence of which is significant
and emphasizes a concern for rationality as one leads to
the other: one can have a proper conduct only if one is
aware of the proper way to analyze what exists.
Correct faith means recognizing the existence of
nine verities or principles.
They are:
168 JODY ONDICH

1. the fact that there are sentient souls or living

beings (jīva)
2. the fact that there are non-sentient or material
things (ajīva) such as time or space
3. the fact that karma flows in the soul (āsrava)
4. the fact that once in the soul karma is attached
to it (bandha)
5. the fact that there are forms of activity that are
good (puṇya)
6. the fact that there are forms of activity that are
bad (pāpa)
7. the fact that flowing of karma should be blocked
(saṃvara)
8. the fact that karma that has flowed in should be
annihilated (nirjarā)
9. the fact that once all karmas have been
eliminated final liberation from the cycle of
rebirths takes place (mokṣa)

This systematic worldview forms the basis for the Jains

way of life and their religious practices.

What is Karma ?

Example: Karma and how we create it

Most of us think of karma as something like “what goes around

come around”. This is not quite so accurate, at least not for the
Jains. Listen to this young man speak about his understanding of
Karma and how it is created. We don’t WANT karma. That’s the
point.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 169

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The literal meaning of the Sanskrit word Karma is deeds,

including thoughts and words. However, according to
Jainism, Karmas are thought to be invisible, and yet are
fine particles of matter that exists all around us just like
air particles. Our souls attract these karmas through
activities involving mind, body and speech. This means
every time we get annoyed, we attract karmas, every time
we insult someone, we attract karmas, every time we
lie or become steal or cheat, we attract karmas. These
karmas form layers over our souls and keep us from
realizing our true potential.
As the theory goes, the true nature of soul is clean, clear
and full of knowledge. The karmas separate the soul from
the truth and the soul goes through the cycles of birth and
death.
The strength and duration of karmic bonds are very
much dependent on the intensity of our intent. Our
motives at the time of performing any act determines
the strength and duration of the karma. Motive, intent,
and purpose count in Jainism: two people performing
similar activities could acquire karma quite differently.
For example, a person killing an animal to eat,
intentionally, is producing a karmic bond much stronger
170 JODY ONDICH

than a person killing insects unintentionally while

walking or driving. Both involve an act of killing but the
karma acquired will be different in these two situations.

Types of Karmas: From Harvard’s Jainism Literature Center

There are 8 different types of Karmas in Jain belief :

1.Knowledge-obscuring (Gyanavaraniya) Karma:

Gyan means knowledge. Varaniya means stoppage. This karma
prevents the soul from acquiring true knowledge and keeps us
ignorant just as a blindfold keeps us from seeing. How can we
improve our lot unless we know what we are?
2. Perception-obscuring (Darshanavarniya) Karma:
Darshan means faith or perception. This karma prevents us
from having a rational, common-sense approach towards our lives
and surroundings.
3. Feeling-producing (Vedaniya) Karma:
This karma makes us experience either the sweetness of physical
happiness or the bitterness of misery.
4. Deluding (Mohaneeya) Karma:
This karma, like too much alcohol, confuses all the human
faculties and makes us forget what is right and what is wrong. It
makes the souls bewildered and perplexed.
5. Life-span-determining (Ayu) Karma:
This karma determines the life spans of all living beings.
6. Physique-determining (Nam) Karma:
This karma determines the looks, skin, form etc. of the bodies of
living beings.
7. Status-determining (Gotra) Karma:
This karma determines the family and status of our birth.
8. Obstructing (Antaraya) Karma:
This karma prevents us from doing a good deed or undoing a
bad action when there is a desire to do it. For example, we may
want to give donation to a charity but this karma might put
obstacles in our path and stop us from doing so.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 171

The Jain faith in practice

Since the beginning,
the Jain society has
taken account of the
fact there are two ways
of life, a stricter one for
ascetics and a milder
one for non-ascetics,
who live in the world
engaged in professional
and family life and are
often called lay
followers. Male and
female mendicants, on
the one hand, male and
female lay followers, on
A mural depicting Ganeshprasad Varni at a Jain the other hand, form
temple in Katni, MP, India.
the fourfold Jain
community.
Monastic life is regarded as an ideal aim but Jainism
has devised a lot of possibilities for lay people to live their
faith earnestly in daily practice.
Jain mendicants are people who have become monks
or nuns after the official initiation ceremony called dīkṣā.
They renounce ordinary life, receive a new name and
the monastic equipment in accordance with the monastic
order to which they will belong. Then they lead a life
of itinerancy, walking long distances and not using any
mode of transportation as a general rule.
They conform to the ‘five great vows’ (mahāvratas)
which provide a broad frame of behaviour.
172 JODY ONDICH

• Non-violence (ahiṃsā)
• Truth (satya)
• Not taking what has not been given (asteya)
• Celibacy (brahmacarya)
• Non-attachment or non-possession
(aparigraha)

Necessary adjustments (aṇuvratas) are made to some

of the same vows for lay followers. For instance, the
mendicant ideal is complete celibacy, the lay ideal is
satisfaction with one’s own partner. Jain mendicants
practice non-attachment through a nomadic lifestyle,
depending entirely on the lay followers for subsistence.
Lay followers are engaged in economic life and earn
money, so in their case non-possession often means
extensive charity in the form of donations to the temples.
Such is the broad frame in which Jain mendicants and lay
followers live. But there is a wide range of practices that
strengthen the main concepts of the faith.

Non-violence and its manifestations

The foundational Jain principle of non-violence is the

consequence of an in-depth
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 173

analysis of the Jain

classification of life
forms. These are based
on the number of sense-
faculties life forms
possess, ranging from
one to five, and apply to
all living organisms, be
them human, animal,
plant or microbe. The
most visible expression
of this principle is the
strict practice of
vegetarianism, a key
expression of Jain faith.
Besides not consuming
meat and fish, dietary
restrictions extend to
root vegetables such as
onions, garlic, potatoes,
fruits with a large
Symbol of Ahimsa in Jainism
number of seeds,
alcohol (as
fermentation means destroying minute life-forms), eggs
and honey. Another aspect of food in religious life is the
offering of alms to the mendicant, which is ritualized and
obeys very strict rules. For mendicants as well as for lay
people, fasting is one of the most common practices.
Jain faith puts a lot of emphasis on respect and worship
to the religious teachers, from the ordinary mendicant up
to the Jinas.
This is expressed in the daily prayer known as the
‘Fivefold homage’ (Navakāramantra or Pañcanamaskāra)
174 JODY ONDICH

which is a chanting of mantras or recitations, and is

endowed with protective values. It is a key component
of Jain worship, similar to the three refuges for the
Buddhists or the Gāyatrīmantra for Hindus.

Fivefold Homage: Namaskāra-mantra

The Namaskāra-mantra is the fundamental prayer of the Jains.

It pays homage to the five types of holy beings:

1. arhat – enlightened teacher

2. siddha – liberated soul
3. ācārya – mendicant leader
4. upādhyāya – preceptor or teacher
5. sādhu – mendicant

Note that this is not praying for something material, asking for
something, or otherwise encountering the divine. It is a
recognition of these people and their role in human lives.

Other important religious acts include mantras for

confession and repentance, meditating on key topics
(anuprekṣā) such as impermanence, impurity of the body,
etc., singing praises to the Jinas, worshipping Jina images
in the temples, remembering important dates in the Jinas’
lives through festivals or pilgrimage to Jain sacred places.

Do all Jains believe the same thing?

With such a long and vital history it is to be expected that

Jains have not always agreed on everything and that these
differences in belief or practice resulted in divisions.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 175

However, divisions are based on practices, rather than

doctrines, and all Jains agree on the foundational
principles of karma and ahiṃsā.
The oldest division goes back to around the 1st century
CE and remains the most important today. It produced
the separation between the Śvetāmbaras and the
Digambaras who hold various differences, the
Digambaras being more strict in their practices and
beliefs.

Who, or what, is the Jain source of authority?

The Jains do not believe in any god as creator of the

universe or in any divine source of revelation who
teaches humanity how to think and behave. For them the
only
source of wisdom and
authority are the Jinas.
These royal-born
human beings
renounced their royal
destiny in their youth,
took to asceticism and
slowly became all-
knowers. As a
This statue was found by archaeologists in early
consequence they emit 20th-century about a mile north of Sravana
Belgola – the famous Digambara Jain site. The
the ‘divine sound’ front show the 24 Tirthankaras, while the back is
(divyadhvani) which is inscribed. It was a part of a Jain temple in
Santinatha Basti that also featured a mixture of
the ultimate source of Jain and Hindu images of “Jinas, Yakshas,
Yakshis, Brahma, Sarasvati, Manmatha, Mohini,
all teaching and is drummers, musicians, dancers”, according to
understood by every pages 7–9 of the Archaeological Survey of
Mysore Annual Report for the Year Ending 30th
being in his own June 1913.
language. There are
176 JODY ONDICH

twenty-four Jinas but the last one, Mahavira, is regarded

by the Jains as the source of their body of doctrine. In
Mahavira’s time (5th–6th century BCE) the teaching was
transmitted orally to his chief disciples (the gaṇadharas),
who taught their own disciples, etc.
This mode of transmission remained prevalent for
several centuries, but, as tradition puts it, with the
passing of time knowledge was forgotten bit by bit. For
example, all Jains agree that the Earlier texts (the Purvas),
considered to go back to the Jina’s direct disciples, are
long since lost. The last person who mastered them was
Bhadrabahu who died around 350 BCE.

What is the Jain canon of scripture?

It is important to bear in mind that the teaching of the

Jains is not associated with a single book but
disseminated over the various texts described, which are
often labelled as ‘canonical’. This term, however, is
increasingly felt inadequate because it implies a fixed
body of texts sanctioned by a central authority. Jains
commonly use the words siddhānta and āgama, which are
pan-Indian terms. The former term conveys the idea of
validity and authority, and is perhaps more common
among Digambaras. The latter term means ‘what has
come down to us’ or tradition. In addition, the Jain
scriptural tradition goes much beyond those put into
writing in the first centuries of the Common Era. Jain
mendicants in large number, and lay followers in a lesser
degree, have contributed to transmission of the faith, and
to Indian literatures, through rewritings, abridgments or
new modes of presentation of earlier material.
Digambaras and Śvetāmbaras do not recognize the
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 177

same body of scriptures as authoritative, however one

should not conclude from this that they differ a lot on the
fundamentals.

Digambaras

According to the Digambaras, a lot of teaching has been

lost, but there were a few ascetics who could remember
the essentials. One of them was Dharasena (ca. 137 CE)
who transmitted them to his disciples, Puṣpadanta and
Bhūtabali. They wrote the Teaching in six
parts (Ṣaṭkhaṇḍāgama). Then another ascetic called
Guṇabhadra
wrote a Treatise on

The Two-and-a-Half Continents is the only area

in the three worlds where human beings can be
born, and is frequently depicted in detailed maps
in manuscripts or paintings.

passion (Kaṣāyaprābhṛta). These large and complex

treatises form the first authoritative works for the
Digambaras. They provide technical expositions
on cosmology, karma theory and the way karmic matter
attaches to the soul as a result of desire and passions.
178 JODY ONDICH

Śvetāmbaras

According to the Śvetāmbaras, the teaching was collected

and put to writing in its final redaction during a
collective recitation which took place in Valabhī (Gujarat)
around 450 CE. This was led by Devarddhigaṇi
Kṣamāśramaṇa. The teaching was organised in a set of
texts divided into various categories (Angas, Upāngas,
Chedasūtras, Mūlasūtras, Prakīrṇakas). A junior monk or
nun starts with the basic texts (Mūlasūtras) and in time
progresses to read more technical texts as he becomes
more senior. The texts are varied; they are made up of
prose and verse, and take the form of philosophical
dialogues, poetry depicting ascetic life or exhorting
ascetics to follow the ideal mendicant’s way of life,
legends or parables, hymns to Mahavira and lists of
concepts.
Within the scriptures, some groups of texts are
unchanging while others show fluidity and divergences.
The number of accepted scriptures among Śvetāmbaras
corresponds to a sectarian division that took shape from
the 15th century onwards. Mūrtipūjaks consider there
to be forty-five scriptures while Sthānakavāsins and
Terāpanthins state there are thirty-two.
In Mahavira’s time the prevalent sacred language was
Sanskrit. It was associated with the Vedas, the earliest
sacred texts of Hinduism, and with the brahmins, the
religious elite in charge of their transmission. In contrast,
Mahavira, like the Buddha, did not use Sanskrit as a
preaching language, but Prakrit.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 179

Contents and forms of the teaching

Jain teaching was thus fixed into writing in the middle

of the 5th century CE, at the latest. It was available first
in the form of hand-written manuscripts. Those which
have come down to us, however, are not older than the
end of the 11th century. Nothing before this time could
be preserved due to the Indian climatic conditions. In
Northern India,
manuscripts of Jain
texts were first copied
on palm-leaf and, from
the 14th century
onwards, on locally
manuscript of Śrīcandra’s Saṃgrahaṇīratna made paper. They were
from British Library produced in large
numbers in India and
started entering European libraries in the last decades of
the 19th century. The then India Office Library and
British Museum were among the main institutions with
collections of Jain manuscripts. The richness of Jain
manuscript culture is a sign of the importance attached
to scriptural knowledge (known as śrutajñāna) in this
faith: knowledge being one of the three requisites for
spiritual progress.

The fundamentals analyzed in canonical scriptures of

both Jain groups are retold through concise definitions in
That Which Is (Tattvārthasūtra), a Sanskrit handbook that
has a special place in Jain tradition because it transcends
the boundary between Digambaras and Śvetāmbaras and
is recognized by both of them.
180 JODY ONDICH

Example of Jain Storytelling

On February 18th and 19th, 2012, dancer and storyteller

Pranita Jain from Kalapriya Center for the Indian Performing
Arts, led a special interactive storytelling demonstration
animating tales of King Vikramaditya with mudras (gestures) and
facial expressions at the Asian Art Museum.

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
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Story-telling has always been considered a crucial

medium of teaching by the Jains. Mahavira’s career and
the legendary lives of the other Jinas are the first source
of stories. They form an essential part of one canonical
scripture, the Kalpasūtra. Its text has often been
accompanied by gorgeous paintings in manuscripts.

Example

View the beautiful Samgrahaniratna at the British Library:

• Cosmology through images

Several books of the Śvetāmbara canon show the

 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 181

doctrine in acts through the eventful lives of good and

bad characters who illustrate the working of the karma-
theory and the circulation of souls up and down the three
worlds. The Uttarādhyayanasūtra, a Śvetāmbara canonical
scripture memorized and studied by new ascetics at the
beginning of their religious lives, combines didactic
chapters with legends, providing rich material for willing
painters of manuscripts.

A broad repertoire of heroes and heroines is thus

produced, and enlarged over the centuries through
rewritings in all the languages used by the Jains and all
the poetic forms evolved in Medieval and modern times.
The British Library manuscript of the Story of the Sunday’s
Vow is an instance of a text in Old Hindi produced among
the Digambaras in the 17th century. The language, the
poetic form and the pictorial style, all illustrate how the
Jain tradition has been able to adjust to new means in
order to hand down the key-values of its faith and satisfy
new audiences.

Scripture-worship

Not only do the Jains respect the contents of sacred texts.

They also venerate them as holy objects in themselves.
Scriptures are sometimes found in temples in the shape
of books, symbols or quotations inscribed on the walls. In
addition, the Digambara Teaching in Six Parts is housed in
a temple in Mudbidri, Karnataka. For a long time it was
worshipped without being studied. It became available to
study only in the 1930s. On the Śvetāmbara side, since
at least the 14th century, the Kalpasūtra has been used
during the yearly Jain festival of Paryushan
182 JODY ONDICH

(August–September), with parts of it being read in

temples and manuscripts (or now printed books) being
displayed ceremoniously during processions. Both
Śvetāmbaras and Digambaras have a festival in honor of
scriptural knowledge which is the occasion to clean and
restore manuscripts or books and to worship then as
embodiments of knowledge.

Summary

The Jain faith’s primary concern is to purify and liberate

the soul from the perpetual cycle of death and rebirth.
The Jinas, practicing meditation and conforming to
fundamental vows such as non-violence and truthfulness,
have overcome attachment and desire and set the
supreme example for all Jain followers. The path to
liberation is defined by three main principles, the so-
called three jewels of Jainism: right faith, right
understanding and right conduct.

National Geographic Society. “Jainism.” National Geographic

Society, 19 Aug. 2020, www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 183

jainism/#:~:text=Jainism%20teaches%20that%20the%20path,is%2
0determined%20by%20one’s%20karma.

Balbir, Nalini. “An Introduction to the Jain Faith.” The British

Library: Sacred Texts, The British Library, 12 Nov. 2018,
www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/an-introduction-to-the-jain-
faith.

“The Jain Universe Online.” JAINpedia > Home, 2021,

www.jainpedia.org/.

Vora, Anop R. “Jainism Resource Center – Theory of Karma.”

Jainism Resource Center – Articles, Harvard Jainism Literature
Center, 2021, sites.fas.harvard.edu/~pluralsm/affiliates/jainism/
article/karma.htm.

Arora, Mahir. “Karma and How We Create It.” TED, 2019,

www.ted.com/talks/mahir_arora_karma_and_how_we_create_it.

“Indian Storytelling and Dance with Pranita Jain.” Asian Art

Museum of San Francisco, 13 Mar. 2012, youtu.be/YvnBUpjvWGw.
184 JODY ONDICH
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 185

15
JAIN
RESOURCES

“In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should

regard all creatures as we regard our own self.”
― Mahavira

185
186 JODY ONDICH

Useful Links

Federation of Jain Associations in North America

National Geographic: Jainism
Harvard’s Pluralism Project: Jainism
Jainism: The British Library
Alta LibGuides: Jainism
Jainpedia
Jain Resources: Library of Congress
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 187

PART IV

MIDDLE EASTERN
ORIGINS

When we talk about the Abrahamic faith traditions, we

often just think of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But
we should really include a fourth tradition–the Baha’i
Faith, which comes out of Islam in the 19th century CE.
These 4 faiths have a great deal in common, have
common history and prophets, use overlapping
scriptures, and come from the general area of the Middle

187
 188 JODY ONDICH

East. All of them venerate Jerusalem as a holy city, and

point back to Abraham and Sarah as original leaders who
accepted and promoted monotheism.
And yet they differ in ways that do matter. There are
varying ways of describing and relating to the divine.
They each have prophets and leaders that the other
traditions do not accept. The primary languages differ
for the scriptures in each faith. Festivals, holy days,
rituals–all have developed other ways of doing things,
expressing their faith, living their beliefs, even as they
continue to look back at the same roots.
We have some materials from the British Library
1
written by Anna Sapir Abulafia If you would like to
read the entire article, it is at Abrahamic Religions

1. Anna Sapir Abulafia is Professor of the Study of the Abrahamic

Religions at the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the
University of Oxford and a Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall. She has
published widely on medieval Christian-Jewish relations. At
present she is engaged in a project examining the place of Jews
and Muslims in Gratian’s Decretum.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 189

The term ‘Abrahamic’

highlights the hugely
important role which
the figure of Abraham
plays in each of these
traditions. Jews,
Christians and Muslims
look to their sacred
texts to find the history
of Abraham and how it
has been interpreted
through the ages. For
Jews, the central text is
Saint Patriarch Abraham
the Hebrew Bible
consisting of the Torah
(the first five books or Pentateuch), the Prophets (Nevi’im)
and the Writings (Ketuvim). Abraham’s story unfolds in
Genesis, the first book of the Torah. Abraham is referred
to over and over again throughout the Hebrew Bible as
well as in post-biblical rabbinical materials interpreting
the biblical narrative (Midrash). For Christians, the
Hebrew Bible is the Old Testament, the precursor of the
New Testament that narrates the birth, ministry, death
and Resurrection of Jesus Christ as well as the life and
preaching of the earliest followers of Jesus. For Christian
understandings of Abraham the Letters of St Paul are of
particular importance. Muslims engage with the figure of
Abraham/Ibrāhīm in their holy book, the Qur’an, as well
as in the Hadith, the body of writings which transmit the
sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad.
190 JODY ONDICH

The shared origins of the Abrahamic faiths

There are many different Jewish, Christian and Muslim

traditions concerning Abraham. Interpretations of
Abraham reflect the wide variety of beliefs and customs
among Jews, Christians and Muslims at different times
and in different places. Varieties exist within each
tradition as well as between them. Recognition of how
different these interpretations are and how often these
interpretations exclude the other is important if one is to
understand the tumultuous history of relations between
Jews, Christians and Muslims. Wishful thinking of a
peacefully shared Abrahamic vision belies the realities
of centuries of bitter conflict and persecution. Having
said that, it is also important to acknowledge the fruitful
work that has been done in the field of interfaith dialogue
over many years. A good example is the approach taken
by the Oxford Abrahamic Group, which outlines Jewish,
Christian and Muslim perspectives on Abraham, Moses,
Jesus and Muhammad in order to find commonalities
that can lead to fruitful discussions. Just as Abraham is
seen by all three traditions to have been a man who put
his trust in God, so too must the adherents of the three
main Abrahamic religions trust each other enough to be
able to engage in respectful dialogue.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 191

Abulafia, Anna Sapir. “The Abrahamic Religions.” The British

Library, The British Library, 7 Dec. 2018, www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/
articles/the-abrahamic-religions.
192 JODY ONDICH
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 193

16
JUDAISM

Judaism is the oldest

monotheistic religion in
our world. There have
been and are those who
argue for Hinduism
being monotheistic, and
those who point to
Egyptian Akhenaten as
leading the brief
a close-up photo of the Shema inscription on the
monotheistic sect of
Knesset Menorah in Jerusalem. Aten worship. But
there are arguments
against each of these being true monotheistic faiths, and
for the most part, scholars agree that it is Judaism that
introduces real monotheism–the worship of only one
god–to the organized world religions.

193
194 JODY ONDICH

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from

this version of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=40#oembed-1

The history of the Jews can be divided into four general

periods of time.

