Islam in Tibet

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Judaism on The Silk Road

According to Lena Cansdale’s article “Jews on the Silk Road” Judaism spanned from the Roman Empire to India. This information comes from primary sources in the different areas such as a prayer text in Hebrew found in the southern part of the Gobi desert. Trade documents from the Persian and Byzantine empires inform readers of  Jewish merchants and trading. Although Cansdale’s article seems like a short synopsis of  the journey of  Jews in exile it also implicitly suggests something about Jewish identity. “Jews” became merchants because they were segregated by government force into those places and travel became part of their lives thus the widespread evidence of Jews at many places on the Silk road is understandable. In addition, some Jews may have traveled along the Silk Road to find life other than as second class citizens. Also it’s not clear what Cansdale means by Jews or Judaism which makes this overview seem too generalized.  It is unclear whether the Jews in India culture was anything like the Jews of Kiev. The thing that appears to define Jews as Jews is government regulations and possibly the Hebrew language (but that is not enough to define a group across an area).  Therefore Cansdale’s article  gives little insight into what Judaism was actually like in any area at any time across the silk road.

Islam Today

There are many misconceptions in some scholarly and public perspectives of  Islam  ( I use this term loosely).  Firstly, there is a belief highlighted by  Edward Said in his article ”The Clash of  Ignorance”  that there is push to pit the West and Islam as fundamentally against each other. This message is inaccurate as both these terms are not well-developed and exist only in writing and not in the real world . Furthermore “the West” and “Islam” have learned from each other and have not  always been in opposition. For instance, ” in the creation of this new line of defense the West drew on the humanism, science, philosophy, sociology and historiography of Islam,” (Said 2). Another misconception in the west is this belief in women and children oppression  under the fundamentalist regime  and that the American government will come  and liberate them from this negative environment. This idea is debunked by evidence that the American government  had some part to play in the establishment of the regime that was running Afghanistan and thus the negative circumstances that they want to combat. Moreover the “black and white” perspective of the Taliban regime as wholly oppressive in an over generalization. From these cases, one learns that arguments with strong polarization and terms without clear definitions lead to conflict or are can be used to create justification or particular political actions. However even though there it criticism of so-called western ideas it should always be but in context with the instigator of  these ideas as it would be just as  negative to label all the “west” as it would be to  label “Islam”.

Islam

Islam exists in its various forms all over the world, however unfortunately in some parts of the western world this religion is inaccurately portrayed as violent and sexist. Carl Ernest, in his book “Following Muhammad” , writes  about the development of  these misconceptions. He argues that they stem from skewed Christian criticism and from colonial hegemony. His argument like many others studied in this course take a so-called “truth”  and then break the idea down into the parts to show that a + b ≠ c.  The knowledge gained from the study of Ernest’s text goes far beyond that of a particular religious group and  addresses the danger of hidden agendas .  It is writers like Ernest who show why the study of religion is important and can lead to a  more critical understanding of how the world works.

Manichaeism

Manichaeism is a religious tradition founded by  Mani, a  man living in  a Judeo-Christian community in Babylon in the second century. Manichaeism main text is the Cologne Mani Codex, which outlines the life and teachings of Mani (Aitken). In this text one discovers that Manichaeism is a dualistic religion often uses the contrasting images of light and dark to relate the relationship between good and evil. Manicheaism is often described as a syncretic religion, one that is created by the blending of religious ideas which in this case would be seen as a blending of  Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism etc. There are many problems with the idea of syncretism; it presupposes that these religions that blend together some how exist outside of the poli-geo-historical area , creates a false division between so-called “individual” religions and “syncretic” religions when all religions can be seen as a reaction to previous traditions whether they are seen as religious or cultural and suggests that understanding the parental religions gives insight into the understanding of the so-called child “religion”.  On the other hand, syncretism can be used in a positive way; recognizing the significance of  religious allusion or references in the text of Manichaeism helps us better understand the relationship to other religions in the society and the practices of those religions. All in all syncretism maybe more harmful than helpful in the study of religion.

