I was allowed to do this blog on Confucianism instead of a paper for a Religious Studies class at Marylhurst. I just received the grade today.
Since blogs show the most recent post first, it ends oddly with my reflections on how the assignment went. I thought I had better put in a little explaination of what is going on. A reader may want to start with the oldest post and work their way forward. I imagine that putting together a Blog like this will be a fairly standard assignment some day, right now there is still a preference for academic papers.
It was fun, hard work and, well, I got an A.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Practical Blogging, Or How Well did this Assignment Work
Using the blog format was harder and more time consuming than I had anticipated. I found myself getting stuck on the technical details. The whole idea was to create an electronic version of a notebook. That meant to me that it should look as if I sat down and dashed-off entries casually and personally. The blog should also look good, and link to cool websites.
Well that wasn't exactly the notebook as defined in the assignment. I had glossed over the part of the notebook assignment that included diagrams and charts. This blog contains none of those; perhaps I had confused notebook with diary. Hopefully my lack of diagrams and charts will be made up for by pictures and links. Not every entry contains links, but the ones that are included are fun, interesting additions to the experience. By the time I was reminded of the diagrams and charts part of the notebook assignment, I was committed to doing the blog.
The look took time. Finding pictures and putting them on the blog was new to me. As a consequence I learned all about the new editor at Blogger.com where I housed my blog. I discovered that the new editor was 'new and improved' in so many ways but didn't for some reason have a spell checker like the old editor that I knew well. Others had discovered this and been outraged, I found out when I looked on the user forum. Their rants didn't seem to be producing any change in Blogger management. Periodically I would run into a problem and have to track it down via the forums. To make up for the lack of a spell checker, I started writing it using the Firefox web browser which has its own spell checker, my saved websites for referencing however, were all bookmarked on Internet Explorer. When I wrote the entries I would switch back and forth between Firefox and Explorer. I got into a rhythm bouncing back and forth and, while at first it was annoying, it served as kind of a filing system, making my job easier in the end.
There were funny little problems with connecting the blog posts. Each one is created separately and sometimes I would write something, then think "did I already write that?" and find it difficult to check. I was in the blog editor to do the writing, but to check the other entries meant closing the editor and going and finding a particular post. I found short cuts and ways around these difficulties but it was always a little awkward. The editor is not WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) so once I published an entry, I had to read it in its final version and then go back to the editor to change anything I might see that I didn't like. I did a lot of editing, then checking, then editing then checking.
The learning I took away from this was an appreciation for how different the world of books and the world of the web are. The two mediums are a little awkward around each other. Still, one finds books referenced copiously on Wikipedia. Of the books I used I found Karen Armstrong surprisingly useful, considering she is writing about the Axial Age, and my old Huston Smith. I looked at a lot of bad web-sites on Chinese religion, but many universities have good religion web-sites. The ones I referenced, especially Living in the Chinese Cosmos. gave me information I couldn't find anywhere else. Since I wanted to find those special links, I spent more time searching and discovering on the web then I normally would. For papers I usually spend most of my time with books, not websites.
My habits may change, however, web searching is still an art and takes up oodles of time. The other thing about a site like Living in the Chinese Cosmos is that it is made to be updated. The information that I quoted for this assignment on websites, might not be there tomorrow whereas a published book, referenced to the page will always have that organization. I knew that before, but I find working with something makes me 'realize' more completely what I carry around in my head as information.
Well that wasn't exactly the notebook as defined in the assignment. I had glossed over the part of the notebook assignment that included diagrams and charts. This blog contains none of those; perhaps I had confused notebook with diary. Hopefully my lack of diagrams and charts will be made up for by pictures and links. Not every entry contains links, but the ones that are included are fun, interesting additions to the experience. By the time I was reminded of the diagrams and charts part of the notebook assignment, I was committed to doing the blog.
The look took time. Finding pictures and putting them on the blog was new to me. As a consequence I learned all about the new editor at Blogger.com where I housed my blog. I discovered that the new editor was 'new and improved' in so many ways but didn't for some reason have a spell checker like the old editor that I knew well. Others had discovered this and been outraged, I found out when I looked on the user forum. Their rants didn't seem to be producing any change in Blogger management. Periodically I would run into a problem and have to track it down via the forums. To make up for the lack of a spell checker, I started writing it using the Firefox web browser which has its own spell checker, my saved websites for referencing however, were all bookmarked on Internet Explorer. When I wrote the entries I would switch back and forth between Firefox and Explorer. I got into a rhythm bouncing back and forth and, while at first it was annoying, it served as kind of a filing system, making my job easier in the end.
