Analysis of the Chinese Culture Ideas
Introduction
Most people may not be able to grasp the idea behind the Chinese culture, but certain elements in its religious system reveals the comprehensive understanding of the elements reflected in the cultural phenomena of imperial China. The discussion articulates the elements that described the cultural evolution of imperia China from the Daoist, Confucian, Buddhist, and Legalist perspectives. In addition, expressing the understanding of the Chinese culture encompasses an analysis of relevant Chinese literatures, which embodies the characteristics of Chinese culture from the literary standpoint. Most importantly, the discussion aims to identify, which Chinese philosophical idea best represent the context of the literature being analyzed.
Understanding the cultural phenomena of imperial China begins at knowing the impact that each philosophical system had on the Chinese society that manifests in certain Chinese literatures. For instance, the “Verse by Zhang Yue on Dancing Horses” (Ebrey 123) tells about the intricacies of the horses as heavenly creatures from the far western seas. The piece implies fascination of the exotic horses that appears to possess the combination of artistic prose, high spirit, and celestial qualities that matches the emperor’s heavenly features. Furthermore, the piece provides significant clue about Chinese culture that encompasses its amusement for exotic and unusual entertainment during the divided era of the Tang Dynasty. This era of imperial China is when Taoism gained official status as an official philosophical and religious school of thought in which the element of “way” or “path” interpreted from the writing of Dao De Jing (Wertz) has been integrated into the Chinese way of life as exemplified in Verse by Zhang Yue.
On the other hand, the impact of Buddhism on imperial Chinese culture can be observed on its elements embedded in the Chinese belief system regarding the context of morality, arts, philosophy, and other school of thoughts. The conceptual basis of Buddhism embedded in the imperial Chinese cultural evolution can be found in Lingbao scriptures where elements of chanted rituals provides emphasis on universal salvation (Guang). The impact of Buddhism had created liberal attitude among the Chinese people particularly after integration during the three kingdoms period. In terms of philosophical context of Buddhism in relation to imperial Chinese culture, the concept of human nature was debated as whether one was born with desires and appetites or they are both a manifestation of a state of mind (Lusthaus). This element of Buddhist way of thinking can be observed in the Li Bai’s “On the Mountain: Question and Answer where enlightenment is being sought by describing the state of nature, the earth, water, and sky, which are representations of universal elements described in the Buddhist doctrines.
Certain similarities of the Buddhist doctrines to Confucianism can be observed in the elements of imperial Chinese cultures particularly in terms of the context of liberal attitude. During the Song and Yan Dynasty, the neo-Confucian rule was described in the Zhu Xi’s text “A Schedule for Learning”, which asserts that the behavior and outlook of the upper class cannot be understood without the appreciation of what they have gone to as students. This implies the value of learning as a fundamental step in understanding social structure, which is still evident in today’s Chinese cultural perception on the importance of education. The Confucian teaching practice provides a sequential analogy regarding the ways a student should be taught in order to for them to understand the principles of humanity (Ebrey 195). The core concepts of the Confucian teachings evident in the imperial Chinese culture involves the principles of rites, filial piety, relationships, loyalty, humanness, meritocracy, and among others.
The rhetoric of the Confucian canons that be directly linked to “A Schedule of Learning” can be found in Analects XV where it asserts that there should be distinction of social classes in teaching (Wertz). The core of the Confucian principles contradicts with context of legalism, which was a term for a philosophical school of thought coined during the Han dynasty. The devoid of moral considerations and conformity to the divine will for the sake of achieving the goal of creating rich state and powerful army, and less of philosophical speculation embodies the focus of the legalist thinking (Pines). Considering the principles of legalist way of thinking, its cultural embodiment in imperial China can be viewed as a totalitarian society where harsh law and powerful state government overwhelms the society, which in turn creates an assault on traditional culture and moral values as observed during the Cultural revolution in China.
Conclusion
The elements of Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Legalism in imperial China demonstrate a dramatic evolution of the Chinese culture. The contrasting and comparative nature of each of the school of thought represents the variations of philosophical underpinnings in various Chinese literary works during the imperial period. The evidence from the literatures that emerged from the imperial era represents the common way of thinking influenced by the dominant philosophical principles introduced to the larger Chinese society.
Works Cited
Bai, Li. "On The Mountain: Question And Answer". awilliamsii. N.p., 2015. Web. 24 June 2016.
Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook. 2nd ed. New York: Free Press, 2009. Print.
Guang, Xing. "Buddhist Impact On Chinese Culture". Asian Philosophy 23.4 (2013): 305-322. Web. 24 June 2016.
Lusthaus, Dan. "Buddhist Philosophy, Chinese". Rep.routledge.com. N.p., 1998. Web. 24 June 2016.
Pines, Yuri. "Legalism In Chinese Philosophy". Plato.stanford.edu. N.p., 2014. Web. 24 June 2016.
Wertz, Richard. "Exploring Chinese History :: Culture :: Philosophy :: Daoism". Ibiblio.org. N.p., 2015. Web. 24 June 2016.
