Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God and the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament. With an estimated 2.1 billion adherents in 2001, Christianity is the world’s largest religion. It is the predominant religion in the Americas, Europe, Philippine Islands, East Timor, Australia, New Zealand and large parts of Africa (see Christianity by country). It is also growing rapidly in Asia, particularly in China and South Korea..

Christianity began in the 1st century AD as a Jewish sect, and shares many religious texts with Judaism, specifically the Hebrew Bible, known to Christians as the Old Testament (see Judeo-Christian). Like Judaism and Islam, Christianity is classified as an Abrahamic religion. The name “Christian” was first applied to the disciples in Antioch, as recorded in Acts 11:26. The earliest recorded use of the term Christianity is by Ignatius of Antioch.

There is a diversity of doctrines and practices among groups calling themselves Christian. These groups are sometimes classified under denominations, though for theological reasons many groups reject this classification system. Christianity may be broadly represented as being divided into three main groupings:

Roman Catholicism: The Roman Catholic Church, the largest single body, includes the Latin Rite and totals more than 1 billion baptized members.

Eastern Christianity: Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches, the 100,000 member Assyrian Church of the East, and others with a combined membership of more than 300 million baptized members.

Protestantism: Groups such as Anglicans, Lutherans, Reformed/Presbyterians, Congregational/United Church of Christ, Evangelical, Charismatic, Baptists, Methodists, Nazarenes, Anabaptists, Seventh-day Adventists and Pentecostals. The oldest of these separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century Protestant Reformation, followed in many cases by further divisions. Estimates of the total number of Protestants are very uncertain, partly because of the difficulty in determining which denominations should be placed in this category, but it seems to be unquestionable that Protestantism is the second major branch of Christianity (after Roman Catholicism) in number of followers.

Some Protestants identify themselves simply as Christian, or born-again Christian; they typically distance themselves from the confessionalism of other Protestant communities by calling themselves “non-denominational” – often founded by individual pastors, they have little affiliation with historic denominations. Others, particularly some Anglicans, eschew the term Protestant and thus insist on being thought of as Catholic, adopting the name “Anglo-Catholic.” Finally, various small communities, such as the Old Catholic and Independent Catholic Churches, are similar in name to the Roman Catholic Church, but are not in communion with the See of Rome. The Roman Catholic Church was simply called the “Catholic Church” until other groups started considering themselves “Catholic.” The term “Roman Catholic” was made to distinguish the Roman Catholics from other groups.

Restorationists, are historically connected to the Protestant Reformation, do not usually describe themselves as “reforming” a Christian Church continuously existing from the time of Jesus, but as restoring the Church that they believe was lost at some point. Restorationists include Churches of Christ with 2.6 million members, Disciples of Christ with 800,000 members, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 12 million members, and Jehovah’s Witnesses with 6.6 million members. Though Restorationists have some basic similarities, their doctrine and practices vary significantly.

Certain of these groups deviate from the tenets which most groups hold as basic to Christianity and are considered heretical or even non-Christian by many mainstream Christian groups; this is particularly true for non-trinitarians.

Christians identify Jesus as God incarnate and the Messiah. The title Messiah comes from the Hebrew word meaning “the anointed one”. The Greek translation (Christos) is the source of the English word Christ. Christians believe that, as Messiah, Jesus was anointed as ruler and savior of humanity in general, and hold that Jesus’s coming was the fulfilment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept.

Most Christians believe that Jesus is “true God and true man” (or both fully divine and fully human). Jesus, having become fully human in all respects, including the aspect of mortality, suffered the pains and temptations of mortal man, yet he did not sin. As fully God, he defeated death and rose to life again with the resurrection. (See Death and Resurrection of Jesus). According to the Bible, “God raised him from the dead”, he ascended to heaven, to the “right hand of God”, and will return again to fulfil the rest of Messianic prophecy such as the Resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment and establishment of the Kingdom of God, see also Messianism and Messianic Age.

According to Christian Scripture, while still a virgin, Mary conceived Jesus not by sexual intercourse, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. (See Nativity of Jesus)

Little of Jesus’s childhood is recorded in the Gospels compared to his adulthood, especially the week before his death. The Biblical accounts begin with his baptism, and go on to recount miracles (e.g. turning water into wine at a marriage at Cana, exorcisms, healings, &c.), quote his teachings (e.g. the Sermon on the Mount and parables) and narrate his deeds (e.g. calling the Twelve Apostles and sharing hospitality with outcasts and the poor).

Christianity regards the Bible, a collection of canonical books in two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament, as authoritative: written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and therefore the inerrant Word of God. Protestants believe that the scriptures contain all revealed truth necessary for salvation (See Sola scriptura).

The Old Testament contains the entire Jewish Tanakh, though in the Christian canon the books are ordered differently and some books of the Tanakh are divided into several books by the Christian canon. The Catholic and Orthodox canons include the Hebrew Jewish canon and other books (from the Septuagint Greek Jewish canon) which Catholics call Deuterocanonical, while Protestants consider them Apocrypha.

The first four books of the New Testament are the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), which recount the life and teachings of Jesus. The first three are often called synoptic because of the amount of material they share. The rest of the New Testament consists of a sequel to Luke’s Gospel, the Acts of the Apostles, which describes the very early history of the Church, a collection of letters from early Christian leaders to congregations or individuals, the Pauline and General epistles, and the apocalyptic Book of Revelation.

Some traditions maintain other canons. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church maintains two canons, the Narrow Canon, itself larger than any Biblical canon outside Ethiopia, and the Broad Canon, which has even more books. The Latter-day Saints, though generally not considered Christian, hold the Bible and three additional books to be the inspired word of God: the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.

Though Christians largely agree on the content of the Bible, no consensus exists on its interpretation, or exegesis. In antiquity, two schools of exegesis developed in Alexandria and Antioch. Alexandrine interpretation, exemplified by Origen, tended to read Scripture allegorically, while Antiochene interpretation adhered to the literal sense, holding that other meanings (called theoria) could only be accepted if based on the literal meaning.

Catholic theology distinguishes two senses of scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral, and anagogical senses. The literal sense is “the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation.” The allegorical sense includes typology, for example the parting of the Red Sea is seen as a “type” of or sign of baptism; the moral sense contains ethical teaching; the anagogical sense includes eschatology and applies to eternity and the consummation of the world. Catholic theology also adds other rules of interpretation, which include the injunction that all other senses of sacred scripture are based on the literal, that the historicity of the Gospels must be absolutely and constantly held, that scripture must be read within the “living Tradition of the whole Church”, and that “the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.”

Many Protestants stress the literal sense or historical-grammatical method, even to the extent of rejecting other senses altogether. Martin Luther advocated “one definite and simple understanding of Scripture”. Other Protestant interpreters make use of typology. Protestants characteristically believe that ordinary believers may reach an adequate understanding of Scripture because Scripture itself is clear (or “perspicuous”), because of the help of the Holy Spirit, or both. Martin Luther believed that without God’s help Scripture would be “enveloped in darkness”, but John Calvin wrote, “all who refuse not to follow the Holy Spirit as their guide, find in the Scripture a clear light.” The Second Helvetic Confession said, “we hold that interpretation of the Scripture to be orthodox and genuine which is gleaned from the Scriptures themselves (from the nature of the language in which they were written, likewise according to the circumstances in which they were set down, and expounded in the light of like and unlike passages and of many and clearer passages).” The writings of the Church Fathers, and decisions of Ecumenical Councils, though “not despise[d]”, were not authoritative and could be rejected.

Chakras

In Hinduism and in some related Asian cultures, a chakra (Sanskrit cakra “wheel”) is thought to be a nexus of metaphysical and/or biophysical energy residing in the human body. The New Age movement, and to some degree the distinctly different New Thought movement, have also adopted and elaborated on this belief.
Background
The word comes from the Sanskrit cakra meaning “wheel” or “circle” (also cognate to both words), and sometimes also referring to the “wheel of life”. The pronunciation of this word can be approximated in English by chuhkruh, with ch as in chart and both instances of a as in yoga (the commonly found pronunciation shockrah is incorrect). Some traditional sources describe five or seven chakras, others eight.

