Transcript World Religious Traditions I

The Tao & Confucianism
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China
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Population
China population in
year 2000 was
approximately 1.3
billion people.
US population in year 2006 was
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approximately 300 million
people.
History of Knowledge
•Ignorance is the cause of all
sufferring – Buddha in India
•Ignorance is the cause of all evil –
Socrates in Greece
•Ignorance is the cause of all social
chaos – Confucius in China
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History of China
•2500 BC – ink, tea, & silk invented
•900 BC – the I Ching invented
•700 BC – gun powder invented
•500 BC – Taoism & Confucianism
•100 BC – paper is invented
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Religion in China
•A radical humanism with a desire to
live in the world in harmony
•Humanity has no need for a savior
since humans are not born in sin
•Humanity is basically good but
needs proper education
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Thoughts at the time
•Ancestors could help or harm
•World full of spirits
•Shang Ti the ruler of the universe,
though not a creator god
•Ch’I is an impersonal self-generating
energy in the cosmos
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Ancient Traditions
•2,000 BC in Yellow River Valley
Chineses had written language
•Ancestor worship - called Li
•Taoism started with Lao-tzu around
500 BC in Chou Dynasty
•Chuang-tzu just after Lao-tzu
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Chinese Language
•Western languages are phonetic,
thus more left brain and linear
•Chinese languages are actually
pictures of things and ideas; thus
right brain
•Reading Chinese is like looking at a
film strip
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Lao Tzu
“Live a simple life,
be free, be yourself,
and be close to
nature. Do these
things and you will
be wise and happy”.
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Written by Lao-tzu, a curator of the royal library of the Chou
dynasty, given to a border guard as he left society for the
mountains at the reported age of 160. It is second only to the
Bible is translations.
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The Goal of Taoism
The goal of
Taoism is to
align oneself
with the
unnamable
original
force…the Tao.
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Considerations…
Taoism is concerned with
direct experience of the
universe, accepting and
cooperating with things as
they are, not with setting
standards of morality, not
with labeling things as
good or bad.
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Lose your mind and come to your
senses.
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Considerations…
The Tao
says…civilization,
with its intellectual
attempts to improve
on things and its
rigid view of
morality, actually
leads the world into
chaos.
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Considerations…
Wisdom lies in
recognizing the evershifting, but regular and
balanced, patterns and
moving with them. This
creative rhythm of the
universe is called the Tao.
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I Ching – Book of Changes
•Throw three coins
six times
•Divination
•Yin a straight line
•Look up 1 of 64
hexagrams
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Assumptions of the I Ching
•Human society like nature is
hierarchical
•Nothing behaves haphazardly
•Things are complex but not chaotic
•There is a controlling principle in every
change process
•Each hexagram represents a controlling
principle
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How it works
Imagine our reality as viewed as a tube of time
extending through space. We are constantly flowing
through the tube along with everything we perceive. If
we could slice through the tube at a certain moment
with ourselves at the center, and then study this fixed
cross-section, we would see all of the elements of nature
that happen now to exist as well as their immediate
relationships to one another. By evaluating these
patterns would allow us to see how the forces in the
situation are affecting our lives.
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Quantum Physics Today
David Bohm like Einstein maintained
that there were hidden variables at
work in this process. Bohm went
further and suggested there were both
an Explicate Order of things visible in
local space-time, and an Implicate
Order of things hidden or enfolded in
the non-local quantum potential.
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Eight Forces of Nature
Heaven
Lake
Sun-Wind
Fire
Water
Thunder
Earth
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Mountain
Creating the Hexagram
Heads + Heads + Tails = Yang
Tails + Tails + Heads = Yin
All Tails = Yang that is changing
All Heads = Yin that is changing
Throw the coins six times and build the hexagram
from the bottom up. OneWorldInsight.com
Judgment & Image
Judgment – is attributed to King Wen
dated 1150 CE
Image – is attributed to Confucius
dated 500 CE
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Demonstration
http://www.eclecticenergies.com/iching/virtualcoins.php
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Considerations…
Any extreme action will produce its opposite as a
balancing reaction, thus one should strive for a
middle way with subtle discretion and moderation.
The application of these principles in a spiritual
way is called Taoism. The application of these
principles in a political or moral way is known as
Confucianism.
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Considerations…
The Tao-te Ching says it is best to harmonize
with life by being receptive and quiet. Later,
Chuang-tzu asserted that the best way to live
in a chaotic, absurd civilization is to become
detached from it.
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White Cloud Monastery
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Chi-kung – energy training
•Body has chi – the
vital force
•Ching – generative
force
•Shen – spiritual
force
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Be indifferent to
birth and death.
Masters come
because it is there
time. Masters leave
because they follow
the natural flow.
Be content with the
moment.
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Falun Gong
It is a combination of Taoist and Buddhist practices that
include developing chi, honesty,
benevolence, and spiritual
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insight with meditation. It is in China today.
K’ung Fu-tzu
• 6th century BC
•Lord on High
•Mandate from heaven
•Moral virtues
•Orderly society
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Confucius – 551 BC
•Society was in chaos
•Taught young men to be wise public
servants
•Taught the Six Classics: I Ching,
poetry, history, rituals, music, and
dance
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Confucian Basics
•All humans are born alike
•Human nature is neither evil or good,
but humans can become either evil or
good
•Objectives are ethical basis for the
family and to increase social harmony
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Considerations…
Peace begins with the moral cultivation of the individual and
order in the family. This peace extends outward to society,
government, and the universe
itself like ripples in a pond.
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The State Cult
•Rulers regarded as link between
heaven and earth
•Confucius’ teachings in force in
China for the last 2,000 years
•Civil Service exam on classics
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Communist China
•1949 reaction against
the old ways
•Confucius attacled as
one of the “four
olds”…ideas, cultures,
customs, and habits
•Mao hated
Confucianism from
childhood
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However…
Mao kept and emphasized the Confucian morality toward
sacrifice and selfless service to the country and to the world
order.
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Tiananmen
Square
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Today in Asia
“For two thousand years, Taoism,
Buddhism, and Confucianism have coexisted in China, contributing
mutually to the culture. Both Taoism
and Buddhism emphasize the everchanging nature of things in the
cosmos, whereas Confucianism
focuses on ways of developing a just
and orderly society.”
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