Buddhism in China DBQ A little before the Tang dynasty there was the Han dynasty where Confucianism was a staple of daily life and government. When the Han dynasty dissolved and the Tang dynasty took authority. Buddhism began to spread widely all over China. Buddhism was met with all types of responses: some saw buddhism as a threat to Confucian family values, while some saw Buddhism as a way to disregard worldly pleasures and luxuries that would only bring them harm, and lastly some mixed on the concept of Buddhism had an issue with the ascetic lifestyle led by its followers. One of the responses to Buddhism in China was that it was thought that Buddhism was a threat to Confucian family values.
The nomadic threats in China continued for a long period of time and also Confucianism, which is philosophical teachings that was a major part of China’s bureaucracy is still taught all over Lu 7 Asia now as well as ancestral worships. Confucianism is the religion and belief system of most of Asia. It maintained a focus on family and the relationships in the family. Because of Buddhism and Confucianism being so popular, Confucianists mixed beliefs of Buddhism with Confucianism which led to Neo-Confucianism. Civil service exams were based on the teachings.
Because the Chinese during the Tang dynasty liked to create statues, they created a statue of Buddha, which represents the blend of cultures with the religion because of the Chinese’s devotion to the religion. Zong Mi, a leading Buddhist scholar, described that “Confucius, Laozi and the Buddha were perfect sages.” and states that their teachings were similar and that “...they must be observed with respect.” (Doc 6). Confucianism, founded by Confucius, and Daoism (Taoism) founded by Laozi are philosophies that were all founded in China and was very popular to Chinese people. With the spread of Buddhism in China, Zong Mi wanted to compare the three philosophies together to where they blend with one another, so that Buddhism would be a religion that can be accepted into the Chinese
Classical China Influences: Confucianism and Daoism The Confucius Analects and Daodejing contain underlying beliefs of how to live an effective lifestyle. The sayings of Confucius focus on achieving a strong ethical code from upholding classical traditions. He views an appropriate lifestyle as the attainment of benevolence, sense of propriety, and filial piety through the following concepts: Ren, li, and Xiao. Rather, The Daodejing conveys a vision of Dao, “the way”, as the source of all thing.
Buddhism, since it is a foreign religion can never match the true beauty and value of a religion such as Confucianism that is a classic in Chinese culture. An anonymous Chinese scholar once argued about how “If Buddhism is the greatest and most venerable of ways, why did the great sages of the past and Confucius not practice it? In the Confucian Classics no one mentions it” (Doc 3). Not only did the anonymous Chinese scholar consider Buddhism as “outlandish”, but he makes an argument stating that if it was so great, why were the principles of Buddhism not incorporated into Confucianism, a religion that has been around much longer and has had greater influence. Buddhism also did not bode well with the reemergence of the imperial authority as jealousy arose among the elites since Buddhist monasteries were able to evade taxes, but continue to gain funds and riches.
Confucians heavily emphasized bettering the community through active learning. On the other hand, Daoists prefer a more passive approach where they withdrew themselves from the problem in order to solve it (Benjamin 9). Also, unlike Confucius, the Daoists thought about the metaphysical, such as whether or not death is really something to be feared (Benjamin 9). Nature is a large focus in Daoism, something to be respected, while Confucians emphasize respect towards humans (Benjamin 9). Even so, both Daoism and Confucianism values are adopted by many of the modern day Chinese, where they will be Confucians in the workplace and Daoists when they get some time to explore their inner selves (Benjamin
Thesis Confucianism is the most dominant school of philosophy of China. In result of the many contradictions in the teachings of Confucius and the Buddha, Buddhism faced many objections when trying to spread its roots in China. Many confucians strongly disagreed with Buddhism because it disagreed with the fundamentals established in the chinese way of thinking. Use of the Documents
Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism are all religious systems held at a high value in East Asian culture and their practices tend to be blended together. All of these religions also highly value our earth as living beings, the only difference is that Daoism and Confucianism sees them as deities and Buddhism does not worship the elements of the earth (Fisher p.189,192). Daoism also values great mental and physical discipline like the Buddhist religion; thus they have similar practices to the Buddhist ones that practice Zen. Through meditation they are able to maintain a mental and physical state of health and find some inner peace. Daoism also practices detachment from people and objects so that they can have a clear, realistic mindset.
Buddhism is an Indian system of beliefs that was passed on to China by Central Asian traders and Buddhist monks in early AD. Later it passed onto Korea by the fourth century and Japan by the sixth. It had a great impact in all three cultures. Even though there is evidence that indicates that Buddhism was in China as early as 50 AD, the influence of Buddhism did not make a great impact in China until the patronage of the early Six Dynasties Neo-Daoists brought a more powerful attention of the literate elite. From that moment, Buddhism became an influential force in China, and for centuries it became as dominant as a religion and intellectual force as Confucianism or the emerging traditions of religious Daoism.
Changes that occured with Buddhism, Confucianism, and Hinduism has changed world history. First off, Buddhism originates in the teachings of the Buddha, or the “Enlightened One”, which is a sixth century B.C. Humans, according to the Buddha, can escape the cycles of reincarnation by renouncing their earthly desires and seeking a life of meditation and self-discipline. Such as Hinduism, Buddhism allows religious divergence. Confucianism changes by living at the same time as the Buddha, when it was created. Confucianism followers, like those of Lao tzu, the founder of Taoism, saw him as a moral teacher and wise man which was not a religious god, prophet, or leader.
1 Daoism and Confucianism are both widely misunderstood in the Western culture. People who practice and follow Daoism are called Daoists; while, people who practice and follow Confucianism are called Confucians. The word “Dao” is equivalent to the word of way, path, and road. In which, the significance of the meaning refers to the Daoist’s religion of the natural way of life. On the other hand Confucianism originated as a Western term, in which it focuses on ethics and education.
Mengzian Confucianism is one of these practices that are not appreciated worldwide as a religion but a close analysis of the practice shows that it qualifies
Compare and contrast the roles of Confucianism and Buddhism in both China and Korea until roughly the 7th century Introduction East Asia is the largest emerging economy of the world at present, and this phenomenon can be traced back to its cultural, demographic, political and social traditions and identities. Yang and Tamney (2011) said religion was an integral part of cultural which played an extremely great role in enriching people’s spiritual life, guiding people to do good (p.132), and strengthening the state authority and legitimating their rule by instilling people with the politics-oriented beliefs from the perspective of the ruling class. Confucianism and Buddhism played a dominant role in the feudal society in both China and Korea and they exerted far-reaching impacts on both countries until today. As religion, both Confucianism and Buddhism served similar purposes in maintaining the social orderliness and stability, despite the differences between them in the religions beliefs and their impacts. In this paper, the roles of two mainstream religions, Confucianism (including Neo-Confucianism) and Buddhism in China and Korea until roughly the 7th century are compared and contrasted in various aspects.
Buddhism was created by Buddha who was a prince. He wanted to find the cause of suffering, he used the four noble truths. The noble truths are Life is suffering, Selfishness is causes suffering, get rid of selfishness, last but not least never be too rich nor to poor, which is called follow the middle path. They show it by using temples that are placed around china. Confucianism was founded by Confucius, he was a wise man.
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.
