MARCELLIN COLLEGE RANDWICKRELIGIOUS EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

PRELIMINARYSTUDIES OF RELIGION

Nature of Religion and Beliefs

Student Resource Book

2015

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Handout 1

WHO AM I?

Who am I? The Place of Religion

Religions are about meaning, the search for the purpose, the end and meaning of life. You may have read, heard on radio or seen on TV The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in which a giant computer working for millions of years finally comes up with the answer to the great question of life, the universe and everything. The answer is 42. And the reason for this absurdity is that the computer doesn't know the right question to ask. Religions differ as much over the key question as over the answers.

However, most systems that we call religions are concerned with the world of the transcendent, and with the sacred, spiritual dimensions of life. Religions help human beings to relate their lives to the world of the sacred, particularly at important transitions such as birth, puberty, and death. More than this, they enable human beings to enter into and participate in this world in a variety of ways.

Because of this, one question that most religions regard as important is `Who am I?' They are engaged in a search for the real self, the true self, the inner self. Their practices and institutions aim at bringing the individual to self-realization. The life stories of founders, leaders and ordinary followers of religions often hinge on a sudden awareness of lack of purpose or meaning in their life - in other words, questions about identity.

The attempt to answer at the deepest level the question `Who am I?' is, then, partly a matter of personal experience and partly coming to grips with the religious tradition in which a person is brought up. Our identity is partly inherited, partly shaped by ourselves. The tradition often provides us with appropriate questions to ask (remember the giant computer), and a special language with which to speak about our life experience.

Questions: Formative influences on identitya) What key events or experiences have contributed to your identity?b) What is your strongest characteristic?c) What is your weakest characteristic?d) What do you most enjoy doing?e) What needs does this activity fill for you?f) How important a role does friendship play in your life?g) What is the most important thing you have learned from your family? h) How good are you at taking responsibility, and what has helped you to develop this?i) What are your personal long-term and short-term goals? Why are these important to you?j) How do you deal with stress, or with personal problems?

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WORKSHEET 1

Do you consider yourself to be religious? Explain your answer.

What would you mean if you said someone was very religious?

There is a T-shirt which reads: “I’m not religious, I’m a Christian”. What does the T-shirt slogan mean by ‘religious’? by ‘Christian?

Which of the explanations of religion and religious experience do you find most satisfying’

Which definition of religion do you find the most useful? Why?

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The Miracle Of the Sun, Fatima Portugal

The Fatima Message: http://www.fatima.org/essentials/message/default.aspxFatima Facts: http://www.fatima.org/essentials/facts/default.aspx

ahttp://www.ewtn.com/fatima/apparitions/October.htm

The Third Secret of Fatima – Vatican library:http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html

ImagesFatima Pilgrimage May 2000http://spudsworld.org/Public/fatima/fatima.htm

Video:Miracle of the Sunhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBIs8cuIwTo

Incoruptibles

List of Saints & their liveshttp://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/incorruptible-saints.html

http://www.overcomeproblems.com/incorruptables.htm

PowerPoint’s of Images of the Incorrupt Saintshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7uPLx8PM8c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euv5EqDNVQs

St Catherine Laboure, Paris FranceIncorrupt Saint Bernadette Soubirous (France)http://www.biographyonline.net/spiritual/bernadette-soubirious.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY-pDCyq5GI

Saint Bernadette the Moviehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJxGpSMWPRI

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Understanding Faith Textbookhttp://secondary.understandingfaith.edu.au/search-for-meaning/01/04/

Handout 2THE SUPERNATURAL

http://www.answers.com/topic/supernatural

su·per·nat·u·ral (sū'pər-năch'ər-əl) adj. 1. Of or relating to existence outside the natural world. 2. Attributed to a power that seems to violate or go beyond natural forces. 3. Of or relating to a deity. 4. Of or relating to the immediate exercise of divine power; miraculous. 5. Of or relating to the miraculous.

That which is supernatural.supernatural adjective

1. Of, coming from, or relating to forces or beings that exist outside the natural world: extramundane, extrasensory, metaphysical, miraculous, preternatural, superhuman, superphysical, supersensible, transcendental, unearthly. See supernatural.

2. Greatly exceeding or departing from the normal course of nature: preternatural, unnatural. See usual/unusual

The noun supernatural has one meaning:Meaning #1: supernatural forces and events and beings collectively  Synonym: occult

The adjective supernatural has one meaning:Meaning #1: not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws; not physical or material

The supernatural (Latin:super- "exceeding"+nature) comprises forces and phenomena that cannot be perceived by natural or empirical senses, and whose understanding may be said to lie with religious, magical, or otherwise mysterious explanation —yet remains firmly outside of the realm of science. The term "supernatural" is often used interchangeably with paranormal or preternatural —the latter typically limited to an adjective for describing abilities which appear to exceed possible bounds.Supernatural claims assert phenomena beyond the realm of current scientific understanding, and may likewise be in direct conflict with scientific concepts of possibility or plausibility. The supernatural concept is generally identified with religion or other belief systems —though there is much debate as to whether a supernatural is necessary for religion, or that religion is necessary for holding a concept of the supernatural.

Views on the supernatural The supernatural as distinct from natureIn this, the most common view, the term supernatural is contrasted with the term natural, which presumes that some events occur according to natural laws, and others do not, because they are caused by forces external to nature. In essence, the world is seen as operating according to natural law "normally," until a force external to nature (such as God) interferes.

The supernatural as sovereign over natureOther people, particularly in Eastern Christianity, deny any distinction between Natural and Supernatural. According to this view, because God is sovereign, all events are directly caused by Him. The only meaningful distinction that remains is events which God causes to happen regularly, and events which God causes to happen rarely.

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Handout 2

The supernatural as manifested through natureAnother view, held by men such as Albert Einstein, asserts that God makes himself known through the beauty and order of nature, but is not a personal God concerned with human moral activity, and does not violate the laws of nature which He created.

The supernatural as a higher natureOthers assert that events that appear to us to be supernatural occur according to natural laws which we do not yet understand. In contrast to supernaturalists, they assert that all things operate according to a law of nature. In contrast to atheists, they assert that God, miracles, or other supernatural phenomena are real, verifiable, and part of the laws of nature that we do not yet understand.

The supernatural as a human coping mechanismOthers, particularly among the skeptical academic community, believe that all events have natural, and only natural causes. They believe that human beings ascribe supernatural attributes to purely natural events in an attempt to cope with fear and ignorance.

The supernatural as magicSince the belief in magic is very old, and held a great power over the minds and imagination of earlier generations, long before the concept of experimental science, some historians of conjuring and magic think the supernatural is a surviving form of magic. In the human quest for understanding and survival, magic may be seen as a complement to science. Both science and magic stem from the human imagination, observation and contemplation: but whereas science requires time, resources, boundless curiosity, and flexibility, magic provides an immediate solution, more appealing to the unscientific mind, and requiring little, or no resources. (See Lynn Thorndike's classic study,The History of Magic and Experimental Science, Tarbell Course in Magic, vol 1- Harlan Tarbell, forward and epilogue to Greater Magic- John Northern Hilliard, The Discoverie of Witchcraft- Reginald Scot and the vanishing works of Henry Ridgely Evans, The Old and New Magic, The Spirit World Unmasked, and Hours with Ghosts or 19th Century Witchcraft.) It should be noted there may be a persistent link between supernaturalism, the paranormal, and the desire for immortality.

Arguments in favour of supernaturalityFollowing are some common arguments in support of belief in supernatural phenomena.

Many believers note that the complexities and mysteries of the universe cannot yet be explained by naturalistic explanations alone and argue that it is equally reasonable to presume that a Person or Persons controls the unexplained as to presume that no Person does, because neither explanation is verifiable or falsifiable until all phenomena have been explained. Believers note that it is unlikely that all phenomena will be explained soon. Believers conclude that, for the moment anyway, theistic and atheistic interpretations of unexplained phenomena are on equal intellectual and philosophical footing.

Believers argue further that just as science has evolved from weak early attempts to explain natural events (such as spontaneous generation and the doctrine of humors) into a much more credible modern science, religion has evolved from weak early attempts to explain supernatural events (such as animism) into the much more credible modern religions. Therefore, just as the simplistic and erroneous scientific explanations of early humans should not discredit modern science, the simplistic and erroneous religious understandings of early humans should not discredit modern religion.

Believers note that many of history's greatest scientists, including Galileo, Copernicus, Isaac Newton, Gregor Mendel, and Albert Einstein, appear to have believed firmly in a God behind the

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universe. (Still, Einstein explicitly denied the existence of the supernatural and an afterlife. See Einstein's forward to Man and his Gods by Homer W. Smith, Grosset & Dunlap, N.Y., 1957) However, believers also acknowledge that, because freedom of speech on religious matters is a relatively recent

Handout 2development, it would have been impossible for many of these great scientists, such as Galileo, to express doubts about the existence of a deity, let alone to openly avow agnosticism or atheism.

Believers note that the vast majority of humanity, of all races, religions, and ages, believe and have always believed in supernatural phenomena of one form or another.

Believers conclude that while some people have invented religions to help them cope with frightening and unexplainable phenomena, others have come to believe in supernatural phenomena through intellectually honest means, having been persuaded by reason, evidence, and experience that the universe cannot be explained by naturalistic explanations alone, but is best understood by acknowledging the Supernatural.

Believers also note that while some people have denied the existence of supernatural phenomena through intellectually honest means, having been persuaded by reason, evidence, and experience that the supernatural does not exist, others have denied the supernatural out of a deep fear that supernatural forces might actually exist and have a real and tangible impact on our lives, and a fear that the universe might be more complex than their theories allow.

By its own definition, science is incapable of examining or testing for the existence of the supernatural. Science concerns itself with what can be measured and seen through observation. Thus, believers in supernatural phenomenon hold that scientific methods would not detect them; therefore the lack of evidence does not matter. Scientists counter that if this is so, then believers in supernaturalism themselves would be incapable of witnessing any supernatural phenomenon, as human senses themselves operate within the laws of physics, and can only sense events occurring in the natural, physical world.

Applying Occam's Razor is useful when looking for an explanation of specific events, but the likelihood of a natural or supernatural cause is determined largely by whether a person believes in the supernatural in the first place. Using this argument against the existence of the supernatural is circular. Theological claims generally do not claim or attempt to be scientifically provable.

Some of modern biblical scholarship is based on the assumption that the supernatural does not exist, or that God is far less involved in the world than commonly supposed (deism). Many theists believe that this biases the results, and is of itself equivalent to a religious position.

However, Jews do not accept the claims made in the Christian New Testament; similarly, Christians do not accept the supernatural claims made by the Qur'an, the sacred book of Islam, and so on. John Drane writes:

Not unrelated to this is a more general philosophical scepticism towards any document whether ancient or modern, that appears to give credence to the possibility of the occurrence of unique, or apparently miraculous happenings. Academic biblical study still generally operates within a mechanistic world-view, according to which the universe is understood as a closed system, operating according to rigidly structured 'laws of nature' which are entirely predictable and never deviate. By definition, therefore, the unpredictable cannot happen, and on this view it is inevitable that the gospels should be seen as something other than history, for they do contain accounts of a number of unique happenings which appear to violate the 'laws of nature' as set out by Newtonian science. Physics, of course, no longer operates on that paradigm, and the work of more recent theorists has led to the emergence of a far more flexible understanding of what might be possible within the physical universe.

Proponents of supernaturalism claim that their belief system is more flexible, which allows them more diversity in terms of epistemology (ways of understanding knowledge.) For example, scientists accept the findings that the Earth and universe are many billions of

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years old. Among members of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities, however, there is a wider range of beliefs. Many have a literal interpretation of Genesis, and they believe that the earth and universe are only 6000 years old; other Christians accept the results of science which show the earth and universe as many billions of years old in terms of age.

