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Chinese religion. ... Harmony and balance are needed in all things, so the common
purpose of Chinese religion is to correct this imbalance. ...
... and Indian cultures. The development of Chinese religion is significant
by influence from other cultures. Early in Chinese culture ...
... Confucianism, a popular Chinese religion, is arguably just a methodology of thought;
most likely due to its overtly pragmatic and worldly nature. ...
... The character Tao ??(or Dao, depending on the Romanisation scheme one prefers)
literally means "path" or "way", but in Chinese religion and philosophy has ...
... As a religion, Taoism was influenced by Chinese folk religion. Most gods were human
beings who display exceptional powers during there life time. ...
Submitted by trashman on January 24, 2008
Category: Miscellaneous
Words: 1156 | Pages: 5
Views: 71
Popularity Rank: 86,988
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When analyzing Chinese Religions, one has to approach the subject in a way that is different from that which is used to examine other, more traditional religions. That is because it is not an organized, unified system of beliefs and practices. It has no centralized leadership, no central headquarters, no single founder, and no particular denominations. Instead of being a specific stat of religion, the “Chinese religion” is instead a term used to describe the interaction of different religious and philosophical traditions that have been influential in China. For example, in countries where we might categorize individuals as being either Muslim or Jewish, we would know that they are mutually exclusive of one another. Each one identified by its own god and system of belief. For most religions, converts are asked to choose. However, this is not the case in China. It is not only possible, but common for someone from China to follow more than one tradition or system of beliefs, drawing upon different religions. For instance, someone can turn to Confucianism for family and ethical concerns, to Daoism for physical and psychological health concerns, or to Buddhism for funeral procedures. Similarly, Confucianism and Daoism share many of the same basic ideas. They agree for example, on how the world functions, the role of mankind in the world, the functions of gods and spirits, and how ethical ideas should shape China. Then when Buddhism arrived in China from India and became popular amongst the people, they began to incorporate these Chinese beliefs into their own, changing Buddhism in a number of ways that are now uniquely identified as “Chinese religion”.
Although other religious traditions have been influential in China, Chinese religion is primarily composed of three main traditions: Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism. The religious beliefs of most Chinese people are rooted in some combination of beliefs and practices that originate from these three traditions....
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