The Encyclopedia of World Religions

BAFnSM 39

BANARAS ,\lso spelled Benares, officially a boat. Today people come to the cit\- to ford a
metaphorical stream, the stream of SAMSAR.\, and
Varanasi; for Hindus the most sacred cit\' in India. anain release from rebirth. As a result, Banaras is
Banaras sits on the banks of the sacred G.\NGES an especially auspicious place at which to die.
RAT.R. It has been important since antiquit\'.
BAPTISM RITUAL bathing or washing. Bap-
For example, the BUDDHA (sL\th-centur\' B.C )
tism is best-known as the ritual by which people
preached his first sermon in Samath, one of its become members of the Christian church.
oudNing districts.
Many religious groups have practiced bap-
Banaras is renowned for its stepped bathing
places. These are known as ghats. Tremendous tism. For example, baptism is the central ritual of
numbers of people from aJI parts of India flock to
Banaras to bathe. The cit%' also boasts more than the Mandaeans, who live in southern Iraq and
1,500 Hindu temples. The largest number of
these temples honor SI\'A. In addition, the citi,' southeastern Iran. It is so important that others
contains representations of all of the most impor-
who live around them call them "baptizers." The
tant sacred sites in India. Mandaeans baptize in "living water," which they

Banaras may have originally sat at a place to Acall "Jordan." priest immerses them completely
ford the Ganges, that is, a place to cross it without
three times in this water. Aftenvard they are
anointed with oil. Ideally, Mandaeans are bap-

Baby being sprinkled with water during the ritual of baptism. (By permission of the Crosiers.)

40 BAPTIST CHURCHES

tized ever)- Sunda\'. They ha\e claimed that the\' practice baptism as a birth ritual. That is, they
baptize infants. Other Protestants, such as Bap-
are practicing the religion taught by John the tists, generally practice baptism as a puberty ritual.
That is, they baptize people only when they have
Baptist. reached an age of spiritual maturity. At that age,
the thinking goes, people are able to choose for
Baptism seems to have been particularly im- themselves whether or not the\' want to be Chris-
portant to religions of the Near East around the
rime of JESUS. The people that we learn about in tian.
the DEAD SEA SCROLLS seem to have baptized
every day. Jews baprize, too. According to tradi- Some Christians baptize by sprinkling with
tion, converts to JUDAISM take a ritual bath water. This is the way those who baptize infants
known as a mikveb. This bath was also tradition-
prefer to baptize. Others insist that baptism re-
ally used by women after their menstrual periods. quires total immersion. They have argued over
such details as the number of times a person has
Today, baptism is best-known as the ritual b\' to be immersed and whether or not a person must
which people join the Christian church. For go into the water fice first. Christians also dis-
Catholic, Orthodox, and some Protestant Chris-
tians, this ritual is a SACR,\MENT. That is, it is a agree about how baptism works. Christians who
special way or means of receiving GOD's GRACE.
baptize infants generally insist that in baptism
To modern scholars Christian baptism is a RITE
OF PASSAGE. It is a ritual for passing from one God is active: His Holy Spirit stirs within the heart

stage of life to another. In baptism people pass of the baptized person. Odier Christians insist
from being outside the Christian church to being that baptism simply recognizes publicly a change
members of it. that has already taken place in a person's heart.

Unlike the Mandaeans, Christians baptize a In any case. Christians generally see baptism
person only one time. Once baptized, a person is as a rebirth. Those baptized die to an old life and
always baptized. That is true even for a person rise to a new one. This symbolism is in fact

who renounces Christianir\' and then wants to be common in rites of passage. The New Testament

Christian again. But Christians have disagreed connects the dying and rising of baptism with the
death and resurrection of Jesus.
about when to baptize, how to baptize, and how
BAPTIST CHURCHES A variet> ofPROTES
it works. These disagreements are part of the
reason why there are so many different Christian T,\NTISM especially common in the United States.
churches and denominations.
Baptists accept only "believer's BAPTISM," that is,
The earliest Christians baptized people as
they converted to CHRISTIANITY. Most of these the baptism of those who have personally ac-
people were adults. In ancient times, some people
waited to be baptized on their deathbeds. In cepted CHRIST. Traditionally they have also been
other words, the\' practiced baptism as a rite of some of the strongest adxocates of a separation of
passage connected with death. They thought that
if they were baptized at death, they would enter church and state.
the world beyond with all their sins forgiven. One
person baptized on his deathbed was the Roman History
emperor Constantine (c. 280-337), famous for
removing all laws against Christianit)'. The Baptist churches resemble the Anabaptists of
the Protestant REFORMATION in one very impor-
Christians continue to baptize adult converts tant respect: Both groups have insisted that only
today. But for the most pan Christian baptism is those persons should be baptized who were old
either a birth or a pubert>' ritual. Catholic, Ortho- enough to decide that they wanted to be bap-
dox, and some Protestant Christians generally tized. The Anabaptists, however, arose on the
European continent in the 16th centur>'. They
were the ancestors of the MENNONITES and the

BAPTIST CHURCHES 41

,\MISH. The Baptist churches arose in the British In the mid- 19th centur\', the Baptist
Isles in the 17th centun-. They developed in quite churches split over the issue of slaver\'. They
formed two major "Conventions," the Northern,
a different direction. which favored abolishing slaven,', and the South-
At the beginning of the 17th centun,', people ern, which favored keeping it. For a variety' of
reasons, the Southern Baptist Convention was
living in England generally thought that Christi- more successful. Today Southern Baptists out-
anit\- should be a state church, that is, a religion number any other Baptist group.
that the government officially accepted and pro-
Toward the end of the 19th centur\- North
moted. This was the view held by Roman Catho- Americans became aware of a movement called
lics and Puritans as much as by Anglicans (see modernism. This movement applied critical
methods to the study of the BIBLE. It also gener-
.ANGLICANISM and PURITANISM). In the setting ally favored an active agenda of social reform.
of a state church, people were baptized as a matter Several prominent Baptists, such as the preacher
of routine at birth. Harrv' Emerson Fosdick and the biblical scholar
Shailer Matthews, assumed leadership roles in the
In the mid- 1 7th centur\', church leaders like modernist movement.
Thomas Helw\s and John Sm\th reacted against
this situation. In their eyes, the institution of the At the beginning of the 20th centurv- a reac-
state church meant that a person's commitment tion to modernism set in. Several groups advo-
to CHRISTLANITY was not ver>' serious. They be- cated what they called the "ftindamentals" of
gan to preach that only believers should be bap- Christianit\', including the view that every word
tized. They also began to insist that the of the Bible is literally true. In the first half of the
20th centun- contro\'ersies between modernists
relationship between believers and GOD was a and fundamentalists rocked the Northern Bap-
tists. Toward the end of the 20th centur>- similar
private one. Government should have nothing to controversies erupted in the Southern Baptist
do with it. Convention.

The Baptists had their greatest success in Teachings
the North i\merican colonies of Great Britain
and, after the Revolutionary War, in the United Baptists recognize no CREEDS or statements of
States. Several distinct movements have shaped faith. For them, the Bible is the final and ulti-
the American Baptist churches. These include mate authority'. As a result, the beliefs and
evangelism, abolitionism, modernism, and teachings of different groups of Baptists differ
widely. For example, some Baptists emphasize
fiindamentalism. that people are predestined for salvation. Oth-

In the 18th centurv' the Baptist churches ers are "free will Baptists."
Baptists agree, however, that the Bible is
embraced the evangelistic movement (see EVAS
GEUCALANDFUNDAMENT.\LISTCHRISTL\NITi-). the ultimate authority in all matters of faith.
This movement sought to instill in people a They generally conceive of the religious life in
fervent, heartfelt faith in Jesus. It emphasized the terms that derive from the evangelistic move-
need for conversion and a personal experience of
SALVATION. In order to reach the people who ment: An individual must recognize her or his
most needed to hear this message, preachers sinful condition, accept God's gift of salvation,
left church buildings behind and held public
meetings known as re\'ivals. Baptists adopted and be born again in order to be saved. As a
these methods enthusiastically. As a result, they result. Baptists emphasize that the church is a
found many adherents, especially in the Old
South and on the frontiers. In addition, they voluntar\' association.
attracted a large number of African Americans,
both free and slave.

42 BAR/BAT MTTZVAH

Practices Significance

Baptist churches are non-liturgical. That is, the\' Baptists have been actively involved in foreign
do not use the LITURGY or mass, which centers missions, but they are sparsely represented out-
on the EUCHARIST, that the Orthodox and side of the United States. Within the United
Catholic churches developed. The centerpiece of States, however. Baptists comprise the largest
Baptist worship is the sermon (see PREACHING). group of Protestants. Historically they were im-
Besides the sermon, Baptist services include mu- portant in helping to separate church and state in
sic performed by soloists and choirs, hymns sung American law. Through public figures like Billy
by the congregations, and prayers. Baptists con- Graham, Jern' Falwell, and Pat Robertson, they
tinue to use the revival meetings that developed continued to influence American public life in the
during the 18th century. They have also made latter part of the 20th centur\'. i\lthough some
effective use of mass media, for example, radio devout Baptists, like President Bill Clinton, were
and television. moderate or liberal, many Baptists have been
associated with conser\ative causes, such as oppo-
Baptists take their name from the practice of sition to abortion (see .ABORTION .AND RELIG-
baptizing only believers, that is, people old ION).
enough to choose Christianity'. Early on in their
histor}' they adopted the practice of baptizing b\ BAR/BAT MTTZVAH Hebrew meaning "son/
total immersion. Baptists also celebrate the
eucharist or communion. But while Catholic and daughter of the commandment." The term refers
Orthodox Christians celebrate communion even,' to a person of adult status in the Jewish commu-
Sunday, Baptists may celebrate it once a month. nit\'. It also refers more commonly to the RITE OF
Instead of approaching an altar to receive com- P.\SS.^GE that marks the beginning of adulthood.
munion, members of Baptist churches receive it
where they are sitting. A Jewish boy is considered to reach religious

Organization adulthood at age 1 3, a girl at age 12. All forms of
lUD.AISM hold bar mitzvahs for boys. In the 20th
Baptists accept the New Testament teaching of centupi' Reform and then Conservative and Re-
construcrionist Judaism developed a correspond-
the priesthood of all believers. For them, this ing ritual for girls.
teaching means that any person is qualified to
minister to any other. But individual congrega- The bar mitzvah is tT,'pically celebrated during
tions appoint persons to perform the fianctions of a Sabbath S^'NAGOGUE senice. The heart of the
pastor and deacon. celebration consists of reading in Hebrew the
TORAH and Haftarah portions assigned for
Baptists also strongly emphasize the inde- the day. These are portions selected from the first
pendence of individual congregations. Some and second part of the Hebrew BIBLE, respec-
Baptist churches have remained isolated, but tively. It is also common for the bar mitzvah to
most have joined with other Baptist churches in comment on the passages read.
regional and national associations. Repre-
sentatives of the indi\'idual congregations make Because it is newer, the ritual for the bat
decisions about joint activities at meetings of mitz\ah varies. It tends, however, to be observed
these larger associations. In principle, however, with the same procedures as a bar mitzvah.
the larger bodies have no authority' over the
individual congregations. A bar/bat mitz\'ah is a festive occasion. The

celebration includes a meal with famih' and
friends and generally the recei\ing of gifts. It is
also a major step in one's religious life. During
the ser\'ice one wears a prayer shawl for the first
time in a synagogue. Afterward, a male and, in

BENEDICTINES 43

more liberal congregations, a female can be wrathful deities, or rather, of the same Buddhas,
counted in the mirixan or quota needed to hold but now under their wrathful aspects.

pra\'er services. During the second stage people believe that
they actually have physical bodies. The third stage
BARDO THODOL (TIBETAN "BOOK OF begins when they realize that their bodies are only
THE DEAD") Properly, Bar do dios grol; a illusor)-. They begin to desire bodies, and this
desire leads to rebirth. As desire arises, the de-
group of writings in Tibetan BUDDHISM that ceased begin to see the world into which they will
describe the passage between death and rebirth. be reborn, whether it be the world of dcvas,
Tibetan Buddhism envisions an intermedian' pe- asuras, human beings, animals, pretas, or hell.
riod between death and rebirth known as bardo, (Devas, asuras, and pretas are mnhological be-
the time "between (bar) the two (do).''' Ideally ings.) Each of these worlds is associated with a
the penod lasts 49 days. (Fort>'-nine is the square particular colored light: dull white, green, yellow,
of seven, which is considered a sacred number.) blue, red, and smoke-colored, respectively. The
In actualit)' the length of the bardo may vary with third stage concludes when the deceased are ac-
the amount of KARMA a person has. The writings
of the Bardo Thodol describe what happens dur- tually reborn. Only those who are reborn in the
world of human beings advance along the way to
ing this period.
ultimate release (see NIRVANA).
The Bardo Thodol identifies three stages
between death and rebirth. First comes the state Many Tibetans believe that one's final
immediately after death, known as Chikhai
Bardo. Then comes a transitional state known as thoughts determine one's existence after death.
Chonyid Bardo. The final state is the state of being As a result, they read the Bardo Thodol to a dying
reborn, known as Sidpa Bardo. In between each person or over an image of the corpse. These
state a period of unconsciousness intervenes. writings also form the basis of a ritual that seeks
People who are so enlightened that they have no
karma do not experience these stages. release for the living. Those who perform this
ritual spend 49 days shut up in completely dark
At the beginning of the first stage, deceased
persons are unconscious and unaware that they caves. During that time they attempt to experi-
have died. This condition lasts perhaps three and ence while still alive the events that the Bardo
a half to four days. The first stage culminates in a Thodol describes. This experience is helpful, they
vision of clear light. At first the light is pure. say, in attaining ultimate release.
Eventually it becomes obscured by the reflexes of
karma. BENEDICTINES One of the earliest and
most influential orders of Roman Catholic
During the second stage the deceased see MONKS AND NUNS. Benedictines follow the rule
\asiONS. These visions result fi'om the karma that
was acquired during life on Earth and must now of St. Benedict (c. 480-f. 547). This rule divides
work itself out. During the first seven days the the day into times for worship, work, and study.
deceased see visions of peacefiil deities, among It is moderate rather than harsh. For example, it
them the BUDDHAS associated with the center does not greatly emphasize fasting or lack of
and the four cardinal directions: Vairocana, sleep. By following the rule Benedictines cultivate
Vajrasattva, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and obedience, endurance, humilit)', and gendeness.
Amoghasiddhi. They see these Buddhas in both
their masculine and feminine aspects. During the Benedictines were extremely important to
second seven days the deceased see visions of European civilization in the medieval period. The
most important monaster)' was at Clunv', France
(founded 909/910). Benedictine MISSIONARIES
were crucial in bringing CHRISTI.ANITi' to Europe.
The two best examples are probably Augustine of

44 BHAGAVAD GITA

CANTERBURY (d. 604) and Boniface (c. 675- summan,' can do it justice. But it is possible to
754), who brought Christianity to the Anglo- identifi,' some of the poem's main topics.
Saxons and the Germans, respectively. Benedict-
ines were also intellectual leaders. They copied Krishna identifies three paths in Hinduism,
manuscripts and, like Rabanus Maurus (780- which he calls YOGAs, "disciplines." These are the
856), helped create cultural revivals. The poetry
and music of a medieval Benedictine nun, Hilde- path of insight, the path of action, and the path
gard of Bingen ( 1098-1 179), attracted consider-
able interest in the late 20th century. of devotion to Krishna alone as God. In the path

The Benedictines experienced a worldwide of insight Krishna teaches the true nature of the
revival from about 1800 to the second VATICAN
COUNCIL (1962-65). As part of the revival, ATMAN or self Eternal and unchanging, the self
Benedictine houses were founded in North
America. At the end of the 20th century North does not experience change. Therefore, it cannot
American Benedictines were active in promoting
Christianity, teaching, and providing health care. truly be born, die, or be injured. In the path of

BHAGAVAD-GITA A Sansknt ritie meamng action he teaches the proper attitude with which

"The Song of the Lord"; perhaps the most widely to act. According to Krishna one should perform
revered of the Hindu scriptures. The Bhagavad-
Gita is a poem that makes up a small part of the one's DHARMA or duty without thinking about
mammoth Hindu epic, the Mahahbaratn. Its
author is unknown. The epic is attributed to an the "fi-uits" of one's action. As a warrior, Arjuna's
ancient sage named Vyasa, "the compiler." He is
said to have dictated the Mahabharata to dut\' requires him to fight.
GANESA, the elephant-headed god. Like much of One climax of the Bhagavad-Gita comes in
Indian literature the Bhagavad-Gita is difficult to
date. Scholars usually assign it to the period chapter 1 1 . The Mahabharata as a whole presents
between 200 B C and A.D. 200. Krishna as a neighboring prince who has come to

The Bhagavad-Gita contains 18 chapters. help Arjuna and his brothers v\'in back their king-
They present a conversation between the warrior dom. During the Bhagavad-Gita, Arjuna asks
hero, Arjuna, and his charioteer, KRISHNA. The Krishna to reveal his true nature. What follows is
conversation occurs early in the morning before chapter 1 1 , one of the masterpieces of the human
the beginning of a great battie. In the battie attempt to describe the encounter with God.
Arjuna and his brothers will fight against their
cousins. The problem for Arjuna is that many Another climax of the Bhagavad-Gita comes near

other revered figures, such as Arjuna's teacher, the end of the poem. There Krishna summarizes
are fighting for his cousins. Seeing in the ranks of
the path of devotion this way: "Abandoning all
the enemy those to whom he owes the utmost
respect, Arjuna throws down his bow and refiises thought of proper action [dharma^, seek refuge

to fight. Domein alone. I will free you from all ills. not

During the con\ersation that follows, fear" (18.66).
Krishna teaches many important truths of HIN-
DUISM. The poem is ven' complex, and no brief Taken at face value, the Bhagavad-Gita en-

courages soldiers to fight. The great Indian

thinker B. G. Tilak (1856-1920) saw die Bha-

gavad-Gita as a call to use armed \iolence and

expel the British conquerors and rulers from In-

dia. But the Bhagavad-Gita was also a favorite
scripture of Mohandas G.\NDHI (1869-1948).

He used it to champion his v\ay of opposing the

British with "soul-force" and nonviolence rather

than "body-force" and violence.

BHAKTI A Sanskrit word meaning "devo-

tion"; one of the major "paths" or forms of

HINDUISM. When Hindus practice bhakti, they
try to cultivate a personal relationship with a god
or a GODDESS. The general religious attitude is

BIBLE, BIBLICAL LITERATURE 45

expressed uell in the BHAGA\'.\D-GrrA, where the tees often use images in WORSHIP, but some
worship is aniconic or imageless. One common
di\ine Krishna invites worshipers: "Abandoning practice is to repeat one of the god's names for an
extended period. This practice led to the popular
ail thought of proper action [dlmrmn], seelc ref- designation "Hare Krishnas." Devotees also use
poems and songs extensively. These poems and
Domeuge in songs may be sung b\' groups of devotees in
alone. I will fi-ee you from all ills. public as well as in pri\'ate. The goal of bhakti is
emotional enthusiasm and ecstasy, which devo-
not fear" (18.66). tees consider to be the experience of the ver\'
The bhakti movement began in south India presence of GOD. In bhakti this experience is

around the seventh centun'. At that time its equivalent to ultimate release.

advocates included poets known as Al\ars, who Devotees may develop a variety of relation-
were devotees of VISHNU, and Nayanars, who ships with God. For example, a devotee may be
were devotees of srv'A. This early bhakti became God's servant, God's child or, as in the case of the
popular for many reasons. It utilized the language worship of the child Krishna, God's parent. But
commonly spoken as well as the priesth' and from the Alvars and Nayanars to the present, one
relationship has been most common: that sym-
scholarly language, Sanskrit; it offered religious bolized by sexual love. Usually the devotee clamts
rewards to all despite their standing in the system to be married to the God, perhaps in repudiation
of ritual classes (varnas; see CASTE, IN HINDU- of a human marriage. In Bengali Vaishna\ism the
ISM ); and it appealed direcdy to worshipers with- more profound relationship is said to be the
out requiring a priest as an intermedian'. As a extramarital aftair. In relation to God as Vishnu
result, bhakti was a major factor in the revival of or Si\a, male as well as female devotees always
Hinduism in India. It helped Hinduism replace assume the female roles of wife and lover.

ascetic movements like BUDDHISM and J.\INISM. BIBLE, BIBLICAL LITERATURE The sa

From the Tamil-speaking region of south crcd book of Jews and Christians. The name
India where it began, bhakti spread to the rest of ultimately derives from Byblos, a center of the
south India. By the 14th century- it had spread to papyrus trade in the ancient world.

north India as v\ell. Especially in the north bhakti Hebrew Bible
poets had close contacts with Muslim mystics
Jev\s use a Bible written in Hebrew that consists
known as Sufis (see SUFISM). The Hindu devotees of 24 books. In content these books are identical
and Muslim mystics shared a common vocabu- to the 39 books in the Protestant Old Testament
lar)', metaphors, RITUAL techniques, and aspira- (see PROTESTANTISM). They are simply divided
and counted differently. Because the Catholic and
tions. In the region of Bengal in northeastern Orthodox churches based their Old Testaments
India a saint named Caitanya began a movement on a Greek rather than a Hebrew text, thev
of intense devotion to KRISHNA as the supreme recognize more books. Protestants call these extra
Godhead. In the mid-1960s this form of bhakti books the Apocnpha.
came to the United States. There it became
known as the Hare Krishna movement. In the Contents
Punjab in northwestern India a religious leader Perhaps the best name for the Hebrew Bible is
Tanakh, an acronym derived from the three parts
named NANAK (1469-1539) built a religious
structure on the foundations of bhakti, one that
transcended the divisions beween Hindus and
Muslims. Those who follow him and the other
nine gurus in his tradition are known as Sikhs ( see

SIKHISM).

