Taoism

Due to Its backgrounds and the reason as to why Confucianism was produced, the religion Idea stresses more on the politics and ethics, Instead of religion and the theoretical world since focusing on such things would simply be a waste of time and energy that could be spent on more productive jobs. Likewise, Confucianism also promotes a seem-murderous way to gain offices. “Superior individuals”, known as Jinni, can have a say in how to run the state. Additionally, Confucianism also insists on the studying of the ancient Chou Dynasty exist that not only were used for tools in government, it also became widespread as a teaching device.

Taoism, on the other hand, was created for a completely different reason. Rather than being created for a completely different mindset, Taoism was created to solely reject the attempts to change events that were deemed to come to pass, such as rebellion or internal strife. It was almost the exact opposite of Confucianism, which could be said to be actively trying to change the events. Not surprisingly, the “Dad” part of the Taoist to “The Way’ which preaches for harmony ND peace. In fact, the Taoist were so intent of keeping harmony and peace that the even said that attempting to control the world around them would lead to chaos.

Therefore, this also meant that the Taoist strictly forbidden schools and also ones ambition to improve. Ironically, despite Taoism and Confucianism were as different as water is to oil, for some way, the intellectuals from the Chinese warring states era were able to mix both into their lives. While other religions, such as Christian, Muslim, and Judaism, cannot mix at all, lest one be declared a heretic, Confucianism came a public doctrine, while Taoism became part of an Intellectuals past time pursuits.

Both Taoism and Confucianism were extremely development In Ideology and cause of development, however, both were still Incorporated In the dally lives of Intellectuals of the warring states era of Chinese history. Confucianism vs. Taoism Db By Jinxing at the same time, Confucianism and Taoism were developed for different reasons Fuzz. Confucianism was developed as a way for government to rule the largely small, city state like kingdoms during the Warring states era.

Due to its backgrounds and the reason as to why Confucianism was produced, the religion idea stresses more on the politics and ethics, instead of religion and the theoretical world since focusing on productive Jobs. Likewise, Confucianism also promotes a semi-meritorious way to gain became a public doctrine, while Taoism became part of an intellectuals past time pursuits. Both Taoism and Confucianism were extremely development in ideology and cause of development, however, both were still incorporated in the daily lives of intellectuals of the warring states era of Chinese history.

To begin with, Confucianism is a religion that is named after the philosopher, Confucius. He was an almost deified and impossibly wise man. He believed that to regain social order, people must act the role that society gave them. The father was to act the father, the son was to act the son, etc. The process of becoming that of which one is supposed to be is called “Rectification of Names. ” The society should be founded on five relationships: 1) The ruler and subject; 2) The father and son; 3) The husband and wife; 4) The elder and younger brother; 5) The friend and friend.

This proper behavior was required to create a calm, enduring, and beneficial society. In terms of the third relationship, husband and wife, the concept of the Yang and Yin come into play. The Yang is the male, dominating, structures. The Yin is the female, calm, passive structures. This balance, if maintained, is supposed to keep everything in perfect accordance. This concept, in my opinion, is what gave women the submissive role in the Confucius society.

Unlike the women in Daoism, under Confucian ideals women were to play their roles in society by being submissive to men and were limited in their participation in society, but were respected and necessary. Their lives were centered in the family as “inside members” which meant that they were to stay indoors and not associate with the “outside” more than necessary. Actually, in upper-class homes, inside chambers were built for the women while the men had their own chamber outside.

Women were also supposed to remain under the dominion of men and follow the “three obedience”: Woman follows man, youth follows father or eldest brother, after marriage, wife follows husband, and if her husband dies, she is to follow her eldest son. As children, young girls were not apart of the ancestral line. After marriage they gained their husband’s line and became apart of a family making this the single most important event in a young girl’s life. However, many girls never made it to marriage because their mothers killed them after they were born.

Giving birth to a baby girl was not at all joyous. For those that did make it, their objective was to become a wife. A wife was the lowest link in the social hierarchy and was there to serve the mother-in-law. Once married, both the husband and wife’s main focus was to take care of the husband’s parents. Women were expected to be completely devoted to their husbands and would often choose to commit suicide than violate their womanly virtues. Mothers with lost of sons were much higher up socially than those with fewer. Women who did not marry were not accepted in the Confucian society.

