Hinduism Study Guide - The Religions of India, China and Japan | RELI 1002, Study notes of World Religions

Download Hinduism Study Guide - The Religions of India, China and Japan | RELI 1002 and more Study notes World Religions in PDF only on Docsity! For those of you who need help, this is how I would study for each test (in the order I would do them): 1. Reread all notes—focus on the parts you don’t remember from lecture. Find those parts in the book and reread them. 2. Be able to define everything from the Terms from the Board (located under Course Content on WebCT)—IF YOU CAN’T DEFINE SOMETHING, look at the glossary in your Hinduism chapter (pages 118-120) before contacting me or posting something on WebCT. 3. Be able to answer all questions on the Study Guide (Don’t necessarily write out answers, but find them in your notes). 4. OUTLINE (at the very least) two of the three essays given on the study guide—I would do this after studying everything else, because it will be easier to synthesize the material at this point. 5. SLEEP! – sleep is very important before a test. If you can’t sleep, at least watch a movie or something. Give your brain enough time to digest the material. YOU WILL BE FINE! GOOD LUCK! HINDUISM STUDY GUIDE  Why is the term “Hinduism” problematic? Where did it come from? What has it meant over the centuries? -It doesn’t have a founder or unified system of belief and no central body governs Hinduism. Absence of a single authoritative text or divine identity. There are a lot of groups that practice Hinduism in many different ways and they don’t have one consistent name for their faith. -Hinduism is largely a name given by westerners meaning the religion of Indian’s other than muslim. Hindu comes from a Muslim word meaning Indian and non-Muslim.  What are the various Hindu beliefs about the divine? Is it one or many? Is it in this world or beyond it? -Transcendent yet Immanent (god out of this world yet still here) Polytheistic yet monistic (many gods but one reality)  Discuss the cultures of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro? What part of their culture is still present in Hinduism today? -Were major cities in the Indus valley during 2750-1500 BCE very sophisticatedly planned cities They practiced fire ritual, animal sacrifice and ritual bathing and goddess worship was very important in religion. Yoga may have started here. Have idols that may be early representations of hindu gods and goddesses. The papal tree is still important in the hindu religion. They had half-human half-animal creatures similar to mythical beasts that became popular in Hinduism.  Who were the Aryans? What part of their culture is still present in Hinduism today? -“Indo-European” language group they were the Iran and –stans and had good city planning/agriculture/trade There is a close link between the Sanskrit of the Rg veda and the language of Iran. Introduced horses to india. The rg veda speaks of Aryans living on the saraswati river.  What are the Vedas? How are they divided? What makes up each of these divisions? Why are they important? -The earliest surviving compositions by the Indo-European people. Veda = Knowledge. Called sruti-that which was heard. The four Vedas are Rg (hymns), Sama (hymns), Yajur (narrative stories), Atharva (hymns and magical formuli). Each has four categories Hymns, ritual treatises, compositions of the forest, and Upanishads (sitting near the teacher/philosphy). They are important because they are what the religion is bases itself on  What are karma, samsara, and moksha? How is dharma an important part of these terms? What are Atman and Brahman? How is Brahman described? -Karma-ones actions, whose cumulative result is held to have a determining effect on the quality of rebirth in future. Samsara-the continuing cycle of rebirths. Moksha- enlightenment. Dharma- ones religious and social duty, including both righteousness and faith. Atman- the human soul. Brahman- the ultimate reality (god) – is everywhere but you can’t fully understand til moksha.  What are the two main epics of Hinduism? What are they about? How are they used within Hinduism today? How are they different than the Vedas? -Ramayana and Mahabharata (see notes). In the epics is where we get descriptions of gods. Different from Vedas smriti that which is heard.  Know the functions and attributes of the gods/goddess we discussed in the Hinduism Pantheon PDF -see notes  Where does the idea for the Caste system originally come from? How does it change within the Laws of Manu? How is it different now? -Rg veda. It changes cause boys are reborn again in top 3 castes. Its different now cause it includes untouchables (candalas) page46.  What are the four Stages of life? Explain these in detail Student- dharma as a student is to learn Vedas and public around you cares for you (not to work) remain clebate