Religions of the World

In this episode, we talk about Zen / Chan Buddhism, and share some parting thoughts on what we can learn about religions in general from the structure of Buddhism.

In this episode, we take a tour of what Buddhism looks like in Southeast Asia, the only region in the world where the majority of the population are Buddhists.

In this episode, we talk about the three major sects of Buddhism: "Early Buddhism", Mahayana, and Vajrayana.

In this episode, we talk about some key concepts of Buddhist philosophy, focusing on the doctrine of No-Self, and its implications.

In this episode, we give an overview on the Buddhist religion and tell the story of its founder, Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha.

I this episode, we talk about the differences and similarities of the three major Hindu sects: Vaishnavism - the worship of Vishnu; Shaivism - the worship of Shiva, and Shaktism, the worship of the Great Goddess. This concludes our exploration of Hinduism. Please stay tuned for my next chapter on Buddism!

Today we talk about the caste system in Hinduism, which actually contains two related but different constructs: Varna and Jati. We talk about its origin, its change through time, and its implications today.

In this episode, we talk about the two Hindu epics: the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. We focus especially on a section of the latter, called the Bhagavad Gita, which is undoubtedly the most famous Hindu literature.

In this episode, we talk about a body of texts called the Upanishads, which is the Hindu answer to the universal philosophical question: "Is there a reality outside our experience?" Also in this episode: what do the Hindus think will happen to the soul after death? What does Karma mean?

In this episode, we talk about the Vedas, some of the oldest religious scriptures of the world, and focus especially on its oldest part, the Rigveda. We introduce two prominent deities, Indra and Agni.