2nd Half: Religion/Philosophy

Ahura Mazda

One God The source of all light and truth (Zoroastrianism)

Buddhist beliefs on causes of suffering

People suffer because of their desires Desire for fulfillment Desire for things to change If you remove desires, you remove suffering Its cause was desire or craving for individual fulfillment, attachment to that which inevitably changes, particularly to the notion of a core self or ego that is uniquely and solidly "me."

Moksha

Release of the Atman from the material world and its union with Brahman. Escaping Samsara. The goal of their religion. (Hinduism)

Confucianism

Revolves around the pursuit of the unity of the self and Tiān (Heaven, or the traditional high god of the Zhou), and the relationship of humankind to the Heaven. (Chinese)

Chinese Order: Legalist Answer

To Legalist thinkers, the solution to China's problems lay in rules or laws, clearly spelled out and strictly enforced through a system of rewards and punishments. Legalists generally entertained a rather pessimistic view of human nature. Only the state and its rulers could act in a citizens long-term interests. Doing so meant promoting farmers and soldiers, the only two groups in society who performed essential functions, while suppressing merchants, aristocrats, scholars, and other classes regarded as useless. Legalist thinking provided inspiration and methods for the harsh reunification of China under Shihuangdi and the Qin dynasty (221-206 b.c.e.), but the brutality of that short dynasty thoroughly discredited Legalism.

Plato's Apology

ca 399 BCE Told from the perspective of Socrates God(s) only are wise, not men Examines people, and his followers do as well Thinks it's dumb to fear death Refuses to abandon his philosophy Thinks himself the stinging fly that keeps Athens alert "The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness"

The Gospel of Matthew

ca 70-100 CE Humility is strongly emphasized Peace, patience, persecution Condemns anger, not just violence Condemns lust, not just adultery Did not come to destroy Judaism You must be more righteous than the Pharisees to enter heaven Don't violently oppose people; rather, turn the other cheek Love your enemy. Loving your family, etc. is easy Don't be a hypocrite Don't be greedy Don't worry too much about the future Don't judge others Ask and you shall receive

Primary Source: Doc 4.1 "Reflections from Confucius"

The Analects by Confucius (ca. 479‒221 B.C.E.) Don't offend your superiors Be respectful to your elders Observe proper rites to dead ancestors Government officials should be virtuous Lead by virtue and people will follow A king should be benevolent and the people will be loyal Riches and honor obtained in the proper way are good, poverty and meanness should be avoided. If you can't avoid them, they shouldn't be avoided. Wisdom= following your duty and keeping aloof from spiritual beings Do to others what you would have done to you "Of all people, girls and servants are the most difficult to behave to. If you are familiar with them, they lose their humility. If you maintain a reserve toward them, they are discontented."

Siddhartha Gautama

The Buddha (ca. 566-ca. 486 b.c.e.), a prince from a small north Indian state. According to Buddhist tradition, the prince had enjoyed a sheltered and delightful youth but was shocked to his core upon encountering old age, sickness, and death. Leaving family and fortune behind, he then set out on a six-year spiritual quest, finally achieving insight, or "enlightenment," at the age of thirty-five. For the rest of his life, he taught what he had learned and gathered a small but growing community whose members came to see him as the Buddha, the Enlightened One, a human being who had awakened.