In the first period in

the early history of the
Hebrew people
included nomadic and
tribal life. There are
various important
events in the lives of
these people, most of
which we have no real
historic or
archaeological proof of
being factual. These are
elemental stories that
inspire and show a
covenant between the
people and God,
however, and the point of the stories is not really to be
history, but to be inspirational. Early Jews followed
various prophets from Abraham and his sons and
grandsons, all the way to Moses and Joshua, and the
tribes eventually found a homeland in what is now called
Israel/Palestine. This first period is marked with the
milestones of establishing first a tribal confederacy with
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 195

judges ruling, eventually a kingly dynasty, the

establishment of a capital in Jerusalem, and the first
temple for sacrificial worship. The three great kings in
Jewish tradition are Saul, David and Solomon. The
approximate dates for this royal dynasty are 1020 to 922
BCE. These kings might more closely resemble tribal
chieftains than European royals, but they were war
leaders and lead a united kingdom of the tribes. After the
reign of Solomon ended, the nation of Israel divided into
two due to civil war, and after this the north was still
called Israel, and the south, was then called Judah. The
first historic indicator that we have indicating the factual
reality of a nation called Israel comes from an Egyptian
artifact called the
Merneptah Stele, found
at a dig in 1896 CE. On
this item, which is a
celebratory marker
which writes about
Merneptah conquering
various neighboring
nations, is found the
name of the nation of
Israel. The stele dates
to 1208 BCE, and
firmly establishes some
kind of timeline for the
nation’s existence.
Although the texts talks
about virtually eradicating Israel from existence, that
clearly is an exaggeration.
196 JODY ONDICH

A second period
began between the
eighth to the sixth
century BCE when the
kingdom of Assyria
conquered northern
Israel ion about 722
BCE, and then the
kingdom of Judah and
its first temple were
destroyed by
Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylon, and the people
were forced into a fifty-year exile in Babylon starting in
about 596 BCE. Although there were many Jews forced
to leave Judah, the majority of those so exiled were the
educated, skilled, and upper classes of the Jewish people.
Peasants, farmers, and those at a distance from
population centers did not leave the country. This
caused some rifts in the Hebrew people over time,
especially when the exiles returned to Israel. This event
called the Exile, however, led to the emergence of the
synagogue style of worship instead of temple sacrifices,
as the people in exile had no temple to use, and prompted
putting religious law and history into a written form to
guarantee its survival. Oral tradition translated into
written materials, and we see psalms, the Torah, and
other bits of writing coming from that era.
A second temple was eventually built in Jerusalem
when the exiles were allowed to return home to Israel
from Babylon. They began writing down in more
permanent form what is now the first half of the Bible,
the Hebrew Scriptures. Influences from the
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 197

surrounding cultures entered into Jewish life both before

and after this era. From the Babylonians came
Zoroastrian ideas, such as the dualism of heaven and
hell, and later the appeal of Hellenistic/Greek culture
impacted Jewish worship and practice. Tensions arose
because of differing ideas and practices in Judaism, and
the differences between
accepting and rejecting
of these foreign
influences led to the rise
of Jewish factions after
165 BCE. These groups
included the Sadducees,
the Pharisees, the
Zealots, and the
Essenes, who assembled the Dead Sea Scrolls. This period
also saw the growth of the Diaspora, Jewish communities
established outside the land of Israel.
The third period was initiated in the Common Era
when the second temple was destroyed by the Romans in
70 CE, as they violently put down a Jewish rebellion
against the Roman occupation of Jewish land. This
destruction of both the city and the temple ended the
power of the temple priesthood, as sacrificial rituals were
no longer possible, and forced the religion to move
toward a greater focus on scripture. The Hebrew canon
(the established list of books in the Hebrew scriptures)
was finalized and commentaries about them were
written in the next several hundred years. Classical
Judaism and traditional Jewish life were also established
during this time. Great communities of Jewish people in
the Diaspora (non-Israeli lands) both flourished and
endured persecution, mainly at the hands of European
198 JODY ONDICH

Christians. Considered “Christ Killers” by the Catholic

and eventually
Protestant churches, the
Crusades, the
Inquisition, the
Pogroms, and much
general restriction and
persecution took place
during the entire
Christian Era (post 30
CE). The Nazi era was
actually preceded by
hundreds of years of
killing, persecution and hatred aimed at the Jewish
people.

The fourth and final period, called the Reform Period,

began in about 1800 CE as a response to the European
Enlightenment. It was a time to question and modernize
traditional Judaism, and it helped produce diverse
branches within Judaism today, which hold differing
views on Jewish identity and practice. The standard
branches of Judaism came to be–the Orthodox, the
Conservative, and coming out of the more academic and
liberal wing of Judaism, the Reform Jews. These three
became identifiable branches of the faith, with the
Reconstructionist Jewish group coming about in the late
20th century CE. Centuries of persecution reached a
climax with the Holocaust under the reign of Adolf
Hitler. One-third of all Jews in the world were killed.
Shortly after the end of World War II, the nation of Israel
was born. Zionism, which is the concept of returning
Jews to a Jewish homeland in what had been historic
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 199

Israel, was born in the 3rd period, and came to full

fruition in the 4th period with the establishment of Israel
as a nation in 1948. The
centuries of conflict
between the
monotheistic faiths,
between Europe and
the Middle East, and
between people who
had lived in the
Palestine/Israel area for
many years, and those who immigrated there and bought
land has continued to this day.

An excellent timeline for the development of Judaism from Professor

1
Simon Schama

1. Simon Schama is University Professor of Art History and History

at Columbia University and a Contributing Editor of the Financial
Times. He is the author of 16 books and the writer-presenter of
more than 40 documentaries on art, history and literature for
BBC2. His art criticism for The New Yorker won the National
Magazine Award for criticism in 1996; his film on Bernini from
The Power of Art won an Emmy in 2007 and his series on British
history and The American Future: a History, won the Broadcast
Critics Guild awards. He won the NCR non-fiction prize for
Citizens, National Book Critics Circle award for Rough
Crossings, the WH Smith Literary Award for Landscape and
Memory. He writes on cooking and food for GQ; fashion for
Harper’s Bazaar and on everything else for the Financial Times.
He curated the Government Art Collection show Travelling Light
at the Whitechapel Gallery in London and has collaborated with
200 JODY ONDICH

The Story of the Jews

Judaism and their Sacred Texts

Judaism is often associated with its most important

writings. The Hebrew Bible contains a variety of material
that records interactions and responses between the
people and a God who is portrayed in complex ways,
perhaps reflecting different ancient traditions that were
ultimately combined. The scriptures are divided into
three parts.
First is the Torah, the sacred core of five books
containing stories of the Creation, Adam and Eve, a Great
Flood, the Hebrew patriarchs and matriarchs, and Moses,
the great liberator and lawgiver. It includes laws about
religious ritual and daily conduct, including the Ten
Commandments.

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from

this version of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=40#oembed-2

Anselm Kiefer, John Virtue and Cecile B. Evans on contemporary

art exhibitions and installations. His latest project is The Story of
the Jews, which was broadcast on BBC2 in the UK and published
as a book in autumn 2013. The second volume of The Story of the
Jews is due to be published in autumn 2014.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 201

The Torah

We look at the major scripture of Judaism–the

2
Torah–with assistance from Maryanne Saunders ,
writing for the British Library, The entire text of the
article on the Torah can be read here at The Torah:
Torah (‫)תורה‬ in
Hebrew can mean
teaching, direction,
guidance and law. The
most prominent
meaning for Jews is that
the Torah constitutes
Jewish boy holding a scroll with the names of the first five books of
Holocaust death camps and slave labor camps the Hebrew Bible (also
at his Bar Mitzvah.
called the Pentateuch,
‘five books’ in Greek),
traditionally thought to have been composed by Moses.
These sacred texts are written on a scroll and kept in a
synagogue. Sometimes the word Torah is used to refer to
the whole Hebrew Bible (or Tanakh) which additionally
contains Nevi’im (‫)נביאים‬, which means Prophets,
and Ketuvim (‫ )כתובים‬meaning Writings. Torah can also
refer to wider scriptural commentaries (Talmud) and even
all Jewish religious knowledge. It is in this sense that Jews
will often speak of the importance of living a life guided
by Torah.

2. Maryanne Saunders is a PhD candidate in the Theology and

Religious Studies Department, King’s College London. Her
research interest is religious modern and contemporary art with a
particular focus on gender and sexuality.
202 JODY ONDICH

Example: the 10 Commandments

1) I am the Lord thy god, who brought thee out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
2) Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
3) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
4) Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
5) Honor thy father and thy mother.
6) Thou shalt not murder.
7) Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8) Thou shalt not steal.
9) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
10) Thou shalt not covet anything that belongs to thy neighbor.

These five books are the same five books that make up
the start of the Christian Bible. The Torah text can be
written out by a scribe in Hebrew onto a scroll and used
in public prayer
services or printed in
books for individuals
and congregations to
study. The Torah has
central importance in
Jewish life, ritual and
belief. Some Jews
believe that Moses Reading of the Torah, Aish Synagogue, Tel Aviv,
received the Torah from Israel.

God at Mount Sinai,

whilst others believe that the text was written over a long
period of time by multiple authors. The scroll must also
be written entirely in Hebrew with no vowels or
indication of how the words are pronounced. This means
that readers must have existing knowledge of the Torah
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 203

to identify what each word means, emulating the texts

and scholars as they were millennia ago. The text within
is divided up into fifty-four portions, so that one (or
sometimes two) can be read per week for a year, before
starting again on a holiday called Simchat Torah
(‘Rejoicing with the Torah’). Scrolls are generally required
to be made out of animal skins and can take up to two
years to produce, mainly due to the rules against erasing
any of the words – which means that the scribe cannot
make a single mistake without starting again. It was not
until the 4th century BCE that the Torah became a holy
object reserved for public readings. The text of the Torah
would have originally been written down on papyrus
scrolls to be studied and discussed by scholars. It is only
after the Babylonian Exile in 444 BCE as the Jews
returned to Israel, that Ezra the scribe is recorded as
having read aloud from the five books of Moses
(Nehemiah 8).
Traditionally, the
Torah is read four times
a week in the
synagogue: at the
Sabbath (Saturday)
morning and afternoon
services and in the
morning service on
Page pointers for reading of Torah, El Transito Mondays and
Synagogue, Spain.
Thursdays. Additional
readings may occur on
high holy days such as Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
or Rosh Hashana (New Year). Many synagogues are in
possession of more than one scroll, but all are housed in
the Ark, a large cabinet positioned to face Jerusalem. As a
204 JODY ONDICH

sign of the sacred status of the Torah, the scroll is often

covered with a decorative mantle. As well as being
covered, the Torah is not read without a pointer to
highlight and direct the reader. Hands don’t touch the
surface, but instead a silver or bone pointer is used.
The Torah is chanted in the synagogue by the rabbi, the
cantor (singing leader) or a person who has been called
up to the bimah (an honour called Aliyah).

Example: Psalm 23

Cantor and senior Rabbi Angela Buchdahl from Central

Synagogue, New York City

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=40#oembed-3

Whether there is any musical accompaniment depends

on the denomination of the synagogue: for example, in
Orthodox congregations the singing is in classical
Hebrew, unaccompanied and without a microphone; on
the other hand, in Reform synagogues there may be a
choir, musical instruments and vernacular language used.
Another way in which the denomination of a
synagogue may affect services is the degree to which
women are included. In Orthodox and some conservative
congregations, women are seated separately from men,
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 205

in a gallery or behind a screen. In these congregations it

is less likely that a woman would be permitted to go up
to the bimah, read from or even touch the Torah scroll.
On the other hand, Liberal, Reform and other synagogues
allow women to be ordained as rabbis, lead prayer
services and sit with whomever they please.

The Talmud

The Talmud is a set of

writings about faith,
and how to live the law.
The Talmud, meaning
‘teaching’ is an ancient
text containing Jewish
sayings, ideas and
stories. It includes the
Mishnah (oral law) and
the Gemara
(‘Completion’). The
Mishnah is a large
collection of sayings,
arguments and
counter-arguments that
Babylonian Talmud, vol XXII, Masechet
Sanhedrin, Edit. & Print A.J. Menkes & S. touch on virtually all
Sprechner, Lwow (Lemberg) 1864
areas of life. The
Gemara is known as a
‘sea’ of learning, a collection of stories about biblical
characters, sober legal arguments and fanciful imaginings
of the world of old and the world to come.
The Talmud developed in two major centers of Jewish
scholarship: Babylonia and Palestine. The Jerusalem or
Palestinian Talmud was completed about 350 CE, and
206 JODY ONDICH

the Babylonian Talmud (the more complete and

authoritative) was written down about 500 CE, but was
further edited for another two centuries. The Talmud
served as the basis for all codes of rabbinic law.
From the Palestinian tradition of Jewish worship came
the Ashkenazi rite used in Western and Eastern Europe
and Russia. From the Babylonian tradition came the
Sephardi rite followed in Spain, Portugal, North Africa,
and the Middle East. Both rites, as well as some others,
are still practiced in Orthodox Jewish communities
worldwide.
Coming to grips with a Talmudic text can be
demanding. While it is possible to read a page of the Bible
in a matter of minutes, depending on the difficulty, a page
of Talmud may take an hour or considerably more to go
through with understanding. Traditionally it is studied
with a partner or ‘friend’ in order to recreate the internal
arguments and make sure that the subject in question,
whether marriage, business ethics, capital punishment,
property law or dietary regulations, has been examined
from every conceivable angle.

Judaism centers on a way of life that recognizes the

presence of God and the holiness of human life. Beyond
embracing the Ten Commandments, the most obvious
examples are keeping the Sabbath, observing holy days
and festivals, and following dietary practices. Judaism is
known for its strong moral and ethical orientation and a
focus on everyday life that has led to major contributions
in multiple fields that serve humanity, such as medicine
and law. There is considerably less emphasis on an
afterlife.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 207

The Haggadah

The Haggadah, which

literally means ‘telling’,
is the Hebrew service
book used in Jewish
homes on Passover eve
to commemorate the
Israelites’ miraculous
liberation from
The Golden Haggadah, internal pages showing
Passover story hundreds of years of
slavery in Egypt. Its text
is a collection of biblical passages, blessings, legends and
rituals arranged into an orderly sequence. The Haggadah
is used primarily to teach the young in families about the
continuity of the Jewish people and their unflinching
faith in God, as summed up in one of its verses:

“And thou shall tell thy son in that day, saying: it is

because of that which the Lord did for me when I
came forth out of Egypt”. (Exodus 13. 8)

The Haggadah has long inspired artists and remains

one of the most frequently illustrated texts in Jewish life.
Perhaps because it was mainly intended for use at home,
and its purpose was educational, Jewish scribes and
artists felt completely free to illustrate the Haggadah.
Indeed it was traditionally the most lavishly decorated of
all Jewish sacred writings, giving some well-to-do Jews
of the middle ages a chance to demonstrate their wealth
and good taste as well as their piety through owning
elaborate, sometimes gilded versions of the Haggadah.
208 JODY ONDICH

Passover
commemorates one of
the most important
events in the story of
the Jewish people. Like
Christianity and Islam,
Judaism traces its
origins back to
Passover plate with ritual elements that include
Abraham. He was leader a bone shank, an egg, horse radish, bitter herbs,
of the Israelites, a group vegetable, salt water and charoset (apple, nut,
and spice mixture)
of nomadic tribes in the
Middle East some 4,000
years ago. Abraham is said to have established a religion
that distinguished itself from other local beliefs by having
only one, all-powerful God – a God who chose the Jews
to be an example to the whole world.
The Israelites became slaves in Egypt, after they came
there, according to the story of Joseph, because there was
famine in the land of Israel. Eventually, a prophet called
Moses delivered the Jews from their captivity with the
help of several miraculous events intended to intimidate
the Egyptian authorities. The last of these was the sudden
death of the eldest son in every family. Jewish households
were spared by smearing lambs’ blood above their doors
– a sign telling the ‘angel of death’ to pass over.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 209

Synagogue Worship and Rituals in Judaism

3
With some assistance from Rabbi Johnny Solomon , we
read more about rituals and holidays within Judaism:
Prayer is a part of
Jewish life. Rather than
prayer being solely
personal, as we find in
some few prayers in the
Torah, it became, after
the Diaspora, primarily
a communal activity;
and rather than
worship being
spontaneous, it had
become highly
prescriptive. Collective
prayer overtook
individual ritual
Individual prayer with shawl and tefillin worship. Temple
worship often involved
one person or one family bringing a sacrifice for prayers.
As synagogues developed, prayer turned into a primary
activity, and focused on the needs of the congregation.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, Ezekiel wrote:

“Although I have removed them far off among the

3. Rabbi Johnny Solomon is a lecturer in Jewish Thought and Jewish

Law and an independent Jewish education consultant to
numerous Jewish schools and adult education programs. He has
written numerous articles about contemporary Jewish law and
trends in contemporary Orthodoxy, and he is currently
completing his first book exploring the relevance of the
‘Sheheheyanu’ blessing.
210 JODY ONDICH

nations, and although I have scattered them among

the peoples, still, I have provided them with a
miniature sanctuary in the countries where they
have been exiled” (Ezekiel 11. 16)

Some have understood this to be a reference to the

institution of the synagogue. First, while the Jewish
people were exiled in Babylon, and later, after the
destruction of the second temple by the Romans in 70
CE, there was no way for the people to perform tradition
rituals. So during both of these times, new activities
emerged.
Since the destruction of the temple, the rabbis placed
much emphasis on the value of collective worship by
speaking about verbal prayer as a replacement for
sacrifices (see Hosea 14. 3), by invoking biblical verses
such as ‘in the multitude of people is the king’s glory’
(Proverbs 14. 28) and by stating that while private prayer
may not always be heard, communal prayer is always
heard.
Various rituals in Judaism emerged. Upon waking up
in the morning, a Jew recites a prayer. They then wash
their hands in a ritual manner and recite a blessing; even
the manner in which they get dressed can be informed by
Jewish laws and values.
Beyond additional prayers recited at meal times, the
home was, and is, also the place
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 211

for a variety of Jewish

rituals, such as the
circumcision of Jewish
boys that takes place –
ideally – when they are
eight days old. For girls,
naming and dedication
Complete circumcision set, consisting of knife,
ceremonies developed enamel powderbox and protecting plate. Knife
handle shows Judith with the head of
to take place when the Holophernes in one hand and a sword in the
baby was that same age. other. This circumcision-set was bought from
Mrs. Goitein, widow of the late Rabbi Goitein
Beyond this, while from Karlsruhe, (Baden, Germany).

the synagogue and the

home reflected the different aspects of formal and
informal, and public and private worship, a third
institution played critical role in Jewish communities for
the past 2,000 years – namely, the house of study. The
book of Joshua relates how Torah should be studied day
and night (Joshua 1. 8). In every village, town or city
where Jews lived, the study house would be where Jews
(although historically this refers primarily to male Jews)
would gather to study sacred texts such as the Talmud, or
listen to lectures delivered by leading rabbinical scholars
exploring legal or ethical teachings.
Various community holidays also emerged, as Jewish
life become more formalized.
All Jewish holidays begin the evening before the date
specified. This is because they believe that a day begins
and ends at sunset. In reading the story of creation in
Genesis 1, it says, “And there was evening, and there was
morning, one day.” From this it is concluded that a day
begins with evening, that is, at sunset. In addition, the
Jewish calendar is lunar, with each month beginning on
the new moon. So the dates of holidays vary, depending
212 JODY ONDICH

on the moon cycle. The most commonly celebrated

holidays include:

• Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year

• Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, asking for
forgiveness and repairing relationships (see this
reflection on repair: Repair)
• Passover, the 8 day festival in the spring,
celebrating the Exodus–the rescue from
Egyptian slavery, led by Moses
• Hanukkah, a minor holiday that
commemorates the miraculous victory of the
Maccabees and rededication of the Temple in
Jerusalem. NOT the equivalent of Christmas!
• Purim, the carnival style celebration of foiling
an attempt to kill Persian Jews

Other holidays include celebration of harvest, of the end

of the year reading of the Torah, bar and bat mitzvahs
(coming of age ceremonies for children) and other
community activities.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 213

Interior, Hurva Synagogue, Jewish Quarter,

Jerusalem

Many people have

heard the term Kosher,
but apply it more in
slang terms to mean
“genuine” or Exterior, Hurva Synagogue, Jewish Quarter,
“legitimate”. In Jewish Jerusalem

ritual, however, the

concept of something being Kosher describes food that
meets the standards of kashrut, which is a set of laws
 214 JODY ONDICH

dealing with what foods can and cannot be eaten, and

how they are to be prepared. The term Kosher is also
used to describe ritual objects that are made in
accordance with Jewish law and are fit for ritual use.
Although the details
of kashrut are extensive, the
laws all derive from a few fairly
4
simple, straightforward rules :
1. Animals allowed to be eaten
must have cloven hooves. This includes addax,
antelope, bison, cow, deer, gazelle, giraffe, goat,
ibex and sheep. In addition, kosher meat and
poultry require special preparation. Birds
allowed, at least in the US, are duck, turkey,
chicken and goose. Fish must have a specific
kind of scale and skin in order to be eaten. Pork
and shellfish are specifically forbidden.
2. Of the animals that may be eaten, the birds and
mammals must be killed in accordance with
Jewish law and using kosher equipment.
3. All blood must be drained from the meat or
broiled out of it before it is eaten.
4. Certain parts of permitted animals may not be
eaten, such as the back half of the cow, some
internal organs where removing the blood is
almost impossible, etc.
5. Meat (the flesh of birds and mammals) cannot
be eaten with dairy. Fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables
and grains can be eaten with either meat or
dairy. According to some views, however, fish

4. If you want more extensive information, this page at the

Orthodox Union website will help: https://oukosher.org/the-
kosher-primer/
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 215

may not be eaten with meat.

6. Cooking equipment that has come into contact
with meat may not be used in cooking with
dairy, and vice versa. Utensils that have come
into contact with non-kosher food may not be
used with kosher food.
7. Grape products made by non-kosher processes
may not be consumed. This include jellies,
pastries, juice and wine.

Keeping a kosher lifestyle and kitchen is considered a

sign of obedience, even while some believe that these
were early health restrictions, eating kosher is considered
a sign of faith. Not all Jews follow the dietary laws, but
all Orthodox and many Conservative Jewish people do.

Basic Beliefs

The earliest nomadic Hebrews were polytheistic,

believing, as many groups in the Middle East did, in
various deities representing different forces of nature
such as fertility, agriculture, sun, rain, and so on.
Eventually, however, early Hebrew prophets began to
speak of just one God as the creator of all. Early Biblical
authors gave God names such as Elohim (gods), Adonai
216 JODY ONDICH

(my lord), El Shaddai, (God almighty) and the tricky

YHWH, which comes from the same root as the verb “to
be,” sometimes written in English as Yahweh. God says,
“I am who I am” in Exodus, when Moses asks for a name
to use. It has also been translated as “I will be who I
will be” or “I will become who I choose to become”. This
intangible nature of God is part of the both immanent
and transcendent nature of the divine in Jewish thought.

Example: one image of the divine

A coin from Gaza in

Southern Philista, fourth
century BC, the period of the
Jewish subjection to the last of
the Persian kings, has the only
known representation of this
Hebrew deity. The letters YHW
are incised just above the
hawk(?) which the god holds in
his outstretched left hand, Fig.
23. He wears a himation,
leaving the upper part of the body bare, and sits upon a winged
wheel. The right arm is wrapped in his garment. At his feet is a
mask. Because of the winged chariot and mask it has been
suggested that Yaw had been identified with Dionysus on account
of a somewhat similar drawing of the Greek deity on a vase where
he rides in a chariot drawn by a satyr. The coin was certainly
minted under Greek influence, and consequently others have
compared Yaw on his winged chariot to Triptolemos of Syria, who
is represented on a wagon drawn by two dragons. It is more likely
that Yaw of Gaza really represents the Hebrew, Phoenician and
Aramaic Sun-god, El, Elohim, whom the monotheistic tendencies
of the Hebrews had long since identified with
Yaw…Sanchounyathon…based his history upon Yerombalos, a
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 217

priest of Yeuo, undoubtedly the god Yaw, who is thus proved to

have been worshipped at Gebal as early as 1000 BC.

