Religion in China

RELIGION IN CHINA:

Religion in China is a big subject, but I have tried to divide it into distinct topics that will make it easier to read and digest. The main topics are Popular Religion, Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Minority Religions, and Religion & Communism.

Chinese religion has been influenced by three main streams of thought: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Although each has separate origins, all three have been inextricably entwined in popular Chinese religion along with ancient animist beliefs. It’s often said that many Chinese are Confucianists during their education, Taoists in retirement, and Buddhists as they approach death.

POPULAR RELIGION:

The founders or Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism have been deified and placed next to mythical and historical figures, such as the Eight Immortals, the Yellow Emperors, and Mao Zedong. The Chinese add on a whole host of other gods and ghosts, such as the spirits of the hearth, of sickness, and even of toilets! Ancestor worship is also an extremely common practice.

It’s believed that the body has two souls, the hun and the po. The hun enters the body in the month after birth and leaves the body 49 days after death, to be judged in various stages of hell. The po remains with the body after death and can cause problems for the deceased’s relatives if funeral arrangements and sacrifices are not carried out satisfactorily. “Hungry ghosts” who have no one to care for them will roam the earth wreaking havoc. Spirit money is often burned during the funeral services in order to help the souls bribe their way through the various gates of hell (Daoism has ten gates; Buddhism has 18). Families often set up shrines to the deceased, which usually consist of an ancestral tablet, a photo of the deceased, and offerings of food.

In general, modern Chinese religious practices are concerned with the pursuit of worldly success, the securement of good fortune, and the appeasement of spirits.

Religion in every form is on the rise in China, perhaps in reaction to the spiritual vacuum created during the Mao years.

TAOISM:

It’s said the Taoism is the only home-grown Chinese religion (Confucianism is mainly a philosophy). According to tradition, the religion’s founder, Laotzu (c. 604 BC) was a contemporary of Confucius, but there is doubt that he ever lived at all. At the center of the religion is the concept of Dao. It cannot be perceived because it exceeds senses, thoughts, and imagination; it can only be known through mystical insight, which cannot be expressed with words. Dao is the way of the universe, the driving power in nature, and the order behind al life. It is the spirit which cannot be exhausted. Dao is the way that people should order their lives in order to keep harmony with the universe.

The most famous Taoist idea is that of the duality of a universe divided into Yin (feminine, dark, passive) and Yang (masculine, bright, busy). It is symbolized by a circle divided into swirls of black and white.

One important aspect of Taoism is its search for immortality through meditation, exercise, alchemy, and various other techniques. Offerings are made to ghosts, and many gods, saints, and special diets were called upon to prolong life. As time passed, Taoism increasingly became wrapped up in the supernatural, self-mutilation, witchcraft, fortune telling, exorcism, and magic and ritualism.

CONFUCIANISM:

Although it is more a philosophy than a religion, Confucianism has become entwined with Chinese religious beliefs. The name of Confucius alone has become synonymous with China. He was born around 551 BC and had as ambition to hold a high government office and to reorder society through the administrative apparatus. At the age of 50, he perceived his divine mission and spent the next 13 years offering unsolicited advice to rulers in different states on how to improve their governing. The opportunity to put his ideas into practice never came.

The glorification of Confucius began after his death. Eventually, Confucian philosophy permeated every level of Chinese society. The illiterate masses knew his spoken proverbs, Confucian classics became the basis of all education, and a knowledge of these classics was required to hold government office.

Basically, Confucianism defines codes of conduct and patterns of obedience. The basic unit of society is the family. Filial piety is essential. Women obey and defer to men, sons to fathers, and younger brothers to elder brothers. Respect flows upward, from young to old, from subject to ruler. The emperor was regarded as the embodiment of Confucian wisdom and virtue – the head of the great family-nation. Confucianism reinforced the practice of ancestor worship and the keeping of genealogical tables. Confucius himself is worshiped and temples are built for him.