Confucianism and Chinese Culture

The discrediting of Legalism during the Qin dynasty opened the door to the adoption of Confucianism as the official ideology of the Chinese state, to such an extent that Confucianism became almost synonymous with Chinese culture. As China's bureaucracy took shape during the Han dynasty and after, Confucianism became the central element of the educational system, which prepared students for the examinations required to gain official positions. In those examinations, candidates were required to apply the principles of Confucianism to specific situations that they might encounter in office. Confucian views of the family were rigidly patriarchal and set the tone for defining the lives of women and men alike. Those views were linked to a hierarchical understanding of the cosmos in which an inferior and receptive Earth was in balance with the superior and creative principle of Heaven. But these were gendered concepts with Heaven associated with things male and Earth with those female. Thus the subordinate and deferential position of women in relation to men was rooted in the structure of the cosmos itself. Corresponding Confucian virtues for ideal men were contained in the paired concepts of wen and wu. The superior principle of wen referred to the refined qualities of rationality, scholarship, and literary and artistic abilities, while wu focused attention on physical and martial achievements. Military men and merchants occupied a distinctly lower position in male social hierarchy. Confucian values established certain expectations for the superior parties in China's social hierarchy. Thus emperors should keep taxes low, administer justice, and provide for the material needs of the people. Those who failed to govern by the moral norms of Confucian values forfeited the Mandate of Heaven and invited upheaval and their replacement by another dynasty. Likewise husbands should deal kindly with their wives and children, lest they invite conflict and disharmony in the family. Confucius did not deny the reality of gods and spirits. But the thrust of Confucian teaching was distinctly this-worldly and practical, concerned with human relationships, effective government, and social harmony.

Nirvana

The enlightened state where you have overcome your desires (and hence suffering) and achieved kindness, serenity, and compassion (Buddhism).

Buddhism

The real world is an illusion. Goal is to escape this illusion. Achieve nirvana. Stemmed from Hinduism. Unlike Hinduism, you don't need organized religion, priests, castes, etc., to achieve enlightenment. (Chinese) Much of the Buddha's teaching reflected the Hindu traditions from which it sprang. The idea that ordinary life is an illusion, the concepts of karma and rebirth, the goal of overcoming the incessant demands of the ego, the practice of meditation, the hope for final release from the cycle of rebirth — all of these Hindu elements found their way into Buddhist teaching. In this respect, Buddhism was a simplified and more accessible version of Hinduism. Other elements of Buddhist teaching, however, sharply challenged prevailing Hindu thinking. Rejecting the religious authority of the Brahmins, the Buddha ridiculed their rituals and sacrifices as irrelevant to the hard work of dealing with one's suffering. Nor was he much interested in abstract speculation about the creation of the world or the existence of God. Individuals had to take responsibility for their own spiritual development with no help from human authorities or supernatural beings. It was a religion of intense self-effort, based on personal experience. The Buddha also challenged the inequalities of a Hindu-based caste system, arguing that neither caste position nor gender was a barrier to enlightenment. The possibility of "awakening" was available to all. Buddhism's egalitarian message appealed especially to lower-caste groups and to women. The availability of its teaching in the local language of Pali, rather than the classical Sanskrit, made it accessible.

Two strains of Buddhism

Theravada and Mahayana

Bodhisattvas

Those who had achieved enlightenment but remained in the world to show others the way (Buddhism)

Plato

(429-348 BCE) Student of Socrates Interested in Forms Life is an illusion. Get past illusion to find the true Form of something. (429-348 b.c.e.) famously sketched out in The Republic a design for a good society. It would be ruled by a class of highly educated "guardians" led by a "philosopher-king." Such people would be able to penetrate the many illusions of the material world and to grasp the "world of forms," in which ideas such as goodness, beauty, and justice lived a real and unchanging existence. Only such people, he argued, were fit to rule.

Socrates

(469-399 BCE) Way to become a virtuous man: Acquiring knowledge and wisdom. Died of Hemlock poisoning (469-399 b.c.e.), an Athenian philosopher who walked about the city engaging others in conversation about the good life. He wrote nothing, and his preferred manner of teaching was not the lecture or exposition of his own ideas but rather a constant questioning of the assumptions and logic of his students' thinking. (See Socrates Cause of Trouble) Such behavior brought him into conflict with city authorities, who accused him of corrupting the youth of Athens and sentenced him to death. At his trial, he defended himself as the "gadfly" of Athens, stinging its citizens into awareness.

