Sociology of Religion: What do you think characterizes Chinese religious beliefs?

Chinese religious beliefs

We believe in neither Taoism nor Confucianism, we believe in the Hundred Schools of Thought, we believe in our cultural system.

At least 2500 years of cultural history has made us who we are, and I think the most important thing for Chinese people is "history", which is a good point. I have always felt that Chinese people's obsession with history is similar to other people's obsession with religion. Every dynasty that claims to be Chinese has taken the lead in compiling the history of its predecessors, and there is no other country in the world that has such a complete system of official history books, which contain all the mysteries of Chinese culture. In addition to letting people know what happened in the past, Chinese history books also play a role similar to that of religious texts of other peoples. History unites the centripetal force of the Chinese nation and gives people a sense of cultural belonging, no less than the religious feelings of Christians or Muslims. It is precisely because of this emotional support that the Chinese nation, no matter how battered it has been through the ups and downs of trials and tribulations, has always been able to come out of the woods and reunite together.

Believers don't understand why there are Chinese people who don't believe in religion, thinking that such people have no faith and no support, and that their psyche must be extremely empty. In fact, they do not understand at all, with 5,000 years of historical heritage of the Chinese people, has long acquired a more advanced psychological support way than religion, that is, history. Who says that the Chinese have no faith? "Vehicles on the same track, books in the same language, lines in the same order", this is the faith of the Chinese people. Who says the Chinese have no religious feelings? "Swallowing the eight wastelands and sweeping the six, Zhen Changcai and the Imperial Household" is the religious emotion of the Chinese leader, "martial arts die in battle, civilian die in admonition" is the religious emotion of the Chinese civil servants and military generals, "the scholar dies for a friend who understands him, and the woman pleases herself" is the religious emotion of the Chinese people for friends and friends. "This is the religious feeling of Chinese people towards their friends and lovers, "Care for old people as we care for our own, and care for young people as we care for our own" is the religious feeling of Chinese people towards their elders and juniors, and "To hear the truth in the morning and to die in the evening can be carried out" is the religious feeling of Chinese people towards true knowledge. This is the religious sentiment of the Chinese towards their elders and juniors. Looking at these, who can say that the Chinese people are empty? Who can say that the Chinese people are empty and have no faith? As long as China can walk along the right road, serious reflection and inheritance of traditional culture, China why worry not out of the world? The Chinese culture why not worry about the unique show in the world?

.... Westerners see Confucianism permeating the lives of Chinese people and think that Confucianism is a religion. But realistically

Confucianism is no more a religion than the doctrines of Plato or Aristotle. "It is true that the Four Books were once the Bible of the Chinese people

, but there is no Genesis in the Four Books, and there is no talk of heaven and hell. ....

.... Religion also has to do with life. Every major religion has a philosophy at its core. In fact, every major religion

is a philosophy plus a certain superstructure of superstitions, dogma, rituals, and organization. This is what I call

religion.

To specify the meaning of the word religion in this way is in fact no different from the ordinary usage, and if it is understood in this light

it is evident that Confucianism cannot be considered a religion. It is customary to say that there are three religions in China: Confucianism, Taoism

, and Buddhism. We have already seen that Confucianism is not a religion. As for Taoism, it is a school of philosophy; and it is Taoism

that is a religion; there is a difference between the two. The teachings of Taoism and Taoism are not only different, but even opposite. Taoism teaches one to follow

nature, whereas Taoism teaches one to go against nature. For example, according to Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, birth and death are natural processes, and

people should calmly follow this natural process. However, the main teachings of Taoism are the principles and

methods of how to avoid death, which are obviously against nature. Taoism has a scientific spirit of conquering nature. Those interested in the history of Chinese science

can find much information in the writings of the Taoists.

There is also a difference between Buddhism as a philosophy and Buddhism as a religion. The educated Chinese are much more interested in Buddhism than

in Buddhism. It is not uncommon for monks and Taoist priests to attend funeral services together in China. The Chinese are philosophical even

if they are religious .....

.... There are many people who say that Chinese philosophy is the philosophy of initiation. It is hard to say that these people are completely right or completely wrong

. On the surface, one cannot say that these people are wrong, because on the surface, Chinese philosophy, no matter

which family of thought, is either directly or indirectly about politics and morality. On the surface, what Chinese philosophy focuses on

is society, not the universe; it is human life and daily life, not hell and heaven; it is man's present life, not man's afterlife. Confucius

Confucius had a student who asked about the meaning of death, to which Confucius replied, "How can one know death without knowing life? (The Analects of Confucius - Advanced) Mencius

said, "Sage, the highest of all human beings." (Mencius - Li Lou Shang) Taken literally this statement means that a saint is a person of complete moral integrity in society

. On the face of it, the ideal personality of Chinese philosophy is also worldly. The so-called saints in Chinese philosophy

are not in the same category as the so-called Buddhas in Buddhism, and the so-called saints in Yiddishism. This seems to be especially true of the so-called saints of Confucianism, on the surface

. In ancient times, Confucius, as well as Confucianism, was greatly ridiculed by the Taoists

for this very reason. ....

The above is taken from the first chapter of Feng Youlan's "A Brief History of Chinese Philosophy."

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Chinese people tend to look for worldly benefits from religion, and to give a simple example, there are not a few people who burn incense and pray to the Buddha in order for their children to get into a university, are there? The first thing you need to do is to get your hands on some of the most popular products and services in the world, and you'll be able to do that in the future.

That's why it was impossible for Westerners to start their missionary work in China, because the religion that Westerners believe in, especially Christianity, is based on the idea of original sin, which is the first thing you have to repent for, and then you have to go to heaven after you die, and they don't tend to place as much importance on the present interests of the world as the Chinese do in the face of religion

Have you ever seen or heard of an example of a Westerner going to a church and not doing a service to repent for their sin, but rather to ask for God's blessing to get rich?