According to prophecy and stories throughout the

early parts of the Bible, the God the Hebrews
encountered was all-powerful and benevolent, merciful
and just. Hebrew writings do not represent God in any
visual way, but describe this god as a universal God,
engaged in a lasting relationship with humankind and
in a more specific covenant with the people of Israel.
Various leaders and prophets have spoken about this
relationship, and are honored–Abraham and Sarah, Isaac
and Rebekah, Jacob, Leah and Rachel (the patriarchs and
matriarchs) as well as Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and many
more.
The ancient Hebrews write in Exodus about the laws
that came directly from God. We see this in both the 10
Commandments, well known to the world, but also in
the development of more detailed laws regulating Jewish
life, ritual, and worship. According to the Hebrew people,
God is not abstract or distant, but is actively involved in
history through revelation and as the people do or do
not live out their covenant with God. Throughout Jewish
history, the common thread has been God’s relationship
with humanity. It is a covenant based on centuries of
tradition, belief and ritual.
There is a belief in the existence of human free will,
which is what determines good and evil, and this idea
leads ultimately to a belief in human freedom and dignity.
Judaism is not a missionary religion. It accepts
converts, but it is up to individual congregations and
their process as to how that would work.
218 JODY ONDICH

Traditionally, the Jewish people live in expectation of

the coming of a Messianic Age in which universal peace
will be established on earth according to the vision of the
prophets of Israel.
One is judged by one’s
actions–one lives the faith and
tradition by deeds, not be
claiming a creed of any sort.
The basic statement of faith is
the Shema’–“Hear, O Israel, the
Lord is our God, the Lord is
One”. Shema means, literally,
“listen, heed, hear and do”.
A summary is stated well by
the Harvard Pluralism Project:
The Samaritan’s logo: Shma Israel
in Samaritan ancient letters (kind
of ancient Hebrew). Shaped as “Jews today continue to pride
flame
themselves on the fact that the
ethical monotheism of
Judaism is the basic building block of Western
religion. The idea of one God unites broad human
communities historically, religiously, and culturally
to the present day.”

Key Takeaway: One more Food for Jewish Thought

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=40#oembed-4
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 219

“Judaism in Brief.” Harvard University: Judaism Through Its

Scriptures, HarvardX, 19 Apr. 2017, youtu.be/2sOzmBAaCHA.
“Discovering Sacred Texts: Judaism.” Discovering Sacred Texts: The
British Library, 2 Oct. 2019, youtu.be/39MQJuX9A9g.
Solomon, Johnny. “Jewish Prayer at Home and in the
Synagogue.” British Library, Sacred Texts, 2019, www.bl.uk/sacred-
texts/articles/jewish-prayer-at-home-and-in-the-synagogue.
“Babylonian Talmud” British Library, 2021, www.bl.uk/
collection-items/babylonian-talmud.
“Religious and Spiritual Life.” UMass Amherst, 2021,
www.umass.edu/orsl/about-jewish-holidays.
History, Center for Jewish. Center for Jewish History, 2021,
www.cjh.org/.
Harchol, Hanan. “FAITH ( Jewish Food for Thought).” Jewish Food
for Thought, 3 Nov. 2013, youtu.be/YZ7A34luj40.
Harchol, Hanan. “Repair (Theme: Apology) – Jewish Food for
Thought, the Animated Series.” Jewish Food for Thought, 11 Sept.
2011, youtu.be/IpDY260Jbpg.
220 JODY ONDICH

17
JEWISH
RESOURCES

“I do not want followers who are righteous, rather I

want followers who are too busy doing good that they
won’t have time to do bad.” – Rabbi Menachem Mendel of
Kotzk

220
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 221

Helpful Links

British Library: Sacred Texts/Judaism

Jewish Virtual Library
Harvard University’s Pluralism Project: Judaism
Yad Vashem: Jerusalem’s Holocaust Museum
US Holocaust Museum
US Jewish Museum: New York
Union for Reform Judaism
United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism
Orthodox Union
Reconstructing Judaism
Yale Open Courses: Introduction to the Hebrew Bible
Jewish Food for Thought
222 JODY ONDICH

18
CHRISTIANITY

In the beginning of
the movement that
became Christianity,
the earliest followers
were not actually
“Christians”. They were
Jewish, loyal followers
of the rabbi Jesus, and,
Last Supper fresco from Kremikovtsi Monastery, especially at the very
Bulgaria, 16th century AD
beginning of the
movement, were
focused on reforming Judaism. They talked to anyone
who would listen, instructing their fellow Jews on the
ideas taught by Jesus, this itinerant rabbi whom they
eventually came to believe was the longed for messiah
from numerous Hebrew prophecies.

222
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 223
1
Jesus was born in Palestine about 4 BCE. He lived life
as a Jew, in northern Judea, which had been conquered
and was occupied by the Roman Empire. His teaching
ministry was, at most, three years long. Jesus was
thought to be in his thirties when he was put to death by
crucifixion, a commonly used Roman style of execution
of serious criminals. His followers said that they found
his tomb empty three days after the execution. It is said
that Jesus was resurrected from the dead and that he
appeared before the disciples and followers, ate and
talked with them, and proclaimed the kingdom of God to
them before ascending to heaven.
Jesus did not write his message down in any way
during his lifetime, nor did others who were immediate
followers write about him during his ministry. Written
materials started emerging in letters and gospels about
25-30 years after his lifetime.
Today Christianity has three major divisions, each
possessing its own branches: the Catholic Church,
Orthodox Christian churches, and Protestant churches.
Within this broad framework, created by disagreement
over tradition, belief and belief, are contained literally
hundreds of smaller groups.

Learning Object

A quick and slightly tongue in cheek summary of some of the

following content:

1. early calendars in the Common or Christian era were based on

approximate guesses as to the date of the birth of Jesus of
Nazareth, and are judged to be slightly off
224 JODY ONDICH

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=42#oembed-1

The Ministry
Christianity is
centered on the person
of Jesus. He was alive
during a time of great
religious and political
unrest in Israel, which
was a country that had
been conquered (yet
again!) and was under
Roman rule. Many Jews
believed that they were
living in the “end times”
and so expected God to
intervene on their
Title: Face of Christ on St. Veronica’s Cloth.
Artist: Claude Mellan (French, Abbeville behalf, which would
1598–1688 Paris) Date: 1649
include the appearance
of a political leader
called the Messiah.
Jesus was a teacher and preacher, talking to people
along the road, in groups in a field or on a hill or beside
a lake. He talked in parables, which are small stories
that make a point, a bit like Aesop’s fables or other
stories–short, moral, and instructive. He is said to
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 225

perform miracles of healing, of transformation and even

of returning people from death to life.
The Messianic prophecies had suggested that they
could expect a new King David, a warrior, but also a
devout follower of the Jewish faith. Jesus was not quite
like this–certainly not a warrior, nor a rebel, nor a
military leader.
After his very brief teaching ministry, Jesus was
arrested in Jerusalem at Passover time by authorities who
considered him a heretic, and even a threat to the
tentative peace that the leaders tried to maintain with
the Romans. He was soon tried by Pontius Pilate, the
Roman governor of Israel at that time, and was executed
by crucifixion by the Romans. Three days after he was
killed, his followers found an empty tomb. Other
followers reported appearances and visitations by a
transformed Jesus who had been resurrected from the
dead.
226 JODY ONDICH

Christian scriptures
say that forty days after
finding the empty tomb,
Jesus ascended to the
heavens, promising to
return again.
The content of the
preaching from Jesus
and his followers
focused on the “great
commandment” to love
one’s neighbor as
oneself. “Neighbor” is
Pantokrator (Agios Nikolaos church, village
defined not just as the
Skopos, Greece). Roof fresco. person living next door,
but as including all
people, especially the poor, the needy, the outcast, the
foreigner, the unloved and societally outcast. He warned
people to remember their own flaws before judging
others and invited those who were completely without
sin to “cast the first stone”, referring to a practice of that
era of stoning prostitutes. This acceptance of all into the
Kingdom of God was not popular with the rich or elite or
the powerful religious leaders, but offered hope to those
who felt shunned by their religion, their society, their
country. The preaching of a Kingdom of God offered to
all was a departure from traditional religious teaching at
the time.

The Writings

Virtually all we know of Jesus comes by way of the

 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 227

four Biblical Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

in the Christian New Testament. These four accounts
describe the life and teachings of Jesus. The four portraits
of Jesus were recorded some time after his death, with
estimates of dates of writing being between 65-100 AD,
more than a generation after the death of Jesus. Each
gospel reflects the distinctive viewpoints and culture of
the individual writers. Jesus is portrayed as a Jew
accepting the practices and authority of his Jewish
tradition, preaching from the prophets and writings of
the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus centers his teaching on the
subject of the Kingdom of God. He emphasizes love for
God and love and compassion for other people. He
recommends not judging others, giving help to the needy
and oppressed, offering forgiveness, and practicing
nonviolence. The writers turned oral stories and
teachings into written materials in the genre called a
gospel.
228 JODY ONDICH

Originally there were

many gospels, few of
which were included in
the Bible. We know of
some of these gospels
that did not become
part of the canon (the
accepted authoritative
list of Biblical books) ,
such as the Gospel of
Thomas, the Gospel of
Mary, the Gospel of
Peter, various infancy
Gospels, some gospels
mentioned by early Four Evangelists, miniatures from the Gelati
church writers that no (Georgia) Gospels, Eleventh century.

longer exist in any

written format, gospels from the Gnostics, and fragments
of many more. What we can actually know about the
ministry and person of Jesus and his followers is limited
to what writers created from oral transmission, and that
still exist in some form today.
The small group of Jesus’ followers were inspired to
travel and create communities of believers throughout
the Mediterranean world and, eventually, throughout the
rest of the world. It was in Antioch, now in Turkey, that
they were first called “Christians”. Some of the traveling
preachers wrote encouragement, instruction and
correction to a number of these small congregations, and
these letters, which are found in
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 229

the Christians
scriptures under the
genre of Epistle, are
considered the earliest
indications of the
movement that would
come to be called the
Christian church. A
Beginning of the New Testament Epistle to
Galatians translated from Greek into Latin. An man named Paul wrote
illuminated manuscript, in the picture Apostle many of the letters, but
Paul hands his Epistle to a Galatian
some of the letters are
titled but unattributed,
and some bear the name of someone else who was well
known in the early churches. These were likely not
actually written by that leader, but just written under
those important names, to lend authority to the messages
contained within.

Paul is largely responsible for the spread of belief in

Jesus as messiah beyond the Jewish world through his
extensive travels and powerful letters. Because of Paul’s
leadership, the early church finally decided that converts
to the Christian faith did not have to observe Jewish
religious laws. Gentiles were then accepted as believers in
the communities around the Mediterranean.
 230 JODY ONDICH

In Paul’s view, a right

relationship with God
came only through faith
in Jesus. Following
moral rules was done
willingly out of
gratitude for what God
had accomplished
through Jesus’ sacrifice
on the cross.
Essentially, Paul’s views
on the meaning of Jesus,
Apostle Paul, Rembrandt morality, and Christian
practice became the
norm for most of the Christian world. Paul’s ideas are
still sometimes preached more frequently than those of
Jesus.

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from

this version of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=42#oembed-2

2
With help from Scott McKendrick , we see some of
the history and content of the Christian Bible. Christians
use both the Hebrew Scriptures (which they call the Old

2. Dr Scot McKendrick is Head of Western Heritage Collections at

the British Library. His recent publications include Codex
Sinaiticus: New Perspectives on the Ancient Biblical Manuscript
(BL Pubs, 2015) and The Art of the Bible: Illuminated Manuscripts
from the Medieval World (Thames and Hudson, 2016).
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 231

Testament, as opposed to the Jewish term Tanakh for

these writings) and the writings of the first and early
second century church leaders, called the New
Testament.
The Christian Bible has had a long and complex
genesis. The term ‘bible’ is derived from the Greek word
βιβλία (books), which in turn is based on the Greek word
for papyrus (βύβλος or βίβλος). (Throughout antiquity
papyrus was the principal material from which books
were made.) As reflected in its name, the Christian Bible
is a book made up of many books, incorporating a large
number of Jewish scriptures as its first section, known
as the Old Testament (derived from the Latin
word testamentum, in the sense of dispensation or
covenant), and a smaller corpus of Christian texts as its
second section, the New Testament. Although the
Christian Church regards both Testaments as inspired,
it also holds as a fundamental doctrine that the New
Testament bears witness to the fulfilment of the Old.
Early Christians adopted a Greek version of the Jewish
scriptures that had been produced for Jews residing in
Egypt and other Greek-speaking territories, who were
less familiar with Hebrew. Known as the Septuagint
(‘seventy’ in Latin), this translation was traditionally
attributed to seventy or so scholars working in
Alexandria for Ptolemy II Philadephus (308–246 CE).
The Septuagint has at its heart the three key elements
of Jewish scripture. The first, the Torah, is traditionally
ascribed to Moses and comprises the five books from
Genesis to Deuteronomy. The second is the twenty-one
books of the Prophets, including the twelve Minor
Prophets. The third, the Writings, comprises thirteen
assorted books: the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Song of
232 JODY ONDICH

Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel,

Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles 1–2. The shaping of
these thirty-nine books had evolved over nearly a
millennium.
The Septuagint also
contains several texts
that are excluded from
the canon of Jewish
scripture, most notably
Tobit, Judith, the
Wisdom of Solomon,
Ecclesiasticus (Sirach),
Baruch and the two
books of Maccabees.
These texts were thus
accepted by early
Christians, who
developed their canon
based on the Greek
rather than the Hebrew
Geneva Bible 1560
version of the Jewish
scriptures. When St
Jerome (c. 342–420 CE) undertook the translation of the
Bible into Latin, he advocated that the Church follow the
Jewish canon, and designated these extra texts as
Apocrypha (from ἀπόκρυφος, hidden). Because the
Protestant reformers of the 16th century used copies of
the Jewish Hebrew canon of Scripture as the basis for
their translations, these texts either do not form part of
Protestant Bibles, or are included in them separately as
apocrypha or deuterocanonical books (from the Greek
word δεύτερος, or second canon). The apocrypha do,
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 233

however, remain part of Roman Catholic and Orthodox

Bibles.
Whereas their opinions differ over the Old Testament,
Protestants, Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox
Christians all accept the same New Testament canon.
This was formed over a much shorter period than the
Jewish scriptures, but similarly comprises several distinct
texts. The core of the New Testament is the Four Gospels.
The word ‘gospel’ is possibly derived from the Old
English translation of the Latin word evangelium, which
is itself based on the Greek εὐαγγέλιον (good news) and
is the origin of the term for the authors of these texts,
the Evangelists. The Four Gospels of Sts Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John were widely accepted as uniquely
authoritative from an early date.
The other twenty-
three books of the New
Testament include the
Acts of the Apostles, in
which St Luke recounts
the life of the Church
immediately after A Bible manuscript from 1300, National Museum
of Israel Collection
Jesus’s ascension, letters
to early Christian
communities or individuals written by the Apostle Paul
and other early Christian leaders, and an apocalyptic
account, or revelation, traditionally attributed to St John.
Although the core of the New Testament canon, the Four
Gospels and thirteen Epistles of St Paul, was established
by the middle of the 2nd century, the full canon of
twenty-seven books was formally confirmed only during
the 4th century CE. Until then, some books, such as
Hebrews and Revelation, were in doubt, and other texts,
234 JODY ONDICH

such as the Epistle of Barnabas and Shepherd of Hermas,

were considered authoritative by some Christians. All of
the books of the New Testament were originally written
in Greek, the language of the predominant literate
community in the region, to further the evangelizing
purpose of the New Testament.

The Creeds

The Apostles Creed European Tapestry Date circa 1550 –1600 Metropolitan
Museum of Art

One feature found in most of Christianity is its

emphasis on a creed, a summary statement of faith. The
earliest creeds were the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene
Creed, both of which were eventually validated by
councils of church leaders.

THE NICENE CREED

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and

earth and of all things visible and
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 235

invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of

God, begotten of the Father before all ages, God of God, Light of
Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one
substance with the Father, through Whom all things were made:
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven,
was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made
man: Who for us, too, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered,
and was buried: the third day He rose according to the Scriptures,
ascended into heaven, and is seated on the right hand of the
Father: He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the
dead, and His kingdom shall have no end. And in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord and Giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father and the
Son: Who together with the Father and the Son is worshiped and
glorified: Who spoke by the prophets. And I believe one holy,
Christian, and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for
the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead
and life of the age to come.
Amen.

The Council of Nicaea, held in 325 CE, was the most

important of these early church councils. In some groups
(understandable given the amount of time that had
passed since the life of Jesus) some believers had
proposed that Jesus Christ was not really human at all,
but was God appearing to be human, while others had
proposed that he was only a human being. The early
church rejected both of these views as it worked together
to articulate a consistent expression of faith for all
followers: that Jesus Christ was both fully God and fully
human. The concept of Incarnation was solidified–that
God took on human flesh in the person of Jesus, who was
born of a virgin girl called Mary.
236 JODY ONDICH

Key Takeaway: From the Harvard Pluralism Project/Christianity

“The Latin term credo is often translated today as “I believe…”

but it is important to remember that its literal meaning is “I give
my heart…” It is language of the heart, a profound expression of
commitment, not simply a list of statements to which one gives
intellectual assent. When the early church was being persecuted,
commitment to the way of Christ was often dangerous, requiring
true courage.”

Creeds came into use during the ritual of baptism.

Baptisms had been performed in Judaism as a rite of
cleansing and renewal, and could happen more than
once. In the early Christian tradition, a person would
put on new white clothing, and become a Christian by
a ritual immersion in water, often a running river or
stream, and their affirmation of commitment to the
Christian beliefs. Christian baptism is a one time event.
Among the oldest creeds of the Christian church is the
Apostles’ Creed, formed from questions that were began
to be composed about 150 CE and were used ritually at
the time of Christian baptism.

THE APOSTLES CREED

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived
by the Holy Spirit; Born of the Virgin Mary; Suffered under
Pontius Pilate; Was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into
Hell; The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into
heaven; And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 237

believe in the Holy Spirit; The Holy Christian Church, the

Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection
of the body; And the life everlasting. Amen.

The Apostle’s Creed came to its final form in

southwestern France in the early 7th century CE. This
creed had, through its series of questions, replaced other
baptismal liturgies and was finally acknowledged as the
official statement of faith of the entire Catholic church
in the West in the early 13th century CE. As well as the
Catholic church, the creedal Protestant churches accept
the Apostles’ Creed and use it in worship. (Some
churches delete the line “He descended into Hell.”) Not
all Protestant churches use creeds. Some use what are
called Professions of Faith, and some are called
Covenantal churches, expressing their ideas in simpler
expressions of faith.
238 JODY ONDICH

Beliefs
The Christian
theology took many
centuries to be fully
worked out through
discussions,
controversies, and great
councils that produced
the central creeds of the
faith. One vital idea
Compact version of a basic minimal (equilateral
developed is that of the
triangular) version of the “Shield of the Trinity” or Trinity, which is the
“Scutum Fidei” diagram of traditional Christian
symbolism, with original Latin captions. belief that God,
although one, is three
“persons.” The Father is the guiding intelligence that
created the universe and made human beings an
important part of the divine plan. The Son is Jesus Christ,
who has both a fully human and a fully divine nature
united in one person. His presence in the world is called
the Incarnation of the divine. The Holy Spirit is the
power of God that guides all believers.
Christians believe in life after death, a resurrection of
all people, and a final judgment. Controversies over
doctrine and church structure led to schisms in the
church, which then produced the great branches of
Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant
Christianity—with Protestantism itself subdividing many
more times. Christian practice is rich, complex, and
varied in beliefs and practices within the different
branches.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 239

All Christians practice

baptism and observe the
Lord’s Supper, with varying
understandings of what each
practice actually means.
Holidays that mark
significant times in the life
of Christ and the early
church, such as Easter and
Christmas, are celebrated.
Christianity has had a profound effect on the arts in the
fields of architecture,
painting, sculpture, and
music. Its themes and stories
are echoed in much great
literature.
Now, people seem to
think that Christians, at least
at some point, all believed
the same things and thought
about their faith in the same
ways. This has simply never been the case.
According to Wayne A. Meeks, Woolsey Professor of
Biblical Studies at Yale University:

“The early Christians put a great emphasis upon

unity amongst one another, and the odd thing is they
seemed always to have been squabbling with one
another over what kind of unity they were to have.
The earliest documents we have are Paul’s letters and
what do we find there? He is, ever and again, having
defend himself against some other Christians who
have come in and said, “No, Paul didn’t tell it right.
We have now to tell you the real thing.” So, it is clear
from the very beginning of Christianity, that there
240 JODY ONDICH

are different ways of interpreting the fundamental

message. There are different kinds of practice; there
are arguments over how Jewish are we to be; how
Greek are we to be; how do we adapt to the
surrounding culture – what is the real meaning of
the death of Jesus, how important is the death of
Jesus? Maybe it’s the sayings of Jesus that are really
the important thing and not his death and not his
resurrection.
Now, this runs very contrary to the view… which
the mainstream Christianity has always quite
understandably wanted to convey. That is, that at
the beginning, everything was unity, everything was
clear, everything was understandable and only
gradually, under outside influences, heresies arose
and conflict resulted, so that we must get back
somehow to that Golden Age, when everything was
okay.
One of the most difficult things which has
emerged from modern historical scholarship, is
precisely that that Golden Age eludes us. The harder
we work to try to arrive at that first place where
Christianity were all one and everything was clear,
the more it… seems a will-o’- the-wisp. There never
was this pure Christianity, different from everybody
else and clear, in its contours….The notion of
Orthodoxy, which is only the flip-side of the notion
of heresy, [developed in the second century]. So
heresy which… simply means [in Greek], a choice,
and is most commonly used to talk about a
philosophical school, now takes on a negative
connotation for the Christians. [It] first of all implies
a schismatic group, a choice, which is different from
the mainstream,… and then secondarily, [implies]
people have wrong ideas, people who think wrongly
about this or that, notably about the identity of Jesus
Christ. The other side of that, of course, is our side,
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 241

which has orthodoxy, that is, right thinking. The

great controversies of the 3rd, 4th and 5th centuries,
which create what we will know as orthodoxy, and in
the west, Catholicism, emerge from this very drive to
create a a unified body of opinion.”

The Divisions

The three big branches of Christianity are Roman

Catholicism, Orthodox Churches and Protestant
Churches. Each has additional branches within, but these
are the umbrella categories of Christians. (There are
groups that don’t fit within these branches that also call
themselves Christian, but the debate over their place in
Christianity is ongoing.)
As Christianity moved away from Judea and the small
house churches that developed early in the faith, and as
centuries passed, belief and practices in the communities
of faith began to differ according to location, history, and
cultural ideals. Long-rising disagreements about belief
and practice between the churches who looked to Rome
for leadership and those Byzantine churches who looked
to Constantinople (now called Istanbul) resulted in a split
that divided the European Christian church into two
major branches: the Western Roman Catholic Church
and the Eastern Orthodox Church. This split is known as
the Great Schism, or sometimes the “East-West Schism”
or the “Schism of 1054 CE.”
242 JODY ONDICH

The divide between East and West did not stop

Christians from their disagreements, however. Many
issues continued to cause deep concern and outrage,
ranging from the power (and often corruption) of the
clergy and the church in ordinary people’s lives, to the
money taken by the church from the people, to the
inability of ordinary people to read the Bible, and much
more.
Although there were other early church reformers and
group of protesters, it is generally held that the Protestant
Reformation began in Wittenberg, Germany, on October
31, 1517.
On this day, Martin
Luther, a teacher and a
monk, published a
document he called
Disputation on the Power of
Indulgences, or 95 Theses,
and nailed them to the door
of the cathedral there. The
document was a series of 95
Martin Luther (1483–1546) painted by ideas about Christianity that
Lucas Cranach the elder
he challenged the church to
consider.
Following Luther at about the same time period came
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 243

people such as John Calvin, William Tyndale, Huldrich

Zwingli, John Knox, and many more. From this early
start come Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists,
Methodists, Congregationalists, and eventually groups
like Quakers, Pentecostals, Evangelicals, and so forth. In
the modern era, there are hundreds of Protestant
denominations, split from original groups over belief,
practice, style of worship, politics, dress, social issues,
and much more.

