SACRED PLACE, SACRED SPACE:
East Asia
SHINTO
• Absolute Location – Japan
• Tribal Religion becomes Traditional
• Tribal Beliefs or Shrine Shinto
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The world is kami or spirit (kami-kaze or divine wind)
Localized kami or spirits of specific areas
Some kami represent processes, larger natural objects
The world is transcendent; placate, venerate nature
No aspect of personal salvation; no concept of sin
Thousands of shrines throughout Japan localize belief
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Chinese cultural traditions arrive and traditional Shinto emerges
Veneration of nature, ancestral spirits; some anthropomorphism
Shaman become priests; no literature or holy books
Ceremonies celebrate passages of life, seasons
Rituals of cleanliness, blessings
Shinto becomes a nationalist tradition honoring emperor
Emperor is the descendent of the sun-goddess
• Traditional or Sect Shinto
• Syncretism: Has blended with Buddhism, Confucianism
IMAGES OF SHINTO
THE KOJIKI, c. 680 CE
• “Hereupon all the Heavenly Deities commanded the
two Deities His Augustness the Male-Who-Invites and
Her Augustness the Female-Who-Invites, ordering them
to "make, consolidate, and give birth to this drifting
land." Granting to them an heavenly jeweled
spear, they [thus] deigned to charge them. So the two
Deities, standing upon the Floating Bridge of
Heaven, pushed down the jeweled spear and stirred
with it, whereupon, when they had stiffed the brine till it
went curdle-curdle, and drew [the spear] up, the brine
that dripped down from the end of the spear was piled
up and became an island. This is the Island of
Onogoro.”
DAOISM
 Prominent critics of Confucianism
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Preferred philosophical reflection and introspection
Understand natural principles, live in harmony with them
Laozi and Zhuangzi
 Laozi, founder of Daoism; wrote the Daodejing
 Zhuangzi, Daoist philosopher, wrote Zhuangzi
 Philosophical Daoism
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Dao - The way of nature, the way of the cosmos
Opposites in balance, complementary
An eternal principle governing all workings of the world
Passive, yielding, does nothing , accomplishes everything
Tailor behavior to passive, yielding nature
Ambition, activism brought the world to chaos
 Popular Daoism
 A folk or religious form of Daoism; not philosophical
 Emerged at end of Han Dynasty
 Seek to master forces of natural, spiritual world
 Many deities including immortals, which people venerated
 Symbolized prosperity, happiness
 Many saints were patrons of certain occupations
 Gods associated with natural cycles, agriculture
 Daoist priests were shamans, performed exorcisms
DAOIST WUWEI
 The doctrine of wuwei
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Disengagement from worldly affairs
Called for simple, unpretentious life
Live in harmony with nature
Advocated small state, self-sufficient
community
 Political implications
 Served as a counterbalance to Confucian
activism
 Individuals often both Confucians and Daoists
 Flourishes when society at peace, prosperous
DAOIST SYMBOLS
Direction
Element
Symbol / Constellation
Season
Force
East
Wood
Azure Dragon
Spring
Yang
South
Fire
Vermilion Bird
Summer
Yang
West
Metal
White Tiger
Autumn
Yin
North
Water
Black Tortoise
Winter
Yin
Center
Earth
none
none
Neutral
THE DAO TE CHING, CHAPTER 39
• The things which from of old have got the One (the Tâo) are-Heaven which by it is bright and pure;
Earth rendered thereby firm and sure;
Spirits with powers by it supplied;
Valleys kept full throughout their void
All creatures which through it do live
Princes and kings who from it get
The model which to all they give.
All these are the results of the One (Tâo).
If heaven were not thus pure, it soon would rend;
If earth were not thus sure, 'twould break and bend;
Without these powers, the spirits soon would fail;
If not so filled, the drought would parch each vale;
Without that life, creatures would pass away;
Princes and kings, without that moral sway,
However grand and high, would all decay.