The chakras are described as being aligned in an ascending column from the base of the spine to the top of the head. In new age practices, each chakra is associated with a certain color. In various traditions chakras are associated with multiple physiological functions, an aspect of consciousness, a classical element, and other distinguishing characteristics. They are visualized as lotuses with a different number of petals in every chakra.
The chakras are thought to vitalise the physical body and to be associated with interactions of a physical, emotional and mental nature. They are considered loci of life energy, or prana, (also called shakti, chi (Chinese), coach-ha-guf (Hebrew), bios/aether (Greek, English)), which is thought to flow among them along pathways called nadis ). The function of the chakras is to spin and draw in this Universal Life Force Energy to keep the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health of the body in balance.
Traditional Chinese medicine also relies on a similar model of the human body as an energy system.
The New Age movement has led to an increased interest in the West regarding chakras. Many in this movement point to a correspondence between the position and role of the chakras and those of the glands in the endocrine system. Some people in New Age also claim that other chakras, besides the above, exist — for instance, ear chakras — and have described many more chakras than made reference to in traditional texts. Frequent references are made to the chakras in the New Age “sacred sexuality” or neotantra movement.
The chakras are described in the tantric texts the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, and the Padaka-Pancaka, in which they are described as emanations of consciousness from Brahman, an energy emanating from the spiritual which gradually turns concrete, creating these distinct levels of chakras, and which eventually finds its rest in the Muladhara chakra. They are therefore part of an emanationist theory, like that of the kabbalah in the west, lataif-e-sitta in Sufism or neo-platonism. The energy that was unleashed in creation, called the Kundalini, lies coiled and sleeping at the base of the spine. It is the purpose of the tantric or kundalini forms of yoga to arouse this energy, and cause it to rise back up through the increasingly subtler chakras, until union with God is achieved in the Sahasrara chakra at the crown of the head. In Microcosmic orbit energy also comes back down the front torso nadi (and can branch to limb nadis in Macrocosmic orbit) and enters the tantiens: when it returns to the heart (and cycles down and reascends to the head) further meditation/contemplation or union with deity develops.
Apart from this primary text from India, different Western authors have tried to describe the chakras, most notably the Theosophists. Many New Age writers, such as the Danish author and musician Peter Kjærulff in his book, The Ringbearer’s Diary, or Anodea Judith in her book Wheels of Life, have written their opinions about the chakras in great detail, including the reasons for their appearance and functions.
The seven chakras are said by some to reflect how the unified consciousness of humanity (the immortal human being or the soul), is divided to manage different aspects of earthly life (body/instinct/vital energy/deeper emotions/communication/having an overview of life/contact to God). The chakras are placed at differing levels of spiritual subtlety, with Sahasrara at the top being concerned with pure consciousness, and Muladhara at the bottom being concerned with matter, which is seen simply as crudified consciousness.

Origins and development
The earliest known mention of chakras is found in the later Upanishads, including specifically the Brahma Upanishad (Mahavadana 1953) and the Yogatattva Upanishad. These Vedic models were adapted in Tibetan Buddhism as Vajrayana theory, and in the Tantric Shakta theory of chakras.[citation needed]

The seven chakras and the five elements in Tantra. Origin : Chakras Images Database
It is the shakta theory of 7 main chakras that most people in the West adhere to, either knowingly or unknowingly, largely thanks to a translation of two Indian texts, the Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, and the Padaka-Pancaka, by Sir John Woodroffe, alias Arthur Avalon, in a book entitled The Serpent Power.
This book is extremely detailed and complex, and later the ideas were developed into what is predominant western view of the Chakras by the Theosophists, and largely the controversial (in theosophical circles) C. W. Leadbeater in his book The Chakras, which are in large part his own meditations and insights on the matter.
That said, many present-day Indian gurus that incorporate chakras within their systems of philosophy do not seem to radically disagree with the western view of chakras, at least on the key points, and both these eastern and western views have developed from the Shakta Tantra school.
There are various other models of chakras in other traditions, notably in Chinese medicine, and also in Tibetan Buddhism. Even in Jewish kabbalah, the different Sephiroth are sometimes associated with parts of the body. In Islamic Sufism, Lataif-e-Sitta ( Six Subtleties ) are considered as psychospiritual “organs” or faculties of sensory and suprasensory perception, activation of which makes a man complete. Attempts are made to try and reconcile the systems with each other, and notably there are some successes, even between such diverged traditions as Shakta Tantra, Sufism and Kabbalism, where chakras, lataif and Sephiroth can seemingly represent the same archetypal spiritual concepts. In Surat Shabda Yoga, initiation by an Outer Living Satguru (Sat – true, Guru – teacher) is required and involves reconnecting soul to the Shabda and stationing the Inner Shabda Master (the Radiant Form of the Master) at the third eye chakra.[citation needed]

The Seven basic chakras
Sahasrara
Sahasrara or the crown chakra is said to be the chakra of consciousness, the master chakra that controls all the others. Its role would be very similar to that of the pituitary gland, which secretes hormones to control the rest of the endocrine system, and also connects to the central nervous system via the hypothalamus. The thalamus is thought to have a key role in the physical basis of consciousness. Symbolised by a lotus with a thousand petals. It is located above the head outside the body. Color- violet

Ajna
Ajna or the third eye is linked to the pineal gland. Ajna is the chakra of time and awareness and of light. The pineal gland is a light sensitive gland, that produces the hormone melatonin, which regulates the instincts of going to sleep and awakening. It has been conjectured that it also produces trace amounts of the psychedelic chemical dimethyltryptamine. Symbolised by a lotus with two petals. Color- indigo
(Note: some argue that the pineal and pituitary glands should be exchanged in their relationship to the Crown and Brow chakras, based on the description in Arthur Avalon’s book on kundalini called Serpent Power or empirical research.)

Vishuddha
Vishuddha or the throat chakra is said to be related to communication and growth, growth being a form of expression. This chakra is paralleled to the thyroid, a gland that is also in the throat, and which produces thyroid hormone, responsible for growth and maturation. Symbolised by a lotus with sixteen petals. Color- blue

Anahata
Anahata or the heart chakra is related to higher emotion, compassion, love, equilibrium, and well-being. It is related to the thymus, located in the chest. This organ is part of the immune system, as well as being part of the endocrine system. It produces T cells responsible for fighting off disease, and is adversely affected by stress. Symbolised by a lotus with twelve petals. Color- Green

Manipura
Manipura or the solar plexus chakra is related to the transition from base to higher emotion, energy, assimilation and digestion, and is said to correspond to the roles played by the pancreas and the outer adrenal glands, the adrenal cortex. These play a valuable role in digestion, the conversion of food matter into energy for the body. Symbolised by a lotus with ten petals. Color- yellow

Swadhisthana
Swadhisthana or the sacral chakra is located in the groin, and is related to base emotion, sexuality and creativity. This chakra is said to correspond to the testicles or the ovaries, that produce the various sex hormones involved in the reproductive cycle, which can cause dramatic mood swings. Symbolised by a lotus with six petals. Color- Orange

Muladhara
Muladhara or the base or root chakra is related to instinct, security, survival and also to basic human potentiality. This centre is located in the region between the genitals and the anus. Although no endocrine organ is placed here, it is said to relate to the inner adrenal glands, the adrenal medulla, responsible for the fight and flight response when survival is under threat. In this region is located a muscle that controls ejaculation in the sexual act. A parallel is drawn between the sperm cell and the ovum, where the genetic code lies coiled, and the kundalini. Symbolised by a lotus with four petals. Color Red
It is claimed to be very important to know the right color tone for a specific area because the wrong hue of color can allegedly do different things to the energetic system. Yet different systems differ in the colors they ascribe.
The colors above are in the order they occur in the visible spectrum, which is conventionally (though not necessarily) divided into seven colors. (Complexly these also correspond to frequencies/subtleness of the 7 Spirits (with chakras in), 7 planes, and Platonic categorization of gnosis, etc.)
For a discussion on chakra petals see Petal (chakra).
Additionally, some teachers describe one or more Transpersonal chakras above the crown chakra, and an Earth star chakra below the feet. There are also said to be many minor chakras, for example between the major chakras.
With the front tantiens (autonomic plexuses to organs/glands) branching from cerebrospinal chakras) and two levels of a vitality triangle on/in the back (spleen and behind a ‘belly chakra/tantien’, and by the arm-nadi branch) on the back, there are 7 (or 8) chakra spots outside the cerebrospinal nadis.
Woodroffe also describes 7 head chakras (including Ajna and Sahasrara) in his other Indian text sources. Lowest to highest they are: Talu/Talana/Lalana, Ajna, Manas, Soma, Brahmarandra, Sri (inside Sahasrara) Sahasrara.

Chakras and the endocrine system
Parallels have often been drawn, by supporters of the existence of chakras, between the positions and functions of the chakras, and of the various organs of the endocrine system. (Sivananda 1953)

Various models
Chakrology is a neologism sometimes employed by Alternative Medicine practitioners or esoteric philosophers for the study of chakras. There are many different chakrologies, some of them based on ancient Indian Hindu Tantric esoteric traditions, New Age interpretations, or Western occult analyses, as well as ancient Greek and Christian references.

