Religions of China and Japan – Comparison to Each Other and Modern Life

Jeff Bourbeau
3/26/07
Gustafson
Mini-Paper 3

Religions of China and Japan – Comparison to Each Other and Modern Life

To be able to discuss the religions of China and Japan, one must first establish what these are and distinguish the differences between a broad spiritual religion or just a simple philosophical outlook. In China and Japan the things westerners would consider a religion are Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. The other ideas these countries carry, those of the Bushido, the Japanese ultimate reality, and others these would fall more under the ideas of philosophical ideas and outlooks. Now that the religions of China and Japan according to a western mind have been established, we can begin to understand which are possible to integrate into our lives. In order to do this though, we must extract the strengths and weaknesses of each religion after which we can discuss the potential for such ideas to have a home a western mind.

Confucianism profits from a countries desire to be unified. When people desire the others around them to be honorable, when they want the others around them to be good and moral, and when they want them to do their jobs, Confucianism is spread from neighbor to neighbor to promote such behavior. The Confucian term of “Li” is something most people can identify with. It means the idea of ritual, manners and etiquette(Carmody 166). Taoism and Buddhism do not have ideas for these things. To have structured ideas of what is proper and right is a terribly important thing to have established for a normal society. Another Confucian term, that of “Yi,” which means duty, and responsibility, focuses on further structurally integral aspects of human life. The first ideas of Confucianism were developed the same way most religions were, by a single man after living a life of hardship. Confucianism is a religion for a productive society that wishes to produce much and stay strong together. Its ideas are formed around respecting one another and doing ones part to accomplish what ones bosses asks for. Such a religion may lead to a life of hardship, but society on the whole will accomplish great things. Opposed to this way of great structure in life is Taoism.

Taoism focuses on nature and the flow of life. It doesn't ask for people to be responsible or for people to follow a patriarchal ideal, but rather it asks for people to do “nothing.” Nothing in this case is actually everything though, because that is what Taoism is. According to the Tao of Pooh, a book written by author Benjamin Hoff to explain Taoism through short stories of Winnie the Pooh, as well as philosophical explanations, the point of Taoism is to follow the path of “Wuwei” or “the uncarved block.” Wuwei is often written also as wei wu wei, which means action without action which means that one can act without also ways acting; wu wei can also mean effortless action. What Wuwei means to people can be broken down in a metaphor; suppose you lost your car keys and you could not find them no matter how much you searched. You ran around to every corner of your house searching, under couch and table, and the hours passed with you searching for your keys. You had an appointment soon and your heart is racing because you really had to leave, but you cannot without your keys. Finally, it is time for you to leave, but you are still key-less, so you sit down frustrated and sad that you cannot go out, and suddenly a jingle comes from your pocket as you land on the couch because your keys were in your pocket the entire time-this is Wuwei. In the “Tao of Pooh” it is explained as the opposite of being a busy body. The point is to follow the path of nature and let things flow to work themselves out.

Buddhism, unlike Confucianism and Taoism, focuses on philosophical truths it establishes as essential to life. Where Confucianism proclaims certainties of what one must do in order to live a proper and just life, and where Taoism says life is good through acts of compassion and letting things flow, Buddhism contradicts all saying life itself is a great world of eternal suffering. All those living must suffer, according to Buddhism, and only through Buddhism's “noble eight-fold path can one escape this suffering.”(http:\\www.wikipedia.org) The Eightfold path was developed by the founder of Buddhism, the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama. The Eightfold path states ways in which a man or woman can escape the life of suffering we all are born into, age through, and die with. With the eight-fold path we can escape the cycle of rebirth that Buddhism states all men and woman are trapped in, where all people are reincarnated back into the world of suffering according to their karma. It is a pretty complicated thing to understand, karma, and something that westerners have adapted to mean many things, most far from its true meaning. In many modern T.V. Shows one can see someone slip on the floor and jokingly another character will say it is karma, but this isn't the true meaning of karma. What karma actually means, according to the book “Modern East Asia” by Conrad Schirokaur and Donald Clark, is the intent, or the mental spirit, of ones own actions. The karma of these actions is this reflected upon someone when they die and they are reincarnated based upon their actions. This has been called karmatic justice. But what does this mean in comparison to the other East Asian religions?

