Religion Talks
Religion is a range of social-cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacredness, faith, and a supernatural being or beings.
The origin of religious belief is an open question, with possible explanations including awareness of individual death, a sense of community, and dreams. Religions have sacred histories, narratives, and mythologies, preserved in oral traditions, sacred texts, symbols, and holy places, that may attempt to explain the origin of life, the universe, and other phenomena.
Religious practices may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration (of deities or saints), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, matrimonial and funerary services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, or public service.
There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, though nearly all of them have regionally based, relatively small followings. Four religions—Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism—account for over 77% of the world's population, and 92% of the world either follows one of those four religions or identifies as nonreligious, meaning that the remaining 9,000+ faiths account for only 8% of the population combined. The religiously unaffiliated demographic includes those who do not identify with any particular religion, atheists, and agnostics, although many in the demographic still have various religious beliefs.
Many world religions are also organized religions, most definitively including the Abrahamic religions Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, while others are arguably less so, in particular folk religions, indigenous religions, and some Eastern religions. A portion of the world's population are members of new religious movements. Scholars have indicated that global religiosity may be increasing due to religious countries having generally higher birth rates.
The study of religion comprises a wide variety of academic disciplines, including theology, philosophy of religion, comparative religion, and social scientific studies. Theories of religion offer various explanations for its origins and workings, including the ontological foundations of religious being and belief.
Title | Speaker | |
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January 26th, 1997, Serial No. 00783, Side A Attachment, American, Emotions, Interview, Non-duality, Concentration, Separation,... |
Jan 26 1997 |
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February 1997 talk, Serial No. 01505 Politics, Religion, War, Fasting, Practice Period, Building, Peace, Emotions,... |
1997 |
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November 17th, 1996, Serial No. 00787, Side B Gratitude, Commitment, Silence, Passions, Mindfulness, Precepts, Religion, War, Peace... |
Nov 17 1996 |
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Autobiographical: Beatnik GenerationSerial: BZ-00790A Saturday Lecture Way-Seeking Mind, Priest, Doubt, Priest-and-Lay, New Year, Religion, Precepts,... |
Oct 05 1996 Berkeley Zen Center |
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Bodhisattva CeremonySerial: BZ-00799B Saturday Lecture Bodhisattva Ceremony, Karma, Four Noble Truths, Teacher-and-Student, Buddha Nature,... |
Jul 06 1996 Berkeley Zen Center |
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June 8th, 1996, Serial No. 00802, Side B Buddha Nature, Practice Period, Oneness, resistance, Discrimination, Bell, Nirvana,... |
Jun 08 1996 |
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May 30th, 1996, Serial No. 00251 Buddha Nature, Repentance, Nirvana Sutra, Evil, Duality, Karma, Confession-and-... |
May 30 1996 |
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May 9th, 1996, Serial No. 00249 Platform Sutra, Sixth Patriarch, Evil, Demons, Discrimination, Echo, Ordination,... |
May 09 1996 |
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May 6th, 1996, Serial No. 00804, Side A Practice Period, War, Impermanence, Happiness, Bell, Conversation, Offering, Posture... |
May 06 1996 |
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March 2nd, 1996, Serial No. 00284, Side A Heart Sutra, Offering, Family Practice, Priest, resistance, Chanting, Daily Life,... |
Mar 02 1996 |
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Rite of Passage - Ceremony and RitualSerial: BZ-00813A Saturday Lecture Ceremony, Family Practice, Karma, Tassajara, Repentance, Bell, Religion, Priest,... |
Jan 06 1996 Berkeley Zen Center |
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January 4th, 1996, Serial No. 00781, Side B Religion, New Year, Tassajara, Teacher-and-Student, Aspects of Practice, Practice... |
