Page 134 - Encyclopedia Of World History

484 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

I realized that Eastern thought had somewhat more compassion for all living
things. Man was a form of life that in another reincarnation might possibly
be a horsefly or a bird of paradise or a deer. So a man of such a faith,

continued unabated, although challenged by newly devel- pression came with the Japanese invasion of 1592, after
oping currents in Daoism.These new currents embraced which the vitality of Daoism as an independent religion
Neo-Confucian beliefs, which gained them the support of faded.Yet Daoism’s influence in Korea is evident in tra-
conservative officials and intellectuals. ditional gardening and in the country’s flag, the central
During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the elite symbol of which is the Taeguk, representing the corre-
became estranged from Daoism, and Daoism’s social sta- spondence between heaven and earth.
tus dwindled. The Ming elite held double standards in The Japanese first encountered Daoism in the seventh
respect to Daoism: They still drew on its notions to jus- century. Early on, Daoism’s affinities with the animism of
tify their rule, but put the religion under strict control, Japanese Shinto eased an acculturation of Daoist doc-
inhibiting its independent development. Stifled by the rul- trines into Shinto traditions.The introduction of specific
ing class, Daoism flourished among underground reli- Daoist practices dates to the Heian period (794–1185),
gious sects.The rulers of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) when “Masters of Yin and Yang”—diviners learned in the
saw Daoism as potentially seditious and started to sup- occult—gained influence at court. In the eighth and
press it, withdrawing most of its privileges. However, the ninth centuries, practitioners of Shingon Buddhism
religion continued to develop among minorities and the adopted Daoist physiological practices and the belief in
lower classes. the immortals. Tendai Buddhists embraced Daoist mag-
ical arts and techniques for prolonging life. Daoist mys-
Spread and Influence ticism made its strongest inroads in Japan through its
With the exception of Taiwan, which saw an influx of influence on the Zen schools of Rinzai and Soto, which
Daoists in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as were introduced from China in the twelfth and thir-
part of mass migrations from Fujian province in the teenth centuries and are still active today.
southern mainland, Daoism has not spread systemati-
cally to other areas of the world. However, its doctrines Daoism in the West
and practices were absorbed into local traditions across Western opinions of Daoism have changed from the
East Asia and are now making inroads in the West. The days when the Italian Jesuit Mateo Ricci first visited
seeming lack of an exclusive mythology, historical con- China in 1582. Seeing Daoism as an obstacle to the
texts, and personal references in Daoist scriptures has spread of Christianity,Ricci allied himself with court Con-
helped give them universal appeal. fucianism and decried Daoism as perverted paganism.
This negative attitude persisted into the nineteenth cen-
Korea and Japan tury, when philosophers such as G.W. F. Hegel deemed
Daoism arrived in the Korean Peninsula in 624, when it it a throwback to philosophy’s infancy. However, popular
was at its height at the Tang court.The emperor sent emis- nineteenth- and early twentieth-century writers such as
saries bearing the Daodejing and Zhuangzi to the three LeoTolstoy and Franz Kafka brought it to a broader audi-
Korean kingdoms, two of which fully welcomed their ence, while thinkers such as the philosopher Martin Hei-
teachings. In the kingdom of Koguryo, Daoist priests’ degger and the psychologist Karl Jung embraced its tenets
influence was such that many local Buddhist temples as confirmation of their own subjective philosophies.
were made Daoist. The kingdom of Shilla sent scholars The Western interest in comparative studies has
to China to learn more about the religion and included brought Daoism to the forefront. Daoist theories have
the Daodejing in the Shilla civil-service exam. Although infiltrated discussions of scientific subjects, while its doc-
a Daoism stressing self-discipline was popularized at all trines serve environmentalists as an alternative philoso-
levels of Korean society, by the fourteenth century Dao- phy with which to criticize Western attitudes toward
ism was in decline as Buddhism resurged. Further sup- nature. Daoism’s questioning of traditional authority