Confucianism and Taoism

Confucianism and Taoism are the two major religious traditions of China. They represent the religious foundations of one of the oldest civilizations in the world, with origins pre-dating the Roman Empire and the founding of Christianity. Over the centuries, Confucianism and Taoism spread to other countries of East Asia: Confucianism was adopted by the Korean and Japanese civilizations as a model for governmental organization and as a basic orientation towards the self and the world, and Taoist influence on those cultures can be seen in the form of Son/Zen Buddhism. Today, despite a tumultuous century of civil war and rebuilding, and despite tremendous political, economic, and social influence from the West, Confucianism and Taoism remain the most abiding cultural systems of China. Moreover, Confucianism and Taoism are increasingly recognized as viable religious alternatives among non-Chinese in the West.

This book is one in a series entitled The Student’s Guide to World Religions. The other religions covered by the series are Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. How does this book “fit” in the series? Can Confucianism and Taoism be included among the religious traditions of the world? What makes them distinctive? In this Introduction, we will examine these questions:

1. Are Confucianism and Taoism “religions” in the same way that Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are religions?

2. Are Confucianism and Taoism “world religions,” that is, do they enjoy a worldwide following?

In addition, in this Introduction we will look at the basic characteristics of Chinese culture, in particular its language, and we will address the stylistic conventions and methodological orientations of this book.

In many respects Confucianism and Taoism do not resemble the other religious traditions approached in this series. As we will see in this book,

In light of these features, some scholars have argued that Confucianism and Taoism should not be classified as religions at all – and these include some scholars from within the Confucian and Taoist traditions themselves. Why is this? Clearly, it depends greatly on how the word “religion” is used or defined, and what constitutes a religion.

Traditionally, scholars have defined religion as “belief” or a system of beliefs. In particular, religion is thought to be the belief in spiritual beings of some kind -- whether God or gods, or other kinds of spiritual entities, such as demonic spirits, ghosts or souls, nature deities, ancestral spirits, saints, and so on. In this sense, Judaism and Christianity are prototypes of what everyone thinks a religion should be – the belief in gods (in the case of Judaism and Christianity, one God) and lesser spirits. But there is a problem: first, religions do not limit themselves to “belief.” Belief is certainly one element of all religions, but religions also include many other defining, essential aspects:

A second problem is that not all religions profess a belief in gods. Obviously, not all religions profess a belief in the God of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (the so-called “Abrahamic traditions,” named after their common ancestor). The Buddha is purported to have denied the existence of any eternal, all-knowing, unchanging being, including Brahman, the “God” or “Over-Soul” of his native Hindu tradition. Some people -- including some within the Buddhist tradition itself – therefore describe Buddhism as a kind of “atheism.” In the Chinese context, some Confucian intellectuals have also denied the existence of any “spiritual reality,” seeing the belief in “gods, ghosts, and ancestors” as the superstitious religion of the common people – useful as a way of controlling the people morally and ethically, but superstitious nevertheless. With regard to the spiritual world, Confucianism is parallel to the Western materialist or secular orientation. The Taoist attitude towards spiritual beings is more complicated. Taoist priests do “believe in gods,” but see themselves as being superior to them! Taoist priests are able to manipulate and control the gods, and to master god-like power within themselves. So, if we limit our definition of “religion” to “the belief in gods” (and, in particular, belief in the superiority, omniscience, and omnipotence of God), then we would have to exclude Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism as religions altogether.

Certainly, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism are religions, so we must make use of a definition of religion that will be inclusive of all seven traditions addressed in this series. Various scholars have come up with a number of sophisticated definitions of religion, but may be more useful to think of religion less in terms of “what it is” and more in terms of what it does for religious followers, that is, the “function” of religion in individual and social life.

Let us adopt as inclusive a definition as possible: “Religion is a means of ultimate transformation” (Streng 1976). Religion brings about change: cosmic, social, or individual transformation. Christians sometimes call this transformation “salvation,” but most religions focus more on social or universal transformation, not just individual conversion. Religious transformation is not minor or incidental change, but rather “ultimate” change, addressing the very foundations of individual or social identity.

