REL 101 Class notes, Week 1, Lecture 2

I. Geography of Asian Religions

India - Vedic Religion (Hinduism). Later, Early Buddhism (Nikaya Buddhism), then Mahayana Buddhism (Great Vehicle Buddhism)

China - Confucianism, Daoism. Later, Mahayana Buddhism

Japan - Shinto. Later, Mahayana Buddhism

Mahayana Buddhism spreads from India - North to Tibet, Nepal, and Mongolia, East to China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam

Early Budddhism (Nikaya Buddhism) spreads from India - South to Sri Lanka, Southeast to Burma, Thailand (Myanmar), Cambodia



II. Class Foci:

1. Sacred Texts in translation: Central ideas and practices
2. Cultural factors and Historical Context: Gender, class, ethnicity, gender relations, sexuality, and others
3. Orientation in Time: Linear historical versus other conceptions of time: cyclical, momentary, timelessness
Also: Diverse religious traditions arising independently from one another in time and space, e.g. Vedic Religion (Hinduism) in India, Confucianism in China, Shinto in Japan
4. Logic: Aristotelian Syllogism versus Non-linear or Four-step Logic (Sanskrit: Catus-koti)

Aristotelian, propositional (term) logic:
All Greeks are men
All men are mortal
__________________

All Greeks are mortal


Tetralemma or Four-step Logic; Catus-koti:
A exists
A doesn't exist
A both exists and doesn't exist
A neither exists nor doesn't exist
_______________________________
No final propositional conclusion



5. Definition of Religion

God, The Holy, Sacred, Ultimate Concern, Ultimate Reality

Symbol, Myth, Ritual

Social and Institutional Structure