Handout 2 Many religious people claim that these phenomena, being essentially "unnatural," are not

appropriate for scientific study (see also William James, The Variety of Religious Experience. James was convinced Leonora Piper was an authentic spirit medium who contacted the dead. See: Studies in Spiritism by Amy Tanner, Prometheus books, 1994, reprint of 1910 edition and Both Sides of the Veil by Anne Manning Robbins, Boston, Sherman, French & Co, 1909, and The Correspondence of William James #06 by Ignas K. Skrupskelis. A striking example that many times the scientific quest for proof of the supernatural has led to a detoriation of rationality caused by a scientist's "need" to believe.

John Drane writes that science is perpetuating "intellectual arrogance" when it does not accept the possibility of supernatural events and miracles: "To say that unique events can never happen, or that the supernatural does not exist, when most people of most ethnic groups at most points in history have claimed otherwise, is merely to perpetuate the intellectual arrogance of previous generations of Western thinkers, and far from providing an answer to the questions raised by history it merely begs larger and more important questions about the nature of Western intellectual culture." In response, most scienists and historians regard such arguments as fundamentalist religious apologetics, and the pride of being uneducated.

Arguments against supernaturalityWhile the exact definition varies, any concept of supernaturality requires, that supernatural phenomena are not accessible by the scientific method. Contrary to common prejudices science is not restricted to experiments in a laboratory, but can be based on any form of experience. If a phenomenon is by definition outside of the realm of science, it therefore cannot be experienced and has by definition no impact on our lives. Our lifespan, for example, does affect us and any factors increasing or decreasing it can be studied scientifically. This view is supported by the immense success of science. Scientific medicine proved much more successful in increasing the lifespan of people, than anything based on supernaturality.

Our knowledge of the world is continuously increasing. Some phenomena, once assumed supernatural, can today be explained by scientific theories, while others could be dismissed as myths. Volcanos were considered deities and natural calamities the actions of gods. People sacrificed animals or even other people to please their gods. If our current understanding is the gauge of supernaturality, its realm is ever decreasing and very subjective.

Science does not claim, that phenomena contradicting our intuitive view of the world are impossible to occur. Scientist study such phenomena every day. In fact some scientific theories, such as quantum mechanics, are much more counterintuitive than any supernatural concept. But many claimed supernatural phenomena vanish when they are closely examined. There have been, for example, various studies on astrology, most of them with negative result. A single positive result cannot outweigh many negative ones, as it can be expected by mere chance.

Supernaturality is a remnant of a static world view. It comes from a time, when the growth of human knowledge was barely noticeable within a human lifetime. The Aristotelian Mechanics were considered valid for more than a thousand years. At that time human knowledge seemed static and anything exceeding it seemed to be from a different world. But even today some people still try to describe the world by unchanging "laws of nature" and declare anything beyond this framework supernatural and inaccessible to human understanding.

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If a bush suddenly burst out in flames, and the fire would not eat it, a scientist would not call it supernatural, nor would he deny, that this is happening, but he would curiously examine it.

ReferencesCotton Mather- Wonders of the Invisible World Boston, 1693

Robert Calef- More Wonders of the Invisible World, 1700

HANDOUT 3

Wonders of the Invisible WorldWikipedia on Answers.com:

Wonders of the Invisible World

This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (June 2012)

This article is about the 1693 book. For other Wonders of the World, see Wonders of the World (disambiguation).

Wonders of the Invisible World was written in 1693 by Cotton Mather. Cotton Mather was born in 1663. He graduated from Harvard College and succeeded his father as pastor of the Second Church of Boston. He served from 1685 to his death in 1728.[1] His book gives accounts of the Salem Witch Trials, which took place in Salem, Massachusetts. His work led Robert Calef to publish a response in 1700.

Its discussion of Swedish witch trials may have come from Saducismus Triumphatus by Joseph Glanvill.[2]

Contents 1 Summary 2 Analysis

o 2.1 Religion o 2.2 Persona o 2.3 Language

3 See also 4 External links

5 Notes

SummaryCotton Mather, narrator and preacher of the Second Church of Boston, begins with an explanation of the people of God and how they are living in the devil's territories. He discusses the devil's plan to overturn the plantation and churches with the help of witches.

"...An army of devils is horribly broke in upon the place which is the center, and after a sort, the first-born of our English settlements...[3]

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Mather prefaces the trials saying he will recount the trials as a historian. One of the trials included is one of Martha Carrier, who was "The person of whom the confessions of the witches, and of her own children among the rest, agreed that the devil had promised her she should be Queen of the Hebrews.".[4] Mather gives testimonies against Martha Carrier, all of which presume her to be guilty.

Analysis

Religion

Traditional Religion is the basis for the book.

Persona

Mather speaks as an unbiased informer to the reader.[5] He receives his information from the court records. He does not seek to present defenses against the testimonies given.

Language

Mather’s background as a minister[6] shows in his references to religion. Mather goes into detail on the traditional religious view of the Devil and witchcraft.[7]

Puritan colonists feared the perceived witches among them. "And the houses of the good people are filled with the doleful shrieks of their children and servants, tormented by invisible hands." [8] .

See alsoSalem Witch Trials

External links Wonders of the Invisible World in etext.

The Wonders of the Invisible World (1693 edition) in PDF format.Notes

1. ̂ The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume A. Seventh Addition. p.3072. ̂ Ankarloo, Bengt and Henningsen, Gustav (editors) Early Modern European Witchcraft:

Centres and Peripheries (1990). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 431-3.3. ̂ The Norton Anthology: American Literature Volume A. Seventh Addition. p.309

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/wonders-of-the-invisible-world#ixzz2LPMNYS4A

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

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Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/wonders-of-the-invisible-world#ixzz2LPMDxtq3

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Lovelace and White (2002) Beliefs, Values and Traditions. ed. Heinemann: London. p.6

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HANDOUT 4 The Twelve Deeds of the Buddha

by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

There are very many great deeds of the Buddha recorded but these can be summarized into the twelve most important, most famous deeds.

First Deed: Descending from Tushita When the Buddha was teaching in the paradise of Tushita, which is a realm where the devas

(gods) reside and also a sambhogakaya realm, the sound of his previous motivation reminded him that it was necessary to take birth in our world and teach the dharma. He then considered five things: the land where he ought to be born (which was Kapila in Nepal), the caste he should be born into (which was a royal caste), the family in which he should be born (which was the Shakya clan), who his mother was to be (she was Mayadevi), and the time that was right for him to be born (which happened to be when the five degenerations were on the increase, the present time).

After having made these determinations, he decided to leave the Tushita paradise and take birth in our world. This particular deed of leaving Tushita to be born had a special significance. It was intended to teach us that somebody who has achieved enlightenment is no longer a slave of his own karma and has control over anything he or she does. So the Buddha chose to take birth in our world because the time was right and he wanted to show us that someone who is enlightened has control over anything he or she does.

Second Deed: Conception into the Womb The Buddha was conceived into the womb of his mother, Mayadevi (by taking the form of a White Elephant descending from Tushita and entering the womb immaculately). One may wonder why he was conceived and then took birth. If he had complete control over everything, then why wasn’t he born miraculously from a lotus flower as was Padmasambhava or why couldn’t he simply descend from the sky? The Buddha had a special reason for being born the normal way. If he had been born miraculously from a lotus, for example, it would have been very impressive and attracted many people. However, the Buddha was thinking in the long term of his future disciples who would be inspired because the Buddha, who practiced and achieved enlightenment, started out like ourselves. Had he been born in a lotus they would have thought no ordinary human beings could reach enlightenment because they didn’t have these same miraculous powers. So the Buddha entered the womb, he was conceived, to show that even ordinary human beings can achieve the highest realization. He did this to instill conviction and confidence in his future disciples.

Third Deed: Birth in the garden of Lumbini, in present day Nepal Although the Buddha took an ordinary human birth, there was still something very special in his birth. The Buddha came out of the body of his mother through her right side. Some people might wonder how this was possible. They might think, “Well, what exactly happened? Did the rib cage crack?” One doesn’t need to think in terms of anatomical problems because the Buddha was a miraculous being and he just took birth through his mother’s right side without any pain or obstacle. At the time of the Buddha’s birth, there were many very special things happening where he was born. All of a sudden, crops started growing. Trees appeared all over the area of Lumbini and rare flowers such as the Udumbara flower, that had never grown in this area, started blooming everywhere. Due to these events, from that moment onwards, he was given the name Siddhartha in Sanskrit, or Tungye Drup in Tibetan, which means, “the one that makes everything possible.” As a result of interdependent origination, the presence of a highly accomplished individual produces changes in the environment such as the blossoming of flowers (as in the case of the Buddha right after his birth).

Fourth Deed: Training in the Arts, Crafts and Sciences.

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A few years later when the Buddha had grown up a little, he was educated and thus became very knowledgeable, very scholarly, and very skillful. This may be a little surprising, because the Buddha was already enlightened or at least a great bodhisattva residing in the tenth bodhisattva level (bhumi; there are ten stages to a Bodhisattva’s development, the tenth being the final stage before Buddhahood).

People might think it should not have been necessary for him to train in worldly skills because he should have known them naturally. However, there was again a specific reason for doing this. It was to counteract various misconceptions we might have had. One misunderstanding was to think that the Buddha was someone who was simply a meditator without any academic education.

Another misconception was the idea that he already possessed all this knowledge so he didn’t need to learn. This could give rise to concerns that if we humans tried to learn something it would lead to no results. Or again people might think that the Buddha did not have any qualities and that he never had to train.

So to overcome these misconceptions the Buddha worked at becoming a scholar and became very skilled in all different arts. It also shows that it is necessary to receive full education in the culture in which we are born. We must therefore be apart of the various positive aspects of our culture and then become a vehicle for transmitting the dharma.

Fifth Deed: Marriage to Yashodhara, the birth of his son Rahula and the enjoyment of royalty. The Buddha did this so that his future disciples wouldn’t think that the Buddha or an enlightened person was unable to enjoy any pleasures or feel the need for enjoyment. The other reason for the Buddha living such a sensuous life was to show that even though the Buddha had all the finest pleasures, he wasn’t satisfied by these pleasures because he understood that there was a higher form of happiness to be sought.

Sixth Deed: Renunciation of Samsara, Leaving his life as a Prince The royal palace where the Buddha stayed was enclosed with high walls and four gates facing

each of the cardinal points. The Buddha went for a walk outside of the precincts of the palace, each time leaving through one of the different gates, and each time he saw something that gave him a different lesson on life.

The first time he went out through the eastern gate of the palace and saw the suffering of an old man, discovering for the first time that all persons experience the degeneration of the body. Another time he left the palace through the southern gate and saw a sick person and discovered the suffering that all persons at one time or another suffer. The next time he went out through the western gate and saw a dead person and discovered the pain of death which all persons must undergo. This hit him hard because he realized that no matter how rich you are, no matter how powerful you are, no matter how much pleasure and enjoyment you have, there is nothing you can do to run away from the suffering of old age, sickness, and death. He realized that there was no way to avoid these; even a king could not buy his way out of this suffering. No one can run away and hide from this suffering. No one can fight and defeat these three kinds of suffering.

But then the Buddha realized that maybe there is a way out: the practice of a spiritual path. The Buddha understood this when he left the palace through the northern gate and saw a begging monk. That moment he felt great weariness with the world and renounced the world at the age of 29. He left his worldly royal life in search of the truth.

Seventh Deed: Practice of Austerities and Asceticism, and then Renouncing them After the Buddha left home, he led a life of austerities for six years by the banks of the Nirajana

river in India. These austerities did not lead to his enlightenment, but the years spent doing ascetic practices were not wasted because they had the specific purpose of showing future disciples that the Buddha had put a very great amount of effort, perseverance and diligence into achieving the goal of enlightenment.