As a means of ultimate transformation, religions make two fundamental assumptions: first, that there is something wrong with the way things are in their “non-religious” state, and second, that the means exist to change those conditions. Many religions teach that our ordinary way of viewing the world is fundamentally mistaken – that we have misperceived who or what we are in relation to reality as it really is, and that we need to be corrected in our understanding of ourselves and our world. And virtually all religions teach that a new, religious perception of ourselves and our world will have a transformative effect: religious knowledge will propel us to “change reality,” to create a new self or a new world. Finally, religion gives us the means to act upon that knowledge – the means to achieve ultimate transformation.

Religion as a means of ultimate transformation

▪ Religions teach that our ordinary way of viewing reality is mistaken

▪ Religions show us reality “as it really is”

▪ Religions show that reality in its non-religious (non-transformed) state is wrong or unsatisfying

▪ Religions give us the means to change reality fundamentally

One scholar of comparative religion has described this process as providing a “model of” and a “model for” reality (Geertz 1973). Religion is a “model of” reality: it corrects our misperceptions and describes reality “as it really is.” Religion is a “model for” reality: it gives us the means to create a new, more perfect self, community, and cosmos. To use a medical metaphor, religion has “diagnostic” and “prescriptive” functions. A doctor first determines the cause of an illness (the diagnosis) before suggesting treatment (the prescription). As a “diagnosis,” religion provides insight into our true condition; as a “prescription,” religion instructs us on how to “treat” the condition, how to transform ourselves and our world.

Let’s look at these two functions of religion in more detail. First, religion is a “model of” reality in the sense that it provides us with an accurate description of reality, often contradicting our ordinary, common-sense, or unenlightened perceptions. For example, the Advaita Vedanta philosophy of Hinduism teaches that we are fundamentally mistaken in viewing the world as multitudinous and differentiated; our false perception fails to see the underlying unity of reality. Or, some Christian denominations teach that people mistakenly see themselves as knowing and powerful, and that they fail to see their fundamentally sinful nature, which limits human understanding and ability. Seeing ourselves “as we really are” opens us to the possibility of transformation through redemption. In these cases and others, religion provides a more accurate description of the way the world really is, or the way humans really are.

The means by which religions provide a correct “model of” reality are various: they include scriptures and commentaries (the teachings of gods or sages), creeds, preaching, testimonial, religious education, myths and legends, and so forth – the intellectual content of religious belief.

Second, religion is a “model for” reality, providing followers with the means to change the world and to “model themselves” upon the religious orientation of the tradition. As a model for reality, the religion projects a new possibility (a new model) for the way things ought to be, not just the way things actually are at present. The “model for” aspect of religion goes beyond mere “description” to directive, instruction, and “prescription,” showing how religious persons can bring about the “ultimate transformation” that is at the heart of religious belief and practice.

The means by which religions provide a “model for” reality include ethical norms (moral law), rituals of worship or thanksgiving (sacrifice, prayer, and so on), and exemplary stories (stories of heroic figures within the tradition, for ordinary people to imitate or follow). Religions tell their followers not only “what life is,” but how to live, specifically, how to live a religiously transformed life.

Based upon this definition, Confucianism and Taoism are clearly two of the world’s great religions, serving as a “model of” reality and a “model for” the ultimate transformation of their followers and communities.

· Both teach that our ordinary or unenlightened way of viewing ourselves and our world is mistaken.

· Both describe reality “as it really is,” based upon the teachings of the Confucian and Taoist “sages.”

· Both show that the non-religious state of existence is unsatisfying and non-harmonious.

· Both provide the means to change reality fundamentally, and to create conditions of social and cosmic harmony.