Hinduism classifies devotees into three main
groups: worshipers of Siva (Saivas), worshipers of
Vishnu (Vaishnavas), and worshipers of the femi-
nine divine power known as iai« (Saktas). Devo-

46 BIBLE, BIBLICAL LITERATURE

of the Hebrew Bible: TORAH (teaching), Ncvi'im Psalms, Proverbs, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles,
(Prophets), and Ketinnm (Writings). Job, and D.\NIEL.

Torah consists of the first five books, tradi- Formulation
tionally attributed to MOSES. They provide a uni- Most modern scholars believe that the Torah is a
composite of several difl'erent sources. One
versal prehistory or m\tholog\', followed by source appeared in die southern kingdom, known
stories more direcdy related to the people of as Judah, perhaps during the ninth century B.C..
It uses a proper name for God: \TIWH, which
Israel (ABRAHAM and his descendants; the EXO out of respect is usually simply rendered in Eng-
DUS or liberation fi-om Eg\'pt).
Alish as "the Lord." second source appeared in
JUDAISM recognizes t\vo kinds of prophets.
The first, called "Former Prophets," detail how the northern kingdom around the eighth century
B.C.; it refers to God generically as "Eiohim"
GOD was active in the people's past. They include (God). The book of Deuteronomy constitutes a
third source, discovered in the temple during the
the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. reign of King Josiah (640-609 BC), while priests
The second, called "Latter Prophets," describe during the Babylonian Exile (587-539 B.C.) or

how God was active at their time. For example,
the prophet EZEKIEL saw God as active in freeing
his people fi-om exile in Babylon. The writings

comprise a variety of sacred books, such as

TOVJKU THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES NEVITM THE PROPHETS

n'tt'tnn Genesis yi»iT Joshua
niDtt' Exodus wtxsw Judges
K-ip'l Leviticus K 'PNIDB! I Samuel
Numbers 3 "^XlQttl 2 Samuel
laion Deuteronomy NiTa'JD 1 Kings
D-131 2 Kings
nOT^D Isaiah
KETHLmM THE WRITINGS TOT' Jeremiah
TTDT Ezekiel
D"'7Tin Psalms
Proverbs t>xpiTn' THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS
•'JB'D Job
The Song of Songs pam Hosea
3TX Ruth ^xr
D"ra;n tu; Lamentations Joel
Ecclesiastes OlDS
nn Esther Amos
Daniel mas
TD'X Ezra Obadiah
Vt77rp Nehemiah rxre Jonah
inox I Chronicles Micah
2 Chronicles HTD
'JK'Jl Nahum
NITS! OTIJ Habakkuk

Tonj PV3n Zephaniah
K ffO'n n3i rPKX Haggai
1 ETDTl '-Ql Zechariah
'in Malachi
rr-DT
'3X'?0

The lewish scriptures, consisting of the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings.

BIBLE, BIBLICAL LITERATURE 47

afterward systematized legal procedures to pro- reflect how someone influenced by Paul would
vide the last source.
respond to situations that Paul himself could not
The Torah seems certainly to ha\e been in yet have faced. Other letters include an anony-
existence bv the time of the priest EZR-A (late fifth mous letter to the Hebrews and letters attributed
or early fourth centur)' B C. ). Traditionally proph- to James, Peter, John, and Jude.
ec\' ends around 400 B C The prophetic books
were certainly in existence as a collection by The Revelation is an apocal)'pse. The word
around 200 B.C. "apocalypse" indicates that die book "uncovers"
knowledge that is hidden. In language heavily laden
By the time of JESUS, the Hebrew Bible was with symbols, it provides a scenario in which God
not yet complete. Jesus refers to Torah ("the defeats those who are tormenting Christians and
law" ) and the Prophets and sometimes the Psalms establishes a new HEAVEN and earth.
(for example, Matthew 5.17, 22.40; Luke
24.44). Instmmental to the collection of the FormuLlation
Writings and the closing of the "canon" or
authoritative list of books was a council of R,\BBIS The New Testament itself already refers to a
led by Johonnan ben Zachai at Jamnia in .\ D 90.
collection of Paul's letters, but the Gnostic
New Testament teacher Marcion (mid-second century; see GNOS-
TICISM) seems to have been the first to suggest
Christians eventually added sacred writings about that there be an authoritative selection of Chris-
Jesus and his earliest followers to the books of the tian writings. As a Gnostic, Marcion rejected the
Hebrew Bible. They named the added books the
Hebrew Bible because he thought that "the God
New Testament. of the Jews" was evil. He suggested replacing it
with the letters of Paul and the gospel of Luke
Contents
—both edited, however, because he thought they
The New Testament consists of several kinds of
had been corrupted by pro-Jewish additions.
material: four GOSPELS (Mattew, Mark, Luke,
John), the book of Acts, letters from various Christians who disagreed with Marcion re-
APOSTLES, especially from the aposde PAUL, and sponded by drawing up lists of books that tliey
an apocalypse known as the REVELATION to John. accepted. The earliest known lists are the so-
called Muratorian Fragment (late second cen-
The gospels recount the words and deeds of
Jesus. Stricdy speaking, they are not biographies, tury) and a list in the writings of Irenaeus, a
for their purpose is not to present Jesus' life but bishop of Lyons, France ( c. AD. 200 ). Both accept
the religious message about Jesus the MESSLAH.
&the four gospels. Acts, 13 letters of Paul, 1 2
The book of Acts is a condnuation of the
gospel attributed to Luke. It tells the histor>- of John, and Revelation. They also accept books that
the early church from the appearances of the risen were later rejected, such as 1 Clement and the
Shepherd of Hermas.
Jesus to his followers, especially at Pentecost, to
The canon of the New Testament, that is,
the arrival of the aposde Paul at Rome.
The aposde Paul wrote several letters to the the authoritative list of accepted books, was not
finalized until the EASTER letter of Bishop Atha-
churches that he founded. Tradition attributes 1
such letters to Paul. In them he develops his views nasius of Alexandria in A.D. 367. He accepted
about the sa\'ing significance of the death and the current set of 27 books. Other writers pro-
RESURRECTION of Jesus.
&vide evidence that James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2 3
The letters to Titus and Timothy attributed
to Paul are almost certainly not by him. They John, Hebrews, and Revelation were all ques-
tioned in the early fourth century-. In the end.
Christian authorities accepted into the canon
only books that were written by aposdes and

48 BIRTH RITUALS

that were used in the vvDRSHir semces of the the same time is recognized to be dangerous and
major apostolic churches. perhaps also polluting, especially for the mother.
During pregnancy, ofi:en special spiritual as well
Biblical Interpretation as physical precautions are taken on behalf of her
well-being and that of the child. In HINDUISM,
Jews and Christians have used many ditferent for example, she may be covered with flowers and
methods of interpreting the Bible. In antiquin,-, amulets. At the time of birth, she may be moved
allegorical interpretation was widespread. Inter- to a separate lodge apart from family and commu-
preters sought to uncover a spiritual meaning nit\', as in ancient Japan. The secluded mother
hidden behind the literal meaning of the text, may be accompanied by selected women. But she
which might not be acceptable. is taboo to all others, including even her husband,
because of the pollution and sacred awe associ-
In the Middle Ages a fourfold method of ated with the event. After birth, the mother in
interpretation became dominant. Each text was many societies purifies herself, perhaps by a ritual
said to have four meanings: literal, allegorical bath. In the traditional usage of the Church of
(concerned with doctrine), anagogical (con- England, she went to church for a rite of thanks
cerned with the unseen realm), and tropological and blessing called the "Churching of Women,"
(concerned with moralit)'). and was expected to do this before appearing

In interpreting the Bible the Protestant Re- socially.
formers relied heavily on a burgeoning intellec-
Birth rites for the newborn child are also
tual movement known as humanism (see common. In Japan a child is presented to the local
REFORMATION). They rejected all meanings but SHINTO shrine about a month aft:er birth. In many
the literal, which they determined by grammatical Christian traditions infants are baptized as soon
analysis and historical context. after birth as convenient (see c:HRlSTIANITi' and
BAPTISM), thus accompanying physical birth with
During the I9th centur\' the modern schol- a sign of spiritual birth. In Hinduism, many stages
arly approach to the Bible came into existence. of a small child's life, such as the first eating of
This approach did not assume that the Bible was solid food and the first haircut, are marked by
literally true because it was given by God. Instead, life-cycle rituals. In JUDAISM young males receive
it treated the texts of the Bible like the texts of CIRCUMCISION eight days after birth in a rite
any other book. giving the child a Hebrew name and establishing

At the end of the 20th centur\', religious Areligious identity. Muslim father whispers the
people interpreted the Bible in many different
ways. Some Christians, known as "fundamental- call to PRAYER in a newborn infant's ear so that
ists," insisted that every word of the Bible was the first words he hears are sacred.
literally true. Other Christians disagreed. Jews
also continued to discuss the Bible at length. Birth is also fraught with larger symbolic
Some used traditional techniques of interpreta- significance for religion. Stages of the spiritual
tion, others more recent techniques. In addition, life, particularly major initiations and religious
much archaeology done in Israel has cast new- encounters, are often seen as spiritual equivalents
light on the biblical te.xt (see .ARCHAEOLOGY AND of physical birth, and are fijll of symbols to that
RELIGION). effect (see INITIATION, RELIGIOUS). In the initia-

BIRTH RITUALS Religious rites performed tions of young men in some primal societies, the

in connection with a birth of a child. The mystery boys are buried under leaves or left in small,
of birth is recognized by RITUALS and obser- round, womb-like huts, and when they first
vances in virtually all religions. It is a joyous emerge are treated like newborn infants. The
occasion for parents and the community', yet at Christian rite of baptism is said by the aposde

BODHISATTVA 49

PAUL to represent spiritual death and rebirth. various Buddhist schools. It is especially impor-
Persons who ha\e undergone profound conver- tant in the schools known as Mahayana.
sion experiences often speak of themselves as
"born again," as though now doing spiritually In Theravada Buddhism, the Buddhism
what was once done physically. Birth is therefore common in southeast Asia, a bodhisattva is a
a continuing presence in human life on all planes being who is on the way to becoming a Buddha.
(A Buddha is a being who discovers the path to
of being. enlightenment and NIRVANA. ) In this school the
most important bodhisatt\'a was Siddhartha Gau-
BODHIDHARMA (sLxth-century A.D.?) tama (sixth century B.C.), the BUDDHA who ap-
peared in this world, prior to his enlightenment.
Known in lapan as Danmia; the first patriarch of Theravada Buddhists often tell stories about this
bodhisatt\'a's previous lives. Known 3S jntakas or
the Ch'an or Zen school of BUDDHISM. It is "birth stories," they frequently take the form of
animal fables. Some, such as "The Monkey and
difficult to separate fact fi-om legend in accounts the Crocodile," have even become children's sto-
ries in North America. Another important bo-
of Bodhidharma's hfe. In any case, the details of dhisattva in Theravada is the present form of the
Buddha Maitreya. Maitreya is the Buddha who
his biographv illustrate significant aspects of ZEN will come and usher in a golden age. At the
present he lives in a heaven known as Tushita.
BUDDHISM. As the following shows, the)' some-
Mahavana Buddhism, the form of Buddhism
times resort to extreme events to do so. common in east Asia, developed a somewhat
different idea of the bodhisattva. It urges all Bud-
Bodhidharma is said to ha\'e been a scholar dhists to strive to become bodhisattvas.

of a Buddhist scripture known as the According to Mahayana teachings the bo-
dhisatt\'a path begins when the thought of en-
Lankaratarn Sutra. He was brought fi-om India hghtenment arises in the mind. This thought
involves a desire for wisdom; it also inx'olves
Wuto China by Emperor of the Liang dynast\', a compassion for others. The thought of enlight-
enment leads persons to make a series of vows.
Chinese emperor concerned with fostering Bud- These vows in turn determine their future efforts.

dhism. In disgust at the self-importance of the Some Mahayana texts describe the bodhi-
sattva path in terms of six perfections. Other texts
emperor, a violation of fundamental Buddhist add four more. The ten perfections are: giving,

teachings, Bodhidharma left the capital and took moralitv, patience, valiant eftbn, concentration,
v\isdom, skill in means, the vov\'s of the bodhi-
up residence in a cave on a mountain. There he
sattva, power, and knowledge. To cultivate these
sat facing the cave wall and meditating for nine
perfections takes not years or centuries but life-
years. As often happens when meditating, Bod- times and eons. The more time spent as a bo-
hidharma had difficulty staying av\'ake. To allevi- dhisattva, the more time there is in which to act
out of compassion for the benefit of other beings.
ate this problem, he is said to have cut oft' his So the longer the time spent as a bodhisattva, the

eyelids. Falling to the ground, they became the better.

first tea plants. (Zen monks cultivated tea to help Mahayana Buddhism tells many myths about
bodhisattvas. It also has many cults dedicated to
them stay awake while meditating.

The distincti\'e approach that Zen takes to

Buddhism emerges from another legendary

Wuevent. Emperor is said to have asked Bodhid-

harma what Zen was. Bodhidharma replied with

four brief statements; It does not depend upon

words; it points direcdy to the human mind or

hean; it sees into one's true nature; it attains

Buddhahood.

BODHISATTVA A Sanskrit word that liter-

ally means "a being whose nature (sntum) is
perfect wisdom (bodhiy\ an important figure in
BUDDHISM. The term is used dift'erendv in the

those bodhisamas who have reached the highest the truth of Bon teaching. It also has a monastic
levels of perfection. Such bodhisattvas are so tradition, a large body of literature, and its own
great that they reside not on Earth but in
HEAVEN. From heaven they act out of compas- deities, whom Buddhists have adopted as lesser
sion for those who are suffering here on Earth
gods. Bon RITUALS are similar to Tibetan Bud-
and in other worlds. dhist rituals, but they differ in some details. For
In Mahayana Buddhism three celestial bo- example, Bon-pos circumambulate or walk
around sacred sites counterclockwise; Buddhists
dhisatt\as ^c most important. One of them is circumambulate clockwise. Bon priests also have
Maitreya, whom Theravada Buddhists also rec- a distinctive headcovering: They wear black hats
ognize. Mahayana says that Maitreya is a figure instead of the yellow or red hats worn by members
of light who inspires Buddhist teachers and of some Buddhist schools. Only recently has Bon
guides persons after death. Because he is coming literature staned to become accessible to North
American and European scholars.
to usher in a golden age, his worship has given
rise to messianic societies that have fostered po- BRAHMA The creator god in texts of Hindu
litical unrest and revolution (see MESSIAH).
niNtholog)' known as the PURAN.\S. The Puranas
Another imponant bodhisattva in Mahayana identif)' three families of deities according to func-
Buddhism is Manjusri. He is said to be an eternal tion. The heads of these families are Brahma the
youth. Images show him wearing a five-pointed creator, VISHNU the preserver, and srVA the de-
crown, holding a book and a sword, and accom- stroyer. The name Brahma is related to BRAH-
panied by a lion. According to Mahayana teach- MAN, the word for the ultimate reality that,
ings, Manjusri could become a Buddha according to the UP.ANISHADS and VEDANTA phi-
immediately, but he refuses to enter the ultimate
enlightenment so long as a single other being losophy, underlies all appearances. Indeed, in
remains in SAMSARA. some contexts the two words have the vet)' same
form. So it is possible that modern readers have
The bodhisattva AV.ALOKITESVARA is re- sometimes mistaken the one for the other.
nowned for compassion. Known in Chinese as
Kuan-yin and in Japanese as Kannon, he has often Several myths connect Brahma with the ori-
been envisioned in female form in China and gin of the world at the beginning of each cycle of
generation and decay. For example, one well-
A — —Japan. helper in e\er\- need, he or she is a known image depicts Brahma as seated on a
LOTUS, which grows from the navel of Vishnu
protector of women, especialh- women in labor. while the latter sleeps on the coiled world-serpent
Sesha. Mvths also tell of Brahma granting the gift
BON A religion in Tibet. It dates to the period of eternal life. Despite such m\ths, Brahma is
rarely worshiped.
before the coming of BUDDHISM in the eighth
century ( see TIBET.\N RELIGION ) . Practitioners of BRAHMAN A crucial idea in HINDUISM, es-
Bon are icnown as Bon-pos.
pecially in the UPANISHADS and V'EDANTA phi-
Before the coming of Buddhism, Bon-pos losophy. Brahman refers to the reality that
seem to have practiced elaborate rituals to ensure underlies and supports the world as it appears to
the fate of the soul, especially the souls of kings,
after death. In the eighth and ninth centuries, the senses.
however, Bon was suppressed in favor of Bud-
dhism. It has been a minority religion ever since. Originally, brahman referred to the ritual
formulas spoken during the SACRIFICES described
After the ninth century Bon developed forms in the sacred books known as the VEDA. In this
ver\' similar to Buddhism. Today it recognizes an sense, brahman is related to t\vo other words:
enlightened being, similar to the BUDDH.^,
named Tonpa Shenrap; he is said to have revealed

BRAHiVUN 51

BRAHMIN or "priest," the name of the RITUAL "aphorisms" are so short that they are almost
class in Hinduism whose members performed meaningless without a commentar)'. The most
the sacrifice, and Brahmanas, the commentaries important collection of these teachings was the
on the ritual texts of the Veda. The Brahmanas
identified rich webs of connections bet\veen the Vedanta-Siitra of Badarayana, also known as the
world at large and the Vedic sacrifices. They Brahma-Sutra. Later, from roughly 500 to 1500,
refer to brahman as the energ>' that made the thinkers wrote commentaries on these aphorisms
sacrifices work. and on the Upanishads themselves. In doing so,
thev founded several schools of philosophy
The Upanishads have a wider view of brah- known as Vedanta.
man. In them brahman is no longer hmited to the
sacrifice. Instead, it is considered to be the un- According to SAXKAR-\, the best known of
seen, unseeable support for even-thing that is the thinkers, brahman has three characteristics:
seen. The Upanishads teach many things about being, consciousness, and bliss. Sankara actually
this brahman, and what they teach is not always identifies two levels of brahman. In and of itself,
consistent. For example, some verses of the brahman is impersonal. But on a lower level,
Upanishads claim that everything is brahman. brahman appears to human beings in the form of
Others deny that brahman can be identified with a person, that is, as a god. Sankara's Vedanta is
anything. Many passages, however, assert that the known as Advaita, which means "non-dual." That
brahman is identical with the realit\' that under- is because Sankara teaches that the reaht},- of the
lies the human person, which is often known as
— —world brahman and the reality of the human
.\T\L\N. — —being atman are "not t\vo" different realities.

