Islam Webquest

1.     What is the highest estimate for the total number of Muslims that live in the world today? 2.1 billion
2.      List 10 countries who have a Muslim population of 86% or greater. China, UK, USA, Argentina, Cuba, India, France, Germany, Brazil and Bolivia.
3.     What country has the largest Muslim population? Indonesia
4.     How many Muslims are there in the United States? 6.6 million
5.     Summarize each key beliefs below in a complete sentence:
·      Belief in God:  There is only one God, alone in his divinity, with no division or son.
·      Belief in Angels: Angels exist and are specially honored. Their only loyalty is to God himself.
·      Belief in God’s Revealed Books: God revealed himself through the books as a guide to him and proof of his existence.
·      Belief in the Prophets and Messengers of God: Muslims believe in messengers of God starting with Adam, including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Jesus.
·      Belief in the Day of Judgment: Muslims believe in a day of judgement in which all will be resurrected and judged according to their worldly lives.
·      Belief in Al-Qadar: Muslims believe in Al-Qadar, which is Divine Predestination, but his belief in Divine Predestination does not mean that human beings do not have freewill.
6.     Go to the following website and put 3 of Muhammad’s sayings in your own words:
·      “ To struggle is to defy one's human nature and obey Allah (God).”
·      “The best way to live life is to act honestly and with a pure heart, in accordance with the words of Allah.”
·      “Anger, tyranny, and prejudice go against Allah and must be avoided.”
7.     What does the Quran provide? A template for how to live every aspect of one's life.
8.     In what language(s) does the Quran exist? Why? Arabic. It was revealed in Arabic, so non-Arabic versions are not the Quran.
9.     During which month was the Quran sent down from Heaven? 9^th month
10. What did the angel Gabriel command Muhammad to do? What happened next?Commanded Muhammad to read and then he taught Muhammad some verses from the Quran, which Muhammad memorized.
11.  List and explain the 5 pillars of Faith:
·      Shahada (Testimony of faith): Most important pillar. One is required to say with conviction at least once in his or her life.
·      Salat (Prayer): Muslims pray 5 times a day- dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and night. Prayer often occurs in a mosque, but Muslims may pray anywhere.
·      Zakat (almsgiving): Charitable giving is a requirement of faith for all Muslims. Used to benefit the poor.
·      Slyam (Fasting): literally means any ritual fasting, but is generally understood to refer to ritual fasting during the month of Ramadan. From dusk to dawn for the entire month, Muslims must refrain from eating, drinking and engaging in sexual relations.
·      Hajj (Pilgrimage): During the last month of the Islamic calendar, about two million Muslims ascend to the city of Mecca for the Hajj.  Every able-bodied Muslim is required- if finances permit to make it at least once in their life.
Why are they important?:  Helps to strengthen their faith in and service to Allah.
Why is cheating on the 5 pillars impossible?: Because all Muslims strive to perform, regardless of anything.
Compare the 5 pillars with similar activities in other religions: In Christianity, we have times of lent where we do not eat meat. Asking God for forgiveness. The Quran is similar to the Bible in Christianity.
12. What is Ramadan? 9^th month of Islamic calendar
13. What restraints are placed on Muslims during Ramadan? Not allowed to eat or drink during the daylight hours. Smoking and sexual relations are also forbidden during fasting.
14. What can destroy the good acquired during Ramadan? Telling a lie, slander, denouncing someone behind his back, a false oath and greed or covetousness.
15. Why is the 27^th day of Ramadan significant? Muslims celebrate the Night of Power. It is believed that on this night Muhammad first received the revelation of the Holy Quran.
16. What happens when Ramadan ends? It is celebrated with one of two Islamic festivals.
17. What are 3 reasons Ramadan is important? Constitutes a period of atonement. The gates of Heaven are open. And the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained up in Hell.
18. Why is easier to do good during Ramadan? Because the devil is chained in hell.
19.  List 5 interesting facts you learned from the websites above:
·      Islam is the second most popular religion.
·      Submission is the most central tenant to worshiping Allah.
·      Islam means “submission” from a word meaning “peace”.
·     Islam shares similar religious roots with Christianity and Judaism.
·      When pilgrims go to the Kaaba, they say, “At Thy service, O Lord” in response to Abraham’s summons.