Confucianism and Taoism as World Religions

“World religions” are religions that cross national boundaries. Some world religions are missionary religions, aiming for the conversion of other persons to the faith, including persons of different national or ethnic origins. This is true of Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, for example, which have spread by conversion since the second or third century of their founding. In other cases, a religion originally associated with a particular people or culture becomes a “world religion” by virtue of voluntary or forced migrations. Such was the case of Judaism at various times in its history, from the fall of the First and Second Temples in the 6^th century BCE and the 1^st century CE to the forced expatriation from Nazi-occupied Europe in the 20^th century CE. Some traditions remain closely tied to their culture of origin, such as Shinto (which is limited to Japan, both culturally and geographically, and therefore cannot be classified as a world religion), while others are associated primarily with a particular culture but have been adopted or appropriated by people in other parts of the world: Hinduism, for example, was tied exclusively to India until American and European intellectuals began “converting” to Hinduism in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

In what sense can Confucianism and Taoism be classified as “world religions”? Like Judaism, the spread of Confucianism and Taoism can be attributed partly to the migrations of Chinese throughout the world. Beginning as early as the Han Dynasty (around the time of Christ), Chinese began to settle in other parts of Asia (including present-day Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Burma). Today, ethnic Chinese live in every corner of the world, and are vital contributors to the economic, social, and political life of many countries. Chinese is the world’s most widely spoken language, not only because China is the world’s most populous country, but because Chinese retain their cultural, religious, and linguistic identity even after several generations as citizens of other countries. Chinese immigrants have preserved their language, and they have also preserved their Confucian and Taoist values, which underlie Chinese cultural identity, as well as the practice of ancestor veneration, artistic expression, physical exercise, traditional Chinese medicine, and so on – all having roots in China’s religious traditions.

Another reason Confucianism and Taoism can be classified as world religions is because people from other cultures have voluntarily appropriated their teachings. This was true of Korea at the beginning of the Yi (Choson) Dynasty (14^th century, though Confucian influence was known before); of Japan during the Tokugawa Shogunate (17^th century); and, to a lesser extent, of Europe and America in the 20^th century. In this sense, Confucianism and Taoism are more like Hinduism: associated primarily with the country of origin, but exerting a profound influence among converted nations or individuals. Today, Japan and Korea are thoroughly Confucian in their social values and religious practices, and a number of non-Chinese Americans and Europeans have begun to identify themselves as Confucian or Taoist.

It is impossible in modern times to think of one’s own religious identity in isolation from the fact of religious pluralism in the world. In the last century, the growth of inter-cultural communication has led Chinese to see their Confucian or Taoist identity in contrast to other world religions. This has inspired an increase in comparative studies and inter-religious dialogue between Chinese and Western intellectuals. Confucians in particular have examined their tradition in light of religious and philosophical insights from India and the West. The “New Confucianism” of the last century is explicitly comparative, and often syncretic – bringing insights from Buddhism or Western religion and philosophy into creative synthesis with Confucian thought. Chinese are no longer Confucian or Taoist simply by virtue of their cultural upbringing, but as a conscious choice from among the pluralistic alternatives of the world’s religions.

Though they remain primarily Chinese, Confucianism and Taoism are not exclusively “Chinese religions.” We will examine the worldwide impact of Confucianism and Taoism in Chapter Four of this book.

In the West, we tend to identify religious traditions with their founders. We think of Christianity as having been founded by Jesus of Nazareth, or of Islam as having been founded by the Prophet Mohammed. The word “Confucianism” suggests a tradition that was “founded” by Confucius, who lived two thousand five hundred years ago. However, “Confucianism” does not refer simply to one man or one collection of scriptures. We now know that the ideals, values, and behaviors which we call “Confucianism” actually predated Confucius by at least a thousand years.

The English word “Confucianism” is a relatively late invention (one scholar has found no use of the term before 1687), and Confucius himself was not known in Europe until Jesuit missionaries visited China in the 1600’s. The Christian missionaries saw a strong link between the cultural values that they observed among Chinese officials and the classical texts attributed to Confucius and his followers, so they named this tradition “Confucianism.”

Interestingly, the word “Confucianism” does not exist in the Chinese language. This is largely because “Confucian” values and behaviors pre-date Confucius himself; Confucius’ contribution was to collect, organize, and highlight the beliefs and practices that were definitive of his culture. Confucius is recorded as saying, “I transmit but do not create. I place my trust in the teachings of antiquity.” As a “transmitter” or “systematizer” of values, Confucius was certainly important, but the values and behaviors of “Confucianism” were central to Chinese culture even before the beginning of recorded history, some one thousand years before Confucius. Neither Confucius nor his followers considered the “First Sage” to be a religious “founder.”

