Taoism and Confucianism

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    Taoism and Confucianism

    Chapter Objectives: After learning this material you will be able to:Discuss the major features of early Chinese religion and Taoism, including basicterms and common concepts such as ancestrism, yin yang, Tao, wu wei, ch’i and

    ren!resent the central message of the Tao Te Ching"e able to distinguish the religious and philosophical aspects of TaoismDiscuss the importance of Taoism in the contemporary world and the modernunderstanding of aspects of social life such as the importance of the family#nderstand the impact of Chinese Taoist ideology on attitudes toward andpractices with respect to womenDiscuss Taoism’s impact on the American religious landscape$%plain why most Chinese combine Confucianism, Taoism, and "uddhismtogether in their daily livesDiscuss the major features of Confucianism as a religion and a philosophy,

    including basic terms and common concepts such as ancestrism, yin, yang, Tao,wu wei, ch’i and ren!resent the central message of the Confucian Classics"e able to distinguish the religious and philosophical aspects of ConfucianismDiscuss the importance of Confucianism in the contemporary world and themodern understanding of aspects of social life such as the importance of socialstructures#nderstand the impact of Confucian ideology on attitudes toward and practiceswith respect to women$%plain why most Chinese combine Confucianism, Taoism, and "uddhismtogether in their daily lives

    &ntroduction

    &t is traditional to study Taoism and Confucianism separately because they havedifferent founders and are in many ways very different On the other hand it canbe a problem to separate them in an academic way because most Chinesepeople practice them together That is, a person growing up in China would havebeen Confucian in their family and social responsibilities and Taoist in their morepersonal religious practices And even that division rings false 'ery simply theywould have been both Taoist and Confucian and we need to remember this if weare to truly understand these religions of China &n addition, China has a longhistory of "uddhism "ecause we recently studied "uddhism & am not going towrite about it in this lecture, but it is good to (eep in mind that many Chinesepeople had a third strand to their religious view, that of "uddhism

    Religion in China

    )any, if not most, of the religions we will study in this class are religions ofpeople who have moved or at least been influenced by the migration of ideas

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    *e saw +ow +induism was impacted and partially created by the &ndo$uropeans "uddhism has traveled throughout the world adapting and changingthe peoples and cultures that it has met *e all (now how big a role immigrationhas played in the American story "ut with China we encounter somethingdifferent -One of the most distinctive features of the Chinese mentality is its

    feeling that the Chinese people and the soil on which they live are inseparableand have been together as far bac( as tradition goes. /0obert 1 $llwood and"arbara A )c2raw, Many Peoples, Many Faiths: Women and Men in the WorldReligions, Seventh Edition, 3#pper 1addle 0iver, 4ew 5ersey: !rentice +all,67768, p 99 +ereafter referred to in the lectures as )!);< There are nostories of the ancient people of China invading China and ta(ing it over fromanother people They seem to have always been there -Conse=uently, a senseof place, of the cycles of nature, and of lineage were fundamental to the religiousoutloo( of the earliest (nown Chinese, as they have been ever since. /)!);, p99< The land impacts all indigenous religions China’s relationship to its landwill be no different

    The earliest religions of China were the nature religions we find all over the worldin the prehistorical period This is a time when people are closely connected tonature and magical rites to control the earth and the weather, and things of that(ind -The cultural line that led to Chinese civili>ation began around ?777 "C$in tiny villages in the @ellow 0iver basin where millet, vegetables, and pigs wereraised One of the oldest motifs of Chinese religion is the $arthgod The centralsacred feature was often a stone or mound, li(e a concentration of the forces ofthe soil into a central focus These mounds are the ancestors of the citygodtemples of today, as well as the great Altar of +eaven in "eijing, built li(e anartificial mountain where the emperor offered worship at the *inter 1olstice

    *orship was also offered very early to the spirits of rivers and of rain, the latterimmemorially represented as the dragon, for the rivers and rain bless the fertileearth with moisture. /)!);, p 99< And as with all nature religions, there wasan openness to and relationship with the feminine that is never entirely lost inTaoism

    One of the areas we can still see the connection with early religion is in theChinese respect for their ancestors )any of the earliest religions seem to havefelt that the people we love who die can influence our lives for better or worseand therefore it is important to respect them and do the necessary rituals to (eepthe peace -&n burial and ancestrism, continuity of the three identitygiving factorsof family, ancestors, and place was emphasi>ed "urial, the return of the tiller ofthe earth to its bosom, has always been very important in China. /)!);, p 99<!erhaps people felt that just as a seed must be buried to sprout into a new plant,so people must be buried correctly to be reborn in the afterlife All we (now forsure is that the first signs of religious attitudes in human beings are usually foundat burial sites

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    )any of us might be familiar with the great pyramids in $gypt *ell you findsimilar customs in China where great care was ta(en to assure the dead,especially the mighty, of a good afterlife 4o e%pense seemed too great or costly-The concern with burial goes as far bac( as Chinese culture 4eolithic farmersburied children in urns under the house and adults in reserved fields &n the first

    period of real civili>ation, the 1hang era, great pits were dug in the earth for theburial of a (ing &n what must have been a scene of incredible barbaric horror andsplendor, the deceased monarch was interred brilliantly ornamented with jade,together with the richly caparisoned horses who had borne his hearse, hundredsof sacrificed human retainers and prisoners, and a fortune in precious objects./)!);, p 96< 1cholars have learned a great deal about these past times fromthese archeological digs in China where they have uncovered this enormouswealth that was preserved for so long

    1ome of the most profound ideas in Chinese philosophy and religion have theirroots in these earliest cultures -The 1hang Dynasty and its successor, the hou

    Dynasty, lasted from about 9B7 to 669 "C$ The basic motifs of religion inthese eras represent in developing form the fundamental ideas of Chinesereligion and philosophy. /)!);, p 96< The Chinese did not have a personalmonotheist 2od, but they did have a sense of a great and mysterious force,perhaps something li(e the +indu "rahman

    Looking to Nature

    !robably one of the first things people noticed in this world was that underneaththe constant changes in life there seem to e%ist a pervading order and law Theseasons followed one another and the same stars could be watched at night

    -The thin(ers of those days tal(ed of a supreme ruler or moderator of theuniverse, Di or Tian, usually translated as -+eaven,. who gave rain, victory,fortune or misfortune, and regulated the moral order All things ultimately derivedfrom Tian, but it was more a personification of natural law than a real personalityand was not directly worshipped +eaven was li(e the high god of many archaicpeoples understood as being remote. /)!);, p 96< )ost tribal people hadthis sense of a high god or ultimate ruler, but in terms of everyday relationshipspeople found gods closer to home This ma(es more sense than we might at firstthin( if you grew up in a monotheistic *estern culture ;or e%ample, many of usmight (now that our boss has a boss who has a boss all the way up to the chairof the board of our company "ut for most of our regular interactions and forthings such as job evaluations we deal with the ne%t person up from us *e mayhave never even met some of the people higher up in the company that are thepeople we ultimately wor( for & imagine it was something li(e this for simplepeasant people *ho had the most influence and impact on your lifeE @ourimmediate ancestors first, and then the local gods and goddesses, and onlyeventually did you thin( or concern yourself with the ultimate authority

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    Once you had honored your ancestors who did you turn to ne%tE )ost of thelocal gods seem to be representatives of nature -Other gods, lesser but moreaccessible to worship, were those of sun, moon, stars, rivers, mountains, the four directions, and localities These were given offerings, some seasonally, somemorning and evening Above all were the ancestral spirits, treated to meals and

    remembrance and e%pected to intercede on behalf of the living with Tian. /)!);,p 96< 1o what becomes clear is that there was a perceived hierarchy of beingfrom the human and natural world to the ancestors and then the forces of natureuntil eventually you reached the top of the pyramid where you found Tian

    Closely associated with these early magical rites were the attempts of people tocontrol their futures or at least be informed about what to e%pect -The 1hang erais most famous for divination with the -oracle bones. The procedure was that(ings would as( their ancestors =uestions, and the answers would be determinedby crac(s made in a tortoiseshell when it was heated over a fire Thousands ofthese shells, with the =uestions and sometimes the answers inscribed on them in

    an archaic form of writing, have been preserved. /)!);, p 96< &n the tribalreligions one of the tas(s of the shamans was to foretell the future and helppeople avoid disasters and see( out good fortune And this interest evencontinues today in the modern interest in astrology and psychic phenomena aswell as sprouting out in secular concerns li(e trying to foresee what the stoc(mar(et is going to do or loo( ahead to see what the weather will be li(e in a fewdays

