The Major Belief Systems of East Asia

A. East is East and West is West

1. The Ballard of East and West
a. Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till
Earth and Sky stand presently to Gods great Judgment Seat, But there
is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong
men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!
-Rudyard Kipling
B. Confucianism
1. Who was Confucius?
a. Chinese thinker, teacher, and philosopher.
b. Deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, and
Vietnamese thought and life.
2. The philosophy of Confucius developed into a system known as
Confucianism.
3. Is it a religion or something else?
4. Built on a foundation to establish the social values, and ideals of
traditional Chinese society.
5. A civil religion
6. A diffused religion.
7. The Humanistic Meaning of Life-Lin Hang
a. Anthropo-centric (as opposed to the theo-centric) approach towards
faith and trust.
C. Major Problems and Solutions
1. Chaos and lack of social order
2. How to create social order and harmony?
a. Through ritual
3. There is an order in heaven (universe).
4. Confucius emphasis on education
5. Two major virtues
a. Ren: compassion, loving others, and humaneness
b. Li: rituals, etiquettes, and propriety
6. Social hierarchy
a. Ruler & Subject
b. Father & Son
c. Man & Wife
d. Older Brother & Younger Brother
e. Friend & Friend
D. Other Issues and Questions
1. Undemocratic?
a. The king providentially set up by Heaven to enlighten the people.
2. The mandate of heaven.
a. The Legitimacy of rulers.
3. You are supposed to act as the role that you are.
4. God in Confucianism?
a. The impersonal forces in the world.
b. Divinity is in our own human life.
5. Monolithic?

6. Life after death?

E. Taoism (Daoism)
1. Originated in China.
2. First recognized during the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE.
3. Lao-tze: a mythical founder
4. Tao Te Ching (Daode Jing)
a. The key book of Taoism.
b. The guide to living a spiritual and ethical life.
5. What is the Tao?
a. The way.
b. Encourages people to live with detachment and calm.
c. The best course of action in nonaction.
6. The ideal way for a leader to run the country is by example and with
minimal intervention.
7. Taoism is gender-neutral.
a. The concept of yin & yang.
b. Masculine and feminine are complementary.
8. God in Taoism?
a. Does not have a God in the way that the Abrahamic religions do.
b. The Tao is not God.
F. Buddhism
1. All life is interconnected
2. Human suffering?
3. Nirvana!!
4. The history of Buddhism?
a. The founder of Buddhism
I.
Siddhartha Gautama (Shakyamuni, Sage of the Shakya Clan)
b. Born into a royal family
c. Sickness, age, and death the inevitable fate of all human beings.
5. The Four Noble Truths
a. I teach suffering, its origin, cessation, and path.
b. The essence of the Buddhas teachings.
I.
The truth of suffering
II.
The truths of the cause of suffering
III.
The truth of the end of suffering
IV.
The truth of the path to the end of suffering.
V.
The Eightfold Path
Ways to avoid both indulgence and asceticism
6. Karma
a. Our past actions affect us
b. Our present actions will affect us in the future
c. Implications beyond this life
d. Bad luck=karmic retribution
e. The law of moral causation.
7. The notion of God in Buddhism
a. Religion without a God.
b. How to get rid of suffering?
c. Atheists?
d. Skeptics?
G. Shinto

1. A religion native to Japan

2. The way of the God(s)
3. The devotion to invisible spiritual beings
a. Kami: spirits and elements of the forces of nature
b. Not all kami are good
c. Different from the Western concept of God.
d. Human beings are not capable of forming a true understanding of
kami.
4. Not a religion adopted by the State
5. An unofficial national religion
6. More than just a religion in Japan
7. Has coexisted with other religious traditions in Japan for centuries.
H. Questions to consider
1. What are the major differences between East Asia and the West in terms
of belief systems, cultural traditions, and ideologies?
2. East is East and West is West after all?
a.