Vocabulary

a religion unique to Japan whose name means “the way of the gods”; its main belief is reverence for the kami

• Shinto

• Kami

• Buddhism

• Confucianism

a philosophy of Buddhism that contains the Eightfold Path—eight rules of conduct

• Middle Way

• Philosophy

• Confucianism

• Brahman

complicated rituals and hymns that Aryan priests followed in Hinduism

• Caste System

• Vedas

• Brahman

• Nirvana

one of the texts of Buddhism

• Four Noble Truths

• Middle Way

• Philosophy

• Tripitaka

the central teaching of Buddhism: that life always brings pain, that suffering and sorrow are caused by greed and material desires, that to end suffering one has to give up greedy desires, and to reach Nirvana one has to follow the Middle Way

• Karma

• Four Noble Truths

• Golden Rule of Behavior

• Shinto

one of the oldest religions in the world; it developed in India because of the Aryan invasion around 1500 BC

• Buddhism

• Nirvana

• Kami

• Hinduism

the belief that, when a person dies, his or her soul is reborn into the body of another person or animal

• Vedas

• Hinduism

• Karma

• Reincarnation

Confucius’s rule that said you should treat others as you would want to be treated

• Golden Rule of Behavior

• Reincarnation

• Hinduism

• Vedas

a system of social classes in India that are inherited and cannot be changed

• Nirvana

• Caste System

• Golden Rule of Behavior

• Philosophy

a religion that was founded in South Asia around 500 BC by Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who became known as Buddha

• Four Noble Truths

• Confucianism

• Buddhism

• Vedas