Commentary on Nestorian Tablet: “Eulogizing the Propagation of the Illustrious Religion in China, with a Preface, composed by a priest of the Syriac Church, 781 A.D.”

Analysis of this tablet reveals many aspects of the Nestorian  religion in relationship to Chinese culture of the 6th century. References to political incidents and people reveal the inextricable connection between the political goings on  in China. For instance, the  painting  of the emperor in a Nestorian Church which from one perspective could have been deemed idolatry but deemed positive and  noteworthy to the Christian writer. Another interesting aspect of tablet is the respectful way the writer discusses Buddhists. Christianity’s belief as the one true religion one would expect no  mention of Buddhism on the table or a positive one at that. Finally, although this point maybe  invalid, the emphasis and frequency of numbers within the text acknowledges Chinese culture or philosophy mixing into the understanding of Nestorian Christianity.  Therefore Nestorian tablet give good insight into the cohesive relationship between Chinese culture and Nestorian Christianity.

Buddhism in Dunhaung

Buddhism comes to Central Asia in the first part of the first century BC.  The Dunhaung area is home to “The Caves of the Thousand Buddhas” ; an ancient  Buddhist worship site. The discovery and analysis of art, scripture and documents from this area lead to a deeper understanding of the Buddhism practice in the area and the socio-political make up of the land.

The socio-political makeup of the land  found through the analysis of ancient art and documents. Special government bureau monitored the actions of  Buddhist and other groups.  The religious life was not disconnected from other aspects of Dunhaung life. The popularity of images of Yang Guifei, shows  the perception of a woman’s attractiveness change from slenderness to heaviness. The Dunhaung cave site contained a mixture of religious documents, government documents and personal letters which suggest a connection between the public and the private part of society if all these documents are equally important.

Buddhist art and scripture in the caves proves information about Buddhist practice and about Dunhaung from past centuries. The findings such as the “Lotus Sutra” suggests that the Mahayana Buddhism was one of the main Buddhist communities in the area. According to Frances Wood, Buddhism in Dunhaung was “a bewildering variety of Mahayana and Hinayana sutras, monastic rulers, spells and charms, legends and scholastic treaties of different epochs and schools.” Buddhism expanded from simply a monastic/ lay tradition.  Art such as ” Tejaprebha Buddha and the Five Planets ” show the mixing of Chinese astronomy and Buddhist tradition. The figure of Guanyin (Compassionate Listener) in early images is a male and then because compassion in China was associated with women was later depicted as a woman. These are just a few of the alterations that developed in Chinese Buddhism. The questions that arise from these changes are whether blending the aspects of a particular culture in a new religion is a new sect and what has to change for a sect  to become its own religion.

All in all, what can be learned from  this week’s readings is that public life and private life in ancient Dunhaung (as with any area) is not definable. The socio-political make-up of ancient Dunhaung  cannot be successfully discussed without discussing the religious groups that were living in the area at the time. An interesting question and paradox arises : Does culture produce religion or does religion affect culture?

Buddhism

There are three major components to Buddhism: The Buddha (the founder), The Dharma (the teachings), The Sangha (community of believers). There are three major sects of Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Depending on the group, the understanding of the Buddha and the Dharma changes. For instance, in Mahayana Buddhism the scripture of the Lotus Sutra, outlines the main doctrines of  this Buddhism but the ideas presented are different from Theravada.

