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.Third, Buddhism was attracting moreand more believers, and had inadvertently threatened thestate s status as the one and only authority.Sponsorship ofTaoism counterbalanced the growing Buddhist influence bytreating Taoism as the indigenous Chinese religion andBuddhism as the foreign religion.The T ang state even heldpublic debates between Taoists and Buddhists on severaloccasions.At the same time, the emperors and the state officialscontinued to adhere to the Confucian-Legalist ideology,because their primary concern was maintaining authoritativestatus and ruling effectively.Throughout T ang history, therewere Confucian scholars who consistently denounced bothTaoism and Buddhism and wanted to reserve the term Sage for Confucius alone.A BLENDING TOGETHER OF THE THREETEACHINGS IN THE SUNG AND MING DYNASTIESThe power relation among the Three Teachings in the T angdynasty was intriguing.On the one hand, Confucians, Taoists,THE DEMOLITION OF BUDDHISMIN THE NAME OF TAOISMWhen Buddhism entered China around the beginning of the CommonEra, various dynastic rulers were concerned about the rapid rise ofBuddhist authority.Consequently, the rulers claimed Taoism as theirindigenous religion and rejected Buddhism as an alien intrusion.Under the pretense of protecting the native religion, three emperors inChinese history decreed that Buddhist temples, monasteries, nunneries,and the arts should be demolished.These three emperors, coincidently,were all posthumously given the character Wu in their title, thusdeclaring their obsession with the use of military power.The threeemperors were the Great Emperor Wu of the Northern Wei dynasty(r.423 452 C.E.), the Emperor Wu of the Northern Chou dynasty(r.560 578), and the Emperor Wu of the T ang dynasty (r.840 846).Chinese historians call these three waves of demolition of Buddhismthe Disaster of the Three Wu s. 76 TAOISMand Buddhists borrowed terms from each other and demon-strated the possibility of cooperation.On the other hand, theywere at odds with each other partly because it was difficult forthe ruling class to agree with the common people s ideology.Indeed, it was even more difficult for the advocates of anindigenous religion to overcome the racial barrier and toembrace a foreign philosophy (Buddhism).During the Sungdynasty, however, things changed.Taoism as a folk religionand Taoism as a ruling philosophy had united under thesponsorship of the T ang state.Since Confucianism and Taoismboth considered the Book of Change (I-Ching/Yijing) to beone of their classics, it became impossible for the two religionsto remain strangers with one another.In the meantime,Buddhism had been part of Chinese culture for long enoughthat its foreign nature had gradually worn off.The mutualborrowing of terms between Buddhism and Taoism furtherpaved the way for the blending of the two religions.The group of people who contributed most to the blendingtogether of the Three Teachings were the Neo-Confucians.The Confucian scholar Chu Hsi was one of them.Actually,the term Neo-Confucianism is quite misleading.First,Neo-Confucianism could also be called Neo-Taoism or Neo-Buddhism, because the thoughts developed at thetime were in fact a mixture of Confucianism, Taoism, andBuddhism.Second, Neo-Confucianism is very different fromConfucianism.Sung scholars called Neo-Confucianism theStudy of the Universal Logic (Li Hsüeh/Li Xue), while Mingscholars named it the Study of the Mind (Hsin Hsüeh/XinXue).Sung and Ming scholars investigated the logic by whichthe universe operates, usually using Buddhist and Taoist terms,and then argued that the embodiment of the universal logicwould be the values and behavioral codes Confucius taught.This blending of the Three Teachings probably occurredamong the mostly illiterate commoners long before the riseof what is called Neo-Confucianism.Folk literature sincethe Han dynasty often illustrated the tendency to combine Memories 77the three religions, but when the blending was done by thescholar-officials who were well educated, it indicated thatthe Three Teachings had intertwined with one another on adeeper level.Beyond this point in time even people who weretrained to be Confucians would also affirm the teachings ofTaoism and Buddhism. 10Taoism in theWorld TodayTao is eternal and has no name.Though its simplicity seems insignificant,none in the world can master it.If political leaders would hold on to it,all things would submit to them spontaneously [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]
