Chinese Religion

Chinese Religion

The region of China is extensive and profound. “In China lay people did not belong to an institutionalized sect, nor did their religious life have anything to do with signing articles of faint. Religion in China was so woven into the broad fabric of family and social life that there was not even a special word for it until modern times, when one was coined to match the Western term” (Thompson, 1). In China, Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism are all blended. In the earliest period, Shang Dynasty (2000 BC), people in China had worshipped a lot of different gods (polytheism) such as weather god, river god. People in the Shang Dynasty believed that their ancestors become like gods after they died, so people worshipped their own ancestors. The basic features of Chinese Ancient Philosophy consist of five stresses, spiritual existence, practice, morality, harmony, and intuition. The philosophy in Pre-Qin times was marked by the emergence of various ancient philosophical views. The most influential schools were Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism and Legalism. In China lay people did not belong to an institutionalized sect, nor did their religious life have anything to do with signing articles of faint. Religion in China was so woven into the broad fabric of family and social life that there was not even a special word for it until modern times, when one was coined to match the Western term (Thompson, 1). The school takes the teachings of Confucius as its core of thought and regards the words and deeds of Confucius as it highest code of behavior. It advocates the benevolence and justice, allegiance and forbearance, the doctrine of the golden mean and values the ethical relations of men. In the Chinese world view there was an ...

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...ey hoped to avoid plagues, ensure rain in due season, and to be granted children. Believing their livelihood, both present and future, to be guaranteed y the favor of the hallowed place of their assemblies, the members of the local community felt themselves bound to it by a relationship teeming with benefits, which caused them to adhere to it as faithful vassals to a powerful lord” (Liu, 30).

Liu, James T.C. China Turning Inward Intellectual-political Changes in the Early Twelfth Century. 4th ed. Vol. 23. Council on Ast Asian Studies, 1919. Print.

Shankman, Steven, and Stephen W. Durrant. Early China/Ancient Greece. Albany: State University of New York, 2001. Print.

Thompson, Laurence G. Chinese Religion: An Introduction. Belmont: Dickenson Company, Inc, 1969. Print.

Thompson, Laurence G. The Religious Life of Man. Belmont: Dickenson Company, Inc, 1973. Print.