Author of the article: Tian 08 posted on Happy Copkaidi. Net.
A comparative study of Chinese and western religions
Religion is an important part of human culture and occupies a place in any kind of human civilization. So far, there is not a country in the world without religion. Like philosophy, religion is the core of human culture and represents the deep structure of human culture. Therefore, fundamentally speaking, the differences between Chinese and western cultures stem from the basic spiritual differences between Chinese and western philosophy and Chinese and western religions. Based on this, some scholars call China culture "Confucian culture" or "Confucian culture" and western culture "Christian culture" or "Greek culture" (ancient Greek and ancient Hebrew). Therefore, studying the differences between Chinese and Western religious spirits is of great significance for understanding the similarities and differences between Chinese and Western cultures, absorbing the essence of Western culture and promoting the development of China culture.
When it comes to western religions, there is no doubt that we are referring to Christianity. Because it is Christian culture that constitutes the background of western culture, any part of western culture has been more or less Christian since the Middle Ages. In addition, Christianity has not only influenced western culture, but also is a major part of western culture. When it comes to Chinese religion, it is not so easy to determine its meaning. As we all know, the Chinese nation is a multi-religious nation. Buddhism, Taoism and folk religions in China are recognized as China religions. The question is, is Confucianism a religion? There is a big difference here. But as one of the main contents of Confucian culture, ancestor worship and ghost worship obviously belong to the category of religion. They occupy an extremely important position in China culture and have a far-reaching impact on the lives of generations of China people. So far, when it comes to religion in China, we can't avoid ancestor worship and ghost worship in China. So, here, we don't care about the word "Confucianism", and our reference to the word "China religion" also includes ancestor worship and ghost worship.
There are great differences between Chinese and western religions in spirit, system and material. Here, we mainly compare the spiritual differences between Chinese and western religions, and also compare the other two levels. Because, it is the differences between the basic concepts of Chinese and Western religions that determine the differences in the other two levels.
First, people-oriented and God-oriented.
Chinese religion has a strong humanistic color, and compared with western religions, it has obvious deism characteristics. The so-called religion, in short, is people's belief in God. In this belief system, the relationship between God, man and man is its basic component. The difference between Chinese and western religious spiritual standard and spiritual standard is mainly reflected in their different understanding of the three.
First of all, there are great differences between Chinese and western religions about the concept of God. The Christian God is regarded as the only true God in the universe, supreme, all-knowing, all-good, all-powerful and all-present, the creator of the universe and all things in the world, and the master of the movement and change of all things in the world. For people, God is the creator, the giver of life, the master of success or failure in life, the judge of good and evil behavior and the savior of human suffering. In other words, God is the foundation of the world, especially of mankind. Everything starts with God and takes God as the ultimate goal.
Different from Christianity, man is the center of religious concern in China, and its ultimate goal is man's happiness rather than God's dignity. Taoism takes the abstract and mysterious Tao as its highest belief, takes Laozi, an ancient historical figure in China, as its ancestor, worships immortals and belongs to polytheism. In his view, God comes from true saints who are inseparable from heaven and earth, such as "Sanqing", "Tianzun" and "Xing Jun". Immortals are immortal principles and local gods after the opening of heaven and earth, such as "Eight Immortals" and "Land Gods". Gods and immortals constitute the hierarchy of gods in Taoism. In Taoism, God is neither the creator nor the master of the world, but the embodiment of the abstract and mysterious Tao. Immortals are cultivated by people or other natural objects. In other words, Taoist immortals can be cultivated. For example, there is a "heavenly mind" in the Taoist classic Taiping Jing, that is, mortals become immortals after learning Taoism. "So, handmaids and sages have to be good people, and good people learn sages; Sages are not only eager to learn, but also immortal Immortals are not only in truth, but also in God. God is not only the same shape as God. Therefore, the God of God tells the Purple Palace in the North Pole, which is as famous as the God of Heaven ... "Many Taoist gods, especially the low-level gods, are often closely related to people, with a very strong human touch and atmosphere, which is a far cry from the strict, exclusive, far away from human fireworks but monitoring people's every move. The highest god of Buddhist belief is Buddha. Buddha, meaning Awakened Person, refers to those who practice Buddhism and reach the perfect state of self-awareness, awareness of others and awareness. Hinayana Buddhism refers to Sakyamuni Buddha, and Mahayana Buddhism refers to all those who reach the perfect state of awareness except Sakyamuni Buddha. Followed by bodhisattva. Bodhisattva means "all living beings", "all living beings" and "all living beings". It went to Kuboth with wisdom and saved people with compassion. Guanyin Bodhisattva is very famous in China. In China Buddhism, Guanyin Bodhisattva is a merciful, kind, powerful and universal god. Unlike Christian gods, Buddha is neither a creator nor the master of human good and evil, but only eliminates human disasters and protects human peace. Moreover, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in Buddhism can be achieved by practicing Buddhism. According to Buddhist teachings, the Buddha was originally a man, not a god, and was later deified as the supreme god. Sakyamuni Buddha was originally the crown prince of a small country in ancient India, and the bodhisattva, the king of earth treasure, was originally the crown prince of ancient Silla. China people's ancestor worship and ghost worship are based on the dead ancestors and heaven and earth. Ancestor worship holds that the dead ancestors can bless the peace and happiness of the descendants in the underworld and the prosperity and development of the family. The worship of ghosts and gods is based on the gods in heaven and between heaven and earth, while ghosts are the objects that people fear and avoid.
