7 traditions pamphlet

8/14/2019 7 Traditions Pamphlet

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Explorations onSeven Religious Traditions

for the LexCUUPS / Full - Moon

August 2006(see also the pagan ritual, named Ritual of the World in Seven Directions)

As William Ellery Channing, a nineteenth century Christian Unitarian minister said:

We are judged not by the degree of our light,but by our fidelity to the light that we have.

Blessings Bright and Dark

East - Connection to spirit of space the Growing Down Tree / ShintoSouth- Creation / IfWest - Welcome the Goddess / Quaker / Society of FriendsNorth - Welcome the God / Vantru / satrAbove - God as transcendent / People of the BookBelow - Goddess as Inherent / Open discussionWithin - Connection to spirit of self / Buddhism

Connection to community / Pot-luck Feast

NB: Ii is the term I use to translate the Yoruba word . It is second person singular, no gender. A.K.A. He/shwith the first h silent. His / Her second person plural possessive I use hir.

CE = Common era (A.K.A. - AD) and B.C.E. = Before the Common Era (A.K.A. - BC)

Copyright August 2006 by Cindy J. Bidwell Glaze- posted on Scribd with permission


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East -Shinto / Japan

Japan is an island system populated mainly by immigrants from Central Asia and Indonesia, who tooover the country in the early years of the Common era. The earlier inhabitants, the shamanic Ainu,have been pushed to a small area of the northernmost island. The people we consider Japanese are

of this Chinese, Korean, Indonesian population. The religions compromising Shinto mainly moved tJapan from this mainland population.

The land is not very arable, being a composite of beaches and old volcanic mountains. Although harto work, rice and other crops have been grown in Japan since before the Common Era. The people ofthis area mainly lived off the harvest from the sea.

As a series of volcanic islands, Japan is a magnet for natural disaster. Earthquakes are common. Theword Tsunami is actually the Japanese word for harbor wave. Typhoons, which are Pacific hurricanelandslides and flooding are not uncommon. Occasionally Japan gets almost its entire compliment of rain in typhoons. Need to propitiate the spirits that cause these disasters is a part of Shintoism.

Shinto is a form of animism. As such, it is considered that all things have spirit. Shintoism also beliethat abstract ideas, ancestors and locations have spirits. These spirits are called Kami or shin. I usethe term kami. They are everywhere and there are complex rituals involved in calling the attention othese eternal beings to a particular place and time. They do not so much call the spirits, but remindpeople that the spirits are there and ask the spirits particular attention.

There are minor kami, of particular rocks or trees or rooms; and major kami where, in translation, thkami involved is called a Goddess or God. The God and Goddess level kami are of things like the suand moon and creation.

Formal temples and shrines were practically unknown before the 6th century CE, when Buddhism andits ornate temples entered Japanese culture. Previously, artificiality and construction of holy placeswas discouraged due to its tendency to hinder viewing and being part of natural beauty. To be incontact with nature is to be in contact with the divine. Natural objects resonate with spiritual energy.the more ancient texts, some of which date to the 700s CE, kami are known to interact with and speato their human believers, but they rarely interact in a personalized way with each other.

There are practically no images of the kami or stories of the type called myth, where the kami interacwith each other in humanized form, although all of the sects seem to have created creation mythologThese myths seem to be ways of proving each clans descent from the divine which emphasizes thatfamilys superiority over all other clans and people.

Ritual includes propitiation of the kami of storms, earthquakes and the like; invocations of dead kin aid to the family; and simple recognition of the Kamis being. Ritual purification by wind or water aspecial part of all Shinto ritual, and in fact of the whole lives of the Japanese, whatever their beliefs.


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Creation myths, ancestor veneration, and ritual develop a sense of belonging to the family, clan,community, region or later, the Nation. In the isolationist Japan of the 1600s through the mid 1900sShintoism led to the belief that not only was ones clan better than other clans, the Japanese as apeople (organized under the holy leadership of the kami, in the person of the emperor) were better than all other people. A religion of peace, art appreciation and refusal to destroy things of beauty wa

twisted and abused into a Nationalist terror. As in the Europe / Arab crusades, that terror was not thefault of the religion, nor of the people who respect and respected the core religion.

The Shinto religion worships the sacredness and mystery in the powers of Nature and works towardthe goal of fulfilling the human need to experience harmony with Nature. The necessary balance iscreated, maintained and remembered in ritual and purification.

In a simple world view, a mountain is a mountain or a great spirit. In the scientific view, a mountain complex of chemistry, geology, ecology, plate tectonics and anthropology. In Shintoism, these viewsare synthesized, recognizing the scientific analysis, simple reality and the wholeness involved inNature/Kami and human relationships to Nature/Spirit.

A popular Japanese poetry form is the Haiku. I could not resist adding these.

Cat HaikuYou never feed me.Perhaps I'll sleep on your face.That will show you.

Toy mice, dancing yarn,Meowing sounds. I'm convincedYou're an idiot.

Small brave carnivoresKill pine cones and mosquitoesFear vacuum cleaner

Oh no! Big Onehas been trapped by newspaper.Cat to the rescue!

My small cardboard boxYou cannot see me if ICan just hide my head.

You're always typingWell, let's see you ignore mySitting on your hands.

Most problems can beIgnored. The more difficultOnes can be slept through

My brain: walnut sized.Yours: largest among primates.Yet, who leaves for work?

Am I in your way?You seem to have this backwards.This pillow's taken.

The dog wags his tail,Seeking approval. See mine?Different message.

Grace personified,I leap into the window.I meant to do that.

Cats can't steal the breathOf children. But if my tail'sPulled again, I'll learn.


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The Argentinian poet Jorge Luis Borges poem expresses the feel of modern Shintoism for me.Shinto

When sorrow lays us lowfor a second we are savedby humble windfalls

of the mindfulness or memory:the taste of a fruit, the taste of water,that face given back to us by a dream,the first jasmine of November,the endless yearning of the compass,a book we thought was lost,the throb of a hexameter,the slight key that opens a house to us,the smell of a library, or of sandalwood,the former name of a street,the colors of a map,an unforeseen etymology,the smoothness of a filed fingernail,the date we were looking for,the twelve dark bell-strokes, tolling as we count,a sudden physical pain.

Eight million Shinto deitiestravel secretly throughout the earth.Those modest Gods touch us--touch us and move on.

For more information:

check Japanese folktales & books on Shinto.


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South / If / Yoruba peopleNigeria, Africa

On the continent of Africa, near the North West coastline, lies the land of a people who have beendecimated by the USAs form of chattel slavery. A culture that had remained for thousands of yearswas bent by an active hunt for warm bodies, be they old or young, hunters or teachers. Bent, notbroken. Many teachers and priests and other culture bearers were taken from Yorubaland, but theunderlying culture somehow survived.

It survived in the African countries of Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Dahomey. It also survived in the plawhere slavery took the people. In Africa, the religion is called If. Throughout the diaspora1, Ifsyncretized with other faiths such as Roman Catholicism, various Native American faiths and other African traditions and pantheons. In Puerto Rico and Cuba, a modified form of If is called SanteriaBrazil there is Condomble. In the Southeast of North America and in the Caribbean, it is called Vodoor Voodoo. Although these are all based on If to one degree or another, they are often not actually thsame religion. Each of the ra faiths are beautiful, meaningful and complex. Each of the abovenamed syncratic faiths are worth study and practice. Stereotypes propagated by police or religiousprofessionals to the contrary, none of these faiths would fit into even their wide definitions of evil unexamination.

