Exploring Hinduism's Sacred Time & Space: Religion, Founders, & Scriptures - Prof. Lynda S, Study notes of Anthropology of religion

Download Exploring Hinduism's Sacred Time & Space: Religion, Founders, & Scriptures - Prof. Lynda S and more Study notes Anthropology of religion in PDF only on Docsity! Basic Religions Foundational Terminology and Vocabulary: Basic religions were, until recently called prehistory or primitive religions. Scholars changed the name because the previous terms denoted that the ancient people were not as intelligent or sophisticated as we are today. Also, prehistory or primitive means prewriting or oral tradition culture. Most religions have some things in common: a founder, sacred text/scripture. There are two primary sources for the research and study of religions today, they are: anthropology and archaeology. Religions are full of spaces and times: Sacred time is "recoverable time,” that is, time that can be recalled and remembered to commemorate something or a time that is important. EXAMPLE: The Last Supper is reenacted or recovered in remembrance of Jesus’ last meal with His disciples in whom He instituted Communion/Eucharist/Bread-Wine to symbolize His body and blood. Another example is the Jewish Passover, or more to the point the Seder Meal, which is recalled each year in remembrance of the time that God saved the Hebrews [Jews] from death while held captive in Egypt. Sacred time then is recoverable time, or time that can be recovered to remember and pass down through the telling and/or acting out so that no one forgets. Sacred time is also, "circular time." It has no beginning and no end, it is circular and can be brought back around or recovered. Profane Time is "non-recoverable time." It is regular time with nothing sacred attached to it. It is also "linear time", it has a beginning and an end, therefore, it is non-recoverable. Sacred Space is easily recognizable most of the time such as churches, synagogues, mosques, Temples, etc. However, ANYPLACE can be turned into a sacred space by use of ritual and symbol. In other words, by doing and exhibiting sacred things, for a time, the place becomes sacred space by utilizing both "ritual" and "symbol." Sacred space is also an avenue for something called "theophany." A theophany is when or where a mere human meets and converses with the divine or a deity. EXAMPLE: Moses met with God on Mt. Sinai; God talked to Abraham, etc. Profane Space is any ordinary, mundane space or place that has no sacred significance. But if you take that same profane space and utilize ritual and symbol, the space becomes sacred space. Profane has no sacred significance, sacred space is sacred ground. "Ritual" is the action or the legs of a religion that serves to tell a story. It performs recoverable or sacred time by recalling the past. "Symbol" is a visible item that conveys a message simply by its’ design, such as: crosses, stars, crescent moons, symbols that are recognizable to most people’s meaning or defining a group or a religion. EXAMPLE: Cross, Star of David, Statue of Buddha, a country’s flag. "Animism": The belief that all living things possess spirit or spiritual worth. Hinduism/Buddhism to some extent incorporate animism in the Cycle of Rebirth or Reincarnation in that ALL living things have value, therefore NO living thing must ever be harmed. "Paganism": Adoration and worship of things of NATURE, during a time when people lived both on and off the land, they were close to nature and saw spirituality in everything to do with nature. They traveled with the seasons and looked to nature to set their days and their very existence. "Myth": NOT something that is a falsehood, as is connoted in today’s society, but a narrative or story that usually contains what is known as the creation myth of a people and their religion. This creation myth is usually found within their sacred texts. Because myth deals in faith, it does not have to be logical or make sense to anyone but the ones who believe in it.Two things that sacred texts deal with is "cosmology" and "eschatology". Cosmology is the story of how all came into being [creation, evolution, big bang, etc.] for both humanity and the cosmos or universe. Eschatology is the story of the end of time. What will happen to all living things and the universe at the end of the world. EXAMPLE: Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible is a clear book of eschatolgy or end times. "Polytheism": Belief in more than one god/goddess. Example for this class is Hinduism. "Non-Theism": Belief in no deities, example for this class is Buddhism. "Monotheism": Belief in one god and one god only. Examples for this class are: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the three major monotheistic religions of the world. "Henotheism": A religion that is tolerant and accepting of other belief system’s deities, doctrines, rituals, to the point of absorbing other's deities into their own religious practices and beliefs. Example in this class is Hinduism. It is a term that was coined by German philosopher Max Muller in the late 1800’s. "Cuneiform": Some of human’s earliest forms of writing that was chipped out of rock or stone. It is where we get the term, “carved in stone.” Early writings were literally carved in stone, called steles. is important because of its religious teaching that is not considered holy, rather considered ethical and social in regulating standards. Supposedly written by Manu, described as "first man" as cited in the Rig Veda, it gives the duty or dharma for the "seasons" of a man's life [mostly the seasons of a man in the top caste] and perhaps most importantly, it outlines a ritual called "sati" or "suttee" as part of a woman's life's season...Duty or dharma is everything to all human beings, duty to one's caste/varna. In Manu, duty for women is clear and is shown in "sati"...where widows are to burn themselves up on their dead husband's funeral pyres, it is their duty...to not obey would be disgrace and shame would befall the women and