By doing this, the Buddha demonstrated that as long as someone is attached to money, food, clothes, and all the pleasures of life, full dedication to spiritual practice is impossible. But if one gives up attachment, then the achievement of Buddhahood becomes a possibility. So that is why the Buddha engaged in this deed of six years of austerities by a riverside.

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In the end, the Buddha gave up the practice of austerities, by accepting a bowl of yogurt. In contrast to the austerities, the Buddha ate this nutritious food and gave his body a rest (regaining all his physical splendor and health). He put his clothes back on and went to the bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya. The Buddha gave up the austerities to show his future followers that the main object of Buddhist practice is working with one’s mind. We have to eliminate the negativity in our mind and have to develop the positive qualities of knowledge and understanding. This is far more important than what goes on outside of us. So, austerities are not the point in themselves, they alone do not bring us enlightenment.

Eighth Deed: Taking His place at the Vajrasana in Bodh Gaya, the seat under the Bodhi Tree After giving up the ascetic practice, the Buddha went to the bodhi tree and vowed to stay under

this tree until he reached final awakening. By doing so, the Buddha demonstrated to us that true practice should be in the middle of the two

extremes: practicing too many austerities and being too indulgent. The first extreme is when you starve yourself or you don’t allow yourself food and drink. These practices also involve placing yourself in extreme physical conditions such as being too hot or too cold. This is pointless because it has no true significance. The other extreme is when you just follow any of your desires. This is endless because there is a constant escalation in your desires. If you have ten pleasures, you’ll want a hundred. If you have a hundred, you’ll want a thousand; so you will never find any satisfaction and you will also never be able to practice the dharma either. So the Buddha wanted to show us that we have to avoid the extreme of too much austerity and too much indulgence: true practice lies somewhere in the middle.

Ninth Deed: Victory over of the leader of Maras, Papiyan When the Buddha was sitting under the bodhi tree, Papiyan, the leader of Maras, used forms related to the three disturbing emotions (sometimes called kleshas) of ignorance, desire, and aggression to try to lure the Buddha away from his pursuit of enlightenment. The first deception, representing ignorance, was that the Buddha was asked to abandon his meditation and return immediately to the kingdom because his father King Shuddhodana had died and the evil Devadatta had taken over the kingdom. This did not disturb the Buddha’s meditation. Then Papiyan tried to create an obstacle using desire; his beautiful daughters tried to deceive and seduce the Buddha. When this did not disturb the Buddha’s meditation, Mara then used hatred by coming towards the Buddha surrounded by millions of horribly frightening warriors who were throwing weapons at the Buddha’s body.

But the Buddha wasn’t distracted or fooled by these three poisons. He remained immersed in compassion and loving-kindness and therefore triumphed over this display of the three poisons and was able to eventually achieve enlightenment. (This deed of the Buddha is represented by the image of the Buddha "taking the earth as witness,"gently touching the ground with his right hand and holding a begging bowl in his left hand. The Buddha wasn't tricked by Mara's deceptions, and also miraculously proved to Mara that for eons he performed innumerable good deeds by having the earth itself testify)

Tenth Deed: Attainment of Enlightenment reached while meditating under the bodhi tree. Since the Buddha developed all the qualities of meditation to the utmost stages, he was able to

reach enlightenment. He did this to demonstrate that we also can reach enlightenment. As a matter of fact, one of the main points of the whole Buddhist philosophy is to show us that Buddhahood is not something to be found outside of us, but something we can achieve by looking inside ourselves.

In the same way as the Buddha Shakyamuni reached enlightenment, we also can achieve enlightenment. And the qualities that we will attain with enlightenment will be no different from the ones the Buddha attained. Also, the Buddha managed to eliminate all the negative emotions, the same ones we presently experience.

Eleventh Deed: Teaching the Dharma The Buddha turned the wheel of the dharma three times, meaning He taught in three different

ways. The first is called the Hinayana, which consists of the teachings on the Four Noble Truths, meditation and developing an understanding of the emptiness of self. The second is the Mahayana teachings which involve the study of emptiness of phenomena and practicing the bodhisattva path. The

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third turning is the Vajrayana which involves the understanding that everything is not completely empty, but there is also Buddha-nature that pervades all sentient beings.

When the Buddha lived in India, the population of India believed that if one made offerings and prayed to a god, then that god would be satisfied and happy. In turn that god would grant liberation and happiness. They also believed that if one didn’t make offerings and pray to the god, he would be very angry, throwing you down to the hells and inflicting other states of suffering upon you. This idea of a god isn’t really one of a special deity, it is only the embodiment of desire and aggression.

In Buddhism, we do not expect our happiness or our suffering to come from the Buddha. It is not believed that if we please the Buddha, he will bring us happiness and if we displease the Buddha, he will throw us into samsara or some lower realm. This may seem to be a contradiction that Buddhist don’t believe in supplicating a god. Buddhist believe that there are gods, there are deities which were created by mind. But unlike theistic religions Buddhist do not believe these deities created the universe. These deities cannot affect your individual karma by rewarding and punishing you.

So, the possibility of happiness or reaching liberation is entirely up to us. If we practice the path that leads to liberation, we will attain Buddhahood. But if we do not practice it, then we cannot expect to reach enlightenment. The choice is entirely ours. It’s in our hands whether we want to find happiness or suffering. But still there is something that comes from the Buddha and this is the path to liberation. To provide us with that means for liberation, the Buddha turned the wheel of the dharma.

Twelfth Deed: Passing away at the age of 83 in the town of Kushingara. The Buddha asked his students if they had any final questions and then lying on his side, in the lion’s

posture, he passed away. His last words were, “Bhikshus, never forget: Decay is inherent in all composite things. Therefore, work diligently.”

The Life of the Buddha & the Four Noble Truths© 1999 Namo Buddha Publications

http://www.simhas.org/teaching11.html Date accessed: 22/11/05

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MARIAN APPARITIONSMIRACULOUS MEDALCatherine Laboure 1830

The Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in the chapel of the rue du Bac in Paris to a daughter of Charity, Catherine Laboure. Graef (1965, 85) describes her as a simple peasant girl, obviously “a visionary type”, for previously as a novice “she had various visions, for example of the heart of St.Vincent, of Our Lord in the blessed Sacrament and of Christ the King.” Graef notes that of the famous visions of Mary, which Catherine only related to her confessor, there exists an account written by her many years after the event. Graef outlines the account that on the night of July 18th, the eve of the feast of St. Vincent, 1830, Catherine had a great desire to see the Virgin Mary. She deliberately swallowed a small piece of linen, a relic of St. Vincent, before sleeping, in the hope that the saint would “obtain for her the grace of seeing the Mother of God”(Graef 1965, 85). During the night, a child in white, about four or five, told her to go to the chapel. After a period of waiting in she heard a the rustle of silk then Catherine saw Mary sitting in a chair by the altar. Mary warned of misfortune coming to France. Charles X abdicated in favour of his grandson within days, and revolutionaries sacked churches throughout France.

The vision of the Miraculous Medal followed in November 1830. Cunneen (1996:232) summarises“Mary appeared again, wearing a white silk robe, her head covered with a white veil that fell to her feet, which rested on a globe. Her hands were lifted up, holding a golden ball with a cross on top. On each of her fingers she had three rings, which emitted rays of light. The rays were, Mary said, the graces she gave to all who asked for them. A green serpent with yellow specks lay stretched out nearby. Suddenly an oval frame formed around the vision, and inside was written in golden letters: ‘O Mary, conceived without sin, prayed for us who have recourse to thee.’ The golden ball disappeared, but the Virgin’s arms remained outstretched, the rays of light still visible. When Mary turned around, Catherine saw a large letter M surmounted by a cross; two hearts were below, one circled with thorns, the other pierced by a sword. A voice instructed the young nun to have a medal struck according to this pattern.”

After an inquiry, the Archbishop of Paris, Monsignor de Quelen, believed Catherine Laboure’s account and recognised the appearances. He approved the devotion linked to the medal , known as the “miraculous medal”. Pope Gregory XVI supported the decision of the archbishop of Paris. Catherine Laboure was canonised on July 27, 1947 by PiusXII

“Mass production of the Miraculous Medal began; within seven years, ten million copies were circulated worldwide, and cures and conversions began to be reported. Soldiers, nurses, and missionaries brought the medal to Africa, the Crimea, and the Far East. Its circulation went over the billion in Catherine’s own lifetime.”(Cunneen 1996:232)

Graef (1965 p87) notes the differences in this Marian apparition, the vision happened to an adult not a child. As Catherine had greatly desired to see Mary, she knew immediately who the apparition was, and a medal was requested not a church or a pilgrimage.

According to Coyle (1996:112) the enormous popularity of this widely distributed medal, as well as the miracles attributed to it, helped to impress the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception on the consciousness of Catholic people and influenced the demand to have the doctrine solemnly defined.

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Fatima

While the world was at war, in 1917, three young children at Fatima in Portugal claimed six appearances of Mary between May and October. Lucia dos Santos and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, aged eight, seven and six respectively, saw a woman dressed in white with rays of bright light all around her. She appeared near the Cova de Iria where they looked after sheep. She asked the children to pray the rosary daily and to return on the thirteen day of each month until October, when she promised to tell them who she was and what she wanted. The lady also entrusted “secrets” to them. As news of the reported apparition spread the children came under considerable pressure to renounce their story. Apocalyptic visions and prophetic warnings were given when the children went to the Cova each month. The lady asked that Russia be consecrated to her immaculate heart and that a communion of reparation be made on the first Saturday of each month.

“The Apparitions culminated in a final revelation and the promised sign on October l3, l9l7. To the children, the visitor identified herself as” Our Lady of the Rosary”. As she left the children’s sight, the assembled crowd experienced what has become known as the “Miracle of the Sun”. According to reports, the sun danced“in the heavens, with the result that many people fell to their knees in awe” (O’Neill 1995, 81). Cunneen (1996, 244) links the support for the authenticity of the apparitions as unconscious support for a threatened church.

The bishop of Leira authenticated the apparitions at Fatima on October 13, 1930. Lucia’s memoirs were published in 1941 and post war years saw Fatima literature in the Catholic press. Our Lady of Fatima was associated with the fight against communism. While the last part of the secret Mary gave to Lucia was never revealed publicly there was much speculation. Pope John Paul II attributed his survival from an assassin’s bullet to the protection of Our Lady of Fatima and has visited a number of apparition shrines.

HANDOUT 5Guadalupe

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In a village near Mexico City on December 9, 1531, Mary is said to have appeared to an Aztec Indian whose indigenous name was Singing Eagle and whose Christian name was Juan Diego. Near a hill consecrated to the Mother Goddess of the Aztecs, he heard strange music followed by silence. Then a woman’s voice called to him. Speaking in his native dialect, the woman identified herself as” the ever virgin, Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains it in existence”. She asked that a little house be built in her honour and sent Juan Diego to the local bishop with this request.

Gebara & Bingemer (1996, 145) report that the dialogue between the Indian and the Virgin was written down in Nahuatl in 1533 by an Indian named Antonio Valeriano, who studied with the Jesuits at Tlatelolco. O’Neill (1995, 79) emphasises the impact of this apparition to a native at the time of the conquest of Mexico. Within six years, nine million natives were said to be baptised.

Coyle sees the apparition as the embodiment of a message of hope in a era of despair. These native peoples, whose humanity was debated, were enslaved and exploited. Yet they saw their dignity acknowledged in the person of Juan Diego “and through him they were called upon to be Mary’s trusted messengers” (Coyle 1996, 110) In speaking to a native with respect in his own language, Mary gave hope for the people to rise above their situation of marginalisation and oppression. According to Coyle (1996, 110) Mary “identified herself with Tonantzin, the goddess of the subjected people, not only her body, language and clothing, but also in her choice of ancient Indian holy place and in the celestial symbols surrounding her. The flowers and music of this vision were also part of the goddess’ temple worship.”

