The Encyclopedia of World Religions

82 S China, religions of

such as bronze bowls, to present gifts to ancestors. A common way to divine was to stick hot rods into tortoise shells and examine the ways in which the shells cracked. The Shang rulers fell to rival rulers known as the Chou. The Chou justified overthrowing the Shang by invoking the mandate of HEAVEN . Accord ing to this idea kings ruled on behalf of heaven; when they no longer maintained order, they lost heaven’s mandate to rule and deserved to be over thrown. During the early Chou period Chinese believed ancestors resided in T’ien, “heaven,” and worshipped them with grand feasts. Aristocrats performed elaborate festivals linked to the agricul tural calendar. It also became common to divine by throwing down stalks of the yarrow plant and seeing whether they would break. This practice eventually led to the writing of the classic book, the I C HING . CONFUCIANISM AND TAOISM In the early eighth century B . C . E order began to break down, and a period of political, economic, and religious unrest set in. During the sixth cen tury B . C . E ., as this unrest continued, the two major native Chinese religious traditions arose, C ONFU CIANISM and T AOISM . Over the next 600 years they received their classic forms from thinkers like Hsun Tzu, Mencius, and C HUANG T ZU . Confucius (551–479 B . C . E .) taught the way of heaven. In effect, he transferred to living human beings the respect and devotion traditionally given to ancestors. Confucius is said to have edited five ancient classics: the I Ching or Book of Changes, the Book of History, the Book of Poetry, the Book of Rites, and the Spring and Autumn Annals. His disciples preserved his own teachings in a book known as the Analects ( see A NALECTS OF C ONFU CIUS ). Early in the second century B . C . E . the Han dynasty adopted Confucianism as its official ideol ogy. Eventually all Chinese officials had to pass rigorous examinations in the Confucian classics. They also spent a good part of their time perform ing the Confucian RITUALS . Taoism taught not the way of heaven but the way of nature. As encapsulated in the T AO T E C HING

rebellion against family and conventional reli gion. Many religions try to help people find a new adult religious identity at this time through rites like confirmation or BAR / BAT MITZVAH . In all cases, though, we find roots of adult religiosity, whatever it is, reaching deep into childhood, but then condi tioned one way or another by family and the reli gious institutions of the adult world. China, religions of The various religions prac ticed in China. These religions include the native Chinese traditions of C ONFUCIANISM and T AOISM , the imported tradition of B UDDHISM , and a loose set of practices known as “popular religion.” ANCIENT BELIEFS AND PRACTICES The earliest known Chinese religions addressed two themes that have continued throughout Chi nese history: respect for ancestors who have died and various practices known as divination. Divination attempts to determine the character of the forces of the universe at given moments, for example, whether these forces are favorable when undertaking a specific action. Village life in China developed during the Neolithic or “new stone age,” which began around 5000 B . C . E . Archaeology tells us only a little about religious activity in this period. Corpses were painted with red ochre and buried with grave goods, such as tools and drinking vessels. At Yuan-chin-miao corpses were laid out in a north south direction. All of these features could indi cate a belief in an afterlife. Beginning about 3500 B . C . E . evidence appears of scapulamancy, that is, divining by examining cracks in the dried shoulder blades of deer and sheep. By the Shang dynasty (about 1800–1050 B . C . E .) the Chinese knew of an afterlife presided over by Shang-Ti, “Lord on High.” The number of goods buried with important persons had grown to immense proportions. At Hsiao-T’un, for example, the deceased was buried with 15 horses, 10 oxen, 18 sheep, 35 dogs, five equipped chariots and their charioteers, and another 852 people. During this period the Chinese used vessels made of bronze,