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1200 words and three scholarly references

1. In appropriate depth and detail, and utilizing scholarly references, describe the basic characteristics of the Japanese religion known as Shinto, including but not limited to: its history, its primary beliefs, its criticisms, its practices, and its organization.

2. In appropriate depth and detail, and utilizing scholarly references, compare and contrast Taoism and Confucianism.

154 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WA

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CHAPTER 7

Learning Outcomes
After studying this chapter, you will be able to do the following:

LO1 Explain the names Daoism, Confucianism, and

related terms.

LO2 Outline how Daoism and Confucianism developed
over time into what they are today, especially in
relationship to each other.

LO3 Explain the essential teachings of

Daoism and

Confucianism, especially their similarities and
diff erences.

LO4 Paraphrase in your own words the main ethical
principles of Daoism and Confucianism.

LO5 Outline the way Daoists and Confucianists worship
and practice other rituals.

LO6 Summarize the main features

of Daoism and

Confucianism in North America today.

Encountering
Daoism and

Confucianism:
Two Views of the

Eternal Way
BONNIE VAN VOORST © CENGAGE LEARNING

Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

155

Your Visit to the Forbidden

City in Beijing, China

A
highlight of your tour of China is the
Forbidden City, located in Beijing (bay-
JING), a city formerly known as Peking.
Most tourists to Beijing see at least a
bit of it, but because of your interest in

world religions and cultures, you
are looking forward to a more
in-depth view. The traditional
name “Forbidden City” comes
from the fact that it was formerly
closed to all but the emperor,
who was considered the “Son of
Heaven,” and his court offi cials. It
was sacred to both Daoists and
Confucianists. Now it doesn’t

seem at all for-
bidding to you, but inviting. The cur-
rent offi cial name for this complex,
the Palace Museum, also seems more
inviting.

The complex consists of an
astounding 980 surviving build-
ings spread out over an area one
mile long and one-half mile wide. It
covers 183 acres, which your guide
puts in terms you can understand:
it’s the size of 166 football fields. It
has two parts, both of which you
can enter: the outer court, where
the emperor ruled the nation,
and the inner court, where he
and his closest courtiers lived
with their families. The complex is

surrounded by a wide moat as well as a wall thirty feet
high. As you cross into the Forbidden City through its
only entrance at the Tiananmen (tee-YEN-ahn-men) or
“Heavenly Peace” Gate, your guide says that it’s help-
ful for you to understand more about the history of
the area.

Like the yin and yang, Confucianists and Daoists both agreed with each other and worked
against each other. Chinese culture was shaped and empowered by this dynamism.

The two main religious and ethical systems of
China, Daoism and Confucianism, are trying to
reach the same goal by diff erent means.

Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

What Do YOU Think?

< Students demonstrating their tai qi (chi) skills at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in the Temple of Heaven complex, Beijing. From 1420 to 1911 C.E., emperors of China came to this temple to pray for abundant crops.

The Chinese have seen dragons as powerful, mostly good-
natured creatures from whom people could seek favors.

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156 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

She relates the following: The Forbidden City was built
in the early part of the 1400s and was home to two dynas-
ties of China’s emperors until 1912. The Ming dynasty,
which ruled from 1368 to 1644, fi rst built the palace and
courtyard. The Qing (ching) dynasty then governed the
area until the last emperor of China left his position in
1912. Religious ceremonies in the Forbidden City ceased
in that year. It was designated a World Heritage Site in
1987 by the United Nations.

Many halls in this complex have names with reli-
gious signifi cance, because the emperor was the inter-
mediary between Heaven and the Chinese people.
Today, these buildings are the most ancient collection of
wooden buildings in the world. The Forbidden City was
made fi t for tourism in the 1950s, and Tiananmen Square
in front of the Gate of Heavenly Peace was developed
into a huge public square. For almost fi ve hundred years
imperial China had the largest palace complex in the
world, and now Communist China proudly has the larg-
est public square. You notice, however, that the guide
doesn’t mention how, in the spring of 1989—the year
that several Communist governments in Europe fell—a
pro-democracy demonstration with thousands of peo-
ple took place over several weeks in this square, com-
plete with a small replica of the Statue of Liberty, called
a “goddess.” In early June, Chinese army units brought in
by the government opened fi re on the protestors when
they refused to disperse. Estimates of the dead range
from fi ve hundred to three thousand, and hundreds
were imprisoned. Your knowledge of what happened
here in Tiananmen Square makes your attitude about it
more somber.

In your study of Daoism and Confucianism, you’ll
be introduced to these unique, sometimes puzzling
features:

● Some scholars hold that almost all Chinese
people in the world today are Confucianist in
some signifi cant sense just by virtue of being
culturally Chinese, whether they self-identify as
Confucianist or not. This is true, these scholars
say, even if they don’t think of themselves as
“ religious.”

● Many Chinese who see themselves as either Daoists
or Confucianists practice some elements of the other
religion, and many are Buddhists as well, in some
aspects of their lives. This
makes it diffi cult to estimate
how many followers of these
faiths, the “three traditions”
of China, there are today.

● Confucianism is traceable
with certainty to a historical founder; Daoism is
not. Daoism grew out of various religious and
philosophical traditions in ancient China, includ-
ing shamanism and belief in the most ancient
gods and spirits. This difference in beginnings
has proven to be one important factor in mak-
ing Confucianism a more coherent system than
Daoism.

● Confucianism is a thoroughly Chinese tradi-
tion, but its infl uence has spread widely in
East Asia beyond China, especially to Taiwan,
Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. It has some infl u-
ence in south Asian countries such as Malaysia

and Indonesia. The reach of formal,
organized Daoism hasn’t been as long;
it is mostly contained in China and
Taiwan.

In a scene from the 1987 fi lm The Last Emperor, made in part in the
Forbidden City, the boy emperor Pu Yi appears in a ceremony.

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“If you google

‘Confucius,’ you [get]

page after page of

‘Confucius says’ jokes . . .

before you arrive at

any actual quotations.”

—Stephen Prothero

157T H E N A M E S D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M

● Both Daoism and Confucianism have been widely
misunderstood in nonacademic popular settings
in the Western world, perhaps more than any
other world religions. Daoism has been misrepre-
sented as “just doing what comes naturally.” The
wisdom teaching of Confucius is often trivial-
ized in popular culture, from fortune cookies to
the Internet. For example, as Stephen Prothero
remarks, “If you google ‘Confucius,’ you have to
wade through page after page of ‘Confucius says’
jokes . . . before you arrive at any actual quota-
tions from the man himself.”1

In this chapter we’ll make a slight change in
our treatment of world religions. Since Chapter 3,
we’ve examined one religion per chapter. Here, we’ll
consider together the two main religions of China:
Daoism and Confucianism. The benefi ts of discussing
them together outweigh the downsides, especially if
one is careful to keep them separate. Confucianism
and Daoism are similar in that they have affected,
and been affected by, Chinese culture; they differ in
that they have been competing formal traditions
in China, with two views of the Way and how to
live in it.

LO1 The Names
Daoism and

Confucianism

Before we discuss the names of these
religions, we must explain the two
common systems used for render-
ing Chinese into English, the older
Wade-Giles and the newer Pinyin
(PIN-yin). Some key Chinese words
in religion are spelled the same in each
system, but other words are spelled dif-
ferently. For example, the Wade-Giles
system spells the d sound in Chinese
as t; the newer Pinyin system spells
it as d. So the more traditional spell-
ing is “Taoism,” rather than the
Pinyin system’s “Daoism”; both
are pronounced DOW-ihz-um.

1 Stephen Prothero, God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That
Run the World—and Why Their Differences Matter (New York:
HarperOne, 2010), 101.

Wade-Giles spells the Chinese
word for classic book as
“ching,” but Pinyin has “jing.”
As a result, Wade-Giles spells
the name of the main Daoist
scripture “Tao Te Ching,” and
Pinyin spells it “Daode Jing.”

Popular usage in the West stays mostly with
Wade-Giles. For example, on February 20, 2011, a
Google search for “Tao” returned 92 million hits,
whereas a search for “Dao” returned 58 million.
Nevertheless, the Pinyin system is increasingly used
in scholarship. It’s usually closer to the way Chinese
is pronounced, which makes it easier for beginning
students of Chinese religions to pronounce Chinese
terms correctly. This book uses the Pinyin spelling
but occasionally refers to a signifi cant Wade-Giles
spelling the fi rst time a word appears.

Daoism, the religion of the natural Way, refers
to diverse but related Chinese traditions that have

infl uenced East Asia for more than two thousand
years and have had an infl uence on the Western
world since the nineteenth century. The word
Dao roughly translates as “way,” “path,”
or “road,” and by extension “way of life.”
Scholars often divide Daoism into “reli-

gious” and “philosophical” branches.
A leading scholar of Daoism, Livia

Kohn, has more carefully divided it
into three categories: (1) philosoph-

ical Daoism, the oldest branch,
based on the texts Daode Jing
and Zhuangzi (JWAHNG-zee;
in Wade-Giles, Chuang Tzu);
(2) religious Daoism, a collection
of formal, organized religious
movements originating from
the Celestial Masters movement
around 200 C.E.; and (3) folk
Daoism, the widely diverse
Chinese indigenous local reli-

gions taken up into Daoism after
200 C.E.2

Confucianism (kun-FYOO-
shuhn-IHZ-um) originated as a
Western term, not a Chinese term.
Its fi rst use was in the 1500s C.E.
by Roman Catholic missionar-
ies in China. They bypassed the

2 Livia Kohn, ed., Daoism Handbook (Leiden: Brill, 2000), xi, xxix.

Confucius in a traditional pose

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158 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

most common Chinese
term for this tradition,
“the Scholarly Tradition,”
a name that stresses the
role of offi cial scholars in
Confucianism. The mis-
sionaries added ism to the
Latinized form of Kong
Fuzi, Confucius (kon-
FYOO-shuhs), to make

Confucianism. Some scholars, Lionel Jensen among
them, have argued that Kong Fuzi and Confucius as
formal names are Western inventions and that we
should keep to what Chinese tradition calls him, most
commonly Kongzi (KONG-zhee) or Fuzi.3

3 Lionel Jensen, Manufacturing Confucianism: Chinese Traditions
and Universal Civilization (Durham: Duke University Press, 1998).

Symbols of Daoism and Confucianism
Daoism and Confucianism
don’t have offi cial symbols
of their faith. The Chinese
character for Dao, “Way,”
is sometimes used as a
symbol of both Daoism
and Confucianism. Each
of these two religions
follows its concept of the
Way. However, for people
who can’t read Chinese, this
symbol doesn’t hold a lot
of meaning, so it is not
widely used as a sym-
bol of either Daoism or
Confucianism.

The most common sym-
bol of Chinese religion is the
yin-yang, also called the
Taiji or “Great Ultimate,” as a Chinese symbol of religion.
This symbol is used mostly by Daoists and sometimes
Confucianists to represent their faiths, and it is used so
far beyond these two formal religions that it has become
one of the most often-seen symbols in the world.
The circle formed by the yin and yang represents the
universe, both matter and spirit, that encircles all things
and holds them together. The light and dark areas inside
it represent the balance of the two opposite powers in
the universe. If the line between them were straight, it
would suggest motionless stability between the two
areas of the circle. In fact. the line is deeply curved to
show that they move and that their motion and change
are constants in the cosmos. When they move with

each other, not against each other, life is peaceful and
productive. When they conflict with each other, confu-
sion and disharmony result. The ideal harmony between
these two is suggested in most depictions of the symbol
by a small circle of light in the dark area, and vice versa.
The task of life is to live according to this balance in the
symbol.

What do the two parts of the yin-yang symbolize?

• Yin represents what is feminine, soft, yielding,
underneath, nurturing, cool, calm, passive, and
dark.

• Yang represents what is masculine, hard, powerful,
above, guiding, warm, energetic, active, and
bright.

Although a gender-oriented understanding of yin-yang
is possible—that all aspects of yang are masculine
and yin feminine—this isn’t necessary, nor was it the
only view in the Chinese past. Another view has the
yin primarily representing aspects of the night and
yang aspects of the day, which may arise from its likely
original meaning of the sunny side of a hill (yang) and
shadowed side (yin). Most interpretations of the yin-
yang do hold that it is hierarchical, agreeing with the
general Chinese cultural preference for hierarchy: the
yang side and its aspects are superior to yin. One mean-
ing it doesn’t have is a moral dualism—it should not be
understood in terms of good and evil. In the traditional
Chinese view shared by both Daoism and Confucianism,
life is good. Only when the balance of natural and super-
natural forces symbolized by the Taiji goes into decline
does evil result.

A Closer Look:

Dao

Yin-yang

yin-yang [yihn yahng]
Cosmic forces such as
passivity and activity,
darkness and light, and
other opposing pairs

Taiji [TIGH-jee] The
“Great Ultimate,” another
name for the yin-yang
symbol

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159D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M T O D AY A S S H A P E D B Y T H E I R PA S T

Chinese civilization is so old that the

foundations of Confucianism and

Daoism are as close to us

as they are to the beginnings of China.

China before the Birth of

Confucianism and Daoism

(ca. 3000–500 B.C.E.)

Daoism and Confucianism arose in a civilization that
was already ancient. In fact, Chinese civilization is so
old that the foundations of Confucianism and Daoism
are just as close to us as they are to the beginnings of
civilization in China. Civilization probably began there
before 3000 B.C.E., with scattered settlements along the
Yellow River basin in northeast China, the “cradle of
Chinese civilization.” This society seems to have been
highly militarized, probably because of the necessity to
defend its open northern borders. Religion at this time
included the worship of many gods, poetry inscribed on
pottery, use of animal bones and shells in divination, and
use of clay phallic statues in rituals for the fertility of
crops, animals, and perhaps humans. Some of these sur-
viving artifacts testify to religious beliefs and practices
that would endure in both Confucianism and Daoism.

The earliest period in Chinese history for which
there is good evidence is the Shang (shahng)

dynasty period, from about 1500 to 1122
B.C.E. This society was also based in the
Yellow River valley and, like other early
human civilizations, centered on raising

crops and animals. Powerful land-own-
ing aristocrats controlled Shang society,
enjoying luxurious homes and outfi t-
ting lavish tombs for their happiness

in the next life. Almost everyone else
in Shang society was a peasant or
slave, with relatively few artisans. A
system of writing using pictograms

or ideograms as characters was devel-
oped at this time, the forerunner of the
system that exists in China today. The
demands of memorizing thousands of
characters and acquiring the skills to

draw them well limited literacy to the

European scholars of religion in the 1800s spread
the new name Confucianism widely. Although Confucius
would almost certainly have objected to naming his
movement after him, it has now “stuck” in usage.
Moreover, the name Confucianism is accurate enough.
Both Confucian and non-Confucian scholars of religion
use it. More importantly, many people who follow the
religion use this name. So, as in most scholarship, we will
use it here.

LO2 Daoism and
Confucianism Today as
Shaped by Their Past

Wayne Dyer, one of North America’s most prominent self-help psychologists, tapes a 2009 program on PBS
television in a New York City studio. The program is titled
after his new book, Excuses Begone! Like his earlier book,
Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life, this television
program focuses on how people can live more-productive,
happier lives by adopting the main ideas of Daoism. “Stop
striving, start arriving,” Dyer urges. This slogan is an excel-
lent example of how Dyer puts complex Daoist ideas into
pithy paraphrase. It’s also an example of
one way that Chinese religion is influenc-
ing the Western world, as a resource for
psychology and personal development.

In this section, we’ll briefl y trace the
history

of Daoism and Confucianism

together, from their earliest times until
today. They competed with each
other on an offi cial level, espe-
cially when emperors favored
one and tried to put down the
other; more often they coop-
erated with each other on a
popular level. These two reli-
gions went with each other
and against each other for
more than two thousand
years—almost like the yin
and yang—and Chinese cul-
ture was deeply affected by
this movement. Before we
discuss the founding of the
two religions, we should look
at their common background
in Chinese culture and religion.

Wayne Dyer in a relaxed, non-striving pose

ANGELA WEISS/GETTY IMAGES ENTERTAINMENT/GETTY IMAGES

160 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

upper classes and professional
scribes. This would help to
shape the literary aspects of
Chinese religions, especially
their scriptures. Animal oracle

bones inscribed with this writ-
ing were used to foretell the future and maintain good
connections with ancestral spirits and nature spirits.
Other methods of divination later took the
place of oracle bones, but divination,

especially fortune-telling, is still popular
in Chinese religion today.

Another practice that began during
the Shang has grown widely in China and
is popular in the Western world today—
feng shui, or the positioning of objects
to maximize the good effects of the fl ow
of energy. Feng shui was used at fi rst in
selecting the location of graves. When the
dead are buried according to feng shui
principles, the fl ow of energy in the earth
brings yin power to their bones. This
strengthens the spirits of the dead, and
then blessing comes to their living fami-
lies. Feng shui practices spread to altars
and buildings, for the strengthening
of the living. Especially in the Western
world, feng shui has now been applied
to furniture and decorative items. As

often happens when an ancient practice is
popularized com-
mercially in the

modern world, its original
meaning has been altered.

The rulers of the Shang
dynasty led the worship of the gods, as emperors of
China would continue to do. The Shang practiced
human sacrifi ce, usually of slaves, in some of their
rituals. This practice was discontinued in later peri-
ods; terracotta fi gures took the place of slaves in buri-

als of kings and nobles. The fi nal contribution of
the Shang period was the writing of religious

books that would become scriptures—or
as the Chinese call them, jing, or “clas-
sics.” A collection of traditional poems

began to take shape; it would greatly
infl uence later Chinese culture and
religion when it became known as
the Book of Poetry. Another clas-
sic book to infl uence Chinese cul-
ture and religion was the Yi Jing
(Wade-Giles, I Ching), the Book of
Changes, a collection of sixty-four
mystical symbols and short expla-

nations of them used to foretell the
future. The main theme of this book is

that the main forces of life are in a state
of constant fl ux, an idea symbolized in

the yin-yang. To be able to predict how fl ux
will affect one’s life is the kind of religious

knowledge that this book offers to its users.

Great Wall of China, built on China’s northern
borders beginning around 200 B.C.E. to keep out
nomadic invaders. That it can be seen with the naked
eye from the moon is a popular but mistaken notion.

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oracle bones Bones
of animals inscribed with
writing and used in telling
the future

feng shui [FUNG shway]
Literally, “wind-water”;
positioning of objects
to maximize the good
effects of the flow of
energy

Yi Jing [yee jing] “Classic
of Changes,” also spelled

“I Ching,” a diviner’s
manual; earliest of the
Chinese classical books

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Oracle bone on tortoise shell
from the Shang dynasty

161D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M T O D AY A S S H A P E D B Y T H E I R PA S T

Flux is not a negative thing, but it makes life “run.”
The Yi Jing testifi es clearly to a deep Chinese cul-
tural and religious attitude that shaped Daoism and
Confucianism. The universe and the natural world
in which humans live are good; human life is (or can
be) basically good as well, but needs some guidance
and correction in order for it to reach its full poten-
tial in the Way.

The Zhou (joh) dynasty that came next was
the longest in Chinese history, from 1122 to 221
B.C.E. The king’s duty was to lead the worship of
the gods in order to insure a good harvest, and his
power and even right to rule often depended on how
those prayers were answered. The end of the Zhou
dynasty is also known as the Warring States Period
(481–221 B.C.E.), when the seven states of ancient
China renounced their allegiance to the Zhou emper-
ors and battled among themselves for supremacy (see
Map 7.1). This prolonged period of war and social

turbulence was not all destructive. By its end,
China was the most populous society in the
world, with between 20 and 40 million peo-
ple. Many peasants had moved south to better
farmland in the Yangzi (YAHNG-tsee) River
area, and the merchant class grew in size
and infl uence. This period was also a fertile
time for Chinese thought and belief, produc-
ing many new movements seeking to restore
order to a society deeply torn by continued
wars and the social troubles they brought.
Two of these new movements were Daoism
and Confucianism.

Distinctive religious beliefs arose in
Zhou times, of which the most important
was about “Heaven.” Heaven was not usually

considered a god or set of gods, as it proba-
bly was before the Zhou, but an impersonal
cosmic force working for the continuation
and enrichment of life. The Zhou dynasty
ended when the king of the Qin (chin;

Wade-Giles, ch’in) state conquered the oth-
ers and declared himself the first emperor
of China, naming the whole nation after
his state. The Qin was followed by the Han
(hahn) dynasty, a four-hundred-year period
of relatively stable rule (206 B.C.E.–220
C.E.) in which Confucianism was officially
established in China.

The Origins of Daoism

(ca. 500 B.C.E.–200 C.E.)

Daoism’s origins have been traced to different peri-
ods: Chinese folk religions at the beginning of the fi rst
millennium B.C.E.; the composition of the Daode Jing
around 350–250 B.C.E.; or the founding by Zhang
Daoling (jahng dow-LING) of a movement around
150 C.E. from which would come the fi rst main Daoist
group, the Celestial Masters school. Some argue that
Daoism as a religious identity only arose later, by
way of contrast with the newly arrived religion of
Buddhism, or with the fi rst Daoist scripture canon in
fi fth-century C.E. Early religious Daoism was rooted
in the religious ideas of Daoist thinkers, to which were
added already-ancient local rituals and beliefs. This
helped to integrate Daoism into the world views and
religious life of most classes of Chinese society, but it
resulted in a religion that was not as internally consis-
tent as Confucianism or even Buddhism.

Terracotta army in the 210 B.C.E. tomb of Emperor
Qin Shi Huang in Xian

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Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

162 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

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Principle states of China,
6th century B.C.E.
Boundary of late Zhou,
Warring States
Excavated Zhou city site

Map 7.1
China in the Sixth Century B.C.E.
During the late Zhou era, China was divided into competing, often warring states ruled only loosely by the Zhou

kings. Some, such as Chiu and Wu, were large. In the third century B.C.E., the westernmost state, Qin, conquered the
others and formed a unifi ed empire.

2
0

1
3

Laozi (in Wade-Giles, Lao Tzu), whose name
means “Old Master,” is the traditional founder of
Daoism. However, many historians conclude that
we have no direct, dependable evidence that he ever
existed. (Some modern Daoists counter by saying that
Laozi deliberately remained a shadowy fi gure so that
others would later wonder about him.) Laozi is said
to be an older contemporary of Confucius and, like
Confucius, a disappointed government offi cial who
became a wandering teacher. He is also said to be the
author of the Daode Jing and the Zhuangzi (in Wade-
Giles, Chuang-Tzu), but no good literary or histori-
cal evidence supports this. It’s more likely that these
books were written anonymously between 300 and
200 B.C.E., and later came to be associated with Laozi.

However and whenever it originated, Daoism was
widely recognized as a religious system by 300 B.C.E.

Laozi riding an ox, in a traditional portrait

TO
C

K
P

H
O

TO
.C

O
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/H
U

LT
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N
A

R
C

H
IV

E
Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

163D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M T O D AY A S S H A P E D B Y T H E I R PA S T

The publication of the Daode Jing, and other Daoist
works following it, provided a focus for Daoist think-
ing. Daoism became a semioffi cial Chinese religion dur-
ing the Tang dynasty and continued during the Song
dynasty. As Confucianism gained in strength,
Daoism gradually returned to its roots as a pop-
ular religious tradition.

Daoism from 200

C.E. to 1664 C.E

Daoism was a broad-based
movement. In its religious
aspects, it developed many dif-
ferent monastic orders, each with
its own monasteries. Because

Daoists looked to nature to show the way humans
should live, they built many monasteries on mountain
peaks and in the countryside. But they could also build
monasteries near cities, the White Cloud monastery in
Beijing being the most famous of these. Each monastic
order tended to write its own religious literature, even-

tually giving rise to thousands of books in the Daoist
canon, the Daozang.

Another product of the monasteries was
martial arts. This was at fi rst a medita-

tional technique coupled with exercise, but

Religions or Philosophies?

At this point, a common question in the study of Chinese
religions should be asked: Are Confucianism and Daoism
philosophies or religions? For Confucianism, the question
is livelier, because Confucius himself—and most of
his followers for the past two thousand years—had
much more to say about the “natural” world than the
“supernatural,” and his religion seems to Westerners to
center on social ethics. The current Chinese government
does not list Confucianism among its fi ve offi cially permit-
ted religions, even though it is reviving Confucian moral
values, temples and rituals. For Daoism, this question
appears in the distinction scholars often make between
“religious Daoism” and “philosophical Daoism.” Beginning
students of world religions often encounter this question,
but it’s not just a question for beginners. For example, the
eminent scholar Wing-tsit Chan (1901–1994) argued that
Daoist religion is a “degeneration” of Daoist philosophy
and that Daoist philosophy and Daoist religion are entirely
diff erent things.

Most religion scholars, even some of those who hold
Chan’s ideas, realize that our interest in trying to separate
philosophy and religion shows a Western mindset, where
philosophy and religion are separate academic disciplines.
The Western inclination to separate philosophy and religion
dates to the classical Greek period of philosophy and has
been reinforced in early-modern and modern times. This
distinction is often imposed on Chinese religion and phi-
losophy, but this doesn’t fi t China. There, the closeness of

what we call “philosophy” and “religion” is suggested by the
commonly used words for them, jia and jiao, respectively.
Daoists themselves have been uninterested in such distinc-
tions, and today fi nd them unhelpful.

A closer study of Confucianism and Daoism shows
clearly that they are religions as commonly defi ned in
academic study, although with strong strands of what
we call “philosophy.” Even “philosophical Daoism” has
had distinctly religious aspects throughout its history.
Philosophical Daoists have sought to increase their span
of life, sometimes to the point of gaining immorality; they
have interaction in various ways with supernatural forces
and beings; and they order life morally according to the
cosmic Dao. They practice meditation in conjunction with
physical exercises, study nature for diet and health, and
form monastic orders. These are all “religious” aspects of
life, as Western academics defi ne religion. Confucianists
believe that human fulfi llment comes from proper engage-
ment in this-worldly aff airs, but they also deal with matters
of ultimate concern. Confucianists, as did Confucius, make
room for the gods and other supernatural things but do
not make them the center of their religion. As a result,
Confucianism is a “humanistic” religion, but it is a religion
as scholars generally defi ne it.