It is difficult to grasp what is unseen and Other Vedanta teachers, such as Ramanuja
unseeable. The Upanishads tr\- to understand and Madhxa, reject Sankara's impersonal brah-
brahman in many ways. One particularly impor- man. For them, brahman is simply the personal
tant method that they use is known as regressive God, known by various names as \1SHNU, SA'A,
and De\i. For Ramanuja, the uni\erse is the body
Areasoning. person takes up an object for con- of this God. For Madhva, however, brahman or
God is completely different from the atman.
sideration, say, the body. She or he asks what
supports that object, then what supports the In the 20th centurx' Vedanta was the most
support, and so on. The hope is that the proce- prominent school of traditional philosophy in
dure will eventually work back to what supports India. Many of the most widely recognized phi-
losophers, but not all, favored Sankara's \iews. So
Aor sustains all things. famous example occurs in did manv accounts of brahman written b\' Euro-
pean and North American scholars.
the text known as the Brihadaranyaka Upatii-
shad. That Upanishad records a series of ques- BRAHMIN Also spelled brahman; in HINDU-
tions that Gargi Vacakna\i asks her husband,
Yajnavalk\ a. Gargi first asks what sustains water. ISM, a member of the highest of the four vamas
Then she goes through a series that includes such or RITU.AL classes. According to tradition, the
Items as wind and the worlds of sun, moon, and ideal occupation for brahmins is that of the priest
stars. Her questioning eventually leads her to ask (see C^TE, IX HINDUISM).
what supports the world of brahman. At that
point YajnavaJkya warns Gargi that it is dangerous Brahmins descend from the priests who per-
to ask too many questions: "Gargi, do not ques-
tion too much, lest your head fall oft" ( 3.6). formed the sacrifices described in the sacred
books known as the XTDA. Some scholars have
In the first centuries A.D. thinkers attempted identified their ancestors as priests among the
to systematize the teachings of the Upanishads in Indo-Europeans. The Indo-Europeans were sup-
short formulas of two or three words. These
posedly ancestors of the people who inhabit north

52 BUDDHA, THE

India today, as well as of European peoples such maintain the brahmins' purit)'. For example, if
as the English, the French, and the Germans. brahmins came into physical contact with per-
sons considered impure in ritual terms, espe-
About 2,000 years ago Hindu lawbooks cially Dalits ("untouchables"), they had to
known as Dharmasastras carefully listed the du- perform a series of rituals to wash away what
ties and privileges of brahmins. They also as- they saw as defilement. During the 20th cen-
signed brahmins the highest position in Hindu tury, however, traditional concerns with main-
society, but not everyone has agreed. Many re- taining purity often gave way to the pressures
cords from roughly 2,000 years ago tell about of modern urban hfe.
disputes between brahmins and sramanas.
Sramanas were wandering ascetics who practiced BUDDHA, THE A tide meaning "awak-
religions such as BUDDHISM and lAINISM. (Ascet-
ics are people who give up pleasures and some- ened" or "enlightened." It is most commonly
times even the necessities of life for religious applied to Siddhartha Gautama (c. 560-C.480
B C ), the person who founded the religion of
Apurposes. ) thousand years later brahmins were BUDDHISM. Buddhist mythology actually identi-
fies many different Buddhas. Siddhartha Gautama
often the butt of jokes in classical Indian drama. is the historical Buddha, that is, the Buddha who
has appeared in our world's histor)'. In some
The lawbooks focus specifically on the roles traditions he is known as Sakyamuni, "sage of the
of boys and men. Brahmin men often have other Sakyas," because he was born in northeast India
occupations, but according to the lawbooks it is among a people known as the Sakyas.
best for them to be priests and to teach the Veda.
Public SACRIFICES described in the Veda still Life
occur in India, but they are relatively rare. It is
much more common for brahmins to serve as Buddhists believe that when people die, they are

spiritual teachers for boys, a relationship that the reborn ( see S.^MS.^RA). In keeping with this belief,
the\' beliex'e that Siddhartha Gautama had many
boys are supposed to remember throughout their births prior to the birth in which he became the
lives. Some brahmins serve as priests in temples.
In addition, all brahmins are supposed to obser\e Buddha. Texts known isjatakas, "birth stories,"
household rituals taught by the Veda. Good ex- recount events from some of these prior births.
amples are the snndhya or twilight rituals ad-
dressed mornings and evenings to the god Surya, Siddhartha's birth into our world was to be
the sun. In theon,' the lives of women are limited: his last. It is said that he carefiilly chose the time
They are supposed to obey in turn their fathers, and location of that birth, to a princely family
husbands, and sons. In practice some Hindu in northeast India in the sixth centun,' B C.
women have been strong and self-assertive. According to legend, his mother. Queen Maya,
dreamed that four deities were carrying her bed
Although all brahmins belong to the highest to the Himalaya Mountains. They were fol-
varna, it should be stressed that varnas are ritual lowed by a white elephant. The white elephant
classes, not economic ones. Brahmins may be the circled the bed, then plunged his tusk into
most ritually pure members of Indian sociers', but
some brahmins are extremely poor. At the same Maya's side. When she awoke, she discovered
time, brahmins have played an enormous role in
the government of India. Only 3.5% of Indians she was pregnant.
are brahmins, but at the end of the 20th century During the sixth month of her pregnancy,
brahmins held almost 70% of all government
Maya went to visit her cousin. Along the way, she
jobs. stopped in a grove at Lumbini (today in Nepal).
There she gave birth to Siddhanha prematurely.
Strict brahmms have traditionally observed a Astrologers who read the bod\' marks predicted a
number of rules. These rules were designed to

BUDDHA, THE 53

Metal sculpture of tlie Buddha. (Courtesy of the Imane his life of pleasure and search for the solution to
Bank.) these problems.

double destiny for the baby: He would either First he tried various techniques of MEDITA-

conquer the world or renounce it. Siddhaitha's TION. He mastered the skills quickly but found
father wanted to ensure that his son chose to
conquer the world, so the\' protected him from that thev did not provide the answers he was
the EVILS of the world and saw that his every wish seeking. Then, for five years he practiced various
was ftilfilled. As a result, Siddhartha lived the life ascetic exercises, denying his body until he was so
of pleasure that many people only dream about, thin it was said one could feel his backbone
but in living that hfe, he found that it was insuf- through his abdomen. Close to death Ixom these
exercises, Siddhartha resolved to find a middle
ficient. wav between indulgence and denial. After sitting
for an extended period under the so-called bodhi-
Siddhartha married and had a son. Then, at tree in Bodh Gaya (today in Bihar state, India),
the age of 29, he made the fatefijl decision to he spent an entire night in meditation. During
that night he disco\'ered the principles that go\'-
explore die world outside his palaces. On succes- ern the processes of rebirth (see KARM.\) as well
si\e trips he encountered four new "sights": an as the path to release (rem suffering (see NIR-
VANA). As morning dawned, he achieved enlight-
old person, a sick person, a decaying corpse, and enment (bodhi) and became the Buddha.
a wandering ascetic. Siddhartha had finally con-
fi"onted the realities of dithklm or suffering: old Out of compassion for the sufterings of all
sentient, or conscious, beings and at the urging
age, sickness, and death. He resolved to renounce of a Hindu god, the Buddha remained in his
human body to teach others the path he had
discovered. He gave his first sermons at the deer

park in Sarnath (near B.\NARAS, India) to ascet-

—ics persons who deprive themselves of luxuries
—for religious purposes with whom he had been

living. Hearing his teachings, they too quickly
attained liberation (nir\'ana) and became the first
Buddhist .ARH.ATS.

During the remaining years of his life, the
Buddha wandered widely over northeast India,

—teaching his path and ordaining followers men
—at first, later women, too into the S.\NGH.\, the

order of wandering mendicants. At the age of 79
he ate some spoiled food offered by a la\- ( unor-
dained) follower and died or, as Buddhists say,
entered the ultimate nirvana (paritiii-vnnn) in
Kushinagara (today Kasia, India). His closest fol-
lowers decided to treat his body the way they
would a royal corpse: They cremated the Bud-
dha's remains and gave portions of his ashes to
several kings. Portions of these remains were later
enshrined in STUPAS throughout the Buddhist

world.

54 BUDDHISM

Teachings not worry^ about how the fire started, nor should
they be concerned with what the\- will do after the
Unlike MOSES, JESUS, and MUHAMMAD, the Bud- fire has been extinguished. They should direct all

dha did not advocate the worship of anv particu- their efforts to putting the fire out.

lar god. He did not deny that gods existed, but SIGNIFICANCE

he thought that because gods are li\ing beings, The Buddha is known as the Tathagata, Sanskrit
they, too, ultimateh' need to escape from suffer- for "the one who went tiiat way." The historical
ing. (In the Buddhist \-iew nothing is eternal, not Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, is important not
even gods. ) Like a compassionate physician, the because he revealed the messages of a god but
Buddha diagnosed and prescribed the cure for because he discovered and taught the path that
the sutfermg that plagues all sentient existence. human beings can follow to attain release from
suffering. He is most revered in the tradition of
The Buddha's diagnosis and prescription are Buddhism known as Thera\ada, predominant in
formulated most compacdy in his FOUR NOBLE
TRUTHS. The Buddha identified the symptoms of Asoutheast Asia. formula that Thera\ada often
our illness as duhkha, suffering, but suffering in
invokes signals the Buddha's importance: "I take
the sense that ultimate satisfaction is unavailable refijge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the teach-
ings [Sanskrit, DH.ARALA]. I take refuge in the
in this life. The cause of duhkha is craving, long- monastic communit\' [Sanskrit, sanjjha].^'
ing, or desire, brought about by ignorance of
realit)'. The disease, however, can be cured. The The other major tradition of Buddhism, pre-
Buddha taught that duhkha disappears once one dominant in east Asia, is Mahayana; it assigns the
eliminates cra\Tng. But that requires an entire historical Buddha a somewhat lesser place. It
transtbrmation of one's thought, practice, and reveres the Buddha Sak\'amuni principally for
perceptions, a transfbrmanon that results from ha\ing revealed the teachings and deeds of other
practicing the Buddha's eightfold path. Buddhas and BODHISATn.AS, such as .\MIDA and
.W.ALOKITESVAK^, known in Chinese as Kuan Yin.
Se\eral principles underlie the Buddha's ZEN BUDDHISM goes SO far as to caution people
against becoming overly attached to the person
teaching. One of them is "no-self" (Sanskrit, of the Buddha. (Recall that attachment and crav-
anatmnn). This principle denies that people have
an eternal soul or an unchanging self or essence, Aing produce suffering.) well-known KO.AN" or
such as one finds, for example, in the teachings
of CHRISTIANm' and HINDUISM (see ATMAN). A Zen riddle states: "If you meet the Buddha on the
related principle, "no-permanence" (Sanskrit, road, kill him."

anitya), emphasizes that change characterizes all BUDDHISM A religion that traces its histor>-

Aexistence. third principle, "co-dependent origi- back to the BUDDHA, Siddhartha Gautama {c.
560-c. 480 B.C.). Buddhism is widely practiced
nation" (Sanskrit, pratityn-samiitpada), high- throughout southeast and east Asia. It also has
lights the interrelatedness of all things. According strong traditional ties to Tibet (see TIBETAN RE-
to this teaching, everxthing is tied together in a LIGION). In the 20th century small but vigorous
complex net of causes, so that there can be no Buddhist communities were established in North
"first cause" from which all beings derive. America and Europe.

Many religions ha\e worried about the origin History
of the universe or the fate of human beings after
death (see COSMOGONT and .AFTERLIFE IN Siddhartha Gautama is said to have discerned the
WORLD RELIGIONS). The Buddha urged his fol- path that leads to release from suffering and re-

lowers to ignore these questions, not unlike the
teachings of JUDAIS.NL In the image of his famous

"Fire Sermon," human beings have awakened to
find themselves in a house on fire. Thev should

BUDDHISM 55

birth (SAAISAR.\) at the age ot'35. He lived almost The second major wave of Buddhist expan-
sion began roughly in the second centur\' .AD. By
to the age of 80. During his last 45 years he this time Mahayana or "Great Vehicle" Buddhism
traveled widely in India, teaching and organizing had become dominant. Mahayana does not ad-
the community of wandering ascetics (see here strictly to the Buddha's words. It strives
SAN'GHA). By the time of his death or, as Bud- instead to recover the Buddha's experience of
dhists prefer to say, his parinirvana (see NIR- enlightenment. Carried along the land trade
VANA), Buddhism was firmly established. routes fi-om northwest India, Mahayana became
the dominant form of Buddhism in China, Japan,
During the next 1,200 years, Buddhism Korea, and Vietnam.
spread beyond India in three major waves. The
first wave, associated with the famed emperor of The third wave of expansion began in the
India, .\SOK.\, began in the third centun' B.C. The seventh centur>- and carried Buddhism to Tibet
dominant tbrm of Buddhism at that time was and surrounding areas. The form of Buddhism
Theravada, "The Teachings of the Elders." This that became dominant in these regions is Vajra\'-
school adheres to the letter of Siddhartha's teach- ana, "Diamond Vehicle." It emphasizes the spe-
ing. Carried along the oceanic trade routes south- cial powers of RITUALS, diagrams, and objects.
east of India, Theravada became the dominant
form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Myanmar (for- In India itself Buddhism sirtually died out.
merly known as Burma), Laos, Thailand, and First it succumbed to a Hindu revival movement
Cambodia (also known as Kampuchea). centered on devotion to various gods that began

The Buddhist bodhi tree, under which Gautama Buddha was enlightened. iCiiiincsy ofllic Ima/ic Bank.

56 BUDDHISM

about the eighth centun' AD.. This movement, Again, if one practices Buddhism to achieve nir-
known as BHAKTI, took lay supporters away Irom \'ana, is one not acting as if one had a self that
Buddhism. Then, starting in the 12th centun- could achieve release? Moreover, if one accepts
Muslim invaders pillaged monasteries and con- Buddhist teachings as true, are they not eternal
vents and forced MONKS AND NUNS to abandon and unchanging? Questions such as these led
the order. Indian Buddhism began to revive, Maha\ana thinkers to formulate \iews that are
however, toward the end of the 19th century. subtle and difficult to understand. One such
During the 20th century some North Americans teaching, the "three body doctrine," suggests
and Europeans became very interested in Bud- that the Buddha who appeared in our world,
dhism (see BUDDHISM IN AMERICA). Siddhartha Gautama, was only a manifestation in
a world defined by names and forms of what is
Beliefs beyond all names and forms. Another very impor-
tant teaching holds that even-thing is empty,
Although one sometimes hears that Buddhists are includmg the content of Buddhist teaching. But
atheists, this is not quite correct. Buddhism does Maha\-ana Buddhism did not limit itself to such
not generally deny the truth of other religions; subtle thinking. It also developed elaborate my-
instead, it tries to supplement another truth with thologies of celestial Buddhas and BODHISAT-
a truth of its own. As a result, Buddhists often T\'AS. These beings practiced Buddhism not to
WORSHIP the gods that their non-Buddhist benefit themselves but to make it possible for all
neighbors worship. But in Buddhism it is ulti- beings to achieve enlightenment.
mately more important to follow the Buddhist
path than to worship gods. PR-^CTICES

One follows the Buddhist path to redress the Just as Buddhism has not required its adherents
root problem that all sentient or conscious beings to reject other religious beliefs, so it has not
face: suffering (see FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS). Bud- required them to refi-ain from other religious
dhism blames suffering, along with bondage to practices. As a result, Buddhist practice varies
the world of ordinan' existence and rebirth ( sam- widely. Japanese Buddhists participate in SHINTO
sara), on ignorance. Two kinds of ignorance are rituals. Buddhists in parts of southeast Asia en-
most important. The first kind leads people to gage in spirit-cults.
think and act as if they are eternal, unchanging
selves or souls. The second leads people to think Some specifically Buddhist practices aim at
and act as if things persist, when in fact. Bud- achieving nin-ana. Theravada Buddhism empha-
dhism teaches, absolutely nothing at all is eternal sizes following the Buddha's Eightfold Path:
and unchanging. Ignorance of the truths of "no
selP and "impermanence" leads to attachment right views, right thought, right speech, right
and craving, and they in turn lead to suffering. To action, right livelihood, right effort, right mind-
fiilness, and right concentration. Most forms of
obtain release fi-om suffering (ninana), a person Buddhism have well de\-eloped traditions of
must overcome ignorance. That requires an intel- MEDITATION. In Theravada, samadhi meditation
lectual acknow ledgment of Buddhist truths, but focuses one's concentration in turn on a series of
exercises in order to correct certain vices; vipas-
it also requires much more. It requires a total sana or insight meditation aims at a complete
transformation of one's thought, action, and ex- awareness of one's surroundings. Practitioners of

perience. ZEN BUDDHISM sit and walk in meditation
(Z,\ZEN and kinhin) and at times experience mo-
There are paradoxes hidden in these basic ments of satori, enlightenment. Such moments
truths of Buddhism, and Mahayana thinkers ex- mav come during ordinary- activities, too, so that
plored them. If one practices Buddhism to
achieve nio'ana, is one not cravmg nirvana?

BUDDHISM IN AMERICA 57

Zen has developed many ans, from swordsman- decades it has also been extremely popular in
ship to flower arranging. Odier forms, such as some segments of American society.
PURE LAND BUDDHISM, teach their followers to
relv on the assistance of a Buddha. BUDDHISIVI IN AMERICA Interest in and

Not all specifically Buddhist practices aim at practice of BUDDHISM in the Western Hemi-
enlightenment. Lay supporters within Theravada sphere. This entn,' concentrates on Buddhism in
give charity, visit STUPAS, and perform other
acti\ities in the hope of acquiring merit. This the United States.
merit will result in a better rebirth in the next life Buddhism was already in the United States in
and take them one step closer to release. Instead
of acquiring merit for oneself, Mahayana empha- the 19th centur\- (1800s). On the East Coast
sizes acts of compassion to benefit all beings.
some educated Americans of European descent
Organization showed an interest in it. The\- included the "New
England transcendentalists," a group of writers
During the 45 years of his wandering as the who gathered around Ralph Waldo Emerson
Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama organized his (1803-82 ) in the 1830s and 1840s. More serious
community into rvvo groups, the Sangha, that is, were the interests of a Russian noblewoman,
the communit)- of monks and nuns, and the lay Helena P. Blavatsk)' (1831-91), and an Ameri-
supporters. This organization has been t\pical of can, Henry S. Olcott (1832-1907). In 1875 they
Theravada Buddhism. Monks and nuns beg for
their food and devote their lives to following the founded the Theosophical Society in New York.
Buddha's path. Political authorities such as kings
and queens have always been important lay sup- Later they traveled to south Asia and took Bud-

porters. dhist vows.
During the late 19th centun,- Buddhism also
In Mahayana the distinction between the
Sangha and lay supporters tends to be much less appeared on the West Coast. There is was not
rigid. The monastic life is not unknown, but associated with an intellectual elite. Rather, im-
Mahayana makes ultimate release available to migrants from east Asia who came to the West
those who are not religious professionals. Fur- Coast and the island of Hawaii brought Bud-
thermore, in certain Mahayana traditions priests dhism «ith them. The Chinese first came to
may marry, eat meat, and drink wine. Such be- California in the heady days of the Gold Rush
havior violates Theravada guidelines for monks (1848^9). Japanese began coming to the West
and nuns.
Coast at the end of the 19th centur>-. Among the
Although the Buddha made provision for an
order of nuns, the number of nuns has tradition- Buddhist traditions that the Japanese brought
ally been small. As Buddhism has begun to grow was a school ven- popular in Japan: the True Pure
in Europe and North America, women are start- Land school (see PURE LASD BUDDHISM). Its
ing to assume more active leadership roles. adherents rely solely upon the power of the Bud-
dha AMIDA to be reborn in the Pure Land after
Significance death. True Pure Land Buddhists formed the
Buddhist Church ofAmerica. It grew into a major
Buddhism is one of the world's most important
religions. At the end of the 20th centur\- it had institution.
more than 300,000,000 adherents. Buddhism
has profoundly influenced philosophy, literature, During the 1960s nvo other schools of Bud-
and the arts in Asia for over 2,000 years. In recent dhism took root in American soil. NICHIREN
Buddhism attracted many non-Asian adherents.
It honors the Japanese "prophet" Nichiren
( 1222-82 ) as the Buddha for the present age and
teaches its followers to chant a phrase known as

the Daimoku: Nam Myoho Reiige Kyo (Hail to the

LOTUS SLTR.\). In 1991 the community split. The

58 BUDDHISM IN AMERICA

branch known as Nichiren Shoshu presents the school known as Zen (see ZEN BUDDHISM). It has
attracted a large number of non-Asian followers
tradition of Buddhist monks and maintains tem- in the United States. Indeed, it has broadly influ-
enced American culture.
ples in Chicago, Hawaii, Los Angeles, New York,
American awareness of Zen dates from the
San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The other World's Parliament of Religion held in Chicago
in 1893. .\mong the religious figures who at-
group, known as Soka Gakkai, has no monks. Its tended the parliament was a Japanese Zen master,
Shaku Soen. Later, the books of a lay follower of
members, led hv lay leaders, gather at community- Soen, D. T. Suzuki, helped popularize Zen in the
L'mted States and around the world. In the 1950s
centers spread wideh' across the United States. Zen attracted the attention of the Beat poets. By
the 1970s Americans of non-Asian descent had
During the 1960s a diiferent group of immi- been certified as Zen masters. By the end of the
centun- Zen MEDIT.ATION centers were common
grants also brought Buddhism to the United in many parts of the L'nited States.

