Chinese religion is not an organized, unified system of beliefs and practices. It has no leadership, no headquarters, no founder, and no denominations. Instead, “Chinese religion” is a general term used to describe the complex interaction of different religious and philosophical traditions that have been especially influential in China.
Although other religious traditions have been influential in China, Chinese religion is primarily composed of four main traditions: Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. The religious outlook of most Chinese people consists of some combination of beliefs and practices from these four traditions. It is very rare for only one to be practiced to the exclusion of the others.
Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, each of which is a significant part of Chinese religion, are treated in their own sections on ReligionFacts. This section focuses especially on Chinese folk or indigenous religion, but reference is also made to the other traditions.
Chinese religious beliefs are wide-ranging and eclectic, deriving from several religious traditions (Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism). But several religious concepts are characteristic of general Chinese religious thought.
Chinese religion is generally dualistic, emphasizing the two opposed and complimentary principles of the universe: yin and yang. But the yin and yang are the double manifestation of the single, eternal cosmic principal: the Tao. Also important is the concept of heaven (T’ien), which is sometimes described in terms of an impersonal power or fate, other times as a personal deity, and can also be equated with the Tao.
In Chinese thinking, everything that exists flows out of the Tao, and human beings are simply a tiny component of the Tao.
The ancient Chinese believed in a dual soul. The lower soul of the senses disappears with death, but the rational soul (hun) survives death and is the object of ancestor worship.
Perhaps the most important Chinese concept related to the body and soul is the idea of ch’i. At its simplest, ch’i means breath, air or vapor, but in Chinese religious belief it is life energy or life-force.
It is believed that every person is allotted a specified amount of ch’i and he or she must strengthen, control and increase it in order to live a long life. Many Taoist exercises focus on regulation and increase of one’s ch’i. In the west, the most well-known example of such a practice is T’ai chi.
The Tao is the central principle of Taoism and is highly influential throughout Chinese thought. It is the ultimate reality and the eternal principle. It has no characteristics, but contains within it all potentiality and all opposites. Thus yin and yang, yu and wu (being and not-being), and all other dual realities exist within the Tao.
In Chinese and other Eastern thought, yin and yang are the two opposing and complementary forces that make up all phenomena of life. Both proceed from the Supreme Ultimate and together they represent the process of the universe and all that is in it.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “The significance of yin-yang through the centuries has permeated every aspect of Chinese thought, influencing astrology, divination, medicine, art, and government.”
Yin has the following characteristics, representations and symbols:
* earth
* female
* dark
* passive
* absorbing
* even numbers
* valleys and streams
* the tiger
* the color orange
* a broken line
Yang has the following opposite characteristics, representations and symbols:
* heaven
* male
* light
* active
* penetrating
* odd numbers
* mountains
* the dragon
* the color azure
* an unbroken line
The concept of the yin-yang is very ancient, and its precise origins are unknown. In the third century BCE, it formed the basis for an entire school of cosmology, the Yin Yang School.
