Confucianism and Daoism-Blog 2

Confucianism and Daoism

Reading through chapter 4 about culture and religion made me think and reflect on the two most interesting school of thoughts that existed in China’s history which are Confucianism and Daoism.  It was intriguing  to see how China, being as one of the first civilizations with a tradition of state building tracing back to around 2000 B.C. E., going through legalism and several dynasties such as Zhou, Shihuangdi and Qin, searching for law and order in the midst of the chaos.  China’s answer to its problems came to reality by the birth of Confucius.

Confucius, a sage (551-479 B.C.E.) was born in the state of Liu in north of China to a noble family.   He wanted to help people find answers to their problems not through laws and punishments rather by moral values and harmonious living.  Is Confucianism a religion or a philosophy one might ask?  Confucianism is often characterized as a system of social and ethical philosophy rather than a religion. In fact, Confucianism was built on an ancient religious foundation to establish the social values, institutions, and transcendent ideals of traditional Chinese society. Confucianism is based entirely on kindness, mutual respect and an appreciation for character virtues. It is founded on the belief that each of us must have a natural tendency towards goodness.  Confucian’s believe that humans and society can flourish only when people learn to interact positively with each other.  According to Confucius, social rituals are specific ways of interacting with others. He explained that in each of our relationships, we have a designated role. In order to keep these relationships healthy, we have to be aware of what that role is and how to live it out. He identified The Five Basic (or Great) Relationships in life to be: 1. Parent and child, 2. Husband and wife, 3. Elder and younger brother, 4. Friend and friend, 5. Ruler and subject.  As we can see, according to Confucius the family makes up the core of the society and is the most important of relationships.  All of these relationships form the foundation of commitments that last a lifetime.  When each of these hierarchies performs its proper understood obligation, than it would result in a greater harmony.  Confucius also felt that the harmonious society would be created by an “ideal persons” who would live a virtuous life, and do their best to bring out their moral character.   What would the “ideal person” do to live in a harmonious society?  The person needs to maintain an “inner” virtue in order to maintain a balanced life.  The inner virtue is characterized by ren (“kindness, empathy, thoughtfulness and humanness) where the person seeks the goodness of others instead of self. 

When the person realizes that he or she has not achieved the goal it will make them more humble than prideful.  How can the “inner” virtue function? A person needs to constantly evaluate himself or herself to make sure he or she is doing enough goodness to the society.  Basically, the virtue includes the past, present and future, respecting the ancestors who have passed from this life.  Family life always had been a key role in the Chinese culture and with Confucianism the family life became a role model for the society as a whole.  For this reason, Confucian tradition always considers the family’s welfare before one’s own.  Confucius ideas were also to bring a reform to the society in defining gender expectations, social hierarchy and even reforming the education system to help prepare students in exam taking process to help them reach political status.  Confucius was not against Gods and spirits in fact he suggested people to join in family and state rituals “as if spirits were present.” (p.154), thinking that the universe might have moral values that people can apply into their lives.

While China’s culture was pretty familiar with Confucianism a new school of thought came to light called Daoism. I did not have too much knowledge what Daoism and what really meant and its connection to the religion, until I read the section about Daoism-The Way of Nature.  I quickly realized how each religion of the world has some kind of a “way” or path that the people follow or worship.  Christians follow Christ, Muslims follow Muhammad, Buddhist follows Buddha, Hindus believe and follow their karmic nature and their atman (eternal soul).  As for Daoists, living simply in harmony with “Dao” and not greatly pursuing material wealth, or prestige, will lead to a joyful life. The word Dao in Chinese which means “way” or “path” is the fundamental concept of Chinese philosophy.  It began around the 6^th century B.C.E. with the life and teachings of the founder of Daoism –Laozi (or Lao Tzu).  He wrote the Daodejing (The Way and Its Power) which explains the basic Daois’t beliefs. 

According to Daoism, to truly understand the universe is understanding Dao.  The Dao is the cosmic power that is present in all of our experiences and it is a natural force that makes the universe the way it is.  According to Daoism, its philosophy and truths must be experienced for oneself.  Daoism believes that in order for us to live a good and a harmonious life we should stop from doing a lot of activities.  They think that when people go after education, rituals, and participate in social and political institutions forces the people away from peace and harmony.  Therefore people suffer more because they are too active.  Instead, people should live a simple life and pay attention to the basic needs of themselves and their family.

Daodejing teaches us the concept of “Yin and Yang” two opposite forces of each other.  I did some research on the internet and found out that “Yin” means shaded-dark and “Yang” means sunny-light and these are basically the opposition and complementary forces of the universe.  These forces are in constant struggle with each other and once they reach harmony, the energy of life will be created and the person will learn from it.  How can we achieve harmony with the Dao?  According to Daoism, human beings, are part of the cosmic process known as the Dao, like the all the rest of the reality.  When we humans, live harmonious life that means we are alive.  We also have to make a choice to either accept the reality of the cosmic process and let ourselves go with the flow of the Dao or, resist who we are and try to look for a separate identity.  Finally, how can we get harmony of the Dao?  We should stop going after a “goal” which creates a lot of problem.  We need to live a natural and a simple life, seeing both life and death as a part of the eternal Dao.