Interesting data

There are some interesting statistics about Christians in various

groups, across the globe. Check out this data from Pew Research
about the various branches of Christianity:

• 5 Facts about Protestants Around the World

• Q&A: A Closer Look at Orthodox Christians
• The Global Catholic Population

Growth

The spread of Christianity took place gradually, moving

around the Mediterranean basin for the first decades, and
gradually into mainland Europe. It is not, originally, a
European movement, however. With a little help from
3
Brian Stanley , we get some more history.

3. Brian Stanley is Professor of World Christianity in the School of

244 JODY ONDICH

Christianity was not originally a western religion. It

originated on the western fringe of Asia – what we tend
to call the ‘Middle East’. However, for many centuries
the expansion of Christianity into the rest of the world
was directed from Europe and became entangled with
the growth of the great European empires.
The earliest growth centered around the
Mediterranean, both the African and European shores.
With time, the messages of Christianity moved further
inland, again into Africa and Europe, but also into Asia
Minor. It was not until the 9th century CE that any
major inroads in converting Scandinavia occurred, for
example. (An excellent article with more detail about
this process can be found at the National Museum of
Denmark’s website–Christianity comes to Denmark)

Divinity in the University of Edinburgh. He has published widely

on the history of the missionary movement and its offspring –
what is now called ‘world Christianity’. His most recent book is
Christianity in the Twentieth Century: A World History
(Princeton University Press, 2018).
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 245

The Christian Church has sent out missionaries from

the days of the Apostle Paul down to the present day. In
the 16th and 17th centuries CE many of them belonged
to the Catholic religious orders – societies of men (and
later women) who followed a strict rule of life and
committed themselves to the task of spreading the faith.
The Society of Jesus – or Jesuits – established by St.
Ignatius of Loyola in 1534 was especially influential in
China. Jesuit missionaries were also active in South
America and in the ancient Kongo kingdom in West
Africa. Although Latin remained the language of liturgy
used in the Mass throughout the Roman Catholic Church
until after the Second Vatican Council of 1962–65, some
Catholic missionaries were quick to realize the
importance of teaching the faith in the languages of the
people to whom they were sent.
Our belief in the integrity and value of all human
cultures is quite a recent development. From the early
246 JODY ONDICH

20th century, anthropologists have taught us to try to

understand all societies in their own terms. Before then,
Europeans believed that all peoples could be placed
somewhere along a single spectrum from primitive
superstition to modern civilization and rational ways of
thinking. Such ideas profoundly influenced Christian
missionaries, who frequently assumed that part of their
job was to move people along the spectrum so that they
would become civilized.
A good example is provided by the Puritans who
emigrated to North America in the early 17th century
CE. The Puritans made
strenuous efforts to
bring the gospel to the
indigenous inhabitants
of the New England
colonies. Like other
Europeans of the time,
their most notable
missionary, John Eliot
(1604–1690 CE),
believed that they needed to be taught the principles of
‘civilization’, which meant persuading them to exchange
their nomadic pattern of life for a settled existence under
European supervision. Such attempts to reform the
traditional lifestyle of the indigenous peoples proved
misguided, as they increased their vulnerability to
European diseases, to which they had no resistance.
The Protestant churches that were formed as a result
of the 16th-century Reformation lagged behind the
Catholics in their involvement in overseas mission,
though the efforts of the New England Puritans were
a notable exception. John Wesley (1703–1791), the
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 247

Anglican clergyman who became the founder of

Methodism, is another example from a century later.
The legacy of Christian missionaries is mixed.
Christians outside Europe may remember them with
affection as their spiritual fathers and mothers. However,
in Europe some find their forebears’ unquestioning
confidence in their own religious beliefs disturbing.
Perhaps the most lasting cultural impact of the
missionaries has come through their contributions to
Bible translation and education. By translating the Bible
into the language of a non-European people,
missionaries had to become pupils, learning the finer
points of a local language from indigenous teachers.
They had to express
Christian doctrines
using the terms already
available in that
language – and that
meant allowing
Western ideas of
Christianity to be
modified by the cultural The ten first of the Salvation Army´s selected
Swedish missionaries to India, together with two
assumptions that Indian captains, during a farewell meeting in
shaped the language. Stockholm on 13 September 1887

What’s more, by giving

a people education, missionaries not only taught them
Christian beliefs, they also gave them tools that they
could put to any purpose they wished.
But the motivation of the missionaries, while perhaps
at times well intentioned, was so focused on the urge to
convert all people to Christian European practices and
belief that there was a devastating effect on the health,
cultures and societies of people across the globe.
248 JODY ONDICH

Christianity in America

Some excellent materials on American Christianity can be

found in this article and this interview. Both offer insightful
commentary on how Christianity has impacted American policies,
life and history, and what is happening with Christianity in
American more recently.

• Martin Marty on America’s Changing Religious

Landscape
• Charles Lippy on Christianity in America

Knowing something about the setting of the origins

of the faith, the basic beliefs, the traditional practices,
and the ongoing developments help all understand the
enormous impact of Christianity on our world.

Learning Summary

If you have time, you might enjoy the very fine production from
PBS’s Frontline on “From Jesus to Christ”, which is released on
line in 2 segments, both almost 2 hours long.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/showsreligion/
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 249

McKendrick, Scott. British Library: Discovering Sacred Texts, 2019,

www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-christian-bible.

“Christianity – Research and Data from the Pew Research

Center.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 2021,
www.pewresearch.org/topic/religion/religions/christianity/.

“Introduction to Christianity.” The Pluralism Project, Harvard

University, 2021, pluralism.org/introduction-christianity.

Lippy, Charles. British Library, Discovering Sacred Texts:

Christianity in America, 2019, www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/
christianity-in-america.

“Martin Marty – America’s Changing Religious Landscape.”

Edited by Krista Tippet, The On Being Project, 21 May 2020,
onbeing.org/programs/martin-marty-americas-changing-
religious-landscape/.

Meeks, Wayne A. “The Diversity of Early Christianity | From

Jesus to Christ – the First Christians | Frontline.” PBS, Public
Broadcasting Service, 1998, www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/
shows/religion/first/diversity.html.

“Christianity Comes to Denmark.” National Museum of Denmark,

2021, en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-
250 JODY ONDICH

period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/religion-magic-death-and-
rituals/christianity-comes-to-denmark/.

crashcourse. “Christianity from Judaism to CONSTANTINE:

Crash Course World History #11.” Crash Course World History, 5
Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG55ErfdaeY.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 251

19
CHRISTIAN
RESOURCES

“Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so

sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a
thousand times.”
Martin Luther

251
252 JODY ONDICH

Helpful Links

British Library: Sacred Texts/Christianity

Harvard University’s Pluralism Project: Christianity
The Vatican
Orthodox Church in America
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Church of England
Alta Lib Guides: Christianity
Links to various Christian resources from the
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Open Yale Courses: Introduction to New Testament
History and Literature
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 253

20
ISLAM

Islam is an Arabic
word which means
“submit.” Islam is
described as being a
way of living one’s life
that is centered around
submitting to God’s will
and plan. A Muslim is
one who attempts to
live their life according
to the ideas that God
Muslim calligraphy
has made plain in the
Qur’an, the revelation
from God to Muhammad, the final prophet. The Arabic
word for God is Allah, and Muslim people in all cultures
and in all languages still use the Arabic to identify and call
on their divine.

253
254 JODY ONDICH

Like the other Abrahamic traditions, Christianity and

Judaism, Islam originated in the Middle East, but is now
a global faith. There are more than one billion Muslims
living all over the globe. According to Muslims, Allah’s
final prophet and messenger was Muhammad, and
Allah’s final word the Qur’an. Since the time of the
Prophet Muhammad, communities of Muslims been
following the path of Islam in many cultural contexts.

Try this!

Take this quiz from the Pew Research Center and test your
knowledge of Islam. Once you have taken it, it will give you
statistics comparing you to others in the US:
Muslims and Islam

The beginnings

Born in the city of Mecca on the Arabian peninsula, a

man named Muhammad was born in 570 CE to a
powerful tribe, the Quraish, who were merchants. He
was raised an orphan in his uncle’s house. He married
an older woman, the widow Khadijah, for whom he had
worked in the caravan trade as a merchant. Muhammad
performed devotions each year on Mount Hira, outside
of Mecca. The year he was 40 years old, he began a
series of visions that would change his life, and change
the world.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 255

One year,
Muhammad reported
having a strange
encounter during his
devotions. The angle
Gabriel, ((Jibra’il in
Arabic)) commanded
him, “Recite!” Twice
Muhammad asked,
“Recite what?” After he
had asked this three
times, the angel replied:
Cave at Hira, near Mecca
“Read! In the name of
your Lord who created:
He created man from a clinging form. Read! Your Lord is
the Most Bountiful One who taught by [means of] the
pen, who taught man what he did not know.” (Qur’an,
96:1-5).
Muhammad felt “as though the words were written on
[his] heart.” He ran down the mountain, but he heard a
voice from the sky: “Muhammad, you are the Messenger
of God, and I am Gabriel.”
From about 610CE until his death in 632CE, the
Prophet Muhammad received the revelations first at
Mecca and subsequently at Medina, to where he had
emigrated in 622CE. The messages that he received
warned of divine judgment and an invitation to return
to the ways of the earlier prophets, including Abraham,
Moses and Jesus. As he gained more followers, these
revelations challenged his society. His world was
polytheistic at the times, and the revelations to
Muhammad spoke of the unity and oneness of the divine
being. Meccan merchants were afraid that trade, which
256 JODY ONDICH

they believed was protected by the pagan gods, would

suffer if polytheism was destroyed. Tribal feuds were a
common part of the social structure, but the Prophet
spoke of a universal community, or ummah. The
revelation Muhammad received demanded social justice
and reform: one should not only perform regular prayers,
but also care for the poor and the weak.
As his message gained followers, Muhammad was
threatened in Mecca. For a time, the influence and status
of his wife Khadijah and his uncle, Abu Talib, the chief
of the clan, protected Muhammad. After they died,
however, Muhammad’s situation in Mecca changed.
The early Muslims encountered increasingly harsh
persecution. In a forced flight in 622 CE, the Prophet and
his followers emigrated north from Mecca to Medina.
This event became known as the hijrah. The Prophet
became the actual leader of all of Medina, establishing
order and unity in the town. In 630 CE, after a series of
military battles and negotiations with enemies in Mecca,
Muhammad returned to the city with most of his
followers. Many Meccans then embraced Islam, and the
Prophet dedicated the Ka’bah, which had been a
place of pilgrimage
even before the
beginning of Islam, to
the worship of the this
one God. By the time of
the Prophet’s death in
632 CE, much of the
Arabian peninsula had
embraced Islam. Kaaba in Mecca

When Muhammad
died he had not named a successor to lead the Muslims as
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 257

they expanded across Arabia and into Africa. One faction,

the Shi’a, believed that only individuals directly
descended from the Prophet could lead the Muslim
community righteously. They thought that ‘Ali,
Muhammad’s closest surviving blood male relative,
should be their next leader. The other faction, the Sunnis,
believed that the Prophet’s successor should be
determined by a consensus of the followers, and so they
successively elected three of his most trusted
companions, commonly referred to as the Rightly
Guided Caliphs (Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthman), as
leaders of the Muslim community; ‘Ali succeeded them as
the fourth caliph.
Today Islam remains divided, largely, into Sunni and
Shi’a branches. Sunnis revere all four caliphs, while Shi’as
regard ‘Ali as the first caliph. The division between these
two groups, based on their ideas about proper leadership
for the people of Islam, has resulted in differences in
worship as well as varied political and religious views.
Sunnis are in the majority and occupy most of the
Muslim world such as Syria, Egypt, Yemen and large
majorities in southeast Asia, while Shi’a populations are
concentrated in Iran and Iraq, with large numbers in
Bahrain, Lebanon, Kuwait, Turkey, Pakistan, and
Afghanistan.

Key Takeaway

To quote Harvard’s Pluralism Project: “Most Muslims are

careful to insist, however, that “Muhammad is no more than a
messenger” (Qur’an 3:144), and not a divine being. When Muslims
refer to the Prophet Muhammad, to show reverence, his name is
258 JODY ONDICH

often followed by the phrase “salla llahu alayhi wa sallam”

meaning “May the prayers and peace of God be upon him.” In
writing, this may be abbreviated as (sa), SAW, or PBUH meaning
“peace be upon him,” while in other cases the calligraphic Arabic
form is written.”

5 Pillars of Islam

The Five Pillars are the core beliefs and practices of

Islam:

• Profession of Faith (shahada) The belief that

“There is no god but God, and Muhammad is
the Messenger of God” is central to Islam.
Saying this once, with sincere conviction, is
what makes one a Muslim.
• Prayer (salat) Prayers happens at least 5 times a
day and specified times. This can be literally
anywhere, as the belief is that holy space is
created where one is when one prays. These
prayers happen at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon,
sunset, and after dark. Prayer includes a
recitation of the opening chapter (sura) of the
Qur’an, and is sometimes performed on a small
rug or mat used expressly for this purpose.
• Alms (zakat) A fixed percentage of one’s excess
income must be given to the poor and needy.
This can be done in a variety of ways and for a
variety of causes, ranging from feeding the poor
to building a library. The rate of zakat is
generally 2.5 percent of annual accumulated
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 259

wealth, including savings and nonessential

property.
• Fasting (sawm) Fasting happens during the
daylight hours of the month of Ramadan. This
includes abstaining from food, drink, and sex.
During Ramadan they share the hunger and
thirst of the needy as a reminder of the religious
duty to help those less fortunate.
• Pilgrimage (hajj) At least once in the life of each
Muslim whose health and finances permit , one
is required to go to Mecca on hajj. The men
then receive a title of Hajji, and women Hajja.

Exercise: watch a clip from National Geographic about the Hajj

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=44#oembed-1

Beliefs

Diverse traditions within Islam have different

interpretations of the Qur’an, the Hadith (teachings of
Prophet Muhammad), and views on designating
leadership within Islam. The main branches of the
tradition are: Sunni, Shi’a, and one that connects at times
260 JODY ONDICH

with both, the Sufi movement. All agree on most beliefs,

but the differences in practice are real.

1. The Oneness of God

About Allah

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=44#oembed-2

2. Belief in Angels

Angels, “Malaikah” in Arabic, are beings made of light

who make plain God’s commands and plan for humanity.
Islam claims a function for a number of angels, including
Mika’il, (known in the west as Michael), who is believed
to guard places of worship and reward people’s good
deeds. As the Angel of Mercy, he asks Allah to forgive
people’s sins. It is believed that both the Angel Jibril and
the Angel Mika’il will be present on the Day of Judgment.
Another angel is Izra’il, also known as the Angel of Death,
who takes the souls at the time of death,. Raqib and ‘Atid
record the deeds of every person, both good and bad,
and Munkar and Nakir will question the soul after death.
The most important function however, is that of the
archangel Jibril, (also known as Gabriel in the west), who
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 261

conveyed God’s revelations to divinely chosen persons

known as prophets.

“The Messenger has believed in what was revealed

to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All
of them have believed in Allah and His angels and
His books and His messengers, [saying], ‘We make
no distinctions between any of His messengers.’ And
they say, ‘We hear and obey. [We seek] your
forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final]
destination.’” (Qur’an 2:285)

3. Divine Revelation

Allah is beyond being

directly perceived by
humans, so over time
angels have conveyed
the commands and
desires of Allah to all of
the prophets, and these
prophets spread theses
Negel Quran, 4th century Anno Hegirae, Negel
village, Hawraman-Kurdistan
ideas and commands to
the rest of humanity.
Muslims believe that while Muhammad was given the
Qur’an by Jibril, , previous prophets were also given
revelations from God: the Scrolls to Abraham, the Torah
to Moses, the Psalms to David, and the Gospel to Jesus.
However, since the Qur’an is considered the final
scripture and final words for all of humanity, it
supersedes all previous revelations and writings until the
Day of Resurrection. Memorizing parts or the entirety of
the Qur’an is an activity that is encouraged and is
262 JODY ONDICH

common for most Muslims. Hafiz is a title in Islam,

which is used for someone who has completely
memorized the Qur’an.

4. Prophets and Messengers

Prophets are people

who lived in many
different centuries and
were required to deliver
God’s messages and
commands to
humanity. Muslims
believe the prophets
should be respected but
never worshipped, Indigo colored leaf glided tile. Painted over glaze,
however. There are Takht-e Soleyman, 1270-1275. National Iran
Museum, Tehran.
twenty-five prophets
explicitly mentioned in
the Qur’an. These include Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses,
and Jesus. Muslims believe that while prophets are sinless
human beings, they do not believe that any prophet share
any aspect of divinity. Prophets are examples of how to
put Allah’s teachings into practice. Muhammad is
considered the final prophet, and it is held that he was
sent to all of humanity for all times and places, and with
him all revelation is complete.

5. Day of Judgement

According to Islam, every prophet came to warn their

people about the impending Day of Judgment; the time
in which a person’s deeds will be judged and they will
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 263

be sent either to Paradise (jannah) or to Hell (jahannam).

Hell is described as physical and spiritual suffering, while
Paradise gives joy, comfort, and bliss. Entrance into
Paradise earned by following the word given by prophets
and living a pious and devout life, while an afterlife in
Hell is warranted by rejecting Allah’s revelations and
prophets, and living an immoral life. Paradise is
ultimately given to human individuals based on Allah’s
mercy – a person’s sins can be forgiven Allah decrees
this, and no one enters Paradise except by Allah’s mercy .
Forgiveness is key to this set of beliefs, and Muslims are
encouraged to repent and ask for forgiveness for their
sins.
264 JODY ONDICH

6. Divine Decree

Judgement Day is
based on a key belief
that all people have
been given free will. To
some extent, this
contradicts the idea that
Allah is all-knowing,
including knowing each
person’s destiny in the
afterlife. Allah is
believed to be just in all
judgment and will do
what is considered right from Library of Congress http://hdl.loc.gov/
loc.amed/ascs.071 The first chapter of the
for each person at the Qur’an entitled al-Fatihah (The Opening). Recited
time of judgment. Each at the very beginning of the Qur’an, this surah
proclaims God as Gracious and Merciful, the
person will be judged Master of the Day of Judgment, and the Leader
of the straight path.
according to the free
choices they have
made. Allah will know all the choices a person might
make, however. The contradiction between a belief in
free will and in stating that Allah knows and predicts all
is generally settled in the phrases like “insha-Allah” (God-
willing), and “masha-Allah” (God willed it).

“The Lord has created and balanced all things and

has fixed their destinies and guided them”. (Qur’an
87:2)

While Shi’a Muslims generally agree with Sunnis in the

aforementioned beliefs, they differ primarily by the
inclusion of the doctrine of Imamate.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 265

Imamate

Though the Prophet Muhammad died, Shi’as do not

believe this means humans were left without a guide or
leadership after his death. The Imams, a group of
individuals descended from the Prophet Muhammad’s
family, are those leaders. They show how to live Allah’s
teachings. There were 12 Imams in sequence after the
death of Muhammad. Although the twelfth Imam died
long ago, it is believed that he still guides people and
will come again at the End of Times to restore peace
and justice to the world. For Zaydi Shi’as, these were
five individuals, not twelve, and their leadership has
continued with successive rulers. For Isma’ili Shi’as, the
Nizari branch holds that the Imams have continued up
until the present, with the current Imam referred to as
the “Imam of the Time”. Beliefs about the character, role
and functions of the Imams change with the various
branches of the Shi’as.
266 JODY ONDICH

The Qur’an

Islam’s main sacred text

is the Qur’an.
According to Muslim
tradition the Qur’an is
the actual word of God
revealed to the Prophet
Muhammad in the
Arabic language
through the
intermediary of the
Archangel Jibril
(Gabriel).
A 14th century Mamluk Qur’an, held at the
The Qur’an consists
British Library of 114 surahs, or
chapters. The text is
traditionally read aloud, as Muhammad was instructed in
the first revelation he received: ‘Recite in the name of
your Lord’ (Surah 96. 1). The word Qur’an comes from
the Arabic verb meaning ‘to read’.
After Muhammad’s death, his secretary, Zayd ibn
Thabit, compiled the revelation into a book, and the text
was later collated and definitively codified by order of
Caliph ‘Uthman in 651CE . This is the text used in all
Qur’an manuscripts, although the styles of calligraphy
and illumination depend on the place and date of
production.
The Qur’an, the central scripture of Islam, begins
with al-Fatihah, literally “the Opening”:

In the name of God, The Lord of Mercy, The Giver

of Mercy!
Praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds,
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 267

The Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy,

Master of the Day of Judgment.
It is You we worship; it is You we ask for help.
Guide us to the straight path:
The path of those You have blessed
those who incur no anger
and who have not gone astray.

1
With help from Mustafa Shah , we consider the Qur’an in
more detail:
Preserved in the language of Arabic, the Qur’an is
Islam’s sacred text. It is believed that the Qur’an
enshrines the literal word of God. With its unique
composition and style, the Qur’an is also considered the
pre-eminent literary masterpiece of the Arabic language
and one of the earliest extant Arabic literary sources.
Its contents, which focus on the theme of God’s unity
of being and his transcendence, provide the foundations
of the beliefs of Islam. Emphasizing the theme of
continuation, the Qur’an does not present its teachings as
representing a new religion, but rather the revivification
of an ancient monotheistic tradition of faith which shares
the same spiritual legacy with Judaism and Christianity.
The Islamic literary sources intimate that at the age of
forty, while secluded in a cave on the outskirts of Mecca,
the very first verses of the Qur’an were revealed to

1. Mustafa Shah is a Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the School

of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). His principal research
interests include classical Qurʾanic commentary, ḥadith
scholarship, classical theology and Arabic linguistic thought.
Among his publications is the collection of articles devoted to
Qur’anic exegesis: Tafsīr: Interpreting the Qur’an (Routledge,
2013). He is also joint editor of the Oxford Handbook of Qur’anic
Studies (OUP 2019).
268 JODY ONDICH

Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel, thus marking the

beginning of his call to prophethood.

Recite in the Name of your Lord who created;

Created man from a congealed clot of blood;
Recite and indeed your Lord is most merciful;
He who taught by the pen;
Taught man what he knew not.

According to Muslim literary sources, when the Prophet

passed away in 632 CE the Qur’an did not formally exist
as a fixed text but was ‘written down on palm-leaf stalks,
scattered parchments, shoulder blades, limestone and
memorized in the hearts of men’. During the rule of one
of Muhammad’s later successors, the caliph Uthman (r.
644–656 CE), a standardized copy of the Qur’an was
compiled and distributed to the main centers of the
Islamic Empire. Although the caliph’s original codices
have not survived, his introduction of a
fixed text is
recognized as one of his
enduring achievements.
One of the oldest copies
of the Qur’an, which is
dated to the 8th
century, is held in the
British Library; it
Two pages of the Qur’an by Yaqut al Musta’sim
includes over two-
thirds of the complete
text.
The traditional view is that the Qur’an’s contents were
revealed piecemeal. Revelation identified with the early
Meccan years focused primarily on the accentuation of
God’s unity and transcendence. Early Qur’anic revelation
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 269

includes declarations about the omnipotence and

omniscience of God, the resurrection of the dead, the
impending Day of Judgement and rewards and
punishment in the hereafter. The theme of personal
morality and piety is also promoted, while polytheism
and idolatry are condemned. The imposition of a detailed
system of ritual practices and laws occurs in the
post-Hijrah period, while the people were in Medina. Set
times for prayer, fasting, the giving of alms, and the
performance of pilgrimage were made obligatory by the
Qur’an at Medina. A range of legal measures was
introduced, including rules for inheritance and dietary
guidelines, the proscription of usury, laws on marriage
and divorce and a penal code.
The requisite practice of committing the whole text
to memory has an extended history, and still forms an
integral part of the curriculum followed in seminaries
throughout the Islamic world. The preservation and
study of the Qur’an led to the flourishing of literary
traditions of learning, including grammar, philology and
even poetry, as scholars used insights from such
scholarship to interpret the Qur’an.