States. In the pre\ious decade, China had an- Zen has become a feature of the American
nexed Tibet and closed down its monasteries. consciousness. Good examples are Robert Pirsig's
novel, Zcti and the Art ofMotorcycle Maintenatice,
Many monks fled into exile. Their leader, the and a World -Wide -Web site hosted by America
Online in 1996 called "Zen and the Internet."
DAL\I L-KALV occasionally \isited the United Such tides show the extent to which Zen has
fascinated Americans. These uses of the word
HeStates. became highly \isible, especially after "Zen," howe\er, have litde or nothing to do with
the practice of Buddhism.
he won the Xobel Prize for peace in 1989.
Among his better know n followers was the mo\ie

actor, Richard Gere. Some Tibetan monks estab-

lished monasteries and Buddhist schools in the

AUnited States. good example is the Naropa

Institute in Boulder, Colorado, founded by the

Tibetan monk Chogyam Trungpa.

The Tibetan monks saw the United States as

an opportunitN' to teach the Buddhist DH.\RM\ in

a foreign land. Other Buddhist groups did, too.

One of the most important of these was the

c

CAKRAS A Sanskrit word meaning "wheels" In 1536 Calnn settled in Geneva, Switzer-
land. With the exception of three years spent in
or "discuses." In Hindu TANTRISM, cakras (chak- Strasbourg (1538^1 ), he spent the rest of his life
ras) are energ\' centers of what is known as the in Geneva. At first he assisted the Reformation
there. Eventually he led it.
subde or ps>'chic body.
Tantrism usually identifies si.\ cakras. They Cal\in organized Geneva's government,
church, and schools. In his eyes, the government
are arranged along the spinal column as follows: and the church needed to cooperate to ensure
the base of the spine, the region of the navel, that the ideals of the BIBLE were obser\ed. As a
the heart, the throat, the area between or abo\e result, Geneva became a place where Christian
the evebrows, and the fontanelle on the top of
the skull. Each cakra has its own deities, powers,
abilities, diagrams, colors, and leners. One goal
of Tantrism is to move the vital energ)- at the
base of the spine through the various cakras one
by one. When the energ\- reaches the highest
cakra, the practitioner achieves enlightenment

and liberation.

CAL\TN, JOHN (1509-1564) One of die Engra\ing of John Calxin by Lucas Cranach. (Courtesy
ofCorbis-Bettmann.)
most important leaders of the Protestant REF
OR.VL\TION. Calvin was born and educated in
France. His father, a lawyer, had the young
Calvin prepare first for a career in the church,

then for one in law. When his father died in

1531, Cal\-in turned from law to humanism,
that is, to the study of the classics of ancient
Greece and Rome. In 1533 one of Calvin's
close fi-iends gave an address, at the University
of Paris, which supported some ideas of Martin
LUTHER. The theologians of Paris had earlier
condemned these ideas. The friend had to flee
for his life. Calvin was implicated in his friend's
views, and he had to flee, too. Around this time
Calvin seems to have had a profound personal

religious experience.

59

60 CANAANITE RELIGION

regulations were strictly enforced. The inflexibil- tions. Cal\inism is one of the most Important.
it\' of the \ie\\s was not unusual at the time, but Cal\inist churches are known as "Reformed" (see
it did have unfortunate consequences. The most PRESB^TERLAS .\ND REFORMED CHURCHES).
famous example is the case of Michael Sen etus, They predominate in Switzerland, the Nether-
who was burned at the stake in 1553 for teaching lands, and Scotland. In the L'nited States Cal\in-
that GOD is one, not a TRINITV'. ism is represented above all by the Presb\terian
Church, which deri\es from the Scottish Cal\inist
Cal\in made his mark as a writer, a thinker,
and an organizer. His many writings include a tradition.
catechism, sermons, hymns, commentaries on
the Bible, and letters. But his most important CANAANITE RELIGION The religion of
book is Institutes of the Christian Relijjion, first
published in 1536. Throughout his life Calvin Palestine and Syria during the third and second
reused and expanded it. He published the last millennia (3000-1001) B.C. In the first millen-
nium B C Canaanite religion came into conflict
version in 1559. with the worship of YHV\T-I ("the Lord"), espe-
ciallv in the northern kingdom of Israel.
As a humanist, Cal\in insisted on returning
to the original sources. In THEOLOGY, that meant Technicallx', the name "Canaanite" applies
the Bible. His reading of the Bible owes a great only to the ancient inhabitants of Palestine. But
deal to the thought of the aposde PAUL and people also use it for all peoples and settlements
AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. Cal\in emphasizes that, as that spoke languages known as "Northwest Se-
a result of original SIN, human beings cannot live mitic." These peoples inhabited the region be-
in the state for which they were created: com- tween two major ancient powers, Eg\pt and
munion with God. Nevertheless, God redeems Mesopotamia. Not much is known in detail of
siimers, although they do not in any way deserve their histon-. But diuing the 20th centur\' t^vo
to be sa\ed. But God chooses to save some major archaeological finds unearthed many Ca-
sinners and to condemn others to hell. This is naanite texts. .Among other topics, they shed light
Calvin's famous teaching of predestination. God on Canaanite religion. These finds were the an-
saves people through the actisit)' of lESUS, the cient cities of Ugarit (discovered 1929 ) and Ebia

prophet, priest, and king. He also does so (discovered 1968).
through the Holv Spirit, who instills faith in the The Canaanites worshiped several deities.
human heart.
Two were the pair El (the Semitic word for
Cal\in recognized four offices in the church: "god") and Athirat, also known as Asherah. El
was the "father of gods and men." He created the
pastors, who preached and administered the S.AC-
world. Athirat was the mother of the gods. To-
R.\MENTS of B.ATTISM and the EUCILARIST; teach- gether, they were worshiped as king and queen.

ers, who instructed in faith; elders, who Another pair of gods was B.\AL, also known
as Hadad, and Anat, his sister and wife. The name
administered and ensured discipline; and dea-
ABaal means "lord." god of the storms, Baal is
cons, who assisted the poor. The congregation
was governed by a "consistor^'," a body made up called "rider of the clouds." Anat was a GODDESS
renowned both for beautv' and violence. Yet an-
of pastors and elders. other goddess renowned for beauty and \iolence
was Athtart. Mesopotamians called her Ishtar; the
On some points Cal\in differed from Martin BIBLE calls her Ashtoreth.
Luther. One of the most fateful was the interpre-
A prominent Canaanite myxh concerns the
tation of the eucharist. Luther had insisted that god Baal. It tells how he fought and defeated the
Jesus's body and blood were actually present in sea, a son of El named Yamm. But when Baal
the bread and wine of the eucharist. Cal\in taught
that they were present spiritually. As a result, the

Reformation gave rise to several distinct tradi-

CANNIBALISxM AND RELIGION 61

faced another son of El, Mot, the god of death, FICE, and kinship or alliance between the living
he was defeated and killed. His sister, Anat, and the dead and between different tribes.
avenged his death. Baal was restored to life and
in the end defeated death in battle. Earlier schol- Among certain South American and African
ars thought this stor\' reflected the yearly c\xle of
the seasons. Current opinion takes it as referring tribes, for example, the bodies of killed foes were
instead to an irregular drought. reportedly cooked and eaten, or burned, reduced
to powder, and put in drinks. This was said to
Cannanite WORSHIP was much like worship
in other parts ofthe ancient Near East. It centered protect the victors against anacks by the souls of
on SACRIFICES and offerings. The Canaanites
performed these on at least two social levels. One the deceased, and also to be a w-ay of acquiring
level was the cit\'. The king oversaw its worship. their energv'. Other tribesmen have disappro\ed
The second level was the local corrununit\'. Indi-
viduals seem to have performed in local cults for of the practice but claimed it is done by witches
themselves. They sacrificed at high places
throughout the year. They also held celebrations and sorcerers in order to gain magical power. In
in conjunction with planting and hanesting in
spring and autumn. Like many ancient peoples, Newstill other societies, such as some in Guinea,
the Canaanites had a comple.v system of RITU,AL
specialists. It is not clear what any of the specialists parts of the bodies of relatives, who had died
mentioned in the Canaanite te.xts actually did.
naturally, were eaten as a benign way of express-
During the first millennium, Canaanite relig-
ion in Palestine gradually gave way to the worship ing kinship and assuring their REINC,\RNATION

of iHWH. But the worship of 'i'HWH also vsithin the tribe.

adopted Canaanite elements. In some sense, Cannibalism has also sometimes been a part
"iTTWTI combines the characteristics of El and of religious sacrifice. In Fiji the communal eating
Baal. He creates the world. He is also a god of
the storms. Like Baal, he rides the clouds (Psalms of cannibal victims who had been sacrificed to a
68.4) and defeats the sea (Psalms 89.9-10; Job major god was said to be a way of cementing an
26.12-13). It is also possible that Canaanite ag- alliance between chiefs. Among the Aztecs of
ricultural festivals lie behind the JEWISH FESTI- Mexico (see AZTEC RELIGION) reports have al-
v.\LS of P.\sso\'ER, Sha\-uot, and Sukkot. leged that the bodies of the victims whose hearts

CANNIBALISM AND RELIGION The and blood were regularly offered to nourish the

eating of human flesh by other humans. It has sun were then eaten by priests and nobilit\-. To
been practiced in a varietv- of places throughout eat offerings, human, animal, or plant, presented
human history for many reasons, only some of
which can be considered religious. In extreme to the gods is widely considered a means of having
circumstances it has been done just to survive. In communion with that god and with other wor-
some cultures parts of the bodies of defeated
enemies have been eaten simply to degrade them shipers.

and demonstrate the completeness of the victorv'. Recentiy some scholars ha\'e argued that ac-
In other instances, though, elements of reUgious
or at least spiritist belief have come in, through counts of the practice of cannibalism, repellent to
the association of cannibalism with war, SACRI- most people, are greatiy sensationalized. Canni-

balism has rarely if ever been reliably observed
firsthand, it is said, and accusations of human-
eating have actuaUy come fi'om informants whose

real motive was to slander rival tribes, or from

tellers of tall tales who enjoyed shocking their
listeners. The stories were then still more exag-

gerated b\- Western colonialists to smear their

"native" subjects as barbaric and depraved, and

so justify' white nile.

Doubtiess there is much truth to this. The
majority of anthropologists and religion scholars,
however, still believe that carmibalism has some-
times been engaged in for religious reasons.

62 CANTERBURY

though probabh' not as often as was once man see itself, that is, the Catholic Church in
thought. Rome, act as bishops in major churches around
the world, and ser\e as ambassadors of die pope.
CANTERBURY A town in England roughh-
CARGO CULTS Groups believing that the
50 miles southeast of London. In A.D. 597 Pope
Gregory I sent a missionary named Augustine gods will send wonderful cargoes to their follow-
(not AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO) to the Anglo-Saxons ers, often nadve peoples in colonialized lands.
in England. Augustine was the first missionarv' to Throughout parts of the world under colonial
the English. He settled in Canterbur)' and be- rulers, especially in the area of Indonesia and the
came bishop there. The line of the archbishops of South Pacific, religious movements have arisen
Canterbur)' stretches from Augustine to the pre- based on the promise of a prophet that rich
sent day without a break. cargoes were on their way to the impox'erished
natives. Although comparable movements can be
During the REFORM,\TION King Henni'^lII found as far back as prehistoric times, and some
declared the English church to be independent cargo cults are still active today, most flourished
from the popes in Rome. Since tliat time (1534) during the height of European colonialism, ap-
the archbishop of Canterbury has been recog- proximately from 1850 to 1950. They have much
nized as the most important leader of the Angli-
can Church (see ANGLICANISM). in common with millenarianism, or belief in the
imminent and sudden oncoming of a world that
Canterbury is famous for its cathedral. It is was like paradise, and with movements like the
also famous as the place where in 1 1 70 St. 1 890s GHOST DANCE of Native Americans by
Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury at
the time, was killed. In the 20th centur)' this event which oppressed indigenous f)eoples whose cul-
was the subject oi Murder in the Cathedral, a play ture was being destroyed by white setders sought
by T. S. Eliot, and Becket, a play by Jean Anouilh. to reco\'er it through magical means.
Before the Reformation, many pilgrims traveled
to Canterbun,' to visit Becket's shrine. The Eng- In cargo cults as such, t\'pically a teacher
lish writer Geoffrey Chaucer used that PILGRIM- arises within a colonialized native community
AGE in his famous Canterbury Tales (lute 1300s).
The book recounts many raucous and lewd sto- who says that although the white rulers seem to
ries that pilgrims allegedly told on their way to have all the wealth and advanced technology' now,
Canterbur\'.
our ancient gods and ancestors have not forgotten
CARDINALS The chief administrative offi- us. Sometimes this prophetic teacher is himself
thought to be an incarnation or emissary' of one
cers of the Roman Catholic Church. They can be of the old gods. Soon, he sa\'S, the gods will send
a ship or, more recendy, airplanes, laden with
distinguished by their red clothing. Cardinals arc cargo for the natives, and this will be the begin-
appointed by the pope (see PAPACY, THE). In turn ning of a millennial age of happiness in which they
they elect new popes. At one time the number of and their ways will be vindicated.
cardinals was capped at 70, but today they
number more than 100. In order to prepare for the cargo, docks or
airstrips must be built. At the same time, it is no
Originally die cardinals were the bishops, longer necessan' or appropriate to work for the
old order or put stock in the old order's goods
priests, and deacons in the church at Rome and and money. At the height of cargo cult enthusi-
asm, natives have ceased working for their colo-
in its immediate surroundings. These titles are nial overlords, and have stopped attending
preserved in the three ranks in the College of mission churches and mission or government
Cardinals: cardinal bishops, priests, and deacons. schools. They have destroyed their properr\', kill-
But today cardinals generally administer the Ro-

CASTE, IN HINDUISM 63

ing their animals and throwing away money to Varnas
make room, as it were, for the new cargo.
In Sanskrit the word varna means "color." Ap-
Needless to say, all this was very disniptivc of plied to social groups it does not refer to skin
the colonial economy and brought stern reprisals color, and although it may be translated as
from the European rulers, .\lthough based in an "class," it does not refer to economic status,
updating of traditional religious beliefs, including either. Varna refers instead to ritual status. It is
millenarian themes, cargo cults were sometimes quite possible to belong to the highest varna and
also influenced by Christian missionary teaching be extremel)' poor. The varnas were systematized
about the Day of the Lord and the Kingdom of roughly 2,000 years ago in books of religious
GOD. It is clear they had political overtones as codes known as the Smritis or the Dharmasastras.
well. While on the surface destructive and Before then, many scholars maintain that distinc-
backward-looking, cargo cults sometimes in the tions of varna existed but were not so rigidly
long run clarified native issues and leadership in drawn or applied.
wa\s that helped prepare for independence.
The four traditional varnas are, in order of
CARNIVAL In Latin countries, a festival held descending ritual purin-, BR.\HMIN, kshatriya, vai-
s)'a, and sudra. According to the Dbarmnsnstras^
just before the beginning of the fasting season of a brahmin .should be a priest, a kshatriya (a ruler
LENT. During Carnival, joviality and rich foods, or warrior), a vaisya (a merchant or businessper-
including meat, are enjoyed for the last time until son), while a sudra should meekly serve the other
varnas. In addition, the varna system defines t\vo
E.-KSTER. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is a good groups of persons who are so impure that they fall
outside the sytem altogether. The first group
example. By extension, though. Carnival can be comprises the so-called untouchables, officially
taken to refer to a type of festival found through- known today as Dalits. These v\'ere often people
out the religious world, such as holiin HINDUISM whose menial jobs were thought to be extremely
and many of the matsnri of SHINTO, or in some polluting, for example, hunters and those who
ways PURIM in lUD.JiISM, when "letting go" cleaned latrines. Pollution often comes from con-
through song and dance and ribald humor is the tact with body parts or with dead people or
rule. Clowning, drunkenness, and the mocking animals. The second group comprises foreigners.
even of sacred things may be in order at such In traditional India "foreigners" were most often
times. Identities may also be changed as people Muslims.

wear masks and costumes (see M\SKS AND RELIG- The focus of the \arna svstem is on the purit\'
of males, since tliey are the ones who perform
ION). Carnival shows that religion can sometimes household rituals. As a result, men may marry
be festive and fun. women from a higher varna, but a man who
marries a woman from a lower varna loses caste.
CASTE, IN HINDUISM Traditional social At the same time, men who cannot find work in
an occupation appropriate to their \arnas may do
grouping in India into which persons are born. the jobs of lower varnas, but not higher ones.
Each group ranks higher or lower than other Thus, sudras cannot become Vedic priests, for
groups in terms of its ritual purity. Thus, a caste that would pollute the ritual. Finally, the three
is distinguished by limiting participation in ritu-
als, inducting marriage and eating together, to —upper varnas brahmins, kshatriyas, and vais\'as
members of the caste, as well as by specific occu- —are called "twice-born," because males born in
pations. The term "caste" usually refers to two
distinct but related ways of organizing society; these varnas undergo a "second birth," initiation
vnrnas, an ideal organization of human society
into broad ritual classes, and jnfM, specific, local-
ized groups within the varnas.

64 CATHEDRAL

into the study of the most sacred Hindu scrip- CATHEDRAL A type of church building in

tures, the VTiDA. Christianity. It gets its name because it contains

JATIS the cathedra or "chair" of the bishop.

The varnas represent the way certain thinkers Bishops are reUgious leaders in Catholic, Or-
thought society ought to be classified. In actual thodox, and some forms of Protestant CHRISTI-
practice, Hindus have belonged to a more re- ANITY. They have charge of all the churches in a
stricted jati, Sanskrit for "birth group." Jatis are
relatively local groups that were ranked on the certain area. In the Roman Catholic and Anglican
varna spectrum. There are literally thousands of churches the area is known as a diocese. Other

jatis in Indian society. branches of Christianity use other names.

The occupation that members of a jati per- A cathedral is a bishop's home church. It is
form is specified quite narrowly: Members of
one jati may be barbers or shoemakers, those of the most important church building in a region.
another mav be grocers. Traditional marriages That importance is generally reflected in the size
also take place between members of jatis rather of the building. Cathedrals have tended to be
than between members of the broader varna monumental structures.

classification. Until the middle of the 18th centur\', the
cathedral was one of the most important architec-
In general it is not possible to change one's tural structures in Europe. As a result, up to the
varna ranking because it is not possible to change mid- 1700s the history of European architecture
one's jati. But even in traditional India a limited was largely a history of the changing styles of
amount of mobility was possible. It is not un- cathedrals. After the mid- 1700s, cathedrals con-
known for the varna rank of a jati to alter when tinued to be built. But developments like the
over several generations its fortunes changed. At Industrial, American, and French revolutions
the same time, individuals of ability or ambition made them less important. Architects turned their
have not always been limited to jobs within their creative energies to structures like government
jati. For example, several dynasties of India were
begun by persons of low status. —buildings think of the Capitol Building and the
—White House in Washington, D.C. train sta-
Caste Today
tions, theaters, museums, and eventually airports,
During the 20th century the caste system office buildings, and shopping centers.
changed enormously. One of Mohandas
GANDHl's most cherished goals was the elimina- Many of the earliest Christians were Greeks
tion of untouchability, and the present constitu- and Romans who converted to Christianity. The
tion of India outlaws it. The Indian government earliest cathedrals, however, were not comerted
has also established vigorous educational and Greek and Roman temples. They were inspired
employment quotas for underprivileged groups. by law courts known as basilicas and certain kinds

Today caste is much less visible and per\'a- of bath houses. These kinds of buildings allowed
sive in India than it was a century ago, but its Christians to assemble in large groups for worship
and BAPTISM. Unlike the law courts and bath
influence has not disappeared. Prejudices
against low-caste people like the Dalits still houses, Greek and Roman temples were not very

remain strong among the higher castes, and well-suited for such activities.
marriages, an overwhelming majority of which
are arranged, are still often performed within Later cathedrals in many different sts'les are
the boundaries of varna and jati. extremely impressive. Hagia Sophia in Constan-

—tinople (sixth century) now a mosque in Istan-
—bul, Turkey is a supreme example of a Byzantine

cathedral. Its massive, central dome seems to float

m the air above a lighted, unearthly space. St.