The Yoruba historically lived in farm country. Most of the people lived in the cities since before 100B.C.E. These cities were surrounded by the farms where they worked and the rainforest from whichthe farms were won and medicine collected. The cities still exist, but now they are larger, moreindustrialized and are starting to eat up the farmland and forests. Instead of one building, a compounis made up of many buildings, enclosed with a fence / wall. There is one building set aside for men a

another for women. Cooking chores can be done outside or inside. There is usually a building setaside for ritual work. There are many units in a single compound. A man and his wives and childrenmay be living side by side within the wall with his kin.

Orphans are the children of all. People who cant or dont have children take care of others childrenFoster families are good. Nothing can take the place of a parent, but a foster parent is better than aninstitution. The whole world is not one family, but it is one village.

Women hold the money. Women rule the marketplace. Women can work just for individual gain, not

the family if they so choose. They can choose to loan money to their husbands or not. She does nothave to be in a current marriage relationship to own anything. Her children, male or female, do notcontrol her money, she does. A woman can be rich, a warrior, an emperor, priest and parent. There arthings a woman can be involved in but a man cannot. There are no things men can be involved in tha

1diaspora is a word used to express the dispersion of the Jews from Jerusalem in 62 CE and bmainly European places. It is also used to gently express the results of the horrors of chattel slavery. As if theit. But it also represents those who willingly left Africa for a Western education or jobs. Not all African Ameof slaves. African-Canadians are often not descendants of slavery. NB: There are many kinds of slavery in thAmericans came to the US as indentured servants. Many African nations practiced slavery in their treatment in the Americas was slavery carried down from parent to child. Only in the Americas were slaves not conside


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a woman has no part of. There needs to be a female present in order to make the magic work.i Oneman has many wives, but the man cannot divorce any of his wives for any reason. A woman candivorce her husband whether she has reason or not. Women in polygamous relationships always havsomeone close by to mind the children or fix dinner if they are going to be late home from work.ii Theextended family and the community can and does step in to settle domestic violence cases.2

Be aware that the word If can mean several different things. It means the religion as a whole, theliterature, the name of one of the ra (lesser Gods). Two threads that are fundamental in If are theliterature of If, which is used in worship and divination; and the reverence of Egungun, the ancesto

The focus of religious life in Yorubaland includes theEgungun. , the ancestors. While the r can,and often do go anywhere, the Egungun have a place where each set usually abides. They abide notin one village or one principality, but wherever their descendants live. The Egungun of a place arethose ancestors who get along with the ancestors of all the people there. They are, in that waygeneralized. The Egungun are everywhere, but individual Egungun are site specific. In a way, humancreated the Egungun. The dead are buried under the bed the person slept in when she or he wasalive. That physical body makes the bedroom of your dead father one of the best places to ask for honesty, because they can ask you Can you say that over your own dear mothers grave? or Woulyour grand mama really want you to do this? The Egungun see everything that is happening aroundtheir village, town or city. They take a very active interest in the continuance of the culture and amaintenance of morals and ethical behavior in their descendants.

The body is divine. Each of seven body parts are recognized as especially holy. First among them allyour Or, your own specific divine guardian or soul. The m is divine breath which comes directly Oldmar. A person is not alive until they take their first breath, and is not dead until they breath thlast. There is no brain death, If the individual breathes, ii is alive. The y is the chest and represenlove & friendship. Friendship (r) is the highest relationship in Yorb thought. A familial relationsdoes not top it unless it is also a friendship. Friendship has no boundaries. Friendship is a divinity. Odoes NOT betray a friend. The hand, ow, symbolizes self-help. Ow is the main, and perhaps only,difference between us and other mammals. For personal success, everyone needs to acknowledgeand honor s, leg, symbol of struggle. Nobody makes a successful ANYTHING with out es. Insteof using the brain, people use the stomach, In, to think deeply or meditate. I actually use the sameorgan although I hadnt thought about it. I use my brain for quick thinking and memory. When I havreal issue, I ruminate on it a while and It will take me a while to digest that thought. When my

stomach is empty or upset, deep thought is much more difficult and I run on. The final sacred body pis the buttocks, the ass. Whodathunkit. d is needed for firm placement and grounding. It is necessarto be grounded somewhere in order to employ your other parts, or or in, or ...

You may notice that in each of these, a certain level of health is assumed. I surely noticed it when I sat the lecture in my scooter. We had already made some accommodations for ritual and the like but h

2 NB: Baba Abimbl is homophobic, but I have not seen that in the texts I have seen. In his hit the area with the Islamic invasion. Women have the power, and they may just not bother the husband withmay also have been influenced by all of his time in America. With one man and so four wives, I have difficusome lesbian relationships, but it is not my culture.


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hadnt really thought about the issues in relation to this faith issue. That was obvious in the firstreaction to my question, When Obtl creates a person, that person is sometimes disAbled or different. Do individuals born without hands or legs lack ow or s? Doctor Wd Abimbl waable to reply from his tradition. But the first was off the cuff, and later in the session he came back tothe issue with an answer from a totally different perspective. His first answer was that a baby bornwithout hands or legs is an indication that boundaries have been crossed that should not have been

crossed. He then brought up the Thalidomide babies and other instances of a people dong wrong inignorance or carelessness. The thoughtful answer is that even if an individual has no hands or legs,ii still has ow and s. They are in the mind of the body. The individual therefore has the abilityhelp themselves [ow] and to struggle to gain what they want [s]. Although in Yorbn thoughtNobody becomes successful without legs, The individual without physical legs still has the s antherefore the chance to struggle and succeed.

Humans were created to be good. Even witches (enyan) are able to be either good or bad. The wordfor human breaks down into n- people and yn- to choose. All humans are chosen people, [we arechosen to be good] Humans are given everything we need in order to bring good into the universe(intelligence, hands, emotions).

Oldmar is the creator. He delegates the creation of humans to:Ogn, who creates the skeleton (basic frame)Obtl , who creates the bodyOun , who brings sacred water andAjala, who creates the or.

Before birth, the person (soul or personality) journeys toAjala. Ajala, the heavenly porter, lives withOldmar. Ajala is an incorrigible drunkard and debtor. He is always there to borrow your money adrink your wine, but dont look for him when you want your loan repaid. He molds the inner head (OWhen he is sober (rarely) he makes perfectly balanced Or. Usually, however, he forgets to fire themand they are too big and very brittle. Sometimes he over-fires them, and they crack. The edges of anover large Or peel off during birth, because there isnt enough room in the birth canal for all of it. Ofired Or look fine (decorated even) but cant think straight.

Each person picks his/her own Or, but we are not necessarily instructed in how to choose before weget there. By choosing your head, you predestine yourself. Predestination, however, can be mended

by sacrifice. An If diviner is the only one who can tell you what sacrifices to make and to whom. Ware all struggling with our Or, because there are not many who get good Or. When you meetsomeone and say I know you from somewhere but you cant find a place you have both been, it ispossible you met in another world or on your way to pick up your Or.