Hinduism

(Indian) Hinduism had no historical founder; rather, it grew up over many centuries along with Indian civilization. Although it later spread into Southeast Asia, Hinduism was not a missionary religion seeking converts, but was, like Judaism, associated with a particular people and territory. From the inside, however, Hinduism dissolved into a vast diversity of gods, spirits, beliefs, practices, rituals, and philosophies. This endlessly variegated Hinduism served to incorporate into Indian civilization the many diverse peoples who migrated into or invaded the South Asian peninsula. Despite the fragmentation and variety of Indian cultural and religious patterns, an evolving set of widely recognized sacred texts provided some commonality: The Vedas and Upanishads.

Women's role in Buddhism

A lot more free than Hinduism. Women could have their own monasteries, etc. These nuns were subjected to a series of rules that clearly subordinated them to men. Male monks, for example, could officially admonish the nuns, but the reverse was forbidden. Here is a reflection of a particular strain of Buddhist thinking that viewed women as a distracting obstacle to male enlightenment. Nonetheless, Buddhist nuns delighted in the relative freedom of their order, where they largely ran their own affairs, were forbidden to do household chores, and devoted themselves wholly to the search for "awakening," which many apparently achieved.

Cults of Hinduism

Believed that there were multiple paths to Moksha. Strict study, worshiping a particular god devotedly, strictly follow caste system, etc. Some might achieve moksha through knowledge or study; others by means of detached action in the world, doing one's work without regard to consequences; still others through passionate devotion to some deity or through extended meditation practice.

Primary Source: Doc 4.2 "Reflections from Hindu Scriptures"

Bhagavad Gita (ca. Fifth to Second Century B.C.E.) For to one that is born, death is certain; and to one that dies, birth is certain. Do not grieve over death. Let not the fruit of action be your motive to action. Let not your attachment be fixed on inaction. The fourfold division of castes was created by me according to the appointment of qualities and duties: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras. perfection. One's duty, though defective, is better than another's duty well performed. One who is self-restrained, whose understanding is unattached everywhere, from whom affections have departed, obtains the supreme perfection of freedom from action by renunciation. =Brahmins

Confucius

Born to an aristocratic family in the state of Lu in northern China, Confucius (551- 479 b.c.e.) was both learned and ambitious. Believing that he had found the key to solving China's problem of disorder, he spent much of his adult life seeking a political position from which he might put his ideas into action. But no such opportunity came his way. Perhaps it was just as well, for it was as a thinker and a teacher that Confucius left a profound imprint on Chinese history and culture and also on other East Asian societies, such as Korea's and Japan's. After his death, his students collected his teachings in a short book called the Analects, and later scholars elaborated and commented endlessly on his ideas, creating a body of thought known as Confucianism.

Christianity

Christ's message had wide appeal Textbook compares to Buddha (See Buddhism vs Christianity) Textbook claims Jesus wasn't trying to start religion Viewed often as a political figure Neither Jesus nor the Buddha had any intention of founding a new religion; rather, they sought to revitalize the traditions from which they had come. The transformation of Christianity from a small Jewish sect to a world religion began with Saint Paul (10-65 c.e.), an early convert whose missionary journeys in the eastern Roman Empire led to the founding of small Christian communities that included non-Jews. The Good News of Jesus, Paul argued, was for everyone, and Gentile (non-Jewish) converts need not follow Jewish laws or rituals such as circumcision.

Were Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism opposed or were they compatible?

Compatible. Taoists were sometimes employed in the Confucian government. Buddhism later integrated smoothly as well.

The Buddha

Founder and teacher of Buddhism. Siddhartha Guatama (ca 566 - ca 486 BCE)

Lao-tzu

Founder of Taoism and author of religious texts Daoism was associated with the legendary figure Laozi, who, according to tradition, was a sixth-century b.c.e. archivist. He is said to have penned a short poetic volume, the Daodejing (The Way and Its Power), before vanishing in the wilderness to the west of China on his water buffalo. Daoist ideas were later expressed in a more explicit fashion by the philosopher Zhuangzi (369-286 b.c.e.).

Emperor Ashoka's religion

(268-232 b.c.e.) Converted from Hinduism to Buddhism and believed a lot in Dharma.

