WORLD RELIGIONS:
HINDUISM & JAINSIM
Dr Serina Rahman
GEC1013 / GEH1045
Wk7 - Sem2.2022/23
HINDUISM & JAINISM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om
- sacred sound, syllable, mantra
and invocation in Hinduism
❖ Decolonising religion
❖ This history of religion in India
❖ The Vedic corpus
❖ Moving away from Vedic orthodoxy: Jainism
❖ Refining ‘Brahmanism’ – New Gods & Goddesses
❖ Hindu temples
❖ Devotional movements: Bakhti & Tantra
❖ Hinduism in SEA: Bali, Kejawen, Thai Buddhism…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jain_sy
mbols - used in ancient Jain scriptures
to represent the Navakar Mantra
TO UNDERSTAND HINDUISM…
❖ Understand “the historical process by which a cohesive
community of believers comes to be produced, consolidated and
reproduced through a cultural fusion of texts, myths, symbols and
rituals…” (Harjot Oberoi – The Construction of Religious Boundaries
p.4) --> Impt to determine how Hinduism came about
Term 'Hinduism' was coined by the colonial masters
❖ WHO created the name ‘Hinduism’? Only coined in the 19th
Century – no one historically referred to themselves as ‘Hindus’
No single text, whole corpus of text that continually evolved
❖ The Vedas do not claim that they represent ‘Hindus’ – Vedic texts
contain no Hindu dogma / no guidelines for a ‘Hindu way of life’
❖ ‘Hinduism’ has no founding father
Can tell Hinduism is not as static and unchanging as Islam
In Ancient India noone referred to it as Hinduism
DECOLONISING HINDUISM
❖ Hinduism does not have a single holy
book (unlike Abrahamic religions:
‘scripture-folk’)
❖In ancient India – writing systems not valued… Vedas were preserved
through rigorous oral memorisation & recitation
❖ The Vedas: the earliest body of Indian scripture – Rig Veda, Sama Veda,
Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda – that codified ideas and practices of Vedic
religion… which eventually became the basis of ‘classical Hinduism’
❖ For more info on the Vedas:
https://sites.google.com/site/sanatandharmaproject/the-sacred-vedas-intro
DECOLONISING HINDUISM
❖ Early Orientalist scholarship: assumed Judeo-Christian similarities
(hegemony)
❖ Vedas not accessible to entire religious community (women & lower
casts barred from HEARING them… molten lead should be poured
into the
ears of a Shudra should he hear them (Oberoi p.8))
Meaning only those of the correct caste and who were men could hear the Vedas, Shudras were bottom of the caste structure
❖ No fixing of sacred texts -> Constant evolution of the Vedas
When the British came in and
took
census, they decided to label
❖ Religious ‘practices’ by the peasantry amalgamated Vedic, aanything
thats not Christianity,
islam, and Buddhism to be
Brahamism and indigenous practices (erroneous census-taking) Hinduism
❖ Communities with mixed ancestry & practices (Hindu descent –
Muslim practices – saintly beliefs – some idolatry (Oberoi p.12))
The classification was left up to the census taker - skewed the Hinduism numbers from the very beginning
DECOLONISING RELIGION
❖ Indian languages do NOT possess a noun for religion as signifying a
single uniform and centralised community of believers.
❖ ‘panth’ – moral collective of believers
❖ Religion is a highly localized affair – individual conduct & salvation
– especially for peasants: local gods, deities & spirits
❖ Peasants bargain & negotiate with the most powerful, sacred source
(their Gods) without bothering with religious labels (they are thus
deemed superstitious, ignorant, irrational) – idiom of resistance against
urban / central ‘religious authorities’
THE HISTORY OF ‘HINDUISM’ IN INDIA
❖ What is now termed ‘Hinduism’ is one of (if not THE) oldest religion
practiced – tracing back to a text already edited & consolidated by
about 1200 BC – but in practice with Vedic oral stories since 2000BC
The origins of Vedic teachings date back really far
th
❖ Also the YOUNGEST because in 19 Century – indigenous Indian
religious formations collectively termed ‘Hinduism’ (prior to this – no
name for their religious entity – did not consider selves as part of a
single religious collective (Davis, 1995 p.5)) label was applied by colonial masters
❖ Source of name: Indo-Aryan word for sea: sindhu (also referring to
the Indus River) – Persians modified it to hind – refer to land of Indus
Valley. Greek & Latin borrowed it → India (geographical designation
for South Asia & natives who did not convert to Islam – locals didn’t use
word for sea => "sindhu" => also refers to the indus river'
the term for themselves) Indo-Aryan
Persians modified sindhu to "hind" => refers to land of indus valley
Greeks&Latins made hind => "India" -> reps South Asia and natives who did not conver to Islam == Locals
did not refer to themselves as India/Indians/Hindus
HISTORY OF ‘HINDUISM’ IN INDIA
British felt the need to fit people into categories, hence
coined 'hinduism'
❖ 19th Century: British used ‘Hinduism’ to refer to Indian peoples
who did not adhere to Islam, Christianity of Jainism (based on
indigenous term sindhu) – in line with the reification of the concept
of ‘religion’ and the scholarly need to define ‘world religions’
❖ ‘Hindu’ then incorporated into local lexicon: Indians eager to
construct a counterpart to coloniser’s monolithic Christianity – and
to fit into British census taking categories
❖ But WHAT THEN IS HINDUISM?
❖ READ: https://honisoit.com/2020/10/how-a-nation-of-mysticsoccultists-and-yogis-became-hindus/
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA:
INDO-ARYANS & THE VEDAS
Where they travelled to, they took over the land
❖ 4000BC – Nomadic pastoralists ‘Aryas’ (noble ones) from the
steppes of south-central Russia – first to ride & harness horses –
invented chariot, spoked wheel & weapons of copper & bronze
❖ Imposed themselves on indigenous people wherever they
migrated to… including bringing their language: basis of Sanskrit
and most modern languages in northern India
❖ Indo-Aryans – moved into Indus Valley (2000BC) – mainly
Punjab in 1200BC – political & societal dominance over Gangetic
plain & most of northern India by 600BC
https://www.sutori.com/en/story/copy
-of-ancient-india-nyKDybU2doxEWwZCgoneZZ9o
aryan language was basis for many languages in North India
- where you have language you have a transmission of culture
- you also have a transmission of religion
https://araingang.medium.com/theindo-aryan-languages-b249d5ece305
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: THE VEDAS
There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda. Each Veda has four subdivisions – the Samhitas (mantras and
benedictions), the Aranyakas (text on rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and symbolic-sacrifices), the Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies and
sacrifices), and the Upanishads (texts discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge).
❖ vid – to know
root word of vedas
❖ veda – knowledge (knowledge of the highest sort: religious)
❖ composed in an early form of Sanskrit (the perfected language)
❖ 4 Vedic collections (Samhita) + supplementary compositions
(Brahmanas, Aranyakas & Upanisads) + much later: Vedangas (limbs of
sciences focused on helping understand and
the Vedas)
interpret the Vedas that were archaic
❖ revelations – only ‘heard’ not composed by humans
came from Gods, spirits
❖ huge, diverse corpus of texts composed over many centuries
always relevant to the time that it was written in
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: RIG VEDA
❖ Earliest of the Vedic collections: 1028 hymns (10k
verses)
❖ Composed over several hundred yrs by different
lineages or families of poet-priests
❖ Compiled into a single large collection (12001000BC)
❖ Memorised and transmitted orally, virtually without
alternations for almost 3000 yrs damn
❖ Religious concerns and social values of the IndoAryan community that settled in Punjab: praise of
pantheon of deities: Indra the most powerful God
Rig veda addressed these religious concerns and social values of the indo-aryan community -> praise of deities
Indra the most ups of Gods
By B K Mitra - Gitapress, Gorakhpur, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=104056518
The most classic of the texts
aryans fairer ,
taller,
sharper
nosed, saw
these
indigenous
dasa as
inferior,
intended to
take over
their space
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: RIG VEDA
❖ Indra – model chieftain / warrior for invading
Indo-Aryans into lands inhabited by dasa: “darkskinned, flat-featured stealers of cattle, speaking a
different language and living in fortified citadels”
practices etc are lost -> aryans tookover and did not seek to preserve their culture
❖ Pre-Aryan culture: unknown languages, history &
‘domestic, rural cults’ – some ‘religious’ practices reemerge in medieval ‘Hindu’ literature
❖ Agni – second most important deity & priest of
the Gods – fire in multiple forms – sacrifice (yajna)
– central ritual practice of Vedic society
did not refer to self as hindus but as Vedic societies -- These Aryan communities
functioned according to Vedas and hence could describe self as vedic society
Wikipedia Commons: unknown artist
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: RIG VEDA
❖ Sacrifice – powerful ritual that enables the Gods to defeat
the demons & assist the Aryans to defeat their earthly enemies
w the expectation that if Gods happy, they will support
→ wealth, cattle, victory & order. done
expansion efforts
❖ Soma - plant / liquid from the crushing of the plant / God
personifying the effects of ingesting the liquid → drink of
inspiration, vision & revelation enabling those who consume it to
mingle with the Gods hallucinogenic qualities - associated w talking to God
(https://saipriyac27.wordpress.com/2020/12/12/soma-its-significance-andpossible-identity/)
❖ Recurrent theme in Indian religions: What is ontologically most
real is accessible through non-human means: soma, yoga,
meditation, devotional fervour or ritual
Devdutt Pattanaik
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: RIG VEDA
they had tools => Could get into agriculture
and create fixed communities in a space
❖ 1200-600BC: Indo-Aryans settled as agrarian society → classbased / occupational specialisation & status distinction
❖ Those not Indo-Aryan incorporated into community as labourers
& social inferiors (sudras) the indigenous people that were conquered basically
❖ Evolution of Vedic religion: nonproducing class of religious
specialists who devote selves to sacrificial ritual & articulating its
significance.
❖ Increasingly dramatic sacrifice: extend & legitimize political
authority over population → means of creating, maintaining and
stabilizing spiritual order of the cosmos & society (not offering to
win a battle) → sacrifice became more important than the Gods
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: RIG VEDA
❖ Brahmanas (Anglicised as Brahman or Brahmin) – religious
specialists
❖ Brahman in Rig Veda: refer to Vedic hymns (powerful &
efficacious speech – mantra)
❖ Brahmana – those who created & recited hymns
❖ At this time, brahman reciters not a hereditary or endogamous
social group – but in later Vedic texts (created by the Brahmana
themselves), they are identified as a hereditary occupational social
inserted themselves into occupational group and created
the caste system
group (beginnings of class & caste systems)
with the entry of colonial masters => Brahmanas became Brahmins
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA:
SUPPLEMENTARY VEDIC TEXTS
designed to be dramatic => more dramatic & complex = smaller group of people
that could do it => consolidates power of the Brahmanas
❖ Brahmanas – focus on ritual action of sacrifice
❖ Aranyakas (forest books) & Upanisads (sitting close to a teacher) –
from private discussions between teachers & students in a forest
❖ Upanisads accepted as Vedanta (culmination of the Veda) & its highest
teachings – introduce new sets of concepts
❖ Samsara (circling / wandering: reincarnation) – wandering of an
individual from life to life & the entire world in perpetual flux (extension
of Vedic natural cycles of moon, day & night, seasons)
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA:
SUPPLEMENTARY VEDIC TEXTS
❖ Karman (to do or make: Anglicised as karma) – all
sacrificial actions have consequences leading to phala
making merit
(fruits) that will eventually ripen
❖ Moral dimension of causality – moral character of one’s
action in this lifetime will determine the status of one’s
rebirth in the next
comes from you yourself
and your actions
❖ Moksa – release from the cycle of rebirth (liberation or
a colonial term
salvation) – through renunciation, asceticism & attainment
of higher forms of knowledge (withdrawing from all that
might bind one to the world: escape from rebirth)
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA:
THE VEDAS
❖ Corpus of religious ideas and practices
❖ Gauge of Hindu ‘orthodoxy’ – those closest to Vedic traditions
claimed superior status & judged others (but original language of
the Vedas is now incomprehensible to most)
❖ Continued extensions of the Vedas – Mahabharata – Tamil Veda
❖ Longevity of the Vedas (not hegemony like Abrahamic holy
books): shifting,
changing, contentious discourse of Indian religious
evolution gives it relevance, echoes modern concerns
history – echoes of concerns, terms, goals & practices in India
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA:
PATANJALI & THE YOGASUTRAS
❖ New beliefs accepted common foundation: samsara, karman &
moksa
❖ Certain kinds of psychological and physical practices are
particularly conducive to attaining religious goals
❖ Yoga (root word: yuj – to bind together) – all sorts of disciplined
practices that restrain one’s unruly inclinations so as to attain a
higher state of concentration
❖ The senses are wild horses hitched to the chariot of the body –
the mind is the charioteer who must bring them under control –
yoga is how you achieve that control (Upanisads). associated w using ur mind to control your body
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA:
JAINISM
❖ Jaina (refer to selves: root word ji – to
conquer)- to fight an ascetic battle to conquer the
senses and karma to attain a purity of soul that
liberates them from all bondage
❖ 24 Tirthankaras (path-makers)
❖ Mahavira: first attested historical Jain leader
(most recent) – born human with Godly qualities:
auspicious omens at birth – with liberation, his
body shone like a crystal on all sides. Vedic Gods
bowed to his powers & honoured him
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: JAINISM
❖ 2 grps of Jains: lay-followers & renouncers
❖ Laypersons – avoid meat, wine, honey & snacking at night – also
falsehood, stealing & violence – distribution of wealth to monks,
nuns & the poor
❖ Devapuja (ritual practice towards Tirthanakaras) – approach &
bow to image / chant names, circumambulate, bathe the image,
make offerings & wave lamps before it.
