Blackwell Reference Online

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It is widely acknowledged that Confucianism has a dominant influence in Chinese culture. But what is religion in the Chinese context? Chinese scholars writing in Chinese generally see Confucianism ( ruxue or rujia thinking) as a school of Chinese philosophy, and the question of whether Confucianism is a religion or not does not arise. Western scholars on religion, however, often regard Confucianism as a religion. Indeed, Weber's famous work on Chinese religion is entitled The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism ( Weber 1951 ). It is worth noting that, historically, Chinese do not make a clear distinction between moral teaching and the western concept of religious teaching, these being referred to as jiao or “teaching.” Thus, sanjiao , referring to Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, is better translated as “three teachings” rather than as “three religions,” for in the Chinese understanding of jiao , it is not an important issue whether Confucianism is a religion or not. Chinese popular religion and its complex of pantheon, rituals, and temples is easily understood as religion. So is Taoist religion ( daojiao ). Once the indigenous institutional religion of China, today its deities and rites can be seen as part of Chinese popular religion. However, anthropologists and sociologists do not see religion as merely an institution that deals with the supernatural, and they ... log in or subscribe to read full text