Religion

Buddhism

At about the same time as, or a little earlier than, Confucius, Buddhism was founded by Sakyamuni, who was originally a prince of a small state in North India, on the border of present-day Nepal.

Buddhism was first introduced into China at the beginning of the Eastern Han. This had something to do with the opening of the Western Regions, which made travel between China and India easier than before. In AD 67, two Indian monks came to Luoyang. Emperor Ming Di ordered the construction of the White Horse Temple and asked them to translate Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. They were followed by other monks from India and West Asia. At first, Buddhism was known only to members of the ruling class. It was during the period of the Southern and Northern dynasties that it was spread among the ordinary people.  

Confucius and Confucianism

Confucius
Confucius, the famous thinker and educator of ancient China, was born in Qufu, Shandong Province in 551 BC, and died in 479 BC.

As a young man, Confucius had been to many of the principalities of the time, advocating his political views and seeking to have his service accepted by the princes in administering their states. But his views and opinions seemed to have fallen on deaf ears and consequently Confucius made up his mind to devote all his energies to education.

 Confucius was the first man in the history of Chinese education to start a private school to accept common people as pupils. He taught his students politics, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics with the aim of promoting all-round development. Confucius often lectured to his students on the theme of "benevolence", preaching the importance of loving others. Legend has it that Confucius had 3,000 students throughout his lifetime, 72 of who became well known for their excellence. Through educational work, Confucius succeeded in propagating his political views. Eventually he and his students emerged as an independent school of thought, the Confucian school which exerted a tremendous impact on feudalist China that lasted thousands of years.

Confucius lived until he was seventy-three and his death was deeply mourned by his students. After his death, his disciples wrote down their memories of conversations with him, which were later brought together as the Analects.

Confucianism
Confucianism is a major system of thought in China developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius and his disciples, and concerned with the principles of good conduct, practical wisdom, and proper social relationship. The keynote of Confucian ethics is ren (benevolence).

Confucianism has influenced the Chinese attitude toward life, set the patterns of living and standards of social value, and provided the background for Chinese political theories and institutions. Confucianism has always fitted naturally into the ancient Chinese pattern of close family ties and absolute rule. This system of belief exalts mainly those virtues that fit a static and ideally gentle world. Confucianism spread from China to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam and has aroused interest among occidental scholars.

Although Confucianism became the official ideology of the Chinese rulers, it has never existed as an established religion with a church and priesthood.

The principles of Confucianism are contained in nine ancient Chinese works handed down by Confucius and his followers. These teachings can be divided into two groups: the Five Classics and the Four Books. The Five Classics consist of the following works: the Yijing (Classic of Changes), Shujing (Classic of History), Shijing (Classic of Poetry), Liyi (Classic of Rites), and Chun Qiu (Spring and Autumn Annals). The Four Books consist of Lunyu (The Analects of Confucius), Daxue (The Great Learning), Zhongyong (The Doctrine of the Mean) and Mengzi (The Book of Mencius).

Laozi and Taoism

Laozi
Laozi was a thinker-philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) in Chinese history.

Laozi was a man from the State of Chu who was probably born before Confucius by scores of years. He had been a low-ranking official in the palace of the Zhou Dynasty and his job was to look after the library.

While he was at the job, he engaged in philosophical studies and came to the conclusion that the universe consisted of sky, earth, humanity and what he called "principles" or "ways" for which he coined the term dao. According to him, dao is a priori, from which everything else in the universe is derived. According to him, all things are governed by objective natural laws. A man may live or die. A thing may be big or small. And a human being can be handsome or ugly. These are contradictions and yet depend on each other. That is to say, without life there is no death; without bigness, there is no smallness; and without beauty, there is no ugliness. Furthermore, bad things can often turn into good things and it is also true the other way around. However, Laozi was opposed to seeking change through conflict and believed in the world and hoped that man would become as simple-minded as was possible and be easily contented.

In his last years, Laozi grew very much discontented with the actual conditions of society. He felt a strong nostalgia for the primitive society of bygone days and hoped for a return to the social conditions of that time so that people could live in a world without war and without disparity between the rich and the poor. So he decided to leave the palace job and live the secluded life of a recluse.

Later, Laozi committed to paper an essay of more than 5,000 words, which was given the title Dao De Jing (Taoist Teachings of Laozi), often shortened to Laozi. That is why he is considered as the founder of Taoism in China.

By the time of what in Chinese history is called the Period of the Warring States (475-221 BC), Taoist thinking or philosophy was inherited and developed by a scholar named Zhuang Zhou, who was often referred to as Zhuangzi. Hence the two names often go together as Lao Zhuang. The philosophy and literary works of Lao Zhuang have had a far-reaching influence all through the feudal age of China.

Taoism
Tao, in Dao de jing, means the way of ultimate reality, which exists beyond the physical sense of men. Tao is also the way of the universe. It moves in endless cycles and never changes. All life comes from it, but nothing produced by Tao lasts forever. Tao also refers to the way man should order his life to keep it in line with the natural order of the universe.

Taoists reject self-assertiveness, competition, and ambition. They are indifferent to things like rank, profuse luxury, and vulgar show. They would make friends with nature rather than conquer or dominate it.