In my opinion, there is a fundamental difference between the attitude of Chinese and Westerners and Muslims towards religion

Westerners and Muslims emphasize the importance of believing in the religion first, and then they can say what they want to do after believing in it, and they used to say that those who believe in me will go to heaven, in other words, you can go to heaven, but you have to believe in it first

Chinese are different, Chinese have to see whether the religion is worth believing in.

The Chinese are different in that they have to see if the religion is worth believing in, see if the local monks and the foreign monks are any good, if they can bless me, if they can make my mind feel relaxed and enlightened, or if they can make themselves happy before deciding whether to believe in it or not

That's why I say that the Chinese approach to religion is utilitarian, which means that they are interested in the benefits of the present life.

And this is the reason why Chinese religions are able to blend with each other, and most of the time they do not have any problems or even influence each other; while Christians and Muslims have been at each other's throats for countless times, and the knot has not been untied yet

After all, because of this word, Chinese people have a very high level of religious beliefs, and they have a very high level of religious beliefs, and they have a very high level of religious beliefs.

After all, because of this "utilitarian" word, Chinese people believe that religion is an attitude of "for my use", which is of a compatible nature; Westerners and Muslims, because they first "believe", or because of the doctrinal provisions they must "believe", so the treatment of religion is the embodiment of

The reason for this utilitarianism is that:

Firstly, the Chinese do not care about original sin; there is no such element in traditional Chinese culture

Secondly, the Chinese can find substitutes for the moral component of religion in their own native culture and in the worship of saints

Since the Duke of Zhou instituted the system of rituals, the tradition of honoring ghosts and gods that existed during the Yin and Shang Dynasties has been transformed into the tradition of honoring ghosts and gods that existed during the Yin and Shang Dynasties.

Since the Duke of Zhou established the rites and music system, the tradition of honoring ghosts and gods during the Yin and Shang dynasties has been changed to honoring saints; and honoring saints, according to the words of Yi Zhongtian, is in essence a kind of moral worship

Look at the famous saints in Chinese history, Yao, Shun, Yu and Tang, Bo Yi and Shou Qi, Zhou Wen and Zhou Wu, Confucius, Mencius and Zhuang, Confucius and Kong, and the saint of literature, Confucius and Kongming, and the saint of martial arts, Guan Yu and Yue Fei, all of whom have their own special features and strengths, but none of them has been labeled as a model of morality in various periods of time.

Since this is the case, religion for the Chinese people is actually only available in its esoteric and nebulous divine part and its lofty philosophical part

The philosophical part, which the general public is incapable of and uninterested in exploring, and the divine part, which can easily be developed into utilitarian beliefs

As for the so-called crisis of faith in China, it is actually a crisis of morality, which is a result of a lack of faith.

As for the so-called crisis of faith of the Chinese people nowadays, it is actually a moral crisis, which is the consequence of the suppression of the worship of saints and the neglect of traditional culture

And this kind of crisis can't be solved by any kind of religion, at least not in a short period of time

The former New Culture Movement can only be a temporary measure to save a moment, but not a plan for a million years, and at the end of the day, what makes the Chinese people the Chinese is that they have to return to the origin of their culture gradually.

After all, the worship of saints and the moral worship behind them has been going on for more than 3,000 years, and after all, we have been following the traditional Chinese culture for thousands of years, and there are some things that are actually y rooted in our minds, and their strong inertia can't be easily reversed

If we force religions, especially foreign religions to deal with this kind of crisis, then in the long run either the religions will be continued to be twisted and tarnished or the traditional culture will change significantly. China's land has not yet religious wars, let alone now

Chinese people are not omniscient, but they are not fools ...... some risks, the traditional culture has helped us to avoid before, why now on the contrary, we have to take the initiative to go back to mix a foot?

It must be said that the Eastern religions are in fact actively catering to the original Chinese culture since the worship of the saints, that is, the worship of morality in the depth of the people's hearts

Like the good deeds and virtues of the next life to cast a good fetus, this is the Buddhist Hinayana secularization of the saying, to put it bluntly is the Chinese culture of benevolence, benevolence, love, etc., but to the mouth of the religions, it is difficult not to be involved, such as the reincarnation of the religious unique theological concepts

It is also important to note that the Buddhist religion is a very important one.

Like Taoism, originating from the Taoist thought of Lao Zhuang, originally preaches Wu Wei, but since Zhang Daoling laid the foundation for the transformation of Taoism into Taoism, and then critically inherited by Ge Hong, the expression of Wu Wei faded out of the field of view of the people, and on the contrary, began to slowly secularization, changing the expression to admonish the world to oligophobia

Yin and Shang Dynasty, respect for the ghosts and gods, but that is only the primitive and crude worship of supernatural powers, has not yet formed a formalized

Then, after the reforms of the Duke of Zhou, it began to change into respect for saints, morality, and culture

Any serious religion must have three main parts: moral, philosophical, and divine

The moral aspect has its own alternatives; the philosophical aspect is not something that people would normally go into

Only the divine aspect, once developed, tends to have a utilitarian effect, and is often used as the basis for the religious system. carried out, tends to produce utilitarian results

Because divinity necessarily embodies magical powers, necessarily advertises omnipotence, then for the general public they tend to be attracted to these; because, for example, anyone who has something that he or she desperately longs for, but is unable to do so, it is only then that the divine can resolve the contradiction

Don't be put off by the idea that utilitarian isn't a good word, in fact This kind of utilitarianism for my use is a good thing for the development and survival of Chinese civilization