The story of this Marian apparition and its historical background, are seen by Gebara & Bingemer (1996,144) , as showing the integration of Mary, whose appearances belong to another cultural world, into the indigenous reality of Latin America. “Religious cultural assimilation becomes a “weapon” through which the Indians can assert their worth despite the fact that the presence of the colonisers is a fait accompli”. Gebara & Bingemer (1996, 149)

Our Lady of Guadalupe, says Coyle (1996,111) functions as “an inspiration to the people in their continuing struggle towards full realisation of political and economic independence and indigenous religious expression.”

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Lourdes

“The story of a poor peasant girl who suffered from asthma all her life and to whom Mary appeared, has gripped the imagination of the whole Catholic world” (Coyle 1996, 112). It seems that the Lourdes apparitions also affirmed the belief in the dogma of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, officially proclaimed in 1854, four years prior to the events at Lourdes.

Bernadette Soubrious was out with her sister and friend to gather firewood in the foothills of the French Pyrenes. She saw a golden coloured cloud surrounding a beautiful young lady coming towards her from a cave. Signalling for Bernadette to approach, the lady with a rosary on her arm indicated to her to pray. After the rosary, the lady and the cloud returned to the grotto and disappeared. Bernadette called the lady aquero or “that one” in her native dialect. Between 11 February and March 25, 1858, Bernadette reported seeing the lady eighteen times.

According to McBrien (l995, p80) during these apparitions the lady gave Bernadette three secrets which she was not to tell anyone. She helped Bernadette to discover a spring nearby and told her to drink from and bathe in it. The Lady asked that a chapel be built on the site for people to come in procession. She promised to make Bernadette happy “not in this world but in the next”. At the last apparition the lady revealed her identity: “I am the Immaculate Conception”. Bernadette is described by O’Carroll as “a sturdy, tenacious, utterly humble character; she had a sharp tongue, and was disconcertingly honest” (1994, 524).

In 1862 the results of the bishop’s investigation authorised the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes for the diocese and the church of the Immaculate Conception was finished in 1872. Torchlight processions and international pilgrimages followed.

Reported miracles were investigated by a Medical Bureau setup in 1884. The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes was instituted in some dioceses in 1890 and seven years later extended to the whole Church. Bernadette was canonised in 1933 and Graef (1965, 99) writes that the century of the apparitions was enthusiastically celebrated.

Worksheet 5

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Characteristics of Religion – Ninian SmartRitualsWe see religion in its most honest form – ______________________. Whilst there are many types of religious rituals they all share: A common ______________, without which none of the participants could

participate and it is the structure/ how it works which makes the ritual a _______________;

Symbols play a huge part in making a ___________ work for those involved, that is the meaning/s conveyed.

Divisions distinguishing the various types of ritual.~ Rites of passage (signifying movement from one stage to another e.g. __________________________.~ Rites of ________________ which bring about communication between people and their _________, spirits or the ‘other’ world.~ Rites of ______________ which establish some space, person, animal or object as ‘_________’ e.g. consecration of ground as a burial site or blessing of a new church.~ Rites of memorial in which special moments of the past ____________________ e.g. Passover or Easter~ Rites of cleansing which _____________ people to an original state of innocence e.g. penitential rituals.

StoriesIt is the story/ies, which lie behind each ritual that gives it its _________. People who know and understand the story can ____________ to the fullest extent. Stories help people put their lives together: ‘origin’ and ‘____________’; ‘founder’ and ‘hero legends’; ‘parables; ‘epics’, ‘___________’… In all religious stories, are contained one of the essences of religion, the thing we call ________________.

Beliefs and Values:Within the world of religion, people’s beliefs can normally be ______________ under three headings: gods and spirits (_____________); beliefs about the world (its origins and destiny); and beliefs about life (the meaning and _____________ and the proper morality which should be attached to it). Whist conveyed in stories

Worksheet 5

they are also often documented in _________, catechisms, dogmas, doctrines and other such __________________.

Social Structures21

There is _______________ and place of the past (when and where the event occurred) and in the present (as it is now celebrated/remembered). _____________________ of the past, religious __________________ such as Buddha or Jesus Christ and those of the present, such as priests, Rabbis, Imams and the like.

Experiences: Religious experiences occur when a person _________ in a _____, know the underlying _____, holds the underpinning _____, and is conscious of sacred ____ and ____ (both past and present).

Ethics: This dimension of religion expresses the ____ that a tradition incorporates into its ____________________. An example taken from Buddhism would be the set of _________________ precepts knows as the five precepts or virtues.

Symbols : The material or _________ form of the social or __________dimension of religion, usually expressed as building such as ___________, works of art such as ________, places such as Jerusalem.

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WORKSHEET 6

Characteristics of religionCHRISTIANITY ISLAM JUDAISM HINDUISM BUDDHISM

Rituals

Beliefs

Stories

Social Structures

Experiences

Ethics

Symbols

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WORKSHEET 7

RELIGIOUS RESPONSES TO THE BASIC QUESTIONS OF LIFEISLAM JUDAISM HINDUISM BUDDHISM

Is there a supreme being?

Who am I?

Why is there pain, evil and suffering?

Is there life after death?

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WORKSHEET 8CONSIDER ALL FACTORS (CAF) CHART.

No of Item

What is the contribution religion has made to individuals? Tick the most important factors

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Coleman, N. (2006). Spotlight: Studies of Religion Preliminary. Science Press: Marrickville.

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HANDOUT 6Traditional Aboriginal Spirituality

Origins

Natural historyThe first Australians were hunter-gatherer people with a Stone Age technology. Archaeologists believe they arrived in Australia at least 60 000 years ago from South-East Asia. The Aborigines themselves, however, generally believe they have been here from the beginning (the Latin expression aborigine means ‘from the beginning’).

The indigenous Australians adapted to the unique food resources and the climatic conditions of their island continent. They gradually spread across the land, filling every ecological niche and finding ways to survive even the most harsh environment. By the time of European contact the Aborigines spoke 250 different languages, and they may reasonably be regarded as constituting 250 nations on the one continent (the Native American nations see themselves in such a light).The number of Aborigines in Australia before white settlement is not known. Their population may have numbered as high as 750 000.

Each language group (or what may loosely be called ‘tribes’) occupied natural catchment areas that were capable of supporting about 500 people. There was no ‘tribal’ organisation in any formal sense; rather, large or small gatherings of people came together for various ceremonies, which were headed by the custodians of the respective ceremonies. People moved about as bands, or extended family groups, with up to about thirty members. Marriages were arranged between people of different degrees of relation, either from within the same language group or from a neighbouring group.

As hunters and gatherers, the Aborigines would move systematically within their tribal lands to take advantage of the seasonal availability of things to eat. Their annual travels were coordinated with the migratory habits of the animals they traditionally hunted, and with the maturing of the plant foods they harvested. Through the course of their yearly journeys, the Aboriginal bands would come across special features of the landscape (such as peculiar outcrops of rocks, hillside formations, rivers, waterholes and trees) which they usually knew by name. These landmarks would be approached in a regular sequence and at more or less the same time from year to year. In this way the land itself would be like a map with signposts that showed the nomads where to travel to locate food resources as they became available.

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Supernatural OriginIn traditional Aboriginal society, human culture and the natural environment are intimately linked to one another. By taking its lead from the movements of species and the monuments of geography, the way of life for Aborigines became integrated into the environment itself. The close relationship between society and the environment ensured the survival of traditional culture for many tens of thousands of years. During that time, through their traditional ways, the Aborigines developed a personal relationship with the generative spiritual forces that produced the natural orders and rhythms of the land in the first place.

In Aboriginal experience the natural environment is closely related to the supernatural world. According to traditional beliefs, the universe came into being through the creative activity of primordial spirits. The natural world these spirits created continues to be filled with signs of their kindly intentions towards their creations. These signs are readily apparent to the Aboriginal people, who see themselves as created by the same productive spirits.

Spirit and RealityThe world of Aboriginal culture affirms the sacredness of nature. The natural world and human life have a common spiritual ancestry, for they both belong to one and the same line of descent reaching back to primordial creation. As a result, the Aborigines do not make a sharp distinction between the sacred and the secular. Because the whole of existence and life is close to its timeless spiritual origin, all things have mysterious properties which give them a sacred or numinous quality.

The original creative powers of the universe are neither confined to the ordinary world nor removed to some extraordinary supernatural realm. They are simultaneously immanent and transcendent. The creative spirits are present in, throughout and beyond the physical realm they have created. For the Aborigines, the natural environment is saturated with sacred significance and spiritual life. For that reason, when approached in terms of their traditional ways, more or less anything and anywhere in the natural world offers the Aborigines a point of entry into the deeper spiritual reality within and beyond present human existence.

In the Aboriginal worlds of religion, transcendence is from all around; for the natural environment itself is grounded in, rather than separated from, the primordial sacred space. By affirming the eternal and sacred reality of nature, including human nature, Aboriginal religion has a comprehensive vision of human existence within and beyond the present life.

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These supernatural beings created the natural world. They fixed the design of nature and the order of life into an enduring form. In an intense burst of creative activity, they moved over the featureless earth, shaping the contours and details of We physical landscape as it can now be seen. Indeed, every landmark in the environment has a story from The Dreaming attached to it, The original spirits also brought into being all living creatures, including people. Each spirit founded a line of descendants comprising a natural species and its corresponding human group, which are linked as a single totem or ‘Dreaming’. The social group into which a person is born thus includes an eternal spirit ancestor and a natural species or totem, such as the emu or wallaby, to which the person is mythologically related.

At the start of this original period of intense creativity there was no established law or morality. The primordial spirits travelled about and in the course of their adventures they encountered one another and negotiated the terms of existence. Eventually, when the options were fixed and the boundaries were set, each spirit being had settled on the most appropriate way of life and behaviour for its line of descendants to follow.

Through their creative efforts, the spirit ancestors gave each living species its own law, or design of life, which was set for all time and written on the landscape. Some of these original spirits were culture heroes; they taught humans all the things that are important for survival, including how to hunt, how to make fire and utensils, and how to perform ceremonies.

The DreamingThe most fundamental idea in Aboriginal religion is ‘The Dreaming’. The phrase is used to translate the Aranda term altjiranga, which literally means ‘grounded in eternity’. The Dreaming is the central and deepest reality of the Aboriginal world; it is the spiritual dimension of reality which has existed from the beginning.

The Dreaming includes the original reality of the spirit ancestors which was active in the creation time. That reality continues as the source of spiritual life in the present world. As well as the ancestors themselves, The Dreaming includes their creative activities which originally produced and continue to sustain the events and places that make up the traditional Aboriginal world.

Until recently the English expression ‘the Dreamtime’ had wide currency. But ‘The Dreaming’ does not refer to one fixed time, or to a “particular event in history It is not part of a chronological sequence, with events before it and after it. The Dreaming transcends time; it is more like a boundless whole, within which all bounded things have their location and existence.

The Dreaming is not anything vague, dreamlike or less than real; nor is it a mythic ‘Golden Age’ far removed in the past. To prevent giving these wrong impressions many traditional Aborigines avoid the terms ‘Dreaming’ and ‘Dreamtime’ and prefer to speak of ‘the Law’.The Dreaming exists within and beyond the ordinary world. To get an approximate perspective, wemight say The Dreaming is to realtime what real-time is to cinema-time. When we are looking at a movie, we cannot locate our real-time anywhere within the time-frame of the movie itself] Instead, [Our] real-time, in the world outside the movie theatre, completely surrounds and contains (indeed, underwrites and sustains) the entire time-frame of the film. In a similar HANDOUT 6

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fashion, the whole world of ordinary space and time (that is, everything: past, present and future) is located within the larger single compass of The Dreaming.The Dreaming encompasses everything to do with the spirit ancestors, including the first beings themselves, their creative activity in forming the world, the period of this activity, and the continuing relation between the ancestors and the natural environment they created. The Dreaming was, is and continues to be ‘everywhen’. It has been summed up in this way:

The Dreaming is many things in one. Among then, a kind of narrative of things that once happened; a kind of charter of things that still happen; and a kind of logos or principle of order transcending everything significant for Aboriginal man ... It is an account of the begetting of the universe, a study about creation. It is also a cosmology, an account or theory of how what was created became an ordered system. To be more precise, how the universe became a moral system.

