Spiritual Prostitution
CHRISTIANITY
Excerpted from; http://hispeople.soc.ru.ac.za/sermons/spirit_prostit.htm
Vision of old prostitute – yet still proud
Humanity opens itself up to prostitution with idolatrous people through unrighteous trade and practices with other countries and peoples.
Sells collective soul for money
The Lord and His Bride
¨ To understand the metaphor of the prostitute, must understand how God sees and relates to the church
Christ is the Bridegroom and the church is the bride
We have a covenant of love and are betrothed to each other
This means total devotion, unfailing love and complete faithfulness are expected
Any other worship or affections are considered adultery and in extreme cases prostitution
Spiritual adultery and prostitution cause the Lord to become very jealous and angry
God will not tolerate such unfaithfulness and will punish His bride, by stopping the flow of His blessings and allowing the true nature of her lovers to be revealed as they abuse her (these lovers are demonic in nature)
When she repents from her unfaithfulness he will take her back, cleansing her and loving her back to purity
¨ Spiritual prostitution is considered the worst form of sin against the Lord
1st of the 10 Commandments is that “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex 20:3)
Greatest Commandment is that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength
John the Baptist said, “The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine and it is now complete” (Jn 3:29)
Paul says, “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Cor 11:2-3)
We are to have an “undying love” for the Lord (Eph 6:24)
We are not to forsake our first love (Rev 2:4)
We are never to compromise our relationship with the Lord for money, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wondered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Tim 6:9-10)
When we do not obey these commands we begin to prostitute ourselves
Spiritual prostitution in the Bible
¨ Story of Hosea & his wife, and God and Israel, “A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God…A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord…For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute” (Hos 4:12, 5:4, 9:1)
¨ “The shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your lewdness and promiscuity have brought this upon you, because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourselves with their idols” (Ezek 23:29-30)
¨ Satan himself prostituted himself through self-worship and unrighteous trading, “Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned…By your many sins and dishonest trade you have desecrated your sanctuaries” (Ezek 28:16, 18). What was that unrighteous trading?
· Prostituting musical gifts? “The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created” (vs 13 NKJV)
· Trading in lies that become philosophies and false religions that keep us from God?
¨ We see Babylon is also called the Mother of Prostitutes and all the abominations of the earth (Rev 17:5), as we see her as a great merchant and trader, and that part of her cargo is, “the bodies and souls of men.” (Rev 18:13)
· Idolatry and unfaithfulness (adultery and prostitution)
· Witchcraft and magic spells
· Persecuting the people of God
¨ “The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched…They [false prophets] commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no-one turns form his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah…they fill you with false hopes…they keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The Lord says: you will have peace.’ And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’” (Jer 23:10, 14, 16-17)
Guilty of spiritual prostitution
Judgment coming because of the failure and corruption of spiritual leadership:
· Shepherds – destroying and scattering the sheep
· Prophets – lying visions of peace
· Priests – godless and evil in temple
When that happens the city becomes like Sodom or Gomorrah and brings God’s judgment:
· Land cursed and parched
· Bitter food and poisoned water
· Storms and whirlwind
· Forgotten and cast out of the Lord’s presence as a city
Everlasting disgrace and shame
What to do
¨ There are 2 excellent contrasting examples in the Bible:
Lot and Sodom
¨ Sodom was a city that personified spiritual prostitution:
· Had totally rejected Christ
· Was filled with militant homosexuals
· Was violent and abusive
¨ Lot believed that he could change the city through being a “good witness.” He would never say anything about Jesus, go soul-winning or preach the Gospel – he would win people because of his lifestyle alone
¨ As a result he led no-one to the Lord, had no godly influence, was mocked when he said God would judge the city, and ultimately the city was destroyed
Jonah and Ninevah
¨ Ninevah was in the same state that Sodom was in
¨ Jonah was not even a particularly good Christian – he did not want to preach in Ninevah, he had no compassion for the Ninevites, and he was angry that God did not destroy the whole city!
¨ Yet through Jonah preaching the word of God’s judgment the whole city repented and God had mercy on the city!
We have the same choice as Lot and Jonah – will we preach God’s word or won’t we?
Our choice determines the salvation or deliverance of our city
¨ We must take up the calling of the Lord to preach the word, “‘Let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain ?’ declares the Lord ‘Is not my word like fire,’ declares the Lord, ‘and like a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces?’” (Jer 23:28-29)
· It is God’s mercy to preach repentance – God wants mercy to triumph over judgment
· If it is ignored then God has no choice but to pour out his wrath
We must warn people – not just be different. People are blind and cannot see your witness
Conviction is transferred through the spoken word – the word must be spoken!
Like Jonah, the Lord’s prophet, the church is sleeping in the storm, and the world have to wake him up and say, “Call on your God!”
Church are running from the Lord’s presence, by overly being involved in “ministry”
Running to Tarshish to trade with the world
There is a prosperity that comes from the Lord and a prosperity that comes from the world (issue is compromising truth to get it)
Conclusion
We must preach God’s word of fire, that is like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces, calling for repentance
Remember, judgment begins with the house of God! (1 Pet 4:17)
CHRISTIANITY:
The Nicene Creed appears to reflect a general trend in Western Civilization; the institutionalization of an inherent human need for security and stability in an unpredictable, unstructured existence. It does this in a similar manner to scientific philosophy (ironically), and many other symbolic systems; by establishing a standardized set of criteria that become reified and taught as though they are universal, inherent truths. The consistency that arises from standardized teachings becomes the affirmed consequent of their validity. These selected teachings are basically three.
The first is the idea of incarnation. That is, the human race is viewed by Christian tradition as being too flawed to save themselves from depravity, debauchery, and immorality. For that reason, the benevolent God borrowed from Judaism, caring as He is said in the Scriptures to be, chose to become a man in order to save his "good" creations. Christianity maintains that God was born as the avatar Jesus of Nazareth. He went among humanity, teaching and performing miracles in order to recruit people to his cause. The Nicene Creed asserts that Jesus was both human and divine simultaneously.
His death by crucifixion is asserted to have represented God's mercy made manifest by his assuming the collective atonement for all humanity's string of betrayals of the pact they made with God. Such a sacrifice also allegedly gave people the liberty to live toward God, to be forgiven for their betrayals of the pact.
Finally, the Nicene Creed states explicitly what is only implied in the Scriptures, the concept of the Trinity. The tri-partite illustration of God describes Him as having three very different aspects that have unique and separate characteristics, but yet still maintains that He is a single deity. The three parts are, of course, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: the Father as the creator of all, God the incarnated Christ who liberated the human soul from sin, and God the Spirit that pervades all, and binds human beings together by speaking with a still small voice the will and plan of God into the ear of humanity.
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OPUS DEI
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HINDUISM
Hinduism is a comprehensive metaphorical system that encompasses a cosmology so unbelievably vast that the unenlightened mind staggers under the weight of it. Yet it begins with the surprisingly simple anthropocentric question of what people want. Hinduism extends from this poignantly simply beginning by postulating that people want to fulfill four hierarchically integrated needs. These needs roughly parallel the development of a human being from a simple child to a complex adult. Hinduism, of course, holds a much more macroscopic perspective that a single lifetime is insufficient for an individual to reach maturity, and she must satiate (and thus fully experience), each of her needs sequentially through an idiosyncratic number of incarnations.
