Ethan Bennett
World religions 2300
Eschatology of Eastern Theology
In most religions across the world, the theology of end times is perhaps the most intriguing and
widely studied revelation of scripture. Why should the idea of destruction, chaos, mayhem, and death
excite and fascinate the mind of human kind? There is a question that we must answer before passing
on to the unknown realm. What happens when we die? Without the answer, we have no reason to
believe the wicked will receive retribution and the righteous – reward for their deeds. What comfort
would the unfortunate souls, born into poverty and discomfort, receive if they had no hope for
something better?
Many teachers, ascetics, and gurus of the ancient world have spent a great deal of time in
pontification to address this issue. Some believed that when humans are wicked, they perpetuate their
cycle of rebirth by never passing on into a peaceful state. Others believed that wicked humans are
tormented in eternal hellfire for their evil deeds. Still others advocated the condemnation of human
rights violations and focused on improving life on Earth. Questions that delve into the realms of the
unknown did not concern them. In this exercise, I will give a brief description of each of the Eastern
religions by covering their histories, geography, belief structures, and elements of Eschatology.
Hinduism
Hinduism begins as one of the earliest known religions in history. Its origins are unclear as its
history precedes historical record. Recorded Hinduism appears in history, along with the rise in
popularity of Sanskrit, in about 1500 B.C.E. The first Hindu scriptures are called, “The Vedas.” These are
recorded oral traditions that were active in the civilizations of the Indus River Valley, modern day
Pakistan, before they were written down. Hindu scripture was expanded upon in about 800 B.C.E. The
Upanishads were created in order to address questions about the nature of human existence in the
universe. The Upanishads do not refute the word of the Vedas, but expand upon the word of the Hindu
Doctrine.
Hinduism is a polytheistic religion. The hierarchy of deities can be very difficult to understand
because Hindus believe in over 300 million deities. There are three main deities that have been
popularized by western society and are most readily worshiped by Hindus. These deities are; Brahma
the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer. Brahma is not to be confused with the
Brahman, which is the supreme spirit in Hindu philosophy. Vishnu plays an interesting role in the drama
of the Bhagavad Gita, when he changes his form and comes to earth in the embodiment of Krishna,
Arjuna’s chariot driver. Krishna councils Arjuna on fulfilling his duty when he is forced to kill his kin in
order to protect the honor of his caste. In Hinduism, it is believed that doing one’s duty is important
above all else. Shiva, perhaps the most popular Hindu deity in the western world, is also perhaps the
most misunderstood. “The Destroyer,” is not indicative of Shiva’s malevolent intent. The purpose of the
Destroyer God is for, “creative destruction.” The philosophy of this oxymoron explains that, in order for
creation to take place, whatever already exists must be destroyed. Shiva is a necessary requirement for
the cycle of creation and destruction.
The issue that Hindus must address in life is that of performing their duty. Once a Hindu has
ascended the duty of householder, he faces wandering asceticism. In his wanderings, the Ascetic seeks
to achieve oneness with the spirit by practicing austerity. The Ascetic neglects comforts and basic needs
of the body. The Ascetic spends most of his days in meditation in the forest and finds food by begging
for it. This begging gives others a chance to give, and thereby, increases the giver’s Karma while
increasing the Ascetic’s Karma. If a Hindu can live a life of peace, moral piety, and fulfillment of duty;
this should generate enough good Karma to attain Moksha. Moksha is a place for a spirit who has
broken away from the cycle of rebirth, Samsara. It is not clear what the spirit experiences in Moksha,
but it is clear that Moksha is desired of Samsara. There are, however, some people who cannot, in this
life, have any hope of attaining Moksha. These people, “Untouchables” belong to the Shudra Caste. It is
believed that these people were so wicked in their previous life, that the divine spirit placed them in this
life at the lowest class of society as punishment. These people have no hope of improving life while
here; but if they do their duty as Shudra, they can be born into a higher class in their next life. We will
see that the theology of Karma and reincarnation is repeated, with variation, throughout Eastern
religion.
Buddhism
Buddhism begins in northern India about a hundred miles from Benares in around 560 B.C.E.
