Sunday, February 13, 2011

Religion, (Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism)

Confucius

Confucius believed that good government was based on social heirarchy and strict codes of behavior and moral conduct in traditional chinese society. In other words, he assumed that all people had basically good intentions, and only needed to be taught how to lea a virtuous life. He believed that the emperor should set an example by having morals, (being a good person,) and the people would follow his example.

Zhu Xi was a leader of Neo-Confucianism in the Song dynasty. He had many interpretations of Confucian beliefs. Zhu Xi believed that the human mind was linked to the forces of the universe. He wrote the 5 Confucian Classics, (The Book of Rites, The Analects, The Writings of Menicius, The Doctrine of the Mean, and The Great Learning.)

Over the Centuries, Daoism and Buddism added a spiritual element to the Confucian codes of morals. Confucianists began to speak in ways that involved themselves with "cosmic forces," like the yin yang symbol, (which comes from Daoism,)  or qi.




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