not idolatrous - believe that the spirit is beyond the physical object -- there is a goal to the teachings
❖ Strict Jains: do not see Jinas IN the image (meditation in motion
to inspire followers to achieve ideal state) – layfollowers believe
the spirit is within & will attain direct benefits in return for ritual
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: JAINISM
❖ Renunciation – great celebration for the individual & community
❖ Death & rebirth: cast off all former possessions, pull out hair in
large handfuls, give up names – presented with austere provisions
& new monastic names
❖ Monk or nun undertakes 5 great vows: abstain from all violence,
dishonesty, theft, sex & personal possessions… may culminate in
sallekhana (voluntary self starvation) – abandonment of the body
itself for the soul’s ultimate purity. to release the soul from samsara and the never ending cycle of rebirth - liberation
❖ Difference from Vedic brahmanas – ahimsa (non-violence or
abstinence from harm to another) Jains are non-violent unlike vedic emphasis on sacrifice -- no harm in Jainism
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: JAINISM
logo institutionalised in 1974
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jain_symbols
Jain swastika
hand
represents
ahimsa - non
violence
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA:
REDEFINING ‘BRAHMANISM’
remember - hinduism was not a label yet
referred to their practice as Brahmanism
❖ In light of Jainism, Buddhism & Islam –
collation & refinement of Vedic texts
❖ Evolution of more texts to restore cosmic
order
cosmic order meant religious focus is on them as the center
❖ Dharmasastra – overarching order of the cosmos &
society – a person’s duties within this world
❖ Epics – Mahabharata & Ramayana (stories of the
Hindu world in transition) – battles & wars, with the
kings restoring order
❖ Vedic gods unable to quell disorder: new god
Vishnu (diminutive role in Rig Veda) who takes over
Indra’s role as primary vanquisher of demons – can
take on human role by incarnating himself where
necessary
1) Dharmasastra
2) Mahabharata & Ramayana
3) With new texts, came new Gods - Vishnu
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA:
REDEFINING ‘BRAHMANISM’
❖ Bhagavad Gita – Song of the Lord Krisna (incarnation
of Visnu)
another way of getting close to God -- Krishna
❖ Bhakti (devotion) – new and superior method of
religious attainment: to dedicate oneself to Krisna (a
personal god who is simultaneously the Absolute)
SOP for everything in Hinduism
❖ Puranas – cosmology, royal genealogies, society &
dharma (order), sacred geography of pilgrimage sites,
yogic practices, town planning, grammar & poetics –
theology, mythology & ritual of Krisna & Siva
❖ Rudra (in Rig Veda as a ‘howler’), peripheral divinity &
destructive force – becomes gentler in Puranas → Siva
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA:
REDEFINING ‘BRAHMANISM’
Rudra vs Siva
❖ Duality of Lord Siva – lord & role model for yogis
(more interested in leading them to moksa) –
malevolent & benevolent, ascetic & erotic, hermit &
family man, meditator & dancer, both male & female
(hermaphrodite)
❖ Able to occasionally manifest himself in a body for
a purpose instant transformation for a cause
❖ God Brahma – God of creation & patron of Vedic
& orthodox brahmans
❖Hindu Trinity of Brahma (creator of the world),
Visnu (protector & sustainer) & Siva (destroyer)
destroyer => Exists for balance, emphasis of hinduism
Saraswati – Goddess of Knowledge, Music,
Art & Communication – Consort of Brahma
Parvati – Goddess of Fertility, Love, Devotion
& Determination – Consort of Siva
Laksmi – Goddess of Wealth , Fortune &
Prosperity – Consort of Visnu
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: FEMALE DEITIES
❖ 5th – 7th Century literature (consorts or wives of principal male
deities) – Female Absolutes
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: TEMPLES
❖ Home & residence for a God – main sanctum of the temple:
physical form that enables a relationship with the divinity
❖ A vision of the orderly cosmos presided over by the deity –
hierarchal ranks of lesser Gods in the pantheon in their places
❖ Map of the spiritual path that the worshiper must follow towards
participation with the deity
❖ Temple is a place of crossing: God descends from transcendence
& devotee moves inward from the outer mundane
❖ Temples built & maintained as the centre of community worship
Jaghat Pita Brahma Mandir,
Pushkar, Rajasthan
Mahabalipuram Temples, Tamil
Nadu
Kailasha Temple, Maharashtra (rock cut temple)
Sanchi Stupa, Madhya Pradesh (built by Ashoka’s wife)
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: BAKHTI
❖ Priests & texts emphasized proper ritual performance as a
means of religious attainment
❖ Bhakti (emotional enthusiasm: root word – bhaj – to divide/share
in partaking of sacrificial offering & experiencing something:
waiting on someone – make love or adore spiritually) – innovation
in worship to share in a divine being, tasting & enjoying a God’s
presence, serving & worshipping a God & to be as intimate/
attached as possible
❖ Bakhti saints – poets – hymns: paradox of intimate relationship
(accessibility) with a deity that is simultaneously unknowable
(otherness) … decentralisation of faith from the elite
strengthening of localised practices of hinduism
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: TANTRA
❖ One genre of texts directed to the Goddess Sakti (energy –
fundamental creative energy of the cosmos): consort of Siva – the
followers of tantric text feel Sakti more impt than Siva - source of energy of the cosmos
Sakta tantras
❖ A series of ritual & yogic practices: visualization, geometrical
designs, impositions of mantra powers & Kundalini
yoga – shared
control your mind
repertoire of techniques toolbox of ways to cleanse your soul and become more spiritual
❖ A system of thought & practice, based on a few shared premises
and orientations not easy
❖ The body is a microcosm of the universe: use it as the vehicle to
attain powers & liberation to attain moksa
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: TANTRA
❖ Esoterism & ritual: Goddess Sakti subverted Siva as the Absolute
(real force of the universe)
❖ Escape convention & reality (duality): upside-down language so
that it is unintelligible to the uninitiated you don't know what is going on unless someone carefully explains it to you
❖ Erotic: used human romance & sexuality as a metaphor for the
complex personal relationship between soul & God: world comes
into being through the primordial, recurrent coupling of Siva &
Sakti – sexual union is a way of reenacting creation / bringing the
practitioner in harmony with the forces of the cosmos
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA: TANTRA
❖ Ritualised sexual union enables tantric practitioners
to transcend all dualities (impersonal cosmic
significance)
❖ Many practitioners preferred bakhti (emotional
connection) and did not actually wish to overcome
duality
❖ Resistance against the good vs evil categories by
orthodox Brahmans – followers of bakhti led by
passionate attachment to God to transgress social
boundaries in protest: deliberate ritualised
overturning
of conventional mores
kept trying to flip the norms - resistance in the form of doing sumn v different
https://www.thepracticebali.com/tantra
-is-not-about-sex-dont-get-distracted/
HISTORY OF RELIGION IN INDIA:
RELIGIONS OF HOME & VILLAGE
❖ Oral transmission of religious practices between women, through
the generations – no textual documentation
❖ Written texts are male-oriented & dominated domains
❖ Domestic practices: local & regional diversity – address the
concerns of women (successful marriage, healthy offspring,
domestic accord, prosperity of the home, rites to ward of
calamities that can threaten the well-being of the family & lineage)
❖ Less focus on moksa – more female divinities
❖ Domestic ceremonies: common practices – fasting, bathing,
purification rites, puja, maintenance of vows
ceremonies associated w maintaining stability in the home
Expansion of Hinduism in Asia,
from its heartland in the Indian
subcontinent, to the rest of Asia,
especially Southeast Asia,
started circa 1st Century marked
with the establishment of early
Hindu settlements and polities in
Southeast Asia
Gunawan
Kartapranata:
https://commons.
wikimedia.org/wi
ki/File:Hinduism_E
xpansion_in_Asia.
svg
HINDUISM IN BALI
❖ 1.7% of Indonesian population are Hindu: Bali & East
Java
❖ Bali – last outpost of Hinduism after Islam arrived
(>90% on island are Hindu: Muslims are immigrants
from Lombok & Java)
balinese refer to their faith as
❖ Rooted in Vedic texts – referred to as Agama Shiva /
Buda / Bali (only referred to as ‘Hinduism’ after Dutch
arrived
❖ Central focus on moksa – unique spiritual traditions of
Nusantara & engagement with other beliefs, animism…
❖ Belief in karma & reincarnation (no caste system,
child marriage) – worship of Hindu Trinity + island
Gods & Demons + dewa (dead ancestors)
HINDUISM IN BALI
done on daily basis
❖ Offerings to please the Gods & Demons – maintain
the balance between the 2 forces (stability)
❖ No fish bombing around Bali as the dead’s ashes
are scattered at sea and the dead should not be
disturbed
❖ 20,000 temples in Bali – community & public
❖ Balinese kings had a puri (palace) and within each
puri was a pura (or several) for private and public
ceremonies
❖ Unique celebrations in Bali (Nyepi, Galungan etc)
Unique temples
& offerings
Balinese Worship through Art, Dance & Drama
originally Sanghyang – now incorporates
stories from Ramayana for tourist consumption: KECAK
KEJAWEN (JAVANISM / KEBATINAN)
❖Mystical synthesis and inseparable from Javanese identity
❖Metaphysical search for harmony within one’s inner self &
unity with God
❖ Syncretism, flexibility & pragmatism (animism, Hinduism
(tantra) & Buddhism… later combined with Sufi Islam)
❖ Javanese co-habitation with and understanding of spiritual
world
Sultan is married to her in a spiritual sense
❖ Read: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43806210
and https://medium.com/@Kalpavriksha/kejawen-thereligion-of-java-cca08956d1a
https://deskjabar.pikiran-rakyat.com/ragam/pr1133585316/ternyata-gerbang-masuk-istana-nyi-rorokidul-ada-di-sini-parangkusumo-yogyakarta
KEJAWEN
How Indonesia is normalising monotheism
❖ Not initially acceptable under the Pancasila –
indigenous faiths allowed in 2017
(https://www.voanews.com/a/indonesians-allowed-to-officiallyidentify-with-indigenous-faiths/4114242.html)
❖ Indigenous Javanese (pre-religion) worshipped
forces of nature – made sacrifices to acquire
supernatural powers – change human form &
speak with spirits… some of these practices
changed with the arrival of Sufi Islam
(incorporation of Saints and Islamic phrases).
❖ Faith provides guidelines for relationships with
humans, nature and non-human/ non-living
By Government of Indonesia (uncredited) - Poster
published by the Indonesian government; scanned
by — Chris Woodrich (talk), Public Domain,
KEJAWEN
❖ Spiritual development through
mantras, rituals, fasting &
meditation
❖ Rituals provide protection from
spirits & pays respects
❖ Life is lived according to the
Javanese calendar (auspicious and
other days)
❖ Similar dance and other rituals
as Hindu practices
❖ Silat – kuda kepang (lumping)
https://kulturnistudia.cz/kejawen-as-the-traditionalmystical-belief-on-the-contemporary-java-island/
Medium article – p.44
KEJAWEN
By Agus Triyanto - https://pixabay.com/id/photos/silattemple-culture-budaya-2902028/ web archive, CC0,
https://visitjawatengah.jatengprov.go.id/id/regency/kabupatenwonosobo/seni-budaya/kuda-kepang
https://sumsel.inews.id/berita/apa-itu-tradisi-kejawen
TRACES OF HINDUISM IN THAI BUDDHISM
❖ Origins of Thai Theravada Buddhism are seen to be in
Hinduism – shared space for Hindu Gods at Buddhist shrines
(eg Brahma at Erawan Shrine in BKK)
❖ Ramayana adopted as Thai epic Ramakian – Brahmans
that conduct royal rituals, Hindu deities present in Thai art
❖ Mixture of Hinduism, Buddhism and Thai folk beliefs
(Syncretism? Or the difficulty of delineating a clear line
between the practices…)
❖ Read: https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-hindugods-of-buddhist-thailand/ and
https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/social-andlifestyle/726736/the-new-brahmins
Images from:
https://theculturet
rip.com/asia/thail
and/articles/why
-thailand-hashindu-statues-atbuddhist-temples/
https://www.news
week.com/hauntin
gly-beautifulspirit-housesthailand1330678
MESSAGE FROM MY YOGA MASTER & RECAP
❖ There was no Hinduism until the
colonial masters arrived – there was a
panth (moral collective) of Indian
religions
❖ There is no single founder, holy book
or pathway – practice, Gods & beliefs
evolve with time & place
❖ The achievement of moksa (liberation
reincarnation
from samsara) requires non-human action:
mantra, ritual, yoga, soma, meditation,
bakhti…
❖ Faith is personal, local & indigenous
WORLD RELIGIONS:
ISLAM IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Dr Serina Rahman
GEC1013 / GEH1045
Wk8 - Sem2.2022/23
BODY & SPIRIT: THE HUMAN BODY IN
THOUGHT AND PRACTICE … UNTIL 26TH MAR
BRING YOUR NUS STUDENT CARD!!!
Featuring Thai Buddhist Temple mural
painting by Prof Irving Chan Johnson
ADMINISTRATIVE REMINDERS
1. Forum postings (Discussions) – 15%
2. Response paper (past due: less 2 marks p/day late) – 25%
3. Tutorial participation – 20%!!
4. End of lecture quizzes – 15%
5. MCQ Week 12 (not gonna be easy…) – 25%
6. Revised readings…
ISLAM IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
❖ Southeast Asia before Islam
❖ The spread of Sufi Islam
❖ Traditional Islam v the Puritanical
Revival
❖ Adaptations of Islam – Merit-making
❖ Hijab as an Islamic marker & its
modern meanings
❖Al Qurtuby, S. 2013. Southeast Asia: History,
Modernity and Religious Change.
