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What is faith? Do Chinese have faith?
When it comes to faith, many people may have different opinions, but in any case, the existence of religious phenomena has been witnessed by many peoples since ancient times.
There are many places where people get along, and there are always some relics of religious belief, and this religious phenomenon is objective.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" >1 Faith is the relationship between man and transcendence</h1>
What is faith?
Faith is the core of religion, and religion is the embodiment of faith.
In other words, religion is outwardly visible, and when you see a church or a temple, you know that it is a religious environment.
Many practitioners know that they belong to religious people, and their words and deeds and words are the precepts of religion.
What exactly are these religions talking about? The essence of what it surrounds is faith.
Simply put, faith is the relationship between man and transcendence.
Faith is a relationship that makes everyone wonder if there is a higher level of life.
Why do you want to ask this question?
Because human life has an end, everyone knows that no matter how hard they work in this life, they will leave in the end, and they will always be a passerby, not a returnee.
Where do you want to go back?
The simple term is to go back to where our ancestors went, where they went from here.
But the problem is that our ancestors had similar problems to us, and they left behind a lot of cultural legacies, one of which includes religious beliefs.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="104" >2 What is the transcendence to surpass? </h1>
The so-called "transcendence" is beyond the human world, and there is a different level beyond the scope of the experience that human intellect can grasp.
The ancestors of that place went, and then there were some myths that the gods also went, and there was even a supreme god.
Beyond what is to be transcended?
It is beyond the visible concrete world.
As far as man is concerned, he transcends his concrete life and mind, and all the results and achievements that can be achieved.
Thinking of the phrase "life does not bring death and does not bring", sometimes it may be all gray, feel hard for half a day, and in the end it is all empty?
At this time, certain beliefs may arise, that there must be a higher level and force arranging human life, and that power is beyond.
After I have a relationship with Him, my life should also have a transcendent manifestation, that is, I can slowly get rid of the control of material desires, the limitations of the real world.
Slowly ascending upwards, from the body to the mind to the spiritual level, this is the specific role of faith.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="105" >3 Chinese have faith? </h1>
So, Chinese have faith?
In fact, until the emperor issued an edict at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the four words "Fengtian Carrier" had to be said at the beginning.
The emperor is the Son of Heaven, what is it to say that Fengtian carries "heaven"?
"Heaven" is the object of belief of the ancient Chinese.
In the Xia And Shang Dynasties, there was a concept that whoever received the Mandate of Heaven became the Son of Heaven, and the Son of Heaven was the only person between heaven and mankind, called "giving one person". The rise and fall of a nation depends on whether it has gained or lost its destiny.
Chinese since ancient times, the fate of the country or individual has been entrusted to a higher level.
In this way, we know that the ancient Chinese people had faith, but because of the development of history, there were some regulations later, the son of heaven and earth, the princes sacrificed the mountains and rivers in the territory, and the common people could only sacrifice their ancestors.
Later, the titles of Tianzi and princes were slowly set aside, especially after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, only ancestor worship was a relatively common phenomenon.
Western scholars observe religious phenomena in China and have two basic views:
First, they believe that Chinese is the worship of ancestors or called ancestor worship, that is, the religion of Chinese, which is a statement.
Second, China has been more obvious since the Tang Dynasty, and the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism have wrestled with each other, and at the same time slowly coordinated and unified.
After the Ming Dynasty, more people mentioned the idea of "three religions in one".
But to think further, are there really three religions? Is Confucianism also a religion?
This requires us to carefully distinguish it.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="106" >4 Is ancestor worship a religion? </h1>
First of all, to clarify the first point, is it appropriate to regard ancestor worship as a Chinese religion?
Basically, there is an objective basis for it, but it is not entirely appropriate.
Because ancestor worship is regarded as a transcendent realm in religion, but the ancestors are related to the children who are now alive, so the elders will definitely love and take care of their children.
Ancestor worship lacks a very necessary point in religion, that is, transcendence, and it is unlikely that it can achieve absolute fairness and justice.
As the object of religious worship, such as "heaven", it represents absolute justice, that is, to let the Son of Heaven imitate heaven and be able to achieve complete fairness, which is a basic requirement that transcends the world.
As with any religious belief, it must be completely fair beyond the boundaries in order to have a very objective and just response to the good and evil deeds of man in the world.
Otherwise, if you rely on your ancestors to get a lot of help, what about others?
Therefore, there is a basis for referring to Chinese religion as ancestor worship, but it also has its limitations.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="107" >5 Is Confucianism a religion? </h1>
Second, is it true that there are three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism in China?
Buddhism is Buddhism, and after it was introduced to China from the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism went through the efforts of translating Buddhist scriptures all the way, and by the time of the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism was greatly prevalent.
Later, elements native to China were also added, resulting in the "Mahayana Buddhism" unique to China.
The most typical feature of Chinese-style Buddhism is Zen Buddhism, which developed during the Tang Dynasty.
In the Buddhist scriptures, only the Six Ancestral Sutras can be called sutras, and the other main ones are called treatises. The sutra represents the classic, which is a different level.
Taoism has developed from the original chinese religious beliefs combined with Taoist thought, and has also developed on a certain scale, and also has its own rituals, precepts and so on.
What we need to make clear is that religion must have several conditions:
First, doctrine. The doctrine of religion must talk about the most fundamental truth of life in the universe, which is simply incomprehensible. Doctrine directly declares the truth about life in the universe.
Second, rituals. Religion must have rituals, because the opposite of rituals is the myth and legend behind it, the myth is spoken, the ritual is shown by concrete actions, and the two need each other.
Third, the precepts. Religion must have precepts. And the precepts of religion are by no means comparable to the law, the law can only regulate external behavior, and morality must be sincere from the heart. But the precepts of religion emphasize the initiation of one's mind.
Fourth, missionary groups. There is a certain program of practice, and then some people become missionaries within the religion to promote the religion.
Fifth, rational explanation. Rational explanation is the interpretation of religion, like Buddhism and theology.
Religion needs to have five conditions, Buddhism and Taoism have no problem, but what about Confucianism?
In fact, Confucianism, starting with Confucius and Mencius, is not a religion.
Kong Meng believed in heaven, which was a general belief in ancient China.
Confucianism has no doctrine to talk about things before and after death; Confucianism does not have specific rituals, and there is no myth behind it;
As for the precepts, Confucianism attaches more importance to moral practice, emphasizing how to live a good life in the human world.
If we make a relatively complete understanding of the beliefs of Chinese, we know that Westerners say that Chinese beliefs are ancestor worship, and we do not deny this.
Ordinary people can often think of their ancestors, and they will remind themselves that there is a higher level to promote themselves.
The I Ching also specifically mentions that the best way to worship and commemorate ancestors is to inherit them with virtue.
That is to say, in terms of virtue, it is a way to make the whole nation go to a better situation.