Living Religions

2. a question used by Zen teachers to boggle the student’s mind and thus liberate direct awareness.
3. monument containing Buddhist relics or images.
4. doctrines proclaimed as absolutely true by religious institutions.
6. a sacred esoteric text with spiritual practices honoring the divine in female form.
8. the constitutional principle of not giving favored status to any religion.
9. a usually ascetic spiritual community of followers gathered around their guru.
10. a Sikh temple.
13. religion a discipline that attempts to compare and understand patterns found in different religious traditions.
14. a particular response to dimensions of life considered sacred, as shaped by institutionalized traditions.

1. Granth the collected writings of Guru Gobind Singh.
2. order of Sikhs who have undergone special initiation and observe a strict code of conduct.
5. a branch of Mahayana Buddhism practiced in the Tibetan diaspora that incorporates deity yoga, mantras, mudras (hand gestures), and mandalas to achieve awakening.
7. Worshiper of Vishnu or one of his manifestations, such as Krishna.
11. materialism Belief that only the material world exists and that the supernatural is only imagined by humans.
12. the “Great Vehicle,” the Buddhist school that stresses the altruistic wish to become perfectly awakened in order to free all living beings from suffering.