    1o while scholars do not (now as much as they would li(e to (now about earlyChinese religion, they (now enough to help us discover certain principles inmodern Chinese thought that go all the way bac( to the dawn of history

    -Divination, the seasonal cycle, and ceremonialism all suggest one basicprinciple that has run through Chinese thought from the beginning that theuniverse is a unity in which all things fit together &f humanity aligns itself with it,all will fit together for us as it does for nature On this assumption, traditionalChinese lived with the turning of the seasons, and in their ceremonies strove toma(e life into an image of their harmony Divination is based on the sameworldview, for it presumes that if the world is a unity, each fragment of it li(e atortoiseshell must contain clues to what is happening or will happen in otherparts. /)!);, pp 969F< This perceived unity would be fundamental toChinese thought in both Confucianism and in Taoism The ultimate goal willalways to find a way to bring one’s own life into harmony with this greater unityThat is the place of contentment and serenity

    The Tao - Foundational to Confucianism and Taoism

    "efore the formation of what has become (nown as Confucianism or Taoism theChinese had the concept of the Tao -The unity in which all things fit togetherharmoniously is called the Tao. /)!);, p 9F< "oth of these traditions refer toit, the differences between them consist in how they perceive we can best wor(

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    with the Tao, not whether the Tao e%ists or not !erhaps it is simply a morephilosophical understanding of the early belief in Tian Tian and the Tao seemclosely related anyway

    *hile the Tao is not personal li(e the 2od of the "ible, it does become the great

    focus -Tao how to (now it, live it, and construct a society that e%emplifies it isthe great theme of Chinese thought and the religious e%pressions closely relatedto it. /)!);, p 9F< *hat is interesting is that Confucianism and Taoism comeup with such different approaches "ut that is when it is important to rememberthat the Chinese people never fully bought into only one approach )ost of thepeople seemed to reali>e that it was only using both approaches together thatone could best live out this sought for harmony

    *hile you could not have a personal relationship with the Tao the same way youcould have a personal relationship with the gods in something li(e devotional+induism, it was believed that you could come to (now the Tao by studying it in

    the three places it was most readily observed -&n as(ing how to get bac( on thetrac( of Tao, the Chinese believed there were three realms where Tao could bee%perienced: nature, human society, and one’s own inner being The =uestionwas: +ow are these to be lined up, with what priorities, and with what techni=uesfor ascertaining the -message. of the TaoE. /)!);, p 9F< &n many ways theseare still the =uestions of any earnest see(er after the truth

    5ust as there have been many see(ers, so there have been many answers "utfor various reasons these answers, which became schools of thoughts andphilosophies of life, eventually sorted themselves out into the two basicapproaches we are studying, Taoism and Confucianism *hat are these

    differencesE -The basic difference was that Confucianists thought the Tao, orTian /the will of +eaven

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    with others and those who love people will find themselves alone at times -&n thelives of most people, features from all sides would have a place Confucianattitudes would undergird family and wor( ethics "uddhism would help to answer =uestions about what happens after death a dash of Taoist color would meetesthetic and spiritual needs in family and personal life /&t has been said that

    Chinese officials were Confucian at wor( and Taoist in retirement

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    under traditional spirituality, but it will also include many things that many of uswould call superstitious and magical

    This is because Taoism is the way of philosophers as well as the way of thecommon people and their fol( religion -1ome commentators have tal(ed about a

    Ipure’ philosophical Taoism and a Idegenerate,’ Isuperstitious’ religious Taoism"ut such presuppositions get in the way of real understanding &t is moreinstructive to comprehend how all of Taoism forms a unity of e%perience around asingle pole, focusing on the feelingoriented, nonrational side of life +ere it issimple to move rapidly from mysticism to occultism to revolution and bac(, andfrom Inature’ to the most elaborate religious robes and rites, so long as theye%press something imaginative and personal Taoism in China is really a tapestryof countless strands of fol( religion, ancient arcane going bac( to prehistoricshamanism and private vision. /)!);, p 9GB< &n some ways it ma(es a greatdeal of sense that if the Tao is the great and ultimate mystery that contains all oflife and more, then it will also embrace as many different ways of relating to it as

    there are people

    Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching

    *here does Taoism come fromE *e (now that the idea of the Tao goes bac( intoprehistorical times and is foundational to both Taoism and Confucianism-Taoism’s supposed founder is the sage Jaot>u Appropriately for such aromantic tradition, he is more legend than fact, and his very name suggestsanonymity, for Jaot>u just means -The Old )an. 1tories say that the bearer ofthis epithet was an older contemporary of Confucius. /)!);, p 9G< There areeven stories of Confucius and Jaot>u meeting and that while Confucius found

    Jaot>u fascinating he was not sure how one could actually live out the valuesbeing propagated by Jaot>u And we will see why in a momentK

    *hile we cannot be sure of the historicalness of Jaot>u, we have not only aname but also a story -Jaot>u was, according to tradition, a -dropout. &t is saidhe was an archive (eeper at the hou Dynasty court and a popular fellow who(ept a good table "ut he became disgusted with the grasping and hypocrisy ofthe world, and at the age of 7 left his job, mounted a water buffalo, andwandered off to the *est At the *estern portals of the empire, the gate(eeper isreported to have detained him as his guest, refusing to let him pass until he hadrecorded his wisdom 1o the Old )an wrote down the boo( called the Tao TeChing and then departed in the direction of Tibet, becoming mysteriously lost tothe world. /)!);, pp 9G9GG< And this is a perfect ending to this storybecause if Taoism is about anything it is about being intuitive and spontaneousand not simply doing what people e%pect To just drop everything and leavesociety, especially a corrupt society, for a closer relationship with nature is ane%cellent e%ample of Taoism in practice

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    The Tao Te Ching is an ama>ing boo( "ut it is hard to pinpoint e%actly what it isabout 1cholars continue to study and debate whether it was meant only forindividuals or for society as a whole *as it meant only for hermits leaving theworld behind them or is there a practical use of it for all peopleE There are partsof it addressed to leadership That would ma(e it obvious that it was to be put to

    use in society And yet how could one really lead a society putting theseprinciples into practiceE -&n sum, the origin of the Tao Te Ching is as mysteriousas its meaning each reader must get from it what he or she can. /)!);, p 9GG<

     And people have learned very different things from it &t is a beautiful andmystical boo( and & hope that if you have not already read it that you will do sosoon

    *hat is the Tao Te Ching aboutE &t is a boo( about the Tao, that universal way ortrac( down which all the 97,777 things roll and which is their substratum and theonly lasting thing there is the name Tao Te Ching means something li(e -TheBook of the Tao and Ho to !pply "ts Strength# /)!);, p 9GG< And even though

    it is about the Tao, the boo( starts off by saying that you can’t tal( about the TaoK&n other words, it is a boo( that embraces parado%

    The Tao is $eyond the poer of ordsTo define:Terms may $e %sed B%t are none of them a$sol%te&"n the $eginning of heaven and earth there ere no ords&Words 'ame o%t of the om$ of matter# /)!);, p 9GG<

    &n many ways it is a good way to begin a boo( -Add to the limitations of our

    e%perience the fact that language by definition cannot really apply a meaningfullabel to the whole because the purpose of words is to categori>e the particular*e use words to distinguish one thing from another To call something riceimplies there are other things that are not rice from which it needs to bedistinguished. /)!);, p 677< *e would probably all be better off if we couldremember that words have limitations because they are finite, and spiritual termsli(e the Tao represent the infinite

    The Problem of Language

    *e live in such a wordoriented society it is sometimes very easy to forget thatwords are only pointers The word -tree. is not a real tree &n fact, the letters ofthe word tree don’t even loo( li(e a tree The word is just a symbol, but in factpeople (ill each other over the words we use to describe the sacred

    1o we need to use words gently That is, we use words while at the same timenot ta(ing them too seriously, especially when describing spiritual realities -$vento use a word ostensibly for the whole, such as Tao or e%istence, does not avoidthis limitation All these words can do is point in a certain direction of

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    comprehension, but they cannot ma(e clear that there is really nothingcomparable to Tao or e%istence from which it could be distinguished. /)!);, p677< This is probably why some of the greatest teachers such as the "uddha,1ocrates, and 5esus never wrote anything down They probably understood alltoo well that once words are put in writing they become fi%ed in stone and people

    become infle%ible about them

    "ut once you accept the limitations of words you can use them while at the sametime letting them lead you to the place beyond words The truth has a way ofsilencing us if we let it And the Taoists want us to practice this deep openness tothe mysteries revealed by silence -Once you reali>e that the Tao, which flows inand through everyone and everything, cannot be labeled and put in a bo%, youcan respond to it in a different way, with simple wonder, turning to it as an infantturns to its mother The first chapter ends, I;rom wonder into wonder the Taoopens. /)!);, p 677<