There are six important sections I will discuss from the Lotus Sutra: The Buddha Preaches the One Great Vehicle, The Parable of the Burning House, The Impoverished Son, The Emergence of the Treasure Tower, The Unity and Diversity of Buddhahood and the Daughter of the Dragon King.    ”The Buddha Preaches the One Great Vehicle” discusses that only Buddha’s can understand the great Law and that no one who says they are a buddha is really buddha, one is always striving to be good even when enlightened and have faith in the Buddha. This is in contrast to Theravada that places actions before belief in the great Law.” The Parable of the Burning House” discusses whether someone transgressed if he or she did it to save a life essentially the answer is no. However this parable only works because the transgression was not a lie, there is no indication of whether another transgression would be considered so if the outcome was to save a life. “The Impoverished Son” discusses how a believer is a “son” of buddha but it is journey to rediscovering that relationship that is the quest of  Buddhist follower. This is very similar to Christian parable of the Prodigal son could there be some way that the parable was known to people in the Middle East during the time of  Jesus? “The Emergence of the Treasure” and “”The Unity and Diversity of Buddhahood” discusses the existence of  heavens and hells as well as the existence of earlier Buddhas. These ideas are different from Theravada as the Buddha was the one and only Buddha. Lastly  ”The Daughter of the Dragon King,” states that women can reach buddhahood. However it is odd and contradictory that she transforms  into a man to do what is necessary to become a bodhisattva. Could this  discrepancy  be  do to an editing of an  earlier story to keep the status of men in Buddhism higher than that of women?

 

Zoroastrianism

There are many key themes in Zoroastrianism that are found in Avesta: Yasna 29,30.3-6, 45.2, and 44; Inscriptions of Darius; Xerxes’ Inscriptions ; Yasht 1,10; Yasna  9-11, 62 Vendidad 5.1-44, 7.53-58 and16.  In the selections one can see Zoroastrian world view which involves the good vs. evil dynamic (Yasna 29,30.3-6, 45.2, and 44). Zarathushtra primacy in the religion(Yasna 29).  The existence of a creator “Lord” that blesses the righteous (Inscriptions of Darius).  The importance of Haoma (a hallucinogenic plant) in rituals (Yasna 9).  Fire worship (Yasna 9-11). The significance of ritual cleansing and cleanliness (Yasna  9-11, 62 Vendidad 5.1-44, 7.53-58 and16).It is interesting that this religions takes from both western and eastern religious practices (specifically Judaism and Hinduism).

What is Religion?

There is no right or one answer to this question. Ever since the academic study of religion began during the Enlightenment period religious scholars have tried to describe exactly what religion was and what it was not, its origins and its purpose within society. Two significant and broad approaches to religious study are Essentialist and Functionalist. Essentialist theorists  attempt to  define the unique trait or experience that sets religion apart from other aspects of society. For instance, Tylor suggests that the belief in supreme beings is unique to religion or Rudoplh Otto’s sense of awe or fascination is particular to religion. Functionalist concepts of religion involve the use of religion for the person and for society. For example Karl Marx believes that  religion functions as a “opiate of the people” that comforts the oppressed working  class with ideas of a pleasant afterlife and stops them from helping themselves in this life keeping the upper classes in  power. Essentialist notions of religion became obsolete as any of the ideas were impossible to prove and the attempt to discover the origins of religions hopeless as they lost in time. Then can functionalist ideas but they many ideas could apply to other aspects of society other than religion or they were  too difficult to prove.  More modern theories  connect are trying to connect biology to religion, such as emotional pressure for adverse social conditions promote  increased religious affiliation. The problems that arise from trying to study is the suggestion that the context and information and cultural aim  fall into the class of faith; something impossible to scientifically define and to fully appreciate the a religious experience if one does not  belong to a particular religious group.

The most difficult issue that arise from reviewing the history of the study of religion is: If there is no definition of religion can one say he or she is studying religion?

The answer is  that scholars must use the term religion when describing a phenomenon that cannot be described  in any other way. This may seem too broad a term but it seems that the only conclusion as to define something well one must have clear-cut characteristics. The progress of anthropological theories show religion does not. However I believe it is more important that religious scholar discover the bio-socio-economic-political effects of these indefinable phenomenons than to spend a lifetime trying to categorize different occurrences into different groups.  It is interesting that new fields of study could develop if  religion was given a particular definition although that brings into question of whether or not science has the right to define what religion is, that doing so, would change the way the average person outside a “religious group” viewed that group and how people within a group would feel if suddenly they are considered religious and before then  they were not or vice versa. Therefore without a definition of religion there is more opportunity to study  the impact of given phenomenon in a culture and not getting caught up in how it has to link to other religions through out time and space.