chinese history + religion

peking man

remains discovered near peking/beijing which appears to have existed as early as 300,000 B.C.E

chinese legend

belief that chinese have lived in china since the very beginning of the earth

Chinese myth regarding the first man

P’an Ku emerged from broken egg and grew each day, after he died he spit up the sun, moon, seas, etc

Fu-xi/Fu Hsi

serpent-bodied divinity who taught early humans how to domestic animals, use iron, fish with nets, write with pictograms, etc

Shen Nung

ox-headed divinity who invented the ox-drawn cart and taught the people farming and medicine

Huang Di/Huang Ti

first human ruler, fought off barbarians, instituted a system of official history writers, invented bricks, divided the land into political units

Xia/Hsia Dynasty

Yu, human leader, founded the first Chinese family dynasty, suggest a number of technological advances came to China such as the use of bronze, silk worm, written symbols

Shang Dynasty

development of ceramics, carving, bronze casting, use of war-chariots as well as a variety of religious practices such as animism, ancestor worship, worship of various gods, shamanism

shang rulers considered themselves descendants of Shang Ti, the high god

early practices of offering human sacrifices to the gods as well as burying slaves, wives, and officials with the king at his death

Chou/Zhou Dynasty

key claim was the evil of the Shang dynasty forced the high god to renounce Shangs and gave Chou the right to rebel

Chou leadership began speaking of Tian which was an impersonal but moral cosmic force, Chou kings took title of Tian Zi which mean Son of Heaven because they believed they had a mandate from heaven to rule

many religious practices continued with the Chou: animism, ancestor worship, divination, shamanism ALTHOUGH Chou emphasized religious ceremony, affirmation of yin and yang, five basic elements, cosmic ordering principle named Tao

Tao/Dao

all-pervasic cosmic ordering principle

five basic elements

water, fire, wood metal, and earth

traditional chinese religion problem

disharmony; we are out of harmony with reality, humans fail to stay in sync with the natural order

traditional chinese religion cause

choice; human failure to stay in harmony with the natural order

traditional chinese religion reality

all of reality is made up of yin and yang, physical reality is made up of five basic elements, all physical things are a mixture of yin and yang, human soul is yang while animated soul is yin

yin

passive, soft, cold, wet, dark, negative, contracting, and feminine; water and metal

yang

active, hard, warm, dry, bright, positive, expansive, procreative, and masculine; wood and fire

traditional chinese religion end

attain harmony with the order of nature; finding a balance between yin and yang, emphasis upon this life

traditional chinese religion means

veneration of ancestors, worship of gods, magical practices, te living a virtuous life

Bagua

Eightfold trigram to divine yin and yang forces

traditional chinese religion sacred

affirmation of an underlying pattern/order to the universe, cosmic order, Tao/Dao

high gods such as Shang Ti, Tian/Ti’en