Aristotle

(384-322 BCE) Student of Plato One idea is that some people are natural slaves Empirical observation was important to him Cultivate good habits, education, and rational thinking to become virtuous man Tutored Alexander the Great (384-322 b.c.e.), a student of Plato and a teacher of Alexander the Great, represents the most complete expression of the Greek way of knowing, for he wrote or commented on practically everything. With an emphasis on empirical observation, he cataloged the constitutions of 158 Greek city-states, identified hundreds of species of animals, and wrote about logic, physics, astronomy, the weather, and much else besides. Famous for his reflections on ethics, he argued that "virtue" was a product of rational training and cultivated habit and could be learned. As to government, he urged a mixed system, combining the principles of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy.

The Bhagavad-Gita

A warrior Arjuna has a vision of the divine form of his charioteer, Lord Krishna (an incarnation of the god Vishnu). Beliefs of the soul: The spirit is eternal. So it's ok to kill in battle. The soul will get another body. Caste system reinforcement. A good person? Follow your caste. Follow your duty. Don't be arrogant, stubborn, angry, etc. Increased Hinduism's popularity (ca. 100 BCE) The troubled warrior-hero Arjuna is in anguish over the necessity of killing his kinsmen as a decisive battle approaches. But he is assured by his charioteer Lord Krishna, an incarnation of the god Vishnu, that performing his duty as a warrior, and doing so selflessly without regard to consequences, is an act of devotion that would lead to "release from the shackles of repeated rebirth." This was not an invitation to militarism, but rather an affirmation that ordinary people, not just Brahmins, could also find spiritual fulfillment by selflessly performing the ordinary duties of their lives. Withdrawal and asceticism were not the only ways to moksha.

Greek Philosophy Central Theme

Asking questions to find answers. The distinctive feature of the classical Greek cultural tradition was the willingness of many Greek intellectuals to abandon this mythological framework, to affirm that the world was a physical reality governed by natural laws, and to assert that human rationality could both understand these laws and work out a system of moral and ethical life as well. In separating science and philosophy from conventional religion, the Greeks developed a way of thinking that bore some similarity to the secularism of Confucian thought in China. The foundations of this Greek rationalism emerged in the three centuries between 600 and 300 b.c.e., coinciding with the flourishing of Greek city-states, especially Athens, and with the growth of its artistic, literary, and theatrical traditions. The enduring significance of Greek thinking lay not so much in the answers it provided to life's great issues, for the Greeks seldom agreed with one another, but rather in its way of asking questions. Its emphasis on argument, logic, and the relentless questioning of received wisdom; its confidence in human reason; its enthusiasm for puzzling out the world without much reference to the gods — these were the defining characteristics of the Greek cultural tradition.

Socrates Cause of Trouble

Criticized people who sought wealth and power as opposed to knowledge Political connections Questioning the gods Concerned always to puncture the pretentious, he challenged conventional ideas about the importance of wealth and power in living well, urging instead the pursuit of wisdom and virtue. He was critical of Athenian democracy and on occasion had positive things to say about Sparta, the great enemy of his own city.

Samsara

Cycle of life, death, and re-birth (Hinduism) Reincarnation was a central feature due to the desire to achieve the exalted state of Brahman. The law of Karma dictated where you would next be born in the caste system.

Socrates/Plato/Aristotle similarities in philosophies

Defining terms Questioning assumptions Catalog observations, such as in nature Politics Human behavior Morality/Ethics

Women in Christianity

Early Christianity, like Buddhism, offered a mix of opportunities and restrictions for women. Jesus himself had interacted easily with a wide range of women, and they had figured prominently among his followers. Some scholars have argued that Mary Magdalene was a part of his inner circle. And women played leadership roles in the "house churches" of the first century c.e. It was not long before male spokesmen for the faith had fully assimilated older and highly negative views of women. As daughters of Eve, they were responsible for the introduction of sin and evil into the world and were the source of temptation for men. On the other hand, Jesus' mother Mary soon became the focus of a devotional cult; women were among the martyrs of the early church; and growing numbers of Christian women, like their Buddhist counterparts, found a more independent space in the monasteries, even as the official hierarchy of the Church became wholly male.