To return to our main question: Are Daoism and
Confucianism philosophies or religions? If we must answer,
perhaps the best answer is that they are both. Of course,
this book focuses on their religious aspects.

A Closer Look:

Statue of Laozi in Quanzhou, China

TO
M


H

K Daozang [DOW-
zhahng] The Daoist canon

164 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

developed into a sophisticated form of fi ghting, usu-
ally hand to hand but sometimes with weapons. Over
time, the Daoist or Buddhist meditational aspects of
martial arts were downplayed or lost completely. The
martial arts sought to use an enemy’s force against him.
As this method spread beyond Daoism through Asia, it
assumed many different forms: judo, karate, ju-jitsu,
taekwondo. It was not widely known in the West
until after World War II, when Western armed forces
that had encountered it in hand-to-hand combat with
Japanese troops began teaching it regularly as a part
of basic military training. (The author’s father learned
it at that time in the U.S. Marine Corps; because he
was short and slim he was often used to demonstrate
its effectiveness against other Marines who were begin-
ning to learn it, who thought they could “take him”
easily.) In Daoism’s philosophical movements, it devel-
oped other meditational techniques and a fuller expla-

nation of the inner teachings.
Hundreds of commentaries
were written on basic Daoist
scriptures such as the Daode
Jing and Zhuangzi. Daoism’s
popular religious aspects

served to integrate thousands of local gods and cults
into a Daoist pantheon.

The return of Daoism after it was suppressed in the
Han dynasty is known as Neo-Daoism. Wang Bi and
Guo Xiang wrote commentaries on the Daode Jing and
the Zhuangzi, and became the most important fi gures
in this movement. The “Seven Sages of the Bamboo
Grove” forged a new Daoist way of life that infl uenced
wider culture, not just remaining in mountain monaster-
ies. This broader cultural infl uence of Neo-Daoism was
felt in calligraphy, painting, music, and poetry. Daoist

ideas on landscape painting contributed to a
style that would last until modern times—the
setting of human activities against a very large,
imposing natural setting. The most well-known
Daoist philosopher of this period was Ge Hong
(283–343 C.E.). He pursed not only philosophi-
cal refl ection, but alchemy as well, in the search
for longevity (long
life) and immortal-
ity. His main book,
the Inner Chapters of
the Master Embracing
Simplicity, or Baopuzi
(BOW-poo-tsee) for
short, became one
of the most infl uen-
tial Daoist scriptures

through today. It has been
the leading scripture for those
seeking longevity by medita-
tion, alchemy, and traditional
Chinese medicines.

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IO

Zhang Ziyi (left) and Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon (2000), a blockbuster fi lm featuring

martial arts from the Wudang school of Daoism

Calligraphy in the Temple of Confucius, Qufu.

LO
W

A
S

IA
R

F/
A

LA
M

Y
Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

165D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M T O D AY A S S H A P E D B Y T H E I R PA S T

The Near-Destruction

of Daoism (1644–1980)

The Manchurians who became rulers of China in
1644 were in the Confucian camp, and they trimmed
the political and cultural power of Daoism. They
removed the politically powerful head of Dragon Tiger
Mountain Monastery from his position at the impe-
rial court. Later events would prove even more det-
rimental. In the 1780s, Christian missionaries arrived
in China and converted large numbers of Daoists. In
1849, the Hakka people of southern China, one of
China’s poorest ethnic groups, followed Hong Xiuquan
(hoong shee-OH-chwahn), who claimed to be Jesus
Christ’s younger brother, in open rebellion against the
emperor. Hong’s movement was built on a combina-
tion of Daoism and Christianity, and sought to estab-
lish the “Heavenly Kingdom of Peace” (taiping). As
this Taiping Rebellion conquered southeast China, it
systematically destroyed Buddhist and Daoist temples
and scriptures until it was fi nally crushed by
the emperor’s troops.

In the 1900s, pressure against Daoism
increased. In the 1920s, the reformist “New
Life” movement induced students to destroy
Daoist sites and scriptures. By 1926, only two
copies of the Daoist canon (Daozang) were left,
and the Daoist heritage was in great jeopardy.
But the copy of the canon kept at the White
Cloud Monastery was eventually copied, and
the Daoist canon was saved. There are 1,120
books in this collection, in a total of 5,305 vol-
umes. Scholars have not yet studied much of it.

Recent times have seen an even stronger
pendulum swing in the fortunes of Daoism.
After the communist takeover of China in 1949,

Daoism was banned and its leaders “reeducated” and
forced into other occupations. Most temples and mon-
asteries were closed. The number of practicing Daoists
fell drastically, probably 90 percent in ten years. At this
time Daoism began to fl ourish in the greater freedom
of Taiwan and also Hong Kong, a British colony then
separate from China. During the “Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution” (1966–1976) instigated by the
Chinese leader Mao Zedong (MOW dzuh-dong), strong
attacks were made on remaining vestiges of religion
and other aspects of the old order. Daoism suffered the
most. Daoist monks were killed or sent to labor camps.
Most Daoist monasteries and temples were destroyed,
along with their texts. Before 1900 there were 300
Daoist sites in Beijing alone; by 1980 there were only
a handful. After the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese
government began to allow a small measure of religious
freedom again. Daoism began to revive in China; many
temples and some monasteries were reopened. Today,

The Four Editions of the Daoist Canon (Daozang)

A main indicator of the fortunes of a Chinese religion is the
status of its sacred books. The fi rst Daozang was assem-
bled around 440 C.E. This was the fi rst time an attempt was
made to bring together religious teachings and texts from
across China, and it signaled the rising strength of Daoism.
It totaled around 1,200 scrolls. The second Daozang
arose in 748 C.E., when the Tang emperor Xuan Zong, who
claimed descent from Laozi, sent monks to collect further

scrolls to add to the canon, which subsequently grew to
about 2,000. The third Daozang was made around 1000
C.E. during the Song dynasty; it was revised, and many texts
collected during the Tang dynasty were removed. This third
version consisted of approximately 4,500 scrolls. The fourth
Daozang was made in 1444 C.E. in the Ming dynasty; a
fi nal version was produced, consisting of approximately
1,130 titles in 5,300 scrolls.

A Closer Look:

Statue of Confucius

JA
C

K
H

O
LL
IN
G

S
W

O
R

T
H

/J
U

P
IT

E
R

IM
A

G
E

S
Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

166 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

observant Daoists can be
found throughout the coun-
try, and what was only thirty
years ago called a dying reli-
gion is now growing again.

Confucius and the Origins of

Confucianism (551–479 B.C.E.)

We now return to the sixth century B.C.E. to discuss the
origins of Confucianism. The details of Confucius’s life
are sketchy, but we know its main outline. Confucius
was born in or around 551 B.C.E in Qufu (choo-FOO),
the capital of the small state of Lu. His real name was
Kong Qiu (kong choh), but his students called him Kong
Fuzi (kong foo-zhih), “Master Kong.” His ancestors may
have been aristocrats but brought low during a period
of social instability. This would explain how someone of
a relatively low social class had such a feeling for high
culture from an early age. His father, who never married
Confucius’s mother, died when Confucius was very young,
so he was taught by his mother. Confucius distinguished

himself as a passionate learner in
his teens. He gained a mastery of
the six traditional basic arts of
the time: ritual, music, archery,
charioteering, calligraphy, and
arithmetic. He also developed
a strong attachment to Chinese
history and traditional poetry
that would be refl ected in
Confucianism and then deeply
affect Chinese culture.

As a young adult, Confucius began serving in
minor posts in the government’s ministry of agri-
culture, managing stables and granaries. He mar-
ried a woman of similar social standing when he

was nineteen and
had children. He
started his teach-
ing career in his
thirties. Confucius
developed concepts
about society and
government that he

hoped to put into practice in a political career. His loy-
alty to the king provoked opposition from the powerful
landowning families, and his teaching that a ruler must set
a moral example for his people did not sit well with the
king’s advisors, who infl uenced him by procuring sensuous
pleasures. At the age of fi fty-six, when he realized that his
superiors in Lu had no interest in him, Confucius left to
fi nd another ruler who might listen to his ideas and make
him an offi cial. He gathered a growing number of students
during the next twelve years, perhaps as many as 3,000.
His reputation as a man of vision spread, and he was an
occasional advisor to rulers.
However, he was never able
to get his teachings adopted in
any Chinese state, or even fi nd
a steady position as a royal
advisor. Confucius’s own
times were not right for implementing his ideas. When
he was sixty-seven, Confucius returned home to continue
teaching.

Looking back on the course of his life, Confucius
summarized it this way: “At the age of fi fteen, I set my
heart on learning; at thirty, I fi rmly took my stand [for
what was right]; at forty, I had no delusions [about life];
at fi fty, I knew the Mandate of Heaven; at sixty, my ear
was attuned [an obscure phrase of uncertain meaning];
at seventy, I followed my heart’s desire without doing
wrong” (Analects 2:4). Despite this remarkably positive
view of himself, Confucius could be a humble man. He
admitted that he had not become the kind of person
that he taught others to be, and at the end of his life he
thought that all his teachings would perish with him.
He died in 479 B.C.E. at the age of seventy-three. The
fame that he brought his family is seen in the more than
100,000 of his descendants buried in the same cemetery

The Apricot Platform, where Confucius taught
disciples at his home in Qufu

S
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H
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N
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H
A
I

Mandate of Heaven
Right to rule as king or
emperor, given by Heaven
by means of order and
prosperity in the land

Confucius was a reformer, not a

revolutionary.

167D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M T O D AY A S S H A P E D B Y T H E I R PA S T

that he was, making it the larg-
est family cemetery in the world
and the oldest still in operation.

The story of Confucianism
does not really begin with
Confucius, nor was Confucius
the founder of Confucianism in
the way that others have been
the founders of religions. Rather,
Confucius was a transmitter of
the best of the past, a reformer rather than a revolution-
ary. He retrieved the meaning of the past by breathing
new life into it. Confucius’s love of antiquity drove him
to ask why certain rituals such as funeral ceremonies
and reverence for Heaven had survived for centuries. He
had faith in the power of culture to stabilize human life.
Confucius’s sense of history was so strong that he saw
himself as a conservationist responsible for the continuity
of the cultural values and social norms that had worked

so well for the civilization of China, especially in the
Chou (joh) dynasty. In his system of teaching, he success-
fully formed a coherent system of thought and life that
would shape the future of China and several other lands.

The Rise of Confucianism

and Neo-Confucianism

(ca. 350 B.C.E.–1200 C.E.)

Mengzi (MUHNG-dzuh), who lived from about 371
to 289 B.C.E., is traditionally known in the West
as Mencius (MEN-see-us). Like Confucius, he was
a wandering advisor to rulers. His main work, the
Book of Mencius, or Mencius for short, shows his
positive view of the basic goodness of human nature.
Heaven (tian) is found in the human heart, and the
ruler need only set a good example for his people
and they will follow it. Historians generally hold that

The Confucian Four Books

The Four Books of the Confucian canon are built on what
Confucius and his followers saw as the main teachings of
the earlier Chinese Five Classics. The Analects (Lun yu) of
Confucius is by far the most important text in the history
of Confucianism, and it gives us insight into Confucius
himself. It contains sayings of Confucius, whom it calls “the
Master,” and occasional stories about him as remembered
by his disciples and recorded after his death. The Analects
has 12,700 characters (ideograms) in twenty short books.
Like most other collections of wise sayings, the Analects is
loosely organized. It treats, and repeatedly returns to, all the
important concepts of the Confucian tradition: the virtues
of humanity, propriety, and respect for parents; becoming a
superior man; and proper government. Some people think
that the proverbs in this book are no more helpful than
proverbs that occasionally appear in fortune cookies, but
they should not be atomized. In the context of the whole
Analects, and in the living tradition of Confucianism, they
are both profound and powerful.

The second of the Four Books is the Mencius (Mengzi),
named for its author. Mencius (ca. 371–ca. 289 B.C.E.) was
the most signifi cant fi gure in Confucian tradition after
Confucius. His disciples compiled the book of Mencius’s
teachings after his death. More than twice as long as the
Analects, the Mencius has well-developed treatments of

several important topics, especially proper government.
Mencius saw fi liality as the greatest of the virtues and held
strongly to the teaching of innate human goodness.

Third is the Great Learning (Ta xuei), a short book that
is an excerpt on virtuous government from the Li Ji. Its
fi rst, short chapter is held to be the work of Confucius. The
next ten chapters are a commentary on the fi rst by one of
Confucius’s disciples. The Great Learning teaches that rulers
govern by example. If the ruler is morally good, so will be
his government and his subjects. If the ruler is not good,
his subjects will incline to evil, and his rule, along with the
Mandate of Heaven to govern, will collapse.

Fourth is the Doctrine of the Mean (Chung yung). Like most
of the Great Learning, it was originally a chapter in the Li Chi.
Mean here is better translated today as “moderation” because
of the negative connotations of mean. “The mean” is a broad
concept, embracing many aspects of virtue: moderation,
right conduct, decorum, and sincerity. The good Confucianist
is expected to “keep to the middle” between emotional and
intellectual extremes. The superior person is formed in the
middle and comes into harmony with the Dao, the cosmic
“Way” of life. This book was important in the Neo-Confucian
movement that arose in the twelfth century. The Harvard
Confucian scholar Tu Wei-Ming has argued that the Doctrine of
the Mean is the most explicitly “religious” of the Four Books.

A Closer Look:
Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

168 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

Mencius is second only to Confucius in infl uence on
Confucianism. Others kept Confucianism alive, but
Confucius’s beliefs were not infl uential until Dong
Zhongshu (dong ZHONG-shoo) effectively promoted
them in the second century B.C.E. Confucianism was
then recognized as the offi cial state religion in the Han
dynasty. New religious elements including sacrifi ces to
Confucius were then introduced. More importantly,
the four main Confucian books were canonized and
became the core of education and culture in China.

Despite the strong infl uence of Daoism and
Buddhism, Confucian ethics have had the strongest
infl uence on the moral fabric of China. A revival of
Confucian thought in the Song dynasty of the twelfth
century produced Neo-Confucianism, which incorpo-
rated many Daoist and Buddhist ideas, forging a sort
of compromise that enabled Confucianism to con-
tinue its role as the leading infl uence on Chinese cul-
ture. The philosopher Zhu Xi (JOO shee, 1130–1200)
believed that the ideas of Confucius had been mis-
represented over the centuries. He advocated what
he called a return to Confucius’s original teachings,
which Zhu saw as moral self-improvement largely
directed by reason. Despite this emphasis on a return
to Confucius, he was infl uenced by both Daoism
and Buddhism, leading to a new and closer balance
between their systems. He wrote commentaries on
the classics that became “required reading” for the
civil service exams. This exam system then grew in
importance, and for seven hundred years it was the
only way to get an offi cial appointment in the vast
imperial government, as well as the leading way for

men of the lower classes to rise in rank. In time,
Neo-Confucianism replaced traditional Confucianism
in the higher levels of Chinese society, especially in the
universities and the government.

In 1530 C.E, a Ming emperor reformed the
Confucian cult to focus more on Confucius’s teach-
ings than on the sage himself. For example, images of
Confucius in Confucian temples were replaced with
tablets inscribed with his name and honorifi c titles. The
ritual, worshipful veneration of Confucius declined
after the founding of the Chinese Republic in 1912,
but the social infl uence of Confucianism has contin-
ued. Neo-Confucianism was a major infl uence in Korea
from 1392 to 1910, and it remains an important foun-
dation of culture there. The fl ag of modern South Korea
has the yin-yang symbol at its center.

Some Confucian scholars blamed Daoism for the fall
of the Ming dynasty and the subsequent establishment of
the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) by the foreign Manchus.
They led a movement called “National Studies” that
urged a return to traditional Confucianism. The Con-
fucian classics came back into imperial favor, and
Daoism was almost completely suppressed. For example,
during the 1700s an imperial library was established, but
excluded virtually all Daoist books. By the 1920s, as we
saw above, Daoism had fallen so much from favor that
only two copies of the Daozang still remained.

The Modern Period

of Daoism and Confucianism

(1912–Present)

In 1911 to 1912, the Chinese
Revolution ended the three-thousand-
year-old imperial system and put a
republic in its place. The Nationalist
Party leaders who struggled to rule
China from 1912 to 1949 embraced
science, modernity, and Western
culture, including some aspects of
Christianity. They viewed traditional
Chinese religions as mostly reaction-
ary and parasitic. Many progressive
Chinese intellectuals also rejected
most of the three Chinese religions.
The Nationalists confi scated some
temples and monasteries for public
buildings and, like the emperors of
China before them, controlled tradi-
tional religious activity.

Descendants of Jeonju Lee perform 600-year-old rites to
honor their ancestors in an annual ceremony in Seoul, Korea.

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Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

169D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M T O D AY A S S H A P E D B Y T H E I R PA S T

The Communist Party of China led by Mao
Zedong took power in 1949. As a Communist regime,
it is offi cially atheistic, and initially suppressed Daoism
and Confucianism with even more zeal than the
Nationalist Party had. (“Religion is poison,” states an
old Communist propaganda saying that Mao repeated
to the Dalai Lama.) Despite this suppression, most
religions were able to operate at a severely reduced
level. Persecution of religion, along with the Cultural
Revolution as a whole, stopped when Mao died in
1976, and soon many Daoists and Confucianists
began reviving their traditions. Subsequently, some of
the more scenic temples and monasteries have been
repaired and reopened.

The government of China now permits Daoism
and Buddhism (along with Islam, Roman Catholic
Christianity, and Protestant Christianity)
and supervises their activities. The govern-
ment considers some other religions, such as
Falun Gong (which we’ll discuss in Chapter
13), to be dangerous to public order, and
has fi ercely cracked down on them. Sensitive
areas with Chinese religions include the
government’s relationship to the infl uential
Zhengyi Daoist group and their leader, who
lives in Taiwan, as does the current leader of
the extensive descendants of Confucius. The
government occasionally suppresses various
traditional temple activities such as astrol-
ogy and shamanism, which it calls “super-
stitious.” It also censors fi lms that depict
popular Daoist ideas such as child vampires,

ghosts, and martial-arts cults giving
supernatural abilities. But the rul-
ing Communist Party of China has
become more accommodating to
religious beliefs and practices, no

longer seeing them as dangerous to
Communist rule or the good of the
people. Daoist temples and monas-
teries are operating more freely, and
local gods have come out of hiding.

Two recent events in Confu-
cianism point to more Chinese open-
ness to it. First, the education ministry
is setting up programs of religious
study in several selective Chinese uni-
versities, at the undergraduate and the
graduate level. Students will soon be
able to major in Christian, Islamic, or
Chinese religion. Second, it has taken
to promoting traditional Confucian

values in primary and secondary schools, where stu-
dents now read the Analects and other Confucian texts.
Statues of Confucius are now seen in public places, espe-
cially in front of schools. This
is being done to fi ll a spiritual
vacuum in Chinese society. The
values of communism are wan-
ing as China moves to a modi-
fi ed form of a free-enterprise
system, and social friction, crime, and a “money-fi rst”
mentality have arisen that China’s rulers see as inimical
to China’s well-being. Ironically, these were some of the
same problems that prompted Confucius to propose his
reforms more than 2,500 years ago.

Performers portraying disciples of Confucius at the opening
ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, recite
passages from the Analects.

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Basketball star Yao Ming, of the Houston Rockets, carries the Olympic
torch for the 2008 Chinese Olympic team in front of the Gate of

Heavenly Peace, Beijing. A portrait of Mao hangs over the gate.

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Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

170 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

LO3 Essential Daoist
and Confucian Teachings

At the giant Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China, people form lines to enter the dozens of new pavilions showcasing
the theme of the Expo—how the Chinese past is shaping
its desired future. Although the lines are long and a bit slow,
people wait in a patient, orderly way. As an American couple
just arriving at the Expo gets in the back of a line, a security
agent monitoring the line asks to see identifi cation. With some
foreboding, they produce their drivers’ licenses and show
them to the agent. To their surprise, they are shown to the
front of the line and let into the exhibit immediately, because
anyone who is at least seventy-fi ve years of age doesn’t have
to wait in line. The woman remarks to her husband that this
policy is even better than a “senior citizen” discount, because
it means that they can see much more of the Expo than they
could otherwise. This preferential treatment is based on the
Chinese respect for old age, a leading aspect of ethics in both
Confucianism and Daoism. These practices are not monoliths
and can change over time, but Daoism, with its emphasis on
attaining old age, and Confucianism, with its emphasis on
respect for one’s parents, have contributed to the cultural
heritage of honoring the elderly.

“ The Dao that can be spoken is not the

eternal Dao; the name that can be named

is not the eternal name.” —Daode Jing

In this section we’ll consider fi rst the religious teachings
that predate both Confucianism and Daoism and are
important for each; then we’ll examine the main Daoist
and Confucian teachings that build on them.

Ancient

Teachings

Common to

Daoism and
Confucianism

Many of the key teach-
ings of both Daoism and
Confucianism did not orig-
inate with them around
500 B.C.E. Rather, they go
back hundreds, sometimes

thousands, of years in China before these religions were
recognized as separate movements. Most of the gods
worshiped by Daoists and by Confucianists also pre-
date these religions. We have already considered ancient
religious ideas such as yin-yang, teachings of texts such
as the important Yi Jing, and the religious ideas behind
rituals such as feng shui and divination. The other
ancient teachings common to both Confucianism and
Daoism are:

● Dao is the Way of nature that became a Way
for people to walk in. This Way brings value to
human culture, it shapes better relationships, and
it advances health and long life. Both Daoism and
Confucianism speak about the Dao, but in different
ways and to different degrees. But they share a posi-
tive view of the world and Dao within it: The world
is a good place, and humans must fi nd the fullness
of life within the Dao that guides the world.

● The “One” is the essence of the Dao, the energy of
life. Living in this One enables things and human
beings to be truly themselves. The One is often seen
as operating in dualistic form, as in the yin-yang;
the circle that contains the yin and yang is the One.

● De is typically translated “virtue,” but this
implies later Confucian ideas and can be confus-
ing. Another way of looking at de is “power” or
“working” that enables a person to follow the
Dao. The meaning of Daode Jing suggests the rela-
tionship of de to the Dao, and not just for Daoists:
“The Book of the Way (Dao) and its power/work-
ing (de).” The Dao is not a static thing with only
being; it has a working power by which it reaches
out to shape every living thing.

● Qi is the cosmic vital energy that enables beings to
live and links them to the universe as a whole, and
is also the basic material of all that exists. Qi gives
life to the human body; its quality and movement
determine human health.

In the Abrahamic monotheisms,

Heaven is often synonymous with God,
but in China it means a cosmic order

and principle.

● Tian (Wade-Giles, T’ien) is “heaven,” an imper-
sonal cosmic force that guides events on earth

Dao [dow] Cosmic “Way”
of life

qi [chee] Cosmic vital
energy that flows to and
through all beings

Tian [tee-AHN] “Heaven,”
impersonal cosmic force
working for continuation
and enrichment of life

171E S S E N T I A L D A O I S T A N D C O N F U C I A N T E A C H I N G S

and a cosmic principle that
distinguishes right from wrong. In
earliest times Tian was a personal god,
probably the highest god among many, but
in the Zhou dynasty it became an
impersonal force guided by its
own principle of what is
right. In the Abrahamic
monotheisms
(Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam), Heaven
is closely tied to God;
even for nonreligious
people in the Western
world today, it sug-
gests a Being who lives there. In China, Tian does not
suggest a god, but an order and principle that both
transcends the world and is deeply embedded in it.

● Ancestor veneration or worship became a com-
mon practice in ancient China. Each family was
expected to remember the names of its male
ancestors and pay regular homage to them. Over
time, their names were written on small rectangu-
lar tablets. This veneration made ancestors in the
world of spirits happy, and they would bless—not
haunt—their living descendants.

These ancient religious teachings and the ritual
practices associated with them were established by
about 750 B.C.E. They would endure throughout
Chinese history, and all Chinese religions to come
had to incorporate them in some way. Even foreign
religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam
had to make some adjustments to this religiously
shaped Chinese worldview in order to grow there.
Because Daoism and Confucianism drink deeply at
this common well of ancient Chinese thought and
practice, they share similar ideas that make it easy
for Chinese people to combine them in daily life.
Despite all the differences between these two reli-
gions at a high, offi cial level, and despite the con-
fl icts with each other that they have had in the past,
Daoism and Confucianism can “fi t” with each other
for most Chinese.

Daoist Teachings on the Dao

How do Daoists understand the Dao? The fi rst thing
that Daoists say is that it cannot be described exactly
in words. Human language can only sketch an outline
of the Dao, not give a full picture. The most impor-
tant thing about the Dao is that it works to empower,

structure, and guide the world; a close second
in importance is how human beings choose
to relate to it. So the Dao is, broadly speak-
ing, the way of the universe and the way of
human life that ideally ties into it. The Dao

is not a thing, a sub-
stance, or a being.
The Dao is not a god
or even a spirit, and
Daoists do not wor-
ship it. Daoism does
have many deities
that are worshiped in
Daoist temples, but
they depend on the

Dao like everything else. Paradoxically, the Dao gives
rise to all being, but it does not have a being of its
own. It is not an object of human thought or activity,
but it is the hidden subject of all things. It cannot be
perceived in itself, but it can be observed in the work-
ings of the natural world.

The Dao is a Way of cosmic reality and human ful-
fi llment. All animals and plants in the world live fully
and naturally in the Dao. To some extent, humans
also live naturally in the Dao, but in some aspects
humans have become distant from it. To live fully in
the Dao takes knowledge and intention. Despite the
Dao’s deep connection to the world of nature, living
in the Dao isn’t “naturally” easy. Moreover, living in
the Dao isn’t a matter of “achieving union with the
Dao,” as some people might put it, but rather being in
complete conformity with the Dao.