    *e see in reading the Tao Te Ching that Taoism ta(es a very different view ofhuman society 4ature is the place where we see the Tao flow effortlessly &t onlygets bloc(ed when we bring people together and all of their artificial rules andregulations and uptightness bloc( the free flowing of this energy that is describedas the Tao As a result the Taoist does not fit into society as well as theConfucian +e or she sees how false it can be and turns away -And again, thewriter, seeing himself as a misfit in artificial society, although marvelously nearthe Tao that others miss, says, IAll these people are ma(ing their mar( in theworld, while &, pigheaded, aw(ward, different from the rest, am only a gloriousinfant nursing at the breast’ &n contrast to the Confucian cornerstone the fatherson relationship the Tao Te Ching, which emphasi>es the natural, biological,

    and spontaneous as being better than the social manifestation of the Tao, ma(esbecoming feminine, or becoming a child in a mother’s arms, a basic image for therelationship of the individual with the great Tao. /)!);, p 677< &n this embraceof a more feminine perspective we see how the Chinese tried to find a way tobalance the overly rigid and masculine perspective of Confucianism that we willstudy ne%t wee( And thus we see again why it would have been so difficult to beonly Taoist or only Confucian

    *e also see the beginning of a teaching that becomes important in the martialarts &n some forms of the Chinese fighting schools you learn to use the otherperson’s strength rather than your own @ou start to wor( with a different (ind ofenergy that sees water as its e%ample There is even a boo( by Alan *atts thatdescribes Taoism as the -watercourse way. -&n the seemingly wea( stance of thefemale or the child is tremendous strength the strength of water that wearsdown the hardest roc(, or wind and rain that can come and go as they wish &nyielding, bending with the wind li(e a supple tree and then springing bac(renewed, is a vital strength that will weave its way subtly through all thepermutations of the Tao "ut that which is stiff li(e a man standing on tiptoe willbrea( and fall *e are told that the best ruler is he who guides his people

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    unobtrusively, so that they say, I*e did this ourselves. /)!);, p 677< &t isinteresting to thin( that true leadership might be so subtle that people do not(now they are being ledK This is a whole other model of what it means to beactive in the world

    *hen you thin( about how some of the most uptight and unli(able people arethose who are often wor(ing hard on themselves and trying very hard to bespiritual you get a glimpse of what the Taoists are saying &t seems sometimeswe can try so hard that we miss the point entirely -4eedless to say, thisapproach was =uite at odds with the Confucianists’ earnest tal( of cultivatingvirtue and their moral norms such as filial obedience Jaot>u instead refers bac(to a primordial paradise where people lived simply in harmony with the Taospontaneously Only when deterioration sets in, he thought, did rules and normsappear, and they were both cause and effect of the deterioration. /)!);, p679< And yet this is not always true &f you just let little children play with no adultsupervision you will see things =uic(ly get out of hand Lids can be very good,

    but they can also be mean and cruel There is something to being touch withwhat is pure and natural and spontaneous, but the Confucians also have a pointthat we need good models and we need some training &t seems to me thatneither Chinese way has a monopoly on the truth &n the real world of our liveswe probably need discipline, but we also need fle%ibility and humor so that wedon’t ta(e ourselves too seriouslyK

    "ut because the Taoist rejects many of the conventions and rules of ordinarysociety it also becomes easy to say -yes. to just about anything simply because itis out of the ordinary -+ere we can see clearly the Taoist reaction againstordinary conventions of thought and behavior &t is but a step from this

    generali>ed sense of wonder and of the limitations of ordinary words andattitudes to the affirmation of the most e%traordinary seeming ideas: thepossibility of deathlessness, the reality of fabulous secrets, powers, and worlds&n fact, even the Tao Te Ching appears to affirm that one who is in inseparableharmony with the Tao is as immortal as the Tao is, and that through the way ofyielding one can find mysterious powers so great as to seem miraculous "ut itremained to subse=uent Taoist writers to ma(e this potential of JaoT>u’s visionmore e%plicit. /)!);, p 676< &n this sense & am reminded of a teacher & oncehad who told me it was important to have an open mind but not so open that your brains fall outK

    The Development of Philosophical Taoism

    JaoT>u may be more legend than reality "ut one way or another the Chinesecame into possession of the Tao Te Ching And later Taoists used that as theirbasic te%t -The first and greatest of the Taoist writers to e%pand on JaoT>u’svision more e%plicitly is ChuangT>u /died c F77 "C$< Jittle is (nown ofChuangT>u apart from his boo(, The ChuangT>u, but it is enough *ritten in avivid, fanciful, and humorous style, it immediately brings the reader into a world

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    of e%panding hori>ons. /)!);, p 676< !art of the value of the boo( is to shoc(people, to wa(e them up, to get them to thin( -outside of the bo%.

    ChuangT>u recogni>ed that we ta(e ourselves too seriously and as a result weget lost in our own ideas and opinions *e seem to thin( that if we thin(

    something is right then it must actually be right *e forget the warnings in theTao Te Ching that the real truth can never be pinpointed down and limited by ourwords -ChuangT>u wanted a person to be free above all, free from oneself,one’s own prejudices, partial views, categories, and from judging everything interms of oneself To this Taoist, man is not the measure of all things The way theuniverse happens to appear to a biped si% feet tall is no more the way it is thanthe way it appears to a fish, a mote, an eagle, or a star Only the Tao itself is themeasure. /)!);, p 676< And the Tao that can be spo(en is not the true TaoK &fwe could only remember our limitations we would save ourselves much trouble

    *e put so much trust in our ordinary consciousness *e thin( that the way we

    see things is the way they really are "ut now we have even science telling usthat our perceptions are faulty and selective $ven the strong sense of solidity wehave towards objects is false A table seems hard, but we (now from ourmicroscopes that there is actually nothing solid there &t is composed of spinningatoms, which are themselves mostly space

    ChuangT>u was aware of this long before the discoveries of modern scienceand so he taught us to be aware of how easily we can be deceived by theappearances of things and our subse=uent conclusions -&n the same way,ordinary rational wa(ing consciousness is no more the measure of all things thanthe world of dreams and fancy and of the improbable ChuangT>u tells us he

    once dreamed he was a butterfly, and when he awo(e he did not (now whetherhe was ChuangT>u who had dreamed he was a butterfly or a butterfly dreaminghe was ChuangT>u The dream world, in other words, is just as real as anyother. /)!);, p 676< @ou can see why this teaching would sha(e people up &tma(es us =uestion ourselves about what is real and why do we believe thethings we doE Taoism is much more interested in =uestions than in answers

    The world of children is close to the world of the Tao !erhaps 5esus was ma(inga similar point when he taught that unless his disciples become li(e children theycouldn’t enter the Lingdom of 2od There is a childli(e openness that is needed,other wise we can’t see -The world of the unconscious and the imagination, he issaying, is just as much a manifestation of the Tao as the rational and mayindeed better lead us to comprehending the Tao At least it opens us to thatsense of wonder and infinity beyond all limits that is necessary to comprehendthe Tao for the Tao is precisely the unbounded. /)!);, p 676< &t would ma(esense to remember that if ultimate reality is infinite then we must e%pand ourideas of what is real and what is possible At the same time, this openness canbe ta(en to such an e%treme that people will believe almost anything 1o alwayswe need to see( balance "ut living in the modern world, where rationality is

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    often put on such a high pedestal we need to remember that rationality has itspurposes, but it also has its limits

    Confucianism puts the emphasis on rationality and sobriety Taoism puts theemphasis on openness and intuition -The conse=uent distinction between

    Confucian and Taoist styles of thin(ing is very clear in a fictional debate that 2e+ong 3a later Taoist thin(er8 composed between a Confucianist and a Taoist onthe possibility of immortality The Confucianist argues that every living thing thatanyone has ever heard of dies and that belief in immortality is thereforeuntenable nonsense "aopu>i, the Taoist, responds that there are e%ceptions toevery rule, and that just because things of which we (now die, we cannot saythat everything in this universe, of which we really (now so little, must die./)!);, p 67F<