There were funny little problems with connecting the blog posts. Each one is created separately and sometimes I would write something, then think "did I already write that?" and find it difficult to check. I was in the blog editor to do the writing, but to check the other entries meant closing the editor and going and finding a particular post. I found short cuts and ways around these difficulties but it was always a little awkward. The editor is not WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) so once I published an entry, I had to read it in its final version and then go back to the editor to change anything I might see that I didn't like. I did a lot of editing, then checking, then editing then checking.
The learning I took away from this was an appreciation for how different the world of books and the world of the web are. The two mediums are a little awkward around each other. Still, one finds books referenced copiously on Wikipedia. Of the books I used I found Karen Armstrong surprisingly useful, considering she is writing about the Axial Age, and my old Huston Smith. I looked at a lot of bad web-sites on Chinese religion, but many universities have good religion web-sites. The ones I referenced, especially Living in the Chinese Cosmos. gave me information I couldn't find anywhere else. Since I wanted to find those special links, I spent more time searching and discovering on the web then I normally would. For papers I usually spend most of my time with books, not websites.
My habits may change, however, web searching is still an art and takes up oodles of time. The other thing about a site like Living in the Chinese Cosmos is that it is made to be updated. The information that I quoted for this assignment on websites, might not be there tomorrow whereas a published book, referenced to the page will always have that organization. I knew that before, but I find working with something makes me 'realize' more completely what I carry around in my head as information.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Annotated Bibliography
This annotated bibliography covers the major references used to write this blog. There are other references that are handled by using links within the blog. Links are used when the connection is a specialty or novelty resource intended to extend the experience of the blog. For example, when discussing ritual, I linked to a web page that gave a detailed list of each element of a ritual. In another example when discussing sacred geography, I linked to a delightful site that allows the viewer an interactive look at the UNESCO site Qufu.
Armstrong, Karen. The Great Transformation: The Beginning of our Religious Traditions. New York: Knopf, 2006. This book describes the beginning of the older Wisdom Traditions: Judaism, Daoism and Confucianism, Greek philosophical rationalism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Her thesis is that these traditions were tested and forged during the Axial Age of 900 to 200 BCE in responses to changes in human civilization. All these traditions were quite different but they all developed the religious quality of compassion. In Confucianism compassion is called ren.
Ching, Julia. Chinese Religions. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1993. Ching begins her book with a chapter titled 'Europe and China Compared'. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your point of view, this comparison stretches through the whole book. At times this is helpful in understanding a concept. At other times it makes the Chinese concepts conform too much to Western lines. It is most unfortunate when Chinese religion is being fit into Western definitions. Is it eminent or immanent, is this mystic similar to that Western mystic? Is Buddhism the most Western of Eastern religions (she says yes)? However, she does describe all of the religions of China with insight and energy. This book was written before the Chinese revival of Confucianism, and therefore does not address it.
Cohen, Myron and Stephen F. Teiser, faculty consultants. Living in the Chinese Cosmos: Understanding Religion in Late-Imperial China (1644-1911).The Asia for Educators Program at Columbia University. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/cosmos/main/credits.htm. This is a wonderful on-line resource for putting Chinese religion in context. It covers the split between Confucianism, Popular, Taoism and Buddhism. There is discussion of the class system and how it affects (and affected) Chinese religion. It's very understandable but not pitched at a simple level. The dates cover the most recent stretch of time before the Communist revolution and do not pretend to cover modern day beliefs.
Fieser, James. Scriptures of the World's Religions. City: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2007. This contains scriptures from all the world's Wisdom Traditions. For Confucianism it contains the Analects written by Confucius. It also contains the writings of Mencius, Xunzi, Yang Xiong, Han Yu, Zhou Dunyi, Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming. There is also a strong section of Daoist scriptures. Each section contains some discussion of the tradition but for the most part the scriptures stand alone. It's a great book, however, these resources are now available at multiple websites.
Hays, Jeff, "Facts and Details: Organized Confucianism"
http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=87&catid=3&subcatid=9. Jeff Hays is an English teacher in Japan. He created this web site dedicated to Japan and China for fellow travelers. He wanted to provide the type of information he was looking for as he traveled but could not find. His site contains well organized information about Confucian temples and schools.
