REL 2300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Shinran, Vajrayana, Religion In China
Document Summary
Corresponding service in chinese culture: confucianism: state occasions, taoist: for healing, buddhism: for death rituals. Beneficial spirits called shen: bright places sunny spring. Keep in good terms with shen dont upset . Filial piety and ancestor worship: elderly most respect versue west, ancestor worship after they die gain status. Divination: version of a shaman: heating tortoise shells book of changes, ching casting coins or stalks of a plant certain pattern. Shand ti (patron ancestor of shang dynasty: prior polytheistic, then chou clan rebels and one supreme god didn"t follow not virtue and chou wins. Middle class rebel because now they have money: chou dynasty organized into feudal system like the west, warloads- serf tithe, wealthy middle class, chaos dis army ensues, vaccum to replace quoc kung, mohists, legalists, tao. The popular answer to death is to live long, have children to take care of you and the means to live well, after which you become one of the sacred ancestors.
