Exam 3 world religions (Confucianism, Daoism, Navajo)

Neo-Confucianism

"Learning of the Way" a reinvention and revival of Confucianism that drew on Buddhists and Daoist influences to turn the Confucian tradition inward toward self-cultivation

Laozi

("Old Master") legedary figure credited with writing the Daodejing, revered in his deified forms as lord Lloa and most high lord lao

Daodejing

("Scripture on the Way and Its Virtue) the most influential text in Daoist history and one of the world's most frequently translated books, traditionally attributed to Laozi and also called the Laozi

Libationer

Celestial Masters priestly officiant who employs celestial registers to draft petitions to the gods. Unlike the celibate monastics of the Complete Perfection movement, libationers marry.

Navajo exemplar

Changing Woman and other creation story heroes who turn ugliness into beauty and sickness into health

Mencius or Mengzi

China's Second Sage, who argued that human nature is essentially good

ru

Chinese word for scholar and the source or the term Ruism, a popular confucian alternate to Confucianism

Mohists

Confucian rivals who criticized the emphasis of Confucius on elaborate rituals and sought social harmony through universal love rather than filial piety

Zhuangzi ("Master Zhuang")

Daoist sage credited with writing the humorous and enigmatic book of stories also known as the Zhuangzi

Five Virtues

Humaneness, righteousness, ritual propriety, wisdom, integrity

Yang

In Chinese philosophy, the bright, assertive, "male" energy in the universe

Yin

In Chinese philosophy, the dark, receptive, "female" energy in the universe

lord lao

Laozi divinized as the personification of the Daodejing, a revealer of Daoist texts, and one of the Three Pure Ones

Yin Xi

Laozi's first disciple

Sa'a Nághaí Bik'e Hózhó (SNBH)

Navajo goal of life, often expressed in stories, songs, prayers, and everyday conversations; translations include "in old age walking, his trail beautiful."

Wang Yangming

Neo-Confucian figure associated with the idealistic School of Mind. teaching of the unity of knowing and acting

Navajo Religion

The way of beauty

Confucianism

The way of ritual propriety

Dao ("Way")

Ultimate Reality and its manifestations in everyday life, the preexisting source of everything in the cosmos, and the process through which everything in it is transformed

tai chi (taiji quan)

a Chinese martial art that features slow, circular movements. Though widely associated with Daoism, it is a broader Chinese practice.

coyote

a key figure in Dine stories; a dangerously entertaining wanderer known for stirring up chaos through his lies, lust, greed, gluttony, and impatience

Complete Perfection (Quanzhen)

a second major movement of organized Daoism, a monastic tradition founded in the twelfth century by Wang Zhe and now represented largely by its Dragon Gate lineage -emphasizes the experiential dimension (medication, visualization, and internal alchemy)

Highest Clarity (Shangqing)

also translated as "Supreme Purity," a fourth-century movement that pushed Daoism away from laboratory alchemy toward meditation and other self-cultivation techniques

internal alchemy (neidan)

an interiorization of older external alchemical processes in which the elixir of immortality is manufactured inside the human body via meditation and visualization

yin and yang

ancient Chinese concept in which two complementary principles interact with one another to create individual, societal, and cosmic change

Holy Wind (Nilchi)

animating life force and a source of movement for all living things, associated with breath, speech, thought, and action

Hozho

beauty, harmony, and the central value in Navajo life, often paired with its contrasting term hocho. Upon its creation, the upper world was characterized by hozho.

mandate of heaven

big ideas of the Zhou Dynasty, authority to rule given by heaven to a virtuous dynasty and withdrawn from an unvirtuous one. If a ruler was good, peace and prosperity would follow. If a ruler was evil, heaven would dispatch natural disasters.

Analects

collection of the sayings and actions of Confucius

Kong Qui or Kongzi

destined to be "uncrowned king" by unicorn. His solution to the tumult of his times was to revert to the rituals and values o the golden age of the early Zhou. Main ancient values he emphasized were humaneness, ritual propriety, and filial piety

hogan ("place home")

domestic and religious structure that opens to the east and is used for ceremonies

External alchemy (waidan)

earlier Daoist practice that attempted to create an elixir of immortality out of dangerous metals and minerals

Duke of Zhou

eleventh-century BCE culture hero glorified by Confucius as the exemplar of Confucian virtues

Five Relationships

father and son, elder brother and younger brother, husband and wife, older friend and younger friend, ruler and subject (confucian)

Celestial Masters (Tianshi)

first major movement of organized Daoism, a householder tradition emphasizing communal rituals founded in the second century CE by Zhang Daoling and now referred to as Orthodox Unity

Daoism Solution

flourishing

Wang Zhe (1113-1170)

founder of the Complete Perfection movement and one of its patriarchs

Zhang Daoling

founder of the first known Daoist organization, the Celestial Masters, and the first in a lineage of Celestial Masters that continues today

registers

heavenly records used in Celestial Masters rituals. These documents identify individual Daoists by name and rank and list the supernatural beings to whom they can appeal for grace and favor

Navajo Religion Problem

hocho, which refers to disease, disharmony, ugliness, chaos, misfortune, conflict, and evil.