Oxnam, Robert, "Three Confucian Values" President Emeritus, Asia Society http://pascal.iseg.utl.pt/~cesa/Three%20Confucian%20Values.pdf. This is a teaching lecture that cuts to the chase on what Confucianism is about. Very readable, and it gives the Chinese characters for the different values and shows their roots.
Smith, Huston. The World's Religions. SanFrancisco:Harper, 1991. Huston Smith's essay on Confucianism in this book is such a joy to read. This was my first introduction to Confucianism and read it on my own as evening, night-stand reading several years ago. It is such a generous essay; with a clear message of how Confucianism fit into Chinese society, dealt with issues no other religion addressed, but still was transcendence. After reading this, I had no patience with the "is Confucianism a religion?" essays.
Taylor, Rodney. The Religious Dimensions of Confucianism. Albany:State University of New York Press, 1990. This book is a collection of Dr Taylor's essays on Confucianism. His thesis is that Confucianism is a religion and that it's highest expression is the making of a Sage.
Armstrong, Karen. The Great Transformation: The Beginning of our Religious Traditions. New York: Knopf, 2006. This book describes the beginning of the older Wisdom Traditions: Judaism, Daoism and Confucianism, Greek philosophical rationalism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Her thesis is that these traditions were tested and forged during the Axial Age of 900 to 200 BCE in responses to changes in human civilization. All these traditions were quite different but they all developed the religious quality of compassion. In Confucianism compassion is called ren.
Ching, Julia. Chinese Religions. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1993. Ching begins her book with a chapter titled 'Europe and China Compared'. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your point of view, this comparison stretches through the whole book. At times this is helpful in understanding a concept. At other times it makes the Chinese concepts conform too much to Western lines. It is most unfortunate when Chinese religion is being fit into Western definitions. Is it eminent or immanent, is this mystic similar to that Western mystic? Is Buddhism the most Western of Eastern religions (she says yes)? However, she does describe all of the religions of China with insight and energy. This book was written before the Chinese revival of Confucianism, and therefore does not address it.
Cohen, Myron and Stephen F. Teiser, faculty consultants. Living in the Chinese Cosmos: Understanding Religion in Late-Imperial China (1644-1911).The Asia for Educators Program at Columbia University. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/cosmos/main/credits.htm. This is a wonderful on-line resource for putting Chinese religion in context. It covers the split between Confucianism, Popular, Taoism and Buddhism. There is discussion of the class system and how it affects (and affected) Chinese religion. It's very understandable but not pitched at a simple level. The dates cover the most recent stretch of time before the Communist revolution and do not pretend to cover modern day beliefs.
Fieser, James. Scriptures of the World's Religions. City: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2007. This contains scriptures from all the world's Wisdom Traditions. For Confucianism it contains the Analects written by Confucius. It also contains the writings of Mencius, Xunzi, Yang Xiong, Han Yu, Zhou Dunyi, Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming. There is also a strong section of Daoist scriptures. Each section contains some discussion of the tradition but for the most part the scriptures stand alone. It's a great book, however, these resources are now available at multiple websites.
Hays, Jeff, "Facts and Details: Organized Confucianism"
http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=87&catid=3&subcatid=9. Jeff Hays is an English teacher in Japan. He created this web site dedicated to Japan and China for fellow travelers. He wanted to provide the type of information he was looking for as he traveled but could not find. His site contains well organized information about Confucian temples and schools.
Oxnam, Robert, "Three Confucian Values" President Emeritus, Asia Society http://pascal.iseg.utl.pt/~cesa/Three%20Confucian%20Values.pdf. This is a teaching lecture that cuts to the chase on what Confucianism is about. Very readable, and it gives the Chinese characters for the different values and shows their roots.
Smith, Huston. The World's Religions. SanFrancisco:Harper, 1991. Huston Smith's essay on Confucianism in this book is such a joy to read. This was my first introduction to Confucianism and read it on my own as evening, night-stand reading several years ago. It is such a generous essay; with a clear message of how Confucianism fit into Chinese society, dealt with issues no other religion addressed, but still was transcendence. After reading this, I had no patience with the "is Confucianism a religion?" essays.
Taylor, Rodney. The Religious Dimensions of Confucianism. Albany:State University of New York Press, 1990. This book is a collection of Dr Taylor's essays on Confucianism. His thesis is that Confucianism is a religion and that it's highest expression is the making of a Sage.
