The Religion of China - a Humane
philosophy
The main religion of China are Taoism, Confucianism and
Buddhism.
The religion of China have shaped the characteristic Chinese
temperament. The Chinese have been described by Bertrand
Russell as perhaps the most cultured, the most tolerant and the
most realistic people he had ever met. By being realistic
Russell meant that the Chinese are open minded and face facts
as they are without trying to twist them to suit preconceived
theories. This trait – which the Chinese possess – was held by
Russell to be so important that - according to Russell – if
this trait were to become universal then a major portion of the
miseries of mankind would be eradicated.
To know more about Russell’s views please read
The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell available at
Amazon.
The religion of China also embodies the reasonable nature of
the Chinese people. It is a forgiving sort of philosophy, which
accepts Man as he is without expecting perfection. We are
descended from animals and are – in – fact animals ourselves.
All of us have a mixture of physical, mental and moral assets
and liabilities. The religion of China and the philosophical
Chinese recognize this and attempt to live life reasonably
without expecting perfect peace or perfect happiness.
The view of the religion of China regarding human nature is
expressed in the famous monkey epic. The story is told of a
monkey who undertakes penances and thus obtains supernatural
powers. But he is yet not a master of himself or his passions.
He thinks himself fit to reside in heaven and goes to stay over
there. But he creates so much mischief and trouble that he is
expelled from heaven and comes back to earth. Smarting with
this grievance the monkey organizes his tribe into an army and
proclaims himself “The Great Sage, Equal of Heaven.” The Jade
Emperor of Heaven sends his troops to fight the monkey but they
are unable to succeed. Ultimately the religious monkey makes a
bet with the Buddha or god himself. He made a bet that with his
magical powers he could go as far as the end of the Earth. At
stake was the title of the “Great Sage” or complete submission.
The monkey travels to what he thinks is the end of the Earth.
He passes some monkey urine there as proof of his having
arrived there. Then he returns back to the Buddha and claims
that he has won the bet. Buddha then opens one hand and asks
him to smell his own urine at the base of his middle finger,
and tells him how all this time he had never left his palm. It
is only then that the monkey learns humility. After spending
500 years in captivity the monkey redeems himself by joining
some others on a pilgrimage to obtain and bring sacred Buddhist
texts to China.
This monkey nature is present in all of us according to the
Chinese view. We have obtained powers - even magical powers –
yet we are not masters of ourselves and continuously get into
mischief. For all that the monkey is still an extremely
loveable creature in spite of his conceit and mischief. So
should we too, be able to love humanity in spite of all its
weakness and shortcomings.
The religion of China recognizes all our shortcomings and
our strengths. In view of this the philosophical Chinese take
the view of “Lets be reasonable” as applied to life. The
Chinese do not expect perfect peace or perfect happiness. The
reasonable attitude is, since we have got this human nature,
let’s start with it. Passions and instincts are present in us –
we cannot wish them away. Just stay in the middle of the road.
Do not be enslaved by these passions. Eventually both in Taoism
and in Confucianism the highest goal is an understanding and
harmony with our passions and with nature itself.
This reasonable attitude creates – at least amongst the
thinking Chinese – a forgiving sort of philosophy, which views
human error or misbehavior as common human nature – or man’s
normal passions. The Chinese regard heaven or god himself as a
reasonable sort of being so that if you live according to your
best lights you have nothing to fear. With a reasonable god
supervising the activities of reasonable and some unreasonable
beings everything is quite all right in this world.
This is the attitude of the Chinese and the religion of
China as regards human nature.
I hope you enjoyed this article and that it will be useful
to you.
Stay tuned for more in this continuing series.
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