Divorce was also not accepted and was allowed only under strict circumstances by the husband. These circumstances include incurable sickness, no male heir, talking too much, stealing, disobedience, promiscuity, and jealousy. The husband could have several concubines of which the wife was supposed to be kind and courteous to. On the same level, women could talk to other women about their husbands if they drank too much alcohol, neglected their duties as a husband, or became abusive. The other women would then tell their husbands who would act accordingly.

This all seems rather harsh, but the fact that women are the only ones that could give life; they were respected and considered necessary. On the contrary, women in the Daoist society were treated a whole lot better. Daoism puts an emphasis on nature and the feminine qualities of nature. Seeing as how women create life and Daoism is” that which creativity flows from,” women hold the up most respect. As a matter of fact, Dao means “Great Mother. ” Unlike in Confucianism, the role of women being passive and flexible comes natural and unforced.

Because of this natural passiveness, women are naturally good Daoists; simply because of this “naturalness. ” In the Daoist Society women are reared as especially receptive to divine inspiration which provides a spiritual outlet for them. Women are also allowed to participate in all levels of Daoism and were thought to be the only ones who could reach the highest levels of Dao lineage, all except that of the Divine Lord. However, this did not move women out of their subordinate roles nor did it raise their social status, and the sexual practices in Daoism for prolonged life may have led to the exploitation of women.

Another tradition performed by the Chinese women in the Confucian society was foot-binding. Originally it was done as a kind of ballet toe dancing performed for royalty. It eventually worked its way down the entire social strata and became a tradition linked to marriage. It was performed on young girls from the ages of five to seven, as early as two and as late as thirteen. The foot was to be shaped into what looked like the Golden Lotus bud. The perfect shaped foot was three inches long looked like it naturally extended form the foot, not like the 90* angle normal feet make.

The foot was bound to break the arch and toes. The toes were broken to curl under the foot. The big toe was left to look like the point of the bud. Girls were told to walk on pieces of sharp metal and broken glass to cut the bottom of the foot so that when it healed, the toes would fuse to the foot. Every so often the feet were unbound to clean and tighten. This was an extremely painful process that took more than two years to complete. The binding shoes were worn the rest of the girl’s life.

Perfectly bound feet meant that the girl was marriageable, she was obedient, submissive, and could endure great amounts of pain. This also controlled her sexuality because it was hard for the girl to “get around. ” The tiny feet also became an erotic fetish for some men. The girl’s shoes were sent to her mother-in-law-to-be for inspection. The Girls’ new mother would inspect for size, shape, and craftsmanship. Since the girl made the shoes herself, the explicit details gave a clue to what type of worker she was. This creativity was often the only creative outlet for the young girls.

So to conclude, there are many differences in the ways women were dealt with in Confucianism and Daoism. In both religions, however, women were not very high up on the social scales, they were supposed to be the calm, passive and obedient counterpart of men, and were ultimately inferior beings. Foot binding became a Confucian tradition in marriage, while in Daoism, women held nearly the heights levels I the religion. I am just glad to say that I am a woman living in America today, and not in the classical Confucian society of China.

7 Dimensions of Religion The religion that I’ve picked is Taoism and I’m going to talk about 7 dimensions of Taoism. Practical and Ritual Dimension In Taoism, the practical will held on every month 1st and 15th (Chinese calendar). According to the traditional every family shall wake up early morning and pray to the god by using incense stick and candle. They can bless their wish to the god when they are praying. Normally the practices will use fruits as their oblation.

The practices will take 1 hour or 2 hours but the prayers can leave after they had pray to the god, just waiting for their oblation to make sure that had received by the god. In Taoism the ritual will happens on some important days like Chinese New Year, Qing Ming and Hungry Ghost festival. The ritual for this three festivals have some similar part, first of all, food may be set out as an oblation or sacrifice to the spirits of the deceased or the gods.

Example like Chinese New Year, the food is sacrifice to the god and Qing Ming the food will be sacrifice to our ancestor and Hungry ghost festival is definitely to the ghost and also our ancestor that out from the hell. In this festivals, another type of sacrifice involves the burning of Joss paper and Hell Bank Notes, on the assumption that images thus consumed by the fire will reappear, not as a mere image, but as the actual item in the spirit world, making them available for revered ancestors and departed loved ones.