Scientific basis
The idea of chakras as understood in Eastern philosophy does not exist in medical science. There is no physically verifiable anatomical or histological basis for their existence. In Eastern thought, the chakras are thought to be levels of consciousness, and states of the soul, and ‘proving’ the existence of chakras is asking to ‘prove’ the existence of a soul. A mystic deals with these occult concepts on the occult planes, as a model for their own internal experience, and when talking about ‘energy centres’, they are generally talking about subtle, spiritual forces, which work on the psyche and spirit, not about physical (except physics energy topics) or electromagnetic fields (besides in nerves; nadis).
The primary importance and level of existence of chakras is therefore posited to be in the psyche. However, there are those who believe that chakras have a physical manifestation as well. Indian mystics made this association themselves; it is noted by many that there is a marked similarity between the positions and roles described for chakras, and the positions and roles of the glands in the endocrine system, and also by the positions of the nerve ganglia (also known as “plexuses”) along the spinal cord (branching to plexuses by endocrine glands or organs), opening the possibility that two vastly different systems of conceptualization have been brought to bear to systemize insights about the same phenomenon. By some, chakras are thought of as having their physical manifestation in the body as these glands, and their subjective manifestation as the associated psychological and spiritual experiences.
Indeed, the various hormones secreted by these glands do have a dramatic effect on human psychology, and an imbalance in one can cause a psychological or physical imbalance in a person. Whether these changes in body state have a bearing on spiritual matters is a subject of dissent even among the Indian theorists, and the different systems of conceptualization, Indian and Western, make only a partial convergence in this case.
Perhaps the most psychologically dramatic and potent secretion of these glands is the psychedelic drug DMT (which is thought to be synthesized by the pineal gland, corresponding to the brow chakra). Some individuals have sought spiritual breakthroughs through the use of such chemical aids, occasionally referred to as entheogens in this context. (See for example: Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, a classic of new-age spirituality.)

References in fiction
In Grant Morrison’s “Here Comes Tomorrow” New X-Men story arc, it is revealed that the Phoenix consciousness accesses its human avatar, Jean Grey, through the crown chakra.
In the original Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game, monks as in Eldritch Wizardry could practice yoga, and so use chakras. In D&D 3.5, Incarnum is a system of magic that uses chakra binds on parts of your body.
In the Teen Titans animated series, during the episode ‘Sisters’, Blackfire compliments Raven on the jewel she wears on her Ajna chakra.[citation needed]
In the anime/manga series Naruto, the energy used to perform certain techniques is referred to as chakra. Through various methods, the most common of which is handseals, the chakra can then be manipulated to create an effect that would not be possible otherwise, such as walking on water. This energy flows through the body in a network connected to the internal organs, concentrating in eight “chakra gates” which correspond roughly to the traditional chakras.
In the Nickelodeon animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, in order for Aang to fully access and control the Avatar State he needs to be able to fully open his Chakras.
In the “rockumentary” Spinal Tap, David St. Hubbins extols the virtues of his new girlfriend Jeanine for, among other things, balancing his chakras. He states: “Before I met Jeanine my life was cosmically a shambles.”
In the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies a selection of torture instruments are presented as “instruments of the ancient art of Chakra torture”.

Buddhism

Buddhism is a dharmic, non-theistic religion, a philosophy, and a system of psychology. Buddhism is also known in Sanskrit or Pali, the main ancient languages of Buddhists, as Buddha Dharma or Dhamma, which means the teachings of “the Awakened One”. Thus was called Siddhartha Gautama, hereinafter referred to as “the Buddha”. Early sources say that the Buddha was born in Lumbini (now in Nepal), and that he died aged around 80 in Kushinagar (India). He lived in or around the fifth century BCE, according to recent scholarship. Buddhism spread throughout the Indian subcontinent in the five centuries following the Buddha’s passing, and thence into Central, Southeast and East Asia and Eastern Europe over the next two millennia.

Eventually, Indian Buddhism became virtually extinct, except in parts of Nepal. The most frequently used classification of present-day Buddhism among scholars seems to be into the following three traditions, though described or named differently.

Southern Buddhism, or Theravada (its own usual name for itself), also known as Southeast Asian Buddhism, or Pali Buddhism – practiced mainly in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and parts of Malaysia, Vietnam, China and Bangladesh (Southeast Asia)

Eastern Buddhism, also known as East Asian Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism, Sino-Japanese Buddhism, or Mahayana – practiced predominantly in China, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Singapore and parts of Russia

Northern Buddhism, also known as Tibetan Buddhism, Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhism, or Vajrayana, sometimes called Lamaism – practiced mainly in Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan and parts of Nepal, India, China and Russia.

An alternative scheme used by some scholars has just two divisions, Theravada and Mahayana, the latter comprising both Eastern and Northern. Some scholarsuse other schemes. The term Hinayana, referring to Theravada and various extinct Indian schools, is sometimes used, but is often considered derogatory, and the World Federation of Buddhists recommends it be avoided.

Buddhism continues to attract followers worldwide and is considered a major world religion. According to one source (), “World estimates for Buddhists vary between 230 and 500 million, with most around 350 million.” However, estimates are uncertain for several countries. According to one analysis, Buddhism is the fifth-largest religion in the world behind Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and traditional Chinese religion. The monks’ order (Sangha), which began during the lifetime of the Buddha in India, is amongst the oldest organizations on earth.

In Buddhism, any person who has awakened from the “sleep of ignorance” by directly realizing the true nature of reality is called a buddha. Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, is thus only one among other buddhas before or after him. His teachings are oriented toward the attainment of this kind of awakening, also called enlightenment, Bodhi, liberation, or Nirvana.

Part of the Buddha’s teachings regarding the holy life and the goal of liberation is constituted by t he “The Four Noble Truths”, which focus on dukkha, a term that refers to suffering or the sorrow of life. The Four Noble Truths regarding suffering state what is its nature, its cause, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation. This way to the cessation of suffering is called “The Noble Eightfold Path”, which is one of the fundamentals of Buddhist virtuous or moral life.

As the Sa?gha gradually grew over the next century a dispute arose regarding ten points of discipline. A Second Buddhist Council (said in the scriptures to have taken place 100 years after the Buddha’s death) was held to resolve the points at dispute. The result was that all the monks agreed that those 10 practices were unallowed according to Vinaya.

At some period after the Second Council however, the Sangha began to break into separate factions. The various accounts differ as to when the actual schisms occurred: according to the Dipavamsa of the Pali tradition, they started immediately after the Second Council; the Puggalavada tradition places it in 137 AN; the Sarvastivada tradition of Vasumitra says it was in the time of Asoka; and the Mahasanghika tradition places it much later, nearly 100 BCE.

The Asokan edicts, our only contemporary sources, state that ‘the Sangha has been made unified’. This apparently refers to a dispute such as that described in the account of the Third Buddhist Council at Pataliputta. This concerns the expulsion of non-Buddhist heretics from the Sangha, and does not speak of a schism.

These schisms occurred within the traditions of Early Buddhism, at a time when the Mah?y?na movement either did not exist at all, or only existed as a current of thought not yet identified with a separate school.

The root schism was between the Sthaviras and the Mah?s??ghikas. The fortunate survival of accounts from both sides of the dispute reveals disparate traditions. The Sthavira group offers two quite distinct reasons for the schism. The Dipavamsa of the Therav?da says that the losing party in the Second Council dispute broke away in protest and formed the Mahasanghika. This contradicts the Mahasanghikas’ own vinaya, which shows them as on the same, winning side. On the other hand, the northern lineages, including the Sarvastivada and Puggalavada (both branches of the ancient Sthaviras) attribute the Mah?s??ghika schism to the ‘5 points’ that erode the status of the arahant. For their part, the Mah?s??ghikas argued that the Sthaviras were trying to expand the Vinaya; they may also have challenged what they perceived to be excessive claims or inhumanly high criteria for Arhatship. Both parties, therefore, appealed to tradition. The Sthaviras gave rise to several schools, one of which was the Therav?da school.

Following (or leading up to) the schisms, each Sa?gha started to accumulate an Abhidharma, a collection of philosophical texts. Early sources for these probably existed in the time of the Buddha as simple lists. However, as time went on and Buddhism spread further, the (perceived) teachings of the Buddha were formalized in a more systematic manner in a new Pitaka: the Abhidhamma Pitaka. Some modern academics refer to it as Abhidhamma Buddhism. Interestingly, in the opinion of some scholars, the Mahasanghika school did not have an Abhidhamma Pitaka, which agrees with their statement that they did not want to add to the Buddha’s teachings. But according to Chinese pilgrims Fa Xian (5th century CE) and Yuan Chwang (7th century CE), they had procured a copy of Abhidhamma which belonged to the Mahasanghika School.

