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.

Response to “Sogdian Letters”

The “Sogdian Letters 123 and 5″ directly discuss two aspects of ancient Sogdian life. Letters one and three were  by  women in distress. The first being a woman who is writing her mother to say she is unable to receive consent to visit her. The other letter is from a  woman in Dunhaung  who after several years of being deserted by her husband  is writing to explain her anger towards him.   Letters two and five discuss the hardships of Sogdian merchants in China in ancient times.

However there is other information about Sogdian life implicitly conveyed in these texts.  From analysis of these texts one can discern that both men and women could read and write  because half the letters were  written by women to women. The reading and writing education appears formal and universal as all the letters being with the similar phrase “blessing (and) homage on bended knee, as is offered to the gods. And (it would be) a good day for him who might see you healthy, happy (and) free from illness, together with everyone; and, sir, when I hear (news of) your (good) health, I consider myself immortal!”.  A Sogdian social hierarchy exists as well;  ”the free-woman Miwnay” and “the noble lord Varzakk”.  If the third letter is an accurate representation of the relationship with men and women in Sogdian society, women have some range of personal freedom.  For example, when Shayn writes ” In my paternal abode I did not have such a restricted … as with(?) you. I obeyed your command (lit. took your command upon my head) and came to Dunhuang and I did not observe (my) mother’s bidding nor (my) brothers’. Surely(?) the gods were angry with me on the day when I did your bidding! I would rather be a dog’s or a pig’s wife than yours!”. This excerpt suggests that this woman had the free will to marry who she  please despite the fact that her family disagreed with her choice and speaks frankly with her  husband about the resentment she feels towards him. However as the first letter states  women do not seem to have control of money in society.Lastly there does not a  universal Sogdian calendar; ” the year thirteen of Lord Chirth-swan in the month Taghmich” and “the third month on the tenth day,” (year?). Thus different areas or household may have had different systems of gauging time.

Therefore these short Sogdian Letter directly and indirectly reveal class structures, Sogdian hardships in China, merchant experience,  the relationship between men and women and calendar system.

Response To “Selections from the Han Narrative Histories”

Hello Fellow Trippers,

Good historical writing in my opinion must consist of the classic who,what , where, when , why and how of a particular topic. Although  each section in “Chapter on the Western Regions” contains information relating to the categories, no section  answers all of them leaving the reader with a vague picture of these areas during the referenced era or year. For example, in “Section 27 – The Kingdom of Further [i.e. Northern] Jushi”    it states “In the first yongxing year [153 CE], Aluoduo, king of the Tribe of Further Jushi, and Yan Hao, Captain of the Mao Troop, had a disagreement. The king became angry and rebelled.” This leaves the reader wondering what was the disagreement that lead to the king’s rebellion.

Looking at the the ethnographic parts of the text, one would deem it a poor study. There are many broad generalizations in the texts such as those of the Roman Empire are described as ” The people of this country are all tall and honest. They resemble the people of the Middle Kingdom and that is why this kingdom is called Da Qin,” or the people of   The Kingdom of Yizhi ”all have dishevelled hair. They follow their flocks in search of water and pasture. They know nothing of agriculture. Their products are the same as those of Pulei (Lake Barkol region).”

All in all the historical descriptions of  the different western kingdoms in the “Han Narratives” are historically and enthographically poor representations of the areas. However it is lucky for modern day scholars that  archeological digs and other efforts have shed light on this distorted and vague images of these places and they do not have to rely on secondhand accounts by a third party to understand  the culture of that area.