Blog Post 22 - Ancient Western Religions

1. Zorastrianism began to flourish throughout Iran during the Persian Empire in the fifth and fourth centuries BC.
2. Zarathustra converted persia's king who led the dominant army.
3. An Angel Called Good Thought appeared to him and brought him, as a disembodied soul, before Ahura mazda. Zarathustra recognized Ahura Mazda as the one true God.
4. The sacred text of Zoroastrianism is the Avesta. The oldest material in this text is Gathas and was written by Zarathustra.
5. Ahura Mazda is eternal and universal goodness, controlling the cosmos and the destiny of human beings. Zarathustra celebrates Ahura Mazda's role as creator of all things through the holy spirit.
6. The belief in universal forces of good and evil.
7. The Lie is an evil cosmic force. It opposes Ahura Mazda, who is good.
8. In the Zoroastrianism cosmic scheme, humans must choose between good and evil.
9. After death individuals go to judgment by crossing a bridge of torment and pain. They walk across a bridge over an abyss and the good get into paradise while the bad fall to their death.
10. Its ethical demands include such principles as caring for livestock and fields.
11. Combine a wide variety of features from the Zoroastrian tradition. They maintain the monotheism of its founder and continue to revere the Avesta as their sacred text. They are located in India.
12 The Iliad and the Odyssey are commonly regarded as the Bibles of the ancient Greeks.
13. The gods have human attributes. No deity, not even Zeus, is all-powerful or all-knowing; rather, all the gods and goddesses have their own specific talents, functions, and limitations. Also there moral behavior is much more human-like than godlike.
14. Aeschylus’s main contribution to to the understanding of the Olympic gods was the idea of divine justice. He believed that the gods actions were in response to the humans’ actions.
15. An oracle is a sanctuary at which revelations of a god are received. The most famous oracle of ancient Greece is Delphi. It was consulted because Greeks sought the wisdom of Apollo through her.
16 Mithraism and the Cult of Isis were main rivals to Christianity in the later Roman empire.
17 The mystery religion that honored Demeter and Persephone was Eleusinian religion.
18. The god Dionysus associated with was the god of fertility. He is often depicted in Greek art by wine and grapes.
19. The goal of the ascetic practices of the Orphics is to lead a pure life.
20. Plato's theory of knowledge is that we know things in life mainly because we have experienced the same things in a previous life.
21. Platonic dualism is the truth of the world that is independent from any bodily or material ideas in reality.
22. Jesus seemed to have much in common with the ancient Asclepius because they were both revered as saviors who had a strong relationship with their followers.
23. Numina were supernatural beings that were in charge of specific functions like populating towns. The sorts of things they were thought to inhabit were streams, fields, and doorways.
24. The most powerful Roman deity was Jupiter.
25. The six planes of our solar system that are named after Roman deities are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Satum, Venus, and Mars.
26. The Roman state considered it essential to maintain official worship practices so they would never anger the gods and remain at peace.
27. The mystery religions that were the main rivals of Christianity in the later Roman Empire were Mithraism and the Cult of Iris.
28. The Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris is about how a man, Osiris, was killed and hacked to pieces by his evil brother. His wife, Iris, found the pieces and mummified them, which caused him to come back to life.
29. The sort of emperor worship encouraged by Augustus was to worship the Roman state and his guardian spirit
30. Christians and Roman rulers clash over emperor worship because Romans believed the focus of worship should be the state, whereas Catholics believed that it should be God.

Judaism Questions

1) The Synagogue serves as a meeting place, a learning center, and a worship space.

2) In the Synagogue, men and women are seated in separate sections. The ark (where the Torah scrolls are kept when they are not being used) is located on the Eastern wall of the Synagogue. Torah scrolls contain all of Jewish law and tradition. The Ten Commandments are the laws that G-d gave to Moses. They are above the door in a Synagogue.

3) A rabbi is the community leader of a Jewish community who has undergone extensive study of the Torah. One becomes a rabbi through studying the Torah and passing some insanely hard exams on the Torah and Talmud, bro. Chill with that. No but really, a rabbi is different from a clergyman. He is essentially a regular Jew with the role of interpreting and explaining the Torah for his community, he doesn't have to dress or act differently. 

