The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1086 page)

(Jap., probably from a place-name). The most popular agricultural deity of Japan, especially associated with rice. In the Heian period, Inari was increasingly associated with the official mythology of
Shinto
. Inari shrines especially feature the fox whose life-size statues usually flank the worship centre and whose phallus-like tails again reinforce the motif of sexuality and fecundity.

 
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Incantation
:

see
MAGIC
.

 
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(Lat.,
in carne
, ‘in flesh/body’). The belief that God is wholly present to, or in, a human life and body. The term may be used to ‘translate’ the Hindu understanding of
avat
ra
, but is more commonly used of the belief that in Jesus Christ, the divine and human natures were united in one person, and that God was, consequently,
in carne
, incarnated. See further
CHRISTOLOGY
.

 
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(Lat., incendere, ‘to burn’). Substances which produce a sweet scent when burned, and are thus used in worship. Among many such substances are aloe, sandalwood, myrrh, frank-incense, balsam, cedar, and juniper. In China, incense (
hsiang
) was used to enhance appreciation and thus (especially in Taoism) to assist in the realization of the
Tao
—though incense was also used to ward off evil spirits or disease. In India, incense is used as an act of homage to the divine manifestation, especially in a
temple
. In early Judaism, incense may have been associated with the smoke of sacrifice: the Heb.
ketoret
is derived from vktr, ‘cause to smoke’, which may be the smoke from a sacrifice (1 Samuel 2. 15). In Christianity, incense first appears in Christian worship
c.
500.
Incense is an important part of Hindu offerings, both in the home and in the temple. It forms a part of the daily ritual in invoking the presence of God in preparation for worship. In Buddhism, this ritual was transferred to the representations of the
Buddha
(or
bodhisattvas
) as a part of
d
na
.

 
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Inclination, good and evil
.

Instincts for good and evil in human nature, made formal in Jewish anthropology. The
rabbis
taught that human beings were subject to two contradictory impulses,
ye
er ha-ra
‘ (evil inclination) and
ye
er ha-tov
(good inclination).