their family and their dead husband's memory and reputation. Women were to stay at home under the protection of their husband. A woman went from her father's home directly to her husband's [the marriages were usually prearranged marriages]. Usually her husband was much older than she and so it was not unusual for him to die first. Performing sati, according to Manu, would bring honor, and bring purification to the woman since her whole reason for living was to obey and care for her husband, family and home. If her husband died, she no longer had purpose in life. Sati brought the highest form of dharma or duty. If she failed to perform sati, she would live in shame. Too, the woman could not acquire her own karma and as we will see later in this lecture, karma is a key component in elevation to reaching Moksha or Enlightenment. So, by performing sati, she could accumulate her husband's karma and she would perform her dharma or duty...all in the hopes that by doing this, she could be reborn into a higher caste in the next life and if she were blessed, she could be born as a male [much preferable to a woman]. The ritual of sati has been outlawed in India for decades, but it has not died out..you still see in the paper where the ritual has been performed. One thing to keep in mind throughout this course...if you are not born into a religion and if it is not part of you and your culture, you will NEVER fully understand it, no matter how much education you have. It is extremely hard for people to give up long held beliefs and when times are tough, they revert back to the religion of the past, seeking the answers that seemed to work then with hope that they will work now. It is important to NEVER judge someone's beliefs because for them, it is TRUTH and serious and meaningful. Manu outlines the 4 stages or seasons of a man's life [it appears to be the stages of men at the top of the caste system only]: 1. MARRY: Man should be considerably older than his wife, this is IDEAL. 2. The man should be a student and study the Vedas [only the top castes have the time or luxury or access to study]. 3. The man should be head of a household or he must have a family, this is ideal and family is the cornerstone of Indian society. 4. When the man is no longer head of the home [when he is old], he should retreat into the forest to meditate, pray, give sacrifices, and learn how to DETACH or UNattach from THINGS [material, people, places], so that the Cycle of Samsara can be broken and Moksha can be attained.Hindus believe that they are bound by the laws of Dharma or duty, which serves to uphold order [rita] in the universe and it applies to all people even to the untouchables, for all time. Bhagavad Gita or "Gita" is an epic story in Indian society. It is part of a larger book called the Mahabbarata. It is a story of the struggles between the two ruling Indian families from the beginning of Indian history. It is NOT considered sacred or divine, but serves to remind about the importance of dharma or duty to one's caste. It is the story of a warrior [3rd caste] named Arjuna, a member of one of the warring families. In the story, he learns that he will be called upon to kill several members of his own family. It is his dharma or duty. He struggles with this situation and has conversations with his charioteer, named Krishna [we later learn that Krishna is an avatar or manifestation of the Trimurti god, Vishu, whose function is to "Preserve", so Krishna is urging Preservation to the Cycle of Samsara when he guides Arjuna]. Krishna tells Arjuna, that he MUST fulfill his duty to his varna or his caste and that duty as a warrior is to kill his family members. He should not question the duty, he should only fulfill it. That will insure that he will elevate in caste at death so that in his next lifetime, he will be born into the second caste, the rulers. To not fulfill his duty, he will demote down the wheel of life into the next lower caste. DHARMA or duty is all important. Hinduism is a religion of "extremes" and is based on a caste system. A social/economic system that is stratified and broken into classes known as castes or "varnas"..For this class, those castes are: 1. Top caste: Priests 2. Rulers 3. Warriors 4. Untouchables [in truth, the untouchables, were not considered part of the caste system, they were "out of the caste system"...it is where the term, "outcastes" comes from.The top caste, priests or Brahmans hold all of the power, authority, wealth. At the bottom of the system, the untouchables are the lowliest of the low, the poorest of the poor. They were made to do the lowest of jobs, ie. take care of dead bodies, human waste, live outside city limits, have nothing to do with anyone outside of their caste.As you can see, the caste or varna system was extremely UNEQUAL..at one end, the people have everything beyond their wildest dreams and at the other end, they have less than nothing. It is a system that will be the impetus that brings about the birth of three more religions to India: Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikkhism. When the Aryans came to India, they brought their Brahmanism with them. Hinduism contains a belief in gods/goddesses too numerous to count. In fact, Hinduism is often referred to as both polytheistic [belief in more than one god/goddess], as well as henotheistic [tolerant and accepting of other belief systems to the point of incorporating their gods/goddess into Hindusism, which accounts for the uncountable number of deities]. In the late 1800's a German philosopher named Max Muller noticed how accepting Hinduism was toward other religions and dubbed or coined the term Henotheism to define the practice of tolerance. But, Hinduism does recognize 3 major gods: 1. Brahma: the Creator god...created universe and all that is in it; 2. Vishnu: the Preserver god...preserves balance of universe by upholding laws of dharma and karma. 3. Shiva: the Destroyer god...attempts to destroy what Vishnu preserves. Collectively, these three are called the Trimurti.