Indian and Chinese Religions

During the Han dynasty, Confucian beliefs were the basis for the Chinese government. Confucius, known as China’s first teacher, was upset by the violence of his era. At first, no one listened to him but as time went on, his teaching was recorded and later on, his sayings became an important addition to Chinese culture. To restore order, he believed the Five Constant Relationships, which include husband to wife, older sibling to younger sibling, ruler to subject, older friend to younger friend, and parent to child, should govern everyone. In his lifetime, Confucius’ principles didn’t take much effect, but later became the guiding principles for the Chinese. The Tao Te Ching was the written ideas of Laozi. Daoism sets forth a point of view of life. Daoists believe that in acting is the path to harmony and natural order. The Tao Te Ching consists of many poem-like structures with the instructions and ideas on how to go about life. An example of one of these is, “first you realize that you are sick, then you work toward good health.” Daoists believe that the way to follow the will of Heaven is not through action but inaction. Buddhism began in India with a prince by the name of Siddhartha Gautama. In his kingdom, his father sheltered him from the outside world filled with death, poverty, sickness, and old age. His first time travelling outside the kingdom walls, he witnessed these events an realized he wanted to find a cure for these. He tried to follow the people who practiced self-denial to achieve an understanding of ultimate reality. After starving himself and refusing temptations, he abandoned these ideas and turned to meditation. Meditating under a tee, Siddhartha finally reached Nirvana and his full enlightenment and understood the meaning of life. He was from then on known as the “enlightened one.” A quote that explains his thoughts, deals with tuning a stringed instrument. “If the string is too loose it wont play, but if the string is too tight, it will