Chinese Religious Stats

[Zenshiite]

Regarding ShangDi, it can be hard to find information because alot of Christian missionary types are attempting to convert Chinese people using this term. However, as near as I can tell the earliest Oracle Bone records definitely do not indicate that ShangDi, as in the Supreme God of the Shang dynasty kings, was ever a person. In fact, the record suggests that as the Shang kings turned more towards their ancestors the less the appealed to ShangDi for variety of possible reasons. They gradually started calling their own kings "Di" as well.

 

Check out the chat section regarding the wiki article on Shangdi. Very interesting stuff there.

 

The use of ShangDi to refer to a personal deity without bodily form, according to my research, definitely predates the later Taoist use of "Shang Di" as part of a titles for various gods in the Taoist pantheon.

[~jK~]

The Five realms in Buddhism and Taoism are definitely different, that's for sure!!!

 

I just googled Shangdi and it appears that Shangdi is a Confucian god with mostly Confucian texts, scholars, and poets talking about him.

 

Confucious is the person that brought order to China's government and society - although - his philosophy was enforced in such a manner, by Huang Di, that the people hated and eliminated him from Chinese culture untill Chuang Tze revived the Confucian way in a more gentle interpretation.

 

Confucious came about 1,000 years after Shang Di. Which, I would think makes Confucious a student of Shang Di.

 

Here's a Chinese website that I've been posting on for about 10 years: http://www.asiawind.com/forums/list.php?f=2 There is a Chinese/Austrailian man there name: CHUNG Yoon Ngan that is considered somewhat of an authority, by many, on the culture etc from the Chinese perspective. I suggest that you do-not get into the politics of the World2 website.

 

If you do not have the help of a Chinese person that has lived in both the East & West cultures - You are like a blind man trying to describe an elephant to another blind man.

 

Even the dogs here have a different culture from western dogs in that they do not look a human in the eye - the eye contact is seen as the predicessor action warning of an attack.

 

Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian temples are often in the same room - side by side.

Here is one that is about a 10 min. bus ride from where I live: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wong_Tai_Sin_Temple

[~jK~]

I have heard that Buddha's enlightenment is considered above godhood.

 

Hardyg, Philosophy was developed in China and most of Asia in the place of religion.

 

Simply put, there is no god.

 

A person may use the term in a sentence such as "the god of gravity" which refers to the Law of Gravity.

 

Buddha's enlightenment was more simply put - that he formed an insight into the natural "laws" of humanity.

 

Take a look at the philosophy of Buddhism on this website: http://www.amtbweb.org/tchet110.htm while noticing the clickable saying that: "Buddhism Is An Education, NOT a Religion".

 

Think from this perspective: "Buddhism teaches that the only one that can forgive you is you." From this - a person must take responsibility for their actions.

 

A perspective of the western belief religions of Hebrew, Muslim and Christianity, that is held by many in Asia, is that they are designed for and the cause of many - Wars.

[Ninpo-me-this-ninjutsu-me-that]

 

in reply to yoga, regarding the statistical numbers in china. i would tend to believe as well that there is a good chance that people weren't entirely truthful about their beliefs because of the strong history of the chinese government's oppression. today still, people from falun gong are executed and oppressed because of their spiritual beliefs and practices. i have not been to china myself, and perhaps someone who lives there could correct me if i am wrong, but it is my impression that in a lot of china religion is still somewhat of a secret for many people. it is very unfortunate.

 

 

Ya, religion is kind of looked down upon as being superstitious in the mainland due to them being taught that in obligatory 'political philosophy' classes, the political philosophy taught is actually just 'Marxism' and the ideology of Chairman Mao, no others. Somewhat biased for a philosophy class, but there you go. The main point is that religion has been used to control the people, so get rid of it(replaced with another form of control). Their changing their position now due to a lack of morals within the society causing various problems.

 

All Christian churches also must have a communist party official overseer attached to them to make sure the teachings aren't getting a bit too..... revolutionary, I would imagine(although I don't know)that Buddhist and Daoist temples would be the same, muslim also. They still keep a tight reign on religion in the mainland.

 

As for Falun gong the mistake they made was having more members than the communist party, no one cohesive group political/religious is allowed to have more members than the communist party, or it could get political and create problems for them.

 

The falun gong thing is a bit confusing really, the government says that the falun gong people ritually set themselves on fire in Tian en men square in protest, and that that they are told to do this by what they describe as cult leaders, whereas the falun gong people say that the people who set themselves on fire were in fact former government people paid to do so and given benefits in one way or another. Neither view is beyond the bounds of belief.

[goldisheavy]

untill Chuang Tze revived the Confucian way in a more gentle interpretation.

 

This is the dumbest thing I've heard so far. Obviously you never bothered to read what Chuang Tzu (Zhuangzi) had to say about Confucius and Confucianism.