Tao Vs Ren Essay Research Paper Brad free essay sample

Tao Vs. Ren Essay, Research Paper Brad Czopek Area Surveies There are three major # 8220 ; faiths # 8221 ; in China: Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. Buddhism came from India, but the other two originated in China. This is a comparing between those two faiths. In modern times there are tonss of people that try to keep a balance between the three, but this has non ever been the instance. There have been times when the followings of one faith were persecuted by the people of another faith. Coming into this study, I knew fundamentally nil about the subjects that I chose to discourse, which has made this an educational experience for me. Most of the books on Taoism in the library were gone, so I had to settle for the information that I could acquire from books on general Chinese doctrine, so my cognition in this country is non every bit specialized as it is for Confucianism, but I think that it will still let me to compose an informed comparing of the two. With no farther bustle, I bring you the comparing between Taoism and Confucianism. Taoism and Confucianism are similar in several ways. They were both founded within the same period of clip, and in fact, the two laminitiss purportedly met in 518 BC, when Confucius went to Lao Tzu, who was at the clip the conservator of royal archives, and studied ancient ceremonials with him. They both believed in the importance of names, Lao Tzu stating that holding a name is the difference between being and non being, and Confucius believing that all would go pandemonium if the names were non straightened so that objects were really what their names implied. # 8220 ; A square vase that is non square- square vase so! # 8221 ; ( Leys, 27 ) , which refers to a type of pot called a Guam which means square pot in Chinese, but which had evolved so that it was non square any longer. Confucius and Lao Tzu agreed on things, such as the necessity of keeping rites and ceremonials, and they both thought that there was an orderly connexion between nature, people, and heaven. Taoism believes in passive resistance, and although Confucius one time said that the ground forces was one of the three most of import parts of the province, he besides said that it would be the portion that he gave up if he was forced to give up one of the three. Confucianism and Taoism have many things in common, but it seems that most of these are non in the existent doctrine of the faith, but more in the fact that they originated in the same clip period, and hence are related in more common beliefs of the epoch. There are many of import differences between the faiths. The most outstanding of these is the fact that Confucianism is non truly a faith. It was created as a political doctrine, and Confucius ever thought of himself as a politician, non a instructor. Confucius ever avoided speaking about supernatural events and spiritual beliefs, which makes him look sometimes like an atheist, but he has several lines that contradict this. He said that his turning away of these issues is non a incredulity of them, but a type of fear for them. At the same clip he said to maintain the supernatural off from mundane life. Taoism on the other manus starts off by turn toing the supernatural, and is in fact centered around spiritualty and the supernatural. Confucius set out to compose things on his ideas, and made several books, but Lao Tzu merely wrote one, which he was persuaded to make by a friend who did non desire Lao # 8217 ; s ideas to be lost when Lao receded into privacy. Confucius spent most of his life travelling, looking for person in power at the clip that was besides enlightened plenty to see the value in the Confucian instructions. He considered his life a failure, but it wasn # 8217 ; T for deficiency of seeking. Lao Tzu, on the other manus, spent his life working, and although he may non hold been content with the life that he had, he besides did non seek really difficult to alter it. Lao Tzu had a occupation in the authorities, which Confucius besides had for a clip, but Confucius found that he could non alter anything from at that place, so he left and started going, looking for a faster mob to holding his thoughts implemented. Lao Tzu had the forbearance to wait for a piece and progress to an of import place, which was difficult for Confucius to make because he could see the authorities taking itself to fall in around him. The cardinal thoughts in Confucianism are filial piousness and ren, and the cardinal construct in Taoism is Tao. Filial piousness is about the relationships that you have with other people, and how in order for life to be good in society, it needs to be good within the household. Confucius emphasizes five major relationships that of crowned head and topic, parent and kid, senior