Jan 04 1996 |
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Title UnknownSerial: BZ-00816A Rohatsu Day 4 Thoroughness, Buddha Nature, Ego, resistance, Posture, Religion, Repentance, Enemies... |
Dec 06 1995 Berkeley Zen Center |
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Why We Sit in the MorningSerial: BZ-00819A Saturday Lecture Zazen, Daily Life, Religion, Priest, Separation, American, resistance, Bell |
Oct 28 1995 Berkeley Zen Center |
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Women in BuddhismSerial: SF-00153 Class Religion, Discrimination, Priest, Ceremony, Bodhisattva Vow, Buddha Nature, Ego,... |
Oct 23 1995 1 of 6 Green Gulch Farm |
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October 21st, 1995, Serial No. 00820, Side B Chanting, Tassajara, Religion, War, Humility, Beginners, Precepts, Priest, Lay... |
Oct 21 1995 |
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October 14th, 1995, Serial No. 00820, Side A confusion, Four Noble Truths, Buddha Nature, Religion, Happiness, Describe, Duality,... |
Oct 14 1995 |
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Enlightenment to Faith in PracticeSerial: BZ-00821A Saturday Lecture Enlightenment, Faith, Practice, Buddha Nature, Intuition, Lotus Sutra, Vows, Aspects... |
Sep 30 1995 Berkeley Zen Center |
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Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo #1Serial: BZ-00824A Sesshin Day 1 Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo, Buddha Nature, Bell, Religion, Sangha, Anger, Nirvana Sutra,... |
Sep 02 1995 Berkeley Zen Center |
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1995.07.29-serial.00266 Big Mind, Thich Nhat Hanh, Enemies, Culture, Religion |
Jul 29 1995 |
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Heart Sutra Pt.2Serial: BZ-00745B Lecture Nirvana, Samsara, Duality, Precepts, Dependent Origination, Bodhisattva Precepts, Non... |
Jul 12 1995 |
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Heart Sutra Pt.2 and Pt. 3Serial: BZ-00746A Lecture Birth-and-Death, Continuous, Dependent Origination, Don't Know Mind, War,... |
Jul 12 1995 |
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Yurt LectureSerial: BZ-00744 Lecture Discrimination, Religion, training, Emotions |
Jun 24 1995 |
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God/KarmaSerial: BZ-00977B Saturday Lecture Religion, Karma, Giving-and-Taking, Daily Life, Monastic Practice, Lotus Sutra, Big... |
Jun 03 1995 Berkeley Zen Center |
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1995.04.08-serial.00021 Buddha Ancestors, Sangha, Dragons, Religion, Diversity, Practice Period, Compassion,... |
Apr 08 1995 |
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Tokubetsu Sesshin Priest, New Year, Rinzai, Religion, Ceremony, Tassajara, training, soto, Transmission... |
Mar 25 1995 |
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January 28th, 1995, Serial No. 00946, Side B Practice Period, Tassajara, Study Period, Dependent Origination, Religion, Diversity... |
Jan 28 1995 |
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January 19th, 1995, Serial No. 00757, Side A Offering, Culture, American, Dragons, Religion, War, Interview, Precepts, Lay... |
Jan 19 1995 |
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November 12th, 1994, Serial No. 00955, Side A Buddha Nature, Religion, Don't Know Mind, Impermanence, Mindfulness, Daily Life... |
Nov 12 1994 |
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July 20th, 1994, Serial No. 00940, Side B Silence, Monastic Practice, Commitment, Culture, Religion, American, Big Mind,... |
Jul 20 1994 |
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June 18th, 1994, Serial No. 00942, Side A Vows, Silence, Chanting, Passions, confusion, Describe, Bell, Mindfulness, Separation... |
Jun 18 1994 |
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April 2nd, 1994, Serial No. 00962, Side A Ordinary Mind, First Principle, Blue Cliff Record, Practice Period, Bodhidharma,... |
Apr 02 1994 |
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March 31st, 1994, Serial No. 00552 Sixth Patriarch, Culture, Mahayana, Religion, Echo, Four Noble Truths, soto, Lay... |
Mar 31 1994 |
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Madyamika/Yogachara Schools of Emptiness/SynthesisSerial: BZ-00964A Three Bodies of Buddha pt. II, Sesshin Day 2 Madyamika, Trikaya, Emptiness, Yogachara, Religion, Emotions, Karma, Sixth Patriarch... |
Mar 13 1994 Berkeley Zen Center |