Hinduism
Hinduism is an Indian religion encompassing diverse ritualistic Vedic traditions stressing the importance of karma and societal norms. The vast field of Hindu scriptures includes the Vedas, Brāhmanas, Āranyakas, Upanishads, Purānas, and the epics known as the Rāmāyana and the Mahābhārata, the latter of which contains the important Bhagavad Gītā. Hinduism is roughly divided into four major sects: Vaishnavism (devotion to Vishnu), Shaivism (devotion of Shiva), Shaktism (devotion to Shakti), and Smartism (nonsectarian devotion to Brahman). As the world's third largest religion, Hinduism has almost one billion followers, 90 percent of whom live in India. Hinduism is deeply ingrained in Indian society. The religiously based caste system is illegal but remains widely socially enforced. Calls for the recognition of India as a specifically Hindu nation have increased, and Hindu groups often seek to maintain the tradition's cultural hegemony.
ESSAYS ON HINDUISM:
Hinduism
印度教
Hinduism refers to a wide range of related religious practices originating in what is now India. As a diverse religious tradition, it combines three main theological and scriptural strands. The first (ca. 1500 BCE to 400 CE) linked social and ethical norms (dharma) to the natural and eternal order of the cosmos. A second strand of scripture and reflection (starting in the middle of the first millennium BCE) developed a new insight: that underlying the multiplicity of sensory experience is a deep unity, an essential Being (Brahman), and that it was possible to shed one’s sense of individuality and attain unity with this ultimate reality. A third tradition, joining the ethical and existential concerns of the first two, emerged in the groundbreaking text of the Bhagavad Gītā (2nd century BCE), which acknowledged the value of both social duties and spiritual liberation (moksha) and set up a mediating path between them, the path of discipline (yoga).
印度教起源于今日之印度，意指范围广泛的相关宗教实践。它是具有多样性的宗教传统，内含三部分的主要神学和经卷传统。第一部分（公元前15世纪至公元4世纪）将社会和伦理规范与宇宙的自然和终极法则相联系。第二部分的经卷和反思（始于公元前第一个千纪中期）发展出了一种新的观点：感官体验多重性的基础是高度统一体，即至高存在本体（梵），这可能让个人弃绝感官遮蔽，与终极实在合一。第三部分传统亦和前两类一样有伦理和存在关注，体现在具开创意义的《薄伽梵歌》（公元前2世纪）中。《薄加梵歌》承认了社会责任和精神自由（解脱，莫克夏）两者的价值，并建立两者之间的桥梁，即修行（瑜伽）。
Hindu Beliefs
印度教信仰
Hinduism has no single set of doctrines. Hindus generally view Brahman as the eternal origin and foundation of all existence but approach Brahman's divine manifestations in different ways. Hindus are often classified into three groups according to which form of Brahman they worship: Vaishnavas are those who worship Vishnu and Vishnu’s important incarnations Rama, Krishna, and Narasimha; Shaivas worship Shiva; and Shaktas worship the Mother Goddess, Shakti. Most Hindus believe that the true self (atman) of every person is eternal and that it passes through a cycle of successive lives (samsara) where its next incarnation is always dependent on how the previous life was lived (karma). Moksha is the end of the death and rebirth cycle that comes by overcoming ignorance and desires through one or several paths (yogas)—the path of love and devotion, the path of right action, the path of meditation, or the path of wisdom.