and younger stock Er, hubby and married woman and friend and friend. He besides talks about ren, which means something like goodness or empathy. It was the supreme facet that you should draw a bead on to, and it was necessary to be a gentleman. In Taoism, the Tao is something that guides our motions in a natural manner, without truly commanding them. Lao Tzu was of the sentiment that the more Torahs there are, the more felons there will be. He besides thought that the perfect society was made up of uneducated people, kind of the ignorance is bliss theory. He said to refund hatred with kindness. In these respects Confucius and Lao Tzu were the most different. â€Å"Someone inquired: What do you believe of ‘requiting hurt with kindness’ ? Confucius said â€Å"How so do you repay kindness? requite hurt with justness and kindness with kindness† ( National Geographic, 167 ) . This shows some of Confucius’s thought on the instructions of Lao Tzu. They besides likely would hold ar gued about filial piousness, and Confucius would hold been angered by the ignorance is bliss thought, because although there are things that should come before cognition, Confucius thought that analyzing was and of import portion of society. Confucius was really concerned with the society at the clip of his life. He believed he could see the terminal of all organisation coming, and when he was denied the opportunity to assist the authorities, he felt that his life was a failure. Some of the things that distressed him the most were people disregarding # 8220 ; the ritual # 8221 ; . This is to state that they did things that tradition and jurisprudence said they couldn # 8217 ; t. He was bothered to no terminal by rich powerful people making things that are purportedly reserved merely for the swayer. He thought that the authorities or the locals in the country of the rich individual should make something to halt the individual from destroying the rite, which would salvage society from lawlessness. Confucius urged the backdown from public life when things were non traveling so good, and he besides emphasized the importance of holding a household that you could retreat into. I am non certain of the sentiments of Lao Tzu o n issues like these, but I don # 8217 ; t think that they bothered him about every bit much as they did Confucius. The Taoist is known to withdraw from the universe as a manner of self saving, which I would think is non in conformity with the rite of Confucius, who merely encouraged impermanent backdown until any problem that you may be sing blows over. This is non traveling to assist with the saving of society, merely on single. Although I chiefly emphasized the differences between the two, Taoism and Confucianism are likely more similar than they are dissimilar. The job with this is that because both of the laminitiss lived during the same period, they both had to cover with the same jobs, and they most likely had many shared features ingrained in their personalities by the society of the times. Because of this, the similarities are by and large non that interesting, while the differences are. Although I focused chiefly on Confucianism, many of the things that I did non give a contrasting Taoist sentiment on are likely similarities between the two. Besides, the sum of information that needs to be read in order to understand the two faiths is so immense that analyzing all of the differences in the few hebdomads since I chose my subject would hold been following to impossible, even if person hadn # 8217 ; t checked out most of the Taoist books from the library. I regret that I didn # 8217 ; t take a subject Oklahoman so that I could hold had more clip to make the research that was truly needed. In shutting I would merely wish to state that if you of all time plan to research Confucius, the things that he really wrote are much more interesting than anything written about him by another individual ( except for possibly interlingual renditions ) , and you can by and large acquire as much good information from him as you can from anyone else. Bibliography Simon Leys, The Analectss of Confucius ( W.W. Norton, New York, 1997 ) H.G. Creel, Confucious and the Chinese Way ( Harper Torchbooks, New York, 1949 ) David S. Nivison, The Ways Of Confucianism ( Open Court, Chicago, 1996 ) Ezra Pound, Confucious ( New Directions, New York, 1928 ) D. Howard Smith Confucious ( Charles Scribner # 8217 ; s Sons, New York, 1973 ) Fung Yu-Lan, A Short History Of Chinese Philosophy ( The Macmillan Company, New York, 1948 ) Donald Munro, Individualism and Holism: Surveies in Confucian and Taoist Values ( The University of Michigan, Michigan, 1985 ) Wing-tsit Chan, The Orderly Realm Of Chinese Sages Which is portion of National Geographic # 8217 ; s: Great Religions of the World ( National Geographic Society, 1971 ) 31d