Peter's in Rome contains the chair or throne ot

CELIBACY 65

St. Peter himself, at least as designed by the cat remains their closest contact with the wonder
Renaissance artist Giovanni Bernini (1598- and mystery of the animal world. (See also ANI
1680). Built in an early baroque style, the rich- MALS AND RELIGION.)
ness of the church's decoration as well as the
"arms'" that surround the plaza in front of it were CELIBACY The state of remaining unmarried
meant to draw people back into the Catholic
Church aft:er the Protestant REFORMATION. and abstaining from sex for religious reasons. In
some religions living in a state of celibacy is
Many people consider Gothic cathedrals to considered the way of perfection and the state
be the most sublime cathedrals of all. The Gothic appropriate to its leaders or its most dedicated
style began in the area around Paris, France, in practitioners. Examples of religious celibates are
the mid 1100s. Gothic cathedrals are long, nar-
row, and tall. On the inside tall columns support priests and MONKS AND NUNS of ROMAN CA-
the roof On the outside a kind of support called
a flying buttress suppons the roof and the walls. THOLICISM; bishops, monks, and nuns in EAST-
Gothic cathedrals generally have arches that come
to a point at their doorways, windows, and inte- ERN ORTHODOX CHRISTL\NITY; Buddhist monks
and nuns; Taoist monks; and Hindu sadhus or
rior roofs. Earlier cathedrals had arches that were "holy men." Other religions, such as CONFU-
round. Gothic cathedrals also haxe large windows CIANISM, lUDAISM, ISLAM, and PROTESTANTISM
filled with stained glass. The cathedral at
Chartres, France, is especially renowned for its in CHRISTIANITii' have (with a few exceptions)
taught marriage as a \irtual obligation, or at least
stained glass. a state that in no way diminishes religious virtue
and should be open to all regardless of religious
Two extremely large church buildings in
role.
North America reflect the attitude that Gothic is
the supreme form of the cathedral. One is St. At the same time, what might be called
"spontaneous" celibacy has occurred even in
John the Divine in New York City; the other is those faiths, in the case of persons so immersed
in a religious life that marriage was quietiy dis-
the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. missed as a personal option. Examples have been
(according to some scholars) Jews of the ancient
CATS AND RELIGION The symbolism Essene or Qumran communities, certain Muslim
Sufi mystics (see SUFISM), and Protestants such as
and role of the cat in religion. The cat, an animal the Shakers or John Chapman ("Johnny Apple-
at once mysterious, independent, and familiar, seed"), or many dedicated female Protestant mis-
has long been felt to have special spiritual power. sionaries and deaconesses. Sometimes deeply
In ancient Egypt, the GODDESS of pleasure. Bast, religious persons of homosexual tendenc)' have
was symbolized by a cat, and her temple was full found celibacy the best way of life for them.
of sacred cats, which were mummified after death Sometimes celibacy is entered as a temporan,'
state, as in the case of young men in some
(see EGYPTIAN RELIGION). On the other hand, in
Theravada Buddhist countries, men who become
medieval Europe, cats, especially black ones, were monks for a year or so before marrying and
sometimes thought to be demonic, envoys or
even personifications of the devil and familiars of establishing themselves in the world. Sometimes
witches, and sacrificed to ward offill-fortune. The celibaq' is a kind of SACRIFICE or offering to GOD.

HALLOWEEN black cat is a carry-over from those Advocates of the value of celibacy say that it
unhappy days Rar cats. In ISLAM, the prophet allows one to channel sexual energy into spiritual
ML'HAMMAD is said to have been especially fond advancement, that it fi'ees one to practice spiritu-
ality and ser\'e others selflessly without having to
of cats and so they are well-regarded. In Japan it allow for family obligations, and that it is a way of
has been considered bad luck to kill a cat. For
many people in the modern world, a pet dog or

66 CELTIC RELIGION

attaining egolessness because it is a form of self- often difficult to tell what is ancient Celtic and
denial that can also support holy poverty' and what is more recent and Christian. Archaeology'
obedience. It sets an example of a way of life that and ancient inscriptions provide some help.
is above the passions and obligations of the world
and ordinary human nature. The celibate idealK' According to Julius Caesar the Celts wor-
can live as a completely free person, free from self shiped several gods that the more savage Ger-
and from entanglements, completely offered to manic peoples did not; these corresponded to the

God or the spiritual quest, and can reach enlight- Roman Mercury (the most important Celtic
enment or serve God without hindrance. god), APOLLO, MARS, JUPITER, and Minen'a. It is
not clear what were the Celtic names of the gods
Yet celibacy is not easy and is not desirable Caesar had in mind. The most important Celtic
for all. Controversies have arisen over the extent god seems to have been Lugh, also spelled Lugus,
to which it should be required in such institutions a god of technology and invention. The names of
several European cities preser\'e his memory:
as the Roman Catholic Church. Some forms of Lvon and Laon in France and Leiden in the
BUDDHISM, especially among the Japanese, now Netherlands. A fascinating image of the Celtic
permit priests and monks to be married. The god Cernunnos resembles the Hindu god SIV.^.
ideals of celibacy and modern attitudes toward
It also resembles a seated figure from a seal of the
sexualit%' and marriage find themsehes deeph' Indus Valley Civihzation (see INDUS VALLEY RE-
challenging to each other.
LIGION). An important Celtic GODDESS was
CELTIC RELIGION The religion of the Epona. She was associated with horses. Other
people who lived in France and Britain at the time Celtic goddesses gave their names to rivers in
of the Roman conquest. The Romans called the Europe. One example is the Rhine.

Celts Gain, in English, Gauls. Much Celtic religious activity centered on

The Celts spoke a language related to Ger- places in nature, such as groves of trees, high
places, and bodies of water. Later folklore recalls
man, Latin, Greek, Persian, and even Sanskrit, the these sacred places in stories of fairies. Archaeolo-
classical language of India. Many people have gists have recovered Celtic offerings from bodies
of water.
noticed intriguing similarities between Celtic and
Caesar stressed that the Celts practiced SAC-
ancient Indian culture. These include similarities
RIFICE, especially human sacrifice. Indeed, he
in religion and mythology. described a RITU.AL in which the Celts built a
human figure out of wicker, filled it with people,
At first the Celts lived east of the Rhine River. and set it on fire, burning the occupants. Many
scholars have doubts about his account. It is
About 1000 B.C. they crossed the Rhine into the worth noting that some famous prehistoric
monuments in Britain, such as the passage tomb
area of modern France. By 300 B C they also lived at Newgrange, Ireland, and the megaliths at
Stonehenge, England, were not built and used by
across the English Channel. Their descendants the Celts. They were built and used by earlier
include the Scots, Irish, and Welsh. In 279 B.C.
peoples.
some Celts sacked the Greek oracle at Delphi.
The Celts had priests called DRUIDS. The
Then they crossed into modern Turkey and Druids preserved the oral traditions of the people,
ser\'ed as judges, conducted religious rituals, and
Newfounded a state called Galatia (cp. the Tes- divined. According to Irish traditions, the Celts
divided the vear into two equal parts. The most
tament book of Galatians).

Celtic religion is difficult to reconstruct. An-

cient writers, especially Julius Caesar, described

it, but thev described it in terms of their own

religions. They also emphasized Celtic brutality-.

That emphasis is often not reUable. Later Chris-

tians, especially in Ireland, preser\ed Celtic sto-
ries and other elements of Celtic culture. But it is

CHILDREN, RELIGION OF 67

important festival, Samain, took place on Octo- CHLLDREN, RELIGION OF How children
ber 31 /November 1. (Like the Jewish day, the
Celtic day began at sundown.) The festival of experience religion and spiritual realities. Relig-
Beltine occurred on April 30/May 1 . These fes- ions seem to have two ver\' different views of what
tivals are the ancestors of Halloween and May children are like from a religious point of \iew.
Day, respectively.
On one hand, there is the idea represented by the
CHARMS AND AMULETS In popular re-
poet William Wordsworth's famous lines in "In-
ligion, dexices to assure the e\en,'day protection timations of Ininiortalit\'":

of GOD or the gods. Charms are properly words . . . Trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
or simple practices of quasi-magical significance Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
that are said or done to this effect, such as die
frequent chandng of a mantra or short PB-WER And only after
under one's breath as one goes about daily work,
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
or saving "Bless \ou!" to a person who has
sneezed (originalh' in die hope that the soul Upon the growing boy
would not escape through the sneeze), or knock-
ing on wood for good fortune. Amulets, or talis- does that splendor "fade into the light of com-
mans, are small objects worn for the same
purpose, although the word charm has some- mon day." This is the view that children have
times come to be applied to these objects as v\ell.
Amulets include religious medals worn around naturally a particularly acute religious sense,

the neck, sacred stones or tiny divine images and indeed are particularly close to GOD and
carried in purse or pocket, or nowadays religious
pictures, small statues, or medals on the dash- heavenly glory.
board of a car. Sometimes, especially in HINDU- The other view, represented by AUGUSTINE
ISM and BUDDHISM, they may consist of a short
sacred mantra or other text placed inside a small OF HIPPO, JOHN CALVIN, and Other more conven-
tional religious thinkers of several traditions is
box. Many SHINTO shrines and other temples that children are naturally selfish, embodiments
of "original SIN," and only through training,
regularly present amulets to visitors. While the education, and religion can the\' learn to be good
use of charms and amulets may be regarded by and to love God.
some as superstitious, it is important to remem-
ber that for many religious people they are seen Perhaps children, like adults, are compli-
not only as bearers of sacred power in themselves, cated and there are ways in which both perspec-
but also as tokens of one's religious identity and tives are true. Certainly children can be selfish,
reminders of one's spiritual commitment in the demanding, and even very cruel, sometimes
midst of tiie stresses of everyday life. Some peo- thoughtlesslv, sometimes out of malice, to ani-
ple, of course, wear religious jewelry and other mals, other children, and adults. Sometimes
sacred objects as a general symbol of that identitv', these are things about which, as they grow
but without a belief in any special power in the older, they feel bad and confess to God, asking
object itself Others hold tiiat, in mysterious his forgiveness. Whether it is through disobedi-
ways, special divine power can indeed be im- ence, meanness of thought, word, and deed, or
parted in some degree to particular objects. other things virtually all children, by the time

they grow up, have enough experience to know
personally what religions mean by sin and evil,
and why they take it so seriously.

At the same time, children often have expe-
riences that lay foundations for religion of a much

68 CHINA, RELIGIONS OF

more positive sort. The\' may, perhaps alone in Ancient Beliefs .\nd Pr.\ctices
nature or a garden or even their room, sense on
occasion an o\erwhelming feeling of peace, won- The earliest known Chinese reUgions addressed
der, and joy. They may have companions invisible two themes that have continued throughout Chi-
to others that are like ANGELS or spirits. They may nese histor\': respect for ancestors who have died
have a sense that something like their parents is and various practices known as divination. Divi-
supporting them even when they are alone. nation attempts to determine the character of the
forces of the universe at given moments, for
All these experiences at first have no name, example, whether these forces are favorable when
but if a child is raised in a religion, sooner or later
she or he will probably think of them as expen- undertaking a specific action.
ences of God or buddhahood, of angels or of a \illage life in China developed during the
heavenly Father or Mother. The rehgion within
which one is raised series to give names and Neolithic or "new stone age," which began
ways of thinking that help the child to "place" around 5000 B C. Archaeology tells us only a littie
religiousupe experiences both of wonder and ot about religious activit\' in this period. Corpses
sin. Some children may feel a conflict between were painted with red ochre and buried with
their mnermost spiritual experiences and having grave goods, such as tools and drinking vessels.
to interpret them according to a family rehgion; At Yuan-chin-miao corpses were laid out in a
others may not. But dealing with that is part of north-south direction. All of these features could
growing up. Frequently children greatly enjoy indicate a belief in an afterlife. Beginning about
the festivals and special celebrations of religions. 3500 B C evidence appears of scapulamancy, that
is, divining by examining cracks in the dried
Religious experience and tension both are shoulder blades of deer and sheep.
likely to be heightened by pubert)- and adoles-
cence, when strong new emotions, a new sense By the Shang dynast\- (about 1800-1050
of a need for a person's independent identity, and B.c:.) the Chinese knew of an afterlife presided
a yearning for idealistic beliefs, may be channeled over by Shang-Ti, "Lord on High." The number
in religious directions. This is often a time of of goods buried with important persons had
intense religious experience, conversion experi- grown to immense proportions. At Hsiao-T'un,
ences, and rebellion against family and conven- for example, the deceased was buried with 15
horses, 10 oxen, 18 sheep, 35 dogs, five equipped
tional religion. Many religions tr\- to help people chariots and their charioteers, and another 852
find a new adult religious identin,' at this time people. During this period the Chinese used ves-
through rites hke confirmation or BAR/BAT MITZ- sels made of bronze, such as bronze bowls, to
\'AH. In all cases, though, we find roots of adult
Apresent gifts to ancestors. common way to
religiosity, whatever it is, reaching deep into
childhood, but then conditioned one way or divine was to stick hot rods into tortoise shells and
another by family and the religious institutions ot examine the ways in which the shells cracked.
the adult world.
The Shang rulers fell to rival rulers known as
CHINA, RELIGIONS OF The various re the Chou. The Chou justified overthrowing the
Shang by invoking the mandate of HEAXTN. Ac-
Ugions practiced in China. These religions include cording to this idea kings ruled on behalf of
the native Chinese traditions of CONFUCIANISM heaven; when they no longer maintained order,
and TAOISM, the imported traciition of BUD- they lost heaven's mandate to rule and deserved
DHISM, and a loose set of practices known as to be overthrown. During the early Chou period
"popular religion." Chinese beheved ancestors resided in T'ien,
"heaven," and worshiped them with grand feasts.
Aristocrats performed elaborate festivals hnked to
the agricultural calendar. It also became common

www.ebook3000.com

CHINA, RELIGIONS OF 69

to di%ine bv throwing down stalks of the yarrow In the centuries following Confijcius, yet
plant and seeing whether they would break. This
another set of views, the nNY.\NG THEORY, cr\s-
practice eventually led to the writing of the classic tallized from very ancient roots. It analyzed the
book, the I CHING. universe in terms of the complementary interac-
tion of two opposites, \in and yang. Among other
CON"FL'CL\NISM ASD TAOISM characteristics, it saw \in as dark, moist, female,
and receptive, yang as bright, dry, male, and
In the early eighth century B.C order began to active. It also identified "five actions" at work in
break down, and a period of political, economic, the world: metal, wood, water, fire, earth. The
and religious unrest set in. During the sixth cen- differences between Confiicianism and Taoism
parallel those between yang and sin: Confiician-
tur>' B C, as this unrest continued, the nvo major ism stresses activity and Taoism recepti\ity.
Just as vang and \in are both necessary, so
native Chinese religious traditions arose, Confii- most Chinese have practiced elements of both
cianism and Taoism. Cher the next 600 years they
received their classic forms from thinkers like religions.
Hsun Tzu, Mencius, and CHU.ANG TZU.
BUDDHISM
CONTUCIUS (551^79 BC ) taught the way
Buddhism first arrived in China around the time
of heaven. In effect, he transferred to living hu- of JESUS (first centun- .AD ). During the next 500
vears it gradually became estabhshed, primarily as
man beings the respect and devotion traditionally a tradition for .MONTS .AND NL'NS. At first the
Chinese resisted Buddhism. The monastic Ufe
given to ancestors. Confticius is said to have went coimter to the traditional Chinese emphasis
edited five ancient classics: the / Ching or Book of on the family, and the Buddhist desire to achieve
Changes, the Book of History, the Book of Poetry, release from ordinary existence (see NIR\'.AN'A and
S.VilSARA) was opposed to the practical orienta-
the Book of Rites, and the Spring and Autumn tion dominant in China.
Annals. His disciples preser\ed his own teachings
in a book known as the Analects (see .\K.\LECTS By the start of the Tang dynast)' (A.D.
OF CONTUCIUS). Early in the second century B.C 618-906), however. Buddhism had become not
the Han dynasty adopted Confucianism as its onlv the dominant intellectual tradition but a
religion practiced by the people as well. Several
oflHcial ideolog\'. Eventually all Chinese officials different schools flourished. T'ien-t'ai Buddhism
had to pass rigorous examinations in the Confii- classified all the varieties of Buddhism in a gradu-
cian classics. They also spent a good part of their ated scale; it saw the LOTUS SUTRA as encapsulat-
time performing the Confucian RITUALS. ing supreme truth. PURE L\ND BUDDHISM taught
followers to rely upon the favor of the Buddha
Taoism taught not the way of heaven but the Amitabha (see .AVIIDA) and A\'.\LOKrrES\'.\K\, the
way of nature. As encapsulated in the TAO TE BODHISATTV'A known in China as Kuan-Nin.
CHING (the "Way Power Classic" ), this way never
acts deliberately, yet it accomplishes everything. —Ch'an Buddhism bener known in North Amer-
Taoists saw action without deliberate inten- —ica by its Japanese name, ZEN BUDDHISM re-

— —tion in Chinese, wu wei as the model for hu- jected speech and reasoning as distorting truth; it
advocated instead a direct, intuitive, ineffable
man behavior. Applying this principle to awareness of things as they are.
government, they suggested that the government
that meddles least in the lives of its subjects is the In A-D. 845 the fortunes of Buddhism
best government. Taoists eventually developed
elaborate rituals and experimented with exercises, —changed permanently for the worse. In that year
herbs, and minerals ( see ALCHEMY) in their search
for a long life and immonaht)'. They also formed

secret societies that occasionally attempted to
overthrow the government.

70 CHRIST

the "Great Persecution" of Buddhism took place, christos, "Christ," to Jesus. They would have used
during which more than 40,000 monasteries its Aramaic equivalent, which is usually rendered
were destroyed. Chinese Buddhism never recov- into English as MESSIAH.
ered from this blow. It did not disappear, but it
was never again the leading Chinese religion. Within 15 years of Jesus' death, however,
MISSIONARIES such as PAUL were actively spread-
During the Buddhist period Confijcianism
had seemed unsophisticated, because it concen- ing the message about Jesus to people outside ot
trated so hea\'ily on proper behavior. Starting
around A.D. 1000 Neo-Confucians made Confu- Palestine. At the time Greek was the common
cianism respectable once again. They developed
a Confucian metaphysics (theory of reality) com- language of the eastern Mediterranean, so they
parable to that of Buddhism and Taoism. At the translated their message into Greek. Jesus the
same time, broad segments of the Chinese popu- Messiah became Jesus the Christ, and the religion
lation adopted a Confiacian oudook. Confijcian-
ism again became the dominant Chinese religion. eventually came to be known as Christianity.
But Confucianism did not exclude China's other The word cimstos, "Christ," quickly assumed

rehgious traditions. The most common view sug- —the status of a proper name Jesus Christ rather
—than Jesus the Christ and the name was limited
—gested that all three teachings Confucianism,
—Taoism, and Buddhism were essentially one. to Jesus. Today the name Christ is rarely associ-
ated witli its original Greek meaning, "the
By the late 19th centur>' European colonial-
ism had disrupted the self-confidence of tradi- anointed."
tional Chinese society. Confucian values looked
weak and outdated. The establishment of Com-
munist China in 1949 had even harsher conse-
quences. Although religion was not completely
banned, certain periods, such as the Cultural
Revolution in the late 1960s, were particularK'
hard on the practice of all religions.