Buddhist tradition records in the Milinda Panha that the 2nd century BCE Indo-Greek king Menander converted to the Buddhist faith and became an arhat.

Buddhism may have spread only slowly in India until the time of the Mauryan emperor A?oka the Great, who was a public supporter of the religion. The support of A?oka and his descendants led to the construction of more Buddhist religious memorials and to efforts to spread Buddhism throughout the enlarged Maurya empire and even into neighboring lands – particularly to the Iranian-speaking regions of Afghanistan and Central Asia, beyond the Mauryas’ northwest border, and to the island of Sri Lanka south of India. These two missions, in opposite directions, would ultimately lead, in the first case to the spread of Buddhism into China, and in the second case, to the emergence of Therav?da Buddhism and its spread from Sri Lanka to the coastal lands of Southeast Asia.

This period marks the first known spread of Buddhism beyond India. According to the edicts of A?oka, emissaries were sent to various countries west of India in order to spread “Dhamma”, particularly in eastern provinces of the neighboring Seleucid Empire, and even farther to Hellenistic kingdoms of the Mediterranean. This led, a century later, to the emergence of Greek-speaking Buddhist monarchs in the Indo-Greek Kingdom, and to the development of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandh?ra. During this period Buddhism was exposed to a variety of influences, from Persian and Greek civilization, and from changing trends in non-Buddhist Indian religions – themselves influenced by Buddhism.

The precise geographical origins of Mahayana are unknown. It is likely that various elements of Mahayana developed independently from the 1st century BCE onwards, initially within several small individual communities, in areas to the north-west within the Kushan Empire (within present-day northern Pakistan), and in areas within the Shatavahana Empire, including Amaravati to the south-east (in present-day Andhra Pradesh), to the west around the port of Bharukaccha (present-day Bharuch, a town near Bombay), and around the various cave complexes, such as Ajanta and Karli (in present-day Gujarat and Maharashtra). The late Professor Hirakawa argued that Mahayana was a movement of lay Buddhists focused around stupa devotion. Pictures within the wall of a stupa representing the story of the Buddha and his previous reincarnation as a bodisattva were used to preach Buddhism to the masses. This theory is still widely held among Japanese scholars, but most western scholars now reject it. The Sangha, at the same time, became increasingly fragmented both in terms of Abhidharma and Vinaya practice. This led to a widening distance between the laity and Sangha. The Mahayana movement, on the other hand, was ecumenical, reflecting a wide range of influence from various sects. Monks representing different philosophical orientations could live in the same Sangha as long as they practiced the same Vinaya. Still, in terms of Abhidharma, the Sarvastivada school (which had been rejected by the 3rd council, according to the Theravada tradition) and the Dharmaguptaka school, both of which were widespread in the Kushan Empire, seem to have had major influence. Moreover, those who believe that Mahayana sutras were composed during this period speculate that the process of reshuffling of sutras according to various Abhidharma eventually led to editing which made the composition of new Mahayana sutras possible.

Around 100 CE, the Kushan emperor Kanishka is said to have convened what many western scholars call the fourth Buddhist council and is usually associated with the formal rise of Mahayana Buddhism. This council is not recognised by Theravada line of Buddhism. according to Mahayana sources, this council did not simply rely on the original Tripitaka in the third council. Instead, a set of new scriptures, mostly notably, the Lotus Sutra, an early version of the Heart Sutra and the Amitabha Sutra were approved, as well as fundamental principles of doctrine based around the concept of salvation for all beings (hence Mah?y?na “great vehicle”) and the concept of Buddhas and bodhisattvas who embody the indwelling yet transcendent Buddha-nature who strive to achieve such a goal. However, most western scholars believe this council was purely Sarvastivada, while the late Monseigneur Professor Lamotte considered it entirely fictitious. The new scriptures were first written in Sanskrit. From that point on, and in the space of a few centuries, Mahayana would flourish and spread from India to Southeast Asia, and towards the north to Central Asia and then east to China where Mahayana was Sinicized and this Sinicized Mahayana would be passed on to Korea, Vietnam and finally to Japan in 538 CE. The East Asians would go on to write more indigenous sutras and commentaries to the Mahayana Canon. The most complete Mahayana Canon today is in the Chinese language.

Mah?y?na Buddhism received significant theoretical grounding from N?g?rjuna (perhaps c.150 – 250 CE), arguably the most influential scholar within the Mah?y?na tradition. Writings attributed to him made explicit references to Mah?y?na texts, but his philosophy was argued within the parameters set out by the Tripi?aka s?tras. Completely repudiating the then-and-there-dominant Sarv?stiv?da school, which argued for the existence of dharmas (factors of existence) in past, present, and future, N?g?rjuna asserted that the nature of the dharmas (hence the enlightenment) to be ??nya (void or empty), bringing together other key Buddhist doctrines, particularly an?tman (no-self) and prat?tyasamutp?da (dependent origination). His school of thought is known as the Madhyamaka.

After the end of the Ku???as, Buddhism flourished in India during the dynasty of the Guptas (4th – 6th century). Mah?y?na centres of learning were established, the most important one being the N?land? University in north-eastern India. Sarv?stiv?da teaching, which was criticized by N?g?rjuna, was reformulated by scholars such as Vasubandhu and Asa?ga and were incorporated into the Yog?c?ra (Sanskrit: yoga practice) school. While the Madhyamaka school asserted that there is no ultimately real thing, the Yog?c?ra school asserts that only the mind is ultimately existent. These two schools of thought, in opposition or synthesis, form the basis of subsequent Mah?y?na theology in the Indo-Tibetan tradition.

There are differing views as to just when Vajray?na and its tantric practice started. In the Tibetan tradition, it is claimed that the historical ??kyamuni Buddha taught tantra, but as these are esoteric teachings, they were written down long after the Buddha’s other teachings. The earliest texts appeared around the early 4th century. N?land? University became a center for the development of Vajray?na theory and continued as the source of leading-edge Vajray?na practices up through the 11th century. These practices, scriptures and theory were transmitted to China, Tibet, Indochina and Southeast Asia. China generally received Indian transmission up to the 11th century including tantric practice, while a vast amount of what is considered to be Tibetan Buddhism (Vajray?na) stems from the late (9th-12th century) N?land? tradition.

Buddhism was established in the northern regions of India and Central Asia, and kingdoms with Buddhist rulers such as Menander I and Kaniska. Under the rule of tolerant or even sympathetic Greco-Bactrian and Iranian Achaemenid kings, Buddhism flourished. The rulers of the Kush?na Empire adopted Buddhism, and it continued to thrive in the region under the rule of the Turk-Sh?h?s.

Buddhists were briefly persecuted under the Zoroastrian priest-king Kirder. Syncretism between Zoroastrianism and Buddhism had resulted in the rise of a ‘Buddha-Mazda’ divinity, which Kirder treated as heresy.

The Hinayana traditions first spread among the Turkic tribes before combining with the Mahayana forms during the 2nd and 3rd centuries BCE to cover modern-day Pakistan, Kashmir, Afghanistan, eastern and coastal Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. These were the ancient states of Gandhara, Bactria, Parthia and Sogdia from where it spread to China. Among the first of these Turkic tribes to adopt Buddhism was the Turki-Shahi who adopted Buddhism as early as the 3rd century BCE. It was not, however, the exclusive faith of this region. There were also Zoroastrians, Hindus, Nestorian Christians, Jews, Manichaeans, and followers of shamanism, Tengrism, and other indigenous, nonorganized systems of belief.

From the 4th Century CE on, Hindu dynasties had achieved preeminence elsewhere in India. Even in regions of Buddhist predominance, such as the northwest (Pañj?b) and the lower Gangetic plain (Uttar Pradesh and Bengal), the Indian caste system was found. In political contests between Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms, Buddhist rulers were gradually replaced by Hindu ones. By the 4th to 5th century Buddhism was already in decline in northern India, even though it was achieving multiple successes in Central Asia and along the Silk Road as far as China.

The Buddhist states of Central Asia were weakened in the 6th century following the invasion of the White Huns and Buddhism suffered as recorded by Xuanzang. Later Buddhist regions in Central Asia came either under the sway of the Persian S?s?nids or Tibet. When the Muslim Arabs overthrew the S?ss?nids they encountered Buddhists in the eastern provinces of the Persian Empire. They called them by the Persian name of butparast, literally meaning “buddha-worshipper”, although the term has come to be used generally for any religion in which cult images play a role. Several high officials of the Abb?sid Caliphate, notably the Barmakids, were descended from these East Iranian Buddhists.

