For a person, the power of faith is self-evident. It is people's general view and policy on the world and life. It is a spiritual bond and the spiritual foundation and motivation for a person's progress. A philosopher once said: "Faith has the directional function of life value. Once people have faith, they can see the direction of Chu and have a goal in life. "
The development of the whole society and even the country is inseparable from faith. I will compare the beliefs in the development of Chinese and western history and culture from several aspects.
First of all, let's talk about the role of faith in China's traditional culture.
Why did China's culture last for thousands of years? Why does the history of China last for thousands of years? The answer to this question largely comes from China's diverse but spiritual beliefs for thousands of years.
In this semester's American culture class, foreign teachers asked everyone when they talked about religious beliefs, "What do China people believe in? Do you know what religion China believes in? " People had different views at that time. Some people say it's Buddhism, some say it's Taoism, some say it's Confucianism ... Our foreign teacher is an old American. He shook his head and said, "In fact, China has no religious belief. If there is, it is atheism or Marxism. " Everyone was crying at that time. Is it true?/You don't say. After studying the Introduction to China Traditional Culture for half a semester, I personally think that China has different beliefs in different historical stages, but not all of them are religious beliefs.
First, Confucianism. Confucianism, especially the idea of ruling by virtue, is the highest expression of China's ancient political civilization. "Governing the country by virtue" is an important proposition of Confucius' political thought, which was put forward by Confucius on the basis of summarizing the thought of "respecting morality and protecting the people" since the Western Zhou Dynasty. Later, with the continuous enrichment of Mencius, Xunzi and the descendants of Confucianism, the idea of rule by virtue became the most systematic, progressive and civilized political and ideological system in ancient China and even in the world. Humanism is the philosophical premise of Confucian culture, and the humanistic thought of "the nature of heaven and earth is precious" denies the idea of divine right of monarchy since Shang Dynasty, which is a great leap in the history of Chinese nation and human understanding. It fundamentally changed the tradition that God dominates the destiny of the world, established the position of human beings in the universe and society, and thus opened the excellent tradition of humanistic spirit in China culture. This important spiritual wealth has a great influence on the operation and management of our contemporary society today. The focus of state administration, economic management and cultural management is not on "destiny" and "gods", but on people, which is the earliest origin of the people-oriented thought.
Second, Taoism, Taoist theory is an important ideological source of China's art. Taoism is a religion rooted in China and originated from the ancient traditional culture of China. It takes "Tao" as its highest belief and Laozi's Tao Te Ching as its main classic. After its birth, it had a great and far-reaching impact on China culture, especially in the late feudal society, China culture can be seen everywhere. Taoism was highly respected in the Tang Dynasty. All walks of life in the Tang Dynasty generally believed in Taoism, and the royal family worshipped Taoism, and hundreds of officials worshipped Taoism. Scholars regard Taoism as elegance, and its influence on ordinary people's daily customs is ubiquitous. Poets in the late Tang Dynasty, such as Li Bai, Yan Lu and Lu Yu, are all models of tea tasting. Laozi once said: "Man, earth, heaven, heaven and Tao are natural." In literature, Taoism has made countless contributions. Liu Xiang's Biography of Immortals in Han Dynasty and Ge Hong's Biography of Immortals in Jin Dynasty are both beautiful works. Several famous classical novels in China were deeply influenced by Taoism when they entered The Journey to the West and A Dream of Red Mansions.
Thirdly, the influence of Buddhism on China society can be discussed from several aspects. In terms of literature, many Buddhist scriptures translated from Sanskrit into Vimalakīrti Classics and BeijingClassics are beautiful essays, which have been praised by scholars of all ages. Zen thought has played an inestimable role in the poetry creation of Tao Yuanming, Wang Wei, Bai Juyi, Wang Anshi and Su Shi. The issue of Buddhism promoted the development of literary observation such as scripts, novels and plays. The influence of Buddhism in astronomy and medicine cannot be underestimated. Politically, after Buddhism entered Middle-earth, it catered to the needs of the rulers to paralyze the people against their will, so it developed. On the other hand, the excessive development of Buddhist monasteries has led to the slow development of the national population, the reduction of taxes and the reduction of the number of military corvees directly controlled by * *. In addition, the role of Buddhism in maintaining the relationship between the regime and ethnic minorities such as Mongolia and Tibet has also been valued.