❖Joll, C.M. 2014. Thailand’s merit-making Muslims:
Adoption and Adaptation of the Indic in the creation
of Islamicate Southern Thailand.
❖Aljunied, K. 2017. Hijabis as purveyors of Muslim
cosmopolitanism.
❖Brakel, L.F. 2004. Islam and Local Traditions: Syncretic
Ideas and Practices. Indonesia and the Malay World.
32(92): 5-20.
indonesia -> has Pancasila -> atheism is not
allowed -> 6 recognised religions -> indigenous
religions that may not have just one god are accepted
on paper -> in practice there is evidence it is difficult
as administrators and agencies do not really accept
it -> before the paper acceptance of indigenous
religions, the indigenous religioners needed to adopt
one of the 6 religions to be allowed normalcy -> so
these ppl had to find ways to adopt these new
practices along with their own religions
Source:
Islam in Asia: Diversity in Past
and Present Exhibition: Islam in
Southeast Asia
Cornell University
https://guides.library.cornell.edu
/islamasiaexhibit/islamseasia
https://www.facebook.com/AsianSEAStory/photos/p.311250860580491/311250860580491/?type=3
WHAT WAS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA PRE-’RELIGION’?
Southeast Asian civilisation as old as that of Egypt, Greece, India &
indian spread across SEA -> Indian origin Religions
China
(Before being dubbed Hinduism)
❖ 1st Century AD – Southeast Asian Golden Age: Indic courts
prior
arrival of organised religion
❖ “pre-modern” – prior to the arrival of organised religion
▪ Mainland
vs Island Southeast Asia
nomadic
more civilised in a sense
not as advanced as those w religion
practiced??!
▪ Hill (hunter-gatherer / primitives / magic) vs valley (agrarian / settled /
governance) communities
▪ Settled coastal communities vs nomadic boat communities – fishing-based
economies
❖ How do we refer to indigenous faiths (pre-organised religion)?
❖ Irony of ‘civilised’ people going to ‘primitive’ people for magical cures
supported academically -> Used to try controlling others -> get money and power
WHAT WAS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA PRE-’RELIGION’?
people would spread out, pretty independent (except vietnam) no clear boundaries/borders - no much beureaucracy
❖ No massive state-based societies
❖‘STATE’:
❖ No clear physical boundary (rulers fought over followers not territory)
❖ Lack of bureaucracy
❖ Patrimonialism (patron-client relationship / personal relationships)
❖ Lack of government structure / bureaucratic continuity
❖ No standing army
kings fought each other to takeover and gain more success
❖ No mechanism for succession: violent transitions of power
❖ Indic states: Burma, Thailand, Cambodia & Java
❖ Vietnam as an exception (government bureaucracy & code of
law)
DECOLONISING FAITH: VIEWS OF THE OTHER
❖ Primitive, heathen → MAGIC
❖ Local spiritual-cultural concepts (superstition?)
❖ Worship
of guardian and ancestral spirits
labels placed on these ppl from our pov
❖ Animism (soul or life) – pagan tribes
❖ Cosmic duality
entities
• Integration of opposing entitles: land-water, male-
Kayan mask – East Kalimantan, Borneo
https://asianartnewspaper.com/ancestorculture-in-southeast-asia/#prettyPhoto
female, sea-mountain etc pit two contrasting figures against one another (land vs sky etc)
• Sacred mountains – Mt Meru (or other natural features)
– centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual
universes hindus also believe mt meru is the centre of everyth/universe
• Veneration of erect stones as fertility symbols
❖Exorcism, artistic
performance, spirit cultism
faith expressed in terms of music, dance etc
❖Who defines ‘civilized’ and ‘primitive’?
https://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/concepts/meru.asp
overlaps in practices; ppl from outside world that come in have no idea what these practices mean/do
it gets diluted when used commercially, for monetisation
can be misappropriated - kecap performance money goes to
locals/temple, many other performances money goes elsewhere
Commercialising,
Monetising &
Misappropriating
Faith
Destination Spiritual
Wellness –
Shamanism for Power
and Healing
https://www.secretretreats.com/blog/generalinfo/magic-witch-doctorsand-shamanic-ritualsaround-asia.html
HOW DID ‘RELIGION’ SPREAD? (TOOL 4 POWER)
some from indic civilisations some indianisation
❖ Mahayana Hinduism-Buddhism influence (Indianisation?)
❖ No major waves of migration from India indians didnt take over SEA
❖ Brahmins (Hindu priests), practices
Buddhist
monks, scholars & traders
that they brought slowly spread
❖ Local beliefs fit nicely & could be absorbed into new
‘religion’: similarities in the precepts across diff cultures made it easy
❖ Cosmic duality (Mt Meru) & veneration of fertility symbols
control ppl w religion by seizing 'magic'/forecasting futures etc with the religious clout of elders etc
❖ Rulers could use & adapt
knowledge brought by monks:
symbols of power - places to pray, big buildings attracted followers
❖ Astronomy, astrology, architecture & statecraft
❖ Means of governing societies, building symbols of faith (temples) &
power, control through expectations of astronomical event etc
ARCHITECTURE OF THE SACRED
The creation of spaces for worship has often been in
the hands of leaders of faith groups rather than their
members. These buildings have been envisaged by
those wishing not just to create a sacred container
for worship, but to say something to the faithful
without words. Buildings contain messages about
the beliefs, hopes and aspirations of religious
movements. Often, through their artworks, they
encode the very teachings of a religion in a wordless
form. They can also speak to those of the ‘outside
world’ who are not of the same religion – conveying
the message that the religion has something
important that could benefit the ‘unbeliever’ as
much as it currently sustains the believer.
Chapter 1, Pg 11
HOW DID ‘RELIGION’ SPREAD?
❖ Southeast Asians were NOT passive recipients
of faith they didnt just sponge and absorb everyth
❖ Aspects that were not adopted:
❖ Caste system big in India, thank God this didnt pick up here in SEA
❖ Temples not for community congregation but
dedicated to courts & kings
❖ Cultural patterns unique to Southeast Asia that
remained:
❖ Gender relationships, female peasants, wet-rice
cultivation techniques
❖ Exceptions to ‘Indianisation’:
❖ Vietnam - Chinese-Confucian traditions and
https://www.counterpointknowledge.org/b
eyond-gender-categories-the-bissu-ofsulawesi/
politics (Sinicised)
❖ Sulawesi & Maluku (East Indonesia) and the
Entry of colonialism etc. wiped out the powers of women,
Philippines
In Sulawesi, gender fluidity exists + islamic devoutness SEA was initially matriarchal, later became patriarchal
Religion & the elimination of
matriarchy & gender fluidity
HOW DID ‘RELIGION’ SPREAD?
trade!
14th to 16th Centuries – Age of Commerce
❖ Spices (more expensive than gold)
❖ Military or political expeditions of China Mongol
(Yuan Dynasty) – Kublai Khan
❖ Contact establishment by Ming Dynasty –
Admiral Cheng Ho (Hui Muslim)
❖ Angkor replaced by Thai powers
❖ Conversion to Theravada Buddhism (by
kings: Sangha)
❖ Sriwijaya transformed into Islamic
Sultanate of Melaka
Map from 1707: Volcano erupts while spices are
harvested - https://libdbserver.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websit
es/pacific/spice-islands/map-moluccas-aa-1707.jpg
Princeton University:
Mapping Globalisation
Southeast Asian Trade Routes 17th to
19th Centuries
https://commons.princeton.edu/mg/south
east-asian-trade-routes-17th-19thcentury/ tip of sumatra at first (coastal) -> these places became
civilised first because of the spread of religion from outside,
inland communities took awhile to spread there but eventually
followed as seen from the colour changes in map below
trade routes -> how religion came
http://www.muslimpopulation.com/asia/Vietnam/Islams%20J
ourney%20Into%20Southeast%20Asia.php
SOUTHEAST ASIA’S AGE OF COMMERCE
sufi saints, priests, mystics coming from india
❖ Growth of urban cities (3x bigger than European cities)
❖ Plurality of ethnicity and religion
❖ Growth of personal wealth (orang kaya – ownership of
merchant fleets & ships)
❖ Contractual package of government focussed on the
rich elites / business class (non-hereditary)
❖ Rapid fall of Mahayana Hinduism-Buddhism
❖ Lack of deep social roots
❖ King-centric religions
not everyone deeply took to reverence to a king like figure,
led to fall of king centric religions and made space for spread of
Syncretic Islam
❖ Spread of syncretic Islam through trade, Sufi mystics &
art performancesform of islam that integrated hindu elements into it before they came - sufism - saints, zakir
❖ Balanced integration of animistic, Hinduistic and Islamic elements
❖ Slow blending & penetration of the faith… from the coasts
mystic aspects of sufism used in ruling ppl as it matched indigenous practices - hinduism / sufism parallels and
common ground
Wikipedia
before anybody came in, we had naturalistic religions
indigenous faiths- sacred structures sacred geography part of nature
WHAT IS SYNCRETISM?
What came were the prophetic religions: abrahamic, prescriptive religions steeped
in clear paradigms of good and evil
❖ The blending of religions during classical
antiquity (Brakel, 2004)
❖ As all religions have a previous history, they all
represent some sort of syncretism
local practices absorb religions OR religions absorb local practices
❖ The first naturalistic religions: concerned with
self-realisation – man as part of nature & equal to
all other parts of nature: tolerance & perspective
❖ Prophetic religions: clear black & white / good
vs evil – I-you-he: between the believer and the
creator there is an abyss that cannot be bridged
Kodama by Studio Ghibli
when religions came into SEA -> it was syncretic to begin with
THE DEEPENING OF ISLAM
19th to 21st Century: Rise of Islamic Reform
❖ Broad-based institutions for Islamic education,
sciences, jurisprudence & canon – replacing
religious teaching in the homes of Sufi mystics or
shamans (dukun)
❖ Religious rituals formerly led by shaman or
priest – replaced by imams
❖ Building of mosques in sacred squares / shrines
❖ Return of pilgrims - hajis (with the opening of
Suez Canal)
❖ Spread of puritanical Islam (Salafi – pious
forbears) vs Sufi Islam (seen as divergent)
what was previously more mystical and priesty now formalised in religion(islam)
https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-14/issue-3/octdec-2018/magic-or-med-m-heal/
last time shamans/priests, now IMAMS heal use islamic
phrases etc associated w White Magic, shamans priests
black magic
literal interpretations coming to the fore
By Tropenmuseum, part of the National Museum of World
Cultures, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8579261
RESISTANCE TO ‘RELIGION’
census taking inaccurate because of how ppl who believed in Kejawen (Javanism) or
other indigenous faiths could not on paper believe in them because of Pancasila
pancasila - enforced reqmt for structured religion
❖ With push for ‘puritanism’ in Indonesia (Java)
❖ Conversion to Christianity (Javanese leaders)
❖ Return to pre-modern Java (Hindu-Buddhism)
❖ With government policy dictating 6 religions
that all must profess or be deemed atheist /
agnostic / communist:
❖ Move to Balinese Hinduism
❖ Southeast Asian revival of small-scale, local
faiths (lay rituals)
always existed -- just not openly
has elements of islam but largely indigenous practices in these
❖ Kejawen, Sumatran mysticism…
❖ Religions Minorities in Indonesia face
Discrimination – New Mandala /Andreas Harsono https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/12/24/religiousminorities-indonesia-face-discrimination
Sri Vijaya wedding attire… (Quora)
SOUTHERN THAI MUSLIM MERIT MAKING
karma?
thai culture -> make merit
absorbed into religion of
Islam in Thailand
❖ tham bun – to make merit (wa’ pahalo) – spiritual bank account
❖ pahla – Sanskrit word for fruit that will ripen at a later time…
❖ to accumulate ‘merit’ that can be ‘made’ through ritual action or
religious activity (merit is earned – attained in return for action) – key is
performance
❖ feasts to honour the deceased / newborn / special events
❖ donations of food / cash / kind
❖ also social activity with no transference of merit
❖ Thai culture vs Pattani Malay spiritual practice
❖ earning merit through 5 pillars of ‘normative’ Islam
❖ linked to concepts of final judgement: righteous children
❖ deceased parents – prayers at graves to help them move on…
filial piety - keep helping them to get to a better place
❖Rigid rituals taking on local social meanings
like how the normative aspects of Islam tie in to the karmic aspects of Tham Bun in Thailand
also Syncretism!!
fertility practice
SYNCRETIC PARALLELS
❖ Islam came to SEA through India – already
an amalgamation… Sufi saints grew on
Zoroastrian practices – landing in Java led to
incorporation into Shivaite-mixed local rituals
and beliefs
❖ Islamised ancestral culture through addition
of Islamic phrases – Imams to conduct rituals
instead of shamans (differentiating between
white & black magic)
❖ Borrowed rituals & practices:
❖ kenduri congregational
– sharing
of blessings inherent in food –
prayers believed to be more powerful than prayers by 1
selametan
❖ doa – saying & blessings – mantera / mantras
❖ wedding practices & rituals on the dias
bunga telur
throw flowers on b&g
renjis2
bunga rampai
INCORPORATING AGAMA (RELIGION)
INTO ADAT (TRADITION)…
Religion has been safely incorporated into the official headgear in all the
national wear
wear a hijab, traditional javanese prayer hat, etc.