When Muhammad bin Q?sim led the invasion of Sindh at the mouth of the Indus river, he was aided by some Buddhists in his campaign against their Hindu overlord, R?j? Dahir. Relations with later Iranian rulers such as the Saffarids and Samanids were more difficult; Buddhist monasteries and st?pas were not exempt from looting under Arab rule.

After the disintegration of the Abb?sid Caliphate, the Muslim Turks rose to prominence among the Persian emirates that emerged in Central Asia and Afghanistan. In the 10th century CE, one of them, Mahm?d of Ghazn?, defeated the Hind?-Sh?h?s and finally brought the region firmly under Muslim rule through Afghanistan and the Pañj?b. He demolished monasteries alongside temples during his raid across north-western India but left those within his domains and Afghanistan alone and al-Biruni recorded the Buddha as a prophet “burxan”.

The originally pagan Turkic tribes who lived in western Central Asia converted to Isl?m as they came to be increasingly influenced by Persian culture. As the Turkic tribes of Central Asia battled for control of land, similarly an ideological battle waged within them as Sufis, faced with an increasing hostile environment in Arabia, moved to Transoxania and found fertile ground here for converts among the Buddhist and non-Buddhist Turkic tribes alike. Buddhism persisted, together with Christianity, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, and shamanism in areas to the east (modern Xinjiang) for several centuries, which did not become overwhelmingly Muslim until the 15th century CE; however, under the two-pronged onslaught Buddhism waned and over time Central Asia gradually became predominantly Muslim.

In 1215 Genghis Khan conquered Afghanistan and his horde devastated the local population indiscriminately; in 1227 after his death his conquest was divided and Chagatai established the Chagatai Khanate while Hulegu established the Il Khanate where Buddhism was the state religion across Muslim lands. In the Chagatai Khanate the Buddhist Turkic tribes slowly converted to Islam, including the occasional Khan . When Tarmashirin came to power he made Islam the official religion of the region in 1326. In the Il Khanate, Hulegu and his successors Abaqa and Arghun also established Buddhism as the state religion but were hostile to the Muslims. Many mosques were destroyed and numerous stupas built; however, when Ghazan came to power in 1295 and converted he reverted the state religion to Islam and the climate became hostile towards Buddhism. Today no stupas built by the earlier Mongol Khans survive, and after Ghazan’s reign little mention of Buddhism can be found in Afghanistan and Central Asia.

Buddhists retained power in parts of northern India, in Ka?m?r and especially in Bengal, where the Buddhist P?la kings ruled from the 8th-12th centuries CE. These last Buddhist strongholds played an important role in the evolution of the Vajray?na and the transmission of that form of Buddhism to Tibet before they collapsed under assault from the Hindu Sena dynasty.

Elsewhere in India, Buddhism suffered from pressure by Hindu dynasties, such as the increasingly powerful Rajputs, as well as competition from a Hinduism that had gained ideological coherence and emotional vigor from such movements as Ved?nta philosophy and Bhakti devotionalism. One symptom of increased Hindu confidence with regard to Buddhism was the identification of the Buddha as an avat?ra of the Hindu god Vishnu – an identification which contradicted basic Buddhist understandings about the nature of a Buddha and of nirv?na.

In 1193, only a few decades after the fall of the P?la kingdom, Muhammad Khilj? destroyed N?land?, the great Buddhist university. Khilj? was one of the generals of Qutbudd?n Aybak, a subject of the Afghan Ghurids but soon to become the monarch of a Muslim sultanate at Delhi. Khilj?’s march across northern India caused a precipitous decline in the fortunes of Indian Buddhism, as he destroyed Buddhist walled monasteries fortified by the Sena kings (which he thought were cities), killed the monks and burned their libraries.

After the Mongol invasions of Islamic lands across Central Asia, many Sufis also found themselves fleeing towards the newly established Islamic lands in India around the environs of Bengal. Here their influence, caste attitudes towards Buddhists, previous familiarity with Buddhism, lack of Buddhist political power or social structure along with Hinduism’s revival movements such as Advaita and the rise of the syncretic bhakti movement, all contributed to a significant realignment of beliefs relegating Buddhism in India to the peripheries.

By the 13th century CE, Buddhism had become a marginal religion in central India; without a monastic infrastructure, Buddhism could not easily maintain its identity, and many Buddhists, especially in Bengal, were converted to Isl?m, Hinduism or left for the Himalayan foothills. In Ka?m?r Buddhism remained a significant religion down to the early 15th century, when it was displaced by Isl?m and Hinduism, except among the Tibetan peoples of Ladakh.

Elements of Buddhism have remained within India to the current day: the Bauls of Bengal have a syncretic set of practices with strong emphasis on many Buddhist concepts. Other areas of India have never parted from Buddhism, including Ladakh and other Himalayan regions with a primarily Tibetan population. Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim are the other Indian states where Buddhism is practiced in great numbers. The Newars of Nepal also retain a form of Buddhism that differs from the Buddhism of Tibet. Furthermore, much of Buddhist philosophy was eventually absorbed into Hinduism.

Shamanism

Shamanism refers to a range of traditional beliefs and practices similar to Animism that claim the ability to diagnose and cure human suffering and, in some societies, the ability to cause suffering. This is believed to be accomplished by traversing the axis mundi and forming a special relationship with, or gaining control over, spirits. Shamans have been credited with the ability to control the weather, divination, the interpretation of dreams, astral projection, and traveling to upper and lower worlds. Shamanistic traditions have existed throughout the world since prehistoric times.

Some anthropologists and religion scholars define a shaman as an intermediary between the natural and spiritual world, who travels between worlds in a trance state. Once in the spirit world, the shaman would commune with the spirits for assistance in healing, hunting or weather management. Ripinsky-Naxon describes shamans as, “People who have a strong interest in their surrounding environment and the society of which they are a part.”

Other anthropologists critique the term “shamanism”, arguing that it is a culturally specific word and institution and that by expanding it to fit any healer from any traditional society it produces a false unity between these cultures and creates a false idea of an initial human religion predating all others. However, others say that these anthropologists simply fail to recognize the commonalities between otherwise diverse traditional societies.

Shamanism is based on the premise that the visible world is pervaded by invisible forces or spirits that affect the lives of the living. In contrast to animism and animatism, which any and usually all members of a society practice, shamanism requires specialized knowledge or abilities. It could be said that shamans are the experts employed by animists or animist communities. Shamans are not, however, often organized into full-time ritual or spiritual associations, as are priests.

Shaman originally referred to the traditional healers of Turkic-Mongol areas such as Northern Asia (Siberia) and Mongolia, a “shaman” being the Turkic-Tungus word for such a practitioner and literally meaning “he (or she) who knows.” In Turkic shamans were called mostly Kam and sometimes Baks.

Accordingly, the only proper plural form of the word is shamans and not shamen, as it is unrelated to the English word “man”.

In its common usage, it has replaced the older English language term witch doctor, a term which unites the two stereotypical functions of the shaman: knowledge of magical and other lore, and the ability to cure a person and mend a situation. However, this term is generally considered to be pejorative and anthropologically inaccurate. Objections to the use of shaman as a generic term have been raised as well, by both academics and traditional healers themselves, given that the word comes from a specific place, people, and set of practices.

Shamanistic practices are sometimes claimed to predate all organized religions, and certainly date back to the Neolithic period [citation needed]. Aspects of shamanism are encountered in later, organized religions, generally in their mystic and symbolic practices. Greek paganism was influenced by shamanism, as reflected in the stories of Tantalus, Prometheus, Medea, and Calypso among others, as well as in the Eleusinian Mysteries, and other mysteries. Some of the shamanic practices of the Greek religion later merged into the Roman religion.

The shamanic practices of many cultures were marginalized with the spread of monotheism in Europe and the Middle East. In Europe, starting around 400, the Catholic Church was instrumental in the collapse of the Greek and Roman religions. Temples were systematically destroyed and key ceremonies were outlawed or appropriated. The Early Modern witch trials may have further eliminated lingering remnants of European shamanism (if in fact “shamanism” can even be used to accurately describe the beliefs and practices of those cultures).

The repression of shamanism continued as Catholic influence spread with Spanish colonization. In the Caribbean, and Central and South America, Catholic priests followed in the footsteps of the Conquistadors and were instrumental in the destruction of the local traditions, denouncing practitioners as “devil worshippers” and having them executed. In North America, the English Puritans conducted periodic campaigns against individuals perceived as witches. More recently, attacks [citation needed]on shamanic practitioners have been carried out at the hands of Christian missionaries to third world countries. As recently as the nineteen seventies, historic petroglyphs were being defaced by missionaries in the Amazon. A similarly destructive story can be told of the encounter between Buddhists and shamans, e.g., in Mongolia (See Caroline Humphrey with Urgunge Onon, 1996).

