In Asian Chritinaity by Heup Young Kim, he doesn’t want a dialogue, he wants a trilogue which includes East Asian religions and the natural sciences. I am a Christian and Korean, and I also belive in tradational religions(confucianism). Western christians do not have to need their own type of Christianity. My Christian faith is based on my own cultural belief which includes cultural past, which is the collective context of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. The significance of Western Christianity can’t be neglected, but as the author claims, Western christianity is based on their own religious and cultural context, and as gradual increase of number of Asian christian, it is become more significant to establish the christianity based on oriental ideas. The importance of trilogue among western, eastern, and science is inevitable phenomenon, and the task should be diffrent from the past debates between western religion and science.
In Korea, more than half of christians are practicing Confucians, and people argues about that it creates a conflict of one’s religious belief. However, I think having two religion is not a problematic issue, it is possible to be both Christian and Confucian at the sametime without compromising the faith. By being both, people can be a better Christian and a better Confucian at the same time because being christian is related to faith and being confucian is related to ethics of life.
Contemporary dialogue between religion and science still needs to be more globalized due to the fact that it is only focused Western thoughts and circumstances. Oriental religions such as Confucianism and Taoism can contributes to discuss ongoing basic conflict between western religion idea and science. Contemporary religi...
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...ve the sensitivity, the knowledge of the nature itself is basic element, and collective natural sciences provides such knowledge. To fully understand the natural science, not only the scientific knowledge is necessary but also wisdom, which is collective cultural knowledge throughout century, is necessary. The significance of the Taoist notion of wu-wei, that highlights the attitude to identify the movement of the universe and participate in nature rather than to try to revise and control with human-centered point of view.
The Eastern religion should not be considered as secondary source of western religion, and the collective knowledge of eastern religion is reasonable to conduct trilogue along with western religion and science. The significance of the oriental ideas such as Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism is that they can bring new approches in humanistic view.
The differences in Western and Eastern philosophy are marked. Eastern thinking has slowly become “discovered” by the West; meanwhile, the development of Western thought and philosophy has come under close scrutiny by modern and postmodern philosophers and thinkers as being flawed at its core. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger came to the conclusion that “Western philosophy is a great error” (Barrett xi). The manner in which Western thought was founded, the course of its development, and its incursion into every facet of life in the Western world has been and is now being questioned on all fronts by leading critics and thinkers.
When considering the origin of the faiths and philosophies of the world, it is judicious to take into consideration the culture and religious practices of the period. For instance, Daoism developed out of the political climate of the time and the religious beliefs and practices and that existed in China in the preceding centuries. In order to gain a greater comprehension of the creation Daoism, the theory, philosophy, and practices, it necessitates a journey to China in the distant past.
The cause and responses of the spread of Buddhism in China is similar to and reflect that of Christianity’s spread throughout western Europe. The universality aspect of both of these religions makes it possible to draw the comparison between the two. Buddhism and Christianity shared a positive response concerning the recognition of its unifying effects to create a more orderly society. Regarding Buddhism, this is seen in document 5, and regarding Christianity, this is seen in the way it became the unifying force in the Roman
In this Treatise have discussed China's classical age and how they influenced all of east Asian culture for over two thousand years. And How Buddhism spread throughout east Asia and evolved into several different schools each embracing the host nations principle and beliefs. I have discussed Confucian teachings and texts have influenced Chinese and Eastern Asian culture and government for centuries. How China overcame invaders from all sides and managed to emerge as a world economic power. And finally how Japan developed its own culture and founded a new social class the Samurai. East Asian History is compelling, deep and complicated. A history that will sound differently each time as their history continues to grow and influence other non Asian cultures.
ABSTRACT: I explore the nature of scientific explanation in a culture centering on the doctrine of yin and yang combined with that of five phrases, wu-hsing (YYFP). I note how YYFP functions as an alternative to the causal way of thinking, as well as the meaning of scientific explanation in a culture. I also consider whether a scientific concept becomes metaphorical when it is superseded by an alternative organizing concept.
In Japan, they were really pleased with Buddhism, but with China, they liked Confucianism. There were those people throughout both of them who were Christian. Confucianism was big in Ming China. Wang Yang-Ming got a lot of followers for his new teachings, but he got heavily criticized for basically changing th...
In conclusion, Daoism and Confucianism seem to have a lot more in common than one might think. The two philosophies share the same viewpoints on the notions of filial piety and education. I believe, the principles and values that are taught in those philosophies could be of great benefit to our contemporary society.