印度教没有一套单一的学说。印度教徒将梵看作永恒的起源和万物的基础。根据所崇拜的梵之形各异，印度教经常区分为三类：毗湿奴派是指崇拜毗湿奴及其重要化身罗摩、黑天和人狮那罗辛哈；湿婆派崇拜湿婆；性力派崇拜圣母女神沙克提。大多数印度教徒相信每个人的本我是永恒的，不断经历生死轮回，每一段生命都是由前世所为(业力)而定。解脱为死亡和再生循环的结束，需要通过一种或多种途径（瑜伽）克服无知和欲望，如通过爱与虔诚、正行、冥想或智慧。
Hindu Practices
印度教实践
Many Hindus practice a number of everyday rituals meant to keep believers mindful of divinity in their day-to-day lives. Most Hindus have home shrines dedicated to the form of Brahman they choose to worship, where the devotee often lights a lamp or gives offerings of foodstuffs before a murti, an image believed to be an embodiment of a divinity. Hindus also recite scripture, perform ablution in sacred rivers, sing devotional hymns, meditate, and chant mantras. Most Hindus visit temples only during religious festivals celebrating events from Hindu mythology, preferring instead to worship at home and in everyday settings. Though the practice is not mandatory, many Hindus also perform pilgrimages to various holy cities. The caste system, which has some basis in Hindu scripture, assigns people to strict social classes and duties. Although it is outlawed in India, it remains a powerful cultural and social force.
众多印度教徒每天进行一系列仪式修行，意在令信徒在日常生活中不忘神灵。大多数印度教徒在家设有神坛，敬奉他们选择崇拜的梵之形相，虔诚的信徒经常在穆谛这类某一神灵化身的圣像前燃灯或供食（祭品包括祭祀用食品，但不仅限于祭祀用食品）。印度教徒也诵读经卷、在圣河中净身、唱颂虔敬圣歌、冥想、念诵真言曼陀罗。大多数印度教徒仅在源自印度神话的宗教节日的欢庆仪式进行时到访寺庙，他们更愿意在日常生活中在家敬拜。尽管没有强制性要求，很多印度教徒也到不同的圣地朝觐。种姓制度在印度教经卷中可找到某些根源，对人们的社会阶层和责任有严格安排。尽管如今种姓制度的法律地位在印度已被废除，但它仍有着强大的文化和社会影响力。
Demographics of Hinduism
印度教人口分布
Hinduism is the world’s third largest religion after Christianity and Islam, with nearly one billion adherents. Over 90% of all Hindus live in India. Nepal was the world’s only Hindu kingdom until democratization resulted in its becoming a secular state in 2006. One legacy of the British Empire’s use of indentured Indian servants is the presence of large Hindu populations in disparate places. Over half the population of the African island nation of Mauritius practice Hinduism; one quarter to one third of the populations in the South American and Caribbean countries of Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago are Hindu; one third of Fijians are Hindu as well. The oil industry in the Arabian Peninsula has led to an influx of Hindu Indian laborers with low social status; Hindus represent 12% of Qatar and over 20% of the United Arab Emirates. Significant Hindu minority communities exist in the United Kingdom, the United States, and in other parts of the world as well. By best estimates, half of Hindus are Vaishnavas, devotees of Vishnu, and about a quarter are Shaivas, devotees of Shiva.
印度教是位列基督教和伊斯兰教之后的世界第三大宗教，有近10亿信徒，90%以上居住在印度。在2006年因民主化而成为世俗国家之前，尼泊尔是世界唯一的印度教王国。大英帝国役用印度契约佣工导致大量印度教徒散居世界各地。非洲岛国毛里求斯过半人口为印度教徒；在南非、加勒比地区、圭亚那、苏里南、和特立尼达及多巴哥共和国均有占总人口1/4至1/3的印度教徒；斐济也有1/3的印度教徒。阿拉伯半岛的石油业导致大量信仰印度教的低种姓印度劳工涌入，卡塔尔有12%印度教徒，阿联酋的印度教徒超过20%。英国、美国和世界其它地方也有数量可观的信仰印度教的少数族裔。据最为恰当的估计，半数印度教徒为虔敬毗湿奴的毗湿奴派，而约1/4则是虔敬湿婆的湿婆派。
Hindu Scriptures
印度教经典
Hinduism boasts a diverse collection of sacred writings. Hindu sacred texts are classified as either Shruti (“heard,” meaning revelation) or Smriti (“remembered,” meaning tradition). The former is comprised of the Vedas, the oldest and most authoritative of Hindu scriptures, which deal largely with rituals; the Brāhmanas, commentaries on the Vedas; and the Upanishads, philosophical and metaphysical texts that have been central to the spiritual development of the tradition. Together, the Shrutis form the corpus of Vedic thought and literature. The Smritis are the epics, like the Rāmāyana and the Mahābhārata; mythological texts known as Purānas; theological treatises called Agamas; and philosophical texts called Darshanas. Despite being a part of the larger Mahābhārata, the Bhagavad Gītā is widely considered Smriti, as it is believed to be the tradition’s most powerful condensation of the broad spectrum of Vedic thought.