The first, and thus, most elementary need a new soul wants to gratify is the desire for pleasure. This is to say the soul wants to stimulate the senses of its physical body, to taste of the world the many sources of energy it's new capacity to sense allows it to perceive. Huston Smith points out that a certain amount of wisdom lies in vesting one's attention in satiating the need for pleasure, because survival of any organism depends on it to a certain extent; the sense of pleasure is the reward received when survival requirements (food, shelter, sex), are fulfilled. If those needs are not fulfilled, the soul's present incarnation cannot survive long enough to mature past the pleasure-seeking stage.
Pleasure is limited, of course. Most incarnations a soul d takes, particularly humans, are social in nature. Thus, they wish not only to know they are experiencing the greatest of pleasures, but for others to recognize the height of their experiences as well. Alas, existence does not permit direct experience to be meaningfully shared; one may as well try to explain what the color green- looks like to someone blind from birth. There is, in other words, a final unbridgeable gap between people. The only way around this (to use Spinoza's term), monadic sense of isolation is to accrue symbols of one's level of experiential accomplishment. Unlike direct experience, symbols can convey a meaning to others, and can thus be used to illustrate one's experience. Thus, the person begins to want such symbols, most prominently, the symbols of wealth, status, and power. These three symbols fall under the rubric Worldly Success.
There is only a finite amount of satisfaction to be gained from worldly success as well. One can only climb so high, reap so many symbols before individual distinctions blur. A good academic illustration of this might be a Ph.D.; while one may garnish a certain level of respect by earning this highest academic distinction in the Western world, people would be unlikely to give any more respect if one had five Ph.Ds than they did for one. Another problem with worldly success is that once the summit is reached, one has nowhere else to go, and must exist in an ultimately unfulfilled state unless they change what fulfills them. Finally, with the dread that accompanies the encroachment of death awareness, individuals realize the pleasure and symbols of it will not preserve their existence, but will only die with them. For any part of them to survive death, they must look outside themselves and their own needs and accomplishments.
At this point, a soul has reached the end of the Path of Desire, the Will to Get (pleasure) and the Will to Win (worldly success), are far too limited in fulfilling what people want. They must embark on the Path of Renunciation in order to create a lasting legacy that will survive their own ultimate death. This path is based upon the Will to Give and the Will to Serve, the understanding that legacies are created by giving something to the world. The soul seeks to fill the need of accomplishing their duty to community and society; at this point, people want to be altruistic social visionaries.
Although it is a monumental leap from the egocentricity of the Path of Desire to the social consciousness of the early Path of Renunciation, a hapless soul will still find itself frustrated in fulfilling its wants because community too is limited. Social ills will always be present, no matter how diligently one strives to eliminate them. In the words of Huston Smith, "hope and history are always light years apart."
So all of the first three wants prove impossible to gratify because the human soul desires them in infinite amounts, and they prove ultimately to require exhaustible resources. To be truly content, one must fill completely their want of moksha (liberation from the distractions of what is finite), of infinite being, knowledge, and joy that lies within oneself.
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BUDDHISM
Siddharta Gautama proposed the Four Noble Truths based upon his own direct experience of reality. The first three deal with making one aware of the fundamental nature of what it means to live a finite existence, and the last is the regimen for overcoming the anxiety generated by that awareness.
The First Noble Truth is that all life is dukha (suffering). The Buddha asserted that everything one possesses (youth, health, beauty, love, safety, etc...), is ultimately lost, that satisfaction is fleeting. When one scratches an itch, for example, the reward is that their attention is freed to focus on another itch, or another discomfort, or unmet need. Although the suffering is pervasive, Siddharta noted that there are six points or dislocations in life where suffering moves to the center of attention. Dislocation begins with birth, where one exchanges an existence of total satisfaction of all needs for one of anxiety (the concern over feeding oneself, finding shelter, companionship, etc...). Sickness and aging are also dislocations, as they remind one of their vulnerability and lead them to the dislocation of awareness of the inevitability of death. The last two dislocations are the suffering of being tied to dislike (e.g. working a job one hates to provide for one's family), and the separation from a love object (e.g. spouses die, children leave home, the family one works for is lost with the passage of time).
The Second Noble Truth is that the cause of life's dislocation is tanka, or the desire for private fulfillment. This is to say that the suffering inherent in the dislocations arises because of the person's attachment to various parts of experience; as was mentioned above, everything in one's experience is finite, it exhausts and leaves desire unfulfilled.
The Third Noble Truth emphasizes that the only remedy for alleviating the dukha arising from tanka is to overcome desire. That is, when one has no chance of satisfying what they want, the only freedom from the frustration or other forms of suffering they experience is to stop wanting.
The Buddha realized, having grappled with it himself, the difficulty in overcoming desire. Hence, he proposed a methodology for doing so in the Fourth Noble Truth; desire is overcome by the Way. Though not actually stated, there is an implicit assumption that The Way is the only option for escaping suffering, but fortunately, it is flexible enough that individuals can tailor it for their own idiosyncrasies.
The Way is operationally defined by the Eightfold Path, which is essentially a set of specific ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. Before one even begins walking the Path, they must have right association: they must surround themselves with those who inspire spiritual discipline. The Buddhist monastery is an excellent example of such a spiritual social environment, and the tradition is carried on by the present„day branch of Siddharta's followers known as the Theravada Buddhists (The Way of the Elders). From this point, the Eightfold path includes understanding the Four Noble Truths, identifying and pursuing what is desired with single-minded dedication, developing speaking habits that do not detract from Truth, avoiding damaging behaviors (lying, stealing, etc...), maintaining a proper attitude of occupation as a means, not an end, developing consistency in endeavor, practicing mental control of the senses and impulses, and engaging in a set of physical exercises designed to facilitate that mental control (such exercises were essentially borrowed from the Hindu tradition of Raja Yoga).
Buddhism as a reform of Hinduism.
Huston Smith asserts that all religions can be characterized by six different aspects, most of which had negative consequences for Hinduism, and which Siddhartha chose to reject. He began by abandoning the idea that religion must have authority, because in his day, he witnessed the Brahman class of spiritual leaders using their knowledge to exploit the masses. He would move responsibility for seeking the truth to each separate individual to pursue their own salvation with diligence.
Next, the Buddha noted that the means by which the Brahmans maintained their exploitation was by controlling access to religious rituals. By prostituting these rituals, the Brahmans reduced them to meaningless institutions of behavior that block the path to Divinity. The Way established by the Buddha would contain minimal or no rituals.
Siddhartha also criticized the speculation inherent in Hinduism, saying the need to explain how life happens as it does will only become so abstract and intellectual that it ceases to impact the daily life of the individual. His own system would remain pragmatic, a perspective of intellectual activities that could be summarized with the question: "Is it useful?"
Tradition was a casualty of the Buddha's scrutiny; he noted that these daily living type behaviors that emerge at the periphery of religion are not only largely unrelated to the religion itself, but may become the concern of those conducting them, such that the original search for the truth is forgotten. Thus, he would try to minimize traditions by intentionally teaching lessons that undermined much of his earlier lessons in order to illustrate that consistency in the wrong places leads only to distraction.
The Buddha avoided the idea of grace in Hinduism, proclaiming that looking for salvation outside oneself removes personal responsibility from the individual. Doing so makes the person passive, and unaccountable for the consequences of their own decisions in their life.
Finally, Siddhartha ruled out mystery, asserting that the search for supernatural answers to worldly phenomena emerged only when more active, useful, and awareness methods failed. He would try to steer his followers away from a tendency to generate divinity out of ignorance, and emphasize that awareness and understanding are the paths to truth.
