A Civilization of Societal Virtue
Stay focused on reality, be an active member of society, make the world a better place, value this life more and worry less about the next, value upright character and keep your distance from spirits. These are the orientation and ideological characteristics of the entirety of China’s traditional cultural values, and they took form during the period of ancestral patriarch veneration. Their character was especially forged during the Zhou Dynasty’s indoctrination of the order of heaven and ancestral decree. China’s later religions all followed this path of development.
1. The societal orientation of China’s religions
Generally speaking, religions tend to emphasize transcending this life and sentiment about departing it, urge the pursuit of the afterlife, and therefore necessarily place importance on the devout worship of gods and an ultimate concern for reincarnation. However, Chinese religious notions, including traditional patriarch veneration, native Taoism, folk religions, and localized world religions, all steered people’s beliefs toward actual society and life, and to the actual livelihood of the people. The concerns of these various religions were a bountiful harvest, nationwide peace and public safety, family rapport, the prosperity and longevity of the populace.
The political nature of China’s patriarchal religious traditions closely connected this form of worship with the imperial dynasty. As a result, faith was not with reference to the gods held in high regard, but rather focused on the flourishing of actual society and stability of secular dynasties. The founders of the Zhou Dynasty created the concept of the Mandate of Heaven in response to the issue of on what basis the dynastic power was acquired, and the concept of Son of Heaven as an indication that the monarch was the son of God (Shangdi) and that his power was granted by God.
If we say that the value system of China’s traditional patriarch veneration was based on the productive participation in society inherent in its religious convictions, then the realistic rationale and humanistic spirit cultivated by Confucius and his followers were even more of a beacon that guided this tendency. Confucius gave explicit priority to worldly affairs as opposed to spiritual matters. Directing efforts toward the most urgent matters facing the common man has practical benefit for them. Avoid attachment to the supernatural. A degree of respect for spirits is sufficient. This orientation in values determined the Chinese people’s pragmatic character in emphasizing this life over the next. Although Chinese religious practices did include spirit worship, the ultimate job of all deities was to exert a civilizing influence on secular society. This is the uniquely Chinese religious philosophy of practical mysticism.
Besides its inclination toward productive members of society in politics, China’s native Taoism also abounds with such sentiment in terms of its belief system and its essential nature. The fundamental doctrine and core beliefs of Taoism espouse that the carnal form is immortal, the spirit is enduring, and exists in perpetuity as an enlightened immortal. This is viewed as a goal that man achieves in this lifetime, during his actual existence, not as a desired afterlife or envisioned future lifetime. Taoism puts forward a series of self-actualization practices geared toward realizing this goal, namely healthy lifestyle choices, physical fitness, and obeisance to the Dao, or Way.
Primitive Buddhism, despite its marked preoccupation with delivery from and into the mortal world, it is not lacking in beliefs related to an afterlife, reincarnation, the six planes of desire, and karma. But historically, Chinese Buddhism has never been remiss in reconciling politics with ethics, it has endeavored to lay stress on its own dutiful devotion to parents and country, and to be of benefit to society. Mahayana Buddhism achieved widespread dissemination in China and drew followers as a staunch proponent of utopian ideals and insistence on cultivating positivity for the betterment of society. Zen, the most distinct Chinese Buddhist school, drawing on the Confucian concept of the Mind-Soul and Taoist views of the natural world, initiated a revolution in Buddhist thought, the luminous or primordial mind. This is where the Buddha resides. Outside intuitive certainty, there is no Buddha. A clear mind can perceive one’s true nature. The ability to perceive this truth makes one a Buddha. Zen also calls itself the “School of the Buddha Mind,” emphasizing that fetching water and chopping firewood were not without their mystery. Daily life itself is a place for practicing the teachings of the Buddha. The transformation into the Buddha was clearly identified as a transformation of an individual’s perception, which takes place in his heart, in the here and now. Even in the modern era, Buddhist sentiment about living in the world remains at the pinnacle of its thought.
2. China’s religious equivalency of virtue in man and (the Sky) God
Traditional Chinese culture holds that man is one with nature (the character for which also represents the sky or the heavens). The worship of the Mandate of Heaven (Shangdi) by the founders of the Zhou Dynasty is the wellspring of the equivalency between the virtuous aspects of humanity and nature (the Sky God). In the early years of the Western Zhou, following the Duke of Zhou’s religious reforms, the Mandate of Heaven spoken of by dynastic rulers was still the will and behest of the Sky God, Shangdi. Nevertheless, it was the Zhou rulers who bestowed what had been human virtue on (the Sky) God. They later claimed the inverse, that it was (the Sky) God who had established politics and virtue, that he was at the origin of human virtue.
Combining devotion to (Confucian) Virtue and (the Sky) God, i.e. Shangdi, is a prominent feature of Zhou Dynasty religion, which in and of itself is a doctrine entailing the interplay between mankind and nature (the Heavens). Shangdi, as a figurehead for the heavenly order, was the arbiter of the Mandate of Heaven, conferring it based on a monarch’s virtuous conduct in the real world, and revoking it if he betrayed the natural (heavenly) order. The monarch strove on behalf of the people in response to the heaven’s (Shangdi’s) portents, whereby he attained his mandate. At the heart of this conception is not Shangdi, but rather man, the best illustration of which is “Heaven sees with the eyes of the people, heaven hears with the ears of the people.”(9) The basic direction of traditional Chinese religions was determined by this ideology.
By the Shang Dynasty, religion had a moral denotation. The Heaven of the gods and the natural order of virtuous conduct had been become one and the same.
Chinese religion’s equating of human and divine virtue stresses the accessibility of one to the other. By this relationship alone, it appears to have no tendency of Western religions toward diametrical opposition of the man and God. The deities of the West are aloof and stand in an above-and-below relationship to man, who must necessarily be all the more imbued with a sense of devotion and awe. This kind of unidirectional feeling is impossible in Chinese religion. However, the absence of such a frame of mind does not indicate the absence of a dimension of spiritual cleansing. On the contrary, the values expounded by the three great mainstays of China’s religious culture, are intended for this very purpose. The Mind-Soul of Confucianism, the life force of Taoism and the Buddha nature of Buddhism all espouse the virtues of integrity with oneself, benevolence and mercy toward others, purity of intention and adherence to the middle path of moderation and temperance as a means of heightening one’s spirituality, bringing clarity to one’s mind, and ascending to a refined level of existence. They all regard performance of good deeds and the salvation of humanity as the primary tasks of a pious life. They therefore acquired the characteristics of a moral religion early on.
(1) See Doctrine of the Mean, Ch. 31.
(2) See John King Fairbank, Chinese translation by Zhang Lijing, The United States and China, Beijing: World Affairs Press, 1999.
(3) See Max Weber, Chinese translation by Kang Le and Jian Huimei, The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism, Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press, 2010.
(4) See the Book of Rites, “The Law of Sacrifices.”
(5) See The Analects, Ch. 13.
(6) See The Great Commentary of the Book of Changes, Vol. 2.
(7) See the Classic of Poetry, “Lesser Court Hymns, Decade of Bei Shan.”
(8) See the Book of Rites, “Four Principles Underlying the Dress of Mourning.”
(9) See the Book of Documents; the Book of the Zhou, Ch. 27-29 “Great Speech.”