The Vedas

Hindu religious texts. Originally passed down through oral tradition. Later written. Describe rituals, social hierarchies, etc. (1500 - 600 BCE) Historians writing fleeting glimpses of formative Indian civilization. Suggest a clearly patriarchal society, but women participated in religious sacrifices, engaged in debates, were allowed to wear religious thread symbolizing purity, and sometimes could marry whom they wished. Describes the elaborate ritual sacrifices of Brahmin priests which allowed the priests to gain much power and wealth.

Upanishads

Hindu religious texts. Theological ideas rather than rituals and details (800 - 400 BCE) Sought to probe the inner meaning of the sacrifices described in the Vedas. External ritual gave way to introspective thinking. Gives the philosophical ideas of Atman and Brahman

Atman

Human Soul (Hinduism) The fundamental assertion of philosophical Hinduism was that the individual human soul, or atman, was in fact a part of Brahman. Beyond the quest for pleasure, wealth, power, and social position, all of which were perfectly normal and quite legitimate, lay the effort to achieve the final goal of humankind — union with Brahman, an end to our illusory perception of a separate existence. This was moksha or liberation, compared sometimes to a bubble in a glass of water breaking through the surface and becoming one with the surrounding atmosphere.

Taoism/Daoism

Humility and religious piety (Chinese) The central concept of Daoist thinking is dao, an elusive notion that refers to the way of nature, the underlying and unchanging principle that governs all natural phenomena. Daoism invited people to withdraw from the world of political and social activism, to disengage from the public life so important to Confucius, and to align themselves with the way of nature. It meant simplicity in living, small self-sufficient communities, limited government, and the abandonment of education and active efforts at self-improvement. Despite its various differences with the ideas of Confucianism, the Daoist perspective was widely regarded by elite Chinese as complementing rather than contradicting Confucian values. The Daoist perspective viewed family life as central to Chinese society, though the element of male/female hierarchy was downplayed in favor of complementarity and balance between the sexes.

Women's role in Hinduism

In the Vetas, they were more equal. But later on, they were much less equal. Couldn't marry who they want, couldn't own property, couldn't participate in all rituals. The Laws of Manu, composed probably in the early c.e. centuries, described a divinely ordained social order and articulated a gender system whose ideals endured for a millennium or more. It taught that all embryos were basically male and that only weak semen generated female babies. However, many Hindu deities were female, some life-giving and faithful, others like Kali fiercely destructive. Women were particularly prominent in the growing devotional cults dedicated to particular deities, where neither gender nor caste were obstacles to spiritual fulfillment. Sexual pleasure was considered a legitimate goal for both men and women, and its techniques were detailed in the Kamasutra.

Chinese Order: Daoist Answer

In the face of China's disorder and chaos, Daoists urged withdrawal into the world of nature and encouraged behavior that was spontaneous, individualistic, and natural. Daoism invited people to withdraw from the world of political and social activism, to disengage from the public life so important to Confucius, and to align themselves with the way of nature. It meant simplicity in living, small self-sufficient communities, limited government, and the abandonment of education and active efforts at self-improvement. Despite its various differences with the ideas of Confucianism, the Daoist perspective was widely regarded by elite Chinese as complementing rather than contradicting Confucian values.

Mahayana

Known as "The Greater Vehicle". Treated Buddha as a god-like figure, belief in bodhisattvas. (Buddhism) Buddhist thinkers developed the idea of bodhisattvas, spiritually developed people who postponed their own entry into nirvana to assist those who were still suffering. The Buddha himself became something of a god, and both earlier and future Buddhas were available to offer help. Elaborate descriptions of these supernatural beings, together with various levels of heavens and hells, transformed Buddhism into a popular religion of salvation. Furthermore, religious merit, leading to salvation, might now be earned by acts of piety and devotion, such as contributing to the support of a monastery, and that merit might be transferred to others.

