Religion in Ancient China Essay

The earliest in formulaation rig about piety in ancient China is during the Shang Dynasty and so religion in the Xia dynasty remains unknown. Religious beliefs and rituals were prominent during the Shang Dynasty. The almost solid immortal was Shang Ti, Ti meaning Deity Above or the Lord on High. He command as a supreme graven image over all the other gods and spirits. The gods and spirits were believed to symbolize objects found in nature the sun, the moon, the wind, the rain, everything from mountains and rivers to the stars in the night sky.Ti is believed to take a crap punished those who disobeyed or offended him and rewarded those who pleased him. It is say that Ti formed a overlord court in heaven consisting of all deceased worthy ancestors. The Chineses belief in family harmony was associated to belief in the after look. The ancestors who were considered worthy served Ti, helping him govern the world. Ancestors were too worshipped and were said to act a mediators betwixt the gods and humankind. It was vista that if ancestors were appropriately honoured, respected, and provided for, they would promote the familys prosperity.A privilege or grievance to a member of the family was considered a favour or grievance to the ancestors consequently, deal were reluctant to offense or harm posterity of a powerful family. It was believed that in the afterlife they would live in a celestial court in more ways similar to their earthborn courts. Each Chinese family was expected to grant an ancestral shrine in the centre of their home to honour and venerate their ancestors. Sacrifice to the gods and the ancestors were also a major part of the Shang religion.When a ruler died, slaves and officials were sacrificed with them in order of battle to guaranty that their afterlife would be the same or similar as their life on earth. People were also sacrificed in smaller numbers when significant rasets, such as the founding of a palace or temple, took ent er. on with their deceased ancestors, the Chinese had people on earth who acted as mediators between the celestials and the human race. Priests were among these intermediates and were responsible for a number of tasks including reading prayers and overseeing sacrifices and funerals.An augur is another(prenominal) type of mediator, responsible for asking gods questions on behalf of humans using assorted practices of foretelling to unearth the answers. The use of oracle bones was the most luminary form of divination. The augur would ask the question, punching holes into the bone, usually the shoulder-bone from an ox, and in some cases the blast of a tortoise. The bone would then be held over a fire, until cracks appeared. These cracks would be made more evident by rubbing ink over the bone.The augur could now read the cracks and determine the answer of the god. Records of the questions and answers of readings were engraved on the bone. Questions on these oracle bones included issu es of weather, warfare, agriculture, hunting, childbirth, and sacrifice. In reflection with their rude nature, the ancient Chinese use to honour the local deities of soil in order to increase the fertility of earth and to promote the growth of crops. everyplace fourth dimension, this practice of earth worship began to dwindle and the veneration of Heaven increased. vaticination was considered the precisely way to determine the requests and future actions of the ruler of Heaven who was also seen as a kind of ancestral figure. The Chinese were animistic and so believed that nature had many spirits. Good spirits, referred to as shen, and bad spirits, referred to as gui, were both thought to dwell in Heaven and Earth. The sun and the rooster were believed to have authority over the gui. This concept of shen and gui later lured the formation of the yin and yang concept.The people of ancient China believed that there were two contrasting forces abiding in everything in nature that is yin and yang. This concept was thought to be formed with the influence of the shen and gui concept from earlier ancient China. Yin is characterized as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse, cold, wet, or restrained and is associated with piss, earth, the moon, femininity and nighttime. Yang, on the other hand, is fast, hard, solid, foc employ, hot, dry, or aggressive and is associated with fire, sky, the sun, masculinity and daytime. During the time of the Eastern Zhou, religion in China underwent an evolution.The early gods were forgotten and replaced with ideologies that worked as both philosophies and religions. A phenomenon called the Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought took place in ancient China. Schools and philosophers flourished around this time and it was dubbed an era of great heathen and intellectual expansion in China. The four most prominent schools of thought that evolved during this epoch were Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, and Legalism. Confucius was born 551 BC a nd grew up to become one of the most influential philosophers in Chinese history.Confucianism is a composite philosophy of moral, social, political, philosophical, and sacred thought. He built his philosophy around five virtues compassion, morality, decorum, wisdom and honesty. pity was considered the cornerstone, symbolizing loyalty, filial piety, patience and benevolence. He also believed that everyone should be in harmony with one another and establish a society ruled by standard etiquette and conduct. A legendary philosopher by the name of Laozi is believed to have established the religious philosophy of Taoism.The forces of nature is the central belief can the concept of Tao, which is literally translated as the path or the way. Taoism is in many ways the contrary of Confucianism, focusing on the individual within the subjective realm rather than the individual within society. It also focuses on the stand between humanity and the cosmos, vigour and long life, and wu wei, that is action through inaction, which is said to create harmony with the Universe. Mo Di or Mozi was another Chinese philosopher form the Eastern Zhou period.He was strongly opposed to the teachings of Confucianism and Taoism. Mohism was based on the idea of universal love, everyone is equal before heaven. Mozi believed that everyone should practice communal love in order to create a heaven on earth. He also believed that an individuals perception should be the tooshie of human cognition and not imagination or logic. Mozi advocated abstinence, and therefore opposed music, regarding it as excessive and a waste of resources which could instead be used to help those in need of basic necessities such as food, water and shelter.He even opposed elaborate funerals also regarding it as a waste of money which could be used in more utile matters. He also advocated pacifism thus disapproving of offensive war, only accepting aggressive action to defend the weak. Legalism, while the term its elf was invented in the Han dynasty, was one of the major doctrines followed during the Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought. It was established by Han Feizi and Li Si and theorizes that the human race is evil and in order to prevent this evil causing chaos, laws need to be put in place.Legalism wasnt concerned with the nature or purpose of life, not even the welfare of the public rather it sought the states prosperity and military aptitude. come in of these four philosophies, only Confucianism and Taoism are considered religions by scholars, as only they tick spiritual elements. Confucianism and Taoism both became part of what is now known as The triplet Doctrine. Buddhism is the third doctrine however it was imported from India and flourished during Imperial China.