There is no rigid code of law because Confucianism rejects the idea that conduct can be enforced by an organization. Central to Confucianism was government by moral example. Unfortunately, the result was often oppression and arbitrary justice by those in power.

Confucius has often been used as a political symbol, his role redefined to fit with or suit the times. During the Cultural Revolution, he was denounced by the Communists as being an incorrigible link to the bourgeois past. Temples, statues, and Confucianists themselves took a beating at the hands of the Red Guards. Today, Confucius is back in favor with the government.

BUDDHISM:

Historical Background of Buddhism:
Buddhism originated in northeast India around the 5th century B.C., when the local religion was Brahmanism. Some Brahmin adhered to an asceticism (renunciation of physical pleasures and comforts) that took them to remote places where they fasted, practiced yoga, and meditated. The Buddha (born Siddhartha Gautama into a noble family) was one such ascetic, and many of the fundamental concepts of Buddhism find their origin in the Brahmin society of this period.

Gautama renounced a life of comfort in order to pursue his quest of making sense of the world’s suffering. He embarked on a course of intense asceticism, before concluding that such a path was too extreme. It was while meditating under a bo tree that he achieved knowledge of the final obstacles to his enlightenment, and became Buddha (“the awakened” or “the enlightened”) at the end of the third night. Traditional Buddhist biographies do not start with the birth of Gautama, but instead with his early lives “100,000 eons ago.” His striving for Buddhahood was supposed to have passed through innumerable rebirths before he attained perfection. After achieving enlightenment, Brahma Sahampata, the god of compassion, asked the Buddha to share his perfect knowledge with all those who were ready to hear his teachings, and thus Buddhism was born.

Basic Buddhist Concepts:
Rebirth:
Buddhists believe that life is a cycle of rebirths. There are six levels of rebirth, or realms of existence. It is important to accumulate enough merit to avoid the three lower realms, although in the long cycle of rebirth, all beings pass through them at some point. The three lower realms comprise hells of torment, ghost worlds, and the world of animals. The three higher realms are human beings, demigods, and gods. All beings are fated to tread this wheel continuously until they make a commitment to enlightenment.

Karma:
All beings pass through the same cycle of rebirths, having lived at some point as an insect, as a god, and having suffered in one of the hell realms. Movement within this cycle is not left up to chance; it is governed by karma. Karma implies the consequences of an action. Every action in life leaves a psychic trace that carries over into the next rebirth. It is not thought of as a reward or punishment, but simply a result.

Merit:
Buddhists try to accumulate as much good karma, or merit, as possible. It is best achieved through the act of rejoicing in giving, although it can also be achieved through giving that is purely motivated by the will for merit. Giving to the needy and to monks and temples, giving up a son to the monkhood, and acts of compassion all have positive karmic outcome and can help to reduce the number of rebirths.

The Four Holy Truths:
The four holy truths are the philosophical underpinning of the faith. They are the Buddha’s answer to the three principal aspects of existence: dukkha (stress, suffering, disease), anicca (impermanence, transience of all things), and anatta (insubstantiality or non-essentiality of reality – no permanent soul). These concepts were in direct contrast with the Hindu belief in an eternal, blissful self. Therefore, Buddhism was originally a heresy against India’s Hindu religion.

The Buddha spoke of the four noble truths as having the power to liberate any person that could realize them. These truths were 1) the truth of dukkha (suffering); 2) suffering is caused by grasping (or desire); 3) Eliminate the cause of suffering (i.e. grasping or desire) and suffering will cease (nirvana); 4) the Eightfold Path is the way to eliminate grasping and extinguish suffering.

It is thought that suffering extends through all rebirths and finds its origins in the imperfection of life and that the reason for our suffering is our dissatisfaction with imperfection and our desire for things to be other than they are. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is nirvana, which literally means “blowing out” or extinction of all grasping and desire, and thus of all suffering. It is the end of the cycle of rebirths. The object is to find a way to cool the passions through the practice of morality and mental development. If followed to conclusion, it will result in the wiping out of suffering caused by the human condition.

