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Buddhism confucianism and taoism comparison
Buddhism confucianism and taoism comparison
Taoism religion essay
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History tells a story about a man named Laozi, who lived in the sixth century B.C. and his teachings are the basis for Taoism. This religion believes that we should put away our desires of ambition to seek harmony with the forces of nature.
Interestingly enough, Taoism is a very passive religion that strives for peace. One of the main symbols that are associated with this religion is the Ying Yang symbol. The yin represents the male, and the yang represents the female. If you look closely at this symbol, you will see that each side of the symbol has a little bit of the counterpart. Taoism is a religion that was founded over 2000 years ago. It is both a religion and a philosophy, based on the belief that they live a simple honest life with little intrusion from events in society.
They also believe that the way to live is based on the Tao. With the Tao, and the believe system they live with the personalities of calmness, passiveness and humility. Taoists do not agree with the likes of politics, administration, or elaborate rituals. Basically this means that they like to live in areas that have little or no surrounding rural area. Since Taoists do not like to live in society, there is no emphasizing on the status, intelligence, or possessions of the people. They try to govern with the least visibility and with a serving attitude. They chose to take few actions that involve the people and to treat other countries non-aggressively.
One holiday that is celebrated by Taoists is the Chinese New Year, and this is celebrated in February. This celebration can be described as our thanksgiving and Christmas all rolled into one, making it a celebration that will last for more than one day. The first full moon of the year wi...
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...rimordial energy at the beginning of the world. These gods developed as part of Taoism between the second and sixth centuries C.E. We will be giving examples of this type of god. This second type of Taoist deity and this type consist of human beings who, through learning, self-discipline, or some other means, have purified themselves of mortal imperfections and become gods.
The most important idea, and life to a Taoist is to find harmony with one’s soul. They believe that every person is in a state of disharmony due to violence, disorder, etc. The Tao is seen as the universal energetic intelligence that informs and directs all life. It is the Supreme Being or the ultimate truth and is beyond words or any theoretical understanding. “Accepting the mystery, believing in emptiness, having faith in mind, is entering the mystery, is walking in harmony with the Tao.”
After watching the documentary The Long Search: Taoism: A Question of Balance—China, I am totally surprised by the details in the video, which explain every single aspect of people’s daily life in Taiwan as religious, especially Taoist. Since China does not consider itself as a nation of religious beliefs and practices, I do not actually think of what Chinese people do everyday as religious. However, after studying Religions in China for a semester, I finally realize that all the Chinese traditions and beliefs have evolved as a mixture of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. As a result, it all makes sense to see in the video that Taoism is a dominant religion that has deeply influenced individuals’ life in Taiwan.
...ccording to it. It is the level of understanding and respect a Taoist has with nature, everyone around them, and everything. This mystery is the last feature that is important to defining a religion.
In the beginning the Tao gave birth to both good and evil (Ch 5) and along with
This is important, for humans are urged by Taoist thought to place themselves below all else, especially the world, but also other people. The wise person will put another person's needs before their own.
Lao Tzu believed that Tao is a natural thing. He believes that you come by it or you realize its presents and experience it. The best way for me to explain how Lao Tzu perceives the Tao is to take it directly from our reading in Molloy, “The Doa cannot be named because it has no form. But the Dao can be experienced and followed by every individual thing that has a name (213).” Lao Tzu used Tao as a way of being and living in harmony with nature. Lao Tzu believed that Tao came to you by using his teaching of Wu Wei, Simplicity, Gentleness and Relativity (217-218).
Confucianism and Daoism are two influential schools of thoughts that have existed in ancient China around the 6th century BCE. The former, led by the politician and philosopher Confucius, proposed that humans live in society according to a set of predefined rules and that they transform society through political action. Whereas the latter, led by the philosopher Lao-Tzu, promoted the idea of inaction; people should go with the flow instead of taking action to control their lives and dominate their surroundings. Although, at first glance Daoism and Confucianism seem to be two opposing philosophies, a more in depth analysis of two of their key ideas –filial piety and education—reveals that they do share some similarities.
In its second sense, Tao means "the way of the universe." Tao is something that goes through all beings, all of the earth. It is everywhere, all the time. It is something that flows through everything. This flowing idea links with the idea in Buddhism that Nirvana can be reached by anyone, as long as one is devoted enough and has lost all attachments.Thirdly, one life must be a certain way to work with the Tao: Tao also refers to "the way of human life" as it "meshes" with the universal Tao in its second sense.