Significance

Although relatively subdued in mainland
China, the Chinese religious heritage still flour-
ishes on the island of Taiwan and elsewhere. In
addition, the Confucian emphasis on family and
moralit)', the Taoist emphasis on letting things be
and achieving harmony with nature, and the Bud-
dhist schools of Pure Land and Ch'an ( Zen ) have
enriched human culture in general.

CHRIST From the Greek word chvistos, mean- Transfiguration by Era Angelico, depicting the spiritual
change of Christ on a mountaintop and in the presence
ing "anointed"; a tide applied to lESUS, the of dirce disciples. (Courtesy of the Ima^e Bank.)

founder of CHRISTL-VNITY. The earliest followers
of Jesus most likely spoke Aramaic, which was the
language of Palestine in Jesus' day. As a result,
thev would not ha\e applied the Greek word

CHRISTIANITY 71

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A Christian move- had him crucified on charges of sedition against
the Roman government, but his followers soon
ment that emphasizes healing. Christian Science
began in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1866 Mary became convinced that he had been raised from
Baker Eddy (1821-1910) experienced a sudden
healing that she anributed to GOD. In 1875 she the dead. Some of these followers traveled as
pubhshed Science and Health to expound her MISSIONARIES, mostly tliroughout the Roman
teachings about divine healing. When the various
churches showed little interest, she and several Empire. They taught that Jesus was the promised
followers formed the first Church of Christ, Sci-
entist, in 1879. Since that time the teachings of MESSIAH or CHRIST and that he provided people
Christian Science have spread throughout the
with forgiveness for their SINS and eternal life.
world.
Christian Science teaches that all genuine Until the fourth century Christianity was il-

realitv is spiritual. Sickness and distress result legal in the Roman Empire, because Christians
when people mistake the material for the real. refirsed to "venerate" or give a kind of WOR-
Christian Science denies that JESUS was God, but
it sees itself as thoroughly Christian. It uses Je- SHIP to the emperor. But Emperor Constantine
sus's healings as the basis of its teaching that
(c. 280-337) lifted the legal restrictions against
healing is possible for those who follow God's Christianity, and Emperor Theodosius (347-

spintual laws. 395 ) made all other religions illegal. At this time
Christians systematized their teachings. The most
The Church of Christ, Scientist, maintains a
register of "practitioners" or healers. These are important teachings said that Jesus was both fiilly
not exactiy ministers; they do not lead congrega-
tional WORSHIP Services consist of readings from God and fully human (see INCARNATION) and

Science and Health ind the BIBLE. On Wednesday that God was a TRINITY: Father (or Creator), Son,
and Holy Spirit. At the same time they came to
evenings congregations hold services at which
people present testimonies of being healed. final agreement on which books should be in-

Many municipalities have Christian Science Newcluded in the Testament, that is, die specifi-
reading rooms. The church also publishes one of
the leading American newspapers, the Christian cally Christian part of the BIBLE.
Science Monitor. The Monitor does not, however,
The Roman Empire had two parts, an east-
explicidy advocate the church's teachings.
ern, Greek-speaking part and a western, Latin-
CHRISTIANITY The religion centered on
speaking one. Starting in the fifth century, the
belief in JESUS as the Son of GOD. Although it has
representatives throughout the globe, Chnstian- political ties that had held these two together
ity is especially prominent in Europe, the Ameri-
cas, and Australia. snapped, and Christians in the two regions gradu-

History ally grew apart. In 1054 the Great Schism severed
relations between the Roman Catholic Church in
Jesus {c. 4 B.C.-c. AD. 30) was a Jew who lived
the west (see RONLAN CATHOLICISM) and the
primarily in Galilee (today northern Israel). It is Eastern Orthodox churches (see EASTERN OR-
said that he wandered the countryside, teaching
and working MIRACLES. Pontius Pilate, the Ro- THODOX CHRISTLVNITi'). The official causes in-

man governor of Judea (today southern Israel), cluded differences in church teaching and the

relative positions of the pope and the patriarch of

Constantinople (see PAPACY, THE).

During the 16th century the western church

split. This event, known as the REFORMATION, led

to the creation of many Protestant churches (see

PROTESTANTISM). The Protestants insisted that

only the BIBLE, not the papacy or the traditions

of the church, had authority in religious matters.

They also used the common language in worship

services instead of Latin.

72 CHRISTIANITY

Chrisrianin' at the time of the Schism, 1054.

The 17th to the early 20th centuries were the different movement, fandamentalism (see EVAN-
great age of European colonialism. Christian MIS- GELICAL AND FUN'D.\MENT.\LIST CHRISTUNTTi'),
arose in response to challenges posed by historical
SIONARIES accompanied European conquerors and scientific investigation; it insisted that even'
word of the Bible was literally true. Still other
and converted people all over the globe. Catholic moxements addressed issues of equality' and jus-
missionaries had been active among the indige- tice: Liberal Protestant churches began to admit
nous peoples of the Americas from as early as
the 16th centur)'. The 19th cennm- was the era women to leadership roles previously closed to
of large and influential Protestant missionan- them, while in poorer pans of the world some

societies. Christians worked for political and economic

During the 20th centur\' there were se\eral liberation.
important movements within Christianity'. The
BELIEFS
—ecumenical movement named from the Greek
Christians have generally emphasized the role of
word oikoiimciie, roughly meaning "the whole belief in bringing about S.ALX'.ATION. As a result.
Christian churches have insisted on a uniformitv
—world" tried to overcome the differences that

divided Christianit>' into many separate churches
and to unite Christians around the elobe. A ven'

CHRISTIANITY

of belief more than many religions have. Chris- the eucharist in the Divine LITURGY or the Mass.
tians often recite statements of belief known as Readings fi-om the Bible, PR.\reRS, and usually a
CREEDS in public worship. homily (a shon address or sermon) are also parts
of the celebration. Specially ordained priests must
Most but not all Christians endorse the be- perform the RITUAL of the eucharist itself, but in
liefs established by the seven ancient ecumenical recent years steps have been taken to increase the
councils (325-787). (Councils are meetings of participation of la\people in other wavs.
bishops, the heads of churches in various areas.)
These beliefs include the belief that God is a Protestant churches have tended to celebrate
trinit\'. Father (or Creator), Son, and Holy Spirit; the eucharist less Irequentl)-, in some churches as
that Jesus is the son of God and thus unites two infrequend)- as once or t\\ice a year. Protestant
natures, di\ine and human, in one person; that worship has emphasized PREACHING the word of
Jesus was conceived apart from human sexual God. Worship consists of a sermon, generally by
activit\' (see \1RGIN' BIRTH); that forgiveness of a specially appointed minister, along with read-
sins is a\ailabie through Jesus' death and RESUR- ings from the Bible, prayers, and songs or hymns.
RECTION; and that at the end of time the dead
will be raised and judged (see JUDGMENT OF THE Most Christians follow a cycle of annual fes-
Dt-VD ). Christians differ on which books make up tivals linked to the life of Jesus: Advent prepares
the Old Testament, but \irtualJy all Christians tor the coming of Jesus; CHRISTAL\s celebrates his
birth; Epiphany celebrates his manifestation as
agree on the 17 books that make up the New God incarnate; Lent, which begins on Ash
Wednesday, is a time for preparation and repen-
Testament. tance; Palm Sunday recalls Jesus' entry into JERU-
SALEM just before his death. Maundy Thursday
Christians have never been able to reach his last meal with his followers, and Good Friday

unanimity on all beliefs. One ver\' significant his crucifixion; E.\STER celebrates Jesus' resurrec-
difference concerns the process by which sins are tion from the dead.
forgiven. To what extent is salvation a gift from
God, and to what extent do human beings need One becomes a Christian through BAPTISM

to perform certain actions in order to be saved? (sprinkling with or immersion in water). Catholic
and Orthodox Christians generally practice bap-
The Roman Cathohc Church teaches that salva- tism as a birth ritual. Some Protestants practice it
as a ritual of matiu-ation, like BAR/BAT MITZN'.-VH
tion requires both God's gift of GR.\CE and hu- in JUD.VISM. In addition to baptism and the
man actions. The most extreme Protestant view, eucharist, the Cathohc and Orthodox churches
recognize five other SACRAMENTS through w hich
"double predestination," suggests that God has Christians receive God's grace: confirmation or
chrismation, penance, marriage, holy orders, and
determined whether a person will be saved or anointing with oil for healing or as "extreme
damned even before that person is bom. Another unction" for the d\ing. They also give special
point on which Christians difter concerns the veneration to .\L\RY, Jesus' mother, and S.\INTS,
significance of the bread and the wine in the ritual exemplan- Christians from the past. The Ortho-
known as the EUCHARIST. Catholic and Ortho- dox churches also emphasize the use of sacred
dox Christians teach that the bread and wine pictures known as icons (see IMAGES, ICONS,
actually become Jesus' body and blood. Most IDOLS IN RELIGION).
Protestants teach that they are only symbols of
Jesus's body and blood.

PRACTICES

In recognition of Jesus' resmrection on a Sunday,
most Christian churches have set aside Sundav as
a day for communal worship. Orthodox and
Cathohc worship centers on the celebration of

74 CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA

Org.\nization Catholicism in North and
South America
Christian churches are organized according to
two models, the episcopal model and the congre- Columbus brought Catholicism to the Western
gational model. Hemisphere. He captained a ship named the
Santa Maria (Saint Mary). He named the first
On the episcopal model, authorit>' resides with island he encountered San Salvador (Holy Sav-
ior). His discoveries began an era of Spanish
a bishop (Greek, episkopos) or archbishop. Bishops and Portuguese colonization that had a well-
are persons in charge of an entire area, and they formulated religious policy: Make the Indians
oversee the activities of a variety of subordinates,
Christians.
such as priests. The Roman Catholic Church con-
centrates ultimate authority in a single human As a result, indigenous Americans fi-om Mex-
being, the pope. The Orthodox churches are or- ico to Tierra del Fuego became Catholic Chris-
tians. But they did not simply surrender their own
—ganized along national lines Greek, Russian, religious traditions. They developed a rich Ca-
tholicism that combined earlier religions with
Ukrainian, and so on. Each national church is
headed by a patriarch or metropolitan. AChristianity. good example is the cult of the

The congregational model is found among Virgin of Guadalupe. At Guadalupe in 1531 the
many Protestants. On this model, authorit)' Virgin Mar\' appeared to an indigenous Mexican
resides with the local congregation, which selects
in indigenous form.
a person to be its minister. Usually congrega-
tions are joined together into larger regional or The Roman Catholicism of Central and
national groups. However, ftindamentalist and South America remained allied with the colo-
evangelical Protestants in the United States nial government and the small minority who,
have founded a large number of independent after Spanish and Portuguese colonization,
"Bible churches." owned the land. Those who sought inde-
pendence often opposed the church. After in-
Significance
dependence, the church generally allied itself
Christianity is the largest single religion in the with the wealthy and powerful. It seemed to
world today, practiced by roughly a third of the
world's population. For centuries Christianit\' has have little compassion for those who worked

made major contributions to European culture. the land. In the 1960s this stance changed.
During the 20th century, strong, independent Liberation THEOLOGY identified economic jus-
Christian churches also developed among those tice as the proper work of the church. The
who were not of European ancestry. hierarchv in Rome, however, had suspicions
about this politically oriented theology.
CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA The prac-
Like the Spanish and Portuguese MlSSION.\R-
tice of the religion centered on JESUS in the lES in Central and South America, French Catho-
Western Hemisphere. This entry focuses on only lic missionaries were active in North America. As
two of the three major branches of Christianity,
ROMAN CATHOLICISM and EASTERN ORTHODOX a result, Roman Catholicism is now the majority

ACHRISTIANITY. separate entry discusses PROT- religion in Canada, by a slim margin. It is espe-
cially important in Quebec. There people have
ESTANTISM IN AMERICA. preserved their Catholic heritage along with their

French identity.

Roman Catholicism was present in Florida as
early as 1514 and in the American southwest
fi-om the 1580s. Nevertheless, the dominant re-

ligious culture of the United States has been

CHRISTMAS 75

Protestant. Catholicism, however, has been ver\- Christmas is probably the most popular Christian
important in more localized regions, such as the
state of Maryland. The first American Catholic celebration.

bishop was John Carroll of Baltimore, who be- The earliest celebration of Christmas that we
came a bishop in 1789. His diocese was the entire know about took place in Rome in the middle of

countn-. the fourth century. This is the period during

During the 19th century many Catholic which CHRISTLVNITY' was in the process of be-
immigrants came to the United States fi-om
countries such as Ireland, Italy, Germany, and coming the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Poland. They made the Catholic Church the A century earlier the Roman emperor Aure-
largest single religious body in the United States.
Catholic immigrants often encountered hostility lian (ruled 270-275) had made the WORSHIP of
from Protestant neighbors. But by the second
half of the 20th centur\' anti-Cathohc sentiment Sol Invictus, "the unconquered sun," the official
and beha\ior had largely disappeared. Thus, in
1960 a Cathohc, John F. Kennedy, could be religion of the empire. In 274 he had required all
subjects of Rome to celebrate the birth of the sim
elected president. on December 25. This is the date when days in
the Northern Hemisphere begin to grow longer
The American Catholic Church has tended again. Many speculate that Aurelian's celebration
to be more innovative and less traditional than
Catholic churches in other areas. This stance has of the birth of the sun was the origin of the
led at times to conflict with the hierarchy in Rome
celebration of Christmas on December 25.
mo\er such issues as the place of women the
During the fourth centur\' the celebration of
church and the practice of birth control.
Jesus' birth on December 25 spread. Many
Orthodoxy in the United States
churches in the eastern half of the Roman Em-
Russian missionaries first brought Orthodox
Chnstianin' to the United States. In the late —pire the ancestors of today's Orthodox
1700s they worked in Alaska. In time the Alaskan
church moved its headquarters to San Francisco. churches (see EASTERN ORTHODOX CHRISTL\N-
In 1970 the patnarch of Moscow declared the
Orthodox Church of America independent. —ITY') were already celebrating Jesus" birth and

Not all Orthodox Christians accepted this BAPTISM on January- 6. They continued to cele-
church. Immigrants fi"om many Orthodox coun-
tries, especially Greece, maintained their own brate Jesus' baptism on that day. On December
national churches. They adopted some features
from religious life in America, such as pews in 25 they remembered his birth and the visits of the
church buildings and the use of some English in
the Divine LITURGY. In general, however, the shepherds and the magi. Churches in the western
different national churches have remained reso-
—half of the Roman Empire the ancestors of to-
lutely separate.
day's Catholic and Protestant churches (see
CHRISTMAS The Christian celebration of
ROMAN CATHOLICISM and PROTEST.ANTISM )
the birth of JESUS on December 25. The English
name derives from the phrase "Christ's Mass." thought of the day somewhat differently. On

December 25 they celebrated Jesus' binh and the

Onvisit of the shepherds. Januar\' 6, called Epiph-

any, they celebrated the visit of the magi.

A rich varien,' of popular customs has devel-

oped around the celebration of Christmas. In

North America Christmas observances include
sculpted scenes of Jesus' birth known as
creches, special songs known as Christmas car-

ols, an evergreen tree decorated with orna-

ments and lights, legends about a popular

figure named Santa Claus who gives gifts (espe-

cially to children), the sending of greeting

cards, and midnight worship services.

—

76 CHUANG TZU

Each of these elements has a different origin. nature. The Tao cannot be encapsulated in lan-
guage. Rather, it can only be grasped intuitively.
Francis of Assisi (see FIL\ncis of assisi and
In perhaps the most famous portion of the
FRANCISCANS) began the tradition of building book, Chuang-tzu dreams that he is a butterfly.
creches to celebrate Christmas in the late Middle Then he wakes up and wonders whether he is
Ages. Christmas carols began in the late Middle actually a man who was dreaming he was a
Ages, too. At that time it became customars- on butterfly, or a butterfly that is dreaming it is
Christmas to replace the kinds of hymns used for Chuang-tzu.
ordinar>' festivals with songs of a more popular
nature. The Christmas tree originated in Ger- CHURCH AND STATE The relationship of
many, although precisely when is unioiown. In
the 19th centur)'. Queen Victoria's husband, who religion and government in predominately Chris-
was German, brought the custom to English- tian areas. Throughout most of history' and in all
speaking countries. Americans invented the leg- parts of the globe, governments have been inter-
ends of Santa Claus from a variety of sources, ested in religion. Indeed, for many peoples gov-
while the custom of sending greeting cards began ernment was actually supposed to perform
in England in the 19th centun-. The oldest of the statewide religious observances. Where distinct
elements is the one from which Christmas takes religious and poUtical institutions existed, ques-
its name: the celebration of an early morning tions generally concerned their relative power.
mass, eventually at midnight. Medieval Europe provides a good example. The
church and the political rulers argued vehementiy
Despite the popularity' of the festival, not all over who had the right to appoint priests.

Christians obser\e Christmas. When the festival During the REFORMATION and its aftermath,
Protestants such as the Anabaptists (see MEN-
was first introduced, the church in rERUSi\LEM NONITES and .\MISH), Baptists (see B.\PTIST
refused to recognize it for 200 years. The .ARME- CHURCHES), and QU.\KERS insisted that religion

NIAN CHURCH still insists on celebrating the birth should be a purely private matter. Philosophers
of Jesus on Januajy 6. Some Protestants have also
rejected Christmas. To them, it is a human in\en- influenced by the intellectual movement known
tion that has no basis in the BIBLE. One such as the Enlightenment tended to agree. For a
varietv' of reasons, their ideas first took institu-
group was the Puritans (see PURITANISM). Be- tional form in North America.
cause of Puritan influence, Christmas was not
widely obsened in the United States until the Most British colonies in North America
mid- 1800s. The "plain people," such as the originally had official or "established" religions.
AMISH, still refiise to obser\'e it. But by the time of the Revolutionan- War, a
movement to "disestablish" religion was in pro-
CHUANG-TZU (c. 369-c. 286 AB.C.) gress. Massachusetts was the last state to disestab-
mChinese thinker important the development of lish religion. It did so in 1833. In the early 1800s
the state of Massachusetts still tried and convicted
philosophical TAOISM. Chuang-tzu is known for some of its citizens for rehgious crimes such as
a collection of essays that goes by the same name, HERESY.
Chuang-tzu. Only selected essays in the collec-
tion actually seem to come from Chuang-tzu. In 1 789 the United States adopted its present
Constitution. It was a strikingly secular docu-
Chuang-tzu's language is highly imagistic. ment. The Constitution did not invoke GOD's
As a result, it is often difficult to determine the name. It prohibited using religion to determine
precise meaning of the texts. The essays pose whether someone could hold office in the federal
puzzles designed to teach that truth, goodness, government (Article 6, Section 3). But that was
happiness, and everything in life is relative
everything, that is, except the Tao or way of

CHURCH AND STATE 77

all it said about religion. It is likely that the wanted to deprive someone of religious freedom,
framers of the Constitution simply decided to it had to do more than simply give a reason. It
ignore religious questions and leave them up to had to show that a "compelling interest" left it
no choice but to violate religious freedom. The
the states. 1963 case involved a Seventh-Day Adventist (see
SE\'ENTH-DAY.\D\'ENTISM) who had lost her job
In 1791 the Bill of Rights added 10 amend- because she could not work on Saturdays. She
wanted unemployment compensation, and the
ments to the Constitution. Two clauses of the court ruled in her favor {Sberbertv. Verner).
First Amendment deal with religion. The first says
Twenr\ -seven years later, in 1990, the court
that Congress cannot pass a law that tends to took a much narrower view of religious fi-eedom.
It said that religious fi-eedom did not allow people
—establish religion not a religion, but religion in to violate laws that applied to evenone. It only
prevented the government fi-om outiawing spe-
general. This clause is known as the Estab- cific religious practices. The case at issue in\olved
two Native ^\merican drug counselors. They lost
lishment Clause. The second clause says that their job because they had eaten peyote, an hal-
lucinogen, in ceremonies of the Native American
Congress cannot prohibit people from practicing Church. (Their jobs required them to remain
their religion fi-eely. It is known as the Free drug-free.) They, too, wanted unemployment
Exercise Clause. The Fourteenth Amendment, compensation, but the court denied their request
(Employment Division v. Smith).
passed later during the Civil War, prohibited
state and local governments from taking away The narrow view of religious freedom does
rights granted at the federal level. ^^ a result, the offer religious people some protection. For exam-
ple, in 1993 the Supreme Court ruled that a
First Amendment now applies at all levels of Florida town could not pass a law against animal
government, fi-om the federal government to sacrifice (Church of Luktimi Babalu Aye v.
Hialeah). But many people felt that the narrow
school boards. \'ie\v did not provide enough protection. For
example, what w-ould prevent a state from con-
During the second half of the 20th century, victing priests of serving alcohol to minors when

manv disputes arose concerning the interpreta- they gave the EUCHARIST to teenagers? A state
tion of the two religion clauses. In appKing the
Establishment Clause, the Supreme Court ruled that convicted priests could claim that it was
that governments could neither promote nor simply enforcing a law everyone had to follow.

inhibit religion. As a result, it declared unconsti- Concerns such as these led Congress to pass
the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993.
tutional many practices common in some public In line with the broader view of religious free-
schools. For example, in 1962 the coun ruled dom, it required governments to demonstrate a
compelling interest before they violated religious
that schools cannot write prayers and have stu- freedom. But in July 1996 the court declared this
dents recite them (En^el v. Vitale). Later, in act unconstitutional, because Congress cannot
1985, the court also held that states cannot
require pubUc school students to obser\e a mo- tell the courts how to interpret the Constitution.
At the time of writing, amendments to the First
ment of silent meditation ( Wallace v. Jajfree). Amendment have been proposed in Congress,
According to a 1992 ruling, a religious official,

whether priest, minister, R.\BBI, or LVL\M, can-

not offer prayers at public school fiinctions Lee

(

V. Weistnan).

Controversies also arose over the Free Exer-

cise Clause. That clause clearly has its limits.
People cannot simply do anything they want in
the name of religious fireedom. For example, no
one suggests that human S.\CRIFICE should be

legal. But where should the lines be drawn?

