Confucianism: The Chinese Religion

Confucianism originated in China, with the teachings of Confucius. Confucianism was spread through relocation diffusion and contagious diffusion spread Confucianism more than hierarchical diffusion. Confucianism is practiced in China, Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan. It has the most influence there. There are approximately 6,111,056 people practicing Confucianism. There isn’t necessarily a deity in Confucianism. It revolves around ancestor worship. Confucius (551 BCE -- 479 BCE) founded Confucianism on his philosophies during his life. Confucianism has five holy books: "The Book of History," "The Book of Poetry," "The Book of Changes," "The Book of Rites," and the "Spring and Autumn Annals." “Confucianism is often characterized as a system of social

After imperial structure was restored, the Chinese began to disapprove of Buddhism (docs 4, 6). Chinese government authorities increasingly saw Buddhism as a threat to their political power and moved to discredit it. Imperial Tang advisor Han Yu saw Buddhism as evil, anti-Confucian, and illegal (doc 4). Han Yu’s position and livelihood greatly depends on Confucianism remaining dominant, especially due to the civil service system, which provided him with his government job. Due to this, he is not a very reliable source on how the average citizen and even the Chinese emperor felt about Confucianism remaining dominate (doc 4, POV).

The challenges Buddhism faced as it arrived in China were mainly linguistic challenges, different philosophical context, diverse conceptions of the ideal perfect being, and the core differences in social values. In order to overcome these challenges, there were translations made, and efforts put into searching for links between Buddhist and Chinese beliefs at that time. Moreover, there were cultural differences between the North and the South, which lead to a different process of Buddhism’s arrival within China.

Many people have mistaken Confucianism as a religion. However, it is a system of belief, a philosophy. This belief emphasizes on respect and harmony of relationships. Moreover, it pushed for a well-ordered society by accentuating human relationships, a righteous leader and a good education. Confucius, a philosopher and a teacher, founded Confucianism. He grew up in the period of warring states, a time of chaos and internal hostilities during the Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, Confucius’ ultimate goal was to transform the Chinese society into a state of unity and righteous. However, Confucianism did not flourish until the Han Dynasty. It also played a different role in the Song Dynasty.

The spread of Buddhism to China had some mixed emotions. Some of the traditional Chinese wanted to keep the old ways of confucianism and social status but early in the Tang dynasty Buddhism was being implemented as the state religion, however buddhism fell as quick as it came and the powerful Neo Confucianism luckily came back to relieve Chinese tradition of scholar gentry and other traditions. The beliefs of buddhism were widely accepted by all from poor to wealthy. Many loved the faith for its simplicity, however some traditionalist strongly disliked the faith and wanted confucianism back.

Everyone would want to live according to the way that he or she sees fit which would most likely put the lives of other persons in danger. It is for this reason that religion is considered an even more powerful form of society control than even the government. Religion performs a bigger role than the government in that it makes people fearful of living contrary to the religious values provided since they know that the punishment that this attracts is even bigger than perhaps what the government may do in terms of punishment. Although religions such as Islam, Hindu and Christianity are well recognized and appreciated world wide as forms of religion, there are other religions that are not as well appreciated and recognized. It is mainly because people do not feel that these religions satisfy certain aspects that are common with most religions. Mengzian Confucianism is one of these practices that are not appreciated worldwide as a religion but a close analysis of the practice shows that it qualifies

They believe that the Dao is the single highest force in the universe. They believe it is the heavens and the earth, the sun and the stars, it is the most high. “Dao is always without a name and that it is the origin of heaven and earth. Tao can also be said to be the “Absolute” that it can be said to be the movement and a stillness without a beginning, Yin and Yang (also known as Tai Chi) are things that can be said to be without a beginning” (Cleary 2003, cited in Low and Ang, 2010: 85; Wu, 1990: 1) Daoism and Confucianism believe that they should be one with nature, they believe that humans should live in harmony with nature. This belief does not mean to not destroy nature, but is the duty of humanity to take care of, and nurture nature to help prolong its existence. (2.2 paragraph 2)

One of Lao Tzu’s successors, Zhuang Zi was also a major influence to the religion, who wrote another crucial book to the religion. In addition to the influences made by certain people, Taoism morphed over time due to the influences from religions. In the beginning, Taoism was a religion focused on simple meditation and recitation of verses, but during the 5th century AD it stole some concepts from Buddhism including reincarnation (unity with the universe) and cosmology. During the 6th century many talismans and rituals became part of Taoism. By the 1200s, the differences between Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism became subtle and less defined. Furthermore, we have knowledge concerning how the concepts and beliefs of Taoism

Confucianism is essentially teachings about ethics and the way you should live your life. It is considered more philosophical and ethical than a religion. It is different from other religions because they do not believe in a divine being. Humans are the ones who are viewed improvable and teachable through its texts. Confucianism is not recognized as a religion in China but five are and they include, Buddhism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam. They have no formal hierarchy like the Vatican. Confucianism is thought to help self-cultivate individual and personal endeavors. While they do not acknowledge a God they also do not recognize life after death but only life before death.

When viewing humanity and the universe and how it comes into existence, in Buddhism, they believe “in the Universe rather than for any creator being or personal God” (Weider & Gutierrez, 2014. pg. 63). Unlike Christians, Buddhist do not teach nor believe that God is the creator of the universe. Christians look to God, Buddhist look to Buddha for direction and purpose. Buddhist also believe in evolution, which goes against the beliefs of Christians, who believe God is the creator of all. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1, KJV).

Taoism is an indigenous chinese religion and a philosophy which has roots from ancient shamanism. It has lived through centuries in China as a religion aside Confucianism and Buddhism and as a philosophy aside Confucianism. As a philosophy it is mainly the opposite of Confucianism, because Confucianism praised laws and order but Taoism is more about people having minimal restrictions in order to live happily. The Taoist religion was created from the Taoist philosophy and as a philosophy and religion it has had a huge influence in China and in eastern Asia. Although, as a religion it would outline all the seven dimensions it is debatable if it is more of a philosophy. Taoism’s open-mindedness has kept it almost original and unchanged

Although Buddhism originated in the sixth century B.C.E, it quickly spread to China by the first century C.E. Buddhism was both accepted and adopted by many, but also opposed by just as many at the same time. Still some Chinese citizens chose to neither fully adopt or fully oppose the religion, but rather incorporated unique Chinese traditions into Buddhism and also created new traditions from it. Buddhism’s spread in China was met with many different responses. However, the mix of responses could be due to the fact that Buddhism’s arrival fell in the middle of a period of instability for China.

This is demonstrated through the origins of the universe in the Aztec religion. In the Aztec religion there are many different myths of creation. One of the creation stories explain that at the beginning there were two gods, Quetzalcoatl (known as the light one) and Tezcatlipoca

In a world struggling with violence and oppression from police brutality to women’s rights it’s nice to be reminded that there is still good in this world. Holy buildings including mosques, temples, churches, and synagogues are sanctuaries for humans. Each building houses a different religion. Buddhists attend temples, Christians go to church, Muslims attend mosques, and Jewish people go to synagogues. Every religion is looking for peace and kindness, however, Buddhism is different because they look within and not towards God for help. Dave, the owner of Boundless Way Zen, said, “Most Buddhists accept that there is a God but they don 't worship him. Instead, they worship the world God created and God’s design of all living things.” This way