Confucianism
Which dynasty established the First Chinese Empire (221 BCE), and what political philosophy did it use to rule?
The Qin Dynasty (using Legalism)
- Qin Shi Huang (The First Emperor)
- followed Legalism, ruling through strict laws and punishments rather than Confucian ritual or ethics
- unified the empire (weights, measures, roads) but persecuted Confucian scholars by burning books and burying scholars alive to suppress opposition
- it was during the Western Han dynasty (~134 BCE) that Confucian teachings were enshrined as state orthodox discourse and education, followed by most later dynasties down to the last Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 CE)
Name two major texts of early philosophical Daoism
BONUS QUESTION (+200): Identify their authors and the primary focus of each text
Dao De Jing (The Scripture of the Way and Its Virtue) by Laozi
- short & cryptic; can be read as advice to the ruler, or mystical philosophy of life
Zhuangzi (The Book of Master Zhuang) by Zhuangzi
- more discussion of inner spiritual life; states of consciousness; serenity & withdrawal from society; questioning established conventions & values; self-cultivation practices: meditation, dietary regimens
Name the two earliest book compilations of Japanese mythology and folklore, dating to the 8th century CE
(Hint: They recount the creation of Japan and establish the divine lineage of the Emperors.)
The Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki
- they record Japanese folklore and creation myths, including the story of the creator deities Izanagi and Izanami creating the islands of Japan
Matsuri
- refers to joyful festivals celebrated to honor a Shinto deity (kami) or mark an agricultural season
- historically were locally-based events centered on the community's specific local kami
Li (Ritual and Propriety)
- refers to concrete rites (sacrifices, capping, marriage) as well as proper social etiquette, custom, and good manners
- achieves social ordering through "performance" by arranging the body, space, and time into meaningful patterns
- instills ethical learning and reinforces social hierarchy directly into the body through repetition (e.g., positioning oneself correctly relative to others)
- aligns human society with the cosmological order
- viewed as a more effective method of government than laws and punishments
Ziran
self-so-ness, spontaneity
- the ultimate model for the Dao itself: "Humans model themselves on the Earth; Earth models itself on Heaven; Heaven models itself on the Dao (Way); And the Dao models itself on that which is spontaneously so on its own." (Dao fa ziran)
- refers to the natural rhythm of the cosmos that happens without external force or command
- opposes human-made morality, laws, and artificial social constructions, favoring a simple, small-scale communal life
Amaterasu
- the Sun Goddess born from the creator deities Izanami & Izanagi; the central figure in Japanese mythology
- considered the direct ancestor of the Imperial Family, providing the "divine lineage" that legitimized the Emperor’s rule after the Meiji Restoration
- worshipped at the Ise Grand Shrines, which serve as the ancestral shrine for the entire nation
The Shrine-Temple System
- reflects Japanese syncretism, where religious membership was not exclusivistic; people practiced multiple traditions simultaneously
- based on the theological idea that Kami needed Buddhist Dharma (teachings) to achieve Enlightenment, so shrines built temples on their grounds and invited monks to chant sutras
- conversely, Buddhist temples acknowledged they occupied the land of "prior kami residents" and needed to placate them; Buddhas and Bodhisattvas were seen as guests
- established a "Religious Division of Labor":
1. Shinto: focused on placating willful natural forces, securing harvests, and community rituals
2. Buddhism: focused on healing illness and dealing with death (funerals/afterlife)
3. Confucianism: focused on loyalty to the state (court rituals) and family values
The Five Human Relationships
- the specific hierarchy of social bonds: ruler-minister, father-son, husband-wife, elder-younger brother, and friend-friend
- based on the "rectification of names" (zhengming): social harmony is achieved when everyone performs their specific role correctly ("let the ruler be a ruler, the minister a minister")
- emphasizes hierarchy and status based on generation, age, gender, and rank, operating on a logic of "kinship ethics" rather than separate institutional spheres
Celestial Masters
- the first major movement of Institutional/Religious Daoism, established in the 2nd century CE (another one is the Great Peace Movement)
- founded by Zhang Daolin after a vision of Lord Lao (Laozi); also known as the "Five Pecks of Rice" movement
- established a bureaucracy of priests and parishes; focused on confessing sins to cure illness
- historically significant for rejecting "blood sacrifice" (common in popular religion) and creating a structured religious organization that survives to this day
- headquarters since the 13th century CE: the Dragon Tiger Mountain
Kami
BONUS QUESTION (+100): Name one specific Kami mentioned in class
- the central objects of worship in Shinto, defined by scholar Motoori Norinaga as "anything whatsoever which was outside the ordinary, which possessed superior power, or which was awe-inspiring."