Hafiz literally meaning “guardian” or “memorizer”,

depending on the context, is a term used by Muslims for
someone who has completely memorized the Quran

Definition of hafiz
: a Muslim who knows the Qur’an by heart —used as a title of
respect, so “Hafiz ” and then the name.
270 JODY ONDICH

In the Qur’an, Muhammad is designated as being the

final prophet sent to mankind and is hailed as being one
of a distinguished line of divinely appointed messengers
who were sent to proclaim the message of God’s unity. It
states:

Indeed, those who believe, the Jews, the Christians,

and the
Sabians – all those who acknowledge God and the
Last Day and
perform good works – will be granted their rewards
with their Lord.
Fear shall not affect them, nor shall they grieve (Q.
2.62)

Confirming the shared spiritual heritage with Judaism

and Christianity, the tribulations and triumphs of biblical
personalities are also portrayed in the narratives of the
Qur’an. Teachings on Jesus emphasize his human nature,
although the Qur’an upholds the notion of his
immaculate conception and the miracles he performed.
However, it rejects the claim that Jesus was the Son of
God and also the concept of the divine Trinity; the
Qur’an also denies the Crucifixion. Jesus is lauded as a
prophet to the Children of Israel, and his mother Mary is
held in great esteem, even having a chapter of the Qur’an
named after her. It is significant to note that in deference
to the sacred status of their revealed scripture, the Qur’an
describes Jews and Christians as being ‘the People of the
Book’.

Exercise: watch this!

 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 271

Watch this video from the British Library on the Qur’an

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=44#oembed-3

Growth

Over the centuries, after the death of the Prophet

Muhammad, Islam was spread throughout the Middle
East, Northern Africa, into Asia, and beyond. Some of
the spread was peaceful and associated with trade and
scholarship, art and architecture. Some of the spread of
Islam came along with the conquering of lands and other
tribes.
Muslim rulers, soldiers, traders, mystics, scholars,
poets and architects all contributed to the shaping of
distinctive Islamic cultures. Across the expanding Islamic
world, religious beliefs began to blend with various
cultures and traditions to produce local versions of
Islam. Not all ritual and practice was the same from place
to place, although the stated beliefs carried through.
Various dynasties of powerful families rose, and as they
converted to Islam, their tribes or countries converted
with them. Trade and the travel of scholars had a large
influence on the expansion of the faith.
These two brief videos (each about 8 minutes) will give
you a map and some indications of where, when, and how
272 JODY ONDICH

the religion spread. Because it was both a spiritual as

well as political expansion, you can often see differences
in how things happened and how local populations
responded to the new Islamic Empire.

Key Takeaway: The Context for the development of Islam–Khan Academy

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=44#oembed-4

Key Takeaway: The Spread of Islamic Culture

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=44#oembed-5

According to the Harvard Pluralism Project:

Under each of these empires, transregional

Islamic culture mixed with local traditions to
produce distinctive forms of statecraft, theology,
art, architecture, and science. Further, many
scholars argue that the European Renaissance
would not have been possible without the
creativity and myriad achievements of Muslim
scholars, thinkers, and civilizations.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 273

“Basic Beliefs of Islam – God.” Basic Beliefs of Islam: God,

University of Nottingham, England, 26 Jan. 2016, youtu.be/
05b1BwNvqCk.

“Islamic Beliefs.” The Pluralism Project, Harvard University, 2021,

pluralism.org/islamic-beliefs.

“Muhammad: The Messenger of God.” The Pluralism Project,

Harvard University, 2021, pluralism.org/muhammad-the-
messenger-of-god.

Shah, Mustafa. “The Qur’an.” British Library: Discovering Sacred

Texts, 2019, www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-quran.

“Qur’an: The Word of God.” The Pluralism Project, Harvard

University, 2021, pluralism.org/qur%E2%80%99an-the-word-of-
god.

“Discovering Sacred Texts: Islam.” Discovering Sacred Texts,

British Library, 2 Oct. 2019, youtu.be/2_CDBv6CICc.

“Islam Introduction.” British Library, Discovering Sacred Texts:

Islam, 2019, www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/islam-introduction.

“Spread of Islamic CULTURE: World History: Khan Academy.”

Khan Academy, 26 Apr. 2017, youtu.be/sDSTgKIQAzE.
274 JODY ONDICH

“Contextualization–Islam | World History | Khan Academy.”

Khan Academy, 16 June 2017, www.youtube.com/
watch?v=gB7ya6386iA.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 275

21
MUSLIM
RESOURCES

“O mankind! Truly We created you from a male and a

female, and We made you peoples and tribes that you may
come to know one another. Surely the most noble of you
before God are the most reverent of you. Truly God is

275
276 JODY ONDICH

Knowing, Aware.”
— Qur’an 49:13 (ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr)

Helpful Links

Discovering Sacred Texts: Islam

Alta Lib Guides: Islam
Harvard University’s Pluralism Project: Islam
Pew Research Center: Islam
Khan Academy: Islam
The Maydan
Islamic Societies with Ira Lapidus
Islam and the West with John L. Esposito
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 277

22
BAHA'I

God grant that the light of unity may envelope the whole earth,
and that the seal, ‘the Kingdom is God’s’, may be stamped upon the
brow of all its people.
Bahá’u’lláh

277
278 JODY ONDICH

Summary

The Baha’i Faith originated in 19th-century Iran as a

development from Shi’a Islam. As a new monotheistic
global religion it emphasized the ‘oneness’ of God, with
different faiths representing different approaches to the
one religion. The central figure is Mirza Husayn ‘Ali
Nuri (1817–1892), who took the title Baha’u’llah, and
whose writings represent the latest revelation of the
Word of God. He was preceded by Sayyid ‘Ali
Muhammad Shirazi (1819–1850), the Bab (‘Gate’), whom
Baha’is regard as having paved the way for Baha’u’llah.
Both the Bab and Baha’u’llah are termed
‘Manifestations of God’, and are viewed as intermediaries
between God and humanity. Baha’u’llah was succeeded
by his eldest son ‘Abbas Effendi, known as ‘Abdu’l-Baha
(1844–1921) and after him by ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s eldest
grandson, Shoghi Effendi Rabbani (1897–1957). Today
a nine-man body, the Universal House of Justice, first
elected in 1963, is the international governing body of
the worldwide Baha’i community.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 279

History and Context

1 2
With help from Peter Smith and Moojan Momen :
The Baha’i Faith is a dynamic world religion with
several million adherents from a variety of different
religious and cultural backgrounds. The central figure of
the religion is Baha’u’llah, and Baha’is consider him to be
the latest in a series of divine messengers. His writings,
which promote peace and unity, are at the heart of the
Baha’i Faith. He was born into the Iranian nobility but
spent the majority of his life living in exile in the
Ottoman Empire due to his involvement with the Babi
movement, and later his own claims to divine mission.

1. Now semi-retired, Associate Professor Peter Smith founded and

for many years chaired the Social Science Division at Mahidol
University International College, Thailand, where he still teaches
courses on the History of Social and Political Thought and on
Modern World History. He has published extensively on Baha’i
Studies, including An Introduction to the Baha’i Faith
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) and A Concise
Encyclopedia of the Baha’i Faith (Oneworld). He holds a PhD in
the Sociology of Religion from the University of Lancaster in
England.
2. Dr. Moojan Momen was born in Iran, but was raised and educated
in England, attending the University of Cambridge. He has a
special interest in the study of Shi`i Islam, the Baha'i Faith, and
more recently the study of the phenomenon of religion. His
principal publications in these fields include: Introduction to Shi`i
Islam; The Phenomenon of Religion (republished as
Understanding Religion); Understanding the Baha’i Faith; and The
Baha'i Communities of Iran (1851–1921). He has contributed
articles to encyclopaedias such as Encyclopedia Iranica and
Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World as well as papers to
many academic journals.
280 JODY ONDICH

The Babi movement

began in Iran during the
1840s and early 1850s.
In 1844, a young Shirazi
merchant named
Sayyid ‘Ali
Muhammad
(1819–1850) had
announced that he was
the intermediary (the
‘bab’ or ‘gate’) between
the Shi‘a faithful and the
expected messianic
figure of the Twelfth
Image of a pentagram tablet made by Siyyid Imam, a concept from
Ali-Muhammad-i-Shirazi, also known as the Báb. Shi’a Islam.
The Bab quickly
attracted followers (‘Babis’) throughout Iran and the Shi‘a
areas of what is now Iraq. He also presented his own
book of laws (the Bayān) to replace those of Islam, and
announced that he would eventually be followed by the
further messianic figure of ‘He whom God would make
manifest’.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 281

Mirza Husayn ‘Ali

Nuri (1817–1892), who
became known as
‘Baha’u’llah’, claimed to
be that Twelfth Imam.
After a series of
religious experiences he
wrote a number of
major books that
provided the Babis with
guidance and hope.
These works included
Hidden Words, Seven
Valleys, and Book of The Shrine of Baha’u’llah
Certitude.
Once Baha’u’llah had
announced that he was the promised one foretold by the
Bab, many Babis accepted him, adopting the name of
‘Baha’is’, i.e. ‘followers of Baha’u’llah’.

The majority of the Báb’s followers accepted

Baha’u’llah as the Twelfth Imam and became Bahá’ís by
the 1870s. Under Baha’u’llah’s leadership, an emphasis
was place on converting of Shi’ite Muslims to Bahá’i.
By the 1880s, Iranian Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians
began to convert to being Baha’i. Traveling preachers
went to nations surrounding Iran and continued to
convert people, the majority converted being Shi’a
Muslims.
Baha’u’llah was exiled from Iran in December 1852,
after a time in prison after a group of Bábís attempted
to assassinate the Shah of Iran. Because of his claims
to be the Twelfth Iman, and in some measure due to
282 JODY ONDICH

his growing stature as a religious figure and leader,

Baha’u’llah was repeatedly banished. He went from
Baghdad to Istanbul to Edirne, a small city in European
Turkey, and ultimately, in 1868, to Akka, a
prison city in
Palestine. There he
lived out the rest of his
days either in prison or
under house arrest.
Except for the years
1868-1870, however,
Baha’u’llah was able to
Map of Baha’u’llah’s banishment from Iran to receive visitors and had
ultimately Acre in the Ottoman Empire.
the freedom to write.
Baha’u’llah died in
1892 at the age of 74. His writings throughout his life are
considered divine revelations. The followers considered
his revelation the ultimate unfolding of all religions.

The Tablets

Baha’is refer to the works of Baha’u’llah as being the

‘Revelation’ of the Word of God and to Baha’u’llah’s
writings (which comprise of letters to individuals and
some books) as ‘Tablets’. Over 20,000 unique works by
Baha’u’llah have been identified at the Baha’i World
Centre, comprising just under seven million words. The
Baha’i Faith is a scriptural religion; the current written
texts are considered fully authoritative. Oral reports,
although they exist, are considered too unreliable to be
fully authoritative and are to be discounted completely
if they contradict the written text. Most of Baha’u’llah’s
writings are in a mixture of Arabic and Persian, although
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 283

there are some that are just in Arabic, some in Persian

and some in pure Persian (farsi-e sareh, Persian with little
or no use of Arabic and other loan words).
As Baha’u’llah spent most of his adult life in exile,
remote from the majority of his followers in Iran, his
communication with them was mostly through the
written word in the form of Tablets, which were often
written in response to questions sent by the Baha’is.
These would be taken to Iran by a few dedicated couriers
and a steady flow of pilgrims who made the arduous
journey.
As each Tablet
arrived in Iran, it would
be studied by its
recipient and copies
made to distribute to
other Baha’is. These
Tablets formed the
main source of
inspiration and
guidance for the
community, comprising
Baha’u’llah’s
theological, mystical
and ethical teachings
and laws for the
Manuscript copy of Baha’u’llah’s most important
book, the Kitāb al-aqdas (The Most Holy Book). individual; his social
The copyist is Mulla Zayn al-‘Abidin Najafabadi teachings; and
who was given the title Zayn al-Muqarrabin. He
made copies of Baha’u’llah’s writings for onward teachings intended to
transmission to Iran and elsewhere. His copies
are highly regarded for their accuracy. bring peace and
harmony at the global
level.
In Iran, when a Tablet arrived in a town or village, the
284 JODY ONDICH

local Baha’is would gather to hear it read out to them and

they would consult about it. Copies of it would be made
and many of the Baha’is would have bound compilations
of these Tablets either written out by themselves or by a
local Baha’i with good handwriting.
The Baha’i scriptures encourage individuals to
transform themselves from self-centeredness and a
desire for wealth and power into individuals with
spiritual attributes such as love, justice, patience,
trustworthiness and truthfulness. This transformation
best occurs when the individual lives a life of service to
others; a cohesive interaction of an individual’s ‘being’
and ‘doing’. The framework for this endeavor are the
laws regarding prayer, fasting and meditation given by
Baha’u’llah. The aim is to be of service to the wider
society, not just the Baha’i community.
These scriptures also give instructions and guidance
for the institutional structure of the Baha’i community.
They seek to create communities in which power has
been removed from individual members of political and
religious hierarchies and given instead to elected councils
which operate by a consultative decision making process
that Baha’u’llah and his successors have developed. The
result is the formation of elected councils (the Spiritual
Assemblies at the local and national levels) and the
establishment in 1963 of the supreme global elected
council of the Baha’i community, the Universal House of
Justice.

What do Baha’is believe?

Baha’is emphasize the importance of their own

authoritative texts in describing Baha’i beliefs and
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 285

practices. These comprise of the authenticated writings

of Baha’u’llah, considered the ‘Word of God’, together
with the interpretation of ‘Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi
Effendi and the legislation of the Universal House of
Justice. The writings of the Bab are relatively neglected,
seen as a source of inspiration, but not binding in terms
of practice. A substantial ‘canon’ of authenticated
material now exists.

Key Takeaway

“Baha’u’llah’s key theme is world unity. The goal of

developing a new world society is a paramount need at the
present time. Central to the Baha’i Faith is that all human beings
are equally God’s creation regardless of gender, race, nationality
or creed and should be respected and treated without prejudice. It
is essential to work for the equality of men and women and the
emancipation of minority groups. For the world’s peoples and
nations to live together in peace, international institutions need to
be developed and systems of governance have to promote justice
and human wellbeing for all.”

The central principles of the Bahá’í Faith are:

• the oneness of God,

• the oneness of religion, and
• the oneness of humanity.

The purposes of life are to know and worship God and

to contribute to the advancement of civilization. The
teachings of the Bahá’í offer solutions to problems that
have been barriers to the achievement of this unity and
286 JODY ONDICH

to the establishment of peace in the world. Because of

their affirmation of the divine origin of all faiths, Bahá’ís
are actively involved in interfaith dialogue and
understanding.
Human beings have the spiritual capacity to recognize
God and to follow his teachings as revealed through his
messengers. Evil has no independent existence, such as
a figurehead of Satan, but consists of rejecting God’s
teachings and allowing oneself to become immersed in
selfish desires.
Baha’is believe that the individual soul survives after
the death of the body, but the afterlife is beyond our
worldly understanding.
Baha’is believe that we have free will, to turn towards
God or reject him. They also believe that true religion
is compatible with reason, and the Baha’i teachings
encourage people to use their intellect in understanding
the world (and religion).
The Bahá’í calendar, originating with the Báb ’s
ministry in 1844, is a solar calendar divided into nineteen
months of nineteen days each with four or five
intercalary days to bring the total number of days in the
year from 361 to 365 (366 in a leap year). The year begins
on the vernal equinox, March 21. The Bahá’í year
includes nine holy days, most of which commemorate
events in the lives of the Báb and Baha’u’llah, on which
Bahá’ís should suspend work. Holy days, like all Bahá’í
days, start at sunset and end the following sunset. They
are generally celebrated by a worship program followed
by refreshments. All holy day observances are open to
non-Bahá’ís.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 287

Example of a Baha’i Calendar

From the Montreal Baha’i Community:

2021-2022 Baha’i Calendar

Near the end of each year, during the Bahá’í month

of ‘Ala or “Loftiness,” which begins at sunset March 1 and
ends at sunset, March 20, Bahá’ís observe a period of
fasting. The Bahá’í fast involves abstaining from food,
drink, and tobacco from sunrise to sunset each day.
Exempted from fasting are those under the age of fifteen
or over age seventy; women who are pregnant, nursing
or menstruating; travelers; the ill; and those performing
heavy physical labor. Bahá’ís often gather at restaurants
or in each others’ homes to pray and eat before dawn, or
to pray and break their fast in the evening. The purpose
of the fast is to remember one’s dependency on God and
to learn detachment from material things.
Baha’u’llah revealed three obligatory prayers. Bahá’ís
are under a spiritual obligation to choose one of these
prayers and perform it each day. The Long Obligatory
Prayer can be said any time within a twenty-four hour
period and is repeated only once. The Medium
Obligatory Prayer must be repeated three times in a day,
once between dawn and noon, once between noon and
sunset, and once between sunset and midnight. The Short
Obligatory Prayer is said once a day, between noon and
sunset. These Obligatory Prayers are always performed
in private.
288 JODY ONDICH

Example: the texts of the Obligatory Prayers

The Obligatory Prayers

What are the Manifestations of God?

The Baha’i faith is strictly monotheistic. There is only

one God, he is exalted above human understanding, so
can only be understood and approached via his prophets
and messengers (the ‘Manifestations of God’). All the
major world religions originally stem from the teachings
of the Manifestations of God and comprise an essential
unity. The Manifestations of God include Abraham,
Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Zoroaster, Krishna and the
Buddha, and in the contemporary period, the Bab and
Baha’u’llah. There will be more Manifestations in the
distant future.

Shrine of the Bab in Haifa, Israel. Commissioned by the Baha’u’llah. Photo by Marco Abra More
information at http://www.bahaipictures.com/shrine.htm

Each Manifestation addresses both eternal spiritual

 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 289

truths and the particular needs of his time. These needs

change over time, so divine revelation is progressive in
nature.
Baha’u’llah’s key theme is world unity. Central to the
Baha’i Faith is that all human beings are seen as equally
God’s creation regardless of gender, race, nationality or
creed and should be respected and treated without
prejudice. It is believed that for the world’s peoples and
nations to live together in peace, international
institutions need to be developed and systems of
governance have to promote justice and human
wellbeing for all.

Shrine of Baha’u’llah in Akka, Israel. Photo by Marco Abra. For more information, go to
http://www.bahaipictures.com/bahji.htm

Baha’is regard each of the prophet founders of the major

religions of the world as being the Manifestations of the
Names and Attributes of God (Manifestations of God for
short). They have a dual station: in their higher reality,
they are essentially one; but in their earthly station, they
290 JODY ONDICH

each come with a unique name and a special mission that

is related to the time and circumstances of their coming.
This can be likened to the series of teachers that a child
has at school. Each teacher builds on what the teacher
before has taught and the scriptures of each religion can
be likened to the textbook that each teacher brings to the
child. So each teacher is equally important to the child
and they all have the same station.
However, the series of Divine teachers, the
Manifestations of God, has no end. Baha’u’llah teaches
that he is not the last one. Whenever humanity needs
further guidance, a Manifestation of God will be sent, but
Baha’u’llah says that this will not be for at least another
one thousand years.

Map of locations of Bahá’í Houses of Worship in the world. Countries with an existing or under
construction House of Worship are in green. Countries with a previously existing House of
Worship (now destroyed)are Iran and Turkmenistan, also in red. Where known, exact locations
are marked with a black dot: •

How is the Baha’i community organized?

Those who are formally members of the Baha’i Faith

register with its community organization at a local or
national level, and are encouraged to become actively
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 291

involved with its activities. They also become subject to

the provisions of Baha’i law. Religious membership is
regarded as a matter of individual choice and should
never be compelled. Baha’i community life is structured
around their own distinctive calendar.
On the first day of each Baha’i month, the Baha’is in
a locality meet together for prayers, consultation on
community activities, and a social get-together. They also
meet to observe the Baha’i holy days commemorating
various significant dates in their history as well as their
new year celebration at the March equinox (Spring in
the northern hemisphere). Additional meetings may be
arranged for study of the Baha’i teachings, prayer and
community development. Baha’is have a number of holy
sites, some of which they perform pilgrimages to, notably
at the present time the shrines of Baha’u’llah, the Bab and
‘Abdu’l-Baha, and other places associated with their lives
located in the Haifa-Akka area. The Baha’is also have a
small number of temples around the world which are
used for devotional services and are open to non-Baha’is.
292 JODY ONDICH

Baha’i law includes

both individual
obligations (including
daily prayer and
observing a nineteen-
day sunrise-to-sunset
fast prior to the Baha’i
new year), and social
regulations (including
obtaining parental
consent for marriage
and not getting
involved in divisive
party politics).
Bahá’í Book of Prayers covered with a Bahá’í Observance of
chaplet individual obligations is
regarded as a matter of
personal conscience, but the social laws are obligatory.
The Baha’i administration comprises both locally and
nationally elected councils (‘spiritual assemblies’)
responsible for the day-to-day management and
direction of Baha’i community affairs, and various ranks
of teachers (Counsellors, Board Members), who are
appointed for fixed terms to encourage and inspire the
Baha’is in their efforts, particularly in promulgating their
religion. The Universal House of Justice is presently
elected every five years by the members of all the Baha’i
national councils.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 293

Baha’i World Center. For more information check their website at https://www.bwc.org/

Regular practices of the Baha’i

The Bahá’í have no

clergy, so worship is
planned and led by
anyone, female or male,
young or old. Common
elements of worship are
the reading or chanting
of scripture, music, and
prayers. Music that is
An assembled crowd sings songs at the National
Baha’i Centre in Vientiane, Laos, in August 2009. written to be performed
in a worship context
usually incorporates passages from the Bahá’í scriptures,
and is acapella. Contemporary American Baha’i music
now incorporates many genres, including jazz, blues, hip
hop and gospel.

Key Takeaway: an example of a Baha’i house of worship

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294 JODY ONDICH

https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=46#oembed-1

The Bahá’í tradition does not require weekly worship

services, but instead a regular gathering known as a
Nineteen Day Feast. Generally held on the first evening
of each Bahá’í month, or once every nineteen days. It is
open only to Bahá’ís.
Another tradition is a Fireside. This is usually an event
in a home, where people are invited to come and learn
more about Baha’i and to socialize.
Study circles, social activities, education of youth and
service are all components of Baha’i life.