Both men and women may achieve nirvana, but it is easier for men, as they are considered to have a higher spiritual status than women. For example, if men perform misdeeds, they will return in a subsequent life as a woman (as punishment).

The Eightfold Path:
The Eightfold Path consists of 1) right understanding; 2) right mindedness; 3) right speech; 4) right bodily conduct; 5) right livelihood; 6) right effort; 7) right attentiveness; 8) right concentration. The word “right” can be translated as “complete” or “full.” The path is also called “the Middle Way” because it avoids the extremes of austerity and of sensuality. It involves moderation, not renunciation.

The Ten Prohibitions:
Do not kill, do not steal, and restrain from inappropriate sexual activity, lying, gossiping, cursing, sowing discord, envy, malice, and opinionatedness.

The Two Major Schools of Buddhism:
Not long after the Buddha’s death, disagreements arose among his followers over whose interpretations best captured the true spirit of his teachings. Two principal schools eventually emerged: the Theravada school which made its way south into Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia; and the Mahayana school, found in the Himalayas and eastern Asia (China, Japan, Korea).

Theravada Buddhism is older and more conservative, emphasizing scholasticism and limiting its doctrines to only those canons that were codified by the first Buddhists. The school is based on the teachings of Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha, where were recorded in the Sutras of the Pali Canon. The Biblical equivalent of “Sutras” is “Scriptures.”

Mahayana Buddhism respects the teachings of the first Buddhists, but also encompasses other teachings. It is the Mahayana School that is followed in China.

Mahayana Buddhism:
The principal difference with Theravada Buddhism is that Mahayanists changed the direction of Buddhism from the individual pursuit of enlightenment and complete nonattachment to bodhisattvahood, which aims, through compassion and self-sacrifice, to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all beings. They believe that since all existence is one, the fate of the individual is linked to the fate of others.

Mahayanists also claim that Gautama the Buddha had already attained Buddhahood eons ago and that he was a manifestation of a long-enlightened transcendent being who sent such manifestations to many world systems in order to help all beings on the road to enlightenment. Mahayanists believe that there are many such transcendent beings. This belief had the effect of allowing Mahayanists to produce new revealed texts that recorded the words of Gautama as they appeared in dreams and visions, and also of making Mahayana Buddhism more palatable to cultures that already had gods of their own. In China, as in Tibet, Korea, and Japan, the Mahayana pantheon of gods came to be identified with local gods. Especially in Tibet, many stories arose about the taming of local gods by their Mahayana equivalents.

Mahayanists claimed to have discovered another body of sutras (scriptures), which were entrusted to supernatural beings until humans that were sufficiently spiritually advanced appeared in the world to receive them. Thus, a second, Mahayana, canon came into being. It set the precedent that Buddhist practice could be informed not only by the teachings of a living Buddha, but also through otherwordly revelations.

Worship:
Believers address prayers to the Buddha and combine it with elaborate rituals. There are deities and Bodhisattvas (a rank of supernatural beings in their last incarnation before nirvana). Temples are filled with images such as the future Buddha, Maitreya (portrayed as fat and happy over his coming promotion), and Amitabha (a savior who rewards the faithful with admission to the Western Paradise). Ritual, tradition, and superstition prevail.

China’s main home-grown Buddhist school, Zen, or Chan, Buddhism has become the most popular form of Buddhism in the West.

Tibetan Buddhism:
A unique form of Mahayana Buddhism is practiced in Tibet and Tibetan areas of western Sichuan and NW Yunnan: Tibetan, or Tantric, Buddhism. It has been practiced since the early 7th century and is largely influenced by Tibet’s pre-Buddhist Bon religion, which relied on priests and shamans to appease spirits, gods, and demons. It is much more mystical than other forms of Buddhism, and relies heavily on mantras (sacred speech), yantras (sacred art), mudras (ritual posture), and secret initiation rites to jolt the follower towards enlightenment. Priests called lamas are believed to be reincarnations of highly evolved beings. The Dalai Lama is the supreme leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

Monks:
Every male Buddhist is expected to become a monk for a short period in his life, optimally between the time he finishes school and the time he starts a career or marries. Traditionally, the amount of time spent in a temple is three months and coincides with the rainy season.

