Religious Images, Texts, and Translations
From 1997 to 2022 Carthage College hosted my faculty web page on the College's servers. I spent those 25 years uploading texts, translations, and annotated photo pages for classroom use.
The web page was removed after my retirement in May 2022. The photo pages would require considerable work to duplicate. I'm going to do this a little for classes, but for the most part will simply post photos on Mindful India Travel's Facebook and Instagram feeds; I like try connect postings to create a continuing story. Check them out!
The texts however are another story: some texts I have written myself, some I have compiled from older sources in the public domain (for which the sources are acknowledged), and some I have translated from Sanskrit, Hindi, and Braj Bhasha. Language was not my primary academic discipline, but I did these either because they interested me, or because I wanted to use them in teaching You can see an annotated list of these texts below.
All texts may be used freely for any educational or non-commercial purpose, provided the source is acknowledged.
Table of Contents
General Interest
Stunningly Brief Introduction to World Religions (A brief introduction to the religions of the Middle East, India, and East Asia).
Hindus
Stunningly Brief Introduction to Hinduism: A more extended introduction than in the Stunningly Brief Introduction above. Includes links to primary texts such as the Vedas, Upanishads, and Dharma literature.
Selections from the Bhagavad-Gita (an introduction and abridged translation of one of the best known Hindu religious texts).
Hanuman Calisa: 40 verses in praise of Hanuman. Describes his heroic exploits in the Ramayana, and the way he responds to the needs of his devotees.
Snakes and Ladders: A Traditional Hindu Game: Played for entertainment, and to convey deeper religious messages.
The Subtle Body (Overview): Gives a short overview of the subtle body's physiology (chakras and nadis), and a quick overview of Kundalini.
Hindu Deities: A series of photo pages devoted multiple Hindu deities.
The Life Cycle: Two connected photo pages chronicling life-cycle ceremonies from birth to death.
Religion in Daily Life: Two connected photo pages chronicling examples of religion in daily life.
Buddhists
The Dhammapada (Sayings of the Buddha): A collection of short sayings on various topics (centering mainly on the need to cultivate mindful awareness and moral rectitude) translated from the Pali Canon by John Richards ( from the Open Library).
Buddhist Meditation Overview: Not a primary source, but an overview of different sorts of Buddhist meditation.
The Burning House Parable from the Lotus Sutra contains several central Mahayana Buddhist ideas:
The Bodhisattva ideal (illustrated by the behavior of the old man)
The notion of "skillful means" to give teaching that is understandable and effective.
The notion of the Mahayana as the one true Buddhist path (the story's three carts, which correspond to three different paths).
The Avalokiteshvara Sutra: An example of devotional Buddhism, also from the Lotus Sutra. Avalokiteshvara was not only close to enlightenment (and thus possessed considerable powers), but was also the embodiment of compassion, and would respond to those who called on him in any sort of need.
Selections from the Diamond Sutra: The Diamond Sutra is a later Mahayana text that delights in paradox as a way to convey the ineffable nature of ultimate truth. The two major themes in these selections are the paradox of the Bodhisattva Path, and verses in praise of the text itself. The Path is paradoxical because the Bodhisattva vows and acts to bring all "Beings" to nirvana, even though s/he knows that there are actually no "Beings" to save, since all reality is ultimately Empty (interdependently originated, and thus not "Real" in an ontological sense). Yet even it the Beings are not ultimately "Real," their suffering is, and this is what the Bodhisattva seeks to address.
The Smaller Pure Land Sutra: This describes Sukhavati (the "Land of Bliss") a "Buddhaverse" created by the religious merit of the Buddha Amitabha. Sukhavati has no pain, suffering, or grief, and in this environment people move more quickly to full enlightenment. Early Pure Land Texts talk about dedicating one's religious merit to being reborn there, but over time the emphasis changed to highlight Amitabha's grace--the only thing needed to be born there was to call on Amitabha with faith one time. This emphasis on faith made Pure Land Buddhism the religion of the masses in China and Japan.
The Kalachakra ("Wheel of Existence"): Buddhist teaching art. The various parts of the painting describe the 12 stages of the causal chain leading to rebirth, the six realms of existence, and the root causes of our dissatisfaction and frustration.
Sikhs
The Japji, or Sikh morning prayer. This short work succinctly lays out Guru Nanak's religious ideas and path. The final verst was written by his successor, Guru Angad.
"The Life of Guru Nanak According to Bhai Gurdas" (trans. by W.H. McLeod). Bhai Gurdas (d. 1637) was a court poet who was a contemporary of the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Sikh Gurus. His account was written more than a century after Guru Nanak's life, so this is not a contemporary biographical account, but one that reflects the community's received memory and values.
Images of Guru Nanak from the Janam-Sakhis (traditional stories of Guru Nanak's life). Some of these images come from poster art; others from paintings (late-18th or early 19th c.) in Amritsar's Baba Atal Tower.
Islam
Introduction to Hadith--The Traditions of the Prophet Muhammad: Describes the criteria and processes through which the early Muslim community evaluated the reliability of these sayings.
Intro to the Shari'ah: Describes the sources and legal strategies through which the Islamic law was formed
Academic Resources
Plagiarism--Definition and Some Examples
Bibliography/Source List Examples
Helpful Criteria for Evaluating a Website
Notes on Style and Composition.
Even Briefer Overview of World Religions