Chinese Religion: An Overview

Language and Cosmology

I. The Cosmological Resonances of “Civilization”: Texts Writ Large

II. Comparative Cosmology: The Order of Creation

A Diverse Spoken Language

Chinese dialects

• Cantonese and other regional dialects (8 / 26 / 8,000 ?)

• "Mandarin" Chinese:  the "common" dialect

普通話 (putong hua)

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Written Chinese

Minbei

Hakka

Mandarin

Xiang

CantoneseWu

Minnan

漢字

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EnglishSpanish

Portuguese

Italian

Latin

A Common Written Language

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Gan

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The Myth of Cang Jie 倉頡 (minister to the Yellow Emperor)

“observing the footprints of birds and beasts”

... 文

culturewritingcivility

discovering “culture” in “cosmos”

Written Chinese

Sculpted bronze figure, Library of Congress , 1939

The Pictographic Origins of Chinese Characters

Oracle bones from about 1400 BCE

Typology of Chinese Characters

1. Pictographs

2. Ideographs

3. Lexigraphs: Meaning-meaning Combinations

4. Phonetic Lexigraphs: Sound-meaning Combinations

1. Pictographs

日 ri sun/day

月 yue moon/month

田 tian field

口 kou mouth

水 shui water

人 ren person

2. Ideographs

上 shang up/above

下 xia down/below

中 zhong middle/center

一 yi one

二 er two

三 san three

凹 ao concave

凸 tu convex

3. Lexigraphs: Meaning-meaning Combinations

日 (sun) + 月 (moon) is 明 (bright)

女 (woman) + 子 (child) is 好 (good)

乃 (breast) + 子 (child) is 孕 (pregnant)

手 (hand) over 目 (eye) is 看 (look)

手 (hand) with 手 (hand) is 拜 (worship)

人 (person) in the 山 (mountain) is 仙 (immortal)

Three 木 (trees) is a 森 (forest)

Three 蟲 (insects) in a 血 (bowl) makes 蠱 (poison)

When you die, thousands of bugs stream from your eyes, ears, nose, and mouth! -- especially used by wives and other (bureaucratic) subordinates

4. Phonetic Lexigraphs: Sound-meaning Combinations

水 (water) + 羊 (yang) is 洋 (ocean)

火 (fire) + 登 (deng) is 燈 (lamp)

金 (metal) + 同 (tong) is 銅 (copper)

雨 (rain) + 允 (yun) is 雲 (cloud)

Kangxi Zidian

康熙字典

Character Dictionary of the Kangxi Reign Period

(1716)

49,030 characters

Chinese Romanization

Systems of romanization:

Tao Lao-tzu Chuang-tzu chun-tzu jen

Dao Laozi Zhuangzi jünzi ren

Wade-Giles

Han-yü pin-yin

道 老子 莊子 君子 仁

(representation of a word or language with the Roman [i.e. Latin] alphabet)

Advantages of a Pictographic System?

in the face of dialectical diversity in the face of geographical extent in the face of temporal/historical scope

Note: What you need to know for the first examGeneral Concepts and Ideas (partial list)

8. de 德 (power, virtue in Confucian sense)

9. Tian-ming 天命 (the Mandate of Heaven)

10. three obediences (women’s roles)

11. xin 信 (reliability, trustworthiness)

Chinese Characters for Recognition (partial list)

20. 禮 li (rites, propriety)       

21. 仁 ren (co-humanity, kindness, benevolence)

22. 孝 xiao (filial piety)

23. 恕 shu (reciprocity)

24. 天 Tian (Heaven)                                      

You can find the entire liston T-Learn:

Unit I:  Chinese ReligionsTerm List

Unit I Terms

Note: What you need to know for the first examGeneral Concepts and Ideas (partial list)

8. de 德 (power, virtue in Confucian sense)

9. Tian-ming 天命 (the Mandate of Heaven)

10. three obediences (women’s roles)

11. xin 信 (reliability, trustworthiness)

Chinese Characters for Recognition (partial list)

禮 li (rites, propriety)       

仁 ren (co-humanity, kindness, benevolence)

孝 xiao (filial piety)

恕 shu (reciprocity)

天 Tian (Heaven)                                      

Note: What you need to know for the first examGeneral Concepts and Ideas (partial list)

8. de 德 (power, virtue in Confucian sense)

9. Tian-ming 天命 (the Mandate of Heaven)

10. three obediences (women’s roles)

11. xin 信 (reliability, trustworthiness)

Chinese Characters for Recognition (partial list)

20. 禮 li (rites, propriety)       

21. 仁 ren (co-humanity, kindness, benevolence)

22. 孝 xiao (filial piety)

23. 恕 shu (reciprocity)

24. 天 Tian (Heaven)                                      

II. Comparative Cosmology: The Order of Creation

Cosmogonic Myths Western and Chinese

Myth

1. A traditional story, typically involving supernatural beings or forces, which embodies and

provides an explanation, etiology, or justification for something such as the early history of a

society, a religious belief or ritual, or a natural phenomenon.

2. A widespread but untrue or erroneous story or belief; a widely held misconception; a

misrepresentation of the truth.