Monks must adhere to 227 monastic vows or precepts. They rise early (generally around 5 AM), pray, study, and may eat only twice per day – before noon. They are required to remain strictly celibate and should at all times remain sober and restrained in behavior. According to the Buddhist scriptures, their life should represent a striving for self-denial and the quenching of earthly appetites. Their life should be one of meditation, asceticism, learning, and in the case of senior members, teaching, interpreting the scriptures, and offering moral guidance.

In addition to prohibitions against alcohol and drugs, monks are not allowed to listen to music or dance, wear jewellery or perfume, sleep in elevated beds (off of the ground), or accept money for their personal needs. They are allowed to own a razor, a cup, a filter (for their drinking water), a bowl, and an umbrella. They enjoy high status in society and are recognizable by their orange robes and shaved heads.

ISLAM:

The name Islam can be translated as “the peace which comes by surrendering to God.” Followers of Islam, called Muslims, worship only one god (Allah). They do not worship Mohammed, who is not a savior, but a messenger of God. He is His last and most important prophet (coming after the prophets of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus). The five pillars of Islam are: 1) to say, understand, and believe the phrase: “There is no other god than Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.”; 2) pray five times per day – at dawn, mid-day, afternoon, sundown, and nightfall; 3) give charity to the poor; 4) respect the rules of Ramadan, if possible (fasting, etc.); 5) make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.

The Southwest has a prominent community of ethnic Chinese Muslims who descend from Arab traders or mercenaries who settled in the region in the wake of the 13th century Mongol invasion of Kublai Khan. They are recognizable by their white skullcaps.

CHRISTIANITY:

Christianity came to China when large numbers of Catholic and Protestant missionaries established themselves in the Southwest following the 19th century invasion by Western powers. Although you can find some prominent churches in China, the Christians represent a very small minority of the population (about 1%).

MINORITY RELIGIONS:

Most minority groups have their own animist and shamanistic belief system which has been overlaid with Taoist, Confucianist, and Buddhist elements. There is an almost universal belief in spirits, which have to be appeased with sacrifices and charms to ensure a good harvest. Many groups offer thanks to water spirits after the rice has been planted. Burial rituals are important to make sure that the deceased’s soul makes it to the right home. The local village shaman is the principal mediator between the human and spirit worlds.

RELIGION AND COMMUNISM:

The Chinese Communist government professes atheism. It considers religion to be pure superstition and a remnant of old China that the ruling classes used to keep power. This supports the Marxist belief that religion is the “opiate of the people.”

Because the government is trying to improve relations with certain minorities, they once again permit open religious activity. However, only atheists are allowed to be members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Because almost all of China’s 55 minority groups adhere to one religion or another, this excludes them from political participation. It is illegal for those under 18 to participate in religious activities in China.

Traditional Chinese beliefs were battered during the Cultural Revolution when monasteries were disbanded, temples destroyed, and monks killed or sent to work in the fields. Many Muslims were forced to eat pork, and mosques were turned into pigsties. Since Mao’s death, the government has allowed some temples to reopen, but all religious activity is firmly under state control and many of the monks are caretakers within renovated shells of monasteries, many of which serve principally as tourist attractions.

As for Christians, the government makes it difficult for Chinese Christians to affiliate with Christians in the West. Churches are placed under the control of the government and those not registered with the government are illegal. Proselytizing is forbidden and Western missionaries are still denied visas, although many enter on tourist visas or as English teachers. There is a lot of friction between the government and the Chinese Catholic Church because the church refuses to disown the Pope as its leader. There is also friction over the one-child policy, because it doesn’t fit with the Catholic view on abortion.