Religion in China

Compared with other ethnic groups or cultures, we can easily find that the religious awareness of the Chinese or Chinese culture is very weak. I guess, this may be due to the large individual differences among Chinese people, so in ancient times, it was easier for everyone to obey an individual with extraordinary abilities, such as Huangdi, Yao, Shun, Yu, etc., thus developing the worship of "sages" dominant cultural tradition. It is true that the Chinese are more reliant on "sages" than gods when confronted with the fundamental problems of maintaining existence, freedom from fear, settling life, and explaining the nature of the universe.

The Chinese people's understanding of the nature of the universe is reflected in the macro level of the so-called "one yin and one yang is the way" in the Book of Changes, and the interpretation and arrangement of the social order of life is that "sages" educate and accept "sages". 's education. Where "sages" explain the specific nature of all things beyond their power (Zibuyu, strange powers and chaos), the Chinese people beg for pantheism, and endow mountains, lakes, rivers, wind, rain, thunder and lightning as the incarnation of gods. Chinese "sages" and "adults" do not believe in gods in their bones. However, since they cannot provide a complete solution for Chinese people with the way of yin and yang, their attitude towards gods is to avoid and use them. The so-called "Shinto teaching" is to use the people's fear of gods and ignorance of all things in nature to educate the people.

The early Chinese did not develop a religion to give an orderly explanation or explanation of the nature and life of the universe, but only explained the nature and life of the universe with a mythical system based on pantheism. Religion and pantheism both believe that human beings have a soul and an afterlife. However, religion has developed more advanced than pantheism, which is mainly manifested in two aspects: First, in addition to explanation, religion also provides people with care and guidance, provides people with the sustenance of life, and provides people with the means to live in suffering. Courage and removing people's fears; the second is that religion is more coherent and systematic than the explanation offered by pantheism. The Chinese mythology system is also far from the rigor and completeness of Greek and Roman mythology, and appears fragmented and lacks a minimum logical relationship. The Chinese way of thinking is neither inductive nor deductive, but comparative. The Book of Changes says: "There are heaven and earth, then there are all things; there are all things, then there are men and women; there are men and women, then there are husbands and wives; there are husbands and wives, then there are fathers and sons; there are fathers and sons, then there are rulers and ministers; Then the etiquette is wrong." The analogy of the way of thinking may also be one reason why the Chinese failed to develop religion.

In this case, the spiritual life and life arrangements of the Chinese people are basically dominated by Confucianism, which advocates the worship of "sages".

In Confucianism, the worship of "sages" is divided into two lines, one is kingly politics, which is "loyalty", and the other is patriarchal family, which is filial piety. Loyalty and filial piety have well adapted to and solved the problem of coordination and mutual assistance between China's unified political structure and the highly decentralized economic structure of material production. It is really remarkable. Chinese culture has thus become a typical model in the development history of human civilization and has achieved a higher cultural form. Therefore, Chinese culture dominated by Confucianism has also become the study object of neighboring countries and nations. Even after the Han people were conquered by foreigners, this culture was still adopted and continued.

During the Five Husbands China Period, China's kingly politics of unifying the world was interrupted periodically, and the Chinese people were caught in frequent wars and brutal massacres. The suffering in this life has no end. At this time, Buddhism took advantage of it and greatly satisfied the needs of the Chinese people to get rid of the suffering of this world, and thus has been widely spread. Compared with China's native pantheism, Buddhism gives all living beings the care of life and gives all living beings hope for the afterlife. Moreover, the ideological system of Buddhism is more rigorous and complete than pantheism, and has a stronger explanatory power for the universe and life. And Sinicized Buddhism can also give the Chinese people the blessings of the world, and they can avoid disasters and give blessings. Basically an alternative to native pantheism. At the same time, Buddhism does not interfere much in people's life and political order, so it is basically not in opposition to Confucianism, and their fields of action are also very different. In those areas of conflicting values, such as filial piety, Confucianism has successfully internalized Buddhist thought, making the latter gradually mutate, so that the two complement each other rather than oppose each other. If so, Buddhism took root in China. Relatively speaking, Buddhism enjoys greater recognition among ordinary people. For scholars, Buddhism is transformed into Zen, which is a combination of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and an understanding of nature through personal practice. That is not really a religion anymore, because Zen denies God and denies the soul.

If Buddhism focuses on liberation from the suffering of the present world and focuses on the happiness of the next life, then Taoism, which is native to China, pursues longevity, immortality and enjoyment beyond the present world. Taoism is a hodgepodge of Taoist thoughts of tranquility and inaction, pantheistic myths and legends, and the cultivation techniques of alchemy and alchemy, which can lead to immortality and longevity. Compared with Buddhism, Taoism is less concerned with caring for the world. It does not have the grand aspiration of Buddhism to save all sentient beings, it focuses on the cultivator's own enlightenment and ascension to heaven. At most, Taoism's concern for the world is only to help the sick, or to prolong the life of the emperor. Thus, Taoism is less in conflict with the Confucian ideological system that dominates the social order of the world.

In general, in the long history of China, Buddhism and Taoism have played a very good supplementary role in the Confucian ideological system that cannot fully meet the needs of life, and have not posed any threat to the Confucian ideological system. Therefore, in China, religion has never played the same role as in the Western world or the Arab world. Whether it is the separation of state and religion in the Western world or the secular regime under the control of Christianity, or the integration of state and religion in the Arab world, in China have never appeared. In China, religion has always been under the control of the secular regime.