Today, shamanism survives primarily among indigenous peoples. Shamanic practice continues today in the tundras, jungles, deserts, and other rural areas, and also in cities, towns, suburbs, and shantytowns all over the world. This is especially widespread in Africa as well as South America, where “mestizo shamanism” is widespread.

Yoga

Yoga is one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy, focusing on meditation. In India, Yoga is seen as a means to both physiological and spiritual mastery. Outside India, Yoga has become primarily associated with the practice of asanas (postures) of Hatha Yoga (see Yoga as exercise).

Yoga as a means of spiritual attainment is central to Hinduism (including Vedanta), Buddhism and Jainism and has influenced other religious and spiritual practices throughout the world. Hindu texts establishing the basis for yoga include the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and many others.

The four main paths of Yoga are Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Raja Yoga. A committed practitioner of yoga is referred to as a yogi, yogin (masculine), or yogini (feminine).

Sanskrit yoga is a derivation of yugam “yoke”, cognate to modern English yoke, and Latin iugum in Latin, all from Proto-Indo-European *yugom, from a root *yeug- (Sanskrit yuj-) meaning “to join” or “unite”. Because its emphasis is on the body through asana and pranayama practice, many western students are satisfied with the physical health and vitality it develops and are not interested in the other six limbs of the complete Hatha yoga teaching, or with the even older Raja Yoga tradition it is based on.

In all branches of yoga, the ultimate goal is the attainment of liberation from worldly suffering and the cycle of birth and death (Samsara). Yoga entails mastery over the body, mind, and emotional self, and transcendence of desire. According to the followers, the Yogi eventually reaches the enlightened state (Moksha) where there is a cessation of thought and an experience of blissful union. This union may be of the individual soul (Atman) with the supreme Reality (Brahman), as in Advaita Vedanta; with a specific god or goddess, as in Dvaita or dualistic forms of Hinduism and some forms of Buddhism.

Common to most forms of yoga is the practice of concentration (dharana) and meditation (dhyana). Dharana, according to Patanjali’s definition, is the “binding of consciousness to a single point.” The awareness is concentrated on a fine point of sensation (such as that of the breath entering and leaving the nostrils). Sustained single-pointed concentration gradually leads to meditation (dhyana), in which the inner faculties are able to expand and merge with something vast. Meditators sometimes report feelings of peace, joy, and oneness.

The focus of meditation may differ from school to school, e.g. meditation on one of the chakras, such as the heart center (anahata) or the ‘third eye’ (ajna); or meditation on a particular deity, such as Krishna; or on a quality like peace. Non-dualist schools such as Advaita Vedanta may stress meditation on the Supreme with no form or qualities (Nirguna Brahman). This is in many ways analogous to Buddhist meditation on Emptiness.

The goals of yoga are expressed differently in different traditions. In Hinduism, with its variegated viewpoints and sects, Self-Realization and God-Realization are used interchangeably, with the underlying belief that the true nature of self (truth, consciousness, and bliss), revealed through the practice of yoga, has the same nature as the universal self, which may or may not be identified with a ‘creator God’ depending on the philosophical standpoint of the practitioner. In Buddhism, which does not postulate a creator-type god, yoga may help people deepen their wisdom, compassion, and insight. In Western nations, where there is a strong emphasis on individualism, yoga practice may be an extension of the search for meaning in self, and integration of the different aspects of being.

For the average person still far from enlightenment, yoga can be a way of increasing one’s spiritual awareness, or cultivating compassion and insight. While the history of yoga strongly connects it with Hinduism, proponents claim that yoga is not a religion itself, but contains practical steps which can be found in the esoteric spiritual practices of all religions, as well as those who do not consider themselves religious.

It is quite likely that Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama), who is estimated to have lived 563 to 483 BC, actually studied what was known of yoga at that time as part of his extensive education in Hindu philosophy. It is also very likely, given the rapid growth of Buddhism after his death and before the Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras were composed, that Buddhism had some influence on those works.

In either case, there is a considerable overlap between the Hindu yoga tradition and Buddhism. Of particular interest is a comparison of the Buddhist eight-fold path and the eight limbs of Patanjali’s Yoga. Their moral precepts (the sila of Buddhism, the yama and niyama of yoga) share the Hindu principle of non-violence (ahimsa); their final steps point towards a common goal – 6. Buddhist Samma Vayama (Effort) vs Yogic Dharana (Concentration), 7. Buddhist Samma Sati (Mindfulness) vs Yogic Dhyana (Meditation) and 8. Buddhist Samma Samadhi vs Yogic Samadhi. In relation to views of the Self, yoga’s asmita-samapatti is designed to eradicate the wrong views on the Self much in the same way Buddha did it in Anatta-lakkhana-sutta.

Yoga is central to Tibetan Buddhism. In the Nyingma tradition, practitioners progress to increasingly profound levels of yoga, starting with Mah? yoga, continuing to Anu yoga and ultimately undertaking the highest practice, Ati yoga. In the Sarma traditions, the Annutara yoga class is equivalent. Other tantra yoga practices include a system of 108 bodily postures practiced with breath and heart rhythm timing in movement exercises is known as Trul khor or union of moon and sun (channel) prajna energies, and the body postures of Tibetan ancient yogis are depicted on the walls of the Dalai Lama’s summer temple of Lukhang.

Yoga is often mentioned in company with Tantra, and it is true that these traditions have influenced one another over time. They are both families of spiritual texts, practices, and lineages with origins in the Indian subcontinent and both have been popularized in the West.

Tantra has roots in the first millennium, and incorporates Shiva and Shakti worship. It focuses on the kundalini, a three and a half-coiled ‘snake’ of spiritual energy at the base of the spine that rises through chakras until union (‘samadhi’) between Shiva and Shakti is ultimately achieved. These concepts were formally introduced into yoga with the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and because of the subsequent popularity of Hatha Yoga, many Hindu and western yoga teachers now accept these essentially tantric concepts within the yogic philosophy, and this is the most obvious major intersection between tantra and yoga today. The acceptance of tantric kundalini teachings into modern yoga was reinforced by the New Age movement which accompanied (and simultaneously reinforced) the rise of popularity of yoga in the West.

However, Tantra and Yoga have notable points of difference. Where body consciousness is seen as the root cause of bondage in Yoga, Tantra views the body as a means to understanding, rather than as an obstruction, which bears certain similarities with the Natya Yoga. As a result, in India particularly, one of the two branches of Tantra often carries quite negative connotations involving sexual misbehavior and black magic, although it must be said most forms actually follow quite mainstream social mores and this is simply an expression of prejudice.

The actual method of Tantra is quite different to traditional Raja Yoga. It emphasises mantra (Sanskrit prayers, often to gods, that are repeated), yantra (complex symbols and archetypal geometric pattering or sacred geometry housing deity, manifesting in a plethora of forms with a discernable syntactic pattern), and rituals that range from simple murti (a statue housing a deity) or image worship to meditation on a corpse or of coitus in a charnel ground – which is challenging for some, but simply an active meditation with the intention to resolve the perceived duality of the creative and destructive universal principle.

Wicca

Wicca is a Neopagan religion and a religious movement found in various countries throughout the world. It was first popularised in 1954 by a British civil servant named Gerald Gardner after the British Witchcraft Act was repealed. He claimed that the religion, of which he was an initiate, was a modern survival of an old witchcraft religion, which had existed in secret for hundreds of years, originating in the pre-Christian Paganism of Europe. Wicca is thus sometimes referred to as the Old Religion. The veracity of Gardner’s claims cannot be independently proven, and it is thought that written Wiccan theology began to be compiled no earlier than the 1920s. Various related Wiccan traditions have since evolved or been adapted from the form established by Gardner, which came to be called Gardnerian Wicca. These other traditions of Wicca each have distinctive beliefs, rituals, and practices. Many traditions of Wicca remain secretive and require that members be initiated. There is also a movement of Eclectic or Solitary Wiccans who do not believe that any doctrine or traditional initiation is necessary in order to practice Wicca. The 2001 American Religious Identification Survey estimated that at least 134,000 adults identified themselves as Wiccans in the US.

Because there is no centralised organisation in Wicca, and no single “orthodoxy”, the beliefs and practices of Wiccans can vary substantially, both between individuals and between traditions. Typically, the main religious principles, ethics and ritual structures are shared, since they are key elements of traditional teachings and published works on the subject.

