Ch. 7 Daoism & Confucianism

Daoism

Religion of the natural Way

• Dao means “way, path, or road” and is extended to mean “way of life”

• Categories- Philosophical, religious, and folk Daoism

Confucianism

• Western term referring to the religion based on reforms by Confucius

China Before the Rise of Confucianism and Daoism

• The Chinese civilization began before 3000 B.C.E, with scattered settlements along the Yellow River basin

  • Highly militarized society

  • People worshipped many gods and poetry inscribed on pottery

    • Used animal bones and shells in divination and clay phallic statues in fertility rituals

China Before the Rise of Confucianism and Daoism - Shang Dynasty

• Agricultural society that was ruled by powerful landowning aristocrats

• System of writing using pictograms and ideograms as characters developed during this time

  • Oracle bones: Inscribed animal bones used to foretell the future

  • Feng Shui: Positioning of objects to maximize the good effects of the flow of energy

• Shang rulers led the worship of gods

  • Practiced human sacrifice and wrote religious books that would become scriptures

    • Jing: “Classics,” books that have spiritual standing

China Before the Rise of Confucianism and Daoism - Zhou Dynasty

• King’s duty was to lead the worship of the gods to insure a good harvest

  • His right to rule depended on how those prayers were answered

• Distinctive religious beliefs about heaven arose in the Zhou times

  • Heaven: Impersonal cosmic force working for the continuation and enrichment of life

Origins of Daoism (ca.500 B.C.E–200 C.E.)

• Traced back to the following periods:

  • Chinese folk religions in the beginning of the first millennium B.C.E.

  • Composition of the Daode Jing around 350-250 B.C.E.

  • Founding of the Celestial Masters school by Zhang Daoling around 150 C.E.

• Early Daoism was a combination of religious ideas of Daoist thinkers and ancient local rituals and beliefs

Origins of Daoism (ca.500 B.C.E–200 C.E.) (continued)

• Laozi

  • Traditional founder of Daoism

  • No direct, dependable evidence has been found regarding his existence

  • Said to be the author of the Daode Jing and the Zhuangzi

Daoism From 200 C.E. to 1664 C.E.

• Developed into various monastic orders

  • Each order wrote its own literature and gave rise to the Daoistic canon, the Daozang

• Material arts

  • Began as a meditational technique coupled with exercise and later evolved into a form of fighting

• Developed other meditational techniques and a fuller evolution of its philosophical teachings

Daoism From 200 C.E. to 1664 C.E. (continued)

• Neo-Daoism: Rebirth and reform of Daoism after the Han dynasty

  • Wang Bi and Guo Xiang wrote commentaries on the Daode Jing and the Zhuangzi

  • Influenced calligraphy, painting, music, and poetry

  • Ge Hong - Famous Neo-Daoist philosopher

    • Wrote the Inner Chapter of the Master Embracing Simplicity or Baopuzi

The Near-Destruction of Daoism (1644–1980)

• Manchurian rulers of the Confucian camp

  • Trimmed the political and cultural power of Daoism

• Christian missionaries

  • Converted a large number of Daoists in the 1780s

• Hakka rebellion in southern China

  • Followed Hong Xiuquan in open rebellion against the emperor

  • Better known as the Taiping Rebellion

The Near-Destruction of Daoism (1644–1980) (continued)

• New Life Movement

  • Induced students to destroy Daoist sites and scriptures

• Communist takeover of China in 1949

  • Daoism was banned and leaders were reeducated in China but flourished in Taiwan and Hong Kong

  • After the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the government allowed a small measure of religious freedom

Confucius and the Origins of Confucianism (551–479 B.C.E.)

• Confucius was born in Qufu around 551 B.C.E.

  • Gained mastery of ritual, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and arithmetic

  • Developed and attachment to Chinese history and traditional poetry

  • Began teaching in his thirties

    • Developed concepts about society and government

  • His loyalty to the king provoked opposition

Confucius and the Origins of Confucianism (551–479 B.C.E.) (continued)

• Left Lu at the age of fifty-six

• Was as an occasional advisor to rulers but was never able to get his teachings adopted in any Chinese state

• Died at the age of seventy-three

• Confucius, the reformer

  • Retrieved the meaning of the past by breathing new life into it

  • Formed a coherent system of thought and life that would shape the future of China and several other lands

The Rise of Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism (ca. 350 B.C.E - 1200 C.E.)

• Influencers of Confucianism

  • Mengzi (known in the West as Mencius)

    • The Book of Mencius reflects his postive view of the basic goodness of human nature

  • Dong Zhongshu

    • Promoted Confucian teachings during the second century B.C.E.

