Compare And Contrast Buddhism And Confucianism

In the year 276, Mani died and the Han Dynasty had fallen to barbarian invaders from the north. From the years 220 to 589 A.D., the country was divided by the barbarians who ruled the north, and the south, who was ruled by a variety of ruling princes. Since there was no real form of a country, it significantly hurt all ancient traditions across the land, including Confucian traditions (Laine 90). Although way before this Confucianism was present in the country due to a man named Confucius, who lived from 551-479 BCE in an era of political unrest. Confucius attracted multiple students who all believed in his concept of Jen, or “human-heartedness”. Other religions in the nearby area focus on the spiritual life more than the physical life. Confucianism is grouped together with other major religions in the area but is completely different than religions such as Buddhism.

Confucianism is often linked with other religions in the area but differs by not being an organized religion (Doniger 251). Buddhism has many similarities to Confucianism but has significantly more differences. One of these main differences being that Buddhism originated around India while Confucianism originated in China. Buddhism started to slowly move into regions in the Chinese country. Followers of Buddhism were taught to follow the teaching of Buddha while followers of Confucianism were all students of Confucius himself. The Buddha was a figure that not all followers of the religion knew, but Confucius was someone that was physically there for his followers. The goal of Confucianism was to strengthen the brotherhood of humanity while Buddhism was focused more on the spiritual world and