Religion is an interesting aspect in the Chinese context because of the part it played in history. Christianity did not spread as successfully in the East as it did in Europe and the isolated thoughts of the Chinese at the time. The fundamentals of Confucianism include and encourage humanities pursuit of knowledge and understanding of their self and...
Storytelling has been one of the most effective vehicles for communication of beliefs, values, and traditions since the establishment of language. Since the emergence of Chinese civilization, stories have been used by many to express the concept of religions and philosophies to the common people: “Merchants, traders, and Buddhist pilgrims helped spread Buddhist ideas to China by the second century C.E. Buddhism offered the Chinese new ideas such as karma, reincarnation, hell, monks…” (Brown). Wu Cheng’en, a Chinese novelist and poet during the Ming Dynasty, is considered the author of the Journey to the West. The Journey can be viewed as a collection of religious stories that represents a single demonstration of Chinese religious culture. Journey can therefore be viewed as an esoteric work, like the Bible and Koran. Furthermore, with every esoteric work, there are two meanings provided to the reader: an inner and an outer meaning. The inner meaning is generally associated with the religion itself while the outer meaning is usually the adventures that the characters embark on. This story has been an influence to many and has been retold so many times that it is even considered one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. As one reads through the novel and studies the symbolism used in the story, he/she can find that it is deeply rooted in Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Which religion the story is an allegory for still remains a debate among scholars even today. Yet, although there are Taoist and Confucian elements found in the Journey, I believe that this story is an allegory mainly focused on Buddhism. There are several elements of Buddhism found in the story, especially through the analysis of each of the ma...
Taoism, known as “The Way,” can be categorized as both a Chinese philosophy and a religion. Taoists believe in accepting and yielding to the ways of life, complementing nature and being by internalizing their goals rather than worshipping a god externally. Taoism, in its metaphysical and philosophical nature, is much like Confucianism, but the ideal interests of the two religions are contrasting. Confucianism was formulated during a time of war and relies heavily upon a moral and political system that fashioned society and the Chinese empire, while Taoism correlates to a time of peace and honors spiritual and metaphysical preoccupation (Taoism 2).
In conclusion, currently Confucianism has been greatly reduced and its revival in the scholarly community upheld. On the other hand, Hinduism is practiced throughout the world whereby worship is done at home and temple. Religious festivals are also observed according to an ancient solar-lunar calendar. The religion instills unique and strong sense of identity in each Hindu.
Confucianism believes that their congregation should have human conduct over the idea of God in their lives, whereas Taoism is formed on the belief that its congregation should create a relationship with nature. This is pointed out by Smith in Experiencing the World 's Religions, “Confucius represents the classical, Lao Tzu the romantic; Confucius stresses social responsibility, Lao Tzu praises spontaneity and naturalness; Confucius focus is on the human, Lao Tzu’s on what transcends the human” (Smith 218). Another difference is Confucianism is based off of respect of others and their superiors, and Confucians are to follow a code of conduct with social harmony as a goal. On the other hand, Taoism is based on the contemplation of life and followers are to seek balance in their lives through following the path or
Although Islam and Confucianism represent two totally different worldviews, they have similar characteristics, which provide a potential idea, that both can be from a common source. Mirza Tahir Ahmad, who was a Caliph in Ahmadiyya Muslim community, supported this idea in his book “Revelation, Nationality, Knowledge & Truth”. He supports his idea saying, “All humans are God’s creation; it stands to reason that God not only guided people in the Middle East through Abrahamic prophets. He also guided other people through prophets like Confucius, Buddha and Zoroaster.” His claim is based on the existence of common themes between Islamic and Confucian teachings. Another supporting evidence is that God in one of the verses of Quran in which He was talking to prophet Mohamed, He told him: “And certainly We sent messengers before you: there are some of them that We have mentioned to you and there are others whom We have not mentioned to you ...” (Al-Ghafir Verse-78). According to this verse, God gives Muslims a room to search for other prophets than the ones who are mentioned in Qur’an. In this paper I will compare between Islam and Confucianism in terms of similarities and differences to know whether Confucianism is a religion that came out from the same source of Islam, or it is a philosophical values and morals that was spreading in china to support the Chinese community from falling apart.
When considering the basis for the understanding of both science and religion it is interesting to distinguish that both are based on an overwhelming desire to define a greater knowledge, and comprehension of the universe that surrounds us. Now while, science has based its knowledge of experimental basis, researcher, and scholarly work; religion
to the mid-4th centuries. This philosophy played a social, spiritual and cultural life of Asia.