ValuesThe community is more important than the individual. Gentleness should guide your actions. Patiencis the son of the High God, Oldmar and thus deserves veneration. Everyone is responsible for theown good character. Bad fate can be overcome using sacrifices and moral strength. Every good trait


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has a negator, an opposite. Different acts are good habits in different places. There is always thepossibility of increasing the 200 good habits. Use other peoples bad habits to remind oneself that walso have bad habits. When something makes one angry, use that knowledge. Ask, what bad habit oyour own has triggered the anger.

The complete literature of If contains poetry, a divining text, and a compilation of stories about life

the r. It was originally entirely aurally transmitted, and to date only a very small fraction of it habeen written down. Even if written, the real message of the text is learned aurally. The rhythms andcadence, both extremely important cannot be transmitted in written format. even recordings, audio ovideo do not truly demonstrate the depth and subtleties of the texts. If includes both od and es. Aod is a chapter of verse, of which there are over 256 possible, most often used in divination. Theymust be learned by heart. There are hundreds of es per od. An es , a single verse, may takeseveral minutes to chant. The indigenous medicine is also complex, with chants and invocations aswell as a main ingredient (active ingredient) which needs to be acquired in a precise way, for hundreof kinds of ebo (individual sacrifices). In addition to this, ababalowo (diviner) or ynf (priestess)needs to know by heart all the rituals and how to do each.

Oldmar is God, the primal force, power. Iis name can be translated as breathed the breath of liinto them. Oldmar has no physical form, and no disAbilities because he is power, not incarnatedpower. In the Yoruba faith, ii is never approached directly, but only through r. Although Oldmis the High God, the r are the actual focal points for religious activity. r are sometimes givsuch shrunken down and constraining definitions as guardian spirits . This is not a very accuratetranslation.

The r or lesser Gods, were created by Oldmar to put iis ideas into actuality. They have manorigins in the texts. All come from Oldmar in some way, but only some r are originally createby Oldmar. Some are greatly active on this Earth, where they are often attached to physicalfeatures such as rivers, mountains and long lived trees. Some seem to be Jungian Archetypes, someare deities without a place to hold them, and some seem to be apotheosized, or, deified humans. It isthrough the r that the life-power of the universe is incarnated. The r have any number of disAbilities.

rnmil is a name for the r also known as If, or the Diviner. rnmil means - heaven knowsthose who will be prosperous and well. rnmil is over intellectual development, wisdom, intuitio

and literature. [It is possible that as a deity he is called If and as a pre-deified human or a beingincarnate as human, he is called rnmil.]


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Some storiesCreation

Oldmar started creation and sent r to implement hir ideas. After the r created land (madesolid land from the waters of earth, they introduced vegetation from heaven. Then they introducedanimals and birds from heaven. Then they came down the Mountain of Wonders and settled. Final

they created humans with the help of Oldmar (who breathed the breath of life into them).

Oun was the only female in the original 17 r sent to create the earth from the waters by the HighGod Oldmar. They were sent together to create the forest for people. They all came down togethto create the roads (paths) between the towns.

The 16 male r ignored her. After a while being ignored except when the male r were hungry,Oun became angry. She retreated from them and cast a spell. The spell made everything the maler did come out wrong. Nothing worked well. Bitterness took over the world. Restlessness took

over the streets. There was famine and pestilence. The 16 male r spoke together and decided tosend rnmil up to heaven to ask Oldmar what had gone wrong.

Oldmar said I sent 17 of you down to do this thing. Why are you ignoring Oun? rnmil saidshe is a very nice woman, she feeds us well and takes care of us. She nourishes us so we are able towork. That is why she is in the house. We like her a lot. Oldmar said, that is what you are doingwrong. She needs to be involved in everything you do. She is not just there for you, she has a reasonto be there as well. You (the male r) need to kneel down and beg her to participate in creation wiyou. That is the only way things can work out correctly.

rnmil went back to the earth and told the other male r what Oldmar had said. They gotdown on their knees and begged her to forgive them. Oun said the damage has already been done.You all know that I am pregnant. You all need to pray that when the baby is born it will not be femIf it is female, war has come. If my baby is male, then you will all teach him everything and things cbe all right again.

The male r went to Obtl. Obtl is the only r who has both b, the power to generateideas, and e, the power to make things happen. Obtl used his b and e to change the babyto a male. He used his b to generate the how and what he wanted, then chanted incantations to hise to make it so.

The child was born male, and was named tr. He became very powerful. If tr touches aperson, that person will be well.


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Herbs

anyn is the younger brother of If / rnmil. He has the same parents. If was a young man wheanyn was born.3

anyn was half- blind, having only one eye. He was also deformed, having one leg and one arm.

{some folktales say that he has other forms with anything from 1 to 16 legs} The most powerful of athe forms attributed to him is anyn ls kan, who has only one leg. One legged anyn is mostpowerful, with the most medicine and the most magic.

anyn was abandoned in the forest at birth, but If went and found him and raised him. He couldndo much around the house, but If didnt want him to just sit around, so If set him in the garden andtold him to weed the garden. When If came back, anyn hadnt moved, and nothing was done. Ifgot angry and threatened to beat him if he didnt weed the garden. anyn said dont beat me, I justdont understand. Why do you want me to destroy so many good / useful plants? This one is medicinfor fever. This one is medicine for leprosy, ... malaria,... diarrhea, etc.. That is how If discovered thanyn had a gift for identifying the properties of plants. (he could also identify animals gifts andminerals, but plants was recognized first). anyn does not deal with everything connected tomedicine, just herbalist and the like. He taught the uses of plants to the Yorb people and the r.All r are medicine people.

If is responsible for teaching the people the secret names of important animals (snakes included) anplants. If knows all the secret names because he is the one who gave them out. When the plants andanimals came down from heaven, If met them at the crossroad known as orita (crossroad)gbrnsaala. There he gave them their common and secret names. Talismans and incantations usethe secret names. They are very powerful. [see Bonewits rule of the name].

It is necessary to combine If's and anyns knowledge. With the secret name of a thing, anythingcan come alive, be active. Baba Abimbl equates this with sympathetic vibration. Everything is alivSome things just need to be reminded that they are alive, and need to be woken up. We dont see thealiveness of things because we dont have the code / language to wake things up. sometimes it is jusa name repeated the correct number of times. Sometimes it is more complex. It is doable for everything.

anyn became famous. He became king of sj (modern s). He lived his last years in sj inthe Northeast part of Yorbland. The title of the king of sj is lsj wo lji (person whocommands sprinkles [drizzle] of rain). j--dun-l (j: rain/ : which does not/ dun: wet the groul: very much). All kings of sj are descended from anyn.

3 anyn is not Osain [Cuba] as he does not control ALL medicine. anyn and medicine a If.


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anyn was king for many years. Every year the baba would promise children, money and respect.Each year they didnt come. After many years, anyn said if he promises the same thing, I will havhim beheaded. When the diviner came, he said that anyn would have children, money and respecThen he said dont kill me. This is the year. The three wives who told you this morning they had theiperiods will have children before the year is out. anyn decided not to kill him until the next year the promises didnt happen, but before the end of the year, those three wives had children, he had a

horse and a palace. If a person believes in If and has patience, all predictions will come through.

