Kinship and Killing: The Animal in World Religions

anicca (Pali)/anitya (Sanskrit) Impermanence; one of the Three Marks of Existence in Buddhism, the others being DUKKHA and ANATTA.

anatta (Pali)/anatman (Sanskrit) Insubstantiality, the lack of permanent identity of all things including the self; another of Buddhism’s Three Marks of Existence.

Aryans Warlike, nomadic Euro-Asian people who invaded India to usher in the Vedic age.

Bhagavad Gita The most read and most revered book of the MAHABHARATA. Arjuna does not want to fight his relatives, but KRISHNA explains why he must, for reasons both ethical (as construed within the caste system) and metaphysical.

Bodhisatta (Pali)/Bodhisattva (Sanskrit) The future historical Buddha in one of his earlier lives. Or, any person seeking enlightenment or eventual Buddhahood.

bourn(e) In writings on Buddhism, refers to the state into which a person is reborn, such as human, animal, hungry ghost, etc.

Brahma 1. In Hinduism, absolute reality, to which the adherent seeks to return from the world of bondage and illusion. 2. The name of a Buddhist god.

Brahmans The Hindu and proto-Hindu priestly and scholarly caste.

Buddhaghosa Theravadan Buddhist commentator of the fifth century.

dana Offerings made to Buddhist monks by laypeople.

dhamma (Pali)/dharma (Sanskrit) A word with many meanings, such as absolute reality, truth as expounded by the Buddha, or individual things. The intended meaning is usually evident from the context.

dukkha (Pali)/duhkha (Sanskrit) Another of Buddhism’s Three Marks of Existence, it means “unsatisfactoriness,” sometimes translated as “suffering” or “ill.” But it can refer to happiness as well, since happiness is accompanied by the fear of loss.

Ebionites Early “Jewish Christians,” as defined by Akers, who regarded Jesus as a human being, born normally but adopted by God to be the Jewish Messiah. They believed in following the Jewish law, but their ideas were overcome by those of Pauline Christianity.

Edenites A modern American Christian vegetarian society.

Gotama/Gautama The historical Buddha’s family name, his first name being Siddhartha.

Hadith The sayings of Muhammad, their chains of transmission carefully noted for authenticity, which is however often challenged to support doctrinal positions. They are also known as Traditions.

Hafiz Khajeh Shamseddin Mohammad Hafiz Shirazi, 1310/25–1388/89, important Persian poet. There is dispute as to whether his worldly subject matter is meant literally or is spiritually symbolic. He is sometimes classified as a Sufi.

halal Permissible according to Islamic law, especially with reference to meat, which must be of certain types and slaughtered with certain rituals reflecting certain principles. The opposite is haram, forbidden.

Hasidism A mystical Jewish school of thought, originating in the late eighteenth century in Eastern Europe.

Hekhalot Jewish esoteric literature of the Talmudic era.

Ibn ‘Arabi Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi, 1165–1240, a mystical Islamic philosopher and exponent of SUFISM.

ijtihad In Islam, original interpretation of legal problems left uncertain in the Qur’an, HADITH, or ijma (scholarly legal consensus).

‘Isa Transliteration of the Arabic name for Jesus.

jatakas Tales of the Buddha’s former lives, when he was still a BODHISATT(V)A.

Jatakamala A later, Mahayana collection of jatakas, much shorter than the original collection, and emphasizing moral lessons to be gained from the stories.

jhana (Pali)/dhyana (Sanskrit) The state of meditative absorption, occurring in four progressive stages.

Kabbalism or Kabbalah Jewish mystical teaching, given its name (“that which is received” in Hebrew) by Ibn Gabriol in the eleventh century.

kamma (Pali)/karma (Sanskrit) The Buddhist principle of cause and effect running throughout reality; in moral teaching, good or bad activity resulting in reward or punishment; the results themselves, as in “He has created good/bad karma.”

kashrut/kasher (kosher) The Jewish food laws especially regarding types, rituals, and principles of slaughter, and preparation of animal products.

Krishna The Hindu god Vishnu in another form.

Mahabharata A post-Vedic epic which is Hinduism’s foundational text.

Mahayana Buddhism A school of Buddhism commonly identified by that name by the fourth century CE, although it emerged earlier. It sees the earlier stress on individual enlightenment as selfish and promotes instead the ideal of the BODHISATTVA, who seeks enlightenment with the ultimate aim of liberating all other sentient beings. Mahayana means Great Way, by contrast with the pejorative label Hinayana, Small or Lesser Way, applied to the earlier schools.

Maimonides The philosopher R. Moses Ben Maimon, 1135–1204. His Guide to the Perplexed seeks to reconcile Aristotelian rationalist philosophy with the Bible as revelation.