- fall into three main categories:
1. deities, including deified humans such as ancestors, saints, and sacred emperors
2. features of the landscape held to be sacred and "awesome," such as mountains, seas, rivers, stones, trees, and plants
3. sacred animals
- Shinto literally means the “Way of the Kami”
- defines Shinto as both polytheistic and animistic, meaning it ascribes sacrality, sentience, and agency to things that other cultures consider inert and without life
Bonus Answer: Amaterasu (Sun Goddess), Susanoo (Storm God), Izanagi/Izanami (Creator deities), or Tsukuyomi (Moon God)
The Humanity Declaration
- an imperial rescript promulgated by Emperor Hirohito in 1946 under pressure from the American Occupation
- explicitly denied the false conception that the Emperor is divine (a "living god"), dismantling the core ideology of State Shinto
- also rejected the notion that the Japanese people are superior to other races and fated to rule the world
- stated that the ties between the Emperor and the people depend on "mutual trust and affection" rather than "mere legends and myths"
- Americans also had a new Japanese Constitution declare that Shinto is a religion, granted with tax exemptions; and the State cannot patronize any particular religion, must separate religion from the state
List at least two specific examples of the "Confucian Revival" in post-Mao China
1. Private Confucian Schools (Sishu): the rise of private "traditional style" schools where children memorize classics (dujing) instead of attending state schools
2. "National Learning" Movement (Guoxue): aims to free Chinese from Western learning, go back to the elite roots of Chinese thought: the Confucian classics, Chinese Buddhist philosophy, ancient Legalist texts, ancient Daoist philosophy -- focus on ancient texts and philosophy
3. Media Popularization: Yu Dan’s popular TV lectures (on CCTV's Lecture Room) and best-selling books explaining the Analects to the masses
4. Revival of Rituals: the resumption of the official Confucius Memorial Ceremony in Qufu (his hometown) involving state officials and foreign guests
5. Public Symbols: the placement (and removal) of the Confucius Statue in Tiananmen Square in 2011
Name two major sects of Religious Daoism and identify their differences
(1) the Orthodox Unity Sect
– originated from the Celestial Masters (the 2nd century CE); father-to-son transmission; have families and work; live in local communities, serve as local ritual masters in community rituals; predominates in southern China
(2) the Complete Perfection Sect
- founded in the 12th century CE; copied Buddhist monasticism; orders of Daoist monks and nuns who cloister in monasteries, practice sexual abstinence; dominates in northern China
Name three major cults of State Shinto
1. Ise Cult: worship of Amaterasu as the ancestral shrine of the whole nation
2. Cult of the War Dead: housed at Yasukuni Shrine; honored those who died for the Emperor (from anti-Tokugawa wars to WWII)
3. Cult of the Meiji Emperor: venerated the emperor as a "living god" descended from Amaterasu; object of intense worship housed at Meiji Shrine; inspired militaristic self-martyrdom (Kamikaze)
Distinguish between "Official Confucianism" and "Popular Confucianism" in contemporary China
Official Confucianism:
- funding: primarily funded by state agencies.