For more information:Wd Abimbl, IfWill Mend Our Broken World: Thoughts on Yoruba Religion and Culture in

Africa and the Diaspora , (Roxbury, Mass. Aim Books, 2003) [ISBN: 0-9659739-0-5]

Wd Abimbl, IfDivination Poetry (NY, NOK Publishers Ltd. 1977) [ISBN 0-88357-047-

Margaret Thompson Drewal,Yoruba Ritual: Performers, Play, Agency (Bloomington, Indiana,Indiana University Press, 1992) [ISBN: 0-253-20684-7]


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WestSociety of Friends (Quaker) / England and US America

1702 until now

NB: there is a Friends meeting House in Lexington. UUCL often works directly with them in Peacand Civil Rights actions. Friends have a long tradition of living testimony in the areas of

simplicity, peace, integrity, equality, and social concerns. They express these concerns inactions, and through support of organizations such as: American Friends Service Committee(AFSC), Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), Quaker United Nations Offiand JusticeNet. They hold many Universalist views in common. There are also very manydifferences, which make a merger impossible. UUs are often considered Quakers who talk tomuch.

Mother Ann Lee (February 29, 1736 in Manchester, England - September 8, 1784 near Albany, NY)was a member of the Quakers. The method of worship she and others followed was one of ecstaticdancing or "shaking", which dubbed them as the Shaking Quakers. After reaching the New World,Shakers were and are what Mother Ann and her followers are now known as.

Under her leadership, beginning in 1772, the rejection of marriage, and their work ethic for which thhave ever since been known, began to typify the Quaker society. She taught that the demonstrationsof shaking and trembling were caused by sin being purged from the body by the power of the HolySpirit, purifying the worshiper. She was frequently imprisoned for breaking the Sabbath by dancing shouting, and for blasphemy.

It was probably in 1770 that she was chosen by the society as "Mother in spiritual things" and firstcalled herself "Mother Ann." Mother Ann performed a number of miracles, including healing the sicmerely touching them. In 1774 a revelation bade her take a select band to America.

The ReligiousSociety of Friends (commonly known as Quakers or Friends)has a central concept ithe Inner Light or "that of God within". They identified the Light with Christ and emphasized that thLight comes from God and is given in order to show people how to live in harmony with God's will.gift, if you will]

Early Quaker preachers believed that direct experience of God was directly available to all people,

without a pastor, or outward sacraments. Since Friends believe that everyone contains "that of God"within, much of the Quaker perspective is based on trying to hear what God is saying and to allow thSpirit free action in the heart.

Ideally the Spirit moves people to speak at Meetings. If not, the worship meeting is silent. If it does,ecstasy in song and shaking may happen. The Quaker daily translates his or her mysticism intoaction, which, in turn, leads to greater spiritual understanding both by individuals and by theMeeting as a whole. They believe that all of Gods will is not yet written down. This is known ascontinuing revelation.


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Friends believe that all people are created equal in the eyes of God. Since all people embody thesame divine spark all people deserve equal treatment. Friends were some of the first to value womenas important ministers and tocampaign for women's rights , they became leaders in the anti-slavery movement , and were among the first to pioneer humane treatment for thementally ill andfor prisoners .

"We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fighting with outward weapons, for anyend or under any pretense whatsoever. And this is our testimony to the whole world. Thespirit of Christ, by which we are guided, is not changeable, so as once to command usfrom a thing as evil and again to move unto it; and we do certainly know, and so testify tothe world, that the spirit of Christ, which leads us into all Truth, will never move us to fightand war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Christ nor for the kingdoms of this world." -- Declaration to Charles II, 1661

A Quaker community is built on many Testimonies. These are not directives, but statements of whatwas commonly believed. Under the testament of Equality, everybody works every job in a kind of rotation of need. Each person has an equal chance of being gifted by God. Some of Gods gifts are thones in the Christian Bible, speaking in tongues, faith, healing. Some of the gifts are a job well donetalent as a woodworker or an inventor) or art, dance or music. Each individual work of art or healingwas considered a separate gift, which could then be shared with others. It is believed that the standarintroduction to one of these artworks, skills or attributes was thiswhatever is my gift.

For More Information:Your localSociety of Friends / Visitors are always welcomeThe Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance: http://www.religioustolerance.org/quaker.htThe Religious Society of Friends: http://www.quaker.org/Some of the above is just from history books.Note: Susan B. Anthony was a Quaker before she joined the Unitarian Church in Rochester.


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NorthNorse / satr

Germanic PeopleNorthern Europe and North Atlantic

The people now called Norse lived in the northern parts of Europe and on the islands of the North

Atlantic Ocean. These people originated in the Scandinavian Peninsulas, on the north-west coastlineThose from what is now called Sweden moved inward on the continent to Russia4, Poland, andLapland; also serving as mercenaries as far away as Constantinople.5 Those who are more properlycalled Norse are from Norway. The Norse traveled west. They had occupation forces and tradecolonies from France, England and Ireland, Greenland, Iceland, and all the way to Vinland, a NorthAmerican Settlement in the area now known as Nova Scotia6. Wherever they went, east or west, theirreligion traveled with them. There are, not surprisingly, variations on the religion at the far flung edgof their empire.

As is the case in most cultures, most individuals were farmers, craftsmen and traders. Few actuallywent a Viking also known as raiding and war. Storms were either helpful or devastating. There walittle room for a middle ground. Living was precarious. It was necessary for the population to plan fopossibility of violent storms destroying crops, icing up trade routes and destroying ships at sea.

A household, therefore, needs a sufficient quantity of workers who hunt, fish, farm, spin and weave,prepare food for storage and many other jobs. They needed strong leadership. Without that strength,there would be nobody to prevent the less-far sighted individuals from eating all the food in a goodyear, or eating the breed-stock and seed grains in bad times. A medieval household was a small self-contained village, or sometimes a quite large village. The extended family, with a number of relatedcouples and their children, was the norm. Also, the servants and their families. Households had 20 omore individuals. Smaller, 20 person, farms may have existed, but been dependent on larger farmingand hunting units. To say one were in charge of the household, one would be responsible for uparound 100 people, all the land and beasts, at a minimum.

Heads of Households were also expected to offer hospitality. Being open-handed will get you a goodreputation. In the Sayings of Hr [Odin] which is part of the Havamal, the second verse says:

All hail to the givers! A quest has comesay where shall he sit?

In haste to the hall he comesto find a place by the fire.iii

And most other literature tells how important that hospitality is, including the Lay of Grmnir, whichof the death of one who did not welcome and feed Odin in disguise. Many verses speak of beinghospitable. Many verses also make it clear that we are talking about being hospitable to individuals o

4Russia is named from the Rus tribe / nation who came from Sweden.5See the Varangian Guard over the Byzantine church.6See Erik the Lucky and Lief Ericksons voyages.


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higher status than you, or people you are not quite at war with, or people that have the signs of beingon a quest. If seeking hospitality, you had better not look like a spirit either BTW. Later I speak of omode. That also comes into the hospitality issue. Feeding everyone who comes would make youstupid, as newcomers may well be assassins from your enemy, or simply not worth the time andmoney.

