Deviation
Practice of determining hidden significance or cause of event
future telling or supernatural
Totem
System of believes in humans are said to have kinship with spiritual beings
Monism
All reality is one unified a divine reality
Shamans
People who can transcend human limitations and communicate with varieties of spiritual beings
Native American land of dead
Spirit world
Souls
living through dreams
Upanishads
Collection of Hindu teaching about self and reality
Samsara
Rebirth cycle
Moksha
Liberation from bondage of karma
Laws of manu
Most authoritative of books
Dharma
Brahman
Ultimate reality in divine source and essence of universe
Tirahantaras
Ford builder
One who has total liberation and shows way across the ocean of suffering
Asceticism
Self discipline
Sanctity of life
The doctrine of life
2 traditions
eastern and western
all life is sacred with no distinction
Mohagana
Great vehicle
Badhisattua
One becoming Buddha
Theravada
Teaching of the elders
Tanha
Thirst
Desire
Arhat
Perfect being
Nirvana
Anatman
No self
Animism
Believe in spirits
Taboo
Full of secret power
Myth
Stories about sacred beings
Ancestor veneration
Practice based on belief that family has a continued existence
African religion God
Olomum
Sky god
African illness
Good health equals relationship with ancestors
Bad health = karma
Terra mater
Mother nature
Vedas
Hindu text
African dead
Continues in the other realms
Hinduism
Indian
third largest
way of life
Wakan tanka
Native American supreme being and creator
Manu
Man
Rig Veda
Main Hindu text
Ahimsa
Nonviolence
Nirvana
Complete freedom from noble eightfold path
Dalai Lama
Heard of Buddhist to school
Tenzin
Right of passage
Rituals connected with change and passage in persons life
Birth puberty marriage death
Ritual
Activity of any kind that connects people to sacred realities
Negative VisionQuest
Purification fasting and praying in the secret place to attain spiritual powers and direction
Native sickness
Breakdown of relationship with other being
Native medicine healer
Sharman
confess or telling
making amends
Bhagauad Gita
Song of God
Mother and spirit dualism of Jainism
Souls and mother or two difference substances
reincarnation through Karma
Eight fold path
Understanding intention speech action livelihood effort mindfulness concentration
Four Noble truth
Birth is sorrow
arising of sorrow
stopping of sorrow
the way which leads to something so
Challenges for studying religion
Personal beliefs divisions in defining religion difficulty interpreting text limited access divisions within religion