The terms that are equivalent to “Confucianism” in Chinese are Ru jia, Ru jiao, or Ru xue – the Ru school, the Ru tradition, or Ru studies. In Confucius’ time, the Ru were “scholars,” but at a much earlier time (1000 BCE or before), the Chinese character Ru referred to religious priests or shamans who were ritual experts – masters of religious music and dance – especially skilled in summoning good spirits, exorcising evil spirits, and bringing rain and other blessings. By the time of Confucius, the Ru were also historians, because the shamanic rituals of the past had fallen into disuse and were known only in the historical records. Confucius was an exemplary Ru scholar as he was especially interested in cultural history (the history of music, dance, and other arts) and in ritual. One of his major contributions was to codify and advance the ritual traditions of the early Zhou Dynasty. Consequently, “Confucianism” refers to all of the values and practices of the “Ru tradition,” and does not refer simply to the “religion of Confucius.”

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What, then, is the “Ru tradition,” and how should “Confucianism” be defined in this book? For Chinese, “Confucianism” is the general term for the religious and ethical ideals, values, and behaviors that have shaped Chinese culture for the past three to four thousand years. These include

· the cultivation of harmonious, hierarchical relations in one’s family and social life; and

· the grounding of moral teachings and ethical principles in a religious or cosmic reality.

These are “Confucian” behaviors and values in the sense that Confucians value them, not because Confucius “invented” them.

So, we can define “Confucianism” by its Chinese equivalent, “Ru jiao,” a system of values and practices originating in China’s pre-history, but codified by Confucius and developed by the Confucian tradition.

“Taoism” is an even more complicated term! In English, the word was coined two to three centuries after “Confucianism,” appearing in book titles as “Taouism” in 1839, as “Tauism” in 1855, and finally as “Taoism” in 1879. The term was used to translate the Chinese Dao jia and Dao jiao, which mean “school of the Dao” and “religion of the Dao.” Though we do not find historical evidence of a “school of the Dao” prior to the Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE), Taoists themselves trace their origins to the mythical Lao-zi, a name meaning “Master Old” or “Old Infant,” the supposed author of the Dao de jing (Scripture of the Dao and its Power). Myths tell of personal encounters between Confucius and Lao-zi, so this “religious founder” is purported to have lived, like Confucius, in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Zhou Dynasty (770 – 476 BCE). Legends relate that while in human form, Lao-zi was a recluse or hermit, disgusted with the ways of the world, only deigning to share his wisdom when departing China for the mystical mountains of the West. Beseeched by a gate-keeper at the far western pass that separated China from the barbarian wilds of the West, Lao-zi agreed to recite his lessons in “five thousand words” – this explains why the Dao de jing is often called in Chinese the “Five Thousand Character Classic.” According to some schools of Taoism, Lao-zi was a seer and magician, capable of physical self-transformation, and is now a transcendent deity or “pure spirit.”

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Like Confucianism, however, “Taoism” is not limited to the teachings of one sage or one book. Taoists believe that the Dao itself “originated” in a far more distant past: it is a cosmic “Way” (the literal meaning of “Dao”) that formed, or began to form, before the existence of all individual “things.” As the Dao de jing relates, “Before there was a ‘two’ and a ‘three,’ there was the ‘One.’” This “Cosmic One” describes the original unity of the universe, an undifferentiated energy that “gave birth” to the “ten thousand things.” The Dao continues to exist. In fact, it is eternally evolving or “coming into existence” and is “never complete.” It is an energy which permeates the universe, and can be “tapped into” as a source of health, vitality, long life, and supernatural power. The Taoist religion is an historical transmission of texts and rituals that attempt to explain, harness, create and re-create that cosmic energy.

