lilithu
The Devil's Advocate
Call this pet peeve number 356. (not really; who's keeping count?
)
One of my pet peeves is certain Westerners who hate Christianity, unable to see anything redeeming in it, but love Buddhism. They insist that Christianity is full of supernatural references and in the same breath insist that Buddhism is free of all supernaturalism and completely rational, completely ignoring the Buddhists world-wide who believe that the Buddha could perform what we would call "miracles." It's mind-boggling to me that someone could refuse to set aside certain aspects of Christianity that one finds objectionable yet blithely do that very thing with Buddhism.
But that's not what this thread is about.![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
I've noticed that many of these same Westerners who love Buddhism and hate Christianity also love Taoism and hate Confucianism. They tell me that the two are nothing alike. Confucianism is all about social rules, and Taoism is all about nature. :sarcastic True... But what they're missing is the fact that both Confucianism and Taoism start with the basic premise of the Way. Both believe in an order to things that if followed is beneficial, and if transgressed is not. Both come from the Chinese ethos. The difference between Confucianism and Taoism is how they each respond to this shared belief. The former approaches from the exoteric, focusing on rules and rituals, regulating how we interact with each other. The latter focuses on the esoteric, the unteachable, inner transformation. Yes, they are like "night and day", opposites. But the thing that people seem to forget about "opposites" is that they are alike in every way except for the one thing in which they differ.
Confucianism and Taoism are like Orthodox Judaism and Kabbalah. If you don't understand where they originate from, they look like completely different religions. But understanding their origins, one sees that the former focuses on the exoteric and the latter focuses on the esoteric implications of the same set of symbols, the same starting assumptions, the same ethos. The social and the mystical.
These two trends of thought represent opposite poles in Chinese philosophy, but in China they were always seen as poles of one and the same human nature, and thus as complementary.
http://www.shotokai.cl/otras_artes/china.html
Confucianism and Taoism are indigenous to China -- both had been in existence for 500 years before the introduction of Buddhism from India. An earlier religion (from which Confucianism and Taoism each grew out of) had existed in China for nearly 1,000 years.
CONFUCIANISM AND TAOISM
One of my pet peeves is certain Westerners who hate Christianity, unable to see anything redeeming in it, but love Buddhism. They insist that Christianity is full of supernatural references and in the same breath insist that Buddhism is free of all supernaturalism and completely rational, completely ignoring the Buddhists world-wide who believe that the Buddha could perform what we would call "miracles." It's mind-boggling to me that someone could refuse to set aside certain aspects of Christianity that one finds objectionable yet blithely do that very thing with Buddhism.
But that's not what this thread is about.
I've noticed that many of these same Westerners who love Buddhism and hate Christianity also love Taoism and hate Confucianism. They tell me that the two are nothing alike. Confucianism is all about social rules, and Taoism is all about nature. :sarcastic True... But what they're missing is the fact that both Confucianism and Taoism start with the basic premise of the Way. Both believe in an order to things that if followed is beneficial, and if transgressed is not. Both come from the Chinese ethos. The difference between Confucianism and Taoism is how they each respond to this shared belief. The former approaches from the exoteric, focusing on rules and rituals, regulating how we interact with each other. The latter focuses on the esoteric, the unteachable, inner transformation. Yes, they are like "night and day", opposites. But the thing that people seem to forget about "opposites" is that they are alike in every way except for the one thing in which they differ.
Confucianism and Taoism are like Orthodox Judaism and Kabbalah. If you don't understand where they originate from, they look like completely different religions. But understanding their origins, one sees that the former focuses on the exoteric and the latter focuses on the esoteric implications of the same set of symbols, the same starting assumptions, the same ethos. The social and the mystical.
These two trends of thought represent opposite poles in Chinese philosophy, but in China they were always seen as poles of one and the same human nature, and thus as complementary.
http://www.shotokai.cl/otras_artes/china.html
Confucianism and Taoism are indigenous to China -- both had been in existence for 500 years before the introduction of Buddhism from India. An earlier religion (from which Confucianism and Taoism each grew out of) had existed in China for nearly 1,000 years.
CONFUCIANISM AND TAOISM