The Encyclopedia of World Religions

188 S gunas

the art, literature, drama, and philosophy that it inspired have greatly enriched the cultures of Europe and North America. Further reading: Francis M. Cornford, Greek Religious Thought (London: Dent, 1950); William Guthrie, The Greeks and Their Gods (Boston: Beacon, 1955); Jan D. Mikalson, Ancient Greek Religion (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2005); Gilbert Murray, Four Stages of Greek Religion (New York: Columbia University Press, 1912). gunas A Sanskrit word meaning “qualities” or “attributes.” Indian thinkers have made lists of gunas that vary in length and content. The gunas most important from the point of view of religion are those associated with the Sankhya and YOGA philosophies. According to these schools, the world of nature derives from a primal material potency known as Prakriti. Prakriti has three gunas or qual ities: the pure and transparent ( sattva ), the active ( rajas ), and the dark and static ( tamas ). By some unknown process the equilibrium between these three has been disrupted. Now they conflict, and their conflict produces the world. Like yin and yang in China ( see YIN / YANG THE ORY ), the three gunas have been used to classify a wide variety of objects. For example, the purest vegetarian diet has the guna or quality of sattva.

guru A religious teacher in H INDUISM and in some forms of B UDDHISM . In Sanskrit, the ancient lan guage of India, guru means “heavy” or “weighty.” In the context of education it refers to a teacher; in a religious context, to a “spiritual preceptor” or religious teacher. Gurus are important in Hinduism and in the forms of Buddhism known as Tantric Buddhism or Vajrayana. V AJRAYANA B UDDHISM is the major religion of Tibet, and Tibetans call gurus lamas. Gurus and their disciples have special relation ships. These relationships differ somewhat from the relationships between teachers and students in North American schools. Like teachers, gurus guide their disciples through the subject matter. But disciples are also supposed to take their gurus as models of the religious goals that they are try ing to reach and to imitate them. As a result, stu dents revere their gurus. They serve them and may even live with them. They may also meditate upon them and reverence them on their birthdays, for example, by washing their feet. If for some rea son the guru is not present, they may wash foot shaped prints that stand for the guru’s feet. These are common practices in south Asia, and converts to Hinduism or Buddhism in North America some times perform them, too.

Guru Granth See A DI G RANTH .