Buddhism and Confucianism seem to be on opposite sides of a spiritual coin. Buddhism speaks of reincarnation and suffering, while Confucianism doesn't even touch on this aspect of shared human pain. Confucianism focuses on problems all men face economically and ethically. It asks for people to follow certain ideals in order to function as a successful society. Do Buddhism or Taoism touch this topic though? Of course they don't. Taoism and Buddhism are religions of the spirit that focus on the after life, the inner self, and the potential for happiness. Confucianism focuses on sociological aspects of religion, it manipulates people to be productive and functional according to the people governing them, and to treat one another in kindness so there are no errors in the society's workings. On the other hand, Buddhism and Taoism are more similar in their spiritual guidance. Confucianism just falls short on speaking to a persons spiritual needs.

Buddhism and Taoism are still far from being in line with one another. Buddhism calls life a world of suffering, but Taoism says the opposite, that if one follows the way of nature then one can be ultimately happy. Perhaps it is both, and Buddhism is just confused. Maybe Buddhism's eight-fold path is similar to “the path” or “Wuwei,” and in actuality these religions are identical. Both are somewhat interpretive. It is possible that Taoism, rather than calling all life suffering, simply focuses on what is right rather than what is wrong, and merely says “this is how to be free and happy,” and to avoid certain things that are bad. In the case of Buddhism though the Buddha only could see the suffering and could not see that happiness was the potential around him with the eight fold path, and so the Buddha said life is suffering and we must escape rather than seeing life and saying, life has the potential for happiness through the path we can be free, which is what Taoism says with its own path, that of Wuwei. In this way both religions are not so dissimilar.

But what does this mean for the modern Westerner whose mind is bombarded with ideas of Jesus Christ every day, and other Christian philosophies and ideas. Well, in actuality the principles of the Buddha and those of Taoism are not far from the teachings of Christ. If we look at the eight-fold path, it asks for moderation in most actions we commit ourselves to in life, and should we pick up a Bible, similar tales are asked of those who follow Christ. Should we look to Taoism for guidance, we are taught to give ultimate compassion and to follow nature, yet the ideas of a Western Christianity teach the same, for it is Jesus himself who is taught as the most compassionate of all men.

But where does Confucianism fall within these parameters? Confucianism can be a very useful philosophy for a society wishing to grow economically. Unfortunately though, Confucianism is extremely stifling if inflicted upon a already grown society. If one looks at China during the early 1900s one can see how this is the case. China was at a breaking point stifling under Confucianism with the growth of artistry and women within its society, a society that begged to burst forth into the world as a productive juggernaut, but only thanks to Confucianism was the creation of such a society even possible, therefor Confucianism is to be learned from surly, but one must be careful with such teachings. To the west, a world already fully grown, with ethical teachings a norm and principles of responsibility firmly in place, far from an ancient world that needed such structure, Confucianism is pretty useless. The ideas that Confucianism teaches are very important to countries that lack significant intelligent leadership, and the things it proposes were key for China's development, however today the ideas of “Yi” and “Li” seem abstract and pointless to a people who have been taught since birth the Constitution of the United States, which itself proposes similar ideas of respect and responsibility.

The western world is fully grown, therefor Confucianism has no place in it outside of perhaps teaching the young ideas of structure, should they not identify with similar ideas from other concepts. Buddhism and Taoism, on the other hand, can serve a great role in the western world, filling the gaps in the westerner's mind left by Christianity and other popular western religions. Through Taoism are methods of relaxation and compassion available to us in our extremely busy and uptight world, and through Buddhism are alternatives to a spiritual identity and foundation of the self possible.

Through these two religions, westerners, myself included, can find ways to approaching philosophy, ethics, and life in general in new and helpful ways that can break down the barriers put around us by the walls of popular, western, moral, religious ideals that have been taught to us since birth. Most of us have been told the Ten Commandments, maybe even seen the movie a couple of times, and are very comfortable with the ideas of Christianity. We understand the life of Christ, the idea of the miracle, and the idea of heaven, but most people do not truly understand what compassion means, what suffering means, or what paths through personal philosophy can bring us to happiness. It is through Taoism and Buddhism that the western mind can be brought these new ideas, and I for one welcome them.