Chinese people might find naming their religion challenging as it is a mixture of “traditional religion, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism” (Corduan, 2012, p.388). The Chinese Popular Religion continues to evolve and change as the world around it changes and outside influences enter the Chinese culture (Corduan, 2012). Investigation of the Chinese Popular Religion includes its key features, practices, and influences, along with tis role in contemporary China, and how Christians can enhance their interactions.
There are philosophical, religious and additional, meditative, Taoist practices (Smith, 2007, pp. 98-103). The key notion of the philosophical school of Tao, according to Smith (2007), is wu wei, which explains a human should not be effortless, but stop his excessive actions and start living without the loss of efforts (pp. 106-107); the practitioners of the mentioned beliefs find the closest comparison with water (p. 108). Skillful followers, as Smith (2007) states are restrained, not bellicose (p.111), does not possess a heavy
Even though Taoism and many other folk religions have shaped the Chinese mind, Confucianism remains, by any historical measure, its chief mentor” (Novak 113). Therefore, since the two religions grew up together, there are similarities, such as their views on humans, attempting to find harmony in life and in nature, and serve as guides for their followers through self-cultivation and improvement techniques. Confucianism believes that their congregation should have human conduct over the idea of God in their lives, whereas Taoism is formed on the belief that its congregation should create a relationship with nature. This is pointed out by Smith in Experiencing the World’s Religions, “Confucius represents the classical, Lao Tzu the romantic; Confucius stresses social responsibility, Lao Tzu praises spontaneity and naturalness; Confucius focus is on the human, Lao Tzu’s on what transcends the human” (Smith 218).
Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism are the three primary systems of thought that have saturated Chinese Philosophy and Asian culture and served as a tool of reform in every social life (Chen & Holt, 2002). Taoism defines life as an organic, interconnected oneness that constantly changes and is based upon the philosophies of the Tao Te Ching. The Transformation Theory of the Tao applies on a scale of the macrocosm, viewing the Tao (universe) as the root of creation where change is viewed as symphonic and holistic. The efficacy of wu wei is a basic tenet of Chinese philosophy that is emphasized in the teachings of Tao. Kardash (1998) described the wu-wei as a reference to behavior “that stems from a sense of self as connected to other individuals
Taoism’s main goal is to be one with the natural or spontaneous way of life and that men and women were neither superior nor inferior to one another. Confucianists differ in this regard due to the main promotion of Li – the right behavior, among people, in the right situation in addition to the right time and place. Taoists are more for people not defining right or wrong and allowing humans to figure out what it means to be in harmony with nature. This shines a light on an important Taoism concept of wu wei meaning non-action or non-doing. Since Taoism believe every being or phenomena that are fully in harmony with the Tao behave in a perfectly natural, ingenuous way.
Unlike Rumi, Tao Te Ching isn’t self-centralized and instead broadens the view for everyone. Pojman gives an example in Philosophy of Religion where if you hear something and nobody else does, it causes confusion (pg. 52). When you speak of religion in one light and one lesson, it’s confusing in a sense that it isn’t relatable. Lao Tzu handles this by making his text a somewhat universal truth. Lao Tzu also has this showing as more of a life guide, on how to find peace within your religion and with your God, but also within yourself. He poses many questions (“Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?”, “When we don't see the self as self, what do we have to fear?”, “My teachings are older than the world. How can you grasp their meaning?”) to make his audience question themselves and who they are. This insinuates that Taoism means finding a peace, or harmony, with the Tao by first finding harmony within yourself. Tolstoy reiterates that within his own text called, “A Confession” by writing that he eventually cut himself off from the church and found spirituality within himself and his God. Tolstoy makes a point that the meaning of life is trusting that God has a plan and a purpose for everyone. Meanwhile, a connection can be drawn with Tao Te Ching where everything has meaning because the Tao is everything that exists and simultaneously everything that doesn’t exist, according to Lao Tzu. Tzu also writes, “If you want to know me, look inside your heart,” and “The more you travel, the less you know [of the Tao]”, providing the argument that the Tao is imbedded into every atom, every cell, every human as well, and that is why you must make
He is credited as the founder of Taoism. Although the religion may have been developed back in 2000 BCE, is was officially expounded upon around 500 BCE. The ancient Chinese religion of Taoism is not entirely distinct from Confucianism or Chinese folk religion, for all Chinese religion and philosophy operate within the same ancient worldview. The word Tao translates into "path", ”method”, “principle” or "way." Taoist belief is based on the idea that there is central or organizing principle of the Universe, a natural order or a "way of heaven", Tao, that one can come to know by living in harmony with nature and hence with the cosmos and the Universe.
Lao-Tze founded Taoism around 550 BC. The goal in Taoism is achieve Inner harmony, pea...