CHAPTER 9:Eastern Peoples & Eastern Religions

Columbian Exposition

• 1893 in Chicago

• World’s Parliament of Religiono Swami Vivekananda

o Anagarika Dharmapala

o Soyen Shaku

Asian Exclusion

• harassment & discrimination

• immigration lawso 1882 Chinese Exclusion Acto 1907 Gentlemen’s Agreemento 1924 Oriental Exclusion Act

• Japanese internment camps

Looking from Europe & the East Coast of the U.S.

• Nearer East – Eastern Orthodoxy

• Middle East – Islam & Baha’i

• Farther East – Hinduism & Buddhism

Eastern Orthodoxy in America

• Russian Orthodoxo earliest to arrive

• Greek Orthodoxo largest branch in America

• other national churchese.g.) Romanian, Serbian

Eastern Orthodox Churches

• “right religion”

• patriarchates: Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem

• autocephalous churches

• autonomous churches

Eastern Orthodox Practice

• Divine Liturgy

• Hesychasm

• Iconso point of connection to sacredo 8th- & 9th-century controversy

Eastern-Western Split within Christianity

• opposed primacy of Roman Popeo “filioque” controversy

• Pope excommunicated Bishop of Constantinople

• 4th Crusade in Constantinople

Islam in America

• Muslim slaves

• African American Muslimso Nation of Islam

• Arab & European Muslim immigrants

• Immigration Act of 1965

Religion of Islam

• Muhammad

• Allah

• Qur’an

• umma

• jihad

Pillars of Islam

1) confession of faith

2) prayer 5x a day

3) alms

4) fast during Ramadan

5) hajj

Forms of Islam

• Sunni – caliphs

• Shiite – imamso line of Alio await the Mahdi

• Sufi – sheikhso mysticism

Developments in America

• mosques as Islamic centers

• Muslim Students Association

• Islamic Society of North America

• September 11th, 2001

Baha’i

• “completes” previous religions

• Baha’u’llah

• age of universal unity & peace

• equality & reverence for living things

• forbids partisan politics

Hindu Religion

• religions of India

• Brahman & Atman

• monism

• polytheism

• puja

Yoga

• “union & the discipline to achieve it”

• 3 broad paths to the divineo bhakti o karmao jnana

• Hatha yoga

Early Export Forms of Hinduism

• Vedanta Societyo Vivekanandao raja yoga

• Self-Realization Fellowshipo Yoganandao kriya yoga

Later Export Forms of Hinduism

• Transcendental Meditationo Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

• ISKCONo “Hare Krishnas”

o A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Post-1965 Hinduism

• temple cultureo ecumenical

• guru culture

Buddhism

• Siddhartha Gautama

• Four Noble Truths

• Eightfold (Middle) Path

1) human suffering has a cause2) the cause of suffering is desire3) there is a way to end suffering4) the way to end it is to end

desire

Major Forms of Buddhism

• Theravada – Southeast Asiao arhat

• Mahayana – China & Japano bodhisattva

• Vajrayana (Tantric) – Tibeto mystical union with divinity

Buddhists in U.S.

• early sympathizerso Transcendentalistso Theosophists

• monks & lay Buddhistso Pure Land Buddhist immigrantso Tibetan refugees

Buddhist Meditation

• popular export forms of Buddhism

• Rinzai Zeno koans

• Soto Zen

• Vipassana Insight Meditation

Trends of American Buddhism

• “Church” or “Temple” Buddhism

• “Convert” Buddhism

• “Missionary” Buddhismo Nichiren Shoshu o Soka Gakkai International, USA

Expansion, Contraction, & Combination

• postpluralism

• Healthy-Happy-Holy Organization

o 3HO

o Yogi Bhajan

o kundalini yoga, Tantric & Sikh

OVERVIEW

• Near East – Eastern Orthodoxy

• Middle East – Islam & Baha’i

• Farther East – Hinduism & Buddhism

• ethnic & export forms in U.S.