The Religions Book

159 Buddhist monks perform a ritual at a northern Indian monastery. The bright clothing and headdresses are intended to engage b ...

160 Z en and its Chinese equivalent, Ch’an, simply mean “meditation.” As a tradition of Buddhist practice, it is generally regar ...

161 See also: Aligning the self with the dao 66–67 ■ Sufism and the mystic tradition 282–83 ■ Life-energy cultivation in Falun D ...

162 have a Buddha mind, freed from egocentric, conceptual thinking. This is innate, but hidden by the clutter of the small mind. ...

163 enlightenment is about. A person does not sit in order to become enlightened; in the act of sitting that person is already e ...

JUDAISM FROM 2000 BCE ...

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166 O ne of the oldest surviving religions, Judaism evolved from the beliefs of the people of Canaan in the southern Levant regi ...

167 the groups, and various different religious traditions evolved. In Spain, a Golden Age of Jewish thinking flourished between ...

I WILL TAKE YOU AS MY PEOPLE, AND I WILL BE YOUR GOD GOD’S COVENANT WITH ISRAEL ...

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170 T he covenant, or contract, with God is the central concept of Judaism, and dates back to the beliefs of the Israelites, an ...

171 Abraham’s loyalty was tested when God asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac. However, at the last moment, God sent an angel t ...

172 them to a mountain called Sinai, or Horeb. Moses ascended the mountain to speak to God, and a new covenant was established b ...

173 The rituals of Judaism, such as the lighting of candles for Shabbat, the Sabbath or day of rest, serve to remind Jews of the ...

174 other rules. But for many modern Jews, the essential laws are those that pertain to the love of one’s neighbor and the just ...

175 Some Jewish mystical traditions with origins in the Middle Ages suggest a different perspective, asserting that the souls of ...

176 T he earliest authors of the Jewish Bible seem to have acknowledged the existence of many gods, but insisted that the one wh ...

177 See also: Beliefs for new societies 56–57 ■ The battle between good and evil 60–65 ■ God’s covenant with Israel 168–75 ■ Def ...

178 T H E M E S S I A H WILL REDEEM ISRAEL THE PROMISE OF A NEW AGE T hroughout much of their recorded history, the people of Is ...