Today, with the increasingly high development of society, people's beliefs show a diversified trend. Buddhism, Taoism and other religious beliefs and beliefs bear the positive function of educating and integrating modern society under the sacred ceremony. The spirit of peace in these beliefs has forged China's ideal pursuit of "being kind to others", "harmony is precious", "being benevolent", "praising the cultivation of heaven and earth" and "opening up a peaceful future", which is condensed into "loyalty, filial piety, kindness and love"
Now let's look at Christianity, which has great influence in western society, mainly from two aspects: human rights and democracy.
Most westerners believe in Christianity. They believe that once a person is born, God gives him the basic right to be a human being, that is, natural human rights. The main contents of human rights are freedom and equality. Freedom includes freedom of thought and belief, freedom of speech and freedom of publication. Equality means that all members of society are equal in personal dignity and legal status. In addition to freedom and equality, human rights also include the right to life, property rights and so on. Democracy means that people are masters of their own affairs, so that all human rights can be guaranteed. The use of power is to protect and promote the interests of the people. If the use of power is not to achieve this fundamental goal, but on the contrary, it harms the interests of the people, and the people have the right to cancel this power. At the same time, in order to enable the people to fully exercise their power and prevent problems in the use of power, the use of power should involve all the people in decision-making as much as possible. Although the concepts of human rights and democracy were not directly put forward by Christianity, their essence, especially the essence of human rights thought, has always been concerned and particularly emphasized by Christianity. The connotation and essence of the way of God that Christianity believes in is the way of God's kindness and justice. What Christianity advocates is that people can obey God's will, respect and care for people, uphold justice, be upright, be fair and just.
1. Christianity has always advocated "love your neighbor as yourself". According to the Bible "Matthew", Jesus Christ was once asked which commandment is the greatest in the law. Jesus replied, "You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and soul. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second similarity is to love your neighbor as yourself. These two commandments are the truth of the law and the prophet.
Second, Christianity advocates fairness, justice and justice. Proverbs is a book in the Bible, which is devoted to the way of interacting with people. In the first chapter, it is pointed out that the purpose of King Solomon's proverbs is to "make people acquire wisdom, kindness, fairness and integrity" and "understand kindness, fairness and integrity, and all good ways". In the biblical book of prophets, the prophet
3. Christianity attaches great importance to human freedom. Christianity has long seen the importance of freedom. Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, John and Galatians all talk about freedom. Christianity believes that freedom is a basic right given by God to human beings, even if they are forced to become slaves.
Fourth, pay attention to the value of everyone. Christianity advocates respecting and caring for people, not only for the whole mankind, but also for everyone, that is, respecting and caring for everyone. In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus used the metaphor of "lost sheep" to tell his disciples the importance of cherishing everyone. Respect and care for everyone, even those who are backward, will not be ignored.
The above examples prove that the essence of human rights and democratic thought is the main doctrine and proposition of Christianity, which attaches great importance to and emphasizes this point. At the beginning of the American Declaration of Independence, which we studied this semester, we wrote: "In the process of the development of human affairs, when a nation must break away from another nation and stand as an independent and equal person in the world according to the laws of nature and the will of God, out of respect for human public opinion, we must announce the reasons that drive them to independence." Then we wrote: "We believe the following truth is self-evident: all men are created equal, and the creator endowed them with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." After expounding the necessity of the declaration, the French Declaration of Human Rights wrote: "The National Assembly recognizes and declares that the following people and citizens are protected by God. Social differences can only be based on the same interests. Second, the purpose of all political integration is to safeguard natural and indelible human rights; These rights are freedom, property rights, security and resistance to oppression ... "
No matter in the East or the West, no matter how different the historical background of each country is, no matter how different the language of each country is, no matter how different the people's thoughts are, no matter how ... faith is the foundation of a country's culture, its influence is not limited to traditional culture. In today's information explosion society, beliefs, religious beliefs or methodological beliefs are all indispensable. This truth is just like everyone can't live without ideals and dreams. As an English student, he may take on the important task of communicating Chinese and western cultures in the future. I just finished learning the traditional culture of China, which coincides with the contents of western traditional culture and beliefs in our foreign culture course of the Foreign Languages Department. I have made a superficial comparative study of the beliefs that play an important role in the historical development of China and the West in order to deepen our understanding. Expand my knowledge. Please forgive me for many shortcomings. Practice has proved that after reading relevant materials and writing this article, I obviously feel that I have taken another step forward on the road of cultural learning!
After studying the traditional culture of China in this short half semester, I once again deeply realized the profoundness of China culture. Impressed, I was also worried, just as the teacher said at the beginning of the class. Although we have the greatest traditional culture in the world, the humiliating history of modern China and the relatively backward economic and technological strength of China, it is time to think deeply about the traditional culture of China.