The Chinese civilization: the evolution of Chinese philosophy and religion
The Chinese civilizations happen to be one of the most ancient civilizations in the world. It dates from way back, approximately just after the ice age (Ebrey, p. 16).The philosophy in China has really changed with time. The Chinese philosophy presently, as a step towards development, is incorporating ideologies of western philosophies. It was first written in the native Chinese language whereby it was a source of the rich culture of the Chinese, traditions and beliefs and their dynamic nature. The philosophy’s history dates back to several thousand years. The Chinese beliefs and traditions too have changed in some way, though some of the people in china too have been adamant and have retained the original beliefs.
The Chinese religion too has evolved to some extent. This has transited from its completely conservative nature to a more westernized approach. Even in the past, when religion was hardly thought to exist, Chinese people had a religion which governed how the people behaved and accounted for certain ancient practices such as burial as early as 5000 BC (Ebrey, p. 17). Presently, the religion of the Chinese is a combination of Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. The religion also contains some aspects of communist, which contained anti-religious sentiments in it.
Change has been seen in the philosophies of china. These changes contribute to a form of religion evolution. This dates back from the practices of the Chinese in the reign of the Shang Dynast that existed in between 1600 and 1046 BC. This dynasty was originally thought to be a mere myth (Ebrey, p. 39). This was however reproved later when some pharmacists were seen selling oracle bones that was depicted to have been created by the Shang. This dynasty was responsible for the domestication of the horse, the invention of writings to preserve history on bronze and stone, the use of metallic tools and equipments like vases, specifically bronze, and they had a political-religious hierarchy administration.
The bronze vessels were mostly used for worship. The Shang leaders communicated with their ancestors through sacrificial rituals and divinations (Ebrey, p. 21). The Shang worshiped a god, whom they believed was more superlative as compared to the rest of the gods, known as Shang Ti. Human sacrifice was also a common trend in this dynasty. Humans were sacrificed when a king died and were buried with him. This religious practice however, died down with the entry of new dynasties into leadership. The rulers of the Shang dynasty also believed in the use of signs and visions to make predictions. The tried to communicate with the spirits by reading the stress cracks on cattle bones and turtle plastrons (Keightley p. 1).
`There was a transition experienced when the Ch’ou dynasty came into ruling. In this time, religious believes from different culture were seen to merge. People from different places came together during this dynasty and somehow combined their beliefs together to form a common religion. After the Ch’ou the Zhou Dynasty came into power. During this reign, several philosophies of the Chinese were changed and others introduced. The Zhou Dynasty was deeply focused on culture. The Zhou believed that it was compulsory to sacrifice to their gods and ancestors. Failure to do so resulted in many calamities according to their beliefs (Hart, p. 7). The Zhou leaders alleged that leadership came from a great power. This resulted in a form of aristocratic hereditary leadership. This dynasty saw the reign of about thirty leaders. The Zhou, just like the former dynasties worshipped Shang Ti god (Hart, p. 5).
Philosophy underwent evolution extensively. Confucianism was the initial philosophy of Zhou dynasty. It involved the establishment of a certain class of people who would inherit the throne. This ensured that all the rulers had a common background of origin. One other great philosophy that was brought to light under this reign was Taoism philosophy. The main focus of this philosophy was simplicity. It involved the government avoiding any involvement in the affairs of the people and letting them deal with their problems on their own. This philosophy led to many of the people receding to their primitive agricultural societies. After seeing the result of Taoism and great chaos that had occurred in the application of this philosophy, great philosophers came up with yet another philosophy known as Legalism. The main aim of this philosophy was to set laws that governed every aspect of life. This philosophy called for the availability of much wealth and a great ruler, who was supposed to be the overall ruler.
Buddhism came to exist in china after a number of scholars from India brought this trend. This was in after the Han dynasty. In these times, Taoism and Confucianism were the prominent philosophies. The Buddhism was then absorbed into the Chinese culture and became, to date, the greatest and most popular culture. The Buddhists worship a god called Buddha.
Presently, westernization has already become very prominent in china. Nowadays, china possesses the greatest diversity in terms of religion. Besides Buddhists and Taoists, there are a few Muslims, Catholics and Protestants in china. The change in religion of the people started from way back. The more civilized a country becomes so does the diversity of religion and philosophies.
Work cited
Ebley, Patricia Buckley. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. London: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Ebrey, Patricia Buckley ed. Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook. New York, Free Press, 1993.
Hart, James. The Metal Box Bound http://dingo.sbs.arizona.edu/~flanza/china_civ/maintext/week2/readings/metal_box.pdf retrieved on: Dec, 10 2010.
Keightley, N. David. Late Shang Divination Records http://dingo.sbs.arizona.edu/~flanza/china_civ/maintext/week2/readings/shang_divinatio n.pdf retrieved on: Dec, 10 2010.
The Chinese traditions in Antiquity, The origin of Buddhism. http://dingo.sbs.arizona.edu/~flanza/china_civ/maintext/week2/readings/analects.pdf retrieved on: Dec, 10 2010.
Image, The oracle bones found by pharmacists: http://dingo.sbs.arizona.edu/~flanza/china_civ/maintext/week2/imgview.html retrieved on: Dec, 10 2010.
Image, the reading of cracks on cow bones to predict the future, http://dingo.sbs.arizona.edu/~flanza/china_civ/maintext/week2/imgview.html retrieved on: Dec, 10 2010.