As practiced by initiates, Wicca is a variety of witchcraft founded on religious and magical concepts, and most of its adherents identify as witches. As such it is distinguished not only by its religious beliefs, but by its initiatory system, organisational structure, secrecy and practice of magic. Initiatory Wiccans tend not to proselytise, and even deny membership to some individuals, since once initiated a person is considered to be a priest or priestess, and expected to develop the skills and responsibility that that entails.

Initiatory Wicca is only one variety of witchcraft, with specific beliefs and practices. Wiccans worship a goddess and a god; they observe the festivals of the eight Sabbats of the year and the full-moon Esbats; and they attempt to live by a code of ethics. This distinguishes the religion from other forms of witchcraft which may or may not have specific religious, ethical or ritual elements, and which are practiced by people of many religions, as well as by some atheists. [verification needed]

Initiatory Wicca has distinctive ritual forms, involving the casting of spells, herbalism, divination and other forms of magic. Wiccan ethics promote free will while requiring that magical activities not harm oneself or others, as expressed in the Wiccan Rede; some also believe in the Threefold Law of Return (see Morality below).

Within the “Eclectic”, or non-initatory Wiccan movement, there is much more variation in religious beliefs, and secrecy and organisational structure play a less important role. Generally Eclectic Wiccans will adopt similar ritual structures and ethical principles. A few Eclectic Wiccans neither consider themselves witches nor practice magic.

Many Wiccans, though not all, call themselves Pagans, though the umbrella term Paganism encompasses many faiths that have nothing to do with Wicca or witchcraft.

Wicca as a religion is primarily concerned with the priestess or priest’s relationship to the Goddess and God. The Lady and Lord (as they are often called) are seen as primal cosmic beings, the source of limitless power, yet they are also familiar figures who comfort and nurture their children, and often challenge or even reprimand them.

According to Gerald Gardner the gods of Wicca are ancient gods of the British Isles: a Horned God of hunting, death and magic who rules over an after-world paradise (Often referred to as The Summerland), and a goddess, the Great Mother (who is simultaneously the Eternal Virgin and the Primordial Enchantress), who gives regeneration and rebirth to souls of the dead and love to the living. Gardner explains that these are the tribal gods of the witches, just as the Egyptians had their tribal gods Isis and Osiris and the Jews had Elohim; he also states that a being higher than any of these tribal gods is recognised by the witches as Prime Mover, but remains unknowable, and is of little concern to them.

Gardner’s explanation aside, individual interpretations of the exact natures of the gods differ significantly, since priests and priestesses develop their own relationships with the gods through intense personal work and revelation. Many have a duotheistic conception of deity as a Goddess (of Moon, Earth and sea) and a God (of forest, hunting and the animal realm). This concept is often extended into a kind of polytheism by the belief that the gods and goddesses of all cultures are aspects of this pair (or of the Goddess alone). Others hold the various gods and goddesses to be separate and distinct. Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone have observed that Wicca is becoming more polytheistic as it matures, and embracing a more traditional pagan worldview. Many groups and individuals are drawn to particular deities from a variety of pantheons (often Celtic, Greek, or from elsewhere in Europe), whom they honour specifically. Some examples are Cernunnos and Brigit from Celtic mythology, Hecate, Lugh, and Diana.

Some Wiccans, particularly in feminist traditions, have a monotheistic belief in the Goddess as One. Still others do not believe in the gods as real personalities, yet attempt to have a relationship with them as personifications of universal principles or as Jungian archetypes. A unified supreme godhead (the “Prime Mover”) is also acknowledged by some groups, referred to by Scott Cunningham as “The One”; Patricia Crowther has called it Dryghten.

According to current Gardnerians, the exact names of the Goddess and God of traditional Wicca remain an initiatory secret , and they are not given in Gardner’s books about witchcraft. However, the collection of Toronto Papers of Gardner’s writings has been investigated by American scholars such as Aidan Kelly, leading to the suggestion that their names are Cernunnos and Aradia. These are the names used in the prototype Book of Shadows known as Ye Bok sic of Ye Arte Magical.[10]

For most Wiccans, the Lord and Lady are seen as complementary polarities: male and female, force and form, comprehending all in their union; the tension and interplay between them is the basis of all creation. The God and Goddess are sometimes symbolised as the Sun and Moon, and from her lunar associations the Goddess becomes a Triple Goddess with aspects of “Maiden”, “Mother” and “Crone” corresponding to the Moon’s waxing, full and waning phases.

Some Wiccans hold the Goddess to be pre-eminent, since she contains and conceives all (Gaea or Mother Earth is one of her more commonly revered aspects); the God, commonly described as the Horned God or the Divine Child, is the spark of life and inspiration within her, simultaneously her lover and her child. This is reflected in the traditional structure of the coven, which is led by a High Priestess and High Priest in partnership, with the High Priestess having the final word. In some traditions, notably Feminist branches of Dianic Wicca, the Goddess is seen as complete unto herself, and the God is not worshipped at all.

Since the Goddess is said to conceive and contain all life within her, all beings are held to be divine. This is a key understanding conveyed in the Charge of the Goddess, one of the most important texts of Wicca, and is very similar to the Hermetic understanding that “God” contains all things, and in truth is all things.[11] For some Wiccans, this idea also involves elements of animism, and plants, rivers, rocks (and, importantly, ritual tools) are seen as spiritual beings, facets of a single life.

A key belief in Wicca is that the gods are able to manifest in personal form, either through dreams, as physical manifestations, or through the bodies of Priestesses and Priests. The latter kind of manifestation is the purpose of the ritual of Drawing down the Moon (or Drawing down the Sun), whereby the Goddess is called to descend into the body of the Priestess (or the God into the Priest) to effect divine possession.

The classical elements are a key feature of the Wiccan world-view. Every manifest force or form is seen to express one of the four archetypal elements – Earth, Air, Fire and Water – or several in combination. This scheme is fundamentally identical with that employed in other Western Esoteric and Hermetic traditions, such as Theosophy and the Golden Dawn, which in turn were influenced by the Hindu system of tattvas.

There is no consensus as to the exact nature of these elements. Some hold to the ancient Greek conception of the elements corresponding to matter (earth) and energy (fire), with the mediating elements (water, air) relating to the phases of matter (fire/earth mixtures). Other exponents of the system add a fifth or quintessential element, spirit (aether, akasha).

The five points of the frequently worn pentagram symbolise, among other things, the four elements with spirit presiding at the top.[12] The pentagram is the symbol most commonly associated with Wicca in modern times. It is often circumscribed – depicted within a circle – and is usually (though not exclusively) shown with a single point upward. The inverse pentagram, with two points up, is a symbol of the second degree initiation rite of traditional Wicca.[13] In geometry, the pentagram is an elegant expression of the golden ratio phi which is popularly connected with ideal beauty and was considered by the Pythagoreans to express truths about the hidden nature of existence.

Each of the four cardinal elements (air, fire, water and earth) is typically assigned a direction, a color, and an elemental race. The following list shows a common categorisation, but different traditions of Wicca may use different “correspondences”:

The history of Wicca is much debated. Gardner claimed that the religion was a survival of matriarchal Pagan religions of pre-historic Europe, taught to him by a woman known either as “Dafo” or “Old Dorothy”. Doreen Valiente identified these as a single person, Dorothy Clutterbuck,[22] however modern researchers such as Philip Heselton have theorised that Dafo and Clutterbuck were two separate individuals.[23] It has been posited by authors such as Aidan Kelly and Francis X. King that Gardner himself invented it, rewriting the rituals of an older witchcraft tradition according to his own whim,[24] and incorporating elements from the thesis of Dr. Margaret Murray, sources such as Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches by Charles Godfrey Leland[25] and practices of ceremonial magic.[26] While Clutterbuck certainly existed, Ronald Hutton concluded that there was no evidence for her involvement in Gardner’s Craft activities.[27] Heselton, citing more recent evidence, concludes that she probably was involved, and that while Gardner may have been mistaken about the ancient origins of the religion, his statements about it were largely made in good faith. Gardner’s account is as follows: After retiring from adventuring around the globe, Gardner encountered Clutterbuck and her New Forest coven in the region, and was initiated into the coven in 1939, where he stayed for years until England’s witchcraft laws were repealed. At this point, and later claiming to fear that the Craft would die out,[28] he worked on his book Witchcraft Today, releasing it in 1954, followed by The Meaning of Witchcraft in 1960. It is from these books that much of modern Wicca is derived.

While the ritual format of Wicca is undeniably styled after late Victorian era occultism (even co-founder Doreen Valiente admits seeing influence from Aleister Crowley), the spiritual content is inspired by older Pagan faiths, with Buddhist and Hindu influences.