Manichaeanism A religion founded in the third century CE by the Persian philosopher Mani. He followed Christ, but his teaching contained strands from other religions. St. Augustine was originally a Manichaean, and his rejection of it was accompanied by a rejection of the ascetically based vegetarianism that it endorsed.

metta (Pali)/maitri (Sanskrit) The Buddhist principle, difficult to translate, of friendliness, lovingkindness, or goodwill that Buddhists are enjoined to direct toward all beings.

Midrash Rabbinical reflections, observations, and moral tales that illuminate and interpret biblical texts.

Mishnah The Mishnah, composed by Judah the Prince (135–219 ce), is a law code on which other sections of the TALMUD provide interpretation.

muhrim A Muslim on pilgrimage.

Mu’tazilites A ninth-century school of Islam, endorsing a Greek-derived rationalism by contrast with orthodox Islamic legalism.

Nagarjuna The great Buddhist metaphysician, ca. 150–250 CE, who fully developed the concept of emptiness, or sunyata, already implicit in Buddhist thought, thus founding the Madhyamaka (Middle School) branch of MAHAYANA BUDDHISM.

nirvana The state of the enlightened being who has overcome attachment, especially to the sense of self, and whose status after physical death is declared to be beyond explanation. It may be popularly thought of as a place, but is rather a condition. Although on the surface the opposite of SAMSARA, in mystical thought it is the same.

Pali The language of the earlier Buddhist scriptures.

Rumi Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207–1273), the best-known Sufi poet and mystic.

Sa’di/Sa’adi Mosleh a-Din Sa’adi Shirazi (1210–1290), important Persian Sufi poet and prose writer.

samsara Reality as experienced by the unenlightened; the ordinary world.

Sangha The community of Buddhist monks and nuns.

Sanskrit The language of the VEDAS, the Hindu epics, MAHAYANA BUDDHIST texts, and the writings of NAGARJUNA.

sefirot In Kabbalist teaching, the many and varied emanations of God.

shechitah In Judaism, the laws of ritual slaughter.

Shi’ah/Shi’ism The minority tradition within Islam. Shi’ites believe that Muhammad’s nephew Ali should be recognized as the Prophet’s chosen successor to lead the Muslim community, rather than Muhammad’s associates Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali.

Sufism The mystical strain of Islam, emphasizing the oneness of God with all things and the possibility of direct union with God. Its practitioners have been more favorable to vegetarianism than followers of mainstream Islam.

sunna Correct Islamic practice, as codified in the HADITH.

Sunni The majority division of Islam. Its most technical dispute with SHI’AH is over the legitimate successors to the Prophet, the Sunni view being that the first four caliphs, rather than Muhammad’s nephew Ali, should be so regarded. Sunnites tend toward greater orthodoxy and legalism than Shi’ites.

sutta (Pali)/sutra (Sanskrit) Indian religious text, of variable length; in Buddhism, traditionally the words of the Buddha.

Talmud The MISHNAH and midrashim (MIDRASH), composed by the rabbis from about the second century to 600 CE, which, together with the TANAKH, comprise Judaism.

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible, the same as the Old Testament but with the books in a different order: The word combines the initials of Torah, the first five books of the Bible, Neviim, the prophets, and Ketuvim, or the hagiographa.

tasmiyah Pronouncement of the name of Allah just before slaughtering an animal: a condition of the meat’s being HALAL.

Tathagata A SANSKRIT title of the Buddha, indicating a perfect being who has attained complete insight into reality.

tathagatagarbha A SANSKRIT term indicating the potential Buddhahood in every being.

Temple Usually refers to the Second Temple, which, after the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE, was completed in 516 BCE. Destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, it was the site of animal sacrifice.

Tetragrammaton The Hebrew name of God, consisting of four Hebrew letters, and written in English as Yahweh or Jehovah. By tradition, Jews are not supposed to pronounce the name.

Theravada Buddhism “Teaching of the Elders”; a school of earlier or Hinayana (see under MAHAYANA) Buddhism.

Upanishads The last and most visionary part of the VEDAS, conveying the idea of a godhead both within and above the world.

Vedanta Religion based on the VEDAS, but emphasizing its metaphysic of oneness rather than its promotion of sacrifice. It was popularized in the late nineteenth century by Vivekananda, an opponent of meat eating.

Vedas The earliest Indian religious literature, consisting of the Rg, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva Vedas. The Vedic period occurred sometime between 2500 and 600 BCE. Alongside metaphysical and religious ideas, the Vedas promote and prescribe the details of animal sacrifice.

Vinaya The rules of monastic discipline, codified as the patimokkha, containing 227 rules. The Vinaya is one of the three “baskets,” or groups of texts, in the Buddhist canon.