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64 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is transcendent?
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God is above, always separate, always superior. God is not with me or in the earth. He is above us.
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What is immanent?
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God is within one, and in the earth. He doesn't look down on one. The purpose of life is to feel one with the divine.
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What is Hinduism?
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Santana Dharma: eternal/everlasting truth
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What is Sanskrit?
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The sacred religious language of Hinduism
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What is Shruti?
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This means "that which is recited". It is so old that it is just simple sounds. The Hindu's believe that theses were the sounds from the beginning of the universe. They are the earliest part of the Vedas.
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What is the Rig Veda?
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The Veda that describes the beginning of sacred reality.
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What is Smriti?
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It means "that which is remembered". It is the beginning of the stories and beliefs of Hindus that were written down.
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What is the turning point that occurs at 500 BCE?
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When Vedic religion becomes Hinduism. It is slightly more relaxed, slightly less mystical, slightly less reliance on the priests.
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What is 2000 BCE?
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It is the start of Vedic religion.
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What are the Vedas?
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It is chanted scripture that was chanted by the priests.
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What is an Upanishad?
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This spells out what it means to be Hindu.
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What is Samsara?
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It means "being born". It creates countless revolutions of lives.
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What do the Hindus believe about their soul?
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Hindus believe that there soul doesn't die when the body does, but that it gets put back into Samsara. They may live 400 billion lives, not in Heaven, but on earth.
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What is the Atman?
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This is what Hindus call their soul. When the body dies, this keeps living. It cannot be killed.
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What is the Brahman?
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This is the sacred, divine, infinite, and eternal energy of the universe. Hindus believe that everything is connected. Everything is ultimately this. This is "God". You can't see it anywhere and it is beyond time.
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What is the Atman in relation to Brahman?
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It is one's personal Brahman.
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What is karma?
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This is the cosmic law of cause and effect. Every single thing that you do from when you are born until you die has a moral consequences. Everybody in Samsara is faced with choices
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What is Dharma?
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This tells us what we should do to get good karma. It is unwritten and a universal law. It is individual to each person.
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Explain Dharma and Karma in relation to Samsara.
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if you have good dharma, then karma will be in your favor when you go back into the Samsara spinning wheel. Hindus try to meet their dharma so that they can be released form Samsara.
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What is puja?
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These are rituals that you participate in everyday to show your dedication to god. It keeps your spiritual life in shape.
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What is Maya?
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This is the illusory world. Reality is deceptive, illusionary, shifting, imaginary. It keeps us from understanding our dharma completely to allow us to be released from Samsara. It keeps you from seeing that we are Brahman. We are divine right now, but we don't see it because of this
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What are the 4 basic wants?
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1. Pleasure: if you want pleasure, go for it. Pleasure is fine.
2. Success: material, fame, achievement. Pursue success. 3. Duty or Community: sense of belonging in something outside of ourselves. 4. Liberation: we want to be free of everything (samsara) |
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What is Moksha?
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This is freedom, release, liberation form Samsara. This is what everyone really wants. This is complete union with Brahman.
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What is the Caste System?
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This is a division of society that you are born into that affects your dharma and occupation.
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What is the order of the Caste System?
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TOP: Brahmin (priests)
SECOND: Warrior (politicians, high-level government figures) THIRD: Merchants (shop keepers) FOURTH: Peasants/laborers (factory workers) LAST: Untouchables (toilet/street cleaners) |
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What are the four stages of Hindu life?
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First: Student (age 8-20)
Second: Householder (age 20) Third: Retiree. When grandchildren arrive, you may retire. Fourth: Renunciate. To free oneself of all attachments, to end rebirth, and to attain Moksha. |
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What are the three different yoga paths of Hindu life?
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Jnana, Karma, and Bhakti
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What is Jnana?
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This is the yoga of knowledge. It brings insight ot one's divine nature. You learn from people who have already attained insight. It is reserved for Priest, intellectuals, and the Brahmin caste. There is a lot of reading involved.
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What is Karma yoga?
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This is the action yoga. If all useful work is done unselfishly, it can lead to perfection. Every Hindu does this everyday because everyone has a Dharma. It is automatic.
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What is Bhakti?
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This is devotion yoga. You are cultivating a personal devotion to your own individual god. It is shown through song, dance, food offerings, devotion to the guru (spiritual leader), relatives, spouse.
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What is the Trimurti?
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The Brahma, Bishnu, and Shiva. The three principal dieties of Hinduism. They represent elemental aspects of god. It means "triple form".
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What is Brahma?
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This is the creative force of the universe.
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What is Vishnu?
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This is the force of preservation in the universe. It represents protection.
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What is Shiva?
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This is the god of destruction.
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How does a Hindu understand God? What does God mean in Hinduism?
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God is the sacred, divine, universal energy that is present and imminent in everyone and everything. Everything in the universe is connected and is one divine energy. The sacred is within, not above or outside of us. Hindus see everyday reality as if it is a dream. Because everyone is struggling with karma an Samsara so there is the illusion that everyone is not one. Once once reaches divine reality, they realize that everything is one and that they are divine.
