Comparing Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism
There are many similarities and differences between the three ways of life we have been studying for the past week. Each has its own unique purpose and type of people. Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism all have similar and different qualities. I will explain similarities and differences in this essay.
The basic beliefs and concepts of Confucianism are similar to Taoism in the sense that they want peace and good behavior. The Buddhists, on the other hand, strictly have the purpose to reach Nirvana and follow the four noble truths. The overall goal of Confucian is different than Buddhism and Taoism because the overall goal of the Confucius is to find their peaceful and harmonious place in life, while the two others have no overall goal. The goal of the individual believer is similar in Confucianism and Buddhism because they each follow a certain behavior and want to be in harmony with nature. The Tao just have to follow the life according to the Tao.
All of the three beliefs have a different view on life. The Confucians believe that you should be improved by education and development of your character. The Tao believed that the life you lived with the Tao ways was good and following society's ways was very bad. The Buddhist believe that there will always be negativity in life, and that all life has a lot of suffering in it. Therefore, you cannot change that. This is why the Buddhists think reincarnation is a bad thing.
There is a similar bond between the Confucians and the Tao in the category rules and behavior. They both believe that you must act accordingly in some way. These two are different also in the sense that Tao believe the life is to be lived according to the Tao and Confucians believe to live it according to actions. Also, the Confucians believed you need to understand the relationship with family, and to follow the five goals of Confucianism. The Buddhists had a totally different idea for this though; they believe that you just need to follow behavior in the ways of the eightfold path and the nine precepts.
In the category of view of society, each belief has a different view. The Confucians believed that you develop good character through a good life and that everyone has their own role.
To begin, Confucianism is a system of philosophical and ethical teachings founded by Confucius. Confucianism was the code of ethics accepted as the certified religion of most of the immense empires in the territory since the Han Dynasty. Confucianism provided an outline of ethical and religious beliefs that most of the Chinese expanded to make other religions such as Daoism and Legalism. To expand, Confucianism was founded by Confucius and his beliefs on the political and social order of China. Confucius believed that everything would fall into place if children had respect for their parents and if the rulers were honest. In Confucianism, specific roles were followed by each person in the family. The head of the family, the father, was the one primarily in control and then it was the oldest son that was next in line. Confucius had the belief that a ruler has to be everything he wants
Confucianism became popular during the Han Dynasty as it was the state religion and had a great impact on East Asia (Confucianism 1, pg. 7). Born in 551 BCE in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Confucius himself absorbed the teachings of Mahavira and the Buddha (Confucianism 1, pg. 2) He had a set of virtues that he believed a functioning society should stand by such as benevolence, love and rites. Confucius wanted China to return to the old days when people were loyal to their rulers and rulers were polite and caring towards their people. He believed rulers s...
Taoism and Confucianism are two major Chinese philosophies. I say that they are philosophies because religions tend to worship deities and Taoism and Confucianism don’t seems to worshiping anything. To some they appear to be different, even clashing but to me, they seem very much alike but they come at it from different points of view. Both philosophies strive to reach harmony but in to very different ways. I do believe the reason they can co-exist is because they see Tao from two different ways.
In India, around the 6th century B.C., a man gave up his royal lifestyle to attain enlightenment, and began teaching others the path to enlightenment as well. This prince-turned-teacher became known as the Buddha. At the same time, in China, Confucius too was just initiating his teachings in social construction. Their teachings became important and are still influential in their home countries. For India, and later on in China too, Buddhism became a religion and in China, Confucianism became a social structure model. Throughout their teachings, three philosophies were covered by both teachers in their own way. These viewpoints were humanity without selfishness, education in the fundamentals of firmness of beliefs and keeping fresh minds, and
Confucianism is a philosophy and way of life formed in China by Confucius, an early Chinese philosopher. It began as a simple concept with ideals of personal virtue, simple filial piety, and basic gender distinctions and social inequalities. But, over time with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism it began to transform into a way of life that was degrading towards women with certain hostilities towards rivaling religions. In its early period, from around 500 B.C.E to the Common Era, Confucianism changed in that it became the leading belief system and a major part of Chinese tradition. From the transition into the Common Era to the end of the Classical time period, Confucianism was altered because of a loss of popularity following the collapse of the Han dynasty and the corruption in the governing political system. In its ending period, the post-classical era, Confucianism underwent perhaps its biggest adjustments with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism. The ideas and virtues presented in the “rebirth of Confucian philosophies” of intolerance of foreign religions and extreme filial piety...
