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Some Humanistic Characteristics of Chinese Religious Thought

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

Joseph S. Wu
Joseph S. Wu
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Northern Illinois University
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Extract

The main purpose of this paper is to bring out some significant humanistic characteristics of Chinese religious thought. My account is limited to what is originally and typically Chinese. That is to say, it will exclude what has been influenced by Buddhism from India or Christianity from the Western world. Some of the theses of this paper are based on scholarly works, while others are drawn from the author's primary experience.

Type
Research Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , October 1969 , pp. 99 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

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References

page 99 note 1 I have a very complicated religious background. I was educated in a Catholic grade school in Canton, and in a Protestant high school in Hong Kong. My father was a Taoist, and my mother is a Buddhist. Nevertheless, I myself have no commitment to any of the organised religions.

page 99 note 2 Yutang, Lin, My Country and My People (John Day, 1935), p. 105.Google Scholar

page 99 note 3 Yu-lan, Fung, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (Macmillan, 1948), pp. 1–3.Google Scholar

page 100 note 1 I make a distinction between ‘having a religion’ and ‘being religious’, following the philosophy of religion of Dewey, John. Cf. Dewey, John, A Common Faith (Yale University Press, 1934). p, 3 and p. 9.Google Scholar

page 100 note 2 This is not a sharp dichotomy, for the Chinese intellectuals also crave for a male heir.

page 100 note 3 It is a well-known Confucianist proverb: Pu Shiao Yu San, Wu Hou Wei Ta.

page 100 note 4 These are well-known among the Chinese intellectuals. The three ways were recorded in Tso Chuan, an important classic in the Confucianist tradition.

page 100 note 5 Payne, Robert, The White Pony: An Anthology of Chinese Poetry (The New American Library, 1960 printing), p. viii.Google Scholar

page 100 note 6 This is a well-known verse: Wen Chang Chien Ku Shih, Te Shih Tsun Hsin Chih.

page 101 note 1 Inscriptions on oracle bones and shells were discovered in the province of Honan during the early twentieth century. Such discoveries, according to the archaeologists, are products of the Shang dynasty (1766–1123 B.C.). Bronzes are mostly the products of the Chou dynasty (1122?–256 B.C.).

page 101 note 2 Chun-I, Tang, The Spiritual Values of Chinese Culture (Taipei: Cheng Chung, 1953), p. 22.Google Scholar

page 101 note 3 Bergson, Henri, The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (Henry Holt, 1935), pp. 55–60.Google Scholar

page 101 note 4 Kwan Yu is the name for Kwan Kung, popularly known as a god of justice in the Chinese business society. The late Han dynasty is the period of 25–220 A.D.

page 102 note 1 Legge, James (Tr.), The Hsiao King (Oxford. Clarendon Press, 1899), Chapter I.Google Scholar

page 103 note 1 On this topic see further my article ‘The Basic Spirit of Chinese Ethics’, New World, Vol. 1, No. 2 (April 1, 1962).Google Scholar