    -&n effect, the Confucianist says, I@ou can’t prove immortality,’ and the Taoistsays, I@ou can’t prove there isn’t immortality’ !erhaps little is proved in this

    particular argument e%cept that, for Confucianists, the instinctive response to a=uery is the safe, rational, commonsense answer, and for Taoists, the romantic,speculative approach open to nonrational, Imindblowing’ possibilities Thecleavage is temperamental and comparable to the gulf between $nlightenmentrationalism and the 0omanticism that followed it in the *est. /)!);, p 67F< Anintegral approach will encourage us to see that we will do our best and mostcreative thin(ing when we are open to both ways of thin(ing 1ome people needa little more rationality while others need a little more intuition and creativity

    *e have stories of Taoists really trying to put this lifestyle of freedom intopractice &t must have been a shoc( to their Confucian friendsK -To them, living

    with the Tao meant a feng liu /-wind and stream.< life, acting according to themovement of what was happening day by day )any were artists and poets, or atleast aesthetes the unplanned life, which savored the beauty of each event andthe richness of each impulse, well suited the temperament of their callings!hilosophical wor(s that went with this Taoist stance made much of Tao as beingwuwei, nonbeing or not doing, in the rather technical sense that the Tao is not aIthing’ or a Icause’ and does not produced by plan or through wor( &nstead, allthings just flow out of it freely or spontaneously in an endless stream of flu% andchange the person who is attuned to Tao lives life in this way. /)!);, pp 67F67?< *hen you hear people tal(ing about -going with the flow. this is thephilosophy they are pic(ing up on

    1o much of our lives can be ta(en up with trying to control people, places, andthings that we can drive ourselves cra>y &t sometimes helps to get in touch withthis Taoist perspective and remember that we really have very little control of theoutside world and so our energy might be better spent doing something else

    Religious Taoism

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    1o far we have been mostly tal(ing about the ideas inherent in Taoism &n otherwords, we have studied Taoism as a philosophy "ut Taoism would also pic( upall the dressings of ordinary religions -&t was religious Taoism with its populargods and =uest for immortality that too( lasting institutional form &ts roots arecomple%, reach far bac( into the mur(y past, and are far from ade=uately traced.

    /)!);, p 67?< This is the Taoism of the ordinary people rather than the sagesand the hermits

    One of these manifestations was the pic(ing up and worshipping of many gods!erhaps more gods were found in religious Taoism than even in +induism -Thesupreme deity in religious Taoism was the 5ade $mperor, a personal highgod for the masses that were ineligible to worship +eaven directly he was enthroned inthe !ole 1tar Around him was his court: the Three !ure Ones Jaot>u, the@ellow $mperor /mythical first sovereign of China

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    Do we have an idea of how Taoism appeared to the common people of ChinaE*ell, we can be sure it rarely ever appeared in its purity as a single vision ofreality -Taoism is usually presented as but one of the spiritual traditions of China,and not the most prestigious in the eyes of traditional scholars "ut the attitudesof religious Taoism came closest to the spiritual world of the vast majority of

    ordinary people $ven "uddhism and Confucianism became -Taoici>ed. in '%lt%sthough not in doctrine and morals whatever their origin, most plain peoplethought of the "uddhas, $odhisattvas, and even Confucius himself asimmortali>ed humans now become spirits and able to send down blessings fromabove Taoist and "uddhist priests served interchangeably in many localities, buttheir major functions, such as funerals and e%orcisms and village festivals, wereTaoist /that is to say, popular Chinese< in style To be sure, popular Taoismborrowed the use of images and its =uasimonastic clerical organi>ation from"uddhism and the bureaucratic model of its pantheon from Confucianism butthose are historical matters, not at all readily apparent to the person on thestreet. /)!);, p 67H<

    *e can brea( up these different movements in a class li(e this, but the actuale%perience of the Chinese people was less Taoist or Confucian as much as itwas simply -Chinese religion,. something that combined different movements intoone grand picture of the world and the human place in it -&n popular religion, themajor traditions unite to form a single spiritual world. /)!);, p 697<

    omen in Taoism

    Taoism was much more open to the feminine and the virtues that were believedto be associated with women and @in energy -Taoism has ta(en an immense

    variety of forms over the centuries, which include philosophical and religiousforms, the latter incorporating mysticism, shamanism, se%ual practices, andmagic in a syncretistic blend that is virtually indistinguishable in many cases fromChinese popular religion *e can find Chinese women in most all of Taoism’smanifestations, perhaps because of Taoism’s emphasis on nature and thefeminine, which opened the pathway for women’s participation. /)!);, pp 6969G< &t is not surprising then that women would turn to Taoism to meet theirspiritual needs &t offered them a deeper validity then the -masculine. emphasisfound in Confucianism

    *here order and control are the imagery associated with Confucianism, nurturingand natural growth are associated with the imagery of Taoism -As we alreadyhave seen, the Tao Te Ching ma(es ready use of feminine symbolism to describethe Tao The Tao is the creative source, which is potential itself and out of whichflows e%istence an e%istence sustained by the Tao Istream,’ just as a mothergives birth out of her womb to a child, who is then nourished at her breast Assaid in the Tao Te Ching:

    The $reath of life moves thro%gh a deathless valley 

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    (f mysterio%s motherhood Whi'h 'on'eives and $ears the %niversal seed,The seeming of a orld never to end,Breath for men to dra from as they ill:

     !nd the more they take of it, the more remains# /)!);, p 69G<

    This imagery of the Tao is li(e a mother who gives birth and then food to herchild 1he gives and gives, with no thought of return *e are told that this is agood way to view the Tao Always giving, but never running out &t is infinite in itscapacity to serve and bring forth new life -"ecause the feminine symbolism is sopervasive in Taoism, some scholars, such as $llen )arie Chen, have concludedthat Taoism has ties to an ancient )other 2oddess and the Tao itself is the 2reat)other. /)!);, p 69G< ;emale imagery represents some of the earliestreligious symbols we have going bac( into prehistoric times and the tribalreligions Considering the fact that the concept of the Tao goes bac( further thaneither Taoism or Confucianism this theory of the Tao being a symbol of the divine

    feminine ma(es a lot of sense to me & have read a boo( where Taoism isdescribed as the -way of the )other.

    *ith all of this emphasis on the feminine you have to wonder why China was socaught up in the patriarchal world "ut in an ironical way it played into patriarchyby stressing the @in aspect against the @ang aspect of Confucianism And @in’srole is not to fight @ang, but to move with it as in a dance one person leads andthe other follows

    &t goes against the nature of @in to be too belligerent -Taoism see(s a balance of the )in and )ang  just as does Confucianism, but for Taoism that balance is

    struc( by grounding it in the)in&

    Thus, the way of the Tao is%*ei *

    going withthe flow, which is associated with the Inatural’ passivity and fle%ibility of womenThus, women were deemed to be naturally good Taoists "ut Taoism does notappear to have moved women beyond patriarchal norms &nstead, perhapsbecause Taoism was a reaction to the rigidity of Confucianism, and perceivedConfucianism as Itoo )ang+ in its striving to construct a structured society, Taoismused the patriarchal stereotype of )in as an antidote 1ignificantly, whateverinfluence Taoism had, it never had much of an impact on the social orderprescribed by Confucian norms, and thus generally did not move women out oftheir subordinated roles 1till, Taoism’s emphasis on the inner self, feelings, andimagination must have provided a spiritual outlet for women the Iinside’members of the family. /)!);, p 69G< 1o Taoism may have actuallyencouraged a political and social situation of suppression while at the same timehelping women find some serenity and peace with their situation and somemeans of e%pressing their own desires and aspirations

    &n a limited way women were able to ta(e part in Taoist spiritual practices andeven leadership that was completely impossible in Confucianism -0eligiousTaoism drew from shamanism /which had been central to Chinese popular

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    religion< the belief that women especially are receptive to Divine inspiration This,together with the perceived need for a complementary balance of )in and )ang  in all aspects of life, paved the way for an openness toward the participation ofwomen in nearly all levels of religious Taoism, despite the patriarchal norms ofmainstream Chinese society. /)!);, p 69G< *omen were the healers and

    channels of messages and insights from the other side of life This was of suchprimary interest for people that if a woman showed talent in this area she coulde%perience a great deal of freedom that might have otherwise passed her by