Theravada

Known as "The teachings of the elders". Focus on wisdom as taught by monks. Not much focus on gods. (Buddhism) (Teaching of the Elders), portrayed the Buddha as an immensely wise teacher and model, but certainly not divine. It was more psychological than religious, a set of practices rather than a set of beliefs. The gods, though never completely denied, played little role in assisting believers in their search for enlightenment.

Angra Mainyu

Leader of the forces of evil (Zoroastrianism)

Judaism

Monotheistic in a polytheistic world Small region and small group of people Belief in a personal, approachable God Belief in covenants (contracts with God) Yahweh Their traditions, recorded in the Hebrew scriptures, tell of an early migration from Mesopotamia to Canaan under the leadership of Abraham. Those same traditions report that a portion of these people later fled to Egypt, where they were first enslaved and then miraculously escaped to rejoin their kinfolk in Palestine. There, around 1000 b.c.e., they established a small state, which soon split into two parts — a northern kingdom called Israel and a southern state called Judah. Unlike the peoples of Mesopotamia, India, Greece, and elsewhere — all of whom populated the invisible realm with numerous gods and goddesses — Jews found in their God, whom they called Yahweh (YAHway), a powerful and jealous deity, who demanded their exclusive loyalty. It was a difficult requirement, for as the Hebrews turned from a pastoral life to agriculture, many of them were attracted by the fertility gods of neighboring peoples. Their neighbors' goddesses also were attractive, offering a kind of spiritual support that the primarily masculine Yahweh could not. Foreign deities also entered Hebrew culture through royal treaty obligations with nearby states. Thus the emerging Hebrew conception of the Divine was not quite monotheism, for the repeated demands of the Hebrew prophets to turn away from other gods show that those deities remained real for many Jews.

Zoroastrianism

Monotheistic religion in the middle east (7th to 6th century BCE) Good will eventually triumph over evil due to a Savior There will be a Final Judgment Some people in northern India still practice this. ( called Persis or something?) During the glory years of the powerful Persian Empire, a new religion arose to challenge the polytheism of earlier times. Tradition dates its Persian prophet, Zarathustra (Zoroaster to the Greeks), to the sixth or seventh century b.c.e., although some scholars place him hundreds of years earlier. Whenever he actually lived, his ideas took hold in Persia and received a degree of state support during the Achaemenid dynasty (558-330 b.c.e.). Appalled by the endemic violence of recurring cattle raids, Zarathustra recast the traditional Persian polytheism into a vision of a single unique god, Ahura Mazda, who ruled the world and was the source of all truth, light, and goodness. This benevolent deity was engaged in a cosmic struggle with the forces of evil, embodied in an equivalent supernatural figure, Angra Mainyu. Ultimately this struggle would be decided in favor of Ahura Mazda, aided by the arrival of a final savior who would restore the world to its earlier purity and peace. At a day of judgment, those who had aligned with Ahura Mazda would be granted new resurrected bodies and rewarded with eternal life in Paradise. Those who had sided with evil and the "Lie" were condemned to everlasting punishment. It was the arrival of Islam and an Arab empire that occasioned the final decline of Zoroastrianism in Persia, although a few believers fled to India, where they became known as Parsis ("Persians"). The Parsis have continued their faith into present times.

Buddhist beliefs on overcoming desires

Morality Temperance Meditation

Chinese Order: Confucian Answer

Not laws and punishments, but the moral example of superiors was the Confucian key to a restored social harmony. For Confucius, human society consisted primarily of unequal relationships: the father was superior to the son; the husband to the wife; the older brother to the younger brother; and, of course, the ruler to the subject. If the superior party in each of these relationships behaved with sincerity, benevolence, and genuine concern for others, then the inferior party would be motivated to respond with deference and obedience. Harmony then would prevail. Confucius emphasized education as the key to moral betterment. He prescribed a broad liberal arts education emphasizing language, literature, history, philosophy, and ethics, all applied to the practical problems of government. Ritual and ceremonies were also important, for they conveyed the rules of appropriate behavior in the many and varying circumstances of life. In Confucian thinking, the family became a model for political life, a kind of miniature state. Filial piety, the honoring of one's ancestors and parents, was both an end in itself and a training ground for the reverence due to the emperor and state officials.