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What is henotheism?
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This means that there is one sacred reality with a bunch of divisions of what is inside of everyone. A god is not his own divine self, it is part of the once sacred reality. There are no personal gods.
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How does a Hindu see god? (personality wise)
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They see god with no personality because god is no different than you and me. They don't see the god with a face or voice or sitting somewhere in the universe. God is Brahman. Brahman is everything. Everything is sacred in ultimate reality. We are not in ultimate reality because we are in Maya, clouded and fogged.
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What is a Guru?
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This is a spiritual teacher. They are recognized as people of holiness. Hindus believe that they are both a saint and a living embodiment of the divine. They travel to help people to grow spiritually. Anyone may go see them.
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Who is Mohandas Ghandi?
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He was a nonviolent civil rights leader in India. He led the salt march to revel against Britain's salt tax in 1930.
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What is Ahisma?
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This means non violence. None hurt. You do not hurt life of any kind.
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What are the contemporary issues in Hinduism?
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1. The Caste system is weakening. Untouchables are allowed to go into all temples in India.
2. The role of women is expanding. Many learn to read and write and go onto higher education. They see how women are living in other areas (North America) and want to live like that too. 3. Their relationship with Islam. There is a disagreement on the border of India and Pakistan that has never been solved. 4. Contemporary values: individualism, women's rights, sexual freedom, modern fashion, and consumerism |
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What does "Buddha" mean?
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This means the "awakened one" in Buddhism.
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What is Siddhartha Gautama?
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His father was the prince in Nepal. He was born around 575 BCE. He was kept in his castle to believe that life was perfect and that everyone's life was like his. He left the castle one day and saw suffering of the ordinary world. He turned his back on Hinduism and left his family and never came back. He asked himself many questions like why there is suffering and he seeked spiritual leaders. He starved himself to try to find insight, but he collapsed from weakness. He then decided to live a moderate life. He meditated all night and then reached profound understanding called the Awakening (bodhi). He then traveled to teach his insights and way of life.
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What are the Four Passing Sights?
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When Siddhartha Gautama sees an old man who is crooked and toothless; a sick man, wasted by disease; a corpse being taken for cremation; and a sannyasin (a wandering hold man, a renunciate), who had no possessions but seemed to be at peace.
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What are the Three Marks of Reality?
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1. Change: life is change. It is not pleasant. Everything changes. All of the time. Nothing is permanent. It is elemental and cannot be argued.
2. No Permanent Identity (Anatman): He negates the Hindu word for one's personal soul (Atman) 3. Life is Suffering: You have to see the facts of life in order to enjoy life. You have to understand that life is full of suffering in order to end suffering. |
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What are the Four Noble Truths?
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These are simple facts about life. If you see the truth then you can blossom. If you can't, the you will suffer.
1. Life is to suffer (dukkha): life is suffering 2. Suffering comes from desire (tahna): we crave from the moment we are born until we die. Everything we desire causes suffering 3. Suffering can end: you have to end desir to end suffering 4. Following the Eightfold path will Release your from suffering |
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What is Dukkha?
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This is the first noble truth. It means that life is suffering.
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What is Tanha?
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This is the second noble truth. It means that suffering comes from desire.
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What is Buddhism?
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It grew out of a reaction to the highly complicated structures of Hinduism. It is a response to Hinduism.
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What is the Eightfold Path?
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This is what will lead a Buddhist to liberation from the suffering of reality.
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What is the first step of the Eightfold Path?
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"Right Understanding". It means that your recognize the impermanence of life, the mechanism of desire, and the cause of suffering.
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What is the Sangha?
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This is the monastic life. The community of the deep followers of the Buddha.
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What is Theraveda?
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This means "the way of the elders". It is old and traditional. It adheres to the traditional teachings of the Buddha to protect the integrity of his teachings. This form of Buddhism makes it very difficult to reach Nirvana.
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What is an Arhat?
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Someone who has reached Nirvana. (Theravada)
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What is Mahayana Buddhism?
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This means "the big vehicle/the big barge". Following this, one leads their life to not only reach enlightenment yourself, but to help others too. There are many ways to reach enlightenment.
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What is the Bodhisattva?
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This is someone who has reached enlightenment (Mahayana). These people are not detached from society. When they die, they can choose to come back to help other people reach enlightenment.
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What is Vajrayana Buddhism?
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This means "the diamond vehicle". This was formed when Indian Mahayana Buddhism blended with Tibetan shamanism and created Tibetan Buddhism.
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What is Buddhism in the modern world?
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The modern world has adopted what it likes from Buddhism and ignored the rest. The modern world believes in recycling but not in reincarnation.
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What are the Vedas?
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This is the sacred scripture of Hindu thought.
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What is anatta?
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This means "no permanent soul" or "no self". It is of the second Mark of Reality.
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What is karuna?
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This means compassion or empathy.
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What is nirvana?
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This means the release from suffering and rebirth that brings inner peace.
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What is samsara?
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This means constant rebirth and suffering.
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What is the middle way?
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This means that you are living life between the two extremes of self-indulgence and asceticism.
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