The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1498 page)

Martha, St
.

The sister of Mary and Lazarus who according to Luke 10. 38–42 received, and cooked a meal for, Jesus in her house. She is commonly regarded as typifying the active Christian life as contrasted with Mary, who typifies the contemplative. Feast day in E., 4 June; in W., 29 July.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Mar Thoma Church
.

Christian body of
c.
300,000 in Kerala, S. India. It originated from a party of
Syrian Orthodox
who came under the influence of the
CMS
in the mid-19th cent. and were known as ‘Reformed Jacobites’. See also
MALABAR
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Martial arts in Japan
.

They were formerly called
bugei
(martial arts) or
bujutsu
(martial skills), but the word
bud
(martial ways) is commonly used today, though they are not identical in details. The bud
, which evolved from bugei, aim at the self-realization of aspirants through discipline and training.
There is no standard list of martial arts. An expert enumerates thirty-four
bugei
, whereas the traditional list counts eighteen (
bugei juhappan
, the eighteen martial arts). In the Tokugawa period warriors had to master sword-play, spear, archery, horsemanship,
jujutsu
(protojud
), and firearms, together with academic subjects.
Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism provided the basic rationale by which warriors resolved the question of death as well as improved their skill in handling weapons. The principle, ‘
Bushido
means the determined will to die’ (
Hagakure
), was fundamental to every generation of warriors, and in this regard, the
Zen
doctrine of No-mind (
mushin
) or No-thought (
munen
) had an important role to play in martial arts, summarizing indifference to, or transcendence of, the events or accidents of life, including death.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(Gk.,
martus
, ‘witness’). One who suffers death on behalf of his or her faith, often for refusing to renounce it.
Judaism
See
KIDDUSH HA-SHEM
.
Christianity
The Gk. word was only gradually restricted to those whose witness to their faith had led to their death in persecutions. From the 2nd cent. martyrs were specially honoured in churches, and the anniversaries of their deaths, as (heavenly) ‘birthdays’, were kept as feasts. They were venerated as intercessors in heaven, and their relics sought after. Accounts (‘Acts’) of martyrdom form an important class of
hagiography
.
Islam
See
SHAH
D
.
Sikhism
Many Sikhs have died for their faith, particularly under the Mughal emperor, Aura
gzeb, and during the conflicts of the 18th cent. Martyrs (Pañj
b
, Hind
ah
d
) are remembered daily in
Ard
s
, and pictures of martyrdoms are displayed in the
gurdw
r
s
. Of the
Gur
s
,
Arjan Dev
and
Tegh Bah
dur
were martyred.