Due to historical suspicions, it is seems very likely that Gardner’s rites and precepts were taken from other occultists and was not in fact anything new to the world. There is very little in the Wiccan rites that cannot be shown to have come from earlier extant sources. The original material is not cohesive and mostly takes the form of substitutions or expansions within unoriginal material. Roger Dearnaley, in An Annotated Chronology and Bibliography of the Early Gardnerian Craft,[29] describes it as a patchwork.

Heselton, writing in Wiccan Roots and later in Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration[23], argues that Gardner was not the author of the Wiccan rituals but received them in good faith from an unknown source. (Doreen Valiente makes this claim regarding the “basic skeleton of the rituals,” as Margot Adler puts it in Drawing Down the Moon.) He notes that all the Crowley material that is found in the Wiccan rituals can be found in a single book, The Equinox vol 3 no. 1 or Blue Equinox. Gardner is not known to have owned or had access to a copy of this book, although it is certain that he met Crowley towards the end of the latters life. Gardner admited “the rituals he received from Old Dorothy’s coven were very fragmentary, and in order to make them workable, he had to supplement them with other material.”[30]

Some, such as Isaac Bonewits, have argued that Valiente and Heselton’s evidence points to an early 20th century revival predating Gardner, rather than an intact old Pagan religion. The argument points to historical claims of Gardner’s that agree with scholarship of a certain time period and contradict later scholarship. Bonewits writes, “Somewhere between 1920 and 1925 in England some folklorists appear to have gotten together with some Golden Dawn Rosicrucians and a few supposed Fam-Trads to produce the first modern covens in England; grabbing eclectically from any source they could find in order to try and reconstruct the shards of their Pagan past.” Crowley published the aforementioned Blue Equinox in 1919.

The idea of primitive matriarchal religions, deriving ultimately from studies by Johann Jakob Bachofen, was popular in Gardner’s day, both among academics (e.g., Erich Neumann, Margaret Murray) and amateurs such as Robert Graves. Later academics (e.g. Carl Jung and Marija Gimbutas) continued research in this area, and later still Joseph Campbell, Ashley Montagu and others became fans of Gimbutas’ theories of matriarchies in Old Europe. Matriarchal interpretations of the archaeological record and the criticism of such work continue to be matters of academic debate. Some academics carry on research in this area (such as the 2003 World Congress on Matriarchal Studies). Critics argue that such matriarchal societies never actually existed and are an invention of researchers such as Margaret Murray. This is disputed by documentaries such as “Blossoms of Fire” (about contemporary Zapotec society).

The idea of a supreme Mother Goddess was common in Victorian and Edwardian literature: the concept of a Horned God- especially related to the gods Pan or Faunus – was less common, but still significant.[31] Both of these ideas were widely accepted in academic literature and the popular press at the time.[32]

Theosophy

Theosophy, literally “wisdom of the divine” (in the Greek language), designates several bodies of ideas. Philosophers such as Emanuel Swedenborg and Jacob Boehme are commonly called theosophists. The word was revived in the nineteenth century by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky to designate her religious philosophy which holds that all religions are attempts by humanity to approach the absolute, and that each religion therefore has a portion of the truth. Together with Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge, and others, Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. This society has since split into a number of organizations, some of which no longer use the term “theosophy”.

A formal definition from the Concise Oxford Dictionary describes Theosophy as “any of various philosophies professing to achieve a knowledge of God by spiritual ecstasy, direct intuition, or special individual revelation; esp. a modern movement following Hindu and Buddhist teachings, and seeking universal brotherhood.” Madame Blavatsky’s theosophy would, however, not fall under this definiton, as it is non-theistic.

Adherents of Theosophy maintain that it is a “body of truth” that forms the basis of all religions. Theosophy, they claim, represents a modern face of Sanatana Dharma, “the eternal truth,” as the proper religion.

The motto of the parent society is : “There is no religion higher than Truth.”

According to Theosophy, nature does not operate by chance. Every event, past or present, happens because of laws which are part of a universal paradigm. Theosophists hold that everything, living or not, is put together from basic building blocks evolving towards consciousness. H.P. Blavatsky’s Theosophy is non-theistic, however some of her followers seem closer to theistic attitudes.

Theosophists believe that all human beings in their “higher selves” are immortal, but their lower personalities are unconscious of the link with their eternal spiritual nature and will perish.

Like esoteric Buddhism, from which much of Theosophical thought springs, Theosophy teaches that beings have attained the human state through myriad reincarnations, passing through the mineral, plant and animal stages since before the birth of life on earth. However, Theosophy differs from the esoteric belief that regression is possible. Humans cannot reincarnate as animals or plants again except in the rare cases of disintegrating “lost souls.” Conversely, humans are considered only the epitome of physical life on Earth and not the end stage of evolution, which continues for further stages, including the form of the Dhyani Chohans or Buddhic beings.

Theosophy is similar to the beliefs of the Hindu Arya Samaj sect concerning karma, dharma and cosmogony. Theosophy teaches that evil and good are the result of differentiation of spirit/matter in a cycle of becoming. There is a natural involution of spirit into matter followed by an evolution of matter back into spirit. The purpose of the Universe is for spirit to manifest itself self-consciously through seven stages.

Theosophy teaches that every thing of whatever kind is from one divine source. All things are “monads” in reality. All monads potentially possess the same principles and their forms and natures are an expression of their present consciousness level.

Theosophists believe that religion, philosophy, science, the arts, commerce, and philanthropy, among other “virtues,” lead humans ever closer to “the Absolute.”

Planets, solar systems and even galaxies are seen as conscious beings, fulfilling their own evolutionary paths.

The spiritual units of the universe are the monads, which at different times may manifest as planets, angels, human beings or in various other forms.

Theosophists also believe that human civilization, like all other parts of the universe, develops through cycles of seven stages. Thus, in the first age, humans were pure spirit; in the second age, they are known as Hyperboreans; in the third as Lemurians; and in the fourth, Atlanteans. Since Atlantis was the nadir of the cycle, the present fifth age is a time of reawakening humanity’s psychic gifts.

Modern Theosophical esotericism, however, begins with Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891) usually known as Madame Blavatsky. In 1875 she founded the Theosophical Society in New York City together with Henry Steel Olcott, who was a government investigator, lawyer and writer. Madame Blavatsky was a world traveller who eventually settled in India where, with Olcott, she established the headquarters of the Society. She claimed numerous psychic and spiritualist powers. Her first major book Isis Unveiled (1877) presented elements mainly from the Western wisdom tradition based on her extensive travels in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Her second major work The Secret Doctrine (1888), a commentary on The Book of Dzyan, is based on esoteric Buddhism and also Hinduism. These writings became the basic pillars of the Theosophical movement, together with The Mahatma Letters, purported to originate with highly evolved humans directing HPB and the Theosophical Society

Upon Blavatsky’s death in 1891, several Theosophical societies emerged following a series of schisms. Annie Besant became leader of the society based in Adyar India, while William Quan Judge split off the American Section of the Theosophical Society in New York which later moved to Point Loma, Covina, and Pasadena, California under a series of leaders: Katherine Tingley, Gottfried de Purucker, Colonel Arthur L. Conger, James A. Long, Grace F. Knoche, and in March 2006 Randell C. Grubb. The great pulp fiction writer Talbot Mundy was a member of the Point Loma group, and wrote many articles for its newsletter. Yet another international theosophical organization, the United Lodge of Theosophists, was formed by Robert Crosbie. He went to Point Loma in 1900 to help Katherine Tingley, left in 1904, and founded his society in 1909.

Rudolf Steiner created a successful branch of the Theosophical Society Adyar in Germany. He focused on a Western esoteric path that incorporated the influences of Christianity and natural science, resulting in tensions with Annie Besant. (cf. Rudolf Steiner and the Theosophical Society)- having already founded his own Anthroposophical Society a month earlier – after he refused members of the Order of the Star of the East membership in the German Section, opposing the theosophical principle of admitting members from all religious persuasions. The great majority of German-speaking theosophists, as well as several others, joined Steiner’s new society. (Steiner later became famous for his ideas about education, resulting in an international network of “Steiner Schools.”)

In North London, another splinter group split off to form the Palmers Green Lodge under the leadership of the occultist and colonial adventurer, Thomas Neumark-Jones. The Palmers Green Lodge published the journal Kayfabe which published, among others, Rainbow Circle writers like Hobhouse and Chiozza Money. After the death of William Quan Judge, another society, the United Lodge of Theosophists, emerged, recognizing no leader after Judge; it is now based in Los Angeles, California.

Other organizations based on the theosophical teachings include The Lucis Trust, Share International, Agni Yoga, The Bridge to Freedom, The Summit Lighthouse / Church Universal and Triumphant, and The Temple of The Presence.