Evolutionary origin of religions The evolutionary origin of religions theorizes about the emergence of religious behavior during the course of human evolution. Nonhuman religious behaviour[edit] Humanity’s closest living relatives are common chimpanzees and bonobos. These primates share a common ancestor with humans who lived between four and six million years ago. It is for this reason that chimpanzees and bonobos are viewed as the best available surrogate for this common ancestor. Barbara King argues that while non-human primates are not religious, they do exhibit some traits that would have been necessary for the evolution of religion. Marc Bekoff, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, argues that many species grieve death and loss.[5] Setting the stage for human religion[edit] Increased brain size[edit] Robin Dunbar argues that the critical event in the evolution of the neocortex took place at the speciation of archaic homo sapiens about 500,000 years ago.
Chinese folk religion Altar to the Five Officials worshipped inside the Temple of the Five Lords in Haikou, Hainan. The Chinese folk religion has a variety of sources, localised worship forms, ritual and philosophical traditions. Among the ritual traditions, notable examples includes Wuism and Nuoism. Overview[edit] Communal ceremony at the Temple of Shennong-Yandi in Suizhou, Hubei. The Temple of the Town God of Beijing. Chinese folk religion is very diversified, varying from provice to province and even from a village to another, for it is bound to local communities, kinship, and environments.[19] In each setting, institution and ritual behaviour assumes highly organised forms.[19] Temples and the gods enshrined acquire symbolic character, with specific functions involved in the everyday life of the local community.[19] Local religion holds aspects of natural belief systems such as animism and shamanism.[20][21] Philosophical framework[edit] Divine efficacy[edit]
Chinese spiritual world concepts Chinese spiritual world concepts are cultural practices or methods found in Chinese culture. Some fit in the realms of a particular religion, others do not. In general these concepts were uniquely evolved from the Chinese values of filial piety, tacit acknowledgment of the co-existence of the living and the deceased, and the belief in causality and reincarnation, with or without religious overtones. Practices and Beliefs[edit] Modes of Communication[edit] Figures[edit] Gwai ren (貴人) - Someone who can help you. Objects[edit] Peach wood sword (桃木劍) - the definitive weapon used for demon exorcism during Taoist exorcism.[8] The ones from Long Mountain in Jiangxi province are particularly valued as the premium quality peach wood swords.[8]Stone tablets (石敢當) - the tablets are placed at main doors, junctions of small avenues, three-way junctions, river banks or ponds to gather positive energy and ward off evil spirit. Finance[edit] See also[edit] Notes[edit]
Taoism Taoist rite at the Qingyanggong (Bronze Ram Temple) in Chengdu, Sichuan. Taoism, or Daoism, is a philosophical, ethical, and religious tradition of Chinese origin that emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao (also romanized as Dao). The term Tao means "way", "path" or "principle", and can also be found in Chinese philosophies and religions other than Taoism. While Taoism drew its cosmological notions from the tenets of the School of Yin Yang, the Tao Te Ching, a compact and ambiguous book containing teachings attributed to Laozi (Chinese: 老子; pinyin: Lǎozǐ; Wade–Giles: Lao Tzu), is widely considered its keystone work. Taoism has had profound influence on Chinese culture in the course of the centuries, and clerics of institutionalised Taoism (Chinese: 道士; pinyin: dàoshi) usually take care to note distinction between their ritual tradition and the customs and practices found in Chinese folk religion as these distinctions sometimes appear blurred. Spelling and pronunciation[edit]
Buddhism Dharmic religion Buddhism,[a] also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion[b] based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE.[7] It is the world's fourth-largest religion,[8] with about 320 million followers, known as Buddhists, who comprise four percent of the global population.[10] It arose in the eastern Gangetic plain as a śramaṇa movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia. Buddhism has subsequently played a major role in Asian culture and spirituality, eventually spreading to the West in the 20th century.[11] According to tradition, the Buddha instructed his followers in a path of development which leads to awakening and full liberation from dukkha (lit. The Theravāda branch has a widespread following in Sri Lanka as well as in Southeast Asia, namely Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. Etymology The Buddha Worldview Four Noble Truths – dukkha and its ending Saṃsāra Karma
Nondualism Nondualism, also called non-duality, "points to the idea that the universe and all its multiplicity are ultimately expressions or appearances of one essential reality." It is a term and concept used to define various strands of religious and spiritual thought. Its origins are situated within the Buddhist tradition with its teaching of the two truths doctrine, the nonduality of the absolute and the relative, and the Yogacara notion of "pure consciousness" or "representation-only" (vijñapti-mātra). The term has more commonly become associated with the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Adi Shankara, which took over the Buddhis notion of pure consciousness and provided an orthodox hermeneutical basis for heterodox Buddhist phenomology. Advaita Vedanta states that there is no difference between Brahman and Ātman, a stance which is also reflected in other Indian traditions, such as Shiva Advaita and Kashmir Shaivism. Definitions[edit] Dictionary definitions of "nondualism" are scarce. Tantra[edit] 1.
Hinduism Indian religion Hinduism ()[1] is an Indian religion or dharma, a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide.[note 1][note 2] As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global population, known as Hindus.[2][3][web 1][web 2] The word Hindu is an exonym,[note 3] and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world,[note 4] many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्म, lit. Etymology The word Hindū is derived from Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit root Sindhu, believed to be the name of the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. Definitions Because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of "Hinduism", has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Art
Christianity Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Emperor Constantine the Great decriminalized Christianity in the Roman Empire by the Edict of Milan (313), later convening the Council of Nicaea (325) where Early Christianity was consolidated into what would become the State church of the Roman Empire (380). The early history of Christianity's united church before major schisms is sometimes referred to as the "Great Church" (though divergent sects existed at the same time, including Gnostics, Marcionites, and Jewish Christians). The Church of the East split after the Council of Ephesus (431) and Oriental Orthodoxy split after the Council of Chalcedon (451) over differences in Christology,[6] while the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church separated in the East–West Schism (1054), mostly over the authority of the bishop of Rome. Etymology Beliefs Creeds Concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. Jesus
Judaism Judaism (from the Latin Iudaismus, derived from the Greek Ἰουδαϊσμός, and ultimately from the Hebrew יהודה, Yehudah, "Judah";[1][2] in Hebrew: יהדות, Yahadut, the distinctive characteristics of the Judean ethnos)[3] is the religion, philosophy and way of life of the Jewish people.[4] Judaism is a monotheistic religion, with the Torah as its foundational text (part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible), and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Mishnah and the Talmud. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God established with the Children of Israel.[5] Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Judaism claims a historical continuity spanning more than 3,000 years. Defining character and principles of faith Defining character Glass platter inscribed with the Hebrew word zokhreinu - remember us Core tenets 13 Principles of Faith:
Origins of Judaism This article discusses the historical roots of Judaism throughout the 1st millennium BCE. For the origins of the modern-day religion of Judaism, see Origins of Rabbinic Judaism. From the 5th century BCE until 70 CE, Israelite religion developed into the various theological schools of Second Temple Judaism, besides Hellenistic Judaism in the diaspora. The text of the Hebrew Bible was redacted into its extant form in this period and possibly also canonized as well. Historical background[edit] Pre-monarchic (tribal religion)[edit] The central founding myth of the Israelite nation is the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt under the guidance of Moses, followed by the conquest of the Promised Land (Canaan). Monarchy (centralized religion)[edit] The United Monarchy of the 11th to 10th centuries BCE was one of the political entities of the Levant during the Early Iron Age. Babylonian exile[edit] Second Temple period[edit] Other scholars[who?] Development of Rabbinic Judaism[edit] See also[edit]