The Dao includes several concepts in its one
word: the source, the ultimate, the inexpressible and
indefi nable, the unnamable. It is the natural universe
as a whole, and the principle and power within it. The
most useful way to describe the Dao is found in the
profound fi rst chapter of the Daode Jing:

The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao;

the name that can be named is not the eternal name.

Nameless, it is the origin of Heaven and Earth;

named, it is the mother of all things.

It is something simple and yet complex

which existed before Heaven and Earth.

Soundless and formless, it depends on nothing and
does not change.

It operates everywhere and is free from danger.

It may be considered the mother of the universe.

I do not know its name, so I call it Dao.

Ancestor tablets with names of the dead are thought to be
the dwelling places of the ancestors when they visit earth.

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Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

172 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

Chinese Traditional Deities

Confucianists generally recognize the main Chinese
deities, and Daoists recognize them all. The relation-
ships among the vast numbers of gods and goddesses
in China is often said to parallel, even mimic, the gov-
ernment bureaucracy of imperial China. Although there
may be some truth to this idea, some writers argue that
the reverse is true: The imperial government patterned
itself after the structure of the heavenly beings. Whether
this argument can ever be settled is unlikely. At any rate,
it is safe to say that the imperial administration and the
religious culture of the time were closely intertwined.

Westerners who know only the philosophical side of
Daoism are sometimes surprised to discover that most
Daoists worship gods. To Westerners, there doesn’t seem
to be a need for deities in Daoism. Daoism does not have
a God in the way that the Abrahamic religions do, or
even as Mahayana Buddhists in China have deities. In
Daoism the universe constantly springs from the Dao,
and the Dao impersonally guides things on their way.
But the Dao itself is not God, nor is it a god, nor is it
worshipped by Daoists. The Dao is much more impor-
tant than that. Moreover, deities are within this universe
and are themselves subject to the Dao just as much as
humans are. This may seem surprising, as Daoists occa-
sionally use what Westerners think of as language for
God, for example when the Dao is called the “Venerable
Lord.” Some Daoists even go so far as to occasionally
revere Laozi both as the fi rst god of Daoism and as the
personifi cation of the Dao, just as some Confucianists
declared Confucius a god in the early 1900s as a last-
ditch effort to prop up their place in Chinese society.

In sum, China has many gods, some of them bor-
rowed from other cultures. Many of the deities are
known and worshipped by their particular role, rather
than as personal divine beings; they have titles rather
than names.

The Jade Emperor
The supreme ruler of heaven in Chinese tradition is
popularly called the Jade Emperor, or Yu Huang. (Note
how the supreme god is called an “emperor.”) The
Jade Emperor lives in a luxurious palace in the high-
est heaven, where he rules and directs all other gods.
He can grant titles to the spirits of outstanding indi-
viduals and even elevate them to gods. His image and
that of the gods and goddesses under his direction can
be found in many Daoist temples. Most historians of
Chinese religion conclude that the Jade Emperor was
an early Daoist title for the more ancient Chinese deity
called, by various names, the “Lord of Heaven.”

The Earth God
We will follow the Chinese tendency in religion to think
of “heaven and earth” together; after discussing the
supreme god of heaven, we deal now with the main god
of earth. In the countryside of Chinese lands, one can see
small temples and shrines, some only a foot high, that
feature a picture of a smiling, bearded old man. This is
the Earth God, commonly called Tudi Gong or “Land
Elder,” and more formally known as Fu De Zheng Shen,
“Righteous God of Good Fortune and Virtue.” Tudi
Gong has thousands of incarnated spirit forms who
look after plots of land and the people residing on them.
This guardian spirit is one of the most popular divinities

in Daoism, and his image is found
on many family altars.

Mazu
Mazu (MAHT-soo; Wade-Giles
Ma-tsu is also common), or
“Mother Ancestor,” is the spirit
of Lin Moniang. Lin was a young
woman who lived on an island off
the coast of China sometime dur-
ing the Song dynasty (960–1279).
Her legend says that she was a
strong swimmer and employed her
supernatural powers to cure the ill
and save people on the sea from
imminent danger. For this, she was
deifi ed after her death, and is also
known as the Sea Goddess. Mazu
became the most highly venerated

The Jade Emperor on his throne

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Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

173E S S E N T I A L D A O I S T A N D C O N F U C I A N T E A C H I N G S

of all female gods in Daoism, especially after an emperor
of China named her the “Queen of Heaven,” and she is
known to Buddhists as well.

The popularity of Mazu in Taiwan is seen by the more
than 400 temples dedicated to her and by the processions
in communities all over the island, during which her
statue is carried on a chair to spread her blessings. Tens of
thousands of worshipers join in the week-long pilgrimage
in her honor, and many now make a pilgrimage across the
Taiwan Strait to venerate her at her grave. Mazu is widely
worshiped in the provinces of China that are on the sea,
and in the Chinese diaspora as well. The oldest Daoist
temple in the United States, the Tin How (“Heaven’s
Queen”) Temple built in 1852 in the Chinatown district
of San Francisco, is dedicated to Mazu.

City Gods
When we think about the gods of a religion, the fi rst thing
that comes to mind are the gods that everyone in a reli-
gion knows and worships, such as the three gods we have
just discussed. However, in China there are many gods
who are known and worshiped only in select locales, as
are the “city gods.” The Jade Emperor has commanded

them to guard particular cities against attack by enemies
and protect their inhabitants from various evils. Most
city gods were humans who served the people righteously
during their lifetime, had compassion for those in danger,
and protected people and good spirits from being dragged
into the underworld by evil ghosts. For their demonstra-
tion of classic virtues, the righteous spirits of these people
were made divine at some point after their deaths.

The City God Temple in Shanghai is dedicated
to three city gods, all of whom were human beings
who were deifi ed after their deaths. Huo Guang (died
68 B.C.E.) was a famous Han dynasty chancellor. He is
venerated for his role in deposing one young emperor
and replacing him with another, more worthy ruler.
Qin Yubo (1295–1373) was a prominent citizen of
Shanghai and served in the late Yuan dynasty. When the
Ming dynasty was founded, he refused two commands
to serve at the court. He fi nally relented and served in
several offi ces, including chief imperial examiner. Chen
Huacheng (1776–1842) was a Qing-dynasty general
who led the defense of Shanghai during the First Opium
War. He vowed to defend China to the death, and was
killed in battle against the British.

Mazu, goddess of the sea, the most popular
goddess in Daoism

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Temple of the City God, Shanghai, China

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174 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

Wang Ye
Wang Ye is a generic term denoting some
360 “lords of pestilence” whose lives
before becoming gods are recounted in
different tales. These lords are people
of great merit and exemplary lives, who
after death were charged by the gods
with the task of protecting mankind from
evil spirits and epidemics. (They become
“lords of pestilence” in the sense of con-
trolling pestilence.) Rituals for worship
of these protectors differ widely. One
of the most popular rituals for driving
away disease, held twice every year, is
“Burning Wang Ye’s Boat.” A full-sized
boat made of paper and wood is burned
along with its spirit-money cargo. This
offering is designed to make the Lords
of Pestilence more inclined to do their protective work.

Like most religions with many gods, Daoism can
“lose” gods, add new gods, or update the portrayal of
older gods. A variety of “techno-neon” portrayals of
Daoist gods are popular in Chinese lands today.

Daoist Teaching of Wu Wei

The only method of following the Dao is by wu wei.
This term is diffi cult to translate and has been rendered
as “nonaction,” “passive action,” “uncontrived action,”
or “natural nonintervention.” Nonaction wrongly
implies that one does nothing at all, that one is com-
pletely passive. The Daode Jing might be read to sup-
port this interpretation, as in its “When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone” (Chapter 48). However, wu wei
is best understood as going along with nature, letting
things in life take their natural, Dao-determined course.

Daoists try to live balanced and harmonious lives that
are attuned to the Dao as it is seen in nature–they “act
naturally.” They fi nd their way through life in the same
way as breezes blow in the air, as rain falls from the sky,
or as a river fl ows through the countryside by fi nding its
natural course. They act, even are active, but their action is
carefully attuned to their perception of the Dao, so it is eas-
ier, happier, and “natural.” To use a modern analogy, most
North Americans make a distinction between work and
pleasure: If an activity is pleasurable, we don’t think of it

as work, which is supposed
to be at least a little diffi cult.
As a result, Westerners can
think of the expression “act
naturally” as a nonsensical
self-contradiction similar to
“found missing” or “minor

catastrophe.” But in the Daoist view, when work is done
naturally—if a carpenter cuts wood with the grain, not
against it, for example—it as a pleasure, and we do in fact
“act naturally.” This is wu wei in action. Wu wei doesn’t
forbid action in one’s life, but it does command that one’s
activities fi t into the natural pattern of the universe. After
Buddhism entered China and made an impression on
Daoism, wu wei was also understood as action that is not
ego driven, but detached from individual desires. In sum,
Daoism requires individuals to live on the basis that the
world (outside of human life, of course) is working prop-
erly and that humans should live and “work” the same
way as nature naturally follows the Dao.

Daoist Views of Qi

Daoists understand the human body to be a miniature
of the universe. Like the universe, each human body
has many parts, but it is fi lled with the Dao. The human
body, as much as the larger universe, is also inhabited
and ruled by a large number of gods.

The body also has spiritual energy that is cosmic,
but not a part of the gods. Daoists believe that every liv-
ing person has a normal, healthy amount of qi and that
personal health results from the balance, harmony and
smooth fl ow of qi. This fl ow is seen in several texts as a
complex system analogous to the fl ow of water, with a
sea of qi in the abdomen, its main location; rivers of qi
fl owing through the torso and through the arms and legs;
streams of qi fl owing to the wrists and ankles; and small
springs of qi in the fi ngers and toes. A small disruption in
this complex system can infl uence the whole and require
readjustment. Overall balance and natural smoothness
in the working of qi is the general goal. Daoists want to
empower their qi and be empowered by it.

A “techno-neon” type of Daoist god dances at a 2010 festival in Taiwan.

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wu wei [woo way]
Literally, “not asserting”;
going along with the true
nature of the world

175E S S E N T I A L D A O I S T A N D C O N F U C I A N T E A C H I N G S

Every person receives a core of primordial qi at
birth, and need to sustain it during their lifetimes. They
do so by drawing qi into the body from air and food,
as well as from other people through social and sexual
interactions. But they also lose qi by breathing bad air,
eating and drinking too much, having negative emo-
tions, and engaging in excessive sexual or social interac-
tions. Traditional Chinese medicines drawn from nature
can be used to restore the fl ow of qi, and acupuncture is
also commonly used to unblock qi fl ow. Tai qi and other
movement-and-meditation systems arose to maximize
the fl ow and presence of qi in the body. Breathing prop-
erly is key to tai qi. Although it is known in the West
as an exercise system especially good for older people,
this is not its signifi cance for Daoism. Nevertheless,
the medical benefi ts of tai qi are well established. For
example, a study done by Emory University’s medical
school concluded that training in tai qi was highly effec-
tive in improving the balance, strength, and even self-
confi dence of those 70 years and older.4

4 S. L.Wolf, M. O’Grady, K. A. Easley, Y. Guo, R. W. Kressig, M.
Kutner, “The infl uence of intense Tai Chi training on physical
performance and hemodynamic outcomes in transitionally frail,
older adults,” Journal of Gerontology, Volume 61, number 2,
(2006): pp. 184–9. A summary can be found at http://www.ncbi.
nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16510864.

The Daoist Quest for

Immortality

Immortality doesn’t mean escaping
death by living for ever in the pres-
ent physical body. This is the stuff of
Western and Chinese horror stories.
Most Daoists believe that all spirits
are immortal in some sense—they sur-
vive the death of the body and go into
the next world. The world of spirits
is connected to the world of the gods.
Spiritual immortality, a special goal of
some Daoists, raises to a whole new

level the practice of attaining immortal-
ity in this life. To attain spiritual immor-
tality, one must change all one’s qi into
primordial qi and then refi ne it. This

fi ner qi will gradually turn into pure spirit, enabling
one to become a “spirit-person” already in this life.
This process requires intense training in meditation
and trances, radical forms of diet, and esoteric sexual
practices. The result is a bypassing of the effects of

American man practices Tai qi

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Daoist priest in Taiwan addresses an audience.

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Tai qi is mostly known in the West as
an exercise system, but this is not its

significance for Daoism.

176 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

death on the spirit; the end of the body has no impact
on the continuation of the spirit-person. After death,
the spirit lives forever in a wonderful paradise, and
the person is said to be an “immortal.”

Confucian Reformulations

of Ancient Teachings

The Confucian reworking of ancient Chinese teachings
centered on ethics—what the Western tradition calls
“personal ethics” and “social ethics.” Confucianism
is often called a system of social ethics, and from the
Western perspective that is true enough, but we should
remember that this distinction between “personal” and
“social” is not often made in China. It doesn’t make
a great deal of sense in a society where the personal
and the social are so fully blended, and where Western-
style individualism is rejected. We’ll consider Confucian
ethics later in this chapter; here, however, we should
state the Confucian “take” on ancient Chinese religious
teachings and practices.

As stated above, Confucius and his followers were
highly appreciative of Chinese tradition. His teach-
ing reaffi rms many aspects of Chinese religion before
him: the role of Heaven, particularly in government;

the importance of the Way (Dao); the assumption,
made explicit in Confucianism, that humans are basi-
cally good and will follow the truth when they know
it; and respect for the gods and traditional rituals. On
respect for ritual, Confucius once defended the sacri-
fi ce of sheep by saying to someone who objected to it,
“You love the sheep, but I love the ceremony” (Analects
3.17) Confucius’s system sought to reform traditional
Chinese religious and ethical ideas, not so much by
changing them as by showing people their inner mean-
ing. Confucius believed that if people knew why these
things are important, they would follow them more fully
and carefully, and life would become what it should be.

LO4 Daoist and Confucian
Ethics

Throughout North America, Amy Chua’s book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (2011) raised a storm of controversy
on television, on the web, and in print. In it Chua (CHEW-ah),
a law professor at Yale, details how she raised two daughters
with traditional “tough love” and “Chinese mother” parent-
ing, as opposed to what she calls the “lax” current models
of American parenting. She demanded straight As from her

A Famous Conversation Between Confucius and Laozi

The meeting of Confucius and Laozi probably never
happened, but it was invented in later times to illustrate
the differences between their systems, at least on an
official level. Confucius, committed as he was to bring-
ing proper order to social and political life, promotes
to Laozi the value of ancient religious rituals and ideas
of justice. He speaks positively about the way ancient
kings ruled, especially Zhou rulers. Laozi is interested
in acquiring peace and inner equilibrium. He urges
Confucius in sharp words to seek wu wei, which leads to
unity with the Dao.

Confucius asked Laozi about his opinion regarding the
ancient rites and rulers. Laozi is said to have answered:

The men about whom you talk are dead, and their bones
are moldered to dust; only their words are left. When your
“superior man” gets his opportunity, he succeeds; but
when the time is against him, he is carried along by circum-
stances. I have heard that a good merchant, even if he is
rich, appears as if he were poor. Likewise, the truly superior
man appears outwardly unintelligent. So put away your
proud airs and your many desires to change things. They
are of no advantage to you; this is all I have to tell you.

In this conversation, it became clear that neither would
convince the other. After their meeting, Confucius said to
his disciples,

I know how birds can fl y, how fi sh can swim, and how
animals can run. . . . But there is the dragon: I cannot tell
how he mounts on the wind through the clouds and rises
to heaven. Today I have seen Laozi, and I can only compare
him to the dragon.

A Closer Look:

“ Today I have seen Laozi, and I can

only compare him to the dragon.”

—Confucius

177D A O I S T A N D C O N F U C I A N E T H I C S

daughters and pushed them to excel in everything they did,
often using methods that seem harsh and unloving to her
readers. Many Chinese American parents do take the time
to guide their children in doing homework and often give
them some academic work besides what is assigned; children
usually respond by taking their studies seriously. This is in line
with traditional Confucian values, especially the importance
of self-cultivation for one’s family. Chua’s approach struck a
nerve, as it was designed to do (notice its provocative title),
but many experts on Chinese culture wonder if she hasn’t
misrepresented Confucian values and thereby done these
values a disservice.

Confucian ethics are more fully
developed, and more central to
its religious system, than Daoist
ethics. For example, it is often
said about Confucianism that it
is a system of ethics, but this is not said about Daoism.
Before we discuss Confucianism, we will consider some
main moral principles from the Daode Jing and other
early texts that have become important in Daoism.

Daoist Ethics

The basis of Daoist ethics is the Daode Jing. Although
it is elusive in style and meaning, challenging the reader
to fi gure out what it means, the main lines of Daoist
moral teaching are clear. The Daode Jing teaches that
one must follow the way of the Dao in order to live
a good life. Other living beings in nature, plants, and
animals and the system of nature as a whole follow the
Dao automatically; they can’t do otherwise.

But human beings do not follow the Dao naturally.
The Daode Jing suggests that human distinctions such as
good and evil, beauty and ugliness generate the troubles
and problems of existence (Chapter 3). Humans impose
such things on the Dao; they aren’t really there. Persons
following the Dao must not live according to human-
made distinctions (Chapter 19). Indeed, these distinc-
tions emerge only when people aren’t following the Dao
(Chapters 18, 38); they are a form of disease (Chapter 74).
Daoists believe that the Dao unties the knots of life, blunts
the sharp edges of relationships and problems, and soothes
painful occurrences (Chapter 4). So it is best to practice wu
wei in all endeavors, to act naturally, and not to oppose or
tamper with how life is fl owing.

All this can seem very abstract, but Daoism carries
out these ideas in everyday practice. For example, many
Daoists have a preference for vegetarianism, which they
see as more “natural” than meat-eating. This Daoist
moral practice, along with the Buddhist promotion of

vegetarianism, explains why Chinese restaurants have
so many vegetarian dishes on their menus.

This passage from Chapter 7 of the Zhuangzi
explains the key points of wu wei:

Wu-wei makes the person who practices it the lord of
all fame. It serves him as the treasury of all plans. It fi ts
him for the burden of all offi ces. It makes him the lord
of all wisdom. The range of his action is inexhaust-
ible, but there is nowhere any trace of his presence.
He fulfi lls all that he has received from Heaven, but he
does not see that he was the recipient of anything. . . .
When the perfect man employs his mind, it is a mirror.
It does nothing and anticipates nothing. It responds to
what is before it, but does not retain it. Thus he is able
to deal successfully with all things and injures nothing.

Confucian Ethics

Filial Piety
Although Confucianism has not often ranked its moral
virtues, fi lial piety, xiao, is traditionally considered
among the most important and has had a powerful
effect on Chinese culture. As a phrase, “fi lial piety” is a
bit unwieldy and old-fashioned, but no other term has
taken its place. Filial means “of a child” (fi lius is the
Latin word for “son”), and piety means “inner devo-
tion” and “outward obedience,” both bordering on reli-
gious reverence. So fi lial piety is fi rst of all the honor
and obedience that children owe their parents.

The Book of Filial Piety is our main source for this
topic, attributed traditionally to Confucius and one of
his sons but almost certainly written anonymously in the
200s B.C.E. Filial piety must be shown towards both liv-
ing parents and dead ancestors, and this leads to ances-
tor worship. It binds families into an almost-eternal bond.
This relationship was extended by analogy to the Five
Relationships: (1) ruler and subject; (2) father and son; (3)
husband and wife; (4) elder brother and younger brother;
(5) older friend and younger friend. Each person in these
sets of relationships had specifi c duties; the fi rst person in
the relationship must lead with honor and kindness, and
the second person must faithfully obey. Duties extended
to the dead, who were expected to bless descendants that
honored them and lived well, and withhold blessing from
descendants who didn’t.
The only relationship where
respect for elders did not
apply was the friend to
friend. In all other relation-
ships, high reverence was
held for the older person of
the two.

xiao [show; rhymes with
now] Filial piety; honor
and obedience to one’s
parents and deceased
ancestors

178 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

All this was tra-
ditional in Chinese
culture by the time
Confucius came onto
the scene. He stressed
not only the duty to
perform the actions of
fi lial piety, but much
more the inner attitude
of these acts. Only when
inner attitude empow-
ers and guides the outer

acts will fi lial piety “work” to
improve society. One must have
the genuine reverence that xiao,
piety toward parents, implies.
Confucius taught, “Filial piety
nowadays means the support of

one’s parents. But dogs and horses
are also able to do something in the way of support [for
the dogs and horses that gave them birth]. Without rev-
erence, what is there to distinguish the one support from
the other?” (Analects 2.7).

Even for those outside the Chinese cultural and reli-
gious system, Confucius’s teaching on relationships has
a great deal of wisdom. For example, he said that fi lial
piety can be illustrated by “Not making your parents
anxious about anything else than your being sick.” To
those with aging parents he said, “The age of one’s
parents should always be remembered, as a reason
for joy and for fear” (Analects 2.6, 21).

One’s family name is

traditionally put fi rst, then

one’s personal name—family

is more important than an

individual member of it.

Note how family relationships are the
center and key to the fi ve relationships.
When people in the West speak of
“family values” in wider society, their
ideas pale in comparison with China’s
emphasis on family values. The impor-
tance of one’s family is shown by tra-
ditional Chinese names. The family
name is traditionally put fi rst, then

the personal name—family is more important than the
individual members of it. In general, the individual lives
for the family, not vice versa. (When Chinese people in
the West put their personal name fi rst, it can get a little
confusing for non-Chinese to tell the personal name
from the family name. The family name typically has
one syllable and the personal name has two. In the tra-
ditionally-ordered name of the scholar Tu Weiming, Tu
is the family name, Weiming the personal name; with
a scholar who Westernized his name, Wing-tsit Chan,
his two-syllable personal name is fi rst.) Filial piety has
continued to play a central role in Confucian thinking,
and in Chinese culture, to the present day.

Reciprocity
Ren, variously translated “humaneness, reciprocity, vir-
tue,” is a basic Confucian value, second only to fi lial piety
in its importance. Despite the hierarchical and authoritar-
ian structure of life that Confucianism encourages, the
more powerful people in every relationship must act with
humane, gentle reciprocity toward the less powerful in the
relationship. Confucius himself once said that ren is the
key moral teaching, and summarized it by saying, “What
you don’t want done to yourself, don’t do to others.”

Loyalty
Loyalty (zhong) is closely related to fi lial piety. Loyalty

is an extension of one’s duties to friend and family,
and is carried out in the Five Relationships. Loyalty

to one’s father was fi rst, then one’s spouse, then
to one’s ruler, and lastly to one’s friends. Like

fi lial piety, Confucius’ teaching on loyalty
was often subverted by the autocratic social
structure of China. More emphasis was put
on the obligations of the subjects to their
ruler, and less on the ruler’s obligations to his
subjects, whether that ruler was an emperor,
a father, or a husband. Nevertheless, loyalty
was always considered one of the greater
human virtues.

The “Perfect Man”
The term junzi (Wade-Giles, chun-tzu)

literally “a prince’s or lord’s child,” is cru-
cial to Confucianism. More than any
other Confucian concept, it expresses
the process of self-cultivation and self-
improvement. A succinct description

of the junzi is one who, in the Anglo-
American phrase, is a “scholar and
a gentleman.” In ancient times, the
masculine gender of the phrase

ren Reciprocity,
humaneness; also spelled
“jen”

junzi [juhn-tzoo] Literally,
“a prince’s or lord’s child”; in
the teaching of Confucius,
a “superior man” made so
by the study and practice
of virtue

Statue of Confucius in Berlin,
Germany. An inscription on
the base of the statue is from
Analects 15.23, on reciprocity:
“What you don’t want done to
yourself, don’t do to others.”

SIEGFRIED GRASSEGGER/PHOTOLIBRARY.COM

179R I T U A L A N D W O R S H I P

was intentional—only males could become a junzi.
In modern times the masculine translation in English
is still frequently used, although women are also
urged in some parts of the Confucian world toward
self-cultivation.

In addition to the charge of sexism, this term has
also been linked with elitism. The junzi is seen as a
better person than others, and he is expected to act as
a moral guide to the rest of society. Indeed, junzi has
often been translated “exemplary person.” However,
becoming a junzi by education and then experience
was open to every class. Confucius would take on as
a student anyone who could pay him even the smallest
amount, and later Confucianism was in many respects
a meritocracy of learning and virtue, not an aristocracy
of automatic privilege for the high-born.

For Confucianists, the great example of the “per-
fect man” is Confucius himself. Perhaps the biggest dis-
appointment of his life was that he was never awarded
the high offi cial position that he desired, from which he
wished to demonstrate the social blessings that would
ensue if humane, wise persons ruled and administered
the state. Despite this disappointment, the continued to
teach his system, even when he thought that it would

die out when he did. His stu-
dents carried on his teachings
for hundreds of years before
his system took root in Chinese
life.

LO5 Ritual

and Worship

A solitary sage studies ancient Chinese poems in Hong Kong. He pauses to reflect on their meaning, espe-
cially on how they relate to his Confucian beliefs. After
reflecting, he writes out the passage calligraphically; his
artistic brush stokes as he draws the Chinese word-char-
acters show the inner meaning of the text and the results
of his meditation. This simple ritual helps him improve his
character toward becoming a “superior man,” the high-
est goal of the Confucian tradition, and his study of the
ancient classics is a key ingredient in this self-cultivation.
Daoists also use the drawing of key words and passages to
live more deeply in the Dao.

Daoist Temples and Worship

Daoist temples are more colorful and elaborate than
those of other religions in China. They are ornately
decorated on the exteriors and interiors. Those who

visit and worship there often add brightly colored
fl owers and streamers to decorate the temple. Color,
particularly red, is seen as bringing blessing and good
luck. Vendors outside most temples sell small statues
for taking home, as well as incense and fl owers to use
in the temple. Inside is an altar at the front, on which
fl owers can be placed and incense burned. Worshipers
may kneel in reverence in front of this altar. Behind the
altar, the focal point of the temple, are statues of the
gods honored in that temple.

