Welcome to Citizendium

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

Help Write Articles about our World

Welcome to Citizendium, a wiki for providing free knowledge where authors use their real names. We regard information as a public good and welcome anyone who wants to share their knowledge on virtually any subject. Our online community prides itself on being congenial and supportive. Read more about who we are.


See Recent Changes—an overview of articles being worked on now.

Become a member--it's free!

Agriculture Earth Sciences Journalism Physics
Anthropology Economics Law Politics
Archaeology Education Library & Info. Sci. Psychology
Architecture Engineering Linguistics Religion
Astronomy Food Science Literature Robotics
Biology Games Mathematics Sociology
Business Geography Media Sports
Chemistry Health Sciences Military Theater
Classics History Music Topic Informant
Computers Hobbies Philosophy Visual Arts


Please help today!
Please make your donations here.
Donations go to keep our servers running. See our financial report.


New Blog Post
Why save Citizendium? My reason number 1.





















Article counts

Citable Articles (148)
Developed Articles (1,161)
Developing Articles (8,666)
Stubs (8,205)
(18,301 total articles)

Anything is a legitimate area of investigation. Truisms

       —add a quotation about knowledge or writing

Featured Article: Zoroastrianism

© Image: Bob Azadi
The Faravahar - the main symbol of the Zoroastrian faith

Zoroastrianism[1] is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra, Zartosht). Mazdaism[2] is the religion which recognises Ahura Mazda's supreme authority as the one God. The Zoroastrian name of the religion is Mazdayasna.[3]

According to the teachings of Zoroaster, the universe is in a struggle between good and evil. The forces of good are led by Ahura Mazda, the wise Lord, and the forces of evil are led by Angra Mainyu, the destructive principle.

Beliefs and Practices

Practices

  • Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds result in happiness and prevent chaos. Free will to choose between good and evil is an important aspect.
  • Fire represents Ahura Mazda's purity. All prayer is directed to a source of fire.
  • Monasticism in all forms is rejected.
  • Zoroastrians do not proselytize.
  • The traditional wing of Zoroastrianism discourages and does not recognize inter-faith marriages. A child must have two Zoroastrian parents for the initiation ceremony to take place.
  • The majority of Zoroastrians, particularly the Parsis[4] of India, do not accept converts. However, the council of Mobeds in Tehran, Iran, allows conversion.

History

Founding & life of Zoroaster

For more information, see: Zoroaster.

The religion was founded by Zarathushtra (Zoroaster in Greek; Zarthosht in India and Persia). Conservative Zoroastrians assign a date of 6000 BCE to the founding of the religion; other followers estimate 600 BCE. Historians and religious scholars generally date his life sometime between 1500 and 1000 BCE on the basis of his style of writing. The date of birth of Zoroaster is very controversial. It is known that after Alexander's conquest of the Achaemenid Empire, the Greeks imposed an "age of Alexander" calendar, which Zoroastrian priests replaced with an "age of Zoroaster" calendar. It was estimated that he was born 258 years before Alexander, hence the date of 600 BCE was accepted.[5]

(CC) Photo: Mark Schweizer
Zoroaster on a plaque in Atashkadeh Chak-Nak near Yazd, Iran

Yasna 9 & 17 state that Zoroaster's home was near the river Ditya in Airyanəm Vaējah, speculated to be in Central Asia, which was at that time dominated by Iranian tribes. He was born into a Bronze Age culture with a polytheistic religion, which included animal sacrifice and the ritual use of intoxicants. This religion was quite similar to the early forms of Hinduism of the Indus Valley. Zoroaster's birth and early life are little documented. What is known is recorded in the Gathas - the core of the Avesta, which contains hymns thought to be composed by Zoroaster himself. Born into the Spitama clan, he worked as a priest. He was a family man, with a wife, three sons and three daughters. Zoroaster rejected the religion of the Bronze Age Iranians with their many gods and oppressive class structure, in which the Karvis and Karapans (princes and priests) controlled the ordinary people. According to western scholars until recently, he also opposed animal sacrifices and the use of the hallucinogenic Haoma plant (possibly a species of ephedra) in rituals. However, as the drink is a central part of the faith, this opinion has been thoroughly revised.[6]

Zoroaster was initially unsuccessful in gaining converts apart from his cousin, but later he successfully converted the King, who made it the official religion. His death is not mentioned in the Avesta. In Ferdowsi's Shahnameh he is said to have been murdered at the altar by the Turanians in the storming of Balkh.[7] Some Zoroastrians believe that Balkh is his final resting place, based on Ferdowsi's epic.

Footnotes

  1. The term Zoroastrianism was first attested by the Oxford English Dictionary in 1874 in Archibald Sayce's Principles of Comparative Philology
  2. Mazdaism is a 19th century construct, taking Mazda- from the name Ahura Mazda and adding the suffix -ism
  3. The term Mazdayasna is a combination of Mazda with the Avestan language word Yasna, meaning worship or devotion
  4. The term Parsi was universally applied for all Iranians, regardless of faith, by all Indians. Similarly, Iranians applied the universal term Hindu for everyone from the subcontinent.
  5. Shahbazi, A. Shapur (1977), "The 'Traditional Date of Zoroaster' Explained", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 40 (1): 25-35
  6. Boyce, Mary & Grenet, Frantz - A History of Zoroastrianism, ISBN 9004104747
  7. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition - Zoroaster