Review Questions 4

In China we can talk more easily about the difference between philosophy and religion than we can in India. Both Confucianism and Daoism are major philosophical movements that can be discussed with no reference back to beliefs about the soul or a supernatural reality. At the same time there is a Confucian religion and there is Daoism as a religious movement that complements it. When Buddhism arrived in China it melded more easily with a Daoist outlook, and it was at this time that Daoist monasteries themselves appeared with Buddhist monasteries as their model. Both Buddhism and Confucianism traveled to Japan and took on distinctive forms there.

1. Who was Confucius? According to legend, who was Lao Zi (Lao Tzu) and what was his relationship with Confucius?
2. What is the mean of the term ren (also written as jen)?
3. How did Confucius see the relationship between the individual and government? How did Lao Zi see it?
4. Confucianism is described as a humanist tradition. What does that mean?
5. What is significance of "ancestor worship" in Confucianism?
6. An ideal Daoist lifestyle contrasts sharply with what Confucius expects for his "superior man." What are the main points of difference?
7. What is the best way of paraphrasing the Daoist maxim wu wei?
8. When did Buddhism arrive in China? What impact did it have?
9. How did Confucian values influence the ideal of bushido in Japan?
10. Is it possible for someone, when asked about religion, to call himself simultaneously a Confucian, a Daoist, and a Buddhist? If so, what does that mean?