https://www.facebook.com/AsianSEAStory/posts/thegorgeous-muslim-wedding-dresses-for-the-bride-withunique-traditional-styles/311249810580596/
ISLAMIC COSMOPOLITANISM & THE HIJAB
❖ Evolving piety – maintaining modesty with a
touch of modernity
❖ Bodies as the site of contention (men
deciding for women – women more
misogynistic than men…)
❖ Identity tied to the idea of the veil
❖ Defiance in the wearing of the veil –
resistance in how the veil is worn
❖ Enforcement vs making it your own vs less
faith than fashion symbol
ISLAMIC COSMOPOLITANISM & THE HIJAB
women who fought to remove veil necessity couldnt understand why their daughters were fighting to keep veil on
❖ Islamic resurgence in SEA – redefinition of
‘modesty’ – revolution in the meaning of ‘aurah’
targeted specific part of the body
that needed to be covered
❖ Re-veiling – women who’s mothers did not
cover… whose grandmothers may have fought
to uncover… (p.105)
❖ Identity Politics & the Hijab: as a marker of
marginality (for women’s safety) – when hijab
is banned: as a sign of courage – as a sign of
agency & empowerment
❖ Spiritual assessments: unveiled / ‘free hair’ =
lesser Muslim
https://cilisos.my/wearing-tudungs-used-to-becontroversial-in-malaysia-how-did-things-change-so-much/
HIJABISTA & HIJABSTER
Hijab as identity politics
❖ Women’s ability to negotiate between contemporary fashion
trends & the maintenance of modesty as a component of faith
(p.204)
❖ Muslim fashion culture… that does not sit easily alongside
traditional conceptions of womanhood in Islam
❖Letting interest in secularism & fashion (invokes a focus on
individuality and beauty) – gets in the way of religious piety &
modesty
Islamic counter-culture – mediating the boundary between
personal identity and consumerism vs collective religious identity
and piety
❖ Stylistic choices conflict with conservative-authoritarian
strategies for control of everyday life
Yuna - #1 Hijabster
HIJABISTA & HIJABSTER
Youth binaries
❖Modernity vs traditionalism
❖Religion vs secularism
❖Conservative status quo = traditional + religious
Malay youth
❖Alternative cultural practices = connection with modern (Western)
global practices that enable them to escape the confines of
traditional Malay culture (p.203)
❖Non-normative = resistance, deviance or sub-culture? = problem
❖Young Muslimahs seen as pious & modest: hijab as the
objectification of that ‘truth’
Hijabster style:
Cardigan
Sneakers
Big round specs
HIJABISTA & HIJABSTER
point of hijab is not to draw attn to yourself -> the fashion aspect of it all DOES draw attn
Muslimah modesty = not drawing attention to self
❖Malay-Muslim progressiveness & economic empowerment
❖Affluence & investments (P&G hiring of Muslimah bloggers)
❖Women entrepreneurs & fashion focus
❖Islamic cosmopolitanism – chic / pop-Islam
❖Collective, youth-driven quest for identity & authenticity (vs
accusations of pretentiousness)
❖New cultural hybridities subverting dominant narrative
❖Youthful religious imams & ustazs in local mosques
❖Battle vs elders who hold the threshold of power: controlled by
cultural-industry & political elites: incorporate into discourses of
how Muslim youth should be…
THE SPECTRUM OF ISLAMIC PLURALITY IN
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Mystical Kejawen &
Sumatran syncretism
islam absorbed into local practices, not other way around
Traditionalist Kaum Tua
Islam – with rituals
navigating the boundaries
Evolving piety – fashionable modesty:
Hijabistas & Imam2 Muda
Puritanical /
fundamentalist
Wahabi-Salafi theology
Obedient Wives Club
& Global Ikhwan*
* https://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/rebranded-obedient-wives-club-now-back-polygamy-counsellors-071722733.html
READINGS…
❖ Polar Extremes of the Islamic
Spectrum - https://www.utne.com/mindand-body/extremes-islamic-spectrumze0z1704zols/
❖ Williams, P.J. 2017. “Muslim girl
culture and social control in Southeast
Asia: Exploring the hijabista and
hijabster.” Crime Media Culture 13(2):
199-216.
❖Johor remains the Bastion of Kaum
Tua - https://www.iseas.edu.sg/articlescommentaries/trends-in-southeastasia/trends-in-southeast-asia2017/johor-remains-the-bastion-of-kaumtua-by-norshahril-saat/
WORLD RELIGIONS:
SIKHISM
Dr Serina Rahman
GEC1013 / GEH1045
Wk8 - Sem2.2022/23
HOUSEKEEPING: MCQ TEST – WK12
❖ 25% of your grade
❖ 20mins (beginning from 1pm – window open ‘til 2pm)
❖ 40 questions: 1 attempt for each – then it moves on
❖ closed book / online / on your own / on Canvas (you won’t have
time to find answers)
❖ content ONLY from the lecture slides (but you’d have to
remember what was explained and not written) – Wks 7-12
❖ all slides are available on Canvas
SIKHISM – TODAY’S TALE…
❖ Setting the Context
❖ Guru Nanak & the Living Gurus
❖ The Khalsa
their holy book
their God
❖ The Adi Granth… & the Supreme Being
❖ Sikhism’s Central Doctrines & Principles
❖ Practices, Rituals & Festivals
❖ Sikhs in Service to the World
The Sikh Khanda: symbol of Sikh
faith –
1. Central double-edged sword
(khanda): divine strength, truth,
freedom, justice & God’s creative
power
2. Inner circle (chakkar): Oneness of
God and the Oneness of
Humanity
3. Two crossed swords (kirpans):
balance between spiritual and
social obligations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEriVaoW6Vk
2020
~ 25 million worldwide
SIKHISM: THE CONTEXT
❖ 15th Century Punjab (NW India)
❖ Era of poet-saints (sants) who were challenging Hindu & Islamic
orthodoxies
❖ Buddhism almost completely disappeared from Punjab
Wikipedia
When we talk about the founding of Sikhism, we
need to know that all of these issues were ongoing
at the time
❖ Hinduism: followers of Shiva, Vishnu & Goddess Devi + Sufi Islam
mystical, song and dancey, not puritanical
❖ Tantric yogic sects of the Nath tradition: against castes & their
relevance to spiritual liberation, sacred language & scriptures,
temple worship & pilgrimage
❖ Turn towards contemplative devotion
tantric yoga sects of the nath tradition:
+against caste and releveance to spiritual liberation, sacred language and scriptures,
temple worship and pilgrimage
+ turned inward towards contemplative devotion
GURU NANAK
❖ Founder of Sikhism (born 1469) of the Khatri (warrior) caste
❖ Known to be a dreamer growing up – as an adult, deeply
absorbed in spiritual contemplation
❖ One morning while meditating at Bein River – disappeared for 3
days… then stepped out of the water: “There is no Hindu, there is
no Muslim” – first of his revelations
❖ Proof that Sikhism is not syncretic synthesis of Hinduism – vision
of common humanity / deeper reality beyond external labels
❖ Then (at 30yrs old) abandoned job & family for a religious
pilgrimage – meeting various religious leaders then 1520s settled
in western Punjab: founded the village of Kartarpur
India Today
Over these three days, he received his first revelations from God
by calling out that hinduism didnt
exist
+ proof that sikhism is not syncretic
synthesis of hinduism
+ There was a vision of a common
man -> deeper reality beyond
external labels
within pakistani half of punjab at the time
GURU NANAK
Nanak's path
❖ First disciples all from Khatri caste: Nanak Panth – those who followed
Nanak’s path of liberation
moksha - the liberation from samsara?
❖ Developed a plan for daily living for Kartarpur community
developed the structure of sikh communities
2 kirpans, but sort of actually 3
because of relation w urself
Achieve balance
1) Nam - relation w divine
2) Dan - relation w society
3) Ishnan - relation w self
❖ agricultural labour
❖ practice the 3-fold discipline: the divine name (relation with the divine),
charity (relation with society) & purity (relation with self): nam-dan-ishnan →
balance
❖ To be truly spiritual – “one should live on what one has earned through
hard work and that one should share with others the fruit of one’s exertion”
❖ seva (service) – pati (self-respect) – sach achar (truthful living) – humility,
sweetness of the tongue, haq halal (taking only one’s rightful share)
Guru Nanak did not like how tantric peeps would beg for alms etc -> encouraged working
KARTAPUR COMMUNITY DAILY PRACTICE
Sikhism used music and song to share religious messages
❖ Morning: recited Nanak’s Japji (meditation)
❖ Evening: Sang hymns
❖ Sangat – holy fellowship or congregation: unision in
the spiritual fraternity
❖ Dharamsala – place of worship
❖ Langar – convention of communal dining (free kitchen)
– no castes recognised: pangat (status-free lines) –
vegetarian for all
❖ Guru as community’s central authority & teacher:
Gurumurkh (one oriented toward the Guru)
Gurdawara Darbar Sahib
Kartapur, Pakistan
existence of the corridor for safe transit
no issues of caste
Language of choice at the time to distinguish from sanskrit hindi urdu etc
IAS Academy
IDEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
❖ Guru Nanak engaged in debates with Nath
yogis and wrote hymns in response to ‘issues’ with
Hinduism & Islam at the time…
❖ Development of Sikhism the product of:
❖ Ideology of Living Gurus
emphasis on discipline - worried the mughal (islamic) authorities who closed in on sikh community
❖ Jat peasantry (farmers) converted – their
tradition of militancy (discipline) added to
tensions with Mughal authorities
❖ Dissident factions within Sikh community led to
solidification of mainstream Sikh traditions and
identity strengthened core teachings
❖ Tensions with Mughal forced the development
& strengthening of Sikh Panth (16-18th Century)
Images from SikhNet
THE LIVING GURUS…
❖ Guru Nanak appointed disciple Lehna as the 2nd Guru (took on the name
Angad – my own limb) shortly before death (1539)
❖ Appointment challenged by Guru Nanak’s eldest son who was bypassed
because he was an ascetic but Angad able to maintain leadership of Sikh
Panth (followers)
❖ Hereditary pattern began with Guru Amar Das (#3) then continued until
Guru Gobind Singh (#10)
the holy scripture in sikhism
❖ Guru Gobind Singh finalised Guru Granth Sahib & handed over authority
to the Khalsa order & community – end of Living Gurus
❖ Institution of the Guru: doctrine of the eternal guru (God), doctrine of
personal guru (intermediary eg Living Gurus), doctrine of Guru Granth (holy
scripture) and doctrine of Guru Panth (path of guru & as guru – community)
No
1
2
3
4
5
Guru
Legacy
Nanak
Founder of Sikhism –
founded Kartapur
(now Pakistan)
No
6
Guru
Legacy
Hargobind
Constructed Throne of the
Immortal Lord (Akal Takht) –
symbolic organisational
centre of Sikhism (Amritsar)
Selected over Guru
Forced to take refuge in
Angad
Nanak’s son cos latter
7
Har Rai
Punjab hills
was ascetic
Started hereditary
Amar Das
8 Har Krishnan
Died in custody in Delhi
pattern
Built Golden Temple
Tegh
Executed in Delhi on orders
Ram Das
9
@Amritsar (India)
Bahadur
of Emperor Aurangzeb
Compiled Sikh canon –
Established Khalsa, removed
increase in followers (Jat)
Arjan
10 Gobind Singh
priests/ curators etc &
– 1st martyr: executed by
finalised Guru Granth Sahib
Moghuls
THE KHALSA
Each gen of Gurus had their own 5 cherished ones
❖ ‘Pure’ Sikhs united in self-discipline
Formed the nucleus of the Khalsa
❖ Initiation of the Panj Piare (Cherished Five) –
volunteers from different regions & castes to
embrace self-sacrifice – ceremony with nectar
(sweetened water: amrit) stirred with a doubleedged sword & sanctified through prayer
❖ Panj Piare administered amrit to Guru Gobind
Singh: transfer of spiritual authority - guru is in the
community / submission to collective will of Khalsa
Panth – end of living gurus & elite deputies
❖ Symbolic rebirth: men surname Singh (lion) /
women surname Kaur (Princess)
https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/
Khalsa
KHALSA SIKH RAHIT MARYADA
(SIKH CODE OF CONDUCT)
Source: SikhHeroes.com
Guru Gobind Singh –
visible symbols of
identity:
❖ Sanctified, unshorn
hair (kesh) with amrit
(cannot cut it)
❖ 5Ks – symbols of
the divine word –
connection between
bani (divine
utterance) and bana
(Khalsa attire)
❖ 4 cardinal sins:
smoking, adultery,
hair cutting, eating
of meat that is not
killed by a single
blow
SOLIDIFYING SIKH TRADITION (KHALSA)
❖ Tat Khalsa (Pure Khalsa) orthodox
wing of Singh
because of threats and some internal issues
Sabha (Society of the Singhs) – eradicated diversity
by establishing standards of belief & practice
established with the Sikh Rahit Maryada
❖ Sikh wedding rituals recognized in India (1909)
Govt had control over gurudhwaras to do whatever they pleased
❖ Direct control of gurdwaras returned to Khalsa by
Sikh Gurdwara Act (1925) – returned from corrupt
peeps were misusing Gurudwara
custodians who had British supportcorrupt
-Sikh peeps took it back w the Sikh
Gurudwara act
❖ Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee
(SGPC – Chief Management Committee of Sikh
Shrines) controlled gurdwaras & published Sikh Rahit
Maryada: statement
of Sikh doctrine
established from the teachings of Sikh Gurus
Akal Takhat – Throne of the
Timeless One, Amritsar (same
complex as the Golden Temple)
Source: SikhiWiki
organisational centre of sikhism in the world
the first book to exist in the sikh holy scripture
ADI GRANTH (PRIMAL OR ORIGINAL BOOK)…
GURU GRANTH SAHIB
the sikh holy scripture as a whole
with the end of the gurus, sikhs turned to Guru Granth Sahib - the book as the Guru
❖ Guru Arjan first began to compile Adi Granth – Gurumurkhi
(Punjabi) script – central Sikh scripture (authority & lineage as
living gurus)
❖ Rejection of Devanagri, Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic scripts –
solidifying unique Sikh tradition: language important aspect of Sikh
culture & identity
❖ Final compilation was proclaimed Guru by Guru Gobind Singh:
Guru Granth Sahib – ultimate authority on Sikh conduct
❖ Oral readings by appointed reader (granthi) or at home
provide a sense of the living presence of the divine guru – central
is written in hymns, so worship is done
to all ceremonies / sacred installation at gurdwaras ->by content
singing!