Sometimes there are group ceremonies in the
temple, such as continuous reading of a scripture text
to earn merit or monastic worship on holy days, and
people in the temple are welcome to look on. But most
people come to the temples for individual experiences,
to seek the favor and blessing of the god(s) for a par-
ticular need. One of the oldest needs of worshipers is to
gain direction for their future. In ancient times, various
divination rituals were used, going all the way back to
oracle bones inscribed with writings; the bones would
be put into the fi re, and how they cracked would indi-
cate the future. Other methods arose over time, and the
most common one used today in or just outside Daoist
temples is casting yarrow sticks to select a passage from
the Yi Jing, which a diviner will then interpret.

Stone lion covered with good-luck streamers
at a Buddhist temple in Shanghai, China

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180 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

Confucian Temples

and Worship

In China before the twentieth century C.E., every
county had one offi cial temple to Confucius. Most of
these temples were next to Confucian schools. The front
portal of the temple was an ornamental gate. Inside,
there are usually three courtyards, two in smaller tem-
ple complexes. The main building on the inner court-
yard was the “Hall of Great Achievement” or “Hall of
Great Perfection.” This housed the ancestral tablet of
Confucius and the tablets of other important masters
and sages, usually the fi rst main disciples of Confucius.
A second signifi cant temple building was the “Shrine of
the Great Wise Men,” which honored the ancestors of
Confucius.

Unlike Daoist or Buddhist temples,
Confucian temples do not normally
have images. In early years,
Confucius and his disciples
were probably rep-
resented with wall
paintings and stat-
ues. However, there
was rising opposi-
tion to this practice,
which over time was
seen as Buddhist.
In the 1500s C.E.,
all existing images
of Confucius were
replaced with
memorial tablets

in imperial temples in the capital and
other bureaucratic locations. However,
statues are still found in temples con-
trolled by Confucius’s family descen-
dants, such as that in Qufu. The point
of almost all Confucian temples was to
honor and promote Confucius’s teach-
ings, not Confucius himself. Confucius
was a human example, not a god.

The state-mandated worship of
Confucius centered upon offering
sacrifi ces to Confucius’s spirit in the
Confucian temple. A dance known as the
“Eight-Row Dance,” consisting of eight
columns of eight dancers each, some-
times carrying feathers or a weapon,
was also performed. This is performed
on Confucius’s birthday and is accom-
panied by musical performances and

prayers. Animal sacrifi ces (the animals are killed before
the service, not as a part of it) and incense are offered to
the spirit of Confucius.

In addition to honoring Confucius, Confucian
temples also honored other disciples and Confucian
scholars through history. The composition and number
of fi gures venerated changed and grew through time.
Because temples were a statement of offi cial Confucian
teaching, which Confucians to enshrine was often a dif-
fi cult issue. Today, a total of 162 fi gures are venerated
in Confucian temples.

The Traditional Chinese

Funeral

Life-cycle rituals are not as plentiful
or as important in China as they
are in some other cultures and
religions. Marriage is more a

social arrangement than a reli-
gious one, for example.

But the traditional
Chinese funeral is
well developed and
has great religious
and cultural signifi –
cance. It still refl ects
some of the most
ancient Chinese
beliefs about life,
death and life after
death.

Infl uence of Daoism on Buddhism: tourists visiting a
Buddhist temple have their fortunes told by a nun.

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The temple of Confucius in Tainan, Taiwan—the oldest on
that island—shows the simplicity of Confucian temples.

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181R I T U A L A N D W O R S H I P

Cremation is rare, even unthinkable, for

Daoists and Confucianists, because it

destroys the qi that remains in the bones

of the dead.

Cremation is rare, even unthinkable, for Daoists and
Confucianists, because it destroys the qi that remains in
the bones of the dead. This qi is important for the spirit
of the deceased in the next world. In-ground burial of
the whole body is the rule. For Chinese Buddhists, how-
ever, cremation is common. Male heads of the family
receive the most elaborate funerals, infants or children
very simple funerals, with rites for people in between
on a sliding scale.

Funerals take place in the home and the cemetery,
not in a temple or mortuary business. An undertaker
is hired to oversee all funeral rites, especially actions
involving physical contact with the corpse, because this
contact is defi ling to the family. When the family prepares
to receive visitors come to pay their respects, all statues
of gods in the house are covered so that they will not be
exposed to the body or coffi n. All mirrors are removed
or covered, because seeing a body in a mirror is thought
to be inauspicious. When the body of the deceased is
cleaned and dressed in the deceased’s best clothing, it is
put in the open coffi n and placed inside the house or in
its courtyard. Flowers, gifts, food, and a portrait of the
deceased are placed near the coffi n as an offering to the
deceased and as a comfort to the bereaved family. The
immediate family is now ready to receive visitors from
their wider family, neighbors and friends.

Various activities take place in the home
during the period of visitation. Relatives typi-
cally cry or even wail during mourning, both
out of genuine emotion and as a sign of respect
and loyalty to the deceased. The spirit of the
dead will see this grief and be pleased by it. A
small altar with burning incense and a candle
is put at the foot of the coffi n. These honor
the dead, and help to keep the smell of death
at bay. Symbolic paper money is burned con-
tinuously outside to provide the deceased with
income in the afterlife. Visitors light incense
for the deceased and bow to the family out
of respect. A monk reads aloud verses from
Buddhist or Daoist scriptures. (Confucianists
generally rely on Buddhism and Daoism for

funeral rites.) The souls of the dead face many troubles
and even torment for the sins they have committed in
life before they can enter the happier afterlife. Chanting
by the monks eases the passage of the deceased’s soul
into heaven. These prayers are accompanied by music,
and the family arranges for as much scripture and music
performance as it can afford.

A solemn procession then goes from the home
to the cemetery. Chinese cemeteries are traditionally
located on hillsides, where feng shui is best. (As we saw
earlier in this chapter [p. 160], feng shui began with
burials, and its infl uence on burial is still strong.) When
the coffi n is removed from the hearse and lowered into
the ground, the mourners look away. Then family mem-
bers throw a handful of earth into the grave before it is
fi lled. As they depart, the keeper of the cemetery offers
other prayers for the deceased.

After the burial, the ritual continues. All clothes worn
by the mourners are burned to avoid bad fortune asso-
ciated with death. Special prayers to the deceased will
be offered by the family at home,
especially directed at the ances-
tral tablet that now has the
deceased’s name on it. The fam-
ily’s mourning period continues
for one hundred days, signi-
fi ed by a piece of colored cloth
worn on their sleeves. From
this time on, for as long as the
family endures, the dead will be
venerated in the home (and in
a family temple if the family is
wealthy), and imitation paper
money will be sent to them by
burning it at their graves.

In Gansu Province, China, mourners in white shrouds
burn symbolic paper money at a Daoist funeral.

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Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
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182 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

A Final Comparison

of Daoism and
Confucianism

Before we turn to the topic of Daoism and Confucianism
in the Western world, it may be helpful to sketch a fi nal
comparison of Daoism and Confucianism. Daoism
shared some emphases with classical Confucianism,
such as the necessity of self-cultivation and a concern
for the concrete details of life, not abstractions (the
latter seen, for example, in Buddhism). Both Daoism
and Confucianism are world-affi rming religions, and
religions that also affi rm the ancient cultural and spiri-
tual life of China. Despite these similarities, Daoism
and Confucianism have been competing alternative
religions—in main teachings, ethics, and ritual.

As we saw previously, Daoism teaches that human
distinctions such as morality and beauty generate the
troubles and problems of existence. They are imposed
on the world by the human mind; they do not exist
in the world itself. The person following the Dao must
cease living by human distinctions. Daoists believe that
the Dao naturally makes human life full and right. So
it is best to practice wu wei, to act naturally, and not
to oppose or tamper with how nature or even human
reality is moving. Daoism teaches that it is better to be
passive rather than active, yielding rather than asser-
tive, quiet rather than vocal. In terms of the yin-yang,
Daoism is the yin of China.

Daoists take their hands off life, but

Confucianists put their hands on

everything.

Confucius and his followers, on the other hand,
have viewed themselves as the yang, the active and
assertive side of life. They have been “proactive,” to
use a current term, in setting human life straight. They
study current life in the light of Confucian thought,
plan changes, educate people to be active, and develop
solutions to China’s problems. Daoists take their hands
off life and let it go its own way; Confucianists put
their hands on everything they can to guide and shape
people. To use another illustration, Daoists let life
shape them like a piece of rock or wood is shaped by
natural forces; Confucianists try to carve themselves
into a sculpture.

LO6 Daoism and
Confucianism in
North America

Daoism fi rst came to the West when its main works
were translated into European languages. The Daode
Jing has been consistently popular for more than two
centuries and is one of the most translated books in the
world. From 1927 to 1944 the chief advocate of Daoism
for the Western World was Professor Henri Maspero
in Paris. More recently, Michael Saso (born1930), an
academic expert in Daoism and author of several lead-
ing books on it, has advanced Daoism in the West. He
was the fi rst Westerner to become a Daoist priest. He
also served as coeditor of Taoist Resources, a major
academic journal to be devoted entirely to Daoism;
it ceased publication in 1997. Today, many Daoist
organizations have been established throughout the
West. Confucianism also came to the West by means of
its writings. The Analects and the Mencius were among
the fi rst books translated in Max Müller’s Sacred Books
of the East project in the 1800s, and dozens of transla-
tions have been made since that time into almost every
European language.

Chinese religions have been spread to North
America not primarily from China itself, but from neigh-
boring lands in which these religions have long been
present: Taiwan and Korea in particular, and also to a
lesser degree Japan, Vietnam, and Indonesia. In Taiwan,
despite the modernizations that have made the coun-
try a thriving democracy and economic powerhouse,
traditional Chinese religions remain stronger than on
the mainland. Nine out of ten residents of Taiwan call
themselves Buddhists, Daoists, Confucianists, or a mix
of the three. In Korea, almost half the population is
Christian, but the other half is devoted to Buddhism,
Confucianism, and/or the service of local gods.

Confucianism is probably the only world

religion to come to North America that

doesn’t have formal temples here.

Confucianists and Daoists came to North America
from these lands as well as from China. We will deal
with Confucianism fi rst. Because Confucianism is a
moral system that is built on elements of traditional
Chinese religion found in much of Daoism, and because

183D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M I N N O R T H A M E R I C A

Confucian temples in Chinese lands were almost all
state sponsored, Confucian temples couldn’t be trans-
planted in North America as Daoist or Buddhist temples
could. The temples to Confucius, with their associ-
ated schools—from primary schools in every county
to the imperial university in Beijing—that anchored
Confucianism in Asia could not be built in North
America. Indeed, they wouldn’t make sense here, in a
society that isn’t Confucian and doesn’t establish any
religion as the national faith. Chinese people did eventu-
ally build social and educational associations that had an
appreciation for Confucianism, sometimes even a room
or two dedicated to the veneration of Confucius and
his main disciples. But they couldn’t, and didn’t, build
temples such as one fi nds in
China and lands in the Chinese
cultural orbit. Confucianism is
probably the only world reli-
gion to come to North America
that doesn’t have formal temples here. Chinese cultural
centers often must host Confucian ceremonies.

A much more recent feature is the establishment
of “Confucius Centers” or “Confucius Institutes” in
major American cities, usually connected with uni-
versities, by the government of the People’s Republic
of China. Dozens of these centers have been set up
since about 1990; in Chicago alone, there are several.
These centers and institutes are an effort at “public
diplomacy” by the Chinese government, an outreach
especially to secondary schools and higher education.
The main Chicago Confucius Center describes itself
this way: “The Confucius Center is a non-profi t insti-
tute aiming to enhance intercultural understanding in
the world by sponsoring courses of Chinese language
and culture, so as to promote a better understanding
of the Chinese language and culture among the people
of the world; develop friendly relationships between
China and other countries; accelerate the develop-
ment of multiculturalism at the international level;
and help bring about global peace and harmony.” So
it’s clear that, despite the name “Confucius Centers,”
the spread of Confucianism itself isn’t what they are
primarily about. But there is something traditionally
Chinese about this arrangement—Chinese culture and
Confucian values are so deeply intertwined that to deal
with the fi rst is necessarily to deal with the second. As a
result, Confucianism is found at these centers and insti-
tutes not only in the plentiful
Confucian scriptures that are
there, but even more in the pro-
motion of Confucian values in
Chinese life and learning.

Daoism came to North America with the fi rst
Chinese, who arrived to participate in California’s
gold rush. The new settlers established several temples
in San Francisco. One of these, the Tin How Temple,
was built in 1852 and still stands today. It was built
out of gratitude to Mazu as the Queen of Heaven,
for protecting the settlers on their long sea voyage.
In the next decades, statues and name tablets of other
gods were installed in the temple. By 1890, dozens of
Chinese temples were found along the West Coast of
the United States and Canada. Together they served a
multitude of gods, just as their temples in China had.
They were usually staffed by a trusted caretaker who
acted as a janitor for the building, supervised the wor-
ship and sacrifi ces, and organized festivals. Daoist
priests were not yet to be found in the New World,
and neither were monks. Despite the hard pressure on
Daoism in China during the 1800s, priests and monks
did not make the perilous trek to a non-Chinese cul-
ture in the New World.

Should these be considered Daoist temples? This
depends on how one understands Daoism. To use the
three-fold understanding of Daoism advanced by Livia
Kohn, they certainly were not temples of “philosophi-
cal Daoism.” They can make a good claim for “reli-
gious Daoism,” and certainly they were “folk Daoist”
temples. But most gods worshiped in these temples
were not the main Daoist deities, with the exception
of the Jade Emperor. Rather, they were local gods that
Chinese Americans could still look to for help, but these
gods had long ago been taken up into the vast Daoist
collection of gods.

The ups and downs of Daoism in the United States
varied with immigration policies, just as all other reli-
gions of immigrants did. The federal Chinese Exclusion
Act of 1882 effectively stopped all new Chinese
immigration, and Daoist temples suffered. When the
Immigration Act of 1965 was passed, a good level of
Chinese immigration resumed. Temples revived, and
many other Daoist organizations have been founded.
The largest of these is the network of “Healing Tao”
centers in the United States and Canada, a movement
that combines Western and Daoist healing arts. These
new associations and temples typically have well-edu-
cated members from the middle and upper classes of
Chinese immigrants. They have also drawn a strong
following of non-Chinese and non-Daoists who are
attracted to various aspects of Daoist thought and
practice. Probably the greatest “draw” is the practice
of tai qi, which is most often promoted as a system of
physical, mental, and spiritual exercise and health, not
as a system that depends deeply, as we saw previously,

184 C H A P T E R 7 E N C O U N T E R I N G D A O I S M A N D C O N F U C I A N I S M : T W O V I E W S O F T H E E T E R N A L WAY

on Daoist beliefs about the cos-
mos and its relationship to the
human body and soul.

The greatest infl uence of
Daoism on the Western world
continues to be its foundational
teachings. The Daode Jing infl uences life and thought far
beyond the lives of Daoists in the West. It continues to be
the most translated book from Asia, and its elusive style
and challenging wisdom have never ceased to fascinate
North Americans. The appeal of this book is echoed in
the titles of more than fi fty recent books, such as The
Tao of [Winnie the] Pooh, The Tao of Parenting, The
Tao of Love and Sex, The Tao of Spycraft, The Tao of

Coaching, The Tao of Sales, and even The Tao of Jesus
and The Tao of Islam. Of course, many of these books are
Westernized adaptations of vaguely Daoist ideas—The
Tao of Golf doesn’t have many authentic Daoist teach-
ings to help the author’s game—and bear little resem-
blance to the rich Daoist understandings of the Dao. In
a different category is the use of Daoism in psychology
and psychotherapy, in which Wayne Dyer is the leading
fi gure. All this adaptation of Daoism may raise questions
in some minds, but it is prob-
ably exactly what we should
expect—a wide-ranging but wu-
wei attempt to tap into the elu-
sive, all- encompassing Dao.

186 C H A P T E R 8 E N C O U N T E R I N G S H I N T O : T H E WAY O F T H E K A M I

Encountering

Shinto: The Way

of the Kami

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CHAPTER 8

Learning Outcomes
After studying this chapter, you will be able to do the following:

LO1 Explain the meaning of Shinto and Kami no michi

LO2 Summarize how the four main periods of Shinto’s

history have shaped its present.

LO3 Outline essential Shinto teachings in your own
words.

LO4 Describe the main features of Shinto ethics.
LO5 Outline Shinto worship and other rituals, and

explain why they play a leading role in Shinto.

LO6 Explain why the practice of Shinto in North
America is so small.

BONNIE VAN VOORST © CENGAGE LEARNING

187

Your Visit to the Tsubaki

Shinto Shrine in Granite

Falls, Washington

W
hen you meet your guide to the
Tsubaki (tsoo-BAH-kee) shrine just
outside the gate, he says, “Please
remember what we talked about on
the telephone. The shrine grounds

are a sacred place, so correct behavior is very impor-
tant. No food, drink, or smoking is allowed. Keep a quiet,
hushed voice. You may make a formal prayer and personal
prayer at any time. If you wish to talk to the priest or have
him do a ceremony for you, you must not be barefoot or
wearing shorts or a sleeveless shirt. And no cell phone
use, please.”

First you visit the hand water station to purify your-
self, because purity is important in Shinto. You follow the
actions of your Shinto guide, using a dipper to pour water
on your left hand. You lean back slightly from the basin as
you pour, so water from your hands doesn’t mix with the
pure water. You pour water on your right hand and then
into your left palm to rinse your mouth, not spitting the
water back into the basin. You pour water again onto your
left hand. Last, you let the small amount of water still in
the dipper run back down its handle, and you place the
wooden dipper back in the basin.

Next, you approach the shrine building. Continuing
to follow your guide’s actions, you bow slightly at the inner
shrine gate and then walk on. The centerline is reserved
for the kami, whom you know to be the gods and spirits
of Shinto, to walk on, so you carefully avoid walking on it.
As you get farther in, you off er a prayer to the gods and
spirits of the shrine with two bows, then two claps, then
one bow. Inside the shrine, you move to the off ertory
box, where you drop in an off ering of money. Standing
next on the centerline, you grip the bell rope tightly and

pull it to ring the bell. You fi x your gaze toward the mirror
in the inner shrine and then bow deeply twice. You clap
twice and pray while keeping your hands together at the

Shinto connects the people of Japan to their land, and Japan’s present to its past.

< Famous “fl oating gate” of the Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima Island, Japan, showing that the sea around Japan is considered sacred.

The Shinto religion explains the Japanese “love
aff air” with robots and robotics.

Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

What Do YOU Think?

A follower of Shinto ceremonially washes her
hands outside a Shinto shrine.

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188 C H A P T E R 8 E N C O U N T E R I N G S H I N T O : T H E WAY O F T H E K A M I

center of your chest. When
your short, quiet prayers
are done, you bow once
again.

You guide doesn’t know if you have any specifi c
questions or religious issues, so he says, “If you have
an appointment with a priest, please enter the shrine
building. If you have a question for shrine staff , please
ring the buzzer.” You don’t, so you keep looking around,
and you see little shops where you can buy small prayer
plaques and slips of paper for fortune-telling. You buy
a plaque, write your wish/prayer on it, and hang it up
with the others nearby for the gods to read. Then you
draw at random a fortune-telling slip; these slips of
paper contain several predictions ranging from “great
good luck” to “great bad luck.” By tying your slip to a
rope where others have tied theirs, good fortune will

come true or bad fortune can
be averted. As it happens, you
drew a good fortune, making
for a happy conclusion of your
visit to the shrine.

Shinto is a religion of formal rituals and inner feel-
ings more than of doctrines, ethics, and organization.
Its sentiments and rituals are directed especially to the
natural world of the Japanese islands and secondarily
to the history of the Japanese state. Shinto connects the
people of Japan and their
land, as well as Japan’s
present and its past. In
your study of Shinto,
you’ll encounter these
unique features:

● Some scholars hold
that all Japanese
are Shinto just by
virtue of being
culturally Japanese,
whether they prac-
tice Shinto or not.
Many Japanese
who see themselves

as Shintoists also practice elements of other reli-
gions, especially Buddhism. This makes it diffi cult
to know how many Japanese practice Shinto, and
estimates vary widely—between 2 million and 127
million, the current estimated population of Japan.

● Shinto has no founder, no creed, and (for most of
its history) no central authority. It didn’t even have
a name until the sixth century C.E., when it was
necessary to distinguish it from Buddhism once
that religion reached Japan from China.

● Shinto has no scripture. In fact, Shinto is the only
religion based in a literate culture that hasn’t
developed a scripture. It does have mythologi-
cal books of ancient Japanese history written in
the eighth century, but these don’t function in an
authoritative way in the religion.

● Shinto has been a major part of Japanese life
and culture throughout the country’s history, but
for more than a thousand years it has shared its
spiritual, social, and political roles with Buddhism
and Confucianism. This mirrors the religious
situation in China, where Daoism, Buddhism, and
Confucianism are combined in some way by most
believers.

● Shinto is an indigenous religion with origins in
ancient times, but it has succeeded in a starkly
modern nation. Although it could be treated with
other indigenous religions, Shinto’s unique fea-
tures as an indigenous religion and its role in the
modern world merit separate treatment.

LO1 Names
Shinto means “the way of the gods.” It derives from
the Chinese shen dao, combining two words: shin,

“gods,” particularly the higher gods, and tao/dao,
the “way” of thought and life. After the

coming of Buddhism to Japan in
the sixth century C.E., Shinto
was invented to counter the
Japanese term butsudo, “the
way of the Buddha.” A more-
Japanese way to express this
name, but not more preva-
lent in scholarship, is Kami
no michi (KAH-mee noh
MEE-chee), “the way of
the kami.” This name
is more accurate than

Shinto [SHIN-toh] “The
way of the gods”

Prayer placard with an image of Colonel
Sanders posted in a Tokyo KFC restaurant.

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Shinto is an indigenous religion with

origins in ancient times, but it has

succeeded in a starkly modern nation.

189T H E S H I N T O P R E S E N T A S S H A P E D B Y I T S PA S T

Shinto, because the typical
notions of “gods” in most reli-
gions treated in this book don’t
fi t this religion very well. Kami
are spirits, deities, or essences
of something notable. They
can be humanlike, animistic, or
natural features or forces in the
world (for example, mountains,
rivers, trees, rocks, lightning,
and wind). Most kami are mor-
ally good, but a few of them
are unpredictable or downright
dangerous. Kami and people
exist within the same world
and are interrelated in it.

LO2 The Shinto
Present As
Shaped by Its
Past

When the present Emperor Akihito (ah-kih-HEE-toh) became the 125th emperor of Japan in 1989, he
spent a night with the Sun Goddess as a dinner guest,
something every emperor is required to do shortly after
ascending to the throne. First recorded in 712 C.E., the
ritual takes place at night because the Sun Goddess is in
the sky during the day; she comes down on this special
occasion to be present with the new emperor. After a bath
for purification, the emperor carries out the ritual called the
Great Food Offering. It takes place in two log huts specially-
constructed at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. During the
rite, the emperor receives some of the Sun Goddess’s spirit
and thus become with her a kind of living ancestor of the
entire Japanese family. The pre–World War II belief that the
emperor was a living god was reinforced by this ritual. No
one but the emperor has ever wit-
nessed the ceremony or knows its
details, and Akihito’s continuation
of it was controversial among
some Japanese.

Shinto history can be presented in four major periods:
before the arrival of Buddhism in Japan in the 600s;
Shinto and Buddhism together in Japan from 600 until
about 1850; the Meiji (MAY-jee) reinterpretation of
Shinto from 1850 to the end of the Second World War
in 1945; and Shinto from 1945 until today.

Before the Arrival of

Buddhism (to 600 C.E.)

Before Buddhism came to Japan in the sixth
century C.E., there probably was no religion

that we would recognize as Shinto, but
rather many local gods and shrines that
are now grouped under Shinto. The
fi rst, aboriginal inhabitants of Japan

were animists, devoted to powers
of nature that they saw in every
living thing. These were the
kami that were found in all sig-
nifi cant natural things: plants
and animals, mountains and
fertile plains, rivers and seas,
earthquakes, storms in the air

and the seas, and even powerful
human beings. Shrines began
to be built in places where

these kami were thought to
be particularly present. At
these shrines, simple wor-

ship would be offered to the
kami of the place, and the blessings

offered to the kami would result in the kami’s blessings
on the people. Some of these shrines had women called
miko who acted as shamans. With the passing of time
and the coming of more-patriarchal Chinese religions
and culture, the miko became the “shrine maidens” of
today, unmarried young women who assist the male
priests in rituals but
who no longer act as
shamans.

Like other indig-
enous peoples, the early
Japanese developed
myths that enabled
them to make sense of
life in their place, as
well as rituals to bless
it. For example, the
myth relating the cre-
ation of the Japanese
islands probably arose
at this time, telling
how the husband-and-
wife gods Izanagi and
Izanami made Japan.
Other religious groups
arrived from Korea to
settle in Japan in late

kami [KAH-mee] Spirits,
deities, or essences found in
both animate and inanimate
objects

miko [MEE-koh] “Shrine
maidens” who assist male
priests

Izanagi [EE-zah-NAH-gee
(hard g)] “Male who invites,”
the male deity who created the
Japanese islands, according to
Shinto mythology

Izanami [EE-zah-NAH-mee]
“Female who invites,” the
female deity who assisted her
husband, Izanagi, in creating
Japan, according to Shinto
mythology

Offi cial shrine maidens perform a Shinto
ritual dance for purifi cation at the Meiji
Shrine, Tokyo.

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Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

190 C H A P T E R 8 E N C O U N T E R I N G S H I N T O : T H E WAY O F T H E K A M I

The “Wedded Rocks” of Futami, Japan, tied together by a
one-ton rope of rice straw, represent the union of Izanagi and
Izanami and celebrate the marriage of male and female.