Until recently, Western historians of China limited “Taoism” to a school of philosophy – set out abstrusely in the Dao de jing and elaborated by the sages Zhuang-zi (dates uncertain, but he lived between 370 and 301 BCE) and Lie-zi (an historical figure only known by a book appearing in his name, dating anywhere from 300 BCE to 300 CE). These three thinkers were said to be the authors of a philosophy that was distinctly “anti-Confucian”: rebelling against education, against government service, against the moral and ethical codes of social interaction, and against the norms and rules that govern everyday life. These Taoists advocated instead a life of “free and easy wandering” (a chapter title from The Book of Zhuang-zi), unbounded by the norms of society, or even by the constraints of language and logic. This is one reason that these books are often so confusing – because they are meant to be! The teachings of Lao-zi, Zhuang-zi, and Lie-zi are the heart of this philosophical tradition, as described in Chapter Two.

But this is only one part of the story of Taoism. Whereas historians used to limit “Taoism” to these thinkers and their reclusive philosophy, we now know that Taoism continued to evolve and develop, and came to include not just philosophical texts, but also church-like institutions, rites and ceremonies (with hundreds if not thousands of ritual instruction manuals), a rich tradition of physical and hygienic practices with the goal of long life or immortality, a pantheon of terrestrial and celestial deities, and mythologies of their lives and heavenly existence. Of course, historians have been aware of these religious elements for a long time – and all of these beliefs and practices continue to exist – but in the past we tended to denigrate them as “superstition” or “folk religion,” not realizing that they are highly elaborate, intellectually sophisticated, and ritually complex, and not realizing that they are part of the Taoist tradition. “Taoism,” therefore, includes much more than the teachings of Lao-zi and his immediate followers. It is rather a religious tradition with certain identifiable features, including

The beliefs and values underlying this religion extend far beyond the formal aspects listed above, and many Chinese today exhibit “Taoist” characteristics apart from these institutional forms. Just as “Confucianism” describes a system of values and behaviors that permeates Chinese society, most Chinese are “Taoist” to one degree or another, perhaps even unaware of the religious origins of their thinking and habits. We will explore the Taoistic strains of everyday life throughout this book, but in brief they can be summarized as follows:

Most Chinese today, even after a century of Western influence (not to mention half a century of Communist rule), would consider these things “common sense,” and while the institutional forms of Sect Taoism are now (perhaps temporarily) in eclipse, “Taoism” as an approach to life is still very much alive.

The definition of religion adopted in this book is derived primarily from two scholars: Frederick Streng and Clifford Geertz. Streng’s book, Understanding Religious Life, is an especially readable introduction to the concept of “religion” and its various manifestations.

For the history of the labels “Confucianism” and “Taoism” as names for the indigenous religions of China (as well as the history of the names of all the world religions), see Wilfred Cantwell Smith’s The Meaning and End of Religion. A recent study of the Jesuit encounter with Chinese religion suggests that the Jesuits “invented” Confucianism itself! This more radical thesis is put forward in Lionel Jensen’s Manufacturing Confucianism. In a similar vein, J.J. Clarke has written a fascinating book on Western encounters with Taoism: The Tao of the West: Western Transformations of Taoist Thought. Both of these books offer critical perspectives on labeling Chinese religions.

For an introduction to the Chinese language, I recommend Raymond and Margaret Chang’s Speaking of Chinese. The classic Chinese-English dictionary of Chinese characters is Bernard Karlgren’s, which provides background on the etymological origins of Chinese graphs.

Clarke, J.J. The Tao of the West: Western Transformations of Taoist Thought. London, New York: Routledge Press, 2000.

Geertz, Clifford. “Religion as a Cultural System.” In The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1973.

Jensen, Lionel. Manufacturing Confucianism : Chinese Traditions and Universal Civilization. Durham : Duke University Press, 1997

Karlgren, Bernard. Grammata Serica Recensa. Tor Ulving, ed., Dictionary of Old & Middle Chinese : Bernhard Karlgren's "Grammaia Serica Recensa" Alphabetically Arranged. Philadelphia: Coronet Books, 1997.

Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. The Meaning and End of Religion. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1962.

Streng, Frederick. Understanding Religious Life. Encino, CA: Dickenson Publishing Company, 1976.

Chinese Religion and the World’s Religions

Confucianism and Taoism as World Religions

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