GURU GRANTH SAHIB
Adi Granth: work of #1-5+#9 Living Gurus
❖ Also bards, writers of praise associated with Sikh court https://www.dawn.com/news/1659422
as a religion is very open to engaging other
❖ An devotees AND medieval Sant, Sufi & Bhakti poets sikh
faiths
Dasam Granth (book of the 10th Guru) – 1690s
❖ Expanded in 18th C: Zafarnama Letter of Victory (by Guru Gobind
explains how Sikhs should practice/believe/understand the meanings of
Singh) – victory & defeat in moral terms -victory
and defeat
Sikh theologians: Bhai Gurdas & Bhai Nand Lal Goya
Source of Sikh history & tradition: Janam-sakhis (birth narratives), rahitnamas (manuals of conduct: Khalsa code) and gur-bilas (deeds of warrior
gurus #9&10) stories, tales of sikhism in practice, examples of how exemplary Sikhs led their lives
CENTRAL DOCTRINES OF SIKHISM
Monotheism in a sense, ungendered
Belief in a Supreme Being, God of many names:
❖ Akal Purakh (The Timeless or Eternal One)
❖ Waheguru (Wonderful Teacher)
❖ Sath Nam (Eternal Reality)
Equivalent to om in hinduism
Oankar: mystical syllable
There is only one God,
one Om, one Creator
Plurality of the One God parallels to Christian God, other than ungendered in Sikh vs gendered in Christianity
❖ One without a second, the source as well as the goal of all that exists.
❖ Creator & sustainer of the universe
❖ Watches over it lovlingly like a parent: rules with justice, destroys evil
& supports good, source of love & grace, responds to the devotion of his
humble followers
❖ No gender: simultaneously father, mother, friend & brother
CENTRAL DOCTRINES OF SIKHISM
Plurality in the attributes of God
abit harder to wrap your head around, but just know to believe it as is
❖ Transcendent (outside of this material world - nirguna) and inherent
within the world (saguna)
❖ Worship is of a nonphysical, universal God
❖ But God is partially embodied in the divine name (nam) and in the
collective words (bani) and persons of the guru and the saints
❖ Only in personal experience can he be truly known – to achieve
union with God through earthly actions
Karma (action) in Sikhism
pahla/good points/accumulate fruit
❖ subject to the higher principle of the divine order (hukam) – divine
grace can break the chain of adverse karma
God can improve your situation if you are inundated
❖ can interrupt the cycle of rebirth or transmigrationwith bad Karma
❖ karma = cause and effect + consequence
CENTRAL DOCTRINES OF SIKHISM
Goal is to attain spiritual liberation (from cycle of rebirth: jivan mukti)
negative qualities u must not have to get closer to the Sikh God
❖ Must transcend the influence of haumani (powerful impulse to succumb
to personal gratification): lust, anger, covetousness, attachment to
worldly things and pride
❖ Adhere to the discipline of nam-simaran (remembering the divine
name) – repetition of sacred word (Vahiguru: praise to the eternal
guru) through devotional singing of hymns with congregation &
meditation
The duality of a distant abstract God, with whom followers really want to unite with
❖ Final spiritual stage when the soul enters a mystical union with God:
harmony with divine order (hukam), experiences wonder in spiritual life
(vismad), achieves ultimate condition of blissful equanimity (sabaj) –
spirit ascends to ‘realm of Truth’ (sach khand)
CENTRAL DOCTRINES OF SIKHISM
God can take supreme action over anything that you do
❖ Primacy of Divine Grace (of God) over personal effort
❖ Embrace free will – NOT fatalism or passive acceptance of a
future that is predetermined God does not control your fate
❖ Realisation of the Divine Truth is a function of the conduct of the
one seeking it (not reflection of his intelligence or wit) – One must
must be good, and not just pretend and hide behind knowledge of the scripture
live in truth in order to know the truth You
Act, not just speak
❖ Living Faith = good action that contributes to the love of God:
Truth is the highest virtue but higher still is truthful living (sach achar
– truthful conduct)
❖ Must perform good works throughout all stages of spiritual
development
CENTRAL DOCTRINES OF SIKHISM
❖ Sikh morality = cultivation of virtues: wisdom, contentment, justice,
humility, truthfulness, temperance, love, forgiveness, charity, purity & fear
of God
❖ Socially responsible lives – earn an honest living through labour (kirat
karani) (rejection of life through ascetism, self-mortification, alms &
begging) -moving away from hinduism in that you do not hermit/hide away to be an ascetic - engage the community and help people
❖ Duty to render service (seva) to others – sharing of one’s resources of
‘body, mind and wealth’ tan-man-dhan as an extension of one’s love for
God and not for self-glorification nor to judge others
❖ Optimism in the face of adversity (charhdi kala), moderation and
did not lose heart when Sikhism was under seige in previous eras, allowed the religion to persist in the face of adversity,
discipline -kept
Sikh community strong from within
CENTRAL DOCTRINES OF SIKHISM
Environment, people of diff castes, creed, gender etc
All life is created by God – All Life is Sacred
❖ Protection of the Environment is a sacred duty: ‘Air is the Guru,
water the Father and earth the mighty Mother of all. Day and
night are the caring guardians, fondly nurturing all creation’ (AG8)
❖ All historical places associated with 10 Gurus are sacred +
bathing in the pool of the ‘nectar of immortality’ at Darbar Sahib,
Amritsar
❖ Social Justice – respect for other people’s rights – no
exploitation of others
❖ Economic Justice – obligation to help the poor, especially
impoverished children
SIKHS IN SERVICE TO THE WORLD
CENTRAL DOCTRINES OF SIKHISM
Family comes first
❖ Emphasis of family (rejection of ascetism) –
kinship influences family life
❖ Punjabi society is kinship based – closed
society: do not aggressively impose beliefs on
others (eg to convert) although it is possible to
convert and be initiated – not common
❖ 1970s US & Canadian citizens converted to
Sikhism as inspired by yoga teacher (Yogi Bhajan)
– Sikh Dharma movement: white (gora) Sikhs, male
& female, wear white turbans live in communal
houses, spend long hours in meditation & practice
Tantric yoga… not entirely accepted
declares themselves as part of the Sikh community, not widely accepted of the authentic Sikh community
CENTRAL DOCTRINES OF SIKHISM
❖ Caste-based discrimination is forbidden: Sikh woman can
only marry a Sikh man – Sikhs should not be married as
children
no cheating/no sexb4marriage/no rape/no killing babygirls
❖ Premarital & extramarital sexual relations are condemned
– rape is a violation of a woman’s honour – infanticide of
baby girls prohibited
❖ Marriages traditionally arranged – seen as husband and
wife who have one soul in two bodies (AG788). Selfimmolation (sati) banned, widows could remarry.
❖ Gender equality & respect for women is important: Guru
Amar Das – advanced position of women in society, could
practice & have roles in gurdwara ceremonies (lead prayers
/ be missionaries etc)
GURDWARAS
meaning
❖ ‘Door of the Guru’
❖ Centre of community & worship
❖ No religious hierarchy – SGPC
helps to manage & guide
biggest Gurudwara in SEA
Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) – built by 5th Guru
Arjan in 1604 - City of Ramdaspur was founded by
4th Guru Ram Das – built the bathing pool named
Amritsar ‘nectar of immortality’ … global centre of
swimming here is a sacred practice - not Sikh worship
allowed all the time
Biggest gurdwara in Southeast Asia: Penang – Diamond
Jubilee Sikh Temple of Queen Victoria of Britain (1901)
https://www.facebook.com/PenangHiddenGems/photos/a.169
578081326078/192279789055907/?type=3
SIKH CULTURE: RELIGIOUS MUSICAL TRADITION
First 3 points here are connected to Holy Scripture
❖ gurmat sangit (Sikh sacred music): ragas
(musical melody) – balancing effect on
minds of listeners & performers
❖ literary tradition – writing of hymns &
prose in Gurumukhi script
❖ visual art – scriptural manuscripts:
illumination in margins of text, court
paintings, distinctive architectural elements
(http://www.sikhmuseum.com/words/granth/granth8.html)
❖ banghra – Punjabi folk dance
https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/
of-rhythm-divine/article5879638.ece
TRADITIONAL SIKH ATTIRE
WOMEN
❖ Salwar kameez: trousers with long tunic
(regional dress of Punjab)
❖ Muslim scarf over heads (dupatta or chunni)
❖ Sari with full blouse that covers midriff
MEN
❖ Turban (related to kesh: keeping of hair)
❖ Blue – highest ideals of character / White – purity
/ Saffron – spirit of sacrifice in Sikh values (Khalsa
creed)
❖ Can actually wear any colour to match clothes
Visual history of the Sikh turban
Source: SikhNet
DIETARY PRACTICES
❖ Adi Granth does not prescribe dietary rules:
consume only those foods which do not cause pain
the body or breed evil thoughts in the mind (AG16)
no drugs etc + only meat killed in single blow (not halal meat - that is killed in an extended pain way)
❖ Sikh Rahit Maryada (Sikh Code of Conduct by
SGPC) – forbids the consumption of kuttha meat
(Muslim halal slaughtered meat) – can only consume
jhataka meat (meat killed with a single blow)
❖ In Gurdwara community kitchens (langars) only
vegetarian food is prepared (no eggs and meat) so
that the food can be consumed by all
(egalitarianism)
❖ Consumption of tobacco, drugs & alcohol are
strictly forbidden (Khalsa creed)
SIKH FESTIVALS (TO UNITE THE COMMUNITY)
Living gurus at the time wanted to bring everyone tgt - give everyone a reason to celebrate - hence use these festivals
Diwali – Festival of Lights
❖ Release of Guru Hargobind from
Mughal emperor Jahangir
Baisakhi – Festival of Harvest
❖ Inauguration of the Khalsa under Guru
Gobind Singh
❖ Everybody’s (community) birthday
Hola Mahalla
❖ Day after Hindu Holi – athletic &
literary contests
Anniversaries of births & deaths of
Gurus
Baisakhi – Festival of Harvest
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/vaisakhisikh-festival-religion-celebrate-b2057334.html
RELIGIOUS INCLUSIVITY IN SIKHISM
❖ Welcome dialogue with other faith traditions –
openness to learning from others without compromise of
Sikh identity & beliefs
❖ No faith (including Sikhism) can know and claim a
single version of true religious understanding
❖ Bhagat bani – historical processes & contexts have
shaped faiths: religious truths are not permanent or
perfect… outcome of experiences and circumstances
❖ No religious tradition is superior to another –
accommodate those with differing beliefs without
judgement – empathise with those of other faiths
it is in Sikhism precepts to not judge ppl from diff beliefs - explains why Sikhs help literally anyone
RELIGIOUS INCLUSIVITY
IN SIKHISM
Guru Gobind Singh in Akal Ustat:
‘The temple and the mosque are the same, so are the Hindu
worship (puja) and Muslim prayer (namaz). All people are
one, it is through error that they appear different… Allah
and Abhekh are the same, the Purana and the Qur’an are
the same. They are all alike, all the creation of the One.’
WORLD RELIGIONS:
RELIGION & POLITICS IN SEA
Dr Serina Rahman
GEC1013 / GEH1045
Wk 10 - Sem2.2022/23
WORLD RELIGIONS RECAP
❖ WR 101: Judaism, Christianity, Islam (+ in SEA), Buddhism,
Hinduism, Sikkhism
❖ Syncretism, power, resistance – indigenous & folk religions…
❖ Religion & Globalisation – AI & tech, commercialization…
❖ Religion & culture, society, identity, social justice…
❖ Religion & Politics
❖ Religion & Environment (general & in SEA)
MCQ is ONLY on
RELIGION CAN AFFECT EVERYTHING…
SOCIETAL
STRUCTURE
SOCIAL
HIERARCHY
SOCIAL
JUSTICE
INCLUSIVITY &
SOCIAL
MOBILITY
RELIGION
PHYSICAL
LEGACIES
GOVERNANCE
POLITICS
CULTURAL
PRESERVATION
READINGS THIS WEEK…
❖ Hefner, R.W. 2010. “Religious Resurgence in Contemporary
Asia: Southeast Asian Perspectives on Capitalism, the State,
and the New Piety”, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 69, No.
4, pp. 1031-1047.
❖ Ramstedt, M. 2019. “Politics of Taxonomy in Postcolonial
Indonesia.” Historical Social Research / Historiche
Sozialforschung 44(3): 264-289.
❖ Phan, P.C. 2019. “Communist ideology, secularity and
reenchantment: Challenges for the Catholic Church in Vietnam,
1954-2015. In Dean, K. and van der Veer, P. (eds.) The Secular
in South, East and Southeast Asia. Global Diversities. [read pgs
191-213].
