Tao through the writings of Lao Tzu ( directed to the sage king)
Chuang Tzu (directed to the private individual)
Taoist Ideal: Sage/Ideal man models himself upon Heaven
Taoist understanding of Heaven differs from the Confucian views
Universal order: Unchanging nature of constant flux
Recognition of the nature of Tao : mystic, intuitive, beyond the capacity of language
Te : The ideal man lives by the power of Te (virtue)
Taoist ideals of virtue and morality: Humility
Wu wei : spontaneous action, tranquillity
Religious Taoism
Religious practices associated with Taoism can be dated back to the era
of oracle bone divination
The Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu shift the focus from practice to the
underlying philosophy
Popular faith of the common people which implicitly accepts the Taoist
world view
Popular deities, ancestral spirits worshipped at domestic shrines, as
well as temples
T’ien Tsun (gods) include: Yuan Shih/T’si Shi (Creator and ruler of the heaven and earth)
Jade Emperor ( Supreme deity since 11th century C.E.
Tao Chun or Lord Tao ( deified Lao Tzu)
In addition, Taoist worship the Eight Immortals (figures who attained immortality), as well as the
Kitchen God, Tsao ChunChinese religious culture synthesized beliefs of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism into a system that incorported beliefs of all three traditions : Buddhism, adjusted itself to the Chinese context, taking account of Confucian moral and social values, and made use of Taoist ideas and terminology
Example of Chinese Landscape Art influenced by Taoist outlook
T’ien-tai Buddhism (Lotus Schools) : Named after its place of origin in Chekiang in S.E. China
Synthesis of various Buddhist doctrines into a systemic whole.
Ch’an Buddhism (Zen in Japan): Transliteration of Sanskrit word “Dhyan” meaning meditation.
Practice aimed at calming one’s mind, permitting the person to penetrate one’s inner consciousness.
Emphasis on direct intuition outside conscious thought.
Pure Land Buddhism : The celestial Buddha (Amitabha) presides over the Pure Land : Requires faith in the infinite compassion of Buddha. Helped by a bodhisattva (Avalokiteshwara in India, Kuan-yin in China, and Kannon in Japan).
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Some Concluding Remarks on Eastern Religious Traditions
Nature
of the Sacred in the Eastern Religious Thought
Hinduism
Brahman:
The sacred reality that is the basis of all existence
Brahman
is unknown and unknowable, and infinite: Brahman as the inner consciousness or
Atman makes the perception of sense-objects possible
"That
subtle essence is the self of all that exists. It is the True. It is the Self,
and that, Svetaketu, you are." (pg. 37, Text II, Upanishad)
"
You are to be known as supreme eternity
I
think you are man's timeless spirit."
Buddhism
If
we want to get to the very truth of things, we must see them from the point
where this world has not yet been created, where the consciousness of this and
that has not yet been awakened and where the mind is absorbed in its own
identity, that is, in its serenity and emptiness. This is a world of negations
but leading to a higher or absolute affirmation—an affirmation in the midst of
negations.
(
Daisetz T. Suzuki. An Introduction to Zen Buddhism)
Taoism
Voidness
is the name for that in which the universe had its origin; actuality is the
mother of the myriad objects. Therefore, empty your minds to view the secret
source; and observe actuality to view its manifestations. These two arise
together, though separate in name . . . . Voidness and actuality one sees all
around are simultaneously one and the same. Therefore, to know the
undifferentiated source of the myriad objects comprising actuality, one must
empty the mind of thought and sometimes contemplate the mind of form. Neither
has meaning apart from the other. To fix the mind always upon emptiness would be
to become like wood or stone. To keep it always upon the form realm would be to
behave like a simpleton who mistakes dream for reality.
(John
Blofeld. Beyond the Gods: Buddhist and Taoist Mysticism)
Confucianism
We
begin our spiritual journey at home [as] our self, far from being an isolated
individuality, is experientially and practically a center of relationships. As a
center of relationships, it constantly enters into communication with a variety
of human beings . . . It is through constant human interaction that we gradually
learn to appreciate our selfhood as a transformative process.
Indeed,
as we learn to appreciate the richness of ordinary daily existence, we
understand that the great mystery of life is inherent in our common experience
of living, as if the secret code of the Way of Heaven is embedded in the human
way.
(Tu
Wei Ming. Confucianism)
Some Thoughts on the Nature
of Religion
"{The
term "God" presupposes an idea, an idea which is nothing more than the
expression of the feeling of absolute dependence . . . to feel oneself
absolutely dependent and to be conscious of being in relation with God are one
and the same thing; and the reason is that absolute dependence is the
fundamental relation which must include all others in itself.
"
The Above Excerpts taken from Enduring Issues in World Religion. John Lyden. San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press. 1995
Religion is 1) a system of symbols which acts to 2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long lasting moods and motivations in [people] by 3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and 4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.
(Clifford Geertz. Religion as a Cultural System)
Excerpted from Anatomy of the Sacred. James C. Livingston. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson. Prentice Hall. 2005.
Useful Terms in the Study of Religions:
Theism, Monotheism, Polytheism, Atheism, Monism; Dharma, Darshana.