Religions of China, Korea & Japan

The religions of China, Korea, and Japan have in common an emphasis on the essential unity of all things and the necessity of the individual's integration with nature, family, and society. In addition they have a strong basis in ancestrism and, for the most part, favor a level of syncretism that, especially for those in the Western monotheist traditions, seems remarkable. The overriding common characteristic of East Asian religion, however, is that it is human-centered and seen not, primarily, as the source of solemn metaphysical mysteries but as "part of a ring of relativistic commitments whose real center is inflexible norms or propriety for human and divine relations" (Ellwood & McGraw 180). A brief overview of the principal characteristic of the main East Asian religions will demonstrate how this region of the world has been a distinct entity in terms of the nations' reliance on similar types of worship, shared faiths that are adapted to separate cultures, and similar conceptions of the relationship between religion and society.

The most important religions in East Asia have been Confucianism and Taoism, which were indigenous to China, and Buddhism, which was imported to China from India and then spread to Korea and, from there, to Japan. Of the many types of Buddhism, two in particular were adapted by the Chinese--Pure Land and Chan (Zen in Japan) and these were the principal forms of Buddhism passed on to the rest of East Asia. In Japan the indigenous Shinto fai

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to gods and immortals" (Ellwood and McGraw 203). This notion predominated in the religious consciousness of the common people and, not surprisingly, even Confucius himself and the Buddhas and bodhisatvas were popularly seen "as immortalized humans now become spirits and able to send down blessings form above" (Ellwood & McGraw 206). The introduction of Buddhism in China, via Central Asian traders in, at the latest, the first century C.E., was at first a simple matter of introducing a foreign culture's claim regarding an "immortal" person in the Buddha Sakyamuni. But, as the sutras were translated into Chinese and the religion spread, Confucian and Taoist objections were raised. Many aspects of the new religion brought out the essential differences among the three religions. In some cases, such as the adoption of the monastic system of Indian Buddhism, the Chinese adapted a foreign notion to fit with indigenous ideas. The monastic notion (withdrawal and celibacy in particular) offended Confucian tradition "which put family life and the subordination of self to society at the center of value" (Ellwood & McGraw 207). But the monastic system was modified as young monks developed a filial relationship with their teachers and "

Category: Foreign - R