Verse 136 of the same document [Hr] says:That bar must be strong which unbars the door to each and every one:7

show the beggar your back lest, bearing thee a grudge,he wish you all manner of mischief.iv

Hospitality is therefore limited and hierarchical. The Vikings could easily go to rape, pillage and burNorman villages because they dont consider them of their type. They assume the barbarians will nask them in and so beat them up just because they can. An enemy seeking hospitality must do it indisguise and not say who he is until a welcoming ritual has been done, food counts.

The Norse form of trance was generally ecstatic. In a seidr v the Gyd(h)ja, or priestess , would lead thevillage, by means of special songs and what we could call guided meditation internally into the spiriworld, then go deeper into trance and talk with the Gods or ancestors. She would then bring answersto questions back from the spirits and keep working at it until everyone was satisfied that they knewwhat to do or the spirits threw her out.

There was also a recognition of a state of being which resembles possession trance. This state isknown as wd [rr]. Wd is translated according to context as fury, magic, inspiration or the powerhealing. These states can all take over a person into such states as berserk rage, inspired poetry, or healing by laying on of hands. If the number of warriors and raiders in the culture was small, thenumber of warriors who habitually entered into berserk rage was minuscule. That is likely becausethat state is innately dangerous. Ynglingasaga records this tradition, saying of the warriors of Odhithat they went without coats of mail, and acted like mad dogs and wolvesvi The word itself has variedmeanings, the most popular being bare shirt (no armor), or "bear*-sark," (describes the animal-skingarb of the berserker.)vii

In a berserk rage, the person vanishes and is replaced by a mindless killing machine. On a battlefield

such unstoppable warriors are undoubtedly useful. A warrior in a state of berserk will continue to figwithout appearing to notice wounds, including mortal wounds. A berserk may literally keep on fightafter they have been killed, until the moment when they actually fall over. A few people in this state overrun a much larger force because individual warriors, although pumped with adrenaline can be

jolted out of that zone by severe enough wounds, and be forced to stop fighting. That is a very scarthing to contemplate. I dont ever want to see it.

7Lee Hollander notes that this means: only a strong bolt can last in a door which is unbarred words, do not be too generous and hospitable. That interpretation fits with the next two lines.


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Creation

The creation myth is given in the Poetic Eddax. Volusp, A seeress that Odin raised from the dead toprophesy for him, starts her prophesy with the creation myth. In the beginning there was nothing. Adescribed in the Poetic Eddaxi:

3 - In earliest times did Ymir live,was nor sea nor land nor salty waves,neither earth was there nor upper heaven,but a gaping nothing and green things nowhere

5 - From the south the sun, by the side of the moon,heaved his right hand over heavens rim,the sun knew not what seat he had,the stars knew not what stead they held,the moon knew not what might she had.

This is a description of Ginnungagap, the great chasm. On one side of Ginnungagap, there was born world of light and heat. Muspell's flames were so hot that nobody who was not native to that worldcould survive there.whose flames are so hot that those who are not native to that land cannot endure it.xii

Then a new world was born, beyond Ginnungagap, which was the dark, cold realm of Niflheim. Ice,frost, wind, rain and heavy cold emanated from Niflheim, meeting in Ginnungagap the soft air, heat,and light, from Muspell.

In Ginnungagap, the cold and warm came together, and there was frost and mists. Out of thesecombining, a frost giant named Ymir was created as ice formed and then melted. From Ymir came allthe frost giants. Later, a strong man was excavated from the ice. His son Bor married a frost giant anhad three sons, Odin, then, Vili, then V.

Kin-bond was apparently not as strong at this time because Odin, Vili, and V killed their grandfathethe giant Ymir. Odin, Vili, and V then took Ymir to the center of the Ginnungagap and created a wofrom his bone, blood and body. From Ymir's skull they made the sky and set it over the earth with its

four sides. Under each corner they put a dwarf, named East, West, North, and South. Then things westill in chaos, but the world, middle earth and all the earths that use Yggdrasil as base, and evenheaven, which stands above the tree were created. The Nornir come and put things into an order, afate. The world history started. The world, on which the great tree sits is the body of Ymir. The Nornincluding Valkyries, are choosers of the dead. Valkyries are, in case you missed it, probably vultures,scrounging battlefields for food and trinkets.

The Gods however, argued amongst themselves and against the giants, dwarves and other races inthe world. The Gods were less than truthful, and often uses trickery to get what they wanted. Often,


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they would then kill the individual they had injured. It is a lot easier to convince yourself that the onyou betrayed is evil than it is to say you were evil to do the act of betrayal. There is a desperate needto preserve your own self-image, even if that image runs counter to actuality. There runs a strain of self-justification in all of us, and it comes out very clearly in Norse mythology.

26 Were sworn oaths broken and solemn vows

Gods plighted troth the pledges given.The three brothers created humans. Odin gave the man and the woman spirit and life. Vili gave themunderstanding and the power of movement. V gave them clothing and names. The man was namedAsk [Ash] and the woman Embla [Elm]. Ask and Embla are the ancestors of all the races of men wholive in Middle-Earth.

After Death

Heaven and Hell, in the current understanding of the words, were not what happened to the dead. Wivery few exceptions, the dead didnt go anywhere. Graves were built to house them at that site. Somgraves had the makings of a comfortable spot, with household items, horses, ships (or symbolic shiptreasure, brewing equipment, slaves, and occasionally the deceased's wife. Even the poorest hadsome personal items buried with them. Although it can be said that a splendid grave was simply toimpress the neighbors, that does not account for the personal items in a poor persons grave. Here Isit. I will go no farther. Only those who died violently went anywhere and that was to train in fightinOdins army for the last days.

The Norse pantheon has two main families of divinities, theVanir and the sir . They also have a fewextra deities which belong to neither family. Thedsir are spirits, not Gods, but they can be verypowerful. All are female. The dsir from the creation story are the Nornir. Later myth has the Valkyri[NB: the singular of dsir is ds]

The Vanir are often minimized by calling them Fertility Gods. Vanir worship is therefore the religionthe thralls or people of the land. The Vanir were considered to be the bringers of health, youth, fertililuck and wealth, and are masters of magic. As most deities the people depend on for healthy and

productive crops and livestock, the Vanir tend to be obviously healthy, fertile, powerful, and above astable. The Vanir fought the Aesir for a long time, but eventually made peace so as to avoid destroyinthe whole world.8xiii Although the sir are often considered the main Norse Gods, it was the Vanir who won that war. To ensure peace the two families of Gods traded hostages: The Vanir hostages toAsgard were Njord, Frey [Old Norse Freyr], and Freya [Old Norse Freyja]. These Gods of the Vanir were subsequently integrated with the Aesir. There is not much known about the Vanir of the time

8The Vanir actually won this battle, a fact often minimized by satrr. That is understandable means followers of the Aesir and the fact that the documentation of the Vanir is a lot less rich. Everybody jusstories.


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before the assimilation. We know thatNjord was God/Goddess of the sea; Freyr was a God of weather, fertility and growth; andxiv Freyrs sister Freya was a Goddess of fertility, magic and war.xv After she went to live with the Aesir as a hostage, she taught the Aesir about magic, including seidr.xvi The name "Vanir" might be derived from the old-Norse word vinr which means "friend".