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Kojiki [koh-JEE-kee]
Records of Ancient Matters,
Japan’s earliest history

Nihongi [nih-HAWN-
gee (hard g)] Chronicles
of Japan, Japan’s second-
earliest history

prehistoric times; they were absorbed into Shinto long
ago. The realms of earth and the supernatural, as well as
the realms of the common and the sacred, were closely
related in the worldview of the early Japanese. Things that
modern people regard as “supernatural” were just another
part of the natural world, although with great power. The
oldest Shinto ceremonies were dedicated to agriculture
and emphasized obtaining ritual purity that would lead
to the blessing of fi elds and fl ocks. Worship took place
outdoors, at sites thought to be sacred to the kami of the
place. In time, the ancient Japanese built permanent struc-
tures to honor their gods. Shrines were usually built on or
near mountains, at the edge of forests, or in rural areas.

Shinto and Buddhism

together in Japan (600–1850)

The second stage in Shinto history is the long sweep
of time from about 600 to 1850, when Shinto coex-

isted with Buddhism and
Confucianism, religions
that arrived at the begin-
ning of this period from
China. The introduction
of the Buddhist religion
and Confucian social val-
ues from China and Korea
brought a different way
of life for the Japanese,

including changes to their reli-
gion. (Daoism, the third main
religion of China, made little
effort to enter Japan, perhaps
because Shinto already had a
full complement of gods and
spirits.) Japan established
close connections with the
Chinese and Korean courts
that would last for four hun-
dred years and adopted a
more sophisticated culture.
This new culture was essen-
tially Chinese and included,
in addition to Confucianism
and Buddhism, literature,
philosophy, art, architecture,
science, medicine, and gov-
ernment. Most important
was the introduction of the
Chinese writing system, revo-
lutionizing Japan, which had
no system of its own. The
Kojiki (Records of Ancient

Matters) and Nihongi (Chronicles of Japan), Japan’s
earliest histories, were written in the early 700s, soon
after the introduction of Chinese writing. Ever since
that time, the relationship of Shinto with Chinese
religions in Japan has been complicated—sometimes
peaceful, sometimes confl icted. Indeed, the name
Shinto arose then to distinguish indigenous Japanese
religion from the new Buddhist beliefs coming from
China. Many Shinto shrines were completely changed
into Buddhist temples, made a part of Buddhist tem-
ples, or kept as Shinto shrines and led by Buddhist
priests. Separate new Buddhist temples were built as
well. From this time comes the distinction in names
still used today: Buddhist houses of worship are called
“temples,” but Shinto houses of worship are called
“shrines.”

In general, the emperors and ruling aristoc-
racy approved this rising combination of Shinto,

The rising combination of Shinto,

Buddhism, and Confucianism made for

religious and cultural unity, important

in a land undergoing rapid change.

191T H E S H I N T O P R E S E N T A S S H A P E D B Y I T S PA S T

Buddhism, and Confucianism. It made for religious
and cultural unity, important in a relatively small
land undergoing rapid change—and still true in Japan
today. The rulers took a role in religions by establish-
ing a government offi ce to oversee them, something
that persisted until 1946. Shinto was the native reli-
gion of Japan and had a richer feeling for the natural
environment than did Buddhism and Confucianism.
Shinto had a disadvantage compared to Buddhism
and Confucianism in its lack of complex teachings.
Unlike the other religions, Shinto had no sacred scrip-
tures in which doctrine was formulated and by which
it could be passed along. This meant that the doctri-
nal development of Japanese religion and philosophy
inevitably drew on the comparative intellectual rich-
ness of Buddhism and Confucianism. But Shinto had
found its niche in Japanese life, one that continues
through today.

As the Japanese nation was formed, the idea
grew that humans should follow the will of the gods
in political and social life. The emperor and the
court had clear religious obligations, particularly
the meticulous rituals that ensured that the powerful
kami looked favorably on Japan and its people. These
annual ceremonies for purifi cation and blessing,
which soon included many Buddhist and Confucian
elements, became a regular part of the Japanese gov-
ernment. As time went on, the Japanese became more

accustomed to inte-
grating Shinto and
Buddhism. For exam-
ple, they accepted the
Buddhist idea that
the kami were incar-
nations of the Buddha, manifested in Japan to save
all sentient beings. During the seventh and eighth
centuries, the spiritual status of the emperor as the
descendant of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, the chief
deity worshiped in Shinto, became offi cial doctrine
when it was written up in the Kojiki and Nihongi.
This was buttressed by rituals and the establishment
of the important Ise (EE-sah) shrine of the imperial
household.

From 800 to about 1800, Buddhist infl uence in
government grew steadily stronger. Japan was in the
hands of three power blocs: the emperor, the aris-
tocracy, and the leaders of Buddhism and Shinto.
Throughout most of Japanese history up until the end
of World War II, the aristocracy had more power than
the emperor, despite what the creation myths implied
about him. Religion became more controversial when
Roman Catholic Christian missionaries arrived in
Japan in the 1500s and started making converts from
Shinto and Buddhism. Over time, Christianity came
to be seen as a political threat—it was a foreign reli-
gion, didn’t allow converts to blend Christianity for-

mally with other religions,
and was beginning to convert
the aristocracy. Various rul-
ers ruthlessly tried to stamp
it out from the 1500s until
1640. Most notably, in 1597
dozens of Japanese Christians
were crucifi ed in a macabre
memory of the death of Jesus
Christ; and more than forty
thousand died in the perse-
cutions. Surviving Christians
were driven underground for
hundreds of years. The seven-
teenth century was dominated
by Buddhism, partly because
an anti-Christian measure
forced every Japanese person
to register as a Buddhist at
a Buddhist temple and pay
a tax.

Japanese civic religion
still included many elements
of Confucianism in its ideas

Amaterasu [ah-MAH-tehr-
AH-soo] Sun goddess, the chief
deity worshiped in Shinto

The Seven Lucky Gods are a mixed group of Shinto
and other deities popular in Japan, all thought to
bring good luck, including a happy buddha (left).

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192 C H A P T E R 8 E N C O U N T E R I N G S H I N T O : T H E WAY O F T H E K A M I

about government, but popular Japanese religion was
a pragmatic fusion of Shinto rituals and myths with a
hefty dose of Buddhism. Confucianism provided social
ethics; Shinto provided everyday rituals and a feeling for
the nation; Buddhism provided philosophy and (because
it was Mahayana Buddhism) a hope for life after death.
Just as China had “Three Traditions” in Daoism,
Confucianism, and Buddhism, so too Japan had its three
traditions of Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism.

After this long period of powerful infl uence of
Buddhism on Shinto, Shinto pushed back. Around
1700 there was a movement toward what was consid-
ered a purer form of Shinto, with particular empha-
sis on the Japanese people as the descendants of the
gods and therefore superior to other races. (This, of

course, is something that
most Japanese Buddhists
denied.) Buddhist and
other infl uences were fi l-
tered out of institutions
and rituals. Historians
generally hold that this

wasn’t so much a return to something that had once
existed as it was the creation of a more unifi ed reli-
gion from a group of many different Shinto rituals and
beliefs. During this period Shinto acquired a stronger
intellectual tradition than it previously had. A part of
the Shinto revival entailed the renewed study of archaic
Japanese texts. Just as Shinto myths were written down
in the eighth century for national political reasons, so
now they were reinterpreted for nationalistic purposes.

“From the divine descent of the Japanese

people proceeds their immeasurable

superiority to the natives of other

countries in courage and intelligence.”

—Hirata, nationalistic Shinto

scholar, 1836

torii [TOH-ree-ee]
Traditional Japanese gate
or portal at the entrance
of, and often within, a
Shinto shrine

The Symbol of Shinto

A torii is a traditional Japanese gate or
portal at the entrance of, and often within,
a Shinto shrine. (Its original meaning is “bird
perch.”) It consists of two upright wooden
posts connected at the top by two horizon-
tal crosspieces, the top one often curved
up slightly at the ends. The outer gate
is often said to separate the “ordinary”
area from a sacred area, but in view of
the strong Shinto belief that all Japan
is sacred, it’s probably more accurate to
say that the outer gate marks ordinary
sacred space from extraordinarily sacred
space. Seeing a torii at the entrance is
usually the easiest way to determine if
it is a Shinto shrine. Smaller torii are also
found occasionally inside the grounds
of Japanese Buddhist temples.

The fi rst mention of torii is in
922. Torii were commonly made from
wood or stone, but today they can
also be made of metal, stainless steel,
or other modern materials. They are

usually either unpainted or painted a striking vermilion,
with black tops. A person who has been successful in busi-
ness often donates a torii to the shrine in gratitude. The
Fushimi Inari (foo-SHEE-mee in-AHR-ee) shrine near Kyoto
has some forty thousand torii, each bearing its donor’s
name, along paths that lead three miles up a mountainside.

A Closer Look:

B
O
N
N
IE
V
A
N
V
O
O
R
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T
©
C
E
N
G
A
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.C

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Torii formed into a sacred walkway at the
Fushimi Inari shrine

193T H E S H I N T O P R E S E N T A S S H A P E D B Y I T S PA S T

As Japan encountered the world beyond
East Asia that it had avoided for a thousand
years, it drew on its indigenous religion
to buttress its national claims. A leading
Shinto scholar during this period, Hirata
(hih-RAH-tah), wrote in 1836, “The two
foundational doctrines of Shinto are that
Japan is the country of the gods, and her
inhabitants are the descendants of the gods.
Between the Japanese people and other peo-
ples . . . there is a difference of kind, rather
than of degree. The Emperor is the true Son
of Heaven, who is entitled to reign over the
four seas and the ten thousand countries.
From the divine descent of the Japanese peo-
ple proceeds their immeasurable superiority
to the natives of other countries in courage
and intelligence.”1 This growing, religiously
oriented nationalism contributed to rapid
“modernization” of Japan in the 1800s (see Map 8.1).
It would prove damaging to East Asia as Japan began to
build an empire around 1900, and it would prove near-
disastrous to many Pacifi c Rim nations from China to
the United States in World War II.

The Meiji Period (1850–1945)

The third major period of Shinto began with the Meiji
(MAY-jee) Restoration in 1868, so called because
Emperor Meiji was restored to his powers after a rebel-
lion by warlords. (The emperor was still dominated by
the aristocracy, however.) The Meiji Restoration accel-
erated the revival of Shinto that had been going on for
two centuries and launched Japan on a path that would
change its history and the history of the world. Japan
had been modernizing rapidly; the Industrial Revolution
that took almost two hundred years in Europe and
North America was accomplished in Japan in less than
a century. The aim of the new religious climate was to
provide a sacred foundation and a religious rationale
for the new Japan and its national ethos. Emperor wor-
ship became a leading mark of “state Shinto” during
this period.

In the Meiji period, Shinto was reorganized, com-
pletely separated from Buddhism, and brought under
the power of the state. The state made a distinction
between the new “state Shinto,” “shrine Shinto” of the
traditional past, and “sect Shinto” comprising mostly
new movements in popular religion. Many historians

1 Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. 3 (Yokohama,
Japan: Asiatic Society Press, 1873), 36.

of religion consider these new Shinto sects a result of
the “culture shock” that Japan experienced after open-
ing to the West. Between 1882 and 1908, the govern-
ment recognized thirteen Shinto sects, and their number
constantly increased. They are forerunners of many of
Japan’s new religious movements today. A new shrine
was set up at Yasukuni (YAS-soo-KOO-nee) to honor
Japanese war dead. Amaterasu, who until then had not
been a major divinity, was brought to center stage and
used to validate the role of the emperor, not only as
ruler but also as the high priest of Shinto.

One result of this change was the separation of
Buddhism from Shinto. The kami could no longer
be explained as incarnations of the Buddha or vari-
ous bodhisattvas. Ritual was also affected. All Shinto
shrines were purged of every trace of Buddhist imag-
ery (for example, statues of the Buddha) and ritual
(chanting scriptures). Buddhist priests were stripped
of their status, and new Shinto priests were appointed
to shrines. Shinto was enthusiastically promoted
by Japan’s militaristic aristocracy, who stressed that
the emperor was a divine being, directly descended
from the gods who had given birth to the Japanese
islands. Japanese children were taught at school
that the emperors were descendants of Sun Goddess
Amaterasu, and every classroom had a small shrine to
the emperor on the wall. Shinto bound the Japanese
people together with a powerful mix of devotion to
kami, ancestor worship, and group loyalty to family
and nation; Buddhism with its more pacifi st and inter-
national tendencies was demoted. This separation of
Buddhism and Shinto continues today, with both reli-
gions having different shrines, priests, and rites.

The main hall of the Yasukuni Shrine

O
TO

R
IN

194 C H A P T E R 8 E N C O U N T E R I N G S H I N T O : T H E WAY O F T H E K A M I

140°E

130°E120°E

30°N

40°N

Tropic of Cancer

Beijing

Shanghai

Seoul

Vladivostok

Dalian
(Port Arthur)

1905

Pusan
Yokohama

Nagoya
Tokyo

Sendai

Sapporo

Otaru

Aomori

Osaka

Kyoto
Kobe

Hiroshima

Yawata

Weihai
Jiaozhou

Fuzhou

Taipei
Xiamen

Nagasaki

Kagoshima

M A N C H U R I A

KOR EA
Annexed by Japan, 191

C H I N A

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JAPAN

Kyushu

Shikoku

Honshu

Taiwan
1895

Hokkaido

Karafutu
1905

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P A C I F I C

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150 300 Km.

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140°E
30°N

KyKyKyKyKyKyKyKyKyKyKyyuyuyuKyKyKyyuyKKyuKyyKyy shuyu

ShShShSShShShShhhShShShShhiShhShhhShhh kokuh P A C I FF I C

O C EE A N

Japan in 1875

Territory gained by Japan from 1894 to1910

Year Japan gained control

Major Japanese manufacturing area

Japanese railroads in 1889

Japanese railroads in 1918

1905

Shinto played a signifi cant role in World War II,
which started in Asia with the Japanese invasion of
northern China in 1937. Since the 1870s, it had been
fueling a strong nationalism among the Japanese, a
force that would inevitably lead to war. Service in the
military was a religious as well as a civic obligation,
and the spirits of those who died were honored as

Map 8.1
Japanese Modernization and Expansion, 1868–1918
Japan undertook a crash modernization in the later 1800s. This modernization coincided with

the rise of state Shinto. By 1910 its military power had increased and it had won a war with Russia and
colonized Korea, Taiwan, and Sakhalin (then known as Karafutu).

2
0

1
3

Despite the religious devotion of

Japanese warriors in World War II, the

Divine Wind did not come, and the

emperor’s rule as a god would soon end.

195T H E S H I N T O P R E S E N T A S S H A P E D B Y I T S PA S T

kami. Kamikaze pilots intentionally crashed their
planes into American warships at the end of the war
in a last-ditch effort to stave off an invasion of Japan.
Kamikaze is often used popularly today as meaning
“reckless to the point of suicide,” but it really means
“Divine (kami) Wind (kaze).” The Divine Wind was
a typhoon that destroyed a Chinese fl eet threatening
Japan in the 1200s, and the modern Divine Wind was
meant to reproduce that deliverance. Another well-
known feature of that war was the Japanese shout
“Banzai!” (bahn-ZIGH)—“ten thousand years!”—
and was understood to mean “May the emperor live
ten thousand years!” This was frequently used as a
cry of attack by Japanese forces. Despite the reli-
giously motivated self-sacrifi ce of Japanese warriors,
the Divine Wind did not come, and the emperor’s rule
as a god would soon end, falling far short of ten thou-
sand years.

Shinto in

Recent Times

(1945–present)

The last and current stage of
Shinto history begins when
the victorious Allied powers
ended the status of Shinto as
the state religion in 1946.
Japan was allowed to keep
Hirohito (HEER-oh-HEE-
toh, who lived from 1901
to 1989) as emperor, but
he lost his claim to divine
status as part of the Allied
reforms in Japan. He went on the
radio to tell his people that Japan was surrendering
(although such direct language was not used), the fi rst
time that ordinary Japanese had heard an emperor’s
voice. He later wrote in a message to the nation, “The
ties between Us and Our people have always stood
on mutual trust and affection. They do not depend
upon legends and myths. They are not predicated
on the false conception that the Tenno [emperor] is

divine, and that the
Japanese people are
superior to other
races and destined
to rule the world.”
Then he affi rmed that the Japanese people still had an
important role to play in the world: “By [the Japanese
people’s] supreme efforts . . . they will be able to make
a substantial contribution to the welfare and advance-
ment of mankind.” This contribution did indeed come
in the postwar revival of Japan, when Japan became
a model of economic development, democracy, and
peace in Asia. Since about 1990, however, Japan has
been in a prolonged economic slump that has dispir-
ited many of its people and lessened the appeal of
Japanese ways of business to other nations. The
dwindling attendance at many Shinto shrines is prob-
ably related to this economic downturn.

Japan’s postwar constitution separates religion
and state. Although the constitution of modern Japan
had guaranteed freedom of religion since 1873, it
fi nally came true. No religion receives support from
the Japanese state. No citizen has to take part in any
religious act, celebration, rite, or practice. Many (but
not all) governmental ceremonies were stripped of
their explicitly religious aspects. Despite the loss of its
offi cial status, Shinto retains a signifi cant infl uence in
Japanese spirituality and culture. Considerable Shinto

religious meaning still surrounds some
regular imperial ceremonies, and a few
well-attended Shinto shrines honor

those who died in World War II.
In sum, Japan is today both

a secular and a religious society.
Industrialization and urbanization

have led to the declining infl u-
ence of Shinto, which has

accelerated since the end of
World War II. Continuing
controversy over the

Japanese role in that war has
diminished Shinto infl uence
among the younger gen-
eration, many of whom see

Shinto myths as outmoded. Most young people go
to Shinto shrine only as tourists or to pray for success
in school exams. Some Japanese, especially the older
generation, still frequent Shinto shrines regularly, and
all generations have a strong, even spiritual feeling for
the physical beauty of Japan that is a heritage of Shinto.
New religious movements have combined Buddhism,
Shinto, and other religions to address contemporary

kamikaze [KAHM-ih-KAHZ-ee]
“Divine Wind” that saved Japan

A Japanese commander prepares a young pilot
for battle in World War II, tying on a white cloth

with the sun used to honor kamikaze pilots.

Banzai literally means “ten thousand
years” and was understood to

mean “May the emperor live ten

thousand years!”

196 C H A P T E R 8 E N C O U N T E R I N G S H I N T O : T H E WAY O F T H E K A M I

Japanese issues such as family
fi nances, environmental pollu-
tion, and family solidarity. The
widespread destruction visited
on northeastern Japan in the
2011 earthquake and tsunami

caused many Japanese, even the
younger generations, to draw upon both traditional
and newer religions for comfort and strength.

However, on the whole the Japanese people are
becoming more secular. In a 2000 census, although
most Japanese called themselves Buddhists or Shintoists
or both, not even 15 percent reported a formal religious
membership or regular religious practice. Remarkably,
this rising secularization hasn’t had signifi cant nega-
tive social effects, and Japan continues to be the most
peaceful, law-abiding society in the developed world.
(Even after the 2011 tsunami, there was virtually no
increase in crime.) Sociologists say that this is due to
a desire to honor one’s living relatives or other social
group and an even stronger reluctance to shame them,
rather than from a connection to the spirits of one’s
ancestors or other aspects of Shinto or Buddhist reli-
gion. To many students of Japan, the strongest religious
infl uence today may be that of Confucianism. It has vir-
tually no formal presence in Japan, but the system of

Confucian social values that
arrived in Japan 1,400 years
ago still infl uences the lives of
most Japanese today.

LO3

Shinto Teachings

A September 13, 2010, blog in the New York Times has a discussion about a writer’s remarkable claim that Shinto
religion explains the Japanese “love aff air” with robots and
robotics. He claims that Shinto’s blurring of the boundaries
between the animate and the inanimate has shaped the posi-
tive Japanese view of robots as “helpers” and not as the rebel-
lious, violent machines portrayed in Western stories and fi lms.
These helpers even include the recent invention of a female
robotic companion for men. As one writer said of Japan, “A
humanoid and sentient robot may simply not feel as creepy
or threatening as it does in other cultures.”2

The Kojiki and Nihongi, Japan’s earliest histories, were
compiled on the orders of the imperial family in the

2 Hiroko Tabuchi, “Robot Invasion Welcomed in Japan,” New York Times,
accessed September 23, 2010, http:// lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/
robot-invasion-welcomed-in-japan/ ?scp=3&sq=shinto&st=cse.

The Yasukuni Shrine Today

The Yasukuni Shrine was founded in 1869 under the
orders of Emperor Meiji and is dedicated to the souls of all
Japanese military personnel who have fallen in battle since
that time. Most controversially to some (to Japan’s enemies
in World War II, at least), it does not distinguish between
honored dead and dishonorable dead. For example, it
honors fourteen men such as Prime Minister Hideki Tojo
(hee-DECK-ee TOH-joh) who were convicted of war crimes,
including the killing of prisoners of war and civilians, and
hanged for them after the war. Within the shrine the dead
are worshiped rather than just remembered. They willingly
sacrifi ced their lives for Japan, and this has made them
kami. Surrounded by war banners and military regalia, they
are venerated by the hundreds of thousands of visitors
who attend the shrine each year. Some come as tourists to
this site and are not interested in venerating the dead, but
others come to worship them, some even believing that the
souls of the war dead live in the shrine.

Junichiro Koizumi (joo-NEE-chee-roh koh-ee-ZOO-
mee), who was the prime minister of Japan from 2001 to
2006, sparked international protest when he visited the
Yasukuni Shrine in person every year. He refused to explain
his reason for these visits, which caused tension with China
and South Korea. Tensions have lifted a bit as subsequent
prime ministers haven’t gone in person to the shrine, but
public controversy continues in East Asia over this. When
Shinto appears in the news, it is usually in connection with
visits to the Yasukuni Shrine.

197S H I N T O T E A C H I N G S

early 700s C.E. Although there was
an obvious political aim to unite
all the regional and clan deities
under the authority of Sun Goddess
Amaterasu, who was the clan deity
of the emperor’s family, these legends
provide an explanation for the basic
ideas in Shinto teachings, ideas that
endure even today. We begin with
three basic concepts that emerge in
Shinto teachings about the kami.

The Kami

First, the kami are not “gods” as
Westerners understand them or
even as Mahayana Buddhists under-
stand them, but should be under-
stood as powerful natural forces
with a spiritual dimension. No clear
distinction exists between what is alive and not living,
natural and what is socially constructed, or human and
divine. The kami are identifi ed with natural features
but are spirits in and beyond those features. One well-
placed rock can have a kami just as much as Mount
Fuji can. The whole world, including human life, is an
expression of spiritual powers. Spiritual power is not
found evenly throughout the world, but is especially
powerful in particular things, including humans.

Second, the kami are virtually countless. Shinto
focuses on the kami that are important to people and
infl uence human life directly. Most kami are iden-
tifi ed with places—especially forests, mountains,
or waterfalls—that seem especially spiritual to the
Japanese. They are also identifi ed with natural phenom-
ena that are awe inspiring, such as wind, thunder and
lightning, and with destructive phenomena such as the
earthquakes that regularly shake Japan and tsunamis
that sometime follow them. Particular kami are also
identifi ed with ordinary places and activities in human
life, such as the kitchen, safety on the roads, education,
and other things. Living individuals who have a spe-
cial charisma or are very successful in business, politics,
or life might be called kami. Other spiritual forces are
recognized as kami, for example mischievous elements
such as fox spirits or tree spirits. On special occasions, a
kami may possess a human medium to send a message.

Third, individuals should know and venerate the
kami most important to them.
Not only is the kami’s goodwill
required, but the spirits are said
to respond to an individual’s

concern. They are not all-knowing, because their iden-
tity and activity are restricted mostly to special objects
in nature. They want to be informed about signifi cant
events that involve their activities, so prayer to the kami
will sometimes contain these reports.

Characteristics of Other

Shinto Teachings

The main thing to be said about Shinto teachings is that
Shinto has no developed teachings about either this
world or the next. It doesn’t speak about the original cre-
ation of the whole universe, only of Japan. Nor is there
anything about a future end of the world. Likewise, there
is no clear description of any afterlife. Some Shintoists
believe that after a person dies, he or she becomes deeply
related to their ancestral kami and has no individual
soul in the afterlife, as in much of Mahayana Buddhism.
Others believe that their souls go to a shadowy, gloomy
underworld; this was probably the original Shinto
thought. The dead are honored by the living as individu-
als, but they are not individuals as they were in this life.

JO
I I

The main thing to be said about

Shinto teachings is that Shinto has

no developed teachings.

Off erings to the kami, marked by paper streamers, are made by farmers
at a humble Shinto shrine in preparation for trimming the trees.

198 C H A P T E R 8 E N C O U N T E R I N G S H I N T O : T H E WAY O F T H E K A M I

LO4 Shinto Ethics

A follower of Shinto goes to a shrine in Kyoto. She has committed a bad act; it’s weighing on her mind, and
she wants to deal with it. So she goes to her local shrine and
there undergoes a simple ritual of purifi cation. She washes
at the cleansing station before entering and then contacts
one of the shrine priests to pray with her in front of the
shrine gods. She leaves, at peace with herself and deter-
mined that she will do better. Shinto teaches that humans
are born pure. Evil actions and impurity are things that come
later in life and can usually be dealt with by simple cleansing
or purifying rituals.

General Characteristics

To identify the distinctly Shinto elements in Japanese
ethics isn’t easy. Confucian values have inspired much
of Japanese social ethics, supplemented by more indi-
vidual ethics derived from Buddhist monastic rules. In
general, Shinto ethics are based not on a set of com-
mands or of virtues that tells one how to behave, but
on following the general will of the kami, understood
through myth and ritual. The “way” implied in the word
Shinto is primarily a ritual way, to keep the relationship
with the kami on a proper footing. Good moral practice
fl ows from this relationship.

