Dong Zhongshu Religious Thought Draft

Where exactly does Dong Zhongshu’s thoughts on religion originate from? It stems from the combination of politics with religions since periods of Five Emperors (3076B.C.-2029B.C.) and Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Meanwhile, in the background of West Han Dynasty suffering problems in people’s well-being,politics,traditions as well as lack of beliefs or impurity of beliefs,Dong makes an effort to propose the System of Changing the Existing Values and Customs as an attempt to pass on cultures prevailing since Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties.Dong believes,God,as merciful Master and head of all the others,is where all in the universal were born from and descends onto the ground to seek for ethics for mankind’s order.Thoughts on religions supported by the Confucianists have close and natural connections with ethics, which indicates sheer reasonability and humanity.The quality of humanity incorporated in religious cultures in China is what is different from western ones.In accordance with theory of Man is an Integral Part of Nature, Dong Zhongshu interprets humanity by using Ying and Yang,the two opposing principles in nature, with its theme of whether or not man becoming good instead that whether human beings are good or bad.The Emperor shall carry out justice in the world on behave of God and learn from ancestors in conformity with God’s will.Dong advocates,the principle for the Emperor to lead people is to educate and civilize them to change existing morals and customs.As the subject during cultivation,I should proactively and unremittingly form positive values by promoting justice with self-consciousness and develop the nature of the golden mean and harmony; meanwhile consciously shoulder the responsibility empowered by God to pass his merits and virtues on to others.Concept is interpreted by the sage to prove the actual existence of things themselves, integrating authority and reasonability to regulate and restrict man and things.Concept of religion can be sensed in the Three Cardinal Guides (i.e.ruler guides subject, father guides son and husband guides wife) and Five Constant Virtues (i.e.benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and fidelity). Worshiping,Dong here deems as offering sacrifices to the Lord,features supremacy, with sacrificing to ancestors as one of its special forms. Advocating absolute concept means that everything exists by nature.This is the key to judge whether or not gods and ghosts co-exist.In his concept of Heaven,Ghosts and Gods,Dong is characterized by the teachings that Heaven and Man cannot be studied separately. Mankind worships the Lord by complying with acts or words from the sage, which is a process of forming one’s self-awareness and of improving oneself,with the very possibilities for man approaching ultimate existence and finally being integrated with God as one.Only when man is culturally cultivated and spiritually well-developed can he settle down in the world and reach the level of complete existence of himself.On the occasion of nation unified and dictatorship to be prevailing,Dong attempts to achieve the order of Great Unification by resorting to religious beliefs, actually with thoughts of the country unified.Dong also supports the theory of Authority Granted from the God,that is,God will punish the emperor who rules against natural laws,in order to constrain the Emperor’s power and the unlimited abuse of it. A society governed by the Emperor will become a union for sure;the country shall carry out the core task of moralizing people and people shall put more efforts to cultivate themselves to make them more benevolent,visionary as well as self-disciplined and act in conformity with certain law and live with unchanged beliefs and to make the society develop in an orderly way and more productive.Dong has has made extraordinary contributions to developing and passing on cultures to new generations with the thoughts on religions and the theory Man is an Integral Part of Nature and brought into play the power of cultures.This affords the very lessons for us to transmit our cultures to younger generations and develop our spiritual homeland and stabilize and harmonize our souls.