However, the conflict between Confucianism and Christianity is so fierce that it can be said that they are incompatible. Christianity provides a more complete explanation of the natural life of the universe. Christianity calls on the people to only believe in God, the only God, and opposes the worship of any secular idol, which effectively provides a foothold for everyone to be equal against the secular government. And Christianity has a very strong concern for life and the present world. Unlike monks and Taoists, who more often sit in temples in the deep mountains and wait for sentient beings to come to burn incense and worship God, missionaries travel far and wide to do their best to bring what they believe to be the gospel of God to all parts of the world. In terms of organizational system, the organizational systems of Buddhism and Taoism are very scattered and spontaneous, while Catholicism has established a huge organizational system ranging from grassroots dioceses to the Holy See. Thus, in organization, Christianity is stronger than both Buddhism and Taoism. Its churches are closer to the people, and their contacts with the people are closer and more extensive. Therefore, it is conceivable that when Christianity was introduced to China, when the Chinese understood its teachings and how it worked, the kingly politics and patriarchal families based on Confucianism would naturally firmly oppose and resist it. If China accepts Christianity, then there will be no room for kingly politics and patriarchal families to survive. Therefore, banning religion is a final and inevitable choice, and seclusion is one of the most severe means for banning religion. In order to ban religion, it is worth even suspending other aspects of communication with Western countries, such as trade.

In the West, the development of Christianity and its separation from the secular regime, the confrontational tension between Christianity and the secular regime, combined with the spirit of Greek liberal democracy, led the western world to freedom and democracy. When science is not yet developed and people's understanding of the nature of the universe is very limited, the role of Christianity in preaching that everyone is equal before God is very huge and beneficial. With the help of the bridge of religion, the western world finally moved towards freedom and democracy. On the other hand, Christianity's strong desire and effort for the natural ordering of the universe made it the mother of the birth of science. When the rational spirit of Greece was planted in Christianity's exploration of the natural order of the universe, science was increasingly enhanced and perfected, thereby increasingly replacing Christianity's interpretation of the natural universe. The initial stages of this process were carried out by the monks of the monastery until science became an independent system and broke away from Christianity. Therefore, we can see that the connotation of Christianity is broader than that of Buddhism and Taoism. It has both a church, a form of concern for the world, and a monastery, a form of exploration of the natural order of the universe. In modern society, science has the unparalleled advantage of religion in explaining the universe, nature, society, and life, because science bases its explanation on empirical facts, while religious explanations are based on beyond people's empirical facts. Moreover, the technical means based on the scientific system can also enhance the ability of human beings to get along with nature and the ability of human society to better manage themselves. Christianity is undoubtedly very important to the development of freedom, democracy and science in the Western world.

Today, when the West has entered a free and democratic society, when freedom and democracy has become the best choice that human society can see at present, and today when science and technology are highly developed, China has retreated under the circumstances of the singing of freedom and democracy. Although the patriarchal family system has been adopted, it is still stuck in the political and cultural tradition of totalitarianism of Marxism and Confucianism. I think that today, China should move towards freedom and democracy is the consensus of most people of insight. However, there is much controversy over how to move towards liberal democracy. From the experience of the West, religion plays a huge role. Does this mean that China also needs to rely on religion to move towards freedom and democracy? I think a lot of people have that realization. Some people hope to lead China to freedom and democracy through the widespread spread of Christianity in China, and some people hope to transform Confucianism into a religion, and use traditional ideological resources to guide China to freedom and democracy. In my opinion, it is not necessary to resort to religion but to science. Although in the history of the West, it is true that liberal democracy was established with the help of religion, but liberal democracy can exist completely independent of religion.

In today's Western society, religion has increasingly become a custom. Belief in God, more and more people are no longer belief in a personal God, but increasingly generalized; people's belief in Christianity is also increasingly based on belief in doctrine. Modern science can provide completely convincing explanations for the things people encounter in daily life. Modern science can also explain the movement of the stars and partly explain the origin of human beings and the universe. There is no natural phenomenon right now that can trigger our fear so much that we think it is the wrath of God. Scientific explanations leave less and less room for religious explanations, and of course science cannot provide all explanations. In the origin of the universe and human beings, science has not yet completely defeated religion, and it has provided space for the existence of religion.

Today, when science is prosperous, there is no need for us to use religion and people's cognitive limitations to build social order and guide people to freedom and democracy. With the popularization of science, Chinese society has increasingly lost the mysterious atmosphere that allowed religion to flourish. As long as we do our best to continuously increase the scientific knowledge of the people and establish the spirit of science and reason, the people will realize that liberal democracy is a better choice for all people and for the whole society. We don't need to devote too much attention to the spread of Christianity, we just need freedom of religious belief; we don't even need to religiousize Confucianism. These two methods are not only wasteful, but also suspected of fooling and exploiting the limitations of the public's cognition.

In short, liberal democracy, though developed and strong with the help of Christianity, can exist without it. Today, when science is prosperous and prosperous, liberal democracy does not need to resort to religion deliberately, but can be established and popularized by directly relying on science and reason.

January 2, 2007