We find all these various elements of The Dreaming incorporated in traditional Aboriginal art. Thus, when a fully initiated elder ‘paints his Dreaming’, what he draws is a stylised map of the geography of his country, which simultaneously marks out the travels and exploits of his totem ancestor in the time of creation, and also represents a mental model of the traditional way that life is most appropriately lived in the continuous present.

Kangaroo DreamingTo take just one example: the Kangaroo-Man is a hero of The Dreaming who rests in his sacred site, where he has left the seed and the life-force of the Kangaroo Dreaming. All the spirit-children of future kangaroos, and of human beings belonging to the totem group, abide in this sacred place while awaiting their turn to be born. Sufficient numbers of kangaroos are maintained by the increase rituals that are enacted at this site, during which are recited the secret verses or songs that the totem ancestor first sang during the creation process.

A human spirit-child enters the womb of his or her future mother who is pregnant when she crosses the Kangaroo Dreaming trail. At initiation a boy is taught to see himself as an incarnation of the Kangaroo Dreaming spirit; he bears an immortal spark of Kangaroo life. The boy might be handed his tjurunga, or another sacred object, as a particularly concentrated form of his Dreaming.

He would then be told: ‘This is your own body, from which you have been reborn’. Like the sacred site itself, the tjurunga is so powerful that mere physical contact with it releases an outflow of the life-force of its Dreaming.

Dreaming tracks After completing their creative tasks, the totem ancestors were once again overcome by weariness and they returned to their original slumber. Some disappeared back into the earth whence they came, others changed into physical features of the landscape. All the ancestral spirits left behind trails of their lives, or Dreaming tracks, which are marked out by the monuments of geography in the various in include not only specific landmarks, but also tjurunga and other sacred objects, such as totemic emblems, images, participants in ceremony, and especially their totemic descendants, both human and tribal lands and recreated in the traditional songs and ceremonies.

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The Dreaming tracks of the first beings contain the spirit- children who are yet to be born in the form of their ancestor. The children may be born as either a natural species of animal or plant, or as a human person. In either case, they are regarded as incarnations of the totemic ancestor and the ancestors’ supernatural offspring.Although now immobilised in the landscape, the creative spirits continue to live in a powerful and conscious fashion. Their creative activity manifests through the life-force which remains in their sacred resting places, in the sites of significance for their stories, and their various transformations or incarnations. Their transformations in include not only specific landmarks, but also tjurunga and other sacred objects, such as totemic emblems, images, participants in ceremony, and especially their totemic descendants, both human and non-human. Traditional descendants regularly visit the sacred sites of their ancestors.

WalkaboutThe primordial forces of The Dreaming are the eternal creative powers which brought the present empirical world into existence. Those original forces continue to sustain and fulfil the lives and minds of Aboriginal people today Going Walkabout used to be seen by whites as no more than idle wandering around the countryside, for the purpose of avoiding work on the stations. Nowadays it is more widely appreciated as a deliberate pilgrimage along ritual paths which link the Aboriginal sacred sites.

The difference between a walking-holiday and a pilgrimage is largely in the experience of the participant. For those who participate in The Dreaming, going Walkabout is a moving meditation equivalent to the most prayerful activities in any of the world developed religions. We may think of Zen monks sweeping the path, or Islamic mystics whirling in dance, or Hare Krishnas chanting in the street. Walkabout, too, is a ritual devotion (albeit more practical than stylised) in which body, life and mind are wholly committed to aligning with and being reaffirmed by the eternal realities of The Dreaming which create and transcend the ordinary world of matter, time and space.

The spiritual forces of The Dreaming are ceaseless in their life-giving activity Life flows from them endlessly, whether it is realised or not. The Dreaming gives life just as the sun gives light. Yet the sun cannot always be seen; sometimes it is hidden by clouds or obscured by the bulk of the earth. Similarly, the ever-changing demands and constant distractions of daily living can cause people to forget the eternal source of life. Daily living in the material world can draw the mind down into forgetfulness of the heights of spiritual reality.

As thought descends further into the shadow-world of temporary concerns, the inner eyes become unaccustomed to seeing the eternal light. To avoid being blinded, they must be gradually reintroduced to the brightness of the spiritual. For that reason, the moving meditation of Walkabout involves a progression from sacred sites of lesser importance to those of intermediate and finally of greatest significance. In that way, the totemite gradually acclimatises (as it were) to the spiritual inner world and becomes able to remember and relive the otherwise forgotten extent of The Dreaming.

As the journey proceeds through the various locations, individuals become increasingly attuned in life and mind to the spiritual realities of each sacred place. As they become integrated with the spirits at each site, the vital and psychic pattern of their whole understanding is altered and improved. They are then able to go on to the next location, where they actually experience realities that are higher still and which before could hardly even be

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remembered. Going on Walkabout is thus a spiritual journey which renews and develops the soul by cultivating higher states of consciousness and higher experiences of reality.WORKSHEET 9

Aboriginal Beliefs.

1. What is the dreaming?

2. List some elements in Aboriginal Religious Belief.

3. Explain how ancestral beings were responsible for the creation of the Earth.

4. Explain how ancestral beings existed in the dreaming; exist in the past, in the present and will continue to exist in the future.

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WORKSHEET 10T-Chart: Viewing and Note-Making

Rainbow Serpent: Sacred Sites

Raw (preliminary) notes Refined (final) notes

WORKSHEET 11

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WORKSHEET 12

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HANDOUT 747

Diversity of Tribes and Languages

Before the European invasion in 1788, there were between 600 and 700 distinct ‘tribes’ in Australia. Each had its own territory, its own political system and laws, and its own language — just like the nations of Europe, but on a smaller scale.Sharing one language gave all the members of a tribe-nation a sense of community, in just the way that residents of Greece feel themselves to be one nation through all speaking Greek.

Map 1 shows the territories of tribes in the Melbourne area. The Watha-wurung lived from modern-day Geelong towards Ballarat; the Bun wurung were to the north of Westernport; the Wuy wurung around the Yarra River and north to Seymour; and the Thaga-wurung went from the Goulburn River across to Bendigo. Notice that the names of all four tribes end in -wurung, which means ‘mouth’ or ‘language’. They were named according to the language they used.

Each nation is proud of its language, and identifies with it. But sometimes the language of one country is more-or-less understood by people from the next nation. Although two nations may say they speak different ‘languages’, they really speak what a linguist (a person who studies languages) would describe as distinct dialects of one language. For example, Danish and Norwegian really differ no more than do Scots and Cockney varieties of English. They are -on linguistic grounds - dialects of a single language.

Returning now to the tribe-nations around Melbourne, it seems that Bun-wurung, Wuy-wurung and Thaga-wurung were really dialects of one language. A Bun-wurung person overhearing a conversation in Wuy-wurung would be able to understand a good deal of it, just as a Londoner overhearing two Scotsmen talking could pick up the general sense of what was being said. Watha-wurung, however, was a different language from the other three, in the way that Dutch is different from English.

The same pattern was found all over Australia. Sometimes two or three - or even five or six -adjacent tribes spoke what were really dialects of one language. Sometimes a single tribe spoke its own language, different from the languages of neighbouring groups.

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The 600 to 700 tribe-nations spoke, between them, between 200 and 250 languages. It must be stressed that these were separate languages, as distinct from each other as are French and German, or Chinese and Japanese.

Each nation pays particular attention to the differences between its way of speaking and those of neighbouring groups.

http://www.curriculumsupport.nsw.edu.au/AboriginalStudies/files/Abo_TI8topic412.pdf?CFID=1179782&CFTOKEN=27275489Date Accessed: 27/11/05WORKSHEET 13

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ABORIGINAL ART AND SYMBOLISMPlus

What you agree with, find informative, helpful or positive about an idea.

MinusWhat you found negative,

disagreeable, or bad about an idea.

InterestingWhat you found

interesting, intriguing, puzzling or what you have further questions about.

HANDOUT 8THE COMPONENETS OF ABORIGINAL RELIGION

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HANDOUT 9

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The nature of ceremonyEach group has its own particular Dreaming. The Dreamings are brought into the present through totemic descendants, their songs, sacred sites and traditional painting. Most thoroughly, the Dreamings are manifest through special ritual actions. Aboriginal ceremonies do not just commemorate the original creative actions of the spirit ancestors; the ceremonies actually mediate those eternal acts into the present time. The participants in a ceremony enter into immediate contact with their Dreaming ancestor. They become their totem spirit, and the ceremony becomes the primordial creation event. In this way, the eternal life-force of The Dreaming is continually released to surge into the present world.

The ground itself is more than simply the backdrop for the ceremony The totemic emblems inscribed on the tjurunga are reproduced as ground sculptures or sand paintings in the surrounding earth, so that for the duration of the ceremony the ground itself becomes an enlarged tjurunga fully imbued with the life-force of The Dreaming. The dancer, who is also painted with the same totem designs, becomes a living icon, a pure embodiment of the original Dreaming ancestor. For as long as the ceremony lasts, The Dreaming is recreated in, is even identical with, this place and time.

The Functions of CeremonyThe religious rituals serve a variety of ends. They are designed to honour the totem ancestors, to introduce the ancestors and their totem objects visually to those who are entitled to see them, to initiate tribal members, to ensure an increase in food, and to regulate the numbers of the non-human totem species. But the chief purpose of ceremony is to participate in the original creative acts of the spirit ancestors, and thereby to ensure their continuation into the present. For the wellbeing of the totem descendants, both human and non-human, depends upon direct contact with their ancestor in The Dreaming.

Ceremony is the principal link between primordial creation and the present world. Indeed, the original creation is so close to its continuing effects through ceremony that should ceremony fail then the world will fail too. There is no occupational class of professional priests who have the exclusive role of officiating at ceremony. All members of the totem group share in the task of perpetually renewing the world. There are special medicine men who produce cures by a variety of means; and women have their own sacred traditions, although sometimes older women assist with parts of the men’s rites. In their respective ways, all the labours of humanity are necessary to keep nature and culture functioning harmoniously.

HANDOUT 1052

RainmakingThe Karamundi people of the Darling River perform a special ceremony to bring the rain.A vein in a man’s arm is opened and blood is allowed to drip into a piece of hollow bark until a small pool forms. Some finely ground gypsum is added and the mixture is stirred into the consistency of a thick paste. Some hairs are pulled from the man’s beard and mixed in with the paste, which is then placed between two pieces of bark. The bark is put under the surface of the water in a river or lagoon, and secured there by pointed sticks which are driven into the ground. When the mixture is dissolved away, the totemites say that a great cloud will come and bring rain with it.Following this ceremony, until the rain arrives, the men are tabooed from their wives so that the charm will not be spoilt; the elders say that if the prohibition were fully respected then rain would come every time the ritual was performed.In a time of drought, when rain is most badly needed, the entire totem community meets to perform this ceremony.

InitiationInitiation rituals serve to bring youths into the adult community Through initiations the young people are brought more fully into the collective identity of the totem group. The puberty initiation most especially brings with it the revelation of the sacred myths and traditions of the totem group. Through the initiation from adolescence to adulthood the young person is introduced to the cultural values of 5the group and given conscious knowledge of the origin of the spiritual life-force of the people as a totem community.

