(First published in Small World Ezine on 5 July 2004)
As Dan Brown suggested in his famous "the Da Vinci Code"
that Buddhists believed Lord Buddha was born from a lotus
and that we will be very upset if someone say otherwise, I
learned there are so much about Asians and our religion that
non-Asians do not understand. So, I did some searches about
religions in Asia and would like to share what I have found
here...
First of all, religion and belief in Asia are two different
things. Most religions do not require belief. For me, and
according to what's being taught in Thai Buddhism, Lord
Buddha was born human. He had a father and a mother like
anyone else. Legend says the moment he was born, he took 7
steps of walking and there were lotus flowers blooming out
of the earth accepting his every step. But we all know it
was a metaphor of how the earth welcome his birth. There
are some who think it was real. And we do not argue. As
Buddhist's way of thought is, "So what?" We do not argue on
a never-ending subject. We do not argue "belief" as there
is no way to prove who is right or wrong.
Our earlier article, "Who is Buddha?" and "Buddhism Explained"
One strong article "Buddhism and Anti-Buddhism"
Enough for Buddhism. There are much more practices in Asia.
Some of which we already talked about such as Sikhism or
Hinduism. Let's have a look of some ancient and newer
practices... (Please correct me if I say anything wrong.)
Cai Dai
Founded in 1925 by spiritist Ngo van Chieu, Cao Daiists
share the Buddhist beliefs on karma and reincarnation and
borrows Buddhist's code of conduct, but also worship
God in the persons of Christ, Sakyamuni, Lao Tse, Conficius,
and Khuong Thai Cong. Important people such as Chinese
revolutionary Sun-Yat-Sen, Writer Victor Hugo, and poet
Trang Trinh are also raised as saints. The temples look like
ones of Buddhist's, but the authorities sound catholic.
There is also a tie with the government of Vietnam. There
are about six to ten million followers in Vietnam and
worldwide.
Shinto
Founded in 660 B.C., Shintoism was made the official
Japanese State religion until the World War II ended.
"Shin-To" derived from two Chinese words, "Shen-Tao".
The meaning is "The Way of God". It's a cosmic religion.
Shinto finds in the beauty and symmetry of nature
manifestations of the gods. This must be the original idea
of Ikebana and several Japanese arts. In Shintoism, "kami,"
or the divine spirit is found everywhere in nature, the sun,
the moon, the mountain, the bonzai, sakura, etc. Aside from
the Shinto temples, you can find shrines everywhere even in
households. There is no specific code of conduct, but
certain concepts, such as loyalty, family, reverence for
nature, and cleanliness, are followed. The concept of ritual
suicide (Hari-kiri) must have grown from the concept of
loyalty.
Taoism
Taoism was adopted as the state religion of China in the
fifth century. There have been this idea and teaching since
the ancient time, before there was China. But Lao Tse was
credited as the writer of the first teaching book at around
600 B.C. The principal Taoist ethic is called Wu-wei, or
no-action, meaning to seek equilibrium and follow the
natural order. The Yin-Yang symbol, a circle divided into
equal areas of light and darkness, symbolising equilibrium
and the harmony of opposites, is the most well known. The
famous "Tai-Chi" was also derived from the concept.
Confucianism
Confucius teaching is the most influence "concept of life"
to Chinese. The code of conduct mainly about how men should
be loyalty and grateful to their ancestors and their nation.
Be good and the God will love you. Confucius held that
Society was made up of five relationships: Those of husband
and wife, of parent and child, of elder and younger brother,
or generally of elders and youngsters, of Ruler and Minister
or subject, and of friend and friend. And the teaching tells
how you take care of these relationships. In Asia, we call
the master "Kung-futze". The name must have been derived to
"Confucius" by visiting westerners. Confucius teaching is
not as ols as Taoism. Master Kung lived aprox. 551-479 A.C.
the teaching was widely practiced probably because the
emperor at the time adapt it to discipline his subjects.
Falun Gong
Founded in 1992 in China by Li Hongzhi, followers of Falun
Gong practice Chi-gong, which is a Tai-Chi like exercise,
and believe in spiritual transcendence. Killing and jealousy
are not allowed. Years ago, the Chinese government outlawed
Falun Gong and several (hundreds of) protesters and
activists are arrested and jailed. It only boosted its
popularity. Master Li is now exiled to the U.S., still
teaching Falun Gong. There are already almost hundred of
millions of followers in China and around the world.
Jainism
Founded in India in the 500 B.C. by Mahavira (599-527), at
about the same time as Buddhism. Members practice nudity and
vowed to poverty... to be closest to nature. Jainist Monks
vowed to worldliness and often seen to practice asceticism.
Jainists also practise "ahimsa" (no killing). Strict ones
will wear a mask over their nose and mouth to prevent
themselves from breathing in small living creatures. They
believing in giving away. Even the dead are not buried or
cremated, but fed to vultures. Now there are about 5 million
Jianists in India.
Parsis (Zoroastrianism)
Zoroastrianism was founded in aprox. 600 B.C. by the Persian
prophet Zoroaster. Unfortunately, it did not survive the
religion wars in the region. Now it's only found in India
and the United States. Indian Zoroastrianists are called
"Parsis" (Persians). Parsis believe in the "sacred fire" and
"purification by fire".
Baha'i
Founded in the nineteenth century by the Muslim mystic
Baha'u'llah, Baha'i is one of the most widespread religions
with millions of members in several countries. Baha'is must
strive to maintain friendly relations with all other faiths
(hey I like them already!), and avoid 'worldly' behavior
such as gossip, idle thinking, and materialism. Divorce is
discouraged and homosexuality or extramarital man-woman
relationship is forbidden. Baha'is don't drink either.
Unlike most other Asian beliefs, Baha'is believe all
religions come from the God.
Hinduism
Hinduism is very big and the practices vary. If you are
interested, you can find summaries here...
Sikhism
We already talked about Sikhism here...
Animism
Animism seems to be what locals were doing before new
religions were accepted to the communities. In places like
South East Asia and China animism is even blended with the
new religions such as Buddhism or Hinduism.
Western Religions
Christianity
There are only two Asian countries of which majorities are
Roman Catholic... the Philippines and East Timor. You can
read about Christianity in the Philippines here
Islam
The word "Islam" means "surrender", and it is derived from
"salam" or "peace". So the full connotation of "Islam" is
"the perfect peace that comes when one's life is surrendered
to God". It is one of the world's largest religion, and
still growing. It is the youngest of the "three great
Western religions", but it is the largest in Asia (with
Indonesia the largest Islamic nation).
Judaism
My Isreali friend used to ask me if there is a Jew community
in Asia, and I answered I had never heard of one. Now I
found that there was a synagogue was established in China's
city of Kaifeng as early as 1163, during the silk road era.
Nowadays there are at least three synagogues in Hong Kong
and three major Jewish communities in India. Read more here...
EBook: When Judaism and Christianity began. Volume 1, Christianity in the beginning 
Our sources:
http://www.asiasource.org
http://altreligion.about.com
http://goasia.about.com
http://www.askasia.org
http://religion-cults.com/Ancient/Asia/asia.htm