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ISLAM:
Islam, like the other Western religions, places great value on the Prophets, who, in spite of their astute intellectual ability and power/charisma, still attribute the fundamental truths they proclaim to God. The Koran represents an example of Allah proclaiming the truth though the prophet Mohammed. According to Houston Smith, Mohammed himself credited the expressive sophistication and grammatical perfection of the Koran to Allah. He designated it the "standing miracle," the only one worked through him. As Mohammed (peace be upon him), is the Seal of the Prophets, the last there will ever be to the Muslims, the Koran must thus be considered the final miracle from Allah, the one intended to shape and guide humanity until the end of time. The divine origin of the Koran is one factor in it's centrality to this belief system.
But the Koran is also of a divine nature. Unlike the Christian Bible, which presents scenarios from which the truth must be extrapolated, the Muslim text is considered to be the embodiment of truth itself; or at east as close as the crude resources of the material world can approximate. Muslims tend to believe that the true Koran is total perfection and eternal, but ultimately uncreated. The role of Mohammed was to speak the truths of this Uncreated Koran, so that it could take on earthly form, and thus carry Allah's eternal message to the world
The divine origins and divine nature of the Koran free it from the limits Muslims view as inherent in the symbolic systems of Judaism and Christianity. It is viewed as the final chapter of those two religions. Unlike the scattered fragments of truth that remain of the Bible after centuries of transmission errors, the Koran is one unified work spoken by a single vessel that has been preserved in it's original language (Allah allegedly sparing accuracy as Mohammed's words moved from one media to another). Thus is this directly doctrinal, literal work "the final and infallible revelation of god's will" (Houston Smith, p. 154), the central feature of Islam.
Jihad
Arabic: jihâd
Islamic term, Arabic for 'battle; struggle; holy war for the religion'.
Jihad has two possible definitions: the greater, which is the spiritual struggle of each man, against vice, passion and ignorance. This understanding of jihad has been presented by apologetics of modern times, but is an understanding of the term rarely used by Muslims themselves.
The lesser jihad is simplified to cover holy war against infidels and infidel countries. This kind of jihad is described in both the Holy Koran and in the hadiths. Muslim law has divided the world into two entities, dâru l-'islâm, the abode of Islam, and dâru l-harb, the abode of war. Battling against the Abode of war was a duty for a Muslim, as this is the only way for the peace of Islam to take the place of the warlike conditions of the infidels' society. Jihad can be both defence, as well as attacking an enemy.
The enemies of Islam are divided into two groups, the Peoples of the book, âhlu l-kitâb and the pagans, the kâfirûn. The first group, defined as Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, and Mandeans need only to submit to an Islamic ruler, and live in peace with other Muslims to end the situation where jihad is imperative.
For the pagans there is a principle fairly similar, but they get less rights under the Muslim ruler than the Peoples of the book. While this group generally can live safely inside a Muslim society, some Muslims have propagated that these should either convert to Islam or face death penalty. In situations where the Muslim rulers mean that war has to be waged against the infidels, they should be allowed sufficient of time to convert before the Muslim army attacks.
Jihad is a duty for every Muslim community, but not necessarily for every individual: it's sufficient that a certain number of the the able men perform jihad. The one who dies in the battle against the infidels, becomes a martyr, a shahid, and is guaranteed a place in Paradise as well as certain privileges there.
While offensive jihad, i.e. attacking, is fully permissible in Sunni Islam, it is prohibited for some of the larger groups of Shi'i Islam, which consider only the Imam, now in occultation, as carrying the right to decide to go to war or not.
The Kharijis regard jihad as the sixth pillar of Islam, a position that other groups of Islam have adhered to earlier.
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JUDAISM:
Unlike many alternative philosophies, the comprehensive symbolic system of Judaism affirms the inherent virtue of all that exists. The Jews drew this conclusion from the word of Yahweh, who (as pointed out by Houston Smith, p. 182), said of this Creation "very good." God is assumed to love and have a plan for all Creation, (especially humans), and thus cares about what happens to them. For God to love Creation, Creation must be worthy of that love, and thus must be good. So the Jewish people take a positive view of life, asserting that the world's problems rest on the faults of humanity. People are seen as inherently flawed, and thus, they fail to fulfill their sides of the agreements they make with God. Therefore, humanity never lives up fully to the plan that God has for them.
But because God loves his people in spite of their flaws, He intervenes on their behalf, rectifying grievous errors in human judgment and imparting meaningful lessons in tragedy. Thus does history become important, for it has interpretive significance. Each event in time reflects a part of God's plan, either an occurrence in line with God's will, or as a lesson to be internalized when humanity deviates away from God's plan and thus, suffers greatly
Much of the gentile controversy concerned the practices of diaspora Jewish Christians like the ones at the Church of Antioch. Diaspora is a term derived from a Greek word meaning, “dispersed” or “scattered.” The word refers to Jews living among gentiles in foreign lands.
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Shinto
Brief history of Shinto:
Shinto is an ancient Japanese religion. Starting about 500 BCE (or earlier) it was originally "an amorphous mix of nature worship, fertility cults, divination techniques, hero worship, and shamanism." 4 Its name was derived from the Chinese words "shin tao" ("The Way of the Gods") in the 8th Century CE. At that time:
The Yamato dynasty consolidated its rule over most of Japan.
Divine origins were ascribed to the imperial family.
Shinto established itself as an official religion of Japan, along with Buddhism.
The complete separation of Japanese religion from politics did not occur until just after World War II. The Emperor renounced his divinity at that time.
Unlike most other religions, Shinto has no real founder, no written scriptures, no body of religious law, and only a very loosely-organized priesthood.
Shinto beliefs:
Shinto creation stories tell of the history and lives of the "Kami" (deities). Among them was a divine couple, Izanagi-no-mikoto and Izanami-no-mikoto, who gave birth to the Japanese islands. Their children became the deities of the various Japanese clans. Amaterasu Omikami (Sun Goddess) was one of their daughters. She is the ancestress of the Imperial Family and is regarded as the chief deity. Her shrine is at Ise. Her descendants unified the country. Her brother, Susano came down from heaven and roamed throughout the earth. He is famous for killing a great evil serpent.
The Kami are the Shinto deities. The word "Kami" is generally translated "god" or "gods." However, the Kami bear little resemblance to the gods of monotheistic religions. There are no concepts which compare to the Christian beliefs in the wrath of God, his omnipotence and omni-presence, or the separation of God from humanity due to sin. There are numerous other deities who are conceptualized in many forms:
Those related to natural objects and creatures, from "food to rivers to rocks."
Guardian Kami of particular areas and clans
Exceptional people, including all but the last of the emperors.
Abstract creative forces
They are seen as generally benign; they sustain and protect the people.
Most Japanese citizens follow two religions: both Shinto and Buddhism. Buddhism first arrived in Japan from Korea and China during the 6th through 8th centuries CE. The two religions share a basic optimism about human nature, and for the world. Within Shinto, the Buddha was viewed as another "Kami". Meanwhile, Buddhism in Japan regarded the Kami as being manifestations of various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Most weddings are performed by Shinto priests; funerals are performed by Buddhist priests.
Shinto does not have as fully developed a theology as do most other religions. It does not have its own moral code. Shintoists generally follow the code of Confucianism.
