Ian S. Banwell - Module Seven Assignment Auto Saved)

Running Head: AN ANAYLSIS OF TAOISM AND CONFUCIANISM

An Analysis of Taoism and Confucianism And Chart Comparison of Christianity, Islam, Wicca, Sikhism, Jainism, Taoism, Confucianism and Shintoism Ian Sheldon Banwell Grand Canyon University I INT 463 – World Religions December 21, 2008

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Running Head: AN ANAYLSIS OF TAOISM AND CONFUCIANISM

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Taoism and Confucianism remain tenets quite apart from the atypical forms of faith known today around the world. While Taoism contends that being right with the natural flow of the universe, or flowing with the yin; representing negative action or female, and yang; being the positive action or male, leads to doing good, the faith termed simply Confucianism details exactly the opposite in maintain that doing good certainly results in being right or socially correct with one’s own people and government, itself. (Grand Canyon University, "Module Seven - Lecture," n.d.) Tao continues to prove one such solution to leaving what might be a harmonious existence quite remote from what might be deemed the forces of nature we collectively see as a way, or way of Life, expecting to course seamlessly through what eventually becomes an inordinate degree of difficulty circumventing the currents of life we call the Tao. It pertains to reluctance, at once practiced and inherently maintained, not to struggle against the forces within the currents of this Tao or flow, but to go masterfully through it at one with ourselves and condition. (Grand Canyon University, "Module Seven - Lecture)

The web entry, The Difference: Tao vs. Confucianism (Glam publisher Network, ed., "The Difference: Taoism vs. Confucianism," 2008), lists simply “Taoism seeks to describe the Harmonious way to relate to oneself, others, nature, and the universe. One of the head-twisty things about the Tao Te Ching is that it never specifically defines The Way. It’s a series of verses, poems, and riddles. It emphasizes control but not dominance, fluidity but not ambivalence, and mystery but not confusion. It’s full of helpful nuggets, like “Those with simple needs will find them fulfilled,” and “To glorify wealth, power, and beauty is to inspire theft, jealousy, and shame.” In its course, it’s also inspired some modern, pop culture–based

Running Head: AN ANAYLSIS OF TAOISM AND CONFUCIANISM

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philosophical treatises like The Tao of Homer (as in Simpson) and The Te [Virtue] of Piglet.” Contrarily, Confucians seeks out the social order of the original, ethical feudal imperial Leaders whose breakdowns of virtues lead to the social chaos that represented the very point of beginning such a faith. As noted in the authoritative example The Universe List: Top Ten Organized Religions and their Core Beliefs (Frater, ed., "Top Ten Organized Religions and their Core Beliefs," 2007) by compiler and author J. Fratter, the tenet known throughout Asia continues to exude core beliefs straying entirely away from the typical God-centered faiths in that, “Confucianism aims at making not simply the man of virtue, but the man of learning and of good manners. The perfect man must combine the qualities of saint, scholar, and gentleman. Confucianism is a religion without positive revelation, with a minimum of dogmatic teaching, whose popular worship is centered in offerings to the dead, in which the notion of duty is extended beyond the sphere of morals proper so as to embrace almost every detail of daily life.” Confucianism reflects the need for an order to be centered around the husband and wives’ separate duties, the respect and rapport between father and son or grandfather and father; as well as determining certain essential structures so necessary to be grounded in one’s community throughout the devotee’s lifetime and is rooted in the belief that the Gods might well be of a very secondary nature, apart from and definitely behind an equitable social order where li, or the course of life the way it should be lived ,is carried out by a superior indivividual relating to his society with the inward goodheatness known simply as the jen. The discipline or faith, whatever we might ascertain it as representing, maintains chiefly that all people should love one another, while both practicing respect of each other and does not extend nearly as far as Christianity in demanding an end result of right or good over bad or evil within our world . (Hopfe, Religions of the World, 2006) CHART

Co nf Sh uc in Ta ia to ni oi ism sm sm

Running Head: AN ANAYLSIS OF TAOISM AND CONFUCIANISM

People are Good in Life

Ja in ism

Life to be Lived Simple

Si kh ism

Belief in Creator

Ch ris tia ni ty

Isl am

W icc a

Savior

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50

100

150

References

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Running Head: AN ANAYLSIS OF TAOISM AND CONFUCIANISM

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Frater, J. (Ed.). (2007, July 31). Top Ten Organized Religions and their Core Beliefs. Retrieved December 25, 2008, from The List Universe Listverse.com. Glam publisher Network (Ed.). (2008, December 25). The Difference: Taoism vs. Confucianism. Mental floss:Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix. Retrieved December 25, 2008, from http://www.mentalfloss.com/difference/?p=43 Grand Canyon University. (n.d.). Module Seven - Lecture. Lecture. Retrieved December 25, 2008, from Angel Blackboard Classroom. Hopfe, L. M. (2006). Religions of the World (10th. ed.) (M. R. Woodward, Ed.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.