However, the kami aren’t always perfect, so they
don’t serve as moral examples. Shinto texts tell many
stories of kami behaving badly. As we saw above, some
of them are mischief makers and therefore wouldn’t
serve well as role models in such an orderly, proper
populace. This clear difference with religions whose
gods are morally perfect and can serve as moral exam-
ples is probably a main reason why Shinto ethics avoids
absolute moral rules.

Purity

Purity is essential to pleasing the kami, bringing a
happy life, and turning back disappointment or dis-
ease. Many rituals feature the exorcism of sins in
order to restore purity. Cleanliness in particular signi-
fi es a good character and freedom from bad external
infl uences. In Western societies one hears the prov-
erb “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” In traditional
Japanese society cleanliness—of body, mind, and
spirit, both ritual and practical—is godliness. To be in
harmony with the kami, one must keep one’s person,
home, and business clean. The Japanese emphasis on

freshness and purity in food and drink brings a high
quality to the diet, and practically it means that shop-
ping for food is often done every day. Purity in rela-
tionships entails being honest, sincere, and thoughtful
about how other people feel; therefore, apologies for
unintended affronts are very common. The kami par-
ticularly dislike blood and death. Therefore, women
traditionally were excluded from shrine events dur-
ing menstruation, as were people who worked with
the bodies of dead animals, such as leather makers.
Soldiers require special purifi cation after battle, and
people helping at funerals need to purify themselves
as well.

In Western societies one sometimes

hears the proverb “Cleanliness is next

to godliness.” In traditional Japanese

society cleanliness is godliness.

The overall aims of Shinto
ethics are to promote harmony
and purity in all spheres of life.
Purity isn’t just spiritual purity,
but also moral purity—having
a pure and sincere heart, leading to good conduct. It
has a connection with ritual purity—doing things in a
certain way, in a certain state, with a certain attitude.
Shinto views both human beings and the world as mor-
ally good. Evil enters from outside the world of nature
and human society, usually by the agency of evil spirits.
This affects humans similar to a physical disease. When
people do wrong, they bring ritual pollution and moral
fault upon themselves. This blocks the blessings of life
as they fl ow from the kami, and must be dealt with in
ceremonies of cleansing.

LO5 Shinto Ritual
Most Shinto rituals are tied to the life cycle of humans
and the seasonal cycles of nature. Life-cycle rituals include
naming ceremonies for children and ceremonies for bless-
ing children as they grow. The time of taking university
entrance exams is particularly trying for Japanese young
people, and going to the shrine to pray for success is
important for them and their parents. We’ll consider the

199S H I N T O R I T U A L

Shinto wedding ritual more fully below. Although Shinto
does have a funeral ritual and although the emperor
always receives a Shinto service,
for more than a thousand years
most Japanese have preferred
Buddhist funerals. This will be
treated below as well.

The Shinto Shrine

Rituals at Shinto shrines mark one’s entry into a differ-
ent world, the world of the kami. Even in a bustling city,
shrines offer a quiet atmosphere removed from the busy
noise of modern Japanese life. Surrounded by evergreen
trees and approached on a gravel path, they hush every-
day conversation before one enters. The silence is bro-
ken only by ritual hand claps or the sounds of nature.
Shinto ritual, including music and dance, is remarkably
simple and brief, much like the Japanese tea ceremony,
quite unlike complex Buddhist ritual. It has a slow, mea-
sured pace thought to be pleasing to the kami and quite
different from daily life outside. However, at special
festivals in and around the shrine this changes dramati-
cally. A mass of local people will be crowded together
in noisy festivity, “letting themselves go” in front of the
kami in ways they would never dream of doing outside
the shrine. Sometimes this includes enough consump-
tion of alcohol to get worshipers
slightly drunk. This religious
carousing serves as a tempo-
rary release from a society that
prizes almost-constant orderli-
ness and properness.

The shrines are built to blend in with the environ-
ment chosen by the kami of the place. The main sanctuary

building of each shrine
is the honden, in which
symbolic sacred objects
such as a mirror or a
sword are kept at the
center front, where they
receive worship. Traditionally
built from wood and usually left
unpainted, the buildings need
regular repair or rebuilding by
the local community. This is still
the tradition of one of Japan’s
most famous shrines, the Grand Shrine of Ise, which is
reconstructed in traditional style every twenty years.

The kami dwell near, not in, the shrines and must
be invited politely. As we saw above, at least one torii
marks the entrance to a shrine, and a basin is just
inside to rinse one’s hands and mouth. A shrine is usu-
ally dedicated to one particular kami but may host
any number of smaller shrines representing other kami
that local people should also venerate. Sacred places,
such as particular trees and rocks, will be marked off
by ropes of elaborately plaited straw, or by streamers
of plain paper. The kami are summoned by a series of
brief actions: ringing a bell outside the shrine, making
a money offering, clapping hands twice, saying a short
silent prayer, and bowing twice.

The Shinto Priesthood

The work of Shinto priests is located largely in the
shrine. Most new Shinto priests, like most Japanese
Buddhist monks, must now be university graduates.
Women priests can be found, but they aren’t nearly as
numerous as men, because traditional Japanese soci-
ety is still strongly patriarchal. Most priests are “vol-
unteers” who have their main jobs outside the shrines.
They are almost always married and have families.

“ The contemporary miko is typically

a university student collecting a

modest wage in this part-time

position.” —Lisa Kuly

The Shinto priesthood exists mainly to carry out
Shinto rituals and run the shrines, and duties such as

TO
C

K
P

H
O

TO
.C

O
M

/M
A

T
T

H
E

W
R

A
G

honden [HAHN-dahn] Main
sanctuary building of a Shinto
shrine

I ncense sticks burn down in a Shinto shrine.

200 C H A P T E R 8 E N C O U N T E R I N G S H I N T O : T H E WAY O F T H E K A M I

teaching, reli-
gious coun-
seling, etc.,
are minor
activities for
the priests.
Traditionally,
the priest-
hood was

limited to the great shrines, and it rotated
among the able men of the community. But
now the priesthood has been opened up to
many shrines, and it has grown to about
twenty thousand, including two thou-
sand women. All but the smallest shrines
are staffed by a team of priests of various
ranks, assisted by a team of shrine maidens,
the miko discussed above. These miko assist
with shrine functions, assist priests in cere-
monies, perform ceremonial dances, sell souvenirs, and
distribute omikuji. Lisa Kuly writes that today’s miko
is typically “a university student collecting a modest
wage in this part-time position.”3 A miko is tradition-
ally dressed in red trousers, a white kimono jacket, and
white or red hair ribbons. Shinto has no overall leader
in Japan, and each shrine is self-governed and self-sup-
porting through offerings and donations by worshipers.
Most shrines are associated through a national shrine
organization.

Wish Plaques and Fortunes

In Shinto shrines, it’s common to see emas, small
wooden plaques, hung in prominent places. Worshipers
buy an ema, write personal wishes and hopes on the

3 Lisa Kuly, “Locating Transcendence in Japanese
Minzoku Geino,” Ethnologies 25 (2003), 201.

reverse, and then hang it near a sacred tree together
with emas made by others. The kami then read them
and help make them come true. This ritual is under-
stood more as “asking for wishes” or “making hopes”
than as praying, although prayers can also be written
on an ema.

Next, we should discuss the omikuji, literally
“sacred drawing/lottery.” They are fortunes on pre-
printed slips of paper. For an offering of about 100 yen
(approximately one dollar), worshipers can obtain an
omikuji from a person at a shrine desk, or even from
a vending machine. Opening the paper allows one to
see a fortune that has several items on it. The fi rst deals
with the general category of “blessing” and ranges from
“great blessing” to “great curse.” Then it states fortunes
for various aspects of life, for example business, school-
ing, the stock market, falling in love, and others. (No
matter the general category of blessing, in the area of
schooling almost every omikuji advises one to study

Shinto priest offi ciates at a shrine altar in Tokyo.

JO
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TO

ema [AY-muh] Wooden
plaque inscribed with
prayers and wishes

omikuji [OH-mee-
KOO-jee] Fortunes on
preprinted slips of paper

Emas posted at the Izumo Grand Shrine

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Women in traditional dress tie omikuji on ropes at
the Shinto shrine in Kamakura, Japan.

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201S H I N T O R I T U A L

more, study harder,
and the like!) If the
prediction is bad,
the paper is
folded up and

attached to a tree, to ropes, or to wires.
If the prediction is favorable,
one can either take it home
or tie it up in the shrine; the
latter is more common.

The Wedding

Ceremony

The wedding ceremony is
conducted by the Shinto
priest (or priests) and the
mikos at the front of a
Shinto shrine after a formal
procession. The families are

present in the room.
The groom and bride
typically wear formal
Japanese clothes. After
ritual purifi cation, the

priest offers prayers for the couple’s good fortune
and happiness, as well as for the protection and guid-
ance of the kami. Then the miko serves three sips of
purifi ed rice wine to the wedding couple. Brief words
are spoken before the kami and rings are exchanged,
followed by the offering of a small sacred evergreen
branch. One more sip of rice wine is shared, and the
ritual is complete.

We connect the fortune cookie with China, but some
think that it comes from the Japanese omikuji.

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A wedding procession at the Meiji Shrine, Tokyo: main priest,
assistant priest, temple maidens, bride (with white cloth on

head), groom (in a black gown), and family members

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The Shinto priesthood exists mainly

to carry out Shinto rituals and run the

shrines, and duties such as teaching and

religious counseling are minor activities

for the priests.

202 C H A P T E R 8 E N C O U N T E R I N G S H I N T O : T H E WAY O F T H E K A M I

The Home Shrine

Traditional Japanese show respect for the kami by hav-
ing a small shrine or worship space in their house or
outdoors. They also have a kamidana, a “kami shelf”
on which small statues of the kami are placed, some-
times along with small memorial tablets containing the
names of ancestors. The kamidana is typically placed

so high on a wall that it is near
the ceiling, It holds several dif-
ferent items, at the center of
which is a small circular mirror,
a stone, or a jewel. Worship at

the kamidana includes placing fl owers, offering food
such as rice, fruit, and water, and saying short prayers.
Family members carefully cleanse their hands with
water before they perform these daily rituals.

The Shinto Funeral

As we saw above, Japan is a land of multiple religions,
which affects how the Japanese deal with death and how

they believe in an after-
life. Keeping memorial
tablets with the names of
one’s ancestors in house-
hold shrines and offering
food and drink to them

is Confucian in origin. In ritual matters of entering the
afterlife, such as funerals and memorial services for
deceased relatives, a Buddhist priest offi ciates with basi-
cally Buddhist rites.

The basic lines of the historic funeral rite are still
discernible in villages. It particularly applies to men
who are heads of households; in what follows, we will
describe this sort of funeral. In towns and cities today,
the rite has been adapted or lost, especially as the burial
of cremated remains has replaced full-body burial for
reasons of space and cost. The immediate family mem-
bers of the deceased keep themselves in their houses.
The men of the neighborhood gather near the fam-
ily home to make the items required for the funeral,
including paper fl ags containing prayers, paper proces-
sional lanterns, and a wooden candlestick. The women
prepare the food required for the feast given before the
burial. One woman of the neighborhood has the spe-
cial honor of sewing a white pilgrim’s cloak that will
shroud the body for its journey to the land of the dead.
Meanwhile, the men who will be pallbearers dig a grave
in the cemetery.

The spirit of the dead is thought to still be present
and listening, so as the relatives shroud the body, they
politely describe out loud the tasks they are perform-
ing. To mask the odor of death, burning incense is kept
nearby. So that the spirit may pay the ferryman for pas-
sage into eternity, a bag with a few coins is put near the

A Shinto Prayer for the Blessing of the Crops

This Shinto prayer found in the Yengishiki prayer book
clearly demonstrates the Shinto feeling for kami and the
natural world.

I declare in the great presence of Amaterasu who sits
in Ise:

Because the sovereign great goddess bestows on him
[the emperor] the countries of the four quarters over which
her glance extends—

As far as the limit where Heaven stands up like a wall,

As far as the bounds where the country stands up distant,

As far as the limit where the blue clouds spread fl at,

As far as the bounds where the white clouds lie away
fallen—

The blue sea plain as far as the limit, where come the
prows of the ships,

The ships which continuously crowd on the great sea
plain,

And the roads which men travel by land,

as far as the limit whither come the horses’ hoofs,

with the baggage cords tied tightly,

treading the uneven rocks and tree roots,

and lining up continuously in a long path without a
break.

Making the narrow countries wide and the hilly
countries plain,

And drawing together the distant countries by
throwing, so to speak, many ropes over them,

He will pile up his crops like a range of hills in the
great presence of the sovereign great goddess, and will
peacefully enjoy the remainder.

A Closer Look:

kamidana [KAH-mee-
DAH-nuh] “Kami shelf”
found in most private
homes

203S H I N T O I N N O R T H A M E R I C A T O D AY

body, and meditation beads are entwined in
the dead man’s hand. A fan is laid in the cof-
fi n, together with some small favorite object
belonging to the deceased. The Buddhist
priest tells the spirit of the dead to begin its
journey to the land of the dead, and other
ancient formulas are recited. On completing
their task, the family members wash their
hands in salt water.

The funeral procession reaches the cem-
etery with a lot of noise. For the grave, a
round hole has been made, just big enough
to pass the body through. The hole widens
continuously as it goes deeper, until it is
much wider at the usual depth of six feet.
At the bottom, to one side, a large compart-
ment, approximately six feet long and four
feet wide, has been excavated. The body
is taken out of the coffi n and laid into the
grave on straw fl oor mats along with the objects put
earlier into the coffi n. The oldest son praises his father
for his honorable life as his mother continues to pray
for the soul of her husband.

A few days after the burial, the family holds a
“feast of consecration,” at which time they feed and
entertain numerous guests. This feast ends with a pro-
cession in which relatives, friends, and neighbors wear
sackcloth. The property of the deceased is then divided,
with the oldest son receiving most of it. In older times
a small “memorial house” was built over the grave;
more commonly today, a tombstone is erected. At each
of these events a Buddhist priest recites prayers before
the deceased’s portrait. Although the number of com-
memorative meals varies, they are still common in
Japan today as the conclusion of the funeral ritual. Life
is then expected to return to normal.

LO6 Shinto in North
America Today
Shinto has a very small presence outside of Japan.
Shintoists do not seek or even encourage converts, so
almost all followers of Shinto are Japanese. Because the
kami are tied so closely to the land of Japan, Japanese
people living in the wider world often have a lessened

connection with Shinto. Although the people of and
in Japan combine Shinto with Buddhism, people of
Japanese descent living in North America typically
see themselves only as Buddhists if they keep to one
of the traditional Japanese religions. One estimate
of Shintoists in North America has them at only one
thousand people. In the most recent Canadian census,
fewer than 1% of the approximately 100,000 Japanese
Canadians called themselves Shintoists. In the United
States, most of those who practice Shinto are found
on the West Coast. They are served by a small number
of Shinto shrines, including the Tsubaki Shinto Shrine
in Granite Falls, Washington. Of course, Shintoists in
North America can and do have kamidanas in their
homes, at which the simple, regular home rituals can
take place.

Even though the formal presence of Shinto in North
America is remarkably small, it has a certain appeal to
some Westerners today. Its reverence for nature, feel-
ing for ritual, and open acknowledgment of pluralism
(at least in a Buddhist and Confucian context) have
attracted some independent-minded religious seekers.
Small movements to practice Shinto have arisen here
and there in North America. Whether or not Shinto
will have a larger role in North
America, it will almost cer-
tainly continue to be an impor-
tant feature of life in Japan.

Entrance to the Tsubaki Shinto Shrine in Granite
Falls, Washington

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204 C H A P T E R 9 E N C O U N T E R I N G Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M : T H E WAY O F T H E O N E W I S E L O R D

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CHAPTER 9

Learning Outcomes
After studying this chapter, you will be able to do the following:

LO1 Explain the meaning of Zoroastrianism and related
terms.

LO2 Outline how Zoroastrianism developed over time
into what it is today.

LO3 Explain the essential Zoroastrian teachings of
monotheism and moral dualism.

LO4 State the main ethical precepts of Zoroastrianism.
LO5 Outline the way Zoroastrians worship and observe

rituals.

LO6 State the main features of Zoroastrian life in North
America today.

Encountering
Zoroastrianism:
The Way of the
One Wise Lord

BONNIE VAN VOORST © CENGAGE LEARNINGBONNIE VAN VOORST © CENGAGE LEARNING

205

Your Visit to Yazd, Ira

F
or more than a year you’ve planned
and prepared for a hiking trip through
Iran. You’ve been careful to get the cor-
rect visas and learn about cultural ways.
Now that you’re hiking there, you come

across fascinating remains of the past as you approach
the ancient city of Yazd (yahzd) on the ancient Silk
Road. You already know about the importance of Silk
Road caravan trade routes that ran from China to the
Mediterranean Sea. Now you see the remains of a stone
way station on the Silk Road, one of hundreds, each
every thirty kilometers. They had lodging and food for
humans and animals—even running water. It occurs to
you that they were like full-service rest stops along this
ancient highway.

Yazd is the historic center of Zoroastrianism (ZOHR-
oh-ASS-tree-uh-NIHZ-uhm) in present-day Iran, although
most Iranian Zoroastrians now live in the capital city,
Tehran. Yazd has an active Zoroastrian temple, one
of the most beautiful in the world, housing a fi re that
Zoroastrians believe has burned for more than a thou-
sand years. Zoroastrians are not “fi re worshipers,” as you
may have heard some Iranians say, but use fi re as a sym-
bol of the spiritual essence of God.

You hoped to hike out into the desert to Chak-Chak,
an important pilgrimage site for Zoroastrians about 110
kilometers north of Yazd, to see a four-day festival that
was about to start. But then you hear that only the faith-
ful can attend the festival and that the temple will be
closed at that time to non-Zoroastrians, so you travel
out there right away before the festival starts. Chak-
Chak, literally “drip-drip” in Persian, is a small group
of buildings built onto the side of a mountain cliff .
According to legend, a Zoroastrian princess who was
fl eeing the invading Muslim Arab armies escaped from
Yazd into the desert. She arrived at this cliff and was

cornered, with the army closing in on her. She prayed
to God to be spared, and the cliff opened and she dis-
appeared inside forever. From that time on, dripping
water from a spring has marked the place of her res-
cue. Legends such as this one have helped Zoroastrians
cope with the predominantly Muslim nation in which
they fi nd themselves.

Back in Yazd the next day, you hike out of town to the
round stone “towers of silence” built on the hills, used as the
funeral buildings for Zoroastrians until recent times. After
climbing to the top of a tower, you think about the som-
ber scene. For more than two thousand years, Zoroastrians
didn’t bury or cremate their dead, believing that this would
contaminate the earth. Instead, they left dead bodies in
these towers to be eaten there by vultures until only clean
bones remained to be bleached white by the sun. The
bones were then swept into a central depository within
the tower, but you can’t see them any longer. On the plains
of Yazd below, you see partially ruined temples and build-
ings used for funeral rites. Beyond the ruins, you can see
the well-maintained, modern
Zoroastrian cemetery where
Zoroastrians now bury their dead
inside concrete-lined graves. You
take in the whole scene from the
tower, amazed by how this site is
so peaceful now. The towers are
indeed silent.

“I acknowledge my faith in Good Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds, the Good
Religion of Ahura Mazda.” —from the Zoroastrian declaration of faith

The belief that the world is locked in a cosmic
struggle between good and evil, as Zoroastrians
believe, makes for a powerful faith.

Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

What Do YOU Think?

< A Zoroastrian priest lights candles to begin the Zoroastrians’ New Year festival of Nowruz at their temple in Suff ern, New York. Pictures of Zarathustra, the founder of the faith, are on the table and the rear wall.

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206 C H A P T E R 9 E N C O U N T E R I N G Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M : T H E WAY O F T H E O N E W I S E L O R D

Begun thousands of years ago by Zarathustra,
the prophet known to the Greeks as Zoroaster,
Zoroastrianism became the state religion of the ancient
Persian and Sassanid empires. Some historians estimate
that it had as many as 40 million followers, making
it one of the largest religions in the ancient world.
Today, its numbers are severely reduced, for reasons
we will explore in this chapter. About 150,000 adher-
ents, almost all of them ethnic Persians, are clustered in
eastern Iran and Mumbai (Bombay), India, and about
another 50,000 are scattered in twenty-three nations of
the world, including 20,000 in North America. These
numbers are estimates, because exact numbers are hard
to come by.

“Zoroastrianism has probably had more

influence on human life, directly and

indirectly, than any other single faith.”

—Mary Boyce

Despite these reduced numbers, the study of
Zoroastrianism has an appeal all its own. Any religion
from so long ago that is still present today deserves to
be studied carefully. Scholars also study Zoroastrianism
today for a wider reason, to discern the possible infl u-
ence of Zoroastrianism on other Western religions.
Most scholars conclude that Zoroastrianism had
some direct infl uence on ancient Judaism and then
some indirect infl uence (mostly through Judaism) on
Christianity and Islam. The exact extent of this infl u-
ence is sharply debated. On the one hand, a leading
scholar of Zoroastrianism, Mary Boyce, argues for a
maximum infl uence: “Zoroastrianism has probably
had more infl uence on human life, directly and indi-
rectly, than any other single faith.” She also argues that
Zoroastrianism’s teachings on judgment, heaven and
hell, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting
were borrowed by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.1

This position is frequently seen on the Web. On the other
hand, Hebrew Bible scholar James Barr and others have
argued that signifi cant borrowing of Zoroastrian ideas,
directly or indirectly, cannot be demonstrated in early
Judaism, aside from a few small points of contact. Barr
argues as well that later Christian and Islamic beliefs

1 Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices
(London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979), 1, 29.

cannot be shown to have drawn from Zoroastrianism.2

This debate continues today.
In your study of Zoroastrianism, these unique, ini-

tially puzzling features may appear:

● Zoroastrians place a strong emphasis on morality in
thought, word, and deed. But unlike many other reli-
gions that stress moral purity, Zoroastrianism gives
emphasis to dealing with hundreds of ritual impuri-
ties, because they can ruin the effect of moral deeds.

● Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion, teaching
that only one God exists. But it also features dozens
of other spirits good and bad, most of them named,
who have large roles in human life. Sometimes
they are even called “divinities,” as for example
on the opening page of a matchmaking website
for Zoroastrians, which invokes the power of Ava
Ardvisur, the “Divinity of fertility and childbirth.”

● Christians throughout the world, and many people
who aren’t Christians, know about the Bible’s story
of “wise men from the east” visiting the newborn
Jesus to honor him and bring him gifts. Two of these
gifts, frankincense and myrrh, have been offered
in Zoroastrian worship for more than 2,500 years
now. And most Christians don’t realize that the term
the Bible uses for the wise
men, magi (MAJ-igh), is a
special Zoroastrian word
for their priests.

LO1 Names for
Zoroastrianism
and Zoroastrians
Zoroastrianism is the most common designation of
the ancient Persian monotheistic religion. This name is
built from the Greek form of the name of its founder,
Zoroaster (ZOHR-oh-ASS-ter). The founder is known
as Zarathustra (ZAHR-uh-THUHS-truh) in the religion’s
most ancient writings. Zoroastrianism was originally a
European name for the faith and refl ects the European
tendency to name religions after their founders whether
the religions themselves do so or not. Zarathustra
would probably not have been pleased with this name.
But Zoroastrianism “stuck,” and most followers of the
faith use it happily today.

2 James Barr, “The Question of Religious Infl uence: The Case of
Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity.” Journal of the American
Academy of Religion 53 (1985): 201–35.

207 Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M A S S H A P E D B Y I T S PA S T

Zoroastrianism was originally a
European name for the faith and reflects

the European tendency to name religions

after their founders.

Ancient Zoroastrian sources called it the “Good
Religion,” not in a generic sense (after all, what reli-
gion doesn’t think of itself as good?) but as point-
ing especially to the key role of struggle for good in
Zoroastrianism. This moral dimension of the faith is
richly refl ected in its symbol, the faravahar (or faro-
har), which means “Divine glory.” More specifi cally,
Zoroastrians have called their faith the “Mazda-
worshiping” or “Mazdayasnian” (MAHZ-duh-YAHZ-
nee-uhn) religion. The latter name refers to Ahura
Mazda, the “Wise Lord,” who is the only God. He
created the universe as a place in which good will
eventually prevail. This book will follow the current
scholarly convention of referring to the name of the
religion as Zoroastrianism and the name of its founder
as Zarathustra.

One other name for
Zoroastrians has become
important. Zoroastrians
who moved to India from
Iran in the 900s C.E. are
called Parsis (sometimes
spelled “Parsees”), a name
derived from Persians. The
Zoroastrian communities
in east Africa, Great Britain,
and North America descend
largely from this group, so
it has spread beyond India.
Parsis is often used as a syn-
onym of Zoroastrians.

LO2 Zoroastrianism
As Shaped by Its Past

A prominent Zoroastrian of the twentieth century was the rock star Freddie Mercury (1946–1991), the lead singer in
the British band Queen. Born as Farrokh Bulsara to a Zoroastrian
family in what is now Tanzania, he was raised as a devout
Zoroastrian and was initiated into the faith as a teenager.

faravahar [fahr-uh-
VAH-har] “Divine glory,”
winged symbol of
Zoroastrianism stressing
morality

Ahura Mazda [ah-
HOOR-uh MAHZ-duh]
“Wise Lord,” the single, all-
powerful god worshiped
by Zoroastrians

Parsis [PAR-seez] Name
for Zoroastrians in India,
also spelled “Parsees”

The Symbol of Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism
has had a few
diff erent sym-
bols through-
out its history.
One ancient
symbol still
seen today is
a sacrifi cial fi re burning in a ritual urn. But the symbol most
associated with Zoroastrianism for more than 2,500 years
is the faravahar, the fi gure of a human being with eagle’s
wings. Its origins are debated. Some think that it originally
represented Ahura Mazda, because it seems to draw some
elements from the symbols of gods in Assyrian religion.
However, Zoroastrians have always considered God to be
an undepictable spirit.