The puberty rites among the Aborigines generally follow a number of stages. First, the ground is prepared by being decorated with symbols and motifs of the tribal totem. The men remain in this sacred ground for the duration of the ritual. The novices are then separated from their mothers, and often from all women. Among the Kurnai people of south-east Australia, for example, the mothers sit behind the novices and the men walk in single file between the two groups and separate them in that symbolic way.

Next, the young boys are taken to a special isolated camp, where they are given instruction in the spiritual traditions of the tribal group. Finally, some physical procedure is performed to mark the young men as initiated adults. The procedure is usually circumcision, the extraction of a tooth, or subincision (cutting the shaft of the penis), but sometimes it involves body scarring or pulling out the hair. In some groups the last two stages are reversed and instruction is given after the procedure.

Through the course of the initiation, the young boys must behave in ritual ways, undergo various ordeals, and obey certain dietary taboos and other prohibitions. Each part of the complex initiation ceremony has special religious meaning. In the case of circumcision it is a symbolic sacrifice (as it is in the Jewish and Islamic traditions). On other occasions initiates may be placed under blankets which symbolise the death from which they are about to be reborn.

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HANDOUT 11SACRED CEREMONIES

It was the duty of the chosen elders of each group to organise and control all of the necessary ritual ceremonies. Each ritual ceremony was regarded as sacred, and the preparations for it would begin days ahead.

Elaborate headgear varied for different ceremonies and areas, like the special conical hats, known as waninga, which were used in some areas of northern Australia. Other ornamentation, such as armlets, necklaces and anklets, would be organised ahead of time and held in readiness. Hours would be spent in using special ochres to paint the bodies of the men who would be chiefly involved. The body paintings were always symbolic, and the sacred colour of each given area would be prominent.Sacred ceremonies included rites of increase, initiation, burial, thanksgiving, hunting magic and rain-making.

The CorroboreeDuring every ceremony, there was a specially prepared ritual corroboree, which was accompanied by chanting, clapping and the rhythmic bearing of percussion’ implements. Sacred tjurlnga stones and boards, which at other times were safely hidden from view,’ would be revealed during a special ceremony. In most areas the freshly decorated bullroarer would, be swung aloft to set forth its wild, mysterious cry. . .

Loud yelling, hissing and mimicking of animal cries were often a feature of corroborees. All non-participating group members and any visitors would join in the chanting, stamping and clapping that accompanied each corroboree. Percussion instruments were used, and boomerangs were ‘often tapped together to reinforce the desired rhythm. In some areas didgeridoos and drums were also used to good effect.

In all areas on all occasions the corroboree became a vibrant, dramatic, event. Any member of a group who had the ability to create, choreograph and then teach a corroboree was much praised and respected. Groups would sometimes invite neighbouring clans to watch a well-rehearsed, performance

Initiation CeremoniesInitiation ceremonies were among the most significant of all the sacred ceremonies. No male or female was permitted to marry or become involved in any adult activity until he or she was initiated.

The elders were responsible for the initiation of all the boys of their group. The system varied in different areas, but generally the whole procedure of initiation lasted several months and included several ritual activities. The final ceremony, from which the boy emerged as a man, was the most formal ritual. It usually involved all group members, who were pleased for the boy and celebrated with him.

In all groups each boy was put through some very rigorous trials before the final ceremony. He was put in a situation that caused him to suffer severe pain, hunger, isolation and fear in order to prove that he was ready to face life as an adult. The boys and their families underwent food taboos during this period. In addition it was a rite of learning. Over a period of months the boys were each taught much of the history of their forefathers. They were told of sacred duties and

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responsibilities and further drilled in the techniques of survival, such as how to find water during droughts.

In most instances during the final ceremony one or more teeth would be removed. In addition each boy had several deep cuts made across his back, chest and arms. They were made with sharp flakes of stone and then rubbed with ash to raise them, when healed, above the surface of the skin.

Such scars remained for life. Each boy willingly endured the pain and was proud of his initiation scars for ever after. The boys did not marry for many years after their initiation. Until they married, most of them lived communally in a special reserved section of the camp.

The women prepared the young girls for initiation, but the group elders officiated at the final ceremony. In most groups the testing period for the girls was not quite so severe as that of the boys, but in most areas, teeth were pulled and some form of scarring was also involved. The girls were usually married immediately after initiation was completed. Each girl’s husband was chosen for her many years before her initiation.

A section of each initiation ceremony, both that of the boys and the girls, was secret with the young initiates being shown the sacred tjuringa stones and boards, which were normally hidden from view, among other rituals.

The age of initiation varied from early to mid teenage years depending on the individual child and it usually related to the onset of puberty. In most groups the initiation into adulthood was merely the first of several initiations that each person was called on to pass through as their life progressed.

SACRED RITESUnderstanding Faith Series: Aboriginal Spirituality for Today’s Australians p.15

In the Aboriginal religion there were many different kinds of rituals: rituals associated with birth, coming of age, death and increase rituals to maintain the fertility and well-being of the lands and animals. In the performance of rituals there were set roles carried out by certain people, depending on their social position and their ancestral inheritance. Some rituals were considered secret — that is, only for certain people — while others were open to all members of the community.

BirthAt the time of birth the mother would go to a special place outside the camp, possibly a cave or a special shelter or windbreak built for the occasion. There she would be assisted by her mother, mother-in-law or another married woman who would help with the actual birthing process and perform the special rites and songs that helped the birth proceed smoothly. After the birth the placenta would be buried, a sign of the child’s spiritual connection with the land. Following that a smoking ceremony was held. A fire topped with damp green leaves to create a lot of smoke was built. The mother would crouch over or lie down on the smoking leaves as part of a cleansing process, and to assure a supply of milk. Then the baby was held face down over the smoking fire to make it strong and quiet. The child was then rubbed with ashes so that it would be dark like its parents. Only after these rituals took place was the father allowed to see his child.

Men in Aboriginal Religion

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Men played a quite obvious role in Aboriginal religion. They were responsible for the carrying out of many public and private rituals and for passing on secret knowledge to the next generation of young men.

Male InitiationThe only way a young man was considered an adult and given adult responsibilities and be allowed to marry was to go through an initiation process. This rite of passage showed the community that the boy was no longer considered a child, but was on his way to becoming a young man. The time when the initiation process began varied from place to place, from the age of 6 to 16 years. Generally it was held around the time of puberty. Usually, though not always, it involved circumcision.

Initiation was a time when the male elders of the community and particularly those responsible for the individual young men being presented for initiation, would teach these young men the ways of the tribe and eventually the sacred myths and rituals. Initiation ceremonies were held regularly, with the whole community, and often several communities, being involved. The mothers and potential mothers-in-law of the young men would be responsible for preparing the food, while others would make the place of initiation ready. Often the young men would be collected from different communities and, together with those responsible for them, they would journey to sacred sites, with the journey itself being part of the ritual. The women and girls of the community were expected to remain out of sight until the party left the camp. At the site of the initiation there would be much dancing, painting of designs on the bodies, and singing. Certain parts of these ceremonies would be open to the whole community, while other parts were only for those being initiated and their teachers. Learning the myths, laws and sacred secret information was a lifelong process, carried out in steps. As a novice, the young boy would be progressively exposed to sacred objects and rituals, whose significance he would appreciate only in time.

Women in Aboriginal ReligionWomen had their own rituals and also their own body of sacred and secret knowledge that they passed on to the next generation of young women. In particular, their rituals were based on the bringing of health and healing to individuals and to the land, the resolution of conflict and the restoration of social harmony in the community.

Some rituals were performed by both men and women, with their songs, dances and stories complementing each other. Those that were just for men or just for women were held separately as it was believed that the strength of the spirit embodied in these rituals could cause harm to the other sex or because their presence could impair the success of the ritual. The roles of both men and women in the Aboriginal religion were seen as important, but different. Each was respected as caretakers of the law.

Female Initiation: The initiation of girls was not as dramatic as that of boys, though in some groups there were rituals associated with coming into puberty. At the time of her first period or when her bodily changes showed that it would be soon, a young girl was taken away from the main camp where older women would pass on knowledge to her and teach her songs and myths and how she was to behave as a young woman. A ritual bath, along with painting and decorating the body, was often part of the ritual. At the end of the ritual the young girl would be led back to camp to a public reception. This was a sign for all that she was now ready to be married. Once married, she was no longer considered a dependent daughter, but a relatively independent wife and mother. Only a woman who had two or more children was considered fully initiated into womanhood and allowed access to the more secret meanings of the rituals and allowed to perform the more secret ceremonies. Women guardians of certain myths were the math performers and dancers in the ceremonies, while other senior women would lead the singing. The younger women would help with the singing or just watch.HANDOUT 12

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Death Rituals

Aboriginal people believed that when a person died, the spirit continued to live arid needed to be released so that it could return to its own country and ancestral spirits, or to totemic sites where it could be born again in a different person. To encourage the spirit to leave, all traces of the dead person were removed as soon as possible. Clothes and belongings were burnt. The person’s name would not be spoken for some time, even several years. Green branches were used to sweep away all traces and smell of the dead person and the dwelling would be smoked to chase away the spirit. The family would then move camp. In some places sticks were broken or rocks hit together near the children’s ears so they would cease to think about the dead person.

Some groups would cremate the bodies, others would bury their dead immediately, and others would wait a set time. Some did not bury the dead, but would expose the body in a tree or platform and come back later to collect the bones. These bones then would be carried around in containers for some time before eventually being placed in a hollow free or cave.

During the mourning period the relatives of the deceased would cut and gash themselves until they drew blood. They would paint themselves with white clay as a sign of their sorrow and refrain from eating certain foods during this time. The widow was not allowed to speak and had to communicate by hand signals. The hair of the deceased was usually cut off and saved to be made into hair string. Widows and other close family members would often cut their hair as well.

All deaths except those of infancy or old age were assumed to be caused by someone, either by magic or directly in a fight. The next of kin would take revenge on the person thought responsible for the death through the thawing of blood by spearing men in the thigh or the beating of women.

Increase Rituals

Members of certain totems were responsible for carrying out ‘increase Rituals’, ceremonies which were to assure that there would always be plenty of each pointing the bone species of animal and plant life for the people of the future or to ensure rain or good weather needed for a good growing season. In carrying out such rituals, the people would enter into the spirit world, the world of their ancestor spirits who shaped the earth and created the animals and plants. In the ritual the people identified themselves with an ancestor spirit to the degree that they believed that they were not only re-enacting their creation myths, but also entering in and becoming one with that spirit being in the eternal act of creation.

Some ways in which increase rituals could be carried out: touching up of cave paintings creating new paintings, sand pictures, or bark paintings ritual singing and dancing, with the display of sacred objects, and the bodies painted

with particular patterns ritual actions such as crushing and scattering of pearl shell to bring rain ritual action of striking bushes or frees to release spirits calling out of certain names letting of blood (or red ochre as a substitute) in sacred places

Law/Ethics

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Each group of Aboriginal people followed a very complex legal system. Laws or rules of life were not handed down by a supreme being or formulated by some governing body, but originated in the Dreaming. Indeed, the word for Dreaming and Law were the same in many Aboriginal languages. While ancestral spirits of the Dreaming were not ethical beings or models of morality their actions illustrated what could result when the proper way of life was transgressed. The Dreaming stories often had a moral message that was expected to be observed, such as not running off with another’s wife or polluting the water supply. Laws were based on relationships with one’s family, one’s community, the land and its creatures, and on maintaining balance. Breaking a law would bring about a corresponding action to rectify this and restore the balance.

As there was no idea of a supreme being, nor even gods to be obeyed, there was no concept of sin as an offence against such beings, or punishment resulting from sins. Instead punishment for violation of moral codes came about from some human acting as the protector of the sacred heritage. Sometimes a person was believed to be punished through supernatural consequences. There was no sense of an eternal reward or punishment or an ‘end of the world’.

