FOOTNOTES from the 2 excerpts above:

[i]  “… Buddha  …”

“The following points are the a few of the fundamentals of the teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha:

            The Four Noble Truths: that suffering is an inherent part of existence; that the origin of suffering is ignorance and the main symptoms of that ignorance are attachment and craving; that attachment and craving can be ceased; and that following the Noble Eightfold Path will lead to the cessation of attachment and craving and therefore suffering.

            The Noble Eightfold Path: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

            Dependent origination: that any phenomenon ‘exists’ only because of the ‘existence’ of other phenomena in a complex web of cause and effect covering time past, present and future.          

            Because all things are thus conditioned and transient (anicca), they have no real independent identity (anatta).

            Anicca (Sanskrit: anitya): That all things are impermanent.

            Anatta (Sanskrit: anātman): That the perception of a constant “self” is an illusion.

            Dukkha (Sanskrit: duḥkha): That all beings suffer from all situations due to unclear mind.

 According to tradition, the Buddha emphasized ethics and correct understanding. He questioned the average person’s notions of divinity and salvation. He stated that gods are subjected to karma themselves; and the Buddha is solely a guide and teacher for the sentient beings who must tread the path of Nirvāṇa themselves to attain the spiritual awakening called bodhi and see truth and reality as it is. The Buddhist system of insight and meditation practice is not believed to have been revealed divinely, but by the understanding of the true nature of the mind, which must be discovered by personally treading a spiritual path guided by the Buddha’s teachings.”

— Reference:  Wikipedia.org

[ii]  “… Laozi…”

 “The Daodejing, often called simply the Laozi after its reputed author, describes the Dao (or Tao) as the mystical source and ideal of all existence: it is unseen, but not transcendent, immensely powerful yet supremely humble, being the root of all things. According to the Daodejing, humans have no special place within the Dao, being just one of its many (“ten thousand”) manifestations. People have desires and free will (and thus are able to alter their own nature). Many act “unnaturally”, upsetting the natural balance of the Dao. The Daodejing intends to lead students to a “return” to their natural state, in harmony with Dao. Language and conventional wisdom are critically assessed. Taoism views them as inherently biased and artificial, widely using paradoxes to sharpen the point.

 Wu wei, literally “non-action” or “not acting”, is a central concept of the Daodejing. The concept of wu wei is very complex and reflected in the words’ multiple meanings, even in English translation; it can mean “not doing anything”, “not forcing”, “not acting” in the theatrical sense, “creating nothingness”, “acting spontaneously”, and “flowing with the moment.”

 Laozi used the term broadly with simplicity and humility as key virtues, often in contrast to selfish action. On a political level, it means avoiding such circumstances as war, harsh laws and heavy taxes. Some Taoists see a connection between wu wei and esoteric practices, such as the “sitting in oblivion” (emptying the mind of bodily awareness and thought) found in the Zhuangzi.

 Taoism is a religion addressing the quest of immortality.”

— Reference:  Wikipedia.org

[iii]  “…Zoroaster…”

 “The best known (Zoroastrians were the) Magi, the “Wise Men from the East” in the Bible, (who brought gifts to Bethlehem) and whose graves Marco Polo claimed to have seen in what is today the district of Saveh, near Tehran, Iran.  In English, the term is the origin of the words magic and magician.

“Many traits of Zoroastrianism can be traced back to the culture and beliefs of the proto-Indo-Iranian period, and Zoroastrianism consequently shares some elements with the historical Vedic religion that also has its origins in that era.

 Central to Zoroastrianism is the emphasis on moral choice, to choose between the responsibility and duty for which one is in the mortal world, or to give up this duty and so facilitate the work of druj. Similarly, predestination is rejected in Zoroastrian teaching. Humans bear responsibility for all situations they are in, and in the way they act to one another. Reward, punishment, happiness and grief all depend on how individuals live their life.

 In Zoroastrianism, good transpires for those who do righteous deeds. Those who do evil have themselves to blame for their ruin. Zoroastrian morality is then to be summed up in the simple phrase, “good thoughts, good words, good deeds”.

 There is one universal and transcendental God, Ahura Mazda, the one uncreated creator and to whom all worship is ultimately directed.

 Ahura Mazda’s creation — evident as truth and order — is the antithesis of chaos, falsehood and disorder. The resulting conflict involves the entire universe, including humanity, which has an active role to play in the conflict.

 Active participation in life through good thoughts, good words and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep the chaos at bay. This active participation is a central element in Zoroaster’s concept of free will.”

