1.  Spirits - good and bad

2.  Tian - 'Heaven' - impersonal world guiding force - controls natural events and is a moral principle determining right and wrong.

3.  Natural patterns - cause/effect, etc.

4.  Yang and Yin - male and female principles - light and dark.  Everything eventually becomes its opposite.  This is basic both to Taoism and Confucianism.  The idea is that these are the polar aspects of the primal energy of the universe.  Opposites.

5.  Divination - prediction of the future
 
 

Founder - Lao Tzu - "the old boy" - virginal conception.  Possibly the author of the Tao Te Ching - The Way and its Power.

TAO - cannot be named, has no form.  The origin of everything.  All individual things are "manifestations" of Tao.  It is not God - has no personality.  It must be intuited, not perceived.

Chuang Tzu - 300 BCE - book of writings the same as the person's name - stories, humor.

Summary of Taoism:

1.  Tao - The way.  It is the spirit of all things, it gives life to all things.  It is the "Mother of the World."

2.  Wu wei - effortlessness - inaction, no strain.  No commandments.  Opposed to the "no pain, no gain" thought of the Western world.
    Abandon restless struggle.  Simplicity.  Profound faith in natural processes; no short-sighted craving and desire.  This is "doing nothing," but that does not imply inaction.  It is the most efficient and spontaneous action.  Through this, the individual is able to unite with the mystical flow of the universe, TE.  Let behavior flow spontaneously; do not concern oneself with imitation of ideal responses (that is Confucianism).
    In the political realm, the duty of the ruler is to rule with very few restrictions . Guide the population away from turmoil and want.
    The Taoist rejects self-assertiveness and competition.  Disinterest in the world of things.  Do not seek to control nature; seek to be in tune with it.  This is reflected in the temples of Taoism - at one with the environment.

3.  Simplicity - Distrust of formal education; simplicity is to be sought.

4.  Gentleness -

5.  Relativity - stop thinking of things as me vs. you, right vs. wrong, etc. and see that there is an understanding of things beyond opposites.
    The influence of the yin/yang distinction.  These are not flat opposites, they balance each other.  The tao is the circle that encloses both the yin and the yang.  Everything turns into its opposite.  All values are relative to the individual.

Embraces all things that are thought to bring physical health and spiritual elevation.
 

    Ch'i - "breath" - vital energy.  "To be alive is good; to be more alive is better; to be always alive is best."

Some basic differences between Taoism and Confucianism:
    1.  Confucianism is concerned with social responsibility; Taoism is concerned with spontaneity.
    2.  Confucianism focuses on the human and this worldliness; Taoism focuses on transcending the human and this life.
 

    System of thought builds from the Period of the Warring States in China.  Social anarchy.
    The Realists' view:  base impulses of human beings are dominant over noble ones.  We are greedy and jealous.  We are also short-sighted and don't see a need to make sacrifices now for anything in the future.
    Mohism - an opposite position from that of the Realists - claimed that to solve problems, we don't need force, we need love.
    Confucius' position is somewhere between these two positions.

    Very different from Taoism, but alike in the sense that the Confucian sees the Tao in the human world in our relationships with each other.
    There is no focus on "salvation" - There is nothing from which to be saved, and so no one to be saved.  The important thing is to know this life.  "When you do not know life, how would you know death?" (from an aphorism of Confucius)

Training in virtue is needed to make sure the Tao is manifested in the human being.
    The important thing is pursuit of human excellence by correct accomplishment of social duties.
    The only "sacrilege" in Confucianism is breach of rule of piety toward those to whom one owes an obligation.

Taoists avoid training, thinking that formal education distorts the human pure condition.

Major ideals of Confucius:

1.  Produce "excellent" human beings who could be social leaders.
2.  Necessary to fulfill obligations to others

Five Great Relationships (humans are their relationships):

1.  Father-son - the model for all other relationships
2.  Elder brother-younger brother
3.  Husband-wife
4.  Friend-Friend - entails serious obligations
5.  Ruler-subject - must act like a father - responsibility for care of subjects as though they were children.

A person has only to know what his role is to know what his duties are.
Personal excellence comes from the virtues.

Confucian Virtues:
    The superior person, the excellent or noble person, is CHUN TZU.

Ren (or Jen) - to think of others; sympathy, benevolence, empathy, kind-heartedness.  Be considerate of others.
    A compassionate, humane approach to relationships with others.
    A sense of the dignity of human life.  A position advancing self-affirmation and the affirmation of others.  Self-respect.

