Philosophical and Religious Foundations of China Exploring Alternative Views of Religion and Culture Jian Li Table of Contents Introduction 2 Chapter 1 An Overview of Religion in China – A Personal Experience 4 Chapter 2 Chinese Religion and Philosophy – A Historical Perspective 15 Chapter 3 Divinity and Transcendence: Religion and Metaphysics 32 Chapter 4 Human Nature: Good, evil or neutral? 53 Chapter 5 Perspectives of an Ideal Life and Ideal Society 63 Chapter 6 The impact of Daoism on Chinese Medicine 76 Chapter 7 The Impact of Daoism on Chinese Art 83 Chapter 8 How Do You Say Unitarian Universalism in Chinese? 91 Chapter 9 Your Thoughts and Comments 106 Recommended Book and Web Resources 107
9
Embed
Philosophical and Religious Foundations of China Exploring ... · Philosophical and Religious Foundations of China Exploring ... literally means the trinity of the Chinese belief
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Philosophical and Religious Foundations of China Exploring Alternative Views of Religion and Culture
Jian Li
Table of Contents
Introduction 2
Chapter 1 An Overview of Religion in China – A Personal Experience 4
Chapter 2 Chinese Religion and Philosophy – A Historical Perspective 15
Chapter 3 Divinity and Transcendence: Religion and Metaphysics 32
Chapter 4 Human Nature: Good, evil or neutral? 53
Chapter 5 Perspectives of an Ideal Life and Ideal Society 63
Chapter 6 The impact of Daoism on Chinese Medicine 76
Chapter 7 The Impact of Daoism on Chinese Art 83
Chapter 8 How Do You Say Unitarian Universalism in Chinese? 91
Chapter 9 Your Thoughts and Comments 106
Recommended Book and Web Resources 107
2
Introduction
Jian Li
Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism are classified as the three major Chinese
religions in the West. However, Chinese scholars usually consider them as three
great teachings instead of religions. Specifically, Confucianism is often regarded
as an ethical system, Buddhism as a religion from India, and Daoism as the
indigenous belief system that has both philosophical and religious implications.
It is problematic to classify “Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism” as religions.
The word, religion in Chinese, is “zong jiao 宗教”: zong 宗 means “ancestor, clan,
sect, faction, school”; jiao 教 means “teach, instruct, and religion by extension”.
The concept of “zong jiao 宗教” as religion was not introduced/used in Chinese
until by late 19th century via Japanese translation of the concept1. The traditional
Chinese folk religion is centered around the “ancestor worship”. Some households
in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong still keep shrines where the pictures and ashes of
their diseased parents, grandparents, great grandparents, are kept in reverence
regardless of their religious affiliations. They would pay special homage and
offerings to their diseased ancestors during special Chinese holidays based on the
Chinese lunar calendar. This is the kind of cultural custom/folk religion based on
ancestor worship practiced in China for more than 3,000 years.
Confucianism and Daoism started to emerge during the Axial Age (about 500
BCE). Buddhism was introduced to China during the Han Dynasty, (206BCE to
220 AD). The introduction of Buddhism from India sparked a sense of urgency in
formalizing a state sanctioned ideology/philosophy/religion. As a result, the Three
Teachings, Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism started to take shape as state
sanctioned belief systems in Han Dynasty. From the start, the Three Teachings
were not mutually exclusive but complementary to one another despite some
skirmishes about the supremacy of one over another at the different junctures of
the Chinese history. In Chinese, the Three Teachings, “san jiao he yi三教合一” ,
literally means the trinity of the Chinese belief system. Confucianism provides