Their religious texts discuss the "High Plain of Heaven" and the "Dark Land" which is an unclean land of the dead, but give few details of the afterlife.
Ancestors are deeply revered and worshipped.
All of humanity is regarded as "Kami's child." Thus all human life and human nature is sacred.
Believers revere "musuhi", the Kamis' creative and harmonizing powers. They aspire to have "makoto", sincerity or true heart. This is regarded as the way or will of Kami.
Morality is based upon that which is of benefit to the group. "Shinto emphasizes right practice, sensibility, and attitude."
There are "Four Affirmations"in Shinto:
1.Tradition and the family: The family is seen as the main mechanism by which traditions are preserved. Their main celebrations relate to birth and marriage.
2.Love of nature: Nature is sacred; to be in contact with nature is to be close to the Gods. Natural objects are worshipped as sacred spirits.
3.Physical cleanliness: Followers of Shinto take baths, wash their hands , and rinse out their mouth often.
4."Matsuri": The worship and honor given to the Kami and ancestral spirits.
The desire for peace, which was suppressed during World War II, has been restored.
Shinto practices:
Shinto recognizes many sacred places: mountains, springs, etc.
Each shrine is dedicated to a specific Kami who has a divine personality and responds to sincere prayers of the faithful. When entering a shrine, one passes through a Tori a special gateway for the Gods. It marks the demarcation between the finite world and the infinite world of the Gods.
In the past, believers practiced "misogi,", the washing of their bodies in a river near the shrine. In recent years they only wash their hands and wash out their mouths in a wash basin provided within the shrine grounds.
Believers respect animals as messengers of the Gods. A pair of statues of "Koma-inu" (guard dogs) face each other within the temple grounds.
Shrine ceremonies, which include cleansing, offerings, prayers, and dances are directed to the Kami.
Kagura are ritual dances accompanied by ancient musical instruments. The dances are performed by skilled and trained dancers. They consist of young virgin girls, a group of men, or a single man.
Mamori are charms worn as an aid in healing and protection. They come in many different forms for various purposes.
An altar, the "Kami-dana" (Shelf of Gods), is given a central place in many homes.
Followers are expected to visit Shinto shrines at the times of various life passages. For example, the Shichigosan Matsuri involves a blessing by the shrine Priest of girls aged three and seven and boys aged five. It is held on NOV-15.
Shinto exists in four main forms or traditions:
Koshitsu Shinto (The Shinto of the Imperial House): This involves rituals performed by the emperor, who the Japanese Constitution defines to be the "symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." The most important ritual is Niinamesai, which makes an offering to the deities of the first fruits of each year's grain harvest. Male and female clergy (Shoten and Nai-Shoten) assist the emperor in the performance of these rites.
Jinja (Shrine) Shinto: This is the largest Shinto group. It was the original form of the religion; its roots date back into pre-history. Until the end of World War II, it was closely aligned with State Shinto. The Emperor of Japan was worshipped as a living God. Almost all shrines in Japan are members of Jinja Honcho, the Association of Shinto Shrines. It currently includes about 80,000 shrines as members. The association urges followers of Shinto
1."To be grateful for the blessings of Kami and the benefits of the ancestors, and to be diligent in the observance of the Shinto rites, applying oneself to them with sincerity. brightness, and purity of heart."
2."To be helpful to others and in the world at large through deeds of service without thought of rewards, and to seek the advancement of the world as one whose life mediates the will of Kami."
3."To bind oneself with others in harmonious acknowledgment of the will of the emperor, praying that the country may flourish and that other peoples too may live in peace and prosperity."
Kyoha (Sectarian) Shinto (aka Shuha Shinto): This consists of 13 sects which were founded by individuals since the start of the 19th century. Each sect has its own beliefs and doctrines. Most emphasize worship of their own central deity; some follow a near-monotheistic religion.
Minzoku (Folk) Shinto This is not a separate Shinto group; it has no formal central organization or creed. It is seen in local rural practices and rituals, e.g. small images by the side of the road, agriculture rituals practiced by individual families, etc. A rural community will often select a layman annually, who will be responsible for worshiping the local deity.
These three forms are closely linked. An image may be installed by a member of one of the Sectarian Shinto sects who worships at a particular shrine. Shinto is a tolerant religion which accepts the validity of other religions. It is common for a believer to pay respect to other religions, their practices and objects of worship.
Shinto texts:
Many texts are valued in the Shinto religion. Most date from the 8th century CE:
The Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters)
The Rokkokushi (Six National Histories)
The Shoku Nihongi and its Nihon Shoki (Continuing Chronicles of Japan)
The Jinno Shotoki (a study of Shinto and Japanese politics and history) written in the 14th century
Essentially all followers of Shinto are Japanese. It is difficult for a foreigner to embrace Shintoism. Unlike most other religions, there is no book to help a person learn about the religion. It is transmitted from generation to generation by experiencing the rituals together as a group.
Takamatsu Zuka Kofun - The Controversy Continues
Japanese history textbook provokes sharp controversy
The Resurgence Of Racist And Nationalist Prejudice In Modern-Day Japan
More About : ."Shinto: A Portrait" "Shinto, the Way of the Gods" ."Shinto and Buddhism: the Wellsprings of Japanese Spirituality" "The Fountainhead of Miracles" "The Jinja Shinto (The Shrine Shinto)"
Confucianism
By Confucianism is meant the complex system of moral, social, political, and religious teaching built up by Confucius on the ancient Chinese traditions, and perpetuated as the State religion down to the present day. Confucianism aims at making not simply the man of virtue, but the man of learning and of good manners. The perfect man must combine the qualities of saint, scholar, and gentleman. Confucianism is a religion without positive revelation, with a minimum of dogmatic teaching, whose popular worship is centered in offerings to the dead, in which the notion of duty is extended beyond the sphere of morals proper so as to embrace almost every detail of daily life.
I. THE TEACHER, CONFUCIUS
The chief exponent of this remarkable religion was K'ung-tze, or K'ung-fu-tze, latinized by the early Jesuit missionaries into Confucius. Confucius was born in 551 B.C., in what was then the feudal state of Lu, now included in the modern province of Shan-tung. His parents, while not wealthy, belonged to the superior class. His father was a warrior, distinguished no less for his deeds of valour than for his noble ancestry. Confucius was a mere boy when his father died. From childhood he showed a great aptitude for study, and though, in order to support himself and his mother, he had to labour in his early years as a hired servant in a noble family, he managed to find time to pursue his favourite studies. He made such progress that at the age of twenty-two years he opened a school to which many were attracted by the fame of his learning. His ability and faithful service merited for him promotion to the office of minister of justice. Under his wise administration the State attained to a degree of prosperity and moral order that it had never seen before. But through the intrigues of rival states the Marquis of Lu was led to prefer ignoble pleasures to the preservation of good government. Confucius tried by sound advice to bring his liege lord back to the path of duty, but in vain. He thereupon resigned his high position at the cost of personal ease and comfort, and left the state. For thirteen years, accompanied by faithful disciples, he went about from one state to another, seeking a ruler who would give heed to his counsels. Many were the privations he suffered. More than once he ran imminent risk of being waylaid and killed by his enemies, but his courage and confidence in the providential character of his mission never deserted him. At last he returned to Lu, where he spent the last five years of his long life encouraging others to the study and practice of virtue, and edifying all by his noble example. He died in the year 478 B.C., in the seventy-fourth year of his age. His lifetime almost exactly coincided with that of Buddha, who died two years earlier at the age of eighty.
