4.3 Eastern Eurasian Religions

Version 1.2 June 2017                                   (Previous Version)

This Chapter covers what are generally called Eastern religions, but what that really means is east Eurasian religions.  The previous Chapter covers indigenous religions from the Americas, Africa and Australia.  That Chapter also briefly covers the indigenous religions also found in Eurasia. 

Many of the east Eurasian religions are based on the belief that after we die we are reincarnated in another body, perhaps as an animal or as a human in a particular caste.  This cycle of death and rebirth is called saṃsāra in Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language.  But in Part 1 (Philosophy) we rejected the existence of gods, spirits, and reincarnation.  What objective evidence there is for reincarnation is considered in Part 2 (Science).  But there is plenty to learn without having to believe in reincarnation.

The concept of caste or class dominates many east Eurasian religions.  As discussed in Part 3 (History) early civilisations (towns and cities) in many regions of the world divided society into 5 major groups: priests, rulers and warriors, merchants, artisans and farmers, labourers, and those ‘outside’ these 4 groups.  Morality, in for example Hinduism (the Bhagavad Gita) and Confucianism (the Analects), was based on doing one’s duty according to one’s station in life – according to your caste or class, or position in the family.  As modern democrats, with equality as a core value, we can’t accept this approach but there may still be insights to be gained from other parts of these texts.

We propose to look at the great east Eurasian religions under the following headings:

As stated in the chapter overview, this is the current summary of our conclusions in this area:

  more                                                              Statement 23