Download Religions and Beliefs of Ancient China

Religions and Beliefs of Ancient
China
Section 3
Ancient China
• Isolated by its geography, ancient China had a unique
culture.
• They had important belief systems, Confucianism and
Daoism, developed during the Zhou.
• Each is a Philosophy, that is, a set of beliefs about the
world and how to live.
• Religious practices, such as the worship of certain gods,
became connected to these philosophies.
• Today, Daoist and Confuscian temples are found across
China. Before these philospohies appeared, the Chinese
followed ancient spiritual traditions.
Spiritual Traditions
• Some ancient Chinese viewed Earth as a flat square.
Heaven stretched above. Both Heaven and Earth
were populated by a variety of spirits.
• The ancient Chinese viewed heaven as the home of
the spirits of the sun, moon, stars, and storms.
• On Earth, spirits lived in hills, rivers, rocks, and seas.
• The spirit ruled the daily lives of people. Good spirits
made the rains fall and crops grow. They helped
sailors travel safely on the ocean. They brought
happiness.
Many Spirits
• Not all spirits were kind. Harmful spirits made it
unsafe to walk the roads at night.
• Harmful spirits might hide in a house, bringing bad
luck to all that lived there.
• During festivals, people used loud sounds to fighten
evil spirits away.
Honoring Ancestors
• The most important spirits to many ancient Chinese were
those of their ancestors.
• They believed that family members lived on after death
in the spirit world. The spirits of those ancestors
remained part of the family.
• Like any family member, the ancestors had to be
supported and cared for. If the living took care of their
ancestors, then the ancestors would protect and guide
them
• But the spirits of ancestors could also cause people
trouble. The key to a good relationship was for the living
to honor the dead.
Honoring Ancestors
• Over the centuries, the Chinese developed many
rituals to honor their ancestors. Families had shrines
with tablets inscribed with ancestor’s name.
• Families set out food for their ancestors on special
occasions to welcome them home.
• After paper money came into use, they burned fake
“spirit” money to give the ancestors income in the
afterlife.
Honoring Ancestors
• Practices of honoring the spirits of the dead are
known as ancestor worship. Many of these rituals
related to ancestor worship are performed at
holidays and funerals in China today.
The Teachings of Confucius
• Confucianism come from the teachings of the thinker
Confucius.
• Confucianism is one of the most important
philosophies that developed in China.
• Confucius lived just before the Warring States period.
The Zhou kings had already grown weak.
The Teachings of Confucius
• He and later thinkers at the end of the Zhou dynasty
looked for solutions to China’s problems.
• Among these thinkers, Confucius had greatest effect
on Chinese culture. He is known as the “First
Teacher” and is honored for his great wisdom.
Life of a Philosopher
• Confucius was born into a poor family in 551 B.C.E.
He held several low-level jobs in government.
• Officials often did not enforce the law and he noticed
a lot of greed and cruelty throughout the kingdom.
• Some officials took bribes, or illegal payments, to do
favors for the rich.
• Peasants starved while rulers taxed them to pay for
wars.
Life of a Philosopher
• Confucius believed that the cause of the disorder
was that the Chinese Turned away from traditional
roles and values of the early Zhou.
• Confucius believed only a return to those ideas and
values could bring order back to China.
• Confucius made his life’s work teaching the wise
ways of the ancestors.
Life of a Philosopher
• To carry out his work, Confucius started his own school.
• Students of Confucius collected his teachings in a book
called Analects. In later centuries, this book became
central to political and ethical thought in China across
East Asia.
• It is a source of great wisdom and Chinese students are
still made to study and memorize it today.
• Confucius never achieved great wealth or influence in his
lifetime, but his students, such as Mencius, spread his
ideas throughout China.
Five Relationships
• The heart of
Confucianism lay in a
vision of a stable,
orderly society based
on five relationships:
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•
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1) Ruler and subject
2) Father and son
3) Husband and wife
4) Older and younger
brothers
• 5) Two friends
Five Relationships
• Especially important was the relationship between
father and son, or parents and their children.
• Elders care for and teach younger family members,
and in return, children respect and obey their elders.
• The devotion of children to their parents is called
final piety. Confucius referred to the final piety as
“the source of all virtues.”
• The relationship between parents and children was
the model for the other four relationships.
Five Relationships
• The person of higher status in each of the five
relationships, that is, the father, the husband, elder,
or ruler, must fulfill the responsibilities of their role.
• The person of lower status, that is, the wife, subject,
or younger person, should respect the senior person.
• Confucius believed order and harmony would come
to society once all people acted according to their
roles.
Beliefs of Daoism
• Confucius and his students were not the only
scholars affected by the chaos in China during the
Zhou dynasty.
• Another group of thinkers saw the disorder and
responded in a different way. Their reaction led to
development of Daoism.
• Daoism is an ancient Chinese way of life that
emphasizes a simple and natural existence.
• The philosophy of following the Dao (dow), which is
the natural way of the universe.
The Legend of Laozi
• According to legend, a man named Laozi
founded Daoism. Laozi (Low dzuh) is known as
a sage, or wise person.
• He is said to have written down his beliefs in a
book called the Dao De Jing (Dow deh jing).
• Historians do not know whether Laozi actually
lived. They believe that the Dao De Jing was
probably written by many people. It is a small
book mostly made up of poems.
Dao De Jing
• “in dwelling, live close to the ground.
in thinking, keep to the simple.
in conflict, be fair and generous.
in governing, don’t try to control.”
- Laozi, Dao De Jing
Yin and Yang
• Daoism reflects ancient Chinese beliefs about the world.
The ancient Chinese saw quiet order in the changing
seasons. They also saw the violence of nature through
floods and storms.
• They believed two great forces of nature were at work,
and these forces were called yin and yang. They are
opposites, yet work together.
• Yin is the female force. It is dark, cool, and quiet.
• Yang is a male force. It is bright, and warm, and active.
• Chinese thinkers believed balance between yin and yang
is key to all harmony in the universe.
The Dao
• The Dao means “the way” or “the path”. Daoists saw
the Dao as the source of yin and yang
• The Dao is mysterious and impossible to define,
however, Daoists felt people should try to
understand the Dao.
• Often, they saw evidence of the Dao in natural things
like water. Water, through patient effort over time, is
even stronger than rock. By acting like water, people
are following the Dao.
The Dao
• People can upset order with their actions. Order
comes when people keep to a simple life, instead of
competing for wealth and power.
• Daoists believed a good leader took little action,
leaving people to live a simple life.
• Daoists were not concerned with the morals, rituals,
and learning that Confucius and his followers valued.
The Dao
• Despite the differences between Confucianism and
Daoism, most Chinese thinkers studied both
philosophies.
• Throughout Chinese history, Confucianism and
Daoism influenced Chinese culture even as new ideas
came from abroad.