SACRED SITES OF DAOISM
Legend
(1) Home of Lao Tze
(2) Tao Te Ching revealed at Mt. Chung-nan Shan
(3) Founding of the Celestial Masters
(4) Mao shan
(5) Dragon and Tiger Mountain
(6) Taoist pilgrimage site
CHINESE POPULAR RELIGION
 Customary beliefs and practice
 As old as civilization in China
 Never encouraged/discouraged by state
 Syncretic in nature
 Will absorb many different traditions
 Blends all major ideas, philosophies
 Exists in harmony with official philosophies, faiths
 Believes gods, spirits (shen) influence family, world
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Power over world affairs
Deceased members of community, family
Deified figures of history, literature
Spiritual embodiment of nature, geography
 Maintenance of family shrines, community temples
 Prayers, supplications
 Food offerings
 Shamanism and divination are practiced
HOUSEHOLD & PUBLIC RITUALS
 Household Rituals
 Always performed by males
 Expression of Confucian filial piety
 Domestic altar
 Names of deceased, icons
 Worship of the stove god
 Oversees family’s moral conduct
 Reports on family to heaven
 Public Rituals
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Preserve social harmony, local identity
Local earth god protects area from spirits
City god important; has temple at center of city
Physical, public processions, offerings
 Supreme Deity and Influence of Daoism
 Shangdi (Ruler on High)
 Cannot be addressed directly
 Shang kings called up other spirits to address Shangdi
 Later called Tian or Heaven
 Rulers called Son of Heaven
 Empire is his favorite government
 Mandate of Heaven is an off-shoot of this idea
CONFUCIUS’ SEARCH FOR ORDER
Confucius (551-479 B.C.E.)
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A strong-willed man, from an aristocratic family
Traveled ten years searching for an official post
Educator with numerous disciples
Sayings compiled in the Analects by disciples
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Fundamentally moral and ethical in character
Restore political and social order; stress ritual
Formation of junzi - "superior individuals"
Edited Zhou classics for his disciples to study
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Ren - a sense of humanity
Li - a sense of propriety
Xiao - filial piety
Cultivating of junzi for bringing order to China
5 Relationships and filial piety as basis of society
Confucian ideas
The key Confucian concepts
CONFUCIAN SOCIAL HIERARCHY
Confucian Scholar Official
CONFUCIUS AND MENCIUS SAY:
"The greenery on Niu Mountain was once beautiful, but since it was near a
large city, it was attacked by lumberjacks. How could it retain its beauty?
Still, by breathing in the sunlight and rain, how could new buds and sprouts
not appear? But then cattle and sheep came and fed themselves, and by
the time they were done, it was completely barren. If people saw this
barrenness, they might have imagined that there had never been any
greenery. How could the mountain be inherently like this? In the case of
people, how could they lack the mind of Humanity and Righteousness? But
the daily damaging of the goodness of their mind is just like the lumberjacks
on the mountain. Being chopped down day after day, how can it manifest its
natural beauty? One may breathe in fresh air day and night, but if you allow
the enjoyment of evil doings with people to close in on you, the air gets thin,
and your daytime activities stifle you. Because of this stifling, the fresh air is
insufficient. Being insufficient, your goodness of mind is not nourished, and
there will be little difference between you and the animals. People see our
animalistic nature and assume that we have never had great endowments.
How could this be our real nature? Therefore, if it is properly nourished, there
is nothing that will not grow. If it is not nourished, there is nothing that will not
die. Confucius said: 'Use it and you will keep it; ignore it and you will lose it. “
SACRED SITES OF CONFUCIANISM
(1) Ch'u-fu (Qufu)--Confucius's=
birthplace, a pilgrimage site;
(2) Beijing – site of the Temple of
Heaven, location of Imperial
ceremonies performed on
behalf of the nation;
(3) Beijing – location of T'ien-an
Men Square
(4) Mt. T'ai and Mt. Wu-T'ai—holy
mountains valued by all three
major religions of China; sites
where officials offered prayers
on behalf of the people;
(5) Korea
(6) Japan
BEIJING: THE FORBIDDEN CITY
THEME: LOCATION
THE CONFUCIAN
CITY AS A MODEL
OF THE UNIVERISE
LEGALISM IN PRACTICE
 The state's strength
 Agriculture
 Military force
Discouraged commerce, education, and the arts
 How to treat people
Harnessing self-interest of people for needs of state
Called “carrot and stick” approach in west
Called for harsh penalties even for minor
infractions
Advocated collective responsibility before law
 Not popular among the Chinese,
Chinese used legalism if state threatened
Legalism still doctrine common to China