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The Role of Pilgrimage in World Religions:
Medieval Buddhism,Christianity, & Islam
What is pilgrimage?• A journey out of one’s
everyday life to a sacred site and return home, during which time a transformation has taken place.
• “one of the great common experiences of mankind”
• “a natural activity”
• The impulse to travel to holy sites appears to be a nearly universal component of human spirituality
A Journey. . . A physical journey
through space and time. . .
across significant frontiers or localized routes
where exertion and sacrifice bring merit/grace
Tibetan Buddhist pilgrim prostrates at Mt. Kailas
To a sacred space/site
associated with nature or presence of living or departed spiritual leaders
associated with the founding of a religion
Lumbini, birthplace of Buddha
Ka’ba, center of Islamic hajj
Jerusalem
To make direct contact with the divine. . .at the Sacred Site
• sensual experience
• emotive environment
A communion of pilgrims
Buddhist pilgrims at Labrang Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet
Chinese pilgrims and monks in Baima Shi
Muslim encampment outside Mecca
Christian pilgrims in Jerusalm, Good Friday
Encounters with relics, holy objects, and sacred
architectureTalismans, Amulets,
Images, Texts
That . . .a) Represent or invokeb) Transferc) Remindd) Provide individual
and /or social recognition
Tibetan prayer flags
Rosaries and Virgin Mary statues
Holy water from Lourdes
Buddhism – pravrajya
Lumbini, birthplace of Buddha Gautama Uruvela – Buddha’s enlightenment
Deer Park – Buddha’s first sermon
Kusinara, Buddha attained nirvana
Ashoka (r. 264-223 BCE): Buddhism as state religion
stupas
Chinese Buddhist Pilgrimages
• Buddhist monks to India to seek pure Buddhism– Fa-hsien, 400 CE– Xuanzang, 629-645
CE
• Mahayana Buddhism & Local shrines
Buddhist Pilgrimage: Tibet
mandala
Mt. Kailas
Mt. Wu-Ta’i: China
Ennin, 838-847 CE
Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Manjushri
mandala
Tibetan Buddhist Hindu
Christian Pilgrimage
Search for the “New Jerusalem”
mass pilgrimage to Holy Land --> interior pilgrimage --> local pilgrimage
Labrynth - path of interior pilgrimage
Alternative Christian sites
• Rome• Chartres• Canterbur
y• Lourdes• Fatima
Fatima
Lourdes
Santiago de Compostela• “Tomb” of St.
James• Supsidiary
Pilgrimage sites– Former pagan sites– Saint veneration– Marien centers
Muslim Pilgrimage: HajjThe hajj in Islam:
• “effort of proper worship”
• Ka’ba
Five Pillars of Islam:• daily profession of faith• daily prayer• Ramadan fasting• almsgiving• hajj
Pilgrimage and Collective identity: Hajj
The hajj in Islam:
• “effort of proper worship”
• haram• Ka’ba• circumambulation• Day of Standing
Together Before God
Hajj
Najaf
Day of Standing Together Before God
“This would be an anthropologist’s paradise . . . Every specimen of humanity is brought together at Mecca during this pilgrimage. It’s probably the only incident and the only time and the only place on earth where you can find every specimen of humanity -- all cultures, all races . . . All of everything!”
–Malcolm X
Why study religious pilgrimage? • What do pilgrimages among world religions have in common?• Is pilgrimage a terrestrial or inner journey?• Are there formal rites: do they pilgrims dance, process, walk
on their knees, prostrate? Is their journey linear, circular, spiral? Compare.
• Are pilgrimages controlled by the state? By the institutional religion? Or are they a-institutional? Subversive?
• Are they normative, obligatory, devotional? (Where) do they reinforce the existing order; (where) do they challenge it or blur boundaries?
• Who are the pilgrims? Priestly class? Elites? Commoners? Sinners or those needing spiritual or social rehabilitation?
• What motives do pilgrims give in their pilgrimage accounts? What transformations do they describe?
• What does the study of religious pilgrimage teach us about cultural differences/similarities? What does it teach us about economic, political, social, and cultural processes in world history?