It can be seen from the above that in Chinese religions, whether Buddhism, Taoism or traditional folk beliefs, God is more the object for people to pray for happiness and safety and the protector of human life, rather than the center and fundamental purpose of human life, which is essentially different from the Christian view of God.
Secondly, Chinese and western religions have very different views on people. With regard to human nature, Chinese religions are influenced by the Confucian theory of cultural goodness and basically hold a positive view of human nature. Buddhism in China believes that human beings have Buddha nature, which is the basis for human beings to become Buddhas. "All living beings have Buddha nature, and those who have Buddha nature will become Buddha." Some factions even advocate that even if all good roots are broken, they can become buddhas. Zen advocates that man's self-nature is Buddha's nature, consciousness is Buddha, addiction is everything, man is a Buddha who has not yet realized, and Buddha is a man who has realized. Taoism believes that people have a heart and are born with it, which is the premise of people's cultivation. Christianity basically holds a negative attitude towards human nature, believing that people have original sin and sin. Adam and Eve, the ancestors of mankind, committed original sins and passed them on to future generations. Everyone is born with original sin. Human sinfulness refers to all kinds of desires that violate God's will and make people fall, especially human greed. Regarding man's position in the universe, Christianity believes that man and everything in the world are the creation of God. Although man is called the child of God, he has the highest position among all things and can manage and use all things, compared with God, man is guilty, humble and humble. Religion in China is different. Buddhism divides the creatures in the universe into ten categories, and each category has different grades. The Four Saints are sentient beings who have awakened from the cycle of life and death, and the Six Daoists are sentient beings who have not yet awakened from the cycle of life and death. People, like animals, are one of the six roots and have a low status. However, Buddhism believes that people have the ability to practice Buddhism and realize Taoism. Taoism cherishes human life, and holds that "man is the most precious thing in all things" [1], "man is the most spiritual person in life" [2], and "everything is people-oriented and people are life-oriented." [3] If you practice Taoism, you can become immortal. Ancestor worship and ghost worship are the basic contents of Confucian culture. People are regarded as one of the three talents juxtaposed with heaven and earth. People between heaven and earth are precious, and people are the spirit of all things. Obviously, Chinese religions have basically affirmed the higher status of human beings in the universe.