• Confucianism was recognized as the official state religion in the Han dynasty

The Rise of Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism (ca. 350 B.C.E - 1200 C.E.) (continued 1)

• New religious elements added

• Four main Confucian books canonized

• Confucian ethics have had the strongest influence on the moral fabric of China

• Neo-Confucianism: Revival of Confucian thought in the Song dynasty

  • Incorporated Daoist and Buddhist ideas

  • Replaced Traditional Confucianism in higher levels of society

The Rise of Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism (ca. 350 B.C.E - 1200 C.E.) (continued 2)

• Philosopher Zhu Xi believed that Confucian ideas had been misrepresented

  • Advocated the return to original teachings of moral self-improvement directed by reason

• A Ming emperor reformed Confucian cult to focus more on Confucius’s teachings than on the sage himself

The Rise of Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism (ca. 350 B.C.E - 1200 C.E.) (continued 3)

• Veneration of Confucius declined after the founding of the Chinese Republic

• National Studies movement urged return to traditional Confucianism

  • Blamed Daoism for the fall of the Ming dynasty and the establishment of the Qing dynasty

The Modern Period of Daoism and Confucianism (1912–Present)

• Daoism and Confucianism were revived after Mao’s death

  • Current government permits and supervises activities of Daoism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity

• There is greater Chinese openness to Confucianism

• China’s move toward a modified form of a free-enterprise system is seen by rulers as inimical to China’s well-being

Ancient Teachings Common to Daoism and Confucianism

Dao

• Cosmic way of life

The One

• Essence of the Dao, the energy of life

• Seen operating in dualistic form, the yin-yang

De

• Power or working that enables one to follow the Dao

Ancient Teachings Common to Daoism and Confucianism (continued)

Qi

• Cosmic energy that enables beings to live and links them to the universe

• Basic material of all that exists

Tian

• Heaven - Impersonal cosmic force that guides events on earth and distinguishes right from wrong

• An order and principle that both transcends the world and is deeply embedded in it

Ancestor veneration

• Each family was expected to remember names of its male ancestors and pay regular homage

• Ancestors in the spirit world can bless or haunt their living descendants

Traditional Daoist Deities

• The Jade Emperor

• The Earth God

• Mazu

• City Gods

• Lords of pestilence (Wang Ye)

Daoist Teachings - Wu Wei and Immortality

• Wu Wei: “Not asserting” or going along with the nature of the world

  • Daoists try to live balanced and harmonious lives that are attuned to the Dao as it is seen in nature

• Spiritual immortality is a special goal of some Daoists

  • Can be achieved by changing all one’s qi into primordial qi and then refining it

Daoist Ethics

• Based on Daode Jing

  • One must follow the Dao in order to live a good life

    • Humans do not follow the Dao as naturally as other beings do

    • Human distinctions generate troubles and problems of existence

  • Ideas are carried out in everyday practice

Confucian Ethics

• Xiao: Filial piety

  • The honor and obedience to one’s parents and decreased ancestors

  • Extended by analogy to the Five Relationships, each with specific duties

  Ren

  • Humaneness, reciprocity, and virtue

  • The more powerful person in every relationship must act with humane, gentle reciprocity toward the less powerful

• Zhong: Loyalty

  • Extension of one’s duties to friends and family as carried out in the Five Relationships

• Junzi: A prince or lord’s child

  • In the teaching of Confucius, a “superior man”

  • Expresses the process of self-cultivation and self-improvement

Daoist Temples and Worship

• Temples are elaborate and ornately decorated

  • Statues of the gods are placed behind the altar

  • Flowers are placed and incense is burned at the altar

• People visit temples for individual experiences or to attend group ceremonies

Confucian Temples and Worship

• Prior to twentieth century C.E., every county in China had one official temple to Confucius

  • Temples do not have images

• State-mandated worship of Confucius focused on offering sacrifices

  • The Eight-Row Dance is performed on his birthday

  • Animal sacrifices and incense are offered

The Traditional Chinese Funeral

• Ritual reflects ancient Chinese beliefs about life, death, and afterlife

• The body is buried

  • Cremation is rare because it is believed to destroy the remaining qi in the bones

• Funerals take place in the home and cemetery

  • An undertaker is hired to oversee all rites, especially actions involving physical contact with the corpse

Final Comparison of Daoism and Confucianism

Daoism
• Human distinctions generate troubles and problems of existence
• Dao naturally makes life full and right
• Better to be passive than active, yielding rather than assertive, quiet rather than vocal

Confucianism
• The yang, the active and assertive side of life, and
proactive in setting human life straight
• Study, plan, educate, and develop solutions to China’s problems

Daoism in the West

• Advocated by Professor Henri Maspero and Michael Saso

• Arrived with the first Chinese who came to participate in California’s gold rush

  • Immigrants established several temples in San Francisco

  • Federal Chinese Exclusion Act- Stopped Chinese immigration until the 1965 Immigration Act

  • Many Daoist organizations have been established in the West

Confucianism in the West

• Knowledge of Confucianism spread via Muller’s “Sacred Books of the East” series in the 1800s

  • Contained translations of the Analects and the Mencius

• Social and educational associations were built instead of temples

  • Confucius Centers or Confucius Institutes have been established, usually connected with universities