That Confucius possessed a noble, commanding personality, there can be little doubt. It is shown by his recorded traits of character, by his lofty moral teachings, by the high-minded men that he trained to continue his life-work. In their enthusiastic love and admiration, they declared him the greatest of men, the sage without flaw, the perfect man. That he himself did not make any pretension to possess virtue and wisdom in their fullness is shown by his own recorded sayings. He was conscious of his shortcomings, and this consciousness he made no attempt to keep concealed. But of his love of virtue and wisdom there can be no question. He is described in "Analects", VII, 18, as one "who in the eager pursuit of knowledge, forgot his food, and in the joy of attaining to it forgot his sorrow". Whatever in the traditional records of the past, whether history, lyric poems, or rites and ceremonies, was edifying and conducive to virtue, he sought out with untiring zeal and made known to his disciples. He was a man of affectionate nature, sympathetic, and most considerate towards others. He loved his worthy disciples dearly, and won in turn their undying devotion. He was modest and unaffected in his bearing, inclined to gravity, yet possessing a natural cheerfulness that rarely deserted him. Schooled to adversity from childhood, he learned to find contentment and serenity of mind even where ordinary comforts were lacking. He was very fond of vocal and instrumental music, and often sang, accompanying his voice with the lute. His sense of humour is revealed in a criticism he once made of some boisterous singing "Why use an ox-knife", he said, "to kill a fowl?"
Confucius is often held up as the type of the virtuous man without religion. His teachings, it is alleged, were chiefly ethical, in which one looks in vain for retribution in the next life as a sanction of right conduct. Now an acquaintance with the ancient religion of China and with Confucian texts reveals the emptiness of the assertion that Confucius was devoid of religious thought and feeling. He was religious after the manner of religious men of his age and land. In not appealing to rewards and punishments in the life to come, he was simply following the example of his illustrious Chinese predecessors, whose religious belief did not include this element of future retribution. The Chinese classics that were ancient even in the time of Confucius have nothing to say of hell, but have much to say of the rewards and punishments meted out in the present life by the all-seeing Heaven. There are numbers of texts that show plainly that he did not depart from the traditional belief in the supreme Heaven-god and subordinate spirits, in Divine providence and retribution, and in the conscious existence of souls after death. These religious convictions on his part found expression in many recorded acts of piety and worship.
II. THE CONFUCIAN TEXTS
As Confucianism in its broad sense embraces not only the immediate teaching of Confucius, but also the traditional records customs, and rites to which he gave the sanction of his approval, and which today rest largely upon his authority, there are reckoned among the Confucian texts several that even in his day were venerated as sacred heirlooms of the past. The texts are divided into two categories, known as the "King" (Classics), and the "Shuh" (Books). The texts of the "King", which stand first in importance, are commonly reckoned as five, but sometimes as six.
The first of these is the "Shao-king" (Book of History), a religious and moral work, tracing the hand of Providence in a series of great events of past history, and inculcating the lesson that the Heaven-god gives prosperity and length of days only to the virtuous ruler who has the true welfare of the people at heart. Its unity of composition may well bring its time of publication down to the sixth century B.C., though the sources on which the earlier chapters are based may be almost contemporaneous with the events related.
The second "King" is the so-called "She-king" (Book of Songs), often spoken of as the "Odes". Of its 305 short lyric poems some belong to the time of the Shang dynasty (1766-1123 B.C.), the remaining, and perhaps larger, part to the first five centuries of the dynasty of Chow, that is, down to about 600 B.C.
The third "King" is the so-called "Y-king" (Book of Changes), an enigmatic treatise on the art of divining with the stalks of a native plant, which after being thrown give different indications according as they conform to one or another of the sixty-four hexagrams made up of three broken and three unbroken lines. The short explanations which accompany them, in large measure arbitrary and fantastic, are assigned to the time of Wan and his illustrious son Wu, founders of the Chow dynasty (1122 B.C.). Since the time of Confucius, the work has been more than doubled by a series of appendixes, ten in number, of which eight are attributed to Confucius. Only a small portion of these, however, are probably authentic.
The fourth "King" is the "Li-ki" (Book of Rites). In its present form it dates from the second century of our era, being a compilation from a vast number of documents, most of which date from the earlier part of the Chow dynasty. It gives rules of conduct down to the minute details for religious acts of worship, court functions, social and family relations, dress--in short, for every sphere of human action. It remains today the authoritative guide of correct conduct for every cultivated Chinese. In the "Li-ki" are many of Confucius's reputed sayings and two long treatises composed by disciples, which may be said to reflect with substantial accuracy the sayings and teachings of the master. One of these is the treatise known as the "Chung-yung" (Doctrine of the Mean). It forms Book XXVIII of the "Li-ki", and is one of its most valuable treatises. It consists of a collection of sayings of Confucius characterizing the man of perfect virtue. The other treatise, forming Book XXXIX of the "Li-ki", is the so-called "Ta-hio" (Great Learning). It purports to be descriptions of the virtuous ruler by the disciple Tsang-tze, based on the teachings of the master. The fifth "King" is the short historical treatise known as the "Ch'un-ts'ew" (Spring and Autumn), said to have been written by the hand of Confucius himself. It consists of a connected series of bare annals of the state of Lu for the years 722-484 B.C. To these five "Kings" belongs a sixth, the so-called "Hiao-king" (Book of Filial Piety). The Chinese attribute its composition to Confucius, but in the opinion of critical scholars, it is the product of the school of his disciple, Tsang-tze.
Mention has just been made of the two treatises, the "Doctrine of the Mean" and the "Great Learning", embodied in the "Li-ki". In the eleventh century of our era, these two works were united with other Confucian texts, constituting what is known as the "Sze-shuh" (Four Books). First of these is the "Lun-yu" (Analects). It is a work in twenty short chapters, showing what manner of man Confucius was in his daily life, and recording many of his striking sayings on moral and historical topics. It seems to embody the authentic testimony of his disciples written by one of the next generation.
The second place in the "Shuh" is given to the "Book of Mencius". Mencius (Meng-tze), was not an immediate disciple of the master. He lived a century later. He acquired great fame as an exponent of Confucian teaching. His sayings, chiefly on moral topics, were treasured up by disciples, and published in his name. Third and fourth in order of the "Shuh" come the "Great Learning" and the "Doctrine of the Mean".
For our earliest knowledge of the contents of these Confucian texts, we are indebted to the painstaking researches of the Jesuit missionaries in China during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, who, with an heroic zeal for the spread of Christ's kingdom united a diligence and proficiency in the study of Chinese customs, literature, and history that have laid succeeding scholars under lasting obligation. Among these we may mention Fathers Prémare, Régis, Lacharme, Gaubil, Noël, Ignacio da Costa, by whom most of the Confucian texts were translated and elucidated with great erudition. It was but natural that their pioneer studies in so difficult a field should be destined to give place to the more accurate and complete monuments of modern scholarship. But even here they have worthy representatives in such scholars as Father Zottoli and Henri Cordier, whose Chinese studies give evidence of vast erudition. The Confucian texts have been made available to English readers by Professor Legge. Besides his monumental work in seven volumes, entitled "The Chinese Classics" and his version of the "Ch'un ts'ew", he has given the revised translations of the "Shuh", "She", "Ta-hio", "Y", and "Li-Ki" in Volumes III, XVI, XXVII, and XXVIII of "The Sacred Books of the East".