Religion is people's belief in God, so the relationship between God and people is one of the important contents of religion. In Christianity, God and man are in a tense antagonistic relationship: God is the creator of man, the master of his life, the judge of his good and evil behavior and the master of his fate; People believe in God, obey God's will, pray to God and ask for God's blessing. In this relationship between god and man, god is the center of all human life and has an absolute dominant position; Man has nothing but obedience to God's will, and all he can do is pray and obey. In China religion, the relationship between man and God is relatively harmonious. In Buddhism, people turn to Buddha and Bodhisattva for help for the sufferings of real life, while Buddha and Bodhisattva save people's sufferings with great compassion and bless people's peace and happiness. In Taoism, Taoist gods, worshiping God in Sanqing, dominate people's fortune, success or failure, life and death; People get their blessing and help by believing in immortals, and achieve the goal of peace, health and longevity. Worship of heaven and earth and worship of ghosts and gods believe that heaven and earth dominate personnel, reward good and punish evil, and people should respect ghosts and gods, offer sacrifices on time, accumulate virtue and do good deeds to help them. Between the relationship between God and people, Christianity attaches importance to the relationship between God and people, and holds that the relationship between God and people is higher than that between people, and God's love is the first. Love for God should be more than love for God, and love for God should also be love for God. The Bible says, "You should love the Lord your God with all your heart. This is the first and greatest commandment. Secondly, it is similar, that is, love your neighbor as yourself. " Relatively speaking, Chinese religions pay more attention to interpersonal relationships. Neither Taoism nor Buddhism, nor ancestor worship and ghost worship advocate loving God too much. On the contrary, it emphasizes the importance of human relations, regards the Confucian morality of loyalty and filial piety as the basic content of religious morality, and even thinks that love is higher than the love of God.
In the relationship between God and man, the liberation of man and the salvation of God are very important issues. The difference between Chinese and western religious humanism and divine humanism is particularly obvious in this respect. Chinese religions attach great importance to people's own efforts, believing that people's own efforts are the fundamental premise of people's liberation, and God's help is only the auxiliary force of people's liberation. Buddhism basically holds a contemptuous and negative attitude towards life. It believes that life is bitter in nature, and the reason for suffering is people's ignorance of Buddhism and greed for secular desires. Only when people believe in Buddhism, practice and understand Buddhism can they achieve Buddha fruit and get rid of the suffering of life. Obviously, for people's liberation and becoming a Buddha, Buddhism emphasizes people's own efforts rather than the gift of Buddha. So some people call it "self-salvation" religion. This feature is particularly evident in Buddhism in China. Most sects of Buddhism in China believe that people have Buddha nature, but a mortal has not become a Buddha because his Buddha nature has been obscured by worldly greed and he has lost his own nature. As long as you believe in Buddhism and are honest, practice Buddhism and get rid of ignorance and greed, you can become a Buddha. Zen goes further, thinking that all beings do not need to practice for a long time, and once they realize their pure nature, they can become Buddhas. The key to becoming a Buddha lies in self-realization. Huineng, the founder of Zen Nanzong, said: "Self-persistence, Buddha is all beings; Self-knowledge, all beings are Buddhas. " [4] This is achieved by people's own efforts. The highest goal pursued by Taoism is immortality, that is, the mysterious realm of Taoism, which is "wonderful in form and spirit, and true in Tao". To achieve this goal, Taoism believes that it mainly depends on people's self-cultivation. "Heaven has its own way, and people can do it" [5], "My life is in my heaven" [6] and "My life is in my tunnel." [7] If people worship the God of Taoism and practice hard, so as to understand, get close to and pursue the Tao, then they can get the Tao; After getting the word, helping others, accumulating yin merits, can become immortal and live forever. Different from China's religion, Christianity believes that God sent his only son, Jesus, to the world to spread the gospel, save the sinful world, and atone for mankind by his crucified death. Therefore, man's salvation depends on God's grace. Without God's grace, people can't get rid of sin and enter heaven by their own efforts. On the contrary, as long as God is willing, even the most sinful people can be forgiven by God, saved by God, and enter heaven. The Calvinist school of Protestantism pushed this idea to the extreme and put forward the "predestination theory", arguing that whether a person can become God's voter is predetermined by God, and that human efforts can't change God's decision at all, and people can only obey God's decision. In short, in China religion, people's liberation mainly depends on their own efforts; In Christianity, people's salvation mainly depends on the grace of God.
In short, in Christianity, God is the center and starting point of everything, while man is attached to God, and everything belongs to God. Man exists for God, and whether he can be saved depends on God's will. In Chinese religion, man is the center, and the immortal Buddha is cultivated by man. It is the object of human belief, worship and envy. Becoming an immortal and becoming a Buddha is the highest goal of people's religious belief, and whether they can become immortal and become a Buddha depends mainly on their own efforts. Therefore, in a sense, China's religion views and designs everything from the perspective of human beings, while Christianity views and designs everything from the perspective of God.