The spread and development of the Baha’i Faith

After Baha’u’llah’s death, the Baha’is turned to his eldest

son, ‘Abbas Effendi, known as ‘Abdu’l-Baha (1844–1921),
and after him to ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s eldest grandson Shoghi
Effendi Rabbani (1897–1957). Shoghi Effendi was
childless so after a brief ‘inter-regnum’, a nine-man
elected body, the Universal House of Justice, was formed
in 1963. Referred to repeatedly in the Baha’i writings,
the Universal House of Justice remains the Baha’is’ ruling
body up to the present-day.
Beginning in the 1890s, the Baha’is began to attract a
wider following outside of the are and faith of its origin.
Baha’i teachers who settled in North America found a
receptive audience for the Baha’i message and a number
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 295

of active Baha’i groups were established. American

Baha’is in turn spread the Baha’i teachings to Europe.
These developments were greatly welcomed by ‘Abdu’l-
Baha, who wrote extensively to the new Western Baha’is
addressing their concerns, and himself made lengthy
visits to the West in 1911–1913. In turn, Shoghi Effendi
organized campaigns of expansion to the rest of the
world, and since the 1950s, an expansion into many parts
of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia has occurred. There are
now Baha’i communities in almost every country in the
world, and Baha’is are drawn from all religious
backgrounds and ethnicities.
Bahá’í beliefs and ideas were brought to the United
States by immigrants from the Middle East. One of them,
Ibrahim George Kheiralla, an Arab Christian from what
is today Lebanon, became a Bahá’í in 1889 while living
in Egypt. Kheiralla arrived in Chicago in spring of 1894
and was giving classes to interested people in the area.
The majority of converts who found the messages and
beliefs in universal peace and the oneness of all religion
appealing to them were middle- and working-class white
Protestant Christians.
American growth of Baha’i was slowed by the World
War I and by continued uncertainty about basic Bahá’í
teachings. But continuing effort meant that by 1925 the
organization of small gatherings had evolved into the
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United
States and Canada. Although the growth rate slowed, and
was never very fast, the American Bahá’í community has
continued to increase. By 2013 the membership was
approximately 171,000. Immigration added to the
numbers more than conversion.
From 1975 to 1980 as many as 10,000 Vietnamese,
296 JODY ONDICH

Cambodian, and Laotian Bahá’ís settled in the United

States. In the late 1970s and the 1980s they were joined
by 10,000-12,000 Iranian Bahá’ís, who fled persecution
after Islamic government took power in Iran.
The Bahá’í community has a serious commitment to
the abolition of racism, the development of society, and
the establishment of world peace. It has increasingly
expressed its commitments through a series of core
activities devoted to empowering youth of all ages and
adults to make changes in their own neighborhoods and
villages.

Example of Baha’i thought in current times

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
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worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=46#oembed-2
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 297

Momen, Moojan. “Baha’i Sacred Texts.” British Library,

Discovering Sacred Texts: Baha’i, 2019, www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/
articles/bahai-sacred-texts.
Momen, Moojan. “Central Figures of the Baha’i Faith.” British
Library, Discovering Sacred Texts: Baha’i, 2019, www.bl.uk/
sacred-texts/articles/central-figures-of-the-bahai-faith.
“Pandemic Sparks Critical Reflection on Journalism: Bwns.” The
Baha’i Faith: Official Website, 2 Oct. 2020, youtu.be/x-
dW2WGYGCE.
Smith, Peter. “An Introduction to the Baha’i Faith.” British
Library, Discovering Sacred Texts: Baha’i, 2019, www.bl.uk/
sacred-texts/articles/an-introduction-to-the-bahai-faith.
“Sydney, Australia: House of Worship.” The Baha’i Faith: Official
Website, 20 Aug. 2020, youtu.be/pOrZmnCa418.
“The Three Obligatory Prayers.” The Obligatory Prayers, The
Baha’i Faith: Official Website, 2021, www.bahai.org/documents/
bahaullah/obligatory-prayers.
“The Tree of Unity: Bahai Short Film.” World Peace Films, 26 June
2020, youtu.be/hypq9-Ih9F0.
Vahman, et al. “Bahá’í.” The Pluralism Project, Harvard University,
12 July 2021, pluralism.org/bahai.

“Baha’i Calendar 178 BE.” Communauté Bahá’íe De Montréal,

2021, www.bahaimontreal.org/en-ca/calendars/baha-i-
calendar-176-be.
298 JODY ONDICH

23
BAHA'I
RESOURCES

In reality all are members of one human family –

children of one Heavenly Father. Humanity may be
likened unto the vari-coloured flowers of one garden.
There is unity in diversity. Each sets off and enhances the
other’s beauty.

298
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 299

‘Abdu’l-Baha, Abdul Baha on Divine Philosophy

Helpful Links

British Library: Sacred Texts/Baha’i

Harvard University’s Pluralism Project: Baha’i
Alta Lib Guides: Baha’i
The Baha’i Faith
Sacred Texts Archive: Baha’i
The Baha’i World
Baha’i Reference Library
Baha’i World Heritage Site
300 JODY ONDICH
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 301

PART V

TRIBAL TRADITIONS:
AFRICA, AUSTRALIA
AND THE AMERICAS

It is really too big of a topic to try and discuss traditions

of tribes in this textbook, as not only each continent,
but each country, each tribe, and each ethic group has a
rich, diverse, and important story to tell. One can only
apologize and say that this is a very traditional “world

301
302 JODY ONDICH

religions” book, and we have been looking at religious

traditions that are global in nature, and which have a
more formal organization to them.
However, some attention to the kinds of traditions,
rituals, beliefs and practices of our indigenous people
across these specific four continents informs us as to how
spirituality eventually emerged in those places.
So we are going to look at four traditions: the North
American Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) from the Great Lakes
area of the US and Canada, the South American Incas/
Quechuas primarily located along the western coast of
South America, the Indigenous/Aboriginal people of
Australia, and the Yoruba people near and in Nigeria
on the African continent. Each has a rich
tradition of spirituality, of belief, and of
ritual.
According to the Pluralism Project of Harvard
University,

One of the few common elements within the diversity of

Native traditions is the idea that all dimensions of social
life are profoundly integrated. Instead of “religion,” the
broader term “life-way” is often used to describe the
traditions of Native peoples.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 303

24
HISTORY,
BELIEFS,
RITUALS,
LEGENDS

The Anishinaabe, the Inca/Quechua, the Yoruba, the

Indigenous Australians

303
 304 JODY ONDICH

The Anishinaabe

The Ojibwe, also

known as Chippewa,
refer to themselves in
their original
language as
the Anishinaabe, or
“the people.” The
term Ojibwe comes
from what other
tribes called the
Anishinaabe people,
and means
“puckered”, which
refers to the toes of
Pow-wow dancers at Grand Portage National the moccasins that
Monument
the Anishinaabe
people made and
wore. The term Chippewa is just a variation of the
pronunciation of the word Ojibwe.
Numbering more than more than 170,000 in the
United States and more than 160,00 in Canada, the
Ojibwe people are a network of independent bands
or tribes, knit together by a shared language, culture,
and traditional clan system, and inhabiting the
Western Great Lakes region of Michigan, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, North Dakota, Ontario, and Manitoba.
The Anishinaabe are culturally related to other
peoples of the Northeast Woodlands and
linguistically related to other peoples of the
1
Algonkian language family.

1. with help from The Pluralism Project: Harvard University

https://pluralism.org/anishinaabe-ojibwe-ways
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 305

History and Belief

According to oral history, the people who eventually

became known as the Anishinaabe originated on the east
coast of North America, and because of a series of
prophecies, they traveled by various routes to the
western Great Lakes area, both north and south of the
lakes. These prophecies came to be known as the Seven
Fires. The Seven Fires Prophecies make for vivid and
interesting listening: Seven Fires Prophecies
The religious beliefs and activities of the Anishinaabe
can vary from place to place, and clan to clan, but are all
based on a profound respect for life and the gifts of life.
Beliefs include:

• understanding the manidoog (sometimes

spelled manitous), the spirits, or “mysteries.”
The manidoog are the sources of life and
existence. All things have spirit–plants, animals,
the earth, as well as people.
• gratitude to the Gitche Manidoo, “Great Spirit”
or “Great Mystery.” The Anishinaabe are
basically monotheistic, although some also refer
to Mother Earth as worthy of reverence.
Mother Earth is considered both the physical
manifestation of all physical creation, and also
of the Great Spirit Gitche Manidoo who created
it.
• praying to the spirits is important, asking for
health, expressing gratitude, looking for
assistance in troubles, rejoicing, naming
children, and much more. Prayer takes many
forms, but is often accompanied by one or more
of these– smoke, drums, singing and dance.
306 JODY ONDICH

• Elders are respected for their wisdom and

knowledge. The clan system revers these wise
ones, and various behaviors indicating respect
are part of daily life.
• Women are respected as bearers of life, and
protectors of water.
• A key value includes walking in harmony with
the world, connected to all parts of the land,
with no separation between sacred and secular.

As with many indigenous peoples, the immigrant

Europeans tried to impose their lifestyle, beliefs, and
manners on the tribes of the Americas. With the Ojibwe,
this took the form of removing them from their land,
forcing them into individual land ownership and farming
instead of communal land ownership and hunting/
gardening, and various forms of forced assimilation. For
decades Ojibwe children were removed from their homes
and send to “boarding schools” in order to lose their
native identities, languages and practices. Learning
about these schools, and the graveyards now being
discovered across Canada and the US is crucial to
understanding some of the suffering still being
experienced in Ojibwe culture.

A story: Catholic Boarding School in Wisconsin

One woman’s story of her mother’s experience in a school, and

the impact on her life, the life of her children, and her legacy. The
Atlantic is a subscription publication, but allows for a few free
articles a month.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 307

Death by Civilization: the traumatic legacy of native boarding

schools

The tribe local to the the author’s home is the Fond du

Lac Band of Ojibwe, and is primarily located in Cloquet,
Minnesota. Before white settlers arrived here, the band
lived in an area in Duluth now key to commercial
shipping, and with access to both the large natural harbor
and to Lake Superior, called Gichigami. More in depth
stories about the lives and history of the people who
originally lived at this western end of Lake Superior can
be found here: Onigamiinising Dibaajimowinan

The Fond du Lac Band is one of six Chippewa Indian

Bands that make up the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
The Fond du Lac Reservation was established by the
La Pointe Treaty of 1854. Archaeologists, however,
maintain that ancestors of the present day Chippewa
(Ojibwe) have resided in the Great Lakes area since
800 A.D. Today, our Band includes over 4,200
members. The Ojibwe name for the Fond du Lac
Reservation is “Nagaajiwanaang”, which means
2
“where the water stops”.

Local life of the Anishinaabe is seen in many places

around the city, including at American Indian
Community Housing Organization, at art galleries in the
area, both at the University of Minnesota and at
the AICHO Galleries, in the Lake Superior Ojibwe
Gallery, and in many public parks, as increasingly the
debt owed to the Anishinaabe is becoming clearer. Local
colleges offer language and history courses, and local

2. https://www.fdlrez.com/
308 JODY ONDICH

authors bring materials to local readers. Onigamiising is

a set of essays on life in Duluth as an Ojibwe.
Lyz Jaakola is an Ojibwe member of the Fond du Lac
Band and well known musician in the area. Hear her
comments on the ongoing struggle for health in the
community, and her composition for healing.

Healing Music: Lyz Jaakola

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of the text. You can view them online here:
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Location

Whether one accepts the oral tradition of the Seven Fires

or not, both Ojibwe oral history and a number of
archaeological finds indicate that these people moved
from the east coast to the upper midwest over several
centuries. It is well documented that by the time the
French fur traders and various explorers arrived in the
Great Lakes area in the early 1600s, the Ojibwe were well
established as far west as Sault Ste. Marie, Madeleine
Island at the northern tip of Wisconsin, and into
Minnesota.
One of the larger tribes in North America, the Ojibwe
live in both the United States and Canada and occupy
land primarily around the western Great Lakes, tribes
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 309

being located in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin,

Michigan, and Ontario. The Ojibwe tribes who moved
into the plains area of North Dakota and north into
Canada are known as the Saulteaux.

pre-contact Anishinaabe map from Information derived from R. E. Asher and Christopher
Moseley’s Atlas of the World’s Languages, 2nd edition, 2007

Lifestyle

The Ojibwe have historically lived in heavily forested

areas, rich with lakes, rivers, and swamps. Activities in
their originally semi-nomadic lives have included:

• hunting, usually for bear, deer, moose and

various birds
• fishing, by spear, hook, and in all seasons,
including ice fishing in the winter
• maple sugar and syrup production
• harvesting wild rice, the “food that grows on
water”, which was prophesied for them long
before their arrival in the Great Lakes area
310 JODY ONDICH

• gathering, but also some gardening

These activities continue in modern life, with increasing

attention being paid to former treaties that guarantee
that these activities may continue on tribal lands.

Example–Wild ricing in northern Minnesota

MANOOMINIKEWAG

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of the text. You can view them online here:
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Ritual

Various rituals relating to spirituality have developed

over the centuries among the Anishinaabe. These may
include:

• smudging–usually using one of 4

herbs–tobacco, sage, cedar and sweetgrass-
smoke is created to surround and cover a place,
a person, a thing, or a situation for purity,
cleansing, hope
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 311

• sweat lodges–small constructions with heated

rocks to are constructed and used by people in a
way that causes deep sweats. Adding to this
prayers and ritual on the interior provides
healing, direction, or other ways of connecting
with the spirit
• vision quests–a time of fasting and solitude
arranged so that young people might find their
purpose, direction
• pow-wows–held for many reasons, these times
of dance, eating, and ceremony are a
community event for rejoicing, naming of
children, supporting sobriety, community
health
• drumming circles–the drums speak through the
drummers. The drummers allow the voice of
the spirit to come to the people through the
drums
• sacred pipes–not Peace Pipes, which is a
European phrase, but a carefully held and
prepared pipe is used for prayer; as the smoke
rises , so do the prayers
• Midewiwin (Medicine Lodge)–composed of
healers and spiritual leaders, this is a fairly
guarded set of knowledge that allows those
trained in this knowledge to support the
community in body and soul
• gift exchanges–connecting with community
through giving
• clan identity–there are up to 29 acknowledged
clans within the Anishinaabe people: a little
more information can be found here
312 JODY ONDICH

About the Clans

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And, of course, there are many narratives, stories,

shared detail from the elders of the community.

The Anishinaabe Creation story

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of the text. You can view them online here:
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“White Earth Wild Rice Harvest- Manoominikewag.” White

Earth Land Recovery Project, 14 Sept. 2013, youtu.be/Zs8UyGlL3iU.

“The Ojibwe People.” Minnesota Historical Society, 2021,

www.mnhs.org/fortsnelling/learn/native-americans/ojibwe-
people.

“‘Strong Woman’s Song’ by Lyz Jaakola.” YouTube, 20 Oct. 2020,

youtu.be/g7zRxLCd9Lk.

Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 2021,

www.fdlrez.com/.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 313

Pember, Mary Annette. “Death by Civilization.” The Atlantic,

Atlantic Media Company, 8 Mar. 2019, www.theatlantic.com/
education/archive/2019/03/traumatic-legacy-indian-boarding-
schools/584293/.

“The Ojibway Creation Story: Fire and Water: Ojibway

Teachings and Today’s Duties.’” Ojibwe Creation Stories, University
of Toronto Libraries, 2021, exhibits.library.utoronto.ca/items/
show/2505.

“Anishinaabe Ojibwe Ways.” The Pluralism Project, Harvard

University, 2021, pluralism.org/anishinaabe-ojibwe-ways.

“Anishinaabe (NA): The Ojibwe PEOPLE’S DICTIONARY.”

Anishinaabe (Na) | The Ojibwe People’s Dictionary, University of
Minnesota, 2021, ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/anishinaabe-na.

“Anishinaabe Timeline.” American Indian Resource Center, Bemidji

State University, 2021, www.bemidjistate.edu/airc/community-
resources/anishinaabe-timeline/.

White Earth Nation, 2021, whiteearth.com/.

Peacock, Thomas D., and Marlene Wisuri. Ojibwe WAASA

Inaabidaa = We Look in All Directions. Minnesota Historical Society
Press, 2011.
“Anton Treuer.” YouTube, YouTube, 29 June 2016,
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC02Ei64PpI3ET-bMvTAr-
sQ.
314 JODY ONDICH

The Inca/ Quechua

The Incan empire pulled

together various smaller
tribes over time and truly
flourished between about
1400 and 1500 CE, largely in
an area which is now Peru.
The Incan empire and
culture was thoroughly and
horribly destroyed by the
Quechua woman spinning Spanish under the
leadership of Francisco
Pizarro. In a very short period of time, the Spanish stole
over 280,000 kilograms of gold from the Incas and as
they conquered the people and stole this wealth, they also
suppressed or destroyed all expression of their native
religion and culture. Yet in spite of the harsh treatment
by the various explorers and conquerors, some Incan
traditions managed to survive and carry forward in the
myths, beliefs and practices within Peru, Ecuador and
Columbia. The heirs to the Incas are now called various
names and form many tribes, but speak the language
called Quechuan. Calling this group of tribes Quechua is
a catch all phrase in some ways, but refers to many varied
but related clan groups in the Andes mountain region.

History and Belief

Gordon McEwan is an associate professor of

anthropology at Wagner College. He has worked in
Cuzco for more than twenty-five years and is the author
of numerous articles and several books on the
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 315

archaeology of the Wari and Inca cultures. Here is his

introduction to the Incan society. The remaining people
who fled at the destruction of the Incan empire are the
people whose descendants remain in the mountains of
the western shore of South American today.

Key History: Ted Ed lesson on the history of the Incas

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Although many of the Quechua speaking people have

incorporated Roman Catholicism into their lives, some
beliefs common to the Incas that still survive today in the
lives of the Quechuas include:

• a belief that supernatural forces govern

everyday events, such as weather, crops, health
and illness
• by making offerings to the powers that control
natural forces, the Quechua feel they can
influence events and not merely be helpless in
the face of bad weather or disease
• the conviction that the world is populated by
spirits who have human attributes
• the conviction that the mountains are sacred
places and are central elements of a mythical
historical identity, since the founding fathers,
316 JODY ONDICH

according to Inca legend, arose directly out of

the land
• belief in the Andean deities Viracocha (creator
deity) and Pachamama (the Incan Mother Earth)

Location

The Incas originally

held a great deal of
territory along the
western coast of what is
now South America.
Although much of this
is rugged, we can notice
that a familiar place
belonging to the Incas is
Machu Picchu.
UNESCO Machu
Picchu Website
UNESCO shows
pictures of this area, a
15th-century Inca
Map of the current distribution of the Quechuan
languages (solid) with the historical extent of the citadel, located in the
Inca Empire (shaded) Eastern Cordillera of
southern Peru, on a
7,970 foot mountain ridge. “Recent research has shown
that the site’s location, and the orientation of its most
important structures, was strongly influenced by the
location of nearby holy mountains, or apus. (The Inca
religion uses the term ‘apu’ to refer to a mountain with a
living spirit; the body and energy of the mountain
together form the spirit’s wasi (“home” or “temple”).) An
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 317

arrow-shaped stone atop the peak of Huayna Picchu

appears to point due south, directly through the famous
Intihuatana Stone, to Mount Salcantay, one of the most
revered apus in Incan cosmology. On important days of
the Inca calendar, the sun can be seen to rise or set behind
3
other significant peaks.”

Lifestyle

The present-day Quechua-speaking peoples of the Andes

make up between 30- 45 percent of the population of
Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador. They live in close-
knit, generally rural, communities and combine farming
and herding to make a living. Much of the agricultural
work is done cooperatively, sharing grazing space,
harvests and redistributing labor and the outcome of
farming when needed.
All aspects of Quechua life, including farming,
marriage relationships, religion and celebrations, are
done in an ayllu, which is an involved and clan-like
kinship grouping. A basic component
of ayllu communality is ayni, which in a fairly simple way
can be described as “help rendered to others today in
anticipation of that help being returned at a future date”.
Ayni is reciprocal assistance, so that members of an ayllu
will help a family with a large project, such as putting up
fencing or construction of a home, and in turn can expect
to be similarly helped later with a project of their own.

3. National Geographic, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/

travel/article/secrets
318 JODY ONDICH

Many traditional handicrafts are an important part of

Quechua culture. This includes
a long tradition of
weaving handed down
from Incan times (or
possibly even earlier
than the 14th century)
using cotton, wool
(from llamas, alpacas,
guanacos, vicunas) and
Ollantaytambo Peru- indigenous women weaving
a wide variety of
natural dyes. There are
numerous traditional woven patterns used (pallay).
The Quechua domesticated potatoes thousands of
years ago and still grow many potato varieties, which
are used for both food and medicine. Quinoa is another
traditional crop used as a staple, and is fast becoming so
expensive that unless individuals grow their own crop of
quinoa, they are no longer able to afford to buy it, as the
grain has become very popular in the Western cultures.
Hallpay is the Andean ritual of chewing coca leaves,
which produces a mild stimulation. Growing coca for
cocaine production is illegal in these countries, but
personal use in the Quechua communities, who just chew
the coca leaves, is accepted. An explanation is found here:

[The] varied procedures and social etiquette have

been compared in intricacy to the Japanese tea
ceremony. Each person selects a few of the best
leaves and stacks them shiny side up (the stack is
called a k’intu). The individual then blows on the
stack lightly while reciting a short blessing to the
earth and particular location (known as a phukuy).
If another person is present (as is often the case),
the k’intu is then passed to that person, who receives
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 319

it with thanks before reciting a phukuy again. Only

then are the coca leaves inserted in the mouth for
4
chewing.

Ritual

Many rituals in Quechuan speaking communities are

now a combination of Roman Catholic and native
practices. Some hark back to Incan times, some are more
recent in origins, but still blend with Catholicism.

• The Festival of the Sun (Inti Raymi) is based on

an ancient Incan ceremony and includes
elaborate pageantry and the (simulated) sacrifice
of a llama.
• the Andean deities Viracocha (creator deity) and
Pachamama (the Incan Mother Earth) have
become associated with the Christian faith, and
connect to God and to the Virgin Mary,
respectively, as a syncretic approach to religion.
• Religious imagery—frequently associated with
miracles, visions, and punishments—often plays
an important role in the spiritual beliefs. The
line between the Christian images and the
Quechua images blurs.
• Ritual offerings to Pachamama (in a ceremony
known as the pago a la tierra) continue to be
performed regularly. The pago a la tierra
ceremony traces its roots back to traditional
Inca festivals of harvests and plantings.
• pilgrimages to sacred spaces, again often a
combination of Catholic imagery imposed on

4. Quechua Cultural Orientation Defense Language Institute Foreign

Language Center
320 JODY ONDICH

ancient sites in the mountains, are common.

They tend to be more festive in actions than
somber or serious.
• The characteristic music of the central Andes is
called huayno. The Incas used a single word–
“taqui”– to describe dance, music and singing,
though this word in the Quechuan language
means “song”. Theses three activities were
interconnected, never separated. Most dances
were related to rituals and agriculture. And all
music was communally produced, as music was
considered a group activity. Music uses a variety
of traditional instruments, varying from
percussive items to strings to flute like we hear
in this example:

One or more interactive elements has been

excluded from this version of the text. You can
view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=110#audio-110-1

Inca Creation Story

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=110#oembed-6
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 321

“Cultural Orientation – Quechua.” Defense Language Institute

Foreign Language Center, 2021, www.dliflc.edu/cultural-
orientation-quechua/.
“Field Support, Cultural Orientation.” Quechua Cultural
Orientation, 2021, fieldsupport.dliflc.edu/products/quechua/
qu_co/default.html.
Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. “Historic Sanctuary of
Machu Picchu.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 2021,
whc.unesco.org/en/list/274.

