Hey everyone! My name is William. Today we will be taking a look at religions and philosophies around the world!

My name is Harold! This is going to be lots of fun! First we will start with India!

The first one we will learn about is Hinduism! It's the oldest religion that is still practiced, and is done all over the world!

Here we are! This is India, home to many different religions. Many of them originated here, and we are gonna take a look at them!

Wow! That's pretty cool! I never knew that's where Karma came from!

Hinduism was founded in India, and is a very old religion. The goal of Hinduism is to attain self-knowledge in order to understand and connect with Brahman (God). One does this by performing their Dharma (duties to Brahman) and following the rules of Karma. Success results in attaining Moksha, which is union with Brahman. Failure results in reincarnation, and beginning again. Hinduism helped influence society and the caste system, which is a rigid class system with very limited social mobility. The text used in Hinduism is the Vedas.

Animism is thought to be the earliest known religion, and though it isn't practiced today, it has influenced numerous other religions. Animism is the belief that all things (rocks, trees, soil, etc.) have a spirit/soul that influences the world around them.

Now lets learn about the earliest known religion, Animism! It's not practiced anymore, but is still important.

The next religion we will be looking at is Buddhism! It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, an Indian prince who rejected wealth after seeing the death and famine outside of his sheltered life. He became more compassionate and enlightened. This was around 4th-6th century BCE.

Buddhism is a religion which follows the 4 noble truths and the 8 fold path, with the goal of reaching Nirvana, a state where there is no suffering nor death, and no cycle of Karma. The 4 noble truths state that: life is suffering, suffering comes from wanting what we don't have, acceptance ends this suffering, and following the 8-fold path will achieve this. The 8 fold path provides a basis for living, including the right view, right intentions, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right concentration, and right mindfulness.

The next religion we will look at is Sikhism. It was created in the Punjab area of India in the 14th century. It was initially led by "gurus". It was created during a time of persecution, when to gurus were tortured and killed for not turning to Islam.

Sikhism believes in reincarnation, karma, and union with a supreme force like the religions we previously looked at. Sikhism has a emphasis on meditating, equality, and service. The religion has the Khalsa, a group of warriors created to defend the weak. These warriors wear the "5 K's." They also prohibit tobacco, alcohol, adultery, and halal meat.

Wow! I've never heard of this religion.

Now we are in Japan to talk about Shintoism. It is the traditional religion of Japan, and has been practiced for hundred of years.

Sounds awesome!

Shintoism is a polytheistic religion that believes in thousands of Kami (spirits) who exert influence over nature. These Kami will be nice to you and bring you good fortune if treated kindly, and vice versa. The text of Shintoism is called the Kojiki. 

Those Kami spirits sound pretty cool.

For these next couple of pages we will be in China, looking at philosophies originating here. These are different from religions, with the main difference being that they are ideas of living and don't have anything to do with gods.

Confucianism is a philosophy founded by Confucius. This philosophy believes that humans can become better people through self-education. This influenced the government at the time, as the ideas of Confucianism became the basis of the civil-service exam, which provided people with the opportunity for social mobility. Confucianism values filial piety (the respect of one's parents), and the 4 key relationships. These relationships are male superior to inferior, such as father being higher than son, and husband being higher than wife, etc. 

I agree with the betterment through education!