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.Third, Buddhism was attracting moreand more believers, and had inadvertently threatened thestate s status as the one and only authority.Sponsorship ofTaoism counterbalanced the growing Buddhist influence bytreating Taoism as the indigenous Chinese religion andBuddhism as the foreign religion.The T ang state even heldpublic debates between Taoists and Buddhists on severaloccasions.At the same time, the emperors and the state officialscontinued to adhere to the Confucian-Legalist ideology,because their primary concern was maintaining authoritativestatus and ruling effectively.Throughout T ang history, therewere Confucian scholars who consistently denounced bothTaoism and Buddhism and wanted to reserve the term Sage for Confucius alone.A BLENDING TOGETHER OF THE THREETEACHINGS IN THE SUNG AND MING DYNASTIESThe power relation among the Three Teachings in the T angdynasty was intriguing.On the one hand, Confucians, Taoists,THE DEMOLITION OF BUDDHISMIN THE NAME OF TAOISMWhen Buddhism entered China around the beginning of the CommonEra, various dynastic rulers were concerned about the rapid rise ofBuddhist authority.Consequently, the rulers claimed Taoism as theirindigenous religion and rejected Buddhism as an alien intrusion.Under the pretense of protecting the native religion, three emperors inChinese history decreed that Buddhist temples, monasteries, nunneries,and the arts should be demolished.These three emperors, coincidently,were all posthumously given the character Wu in their title, thusdeclaring their obsession with the use of military power.The threeemperors were the Great Emperor Wu of the Northern Wei dynasty(r.423 452 C.E.), the Emperor Wu of the Northern Chou dynasty(r.560 578), and the Emperor Wu of the T ang dynasty (r.840 846).Chinese historians call these three waves of demolition of Buddhismthe Disaster of the Three Wu s. 76 TAOISMand Buddhists borrowed terms from each other and demon-strated the possibility of cooperation.On the other hand, theywere at odds with each other partly because it was difficult forthe ruling class to agree with the common people s ideology.Indeed, it was even more difficult for the advocates of anindigenous religion to overcome the racial barrier and toembrace a foreign philosophy (Buddhism).During the Sungdynasty, however, things changed.Taoism as a folk religionand Taoism as a ruling philosophy had united under thesponsorship of the T ang state.Since Confucianism and Taoismboth considered the Book of Change (I-Ching/Yijing) to beone of their classics, it became impossible for the two religionsto remain strangers with one another.In the meantime,Buddhism had been part of Chinese culture for long enoughthat its foreign nature had gradually worn off.The mutualborrowing of terms between Buddhism and Taoism furtherpaved the way for the blending of the two religions.The group of people who contributed most to the blendingtogether of the Three Teachings were the Neo-Confucians.The Confucian scholar Chu Hsi was one of them.Actually,the term Neo-Confucianism is quite misleading.First,Neo-Confucianism could also be called Neo-Taoism or Neo-Buddhism, because the thoughts developed at thetime were in fact a mixture of Confucianism, Taoism, andBuddhism.Second, Neo-Confucianism is very different fromConfucianism.Sung scholars called Neo-Confucianism theStudy of the Universal Logic (Li Hsüeh/Li Xue), while Mingscholars named it the Study of the Mind (Hsin Hsüeh/XinXue).Sung and Ming scholars investigated the logic by whichthe universe operates, usually using Buddhist and Taoist terms,and then argued that the embodiment of the universal logicwould be the values and behavioral codes Confucius taught.This blending of the Three Teachings probably occurredamong the mostly illiterate commoners long before the riseof what is called Neo-Confucianism.Folk literature sincethe Han dynasty often illustrated the tendency to combine Memories 77the three religions, but when the blending was done by thescholar-officials who were well educated, it indicated thatthe Three Teachings had intertwined with one another on adeeper level.Beyond this point in time even people who weretrained to be Confucians would also affirm the teachings ofTaoism and Buddhism. 10Taoism in theWorld TodayTao is eternal and has no name.Though its simplicity seems insignificant,none in the world can master it.If political leaders would hold on to it,all things would submit to them spontaneously [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]