The Religion of the Quechua, Division of Religion and Philosophy

University of Cumbria, 2021, www.philtar.ac.uk/encyclopedia/
latam/quech.html.
“Quechua.” Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of World Cultures,
edited by Timothy L. Gall and Susan Bevan Gall, 2nd ed., vol. 7,
UXL, 2012, pp. 161-168. Gale In Context: High School,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX1931400389/
GPS?u=mnalakescl&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=7dc890c3.
Accessed 26 Aug. 2021.
Gibson, Karen. “The Quichua.” Faces: People, Places, and Cultures,
vol. 22, no. 4, Dec. 2005, pp. 36+. Gale In Context: High School,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A142567681/
GPS?u=mnalakescl&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=fce12bf1. Accessed
26 Aug. 2021.
Waddington, R. (2003), The Indigenous Quichua People. The
Peoples of the World Foundation. Retrieved August 26, 2021, from
The Peoples of the World Foundation.
<http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Quichua>
“Cultures of The Andes: Quechua Songs & Poems, Stories,
Photos…” Cultures of the Andes: Quechua Songs & Poems, Stories,
Photos…, 2021, www.andes.org/.
“Inca Creation Myth.” The Big Myth, 22 June 2020, youtu.be/
rr8pFiL1FWI.
 322 JODY ONDICH

The Yoruba:

Africa covers around

6% of the earth’s surface
and has 54 countries.
The approximate
population on the
continent numbers
around 1.3 billion
people. There are well
over 3000 different
ethnic groups in Africa,
each with their own
history, language and
Yoruba mask for King Obalufon II; circa 1300 CE; set of beliefs and
copper; height: 29.2 cm; discovered at Ife; Ife
Museum of Antiquities (Ife, Nigeria) practices. These
frequently co-exist
alongside the religions of Islam, Judaism and
Christianity, which also have long histories in various
African nations. The relationship between the Abrahamic
religions and the native beliefs and practices can be
difficult at times, and the more conservative of the
branches of those three religions has attempted to
eradicate the practices of the Yoruba.

History and Belief

5
With help from Janet Topp Fargion :

5. Dr Janet Topp Fargion is Head of Sound and Vision at the British

Library. Her general research interest is the discipline of
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 323

Indigenous African beliefs frequently include the

worship of various spirits, multiple gods, family and
tribal ancestors, and are based on an understanding that
the spiritual infuses every aspect of daily life. The concept
of a supreme being is not always a part of indigenous
tribal life and practice, and the gods, ancestors and
spirits are not necessarily thought to be omnipresent,
omniscient, or even always good.
The role of ancestors is important within these
traditions, indicating a link between the dead and their
living descendants. Diviners, priests or community
members communicate with the dead in various ways,
and this might include prayers, sacrifices, rituals, festivals
and ceremonies. In most parts of West Africa, public
festivals and masquerades are central to spiritual
wellbeing. The masks worn at these events embody gods
and spirits who dance, sing or speak in ways that identify
them to the participating community.
The Yoruba are one of Africa’s largest ethnic groups
with more than twenty-five million living in Nigeria, the
Republic in Benin, and Togo. Its pre-modern history is
based largely on oral traditions and legends. Ile Ife is
the city where the Yoruba believe their civilization began
as well as the location where they say that the gods

Ethnomusicology, with a focus on the music of Africa, particularly

of South Africa and the Swahili Coast in East Africa. Her research
currently centers on ethnographic sound recordings as sources for
ethnomusicological investigation. Janet is an active member of the
British Forum for Ethnomusicology and the Archiving
Committee of the Society for Ethnomusicology and is chair of the
Research Archive Section of the International Association of
Sound and Audiovisual Archives. In 2015, she co-curated the
British Library major exhibition West Africa: Word, Symbol,
Song.
324 JODY ONDICH

descended to earth. Oral tradition and historical reality

do not completely match, but the story is longstanding.
Ile Ife came to be a city in about 500 BCE. It is
considered to be the origin of all African people by the
Yoruba.
The meaning of the word “ife” in Yoruba is “expansion.”
“Ile-Ife” is therefore in reference to the myth of origin,
“The Land of Expansion.”
The creation story of
the Yoruba is seen
below.
Besides being central
in the history of the
Yoruba people, Ife is
also famous for its art.
From terracotta
sculptures to stones and
bronze sculptures that
can still be found in
museums, the art of the
Yoruba is becoming
world famous.
The Yoruba have
hundreds of deities. ‘Yoruba Ibeji figures, representing twins’ . Credit:
Yoruba deities are Wellcome Collection.

called orisha, and the

high god is Olorun. Other important orishas include
Eshu, the trickster; Shango, the god of thunder; and
Ogun, the god of iron and modern technology.
The Yoruba believe that the ancestors still have real
influence among the living. Annual ritual honor is paid
to the family or clan ancestors, and this yearly sacrificial
activity honors all deceased members of the family.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 325

Egungun (maskers) appear at funerals and are believed to

embody the spirit of the deceased person.

Lecture: More information on Yoruba history and culture from Professor

6
Toyin Falola

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=110#oembed-7

Location

Yoruba people are

concentrated in the
southwestern part of
the country of Nigeria,
in Benin and northern
Togo. The Yoruba
number more than
35-40 million across Africa. There is a long and rich
history of the various people who became the Yoruba.
They originally called themselves the Oyo.
The term Yoruba (or Yariba) did not come into use
until the nineteenth century, and was originally confined

6. Professor — Ph.D., 1981, History, University of Ife Professor;

Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities;
University Distinguished Teaching Prof.
326 JODY ONDICH

to subjects of the Oyo Empire. The term Yoruba did not

always designate an ethnicity and usually described those
who spoke the Yoruba language. The first documented
use of the term Yoruba as an ethnic description comes
from a scholar in the sixteenth century.
The empire of Oyo arose at the end of the 15th century
CE. Expansion of the kingdom of the Oyo is usually
associated with the people’s increased use of horses. At
the end of the 18th century CE civil war took place
within the Oyo empire, and the rebels against the old
order turned to the Fulani for help. Instead of helping,
the Fulani ended up conquering the Oyo empire in the
1830s. In the late 1880s, with the help of a British
mediator, a treaty was signed. Yoruba lands were
officially colonized by the British in 1901. Nigeria
became an official colony in 1914. But on October 1,
1960 Nigeria was declared independent of British rule.

Lifestyle

The Yoruba were historically primarily farmers, growing

cassava, maize, cotton, beans and peanuts. The Yoruba
are also known for their fine crafts. Traditionally,
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 327

they worked at such

trades as blacksmithing,
leatherworking,
weaving, glassmaking,
and both ivory and
wood carving.
Each town has an
Oba (leader), and every
16th century Ivory armlet from the Yoruba Oba is considered to be
peoples. Owo region in Nigeria. Now in the
National Museum of African Art, Washington DC. a direct descendant of
the founding Oba of
that city even if that cannot be proved through written
records. A council of chiefs usually assists the Oba.

An excellent and thorough look at Yoruba and

Nigerian culture and lifestyle can be found at Yoruba Art
and Culture: Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology

Ritual

Performances of an Egungun (representative of ancestral

spirits visiting the living),
Epa (symbolic performances variously promoting valor
and fertility), and
Ẹyọ, a procession of masked dancers.

“Art has often been inspired by spiritual beliefs. For

the Yoruba, art and spirituality are often
intertwined. Works of art give visual form to the
divine and inspire religious devotion. In turn, they
are made powerful by spiritual forces. Aesthetics
play an important role in the manifestation of the
sacred. As the Yoruba say, art has the power to fa
 328 JODY ONDICH

ajú móra (magnetize the eyes),

becoming àwòwò–tún–wò (that which compels
7
repeated gaze).”

In Nigeria there are many gods (òrìṣàs) who are

worshipped. Prior to the Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ masquerade festival,
members of the community consult priests, who then
communicate with the òrìṣàs. The priest throws sets of
palm nuts and draws symbols on a board, interpreting the
words of the òrìṣàs for the community.
The film below includes extracts from a documentary
on the Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ masquerade, performed by the Yoruba
people of Nigeria. It shows preparations for the
masquerade, including people consulting the Ifá priest,
who helps to communicate with the spirits and decide
which songs will be sung during the ritual. The Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ is
performed to pay tribute to the role women play in the
organization and development of Yoruba society. The
songs tell of the power of the Great Mother. The film was
8
made by Peggy Harper and Frank Speed in the 1960s.”

Example: preparation for a masquerade

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:

7. From Newark Museum's archived Embodying the Sacred in

Yoruba Art
8. From African Belief at the Discovering Sacred Texts site of the
British Library https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/african-
belief-systems
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 329

https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=110#oembed-8

Some of these West African practices were transported with

enslaved individuals across the Atlantic Ocean in the 16th and
17th centuries. Brazilian candomblé, an extension of some of the
Yoruba beliefs, is testament to the strength of the practices as they
continue in these settings to the present day. Caribbean Vodou also
carries in its beliefs and practices ideas found here about the role
of spirits in human lives.

In some instances leaders or community members

enter a ‘trance-like’ state. Some communities interpret
this as possession, believing that a spirit takes control
of the person in a trance. It is often interpreted as the
practitioner making contact with the spirit or an
ancestor and then relaying what is said by one of these
spirits or ancestors back to the community.
The Yoruba Gẹlẹdẹ from the Ketu region of the
modern Republic of Benin received the honor of being
recognized as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible
Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

The Yoruba Creation story

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=110#oembed-9
330 JODY ONDICH

“YORUBA Creation Myth.” The Big Myth, 25 June 2020,

youtu.be/6BMLUdU4gwQ.

Nolte, Insa (2015). ‘Histories of religion and the word’ in West

Africa: Word, Symbol, Song edited by Gus Casely-Hayford, Janet
Topp Fargion and Marion Wallace. British Library.

“The Yoruba from Prehistory to the Present.” Cambridge

University Press, 21 Oct. 2020, youtu.be/fRy92OJCtcY.

“Yoruba – Art & Life in Africa – the University of Iowa Museum

of Art.” Art & Life in Africa – The University of Iowa Stanley Museum
of Art, 2021, africa.uima.uiowa.edu/peoples/show/Yoruba.

Mullen, Nicole. Yoruba Art and Culture. PHOEBE A. HEARST

MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY, 2004,
hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/
TeachingKit_YorubaArtAndCulture.pdf.

Egu, Ken Chiedozie. “Ile IFE, Nigeria (Ca. 500 B.C.E.- ) •.” •Black
Past, 16 Dec. 2020, www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/ile-
ife-ca-500-b-c-e/.
Fargion, Janet Topp. “African Belief Systems.” British Library,
Discovering Sacred Texts, 2021, www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/
african-belief-systems.

Boundless World History. Located

at: https://www.boundless.com/world-history/textbooks/
boundless-world-history-textbook/. License: CC BY-SA:
Attribution-ShareAlike
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 331

Indigenous Australians:
Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander
people are the
Indigenous peoples of
Australia. If one refers
to both Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander
Smoking Ceremony 2 Major Sumner, a people as a group, it’s
Ngarrindjeri elder, in a smoking ceremony, as best to say either
part of the repatriation of Old People remains.
‘Indigenous Australians’
or ‘Indigenous people’.
They are not in fact one group of people, but rather
comprise about 500 different tribes in Australia, each
with their own language and territory and usually made
up of a large number of separate clans. Each of these
hundreds of groups have their own distinct set of
languages, histories and cultural traditions. And the term
Aboriginal is moving out of favor as a descriptive term
for the overall native people of the continent, having
come from European terminology, and not that of the
various tribes involved.
Archaeologists believe that the Indigenous Australian
people first came to the Australian continent between
45,000-50,000 years ago. The Indigenous population in
Australia is estimated to be about 745,000 individuals or
3 per cent of the total population of 24,220,200. When
Europeans settlers first arrived, it is thought that perhaps
close to 1.5 million people lived on the continent.
332 JODY ONDICH

History and Beliefs

Originally the native

people of Australia
were hunters and
gatherers. In addition
to this, they had very
sophisticated ways of
taking care of the land.
Through their work
with the land they Aboriginal Rock Art, Anbangbang Rock Shelter,
Kakadu
encouraged the growth
of specific plants that
their preferred animals would eat, using controlled
burns, they set up gardens and crops, and they worked
with waterways to extend the living space and the
breeding of water creatures that were food for them, such
as eels. As semi-nomadic people, they moved around
with the seasons, returning to more permanent homes in
the growing season, and cultivating their crops in season.
First Contact with the Europeans came in 1770:

“On 29 April 1770, HMB Endeavour sailed into

Botany Bay, in the country of the Gweagal and
Bidjigal peoples of the Dharawal Eora nation, as part
of Lieutenant James Cook’s broader exploration of
the Pacific.
Approaching the southern shore, his landing party
were met by two Gweagal men with spears. Attempts
to communicate failed, so Cook’s party forced a
landing under gunfire. After one of the men was shot
and injured, the Gweagal retreated.
Cook and his men then entered their camp. They
took artefacts and left trinkets in exchange. Seven
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 333

days later, after little further interaction with

9
Gweagal people, the Endeavour’s crew sailed away.”

[From the Journal of

James Cook, At Anchor,
Botany Bay, New South
Wales.]
Sunday, April 29th,
1770.
“In the P.M. wind
Southerly and Clear
weather, with which we
stood into the bay and
Anchored under the
South shore about 2
James Cook. Line engraving by J. K. Sherwin,
1779 miles within the
Entrance in 5 fathoms,
the South point bearing South-East and the North point
East. Saw, as we came in, on both points of the bay,
several of the Natives and a few hutts; Men, Women, and
Children on the South Shore abreast of the Ship, to which
place I went in the Boats in hopes of speaking with them,
accompanied by Mr. Banks, Dr. Solander, and Tupia. As
we approached the Shore they all made off, except 2 Men,
who seem’d resolved to oppose our landing. As soon as I
saw this I order’d the boats to lay upon their Oars, in
order to speak to them; but this was to little purpose, for
neither us nor Tupia could understand one word they
said. We then threw them some nails, beads, etc., a shore,
which they took up, and seem’d not ill pleased with, in so

9. https://www.nma.gov.au/learn/encounters-education/
community-stories/botany-bay
334 JODY ONDICH

much that I thought that they beckon’d to us to come

ashore; but in this we were mistaken, for as soon as we
put the boat in they again came to oppose us, upon which
I fir’d a musquet between the 2, which had no other Effect
than to make them retire back, where bundles of their
darts lay, and one of them took up a stone and threw
at us, which caused my firing a Second Musquet, load
with small Shott; and altho’ some of the shott struck the
man, yet it had no other effect than making him lay hold
on a Target. Immediately after this we landed, which we
had no sooner done than they throw’d 2 darts at us; this
obliged me to fire a third shott, soon after which they
both made off, but not in such haste but what we might
have taken one; but Mr. Banks being of Opinion that the
darts were poisoned, made me cautious how I advanced
into the Woods. We found here a few small hutts made
of the Bark of Trees, in one of which were 4 or 5 Small
Children, with whom we left some strings of beads, etc. A
quantity of Darts lay about the Hutts; these we took away
with us. 3 Canoes lay upon the beach, the worst I think I
ever saw; they were about 12 or 14 feet long, made of one
piece of the Bark of a Tree, drawn or tied up at each end,
and the middle keept open by means of pieces of Stick by
way of Thwarts. After searching for fresh water without
success, except a little in a Small hole dug in the Sand, we
embarqued, and went over to the North point of the bay,
where in coming in we saw several people; but when we
landed now there were nobody to be seen. We found here
some fresh Water, which came trinkling down and stood
in pools among the rocks; but as this was troublesome to
come at I sent a party of men ashore in the morning to the
place where we first landed to dig holes in the sand, by
which means and a Small stream they found fresh Water
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 335

sufficient to Water the Ship. The String of Beads, etc., we

had left with the Children last night were found laying in
the Hutts this morning; probably the Natives were afraid
to take them away. After breakfast we sent some Empty
Casks a shore and a party of Men to cut wood, and I went
myself in the Pinnace to sound and explore the Bay, in
the doing of which I saw some of the Natives; but they all
fled at my Approach. I landed in 2 places, one of which
the people had but just left, as there were small fires and
fresh Muscles broiling upon them; here likewise lay Vast
heaps of the largest Oyster Shells I ever saw.

Monday, April 30,

1770
As Soon as the Wooders
and Waterers were
come on board to
Dinner 10 or 12 of the
James Cook’s signature
Natives came to the
watering place, and
took away their Canoes that lay there, but did not offer to
touch any one of our Casks that had been left ashore; and
in the afternoon 16 or 18 of them came boldly up to
within 100 yards of our people at the watering place, and
there made a stand. Mr. Hicks, who was the Officer
ashore, did all in his power to intice them to him by
offering them presents; but it was to no purpose, all they
seem’d to want was for us to be gone. After staying a
Short time they went away. They were all Arm’d with
Darts and wooden Swords; the darts have each 4 prongs,
and pointed with fish bones. Those we have seen seem to
be intended more for striking fish than offensive
336 JODY ONDICH

Weapons; neither are they poisoned, as we at first

thought. ”

Key Information: Timeline connecting to European arrival in Australia

You will find various links and information to more detailed

history of the native and immigrant contacts in this timeline from
the Australian National Museum: Education Timeline

As happened in many places around the world, the

immigrant Europeans wanted the Indigenous people to
conform to the European ideas of community, culture,
religion and work. To make this happen, children were
taken from their families and introduced into schools,
set as farm workers, or adopted out to European families
in order to remove the youngest generation from the
influence of their tribe, families and clans. This removal
of children from their homes took place between
1910-1970. It is thought that something like one in 3
children, especially those with lighter skin color, were
taken from their own families and moved into
assimilation situations.
After 1970 legislation and policy began to change how
Indigenous people were treated. The stories of The
Stolen Generation tell us a history of racism and
attempted destruction of native cultures, which
happened in most continents where colonialism was
common.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 337

Example of the story of a person taken from her family: Faye Clayton

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=110#oembed-10

The Apology: The National Apology to the Stolen Generations of

Indigenous people who were taken from their homes and away from
tribes, family and clans.

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=110#oembed-11

The expression of spirituality differs between

Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders. Aboriginal
spirituality mainly derives from the stories of the
Dreaming, while Torres Strait Islander spirituality draws
upon the stories of the Tagai.
Dreaming:
The mainland native Australian people are storytellers,
passing on their culture through a tradition called
songlines. Since a songline can span the lands of more
than a single language group, different parts of the song
are said to be sung in different languages, according to
 338 JODY ONDICH

what is happening in the songline. Different languages

are not a barrier to the listener, however, because the
melodic contour of the song describes the land over
which the song passes. A songline has been called a
“dreaming track”, as it marks a route across the land or
through the sky that is followed by one of the creator-
beings or ancestors in the Dreaming.

“The Dreaming has different meanings for different

native people. It is a complex network of knowledge,
faith and practices that derive from stories of
creation, and it dominates all spiritual and physical
aspects of life. The Dreaming sets out the structures
of society, the rules for social behavior and the
ceremonies performed in order to maintain the life
of the land.
It governed the way people lived and how they
should behave. Those who did not follow the rules
were punished.
The Dreaming or Dreamtime is often used to
describe the time when the earth and humans and
animals were created. The Dreaming is also used by
individuals to refer to their own dreaming or their
community’s dreaming. In essence, the Dreaming
comes from the land. In native society, people did
not own the land– it was part of them and it was
part of their duty to respect and look after mother
10
earth.”

The Tagai:

“The people throughout the Torres Strait are united

by their connection to the Tagai. The Tagai consists

10. Australian Museum: Aboriginal Spirituality

https://web.archive.org/web/20150906190313/
http://australianmuseum.net.au/indigenous-australia-spirituality
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 339

of stories which are the cornerstone of Torres Strait

Islanders’ spiritual beliefs. These stories focus on the
stars and identify Torres Strait Islanders as sea
people who share a common way of life. The
instructions of the Tagai provide order in the world,
ensuring that everything has a place.
One Tagai story depicts the Tagai as a man
standing in a canoe. In his left hand, he holds a
fishing spear, representing the Southern Cross. In
his right hand, he holds a sorbi (a red fruit). In this
story, the Tagai and his crew of 12 are preparing for
a journey. But before the journey begins, the crew
consume all the food and drink they planned to take.
So the Tagai strung the crew together in two groups
of six and cast them into the sea, where their images
became star patterns in the sky. These patterns can
be seen in the star constellations of Pleiades and
11
Orion.”

Some substantial assistance in understanding the Tagai

12
comes from this article by Duance Hamacher ,

11. The Australian Museum: Aboriginal Spirituality

https://web.archive.org/web/20150906190313/
http://australianmuseum.net.au/indigenous-australia-spirituality
12. Associate Professor Duane Hamacher is a cultural astronomer in
the ASTRO-3D Centre of Excellence and the School of Physics at
the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on astronomy
in a cultural, social, historical, and heritage context, as well as the
preservation of astronomical heritage through dark sky studies.
Born in the United States, Duane earned a degree in physics at the
University of Missouri before moving to Australia to complete a
Masters degree (by research) in astrophysics at UNSW, followed
by a PhD in Cultural Astronomy at Macquarie University. He is a
member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), serves in
the IAU Working Group on Star Names, Chairs of the IAU
Working Group on Ethnoastronomy & Intangible Heritage, is
Secretary of the International Society of Archaeoastronomy and
340 JODY ONDICH

published through CC licensing from the publication

The Conversation:
A Shark in the Stars: Astronomy and Culture in the
Torres Straight

Location

The continent of
Australia was occupied
by people arriving from
southeast Asia by boat
about 50,000 years ago.
These people are
considered some of the
earliest people to leave
Africa for other places.
First contact with the Europeans on James Cook’s ship
occurred at Botany Bay, which is a harbor that is now
a part of Sydney. The tribes in Australia were thriving
at that time, with vibrant communal lifestyles. European
settling in Australia started in about 1788, and, as with
many colonial situations, brought a mixture of
problematic and helpful consequences with their arrival.
Because England used the continent as a type of jail for
some of its worst criminal offenders, this reality brought
additional issues as the British encountered the land and
had to find a way to relate to the native inhabitants.
In 1901, however, fewer than 100,000 of the native

Astronomy in Culture, and an associate editor of the Journal of

Astronomical History & Heritage.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 341

people remained. It is suggested that three major reasons

exist for this societal destruction: disease, losing their
resources, and direct killing. European diseases that
exposed the population lacking immunological defenses
to destruction included smallpox, venereal disease (e.g.,
gonorrhea), influenza, measles, pneumonia, and
tuberculosis. The English settlers and their descendants
took over native land and removed the indigenous people
by cutting them off from their food resources. There
are also clear records of intentional genocidal massacres
of native people. There was substantial resistance by the
native people, once they realized that the English had
decided that the entire continent should belong to them.
This resistance was considered barbarous behavior on
the part of the Indigenous people, and considered ill
considered resistance to the civilizing influence of the
English.
England sent over 162,000 convicts in 806 ships
between 1788 and 1850 to colonize the Australian
continent. Australia as a nation emerged in 1901 as a
federation of the six English colonies.

Lifestyle

Indigenous Australians have a rich and complex system

of family roles which are at the core of their various
cultures. These complex ways of functioning define each
person’s place within the community and act as a
structure for how people within extended families are
bound to one another. Extended family roles define the
obligations for each person in the raising and nurturing
of the young people. Tradition defines how each
342 JODY ONDICH

individual is meant to support the kinship system. Elders

are especially honored, and become a link to the past by
passing on their understanding of history, the necessary
cultural skills, and oral materials, stories and music to the
younger members of the community.
Paintings and carvings on rock, carvings on body
ornaments, abstract symbols, including spiral designs,
and naturalistic styles are found in centuries of
Indigenous art in Australia. Human figures and animals,
such as fish, turtles and kangaroos, connected with the
hunt or with spiritual beliefs, are common. Modern
Indigenous art takes advantage of ancient symbols,
including dot painting, animals and figures, and symbols
with protected meanings that are shared privately within
family structures.
There is a rich oral
tradition of myth,
relating the ancestral
time, ‘The Dreaming’, to
the present. A wealth of
native symbols are used
to present their
These 8 Australian Indigenous ways of learning
messages, stories and
are based on work by Tyson Yungaporta. tradition, and both the
Yunkaporta, T. (2009) Aboriginal pedagogies at
the culturthal interface ancient and the modern
artwork that use the
symbols become a way to pass these rich stories on from
generation to generation.