Relation to Others, Community
A Confucian relates to other people first through the prism of their family. A person's family, both alive and in Heaven, comprise a special set of relationships and cultivating those relationships is the beginning of all relationships. Often when reading Confucian Sages one gets a sense of logic applied to human relationships. They want to know the very beginning of humaneness, and then what is the next step, and then the next. Where does it all begin? Well, it begins with the family.
Ancestor worship both honors the family but also connects the Chinese to place and to clans; it is the nature of ancestors that a large number of people will share a common ancestor.
Ancestor worship both honors the family but also connects the Chinese to place and to clans; it is the nature of ancestors that a large number of people will share a common ancestor.
The next level of importance, analogous to relations in a family, is relation to authority. Kings and government officials deserve special respect. Relations with authority builds from the filial bond. Those in authority are like parents and its important to give them the respect you would give a parent. They, in turn, respect you by receiving the gift of your regard and providing ethical leadership.
A Confucian is always aware of hierarchy and supports it. Consequently, as society changes, especially with the change in women's status at work and in the family, Confucianism will need to change.
Being a good supporter of a hierarchy is not the same as loving your neighbor. Although Confucius made the connection between the special relationships (the five: parent to child, husband and wife, older sibling and younger sibling, friend to friend, and householder to official) and society as a whole, there has always been discussion in China about this area of ethics.
Chinese Sages that came after Confucius all addressed this issue slightly differently. Mozi, a Sage from a different class than Confucius, preached non-violence and ren for all. Armstrong writes:
A hundred years later, Mencius, as he is known in the West, defined ren as benevolence, and claimed that it flowed naturally from all people. Ren needed cultivation and one began with family but needed to generalize from those relationships. That generalized feeling would create more feeling. Armstrong writes:As with Confucius, the single thread that held his philosophy together was ren, but he believed that Confucius had distorted this compassionate ethic by limiting it to the family. In his view, the clan spirit of the aristocracy was at the root of many of the current problems: family chauvinism, competitions for prestige, vendettas, and sumptuary expenses. He wanted to replace the egotism of kinship with a generalized altruism. Everybody must feel toward all others exactly what he felt for his own people."others must be regarded like the self," he said; this love must be "all -embracing and exclude nobody"(270).
The Golden Rule was crucial. This was the virtue that made the junzi (mature person) truly humane and brought the individual into a mystical relationship with the entire universe. "All the ten thousand things are there in me," Mencius said in one of his most important instructions. "There is no greater joy for me than to find, on self-examination, that I am true to myself. Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence [ren]" (305-306).
After-Life
Chinese funeral procession.In Confucian texts there is not much written about the after-life. Confucius was famous for his lack of speculation about the supernatural. He supported honoring Heaven, and the inhabitants of Heaven, the Ancestors, but spent no time discussing them. What he was interested in was our relations here on Earth.
However, the practice of ancestor worship assumes there is a theory of what happens after death. It is the foundation on which the practice is built.
The soul of a departed family member has different components in popular Chinese religion. It consisted of a yin component known as the po (associated with the grave or final resting place) and a yang component known as the hun (this was at the altar, the ancestral tablet). These ideas varied but generally the po or yin moved downward and the hun or yang moved upward. In some conceptions you end up with something resembling the Trinity with the soul in many different states at the same time. Here is one popular conception:
- one soul state went to the grave with the body;
- one soul state went to the Ten Courts of Judgment or Ten Courts of Hell, (check out this link to local Reed College's obsessive collection organized for easy viewing) and was eventually reborn;
- and one soul state remained in or near the ancestral tablet on the family altar.
Again, there were many conceptions, but it was thought when a person died the local Earth God of your village immediately took charge of the soul that was to undertake the journey to the underworld and brought this soul before the local City God, who looked over the record of deeds that came with that soul. The City God then sent the soul down before the first of ten judges, also called the ten Magistrates of Hell. The magistrates would hold the soul responsible for what they did in life and dispense harsh punishments for life infractions.
Interestingly, when Buddhism began to influence China's religious life it affected the shape of Heaven. The soul had to make a decision whether it was going to Heaven via the Silver Gate and become a denizen of that world, or take the Pure Lands route via the Golden Gate and become transfixed by the Buddha into a permanent state of Nirvana. (Cohen, http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/cosmos/prb/journey.htm).