The Aesir are war and urban Gods many of whom live in Asgard, with the All-Father Odin. The Aes

Gods includeOdin [Wodan, Wden, in], Balder (God of light and beauty),Heimdall [Rig](watchman, guardian of Bifrst, the rainbow bridge),Hod [Hoth, Hodur, Hoer] (God of war, darknessand winter),Loki (trickster God of fire and ally of the frost giants),Thor (God of thunder),Tyr (God of war),Freya (Goddess of fertility),Idun (keeper of the apples of youth) andFrigg (Sky Goddess andOdin's wife).

The Gods who actually created order out of the chaos before creation belong to neither the Vanir northe sir. They are the Norns, named Urth [Urdr] (fate or past), Verthandi [Verdandi] (present), andSkuld [future]. The Nornir use water from Mimirs well to tend Yggdrasil. Once everything had a fatpath to follow, things settled down. The Nornir wove the threads of each individuals fate into thetapestry of life. Each life is as long as their thread used to weave the tapestry. The Gods are never allowed to see the whole thing.

One aspect of the Norse pantheon which startles many people was the fact that the Gods are notimmortal. They can be killed, and without Iduns apples of youth they would grow old and die. In famost of the Gods know their doom, or destiny, is to die at the great battle of the Gods at the end of thworld, Ragnarok. The Gods work to put this event off as late as they can, and Lokis children and thegiants work to have it start as soon as possible.

Odin is supposed to die in the jaws of theFenris Wolf 9, but in spite of knowing that, instead of workia way to keep Fenris away, Odin took him up to Asgard as a puppy and raised him there. It was onlywhen he got older and huge (with great pointy teeth) that Odin realized that he might have made amistake. Then he asks for help to bind Fenris. In Anglo-Saxon that is ofer-mdexvii - overweening pridewhich sets you on a path to destruction. Bravery is praised, stupidity however is another thingaltogether, and if by some miracle you win in spite of it, it is still a black mark which will lose youfollowers and respect.

The dwarves fashioned a silken bond out of six things difficult to find: the sound of a cat's footfalls,

beard of a maiden, the roots of a mountain, the dreams of a bear, the breath of a fish and the spittle oa bird. The bond they fashioned was called Gleipnir. The Gods brought this bond to Fenris, who hadalready broken two God made bonds, and dared him attempt to break it. They told him if he wasn't ato break free, then they would have no reason to fear him. Wary of treachery, aware that there waslikely some magic in the silken bond, Fenris said he would agree only if one of the Gods consented tplace his hand in his mouth. The Gods hesitated, but Tyr stepped forward and placed his right handbetween the wolf's jaws. As Fenris struggled to free himself, the bond only got tighter. When he

9Fenris is the son of Loki, and the Giantess Argrbotha. Others of this pairing are Hel and JormMidgar serpent that eats the roots of Yggdrasil, the tree of life.


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AbovePeople of the Book

Arabic and European PeopleMiddle East

The core of these faiths is not in the ritual, but in the words. In the beginning was the Word.

They are called the people of the Book, although, in actuality, there are at least three different booksinvolved. They are called a revealed religion, although that revelation may not be done, thosescriptures not yet sealed. Transcendent God. God above. Elohim, Adoni, Jahweh, Jehovah, Allah,Lord. Many names for what they agree is one God. A monotheistic Deity who acts in His followerslives. Elisha, Jesu ben Mari, Mohammad, all prophets of that one God.

All three religions recognize the first revelation, the first book. The Hebrew Scriptures which theChristians call the Old Testament, and the Jews call the Torah or the Tanaka. This Scripture is not aunity, but a series of books. In many ways the Tanaka, are a history of a nations transition fromhenotheism to monotheism. Henotheism is the belief that among all the many Gods, ours is the best.In monotheism, there are no other Gods. God is God. The original creation story uses the plural formof God, Elohim, where the second creation in the book has one God creating everything. Thisdifference flows throughout the early texts. In the part of Exodus called the 10 Commandments, thefirst law is that Thou shalt have no other Gods before me, That statement implies the existence of other Gods. The first chapter in this book of this series tells of creation. This is the first creation storThe story about Adam and Eve and the garden starts at Genesis 2:4.

Genesis 1:1- xviii In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 1:2 And the

earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters . 1:3 And God said, Letthere be light: and there was light. 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and Goddivided the light from the darkness. 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darknesshe called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide thewaters from the waters. 1:7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters whichwere under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it wasso. 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were

the second day.1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place,and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 1:10 And God called the dry land Earth; andthe gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 1:11And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit treeyielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 1:12 Andthe earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yieldingfruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 1:13 And theevening and the morning were the third day.


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1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the dayfrom the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 1:15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: andit was so. 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and thelesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 1:17 And God set them in thefirmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 1:18 And to rule over the day and

over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hathlife, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 1:21 And Godcreated great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters broughtforth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw thatit was good. 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill thewaters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 1:23 And the evening and themorning were the fifth day.1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, andcreeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 1:25 And God madethe beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing thatcreepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.1:26 And Godsaid, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominionover the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all theearth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.1:27 So God createdman in their own image, in the image of God created they them; male and femalecreated they them. 1:28 And God blessed them , and God said unto them, Be fruitful,and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon theearth. 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which isupon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yieldingseed; to you it shall be for meat. 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowlof the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I havegiven every green herb for meat: and it was so. 1:31 And God saw every thing that hehad made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were thesixth day.Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2:2

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on theseventh day from all his work which he had made. 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day,and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God createdand made. Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fishof the sea and over the birds of the sky, and every living thing that moves on the earth."

Other revelations in this Tradition are in the histories, prophesies and books of law in the Torah. Thealso exist in the commentary (notes by rabbis through the ages), the midrash (stories on thescriptures), and in the Pirke Aboth (the sayings of the Fathers.)


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Qur'an - Surah # 54 al-Qamar: The Moon

1 The hour drew nigh and the moon was rent in twain.2 And if they behold a portent they turn away and say: Prolonged illusion.3 They denied (the Truth) and followed their own lusts. Yet everything will come to a decision4 And surely there hath come unto them news whereof the purport should deter,

5 Effective wisdom; but warnings avail not.6 So withdraw from them (O Muhammad) on the day when the Summoner summoneth unto apainful thing.

For More Information:

All texts in this section and in many other Traditions can be found on-line at the Sacred Texts Websithttp://www.sacred-texts.com [note the hyphen between sacred and texts. It is important]

Jacob Neusner, The Classics of Judaism: A Textbook and Reader (Louisville, KY Westminster/JohnKnox Press, 1995) [0-664-25455-1]

Society of Biblical Literature,The Harper Collins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocraphal / Deuterocanonological Books. (NY Harper Collins, 1992. [ISBN: 0-06-065580-1]

Ahmed Ali, translator Sacred Writings vol. 3 / Islam: The Quran (NY, Quality Paperback Book Club1992)


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Below

We winged it.


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Within / BuddhismIndia / Asia

"If you live the sacred and despise the ordinary,you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion ."