“Tribal totem ancestors of Australian Aborigines

include the eagle-hawk, kangaroo, and snake. About
40% still follow the traditional hunter-gatherer way
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 343

of life and live mostly in the remote desert areas of

Northern Territory, the north of Western Australia,
and in northern Queensland. About 12% of Australia
is owned by Aborigines and many live on reserves
as well as among the general population; (65% of
Aborigines live in cities or towns). Others work on
cattle stations, and a few have entered the
13
professions and government service.”

Ritual

There are many reasons for ceremonies in Australian

Indigenous society. All have a place in the spiritual beliefs
and cultural practices of their communities. These might
include transmission of culture and stories, men’s and
women’s roles in spiritual practices, and the care of
sacred sites.

Example

There are detailed and fascinating descriptions of this use of

ceremony in a pdf published by the Queensland Curriculum and
Assessment Authority: Aboriginal Ceremonies

Indigenous people today continue to meet socially,

sharing songs and dances to celebrate daily activities and
significant events in their communities.
Participation in ceremonies may be dependent on the
age and gender of the people. Children may be involved

13. Australian aborigine. (2018). In Helicon (Ed.)

 344 JODY ONDICH

in some ceremonies while others are restricted to teens

and adults. Women’s ceremonies have been protected
over time much more than those for men, and photos and
images are considered inappropriate for recording these
activities.

A Corroboree is a
ceremonial meeting of
Australian Aboriginals,
a dance ceremony
which may take the
form of a sacred ritual
or may be more of an
informal gathering. The
word comes from
Dharuk garaabara,
Cropped image from photograph taken at the
denoting a style of
14
premiere of Corroboree, a ballet written by dancing.
composer John Antill and based on the real-life
ceremony, at the Empire Theatre, Sydney, in Another description
about 1950.
is “a gathering of
Aboriginal Australians
interacting with the Dreaming through song and dance”,
which may be a sacred ceremony or ritual, or different
15
types of meetings or celebrations.
Looking through various pieces of art, clothing, one
can get a feeling for the ritual and drama that is a part
of any Corroboree, whether formal ritual or informal
gathering.

14. Oxford Reference. Retrieved 7 Sep. 2021, from

https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/
authority.20110803095640711.
15. https://aboriginalincursions.com.au/the-dreaming/aboriginal-
ceremony-explained
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 345

Creation Story of the Australian Aboriginal people

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=110#oembed-12

“Aboriginal Creation Myth.” The Big Myth, 19 June 2020,

youtu.be/m8fxRLJJfYU.

International, Survival. “Aboriginal Peoples.” Survival

International, 2021, www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/
aboriginals.

Cook, James. “Captain Cook’s Journal During the First Voyage

Round the World.” Gutenberg Press, 2005, www.gutenberg.org/
files/8106/8106-h/8106-h.htm#ch8.

“Australian Museum.” Spirituality – Australian Museum, 1996,

web.archive.org/web/20150906190313/
australianmuseum.net.au/indigenous-australia-spirituality.

Hamacher , Duane. “A Shark in the Stars: Astronomy and

Culture in the Torres Strait.” The Conversation, 30 Aug. 2021,
theconversation.com/a-shark-in-the-stars-astronomy-and-
culture-in-the-torres-strait-15850.

“Profile of Indigenous Australians.” Australian Institute of Health

and Welfare, 2021, www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/
profile-of-indigenous-australians.
346 JODY ONDICH

National Museum of Australia; address=Lawson Crescent,

Acton Peninsula. “National Museum of Australia – Timeline.”
National Museum of Australia, National Museum of Australia;
c=AU; o=Commonwealth of Australia; Ou=National Museum of
Australia, 30 Jan. 2020, www.nma.gov.au/learn/encounters-
education/timeline.

Jalata, Asafa. “The Impacts of English Colonial Terrorism and

Genocide On Indigenous/Black Australians – ASAFA JALATA,
2013.” SAGE Journals, 2021, journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/
10.1177/2158244013499143.

“Who Are the Stolen Generations?” Healing Foundation, 2021,

healingfoundation.org.au/resources/who-are-the-stolen-
generations/.

Australian Aboriginal art. (1994). In H. E. Read, & N. Stangos

(Eds.), The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Art and Artists (2nd ed.).
Thames & Hudson. Credo Reference: http://lscproxy.mnpals.net/
login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/thaa/
australian_aboriginal_art/0?institutionId=6500

Australian aborigine. (2018). In Helicon (Ed.), The Hutchinson

unabridged encyclopedia with atlas and weather guide. Helicon. Credo
Reference: http://lscproxy.mnpals.net/
login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/
heliconhe/australian_aborigine/0?institutionId=6500

“Aboriginal Ceremonies.” Queensland Curriculum and Assessment

Authority, Queensland Studies Authority, Queensland
Government, 2021, www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/downloads/approach2/
indigenous_res010_0802.pdf.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 347

PART VI

EUROPEAN ORIGINS:
PAGANISM, NORDIC,
WICCA

1
‘Paganism’ is used here
as an umbrella term for
a variety of traditions
including Druidry,
Wicca, Goddess
spirituality, Asatru,
shamanism and
animism.
Reconstructionist
groups such as
Heathens, who seek to
revive Norse religion, are sometimes included under the
heading. This ‘new religiosity’, including Paganism, is
more personal than traditional religions, and individual

1. Various neopagan religious symbols (from left to right): 1st Row

Slavic Neopaganism ("Hands of God") Celtic Neopaganism (or
general spiral triskele / triple spiral) Germanic Neopaganism
("Thor's hammer") 2nd Row Hellenic Reconstructionism
neopagan pentagram (or pentacle) Roman Reconstructionism 3rd
Row Wicca (or general Triple Goddess) Kemetism (or general
ankh) Natib Qadish

347
348 JODY ONDICH

experience is the main source of authority. Several

traditions are drawn upon (many Pagans talk, for
example, about karma, and may include deities from
different pantheons in their practice). There is not so
much stress on creeds, doctrines, beliefs or metaphysical
truth claims, and more emphasis on rituals, stories and
mythology. There is a tendency to be the opposite of
dogmatic, including in the ethical realm – the Wiccan
Rede (counsel):

‘An it harm none, do what thou wilt’

(though sounding archaic, it was probably coined in the

1960s) being a typical example. Groups tend to be
connected networks rather than institutions, and many
focus on the divine immanent in nature, linking with
concerns about the planet. New rituals, stories and even
deities can be created to suit contemporary needs.
A useful discussion of historic paganism can be found
here at the American Humanist Association: A Brief
Overview of the History of Paganism

“Humanist Common Ground: Paganism.” American Humanist

Association, 1 Sept. 2021, americanhumanist.org/paths/paganism/.

Cush, Denise. “Contemporary Paganism in the UK.” British

Library, Discovering Sacred Texts: Contemporary Paganism, 2019,
www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/contemporary-paganism-in-the-
uk.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 349

25
NATURE AS THE
SACRED TEXT

With assistance from

1
Denise Cush

1. Denise Cush is Emeritus Professor of Religion and Education,

Bath Spa University. Her interests include Buddhism, Hinduism,
Christianity and alternative spiritualities such as Paganism, as well
as religious education. She taught religious studies at school and

349
350 JODY ONDICH

Paganism is growing in popularity, and Pagan themes

and motifs are frequently found in contemporary culture,
reaching far beyond those who would consciously label
themselves as Pagan. Not focused on a sacred text,
contemporary Paganism is mostly a recent creation, and
is indicative of a wider trend within the changing
religious landscape. The sociologists Paul Heelas and
Linda Woodhead have referred to this movement as a
‘spiritual revolution’.

Example: Ross Douthat–is there going to be a post Christian United

States?

The Return of Paganism

university levels, and religious education in both primary and

secondary teacher education. Books include Buddhism, a
textbook for A level, co-editing the Routledge Encyclopedia of
Hinduism, and editing Celebrating Planet Earth, a Pagan/
Christian Conversation as well as many other publications on
religious education and religious studies. In 2016 she was
awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Uppsala,
Sweden.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 351

The two most

influential forms of
Paganism today are
Wicca and Druidry,
both of which have
various subgroups, and,
although drawing upon
some elements of older
traditions, they are
substantially creations
The pentacle and the five elements of the
of the 20th century.
cosmos: water, fire, earth, air, and spirit. In some Wicca can claim to be
Wiccan esoteric rituals, the wachtowers, the
guardian spirits of the four elements, are invoked the one religion which
to catalyze the energy of the goddess.
originated in Britain
(traced back to Gerald
Gardner in the 1950s), and Druidry also places much
emphasis on British land and heritage. Developing at the
same time and among similar circles, Wicca and Druidry
(as well as other forms such as Goddess spirituality) have
much in common, and it does make some sense to talk of
a generic ‘Paganism’ while also acknowledging that these
two manifestations of Paganism are the most commonly
practiced at this time. Other forms of Paganism might
include believers following ancient Egyptian, Roman,
Greek, or Celtic deities and rituals. In all Pagan religions,
it is up to the believer to decide what the concept of
“divine” means, who or what Deity is right for them and
how they choose to maintain or express any relationship
with their chosen Deity.
352 JODY ONDICH

One Story: National Geographic

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=108#oembed-1

Nature as the sacred text

Perhaps the central and distinctive feature of Paganism

is the sacredness of the natural world, making it
particularly appropriate for a society facing a human-
created climate emergency which could lead to the
extinction of many species, including ourselves. It could
be said that the sacred text of Paganism is not a holy book
but the natural world itself. Pagans may be pantheists,
polytheists, animists or even atheists but they are united
in finding the divine within nature, rather than beyond it.
For many followers of Goddess spirituality, the Goddess
IS nature, an immanent rather than transcendent deity,
not a female version of the God of Abrahamic traditions.
Pagans stress the interconnectedness of all life and seek
to live in harmony with nature, viewing the current
environmental crisis as a result of humans considering
themselves separate from and superior to the rest of life.
Pagan rituals often take place outside among trees, on
hilltops, near ancient stone circles, by streams or
waterfalls. Humans are a part of an interconnected
community of all life, including all other-than-human
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 353

beings, whether these are animals, spirits or deities, and

actions and lifestyles should reflect this.
Sociologists such as Max Weber spoke of the
‘disenchantment’ of the world brought about by
modernity, science and industrialization. Paganism seeks
to ‘re-enchant’ the world and restore the sense of awe,
wonder and magic. This may sound romantic (and much
Paganism is definitely influenced by Romanticism), but
this deep emotional connection with nature is a resource
for environmental activism, and Pagans have been at the
forefront of many protests and campaigns. Many Pagans
are vegetarian or vegan to avoid harming animals or
exploiting them in any way, whereas others think eating
meat is natural but that we should be fully aware of and
thankful for the life that has been sacrificed to give us
nourishment.

Example: More about Wicca

From The Conversation: What is Wicca?

Halloween isn’t about candy and costumes for modern-day
pagans – witches mark Halloween with reflections on death
as well as magic

Other Pagan beliefs

Paganism does not focus much on beliefs or metaphysical

truth claims and there is no creed or list of doctrines
to which one must assent. Generally, it is up to the
354 JODY ONDICH

individual, and there is a positive welcoming of diversity

and pluralism. However, there are a number of shared
themes, and these may be spelt out in more detail at the
level of particular groups.
Some Pagans are polytheist, with a pantheon of deities;
Wiccans talk of the Goddess and the male God; others are
more pantheist and talk of the divine energy within all
things. Often, as in Goddess spirituality, polytheism and
pantheism are reconciled – the many goddesses are, at a
deeper level, aspects of the one Goddess. What tends to
be rejected is the idea of a deity beyond and separate from
the natural world.

Example: About Asatru

From the National Museum of Denmark: The Old Nordic

Religion Asatro
From the Iceland Magazine: 11 Things to Know about
Asatru

There is a spectrum of views as to how far deities are

‘real’ or a form of colorful poetic or metaphorical
language used to express spiritual experience. It is thus
possible to be a Pagan atheist, accepting religion as a
useful human creation. Experience, both everyday life
and the more numinous/mystical/magical is central.
While the idea of ‘revelation’ as found in Abrahamic
traditions (communication between a transcendent deity
and a prophet or messenger, often eventually written
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 355

down as a sacred text) is not really found in Paganism,

there is talk of ‘inspiration’ and insights gained from
interaction with animals, plants, spirits and deities or
what Druids call ‘awen’, the creative force flowing
through all nature.
Pagans have various views of life after death, such as
reincarnation, or the otherworld of the spirits, or the
Summerland, or union with the divine life-energy. Other
Pagans believe that there is no life after death and that we
should concentrate on living this life on earth.

Some Pagan practices

Ritual is very
important in most
Pagan practice, and can
be simple and
spontaneous or a
scripted performance.
Some practices in some
traditions are only for
the initiated, but many Members of the Ásatrú religion, belief in the old
Norse gods, gather at Thingvellir National Park
others are open to all. in Iceland.
They may all be
described as magic(k), which can be defined as the use of
symbolic action to bring about change or transformation.
This transformation can be understood either as in
external reality, or in our own consciousness, or in both,
as for example in healing.
Many Wiccan rituals involve casting a circle,
establishing the four directions and the elements of fire,
water, earth and air, and inviting the presence of deities
or positive energies. Many rituals are designed by
356 JODY ONDICH

participants or adapted from existing sources to suit the

particular occasion. There are lifecycle rituals for events
such as welcoming new babies, funerals and weddings
(‘handfasting’), the latter becoming popular even with
people who don’t identify as Pagan. The cycle of eight
festivals, found in Wicca, Druidry and Goddess
spirituality is well known beyond Pagan circles: Samhain,
Yule, Imbolc, Spring Equinox, Beltane, Summer Solstice,
Lughnasadh and Autumn Equinox. Symbols include the
pentagram/pentacle and the Druid ‘awen’. Stories and
mythology are very important for Pagans and may be
used in rituals, whether taken from traditional texts such
as the Welsh Mabinogion, 19th-/20th-century literature,
or more recent sources. Some local folk customs (often
not as ancient as is sometimes believed) have gained a
more Pagan feel in recent years. An interesting example
of the use of Pagan ritual beyond Pagan circles is that
words from a ceremony composed by Druids Philip
Shallcrass and Emma Restall Orr for an inter-faith
gathering at Avebury in 1993 were used for the closing
ceremony of the Paralympics in London in 2012; the
slightly adapted version being:

The circle is unbroken,

The ancestors awoken.
May the songs of the Earth
and of her people ring true.
Hail to the Festival of the flame
of root and branch, tooth and claw,
fur and feather, of earth and sea and sky.

Pagan values

Generally, there is a life-affirming attitude, celebrating

 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 357

nature, the human body, sexuality and freedom. The

approach to ethics is summed up by the Wiccan Rede –
but living without fixed rules can be quite challenging as
it involves making constant judgements about what is the
least harmful course of action in each context. Important
ethical issues for Pagans include environmental
concerns, equality and diversity and social justice, and
Pagan theologians and philosophers are starting to
explore Pagan ethics in more detail.

A concern: What to do? Can people corrupt your religion?

This is an article from The Atlantic, a very fine journal. You can
only get a few free articles a month from them, but they are well
worth reading. Try this one:
What To Do When Racists Try To Hijack Your Religion

Key Takeaway: Values found in most Pagan traditions

Patheos is a website with some very useful materials, in a

general way. It is wise to check the credentials of each author, but
many authors on the site are qualified and thoughtful in what they
2
write.
Paganism for Beginners: Values

2. Yvonne Arburrow has been a Pagan since 1987 and a Wiccan

since 1991. She has an MA in Contemporary Religions and
Spiritualities from Bath Spa University and lives and works in
Oxford, UK. She has written four books on the mythology and
folklore of trees, birds and animals.
358 JODY ONDICH

Pagan identity

Identifying as Pagan is becoming more acceptable than it

was in the middle of the previous century, and there are
Pagan schoolteachers and members of the police force.
The Pagan Federation joined the Religious Education
Council in 2011 and the Inter-Faith Network in 2015.
However, there is still something of a ‘countercultural’
feel about Pagan identity, stemming in part from its
association with witchcraft (illegal until 1951), the
‘hippies’ of the 1960s and various anti-war and
environmental protests. Women find the stress on
Goddess(es) and the roles of witch or priestess
empowering compared to the patriarchal attitudes of
many older religions, and those who identify as lesbian,
gay, bisexual or transgender generally feel welcome
among Pagans. Young people identifying as witches or
Pagans interviewed by the author found in Pagan identity
a source of self-esteem and a vocabulary with which to
interpret their experience. They also found that Pagan
rituals gave them a sense of control and thus reduced
anxiety. Many Pagans talk about ‘coming home’, finding a
name and a community that shares the views and feelings
they already had. As a relatively new tradition, many first
identified as Pagans as teenagers or adults, but as children
are increasingly born into Pagan families, it will be
interesting to see how the Pagan community (or rather
communities plural) develops in the future.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 359

Learning about living as a Wiccan: Don Frew

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version
of the text. You can view them online here:
https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/
worldreligionsthespiritsearching/?p=108#oembed-2

Cush, Denise. “Contemporary Paganism in the UK.” British

Library, Discovering Sacred Texts: Contemporary Paganism, 2019,
www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/contemporary-paganism-in-the-
uk.
“Wicca: National Geographic.” National Geographic, 29 Oct. 2007,
youtu.be/1nPsyZJBTeQ.

“Being a Wiccan in Today’s World .” Pantheos, 6 Dec. 2009,

youtu.be/OUl8ecaYO7c.

Douthat, Ross. “The Return of Paganism.” The New York Times,

The New York Times, 12 Dec. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/12/
12/opinion/christianity-paganism-america.html?smid=url-share.
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Berger , Helen A. “What Is Wicca? An Expert on Modern

Witchcraft Explains.” The Conversation, 30 Aug. 2021,
theconversation.com/what-is-wicca-an-expert-on-modern-
witchcraft-explains-165939.

Berger , Helen A. “Halloween Isn’t about Candy and Costumes

for Modern-Day Pagans – Witches Mark Halloween with
Reflections on Death as Well as Magic.” The Conversation, 27 Aug.
2021, theconversation.com/halloween-isnt-about-candy-and-
costumes-for-modern-day-pagans-witches-mark-halloween-
with-reflections-on-death-as-well-as-magic-147647.

Staff, et al. “11 Things to Know about the Present Day Practice
OF Ásatrú, the Ancient Religion of the Vikings.” Icelandmag, 2019,
icelandmag.is/article/11-things-know-about-present-day-
practice-asatru-ancient-religion-vikings.

“The Old Nordic Religion Today.” National Museum of Denmark,

2021, en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-
period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/religion-magic-death-and-
rituals/the-old-nordic-religion-today/.

Aburrow, Yvonne. “Paganism for Beginners: Values.” Dowsing for

Divinity, Patheos Explore the World’s Faith through Different
Perspectives on Religion and Spirituality! Patheos Has the Views
of the Prevalent Religions and Spiritualities of the World., 7 June
2015, www.patheos.com/blogs/sermonsfromthemound/2015/06/
paganism-for-beginners-values/.

Samuel, Sigal. “What to Do When Racists Try to Hijack Your

Religion.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 8 June 2021,
www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/11/asatru-
heathenry-racism/543864/.
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 361

PART VII

SYNCRETIC
TRADITIONS

Faiths, languages,
cultures, rituals, and
customs frequently
bounce off of and
combine with one
another in a process
called syncretism.
When we talk about Bonfim festivities, Salvador, Brazil, taken from
religious syncretism, we Yoruba and Christian traditions

are talking about the

combining of one faith with another for a variety of
reasons. What is created then becomes a completely new
and separate religion, different in intent and belief from
any of its origins. We have a number of notable examples
of this in our world–the Rastafarians, Vodou,
Candomble, Santeria, Gnosticism, the Unification
Church, and various others.

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It has often been the

history, experience, and
actions of colonialism
around the world that has
created syncretic traditions.
Captured slaves often had to
hide their spiritual
Flag map of Jamaica, using the flag of
the Empire of Ethiopia, as a symbol of traditions behind
the Rastafarian movement.
mainstream Christianity.
Colonized peoples adapted
their practices to those of the colonizers and
missionaries. As various cultures ranging from Southeast
Asia to the Americas to the African continent
encountered European Christianity or Middle Eastern
Islam, and these traditions spread across the globe, new
spiritual traditions came about blending the original
beliefs with the incoming faiths.
In reality, any time more than one religious or spiritual
tradition encounters another, there is likely to be sharing
and the rubbing off of one on the other. Christianity is a
blend of Judaism, paganism and various cultural activities
that are now locally included and that depend on the
location of the Christian believers.
Another example is the impact of the Zoroastrians
on Judaism. Zoroastrianism has a dualistic view of the
universe, believing that dark and light, good and evil are
in perpetual battle. There was no belief of this sort in the
early Hebrew ideas, but when
 WORLD RELIGIONS: THE SPIRIT SEARCHING 363

the Exile happened–the

Hebrews being conquered
and carted off by the
Babylonians to what is now
Iraq–then their exposure to
this dualistic belief and
practice resulted in some of
those ideas blending into
Judaism. The concept of a
devil, or something that Symbol of Zoroastrianism, white and
golden version
leads the cause of evil,
although not a major part of
Judaism, certainly came there from Zoroastrian ideas.
And there are many more examples. Christianity
adopted pagan holidays and re-branded them. Mahayana
Buddhism was impacted by the movement of
Christianity into China. Daoism, Confucian ideas and
Christianity were all used in Moon’s Unification Church
in Korea. The Baha’i started with Islam, but is also
influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism.

Merriam Webster:

syncretism
syn·cre·tism | \ ˈsiŋ-krə-ˌti-zəm

Definition of syncretism
1: the combination of different forms of belief or practice
2: the fusion of two or more originally different inflectional
forms
364 JODY ONDICH

Haitian Vodou altar created during a festival for the Guede spirits, Boston, MA. Top right area is
offerings to Rada spirits; top left to Petwo spirits; bottom to Gede.

A useful start

We are only going to include a few links here that point to

helpful public articles about various Syncretic traditions.
This is a broad and useful area of study as one digs deeper
into religious history. Using library resources to dig
deeper will be useful!

Syncretism, with a focus on Asia: Khan Academy

From Africa to America: Harvard University’s
Pluralism Project
Religious Syncretism in Colonial Mexico City
Living Vodou
In Cuba, Santería flourishes two decades after ban was
lifted
Candomblé Origin & Beliefs
Rastafari culture
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PERMISSIONS

1. Pictures in section on the Baha’i Faith used by

permission of the siteholder. Baha’i picture
copyright information
2. New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)New
Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright ©
1989 the Division of Christian Education of the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in
the United States of America. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.

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QUIZ BANK

There is a quiz question bank available for instructors if

they would like at least a start on creating quizzes. If you
will notify Jody Ondich as to what learning management
system you are using (I use D2L, some might have
Canvas or Moodle or Blackboard…) and that you would
like the materials, I will send them to you for your
consideration. They are created in Respondus, and
should upload into most LMS easily. I have tested it in
D2L and it works there.
Contact me at [email protected]

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