4) The Shabbat is a day of rest, spiritual enrichment, and holiness, occurring once a week on Sundays. 

5) The Torah primarily refers to the first five books of the Bible, but can also encompass the entire Old Testament or even the complete body of Jewish teaching and law. Talmud is the teaching not encompassed in Torah, similar to tradition in the Catholic church. 

6) Orthodox Jews believe the Torah has remained unchanged since God gave it to Moses on Mount Sinai and place those first 5 books above all else. Reform Jews promote reggie stop licking my leg moral law and monotheism due to changes in European life following the Enlightenment. Conservative Jews are the Episcopalians of Judaism, awkwardly caught between Orthodox and Reform. 'Nuff said. Theodore Herzl was this guy that created Israel, basically. Zionists are all about the creation (and conservation) of a Jewish state. It's political, dude. 

7) Hebrew is an ancient Jewish language that made one of the greatest comebacks in sports history in the 19th century and now leads the Israeli Language League in total speakers. 

8) Yiddish is a Germanic language spoken by Ashkenazic Jews. 

9) Mazal Tov - good luck, congrats

Shalom - Peace

Mitzvah - Law from God

10) Bar Mitzvah -  age of responsibility for the commandments. At this age one is responsible for adhering to Torah

Brit Milah - circumcision EWWWWW

Jewish Marriage - a big party. the jewish believe matches are made in heaven, and the actual ceremony is filled with symbolism and rite.

11) Rosh Hashanah -a solemn Jewish feast day celebrated on the first or first and second of Tishri; note for the blowing of the shofar

Yom Kippur - a solemn and major fast day on the Jewish calendar; 10th of Tishri; its observance is one of the requirements of Jewish law
Hanukkah - an eight day Jewish holiday commemorating the re-dedication of the Temple of Jerusalem in 165 BC
Passover - a Jewish festival celebrating the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt

12) I knew that the Bar Mitzvah was the point at which boys and girls have to take responsibility for their own adherence to Torah

13) I had no idea Hebrew had fallen out of practice for hundreds of years.

14) Marriages in Judaism are symbolic and filled with ritual, similar to Christian weddings.

15) I do not have a specific day when I take responsibility for my religious life. 

Buddhism Questions

1. Siddhartha
2. An old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a wandering ascetic. They showed Buddha that life was suffering and prompted him to adopt asceticism to try to nullify suffering.
3. The Middle Way is sort of like the phrase 'moderation in all things'. It stresses physical and spiritual health and denies the extremes of gluttony and asceticism.
4. He was sitting under a fig tree and underwent three watches during his meditation through the night in which he was tempted by the devil but resisted and eventually reached enlightenment.
5. The Sangha is the Buddhist religious community of monks and nuns.
6. The buddha, dharma, and sangha
7. Samsara, moksha/enlightenment, karma, and the Gods.
8. The Buddha rejected Hinduism because he didn't think the sannyasin stage of life (asceticism) or any part of Hinduism could eliminate suffering, it only reduced it to the lowest level, from which it would eventually come back. He also rejected Hinduism's institutional structure.
9. Anatta, anicca, and dukkha. Anatta and anicca are similar in that they relate to the impermanence of reality and absence of essence, and they combine to support dukkha, which states that reality is suffering.
10. anatta is the antithesis of Atman and states that there is no eternal self or reality.
11. a bundle of energy. karma determines the pattern and trajectory of that energy.
12. Don't take life, do not take what is not given, do not engage in sensuous misconduct, do not use false speech, do not drink intoxicants,
Do not eat after noon, do not watch dancing or shows, do not use garlands, perfumes, or ornaments, do not use a high or soft bed, do not accept gold or silver.
13. Suffering, dislocation  discomfort, frustration. It is a reference to the problem of reality, which is the discord between the magnitude of our desires and reality's inability to satisfy them.
14. tanha is that desire which leads to dukkha
15. right views, right intentions, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditation .
16. Buddhas do not need a model to provide teachings leading to their awakening.
17. An arhat is a living person who has realized the truth of the "no-self" and has perfect compassion for all living things.
18. Blowing out. It shows that nirvana is not the culmination of life and joy, but rather the cessation of suffering.
19. Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana
20. The teachings of Buddhism.
21. The greater vehicle. It means that it is the larger, more popular form of Buddhism.
22. It uses desire to eliminate itself, thus eliminating suffering.
23. The Dalai Lama is the constantly reincarnated leader of Vajrayana Buddhism. The Dalai Lama is chosen at the age of three by going through a series of tests after the last Lama dies.
24. Vajrayana is in Tibet and Mahayana and Theravada are prominent in India and China.