The most serious laws were in regard to sacred knowledge and responsibilities that came from a person’s Dreaming. As guardians of the county individuals and groups were responsible for protecting their country, its animals, plants and sacred sites, and passing this knowledge on to the next generation. To fail to do this or to reveal sacred knowledge or objects to unsuitable people was considered a major offence.

Murder or being responsible for the death of others was another very serious offence. Physical attacks and oral abuse were condemned where there was no provocation.In most communities there were strict marriage laws. A person was expected to marry within certain categories depending on degrees of relationship. This was to avoid marriages between close relatives. A girl was often ‘promised’ by relatives to her future husband at a young age or even at birth.

INITIATION.One of the most important components of traditional lifestyle was the initiation. It was one of the ceremonial & spiritual foundations on which Aboriginal society has been built.Aboriginal boys were initiated into manhood through a complete series of ceremonies which were witnessed and described in some detail by early settlers, as well as by anthropologists of the late nineteenth century (Collins 1798: 564-581; Howitt 1883), The rituals promoted growth in social and economic status as welt as a gradual revelation of the sacred stories and objects of the tribe. A young man’s initiation was held over a period of years. Tuition in hunting, fishing and self control, as well as in tribal responsibilities, culminated with an education in tribal lore and tradition (Brayshaw 1969: 117).

Initiation ceremonies varied with different Aboriginal groups. ln the Sydney area, initiation ceremonies included dances in which dogs and kangaroos were imitated, and an effigy of a kangaroo was displayed. At times, the older men who instructed the initiates repaired to a secluded place in the bush to prepare their various disguises. At the culmination of a series of symbolic rites, the boys were mounted on the shoulders of seated elders, and an upper front tooth was knocked out using a special piece of bone as a punch and a stone as a mallet. Once the operation was completed, the initiate was presented with a hair girdle as mark of manhood, and a headband into which was stuck slips of foliage from the grass tree (Xanthorrhoea sp.).

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Only the white base of the foliage was used which protruded from the head in spikes like a radiating coronet (Collins 1789: 579, 580).WORKSHEET 14

DIVERSITY OF SACRED CEREMONIES

Sacred Ceremony Description Connection to the Dreaming

Initiation Male

Initiation Female

Corroboree

Death

Increase

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HANDOUT 13Kinship and Marriage.

Early European observers were of the false opinion that the Aboriginal people had no social, political and military organization to speak of. Tribe is merely a convenient term to describe a number of clans” or ‘bands’ (anthropologists’ terms) who had much in common in their social organisation language and customs, and who regarded each other as closer relatives than more distant clans or bands. A large tribe had around 1500 members; a clan varied in size from less than fifty to over two hundred.

It is widely accepted that the total Aboriginal population in 1788 was between 250.000 to 1.000.000 made up of about 600 tribes, each with its own language or distinct dialect.

The hordes or family sub-divisions of the clan were those who habitually occupied and collected food within a given area, but hordes had right to the land of the entire clan, and also to the land of the clans with whom they inter-married, some of whom may have belonged to different language groups.

Wives therefore not infrequently spoke different languages or different dialects from their husbands, while the children spoke both. The languages of adjacent clans were thus mutually understood.

There was therefore, a wide network of kinship ties and obligations which entitled land-owning clans to economic and social links which extended far beyond the core territory in which each horde habitually moved. It also meant that resources occurring infrequently were accessible to all. These extended rights and ties were promoted or maintained by regular gatherings or corroborees at which songs, dances and stories were exchanged and wives were sought. There was also inter-clan and sometimes inter-tribal participation in specific rituals such as food increase rites and initiation ceremonies.

Major decision-making and the administration of tribal law was nevertheless in the hands of male elders, who reached their position of respect and authority through progressive and hierarchical initiation into tribal lore. Older females also had their own esteemed position in society especially with the younger girls and wives.

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WORKSHEET 15The Land and Kinship

1. What is the Kinship system?

2. Why is kinship seen as the fabric of Aboriginal society?

3. How are the bonds of kinship reinforced in Aboriginal society?

4. Why is the kinship system so complex?

5. What does Kinship require?

6. How do the Aboriginal people regard the land?

7. How are the land and the kinship system related?

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HANDOUT 14

John Paul II - Ecclesia in Oceania

The following is an extract relating to Aboriginal peoples from the Apostolic Exhortation issued by Pope John II in 2001. The document title translates to The Church in Oceania: On Jesus Christ and the Peoples of Oceania: Walking His Way, Telling His Truth, Living His Life

Indigenous Peoples

28. Unjust economic policies are especially damaging to indigenous peoples, young nations and their traditional cultures; and it is the Church's task to help indigenous cultures preserve their identity and maintain their traditions. The Synod strongly encouraged the Holy See to continue its advocacy of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

A special case is that of the Australian Aborigines whose culture struggles to survive. For many thousands of years they have sought to live in harmony with the often harsh environment of their "big country"; but now their identity and culture are gravely threatened. In more recent times, however, their joint efforts to ensure survival and gain justice have begun to bear fruit. There was a saying from Australian bush life heard in the Synod Hall: "If you stay closely united, you are like a tree standing in the middle of a bush-fire sweeping through the timber: the leaves are scorched, the tough bark is scarred and burned, but inside the tree the sap still flows, and under the ground the roots are still strong. Like that tree you have survived the flames, and you have still the power to be born. The time for rebirth is now". The Church will support the cause of all indigenous peoples who seek a just and equitable recognition of their identity and their rights; and the Synod Fathers expressed support for the aspirations of indigenous people for a just solution to the complex question of the alienation of their lands.

Whenever the truth has been suppressed by governments and their agencies or even by Christian communities, the wrongs done to the indigenous peoples need to be honestly acknowledged. The Synod supported the establishment of "Truth Commissions", where these can help resolve historical injustices and bring about reconciliation within the wider community or the nation. The past cannot be undone, but honest recognition of past injustices can lead to measures and attitudes which will help to rectify the damaging effects for both the indigenous community and the wider society. The Church expresses deep regret and asks forgiveness where her children have been or still are party to these wrongs. Aware of the shameful injustices done to indigenous peoples in Oceania, the Synod Fathers apologized unreservedly for the part played in these by members of the Church, especially where children were forcibly separated from their families. Governments are encouraged to pursue with still greater energy programmes to improve the conditions and the standard of living of indigenous groups in the vital areas of health, education, employment and housing.

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WORKSHEET 16

Aboriginal Dispossession and the Dreaming.

Use the poem below and material from the following website as stimulus for an empathy task on Aboriginal dispossession and the Dreaming.

http://www.liswa.wa.gov.au/wepon/settlement/html/dispossession.html

Poem by Marie Melito, 1997

Once I had a mother she was Aboriginal they say,

I don't know what she looked like,for they came and took me away.

I'm told she felt so full of guilt she had to move along,

and now I'm trying so very hardto find where I Belong.

I want to say I love you mum and that I understand.

Our lifestyle changed beyond control when the 'gubbas' took our land.

I'm now a mother and a wife and know how you have suffered.Why is it that throughout the years

the lies were not discovered.

I'm learning fast about my past,the stories and traditions.

We now have learnt to overcome the hardship and conditions.

I've searched so hard to find you since we were torn apart,

just know how much I love you, you're always in my heart.

Task:

1. Reflect on the poem and other stimulus material.2. Discuss the issues that are raised concerning Aboriginal dispossession and the

connection to the Dreaming.3. Respectfully assume the role of a displaced Aboriginal person. In the form of a diary

entry, describe how you would feel when:

- you lost family members- you lost your home- you lost your possessions- you lost your identity- you lost your way of life- you had to embrace a new culture and life style.

The diary can be in written, visual or combination form. Choose a section of your diary to share in a story-telling style with a small group. Each group is to select the example that best illustrates the impact of dispossession

and its association with the Dreaming to the class.

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WORKSHEET 17LOUSY LITTLE SIX PENCE

Part 1

1. How did increased immigration impact on the Aboriginal Reserves?________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

2. State the purpose of the Aboriginal Reserves.________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

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3. What effort was made to educate the children on the Reserves?________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

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4. Describe the role of the Inspectors.________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

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5. In what way/s did the removal of Aboriginal children impact on the family unit?________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

6. Comment on the relationship between the Masters and the Servants.________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

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________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

7. Explain why the 1930’s were especially difficult for Aborigines on Reserves.________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

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Part 21. How can the Depression be described as a ‘unifying experience’?________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

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2. Identify 3 demands made by the Aboriginal Elder, Barraga, in his 1933 speech.________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

3. How did the Protection Board respond to the demands of the Progressive Association, led by Bill Ferguson?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

4. What support was experienced by Aborigines, with the inquiry into the Protection Board and its subsequent collapse?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

5. Identify the role played by Aborigines in the celebration of the 150 years of Settlement.

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________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

6. Jacky Patten’s arrest was the catalyst for the Aboriginal strike in 1939. What support existed for these people?

________________________________________________________________________

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7. What was the irony behind the Aboriginal troops in WWI?________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

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8. What is the significance of the title Lousy Little Six pence?________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

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HANDOUT 15Life

The underlying attitude of Aboriginal religion is one of assent to the received terms of existence as being already spiritually fulfilled.

The fulfilment of lifeThe totem ancestors are respected and revered, but they are not worshipped. The purpose of ceremony is not to placate or petition the spirits to serve human ends. The spirit ancestors and the human descendants do not live in worlds separated from one another, nor do they have different sets of goals. Present human existence, especially in ceremony, is already fully in tune with the timeless world of The Dreaming. The ancestral spirits are not seen as superior beings in another realm who condescend to have dealings with an inferior human world.

Human and spiritual, natural and supernatural, present and eternal, descendants and ancestors are all inseparable parts of one egalitarian reality.

The individual person carries, through incarnation, an immortal spark of eternal life which comes directly from the original ancestors. Simply to be alive is to participate in the life-force of the primordial spark; and to follow the traditional ways is to share the fulfilment of eternal creative activity in the continuous present. Through everyday actions, and especially those of ceremony, each and every individual life affirms and maintains the completeness of existence as it is and always has been. This may be illustrated by the imagery of film projection: just as a person walking within the beam of a projector becomes for the moment a screen for the projected images, so The Dreaming projected through time is implanted on those living within its beam.

Reverence for lifeTraditional Aboriginal religion is an affirmation of the wholeness of creation and life. The underlying attitude of Aboriginal religion is one of assent to the received terms of existence as being already spiritually fulfilled. Aboriginal spirituality magnifies life through a devoted preoccupation with the signs, symbols, means, portents, tokens and evidences of spiritual vitality The problems of suffering and scarcity are not denied. On the contrary they are acknowledged, accepted and celebrated as parts of the spiritual wholeness of life. In that respect, Aboriginal religion is one of the most life-affirming and least material-minded of all traditions.

Life as now given, warts and all, is not regarded as some falling away from an original state of perfection or primordial golden age. Life as we now encounter it is as it was initiated in The Dreaming. The present world is the seamless and undiminished extension of eternal spiritual reality Just because a realm of human time and geographical space has come into existence, the primary reality of The Dreaming has not ceased to be. The spatio-temporal world is, so to speak, layered or projected like a film over the surface of the underlying and eternal background that is The Dreaming.

The stories from The Dreaming tell how the world came to be in its present form. The stories suggest that other choices might have been made, but in fact the ones that were made have set the terms of life ever since. While The Dreaming determines the present conditions of existence and life, the human response to that given situation is neither tragic and fatalistic nor rebellious and complaining. Rather, as the natural world is the materialisation of The Dreaming, traditional human existence is not seen as deficient in any way but already fulfilled

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HANDOUT 15

and complete just as it is. Hence, in contrast to the themes of salvation, after-life, nirvana, messianism or eschatology that are found in other religions, all such life-compensatory themes’ are unnecessary in and absent from traditional Aboriginal religious thought and practice.