    "ut the highest positions in Taoism were never in the hands of women, eventhose who were highly recogni>ed The fortunes of women also varied with thetimes 1ome epochs were more open to women than others -$arly on Taoismdeveloped a patriarchal leadership with the Celestial )asters, who were thehighest administrators, and who were and are men +owever, even then womenheld prominent leadership positions e=ually with men as libationers /whoprovided the ritual and moral leadership of Taoism< and as officials over the

    districts *omen were ordained e=ually with men in all ran(s, e%cept the highestran( that of Divine Jord *omen also founded Taoist sects and were reveredadepts, masters, alchemists, and scholars And convents were founded so thatwomen could be free of ordinary social ties in order to pursue spiritual lives./)!);, pp 69G667< During recent times under Communism people of religion,whether men or women, e%perienced a great deal of repression *e will studythis more ne%t wee(

    Taoism provided some balance in China to the patriarchal customs that were apart of the times and enforced by Confucian views on the nature of socialharmony -Taoism provided an alternative view that venerated women and thus

    opposed the subjugating tendencies of the primarily patriarchal society)oreover, it offered significant leadership opportunities for women and providedan option for women outside the strictures of mainstream, patriarchal Confuciansociety as Taoist priestesses, nuns, and shamanesses "ut in all this we mustta(e note that Taoism as religious institution was marginal at best in Chinesesociety, relegated to the lowest levels Conse=uently, the participation of women,even at the highest levels, did little to raise the social status of the womeninvolved. /)!);, p 667< "ut real freedom for women did not come in Chinauntil the Communist ta(e over, and even that freedom has only slowly andsometimes haltingly progressed

    The Negative !ide of Taoism

    The negative side of Taoism is apparent in the history of China Despite this greatand important teaching China has had a hard time putting these principles intopractice China has had times of peace, but it has also had horrible times of warand pillage and destruction And because China’s history is so long, it has muchto answer for & don’t thin( this is unfair &f we as( Christians to answer tohistorical injustices li(e the witch hunts and the Crusades, and more recent

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    problems such as the general silence of Christians during the holocaust, then it isfair to as( China why this great teaching has failed to bring about its promise of agood and decent society and spiritual fulfillment for the majority of the peopleOnce again we are thrown bac( upon the human condition *e have to as(ourselves why the great ideas of the world seem to not touch our core where

    they can wor( their magicE *hat prevents us from putting these great teachingsinto practiceE

    One thing seems for sure and that is that no one religion has a monopoly on thisfailure to reali>e its potential *e find this problem wherever we find people &nthe end & thin( the religions sometimes get blamed for what is ultimately not areligious problem, but a human problem This is a human problem because wefind the same situation outside of the religions as well as in them 5ust thin( ofsecular ideals of countries such as the #nited 1tates, which has had such adifficult time living up to its own Declaration of &ndependence and "ill of 0ights

    "ecause Taoism was so unstructured, loose, and open it tended to allow andeven promote the worse beliefs and practices of a naMve and gullible people +owmany people wasted their hopes and resources paying for fortunes that were liesand amulets that did not wor(E +ow many people spent their life savings onmiracle cures or hope for immortality that was promoted by the unscrupulousETaoism promoted a profound philosophical view of reality, but often the Taoismpracticed by the unlettered peasants was simply a retreat into superstition andmagic, rather than a march forward into greater spiritual consciousness andcompassion

    Taoism played its role in (eeping Chinese women oppressed as we have already

    seen This is a continual problem with all of the patriarchal religions "ut we alsohave to loo( at the role Chinese religion played in (eeping all of the people sooppressed that when Communism came in the people welcomed yet a newoppression thin(ing it would lead them where they wanted to go The heart of allreligions seems to have an ideal of liberation, however that is e%pressed *emust as( religion to be accountable for all of its oppression and failure to bringabout its promised liberation

    The "nfluence of Taoism in #merica

    Taoism as a religion has played a limited role in America -Taoism in the 4ew*orld has had two (inds of vehicles: the practice of religious Taoism by Chinese

     Americans, and the general cultural influence of Taoist themes. /)!);, p 66<Taoism as a philosophy has played a much larger, although subtle, role

    0eligious Taoism can sometimes be found in Chinese communities, especially intheir public celebrations such as 4ew @ears with its wonderful foods and e%oticparades -The other side is martial arts studies, surfers wearing emblems withthe )in*)ang symbol of the Tao, macrobiotic diets, e%ercises li(e tai 'hi 'h%an,

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    Chinese medicine practices li(e acupuncture and the ta(ing of traditionalChinese herbs, the practices of feng sh%i, and even important aspects of thethin(ing that has gone into the ecological movement 4ot all of this is Taoist in thestrictest sense of the word, but all are based on cultural imports from China orthe Chinese cultural sphere and stem from broadly Taoist concepts: the

    importance of balancing energies of humans living in harmony with nature,wor(ing with nature rather than against and of isolating and releasing the innerbiologicalNspiritual energy called chi. /)!);, p 66H<

    )any of us are becoming interested in -alternative. medical cures and treatmentsand preventive health issues 1o much of this new understanding of medicine inthe *est is actually old medicine in the $ast & place a lot of hope in what iscalled &ntegral )edicine This will be medicine practiced by those who want tocombine *estern and $astern understanding of health so that the best of both ismade available while the worse of each is eliminated

    &t is not as easy to find a Taoist teacher, as it might be to find a "uddhist teacher)ost major cities and many smaller ones have any number of "uddhist templesand teachers of various schools available "ut we don’t see this same availabilitywith Taoism -A few centers and movements teaching philosophical and spiritualTaoism, sometimes including Taoist yoga and meditation, have appeared in

     America )uch more widespread have been martial arts studios *hile certainlynot e%actly religious, the martial arts centers often help students prepare fortraining through meditation and Icentering’ of consciousness, and above allemphasi>e the importance of releasing the 'hi and the intuitive direct insight thatgoes with it all fundamentally Taoist, whatever the nationality or formal affiliationof the center 1omewhat the same can be said of clinics practicing Chinese

    medicine &ts premises are that health is recovered through opening cloggedchannels through which the 'hi should pass, using such techni=ues asacupuncture, and through restoring a proper harmony of )in and )ang  and thefive elements in the body. /)!);, pp 66H66B< And it is good to (eep in mindthat one of the most popular forms of "uddhism in America, en "uddhism, isreally a marriage of "uddhism and Taoism They have much in common and it isanother way that Taoism is influencing us without our sometimes even beingaware of it

    ;or these reasons, -it may be that Taoism has really had more cultural influencein America than other $astern religions whose temples and centers are far morevisible. /)!);, p 66B< "ut then if Taoism has such a powerful, but subtle,influence this would play into Taoism’s philosophy perfectly ;or Taoism is the-watercourse way. &t is the way of leading without people being aware that theyare being ledK

    4ow let’s turn to China’s twin tradition, Confucianism

    Confucianism$ Confucius and the Confucian Classics

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    Confucianism spends most of its time teaching about the importance of humanrelations &f we can base our relationships on the natural laws of the universe,where everything plays its uni=ue role, then we will e%perience the sameharmony found in the heavens, that is, in the Tao -The Confucian tradition is

    named after the philosopher Confucius /9?BG "C$

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    This is not so far off from the current idea that we study the humanities becausethey ma(e us more human

    $ventually Confucian adherents added the teachings of Confucius himself to thisre=uired classical education along with a number of other wor(s -;our other

    boo(s from shortly after the time of Confucius are also canonical and bear theputative seal of the master’s authority: the Analects /containing the rememberedwords of Confucius himself

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    monastery or something li(e that @ou just had to do the best you could with theposition you found yourself in -This change to becoming what one -is. /called-rectification of names.< must first of all be within One must be motivated byvirtue, or ren, a typically vague but elo=uent term suggestive of humanity, love,high principle, and living together in harmony &t is the way of the jun>i, the

    superior man, who, as the Confucian ideal suggests, is a man at once a scholar,a selfless servant of society, and a gentleman steeped in courtesy and traditionas an official and family head, he continually puts philosophy into practice./)!);, p 9< To be motivated by ren was to bring your life into harmony withthe Tao

    &t might be interesting to (now that this =uality of ren was not enforced from onhigh There was not a belief in a divine being who would punish you if you did notmove toward a greater participation in virtue There was even a reali>ation thatvirtue might bring problems into your life rather than blessings After all, doing theright thing can be difficult "ut Confucius believed and taught /and apparently

    modeled that virtue was its own reward and that a virtuous person was soattractive that other people naturally wanted to be li(e them -There follows afundamental satisfaction from acting in accordance with the real nature of thingsthat the virtueless devotee of passion and gain can never (now and that finallyma(es such a person’s life hollow ;or Confucianism has generally believed thatthe basic nature of man(ind is good &t is only perverted by bad e%ternal e%ampleor bad social environment, and people will turn naturally to the good when goode%amples and social conditions are present To ma(e them present is the weightyresponsibility of the ruler, advised by Confucian sages. /)!);, p 9< This is avery positive view of the human and not at all shared by all of the religions we willstudy