III. THE DOCTRINE
A. Religious Groundwork
The religion of ancient China, to which Confucius gave his reverent adhesion was a form of nature-worship very closely approaching to monotheism. While numerous spirits associated with natural phenomena were recognized--spirits of mountains and rivers, of land and grain, of the four quarters of the heavens, the sun, moon, and stars--they were all subordinated to the supreme Heaven-god, T'ien (Heaven) also called Ti (Lord), or Shang-ti (Supreme Lord). All other spirits were but his ministers, acting in obedience to his will. T'ien was the upholder of the moral law, exercising a benign providence over men. Nothing done in secret could escape his all-seeing eye. His punishment for evil deeds took the form either of calamities and early death, or of misfortune laid up for the children of the evil-doer. In numerous passages of the "Shao-" and "She-king", we find this belief asserting itself as a motive to right conduct. That it was not ignored by Confucius himself is shown by his recorded saying, that "he who offends against Heaven has no one to whom he can pray". Another quasi-religious motive to the practice of virtue was the belief that the souls of the departed relatives were largely dependent for their happiness on the conduct of their living descendants. It was taught that children owed it as a duty to their dead parents to contribute to their glory and happiness by lives of virtue. To judge from the sayings of Confucius that have been preserved, he did not disregard these motives to right conduct, but he laid chief stress on the love of virtue for its own sake. The principles of morality and their concrete application to the varied relations of life were embodied in the sacred texts, which in turn represented the teachings of the great sages of the past raised up by Heaven to instruct mankind. These teachings were not inspired, nor were they revealed, yet they were infallible. The sages were born with wisdom meant by Heaven to enlighten the children of men. It was thus a wisdom that was providential, rather than supernatural. The notion of Divine positive revelation is absent from the Chinese texts. To follow the path of duty as laid down in the authoritative rules of conduct was within the reach of all men, provided that their nature, good at birth, was not hopelessly spoiled by vicious influences. Confucius held the traditional view that all men are born good. Of anything like original sin there is not a trace in his teaching. He seems to have failed to recognize even the existence of vicious hereditary tendencies. In his view, what spoiled men was bad environment, evil example, an inexcusable yielding to evil appetites that everyone by right use of his natural powers could and ought to control. Moral downfall caused by suggestions of evil spirits had no place in his system. Nor is there any notion of Divine grace to strengthen the will and enlighten the mind in the struggle with evil. There are one or two allusions to prayer, but nothing to show that daily prayer was recommended to the aspirant after perfection.
B. Helps to Virtue
In Confucianism the helps to the cultivation of virtue are natural and providential, nothing more. But in this development of moral perfection Confucius sought to enkindle in others the enthusiastic love of virtue that he felt himself. To make oneself as good as possible, this was with him the main business of life. Everything that was conducive to the practice of goodness was to be eagerly sought and made use of. To this end right knowledge was to be held indispensable. Like Socrates, Confucius taught that vice sprang from ignorance and that knowledge led unfailingly to virtue. The knowledge on which he insisted was not purely scientific learning, but an edifying acquaintance with the sacred texts and the rules of virtue and propriety. Another factor on which he laid great stress was the influence of good example. He loved to hold up to the admiration of his disciples the heroes and sages of the past, an acquaintance with whose noble deeds and sayings he sought to promote by insisting on the study of the ancient classics. Many of his recorded sayings are eulogies of these valiant men of virtue. Nor did he fail to recognize the value of good, high-minded companions. His motto was, to associate with the truly great and to make friends of the most virtuous. Besides association with the good, Confucius urged on his disciples the importance of always welcoming the fraternal correction of one's faults. Then, too, the daily examination of conscience was inculcated. As a further aid to the formation of a virtuous character, he valued highly a certain amount of self-discipline. He recognized the danger, especially in the young, of falling into habits of softness and love of ease. Hence he insisted on a virile indifference to effeminate comforts. In the art of music he also recognized a powerful aid to enkindle enthusiasm for the practice of virtue. He taught his pupils the "Odes" and other edifying songs, which they sang together to the accompaniment of lutes and harps. This together with the magnetism of his personal influence lent a strong emotional quality to his teaching.
C. Fundamental Virtues
As a foundation for the life of perfect goodness, Confucius insisted chiefly on the four virtues of sincerity, benevolence, filial piety, and propriety. Sincerity was with him a cardinal virtue. As used by him it meant more than a mere social relation. To be truthful and straightforward in speech, faithful to one's promises, conscientious in the discharge of one's duties to others--this was included in sincerity and something more. The sincere man in Confucius's eyes was the man whose conduct was always based on the love of virtue, and who in consequence sought to observe the rules of right conduct in his heart as well as in outward actions, when alone as well as in the presence of others. Benevolence, showing itself in a kindly regard for the welfare of others and in a readiness to help them in times of need, was also a fundamental element in Confucius's teaching. It was viewed as the characteristic trait of the good man. Mencius, the illustrious exponent of Confucianism, has the remarkable statement: "Benevolence is man" (VII, 16). In the sayings of Confucius we find the Golden Rule in its negative form enunciated several times. In "Analects", XV, 13, we read that when a disciple asked him for a guiding principle for all conduct, the master answered: "Is not mutual goodwill such a principle? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others". This is strikingly like the form of the Golden Rule found in the first chapter of the "Teaching of the Apostles"--"All things soever that you would not have done to yourself, do not do to another"; also in Tobias, iv, 16, where it appears for the first time in Sacred Scripture. He did not approve the principle held by Lao-tze that injury should be repaid with kindness. His motto was "Requite injury with justice, and kindness with kindness" (Analects, XIV, 36). He seems to have viewed the question from the practical and legal standpoint of social order. "To repay kindness with kindness", he says elsewhere, "acts as an encouragement to the people. To requite injury with injury acts as a warning" (Li-ki, XXIX, 11). The third fundamental virtue in the Confucian system is filial piety. In the "Hiao-king", Confucius is recorded as saying: "Filial piety is the root of all virtue."--"Of all the actions of man there are none greater than those of filial piety." To the Chinese then as now, filial piety prompted the son to love and respect his parents, contribute to their comfort, bring happiness and honour to their name, by honourable success in life. But at the same time it carried that devotion to a degree that was excessive and faulty. In consequence of the patriarchal system there prevailing, filial piety included the obligation of sons to live after marriage under the same roof with the father and to give him a childlike obedience as long as he lived. The will of the parents was declared to be supreme even to the extent that if the son's wife failed to please them he was obliged to divorce her, though it cut him to the heart. If a dutiful son found himself compelled to admonish a wayward father he was taught to give the correction with the utmost meekness; though the parent might beat him till the blood flowed he was not to show any resentment. The father did not forfeit his right to filial respect, no matter how great his wickedness. Another virtue of primary importance in the Confucian system is "propriety". It embraces the whole sphere of human conduct, prompting the superior man always to do the right thing in the right place. It finds expression in the so-called rules of ceremony, which are not confined to religious rites and rules of moral conduct, but extend to the bewildering mass of conventional customs and usages by which Chinese etiquette is regulated. They were distinguished even in Confucius's day by the three hundred greater, and the three thousand lesser, rules of ceremony, all of which had to be carefully learned as a guide to right conduct. The conventional usages as well as the rules of moral conduct brought with them the sense of obligation resting primarily on the authority of the sage-kings and in the last analysis on the will of Heaven. To neglect or deviate from them was equivalent to an act of impiety.