RELIGIOUS RESURGENCE IN ASIA…
Democratising faith OR popularisation & proximisation of once
restricted spiritual practices?
❖ Women rising in ranks – religious leadership
❖ Civil society rising in response to a loosening of controls by an
overbearing state (?)
❖ Destabilisation of once secular states (?)
❖ Ordinary (non-elite) believers focussing on specific existential positions:
self, family & everyday life
❖ New horizons for social mobility in / through faith
In the face of far-reaching change / personal threat:
❖ Desire for security, self-initiative & dignity
❖ Turn to faith (intangible source of power, hope & miracle) … as all
else fails
RELIGIOUS RESURGENCE IN ASIA…
❖ Philippines Catholics → El Shaddai (quasi-Pentecostal &
evangelical Christianity adopted largely by the impoverished
❖ Vietnam → ritual practice, formerly suppressed household
rites & public cults
❖ Theravada Buddhism → lay devotion, meditation movements
❖ Myanmar: resistance to regime-imposed
& backed Buddhism
the suppression of the rohingyas by orthodox buddhists has led to resistance by
other buddhists
❖ Thailand → laicizes monastic meditation practices to make it
available to lay men & women whoever was not usually monk material, can now join monastery as a monk
❖ Islam de marché (market Islam) → Islamic business backed by
faith the halal market perhaps?
EL SHADDAI
Phillipines
Hefner talks about the church takes support from political entities and vice versa for mutual (corrupt) benefit
❖ Largest charismatic Catholic organisation in the
world
❖ First appeared in the Philippines in 1981 – today
between 8-11 million followers (mostly poor)
❖ Neo-protestant theology: prosperity message of
spiritual confidence & economic success ‘lightly
blessings by sharing wealth
Christianised cargo cult’ (p.1036) welcome
with church
❖ 2022 endorsed Bong2 Marcos candidacy for
the church endorses one candidate -> all the followers endorse that candidate
President… ifunfair
advantage (huge following)
❖ Consider the impact of church support for political
candidates…
❖ https://coconuts.co/manila/news/catholic-bishop-blastsreligious-charismatic-group-el-shaddai-for-supporting-thievesmurderers-in-senate-race/
RITUAL PRACTICE IN VIETNAM
relaxation of legislation - went into hiding in the past
in defiance of govt, pockets of ppl continued to practice in hiding
❖ Revival of long-suppressed
household rites & expansion of
public cults
❖ Lady of the Realm (prosperity
goddess) – but also Dao Mau –
worship of mother goddesses, with
female shamans as key to ritual
practice
❖ In defiance of government…
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/lifestyle/2
0161012/the-spiritual-practice-of%E2%80%98len-dong%E2%80%99in-vietnamese-folk-religionphotos/24713.html
Len Dong: Ancient shaman
dance led by women
Holy Mother of the Realm Bà Chúa Xứ
Image source: Hindustan Times
Image source: Wikipedia
LAY PRACTICE IN THERAVADA BUDDHISM
normally, gender fluidity is not condoned in thai buddhism practices
this temple allows gender fluid, women, ppl of all kinds to participate in buddhist practices
❖ Dhammakâya Temple, outside
Bangkok – urban middle class &
foreigners) – megachurch style
❖ Use of modern mass media & slick
marketing to advertise services
❖ ‘links personal and communal success
to the application of Buddhist truths to
one’s
every day activities’ (p.1037)
mutual benefit -- attract foreigners others w the buddhist exp + support govt
govt lets temple do what they want while being financially backed
❖ public allegiance to Thai religious &
political establishments to legitimize less
‘acceptable’
practices: laicizes the
like accepting women and gender fluid peeps
meditation tradition of monastic practice
https://en.dhammakaya.net/our-activities/things-to-do/
Global Ikhwan
ISLAM DE MARCHÉ
American Convert Owensby
❖ Not in agreement with Western concepts of
modern capitalism (seen as colonialist greed:
self-indulgent, want-inflating & sensuallyliberated)
Islamic ppl tweak meaning of capitalism to allow pious ppl to be well to do as well
https://www.pressreader.com/australia/asian❖ Islamic capitalism to help the pious achieve
geographic/20170301/282205125774218
business success for social justice, reform &
to megachurch mentality-> financial gains and donation for
community well-being (in honour of God) similar
the benefit of the church
argued to be done in serving God
❖ Global Ikhwan: spiritual cleansing & honour
in business – emancipation
of women (also
previously 'Darul Arqam' rebranded as accused of divergent teachings
through polygamy) 'obedient wives club' - book on how best to serve ur husband
❖ American Convert Owensby made millions
selling subscriptions to cell phone Quranic
https://www.deseret.com/2004/8/10/198
messages (preacher Jerry Falwell style –
44381/quran-text-messaging
Baptist televangelist)
Argues that w more wives, more women are around to take care of kids + household duties + partake in business= emancipation of women
Global Ikhwan believes they are empowering women by letting women be part of businesses
-alot of ppl liked how it made them pause
-making use of islamic practices/spreading
word for financial gain
WHAT OF THE RESURGENCE?
Used by megachurches like el shaddai/dhammakaya temple
approves the making of money (alot of religions frown on using religion to make
money)
Prosperity theology (across all faiths)
❖ Spiritualised patron – clientelism: seeking to obligate God into
deliver miracles in return for donations & prayer
❖ Promise of wealth & good health in exchange for tithing donations
Liberation theology (Christian liberation of the oppressed)
encouraging env friendly religious ethics
❖ Buddhist monks: sober & environmentally-friendly religious ethics
Personalising & democratising faith: Evolution of Islamic study to
halaqah (study circles) & usrah (family circles)
❖ keeping study of faith to self & family (not learned scholars /
bringing their islamic education and understanding home -- study circles/cell group -- no central control on what is taught -- brings
state) =ppl
worries of radicalisation
=govts hence wary as the state is no longer sole controller of religious discourse - loss of power to scholars and state
WHAT OF THE RESURGENCE?
“alter what is in their capacity to alter, beginning with themselves”
(p.1035)
❖ Drive to problemetise “structural, societal or historical
misunderstandings of inequality” (p.1037)
❖ Rejects determining notions of poverty:
❖ Retells life histories & futures in narratives of transformative
miracles contribute to church despite being poor to try and empower their own lives by bringing blessings on themselves
Nothing to do with the state (evading top power structures not to do w power structure -> these resurgences occur as ppl are taking their lives into their own hands - empowered to
apoliticism) -improve
their situations
- people also tend to avoid the political sitch as much as possible
❖ Taking things into their hands – social justice through faith?
❖ Optimism & self-empowerment
POLITICS OF TAXONOMY - INDONESIA
❖ State grants every citizen the freedom to
embrace their respective religion, and to worship
God in accordance with their religion and their
belief…
cannot be atheist
❖ Does not grant freedom from religion
❖(Initially) All ethnic spiritual traditions and world
religions extant in the archipelago that profess
belief in a supreme deity…
❖ Agama (Sanskrit word – old Javanese)
❖ Marked by a universal monotheistic theology,
based on divine revelation to a holy prophet &
contained in a holy book (definition of religion)
Factors determining religion or not:
1) Universal monotheistic theology?
2) Divine revelation through holy prophet?
3) Contained in a holy book?
POLITICS OF TAXONOMY - INDONESIA
With this regulation…
❖ Ethnic spiritual traditions excluded from agama – deemed as
animism & ancestor – religion positioned as distinct from local
spiritual beliefs
❖ Colonial acceptance of Bali Hinduism as part of a grand civilisation
(Greater India)
❖ People urged to convert to Christianity or Islam to conform to pancasila and operate as per normal
❖ People sought to ‘religionise’ their ethnic traditions: reformulating
tenets & modes of workshop according to agama blueprint again to conform to legislation
❖Tried to create other localised variants of Hinduism (but faced
attempts at conversion)
POLITICS OF TAXONOMY - INDONESIA
reframing the religion to fall under the accepted 6 religions -> achieve normalcy/conformity to framework setout by govt
With Religionisation (agamasasi)
❖ Buddhism also reframed
❖ Confucianism not allowed (forced to become
Christian, Muslim or Buddhist)
Definition of religion-making (p.267)
❖ Reification & institutionalisation of certain ideas, social
formations and practices
❖ ‘religious’ in conventional Western meaning of the term
suppression of their own beliefs to adhere to monotheistic approach
❖ Subordinating them to a particular knowledge regime
❖ Political, cultural, philosophical and historical intervention
politics, govt etc interfered w people's lives - as seen through phenomena like agamasasi
POLITICS OF TAXONOMY - INDONESIA
With Religionisation (agamasasi)
❖ Continue with spiritual practices – contact with ancestors, trance
people put on a front as if they were adhering to laws in place, but in
medium, daily offerings to ancestors etc ->reality
practiced their own religions at home
❖ Seen as customary adat
traditional customs: Adat can vary from one region to another and can include a wide range of practices and beliefs. It often plays
an important role in shaping social norms and guiding behavior within communities
❖ Commodification
of ritual for cultural tourism
so rituals like kejawen were outlawed (you cannot spiritually believe in them) but were kept as adat for cultural tourism, but ppl secretly spiritually
practiced it anyway
❖ Acceptable only if they did so without a traditionalist attitude –
without an earnest belief in the spiritual cosmologies undergirding the
respective rituals…
❖ Boundary between secularity and spiritual – porous – spiritual is
hidden kabatinan / ilmu gaiby – unless
used
in
request
for
advice
…
- categories put in place to force conformity and to ease control over people
usually by those seeking power
POLITICS OF TAXONOMY - INDONESIA
Adat = backward / Religion = modernity
Javanism - Kejawen (p270)
❖ Muslims (mystic synthesis) - syncretic
this is kejawen practice
practices – Hindu-Buddhist, Sufi rituals
(Agama Jawa)
❖ Rejection of Islam
– syncretic blend: Hinduseen as being backward, tribal, heathen...
Buddhist past
With establishment of MoRA (eventually –
Office of Religious Affairs sharia
❖ Religionisation of Islamic law courts
❖ Dismantling of adat & local customary laws
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
basically suppressed indigenous beliefs in practice as well
pxgjj3yoYj0
❖ Agama = revealed religion
❖ Agama Ardhi / bumi / budaya – aliran
kepercayaan – ethnic traditions & mystical
movements (derogatory terms)
POLITICS OF TAXONOMY - INDONESIA
Journey through Indonesian Politicians’ regimes and manipulation of
religion…
empowers muslims over indigenous faith holders as muslims prioritised in these land conflicts/issues
❖ Land issues – power to landowners (muslims) vs peasant workers (ethnic
faiths) – transition of power over time (resurgence & faith-grabbing)
strengthens the orthodoxy/puritanical forms of beliefs -> can exclude outliers or more divergent versions as blasphemy
❖ Strengthening of laws (Blasphemy Law) – application of syncretic
practices to accepted religion
❖ Strengthening of orthodoxy – criminalisation of ethnic faiths
institutionalises inequality, and rewards conversion to the majority
❖ Declaration in ID cards (clampdown also on regime opposition)
islamic conversion campaigns supported -- other ethnic faiths shutdown etc
❖ Endorsement of gov’t sanctioned religious proselytisation
❖ Use of religion (Suharto) to consolidate power – loss of power by those
found out to consult with magic
POLITICS OF TAXONOMY - INDONESIA
New Shifts… (since Habibie)
❖ Reinstated indigenous laws & land rights (strengthened with
Jokowi)
❖ Ethnic faith representatives engage in politics to save faiths
❖ Still continued efforts for Islamic orthodoxy (fatwas against
dukuns, prophecy & interreligious worship)
❖ Recognition of aliran kepercayaan for protection under
constitution (guarantee personal safety – human security)
Agama ≠ Aliran kepercayaan aliran kepercayaan blanket refers to the indigenous faiths
❖ (On ID: belief – then left blank in religion specification) - secondary
Magic is still spiritual compass for those in power…
oh the irony...
PETER PHAN & VIETNAM…
contradictory beliefs: official secularism of Vietnam vs
obvious signs of religiousity on the streets
secular theory -> w development, ppl become more secular (seen in US vs rural areas/countries)
- vietnam has become increasingly developed -> govt increasingly secular but ppl increasingly religious (he wonders why)
Vietnam’s communist regime – Catholic
Church of Vietnam (CCVN) – secularity
❖ (pg 192) – cognitive dissonance between
the state’s official atheistic ideology and the
vibrant flourishing of institutional religions,
notably the Catholic Church, and
widespread practice of popular religiosity
among the people
❖ Religious visibility: churches, sale of
religious objects, altars, trinkets & souvenirs
– with good sales
https://beautifulvietnam.weebly.com/v
ietnamese-religion.html
SHAMANISM IN VIETNAM
❖ Shamanism as a threat & banned –
folk music and magic – use of Then as
propaganda – revival as folk belief –
research & recognition as identity as the
Masters die out…
https://e.vnexpress.net/projects/shaman-s-chant-risesabove-stigma-in-vietnam-s-misty-mountains3613336/index.html
❖ Len Dong – women healers calling on
the spirits to cure ills – also banned but
could not be eliminated – growing now
because restrictions are eased
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world/len-dong-anancient-shaman-dance-for-modern-vietnam/storyoBYoO3Yx4xVDj3QjH7hhhK.html
https://www.bates.edu/museum/exhibitions/2014-2/art-of-theshaman-from-vietnam-and-china/
PETER PHAN & VIETNAM…
secularisation - religion n govt are not the same - removal of religious authority influence from education , health
care and social services
❖ Secularisation (1): transfer of authority from
clergy to non-clerical persons in particular areas
of life (not negative) – removal of church influence
and power from education, health care & social
services
❖ Secularisation (2): elimination of the sacred
character of something that is by nature sacred
(secularization of religious life – negative
if church just becomes a place to meet new ppl - u are secularising the church
connotations) removing the sacredness of going there
❖ Secularisation (3): rejection of faith or religious
values, and the ideology of separating religion
from
the activities of the state such as education
making decisions on a legislative/govt level agnostic of any religious influence (repealing 377a despite
religious resistance/backlash)
PETER PHAN & VIETNAM…
Prelude: Ho Chi Minh’s Socialist Republic of Vietnam:
one party socialist state – Vietnamese Communist
Party as the only legal party with Marxism-Leninism
ideology → secular state
catholic church seen as threat: church can influence many ppl hence threat
❖ Prior to 1975 – CCVN seen as a threat – HCM "too close to the vatican" - international meddling
wanted to start a state-managed patriotic church
similar to Catholic Patriotic Association in China.