The central human fi gure represents the individual
Zoroastrian believer. The fi gure is obviously a male, with the
long beard that Persian men wore, but this hasn’t prevented

Zoroastrian women from identifying with the symbol. He is
aged in appearance, so the soul is wise. He wears a tradi-
tional Persian hat, suggesting respect for culture. One hand
is open and lifted upward, symbolic of faith in and obedi-
ence to the goodness of Ahura Mazda. The other hand holds
a ring, which may represent loyalty and faithfulness. The
circle around the center of the human fi gure represents the
immortality of the soul or the eternal signifi cance of human
actions in the here and now.

The two wings have three main rows of feathers,
representing good thoughts, good words, and good
deeds. Doing these things lifts up one’s soul as on
powerful wings. The tail below also has three rows of
feathers, said to represent bad thoughts, bad words, and
bad deeds. The two streamers below the human figure
represent the spirits of good and evil. Every person must
constantly choose between the two, so the figure is fac-
ing the good and turning his back on evil.

A Closer Look:

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208 C H A P T E R 9 E N C O U N T E R I N G Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M : T H E WAY O F T H E O N E W I S E L O R D

Mercury sang many hit songs,
including “Bohemian Rhapsody,”
“We Are the Champions,” and
“Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”
Although he hadn’t formally
observed his ancestral Zoroastrian religion as an adult, his
funeral in London was led at Mercury’s wishes by Zoroastrian
priests. It was conducted entirely in the Avestan language and
included prayers and hymns from the Zoroastrian scriptures.
After the service, his body was cremated. The debate over
Mercury’s legacy indicates a divide in modern Zoroastrianism:
Can it be followed by keeping just its main moral commands,
as some argue Mercury tried to do, or is it necessary to keep the
full, traditional way of life of Zoroastrianism, as he did not?

The early history of Zoroastrianism is still shrouded
in the mists of antiquity. We aren’t certain of many key
details about its beginnings, because most of its earli-
est writings were destroyed in persecutions. But as it
moved closer to our time, Zoroastrianism emerged
from the mists and became a key religion in the world.
It can be divided into three main periods: birth and for-
mation (ca. 630–550 B.C.E.); growth into the offi cial
religion of the Persian Empire, decline under Greek and
Parthian rule, and revival and renewed offi cial status in
the Sassanian Empire (550 B.C.E.–650 C.E.); and slow,
steady decline under Islamic rulers and in the modern
world (650 C.E.–today).

As it moved closer to our time,

Zoroastrianism emerged from the mists

and became a key religion in the world.

The Birth of Zoroastrianism

(ca. 630–550 B.C.E.)

The question of when Zarathustra lived isn’t easy to
answer. A few scholars and many traditional Zoroastrians
date it all the way back to 7500 B.C.E., at what they
consider the dawn of human civilization; others hold to

a time between 1400 and
900 B.C.E. Most commonly
today, historians put his
birth around 630 B.C.E., at
the beginning of the Axial
Age in Europe and Asia.
This term was given by phi-
losopher Karl Jaspers to the

period from 600 to 400 B.C.E. when many religions and
value (axial) systems were founded. This wide chronologi-
cal range, so unusual for dating the founder of a major reli-
gion, shows that fi rm evidence for the life of Zarathustra
is lacking. The Zoroastrian scriptures that he is thought to
have authored, the central chapters of the Gathas, do not
locate him chronologically. No historical sources outside
of Zoroastrianism give reliable information that can be
used in dating his life. Moreover, most Zoroastrian scrip-
tures weren’t written down until about 400 C.E., at least a
thousand years after the events they relate.

The birth of Zarathustra was said by some sacred
writings to be prepared by prophecies and accompanied
by miraculous signs. For example, the glory of Ahura
Mazda descended on Zarathustra’s mother, resulting in a
virginal conception, and the newborn Zoroaster was said
to have laughed when he was born. The main outline of
Zarathustra’s teaching, which he gave to disciples and
at the court of the Persian kings, can be reliably traced,
although the details are sketchy. The ancient Persians
were polytheistic, as were all other Indo-European peo-
ples. The basic structure of Persian polytheism was prob-
ably the same as that of Vedic Hinduism. For example,
both religions worshiped many gods in nature, sacrifi ced
animals whose souls were thought to join the gods, and
used a hallucinogenic drug in some sacrifi ces.

Zarathustra saw this religion as mistaken. He had
a revolutionary monotheistic vision that only one God
existed, Ahura Mazda. He also had a vision of an evil
fi gure (supernatural but not divine), named Angra
Mainyu, who opposed God. Zarathustra taught that all
people had to choose which of these two moral forces
they would follow, a choice that would either improve
the world or make it worse. This choice determined their
judgment by God to heaven or hell when they died, but
Zarathustra taught that a fi nal restoration would come
when Ahura Mazda completely defeated the forces of
evil. In this restoration, even hell would come to an end,
and all people would be resurrected with a re-created
body to an eternal, blessed life. Despite the up-and-
down fortunes of this faith, Zarathustra’s powerful
teaching has endured through today.

The Spread of Zoroastrianism

in the Persian and Sassanian

Empires (550 B.C.E.–650 C.E.)

The fi rst certain date in Zoroastrian history is its estab-
lishment in Persia during the reign of the Persian kings,
beginning in 550 B.C.E. These kings created and ruled
over the largest empire the world had yet seen, and

Axial Age Name given
by philosopher Karl Jaspers
to the period from 600
to 400 B.C.E. when many
religions and value (axial)
systems were founded

209 Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M A S S H A P E D B Y I T S PA S T

Zoroastrianism spread with it (see Map 9.1). Some
Persian kings drew explicitly on Zoroastrianism for the
legitimacy of their empire, claiming that Ahura Mazda
wanted his fame and goodness spread throughout the
world. However, the Persians never attempted to impose
Zoroastrianism on subject peoples with other religions.
Given Zoroastrianism’s monotheism and moral rigor
based on individual choice, religious ideas not widely
shared in the ancient Middle East, this was a wise policy.
Persian rule was autocratic but tolerant and effi cient,
respecting and even embracing cultural and religious
differences in its subject peoples.
As the ancient Greek historian
Herodotus wrote, “No nation
so readily adopts foreign cus-
toms as the Persians do.”

“No nation so readily adopts foreign

customs as the Persians.” —Herodotus,

ancient Greek historian

Cyrus (SY-rus) II, later called Cyrus
the Great, ruled the small Persia home-
land from 550 to 530 B.C.E. He
began the expansion of Persia by
overthrowing the king of Media to
the north, and he kept on marching.
Within ten years he had conquered
much of the Middle East. He was
a faithful Zoroastrian, as were the
emperors of Persia who came after
him, but tolerant toward other reli-
gions in his empire. When he cap-
tured Babylon, he rebuilt the temple
of its main god, Marduk (MAHR-
dook). He released many captive
peoples held in Babylonia, allow-
ing them to return to their homes
and pursue their religions. For
example, Cyrus allowed the thou-
sands of Jews taken to Babylon in
586 B.C.E. to return to Jerusalem
in 539, to rebuild their temple and
land as a loyal part of the Persian

3 William Stearns Davis, Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative
Extracts from the Sources, Vol. 2: Greece and the East (Boston:
Allyn and Bacon, 1912), 60.

Empire. Historians who argue for a large infl uence
of Zoroastrianism on Judaism typically point to this
“Persian period” in Jewish history as the time when
it occurred.

Darius (dah-RY-us) I, called “Darius the Great,”
ruled from 521 to 486 B.C.E. He is known mainly for
his great building projects, such as a spectacular new
capital at Persepolis. He was adept at managing his
empire and expanded Persian rule to its greatest extent.
Darius referred to Ahura Mazda in his royal inscrip-
tions as the source of his successes, and he had monu-
mental faravahars carved on many walls in Persepolis
and in older cities. He attempted to conquer Greece,
but wasn’t successful.

Darius’s son Xerxes (ZUHRK-seez), who ruled
from 486–465 B.C.E., also tried to conquer Greece,
this time with a massive effort. Like his father, he failed.
Several relatively small Greek city-states turned back
the mighty Persian Empire, marking a turning point in
Persian fortunes. (This story is told in historical-fantasy
form by the much-mocked 2006 fi lm 300, with its false
depiction of the Persians and of Xerxes.) Xerxes and
his successors changed the policy of tolerating differ-
ent religions and ethnic groups as their predecessors

had, betraying Zoroastrian values. Local and
regional imperial offi cials were now drawn

only from Persian ranks, not as before
from local national and ethnic groups.
Over the next hundred years, the
empire suffered from various revolts
and struggles over the throne. It was
greatly reduced in size and splendor
by the time Alexander the Great of
Macedon, a nation that had once
been a part of the Persian Empire,
easily toppled it in 334 B.C.E.

Zoroastrians today see much to
be proud of in this period, includ-
ing the birth and early growth of
their faith. But they view the accom-
plishments as short-lived due to the
onslaught of Alexander. They blame
Alexander for many of the troubles
of later Zoroastrianism. They have
so hated Alexander that they have
called him not “Alexander the Great”
but “Alexander the Accursed.” They
cursed him for murdering priests
and scholars, extinguishing ritual

fi res, destroying temples, and carrying off sacred writ-
ings and having them burned or (worse) translated for
non-Zoroastrians. Some of these charges are no doubt

Miniature relief carving of
Cyrus the Great

210 C H A P T E R 9 E N C O U N T E R I N G Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M : T H E WAY O F T H E O N E W I S E L O R D

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exaggerated; Alexander,
like the Persians, tended
to be basically tolerant of
other religions. But the fact
remains that Alexander
overthrew the empire to
which Zoroastrianism had
become closely connected,
and Zoroastrianism was
greatly damaged in the
process. In
particu-

lar, the loss of much of the sacred
literature at this time and in later
book burnings means that we are
no longer able to reconstruct the
history of Zoroastrian teachings.

Zoroastrianism struggled
under Hellenistic, Roman, and
Parthian rule that controlled parts
of its homeland from 334 B.C.E.
until 224 C.E. Zoroastrian reli-
gious leaders praised the kings of

the Sassanian Empire (224–651 C.E.; also known as
“Sassanid”) for powerfully reestablishing the religion.
For the second time, Zoroastrianism was the offi cial
religion of a large empire (see Map 9.2). This was the
“golden age” of Zoroastrianism. Several Sassanian rul-
ers featured Zoroastrian symbols in offi cial inscriptions
and coins. Their patronage enabled the establishment
of many Zoroastrian temples and the rise of a profes-
sional Zoroastrian priesthood to staff them. The Avesta,
the fi rst and basic Zoroastrian scripture, was collected.

Towers of silence, stone funeral struc-
tures for the Zoroastrian dead, were

built throughout the land. In the
Sassanian period, Zoroastrianism
reached the basic form that it
would keep through today.

The Sassanians presented
themselves as pious Zoroastrians,
putting religious images on their
coins and buildings. Later sources
celebrated some Sassanian kings
as a blessing to Zoroastrianism.
Zoroastrians still use the date of

Map 9.1
The Zoroastrian Persian Empire, ca. 500 B.C.E.
At its height around 500 B.C.E., the Persians controlled a huge empire that included northern Greece, Egypt,

and most of western Asia, from the Mediterranean coast to the Indus River in India.

Avesta [ah-VEHS-tuh]
First and basic Zoroastrian
scripture

tower of silence Stone
funeral structure where
the Zoroastrian dead were
placed and bones stored;
no longer used in most
locations

CLASSICAL NUMISMATIC GROUP INC. WWW.CNGCOINS.COM

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Coin of Sassanian King Shahpur II
(309–379 C.E.), with a fi re altar
and priests

211 Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M A S S H A P E D B Y I T S PA S T

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Byzantine territory, ca. 600

Sassanid Empire, ca. 600

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the coronation of the last Sassanian king, Yazdgird, in
631 C.E. as the fi rst year of their calendar (for exam-
ple, 2011 C.E. = 1380 Y.). However, modern Iranian
Zoroastrians blame the Sassanians
for beginning the decline of their
religion, saying that its misuse for
political purposes led to the down-
fall of the empire. Zoroastrian
religion had been too closely tied
to imperial rule, they say, and the
strong moral essence of the religion
was compromised. The Sassanian
Empire was conquered by Arabic
Muslim forces around 650 C.E. As
happened earlier with Alexander’s
conquest of the Persian Empire,
the brutal Muslim conquest of
the Sassanian Empire caused great
damage to the state-sponsored

Zoroastrian religion and to most Zoroastrians. They
found themselves in a Muslim empire that would, over
time, further reduce their numbers and infl uence.

Map 9.2
The Sassanian and Byzantine Empires, 600 C.E.
By 600 C.E., the Christian Byzantine Empire controlled much of the eastern Mediterranean. The

neighboring Zoroastrian Sassanian Empire dominated most of western Asia. It was centered in the older
Persian homeland, which today is in southern Iran.

The remnants of this Zoroastrian fi re temple show the
destruction of holy places in the Arab invasions.

IV
A

N
M

LI
N

A
R

IC
©

C
E

N
G

A
G

E
LE

A
R

N
IN

G
2

0
1

3
Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

212 C H A P T E R 9 E N C O U N T E R I N G Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M : T H E WAY O F T H E O N E W I S E L O R D

The Coming of Islam and

the Zoroastrian Dispersion

(650 C.E.–present)

The Arabic conquest of the Sassanian Empire began a pro-
cess of Islamic growth and Zoroastrian decline that would
last for centuries. Muslim rulers considered Zoroastrians
to be “People of the Book” and did not forcibly convert
them, but most Zoroastrians converted to Islam none-
theless, probably drawn by its rigorous monotheism and
strict morality. Those who remained Zoroastrians had
their religious liberty restricted, and they were often per-
secuted. Up to three-quarters of their sacred literature was
destroyed. A few times, various Zoroastrian communities
openly revolted against their Muslim overlords, only to
be crushed and decimated. By 900 C.E. the Zoroastrians
were reduced to such a small minority that they were
concentrated in a few areas of Iran.

These pressures on the Iranian Zoroastrians led
many to fl ee to the western coast of India, in the Gujarat
area, in 936 C.E. In the course of time, they developed
a specifi c ethnic identity with a strong sense of shared
history, and even a language they named Parsi-Gujarati.
The Hindu authorities tolerated Zoroastrianism, but
did not allow conversions of Hindus to Zoroastrianism
(which Zoroastrians prohibited as well) or even
Hindu visits to Zoroastrian temples. For centuries,
Zoroastrians in India had their own dress and diet
codes. These have now mostly disappeared in everyday
life but are carefully observed on important occasions
such as initiations, feasts, weddings, and funerals. Thus
began the development of two different communities of
Zoroastrians, Iranians and Parsis, a
split that would last through today.
An effort in the early twenty-fi rst
century to found an organization for
all Zoroastrians failed to overcome
the old differences.

The Parsi communities blossomed
during Mughal (Islamic) and British
rule in India. These latter groups were
more tolerant of Zoroastrianism than
were the rulers of Iran. Many Parsis
today regard these times as a high
point of their community’s history,
in material wealth, social prestige,
cultural achievements, and political
infl uence. Zoroastrians in India pros-
pered economically in commerce and
the professions. An unprecedented
number of temples were built, most

of them in urban Mumbai, still the modern stronghold
of Zoroastrianism.

At the same time, their religion underwent consider-
able change beginning around 1800. The fear of demons
and of unwitting ritual pollution that characterized ear-
lier Zoroastrianism ended. The socioreligious position
of the clergy declined, and lay participation in leader-
ship was fi rmly established, along with certain rights
for women. Social and religious reform movements
representing a minority of Parsis started to fi ght against
what they regarded as Zoroastrian “superstitions” and
advocated a return to what their members regarded
as the original teachings of Zarathustra. Since the late
nineteenth century, the question of the permissibility of
conversion to Zoroastrianism and mixed marriages has
brought an ongoing debate about Zoroastrian identity.
Parsis did not permit conversion to Zoroastrianism, and
although intermarriage with people of other faiths hap-
pens in many Zoroastrian families, it is still regarded as
taboo. The religious status of persons of other religions
who marry Zoroastrians, and the children born of such
marriages, is still a matter of diffi cult dispute today
almost everywhere Zoroastrians are found.

One of the several Zoroastrian fi re temples in Mumbai

R
É

D
É

R
IC

S
O

LT
A

N
/C

O
R

B
IS

The Arabic conquest of the Sassanian

Empire began a process of Islamic

growth and Zoroastrian decline that

would last for centuries.

213 E S S E N T I A L Z O R O A S T R I A N T E A C H I N G S : M O N O T H E I S M A N D M O R A L D U A L I S M

Indian independence in 1949 was a mixed blessing
for the Parsis. It brought a greater measure of freedom,
but it also brought the challenge of numerical decline.
Parsis now number fewer than 70,000, down from
more than 100,000 a century ago. Part of this decline is
due to a reluctance to procreate that is typical of mod-
ern groups with upper-class social standing such as that
of the Parsis, but this is clearly at odds with the exhor-
tations to bear children that can be found throughout
Zoroastrian religious literature. Migration has also
contributed to dwindling numbers in India. Starting
with the late 1700s, Parsis settled in distant parts of the
British Empire, including in Chinese port cities, Burma,
Ceylon, and parts of Africa, but mostly in Britain itself.
Since the 1960s, new waves of
immigration brought Parsis
to North America, Australia,
New Zealand, and the Persian
Gulf nations.

In Iran, Zoroastrianism
had been reduced to a tiny minority of fewer than 10,000
by 1900. These Zoroastrians had to bear a wide range
of harsh discriminatory practices from the dominant
Muslim population. Help from Zoroastrians in India
and substantial political and legal changes improved
the lot of the Iranian Zoroastrians and led to a tripling
of their numbers. Many Zoroastrians left agriculture,
migrated to the modern capital of Tehran (which is
now the main stronghold of the Iranian Zoroastrians),
and went into the new middle-class professions. As the
Parsis did in India, some Iranian Zoroastrians found
great success in commerce.

Modern Iranian Zoroastrianism has undergone
fundamental changes. When Zoroastrians were freed
during secular Iranian rule from many restrictions in
much of the twentieth century until 1979, the religion
has been reconceived as a message of moral freedom.
Iranian Zoroastrians have claimed that this was the
essence of Zarathustra’s message. The ceremonial rit-
ual system has been deliberately neglected, and many
rules and rituals that are still carefully upheld by Indian
priests have been all but abandoned in Iran. The Yasna
(YAHZ-nuh) ceremony, for example, which the Parsis
regard as an important liturgy (it takes a pair of trained
priests several hours to perform it), is celebrated only
rarely nowadays, and in a drastically reduced format,
by some Iranian priests. Most of the purifi cation ritu-
als have been abandoned. The professional priesthood
has seen a sharp decline, and the leading priests have
joined the social and intellectual elite in a crusade to
uproot ancient “superstition” in the faith, including
some rituals for women, devotion to “lesser” divinities

such as Mithra, and animal
sacrifi ce. The fear of being
called “fi re worshipers” led
the community to empha-
size the symbolic role of
fi re in their worship; some
new temples even house
gas fi res. Consecrated
wood fi res are still kept
burning but aren’t tended
according to past ritual.

Zoroastrianism in Iran gradually transformed itself
into a religion of freedom and morality, representing
the splendor of ancient Iran. For most of the 1800s
and 1900s, Zoroastrianism became an appealing alter-
native to Shi’a Islam for many Iranians, where pride
in Iran’s Persian heritage is deeply felt by many. Some
even converted to Zoroastrianism. This more liberal
form of Zoroastrianism is today also represented by an
international organization based in California called the
Zarathushtrian Assembly. This group advocates the
modernized form of their religion and accepts people
willing to convert. However, it is strongly opposed by
other Zoroastrian organizations, including a traditional-
ist organization based in Mumbai called the Zoroastrian
Studies Association. When the Islamic Republic of Iran
was established in 1979, conversion to Zoroastrianism
or any other religion became almost impossible. The New
Year festival, which is widely shared among Iranians who
are Muslims, is among the few accepted occasions for
celebration that include both Zoroastrians and Muslims.

LO3 Essential Zoroastrian
Teachings: Monotheism
and

Moral Dualism

On the crowded streets of Mumbai, India, a young Zoroastrian woman sees an automobile with a familiar
name: Mazda. The auto company’s logo she sees on this car
looks like the wings of a bird, suggesting to her the main sym-
bol of her faith, the faravahar. This causes her both wonder
and consternation: Is it really connected to Zoroastrianism?
Why should a car company abuse the name of God? So, like
most young people today, she goes on the Internet and fi nds
the website of the Mazda automotive company in Japan. The
company website states that the name derives from Ahura
Mazda, “a god of the earliest civilizations in West Asia, the god
of wisdom, intelligence and harmony.” The company website
further notes that the company name also comes from a
shortening of Matsuda, the last name of its Japanese founder.

Zarathushtrian
Assembly International
group based in
California advocating
the modernized form
of Zoroastrianism and
accepting people willing
to convert

214 C H A P T E R 9 E N C O U N T E R I N G Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M : T H E WAY O F T H E O N E W I S E L O R D

The teachings of Zoroas-
trianism stress belief in one
God and moral dualism.
Zoroastrianism was prob-
ably the first faith to put
these two features together,
and most Zoroastrian
teachings are connected to
them.

The One God, Ahura Mazda

Zoroastrianism’s foundational teaching is that there is
only one supreme God, Ahura Mazda, a name that means
“Wise Lord” or “Lord of Wisdom.” Ahura Mazda is the
source of all light, truth, goodness, and life. He is infi nite,
and infi nitely good. Zarathustra emphasized the central
importance of Ahura Mazda by portraying him as the one
God, accompanied by many spirit-lords, all the other older
Indo-Aryan gods who were “demoted” in the new religion.
In later Zoroastrianism, the name Ahura Mazda was com-
pacted into a single-word form, Ormazd. As the fi rst verse
in the ancient Avesta scripture proclaims, “Ahura Mazda
is the creator, radiant, glorious and best; the most beauti-
ful, fi rm, wise, perfect and bounteous Spirit!” Zoroastrians
look to Ahura Mazda as the source of all created things
that are good, the one who sustains goodness and life in
the present, and the one who at the end of time will defeat
all evil and give eternal life to all people.

“Ahura Mazda is the creator, radiant,

glorious and best; the most beautiful,

firm, wise, perfect and bounteous Spirit!”

—The Avesta

For Zoroastrians, only Ahura Mazda is a true God;
only he is to be worshiped. All the other “lords,” ahu-
ras, and demons are beneath him and are not gods.
They form an entourage of spirits that accompany the
forces of either good or evil. In sum, Zoroastrianism is
properly called monotheistic because it teaches the exis-
tence of one God. However, it was never as assertively
monotheistic against other faiths as Judaism, Islam, or
Christianity tended to be. It lacks a clear denial of the
existence of other gods, characteristic of the more radi-
cal monotheisms. This may be connected to its historic
tolerance toward other creeds.

The Spirit of Destruction,

Angra Mainyu

Opposition to the evil and impurities in the world was
also a fundamental feature of Zoroastrianism from its
beginning. Because Ahura Mazda is good and made
the world to be a good place, he desires the people in
his creation to be morally good as well. This entails
a positive effort to do what is right and a negative
effort to engage in a real fi ght with evils of all sorts.
People who think, say, and do evil on earth are deceiv-
ers and liars who turn others against the one true,
good God by promoting all sorts of evils. Evil doesn’t
always look like evil, nor is it always easily recog-
nized. Instead, it disguises itself as good, hence one of
the main fi gures of evil is known as the Druj (drooj),
the “Spirit of Deceit” or the “Spirit of the Lie.” The
supreme evil spirit, Zarathustra taught, is Angra
Mainyu, the “Spirit of Destruction.” Zarathustra
seems to have used this as only a title, to judge from
the oldest parts of Zoroastrian scriptures, but later it
became a proper name and was shortened to Ahriman
(AH-rih-mun).

The Zoroastrian Creed

At key moments in a Zoroastrian’s life, the Fravarane is
recited. This declaration of faith is a shortened version of
the full creed from the Zoroastrian scriptures.

“Come to my help, Ahura Mazda. I am a Mazdayasnian
according to [the way of ] Zarathustra. I fi rmly declare
my faith. I acknowledge my faith in Good Thoughts well
conceived. I acknowledge my faith in Good Words well
spoken. I acknowledge my faith in Good Deeds well done.

I acknowledge my acceptance of the Good Religion of
Mazda, which ends strife and disarms violence, which
makes us righteous and self-reliant. It is the religion
of those who have been, and shall be, the noblest, the
best, and most sublime. The religion of Ahura Mazda
was brought to us by Zarathustra. All good derives from
Ahura Mazda. This is the declaration of the Mazdayasnian
religion.”

A Closer Look:

Angra Mainyu
[AHN-gruh MIGHN-yoo]
“Spirit of Destruction,”
supernatural head of
all evil in the cosmos,
opponent of Ahura Mazda

215 E S S E N T I A L Z O R O A S T R I A N T E A C H I N G S : M O N O T H E I S M A N D M O R A L D U A L I S M

Moral Dualism

Another foundational feature of Zoroastrianism is
dualism, the notion that the cosmos is composed of
two competing forces. This opposition between good
and evil is also found in early Vedic Hindu sources,
so it must have been some part of pre- Zoroastrian
Persian religion, but Zarathustra developed it sig-
nifi cantly. From the beginning of the world, the
Zoroastrian scriptures say, there have been two
incompatible, antagonistic spirits in the world. One is
the good God, Ahura Mazda; the other is a devil-like
fi gure, Angra Mainyu. The Twin Spirits under Ahura
Mazda made an ominous choice: The Bounteous
Spirit chose to be truthful in thoughts, words, and
deeds, but the Deceitful Spirit chose to be a follower
of evil. When the Zoroastrian scriptures teach this
dualism, it is always with a command to follow the
good; for example, “Let those who act wisely choose
correctly between these two, not as evil-doers choose”
(Yasna 30.3).

