Home›Cosmological Beliefs›Status Within the Tradition›Binding, without a formal definitionBrowse ByBinding, without a formal definitionThis page groups beliefs by their standing within a body of teaching. Wikipedia notes that "beliefs are the subject of various important philosophical debates," including how "fine-grained or coarse-grained" a given belief actually is. Browsing by status-within-the-tradition lets a visitor tell a settled belief from a contested one.FactsLearn MoreBinding, without a formal definitionSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedStatements about the structure and history of the world and its beings - creation, world ages, the shape of the cosmos, the fate of the dead - held as articles of a tradition rather than as speculation. The accounts gathered here answer different questions: an origin of the world and a recurring destruction of it are not the same kind of claim. 2StatusStanding as a Comparative CategoryWell-attestedA standard analytic category in the study of religion 2DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedBeliefs & Restrictions 1Learn MoreThe Cosmological Beliefs This group gathers cosmological beliefs, the teachings of the traditions about the structure, origin and destiny of the cosmos: how the world came to be, how it is ordered, and how it will end. Every tradition frames human life within some such account of the whole. The browser will find the cosmological beliefs the atlas gathers. The entries describe each in its own terms, reporting the tradition's own account rather than reconciling the many differing pictures.Binding, without a formal definitionFilter Results30 entriesOrigin Period Start YearAll-1500 (1)-700 (2)-400 (1)150 (1)500 (1)874 (1)1193 (1)1831 (1)Affirmation OfAllAnatta (1)Anekantavada (1)Dependent origination (1)Karma (1)Moksha (1)Nirvana (1)Prakriti (1)Purusha (1)Samsara (1)Sunyata (1)Category of BeliefAllCosmological Beliefs (15)TraditionAllAlawites (1)Alevism (1)American Humanist Association (2)Digambara (1)Dragon Gate (1)Gaudiya Vaishnavism (3)Gelug (8)Humanists International (2)Irani Zoroastrianism (1)ISKCON (Hare Krishna) (3)Jehovah's Witnesses (2)Jodo Shinshu (5)Jonang (8)Kagyu (7)Karma Kagyu (7)Kashmir Shaivism (4)Khalsa (2)Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) (1)Lingayatism (3)Madhyamaka (6)Mahayana (6)Nath Sampradaya (3)New Atheism (2)Nichiren (6)Nichiren Shoshu (5)Nirmala (2)Nyingma (7)Parsi Zoroastrianism (1)Pure Land (5)Quanzhen (Complete Reality) (1)Reconstructionist Judaism (1)Rinzai (6)Sakya (8)Samkhya (4)Seventh-day Adventism (2)Shaivism (3)Shaktism (3)Shangqing (Highest Clarity) (1)Shia (Twelver) (1)Shingon (6)Shri Vidya (3)Smartism (4)Soka Gakkai (5)Soto (6)Sri Vaishnavism (3)Svetambara (1)Tendai (7)Theravada (5)Tiantai (7)Tibetan Buddhism (7)Udasi (2)Vaishnavism (4)Vajrayana (6)Zen (6)Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) (1)SubjectAllDeath, rebirth and destiny (7)Human nature (1)Knowledge and reason (3)Religious authority and succession (1)Sacred history: what happened (2)Salvation and liberation (3)The cosmos and creation (10)The nature of the divine (3)ObligationAllObligatory (10)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 30Advaita Vedanta (nondualism)Binding, without a formal definitionAnatta: no permanent selfBinding, without a formal definitionAnekantavada (many-sidedness of truth)Binding, without a formal definitionConditional immortality (annihilationism)Binding, without a formal definitionDependent origination (pratitya-samutpada)Binding, without a formal definitionEmptiness (sunyata)Binding, without a formal definitionEternal progression and exaltationBinding, without a formal definitionGenius and Juno: The Indwelling Spirit of a PersonBinding, without a formal definitionImpermanence (anicca)Binding, without a formal definitionKarma: action determines future rebirthBinding, without a formal definitionMoksha: liberation from rebirthBinding, without a formal definitionNaturalist conception of GodBinding, without a formal definitionNirvana: the end of sufferingBinding, without a formal definitionOther-emptiness (shentong): ultimate reality is empty of what is other than itselfBinding, without a formal definitionPurusha and Prakriti: Consciousness and Nature Are Two Irreducible PrinciplesBinding, without a formal definitionReincarnate lamas (tulku)Binding, without a formal definitionReincarnation (samsara)Binding, without a formal definitionSelf-emptiness (rangtong): things are empty of their own inherent existenceBinding, without a formal definitionSouls Are Eternally Graded and Not All Are Destined for LiberationBinding, without a formal definitionThe avatars of Vishnu (dashavatara)Binding, without a formal definitionThe cosmic struggle of good and evilBinding, without a formal definitionThe imminent Second Coming of ChristBinding, without a formal definitionThe inseparability of samsara and nirvanaBinding, without a formal definitionThe Twelve Imams and the occultation of the MahdiBinding, without a formal definitionThe universe is natural, with nothing beyond itBinding, without a formal definitionThe World Is the Free Self-Expression of a Single Consciousness, Not an IllusionBinding, without a formal definitionThe World's Plurality Is an Appearance Superimposed by IgnoranceBinding, without a formal definitionThis life is the only life there isBinding, without a formal definitionThree thousand realms in a single moment of thought (ichinen sanzen)Binding, without a formal definitionYin and yangBinding, without a formal definitionSources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Encyclopedia of Religiontier 1Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. CosmologyView the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.