Confucianism vs Buddhism vs Taoism - Realpolitik of the Three Teachings of Ancient China

Confucianism, Buddhism & Taoism, the three teachings are the philosophical bedrock of ancient Chinese society. In this video, I will talk about the realpolitik of the synthesization of these philosophies and religions.

🕒[TIMESTAMP]🕒
0:00 Introduction
0:38 Malleability of Confucianism
2:13 Malleability of Taoism
3:54 Malleability of Buddhism
5:46 Early interactions
7:10 Buddhism vs Taoism
9:35 Three Teaching Synthesized
10:57 Monotheism vs Polytheism

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🎥PLAYLISTS🎥
Three Kingdoms
Qin Dynasty Origin
Cool Chinese History (By release)
Hundred Schools of Thoughts:

📚SOURCES:
John D. Langlois, Jr. and Sun K'O-K'Uan, 1983, Three Teachings Syncretism and The Thought of Ming T'ai-tsu
Timothy Brook, 1993, Rethinking Syncretism: The Unity of the Three Teachings and their Joint Worship in Late-Imperial China
Michel Strickmann, 1978, A Taoist Confirmation of Liang Wu Ti's Suppression of Taoism
Sechin Jagchid, 1980, Buddhism & Taoism During Mongol Rule
Daniel J. Paracka Jr., 2012, China's Three Teachings and the Relationship of Heaven, Earth and Humanity
WU Guangzheng, 2007, Buddhist-Taoist rivalry and the evolution of the story of Lü Dongbin’s slaying the Yellow Dragon with a flying sword
Michael Loewe, 2011, Dong Zhongsu, a Confucian Heritage

🖥WEBSITE & SOCIAL🖥

#History #Documentary #Asia #Confucianism #Buddhism #Taoism

[CoolHistoryBros]

From now on, all religious rivalry will be settled by fanfiction competition!

[MrMikkyn]

Confucianism is about involvement with society by being morally righteous, following rituals, and adhering to a strict bureaucracy in which a harmonious existence could he pursued.

Buddhism is about following the dharma, a set of teachings given by Buddha who reached enlightenment and realised that life is suffering. In order to overcome suffering, practitioners can either become monks or lay-buddhists by following the eightfold path, the three gems, and practicing compassion and non attachment through meditation and mindfulness. It encourages a minimalist approach to life, and also one of seclusion, and kindness.

Taoism from the Tao Te Ching is mainly about embracing contradictions, using non-literary methods to connect with nature and the way of nature, to flow and to engage in effortless action. To be able to take action within inaction. To live in a state of harmonious paradoxes, it is not about creating anything or forcing anything, but about integrating and being in a natural state. It is introspective, and peaceful.

[electromega]

Ancient China mixed Confucianism Buddhism and Taoism together. Modern China mixing Communism, Socialism and Capitalism together.

[IndraKatiK]

Being the latest religion to be officially recognized in Indonesia, I find the "three teachings as one" very fascinating because here in bali, i think the confucian religious community adapted it to ally themselves with the other 2 minority religions here which is hinduism & buddhism, and it's quite common to find confucian who also pray in buddhist temples or hindu shrines and vice versa.. in our confucian temple we'll sometimes see the word "tri-dharma" used for this phenomenon

[topazbutterfly]

I’m a converted Buddhist and I have read the _Dào Dé Jīng_ . I swear I have never met two religions that are so compatible before. I like to think that Buddhism is a colourful painting with many shades and lights, while Taoism is an ink picture depicting the same ideas. Both promote peace and love, while also having vivid descriptions of the Nothingness we all come from and emphasize the idea of detachment and letting go. Daoism is like Buddhism, but without the Dharma part and all the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas.

[shxtgigs]

I will never the forget the day we studied Taoism and spoke to this older man during a lecture and nothing is scarier and more comforting then the words he spoke to a class a 15-16 yr olds😂..
“do you remember what life like before you were born ?.. then why worry about about life will be like after “
“You are but the sand in the river of time and some grains might change the course but remember that the river will still flow “

[HistoryOfRevolutions]

"If you stop and confine yourself to one place, you will develop prejudices"

- Guo Xiang (郭象)

[YokaiLover]

Journey to West feels like a microcosm of the various competing ideas and religions. It's one of the reasons why I find it so interesting. 😄

[rezaiskandar]

One interesting thing about Chinese (or east Asian) Buddhism is their potrayal of the Boddhisatva Avalokitesvara. In South Asia, Southeast Asia, Tibet and Mongolia he is depicted as a male Deity, while in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese Avalokitesvara is depicted as a female Goddess (Guanyin/Kannon/Kanzeon)

[mak]

Another fascinating video. Did not know the Catholics ones tried to incorporate the story of Buddha into their doctrine, but I have heard that there were some Buddhist Sects that tried to incorporate Jesus into their doctrine by equating him to a legendary teacher from the West.

