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Z H O U T H RO U G H

S P R I N G A N D AU T U M N P E R I O D,

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RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY IN EAST ASIA

PHILOSOPHY VS RELIGION

Religion

Philosophy

• We’ve been in this territory before!

• In the modern world, we have separated

religion from philosophy and understand

the two to be separate:

• One, a search for divine Truth

• The other, a search for secular

Truth

• Really, though, for the vast majority of

humans who ever lived…

• They were the same thing

• Even later “mutually exclusive”

religions like Christianity and Islam

heavily employed philosophical

methods in the pursuit of Truth

and understanding

• Trying to understand the world, which itself

was understood to have supernatural

elements

• A general definition of religion?

• The realm of relationships

between human beings and what

they perceive to be the supernatural

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

• So, let’s think of Religion and Philosophy

like we now think about Myth and

History:

• Two bros, hugging it out

• We are trying to understand past

societies in their own terms

• An attempt to impose order on a crazy,

messed up world where nature was

ready to just straight murder you

• Just like we saw in our other

concepts!

• In addition, most religion in this period

is based around rites and practices, not

“belief”

• i.e., the primary goal of

religion/philosophy is to give some

sort of order/control to humans in

a very uncertain world

SO! WITHOUT FURTHER ADO: LET’S TALK ABOUT CHINA IN

THE ZHOU PERIOD

Which means Confucius is

the focal point… the MOST

Axial of East Asia’s Axial Age

figures

And his teachings, 儒教, rujiao,

are commonly held to be

more of a philosophy than a

religion

But that is awfully convenient

for the Jesuit Catholic

scholars who introduced

Confucianism to the West in

the 1600s, who were actively

trying to convert the Chinese,

AND to the Chinese

Communist Party, officially

atheist but pushing a

Confucian revival since the

1980s

Similarly, saying Greek

thought of the Axial

Age, let alone Buddhism

in South Asia, is

“philosophy” and not

“religion” made it

MUCH easier for

Christianity and Islam,

and their modern

successors, to

“secularize” it

So! Moving forward with East Asia, South Asia, and Greece, let’s always

ask ourselves: religion? Philosophy? Both? Does it matter? How does

viewing religion and philosophy as being on a spectrum help us out?

INTRODUCTION TO THE ZHOU PERIOD IN EAST ASIA

The Mandate of

Heaven

THE thing

people know

about Chinese

history

Is it “true”?

Is the relationship between Di/Tian,

leadership, and China RELIGIOUS?

What is China telling itself about its

mythological past by telling these

stories?

Zhou Dynasty 周 ~1046-256 BCE

A Shang vassal from the Zhou family

decides enough is enough

Overthrows Shang Di Xin, reinstates

virtuous rule

Officially invents the Mandate of

Heaven, Tianming

A moral principle to justify political

authority

The Zhou write A LOT to dump on

the Shang

Zhou Dynasty 周 Divided into 4 eras

Stability for first few kings:

“Western Zhou” period

Gradual decentralization

until second phase,

“Eastern Zhou”

Q

Zhou 256 BCE

Chinese Character Writing System

Western Zhou 771 BCE Spring and Autumn 479 BCE Warring States

Classics of:

Odes Bronze-Iron

Changes Transition QIN

Documents in

Rites Key 551 Confucius 479 East Asia

Chinese Laozi ???

Philosophy 544 Sunzi 496

& 470 Mozi 391

Religion--> 372 Mencius 289

369 Zhuangzi 286

280 Han Fei 233

1046

The Establishment of Zhou

King Wen, was Lord of

Zhou, a Shang vassal

architect of the Takeover

Doesn’t do much, dies

before consolidation of

power

Crucially, seen as a moral paragon

Book of Odes (Songs),

oldest collection of

Chinese poetry mostly

odes to his virtue

Odes is first of the “5

classics,” said to have

been compiled by

Confucius, 500 years

after the fact

King

Wen

周文王

King Wu (r. 1046-1043) and his

Son

One of Wen’s many

sons, the martial

warlord who executes

the plan

Fights, wins, builds

alliances through

marriages of his

numerous younger

brothers

Wu means “martial,” he is a total badass and claims the

moral high ground of his father, solidifies rule

Dies young after only

three years in power His only son is a boy,

about age 10

King

Wu

周武王

Duke of Zhou, r. 1042-1035 BCE

周文公旦

Wu’s younger

brother Boy king’s uncle

Regent until

boy comes of

age

Then, just…

STEPS AWAY

What has he

done?

He held

ABSOLUTE

POWER

And DIDN’T

abuse it; loyal to

his family

Like Cincinnatus

or…

An American Cincinnatus

you may have heard of

600 years or so after he dies,

Confucius will argue HE is the

paragon of all virtue to be emulated

WHERE ARE WE IN CHINESE HISTORY?

1000 BCE, ROUGHLY THE BEGINNING OF THE LATE VEDIC

PERIOD, FOR COMPARISON

THE FIRST EXPLOSION OF

WRITING IN EAST ASIA

WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE ZHOU THAT

MAKE IT THE LODESTAR OF SO

MUCH OF CHINESE CULTURE AND

HISTORY?