Lin-Chix

Buddhism was founded in Northern India by the first known Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama. In 535

B.C.E., he attained enlightenment and assumed the title Lord Buddha (one who has awakened). AsBuddhism expanded across Asia, it evolved into two, or three, main forms, which evolved largelyindependently from each other: Buddhism, like most of the great religions of the world, is divided innumber of different traditions. However, most traditions share a common set of fundamental beliefs.The traditions were effected severely with Mao Tse Tungs Cultural Revolution and its attempt todestroy religion.xx

Theravada Buddhism is the dominant school of Buddhism in most of Southeast Asia since ththirteenth century. Buddhist missionaries from India took the religion to a number of countries, but itinitially only achieved a foothold in Sri Lanka. It later spread from Sri Lanka to Burma, Cambodia, LThailand, and parts of Vietnam. They promoted the Vibhajjavada school (Separative Teaching).

Mahayana Buddhism is the predominant religion in China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, and mucof Vietnam. The tradition entered China during the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E. to 220 CE). It found iniacceptance there among the workers; later, it gradually penetrated the ruling class. Buddhism reachedJapan in the 6th century. It contains many distinct schools: T'ein-t'ai, Hua-yen, Pure Land teachings,and the Meditation school. In addition to the Core practices listed below, Mahayana Buddhism alsocelebrates the Bodhisattva Kuan-yin. Pure Land Buddhism is more like the Christian concepts thatworship will bring salvation.

Tibetan Buddhism , also called Vajrayana Buddhism , developed in isolation because of theremoteness of Tibet. It is in parts of China, Mongolia, Russia and Tibet. It entered Tibet circa 640 CEConflict with the native Tibetan religion of Bon caused it to go largely underground until its revival i11th century CE. The head of the Gelu school of Buddhist teaching became the Dalai Lama, and ruleTibet. Ceremony and ritual are emphasized more than in other Buddhist forms. They developed thepractice of searching out a young child at the time of death of an important teacher. The child isbelieved to be the successor to the deceased teacher. In Vajrayana, the idea of the Buddha and hisDharma evolved into a more elaborate system called the Trikaya, or three bodies of Buddha. First is

the Nirmanakaya -- Theearthly Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, especially as personified by SiddharthaGautama. In Tibet, this is the intentional human embodiment of a reborn master. Second is theSambhogakaya --Buddhas in their heavens , the result of accumulated merit. Or, in Zen,enlightenment. In Tibetan Buddhism, this refers to the means of achieving the Dharmakaya, i.e. thepower of meditation on the various visualized deities called yidams which are archetypal symbols ofdifferent qualities of enlightenment. And finally, the Dharmakaya The teachings of the Buddha, anthe true nature of the Buddha, which is everything.Buddha mind , or Shunyata. In Tibet, they alsorefer to the body, speech, and mind of a master. And they are represented by the mudra (position of body), the mantra (voice / chant), and the mandala (artistic representation), respectively.


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Core beliefs and practices of Buddhism:

Buddhism, like most of the great religions of the world, is divided into a number of different traditioHowever, most traditions share a common set of fundamental beliefs.

Thoughtful, ceremonial giving / Dana

Following Buddhist teaching in practice; refraining from killing, stealing, wrong behavior, uof drugs. On special days, three additional precepts may be added, restricting adornment,entertainment and comfort. / SilaKarma is the balance of accumulated sin and merit, which will determine one's future in thepresent life, and the nature of the next life to come. / KarmaRitual chanting / ParittaWorship - of relics of a Buddha, of items made by a Buddha, or of other symbolic relics.Festivals - days of the full moon, and three other days during the lunar cycle are celebrated.There is a new year's festival, and several celebrations tied to the agricultural year.

Pilgrimages - particularly to Buddhist sites in Sri Lanka and India.

Not all sects have the same world view, but many have a unifyingcosmos , which consists of billions worlds grouped into clusters; clusters are grouped into galaxies, which are themselves grouped intosuper-galaxies. The universe also has many levels: four underworlds and 21 heavenly realms.

Syncretization

Buddhism is not a single monolithic religion. Many of its adherents have combined the teachings of

Buddha with local religious rituals, beliefs and customs. Little conflict occurs, because Buddhism at core is a philosophical system to which such additions can be easily grafted.

Rebirth, not reincarnation . One fundamental belief of Buddhism is often referred to as reincarnation-- the concept that people are reborn after dying. In fact, most individuals go through many cycles ofbirth, living, death and rebirth. A practicing Buddhist differentiates between the concepts of rebirth areincarnation. In reincarnation, the individual may recur repeatedly. In rebirth, in a person does notnecessarily return to Earth as the same entity ever again. He compares it to a leaf growing on a tree.When the withering leave falls off, a new leaf will eventually replace it. It is similar to the old leaf, bis not identical to the original leaf. After many such cycles, if a person releases their attachment todesire and the self, they can attain Nirvana. This is a state of liberation and freedom from suffering.

Buddhism has three important truths which carry across sects. They are theFour Noble Truths ,The Eightfold Path and theFive Precepts .


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The Four Noble Truths

The Buddha's Four Noble Truths explore human suffering. They may be described (somewhatsimplistically) as:

Suffering exists / Dukkha: (Suffering is real and almost universal. Suffering has manycauses: loss, sickness, pain, failure, the impermanence of pleasure.)There is a cause for suffering / Samudaya: (It is the desire to have and control things. It catake many forms: craving of sensual pleasures; the desire for fame; the desire to avoidunpleasant sensations, like fear, anger or jealousy.)There is an end to suffering / Nirodha: (Suffering ceases with the final liberation of NirvanThe mind experiences complete freedom, liberation and non-attachment. It lets go of any desior craving.)

In order to end suffering, you must follow the Eightfold Path / Magga

The Five Precepts

1. Do not kill, can be interpreted as Harm None or an absence of violence.2. Do not steal. This includes the avoidance of fraud and economic exploitation.3. Do not lie. This is sometimes interpreted as including name calling, gossip, etc.4. Do not misuse sex .. Adultery is forbidden, along with any sexual harassment or exploitation,

including that within marriage. The Buddha did not discuss consensual premarital sex within acommitted relationship and Buddhist traditions differ on the interpretation about this.

5. Do not drugs, including Alcohol. The main concern here is that intoxicants cloud the mind.Some have included as a drug other methods of divorcing ourselves from reality such asmovies, television, and the Internet.


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The Eightfold Path

Discernment, insight, wisdom, enlightenment . Panna is the real heart of Buddhism. Wisdom wilemerge if your mind is pure and calm.

Right Understanding of the Four Noble Truths / Samma ditthiRight thinking; following the right path in life / Samma sankappaVirtue, good conduct, morality . Sila is based on two fundamental principles: The principle oequality: that all living entities are equal. The principle of reciprocity: This is the "Golden Ruledo onto others as you would wish them do onto you.

Right speech no lying, criticism, condemning, gossip, harsh language / Samma vacaRight conduct by following theFive Precepts / Samma kammantaRight livelihood; support yourself without harming others. / Samma ajiva

Concentration, meditation, mental development . Samadhi Developing one's mind is the pato wisdom which in turn leads to personal freedom. Mental development also strengthens andcontrols our mind; this helps us maintain good conduct.

Right Effort: promote good thoughts; conquer evil thoughts Samma vayamaRight Mindfulness : Become aware of your body, mind and feelings Samma satiRight Concentration: Meditate to achieve a higher state of consciousness Samma samadhi

Meditation

Meditation, often considered the defining characteristic of Buddhism, is not mentioned in the univertruths that carry through the religion until late in the documents. In the Four Noble Virtues, meditationot mentioned but one is told to follow the eight-fold path. In the eight-fold path, meditation is in thepaths 6, 7 & 8. That means they are at the end of the instructions for followers.