❖ Threat to national liberation (but too close to the Vatican)
❖ Tried to take control: Assembly of Vietnamese Catholic
Representatives – appointed pres / vice-pres but
boycotted by faithful so didn’t work
❖ Intent on destroying the church & religion: cause of selfalienation & instrument of exploitation for capitalism,
colonialism & imperialism
❖ Strategy: eliminate leadership, demolish structures,
impede activities
PETER PHAN & VIETNAM…
Why is the CCVN a threat?
❖ Support of France & the West – endorsed Church’s condemnation
of atheistic communism obvious threat to communist party who wanted to retain power
❖ Minority but wielded disproportionate influence on society through
educational institutions, connections with international bodies (Vatican
Church), healthcare & social
service system & esprit de corps:
connections to vital aspects of social welfare made the church to be more supported than the communist
hierarchical organisation party - threat to power
❖ Desire to control North Vietnam communist party wanted to fully control north vietnam
Officially VCP recognised religious freedom (p 196)
❖ But the people didn’t believe it (continual harassment &
persecution…) – 500,000 Catholics from the North
migrated to the south *not yet fallen to the communists at
this time…
❖ 1975-1900 same persecution applied in the south
PETER PHAN & VIETNAM…
1975 : ohno communists winning in South vietnam -> catholics gettin oppressed
❖ 1975, South Vietnam fell to the communists… oppression of the
Catholic Church
❖ 1976 CCVN statement of the difference between the VCP
ideology & the Church but CCVN will not prevent Catholics from
collaborating with the communist govt for the common good of the
country – Catholics are not to form a political party or block in
opposition to the government
❖ Repression & persecution continued… ‘religion is the opium for the
people’
could not handle the embargo by US hence communist party let religion proceed as long as they didnt
politick
❖ By 1990, VCP facing economic catastrophe… move to ‘socialistoriented market economy’ Doi Moi (renovation)
– US lifted economic
revolution
embargo. 2006 joined WTO
❖ VCP remained sole party in power
PETER PHAN & VIETNAM…
basically, desire for economic improvements resulted in VCP allowing religion on paper as long as no religious orgs
consolidate power -- however the implementation of this was shoddy as relaxation led to corruption of local govt
powers
❖1992 Constitution – definition of religious freedom
❖ Tin gnuong – religion as faith and belief – complete
freedom
❖ Ton giao – religion as religious organization & activities –
restrictions to protect ‘national security’
❖ Relaxation of earlier restrictions but leads to a system of
xin-cho (request grant) – open to abuse & corruption –
incompetence at local levels – act at their discretion (lack
of transparency)
❖ After collapse of USSR (1989) – rapprochement
between the Vatican and Vietnam
❖ Attract foreign economic investments with more
liberal religious policy… 
improvement of relations as a result of proper free religion and good international relations
taoist mix of local religion
Cao Dai – 3rd most
popular religion in
Vietnam:
https://www.missfilatelist
a.com/cao-dai-is-themost-fascinating-religionon-earth/
PETER PHAN & VIETNAM…
Socialist Republic of Vietnam – eliminate  religion in North
→ people move south
❖ Collapse of South – takeover of religion through
committees etc → boycott (SVP fear of international
connections)
Economic difficulties – socialist market system – freedoms 
restrictions on religious organisations 
❖ Collapse of USSR – reconciliation with Vatican –
fluctuates - contrasts w
recognition of usefulness of religion ♥ religiousity
rise and fall of oppresive governance
Secularisation theory  fails again… strengthening of
religious belief and practice in response to the oppression
Regime  religion → people rise & resist → religion  regime 
WHAT IMPACT DOES RELIGION HAVE?
❖ Organisation of society – forming communities of faith
❖ Physical legacies to faith (houses of worship)
❖ Those in power using religion or religion enabling power?
put their own ppl at
❖ Establishing hierarchies of knowledge (& subsequently society) then
the top
❖ Divisions & tension along religious lines when syncretism is deemed
unacceptable pancasila
❖ Government policy for religious management – forced faith &
other issues
❖ Deepening of the views of the ‘other’
❖ Position of women & family – patriarchy use of religion for control
WORLD RELIGIONS:
RELIGION & THE ENVIRONMENT
Dr Serina Rahman
GEC1013 / GEH1045
Wk 11 - Sem2.2022/23
MCQ TEST WEEK 12 –
TH
4
APRIL 2023
❖ Everyone MUST be present (online) for the Wk 12 MCQ test. The test
will run from 12.50 to 1.15pm.
❖ The content of the test is from lectures from Wks 7-12.
❖ You will have 20 minutes to answer 30 questions.
❖ You will get ONE chance to answer each question and cannot go back to
an earlier question to change your answer. You will see only one question
at a time.
❖ When you start the MCQ, it is counted as having taken the test incomplete submissions at the end of the 20 minutes will not be entitled
to a time extension.
MCQ TEST WEEK 12 –
TH
4
APRIL 2023
❖ This is a closed book MCQ test on Canvas. The teaching team will be
proctoring – screenshots will be taken.
❖ You MUST have your video camera on and only use a laptop. No
second device or use of phones is allowed.
❖ You must ensure that your laptop is fully charged and that you have
stable internet access, these will not be acceptable excuses to extend
the time given.
❖ Failure to complete the MCQ due to laptop / internet access
problems will count as having taken the test. No time extension or
second attempt will be given.
❖ If you are not present online / do not take the MCQ test, you will
receive 0 marks out of the allocated 25%
ACCESSING YOUR
RESPONSE PAPER GRADES
❖ Your papers have been marked (the ones I read were
really interesting!).
❖ Grades & comments will be entered onto your papers in
Canvas by the end of this week (Wk 11).
❖ Prof Phil will explain…
❖NOTE: There will still be a forum posting required AND
tutorials in Wk 12 – discussion questions will come soon.
RELIGION & THE ENVIRONMENT…
Readings used today (refer to course information)
❖ Scheid, D.P. – A Catholic Cosmic Common Good: Overview & Prospects
(2016).
❖ Gosling, D.L. – Ecology and the Hindu Tradition (2001)
❖ Gade, A.M. – Muslim Environmentalism as Religious Practice: Accounts of
the Unseen (2019)
❖ Wenning, M. – Eurodaoism and the environment (2022)
❖ He, X. & Lao, J. – Fengshui and the Environment of Southeast China
(2000)
Next week: Religious extremism & gender… & the MCQ test!
A CATHOLIC
COSMIC COMMON GOOD
Keystone principle of Catholic social thought: the common good
❖ The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church –
❖ the dignity of the human person is central
❖ human dignity is the bedrock of the common good
Summary:
1) Human dignity is important and forms
basis of common good
2) Anything that compromises human
dignity is ANTIETHICAL to the common
good
❖ any social structure that undermines human dignity is antiethical
to the common good
Argument: to begin with the common good upholds the social nature
means think about the good and dignity of the
community first please
of human dignity than a purely individual dignity
A CATHOLIC COSMIC COMMON GOOD
Private &
Communal goods
- Material -> every individual requires (water
shelter clothing)
- Physical goods -> air, water
- Goods that cannot be achieved except in
community -> education, freedom of
speech, access to culture (one persons use
of it does not diminish another person's use
of it)
THE COMMON GOOD: importance of maintaining proper order in
society so that a community and all its members can flourish
❖ Conditions of social life include both private & communal goods
❖ Material goods that every individual requires (water, shelter,
clothing)
❖ Physical goods that belong to the whole - as a whole (water & air)
❖ Goods that cannot be achieved except in community – one person
use does not reduce the use of another (education, freedom of
communication & expression, access to culture etc)
A CATHOLIC COSMIC COMMON GOOD
THE COMMON GOOD (cont.)
❖ include personal dimensions of relationship, affection
& love
❖ full social, intellectual and spiritual flourishing of
people
❖ a form of holism – the identity of the whole as a
whole (not a combination of various components or
subordinate parts)
❖ God seeks the well-being of the whole in addition to
the well-being of the person
❖ each member has a responsibility to contribute to the
common good and no individual should be harmed for
the benefit of the rest
means ensuring that everyone's dignity is met and remains intact
A CATHOLIC COSMIC COMMON GOOD
can't have one without maintaining the other
HUMAN DIGNITY is a counterpart to the common good – reciprocal
relationship
❖ The human person is made in the image and likeness of God
(Genesis 1:26) and thus bears a unique relationship to God that
confers an inviolable dignity to him or her. the dignity of being "in God's image" should never be tarnished
❖ In their possession of basic dignity, all humans are essentially
equal… some forms of inequality are sinful – all humans are entitled to
be free from abuse and exploitation
❖ Common good fosters the dignity of every person: each person
attains their flourishing only in community with others
argument of the writer -> must have common good -> then everyone's human dignity will b g
A CATHOLIC COSMIC COMMON GOOD
Ecological principle of interdependence = correlates with
common good principle of the relationship of part to whole
❖ Just as oppression & dehumanization in society affect the
well-being of all citizens – pollution or degradation affects
the good of the whole & impacts every member of that
ecosystem
❖ Initially – environmental degradation was perceived
primarily as a threat to humans affected directly by it,
especially the poor…
❖ ‘nuanced anthropocentricity’ – enjoins humanity to respect
natural limits inscribed in creation by God and offers no
justification for human exploitation (Popes John Paul II &
abuse the earth and natural resources -- need to nurture it so as to preserve the common
Benedict XVI) dont
good and by doing all of this,. we are ultimately ensuring everyone's human dignity remains
intact
A CATHOLIC COSMIC COMMON GOOD
Considering the COSMIC COMMON GOOD
❖ The Earth is more than a resource but is indeed ‘a sister with
humans + creatures
whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her soareallconnected
arms to embrace us… humans are not disconnected from the rest
of creatures’ but are linked to them by ‘unseen bonds and together
form a kind of universal family, a sublime communion which fills us
with a sacred, affectionate and humble respect’ (Pope Francis
drawing from St Francis of Assisi – Canticle of the Creatures)
❖ ‘universal fraternity’ - all creatures are connected – ‘each must
be cherished with love and respect for all of us as living creatures
are dependent on one another’. because we depend on one another,
A CATHOLIC
COSMIC COMMON GOOD
THE COSMIC COMMON GOOD (cont.)
❖ The concept was initially thought to diminish the value of human
dignity – places human person on the same level as the rest of
creation
❖ Scientific grounds: universe of astounding creativity… origins
from the Big Bang (so all creatures are related) – humans are kin
to all creatures past, present & future – we are ‘complexified
stardust’
so small in this huge complex system -- understanding our place and how creatures past and present, planets, cosmic entities are all connected
as creations of God -- Cosmic Good encompasses all these entities
❖ All of these wonders are created by God – common good is not
of humans alone but of the whole cosmic community
A CATHOLIC COSMIC COMMON GOOD
❖ Science of ecology = dynamic & systematic wholes: relationship
between creatures
Theological & ethical implications:
❖ Common good ‘must be applied as an inclusive principle’ that
embraces the biophysical world and ‘embodies the entire
commonwealth of creation’ – restricting the common good to human
beings makes no sense. think beyond locality
❖ The doctrinal understanding of the common good must be global
& biospheric, not merely local or ecosystemic
❖ ‘Ecotheologians need to pay attention to suffering in the scientific
suffering the most are poor people -> need to thing about their suffering, and so to fix that
model of nature they construct’ ppl
suffering we need to fix the environment (in order to preserve human dignity of the poor)
A CATHOLIC COSMIC COMMON GOOD
Theocentric Doctrine of Creation – GOSPEL OF CREATION
❖ Forsaking God as the Creator easily leads humans to
pose themselves as Lord over the Earth to claim the right
to use it as they wish… restore men & women to their
rightful place… end their claim to absolute dominion
over the earth… speak of the Father who creates and
need to stop treating the Earth like their bitch -- it
who alone owns the world. humans
belong to God and him alone -- stop polluting Environment thx
❖ Cosmic common good – more adequate to the
goodness and scope of creation, a paradigm in which
nonhumans have intrinsic value because they emanate
- all things are innately important because they are God's creation
from God’s love
A CATHOLIC COSMIC COMMON GOOD
not trivialising humans and their status
Doctrine of Human Dignity
❖ Cosmic common good stresses humanity’s intrinsic or elevated
dignity within a community of creatures who possess intrinsic
dignity.