Experiential and Emotional Dimension Experiential and Emotional Dimension When a Taoism prays they will bless and say their wish to the god, and at last they will ask the god by two ways, one is toss two coin and if the coins show tail and head it mean the god received your wish and mostly will come true and 2nd way is by shaking the tube fill in will many bamboo sticks and on the every bamboo have 1 special meaning word, it will represents the prophecy, the 1st stick drop out is your prophecy. Narrative or Mythic Dimension

The Hungry Ghost Festival of Chinese Taoism is also the Ullambana Festival of Buddhism. Commonly called “Ghost Festival” or “Mid-July Festival”, it falls on the fifteenth of every lunar July. There is a mythic that people believe lunar July is a month that all the ghosts will come out from the hell, something like Western culture’s Halloween. It is believed that the gates of hell are open, releasing hungry ghosts to the earth to search for food and see their family. So people light up lanterns on roadsides or put lanterns in the river and provide shoes for the convenience of the ghosts.

And they pray for their ancestors to bless later generations. Doctrinal and Philosophical Dimension Spiritual, one of the important term in Taoism. “Taoists believe that human is a microcosm for the universe. The body ties directly into the Chinese five elements. The five organs correlate with the five elements, the five directions and the seasons. Like the Hermetic maxim of “as above, so below”, Taoism posits that human beings may gain knowledge of the universe by understanding himself.

In Taoism, various rituals, exercises, and substances are said to positively affect one’s physical and mental health. They are also intended to align one’s spiritually with cosmic forces, or enable ecstatic spiritual journeys. These concepts are basic to Taoism in its elite forms. Internal alchemy and various spiritual practices are used by some Taoists to improve health and extend life, theoretically even to the point of physical immortality. ” (Taoism,Doctrinal and Philosophical , n. a, n. d)

Ethical and Legal Dimension Taoists believes that man after death will go to hell to receive the punishment for your sins. So that, what you did now will affect your next life. So Taoists is encourage doing charity and helps the people that needed to payback what the sins you have did before. Social and Institutional Dimension During the festival, Taoist will go to temple to pray and get bless from the god, example like, the God Birth. Taoist will buy fruit and joss paper as the oblation. Material Dimension

Taoism’s temple most of all will build with many sculpture, example like Dragon and Kylin (Mythical Chinese animal) know as by Chinese unicorn. In front of the temple, there is a censer placed there for people to pierce the incense stick after they pray to the god. Inside the temple, the god statue will placed at the center of the temple. Different temple will place different kind of god statue depend which god’s temple is that. Reference: Taoism Doctrinal and Philosophical, (n. a,n. d) Retrieved on 6/9/2012 from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Taoism

The idea of a “union of opposites” pervades Taoist writings and exerts a tremendous influence over the root philosophical concepts of Taoism, encompassing issues which may be considered metaphysical or even mystical, but also influencing issues of applied ethics and personal behavior.

The idea of conjoined opposites begins at the root, metaphysical level of Taoist thought which asserts that “being and non-being give rise to each other”; a stark departure from Christianity which posits that God is eternal and so has always been (Chen, 1989, p. 55).

This metaphysical assertion continues from the macrocosmic (universal) to the microcosmic (personal) levels, where opposites are seen to give rise to the world of motion and being: “The difficult and easy complement each other, The long and short shape each other, The high and low lean on each other, Voices and instruments harmonize with one another, The front and rear follow upon each other” (Chen, 1989, p. 55).

Following up on the universally derived union of opposites from a macrocosmic level, the Taoist asserts a union of opposites, also, within the self and in regards to personal conduct: “the sage manages affairs without action,” and therefore should practice “creative quietude” in pursuit of personal wisdom and even ambition. The idea that opposites are, in nature, united through the Tao means that moral divisions are also damaging and artificial.

The true sage accomplishes merit ” without claiming merit” and since “he does not claim merit, His merit does not go away” (Chen, 1989, p. 55). Such seeming paradoxes are often difficult for Westerners to understand The idea that the universe itself could be comprised of a union of opposites, rather than a pervading and omnipotent single-Creator is not compatible with idea of Christianity which elevates a dualistic vision of the universe with good and evil at odds with one another and a single, benevolent God.

Taoism seems to reflect a much more organic and complete of vision, at least in my opinion although the extension of Taoist philosophies into western religion is probably not something which will happen any time soon, such a “union of opposites” would provide a rich synthesis of spiritual and philosophical ideas. References Chen, E. M. (1989). The Tao Te Ching: A New Translation with Commentary (1st ed. ). St. Paul, MN: Paragon House.