— Reference:  Wikipedia.org

______________________________________

[i]   “…Vedic Hymns…”

The Vedas are very exhaustive scriptures. Each veda contains several sections and thousands of hymns. Some of the Vedic hymns, especially the hymns of the Rig veda, are considered to be at least 6000-8000 years old. The Vedas are believed to be revealed scriptures, because they are considered to be divine in origin. Since they were not written by any human beings but were only heard in deep meditative states, they are commonly referred a “those that were heard”.

Here is one of the most famous hymns from the Rig Vega:  :The Hymn of Creation”

“A time is envisioned when the world was not, only a watery chaos (the dark, “indistinguishable sea”) and a warm cosmic breath, which could give an impetus of life. Notice how thought gives rise to desire (when something is thought of it can then be desired) and desire links non-being to being (we desire what is not but then try to bring it about that it is). Yet the whole process is shrouded in mystery.

Where do the gods fit in this creation scheme?

The non-existent was not; the existent was not at that time. The atmosphere was not nor the heavens which are beyond. What was concealed? Where? In whose protection? Was it water? An unfathomable abyss?

There was neither death nor immortality then. There was not distinction of day or night. That alone breathed windless by its own power. Other than that there was not anything else.

Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning. All this was an indistinguishable sea. That which becomes, that which was enveloped by the void, that alone was born through the power of heat.

Upon that desire arose in the beginning. This was the first discharge of thought. Sages discovered this link of the existent to the nonexistent, having searched in the heart with wisdom.

Their line [of vision] was extended across; what was below, what was above? There were impregnators, there were powers: inherent power below, impulses above.

Who knows truly? Who here will declare whence it arose, whence this creation? The gods are subsequent to the creation of this. Who, then, knows whence it has come into being?

Whence this creation has come into being; whether it was made or not; he in the highest heaven is its surveyor. Surely he knows, or perhaps he knows not.”

— Reference:  Wikipedia.org

[ii] “… the Aryan people…”

“The Vedic term arya– in its earliest attestations has a meaning of “stranger”, but “stranger” in the sense of “potential guest”.  The Sanskrit lexicon defines Arya as mahākula kulīnārya “being of a noble family”, sabhya “having gentle or refined behavior and demeanor”, sajjana “being well-born and respectable”, and sādhava “being virtuous, honourable, or righteous”.  Arya, is a title of honor and respect given to certain people for noble behavior.

The Aryan race was a term used in the early 20th century by European racial theorists who believed strongly in the division of humanity into biologically distinct races with differing characteristics. Such writers believed that the Proto-Indo-Europeans constituted a specific race that had expanded across parts of Europe, Iran and small parts of northern India. This usage tends to merge the Sanskrit meaning of “noble” or “elevated” with the idea of distinctive behavioral and ancestral ethnicity marked by language distribution. 

Nazism portrayed their interpretation of an “Aryan race” as the only race capable of, or with an interest in, creating and maintaining culture and civilizations, while other races are merely capable of conversion, or destruction of culture. These arguments derived from late nineteenth century racial hierarchies. Some Nazis were also influenced by Madame  Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine (1888) where she postulates “Aryans” as the fifth of her “Root Races”, dating them to about a million years ago, tracing them to Atlantis,

Because of historical racist use of Aryan, and especially use of Aryan race in connection with the propaganda of Nazism, the word is sometimes avoided in the West as being tainted, in the same manner as the swastika symbol. Currently, India and Iran are the only countries to use the word Aryan in a demographic denomination.”

— Reference:  Wikipedia.org

[iii] “… the Vedic Hymns…”

“The term veda means “knowledge, (sacred) lore” embraces a body of writings the origin of which is ascribed to divine revelation (shruti, literally “hearing”), and which forms the foundation of the Brahmanical system of religious belief. This sacred canon is divided into three or (according to a later scheme) four co-ordinate collections, likewise called Veda:

 (I) the Rig-veda, or lore of praise (or hymns); (2) the Samaveda, or lore of tunes (or chants); (3) the Yajurveda, or lore of prayer (or sacrificial formulas); and (4) the Atharvaveda, or lore of the Atharvans. Each of these four Vedas consists primarily of a collection (samihita) of sacred, mostly poetical, texts of a devotional nature, called mantra. This entire body of texts (and particularly the first three collections) is also frequently referred to as the trayi vidya, or threefold wisdom, of hymns (rik), tune or chant (saman), and prayer (yajus), the fourth Veda, if at all included, being in that case classed together with the Rik.”

— Reference:  Wikipedia.org