Distinctions

Christianity and Buddhism both place great import on many of the same issues. The two religions are fundamentally opposed to one another on many of those issues, though. Some of these topics include love, freedom, and religious communities.

Love for one another plays a positive role in both Christianity and Buddhism. Both religions encourage it as and include it as a fundamental doctrine. In Buddhism, this concept is often referred to as “infinite compassion”. Thich Nhat Hanh, a “great Buddhist teacher”, states, “In the Buddhist teaching, it’s clear that to love oneself is the foundation of love of other people. Love is a practice.” In Buddhism, he says, love arises from within oneself and the mastery of loving oneself. According to Buddhism, humans are capable of love independently and must consciously strive to love. Christianity takes a polarizing position here. Its doctrine says that love is an unconditional gift from God, made possible by the Holy Spirit and made present by Jesus Christ. Love is not within in Christianity, but rather it is without. Love exists outside of us and is something we participate in. This distinction is important because it indicates the essential difference between what Buddhists consider to be the problem of existence (or rather that the see existence as a problem) and the Christian problem of existence.

The role and definition of freedom are also integral in both religions, but the distinction between Christianity’s and Buddhism’s take on freedom is clear. In Christianity, freedom is used as a means to an end, and the end is to “adhere to Being, and therefore to Christ.” Christians posit that freedom allows us to enter into a pure and simplistic relationship with Christ, free of tampering influences. One could say that freedom allows the Christian to participate in life more fully. The type of freedom described here is a freedom from the structures and systems of power that man creates and an in-tune-ness with one’s desires. Similar, but clearly distinct, is Buddhist freedom. Buddhist freedom also means to be free from the structures and systems of power, but goes further and says that freedom is also a complete uprooting of desire. A “free” Buddhist is not more in tune with his desires, but rather completely removed from them. This definition of freedom plays into the role of freedom in Buddhism: freedom is the end, not the means. Rather than seeking freedom for the sake of helping one achieve greater life, a Buddhist seeks freedom simply to be free. Free from suffering, desire, and the self, and finally embracing the “non-self”.

Finally, religious communities exist in both Christianity and Buddhism to aid men and women on their spiritual journeys, but the type of aid they provide is different. In Christianity, communities make Jesus present in the world. They exist for the purpose of others, both in the sense that each individual member must be as concerned for his neighbor’s salvation as he is for his own, but also in the sense that these communities bring the love of Christ into the world, benefitting people outside the community (evangelization, community service, social relief, etc.). Buddhist communities are quite the opposite. Thich Nhat Hanh harps on the personal benefits of the sangha, such as “the transformation and healing [taking] place more quickly.” He also says that mindfulness, concentration, and joy are more powerful in the sangha, all things used for personal enlightenment. The essence of the sangha is not to care for the journey of everyone else before oneself, but rather to facilitate one’s own journey through membership in the community.

All of these differences are easily overlooked and may even seem superficially insignificant, but they are closely tied to the fundamental difference between Christianity and Buddhism, being that Buddhism views existence as suffering while Christianity views it as an opportunity to take part in infinite truth, beauty, and love in the person of Christ. This fundamental difference is what one must take into consideration when analyzing religions or deciding what religion to participate in. 

Introduction to Buddhism

Buddhist regard Siddhartha Gautama as The Buddha, the primal example of what it means to attain enlightenment. Siddhartha grew up in a royal family and was carefully groomed to lead a royal life by his father. He wasn't allowed to leave the royal estate at all. However, as he grew older to he experienced several forays into the outside world, each time witnessing human suffering, a new concept to him. This led him to contemplate the fundamental question of life, so he set out to find an answer. After mastering meditation under several teachers, he eventually led an ascetic life, believing that he could attain enlightenment by denying the body and flesh, thus freeing the spirit.