In 1963 the court took a broad view of
religious freedom. It said that if the government

"8 CIRCUMCISION

but it seems unlikely that any new constitutional this. In lUDAISM a special religious fianctionary
amendments on religion will be ratified. called a mohel performs the circumcision. Cir-
cumcision is also an occasion for a part\'.
CIRCUMCISION The cutting away of the
Circumcision is not mentioned in the
male foreskin. The term is sometimes also applied QUR'AN. It was, however, an Arabic practice be-
to clitoridectomy, the cutting away of corre- fore the rise of ISLAM, and the prophet MLTLl.M-
sponding female organs. \L\D was himself circumcised. Circumcision is
thus considered mandator)'. In some Islamic tra-
Circumcision is widely practiced among in- ditions, circumcision is required for males and
digenous peoples, especially in Australia and recommended for females. Other traditions sav it
East Afnca. It is obligator)' among Jews, is required for both. The age at which Muslims
Muslims, and Coptic Christians. Catholic, Or- circumcise varies. Some Mushms circumcise on
thodox, and Protestant Christians do not require the seventh day afi:er birth (the eighth day count-
ing birth). Others circumcise later. As in Judaism,
circumcision. Starting in the last half of the 19th circumcision is often a time for a part)'.
centun', however, circumcision also became
In the Mediterranean region and the Islamic
common among Christians in Europe and espe- world, the circumcision of girls has been seen as
a way of keeping their later sexual desires in check.
cially in North America. It did so allegedly for The amount of tissue remo\'ed, pain involved, and
reasons of hygiene. The actual medical benefits phx'siologjcal change varies widely. In some but
seem minimal. not all cases female circumcision results in signifi-
cant disfiguration. At the end of the 20th centur)'
Indigenous peoples have often practiced feminists were severeh' criticizing these practices.
circumcision as part of the RITU.VLS that mark
the male reaching adulthood (see INITIATION, CLOTHING, RELIGIOUS The symbolism
RELIGIOUS). Practices vary^ widely, and so do the
reasons given for the practice. For some, circum- and significance of clothing worn for religious
cision is a way to remove residual feminine char- purposes. Clothes have always ser\-ed not only the
acteristics from the maturing bo\'. In any case, it practical ftinction of keeping people warm, and
prepares the boy for fijture adult life, including the universal fiincrion of making people attractive
sexual relations with women. according to the canons of their societ)' while
preser\ing some degree of modest)', but have also
For Jews, Coptic Christians, and Muslims, shown through well-known indicators such
circumcision is a sign of membership in the things as comparative wealth, ethnic background,
group. It is an old rite. It was practiced in ancient and social status. The)' ha\'e also had very wide-
Eg\pt even before the time of .\BR.\HAM (see spread religious meaning, though the way they
EGYPTL^N RELIGION). In Hebrew circumcision have done this has varied greatiy. The conserva-
is known as brit milah, "covenant of circumci- tive wings of most religions insist on modest)' in
sion." Colloquially, Jews refer to it simply as dress, especially for women. In some cases all
bris. In Arabic, circumcision is called tahiir, adherents of a religion, or all of one gender (most
"purification." oft:en women i, have followed rules in dress, such
as the .A.\1ISH use of "plain" clothes without but-
Jews circumcise men as a sign of God's COX'E- tons, or the Muslin prescription that women
NANT with them. The command to circumcise should be covered completely. In other cases,
was given to Abraham (Genesis 17.9-27). Under special clothes are worn only by religious special-
MOSES it was extended to non-Jews w ho wanted ists and leaders. The somber garb worn by MONKS
to eat the P.\SSO\"ER meal (Exodus 12.43-i9).
Jewish boys are to be circumcised on the eighth

day aft:er birth. Jews have traditionally required
adult male converts to be circumcised, too. The
Reform movement has not alwavs insisted on

CONFUCIANISM

AND NUXS is seen in some branches of CHRISTI- to the extent of fake masses that substituted ob-
ANITi', especially Roman Catholic, Eastern Or- scene songs for litanies and burned old shoes
thodox, and Anglican, and among Hindus, instead of incense. At the Jewish PLRIM, solemn
Buddhists, and Taoists. The color ofthe monastic
rabbis may be mockingly imitated by comedians
"habit" or robe is often indicative of affiliation: or children. In the Roman Saturnalia, held at the
in the West, Franciscans wear brown, BENEDICT same time as modem CHRIST\L\S and NEW ^^.^R
IXES black, Cistercians and DOMINICANS white. FESTR'.ALS, roles would also be reversed as masters
Theravada Buddhist monks wear saffron (a waited on slaves, for a major feature of religious
yellow-orange), Mahayana Buddhist monks gray. clowns is the way they and their antics upset the
Hindu monks or sadhus vary considerably ( some usual social order and the expected way of doing

have gone completely naked), but some modem things.

orders use a reddish-orange gown. Religious and other clowns particularly ap-
Priests and other religious leaders frequendy pear in boundan* times and situations, such as

have special dress too. In the CathoUc-tvpe tradi- festivals that appear at the winter solstice, like
tions of Chrisoanit>-, they often are attired in
black or dark-colored suit or cassock ( a long black NewSatiuTialia or Year's, or like Carnival around
gown) and round white collar. It is while con-
ducting services, though, that the full richness of the beginning of spring, and among groups like
religious garb may become apparent, though it
ranges from the simple sacred cord of BR_\HiVlIN choirboys or students or marginalized clans in
some Native American tribes that are ambigu-
priests and the black pulpit gown of some Prot- ously situated between priests and lavpeople.
estants, to the rich and colorful vestments of some They often dress in costumes that combine stripes
Buddhists, or of Catholic priests celebrating mass or dots of wildly contrasting color, and are bagg>'
in colors appropriate to the season of the church
year, or bishops in cope and mitre ( a high pointed and ill-fitting.

hat), or the temple priests of biblical Israel. In all All this gives clues to the meaning of clowns.
cases, the dress is part of the religious symbolism; Thev are meant to pro\ide comic relief at solemn
it properly does not glorift* an indiWdual but the occasions, and simply to entertain. More than
office and the role in worship, and is a way by that, though, they also show something impor-
which that person identifies with it. tant about the sacred cosmos; It includes all
opposites, high and low, ftinny and serious, that
CLOWNS, RELIGIOUS Persons who dress
which fits and that which doesn't fit. It is bigger
and act humorously in religious activities. In than the neat categories of the human mind, and
some Native American cultures a solemn RITUAL so it has to bring in those things that show up the
by the priests will be followed by a burlesque (or
comic ) repetition of the same by ritual clowns pretensions and limitations of the mind. Humor
making fiin of it. Their performance may be is ver\- religious when it show's that we humans
related to the folklore role of the TRICKSTER, such are not as great or as perfect as we like to think
we are, and religious clowns make that clear.
as Coyote, who is clever enough to break rules
CONFESSION OF SEN See SACR.\MENT.
and fool the gods in all sorts of ways. In medieval
Europe some festivals, especially those of CARNI- CONFUCIANISM Once a prominent Chi-
VAL or the season just before the fast of LENT,
would install a "boy bishop" selected fi-om nese religion. It originated with CONFL'CIUS at
the end of the sixth centur>' B.C. Since then,
among the choirboys who would ridicule the Confiicianism has often been the oflBcial religion
fiinctions of a church leader in parodies that went of the Chinese state.

80 CONFUCIANISM

History seemed so severely to lack: a metaphysics

Confucius [Latin for K'ung-fti -tzu, "Master (thought about the nature of realitv') as loftv' as
K'ung" (551—4-79 B.C.)] was a profoundly influ- that of Buddhism and Taoism. Confucianism be-

ential teacher who emphasized that a human came the dominant ideologx' of China. It was also

being's goal should be to cultivate humaneness. the senior partner in a religious union that in-
Unlike other teachers at the time, he believed that
this was possible for all people, not just for those cluded Taoism and Buddhism.
born in noble families. Confiicius himself is said
to have edited five classic Chinese books. The best By the 19th centurv', Confijcianism had be-
known is probably the I CHIN'G, the "Book of come moribund. Many Chinese rejected it as
Changes." His disciples gathered his teachings
into a collection known as the Analects (see old-fashioned and powerless, especially in con-
.i^NALECTS OF CONFUCIUS).
trast to the newly arrived European powers. The
Later Confiicians taught proper behavior in
terms of five relationships: father-son, elder democratic revolution associated with Sun Yat-
brother-younger brother, husband-wife, elder-
younger, and ruler-subject. The\' also developed sen (1866-1925), then especially the communist
specific views of humaneness. Mencius (Chinese,
Meng-tzu ) ( c. i72-c. 289 B.C ) had an optimistic regime established by Mao Tse-tung 1893-

view of the human being. Humaneness, he said, (
is present in all human beings; it simply needs the
right nurturing in order to blossom and flourish. 1976) cut the ties beriveen Confiicianism and the
Hsun Tzu {c. 300-238 B.C.) disagreed. In his
view people are bv nature evil and unci\il. To government. On the mainland, Confiicianism
avoid the evils that result from greed and conten-
tion, people must be restrained by teaching and suffered severelv during the Cultural Revolution
observances. At the time Hsun Tzu was more
influential. As time passed, however, Mencius's of 1966-69, but the Chinese state in Taiwan
positions came to dominate Confiician thinking.
preserved Confucian rituals as part of its cultural
In 195 B.C. the Han emperor offered a pig, a
sheep, and an ox at the grave of Confucius. This heritage.
act marked the beginning of the official link
Teachings
betvveen Confucianism and the Chinese govern-
Confucianism focuses on how human beings be-
ment. To become a government official, one had have in society. It strives to identify' the ideal way

to pass grueling examinations in Confucianism to live.
and the Conftician classics. The cult of Confucius
also became a major part of an official's duties. In Confucianism the ideal person is the noble
person. For Confticius nobilitv- did not derive
WTien the Han dynastv' ended in A.D. 220, from birth. It derived from cultivating true huma-
Confiacianism was temporarily eclipsed. Its neness (jen). This was done, Confiicius believed,
place at court was taken by BUDDHISM and through the practice of RITUALS (/;'). The rituals
TAOISM. But around AD. 1000 the fortunes of Confijcius had in mind, however, were not relig-
ious rites. They were rituals of respect that one
Confiicianism began to rise again. Important
showed one's fellow human beings. One can
neo-Confucian thinkers like Chu Hsi (.AD. begin to see how truly radical Confiicius's teach-
1130-1200) and Wang Yang-ming (1472- ings were. He redirected the focus of religious
1528) provided Confucianism with what it had observance. The attention one used to give to the
ancestors one now ga\e to life in this world.

Among Confiicius's followers it became cus-

tomarv' to identifi,' five relationships within which
people cultivated virtue: father-son, elder
brother-vounger brother, husband-wife, elder-
vounger, and ruler-subject. These are clearly not
relationships between equals. They are also clearly
male-centered. Indeed, some Confucians have
suggested that since the relationship between a
mother and her child is a natural one, the father-

CONFUCIUS 81

son relationship should be seen as the foundation SiGNIFIC.VMCE
of sociew. In any case, the relationships are not
one-sided. Each person has responsibilities. For Confucianism has defined the traditional values
example, a younger brother should respect an older and ideas of proper behavior in China. Although
brother. But if the older brother wants respect, he it is out of favor in communist China, it lives on
should only aa in ways that are worthy of respea. in Taiwan. Confticianism has also profoundly
influenced traditional values and ways of life in
Korea and Japan.

To practice Confucianism individual persons cul- CONFUCIUS (551-479 B.C.) Latin for the

tivate \irtue by carefxilly performing their respon- Chinese name K'ung-fti-tzu, "Master K'ung"; a
sibilities. These include responsibilities that profoundly influential Chinese moral teacher
North Americans would call religious as well as whose thought gave rise to CONT^UCLVNISM.
responsibilities that they would call ethical. For
Confijcius was born in China at a time of
example, the philosopher Wang Yang-ming rec- unrest in the middle of the Chou period. Little is
ommended sitting quietiy as a way to culti\ate known for certain about his life, and many details

spiritualitN'. that follow are legendar\'.

The primar\' ritual of Confucianism, as the It is said that Confticius's family had some
Chinese state religion, was SACRIFICE. Con- status but little wealth. Despite the family's pov-
fucians performed sacrifices for ancestors, espe- ert\', he received an education and hoped for a
cially the ancestors of the emperor, for those who political career. He served the government in
first brought culture, and for Confticius himself. some minor posts, such as overseeing sheep and
Thev also performed sacrifices for spirits associ- cattie. Perhaps around the age of 40, he also
ated with political institutions, for the powers of began to teach. With time Confucius rose to a
nature, and for the universe as a whole. position of some responsibilit)-, but he became
disillusioned because he was unable to influence
How elaborate a sacrifice was depended the duke of Lu, his home state. He resigned
upon how important the occasion was. On the aroimd the age of 54, and for the next 13 years
he traveled around China, looking for a ruler who
most important occasions the sacrificial victims would put his ideas into practice. He was unsuc-
included a pig, a sheep, or an ox. In pertbrming cessfijl, perhaps because his teachings emphasized
the sacrifice, either the emperor or a high official virtue at a time when rulers were looking for
would bow, present the offerings, and pray. At action. About five years before his death he re-
the same time, INCENSE was burned and musi- turned to Lu, where he taught and may have held
cians would play. another oflSce. During his lifetime, then, Confti-
cius's influence was minimal. After his death, his
Org.\nization teachings came to exercise a profound influence
on the Chinese state.
No professional priests conducted the cult of
Some suggest that Confucius should be seen
Confucianism. Scholars trained in Confijcian
teachings did. This was one of their duties as as a moral rather than a religious teacher. Indeed,
officials of the Chinese state. WTien the emperor Confucius's teachings redirected to the living the
was present, he took the leading role. respect and /; (RITU.VLS) that Chinese had tradi-
tionallv gi\en to dead ancestors. Confucius also
A special government ministrv' was in charge made revolutionary' innovations in the institution
of the state cult. Among other things, it provided of teaching. Prior to his rime, education was
available only to those with the means to buy it.
the materials used in the sacrifice, established the
proper procedures to be followed, and set the
calendar, so that the rituals would be performed
at the proper time.

82 CONGREGATIONALISM

Confucius taught that education should be open — —over 2,000 in all had its temple to Confucius.

whoto all had interest and intellectual abilit}', Although the specific fortunes of Confiicianism
varied, Confiicius's teachings shaped official Chi-
regardless of whether they could pay. Despite nese life until the Communist Revolution under

these radical innovations, Confucius saw himself Mao Tse-tung in 1949. It is likely that they

not as an innovator but as a restorer of Chinese continue to shape unofficial life today.

traditions. In keeping with this self-image, he is CONGREGATIONALISM A way of organ

said to have edited five traditional Chinese classics izing Christian churches. It is especially associated
with a group of churches that has played a major
(seelCHING). role in the histor)' of religion in the United States.

As a teacher, Conflicius did not aim to impart At its most general, Congregationalism in-
knowledge or foster intellectual ability but to sists that local Christian congregations should be
nurture a quality of the inner person known in independent and govern themselves. This does
Chinese as jen. The term is difficult to translate not mean that these congregations should not
but means something like "genuine humanity." join together for joint activity. Indeed, most Con-
Confucius taught that people could realize this gregationalist churches have been eager to work
internal quality by means of external observances: with others who hold similar views. But it does
They could become genuinely humane by per- mean that congregations call their own ministers
forming their duties without thought of reward and determine for themsehes how they will WOR-
(yi) and by obserx'ing the rules of propriety (li) SHIP. This "congregational polit)'" is quite differ-
that go\'ern relations between human beings. ent from the "episcopal polity" found in, for

When applied to specific roles, Confucius re- example, the Roman Catholic Church, the Or-
thodox churches, and the Church of England. In
ferred to the process of cultivating virtue as a
"rectification of names," that is, making reality an episcopal arrangement, the church is governed
conform to the names. For example, Confijcius bv a bishop. The bishop appoints priests and, in
taught that if one is called a parent or a child, one conjunction with other bishops, determines what
ought to behave like a parent or child. beliefs and practices the church requires.

In Confucius's teaching, family relationships As a name for a group of churches, Congre-
are the cornerstone of society, and the respect of gationalism is mostly a movement in the English-
children for parents is a cardinal virtue. Within speaking world. It arose in England in the late
society, Confucius advocates the principle of reci- 16th centuPi' as an alternative to the Church of
England (see .\NGLIC,\NISM). Congregationalism
procity: "Do not impose on others what you has continued in England up to the present day.
yourself do not desire" (Analects 15.24). He also But the movement thrived \n North America,

teaches that the best v\'a>' to govern is not with especially in New England.
rules and punishments but through propriety and
the moral example of the rulers. In 1609 a group of Congregationalists fled
to Holland to escape persecution in England. In
After Confijcius died, followers gathered say- 1620 some of them traveled to the shores of
North America. Their boat was the Mayflower,
ings attributed to him into a volume known as they landed at Plymouth, they founded Plymouth
the Analects (see AN.\LECTS OF CONFUCIUS). It is colony, and they entered American legend as the
the major source for Confijcius's ideas. Begin- Pilgrims. These Congregationalists joined with
ning with the Han dynasty (206 B.C. ), Confiician- the Puritans (see PURITANISM) who settled nine
ism became officially established in China. Civil years later in the area of Boston. Congregational-
servants were required to pass a grueling exami-

nation in the five Confiician classics. Imperial
officials maintained the cult of Confijcius as part
of their official duties. Eventually every prefecture
(apolitical unit something like a count)) in China

COSMOGONY 83

ism became the established or official religion of COPTIC CHURCH The predominant form
the colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and
of CHRISTIANITY' in Egypt. Egypt was an impor-
New Hampshire. tant center of Christianity in the ancient world.

In the 1730s a Congregationalist minister, Tradition sa\'s that Mark, who wrote one of the
Jonathan Edwards, started the first "Great Awak-
ening." This was a time of increased religious GOSPELS, first brought Christianity there. Lead-
emotion. Around 1800 the Congregationalists in ing early Christian thinkers such as Origen ( c.
185-c. 254) lived and taught in Alexandria, the
New England experienced a split. iVIanv Congre- cultural center of Egypt. Bishops of .-Mexandria
such as Athanasius (c. 295-373) guided the de-
gational churches abandoned the teaching that velopment of Christian doctrine. Other Egyp-

—GOD was a TEUNITi' Father (or Creator), Son, tians became the first Christian MONKS .AND
—and Holy Spirit and became Unitarian. That is, NUNS.

the\' affirmed that God was a unit\' and thus In 451 the Christian bishops met in council
at Chalcedon (near Istanbul, Turkey) to deter-
denied that lESUS was divine. Later in the 19th mine what Christians should teach about lESUS.
centur\', Congregationalists moved to positions They decided that in Jesus two natures, divine and
then considered liberal. In 1931 thev merged human, were combined into one person. Most
with another group to form the Congregational Egyptians disagreed. They taught that in Jesus
Christian Church. In 1961 they merged with the diWnity and humanit\' were united into one na-
Evangelical and Reformed Churches to form the ture. These Egyptian "monophysites," as they
United Church of Christ. were called, became the Coptic Church.