    1ocrates, the 2ree( philosopher, also taught that we naturally see( what is goodand what will ma(e us happy &f we choose wrongly it is because we are ignorantof what will bring true happiness, but not because we naturally lean toward eviland what is selfish &f you believe in this more positive form of understanding thehuman condition then you will see why education is so important *e may benaturally good, but we are also ignorant *e need others to help us find our way

    5ust li(e beautiful dancers must learn their steps and then practice, often for along time, so we must learn and practice the virtues -$%ternal influences, then,can aid in the inner development of ren& This leads to another very importantConfucian term li &t indicates rites, proper conduct, ceremonies, courtesy, doingthings the right way. /)!);, p 9< &t is a little li(e learning good manners, butmuch more powerful and subtle "ut just as good manners can help usunderstand how to behave in certain social situations, so li teaches us how to behuman

    &f this does not ma(e a whole lot of sense too you then another way to thin(about li is to thin( of someone who has a great deal of grace A graceful person

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    creates =uite an impression *e can see how attractive they are and why li mightbe a good thing to (now aboutK Ji is what ma(es us human -"ut li needs to beunderstood as Confucius understood it, not as cold or mere -formalism. but as asupremely humani>ing act Animals act out of the lust or violent emotion of themoment, but man(ind can rise above this in the societies it creates, and li

    e%emplifies this potential -i e%presses a society that becomes a great dance andthus incarnates harmony. /)!);, p 9<

    -&n ritual, everyone acts out proper relationships and has a structured place0itual generates order in place of chaos and nurtures Irectification of names’ &tcan be hoped that if a person acts out, if only ritually, the proper conduct of his or her station in life often enough, in time he or she will interiori>e the action, andthe inner and outer will become one: the ritual father a true father, the ritualprince a true prince -i, then, is meant to stimulate ren, even as melodious musicinduces calmness and heroic poetry valor. /)!);, p 9< +ave you evernoticed how music influences you, especially your emotionsE +ave you ever

    noticed how you feel when in beautiful surroundings and how you feel when youare in ugly surroundingsE & am sure you must have These are real things we cane%perience for ourselves Confucius simply draws out the implications in a formalway

    Nature or !ociet%&

    "ut rather than finding his model in nature, as do the Taoists, Confucius believedthat it was in society that we could best practice virtue /ren< and learn li *ebecome more human by learning the necessary s(ills of living in harmony withothers -1ociety for Confucius was founded on the -five relationships.: /9< ruler

    and subject, /6< father and son, /F< husband and wife, /?< elder and youngerbrother, /< friend and friend &n all of these, proper behavior, li, was re=uired togive what is simply biological or spontaneous the structure that ma(es it intohuman society calm and enduring for the benefit of all. /)!);, p 9< *e areall involved in more relationships than just these five, but Confucius taught that ifwe could get these five relationships right then all of the other ones would fall intoplace

    Confucius taught that the most difficult relationship was that between father andson This was the hinge on which all of our other relationships would turn -Thecornerstone relationship is the second father and son A son was e%pected tonegate his own feelings and individuality in deference to the wishes and pleasureof his father in filial piety ;atherson becomes the primal model of aninterpersonal relationship and in Confucianism it is in interpersonal relationshipsthat man is humani>ed and Tao is manifested &f this relationship can berectified, then all other relationships will also fall into place. /)!);, p 9< *enow can confirm from modern psychological studies some of the wisdom of thisConfucian position *e (now that our unresolved issues with our parents often

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    have a way of rearing their heads in our other relationships To fi% a newerrelationship we often have to go bac( to the originating issue and heal it there

    "ut one might wonder why this issue would be between fathers and sons ratherthan mothers and daughters or mothers and sons *ell a great deal of this has to

    do with the patriarchal age that Confucius lived in There is simply no way aroundthat and modern psychology has proven this as well "ut there was also a (eeninsight in Confucian thought that is important not to miss

    5ust because Confucius might not have gotten it all right according to modernperspectives does not mean that he was completely wrong in what he did teach&t could be correct even though it is limited The insight seems to be that themother child relationship is a more natural relationship There is a bonding thatta(es place that is different with a mother than it is with a father, who, fore%ample, does not carry the child within him for nine monthsK That is why menhave to wor( at bonding with their children more than women /in general, there

    are always e%ceptions

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    came a more dogmatic and orthodo% understanding of what it meant to be aConfucian

    The '(an !%nthesis) and *in-*ang

     At the same time that Confucianism became more formal, it also started to blendwith Taoism and other native traditions of China into a more holistic pattern ofdaily life that integrated different insights into the life of the people -The I+an1ynthesis’ generously incorporated Taoist and other traditional motifs intoConfucianismThis was the wor( of Dong hongshu /c 9BG 97? "C$

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    beyond gender )ang is what is male, but also day, s(y, spring, and all that isbright, clear, hard, assertive, growing, moving out &ts symbol is the dragon )in isfemale, and also night, earth, moisture, autumn and harvest, spirits of the dead,and all that is dar(, underneath, recessive, pulling in, connected with the moon,mysterious &ts symbol is the tiger, which may be thought of as "la(e’s -Tyger,

    tyger burning brightN&n the forests of the night. emblematic of the arcane,inward, unfathomable, yet unescapable in human life. /)!);, p 9G7< This is afascinating concept because it deals with a perennial philosophical problem in avery creative way This philosophical problem is phrased in the *est as theproblem between the dualists and the monists The monists see reality as madeup of one substance and the dualists tend to see reality as divided up into twobasic substances, matter and spirit

    The Chinese also recogni>ed this problem but they found that neither answerwas fully satisfying To say that everything is one ma(es understanding changesand relationships difficult, but to say everything is two is to put a fundamental

    divide into the middle of the cosmos 1o the Chinese tal( about two, but the twoare not opposed as in duality, but complementary as in polarity 4ight and dayare not opposed to each other, but different aspects of one twentyfour hourperiod And there are even times in this twentyfour hours when they blend intoeach other such as at dawn and it seems to be neither day nor night &n the sameway, good and evil are not two opposed forces, but simply different aspects ofone whole *hat we e%perience as evil is not something that is real in itself, butsimply a result of the lac( of balance between yin and yang forces This has aninteresting impact on how evil is dealt with &nstead of trying to eliminate evil-once and for all. you would, using the Chinese model, try to find the imbalanceand fi% it so as to bring about the needed harmony

    @in and yang are not moral issues &t is not better to be one then to be another -&tmust be emphasi>ed that philosophically )ang and )in are by no means either-good. or -bad. 4either is -better. than the other They are both neutral, li(egravitation To (eep going, the universe needs both, and they need to interact ina balanced way Too much of either brings disaster, just as rain and sun are bothnecessary in their places, but too much of either brings flood or drought. /)!);,p 9G7< The goal is always to find harmony together rather than one or the other=uality alone This is not so different form Aristotle’s idea about what he calledthe golden mean )oderation is the goal The "uddha seems to have also had asimilar insight with his teaching of the )iddle *ay

    This tas( is not so easy, but it is well worth the effort because we are influencedby this balance /or lac( thereof< in everything from our health to our livingenvironment &n fact there is a whole new -modern. decorating movement basedon these ideas of balancing yin and yang energies -The tas( of humanity is to(eep these two eternal antagonists and partners, the dragon and the tiger, inproper balance, for our place is between them, and we are finally to interiori>ethem both An elaborate art called fengshui arose to determine, according to

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    )ang*)in Ibearings,’ the most auspicious locations for houses, businesses,tombs, and temples, between, say, a roc( considered )ang and a treedetermined as )in& /)uch more was involved in the full system of feng*sh%i  andof correspondences, too the values of the five Ielements’ or modes of naturalactivity fire, water, earth, metal, and wood each of which corresponded with

    seasons, colors, tones, and so forth< ;inally, particularly in esoteric Taoism, onesought through alchemical potions and yogic practices to bring to e=uilibrium thetwo forces within oneself and thus achieve immortality &t is )ang*)in imbalancethat results in decay and death One who has them in as perfect harmony as the2reat Tao itself will be as deathless as the great Tao Confucianism has alwaysemphasi>ed finding a balance and (eeping away from too much or too little ofanything. /)!);, pp 9G79G9< *hile Confucianism is not a modern religiousmovement in any significant way in the #nited 1tates, these Confucian ideasabout balance are starting to infiltrate and have an impact on American society &thin( this is probably because they ma(e a lot of sense to people @ou don’t haveto believe them so much as chec( them out and see if they wor(

