gaṇadhara

Spiritually talented disciples in the Jain tradition; Mahāvīra had eleven of these, and Digambaras say that only such a "supporter of the order" can understand the divya-dhvani of a tīrthaṃkara.

Gate

Báb; religious name for the founder of the Bábí Faith (from which came the Bahá’í Faith).

Gāthās

Five songs (comprised of 17 sections) attributed to Zarathushtra that form the oldest portion of the Zoroastrian scriptures.

Gautama

Family name of the buddha who lived in the middle Ganges basin of North India around 563 - 483 (or by an alternative account, who died around 411- 400).

Ge Hong

(284-364 CE) A proponent of the Dark Learning school whose thought was encountered by elite Confucian émigrés fleeing southward after the break-up of the Han dynasty; A Chinese alchemist who believed that immortality was an option a person of any social class, provided that the proper methods were practiced.

geisha

A professional group of women entertainers in Japan, who are trained from childhood in singing, dancing and the art of conversation; they are inspired by the mythic kami named Ame no Uzume no Mikoto.

Gemara'

Two collections of commentary on the Mishnah. When combined with the Mishnah, they form the Palestinian Talmud, and the Babylonian Talmud.

gētīg

The "world of bones" (sometimes called material realm) in Zoroastian tradition.

Giotto de Bondone

(1267-1337) Italian painter who brought promoted the notion of a holy person among the common people by moving away from biblical themes; he painted the life story of Francis of Assisi, and the story of Jesus' infancy.

Glory of God

Translation of the name of the Bahá’í founder, Bahá’u’lláh.

Gobind Siṅgh

(1666-1708) The tenth Sikh Gurū; founded the Khālsā; was a scholar and writer.

Good Religion

Term for the Zoroastrian religion found in the Avesta.

gopī

Milkmaid; Hindu devotee of Kṛṣṇa from the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava tradition; Rādhā is the foremost of these devotees.

goshintai

A sacred object used in a Shintō shrine to represent or embody a kami presence

gospel

A New Testament narrative of the life of Jesus. Those written under the names Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John are officially part of the Christian scriptures; based on a Greek word meaning "good news."

Greatest Name

Term in the Bahá’í Faith for the Name of God, which is "Bahá" (Glory, Splendor, Light).

griot

A storyteller or oral historian among the Dogon people of Mali in West Africa.

guṇa

One of three dynamic qualities of the material world, according to the Hindu Sāṃkhya darśana: light (sattva), movement (rajas) and inertia (tamas).

Guo Xiang

(d. 312) Chinese thinker who contemplated the paradoxical nature of wu-wei, and wrote a commentary on the Zhuang-zi; he taught that to "act without acting" a person must preserve their qi, and act in harmony with nature.

gurbāṇi

Recitation of prayers from the Sikh holy scripture, whose effect is conveyed through meaning conjoined with sound vibration.

gurdwārā

General name for a Sikh temple.

Gurmukhī

Script in which the Sikh holy scripture is written, meaning Gurū’s mouth.

gurū

A teacher; literally means "heavy" in Sanskrit; used in India's religions; when capitalized it refers in Sikh tradition to Nānak, his nine successors, and the Sikh holy scripture.

Gurū Granth Sāhib

Name of the Sikh holy scripture; also known as the Ādi Granth (Primal Book).

Gutenberg, Johannes

Inventor of the printing press who published the first Bible in Germany on 30 September 1452.