Unlike Hinduism, Buddhism recognizes a founder. Siddhartha Gautama was born a human and has since
been deified by future generations of worshipers. Although Siddhartha is recognized as the name of the
founder of Buddhism, he is also referred to as the Shakyamuni, “sage of the Shakya clan,” or the
Buddha, “Enlightened One.” The Prince, Siddhartha Gautama, left his home and began a life of Hindu
Asceticism after discovering that the world is full of age, sickness, and death - a discovery that his father
worked to keep from him.
Upon reflection, Siddhartha Gautama emerges as the Buddha and begins to preach the
philosophy that he believes will cure suffering in the world. The Buddha gives his first sermon at Benares
where he addresses the four noble truths and the Eightfold Path. The four noble truths summarize that
there is suffering and that it can be overcome by using the Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path gives
instruction on overcoming suffering. The Buddha believed that once people are able to release
themselves from desire of permanence, they will overcome suffering.
The Buddha teaches the doctrine of dependant origination or, “Pratitya Samutpada.” The idea of
dependant origination states that the experienced universe can be explained without resorting to
chance or first cause. The purpose of this theory is that there is nothing that cannot be explained.
Resorting to chance or first cause is a, “copout” and enables us to create universal explanations for a
wide variety of problems. When we fail to recognize that each problem can be explained in its own
respect, we don’t see the real solution. If we neglect that solution, suffering arises.
A central for Buddhists is achieving a release from suffering in the present life. Inquiries of life
after death, and whether the universe is eternal, did not hold any concern for the Buddha. Although
Buddhists believe in reincarnation, they do not believe that one’s own personal spirit is reborn into
another body. Rather, they believe that your life force travels from one physical entity to another in a
simultaneous transformation from death to life. The Dalai Lama and the Buddha have both been deified
in Buddhism, although they hold no existence in any metaphysical realm. In Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai
Lama is reborn into the next life as a living god to guide Tibetans on Earth. The Dalai Lama is the only
spirit that is reborn.
Jainism
Jainistic belief shares a direct correlation with Hinduism in their beliefs of Samsara and Karma.
Jains have elevated their 24th Thirtankara, or spiritual leader, above any other preceding Thirtankara.
Mahavira’s history holds a striking similarity to that of Jesus Christ and the Buddha. Mahavira began his
Asceticism around the age of thirty and his mother had received revelation, through dreams, of his birth.
Upon his initiation into Asceticism, Mahavira ripped his hair out in five handfuls and tore his robes off on
a bush. From that point, Mahavira was a, “Skyclad” wandering Ascetic who remained that way for the
rest of his life.
Jainism arose in northern India around the same time as the Buddha, about 600 B.C.E. The Jains
share a similar belief with the Buddhists that there is no creator. Jains believe that the universe is set in
motion as it was and always will be. There is no need for a mediator to ensure that everything goes as
planned. The natural order of the universe will see to that.
Jain beliefs in Karma, Samsara, and Moksha, or Nirvana, differ greatly from that of Hindu beliefs.
Jains are not interested in attaining good or bad Karma. Their goal is to rid themselves of Karma
completely. They believe that Karma is what holds us to Samsara and keeps us from Nirvana. Once
Nirvana is achieved, it cannot be held forever as it is in Hinduism. Eventually, Karma is accumulated
because Nirvana does not transcend the rules of the universe. Once Karma is re-attained, the soul is reinitiated into Samsara. Jains hold great reverence for all living things as it is believed that Samsara does
not apply only to sentient beings. Every creature in existence could have been an ancestor in a previous
life. For this reason, part of earning existence in Nirvana is respecting all forms of life.
Sikhism
Sikhism, because of the geography of its origination, contains elements of Islam and Hinduism.
Sikhism originates with Guru Nanak, the first of ten Gurus, in about 1500 C.E. Nanak was born in Lahore,
near Amritstar. Amristar is located in modern day Pakistan, right in the center of Islam and Hinduism.
Nanak stresses the importance of disregarding fanciful rituals and relics. It is believed that these things
do not bring a person closer to God and additionally, that they do nothing for the righteousness of the
spirit.
The metaphysics of Sikh belief is interesting because it mixes the idea of Karma with eternal
salvation. The theology of Samsara renders useless the notion of eternal union with God. Therefore,
Sikhism does away with reincarnation. As time goes on, we begin to see that people of the eastern
world are moving closer to monotheism. The ideas of salvation, eternal damnation, and apocalypticism
are becoming more popular. These ideas would seem preferable to a person who is born into
destitution than the idea that they have earned their lives as untouchables and have no hope of
improving life.
