The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1724 page)

 
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Noachide laws
.

The seven laws believed by Jews to be obligatory for everyone. The Noachide laws are based on those given to
Adam
(Genesis 2. 16) and
Noah
(
Gen.R.
34). They are prohibitions against
idolatry
,
blasphemy
, sexual sins, murder, theft, and eating from a living animal, as well as the injunction to formulate a legal system. According to the
sages
, a Jew is obliged to keep the whole
Torah
, while every
gentile
who keeps the Noachide laws is a
ger-toshav
(‘resident stranger’). Maimonides taught that such a
asid
(righteous person) has a share in the world to come.

 
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Noah
.

Survivor of the great flood in the Hebrew scriptures. According to Genesis, Noah was commanded to save himself, his family, and a breeding pair of each animal species in a wooden
ark
. After surviving the flood, Noah offered sacrifices to God who blessed him and made a
covenant
(see
NOACHIDE LAWS
) with him (Genesis 6. 9–9. 17).

 
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see
DE NOBILI, ROBERTO
.

 
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see
IBN TUFAYL
.

 
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(Jap.,
n
gaku
,
nohgaku
; ‘skill music’ or ‘skill entertainment’). A highly sophisticated dance, music, dramatic form with important religious connections to all the religions of premodern Japan (from
c.
14th cent. when most plays in the classical repertoire were written).
N
attained its classical form through the work of Kan’ami Kiyotsugu (1333–84) and his son, Zeami Motokiyo (1363–1443), who also wrote a number of treatises concerning the art of N
. Many of Zeami's aesthetic categories and his conception of artistic discipline are linked with Buddhist notions and practices. Plays are roughly classified into five categories:

(i) god plays,
(ii) warrior plays,
(iii) woman plays,
(iv) madness plays, and
(v) demon plays. The plays are typically dramatizations of pilgrimages or journeys to temples, shrines and other sacred places.