Definitions Flashcards
Yoga
method of training designed to lead to integration or union
Religion
Etymologically, “to knit or bind together”
Ways of connecting, primarily, the profane and the sacred
Worship
“The purpose of worship is to shift from peripheral awareness to focal awareness the mystery and wonder of the world”
- Huston Smith
Ennui
Not just boredom, but a weariness wears on the soul, to the point of death
Opposite of joy
Samsara
continual state of rebirth
NOT to be confused with Samana!
Essential aspects of God
Brahma = Creator
Vishnu = Sustainer
Shiva/Kali = Destroyer
puja
practice of worship
murti
image (of God; i.e., the figurines)
prana
breath (yoga)
jiva
life
vibrant energy that permeates creation
karma
“Your actions inform the state of your soul”
- David Arnold
moksha
liberation
“release from finitude that restricts us from limitless being” (Smith)
Ethics
How are you going to live in your worldview?
Worldview
“The big picture”
Vision of reality
What is really true
Jnana
Path to enlightenment through knowledge
Series of thought experiments designed to make one realize the existence of the eternal Self
3 stages: learning (scriptures) reflection (thought experiments) shift identity to eternal Self
Bhakti
Path to enlightenment through love
Unreserved, unlimited, unmotivated love towards a personal God, to the degree that the ego is effaced
Rituals, mythology, and images are a vehicle for that love
Karma yoga
Path to enlightenment through work
Turning all one’s effort to work so that it becomes an act of worship
2 branches: act of service (bhakti) or act of intellect (jnana)
In both cases, the object is to efface the ego
Raja
Path to enlightenment through psychophysical experiments (meditation)
Eight steps: 1 and 2 eliminate distractions in the form of cravings; 3 meditation pose; 4 control the breath; 5 summon “the zone” 6 mental exercises to retain focus; 7 remove awareness of the self; 8 union with the divine
transpersonal/impersonal
conception of the divine as an entity that transcends a personality
(I think of it as a web or a force: something that flows through all things and connects us all together)
personal
conception of the divine as a specific personality
Four Noble Truths
Buddhism’s core philosophy:
- dukkha: life is out of joint
- tanha: the cause of this “suffering” is the craving for personal fulfillment (i.e., gratifying the ego)
- The solution is to overcome craving/the ego
- The method for doing so is the Eightfold Path
The Eight-Fold Path
- Right Views = worldview, a framework for understanding life
- Right Intent = true commitment to the task
- Right Speech = watching one’s language (kindness)
- Right Conduct = training oneself away from selfish action
- Right Livelihood = professions that promote life rather than destroying it
- Right Effort = true dedication, not merely a wishy-washy desire to accomplish it; steady plodding
- Right Mindfulness = awareness of self (thoughts, feelings) that attains the degree of meditation
- Right Concentration = meditation
Six aspects of religion
Authority = organization/mentor figures
Ritual = repeated actions to commemorate important points of life/year/day
Speculation = theology, metaphysical theory
Tradition = the accumulated knowledge transmitted to later generations
Grace = the belief - despite all the evidence to the contrary - that Reality/God is benevolent
Mystery = the sense that that to which we are drawn—the divine—is beyond our capacity to understand
“We humans are drawn to that which is beyond what we can know” - David Arnold
Roshi
Zen master
