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?