印度教以多样性的圣典为傲。印度教圣典可区分为《天启书》（“所闻”，即启示）或《圣传书》（“所记”，即传统）。前者包括《吠陀》这一最古老且最具权威的印度教经典，主要内容为仪式介绍；《梵书》为《吠陀》的注解；以及《奥义书》这一以传统灵性修炼为中心的形而上哲学文本。《天启书》构成吠陀时期的思想与文献汇编。《圣传书》包括史诗，如《罗摩衍那》和《摩诃婆罗多》；神话文本《往世书》；神学论述《阿含经》（《谛义证得经》）；以及哲学文本《达显》（译注：衍生出印度教哲学的六个主要派别——数位派、正理派、胜论派、瑜伽派、弥曼差派和卡瓦卡派）。尽管《薄伽梵歌》广义上是《摩诃婆罗多》的一部分，但是人们普遍认为它属于《圣传书》，因为人们相信它是内容宽泛的吠陀思想传统最为权威的缩写。
THEMES
Hinduism on the Religious Other
印度教关于宗教他者的观念
Hinduism’s long history and accumulated attitudes toward outsiders have been greatly influenced by geography. Surrounded by oceans and a vast mountain range, India's diverse cultures prospered with relatively little outside interference. Hinduism absorbed those political and cultural influence that did enter the country, forming a rich and diverse cultural tapestry of indigenous and foreign elements. At the same time, India was always conceived as a sacred land with clear boundaries that separated the pure inside from the impure outside world. Hindu views of internal and external communities were a product of this ambiguity: subtle and highly textured. Although foreigners were recognized as others, they were not marked for annihilation or subjugation. In fact, many scholars have suggested that India's complex caste system was a product of the encounter between distinct ethnic communities. This open and tolerant attitude has long fascinated students of India. As a religious philosophy, Hinduism never insisted on a unitary view of reality or truth; the earliest texts already proclaimed that although the true may be one, wise people may name it differently.
印度教的漫长历史和世代累积对其他群体的态度受到其地理格局的巨大影响。四面被海洋和高山所环绕，印度的多元文化蓬勃发展起来，而较少受外部影响。印度教吸收了那些进入该国的政治和文化要素，形成了丰富多样兼具本土和外国元素的文化图景。
同时，印度常被想象为一片神圣的土地，具有将纯洁内部与不纯洁外界分隔开来的清晰边界。印度教关于“内”和“外”的观点是一种矛盾结合体：既微妙又高度粗糙。尽管外国人被认为是“他者”， 但他们并非消灭或征服的对象。事实上，众多学者指出，印度的种姓制度是不同族群相互碰撞的结果。这种开放和宽容的态度长期以来吸引着印度学家。作为一种宗教性的哲学，印度教从不固执于某种单一的实在或真理；（印度教）最早的文献就已经声明，尽管真理或许只有一个，但仁者见仁、智者见智。。
Hinduism on Justice and Injustice
印度教关于正义和非正义的观念
Hindu scriptures reflect a deep fascination with and commitment to justice, both as a social reality and as a cosmic principle. The earliest narratives identified justice with the work of a god, such as Yama, who weighed the actions of the dead on his scale, or Varuna, who bound sinners with the fetters (of illness). By the end of the Vedic period (sixth century BCE), justice became equated with a cosmological principle, called rita, which governed nature as well as human ethical conduct. To follow rita was to act in accordance with justice, or natural law. However, it was not until the concept of karma emerged, in the early Upanishads, that justice became a logical consequence of action. Karma stipulated that good actions are rewarded and bad actions punished, if not in this life then the next. This became part of the intellectual grounding for social inequalities and an explanation for social evil. In later centuries, justice, defined as dharma, played a major role in the ordering of social and political reality. Ideally embodied in the person of the king, justice became a leveling tool, a means of protecting the weak from the strong. And although Hindu society was divided into ranked castes with distinct duties and rights, a universal respect for foundational values pervaded the entire social structure. This included the universal respect for life, truth, and elders.