     As Confucianism grew in importance, so did the class of Confucian scholars-The importance of the mandarin scholar class in Chinese tradition can hardly beoveremphasi>ed Three things set them apart: /9< They were bearers of theongoing tradition as dynasties rose and fell /6< they were uni=ue as a class inability to read and write well and /F< in theory they were not a hereditaryaristocracy, but an elite of brains who attained their positions in academiccompetition. /)!);, p 9G6< &n fact, our modern civil service e%ams are basedon an idea that was practiced in China @ou were able to rise up in the society tothe e%tant that you could pass a test and you could not wor( for the governmentunless you could meet minimum standards

    Neo-Confucianism

    Confucianism underwent many changes, especially as it interacted with theteachings of Taoism and eventually "uddhism And just as +induism changedand adapted to the criti=ue of "uddhism, so Confucianism changed and thesechanges began to be grouped together under the heading of 4eoConfucianism-4eoConfucianism began as a movement in the eleventh and twelfth centuriesduring the 1ong Dynasty /GH7967 C$< and became the authoritativeinterpretation of the Confucian intellectual tradition !artly in response to theissues raised by Taoist and particularly "uddhist thought, 4eoConfucianphilosophers greatly enhanced their tradition’s metaphysical foundation &tbecame a comprehensive worldview concerned with the nature of mind and theultimate origin of things, and with simple methods of meditation, as well as asocial philosophy, although it never lost the ideal that the philosopher finds joy inthe midst of family and social life, not in permanent withdrawal from them./)!);, pp 9G9GH<

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    -Two leading 4eoConfucianists were hu Pi /also written as Chu +si, 99F79677< and *ang @angming /or *ang 1houren, 9?B696G

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    little humiliations inflicted upon a proud people by the presence of privileged andoften insensitive and e%ploitative foreigners went far beyond the immediate termsof the treaties forced on China by these foreign powers &t resulted in thediscrediting of Chinese authority itself in the eyes of many thoughtful persons,the whole system upon which it was based, down to its ideological and religious

    roots, seemed anachronistic and discredited as well A host of alternatives,ranging from reactionary to radical, arose to try to fill the void. /)!);, p 69F<

    )any people had to wonder if Confucianism was of any use anymore +ow couldthe Taoists deal with these new forcesE *here would the "uddhists draw thelineE !eople were confused and sha(en up *e have seen the same thinghappen in &ndia *hen ancient, or 'edic, +induism did not meet the needs of thepeople you had other movements li(e "uddhism and 5ainism arise The$uropean $nlightenment brought a similar disturbance to the mind of peopleeven if they only e%perienced it as an unconscious tension The world waschanging and the old ideas were not (eeping up This is the same situation that

    the Chinese found themselves in

    0eligious and philosophical thought varied under the Communist rule, the form of government and life that eventually emerged form this chaotic period of turmoiland change 1ometimes religions were allowed some freedom as long as theydid not pose a threat to the new government, but there were times of cruelsuppression -The 2reat Cultural 0evolution of 9GHH to 9GHG, with the young 0ed2uards in its vanguard, swept through China, leaving virtually no locale orinstitution untouched They were fired by a drive to suppress all that was old anda desire, perhaps contrived by the aging )ao edong /Chinese Communism’scharismatic leader

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    thing to do because religion touches people’s core values and these valuesdemand e%pression

    *e live in interesting times, when things are moving at a very fast speed *hatwill things be li(e in China in another fifty yearsE They could be very different

    -Only time will tell whether the traditions have been bro(en irrevocably or onlysubmerged Iunderground,’ waiting for a more welcoming time 3They8 still survivein Taiwan, +awaii, 1ingapore, and other Chinese outposts outside the !eople’s0epublic of China but on the mainland, for that vast majority of Chinese whorepresent a =uarter of the earth’s population, the situation is unclear but certainlyvery different. /)!);, p 69< !erhaps there will be some new forms of thetraditional religions emerging or perhaps Chinese people will move into a moresecular stance, as $urope seems to be doing &t is hard to predict these thingsbecause the world is changing so fast "ut & suspect spirituality, if notconventional religion, will find a way to spring forth it always has and & see noevidence that people who are less religious necessarily become less spiritual

    omen in Classical Confucianism

    Confucian thought tends to be more masculine than Taoist thought "ut bothforms of religion were cultivated during the historical time we call the patriarchy

     As a result, women e%perienced the same repression in China as they didelsewhere in the world -Confucianism, as we have seen, provided an entiresocial vision grounded in relationships &n the Confucian worldview, each personis to perform his or her role in accordance with the Confucian ideali>ation of thatrole The result of this is believed to be a wellorgani>ed, wellfunctioning society as if everyone in society were performing a great dance *hile Confucius

    himself did not emphasi>e the cosmic implications of this, Confucianismnevertheless related its social vision to the cosmic order As we shall see, thisresulted in the religiocultural institution of the subordination of women to men,greatly limiting women’s participation in and influence on the Idance,’ while at thesame time ac(nowledging the role of women in Confucian society as a respectedand necessary one. /)!);, p 69<

     A woman’s life was centered on the family, the private sphere of life &t was theman’s role to deal with the outside world, the public sphere This was so stronglyenforced that sometimes the women were (ept in inner apartments of homes andnot allowed into the more public rooms where the men conversed and didbusiness And because this was understood to be in the nature of the -dance.itself there was no room left to argue about the justice of this situation

    This situation was so e%treme at times that women were not even given status asreal people in a certain sense until after they married -A young girl was notconsidered to be a part of her natal family, and, therefore, was not a part of anyancestral line &t was not until marriage that she attained a recogni>ed place in afamily and her name was included on the ancestral tablets on the family altar &t is

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    not surprising then that the marriage ceremony was the most significant and lifetransforming event in a Chinese woman’s life 1he then had a recogni>ed andrespected role in the Confucian social order as wife. /)!);, p 69H< *hen werecogni>e the importance one’s ancestors were held in Chinese thought we willunderstand why it was important for a woman to be married before she died This

    is the way she could be remembered and honored Otherwise it would be almostli(e she had never e%isted

    *ith this sort of perspective a daughter was not always very welcomed and thisof course led to problems 1ometimes she was even (illed "ut if she wasaccepted then her training would all be geared towards being a wife and mother-The marriage relationship itself, in accordance with the Confucian ideal, involvedvery defined roles and much formality between the couple The couple generallywas segregated in the household e%cept for sleeping A wife was to e%emplify)in /passive, plaint< in order to provide the harmonious complement to thehusband’s )ang /active, firme with his This was perceived toreflect the cosmic order, where +eaven /identified with the husband

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    be said that women were not hated and despised They were simply seen in asubordinate role and they were e%pected to play their role as well as possible"ut even though subordinate, it was also a recogni>ed and crucial role as theywere the teachers and models in the family, and if the family was to be the modelfor society, then the women needed to be the primary teachers This gave

    women a certain amount of status and respect

    omen in the People+s Republic of China

    Communism too( a heavy toll on the fortunes of religion, but at the same time itopened doors to women that had always been closed *omen achieved legale=uality and moved toward greater social freedom and participation -&n theirefforts to purge Chinese society of religion, however, the Communist reformersopened new doors to women as well They sought to eradicate the oppressionsthey saw as pervading Confucianism, and this included the oppression ofwomen )ao edong saw in women a great resource for his cause as

    revolutionaries and as wor(ers in the new Communist economic system Accordingly, he was a great supporter of the reform of women’s role in Chinesesociety, declaring that Iwomen hold up half the s(y’ Although the trend hadbegun in the 0epublican period, under Communism women were encouraged tofind roles Ioutside’ in the economy and in politics, as well as Iinside’ asparticipants in family life. /)!);, p 66?< This was one of the attractions of thenew government and what was perceived as truly a revolution Things wereturned upside down and people found the old being thrown out and the newwelcomed

    "ut as we (now from other similar situations, change below the surface ta(es

    much longer @ou can change the laws, but it is more difficult to change people’shearts and attitudes And simply because women were liberated to wor( outsideof the home did not necessarily mean they were liberated to leadershipparticipation -To be made a part of a regimented and overwor(ed labor forcealong with men is not necessarily liberation And few women attained topleadership roles The hidden history of Communist China includes terrible butlongconcealed famines, the result of misguided government policies, in whichwomen and children suffered most of all 4onetheless, the !arty sought to enddowry and e%pensive wedding ceremonies, made divorce more readily available,and promoted education for women These social changes have radically alteredwomen’s lives *omen now wor( outside of the home in factories, sales, andother business roles, politics, educational institutions in all aspects of Chinesesociety, albeit still not to the same degree or level as men. /)!);, p 66?<

