China

Philosophy and Religion

China’s history has been full of richness of culture, mainly due to how they progressed with philosophy and religion. Since the beginning of the Chinese’s civilization philosophy and religion has been at the forefront of Chinese culture. From the ancient oracle bones and bronze inscriptions to the development of different schools of thought, the Chinese have always been adept for the time period in philosophy and religion. And over the course of their history they have combined the two in a manner that suits their needs, through this evolution and combination of the two they have become a strong nation.

Oracle bones were the corner stone of the early Chinese dynasties such as the Shang from around 1200-1050 B.C (Shang pg. 1). In one of the articles it attempts to explain the use of these bones by saying that the kings of the Shang Dynasty would “attempt to communicate with the spiritual forces that ruled their world by reading the stress cracks in cattle bones…” (Shang 1). These kings would apply a heated poker to the bones which would produce cracks that they would analyze based on the direction and deepness of the crack. Recently these bones and the records of the king’s analyzation were uncovered. An estimated 150,000 oracle bones were found, and have references to the god of the Shang, Di (Shang pg. 1). This type of analysis by the kings is an early form of a religion, and the building blocks for later philosophy and schools of thought in China’s history.

Much progression can be seen between the oracles bones in the Shang dynasty and the emergence of Confucius (551-479 BC) (Ebrey Text pg. 42). The oracle bones played the basis for the development of the schools of thought and religion in China. ...

... middle of paper ...

...rogressed a long way since its origins. The early schools of thought based on Confucius’ teaching were key to the progression of China. It shaped their overall political structure, and their ways for worship. With the help of students like Mencius, and Xzuni, Confucianism was allowed to exapand and incorporate in it religious aspects that made it a hybrid philosophy. From there Daoism came into the picture and gave people more choices instead of being forced into Confucianism. But it wasn’t until hundreds of years later did a true religion come into play, Buddhism. To adapt to change, Daoism reemerged as a religion to be able to further spread its message and continue to affect political authority in China. Overall, all of these schools of thought, and religions have played incredibly important roles in China’s political structure, and development as a country.