❖ Dignity must be creaturely – not just human
❖ Humanity’s true vocation is not just a manager of Earth’s
resources for ourselves, but a responsible agent capable of
safeguarding the well-being of intrinsically valuable creatures.
literally all other life/creatures/planets(God's creations)
❖ The centrality of God, the goodness of creation and humanity’s
dignified and privileged but contextualised role in that story of
Catholicism places God at the centre of our lives, praises and values the goodness of his creation and understands the role we have in
creation. -ensuring
all is preserved and maintained for the common good
A CATHOLIC COSMIC COMMON GOOD
❖ Cosmos = creation = all that has been created and
ordered by God… ‘the whole cosmos gives thanks to
God’
❖ Cosmic common good – offers a point of contact &
bridge to other religious traditions & secularity
❖ Anthropocentrism – humans as the central / most
booooo
important element
❖ Creatiocentrism – understanding that the Creator &
the biotic and abiotic creation are interrelated –
humanity is part of the biotic creation – enjoins God as
creator to cosmos as creation
all creatures have dignity
humans are most noble and valuable
essential dignity in other creatures
A CATHOLIC COSMIC COMMON GOOD
The Cosmos as Commons
❖ Cosmic identity of every creature – commons as a space & context
for mutual flourishing
❖ Physical proximity and the dimension of a shared life together – a
place in which people both sustain their bodies and form relationships
❖ Creaturely dignity equally applies to all creatures, but it does not
impart equal dignity – humans remain the most noble and valuable:
but there is recognition of an essential dignity in other creatures
❖ The value of species diversity = the creativity of the Creator… all
the different orders encountered must be included: all part of the one
great ordered whole of the cosmos holism it seems
ECOLOGY & THE HINDU TRADITION
❖
Warriors Krishna &
Arjuna burn down
the Khandava
Forest to satisfy
God Agni’s
hunger… in the
Mahabaratha
By
Ramanarayanadatta
astri https://archive.org/d
etails/mahabharata0
1ramauoft, Public
Domain,
https://commons.wiki
media.org/w/index.p
hp?curid=21403068
the picture above shows the one point of hinduism where env wasnt respected -- otherwise normally
hinduism respects the env alot
ECOLOGY &
THE HINDU TRADITION
Human life & nature are part of a single continuum jainism -> ahimsa -> you are not the only element
Jain teaching
❖ Ecological relationship between human communities & their
Hunter-gatherers
environmental contexts
- no superiority, regard selves as part of
nature, community of animals, plants,
mountains & rivers
HUNTER-GATHERERS live in and pray to nature
- worships spirits Gods/Demons that
inhabit trees -> must be
worshipped/occasionally placated
❖ nature is capricious and beyond human control – regard selves
- conservation of resources by
groves -> protects
as part of a community of animals, plants, mountains & rivers season/sacred
nature by virtue of usefulness
❖ religion centred around spirits, gods & demons that inhibit trees,
& Settlers
rocks, birds – must be worshipped & occasionally placated Nomads
- animal husbandry - mobile nature
prevents attachment to sacred places
- work tgt to protect shared
❖conservation of resources by season / sacred groves –
physical/cultural knowledge
importance of trees: protection on account of their usefulness
ECOLOGY &
THE HINDU TRADITION
NOMADS & SETTLERS mobile
❖ Animal husbandry based on availability of grazing
grounds – mobility prevents attachment to sacred
places
❖ As they settled: forests, grazing grounds & water
commonly owned by each village – work together to
protect shared physical & cultural (ecological)
knowledge
AGRICULTURALISTS control surroundings/build community wherever theyre at/immobile
❖ humans have firm control of their surroundings &
resources
❖ no longer able to move on to better sites – build a
fixed community in place
Ahimsa – to do no
harm to others
ECOLOGY & THE HINDU TRADITION
use resources carefully to prevent harm to nature
Spectrum of engagement with nature – from devotion & respect to
collaborative care to extraction for human consumption
❖ Vedic view of the unity & interrelatedness of all that is: God,
selves, the natural world relates to cosmic common good
Conservation through faith – regulation of resource use
❖ images of deity in animal form (Ganesh), chariots of cows and
dogs, temples built next to sacred groves and tree species
favoured by deities
❖ The Vedas offer the promotion of ecological awareness (except
the incident of Agni sacrificing the forest: allusion to forest clearing
for settlement) – how a forest should be, the concept of karma…
if u destroy any part of nature -> u get harmed bro
MUSLIM ENVIRONMENTALISM
AS RELIGIOUS PRACTICE
ritual practice in protecting environment
❖ Tapping on Sufi practices and devotional piety
❖ A healthy biosphere is a precondition to a human
existence that is dependent on divine command
interconnection of humans, God, nature
❖ The environment may be cast as ‘Muslim’ in terms
of a natural & original state and includes humans
within
it as among creation’s active participants
protect environment as if it were human -> common good applies to environment -> common good bridges
religions on their ecological practices
❖ Environmental problems are the crisis of modern
man that must be solved spiritually by way of
moral transformation
so morally improve ourselves -> to fix the environment -- easy right?
MUSLIM ENVIRONMENTALISM
AS RELIGIOUS PRACTICE
❖ Islamic Science – solution that underpins the spirituality of Muslim
environmentalism: dealing with the world of nature and its functions
❖ Islamic universe of discourse: Islamic views on the relation of human beings
and the natural environment
❖ Compassion to creation / Mercy for creation – Prophet Muhammad’s
loving and nurturing relationship with creatures and a date palm tree that
he used to stand under to deliver sermons…
MUSLIM ENVIRONMENTALISM
AS RELIGIOUS PRACTICE
❖ Muslims participate relationally with other
creatures - Prophet’s sunnah for empathy &
nurturing of nature
❖ Place-based / situational environmental
conditions for community-based activity &
ritual
for the environment
at that point of history - water was scarce -- reflect on how natural resources were scarce
and preservation is vital
❖ Process of Haj as environmental (drink from
a shared water source / to strive for water)
❖ Prayers can be performed anywhere –
care of holy places == Earth is a holy place
‘Earth is a mosque’ take
treat it as such
MUSLIM ENVIRONMENTALISM
AS RELIGIOUS PRACTICE
emphasis on collective activity and common good
The environment as a way to attain religious goals – collective action &
responsibility: individual discipline & self-realisation
❖ Eco-salwat (prayers of peace & blessing devoted to the Prophet) –
amended to include prayer for the environment prayer for environment
❖ Eco-dakwah (Islamic outreach) – for Islamic environmental justice –
dakwah in action (not just words alone) – religious
duty as a community
action taken to care for environment (missionary work - spread env
knowledge - do actions liek cleanup etc)
❖ Eco-dhikr (Pesan Trend Ilmu Giri, south Jogjakarta) – conducted at
calendrical observance of moon phase (Selasa Pon) & tarawih prayers
during Ramadan abit syncretic - special prayers during moon phases (kejawen practice) => prayers for environment
❖ With blessing [we] care for the natural world, a healthy environment
[lingkungan], the earth sustained. (Nahdlatul Ulama)
MUSLIM ENVIRONMENTALISM
AS RELIGIOUS PRACTICE
emphasis on regret (dont regret if u dont change now)
❖ Nasyid (religious song) lyrics – weeping for the environment:
anticipation of future regret of the state of the world to come (typical of
Muslim religious emotion eg. regret on Judgement Day)
changing ur ways by being repentant of damage caused to env
❖ Tawbah / Tobat (repentance) and purification – change of heart & first
step to purify consumption, religiously & environmentally
❖ Asking for forgiveness (ampun – have mercy - astaghfirullah) as a
performance of sustainability – eliminating pollution symbolically as a
Muslim and in humanistic environmental terms asking for forgiveness for damaging env
❖ Accepting responsibility for the environmental problems of today for
the sake of reward in the life to come… Develop khalifah (stewardship) –
environmental intent is internalised: public form of pious practice
ppl know u are moving towards being env friendly
MUSLIM ENVIRONMENTALISM
AS RELIGIOUS PRACTICE
❖ Positive divine and ecological reward for
environmental
action
paints env care as most impt and incurs most reward -- hence incentivising
env care
❖ Allah rewards sincere environmental care
more than any other religious action
because it is giving mercy – which God
rewards with his mercy in return.
❖ Environmentally obtained mercy
achieved through activism is the closest
door to heaven. incentivises activism by promising heaven
❖ The ultimate goal is to return to the
Garden of Eden (heaven: al-Jannah)
MUSLIM ENVIRONMENTALISM
AS RELIGIOUS PRACTICE
cosmic common good
❖ cultivation of connection to community – intention
of & is intrinsically formed by the pious practice of
Muslim environmentalism – performative theory of
assembly
❖ coexistence of creatures is more important than
Western concepts of feminism
❖ Indonesian environmental justice movements
grounded in Islamic religious practice
EURODAOISM & THE ENVIRONMENT
❖ Eurodaoism – adoption & adaptation of Eastern
wisdom traditions in the West as counter-culture to
‘destructive consequences
of
Western
modernity’
discourages being master of nature and squandering it
❖ Oriental renaissance in the West – concept of
holism: spiritual tool for constructing an environmentally
conscious counter-narrative to that of nature as merely
the raw material for unlimited exploitation
❖ Interpretation of Daoism from an environmental
perspective
❖ ‘Nature itself is such an old culture that it does not
need to pretend to be a master’ (Laozi)
Laozi – Wikimedia commons
EURODAOISM & THE ENVIRONMENT
revolution of consciousness -> wake up ur idea as a result of eurodaoism ->nourish life
❖ Free from ‘mastery’ promises a soft
planetary revolution of consciousness in
harmony with mother earth (yangshen) – giving
birth & nourishing life
aka christianity (western thought)
❖Fills the void left by vanishing institutionalised
less as a result of not being
religion – return to simplicity pollute
western
animist in nature
❖ Christianity deemed as environmentally
destructive & in need of introspection
❖Deep ecology & ecofeminism often draw on
Daoist motifs
EURODAOISM & THE ENVIRONMENT
❖ Eurodaoist step backwards while China moves
forward on geoengineering – quest for
‘environmental civilisation’
❖ Contrast to Confucian belief that humans are
lords of nature: superior to the natural object
❖Daoist concept of life and cosmic rhythm /
importance of living according to naturally
occurring seasons – antidote to the modern
with the groove instead of constantly amping up
dynamics of acceleration move
desire to slow down
civilisation and gearing up change
❖ Utopian ideal: concept that life can be restored
to an imagined state of harmony with nature
FENGSHUI & THE ENVIRONMENT
❖ ‘wind’ & ‘water’ – basis of human relationship
with the built environment and the surrounding
natural world enjoins philo, archi, science etc
❖ Chinese philosophy, traditional art, science,
observation, aesthetics… and some superstition
❖ Potential of giving effective meaning to the
environment, and emphasising the psychological
needs of those for whom dwellings are built
❖ Fate of humans bound inextricably with forces
of nature – cosmic forces can protect or destroy
FENGSHUI & THE ENVIRONMENT
❖ Determining the ideal location for a home
based on the physical nature of the site +
symbolic, religious or cultural values of the site
❖ Terrestrial & celestial Qi (energy) integrates
a unity associated with Yin & Yang that is vital
qi accumulation == good spot
to everything
❖ Beneficial to be in a spot where Qi is
accumulated + esoteric observations of:
dragon, sand, water and ‘the spot’
❖ Modification of a site is not ideal – will
cause problems for humans – landscape
determines relationships between people &
system of environment affecting the people => dont modify else
environment belief
humans face problems basically
landscapes affects relationships btw ppl and env
THE ROLE OF SPIRITS IN CONSERVATION
idea of not angering spirits in nature
Case study of Karen State, Myanmar
❖ Ontology – structures on which different worlds and realities are built:
spiritual dimension of the forest are part of indigenous ontologies
❖ Discipline of forest practices, communications between humans & nonhumans & the influence of the lunar calendar
❖ Nats (spirits) who dwell in forests – animist ontologies: forest guardians:
determine people’s behaviour in the forest – give permission (or not) to
hunt, clear trees, extract resources
❖ Nats are non-human but described in human terms – they see everything
– they can metamorphosise – make presence known through accidents
THE ROLE OF SPIRITS IN CONSERVATION
❖ The bigger the tree, the more remote the location,
the more powerful the spirit
❖ Rituals & beliefs can prevent over-extraction &
extinction / seasonal hunting hiatus (based on moon
phases)
❖ Nats must be informed / rituals conducted ahead of
forest clearing
❖ Local cultural & ecological knowledge: relationships
between species – magical powers in animal parts &
from hunting a deer vs a battle between two deer <- more value
how they are derived antlers
in a battle born broken antler
❖ Animals gathering to observe a full moon/ quality of
plants harvested / plumed cockscomb for rice paddy
make spirits happy by doing stuff that nurtures nature
this belief system structures a way of
preventing over extraction from nature told by mother nature not to harvest at
this time etc dont hunt at this hour etc
Celosia argentea
THE ROLE OF SPIRITS IN CONSERVATION
❖ With Christianity – bad karma to shoot pregnant
animal (loss of 2 lives instead of one) – holy water
to protect from
spirits – loss of respect & fear of
fear of nats lost when christianity is adopted as God will 'protect them from nats'
remote nats
❖ With Buddhism – significance of 19 tree species
– sacred in relation to the Buddha: not to be cut
down (sacred groves) – selection of areas for
monastery location protects tree species by virtue of being valuable species
❖ Conservation should tap on local knowledge
(recognition required: epistemology with strong
empirical foundations) – what stakeholders do we
see? – be aware of our own ontological filters
❖ A tiger to a biologist could be a spirit temporarily
manifesting as a tiger to a Karen
Source: The Irrawady – Eastern Myanmar