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 faith and Buddhism have been the leading religions, while Buddhism was predominant in Korea. In both of these countries, however, Confucian ideals also formed a pervasive influence that shaped their societies in many ways.
Devotion to ancestors and the burial of the dead characterized Chinese civilization from its earliest beginnings and these aspects of religion have persisted throughout history. But the emergence of the concept of the Tao, usually translated...