Chapter 5, Part I

I broke up my Chapter 5 outline into 2 posts so you don't get information overload!

Chapter 5 was about Eurasian Cultural Traditions, mostly talking about great philosophers and thinkers of the time. Religion is a tricky subject; for some, the religious traditions they take part in are sacred and divine. Various tensions and misunderstandings have arisen throughout time between people who partake in different religions.

From about 500 BCE, cultural traditions began to emerge from China, the Middle East, Greece and India. It is these traditions that have successfully carried over, albeit in different forms into the 21st century. The chapter does a good job of breaking down the religions/philosophers of the time. Here is my outline of the chapter (bear with me!)

China:

As one of the First Civilizations, China had a tradition of state building. After centuries of disrupt (approx 403-221 BCE) Chinese thinkers began to consider how order could be restored and from this, classical Chinese cultural traditions emerged.

Confucianism:

-Confucius spent his adult life seeking a political position in which he could put his ideas into action.

-The Confucian answer to a warring China was moral examples of superiors to restore social harmony. Human society consisted of unequal relationships: father is superior to son, husband to wife, older brother to younger brother and ruler to subject. If the superior party in the relationships behaved with sincerity and concern for others, the inferior party would be motivated to respond with deference and obedience and harmony would prevail.

-He emphasized education as the key to moral betterment.

-His ideas left a deep imprint on Chinese culture.

-Confucianism became the central element of the educational system; it also placed a great deal on history.
-Confucianism marked Chinese elite culture by its secular, or nonreligious, character. It did not deny the reality of gods and spirits.

Daoism:
-Laozi, a 6^th century archivist and thinker.
-Daoist thinking ran counter to Confucianism; ridiculed Confucianism efforts as artificial and useless
-Central concept of Daoist thinking is dao the notion that refers to the way of nature. The dao moves around and around, but does not on this account suffer. All life comes from it. It wraps everything with its love as in a garmet and yet it claims no honor for it does not demand to be lord.
-Daoism invited people to withdraw from the world of political and social activism and to disengage in public life so important to Confucius and to align themselves with the way of nature. It meant living simply, and simple communities with limited government and abandoning education and active efforts of self improvement.
-Chinese elite saw Daoism as a compliment to Confucianism; this outlook was facilitated by the ancient Chinese concept of yin and yang which expressed a belief in the unity of opposites.

India:
Indian elite culture embraced the divine and all things spiritual. The Indian religious tradition, Hinduism, differed from other world religions. It had no historical founder, and it grew from many centuries.
-Hinduism was never a single tradition-it was given its name from outsiders who wanted to keep the various Indian cultural patterns into a recognizable system.
-Hinduism has a vast diversity of gods, spirits, beliefs, practices, rituals and philosophies.
-The sacred texts write of many rituals and sacrifices one needed to perform in order to acquire power and wealth.

Buddhism:
-Emerged around the same time as Hinduism.
-Founded by Siddhartha, a prince from a small north Indian state, he left his wealth in search of “enlightenment”.
-A small growing community came to see him as Buddha, the Enlightened One, based on his travels and teachings.
-The Buddha’s teachings reflected the Hindu traditions, most notably, Karma and rebirth.
-The teachings also challenged Hindu thinking, rejecting rituals and sacrifices.
-Buddhism spread across India and beyond, a distinct different religion from Hinduism.