The logic of religion

IX. Oriental Religions and Similar Cultural Manifestations: Buddhism, Confucianism

  ORIENTAL RELIGIONS AND SIMILAR CULTURAL MANIFESTATIONS Buddhism, Confucianism The theories of religion heretofore considered subsequent to the classical period have focused on Christianity. While Christianity shaped Western culture and in fact may be said to define Western identity, a full treatment of religion from an historical or sociological perspective would have to consider the religions of the Middle East and the Far East as well as manifestations of religion in a primitive stage. The word “religion” as commonly employed is rather elastic, and it is difficult to define it in such a way that it will suit all scholars and be adequately applicable to all the phenomena which are sometimes labeled religious. In approaching Eastern “religion,” it must be kept in mind that ethics of itself is not a religion. This is clear from the work of the Greek philosophers and from the sayings of Confucius. The ethics of Aristotle is in no way a religious exercise. He did not derive his code of morality from anything but an analysis of human nature, one made without reference to God or something beyond death. Ethics, specifically the virtue of justice, may dictate worship, but this puts ethics outside of religion and in a way over religion. It is  evident that personal morality is quite possible without religious commitment, as seen from the worthy behavior of many selfstyled atheists. If the morally good man need not be religious, conversely a man who professes a religion may not be moral. There is another point to remember. Socially conducted ritual, symbolic and formal, need not be religious to touch the core of one’s beliefs and feelings. Many patriotic rituals are definitely not religious, such as flag ceremonies where heads are bared and dedications made. The Japanese understood the worship of their emperor as an act of patriotism and not a religious act of worship. During the French Revolution the Robespierrian cult of reason was militantly antireligious although it fostered ritual and cult which mimicked that of Christianity. Similarly, the belief in invisible powers is not necessarily religious. In magic and animism the universe is conceived of visible and invisible agents. These agents are not gods but component elements of the world, not differing essentially from the grosser material elements which surround man. No one will deny that Christian groups are religious or that Judaism is a religion. Similarly the Islamic faith is definitely a religious phenomenon. So too is Shinto. But is Buddhism a religion or merely a form of asceticism involving a theory of reincarnation? Is Brahmanism a religion or only a culture based on a philosophy which can be called religious? Many would consider Buddhism and Brahmanism to be religions, but Brahmanism is at its core pantheistic, just as Buddha’s doctrine is atheistic. Confucianism must be recognized as a moral philosophy that has performed for China and those nations influenced by China the functions which Christianity has performed in the West. In Confucianism we find a natural wisdom, a sense of propriety, and a ritual which reflects that wisdom. In the West we find its analogue in the manners of                    the well bred. From the second century .. to the Communist takeover in the twentieth, Confucianism has been synonymous with learning in China. Confucius (– ..) is the Latinized name of Kung-futzu, Kung being his surname and futzu the name for master. Confucius, it may be noted, is a near contemporary of Socrates (c. – ..). Early as a youth Confucius established himself as a master of ritual. The original word for ritual is li, which means a sense of propriety, the order of things. Some translate it as the “moral and religious institutions of the Three Dynasties.” In fact, Confucianism has been known in China through the centuries as li chiao, the religion of li, or “ritual.” This conception of li, meaning much more than mere ritualism in the Western sense, is Confucius’s central theme for an ideal social order. Throughout his life, he sought to restore a social order based on love for one’s kind and respect for authority, of which the social rites of public worship and other festivities employing ritual and music are to be the outward symbols. Confucius attributed the ills of his day to the fact that the leaders of society had neglected the old rites or were performing them incorrectly, or were usurping rites...