world religion test 3

Wang Zhe

(1113-1170) founder of the Complete Perfection movement and one of its patriarchs

holy wind

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

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

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

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.

mencius

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

ru

Chinese word for scholar and the source for the term Ruism, a popular Confucian alternative 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

sand painting

Diné ceremonial tool made of sand and ground minerals that serves as a portal for Holy People to enter and exit a ceremony

lord zao

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

Sa'a Naghai Bik'e Hozho (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

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

Neo-Confucianism

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

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

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

Mandate of Heaven

authority to rule given by heaven to a virtuous dynasty and withdrawn from an unvirtuous one

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.

diagnostician

ceremonial practitioner who diagnoses the illness of a particular individual and recommends an appropriate course of healing (often a ceremony)

hogan

domestic and religious structure that opens to the east and is used for ceremonies (cone shaped)

external alchemy (waiden)

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

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

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

qi

key Chinese concept variously translated as breath, vital energy, life force

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

Laozi "Old Master"

legendary figure credited with writing the Daodejing, revered in his deified forms as Lord Lao and Most High Lord Lao

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

Native American Church

pan-tribal Peyotist organization established in 1918 and now called the Native American Church of North America

Peyotism

pan-tribal religious tradition that uses the mildly hallucinogenic cactus peyote in its meetings

one-sung-over

patient in a Navajo ceremony

Queen Mother of the West

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

medicine bundle (jish)

pouch containing powerful objects (stones, herbs, feathers, animal parts) wrapped together and used by a medicine person

De

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

Junzi

profound person, an exemplar of virtue emphasized by classical Confucians

filial piety (xiao)

respect for and deference to one's parents

Three Sovereigns

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

Wuwei (non-action)

sometimes translated as "inaction," but better understood as spontaneous, effortless, or nonintentional 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 Navajoland, as distinct from the legal boundaries of the Navajo reservation

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

immortal (xian)

the central exemplar of the Daoist tradition. Also called "transcendents," they enjoy long life and other superpowers achieved through self-cultivation techniques.

changing women

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

four books

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

Five Classics

the fundamental texts for classical Confucianism: Book of History, Book of Poetry, Book of Rites, Book of Changes, and Spring and Autumn Annals

three pure ones (sanging)

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 "principle" or "pattern," a central concept in the Neo-Confucian School of Principle

Confucius

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

Orthodox Unity (Zhengyi)

the leading form of householder Daoism 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 ritualfocused "shrine Daoism."

daudejing (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 Laoz

Blessingway (hozhooji)

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

dine (the people)

the navajo people

corn

traditional Diné food staple and the food of the Holy People, a crucial element (as pollen or cornmeal) 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. characterizes the lower worlds of death.

gigong

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

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