The worship of the people at large is practically confined to the so-called ancestor-worship. Some think it is hardly proper to call it worship, consisting as it does of feasts in honour of dead relatives. In the days of Confucius, as at present, there was in every family home, from the palace of the king himself down to the humble cabin of the peasant, a chamber or closet called the ancestral shrine, where wooden tablets were reverently kept, inscribed with the names of deceased parents, grandparents, and more remote ancestors. At stated intervals offerings of fruit, wine, and cooked meats were set before these tablets, which the ancestral spirits were fancied to make their temporary resting-place. There was, besides, a public honouring by each local clan of the common ancestors twice a year, in spring and autumn. This was an elaborate banquet with music and solemn dances, to which the dead ancestors were summoned, and in which they were believed to participate along with the living members of the clan. More elaborate and magnificent still were the great triennial and quinquennial feasts given by the king to his ghostly ancestors. This feasting of the dead by families and clans was restricted to such as were united with the living by ties of relationship. There were, however, a few public benefactors whose memory was revered by all the people and to whom offerings of food were made. Confucius himself came be to honoured after death, being regarded as the greatest of public benefactors. Even today in China this religious veneration of the master is faithfully maintained. In the Imperial College in Peking there is a shrine where the tablets of Confucius and his principal disciples are preserved. Twice a year, in spring and autumn, the emperor goes there in state and solemnly presents food-offerings with a prayerful address expressing his gratitude and devotion.
In the fourth book of the "Li-ki" reference is made to the sacrifices which the people were accustomed to offer to the "spirits of the ground", that is to the spirits presiding over the local fields. In the worship of spirits of higher rank, however, the people seem to have taken no active part. This was the concern of their highest representatives, the feudal lords and the king. Each feudal lord offered sacrifice for himself and his subjects to the subordinate spirits supposed to have especial care of his territory. It was the prerogative of the king alone to sacrifice to the spirits, both great and small, of the whole realm, particularly to Heaven and Earth. Several sacrifices of this kind were offered every year. The most important were those at the winter and summer solstice in which Heaven and Earth were respectively worshipped. To account for this anomaly we must bear in mind that sacrifice, as viewed by the Chinese, is a feast to the spirit guests, and that according to their notion of propriety the highest deities should be feted only by the highest representatives of the living. They saw a fitness in the custom that only the king, the Son of Heaven, should, in his own behalf and in behalf of his people, make solemn offering to Heaven. And so it is today. The sacrificial worship of Heaven and Earth is celebrated only by the emperor, with the assistance, indeed, of a small army of attendants, and with a magnificence of ceremonial that is astonishing to behold. To pray privately to Heaven and burn incense to him was a legitimate way for the individual to show his piety to the highest deity, and this is still practised, generally at the full moon.
CONFUCIANISM VERSUS CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION
In Confucianism there is much to admire. It has taught a noble conception of the supreme Heaven-god. It has inculcated a remarkably high standard of morality. It has prompted, as far as it knew how, the refining influence of literary education and of polite conduct. But it stands today encumbered with the serious defects that characterize the imperfect civilization of its early development. The association of T'ien with innumerable nature-spirits, spirits of sun, moon, and stars, of hills and fields and rivers, the superstitious use of divination by means of stalks and tortoise shells, and the crude notion that the higher spirits, together with the souls of the dead, are regaled by splendid banquets and food-offerings, cannot stand the test of intelligent modern criticism. Nor can a religion answer fully to the religious needs of the heart which withdraws from the active participation of the people the solemn worship of the deity, which has little use of prayer, which recognizes no such thing as grace, which has no definite teaching in regard to the future life. As a social system it has lifted the Chinese to an intermediate grade of culture, but has blocked for ages all further progress. In its rigid insistence on rites and customs that tend to perpetuate the patriarchal system with its attendant evils of polygamy and divorce, of excessive seclusion and repression of women, of an undue hampering of individual freedom, Confucianism stands in painful contrast with progressive Christian civilization.
CHARLES F. AIKEN
Transcribed by Rick McCarty
The
Chinese Rites Controversy
Is
Confucianism A Religion?
New
Confucianism
After Liberalism: What if Confucianism Becomes the Hegemonic Ethic of the
Twenty-first Century?
Confucious
and the Scholars
Sikhism
From: http://www.dancris.com/sikh/chap14.html
A BRIEF OUTLINE OF FUNDAMENTALS OF SIKHISM
The seed for the reformation of humanity which was sown by Guru Nanak and watered by his successors, ripened in the time of Guru Gobind Singh and culminated in the creation of the Khalsa. The sword that carved the Khalsa's way to sublime glory was undoubtedly forged by Guru Gobind Singh but its steel was provided by Guru Nanak. The whole program of Guru Nanak's initiation reached its exalted state of finality when the tenth Nanak (Guru Gobind Singh) passed on 'Gur Nanak Jot' to the Adi Granth, Holy Scripture- par excellence, and proclaimed it as Guru Granth Sahib, the last Guru for ever.
From the moment of its initiation by Guru Nanak to its consecration by the tenth Master, Guru Gobind Singh, a period of 239 years, Sikhism acquired its holy scripture, signs and symbols, and unmistakable form or stance. Transformation from one Guru to the other happened in the same way as one lamp were to lit from another. The holy transformation of ten Gurus is recognized as ONE, since all of them came from the same Divine Flame in continuity of the same Divine Mission. The establishment of Guruship, the story of succession, the founding of Amritsar and other seats of Sikhism, the compilation of the Adi Granth, the institution of Sangat (holy congregation) and Pangat (Guru's free kitchen), the martyrdom of the Gurus, the panoply and plumage of power, the investiture of the Khalsa, all these and many other events which make the Sikh chronicle, give Sikh religion a color of the highest distinction.
In Sikhism, Guruship does not stand for mere order of mystics, since the Guru attached no values to renunciation of worldly life. Those who practiced renunciation such as Yogis and Sidhas were condemned as shirkers of responsibilities- they were considered as escapists and runaways from social responsibilities and obligations. In Sikhism a man is called upon to accept the Will of God and thus sublimate his suffering and loss. Sikhism believing in the conquest of sorrow and suffering, stipulates ceaseless endeavor.
PURPOSE OF LIFE:
According to the Guru, moral life is not a matter of a few commandments or a code or a ritual, but the fruit of a life directed towards spiritual quest involving incredibly hard discipline. Most people generally believe in enjoying materialistic life to the brim. Thus, the life goes on till a person ultimately finds oneself physically spent up and spiritually bankrupt. Lured by the charm of success in this materialistic world, one gives little or no thought to the Eternal values of life.
According to the eastern religions, there are eighty-four lakhs (8.4 million) of lives in the world, half of which are in the water and the other half are on the land and air. All life is transient. It moves on and on through the wheel of transmigration in accordance with its 'karmas' or actions good or bad. The human soul is achieved after transmigrating through various lower species as Gurbani (the Divine Word) confirms it:
"In how many births wert thou a worm or a moth!
In how many births an elephant, a fish, or a deer!
In how many births a bird or a serpent!
In how many births wert thou yoked as a horse or an ox!
Meet the Lord of the world, this is the time to meet Him After long period of time hast thou attained human body." (Gauri Guareri Mohalla 5, p-176)
The Gurmat (Guru's teaching) defines the purpose of life as:
"This time having born as human being
This is thy turn to meet the Supreme Lord.
Thy other activities will be of no avail at the end,
Seek the company of the holy men
And only contemplate on God.