“myth”: narrative expression of cultural values

“cosmology” vs. “cosmogony”

1. The –logy vs. the –gony of the cosmosGk. “discourse” vs. “begetting”

• universality of cosmogonic myths

• diversity in relative importance of cosmogonic myths

2. Creation: Bringing Form to Chaos

The Western Cosmogonic Myth

Quiz: The Order of Creation

In the book of Genesis, a cosmogonic myth describing the creation of the world in six days is recounted. What was

created each day, and in what order?

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Extra credit: In a different version of the myth (Genesis 2), the first two humans are named. Who are they? ________________________________________

Quiz: The Order of Creation

In the book of Genesis, a cosmogonic myth describing the creation of the world in six days is recounted. What was

created each day, and in what order?

1.light2.water/land3.vegetation4.heavens5.animals6.humankind

Extra credit: Adam and Eve ________________________________________

Creation as Separation/Distinction

1. “God separated the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:4)

2. “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters … God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas” (Genesis 1:6, 10)

3. God separated seed-bearing plants from fruit-bearing plants (Genesis 1:12)

4. separation of light from darkness (Genesis 1:14) as well as the light of the day (the sun) from the light of the night (the moon) (Genesis 1:16)

5. God distinguished between creatures of the air and creatures of the sea

6. God distinguished between creatures of the land and humans

the separation of male and female in Adam and Eve

1. light

2. water/land

3. vegetation

4. heavens

5. animals

6. humankind

“Conflict Dualism”

We in the West are familiar with [a] type of dualism, which we may call conflict dualism. In this, two basic forces are in collision, as opposites that struggle and clash: good and evil, right and wrong, black and white, true and false. This type of dualism ... found its way into the Jewish, Christian, and the Islamic traditions... In our religious traditions a Devil, over against God, was long accepted; Heaven and Hell are postulated; and the saved and the damned, the sheep and the goats... [A] final unity, whether synthesis or ultimate triumph of one side, is envisaged; but meanwhile the world is analyzed in bi-polar terms. For two and a half thousand years the Near East and the Western world have either postulated or sympathized with a cosmic conflict dualism; or, in a dichotomy of less antagonism, with a dualism of opposition. If not God and the Devil, at least God and the world, man and nature, matter and spirit, either/or.

The Chinese                   

                         from Patterns of Faith

Around the World  

by Wilfred Cantwell Smith  

                                                         

      

The West as 对抗文化 [duìkàng wénhuà]

The Chinese Cosmogonic Myth

“active yang”“quiescent yin”

The “five phases”:earth, water, metal, fire, wood

“The dao of masculinity birthed men”

“The dao of femininity birthed women”

and gave birth-through-transformationto the ten thousand things

light (yang 陽 ) qi 氣 -- fire, sun, stars, summer

道Unfolding of the Dao from

Primordial Chaos

Creation as Continuous Unfolding

混沌Hun-dun(chaos)

heavy (yin 陰 ) qi 氣 – water, moon, winter

The Chinese Cosmogonic MythFrom the Huai-nan-zi (Han Dynasty)

The Chinese Creation Myth (Key Terms)

Hun-dun (Chaos)

Qi/Ch’I (Breath, Steam, Pneuma)

Dao/Tao (Way or Path)

Yin (Potentiality of Dark: Receptivity)

Yang (Potentiality of Light: Activity)

The Chinese Creation Myth (Key Terms)

Hun-dun (Chaos)

Qi/Ch’I (Breath, Steam, Pneuma)

Dao/Tao (Way or Path)

Yin (Potentiality of Dark: Receptivity)

Yang (Potentiality of Light: Activity)

Hun-dun (Chaos)

混 to mix

沌 confused, turbid

氵 water radical

Won-ton Soup

Qi/Ch’i (Breath, Steam, Pneuma)

Contrasts between Judeo-Christian and Chinese Cosmogonic Myths

Judeo-Christian Orientations

anthropomorphism anthropocentrism mechanistic model conflict dualism

Chinese Orientations

non-anthropomorphism non-anthropocentrism organistic model complement dualism

“The symbol itself represents and affirms the harmonious holding together of contrasts in a balanced synthesis, the integrating of divergence into a rounded whole.”

“Complement Dualism,” Yin-Yang and Chinese Religious Pluralism (based on Wilfred Cantwell Smith)

Yang

Confucianism

Yin

Taoism

The Chinese Religious System: A non-exclusive (complementary) religious whole

“In light of Chinese cosmology, are Confucianism and Taoism “two religions,” or are they opposing alternatives within a single religious tradition? From a Chinese cultural perspective, Confucianism and Taoism are opposing but complementary aspects of the unifying Dao or “Path” of religious cultivation. Most Chinese are, to one extent or another, “both” Confucian “and” Taoist, and very few are exclusively one or the other. So, describing Confucianism and Taoism as the “two religions” indigenous to China, and further identifying their “branches,” distorts the actual practice of religion in China.”

R. Nadeau, Confucianism and Taoism (Greenwood Press, 2006), p. 125

“Harmony” 和 (he) …

… as cultural ideal