Li - propriety - knowing the right thing to do in various situations.  Self-control.  Good manners.  It is the social manifestation of Ren.
    The TE of Taoism is here, embodied in moral example.    Goodness is found in moral example through people we admire and wish to imitate.

Shu - Reciprocity - The "Silver" version of the "Golden" Rule - do not do unto others as you would not wish done to yourself - try to consider your actions from another person's viewpoint.

Xiao - Devotion to all family members' welfare.

Wen - culture - an exaltation of culture, the best art, philosophy, poetry.  The most civilized and cultivated.

    The result of the internalization of the virtues is the CHUN TZU (a fully realized human being) who realizes the importance of the concerns of all people and transcends selfishness.
 

Confucian Literature

1.  Book of History

2.  Book of Poetry

3.  Book of Changes (I Ching) pr. "ee jing"

4.  Book of Rites

5.  Spring and Autumn Annals
 

The Four Books:

1.  The Analects - sayings of Confucius
    Virtuous conduct of rulers - the actions of rulers serve as patterns of morality to be followed by the people.  This reflects the family structure, in which virtues are developed.  So a social hierarchy is an extension of the family structure in which correct actions are to be practiced.

2.  Great Learning - character and influence of the noble person

3.  Doctrine of the Mean - attaining an equilibrium
    See also Aristotle's Ethical Theory

4.  Mencius - Meng Tzu - see below
 

Some Background Ideas in Confucianism

Ideas of Human Nature

1.  That human beings are basically good
2.  That they are basically bad
3.  That they are somewhere in the middle, or neither good nor bad by nature.

    If the middle position is taken, it follows that education is necessary not to coerce, but to teach the good way, and rulers are to rule by example.  This is essentially the view of Confucius.
    Correct conduct arises through internal development made possible by observation of the behaviors of the virtuous person.

Mohism - a view of human nature that is like that of Hsun Tzu (who held that we are matter in motion (mechanistic) and we will veer toward self-interest unless we are taught differently.

Legalists - we are fundamentally selfish.  Civilization is a very thin veneer that is easily shattered without severe laws and punishments.
 

For the Confucian, the Buddhist emphasis on death, karma, nirvana, past lives and future lives was inappropriate because it did not tend toward what is important now, and important in society.

Developments in Confucianism after Confucius:

    1.  Mencius - human intuition is good and should serve as a guide to action.
    2.  Hsun tzu - people are born with innately evil natures and require ritual and practice to develop virtues.
 

Criticisms of Confucianism:

New Culture Movement of the early 20th century - influenced by the American Pragmatists - enslaves women, subjects sons to tyrannical fathers; only past-looking.

Communism - claims that Confucianism is elitist rather than egalitarian, it values males over females, and focuses on the old rather than the new and the progressive.

Mao Tse-Tung - anti-Confucian (Viet Nam war era)
 
 

- term comes from the Japanese term kami-no-michi - "The Way of the Gods"
 

No person or group is known to be a founder.  Nature worship.  Belief in spirits that inhabit this world.

Based on a creation myth.  Two kamis (spirits), Izanami (female) and Izanagi (male) are the cosmic parents of Japan.  Long story of corruption.

Leads to necessity for cleanliness - for the Shinto, cleanliness is not NEXT to godliness, it IS godliness.

No founder
No written scriptures - closest thing to this is the KOJIKI (ancient "age of the spirits" written in 712 C.E.)
No exclusive worship patterns.  Consistent with other faiths.
No rigid, dogmatic doctrines about worship
No formal doctrines or religious laws

Basic System of Thought:

1.  Mysterious powers of nature.

2.  Ancestors live in this world.
    Ancient myths in two works:  KOJIKI (ancient events) and NIHONGI (chronicle of Japan).

3.  No moralistic God.  No original sin, no sinful tendency.  Human beings are fundamentally good, the body is good, this life on Earth is good.

4.  Moral beliefs are basically these:  1) be respectful to spirits, people and nature; 2) practice rituals of purification and reverence; 3) the individual is free to decide on all personal and social questions of morality.

Basic Beliefs:
1.  Family and tradition are to be revered - especially birth and marriage ceremonies.
2.  Nature is to be revered - emphasis on the physical beauty of nature.
3.  Physical cleanliness - inappropriate to be in the presence of the spirits when unclean
4.  Festivals (matsuri) held in honor of kami (spirits)

Terms:

Amaterasu - goddess of the sun
Bushido - warrior way - loyalty, sacrifice - State Shinto
Misogi - purification ritual standing under a waterfall