A Buddhist is encouraged to practice mindfulness, that is, developing a full consciousness of all aboyou and within you, whether seated in a special posture, or simply going about ones life. This is in sseven of the eight-fold path. Buddhist monks expanded and formalized their understanding of meditation. The bases for all meditation, as it was understood even in the earliest years of Buddhismare calm abiding or peacefulness and clear seeing. It is that development of tranquility that is aprerequisite to any further development. or special insight, and involves intuitive cognition of sufferimpermanence, and egolessness. Only after one has achieved some success in this calm-abiding andempathy, can one intensely focus ones consciousness. This intense focus seems to relate to the eighthpath on the eightfold path. This is called Dhyana in India, Jhana in Pali, Chan in Chinese, Son inKorean, and Zen in Japanese, and has often, in those cultures, become synonymous with meditationas a whole.


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The major obstacles to concentration are calledThe Five Hindrances.

1. Sensual desire (abhidya)2. Ill will, hatred, or anger (pradosha)3. Laziness and sluggishness (styana and middha)

4. Restlessness and worry (anuddhatya and kaukritya)5. Doubt (vichikitsa) -- doubt, skepticism, indecisiveness, or vacillation, without the wish to cure it,more like the common idea of cynicism or pessimism than open-mindedness or desire for evidence.

For More Information:contact your local Buddhist Temple, Shambala Center, or check out the classics of Buddhism.


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Imminent: inherent, an integral part of a being or thing. God as material as well as spiritual bas a vital part of life & nature. [general]

ynf - Ifdiviner / priestess [If]

Kami - All things have spirit. Abstract ideas, ancestors and locations also have spirits. These spinamed kami. [Shinto]

monotheism- There are no other Gods. God is God. Anything which claims to be God, but is nois lying. [general - People of the Book]

ofer-mde Overweening pride which sets you on a path to destruction. Bravery is praised, stuhowever is another thing altogether. [satr]

Or - inner head, personal divinity, your connection to the Divine [If]

r - lesser gods, created by Oldmar to put His ideas into actuality; some are apotheosizedhumans, Jungian archetypes, or strictly deities. [If]

Panentheism - Everything has spirit, is divine, but when you add the bits of spirit together, the regreater than the sum of those spirits. There is a thing called God or Great Spirit. [general]

Pantheism- there are many Gods [general]

Programed Meeting- A service with a sermon and hymns and the like. [Quaker]

rebirth - the spirit of one blends into the spirit of all, and spirit then is reborn, like a new leaf on a[Buddhism]

reincarnation- The personality, memory and soul are re-born into a new person. The whole of whyou unique goes on. [Hinduism]

revere: to regard with awe, great respect or devotion. [general]

seidr Ecstatic trance state where the priestess lead the village into the spirit world, then would


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go deeper into trance and talk with the Gods or ancestors. [satr]

Shaker Quaker[general - Quaker]

transcendent: passing beyond human understanding. Existence independent of and over nature material. [general]

Transcendentalists:A 19th century philosophical movement which proclaimed that spirit and the NGod transcended human ability to understand it. Transcendentalists believed in the immanenceeven if science could not explain it. [general - UU]

Trinity - Christian belief as I see it. One God, the Lord God in His three aspects. God the Father -God BeinGod the Son -God Acting;God the Holy Spirit,God Relating. [People of the Book - Christian]

Unprogrammed Meeting: Waiting in silence for the Spirit to speak or inspire speech. [Quaker]

Vantru: is a modern construction off of the modern word satr. As satr worship the sir, woVanir, another Norse Divine family, could be Vantru. [satr]

venerate:to regard with respect or heartfelt deference. [general]

wd- A possession trance.Trances that can take over a person into such states as berserk rage, poetry, or healing by laying on of hands. [satr]

worship: love and allegiance accorded to a deity, idol or sacred object. A set of ceremonies, prayerreligious actions which express that love and allegiance. [general]


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i Thomas E. Lawson, Religions of Africa: Traditions in Transformation :(Religious Traditionsof the World) (San Francisco, CA, Harper & Row, 1984) [ISBN 0-06-065211-X]iiWd Abimbl, from the Louisville Lectures [not yet published]iii Anonymous, the Sayings of Hr The Poetic Edda, translated by Lee M. Hollan

(Austin, TX University of Texas Press, 1962/1986) 2nd ed. [ISBN 0-292-76499-5] p.15.iv Anonymous, the Sayings of Hr The Poetic Edda, translated by Lee M. Hollander (A

TX University of Texas Press, 1962/1986) 2nd

ed. [ISBN 0-292-76499-5] 35.v Anonymous, translated by Keneva Kunz, Erik the Reds Saga in multipletranslators The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection (NY, Viking Press, 2000) [0-670-88990-3] 658-9.

vi Snorri Sturluson. Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway. trans. Lee M. Hollan(Austin: U of Texas P. 1964) p.10vii Gunnora Hallakarva [[email protected]] Berserkergang 11 Sep 1996 found on the wsite: http://www.florilegium.orgviii Deor? Deors Lament in Robert E. Diamond, Old English: Grammar and Reader (DMich Wayne State University Press, 1970) [ISBN 0-8143-1510-0] 159.ix Robert E. Diamond, Old English: Grammar and Reader (Detroit, Mich Wayne S

University Press, 1970) [ISBN 0-8143-1510-0] 112-113.x Anonymous, Volusp: Prophecy of the Seeress The Poetic Edda, translated by

M. Hollander (Austin, TX University of Texas Press, 1962/1986) 2nd ed. [ISBN 0-292-76499-5] 2-3.

xi Anonymous, The Poetic Edda, translated by Lee M. Hollander (Austin, TX UniversityTexas Press, 1962/1986) 2nd ed. [ISBN 0-292-76499-5] p.2xii D. L. Ashliman, The Norse Creation Myth Folktexts, a library of folktales,

folklore, fairy tales, and mythology. Revised January 7, 2003.http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/creation.html

xiii Anonymous, The Poetic Edda, translated by Lee M. Hollander (Austin, TXUniversity of Texas Press, 1962/1986) 2nd ed. [ISBN 0-292-76499-5]

xiv Micha F. Lindemans Aesir in Johannes Persson Swedish history of the Godshttp://www.luth.se/luth/present/sweden/history/Gods/johannes/nornorna * contact [email protected]

xv Johannes Persson Swedish history of the Gods http://www.luth.se/luth/present/sweden /history/gods/johannes/nornorna * contact: [email protected]

xviMicha F. Lindemans Vanir in Johannes Persson Swedish history of the Gods

http://www.luth.se/luth/present/sweden/history/gods/johannes/nornorna * contact: [email protected] Ofer-mde, Battle of Maldon, line 89 in Robert E. Diamond, Old English: GrammaReader (Detroit, Mich Wayne State University Press, 1970) [ISBN 0-8143-1510-0] 122-3.xviiihttp://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/index.htmxixLin-Chi Quotation at http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism.htmxx Dr. C. George Boeree of Shippensburg University Buddhist Cosmology

http://www.ship.edu/ %7Ecgboeree/buddhacosmo.html

7 traditions pamphlet

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