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The Chinese people have three main traditions in their history- Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. I am going to be talking about Confucianism and Taoism. Both of these date back to the Sixth Century B. C.
The traditional founder of Taoism is Confucius and Laozi. On top of many other things Confucius was a very influential speaker. Throughout time, his teachings, and preaching developed into a religion. He spoke to a wide variety of people. Taoism tend to look back to Laozi as their founder. Over centuries, Taoism was transformed from a small religion, very conservative, into a loosely organized religion.
During the Second Century B. C. , a ruler named Han had the most part in it. A large number of religious groups rose from this because of the social and political disorder. One of these groups named the Yellow Turbans in eastern China. , fought Han in 184 B. C. This led to a civil war.
Han lost authority and power, and his generals became warlords. Then, in Western China, a group known as the Way of the Celestial Masters came into power. From the Second Century B. C. , Taoists and others believed it was possible to find an elixir which would make them immortal. An elixir is a sweetened alcoholic medicinal preparation, but back in ancient philosophy it was thought to be for changing base metals into gold, or for prolonging life. Research flourished because of this belief.
But the chief ingredient, cinnabar, was found to be poisonous. Many imperial deaths ensued from this. But this was not the only way to achieve immortality back in ancient times. Another belief said that a man would have to acquire 108 women to get granted 10, 000 years of life.
For more than 2, 000 years, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean people have lived in cultures that were greatly influenced by the thoughts of Confucius. Confucius saw himself as an ordinary man doing a good deed for a diverse group of cultures. He taught his fellow human beings moral behavior and good family relationships. He thought that they are the key to a well ordered society. People valued his opinions and teachings very much and followed them in every day life. Confucius himself avoided talking about religion, but at the same time recognized the importance of worshipping his ancestors.
He believed that he was not guided by religion, but by a higher power called heaven. Confucius lived at a time when China was changing. A lot of the traditions that everyone had lived by were long gone and they had moved on to new things, but not Confucius, he still believed in the traditions of old and still preached them. Most of the traditions had been written down and would later be the center of Confucius's teachings. Proceeding Confucius's death his followers preserved his thoughts and ideas for the next three centuries to come. Confucius had some followers that preached his works, too.
Among these, were Mencius and Xunzi. They spread Confucius's ideas while at the same time elaborating on them. Mencius studied Confucian's understanding of mortality. He believe that seeds of goodness were in everyone, but at the same time there had to be developed properly. On the other hand, Xunzi believe that everyone was not good and that everyone didn't practice good behavior. He believed that they needed Confucius to guide them with his teachings.
Confucianism and Taoism were a very big and important part of the ancient world and there traditions.
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