[blandwinde]

A student starts with Confucianism because it is the only content of the official selection exam. After he enters middle age, he starts to realize sometimes Taoist effortlessness may not be wrong.
When he reaches senior age, he repents his wrongdoings when he was a young cruel bureaucrat and leans to Buddhism.

[legendarywings]

In Vietnam, this phenomenon is called Tam giáo đồng nguyên 三教同源, or in Caodaism, Tam giáo quy nguyên

[xingyu]

I think the merge of the three schools is a result of people choosing to believe whichever teaching is convenient for them. Roughly, Confucianism covers the relationship between individual and society, taoism covers individual growth and spiritual perfection, and Buddhism deals with emotional suffering and after life. In most of the history, common people were free to choose whichever religion/philosophy to believe. So people just take out a bit from each of the religion (not exclusive to these three) and use them to their own advantage. For example, a rulers may often choose Confucianism to demand obedience from the people while consulting taoism for immortality and Buddhism to secure an incarnation. Although in general Chinese people would admit they believe in all three teachings, if you examine what they exactly believe, one shall find a spectrum of faith. Then this drives the merge of all three religions while ignoring they may not be completely compatible.

[bradypus]

Watching Kublai Khan do that mustache twirling jolly laughter makes me hype for the eventual Yuan Dynasty video series

[silvercorvidsmarketing]

"Laughing at the taoist essays"

holy explicit titles, Batman

[marcc]

Other than the polytheistic nature, all these 3 beliefs/philosophy do share some form putting emphasis on being at peace with or understanding of the self and the living in the now. This could partially explain your amusing assessment of the current level of rivalry as fanfic competition.

[jaylim]

Love your videos as always!
I read an interesting take on why Taoist & Buddhist were "persecuted" under different rule and it's very a different concept from the Western concept of religious persecutions which emphasize on doctrine purity and believers vs pagan. Like you mentioned, the core motivation was always who's a threat to their rule, the mandate of heaven. Chinese believe in balance, and one group should be balanced by another, neither can be stronger nor weaker.
A wise ruler thinks about how the group can be used and controlled as a means to rule, because when a religion gets powerful, rebels will form a cult and threaten the throne.
Another major reason is that monks and 道士 are exempted from taxes and labor. The imperial court even issues certificates to monks and 道士. When times are hard, more people ran away and become/pretend to be monks so that they no longer need to pay taxes or serve as soldiers. And monasteries, both Buddhist and Taoist become a place where these people flock to, often bringing valuables along. From a government perspective, these people ran from their tax obligations and national duty, stealing with them the tax money that should have been in court coffers. The country loses money, loses food production and conscripts and that's unacceptable. So begins the shut down of monasteries, confiscating their riches gathered, and arresting people who become monk to avoid taxes.
And the one true religion of a great emperor has always been, Politics.

PS. Monkhood certificate is also a tool used inadvertently as government bonds throughout history. There's a demand of people buying these certs for tax and duty exemptions, and the gov can supply these certs for immediate cash, sacrificing future tax and productions. An economic win for both parties!
Except when it's unregulated and used as a tool of corruption and brought down dynasties. --> cool idea for future episodes!

[adamng]

Eye opening video, I learned alot! It's interesting as it would explain how Chinese Buddhism came to be kind of culturally "messy" with additional stories like GuanYu etc and how in Taoist Temples has Buddha/bodhisattvas in it. Unfortunately these has caused quite a bit of dilution of their essences for most lay people, and its practiced ritually without much understanding (I live in South East Asia and see it around me), unless individuals really makes the effort to dig deep and go back to their core teachings.

[ilonailona]

Confusion deals the relation between individuals and society, Buddhism deals the relation between individual and individual, Taoism deals the relation between individual and nature.

[dncsp]

Confucianism. Buddhism. Taoism. Long ago, the three teachings lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.