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Confucianism

(Encyclopedia)Confucianism kənfyo͞oˈshənĭzəm [key], moral and religious system of China. Its origins go back to the Analects (see Chinese literature), the sayings attributed to Confucius, and to ancient comme...

Zen Buddhism

(Encyclopedia)Zen Buddhism, Buddhist sect of China and Japan. The name of the sect (Chin. Ch'an, Jap. Zen) derives from the Sanskrit dhyana [meditation]. In China the school early became known for making its centra...

Manichaeism

(Encyclopedia)Manichaeism mănĭkēˈənĭzəm [key], religion founded by Mani (c.216–c.276). Several Christian emperors, including Justinian, published edicts against the Manichees. St. Augustine, in his yout...

religion

(Encyclopedia)religion, a system of thought, feeling, and action that is shared by a group and that gives the members an object of devotion; a code of behavior by which individuals may judge the personal and social...

mysticism

(Encyclopedia)mysticism mĭsˈtĭsĭzəm [key] [Gr.,=the practice of those who are initiated into the mysteries], the practice of putting oneself into, and remaining in, direct relation with God, the Absolute, or a...

philosophy

(Encyclopedia)philosophy [Gr.,=love of wisdom], study of the ultimate reality, causes, and principles underlying being and thinking. It has many aspects and different manifestations according to the problems involv...

Chinese literature

(Encyclopedia)Chinese literature, the literature of ancient and modern China. Fiction during the first years after the 1949 Communist revolution depicted the great social transformations taking place. Party leade...

Singapore

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Singapore sĭngˈgəpôr, sĭngˈə–, sĭngˌgəpôrˈ [key], officially Republic of Singapore, republic (2015 est. pop. 5,535,000), 299 sq mi (774 sq km). It consists of the island of Singap...

Buddhism

(Encyclopedia)Buddhism bo͝odˈĭzəm [key], religion and philosophy founded in India c.525 b.c. by Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha. There are over 300 million Buddhists worldwide. One of the great world reli...

Asia

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Asia āˈzhə [key], the world's largest continent 17,139,000 sq mi (44,390,000 sq km) and most populous (2015 est. pop. 4,419,898,000), with nearly three fifths of the world's total population...

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