Syncretism in Chinese Worldviews: Chinese Folk Religion as a Compatible Common Element in Confucianism, Taoism and Buddh

1. Syncretism in Chinese Worldviews:Chinese Folk Religion as a Compatible Common Element in Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism in China Qing dynasty painting of Confucius presenting the baby Gautama to Laozi

2. There is a great degree of interaction, compatibility and syncretismbetween the 3 great religious traditions in China . Confucianism Buddhism Taoism Other religions present in China (Christianity, Islam) or which China was exposed to (Zorastrianism, Manicchaeism, Judaism) can coexist with the 3 main traditions, but they don’t syncretize into a coherent web of culture as do these three traditions.

3. I would suggest that compatibility between Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism is due to the fact that all 3 traditions had to be basically compatible with Native Chinese Folk Traditions. Confucianism Buddhism Taoism Native Chinese Folk Religion

4. Native Chinese Folk Religion has elements compatible withConfucianism , Buddhism & Taoism Tao = the Way a connected, holistic organismicwordviewthat trust spontaneity over propriety and nature over civilzation. Yin/yang& 5 element model: laws in cosmos. Ti, T’ien: heaven Supernatural beings, animism, deified spirits Ling-hun(soul), transcending the body. Hsien (pursuit of longevity and immortality) ex: Taoist “Immortals” and “Buddhist Eminent Monks” Magic San Jiao (San Chiao); 500s CE. First 3 religion synthesis into one temple. 20thcentury to present: syncreticreligious societies continue to form underground in China.

5. The Birth of Chinese Civilization begins with the 3 sage-kings: Yao. Shun & Yu

6. Chronology of Chinese History • c. 6000 BC: Prehistory (belief in life after death; bone divination) - legendary Hsia Dynasty (c. 1994-1500 BC) • c. 1500-1040 BC: Shang Dynasty (polytheism; spiritism; ancestor veneration; bone & shell divination) • 1040-256 BC: Zhou (Chou) Dynasty (feudal era & classical age; rise of Shang-Ti & “Mandate of Heaven;” ancestor veneration & divination practices; continued belief in spiritism; interest in life-prolongation & immortality; 8th-5th centuries BC - period of disorder; emergence of classical Chinese philosophies:Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, Legalism, etc.) - Era of Warring States (475-221 BC) • 221-207 BC: Qin (Ch’in) Dynasty (“The Burning of the Books” in 213 BC) - Legalism enthroned; Confucianism attacked

7. Central concepts in Pre-Confucian thought Ontology & Cosmology Metaphysics • Dao (“Way”) - the Ultimate; the One; the Absolute; the underlying Power; the Source. It is a connected, holistic, organic worldview that trusts spontaneity over propriety and nature over civilization. It is somewhat mysterious and indescribable. • Yin/Yang- the dual expression of Dao; neither is superior to the other (see next slide) • Heaven & Earth; an ever-changing expression & blend of Yin & Yang.(Heaven is Yang in relation to Earth; and Earth is Yin in relation to Heaven; but each is, in itself, a blend of both Yin & Yang.) Taoism will absorb these ideas wholly into a very spiritual/magical worldview; Confucianism will modify them into a more philosophical /sociological worldview.

8. Yin & Yang female dark cool moist passive negative evil Yin Yang male bright hot dry active positive good Earth & moon Yin & yang is not a “good vs bad” type dualism. Good is achieved when the right balance and mix is achieved between yin and yang in a given thing/situation. Heaven & sun

9. The West (Greeks) had a 4 element theory: earth, water, fire, air ☲ The five elements are usually used to describe the state in nature: Wood/Spring: a period of growth, which generates abundant wood and vitality; Fire/Summer: a period of swellness, which overbrews with fire and energy; Metal/Autumn: a period of fruition, which produces formation and bears fruit; Water/Winter: a period of retreat, where stillness pervades; Earth: the in-between transitional seasonal periods ☷ ☳ ☵ ☰ Chinese Alchemy has a 5 Element Theory

10. S Yin & yang and the 5 elements have directional associations… E W N ..as well as associations with colors, virtues, animals, plants etc.

11. FengShui: the study of how direction and location can be planned and arranged to get the most positive outcomes Grave sites City planning Home location Interior decorating

13. = the fundamental energy that configures into particular things. Chi = Ch’i = Transliterations use Roman letters to make rough English reproductions of the words sound. China and Taiwan have different transliteration symbols. Intonation is lost, and some meaning gets lost. Chinese has idea-grams: English is a phonetic system. This idea-gram is vapor coming out of something There is no mind-matter dualism: but there is light ch’iand heavy ch’i. Spirituality is meant to cultivate light ch’i. Living badly weighs your ch’i down. The primordial ch’I was light. Examples: * When music effects us, it’s the flow of ch’i. Nature gives us food (flow of ch’i). * In medicine, disease is defined as a bad flow of ch’i in the body which can be healed spiritually, or with acupuncture. Equilibrium (balance) of your ch’I with the universe needs to be established.

14. Chinese wisdom is often taught through analogies, written in small stories. I Ching These were summarized in an ancient book called the I Ching (Book of Changes). Which story applies is determined by casting yara sticks (also cracks in cooked animal scapula, or today, coin tosses) to determine what a persons state is at a given time. The result presents a perspective, not a divination. It is not fortune telling or an oracle.

15. The I Chingtells how to interpret TRIGRAMS for divination

16. Throwing the I Ching: 1. Perform a binary randomact in series of threes and record them as straight or broken line according to a key in the I Ching. 2. Do this 6 times to create the 6 trigrams. 3. Look up the final trigram in the book of changes. Go to http://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/trigram.htm

17. Hexagramsare more involved. 64 possible patterns of 6 lines each exist. Each can be looked up in the I Ching for divination. Each of these hexagrams is a chapter in the I Ching.

18. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CHPHIL/PRECONF.HTM Written or edited by Confucius or his followers I Ching The Book Of Changes Shu ching The Book of History Li chi The Book of Rites Shih ching the Book of Odes Ch'un ch'iu The Spring and Autumn Annals ---------------- Pre-Confucian --------------

19. Pre-Confucian Chinese Theology • Shang-Ti (God), the original ancestor (after the 11th century BC) • Heaven (Tian, T’ien) - the divine realm(Human beings who have died live on with Shang-Ti as ancestors (ti) in Heaven.) • Continuity & interchange between Heaven (the divine realm) and Earth (the human realm), i.e., between the ancestors & those living on Earth. The ancestors are to be worshipped, and sacrifices are to be offered to them; they, in turn, will guide and protect us, especially with regard to our futures (divination practices). When we die, we will join theancestors in Heaven and become ancestors ourselves. Spiritism: spirits are everywhere, both good [shen] & evil [gui]). [No hell(s)? See next slide.]

20. …it seems that Chinese religions did not contain a well- developed idea of an afterlife. The souls of those who had lived in accord with the “Mandate of Heaven” (will of Shang-Ti) would become ancestors in Heaven; the souls of those who had not followed Heaven’s decree would, after death, continue to live on for a time in a dark underworld area (called “the Yellow Springs”) & then fade away into nothingness. The idea of multiple levels of hell entered Chinese religion through Buddhism, which arrived in China in the 1st century AD. The religious Daoists accepted this idea (but modified it in various ways). Apparently, the Confucianists continued to show little interest in this subject. Before the arrival of Buddhism in China…