In the 20th centun,' Congregationalism Until the middle of the seventh centun,' the
modified some of its earlier emphases. The inde- emperor of Byzantium severely persecuted the
pendence of local churches is no longer a burmng
issue, and most congregations accept some direc- Coptic Church. He wanted to force it to adopt
tion fi-om larger associations. For example, the
general church usually has a role in certifving the teachings of Chalcedon. But in 642 Arab
persons as fit to be ministers. In addition, Con- Muslims conquered Egypt, and the Coptic
gregationalists ha\e begun to use set prayers and Church achieved peace.
worship senices, which they had traditionally
a\oided. Worship sen-ices center on the sermon The leader of the Coptic Church is the patri-
(see PREACHING). Congregationalists also recog- arch of Alexandria, known as the pope (not to be
nize two sacraments: BAPTISM and the EUCHA- confiised with the pope in ROMAN CATHOLI-
RIST. The>- generally baptize infants. They ha\'e CISM). In 1971 Shenouda III became the 117th
Coptic pope. By 1992 there were roughly 85
also tended to be among the most liberal of the Coptic churches in the United States with a total
Protestant denominations. For example, in 1917 of 180,000 members. Coptic churches are also
Congregationalists in England ordained their found today in many other countries outside
first woman minister. Egypt, including Canada, Great Britain, France,
Germany, Australia, and Brazil. One of the most
Congregationalism is by no means the largest prominent Coptic Christians in recent vears has
Protestant denomination in the United States or been Boutros Boutros-Ghali, secretar\'-general of
the world. But its cultural contributions have the United Nations fi-om 1992 to 1996.
been large. In England the poet John Milton and
the hymn-writer Isaac Watts were committed COSMOGONY A story of how tiie world
Congregationalists. In the United States, Con-
gregationalists have founded a number of col- came to be. Not all religions talk about the origin
leges and universities, beginning with Hanard of the world and of human life. For example, the
(1636) and Yale (1701). BUDDHA adamand)' refused to address questions

84 COSMOLOGIES

about origins. He said these questions were un- Other religions say that the world as we know
it emerged from the bowels of the earth. Indige-
important. Instead, one should analyze the worid nous .Americans of the southwest often tell of the
as it stands and seek to gain release from SAM- emergence of the ancestors from within the earth
SARA, or rebirth. and their transformation into people (see INDIGE
NOUS AMERICAN RELIGIONS). Yet another kind
Few religions, however, have been able to of cosmogony is the "earth-diver m\th." The
take such an agnostic attitude. When they talk earth comes into existence when primal beings
about the origin of the world and human life, thev recover raw material from beneath the waters.
usually tell stories or m\ths. These mnhs are The Yokuts, an Indian people in California, told
known as cosmogonies. The American scholar, how the primal animals sent a duck down to bring
Charles H. Long, has identified five different up earth from the bottom of the ocean.
kinds of cosmogony. For beginners his classifica-
Sometimes these types combine. For exam-
tion is ideal. ple, an Egxptian cosmogony begins uith creation
from nothing, but the first item created is the
One kind of cosmogony, or story, attributes world-parent pair. There may also be other t\pes
the origins of the world to the sexual activity of of cosmogony. For example, a famous hymn in
two parents. These parents may be the earth and the sacred Hindu books known as the VEDA
the sk\-, as in the mythology of Rangi and Papa attributes the world as we know it to the sacrifice
in certain Pacific Ocean societies (see PACIFIC of the primal person (Rig-veda 10.90).
OCEAN RELIGIONS). The Ennma Elish, a
Mesopotamian myth, calls the first parents The rise of scientific theories of the origin of
Tiamat and Apsu (see MESOPOTAML\N RELIG- the universe and of life has raised problems for
IONS). They are the fresh and salt waters whose traditional religious cosmogonies. Some have re-
mixing produces silt. (Think of a river delta. ) One sponded by rejecting science. For example, some
Egyptian cosmogony says that the creator first Christian fiandamentalists advocate what they call
produced the pair Air and Moisture (see EGYT- "creation science" (see E\'OLUTION .AND RELIG
TL\N RELIGION). ION). Others have rejected religious cosmogonies
out of hand. Still others ha\e taken a path in the
Another kind of cosmogony begins with a
cosmic egg. One of the UPANISHADS in India middle. The\' accept the scientific accounts so far as
describes the creation of the world from a primal they go, but they claim to see in the religious
egg. As the egg splits, the bottom part of the shell accounts deeper meanings that science lacks.
becomes the earth, the top part becomes the sky.
The contents of the egg divide to become the COSMOLOGIES The images or models of
various features of the universe.
the universe found in various religions. Most if
A third kind of cosmogony is "creation from not all religions provide their followers with an
image of what the world looks like. This image is
nothing." Religions that worship a high god or a known as a religion's cosmology'. Scientists have
single god favor this kind of cosmogony. The best cosmologies, too. For example, the ancient as-
known examples are JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, tronomer Ptolemy developed an image of the
and ISLAM. Genesis 1 gives a "soft" version of universe centered on the Earth. This was a geo-
creation from nothing. God does not actually centric or "Earth-centered" cosmology. Coperni-
create from nothing. He gives order to "the cus said the Earth traveled around the sun. His
was a heliocentric or "sun-centered" cosmology.
waters." A well-known Hindu hymn assumes
Religious cosmologies relate to human life.
creation from nothing, but it asks who can know They may be very abstract. They also may envision
how creation came about. "The one who looks
down from the highest heaven, that one

—knows or perhaps even he does not know"

(Rig-veda 10.129).

CO\TNANT 85

an infinite number of worlds. But they ne\'cr lose The preceding cosmologies emphasize the
their focus on people and the way people experi- vertical. Other cosmologies emphasize the hori-
zontal. Indigenous American cosmologies associ-
ence the world. Religious cosmologies, then, are ate the four cardinal directions with various
more than geocentric. They are anthropocentric, colors, for example, west with black, north with
white, east with red, south with yellow. Hindu
or "human-centered." mxthologx' identifies various "continents." They
take the form of concentric rings around a central
Some cosmologies describe the paths along continent, known as Jambudxipa, and its central
which people move and the resources that they pillar. Mount Meru. Other religions imagine
many worlds or universes. For example, certain
use. Ideal examples are the cosmologies tradi- forms of Mahayana BUDDHISM teach that there
are an infinite number of heaxens or, more pre-
tional among indigenous Australians (see cisely, "Buddha fields."

AUSTRALL^N RELIGIONS). These cosmologies as- Yet another kind of religious cosmology is
more abstract. It identifies the forces and princi-
sociate features of the landscape and patterns of ples that underlie the xxorld. Chinese traditionally
travelmg with mythical bemgs and exeats from see the xxorld as resulting from the complemen-
the Dreaming, that is, the time of creation. In- tarx- interaction of txvo opposed principles, xin and
yang (see YIN-YANG THEORY). Dualists such as
deed, indigenous Australians traditionally believe Zoroastrians see the world as a battieground be-
tween good and EVIL (see ZORO.XSTRLANISM).
that these beings are somehow still present in the The Indian school of philosophy known as Sank-
hya divides the world between rxvo principles:
landscape. spirit and nature.

Other cosmologies describe the world in Modern science, of course, has dex'eloped a
x'ery different cosmology. It places the Earth in a
terms of overarching structures. Before air and solar system, which sits in an arm of the Milky
Way galaxy, which is itself part of a galactic clus-
space travel, all human beings experienced a ter. Some see this scientific cosmology as disprox-
ing religion. Many religious people, hoxxever,
world that had the same general shape: a surface hold on to and cherish the religious meanings

of earth and w ater co\ered by the dome of the underlying their traditional cosmologies.

GODsk\-. This is the world that creates in the first COVENANT A legally binding agreement;

chapter of Genesis. It is also the image found in especially the way in which the relationship be-
tween GOD and human beings has been conceixed
indigenous American SWEAT LODGES. Some in JUDAISM. In origin, a covenant was a formal
agreement, often betxxeen two unequal parries
speculate that the ancient Chinese saw this world and political in nature. The people of Israel
adopted the coxenant form to express the nature
in the turtle-shells that they used for divination of their relationship with God.

(see CHINA, RtlLIGIONS OF). Jexxish tradition recognizes sexeral coxe-

To this model many religions add vertical nants, such as the cox'enant with NOAH that ap-
layers above or below the earth or both. In HIN- plies to all human beings and the covenant xxith
DUISM the sacred books known as the \TDA speak

of "three worlds": earth, atmosphere, and sky.

Earlv Japanese collections of m\T±iology speak of

three difl'erent worlds: heaven, earth, and under-
world. Religions may use a natural symbol to

connect these three worlds, say, a cosmic tree or
mountain. Some scholars call such a symbol an

cixis mundi. Cosmologies may also involve more
than three layers. After the Vedic period Hindus
generally began with a seven-layer uni\erse. Then
they subdivided it and supplemented it. The
Maya knew se\en ( or 1 3 ) layers of heaxen and fi\e
(or nine) layers of the underworld (see M.WA

RELIGION). GNOSTICISM spoke of the planetary-
spheres. Religions may connect human life with

celestial events through ASTROLOGY.

86 CREEDS

ABRAHAM. But "the" covenant is that made with well-being in ancient India. But the cross takes on
special nieanmg in Christianirv because it was the
—the people under MOSES at Mount Sinai called instrument on and by which JESUS died.

Mount Horeb in the book of Deuteronomy. In For its first 300 years, Christianity was illegal,
and Christians were reluctant to use the cross as
YHWHthat covenant, the god ("the Lord") a symbol. But in 313 Emperor Constantine won
an important battle after seeing a cross in the sk>'
enters into a special relationship with the Jewish and hearing the words, "In this sign you will
people. The covenant obligations begin with the conquer." He removed the restrictions against
practicing Christianity, and Christians used the
TEN COMMANDMENTS. cross widely for decorati\'e purposes. At first
Christians depicted bare crosses. Eventually art-
Later biblical writers continued to use the ists also portrayed Jesus suffering on the cross,
covenant idea. In reflecting on his nation's his- sometimes in graphic detail.

tory, the prophet Jeremiah looked forward to a The s\'mbol of the cross has played an impor-
new covenent, which will be written in people's tant role in Christian RITUAL. Cross-bearers have
hearts ( Jeremiah 3 1 .3 1-34 ). Christians claim that led processions, perhaps at first in imitation of
their religion is this new covenant. The QUR'AN processions put on for the rulers. Christians have
marked out a cross as they prayed by touching
also talks about the relationship of people and their forehead, their heart, and their shoulders. In
326 Constantine's mother, Helena, claimed to
God as a covenant. have discovered remains of the actual cross on
which Jesus was crucified. Christians have used
CREEDS Brief, official statements of faith; these remains, and others, as relics to help them
VVORSHir, especially in the Middle Ages.
from credo, Latin for "I believe." Some religions
The symbol of the cross has also been impor-
insist that their followers act in certain ways; tant socialK- and intellectually. The CRUSADES got
others insist that their followers subscribe to cer- their name from the red crosses that the crusaders
tain beliefs. In the laner case, it is usefijl to have wore emblazoned on their shirts. Many theologians
official statements of the required behefs. Creeds have used the cross to guide ffieir reflections. An
developed in CHRISTIANin' as brief statements of ancient theologian, Jusoin Martyr (c. lOO-i:. 165),
saw the cross in every tool necessary for human
FAITH, generally used in WORSHIP sen'ices. survival. Others have seen in the cross a symbol of
The earliest and perhaps most widely used god's domination over the entire universe. The
sufferings and death of Jesus stand at the center of
creed is the so-called Aposties' Creed. Its precise Martin LUTHER's thought. Therefore, many have
origin is unknown, although it seems related to called it a "THEOLOGY of the cross."
professions of faith made by the earliest Christians
at baptism. The Nicene Creed is a statement Not all Christians, however, have used visible
adopted by the Council of Nicaea (AD, 325) and representations of the cross. Churches influenced
then modified by the Council of Constantinople by the thought of John CALVIN have not tradi-
tionally displayed crosses or crucifixes. Crosses
D(,^ 381 ). Its major concern is to insist that the were thought to violate the restrictions against
divinity of JESUS CHRIST is the same as that of worshiping images. In the 20th century many,
GOD the Father. The Athanasian Creed, which but not all, Calvinist churches abandoned this
tradition ascribes to Athanasius, bishop of Alex-

andria in the fourth centur\', tijrther clarifies the
nature and relationship of the three persons of the
TRINITi': Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

CROSS A Roman instrument of torture that

became one of the main symbols of CHRISTIAN-

ITY'. Pre-Christian religions used the form of the

— —cross two lines that intersect in many ways.

Two examples are the ankh, an ancient Egyptian

symbol of life, and the swastika, a symbol of

CRUSADES 87

restriction. They now use crosses the way other but they could not pay for their passage. So at the
instigation of the Venetians, they sacked a mer-
Christians do. cantile competitor of Venice, Zara, a Christian
city in Dalmatia across the Adriatic. They also
CRUSADES A number of movements in took up with a claimant to tlie throne of the
Byzantine Empire. He promised the Crusaders
Catholic Western Europe, especially during the that if they restored him to power, he would
12th and 13th centuries, that aimed to free the provide them with the funds that they needed.
"holy land" from Muslim rulers. The name derives The deal fell through, and the Crusaders sacked
from cntx^ the Latin word for t:ROSS. The Crusad- Constantinople, the capital of ( CJiristian ) Byzan-
ers wore large red crosses sewn onto their shirts. tium, in 1204. Constantinople became the center
of a Latin state, which did not last out the century;
In the course of the 11th century, the terri- the Crusaders also established small states known
tor\' of Palestine came under the control of the as Prankish kingdoms in the Greek Peninsula.
Seljuq Turks. The Seljuqs were less welcoming They never engaged Muslims in combat.
than the earlier Muslim rulers had been to Chris-
The Crusades have provided European cul-
tians who wanted to visit holy sites such as Bethle- ture with much legend and literature. They were
hem and JERUSALEM. In addition, the advance of a particularly rich source of material during the
the Seljuqs posed political and economic threats Romantic movement in the early 19th century.
They also led to the founding of several reUgious
to the Latin-speaking parts of Western Europe. orders. One order was the Knights Templar, a
In response, on November 27,1095, Pope Urban
II appealed to Christendom to liberate the Holy short-lived militar\'-religious order, originally

Land. To entice people to participate in the ef- based in Jerusalem, that turned to banking when
the last of the crusader states fell. Another was the
forts, he oftered Crusaders forgiveness of their Knights Hospitalers, an order originally charged
financial debts as well as of their sins. with caring for the needs of pilgrims. It continues
today as the Knights of Malta.
There were four major Crusades and a
number of minor ones. The First Crusade lasted On balance, however, the main outcome of
from 1096 to 1099. The major contingent, led
by several noblemen, crossed the Mediterranean the Crusades would seem to be senseless expen-
Sea, engaged the Turks in battle, and eventually diture and misery. Although technically warring
managed to establish four Crusader states along against Muslim armies, the Crusaders found ex-
the coast of Palestine. The most important was
the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. cuses to attack others, many of whom had no

Surrounded by hostile forces, these states adequate means of defense. In addition to Ortho-
were not genuinely viable. After 200 years they dox Christians, such as those who fell victim to
disappeared entirely. The second and third major the Fourth Crusade, a large number of European
Crusades were attempts to recover territory that Jews were slaughtered by those infijsed with the
the Crusader states had lost to Muslim counter- crusading spirit. Equally senseless was the so-
attacks. The Second Crusade (1147^9) was a called Children's Crusade of 1212. In this ven-
response to the fall of the Crusader state of ture, children from the area around the Rliine
Edessa; the third (1188-92) to the capture of attempted to cross the Alps under the leadership
Jerusalem and other territories by the great Mus- of a 12-year-old boy. They wanted to go and fight
lim leader Saladin. The Third Crusade, whose for the Holy Land. Most died of hunger and
leaders included King Richard I, the Lion- exposure. Ten to 20 years later rumors spread that
Hearted, of England, was moderately successfial. some of these children had been spotted, now

The Fourth Crusade ( 1202-04) illustrates well
the questions that loom over the entire crusading
enterprise. The Crusaders had assembled in Venice,

—

CULTS AND SECTS, RELIGIOUS

grown up, working as sla\es on galleys sailing the Cult, on the other hand, means a withdrawal
Mediterranean.
group based on an alternati\e or imported relig-
CULTS AND SECTS, RELIGIOUS An act
ion, like those in the United States grounded in
of religious WORSHIP, or a small intense religious
group, often one considered controversial. In Eastern rehgions or in an esoteric tradition like
religion, the word "cult" can mean any kind of
worship, especially that of a particular god or Rosicrucianism. Often they oft'er subjective prac-
shrine, as in speaking of ancient Greece one
might refer to the "cult of APOLLO." Likewise, tices like MEDITATION or chanting. Some may
"sect" can denote any faction or group, espe-
cially a small one strongly devoted to a certain enjoy a close-knit, regulated community', but may
belief In the 20th centun, however, these words also have a more diffuse following of people who
have come to have particular meanings in the
sociolog\' of religion, and "cult" especially has just attend their lectures or read their books and
acquired a ven,' negative meaning in the media
and in the eyes of the general public. perhaps do the practice from time to time.

In the traditional sociology' of religion, cults It is important to realize that this scheme
and sects are rehgious "withdrawal groups," that
does not apply too well to the fluid religious
is, groups of people who withdraw from the
dominant religion of the societ\- in order to prac- situation in the United States. It is based on
tice what the)' believe to be a purer, truer, or
better religion, even if that means being associ- Europe, where a society topically has one state

ated only with a small bod\' of like-minded be- church or dominant religion ROj\L\N CATHOLI
lievers. They are likely to regard the predominant
religion as lukew'arm and hypocritical, if not plain mCISM in Spain, LUTHER-\NISM Scandinavia
wrong. These groups are bound to offer a strong,
intensely- felt commitment or experience; this —against which withdrawal groups are tiny and

takes the place of looser but important commu- clear-cut entities. In America, while doubdess
nit>' and family and tradidonal bonds supported
some religions are more dominant and consid-
by the con\entional faith. Usually they ha\'e, or
were founded by, a powerful leader of strong ered more respectable than others, the scene is far
charisma or personal appeal.
more pluralistic and is always changing. Groups
Sociologists use the word "sect" to refer to once stigmatized as sectarian or cultish mo\e up
such a w ithdrawal group within a predominant
or major faith, which presents a "purer" and to become major faiths, as have the Mormons,
more intense version of the same. E.\amples Methodists, and Catholics. Others may lose influ-
would be the AMISH or Jehovah's Witnesses ence the\' once had. People now move from one
within Christianity, certain strict Hasidic
groups (see HASIDISM) in JUDAISM, and com- to another with far less social penalty than in the
parable movements within ISLAM or HINDUISM.
Usuallv followers of sects live close-knit lives past. For this reason the terms "cult" and "sect"
regulated in many important respects, from
dress to diet to occupation, by the sect; this of should be used cautiously. "Cult" should also be
course sets them apart from the rest of societx'.
used with care because it has come to have a

negative meaning. People use it to refer to relig-

ious groups that are believed to be excessively

authoritarian, to destroy the freedom and values

of members, to cut them oft' from their families

and community-, and even to incite them to crimi-

nal acrivit\'. Undoubtedh- religions past and pre-
sent have acted in such destructive ways. But no

one calls their ow-n religion a cult; that is always

an outsider's label. The trouble is that the term

imposed by an outsider may stereotype it before
one has really looked at how it is different, and
how different people within the group may ha\e

different experiences. Scholars increasingly just

speak of "new religious movements" and study

them on a case-bv-case basis.