印度教经典表现出一种对正义的深度热爱和承诺：正义既是一种社会实在，又是一种宇宙法则。最早的表述将正义说成是某一位神的工作，如亚玛神，亚玛在他的天平上权衡死去的人的行为；又如瓦如那神，该神把罪人用镣铐（疾病）绑缚。至吠陀时代末，正义被等同为一种宇宙法则，称为“瑞挞”，该法则统辖自然以及人类的伦理行为。遵从“瑞挞”即按照正义原则或自然法行动。但是，直至“业”（karma）的概念在奥义书早期阶段出现以前，正义并未被引申性地理解为一种行为的逻辑后果。“业”规定，好行为获回报，恶行受惩罚，（这种后果）如果不在今生出现，也会在来世显现。这成为社会不平等的部分智性基础和社会罪恶的解释。
在以后多个世纪，被界定为“达磨”的正义在社会秩序和政治现实中扮演了一个主要角色。以国王之人格为化身，正义成为一个杠杆性的工具，一种针对强者并保护弱者的手段。而且，尽管印度社会被划分为拥有不同的义务和权利且等级森严的诸种姓，但对基本价值的普遍尊重，却存在于全部社会结构之中。这种基本价值包括对生命、真理以及年长者的普遍尊重。
Hinduism on Health and Illness
印度教关于健康和疾病的观念
India is home to one of the oldest still functioning medical traditions in the world. Ayurveda medicine, dating back to the first millennium BCE, is practiced in India today as it is around the world, promoting the goal of longevity through good health. It is linked back to basic metaphysical assumptions – that the human body is homologous with the universe, and that a microcosmic and macrocosmic correspondence of elements determines our wellbeing. Health, then, reflects a proper balance and a smooth functioning of the body, and medical practice seeks to promote this balance by means of nutrition and a minimum level of invasive intervention. Other ancient healing traditions in India were more magical and recognized the work of invisible powers in the health of humans. Healing was thus a matter of incantations, sorcery, and magical manipulations—not as a replacement for but as a supplement to the use of herbs, medicinal plants, and proper nutrition. Although the doctrine of karma appeared to link illness with sin, equating bad health with the consequences of evil committed in a previous life, the pursuit of spiritual goals has never overshadowed the value of medical practice in the Hindu tradition.
印度拥有世界上最古老的医学传统之一，而且，该医学传统仍在发挥作用。印度草医学（阿育吠陀医学）可追溯至公元前第一个千年。今天，印度和全世界范围都有印度草医学，它通过良好的健康状态，以推进长寿的目的。印度草医学与其基本的形而上学假设紧密相关：人类身体与宇宙同源同构，即要素之间的微观与宏观相应，从而决定我们的健康。因此，健康反映的是身体的恰当平衡和顺利运转。医学实践就是通过营养以及最低水平的侵略性干预的手段寻求推进这一平衡。
其他古代印度的医疗传统则更多与巫术相关，它们承认人类生命力中不可见力量所发挥的作用。因此，治病涉及念咒、驱邪以及对魔法的控制，但这些手段仅仅是补充而非替代对药材、药用植物和适当营养的利用。
尽管因果报应说将疾病与罪联系在一起，将不良健康状态等同于前世恶行的后果，但在印度传统中，这种对精神目标的追求从未能超越医疗实践的价值。
Hinduism on Wealth and Poverty
印度教关于富裕和贫穷的观念
On the Indian subcontinent the subjects of wealth, poverty, and charity have been governed by the overarching social values of the caste system. Within Hinduism, wealth is regarded as a beneficial and positive value, just like love and morality—if pursued within limits. Social rank in ancient India was dominated by religious prestige while economic success and the accumulation of wealth did not lead to a higher social standing. Still, especially for those engaged in commerce, generosity and hospitality were highly regarded. Traditionally, these are not only private values. Among the roles of the state, embodied in the office of the king, was the feeding of the poor and the generous support of religious institutions. Today Hindu temples continue to promote charitable and other community activities. Still, the highest praise in Hindu history has gone not so much to the generous as to those who regard wealth with indifference and are able, when the proper stage of life arrives, to renounce all their belongings.