Interestingly, when Buddhism began to influence China's religious life it affected the shape of Heaven. The soul had to make a decision whether it was going to Heaven via the Silver Gate and become a denizen of that world, or take the Pure Lands route via the Golden Gate and become transfixed by the Buddha into a permanent state of Nirvana. (Cohen, http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/cosmos/prb/journey.htm).
incense in worship
Ministers: Ordained, Other
Confucianism is a fairly broad tradition with many different religious authorities. There doesn't appear to be exact match with the term Minister. Still, here are some of the religious leaders that are part of this tradition.
The father, or chief elder in the home. In any family there is someone who is most honored. Usually it is the father or Grandfather of the family. They run the in-home family rituals, especially the rituals that honor the ancestors.
A government official, or leader. In Confucianism there has always been a connection between leadership and Heaven. This connection isn't very explicit in either China or Taiwan (Taiwan's post-revolution leaders were Christian) at this time, but there are echos of it in Chinese history. The Emperor had a department of ritual and himself participated heavily in ritual. As Confucianism strengthens in China watch for the ruling elite to reclaim this tradition more explicitly.
The teacher. Confucianism has always honored education. Teachers are honored as transmitters of knowledge and role models. Now that Confucianism is being revived, Confucian teachers are no longer a phenomena of the past. The new Confucian teacher expects the same respect and uses the same methods as early teachers.
The Sage. A Sage is both an ideal that every Confucian can aspire to, and the title of a respected religious elder. Julia Ching writes that a striving for human perfection or self-transcendence is the goal of all Chinese religion (230). The Sage loves the "...quest for wisdom or moral perfection,and this in turn, is especially discovered in those social virtues that govern family relationships as well as relationships outside the family. The sage finds the absolute in the relative, discovers the transcendent in immanence" (Ching 68-69). Very famous Sages are known from China's history: Confucius, Mencius, and Zhuangzi.
The father, or chief elder in the home. In any family there is someone who is most honored. Usually it is the father or Grandfather of the family. They run the in-home family rituals, especially the rituals that honor the ancestors.
A government official, or leader. In Confucianism there has always been a connection between leadership and Heaven. This connection isn't very explicit in either China or Taiwan (Taiwan's post-revolution leaders were Christian) at this time, but there are echos of it in Chinese history. The Emperor had a department of ritual and himself participated heavily in ritual. As Confucianism strengthens in China watch for the ruling elite to reclaim this tradition more explicitly.
The teacher. Confucianism has always honored education. Teachers are honored as transmitters of knowledge and role models. Now that Confucianism is being revived, Confucian teachers are no longer a phenomena of the past. The new Confucian teacher expects the same respect and uses the same methods as early teachers.
A Confucian Pre-School
The Confucian Priest. The temples do have priests with special knowledge of rituals. In temples without much financial support, true in much of China, these priests are more like caretakers looking after the physical temple. A Confucian priest at the state supported Taipei Confucian temple however, would be a respected ritual specialist.The Sage. A Sage is both an ideal that every Confucian can aspire to, and the title of a respected religious elder. Julia Ching writes that a striving for human perfection or self-transcendence is the goal of all Chinese religion (230). The Sage loves the "...quest for wisdom or moral perfection,and this in turn, is especially discovered in those social virtues that govern family relationships as well as relationships outside the family. The sage finds the absolute in the relative, discovers the transcendent in immanence" (Ching 68-69). Very famous Sages are known from China's history: Confucius, Mencius, and Zhuangzi.
Grandmother - Taipei Fine Art Museum
Sacred Rituals and Symbols
The official rituals of Confucianism, the ones created for temple worship, are beautiful, precise rituals that are now viewed, by many, as historical reenactments. The picture above is from the Taipei Confucian Temple where considerable time and energy have been spent reproducing the original Confucian rituals. These rituals are performed once a year and they include performance art: music and dance. A complete list of actions of the temple ritual shows the precision of the performance. The temple officials carefully paired the ritual down from 90 minutes to one hour for modern audiences.
The Emperors of China were always intimately connected to ritual. It was an ideal that the Emperor would do nothing but ritual. These rituals were formal, beautiful and important. The Yellow Emperor, Huang Di, it was said, ruled by 'doing nothing' (Armstrong 370) meaning he delegated tasks but did the rituals that kept the Kingdom right with Heaven.
House Rituals
Many important rituals take place in the home at the family altar. It's difficult to find out how much these rituals are practiced on a daily basis. Home rituals take place on feast days and during changes in peoples lives. The alter contains two important symbols. Pictures of ancestors and the Ancestral Stone.
Rites of Passage
Rituals are performed at key times in a families life. Most common are at a birth, Capping (son reaching 14 yrs. old), marriage, and death.
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