    1ometimes we can be frustrated by the slow pace of change, especially in anyone woman’s lifetime, but when we ta(e a larger perspective we will notice thatchanges have come remar(ably fast and thousands of years of traditions arebeing overturned relatively =uic(ly @oung women have all sorts of opportunitiesthat were unthin(able to their grandmothers )ajor societal changes li(e this are

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    always difficult and sometimes people ta(e two steps bac( for every three stepsforward "ut it would be difficult to believe that there could be a return to theprevious oppression any more than there could be a return to slavery

    1o even though many unfortunate things have happened under Communism, it

    does seem to have been a good thing for women generally -&n many respectswomen’s lives often are better today than in traditional Chinese society *omenare now full citi>ens, having gained to a large degree e=ual status with menunder the law, if not in practice Although women have not achieved full e=uality,they play a much greater role, participating in the political structure at least insome measure and by wor(ing outside the home &nfanticide has been curbed, ifnot eliminated footbinding has been abolished and the sale of women is nolonger permitted And in recent years, the !arty’s hard line toward religion hassoftened, providing renewed opportunities for women in the religions of China@et, there continue to be reports of the repression of women, especially thoseinvolved in religiously motivated dissident activity, including Tibetan "uddhists,

    0oman Catholics, !rotestants, and those in banned religious groups. /)!);, p66< *hile we can rejoice in any progress accomplished by and for women, we(now that China and the rest of the world still have a long way to go "ut at leastwe seem to be moving in the right direction

    The Negative !ide of Confucianism

    Confucianism offers a way of life that can bring about harmony by helping peoplefind their proper role and then encouraging them to do so "ut the problems withConfucianism become immediately apparent The system can =uic(ly becometoo rigid as the caste system in &ndia did The roles people are allowed to fulfill

    become so restricted that there is not a lot of room for growth or individuality Andgreat injustices can be perpetuated by the system not allowing protest ;ore%ample, in a family where the father ruled as (ing no one could challenge him1o if he were a tyrant or cruel there was nothing anyone could do There isevidence that people sometimes felt that suicide was their only option for gettingout of such a horrible situation

    The religions of China played their role in (eeping the women oppressed as wehave already seen This is a continual problem with all of the patriarchal religions"ut we also have to loo( at the role Chinese religion played in (eeping all of thepeople so oppressed that when Communism came in the people welcomed yet anew oppression thin(ing it would lead them where they wanted to go The heartof all religions seems to have an ideal of liberation, however that is e%pressed*e must as( religion to be accountable for all of its oppression and failure tobring about its promised liberation Confucianism has had little influence onmodern America although it still plays a role in some ChineseAmerican families

    !ummar%

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    Taoism, with its stress on mystical unity with all of nature and with suchnonrational aspects of human life as love of beauty, fantasy, and personalimmortality, has provided compensation for the rational the ethical character ofConfucianism Taoism sought to align human life with the Tao, the universal *ay,or with the will of +eaven for Taoists, this *ay is in nature, beauty, fantasy, and

    mystical e%perience outside the corrupting influence of society. /)!);, pp 6?F6??< *ill Taoism and Confucian reemerge in new formsE +ow will peoplee%press their religious aspirations in the new global villageE And how will theliberation of women that has come so far in China influence the Chineseunderstanding or religionE This will be fascinating to watch as it is bound to bringdeep and lasting changes

    Confucianism gave us a loo( at another side of Chinese culture and philosophy-Confucianism, deriving from the teaching of Confucius and other philosophers,as well as from ancient Chinese attitudes, is perhaps the most pervasive spiritualforce of all in $ast Asia &t has emphasi>ed the importance of inward virtue, the

    obligations of the individual to family and society, and rites and forms throughwhich these are e%pressed Taoism, with its stress on mystical unity with all ofnature and with such nonrational aspects of human life as love of beauty, fantasy,and personal immortality, has provided compensation for the rational the ethicalcharacter of Confucianism "oth sought to align human life with the Tao, theuniversal *ay, or with the will of +eaven for Confucianism it was supremelyfound in a good society for Taoists, it is in nature, beauty, fantasy, and mysticale%perience outside the corrupting influence of society. /)!);, pp 6?F6??<

    "oth of these ways on their own have wea(nesses that are largely repaired bythe other tradition, which is probably why they go together so well even though

    they can come across as opposed -&n the popular religion of traditional China,Confucianism, Taoism, and "uddhism combined with ancestrism, seasonalfestivals, and local deities to ma(e up a colorful comple%. /)!);, p 6??< All ofthese different traditions have made the Chinese culture as rich as it is

    *e also loo(ed at Chinese thought since the Communist revolution &t still seemstoo early to decide how it will all turn out ;inally we loo(ed at the influence ofChinese religious and philosophical thought in America and found it to be morepervasive then you might at first thin( & thin( we will continue to see a growth ininfluence as it becomes clearer that the answer to many problems such asmedical and ecological issues will only be found as we combine the wisdom ofthe $ast with the *isdom of the *est into a new, integral wisdom

    &n the ne%t lecture we will change gears as we move to the )iddle $ast andstudy 5udaism

    !ummar% ,ased on oachim ach+s Three Forms of Religious ./pression$0P0F1 p2 345

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    ;undamental features of Taoism

    T(.6R.T"C#L

    "asic *orldview The universe is one, yet always moving and changing

    2od or #ltimate 0eality The Tao, the great *ay down which the universemoves

    Origin of the *orldN An e%pression of the Tao, withoutDestiny of the *orlda (nown beginning or end

    Origin of +umansN An e%pression of the Tao, to shareDestiny of +umans in its neverending evolution One

    may become immortal by masteringthe Tao and its power

    0evelation or )ediation The teachings of JaoT>u and other"etween the #ltimate sages "enign immortals or godsand The +uman can be honored and serve as helpers

    PR#CT"C#L

    *hat &s $%pected of To live spontaneously and close to+umans: *orship, nature in more formal systems, to!ractices, "ehavior mediate and perform rites that draw

    one close to gods and immortals

    !6C"6L67"C#L

    )ajor 1ocial &nstitutions Temples, monasteries, the Taoist priesthood

    1ummary "ased on 5oachim *ach’s Three ;orms of 0eligious $%pression:)!);, p 9G?

    ;undamental features of Confucianism

    T(.6R.T"C#L

    "asic *orldview The universe is a unity under heaven,of which humans are an integral part;or humans, family and society are the most important lin(s to the

    universe

    2od or #ltimate 0eality -+eaven. or Tian, regulating the world and moralorder

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    Origin of the *orldN 'ague, but world originates fromDestiny of the *orldheaven and proceeds through interaction of @in and @angand the five -principle. or elements

    Origin of +umans 'ague ultimately from heaven and earth

    Destiny of +umans 4o stress on afterlife e%cept in terms of ancestrism &deal isto live a good life in this world through family and society

    0evelation or )ediation The teachings of Confucius and the"etween the #ltimate classics mediated by the educationaland The +uman system

    PR#CT"C#L

    *hat &s $%pected of To observe official and ancestral+umans: *orship, rites to honor parents and meet!ractices, "ehavior other ethical obligations One wor(s

    for a good society by e%ercisingbenevolence and practicing mutualitywith others, especially through the-five relationships.

    !6C"6L67"C#L)ajor 1ocial &nstitutions 2reat importance of family and of elite class alignedto state under empire

    ,ibliograph%$

    0obert 1 $llwood and "arbara A )c2raw, Many Peoples, Many Faiths: Womenand Men in the World Religions, Seventh Edition, 3#pper 1addle 0iver, 4ew5ersey: !rentice +all, 67768

    )ary !at ;isher, -iving Religions: ! Brief "ntrod%'tion, 3#pper 1addle 0iver, 4ew5ersey: !rentice +all, 67768

    Jewis ) +opfe and )ar( 0 *oodward, Religions of the World, Eighth Edition,3#pper 1addle 0iver, 4ew 5ersey: !rentice +all, 67798

    +uston 1mith, The "ll%strated World+s Religion: ! .%ide to o%r WisdomTraditions, 34ew @or(, 4ew @or(: +arperCollins !ublishers, 9GG?8