- goal: aligns with the promotion of nationalist ideology and patriotism
- participants: primarily elites, officials, or prestigious foreign guests
Popular Confucianism:
- funding: funded by local donations
- focus: often has an "anti-intellectual" outlook, focusing on body learning (meditation, qi, rituals) rather than elite philosophy -- often posing a challenge to official Confucianism
- participants: ordinary people like workers, peasants, and shopkeepers
- often related to local families and lineages (Why? lineages today continue Confucian ancestor worship; value education; help fundraising for local temples; maintain graves & tombs)
According to Angela Zito, the Emperor conducted three kinds of rituals to organize the cosmos. Name these three categories and the specific "Spatial Logic" (direction/relation) each represented.
1. Sacrifice: represents Higher/Lower relations; mediating the vertical connection between Heaven & Earth (e.g., Grand Sacrifice).
2. Rites of Court & Military: represents Centering; placing the Emperor at the center of power through enthronements, exams, and court assemblies.
3. Hosting & Guesting: represents Inner/Outer relations; managing the boundary between China and the outside world through foreign emissaries and tributary missions.
Thunder Rituals
BONUS QUESTION (+100): Rank the following deities from lowest to highest in the Celestial Bureaucracy: Jade Emperor, Lowly Earth God, City God, Emperor of the Eastern Peak
- a martial (military-style) form of Daoist ritual prominent in the Song and Yuan dynasties
- Daoist priests ("ritual officers") summon the "Thunder Inspectorate" to interrogate and punish unruly local spirits or demons causing illness
- aims not just to destroy demons, but to "recruit" them into the divine armies if they swear loyalty
- socially significant as a way Daoism absorbed and controlled local "popular" religion: instead of destroying local gods Daoist hierarchy seeks to pacify and incorporate local gods into its celestial and human religious hierarchy -- a centralizing religious impulse
Rank in the Celestial Bureaucracy:
1. Lowly Earth God (Tudi Gong) – the lowest administrative unit
2. City God (Cheng Huang) – reports on the local gods
3. God of the Eastern Peak (Dongyue Dadi) – oversees the City Gods
4. Jade Emperor (Yu Huang) - the Sovereign
Explain how the Meiji government transformed local Shinto communities into a unified national system (State Shinto).
Name at least two specific mechanisms.
- Shinbutsu Bunri/Separation of Buddhism from Shinto: a government policy to forcibly separate Shinto from Buddhism; aimed to "purify" Shinto as an independent state cult by destroying traditional "temple-shrine complexes/system" and replacing Buddhist monks with state-appointed Shinto priests
- Centralized Hierarchy: invented a new system unifying all shrines into a single ranking hierarchy and a centralized pilgrimage circuit, and re-aligned shrine territories to match state administrative boundaries
- Mandatory Civic Duty: defined Shinto as "ritual" not religion, allowing it to require all citizens (including Buddhists and Christians) to register at shrines and participate in rites as a mandatory obligation of citizenship
- Emperor-Centric: elevated the Emperor from a figurehead to a "living god" to serve as the focal point of worship
- National Identity: used pilgrimage circuits and Ise talismans (placed in home altars) to connect every household to the nation, fostering patriotism and a unified national identity
So instead of pre-Meiji times when Shinto temples and their local kami (spirits) demarcating local communities and their territories, Shinto shrines now were integrated into a single state shrine ranking system, to promote the spirits of the new nation.
In the Late Imperial Ritual State, the Emperor’s body was not just a human body but a ritual instrument. Explain the "Logic of Ritual Performance" in terms of Mediation and Centering.
(How did his movements and position organize the cosmos?)
- Anchoring: the Emperor's body anchored the earthly order to the celestial order; ritual inscribed cosmic harmony onto human society
- Mediation (Movement): he physically mediated between boundaries -- moving between Inner/Outer spaces (palace vs. city) and Upper/Lower levels (Heaven vs. Earth at the altar)
- Centering: the Emperor and his palace stood at the center of the Four Directions; during ritual, he faced South (towards the sun/Yang) to orient the empire
- Yin/Yang: his seasonal rituals helped "push" the world from Yin to Yang.