Buddhism was the third great belief system of ancient China. It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, also called Buddha, who lived in India around the sixth century BC. Buddhism is a philosophy that focuses on personal development and the acquisition of deep knowledge. Buddhists strive to achieve enlightenment through meditation, spiritual learning, and practice. They believe in reincarnation and that life is volatile and full of suffering and insecurity; The way to find peace is through Nirvana, a joyful state beyond human suffering. There are many different sects that emphasize different aspects of Buddhism. The two largest sects are Theravada Buddhism, which is found mainly in South Asia, and Mahayana Buddhism, which is found in East Asia, including China. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are considered the «three pillars» of ancient Chinese society. As philosophies and religions, they have influenced not only spirituality, but also government, science, the arts, and social structure. Although their specific beliefs and teachings sometimes contradicted each other, there was plenty of room for overlap.
Instead of one tradition taking power and displacing the others, the three philosophies influenced society side by side, changed and sometimes merged with each other. Understanding the unique interaction between these three traditions gives an excellent insight into ancient Chinese society as well as modern times. Taoism (also called Taoism) is a Chinese religion that developed shortly after Confucianism about two thousand years ago. Unlike Confucianism, Taoism deals primarily with the spiritual elements of life, including the nature of the universe. The guiding principle of Taoism is roughly translated as «the way,» which is a harmonious natural order that arises between people and the world and that Taoists should strive to achieve. In the Taoist structure of the universe, people are supposed to accept and yield to the Tao and do only things that are natural and correspond to the Tao. This is the concept of wu-wei, which translates to «inaction», but really means going with the true nature of the world and not striving too hard to desire. This contrasts Taoism with Confucianism in another way: it does not care about humanistic morality, government, and society, which all Taoists consider to be inventions of humans and not necessarily part of the Tao. At the same time, the Taoists were interested in the longevity of the human body and soul. Achieving spiritual immortality by becoming one with nature is an important part of the Taoist religion.
Although closer to a philosophy than to a true religion, Confucianism was a way of life for the ancient Chinese people and still influences Chinese culture today. The founder of Confucianism, called Confucius, lived from 551 to 479 BC. He was a philosopher and political figure who lived at a time when traditional Chinese principles were beginning to deteriorate between competing political states. He took older religious commandments and translated them into guidelines for social customs. His teachings have provided guidance at all levels of ancient Chinese life, from interactions between family members and in public spaces to educational norms and how states should be governed. Confucius saw every aspect of life as consisting of obligations between persons and entities and rituals to arbitrate the interdependence between them. His teachings focused on humanism, including treating others as one would like to be treated. He taught that if everyone fulfilled their roles and obligations with respect and kindness to others, it would build a stronger state.
While religious rituals were mentioned alongside all the other rituals expected of a person, Confucius did not focus on spiritual concerns such as life after death, gods and goddesses, or mysticism. For this reason, Confucianism is considered a philosophy rather than a religion, although it is often lumped together with other major religions. The values and ideas of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are still prevalent in Chinese culture today. Despite the occasional differences and contradictions between the three traditions, ancient Chinese society considered each of these philosophies to be very important and integrated the different teachings into several areas of life. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism were the three main philosophies and religions of ancient China that influenced ancient and modern Chinese society individually and collectively. At Wong Tai Sin Temple in Hong Kong, hopeful Taoist devotees light incense sticks for happiness on the eve of a great horse race. Despite their differences, Taoist and Confucian ideas are not completely at odds with each other, allowing Chinese society to incorporate concepts from both traditions. Taoism had an influence on literature and art, but the greatest area of Taoist influence was in science.
The Taoist emphasis on natural elements and observation of how the natural world works helped create Chinese medicine. Similar to the modern scientific method, Taoists observed how various drugs affected humans and animals through experiments. Their collective knowledge, gained in trying to improve human longevity, has made a great contribution to the health sciences. The text on this page is printable and may be used in accordance with our Terms of Use. All interactive elements of this page can only be read while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactive content. Audio files, illustrations, photos and videos are credited under the multimedia object, with the exception of promotional images, which usually point to another page containing the media credit. The owner of the rights for the media is the named person or group.
Ancient civilizations, religion, social studies, world history After its founding in India, Buddhism spread to China in the first century AD and became popular in China. Some Buddhist practices were similar to Taoist ones, and Buddhist monks used Taoist concepts to explain Buddhism to the Chinese and overcome the cultural and linguistic barrier between Indians and Chinese. Buddhism also influenced Taoism with its institutional structure that taoists copied and modified. A competition between Buddhism and Taoism emerged to gain more followers and greater government influence, and this competition increased the vitality of both religions. As Buddhism became more common, its concepts merged with Taoist and Confucian ideas to become the foundation of ancient Chinese society and government. His influence can be seen in Chinese art, architecture and literature. Confucianism became the dominant political philosophy during the Han Dynasty of 206 BC. A.D. to 220 A.D. Since Confucian teachings were conservative and told people to maintain their role in the social order, philosophy was used by the state to maintain the status quo from that point on. The structure of Chinese society and its emphasis on rituals, family respect and commitment, ancestral worship and self-discipline remain strongly influenced by Confucius and his teachings. For more information about user permissions, please see our Terms of Use.
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