Confucianism And Taoism Essay, Research Paper
The Chinese people have three
main traditions in their history- Confucianism, Taoism, and
Buddhism. I am going to be talking about Confucianism
and Taoism. Both of these date back to the Sixth Century
B.C. The traditional founder of Taoism is Confucius and
Laozi. On top of many other things Confucius was a very
influential speaker. Throughout time, his teachings, and
preaching developed into a religion. He spoke to a wide
variety of people. Daoist tend to look back to Laozi as
their founder. Over centuries, Taoism was transformed
from a small religion, very conservative, into a loosely
organized religion. During the Second Century B.C., a ruler
named Han had the most part in it. A large number of
religious groups rose from this because of the social and
political disorder. One of these groups named the Yellow
Turbans in eastern China., fought Han in 184 B.C. This led
to a civil war. Han lost authority and power, and his
generals became warlords. Then, in Western China, a
group known as the Way of the Celestial Masters came
into power. From the Second Century B.C., Taoists and
others believed it was possible to find an elixir which would
make them immortal. An elixir is a sweetened alcoholic
medicinal preparation, but back in ancient philosophy it
was thought to be for changing base metals into gold, or for
prolonging life. Research flourished because of this belief.
But the chief ingredient, cinnabar, was found to be
poisonous. Many imperial deaths ensued from this. But this
was not the only way to achieve immortality back in ancient
times. Another belief said that a man would have to acquire
108 women to get granted 10,000 years of life. For more
than
people have lived in cultures that were greatly influenced by
the thoughts of Confucius. Confucius saw himself as an
ordinary man doing a good deed for a diverse group of
cultures. He taught his fellow human beings moral behavior
and good family relationships.He thought that they are the
key to a well ordered society. People valued his opinions
and teachings very much and followed them in every day
life. Confucius himself avoided talking about religion, but at
the same time recognized the importance of worshipping his
ancestors. He believed that he was not guided by religion,
but by a higher power called heaven. Confucius lived at a
time when China was changing. A lot of the traditions that
everyone had lived by were long gone and they had moved
on to new things, but not Confucius, he still believed in the
traditions of old and still preached them. Most of the
traditions had been written down and would later be the
center of Confucius?s teachings.Proceeding Confucius?s
death his followers preserved his thoughts and ideas for the
next three centuries to come. Confucius had some
followers that preached his works, too. Among these, were
Mencius and Xunzi. They spread Confucius?s ideas while
at the same time elaborating on them. Mencius studied
Confucian?s understanding of mortality. He believe that
seeds of goodness were in everyone, but at the same time
there had to be developed properly. On the other hand,
Xunzi believe that everyone was not good and that
everyone didn?t practice good behavior. He believed that
they needed Confucius to guide them with his teachings.
Confucianism and Taoism were a very big and important
part of the ancient world and there traditions.