Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds: From Zoroastrianism

Now, I take “World Religions” class at JFKU, and this class is wonderful and exciting for me.  To tell you the truth, I didn’t know the reason why I should study world religion before taking this class.  This was because “religion” was somewhat taboo for me.  As with many Japanese, I have no religion although I’m not a complete atheist.  However, this class gives me wonderful insights about world religions.  I’ve never thought about world religion deeply before, but this class is a great opportunity to think about various religions.  In addition, as I always say, the book “The World's Wisdom: Sacred Texts of the World's Religions” is highly recommended.  It includes world religions’ great wisdom.

This week, I learned Zoroastrianism , so I’d like to post my simple impression about this religion.

Regarding Zoroastrianism, I think that morality is a key concept.  The following citation from Zoroastrianism was really helpful for me to recognize the importance of morality.  This was the first time the concepts of heaven and hell, “best existence” and “worst existence” were connected with morality.  I’m not sure that there are heaven and hell after our death, but if they exist, I am really careful to my thoughts, words, and deeds…  It depends on my righteousness.