Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

[Bubbles]

Hi Everyone

I know we get lots of requests for help with school projects on here, but I wonder if you'd be so kind as to help with just one more?

I have a friend who's daughter has a university project which involves Animism, or Animists.....I copied the Wikipedia definition below, as I didn't know much about it.....

My question is, apart from Shintoism, does Animism exist in other religions or beliefs in Singapore, or SE Asia? Does anyone have any direct experience of this? Is Taoism animist? Or Buddhism? Sorry to sound dim, but not sure on this one at all.

Could anyone post some links I could send onto my friend's daughter which could help her with this? Obviously she would have gone online to Google it, but it's always best to ask someone in the region....

I think the question the tutor set was something like.....How do Animist beliefs affect life in Asia....(with special regard to Sarawak and areas around that way.. as she went to stay in a sea village for six weeks as part of her course.)

Yes, of course she'll have some idea but anything extra she could look up and work from would help.

Thanks, Bubbs.

Here's the definition......

Animism (from animus, or anima, mind or soul), originally means the doctrine of spiritual beings.
It is often extended to include the belief that personalized, supernatural beings (or souls) endowed with reason, intelligence and volition inhabit ordinary objects as well as animate beings, and govern their existence (pantheism or animatism). More simply, the belief is that "everything is alive", "everything is conscious" or "everything has a soul".
It has been further extended to mean a belief that the world is a community of living persons, only some of whom are human. It also refers to the culture or philosophy which these types of Animists live by, that is, to attempt to relate respectfully with the persons (human, rock, plant, animal, bird, ancestral, etc.) who are also members of the wider community of life.

[guruvishwanath]

My opinion only! Not subscribed by anyone and it may more likely be incorrect or misleading!

If you take the verbatim definition of animism, Buddism may seem like a fit into it. I always thought that animism is more of an ideology that defines a tenet than a religion. There are several theories and religious beliefs that may actually fit into the overall definition of animism but they wont be able to fully match due to the individual nature of its application. In this case Buddism. In comparison, Hinduism does not match its definition because its definition of life and god's and the importance of soul are described and practised differently.

In fact, to throw a bigger monkey wrench in works, I would direct you to read a bit about ID or Intelligent Design. A theory which is being pushed by conservative christians who wish to add this theory to state that life which is so complex is not something that can emerge on its own and hence there has to be an intelligent being or form or entity behind the creation. But certain parts of ID actually refer to the after life considering christian do believe in resurrection. Majority of the theory in ID is a complete opposite to Animism, but in some places you would be surprised to find common structures! ID would also extend that if at all there was an intelligence behind creation then all those objects percieved as in-animate also have a certain value to this life. To extend the definition, it would mean they hold an important value to our life and hence need to be treated as if they were alive. I am stretching this way to far and I know ID dudes will slaughter me if they ever find this.

A good research paper should be non objective. And hence covering the definition and comparing to other SEA religions is an excellent notion (I am assuming that's what your friends daughter is going to do). I would direct her interest to Budhism, Taoism, Hinduism (in particular Jainism), Zoarastranism, Sufism. And to add a little spice use Christianity, Islam, and certain parts of Hinduism.

Good Luck!

[dot dot dot]

Wish I could sum up some links Bubbs, but alas...

I remember though that in Redmond O'Hanlon's "Into the heart of Borneo" quite some information is available, including links to literature.

Also, if you type "animism in Asia" on Google, you get quite a few links.

Eric

[Plavt]

Bubbles,
To help you search you could try the webferret, this searches the search engines and might help.

http://www.ferretsoft.com/ and download the free version.

Plavt.

[Bubbles]

Thankyou so much, everyone. I've passed those three onto the lady in question, and will gladly pass any others on too.

Bubbs.

[Bubbles]

Thanks again for the info folks, have received reply from the girl in question and she also passes on her thanks to you....however the actual question was..(knew I'd get mixed up).....


Evaluate the kind of adaption of two animist groups to global religion

Not sure this makes any difference to what you've posted beforehand, as, sorry, this subject, whilst interesting (and something I'm going to look into) is too big for me to read up now, got a lot on....but if it does make a difference, and anyone has any direct views on the real question....I'd be so glad of your input.

Bubbs.

[jpatokal]

"Animism" isn't a religion as such, it's just a collective label for whatever local faiths there were in the area before the bigger ones came and swallowed them up.

Some major cases of animism impacting previously established religions include Buddhism + Tibetan animism --> Vajrayana (Tantric) Buddhism, Hinduism + Balinese animism --> Balinese Hinduism, etc. I'd suggest looking into Tantrism: cannibalism, murder, sky burial, orgies and kinky sex will keep even the most blase schoolroom awake