Wherever Buddhism is practiced, statues of the Buddha are found, some as large as this one. 

The three jewels of Buddhism are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The Buddha refers to Buddha himself and his life as a paradigm for one's modern life. It is the root of all sects of Buddhism and the first example of enlightenment. The Dharma refers to the teachings of Buddha, but more specifically the word attempts to represent the truth of reality as experienced by reality. In addition, Dharma refers to teachings that try to express that truth in words. The final jewel is the Sangha. This is the community of spirituality, and more personally, it means the people that olay a role in one's own spirituality, such as teachers or friends.

The Three Jewels of Buddhism sit on top of a lotus flower here, a popular symbol in Buddhism.

The Threefold Way is the path to enlightenment. Unlike Hinduism, it is not three (or four, in Hinduism's case) separate ways to achieve the spiritual goal. Instead, it is a progressive path. First comes ethics. Education in ethics provides the spiritual and moral basis for meditation, the next step. Meditation is contemplative thinking, and is difficult and rewarding. The goal of meditation is the attaining of wisdom. Wisdom is achieved and accumulated over time, and eventually leads, with contemplation, to enlightenment. 

These three paths here represent the Threefold Way.

The four noble truths are the foundation of Buddha's teaching. First, Buddha teaches that all existence is dukkha, or suffering. Second, he says that our desire is the root of this suffering, because we desire impossible and infinite things which we can never achieve. Third, Buddha says that the suppression and elimination of this desire will supress and eliminate our suffering. Finally, the Buddha teaches that there is a path out of dukkha, such as the Noble Eightfold path. Manchester City lost to Southampton yesterday, moving them farther away from Manchester United. Man U will win the season now, yay.

Come on, you Devils!

In one of his earliest discourses, the buddha taught of a path out of dukkha with eight facets. They are as follows: Perfect Vision, Perfect Emotion, Perfect Speech, Perfect Action, Perfect Livelihood, Perfect Effort, Perfect Awareness, and Perfect Meditation. These eight limbs of spiritual life represent a balanced and holistic approach to the dharma that will allow one to fully and evenly grow in order to achieve enlightenment.

The Noble Eight-fold Path.

Hinduism Review Questions

1. Moksha is an omniscient state of awareness. It is the ultimate bliss and final goal of life, and is the release from the cycle of samsara and the accompanying suffering.

2. Monism. All forms of reality have a common essence in the same way that ponds, lakes, rivers, and oceans all share the common essence of water.

3. Atman- The eternal self, which the Upanishads identify with Brahman; reincarnated with the body from one worldly life to the next until the soul exits samsara through Moksha.
Brahman- The eternal essence of reality and the source of the universe.
Atman is the individual soul and essence while Brahman is the universal soul.

4. The general function of the many Hindu deities is to provide access points for human beings to participate in the eternal reality and life force, Brahman.
5. Samsara is the worldly cycle of rebirth and reincarnation. It states that one's karma stays with the atman, the eternal soul that is reincarnated in this cycle until moksha, which breaks the cycle, is acheived. The cycle of samsara is one filled with struggle and suffering, but moksha is a separation from this suffering.

6. Bhagavad-Gita

7. Karma and Dharma. Karma is the belief that one's actions Build up positively or negatively and carry over from one life to the next.

8. Shudra-servants and laborers
Vaishya-Farmers and artisans
Kshatriyas-Soldiers and government officials
Brahman-priests

9. Because it is Arjuna's duty as a member of the caste system, or dharma.

10. Student-begins at puberty, And requires study of sacred literature
Householder-begins at marriage, concerns pursuing a career and accumulating wealth
Forest Dweller-begins at birth of first grandchild, and is preparation for the fourth stage
Acetic-begins when one is ready and consists of detachment from society and denial of pleasure

11. Sensual pleasure-pursuit of the pleasures of sensual love
Material success-accumulation of worldly wealth
Harmony with Darma-following one's ethical duties based on caste gender and stage of life
The bliss of moksha-the ultimate goal and unification with Brahman