Then it was the turn of the old gods of pre-
Zoroastrian Persian religion to choose between good

and evil; these gods, called
daevas (DIGH-vuhs), all
chose badly. Ever since,
the daevas have tried to
corrupt people’s choices
also. The two powers of
good and evil are roughly
equal to each other in
this world, so the fi ght
between good and evil is
real. The two powers draw
all people into their service as they fi ght this cosmic
moral battle, as people decide which spirit to follow.
These two forces will continue to limit and challenge
each other until the end of time, when evil will fi nally
be defeated.

Zoroastrianism’s form of moral dualism was
never understood in an absolute fashion where good
and evil are exactly equal, because it was qualifi ed
by monotheism. If there is only one God, and this
God is both good and has supreme power, evil at
the end of the day doesn’t have much of a chance to
win. Instead, the forces of good are assured of even-
tual triumph. Ahura Mazda limits the exercise of his
supreme power as this struggle plays out. Humans
should join this cosmic war because of their capacity
of free choice.

The dualism is moral, but it isn’t physical dualism,
the idea that matter is evil and spirit is good. Humans
serve either good or evil with both their souls and bod-
ies, because both the human soul and the human body
participate in the divine nature. For example, fasting
and celibacy—important practices in many religions
to control the body and its supposed impulse to do or
think wrong—are almost unknown in Zoroastrianism.
The fi ght has a ritual aspect as well: Humans must
keep themselves pure in body and soul by avoiding
defi lement by contact with dead humans and animals,
treating fi re with great respect, avoiding demons in
their dreams, and so forth. There are short but neces-
sary rituals for cleansing oneself after cutting hair or
nails, sneezing, eliminating bodily wastes, and using
toothpicks. Thus, traditional Zoroastrianism has rit-
ual aspects that are just as all-pervading as its ethical
aspects.

Supernatural Intermediaries

Zoroastrianism’s strong moral dualism is buttressed
by supernatural intermediaries that personify and pro-
mote what is morally good. Between Ahura Mazda
and human beings there are six intermediary beings

dualism Notion that the
cosmos is composed of
two competing forces

Twin Spirits The
Bounteous Spirit and
the Deceitful Spirit, two
supernatural beings under
Ahura Mazda

Fire, such as this one in Yazd said to be burn-
ing for more than a thousand years, symbol-
izes the purity and power of good.

A
LE

X
A

N
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E
R

N
IT

Z
S

C
H

216 C H A P T E R 9 E N C O U N T E R I N G Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M : T H E WAY O F T H E O N E W I S E L O R D

called Amesha Spentas,
or benevolent immortals.
They are Good Thoughts,
Perfect Truth, Desirable
Lordship, Benefi cial
Devotion, Plenty, and
Immortality. These immor-
tals are the entourage of
personifi ed virtues that
constantly surround Ahura
Mazda. They are indi-
vidual divine beings and
at the same time cosmic
moral virtues. Humans
who choose to follow
Ahura Mazda take on the

moral characteristics of these immortals, and they prog-
ress from Good Thoughts to Immortality.

Judgment and the Final

Victory of Ahura Mazda

In Zoroastrian belief, the soul hovers above the body
for three days after death. On the fourth day, it takes
a rapid journey to the next world and faces judgment
on the Chinvat Bridge. The deeds of the soul dur-
ing all of life are weighed. If its good deeds outweigh
evil ones, the soul ascends to the stars (representing
good thoughts) then to the moon (good words), to
the sun (good deeds), and fi nally to paradise, where
eternal lights shine. There the soul is led to the golden
throne of Ahura Mazda by
the Good Mind. However, if
evil outweighs good, the soul
is dragged off to hell, to be
punished there until the end
of time.

At the end of time, hell will be emptied

of souls and sealed forever, and Angra

Mainyu and all his forces will be

annihilated.

In the last great struggle near the end of time, the
armies of good and evil will battle to the death, and
Ahura Mazda’s soldiers will defeat their evil enemies.
Then a fi nal judgment comes at the end of the world,

after all bodies of the dead are resurrected and reunited
with their souls, whether they have been in heaven or
hell. A fi nal cleansing of fi re purifi es the souls and bodies
of evil human beings, so that all people are fi t to live in
paradise. This will restore the goodness of the world at
the time of creation. The personifi ed Spirit of Fire and
Angra Mainyu will cause the metals of the mountains to
melt and to fl ow down as a river of fi re. All resurrected
humans must walk through this valley of trial. The
fi re will burn off the sins of the wicked for three pain-
ful days, but to the righteous it will be as delicious and
restorative as warm milk. Then all people will enjoy hap-
piness and divine blessing forever. On the renewed earth,
men and women will have no shadow because they are
sinless. Hell will be emptied of souls and sealed forever,
and Angra Mainyu and all his forces will be annihilated.

LO4 Zoroastrian Ethics

A young Zoroastrian man in California logs onto a Zoroastrian matchmaking website. Because his religion is
important to him and because it commands marriage within
the faith, he is now looking for a suitable Zoroastrian who
could possibly become his wife. He has tried to fi nd a possible
mate in San Francisco, but the Zoroastrian community there is
too small, and the website gives him worldwide possibilities,
especially in India, where his family came from generations
ago. Some of his friends, both male and female, have married
non-Zoroastrians, and his religious community has refused to
welcome them or recognize their children as Zoroastrians. The
young man would like to avoid these diffi cult problems.

As we have seen previously, the two main doctrinal
teachings of Zoroastrianism are monotheism and
morality. These are deeply intertwined. In a culture that
rarely thought of its gods as morally good, Zarathustra
proclaimed that the one God, Ahura Mazda, was infi –
nitely good and was attended by six spirits who per-
sonify his righteousness and mediate it to humankind.
Ahura Mazda fi ghts a cosmic battle against evil, a force
that is strong and real (Gathas, Yasna 44:10; 53:1).

Because Ahura Mazda does what is good, he
expects all people to follow him in doing what is right
and putting away evil. In this way, they join the ongo-
ing cosmic spiritual and physical battle for righteous-
ness, a battle that Ahura Mazda will certainly win.
Zoroastrians do not simply fi ght against evil in them-
selves or society around them, but by their good actions
they fi ght against demons and Angra Mainyu himself.
People have the freedom to know right from wrong
and choose what is right, and Ahura Mazda holds them

Amesha Spentas
[uh-MAY-shuh SPEN-
tuhz] Six benevolent,
immortal spirits who are
intermediaries between
Ahura Mazda and
humanity

Chinvat Bridge [CHIN-
vaht] “Requiter Bridge,”
where deeds are weighed
for a soul’s assignment to
either heaven or hell until
the resurrection

217 Z O R O A S T R I A N R I T U A L S

responsible for these choices. Most Zoroastrians have a
lively sense of the heavenly reward for doing right and
the hellish punishment for doing wrong.

Zoroastrian General

Morality

Zoroastrian ethics focus on the maintenance of life and
the fi ght against evil, but this abstract ideal is carried
out in very concrete ways. The most ancient scriptures
of Zoroastrianism relate that one must earn an honest
living by means of cattle raising and agriculture. This
wasn’t just a cultural given—it was a religious norm.
Over time, many Zoroastrians went into commerce
and prospered in it, in part because they had a reputa-
tion for being honest with all people, not just those of
their faith or ethnic group. At one time, Zoroastrians in
Mumbai owned more businesses than did Hindus, who
vastly outnumbered them.

Zoroastrians hold to values of saying and doing the
truth, being faithful to Ahura Mazda, and doing what is
good in the world. Goodness in one’s individual life can
be attained only by living a balanced, morally healthy
life of good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. In
the Avestan language, these three have the same begin-
ning sound, suggesting they go together: Humata (hoo-
MAHT-uh), Hukhta (HOOK-tuh), and Huvereshta
(HOO-vuh-RESH-tuh). This threefold statement of
morality is so important in the faith that it is a key part
of the Zoroastrian confession of faith, as we saw previ-
ously. It is inscribed over many a door to Zoroastrian
temples and community centers. In the past few cen-
turies, generous giving to Zoroastrian philanthropies
has become a hallmark of Zoroastrian moral effort.
The steady work of Zoroastrians to spread good in the
world has improved the education of girls and the social
status of women in India, Iran, and other countries.

At one time, Zoroastrians in Mumbai

owned more businesses than did Hindus,

who vastly outnumbered them.

Traditional Zoroastrians live their lives in this world
with a view of their individual judgment after death.
Their future life in the next world, at least from the time
of their death to the end of the world, is determined
by the total balance of good and evil deeds, words, and
thoughts. This principle, however, is fl exible enough to

allow for human weakness. Zoroastrians don’t believe
that all their sins must be weighed on the scales. There
are two means of erasing now their negative effects at
one’s personal judgment. The fi rst of these is confession
of one’s sins, which brings forgiveness and lightens the
weight of sin at the judgment. The second means is the
transfer of merits from the Zoroastrian saints, whose
good thoughts, words, and deeds are far more than
what the saints need to pass judgment and enter heaven.
This is the rationale for Zoroastrian funeral prayers and
rituals asking Ahura Mazda for mercy on and forgive-
ness of the souls of the dead.

A Current Ethical and

Social Issue: Marriage

and Children

Another key moral command in Zoroastrianism is
the duty to marry and have children. To Zoroastrians,
the world is a good place even though evil has marred
it. Marriage and children are good things for every
Zoroastrian; in contrast with some other religions
among whom Zoroastrians have lived (for instance,
Hinduism and Jainism), one won’t see any form of celi-
bacy at any stage in life. Moreover, marriage must be to
another Zoroastrian, preferably a member in a clan rela-
tionship, although avoiding incest. In other words, mar-
riage must be close, but not too close. Zoroastrians have
even called their religion the “faith of kindred marriage.”

The fact that many Zoroastrians in India and the
Western world have only one or at most two chil-
dren, and others marry outside the faith, means that
these ancient values are threatened. Unless marriage
takes place more often within the faith, and unless
Zoroastrian couples have more children on average
than one or two, Zoroastrians may all but disappear in
a few centuries. Many Zoroastrians are apprehensive
about the future of their faith. Some other Zoroastrian
groups that call themselves “reformist” accept children
of mixed marriages into the faith, but this is strongly
rejected by the main body of Zoroastrians.

LO5 Zoroastrian Rituals

As he sits on the fl oor in a Zoroastrian temple in a
Chicago suburb, a priest off ers
sacrifi ce for the souls of the dead.
In his secular occupation, Kersey
Antia is a clinical psychologist

218 C H A P T E R 9 E N C O U N T E R I N G Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M : T H E WAY O F T H E O N E W I S E L O R D

specializing in panic disor-
ders. As a Zoroastrian priest,
he offi ciates at fi re ceremo-
nies, feeding sandalwood and
frankincense into a blazing
fi re in a large urn. He recites
prayers that he learned to

pronounce by special training in the Avestan language at a
school in India. Although Zoroastrians today understand only
a few Avestan words, the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda does
speak Avesta, so the words are still eff ective.

Fires in the Fire

Temple

The Zoroastrian house of worship, in which all worship
takes place, is the fi re temple. In the Western world
an “eternal fl ame” is a symbol of honored memory; in
Zoroastrianism every temple has an eternal fl ame for
the worship of Ahura Mazda. Fire temples and their
activities center on the fi re within them, and they are
named by three types of fi res.

In the Western world an “eternal fl ame”

is in memory of an honored person; in

Zoroastrianism every temple has an eternal

fl ame for the worship of Ahura Mazda.

The Appointed Place Fire is
the fi rst classifi cation of sacred
fi re. It can be consecrated in a few
hours by two priests, who recite
scriptures as they light and tend
the fi re. An approved layperson
may tend the fi re when no services
are in progress. The smallest and
most humble Zoroastrian temples
have only this sort of fi re. It is also
found with the two greater fi res in
more impressive temples, where
priests celebrate the main rituals
of the faith and believers invoke
blessings in front of the fi re.

The next level is the Fire of
Fires. It requires a gathering and
mingling in one sacrifi cial urn of
fi res from representatives of the
four main social groups: priests,

soldiers and civil servants, farmers and herdsmen, and
artisans and laborers. These are the traditional classes
in Zoroastrian society from ancient times. Eight priests
must consecrate this fi re in a ritual that takes up to
three weeks.

The highest level is the Fire of Victory. Its consecra-
tion involves the gathering of sixteen different fi res from
sixteen different sources, including from lightning and
a metal-molding furnace. Each of the sixteen fi res goes
through a purifi cation ritual before it joins the others in
a common fi re. Thirty-two priests are required for the
ceremony, which takes up to a year. Veneration of the
Fire of Victory and the Fire of Fires is addressed only to
the fi re itself, using the songs of praise in the Zoroastrian
scriptures. Priests and believers don’t ordinarily make
requests of Ahura Mazda before these two higher fi res.

Interior Plan of the Fire

Temple

When they enter a fi re temple, both men and women
must wear a head covering. First, one goes through a
large hall where ceremonies take place. The faithful
then enter an anteroom smaller than the main hall.
Connected to this anteroom, but not visible from the hall
to ensure a sense of holiness and quiet, is the “place of
the fi re” in which the actual fi re altars stand. These fi re
altars are usually large urns that sit on the fl oor; priests
sit or stand in front of them as they offer sacrifi ces of
spices and incense in the constantly burning fl ame. Lay
Zoroastrians stand before the fi re to offer their prayers
to God.

fire temple Zoroastrian
house of worship
centering on sacred fire
burning in it

R
B

A
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R
A

E
Z

D
’ L

U
C

C
AZoroastrian temple in Kolkata (Calcutta), India,

showing Indian infl uence

219 Z O R O A S T R I A N R I T U A L S

Only priests enter the inner, most sacred room,
which has a double-domed roof. The double dome has
vents to allow the smoke to escape, but the vents of
the outer dome are offset from the inner dome’s vents,
preventing debris or rain from entering the room and
potentially desecrating the holy fl ame. The walls of the
inner room are almost always tiled or of marble but
otherwise undecorated. The only lights are those of
the fi re itself in the inner room, an arrangement that is
powerfully symbolic to Zoroastrians.

In one corner of the main fi re-room hangs a
bell, which is rung fi ve times a day to mark each
new “watch” period. The fi re is usually fed at this
time with dried sandalwood or other sweet-smelling
wood. Tools for maintaining the wood fi re are hung
on the wall or stored in an adjoining room. In Parsi
temples, non-Zoroastrians are prohibited from enter-
ing any space from which one could see the fi res. This
typically means no entry into a temple at all, and
many Parsi temples in India have “Parsis Only” signs
at their front door. If non-Zoroastrians are permit-
ted to enter them during ordinary times, they are
closed during feasts and holy days. Traditionalist
Zoroastrians insist that these restrictions aren’t
meant to offend non-Zoroastrians and point to
similar practices in other religions. Iranian and
“Reformist” Zoroastrians more often open their
temples to non-Zoroastrians.

Worship

When the adherent enters the room where the fi re
burns, he or she will offer wood for the fi re. The person
making an offering doesn’t put the wood directly into
the fi re, but gives it to the priest. At the proper time, the
priest places the offering in the fi re, using silver tongs.
He wears a cloth mask over nostrils and mouth to pre-
vent his breath from polluting the fl ame. The priest then
uses a special ladle to give some holy ashes to the lay-
person, who in turn dabs them on his or her forehead
and eyelids; the layperson may take some home after an
initiation ceremony.

A Zoroastrian priest doesn’t preach or teach, but
tends to the sacrifi cial fi re, offering prayer and sacrifi ce
there. Fire temple attendance is particularly high dur-
ing seasonal festivals, and especially for the New Year’s
festival. There is no instrumental music or group sing-
ing in Zoroastrian worship, only the musical chant-
ing of the scriptures and prayers by the priests. Social
events may occur in the main hall, especially at fes-
tivals and initiations, but rarely as a part of regular
worship.

Priesthood

The magi, an order of priests not originally Zoroastrian,
apparently became acquainted with the prophet
Zarathustra’s teachings before 400 B.C.E. and converted
to the faith. The priests rose to power quickly and had a
monopoly on priestly power at the Persian court. Under
the Sassanians, a three-level hierarchy of priests devel-
oped among the magi. Admission to the priesthood is
hereditary, but all priests have to go through one or more
ceremonies of ordination over and above those practiced
by all the faithful. In 2010, a violent confrontation broke
out in India when a group of more liberal Zoroastrians
unsuccessfully tried to ordain a Russian convert to
Zoroastrianism as a priest. Training for the priesthood
has always centered on performing the ceremonies, espe-
cially the ritual words and actions.

The chief ceremony, the Yasna, is essentially a sac-
rifi ce of haoma (HO-mah), the sacred liquid. The sacri-
fi ce is celebrated before the sacred fi re with recitation
of large parts of the Avesta. There are also offerings of
bread and milk, which replace the former offerings of
meat or animal fat. The sacred fi re must be kept burn-
ing continually and is fed at least fi ve times a day, at the
beginning of each watch. Prayers are also offered fi ve
times a day in the presence of the fi re.

A Zoroastrian priest doesn’t often preach

or even teach, but rather tends the

sacrificial fires.

Other Rituals

All young Zoroastrians must be initiated in the navjote
ceremony when they reach the age of seven (in India,
Africa, Europe, and North America) or ten (in Iran).
The ceremony is led by a priest, and the young people
must receive instruction before the navjote. They receive
the shirt and the sacred cord (kusti), which they are to
wear their whole life. The kusti is tied around the waist
and symbolizes a lifelong
commitment to keeping the
tenets of the religion.

In a religion that stresses
ritual purity, Zoroastrian rit-
uals of purifi cation are par-
ticularly important. There
are three types of purifi –
cation, in order of increasing

magi [MA-jigh] An order
of priests not originally
Zoroastrian

navjote [nahv-JOH-tee]
Initiation ceremony when
young Zoroastrians reach
the age of seven or ten

220 C H A P T E R 9 E N C O U N T E R I N G Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M : T H E WAY O F T H E O N E W I S E L O R D

importance: the ablution, ordinary washing for the small-
est compromises of one’s purity; the full-body bath, for
medium-sized impurities; and the fullest purifi cation
ritual—the bareshnum (ba-RESH-num)—a complicated
ritual performed at special places and lasting several days.

It includes the participation of a
dog, whose left ear is touched by
the person seeking cleansing and
whose gaze makes evil spirits fl ee.

Penance for sins is necessary to keep the accumula-
tion of one’s sins from resulting in condemnation after
death. It entails reciting the patet (PAH-teht), the fi rm
resolve not to sin again. The patet also calls for one to
confess one’s sins to a priest.

Festivals are an important
aspect of Zoroastrianism, and full
of happy celebration. There are six
seasonal festivals throughout the
year. and at year’s end a few days
are dedicated to the memory of the
dead. The New Year feast, Nowruz

(often spelled Noruz) is the most
joyous of all Zoroastrian festivals.

Funeral Rituals

The following traditional funeral
ritual isn’t fully followed in most
of the Zoroastrian world today.
After death, the body is washed
and clothed in a simple white
garment. A dog is then brought
before the body—preferably a
“four-eyed” dog with a spot
above each eye. This indicates
its ability to frighten evil spir-
its into fl eeing and not posing
a threat to the soul of the dead
person, which hovers above the
body for three days. The ritual is
repeated fi ve times a day. On the

second day after death, fi re is brought into the room
and burns there until three days after the corpse is
moved to the tower of silence.
This placement in the tower
had to be done during the
daytime.

The interior of the tower
of silence was originally built in three concentric cir-
cles (one each for men, women, and children), with
a large central well in the center of the tower. The
clothing on the body was then removed, and after it
was exposed, naked, the mourners left the tower. The
vultures descended from their circling fl ight and took
only about an hour to strip the fl esh off the bones.

Nowruz or Noruz
[NOH-rooz] Iranian New
Year festival celebrated
by both Zoroastrians and
Muslims

A Parsi woman weaves a kusti, the sacred thread given
in the navjote.

A
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FP

G
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T
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Y
IM

A
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E
S

Priests at a contemporary sacrifi ce

A
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H
ID

S
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LE
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221 Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M I N N O R T H A M E R I C A

Dried by the sun for a few days, the bones were swept
into a large stone box in the central well to preserve
them reverently until the resurrection. The morning
of the fourth day after death is the most solemn in
the death ritual; on that morning the soul goes into
the presence of Ahura Mazda and is judged. Special
prayers are offered for souls of the dead on this day.

Zoroastrian funeral practice changed in Iran.
In its role as a religion in a modernizing country,
Zoroastrianism replaced the towers of silence during
the twentieth century with cemeteries. By the 1960s,
the towers in Iran had fallen into complete disuse.
In the new cemeteries, care was taken to protect the
earth from direct contact with bodies of the dead, a key
Zoroastrian value. The towers of silence are still used in
Mumbai, India, despite the fact that there are no more
vultures there to devour the corpses. Bodies are put in
the towers to decay in the sun and open air, a practice
that has led to some inner Zoroastrian controversy and
confl ict with local offi cials over
health issues.

LO6 Zoroastrianism
in North America

Residents of a rural area outside Washington, D.C.,
are upset about the construction
of a Zoroastrian temple in their
community. One man who lives

next to the temple property worries
that the temple, which will include a
parking lot for fi fty cars and its own
water and septic system, will limit
the already-declining water supply
for residents. Others say the worship
center will bring an unwanted infl ux
of traffi c. Most of the complaints,
government offi cials say, have nothing
to do with the religious nature of the
project, but are about allowing the
temple in a residentially zoned area.
But the Zoroastrian community has all
its permits for construction in order.
The leader of the Zoroastrian commu-
nity has said, “We are a very small reli-
gion,” adding that only three hundred
Zoroastrians live in the Washington,
D.C., area. “Our fi nances aren’t good.
We have no home for gathering
together for worship.”

Most Zoroastrians in North America are from India;
they speak English and their own dialect of Gujarati.
More recent Zoroastrian immigrants are from Iran;
they speak Farsi. Because these two communities
were separated in Asia for more than a thousand
years, they developed some differences in their rituals
and festivals that are still refl ected in North America
today.

Zoroastrians began to arrive in North America in
the 1860s, in very small numbers, settling on the East
and West coasts. They engaged in a variety of pro-
fessions, from gold prospecting to farming and com-
merce. The fi rst Zoroastrian “congregation,” formed
by seven Zoroastrians in New York City in 1929, met
in private homes. As with other people of Asian origin,
Zoroastrians were largely prohibited by U.S. immi-
gration laws from entering the country from about
1900 until the 1960s. Then, when the laws were lib-
eralized, many Zoroastrians came to North America
seeking a more prosperous life, and more Zoroastrian
organizations were founded. The main goal of these
organizations, like those of almost all other Asian
religions that came to North America, was to estab-
lish the faith in the New World so that it would be
successfully passed down to the Zoroastrians’ chil-
dren. Maintaining Zoroastrian culture—language,
dress, food, and festivals—through the generations is
also important in North America. Many Zoroastrian
temples have cultural centers attached to them where
these cultural values are emphasized.

Tower of silence in Yazd, Iran

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Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.

222 C H A P T E R 9 E N C O U N T E R I N G Z O R O A S T R I A N I S M : T H E WAY O F T H E O N E W I S E L O R D

“Marry inside our community, and

SAVE our religion.” —from a Zoroastrian

website

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran top-
pled the more religiously tolerant regime of the Shah,
many Iranian Zoroastrians no longer felt safe there.
Thousands fl ed their ancient ancestral homeland,
and most came to North America. The numbers of
Zoroastrians there quickly doubled, but some ten-
sions arose between Indian and Iranian Zoroastrians.
For the most part, they manage to coexist, if only
because their small numbers force them to get along.
In a few larger Zoroastrian communities, worship
services are held separately for each group, with only
some important festivals celebrated by Iranians and
Indians together. In 2010 it was estimated that the
entire population of Zoroastrians in North America
was around twenty thousand. Zoroastrians have
taken to cyberspace, with many websites to pro-
mote the common faith of all Zoroastrians and also
some of the distinct groups such as the “reform-
ist” Zarathushtrian Assembly and the traditionalist
Mazdayasni Zoroastrian Anjuman. Many observers
of North American Zoroastrianism expect these dif-
ferences to soften over time—especially when the
second and third generations take over—and an
“American Zoroastrianism” to be established. Some
of these sites have matchmaking areas to encourage
Zoroastrians to marry each other; as one pleads,
“Marry inside our commu-
nity, and SAVE our religion.”
This will help to keep alive
into a new millennium one
of the world’s most ancient
faiths.

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A young girl dances at a Zoroastrian
cultural center.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

The most infl uential work on Zarathustra in North America
today—Thus Spoke Zarathustra by the German philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche (FREED-rik NEE-chuh)—is, ironically, not
about Zoroastrianism at all. This book is widely regarded
as a literary masterpiece and has had a wide cultural
impact in the arts and in philosophy. It uses Zarathustra
to express Nietzsche’s views, including the introduction of
the controversial doctrine of the “Superman,” a term later
twisted by Nazi propagandists to connote racial supremacy.
(The comic-book and fi lm hero known today by the same
name isn’t drawn from Nietzsche’s book; that Superman is
traditional in moral matters.) A passionate, semi-biblical

style is employed to inspire readers to transcend conven-
tional morality. This work remains a standard on college
reading lists.

However, Thus Spoke Zarathustra has been disavowed
by almost all Zoroastrians from the time of its publica-
tion, because its theme of an individual getting beyond
conventional morality, and then even beyond morality
itself, contradicts one of the main beliefs of Zoroastrianism.
The universe is deeply moral, because it is based on Ahura
Mazda’s goodness, and people must follow the way of
Zarathustra to live out Ahura Mazda’s morality, not invent
their own.

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