While possessing similar goals, Confucianism and Daoism texts have conflicting information on how to achieve these goals. Confucianism and Daoism have some similarities such as the belief that “human fulfillment lay in harmonizing our thinking and behavior with the Way (dao)” and a refinement of the self to gain an objective (Adler, Chinese Religious Traditions, 15). Both traditions recognize that we can do better as humans. While there are similarities between these religious traditions, their written teachings have very different instruction on how to achieve the Dao. Confucianism encourages the notion of ru, which is “evoking a commitment to learning, refinement, cultural accomplishments, and the practice of rites and
...he teachings, rather than worshipping a specific God. Confucianism teaches that all people are good and it emphasizes the importance of every individual to be good to one another. Buddhism is teaching the importance of reaching a certain level of enlightenment, meaning a moment in their lives where they do not do anything morally wrong and have a high level of understanding in their life (pbs.org). Confucianism encourages their young to obey their elders. The idea expects the inferiors of the house hold or social class obey their superiors and show respect. There is great admiration for the elders in Confucianism. Buddhism highlights the four noble truths, which state they we as humans are born into suffering, “we cause our own suffering, we should stop doing things that make us suffer and follow an enlightened path to end our suffering” (people.opposingviews.com).
..., when we look at the deeper meaning of education as seen in Confucianism and Taoism, we see that they consider education in much the same way. One must know the importance of self-realization and understand how they fit into the whole. This is a very important form of education. In this way, we will be better prepared to integrate the greater whole.
Confucianism has a close concern on social reality and strong sense of mission on history that ‘the country management and governess as own responsibility’ (Cline, 2007, pp.231). It refers that a person should keep learning and practice what has learnt to become benevolent and righteous for himself, and help others, manage state affairs as well as protect the peace of country (Confucius, 1994). This is a positive life attitude for human being relates to what called “Dao”. In contrast, the ideology of Taoism ignored and removed the barrier of interpersonal relationship, insisting to build peaceful in world based on the value orientation. The theory taught people to show no interest in physical success and social issues because everything has its own natural attributes ( 'Taoism and the arts of China ', 2001). It means that they think doing nothing is better than doing something because the latter one may break the perfection and harmony of nature. Most excellent Confucianism learner became politician in the future, however, most of Taoism learner became solitary (Wang & Chanzit, 2004). It address that the most important thing comes from the interior mind. Taoism cares about the pursuit of spiritual thing like moral and characteristics rather than physical or superficial thing such as reputation and welfare, corresponding to the
Taoism and Buddhism were born in the same century. Siddhartha reached enlightenment in approximately 535 B.C. and Lao Tzu’s teachings were recorded around 500 B.C. There are many similarities in the basics of these two religions. Some of the similarities can be seen clearly when examining the three meaning of Tao.
The teachings according to Confucius refer to Confucianism. Confucianism is the multifarious classification of ethical, collective, political and pious philosophy developed by Confucius and the old Chinese practices (Bertrand, 1999). Confucianism aim is actually making an individual honorable but also making such an individual the character of learning and of proper manners. The ideal and faultless man has to combine the characters of a saint, an intellectual and gentleman. Confucianism is a religious conviction whose adulation is focused on offerings to the dead. The idea of responsibility is extensive beyond the precincts of morals and holds close to the minutiae of daily living.
Confucianism is a moral and religious system of China. Its origins go back to the Analects, the sayings attributed to Confucius, and to ancient writings, including that of Mencius. Confucius was born a mandarin under the name Kongzi. It was developed around 550 B.C. In its earliest form Confucianism was primarily a system of ethical concepts for the control of society. It saw man as a social creature that is bound to his fellow men by jen, or “humanity.” Jen is expressed through the five relationships—sovereign and subject, parent and child, elder and younger brother, husband and wife, and friend and friend. Of these, the filial relation is most important.
Confucianism is a religious philosophy formed by the Chinese philosopher Kung-fu-Tsu. This philosophy came out of need during the warring states period of Chinese history. K'ung-fu-Tsu was a teacher at the hundred schools. His prime concern was the improvement of society. Confucianism has no gods, and the only written history of this religion is in the Analects, a collection of his responses to his disciple's questions. K'ung-fu-Tsu believed that the improvement of society was the responsibility of the ruler and that the quality of government depended on the ruler's moral character. This new way meant concern for others and adherance to the golden rule. Confucianism has had a greater and longer lasting influence on China than that of any other religious philosophy.
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
Upon reading about the historical and religious background of Ancient India, one can clearly assume that the country was strongly influenced by three main religious teachings: Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. These three sects in religious thinking have many similarities as all recognize the life-cycle and the need of liberation, they worship one central deity that used to be a human who gained enlightenment and they all recognize the existence of the eternal soul and after-death re-incarnation. However, they also share a lot of differences that mark the underlying principles of practicing them. I will identify the scope of differences and similarities in these ancient religions in an attempt to understand why each attracted followers, why each was shaped a certain way and how they preserved the interest of followers on into the modern times as well.