12. 3 paths of liberation
     1. The path  of works - people who like physical activity and go by day to day task of raising a family
     2. The path of knowledge- is the shortest yet biggest path to liberation and and is for those with talent for philosophical reflection
    3. The path of devotion- is for those who have alot of emotion al attachment

13. 3 most important schools of philosphy - Vedanta, Sankhya and Yoga

14. 3 important god or goddess of Hinduism - Brahma the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer

15. An avatar is an incarnation of a God, similar to demigods in Greek mythology. 

16. The Hindu text most closely associated with Bhakti Marga is The Bhagavad Gita

17. 3 aspects of  Hindu devotional life are household and village rituals, pilgrimages to holy places, and cow veneration.

18. Mahatma Gandhi changed India and Hinduism with his efforts to stand up to oppression by using non-violence and civil disobedience.

19. Significant changes in the caste system have tried to promote economic and social justice, especially concerning the Shudra caste and the untouchables.

20. Sati is the archaic practice of widow suicide, and is concerned with the idea that women aren't worth anything without a man. 

21. A significant development in India has been the split between Hindus and Muslims. The Muslims seceded, forming the nations of Bangladesh and Pakistan. 

Primal Religions Chaper Review Questions

1. Primal religions are called primal because: multiple gods, belief that humans and gods comprise an interdependent universe, magical music, presence in small villages and tribes, closed system, religion of common people, diverse, Individualistic, animated world of spirits, concern for meaning of the present life, concerned with well-being and death, manipulative strategies such as amulets and shamans, and pursuit of a knowledge of the unknown to aid one's present life. 

2. Tribes, territories, culture (human) and landscape, landmarks, and cave paintings (natural

3. The spiritual essence of the Ancestors

4. A totem is an inanimate representation of the Ancestors, or any primal god. 

A taboo is a rule pertaining to a religious act that allows some to participate in it and/or forbids some from participating in it. 

5. Because they reenact and make present the myths which support the Aborigines' unique world. 

6. They are believed to have been taught to the Aboriginals by the Ancestors. 

7. The young learn essential truths about their world and how they are to act in it

8. Knocking out of the front teeth and circumcision

9.  The western regions of Central Africa

10. Orisha-nla first began to create the world there

11. The Yorubas believe in Olorun, the High God and a hots of Orishas, or lesser deities. 

12. Olorun is the high god of the Yoruba tradition, but he is not involved in human affairs. He is the source of the power of the universe. 

13. The orishas are lesser deities that are involved in human affairs and can harm or help humans. 

14. Esu is an orisha who embodies both good and evil and mediates between heaven and earth. Ogun is the god of iron and of war. 

15. A trickster figure is a mischievous supernatural being. 

16. family and deified

17. facilitating communication with a deity or ancestor

18. It is discerning one's future, and knowledge of one's future is considered essential for figuring out how to live one's life. 

19. between 20,000 and 30,000 years ago

20. It is representative of Native American religion in general because of the culture exchange that occurred on the plains due to a common sign language

21. Wakan Tanka is the supreme God and source of the universe (Lakota)

22. Inktomi is the Lakota trickster figure

23. Four souls depart from a person after death, one of which travels the milky way and meets an old woman who judges it and allows it to continue or sends it back to earth as a ghost

24. Spiritual power that will ensure greater worldly success

25. It is an airtight hut of animal skins and saplings and hot stones in the middle with water on them produce steam that purifies the spirit and body with sweat

26. An animal or force of nature arrives and communicates a vision which is interpreted by a medicine man to reveal a truth about that person's life. 

27. a woman

28. The center of the world. the tree in the center of the sundance hut

29. As a sacrifice to the supreme being. 

30. It occurred in a highly developed civilization with 15 million people, and it was in an urban area

31. Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica

32. Quetzalcoatl

33. He was the priest-king during the Toltec age that provided the Aztecs with a role model for their authority figures.

34. It was the fifth age that would end with a destruction of this age and an end to all time

35. They saw the world as emanating out from one point and emphasized the four cardinal directions and the center. 

36. Because each person was imbued with such powerful cosmic energy in the head and heart

37. They could communicate with the gods and make offerings through language

38. Cortez arrived on the day that Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl was expected to return to Earth and they were thought to be the same person. 

