The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
There are some similarities between Chinese religion and Western religions, but there are many more differences than similarities. Therefore, because almost everyone who might read this essay grew up in a Western civilization and nation, let me first begin by trying briefly to describe Eastern religions.
As far as most Westerners are concerned, there are only five widely recognized Eastern religions: Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Shinto, the national religion of Japan. Hinduism originated in India roughly during the same 2nd-millenium BCE that Judaism was evolving in the pre-and-post-Hebraic-exile in the Middle East. Hinduism was and technically still is highly polytheistic, and has its own unique set of beliefs, such as reincarnation, an intensely stratified caste system, and the most bewildering notion to Westerners, namely, the special sacred nature of cows.
Buddhism was a sixth century BCE offshoot of Hinduism, similar to the way Christianity became an offshoot of Judaism. It was founded by a northern Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, who came to be known as The Buddha. This title means “The Enlightened One.” He was born ca. 567 BCE. His father intentionally raised him to be sheltered from the most challenging elements of human life, such as poverty, illness, and death. As a young man, he had a powerful conversion experience. As a result, he renounced his affluent life for an existence of prayer, self-abnegation, and meditation. He urged his followers to do likewise. Buddha taught that individuals should refrain from sensual or material pleasures, and they should devote themselves to attaining the loftiest possible state of spiritual existence, called Nirvana. Shinto is an offshoot of Buddhism with strongly Japanese overtones.
Despite having its roots in Hinduism, Buddhism became “evangelical,” to use a Christian term. It quickly spread to central and southeast Asia, and to China and Japan. Historically it strongly promoted peace, although the Chinese version was less pacifist.
A Chinese peasant scholar called Confucius by Westerners was born ca. 551 BCE, just fifteen years or so later than Gautama, but in a distinctively Chinese culture. At that time only members of the ruling monarchical dynasty could become teachers anywhere in China. Because Confucius was not born into that category, he spent his whole life trying unsuccessfully to find a setting where he might impart his wisdom to others. However, he did write essays on many topics. He was especially interested in politics and government, and insisted that government exists for the people, not people for the government.
Confucianism, like Buddhism, focuses heavily on the community rather than the individual. Confucius stressed the importance of assisting one another, helping the poor, being truthful, and engaging with others to improve communal and dynastic existence. Many of his writings focus on how the monarch and his state should function on behalf of all the people and not just those in the ruling class.
A Chinese sage named Lao-Tzu was born sometime in the same period as the Buddha and Confucius, although scholars are less certain about exactly when. He wrote a book called the Dao De Jing, which became quite influential in Chinese civilization. Unlike both Buddhism and Confucianism, Daoism focuses on the individual, not the entire society. It encouraged its adherents individually to withdraw from society as much as possible, claiming that communal life corrupts individuals.
Judaism did not become an organized religion until the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews, which lasted from 587 to 532 BCE. During that time, Jewish scribes brought together Hebrew books that had previous been written and those they themselves wrote to become the primary sources in what eventually became the Tanach, the Hebrew Bible. This happened to be the same period as Buddha, Confucius, and Lao Tzu. The 20th c. German philosopher Karl Jaspers called this the Axial Age, the time in which Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Judaism all flowered into what they became in succeeding centuries. As Jaspers suggested, it is astonishing that this religious genesis occurred in both the Eastern and the Western parts of continental Asia in just two centuries.
In intellectual history for the last five centuries, “the West” has connoted everything from Palestine and Asia Minor into Europe and then into the Western Hemisphere. To the Western mind, Eastern religion seems exasperatingly nebulous, intellectually squishy, and hard to grasp. To the Eastern mind, the three Western religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) may appear to be so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good, to put a twist on an oft-used preachers’ quip. However, there was no definitive concept of heaven or an afterlife in biblical religion until a century or two before the time of Jesus, but it was by no means a universally acclaimed concept among all Jews. Even in the present, progressive or Reform Jews tend not to believe in an afterlife, although many Conservatives and most Orthodox do.
It is a tossup between Christianity and Islam as to which of them is the more heavenly minded. Both Jesus and Muhammad frequently emphasized a heavenly paradise. In general, as time went on, Christianity tended to divorce itself from government in most nations, whereas Islam is still closely connected to the state in most Muslim-dominated nations.
For various reasons, from the Western perspective, Eastern religion in general and Chinese religion in particular is not technically religion at all. Instead it consists of various forms of philosophy intended to inspire and augment temporal, as compared to eternal, life.