在印度次大陆，财富、贫穷以及慈善的观念，由种姓制度的总体社会价值观所统摄。就印度教传统而言，如同爱和道德一样，财富被认为是一种积极、有益的品质——只要取之有度。在古代印度，社会等级由宗教声望所确定，而经济上的成功以及财富的累积并不带来更高的社会地位。尽管如此，对从事商业的人来说，乐善好施仍然是一种值得高度赞赏的品质。。
就传统意义而言，慷慨和热情并不仅是私德。赈济穷人以及对宗教机构的慷慨支持是国家的职责之一，并经由王室来实施。今天，印度庙宇仍然继续推进慈善以及其他社区活动。然而，在印度宗教史上，最高的赞誉并不是归于乐善好施者，而是那些轻看钱财、并能在适当人生阶段抛弃所有的人。
Hinduism on Peace and Violence
印度教关于和平和暴力的观念
The subject of violence has engaged the best minds in India's religious history. Although Mohandas K. Gandhi has made non-violence synonymous with Hinduism, the tradition has long recognized legitimacy of violence under some circumstances. The dominant, pragmatic approach has endorsed violence when necessary to protect one's state or people from external or internal attacks. A divergent tradition, insisting on the complete renunciation of violence, was ascendant during the period of the Upanishads. It asserted that violent action must, by the law of karma, produce a violent reaction, and that any action that promotes the interest of one at the expense of another individual is rooted in spiritual delusion that obscures the single spiritual reality—Brahman. The conflict between these competing approaches to force constitutes the heart of the Bhagavad Gītā, a dialogue between the god Krishna and the mighty warrior Arjuna, who refused to fight in a righteous cause. Krishna explains that violence is not only necessary for the defense of justice, but that such violence need not conflict with the spiritual life. The contradiction between the two values is resolved by disciplined action (action without regard for its fruit), insightful action (recognizing the true nature of the self) and devotion to Krishna.
在对暴力问题的思考中，汇集了印度宗教史上最卓越的智慧。尽管莫罕达斯•卡•甘地已使“非暴力”成为印度教的同义语，但印度教传统很早就认识到在某些情况下暴力的合法性。占主导地位的实用主义路径赞同在保卫国家或人民免遭内外敌侵犯时暴力的必要性。
而另一种坚持完全放弃暴力的不同传统则在《奥义书》时期兴起。它宣称，根据因果律，暴力行动必将导致暴力的反应，以及，任何为一己之目的而损害他人的行为，皆源于精神上的谬见，而这种谬见掩盖了独一的精神实在——梵。
这些关于“暴力”的不同径路间的冲突，构成了《薄伽梵歌》的核心。该文本记录了黑天神奎斯那（Krishna）与非凡的武士阿朱那（Arjuna）之间的对话。阿朱那拒绝为正义的事业战斗，黑天神解释说，为捍卫正义使用暴力不仅是必要的，而且这种暴力并不与灵性生活相冲突。两种价值观之间的矛盾，由以下三方面所化解：持戒（不考虑后果的行为），领悟（认识自我的真实性质），以及对黑天神的忠诚。