Set thy mind on crossing the sea of life,
For life is being wasted away
In pursuits of pleasures of the world."
(Asa Mohalla 5, p-12)
Human soul is the door for liberation, but enchanted by the materialistic world, one loses highly precious chance of life
The purpose of human life in Sikhism is not to attain paradise or Swarga of the popular Hindu conception, but to seek God, and be united with Him. The ultimate goal of Sikh religion is to merge with the Supreme Soul and then enjoy the Uninterrupted Bliss for ever. A Sikh aspires for spiritual union with the Lord- a state of Bliss. Human life is an opportunity to attain that goal, if it is missed, a person falls back in the cycle of birth and rebirth.
CONCEPT OF GOD IN SIKHISM:
The definition of God is given in the very opening sentence of Guru Granth Sahib, which is called Mool-Mantar (Preamble of Japji):
There is but One God
He is the Eternal Truth
The Creator, All-Pervading Divine Spirit
Unfearful, Without hate and enmity
Immortal Entity, Unborn, Self-Existent, and
He is realized by His Own Grace.
Meditate upon
Who was True before the Creation
Who was True in the beginning of the Creation
Who is True now, and
O Nanak, Who shall be True for Ever.
God is both Impersonal (Nirgun) and Personal (Sargun). Impersonal God is Formless and beyond the human reach. When He reveals Himself through His Creation, He becomes related and personal. It is just like the rays coming out of the sun. The source is Formless, and the whole universe is His Personal form. No form howsoever unique it may be, is independent of Him. Infinite can manifest into unlimited number of finites, but any number of finites, alone or together, cannot be equal to the Infinite. So any finite form cannot be worshipped as God, Who is Infinite and Formless
i) God protects His saints and devotees from dangers, unless He wills that their sufferings and martyrdom should serve a higher purpose. To protect the righteous is His Sovereign Characteristic (Birdh). In the face of some acute dangers, saints have prayed for aid and intervention of God to help them in distress. God came to their help and protected them in a miraculous way. The stories of Prahlad, Dhru and others, and the autobiographic statements of Namdev and Kabir in Guru Granth Sahib, show His Sovereign Power to protect the righteous. Such miracles are part of the doctrine of divine Providence and Preservation. These supernatural miracles of God should be distinguished from the miracles of human beings performed by their occult powers, which in Sikhism are considered dangerous and unbecoming.
ii) 'As you sow, so shall you reap', leads to the theory of 'Karma', actions, good or bad, where a person is rewarded for his good actions and punished for his bad deeds. Therefore, according to the theory of Karma, a worst sinner will always suffer for his deeds and can never attain salvation. Guru Nanak has rejected this stating that pardoning even the worst sinner is the Sovereign Characteristic (Birdh) of God:
Sikh-Hindu
Similarity
Sikh
Dharma
SIKHISM:
KIRPAN
Ritvik
Exposed
Sikhism in the 21st
Century The Challenging Road Ahead
Taoism
A brief history of Taoism
This page provides an extremely concise introduction to Taoism from a historical point of view. The main events in the history of Taoism are divided into five sections up to the Yuan dynasty; for further explanations we recommend Taoism: growth of a religion by Isabelle Robinet and the monographic studies you can find in our bibliography.
The Warring States (453-222 B.C.)
Laozi Daode jing (IV-III c. B.C.) is the first scripture on the concept of Dao, described as the ineffable dynamic unity source of multiplicity. Man should reverse the process and return to unity by means of non-action (wuwei), which is also a political ideal. On the contrary, Zhuangzi (IV c. B.C.) conceives the Taoist Saint as a mystic, a supernatural being who identifies himself with the Universe, free from any social restraint. This image is closer to that of shamans (wu) and so-called "masters of techniques" (fangshi), who anticipate the figure of the Taoist priest, a searcher of immortality and an exorcist in control of natural phenomena.
That of Laozi and Zhuangzi is often referred to as "philosophical Taoism", in contrast to a "religious Taoism" beginning with the Celestial Masters. These concepts hardly fit the actual reality.
Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 C.E.)
Legalism and Confucianism form State ideology of the Chinese Empire under Qin and Han dynasties. The Huainanzi (II c. B.C.) unifies the image of the Saint with that of the political man, promoting a mixture of Taoist and Confucian ideals. A similar sincretic vein characterizes the Huang-Lao school, which unifies the cults of the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) and Laozi.
At the end of the Han Empire revolutionary and messianic sects emerge; among them, Zhang Daoling's Way of the Five Measures of Rice (Wudou mi dao), also known as Orthodox One (Zhengyi). In 215 his nephew Zhang Lu changes the name of the school to Celestial Masters (Tianshi), and makes of it the first hierarchically organized Taoist "church", concerned with the limitation of popular cults and the establishment of social ideals through moral precepts and public liturgical ceremonies. The school becomes the highest authority on ritual orthodoxy.
Chinese "Middle Ages" (220-581)
Central to Ge Hong's (280-340) Baopuzi is the idea of immortality as a natural physical transformation; among the techniques to obtain it are the "nourishment of life" (yangsheng) through the correct circulation of vital energies - breath (qi) and seminal essence (jing) - and the use of drugs and pills of immortality (external alchemy).
The IV century sees the birth of two of the main Taoist traditions, representing mysticism and ritual, respectively. In the years 365-370 Yang Xi receives the Supreme Purity (Shangqing) revelation. This tradition unifies the goal of early searchers of immortality and the ideal of the cosmic Saint of the Zhuangzi; central to its practices is the return to unity, the identification of human microcosm with macrocosm by mean of "ecstatic flights" and visualization of bodily deities. Tao Hongjing (?-?) is the most representative master of the school. Then, in 402, Ge Chaofu compiles new scriptures and attributes them to the Numinous Treasure (Lingbao) revelation, received by his ancestor Ge Xuan. This school, strongly influenced by Mahayana Buddhism, incorporates the doctrine of rebirth and retribution and develops the ideal of universal liberation in contrast to individual immortality. More elements that form Lingbao teaching are Confucian and Buddhist virtues, messianism and the liturgy of the Celestial Masters, which undergoes a deep evolution.
In 424 Taoism becomes the official religion at the Northern Wei court thank to Celestial Master Kou Qianzhi, who "purifies" the teachings of Zhang Daoling and his descendants. This period of glory lasts until the first half of the VI century.
Tang Dynasty (618-907)
Tang emperors generally support Taoism, but the tendency ot the period is towards sincretism. The Double Mistery school (Chongxuan) integrates Indian speculation (Madhyamika) to the interpretation of the Daode jing.
Internal contemplation (neiguan) anticipates the birth of internal alchemy (neidan).
Song and Yuan Dynasties (960-1368)
Zhenzong and Huizong are among the most supportive emperors of the Song dynasty; the latter is particularly favorable to the school of the Divine Empyrean (Shenxiao), based on the power of Thunder Rites. Other schools, such as that of Filial Piety (Jingming zhongxiao), incorporate Confucian moralism.
The development of internal alchemy continues with the Zhong-Lü and the Complete Perfection (Quanzhen) schools in the North and the Southern tradition of Zhang Boduan and Bai Yuchan. Breath, spirit (shen) and seminal essence become the ingredients of an alchemical transformation within the human body, a process based on the preservation and circulation of Yin and Yang.
Western Reform Taoism
The Controversy
about Falun Gong
Taoism and the Philosophy of Tai Chi Chuan