Earth Surface People

human beings, so named because they were created and live on the surface of the earth

feng shui ("wind and water")

initially a method for determining the best placement of a grave, this method is now used to find sites for homes and to place objects inside homes

Xunzi

key classical Confucian figure who argued that human nature is essentially wicked

Legalists

law-and-order rivals to Confucians who came to power in the Qin dynasty and argued that social harmony required strong central government and strict laws and punishments

Daoism Problem

lifelessness

singer (hataalii)

medicine person, also known as a chanter, who organizes and conducts ceremonies in order to restore individual health and community harmony

Zhu Xi

most influential Neo-Confucian thinker and compiler of the Four Books, associated with the rationalistic School of Principle. Stoped Mencius/Xunzi debate, says humans are inherently good.

qi (daoism)

out o the void (Dao) the One spontaneously emerged, breathing _______ ("vital energy"). key Chinese concept variously translated as breath, vital energy, life force

Queen Mother of the West

popular ancient Chinese divinity and overseer of her fellow goddesses who predates Daoism but is widely associated with it

de

power or virtue. Those who attain the Dao are also said to attain this power and this virtue

Navajo Tecniques

prayers, offerings, and ceremonies meant to restore individuals and the community to health and harmony

junzi

profound person, exemplar of virtue, "superior man" "perfected person"

filial piety

respect for and deference to one' parents

Navajo Solution

revert to hozho by restoring the individual and the community to beauty, harmony, and balance.

the Three Sovereigns

rulers who together inaugurated Chinese civilization: Fuxi the "Ox Tamer", Shennong the "Divine Farmer", Huangdi the "Yellow Emperor"

Daoism Exemplars

sages, immortals, and Perfected Persons

Wuwei (non-action)

sometimes translated as "inaction," but better understood as spontaneous, effortless, or non-intentional action, like water running downhill

Holy People (Diyin Dine'é)

superbeings who are the subjects of Navajo stories and the recipients of prayers and ceremonies

Dine Bikeyah

the Navajo homeland; set amid the four sacred mountains, also known as Navajo-land, as distinct from the legal boundaries of the Navajo reservation

Dine ("the people")

the Navajo people

mountain soil bundle

the best-known Navajo medicine bundle and the Blessingway's central ritual object; it includes soil and jewels from the four sacred mountains

Changing Woman

the epitome of goodness in the Navajo Way, she brought the Diné into being and embodies the cycle from birth to puberty to maturity to happy old age

First Man and First Woman

the first male/female pair, they planned, modeled, and brought into being the Earth Surface World after emerging from the lower worlds

Five classics

the fundamental tests for classical confucianism: Book of history, book of poetry, book of rites, book of changes, and spring and autumn annals

Four books (confucianism)

the fundamental texts for classical Confucianism: Analects, Mencius, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean

Three Pure Ones (Sanqing)

the highest and most popular gods in the Daoist pantheon, traditionally depicted together: Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning, Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure, and Celestial Worthy of the Way and Its Power

ren

the key confucian virtue of humaneness, or benevolence

li

the key confucian virtue of ritual propriety; also known as "principle" or "pattern"

Orthodox Unity (Zhengyi)

the leading form of householder Daosim and one of the two main Daoist schools today. Orthodox Unity is the successor to the Way of the Celestial Masters and a classic example of ritual-focused "shrine Daosim" -emphasizes ritual

the blessingway (hozhooji)

the most popular and important Navajo ceremony; a preventive ritual that aims at health, good fortune, and long life

Daoism

the way of flourishing

Confucius

they key figure in classical Confucianism, credited as the author of the Analects and later divinized

corn

traditional dine food staple and the food of the holy people, a crucial element in ceremonies, a symbol of fertility, and a repository of the powers of creation

hocho

ugliness, disharmony, chaos; often paired with its contrasting term hozho. Hocho characterizes the lower worlds of death.

qigong

umbrella term for energy-based slow exercises and breathing techniques first popularized in China in the 1950s. Falun Gong is an offshoot.

Daoism Techniques

various methods designed to allow the practitioner to revert to the Dao, including meditation, visualization, internal alchemy, healthful eating, breathing exercises, and bureaucratic rituals

qi

vital force out of which all things come and to which they all return

inner form

wind-animated life force inside the outer form of a living thing. Ceremonies are addressed to the inner forms of Holy People, whose outer forms are no longer in this world.

sage (shengren)

wise person, the Confucian exemplar emphasized after the rise of Neo-Confucianism