The whole of life is taken as sacred, in the sense of having ultimate value: life is a miracle. A fundamental reverence for life pervades every aspect of daily and ceremonial activity That reverence is extended to the landscape and the earth itself, for the ground is the original mother of all life and a living, conscious being in and of herself. All individual lives also receive the same reverence. Death adders, for example, are controlled but not obliterated. They are respected as having their own law and their own right to exist.

Attitude to lifeIn Aboriginal religion all of existence and life is continuous with the primordial spirit-realm of The Dreaming. The major religions of the West and East, by contrast, distinguish between the sacred and the profane, the supernatural and the natural. In the Aboriginal world there is no basis for such divisions, for everything is alive interrelated and sacred. Standing within the sacred and being part of the spiritual process Aboirginal religion has no need of reverent humility, prayer, praise, thanksgiving or sacrifice. There is no need for all the special behaviours that, in other traditions, make religious life different from daily living. In the Aboriginal context, living itself is religion.

Among the Yarralin people of the Northern Territory, yimaruk is one of the words for the continuous nature of life. In this sense, life endures as part of an ongoing process which infuses the whole cosmos. ‘It is universal in the sense that all living beings share in it, but it is also specific in that it is identified with particular individuals and often bears a close relationship to country. The yimaruk which a person has now was another person or animal before, and will become another person or animal later”.

The place of deathAlthough death may be unwelcome, it too is one of life’s gifts. Death is seen as an integral and necessary part of life; it is one of the ways in which the life-force is transferred and transformed from one state or condition to another. Whatever is born must kill to eat and grow, then it dies and is reborn. The whole cycle of life is a complete system in which all beings participate according to the laws of their respective Dreamings. Reverence for life allows respect for death; assent to life includes acceptance of death. In the ceaseless cycle of creative spiritual activity, one dies that another may live, each in its own time. Life consumes and transforms the living in order to bring forth new lives.

There are various rituals associated with death. These rites are directed to ensure that the spirit of the deceased has a safe passage on the way back to the spirit-world and does not return to trouble the living. Some totem groups have the tradition of erecting a grave post which carries a stylised image of the dead person or a representation of the person’s tribal totem. As we would expect, given the harmony between traditional life and The Dreaming, well-being in the after-life is not influenced by the quality of the person’s previous life.

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HANDOUT 16

LawThe law of livingThe preservation and enhancement of life is the ultimate criterion of Aboriginal morality, and the ultimate purpose of Aboriginal Law. Law is based on the idea that the whole cosmos is a living and self- reproducing system in which all parts are alive, aware and related to one another and interconnected. Each part of the whole natural system has its own life and traditional ways, according to which it is responsible for maintaining itself, for contributing to the whole, and for respecting all other parts of the whole.For the life of the cosmos to be preserved as a whole, the relationships between all the self-regulating parts of the cosmos must also be preserved. Each part is independent, neither superior nor inferior to other parts. Nevertheless, sometimes opposition arises, for example in lawful hunting, social disputes and land management. When faced with conflict, the attempt is not to destroy but to contain; each part is kept in balance with the other, and in an equilibrium of power.The Aboriginal universe is an organic whole; it is like one single living creature. Each individual life is self-governing, yet each life depends on every other. The same life-force empowers all lives, so that each life acts and reacts in tune with all others. In so doing, each tests the limits of its boundaries and the possibilities of its existence, for the benefit of itself and the whole living world. By way of analogy, we might think of how the various organs and cells in a healthy body all work separately and together for the overall well-being of the body. Maintaining this organic harmony calls for discipline to conform to the pattern of traditional ways. When living in tune with the life-force of the cosmos, every action, whether ritual or spontaneous, is part of the universal dance of life.

LandLand is a cornerstone of traditional religion. It is the physical link between living humans and all that is invisible and eternal in their spiritual world. The Dreaming establishes the moral, social and psychological bond between humans, ancestral beings and the natural environment. That mythological relation underwrites the interdependence of humans and non-humans in the totem environment.The land is a sacred place. It is the arena of creative activity in The Dreaming, which persists into the present. The land continues to be inhabited by the spirit ancestors who gave form to the landscape and its inhabitants, and who now rest at sacred sites, or special life-centres. In these sacred places, the dormant ancestors remain conscious and active; they continue releasing the spirit-children and life-force of their totem. The world is so much a part of the ancestors that you might say they can maintain it in their sleep.SonglinesThe land is more .than simply terrain studded with separate locations known as sacred sites. The whole landscape is sacred, to varying degrees. Underlying the physical contours of the land there are spiritual contours, the Dreaming tracks or Songlines, which can be seen by those who know how to look. By way of analogy, we might think of the isobars on a weather map or the contour-lines on a survey map.Those who know how to look, through initiation into traditional ways, have a mental map of their country. The map marks out where all the events of The Dreaming occurred. It is crisscrossed by lines where the totem ancestor travelled the sacred tracks between camps and

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places of significant happenings, and highlighted are the ancestor’s resting place and life-centres. It is this mental map in stylised form which the old man produces when he paints his Dreaming’, or which is often reproduced in more or less summary form in designs on the tjurunga or other sacred objects, on the ground and dancers in ceremonies, and in the meaning of traditional songs.The land has a story to tell. Since the features of the land are the physical record of Dreaming events, an Aborigine can justifiably call the land ‘my Bible’. The totemite can also call it ‘my Law’, because the spirit ancestor who gave form and life to the land also encoded in ‘it an ethical system’ which was entrusted to the totem descendants. As nomadic bands walk about the landscape, they are continually recalling the primordial events associated with each landmark. Back at their camp site they rehearse their memory of The Dreaming in storytelling, songs, ceremony and painting.

The purpose of peopleThe land calls on Aborigines to cooperate with the creative cycle. Only in that way can the land fulfill its own creative destiny. The country cares for those who belong to it, by sustaining their lives; and those who belong to the country care for it, through ceremony and land management.Most of the land, sky and stars are regarded by the Aborigines as a vast sign-system. They walk about, ‘not in a common landscape, but in a humanised realm saturated with significations. Here, “something happens”, there “something portends”. Aborigines, seeing the signs, defer to the significations; and watching others do so, seem to understand why”. To convey the feeling of the commands embedded in the landscape, we may draw a very modest analogy with well-established garden in the front yard of a home. To a casual passer-by, the garden looks like a pretty place to be; to the skilled gardener, the yard is crowded with imperatives to ‘water here’, ‘weed there’, ‘prune this’, ‘shade that’. The whole landscape of nature speaks with a similar voice to the initiated Aborigine.Human caring of the highest order for the land has the quality and status of ceremony ft is a means by which the creative acts of The Dreaming are assured of continuing. Each totemite, each group, each species is responsible for singing to perpetuate the traditional region; while all parts combine in an orchestrated song for the country as a whole. On a more pragmatic yet nonetheless religious level, care for the country entails keeping it ‘clean’ (fire management), a cautious use of its resources, observing totemic taboos (for instance leaving reserves for species near their sacred sites), and educating the young to carry on the tradition of caring.‘I am the Land’The European may readily speak about ‘identifying with the land’. But most often it is only a metaphor for affection and solidarity For it is instinctively Western to regard nature as a separate entity. The land is something upon which one walks as a superior, intelligent being, and which one uses as an object for economic gain or personal pleasure. The Aborigine, in contrast, speaks of real identity: ‘I am the Land’. The elders and those initiated into traditional ways feel part of the whole interrelated environment; they are, in fact, part of every other part, just as every other part is part of them.The tribal Aborigine is enmeshed with the land in a genuine dynamic of interconnected identity. The land is not just the surface area, but includes the flora, the fauna and even the celestial bodies, in a corporate organic whole which is as alive, aware, intelligent, self- conscious and communicative as any of its parts. The land itself is a living creature with a mind of its own.

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Such thinking is absurd to anyone committed to the ‘clockwork’ universe of classical Newtonian science. Yet the idea of a universe ‘alive and aware’ bears remarkable affinities with trends in both medieval science and the new physics of quantum mechanics.Handout 17Environmental spiritualityWhat can modern Australians in other religious traditions learn from Aboriginal spirituality, especially at a time of heightened sensitivity to the natural environment? To experience the environment from an Aboriginal viewpoint is to be surrounded by living beings of our own kind. The sense we have not only of being alive to everything around and about, but of everything else being alive to us, too. The sacredness of all life and the liveliness of all the natural world ‘including us) come from direct participation in the cosmic life-force of the eternal creative spirits.In such a spiritually charged environment, all living is religious and all behaviour is prayerful. Everything is done with the sacred in mind. In every activity we can be mindful of the transcendent immanent in material creation. Religion and prayer are not so much directed to the spiritual as exercised with it, so that we take part in the creative, sustaining and fulfilling activities of The Dreaming (just as, in the biblical traditions, we rest with God on the Sabbath). On the most practical level, our sphere of responsibility might include quite small things, such as a plant or a pet; yet even the exercise of care for the small details of life becomes a prayer, simply because it is carried out deliberately in celebration of the sacred.Without moral discipline and mindfulness spirituality comes soft and self-indulgent. Yet, as we have seen in the Aboriginal world, individual life has the greatest autonomy and power when it is thoroughly located as an integral part of the whole dynamic between cosmic life, eternal law and tribal land. To learn :our traditional duties of care, for all others as well as ourselves, is a socially beneficial and personally rewarding means of spiritual self- development. Becoming schooled in compassion, patience, gentleness, sensitivity and simplicity requires us to be constantly engaged in life-enhancing mindfulness.To begin to imagine what is involved, we need only think about some of the ‘green’ disciplines that are becoming popular - for example conserving water and power, growing and composting ‘vegetables, limiting car usage, recycling and so on. When our body, and mind are continually felt to be caught up in• the eternal presence and creative activity of ultimate spiritual reality, then ordinary daily events offer plenty of opportunities for restraint and personal growth.

Making a covenant with the landPeople who have been in this country for barely 200 years could earn a lot from those who have been here for 60 000 years or longer. Recently it was suggested that an Australian spirituality which is appropriately alert to the environment could be sealed by a covenant with the land and her people. In the Year of the ‘“Indigenous People (1993) an Australian organisation, Kuri-Ngai partners, offered the following form of a covenant and proposed that be solemnly declared by a group of people, preferably around a camp fire in a bush setting:

Today, we ... make a covenant with this land. As a branch is grafted onto a mature stock, so we want to be grafted onto the ancient heritage of this land, so that its life may flow through ours. We commit ourselves to the land about us and to all who belong to it, both those who are indigenous and those newcomers who have similarly bound themselves to this land. We will care for this, our mother, and for her children, with gentleness, patience, simplicity and compassion. Rather than as a right of property, we will see the land as a gift to us from God, for which we are wholeheartedly thankful, and we undertake the glad duty of looking after this gift till the day of account. We thank God, too, for all the goods of the earth—air, water, power, food and all the riches above and below the ground—and we undertake to use them as we need, sparingly and thoughtfully.’

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WORKSHEET 18

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The Diversity within Aboriginal Belief systems and spirituality

LANGUAGE GROUPS

COUNTRIES Tribes

CEREMONIES AND RITUALS

WORKSHEET 19

Explain the importance of the Dreaming for the life of Aboriginal peoples.(Explanation Scaffold)

A general statement about the event or thing. (You could preview what you are going write about in

your explanation.)

A series of paragraphs explaining the hows or

whys. (Anexplanation sequence)

Explanation

Explanation

A result paragraph or a concluding paragraph.(This could include a

reference to howsuccessful this influence has been as seen through

evidence today)

CitationsHandouts 6, 9 -12 and 15- 17Coleman. N. (1999). The Worlds of Religion. McGraw Hill Australia: Roseville. pp 27-57.Handout 13 - “The Dharug and their Neighbours”.

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