For at least three thousand years, the Chinese people have lived under varying forms of autocratic, dynastic rule. This is not a completely accurate analogy, but these dynasties were somewhat akin to the Plantagenets, Tudors, Stuarts, Hanoverians, and ultimately Windsors in England. In China, there was an unbroken chain of autocratic rule from ancient times to the present, although since 1948 has been communist, not imperial.
Chinese religious philosophy (which may seem like an oxymoron) has had a much more intentional influence on politics than does Western religion. It enjoins rulers to be honest, forthright, righteous, and considerate in their actions. They must never use their official status for personal gain or glory. Just as in America there is an American Better Business Bureau, in China there was always an un unnamed and informal Good Government Group, with the ruler as its un-titular CEO.
There are many passages about war in all scriptures, East and West. In the Old Testament, God commands the Israelites to smite the Jebusites, Ammonites, Edomites, and various other -ites, but more often than not, God does not command it, and they just do it anyway. In the Quran, Allah orders attacks on infidels, but far more frequently He insists on upright peaceful behavior among all Muslims.
In the New Testament, statements about politics are few and far between. For example, in all three of the synoptic Gospels, a group of Pharisees, who opposed the Romans, and Herodians, who were allies of the Romans, tried to trick Jesus by asking whether it was lawful for Jews to pay taxes to the Roman occupiers of Judea (Mt. 22:16ff., Mk. 12:13ff., Lk. 20:2ff.). Not wanting to be ensnared in a political trap, Jesus said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Later, Pontius Pilate was worried that Jesus was political, but after a brief inquest, he concluded Jesus was not a rebel chieftain. Nonetheless the Gospels record that the Roman governor reluctantly approved of Jesus’ crucifixion.
The best-known New Testament passage about politics occurs in Romans 13. Paul begins that chapter by saying, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities,” or, as it is stated more memorably if also less clearly in the King James Version, “The powers that be are ordained of God.” Paul goes on to instruct new Christians about how they should view the Roman rulers. “For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad” (Romans 13:1-3 – RSV). Thus we should presumably support those who support law and order. New Testament Christians carefully avoided any political confrontations with the Roman Empire.
Thus, for the first three centuries of its existence, the Church avoided politics to whatever degree it could, trying to dispel imperial censure. Only when the emperor Constantine decreed Christianity to be the official state religion did the Church cozy up to the powers that be. For the most part, Church and state remained on good terms until the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century. Then, as it was declared by various Christian leaders of whoever was the head of state, “Cujus regio, ejus religio”:“Whoever reigns, his shall be the religion.” If politics makes strange bedfellows, politics and religion make even stranger bedfellows.
When the thirteen American colonies were established, some of them had official Christian denominational ties. By the end of the eighteenth century, however, Thomas Jefferson had declared, and the nation had more or less accepted, that there is “a wall of separation between church and state.” In other words, as the Constitution decreed in the first statement in the first amendment of the Bill of Rights, “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Thus there has always been a somewhat deliberately ambiguous relationship between politics and religion in the USA. That was not the case in most cultures with longer traditions.
Up until the 1970s and 80s, American evangelical Christianity assiduously avoided inserting itself into any political issues except what were known as “blue laws.” Under the leadership of such men as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and Ralph Reed, evangelicals persuaded evangelicals to become heavily involved in politics, particularly conservative Republican politics.
During the reign of Mao Zedong in China, the atheism espoused by Karl Marx was strictly enforced. However, from the time of Mao’s death until the assumption of absolute power by Xi Jinping in 2014, the principles of Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism came back into public usage and discussion. From then on, it has been mainly Confucian ideas that Xi has embraced and codified. Confucian precepts have been woven into the way Xi runs the state.
Early in his term as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and as President of the Chinese state, Xi Jinping wanted to become known as a reformer. There were elements of Chinese government that had long been accused of widespread corruption, and Xi took many measures to oust government and military leaders he thought were corrupt. In this process, he hearkened back to the teachings of Confucius, while deliberately ignoring the admonitions of Buddhism, Daoism, and the Dao De Jing. Xi has intentionally emulated the heavy-handed rule of the strongest of the Chinese emperors, and he has tightened the grip of the government on all facets of Chinese life.
When politics gets purposefully involved in religion, it is bad for religion. When religion gets involved in politics, it is bad for politics.
Political trends on both sides of the Pacific Ocean are looking more and more ominous. A crowned communist Chinese messiah and a would-be re-crowned Republican messiah might begin to make more threatening noises about each other for the rest of this year, and perhaps beyond. Depending on what happens in the USA on November 5, we shall see whether 6th century BCE Chinese philosophy or 17th century CE American religious particularities might emerge triumphant. Then again, 21st century wisdom, such as it is, might emerge victorious. As Shakespeare said, “‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.” - January 27, 2024
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.