Taoism
Taoists focus mainly on improving life through teaching a code of ethics that is useful for people
not concerned with governmental or societal living. Taoists believe that life is experienced at its fullest
when men retreat from education and society. When we live in small communities with small
economies, we are happiest. Taoist way of life stresses simplicity and order. They have developed texts
such as the I-ching, “Book of Changes,” and the Tao Te Ching, “The Way and its Power.”The I-ching uses
a method of casting sticks or coins a number of times in order to create a hexagram. The hexagram is
then located in the book of changes and its correlating scripture read in order to answer a question. It is
believed that the answer read is always appropriate to the question asked.
The Tao Te Ching is a scripture that was developed and compiled by Laozi and later expanded by
Zhuangzi. The book focuses mainly on ways of remaining at peace and harmony with nature. Peace and
harmony are achieved not only with nature, but with one’s immediate surroundings. Attaining peace
with surroundings has been addressed through the art of Feng Shui, or “The Art of Placement.” A tool
called, “The Bagua” uses a combination of eight trigrams in order to aid the dweller in placing his/her
belongings in the correct position of harmony. This method of placement has since been capitalized
upon so that, if a person wishes to be in harmony with their living space, they must call upon a Feng Shui
professional.
Taoists have deified Laozi as the embodiment of their belief. Although there are other deities in
Taoism, it is not believed that they dwell in a celestial kingdom of afterlife somewhere above the
cosmos. Taoists do not squander precious time with pontification of the metaphysical, since this does
nothing to improve life while on earth. It is interesting to note that many people have adopted this
philosophy in place of deism. Even the author of Ecclesiastes, a book of the Judeo Christian Bible, admits
the world is an inexplicable mess and we should eat, drink, and be merry while we can.
There is nothing in Taoist doctrine to indicate a belief in the rapture or end judgment to come
upon the people of the world. Despite this, there is an element of Taoism that relates with the western
theology of end times. A controversial researcher by the name of Terence McKenna discovered a
mathematical pattern in the 64 hexagrams of the I-ching. When McKenna placed the hexagrams in order
according of numerical value and repeated them 64 times, he noticed that a graph appeared. When he
matched this graph with a timeline of history, it showed very interesting correlations with events in
history. The peaks and valleys in the graph indicated periods when humanity had risen and fallen. The
graph seemed to accurately predict the Black Death of Europe, the fall of the Roman Empire, the
discovery of the New World, The 20th century wars, and, most importantly, the end of the world.
McKenna’s graph ended on December 21, 2012. This date is in directly correlates with the end date of
the Mayan calendar in South America. In McKenna’s timeline, the line drops off the graph and into
infinity on this date.
McKenna believed that this indicated that we are at the end of an age where events in history
are unfolded in linear fashion. Some other philosophers have suggested that we are entering a new age
of conscious thought. Most others believe that this indicates the end of the world. The Mayan calendar
and I-ching predictions are regarded by the greater scientific community as pseudo-science. The theory
appears to work but lacks little or no empirical evidence to back it up. It is accepted by apocalyptic
enthusiasts because it sells movies and books.
So why does the rapture sell? Because for the last four millennia, billions of people have been
trying to figure out what happens to us when we die. But it will never be known because the scientific
method cannot be applied post mortem. Laozi and Buddha came closer to the answer than most people
ever will today. Eastern thinkers were humble enough to admit that they didn’t know. Buddha didn’t
believe in explaining the universe in terms of a first cause. Buddha figured out long ago that putting faith
in place of logic and reason is a dangerous idea. Laozi understood that religion did nothing to improve
humanity. Getting people to act humanely toward each other was the answer for Taoists. Jains advocate
respect for life in every sense, figuring out ages ago that the taking of life constitutes regression. Every
religion of the Orient has reasoned that killing in the name of one’s belief for God, does nothing for the
forward movement of humanity. These people didn’t have the Internet or Fox News to tell them that
the world was a terrible place. They looked at the world through their own eyes and not vicariously
through a screen. These people saw the problems in the world and were able to originate truly inspiring
thought that, in many ways, has moved humanity in the forward direction.
“They learned that they could precipitate mass death, before they developed the neurological
disorder of wishing for it.” (Bill Maher 2008)