The Spreading of Christianity

See Map on Page 191 During the first six centuries of the Christian era, most followers of Jesus lived in the non-European regions of the Roman Empire — North Africa, Egypt, Anatolia, Syria — or outside of the empire altogether in Arabia, Persia, Ethiopia, India, and China. Saint Paul's missionary journeys had established various Christian communities in the Roman province of Asia — what is now Turkey — and also in Syria. From Syria, the faith spread eastward into Persia. To the north of Syria on the slopes of the Caucasus Mountains, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first place where rulers adopted Christianity as a state religion. Syria and Persia represented the core region of the Church of the East, distinct both theologically and organizationally from the Latin church focused on Rome and an emerging Eastern Orthodox church based in Constantinople. By the fourth century, and perhaps much earlier, a well-organized church had taken root in southern India. A modest Christian presence in Central Asia was also an outgrowth of this Church of the East. In other directions as well, Christianity spread from its Palestinian place of origin. By the time Muhammad was born in 570, a number of Arabs had become Christians. A particularly vibrant center of Christianity developed in Egypt. Increasingly, the language, theology, and practice of Egyptian Christianity diverged from that of Rome and Constantinople. To the west of Egypt, a Church of North Africa furnished a number of the intellectuals of the early Church including Saint Augustine as well as many Christian martyrs to Roman persecution. Further south in Africa, Christianity became during the fourth century the state religion of Axum, an emerging kingdom in what is now Eritrea and Ethiopia. Roman rulers sought to use an increasingly popular Christianity as glue to hold together a very diverse population in a weakening imperial state. Constantine and his successors thus provided Christians with newfound security and opportunities.

Buddhism vs Christianity

Similarities: Founders who showed and taught a way to personal salvation Messages of love Salvation/Enlightenment available to all Missionaries/Monks Converts from all social classes Eventual state support (Ashoka, Constantine) Eventual debates over doctrine Developed a diversity of branches Both became spiritual seekers, mystics in their respective traditions, who claimed to have personally experienced another and unseen level of reality. Both were "wisdom teachers," challenging the conventional values of their time, urging the renunciation of wealth, and emphasizing the supreme importance of love or compassion as the basis for a moral life. Differences: Jesus inherited from his Jewish tradition an intense devotion to a single personal deity with whom he was on intimate terms, referring to him as Abba. The Buddha's original message, by contrast, largely ignored the supernatural, involved no miracles, and taught a path of intense self-effort aimed at ethical living and mindfulness as a means of ending suffering. Furthermore, Jesus' teachings had a sharper social and political edge than did those of the Buddha.

Karma

What comes to you as a consequence of your actions (Hinduism) Pure actions, appropriate to one's station in life, resulted in rebirth in a higher social position or caste. Thus the caste system of distinct and ranked groups, each with its own duties, became a register of spiritual progress.

Brahman

World Soul (Hinduism) Beyond the multiplicity of material objects and individual persons and beyond even the various gods themselves lay this primal unitary energy or divine reality infusing all things, similar in some ways to the Chinese notion of the dao. This alone was real; the immense diversity of existence that human beings perceived with their senses was but an illusion.

Bhakti

Worship The way of devotion to one or another of India's many gods and goddesses. It involved the intense adoration of and identification with a particular deity through songs, prayers, and rituals. By far the most popular deities were Vishnu, the protector and preserver of creation and associated with mercy and goodness, and Shiva, representing the divine in its destructive aspect, but many others also had their followers. This form of Hindu expression sometimes pushed against the rigid caste and gender hierarchies of Indian society by inviting all to an adoration of the Divine.