Confucianism and Daoism

Comparison Essay # 60053

Asian Studies > East Asian Cultures
Religion and Theology > Eastern

This paper compares the ideas of Confucianism and Daoism.

1,930 words () | 1 source | APA | 2005 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the ideas of Confucianism and Daoism seem contradictory at times, yet the two deal almost exclusively with man's place in the world: Daoists fear society because they believe individuals would not realize their place in the grander scheme of things, but Confucianism believes that man's place in this world is with others to interact with men and their surroundings. The author points out that these two thoughts have merged and dictated Chinese culture providing its followers with a secular guide to life. The paper relates that, like Confucians, Daoists believe in the harmony and balance of nature; the forces Ying and the Yang play a role in the changes in the world.

From the Paper:

"Another idea contra to Confucian thought was the idea of knowledge. Confucius stressed the idea of studying the great libraries of thought to acquire a knowledge that would aid in the betterment of themselves and their fellow men. Confucius suggests that any man is capable of leadership, goodness, and most importantly knowledge. It is in an individual's merit and determination that he finds enlightenment. In contrast Daoism speaks of "the way" in a much loftier sense, "the Tao is one and indivisible, knowledge of it cannot be gained piecemeal, bit by bit. It is not a science; it cannot be the object of a cumulative learning process[...] ultimately the Tao will be known, if at all, as an experience of oneness in which the knower becomes the Tao, not through a transformation". There in lies a sharp contrast in the ideas and schools of learning with tao representing an ultimate understanding of the universe and its workings."