39. The aztecs used to perform a similar ritual to the popular day of the dead

40. totemism, taboo, the trickster figure, the vision quest, and the axis mundi. 

Lakota Sioux

The Lakota Sioux reside in North and South Dakota and Montana today, although they used to roam the plains in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska, following the buffalo herds.

The supreme being of the Lakota Sioux is called Wakan Tanka, which means "Great Spirit". They believe that Wakan Tanka is the spirit of Inyan, the deity of rock. Was the first of the Gods, and was there when there were no others. He spread himself into a disk with no edges, the earth. The Lakota have a long creation narrative stemming from Inyan that explains the creation of the sun, the moon, the sky, thunderstorms, wind, wisdom, and more.

The Lakota also believe in a pervasive and omnipresent energy called ton. Skan is the name for ton when the energy is active, which is manifested in our reality by motion. Skan is believed to be one with Wakan Tanka, who bestows the soul into each human upon birth with the breath of life.

The Lakota Sioux have a few sacred symbols to represent their beliefs:

Thunderbird:
The Thunderbird, also known as Wakinyan, is the guardian of truth. It nests at the top of the tallest peak in the Black Hills.

Uname:
This symbol represents the earth and wind. The four lines coming from each corner illustrate the four winds of the earth.

Medicine Wheel:
This Medicine Wheel also honors the four directions (with its four quadrants), a key concept in Lakota Sioux mythology. The circle behind the buffalo's head represents the never ending cycle of life, and the buffalo head itself is the locus of reality, or the Heart.

The main sacred location of this religion and people is called Pe' Sla. The Pe' Sla is located at the center of the Black Hills in South Dakota and is considered to be the center of the universe in Lakota Sioux mythology. In the fall of 2012, private owners of the area attempted to auction off the area but pressure from media and the Lakota Sioux forced the sellers to make a deal with the natives.

The Lakota have a plethora of gods, but a few stand out above the others. Obviously, Wakan Tanka is the most notable because he is the spirit of the first god, Inyan, who represents the earth. Inyan's son, Iktomi, is a trickster god that taught the first humans their ways and customs, but also causes discontent and symbolizes defiance. Inyan also created the aforementioned Wakinyan, which represents contradiction and contrariness and is the god of truth. The Wakinyan is shapeless (although pictured in the form of an eagle) and terrifiying, striking down liars with bolts of lightining. Heyoka is the alternate personality of the bipolar Wakinyan, combating evil and fostering good among people and growth among nature. Tate is the god of the wind, a hugely important factor in the Lakota people, and Tokapa was the first man, sent by God to teach the humans how to live.

The Lakota Sioux carve fetishes from stone to symbolize various spirits and confer good fortune. One such carver, Delbert Charging Crow, carves bears that carry crystal for good health, arrowheads as direction finders, and beads for luck. He goes through a long and intricate ritual with each stone that he plans to carve prior to beginning the actual carving process, and the meaning of the finished piece relies heavily on the type of stone and the animal chosen. Here are some Lakota fetishes:

The Lakota do have medicine men, which play a shamanistic role in Lakota culture. They guide men and women on vision quests, or journeys intended to reveal a truth about life and reality to the one going on the quest. The medicine man spiritually prepares the candidate in the time leading up to the quest and helps the candidate take part in a ritual involving a sauna-like lodging and profuse sweating intended to purify the participant. Then, the participant retreats to a remote spot in the wilderness and endures the elements for a few days with no food or water. Usually towards the end of the journey, the candidate has a vision and reports it to the medicine man upon returning, who then interprets the vision and explains it to the participant.

Another interesting ritual performed by the Lakota, the sun dance, is communal in nature as opposed to the individualistic vision quest. The sun dance is performed by an honored and honorable leader at the beginning of the summer and occurs in a lodge built specifically for the dance. This lodge has a cottonwood tree at its center, representing the locus of the universe and the supreme being. Dancing, music, and self-mutilation are all integral parts of this ceremony performed in glorification of the life-giving powers of the sun.

I have some pieces of Lakota art in my home, interestingly enough: