Japanese and Chinese Music Flashcards
where do the orgins of traditional Chinese religion extend back thousands of years?
yellow river
Name given to the Supreme Deity
Shang Ti
How did the attitudes/practices towards the Supreme Deity change over the years?
Perceptions were
that he didn’t used to be interested in human affairs, but then he takes an interest and requires them to
make sacrifices to him.
Gun and Yu flood story: Shang Ti was disappointed in the earth so he floods it leaving only the mountain tops dry, forcing people to live on top the mountains. Gun looks for a magical piece of earth that can make the flood disappear, and finds it, throwing it into the flood and making it recede. Shang Ti sends gods after Gun and killed him, throwing his body on the mountain top but it does not disintegrate. He sends the gods to chop up his body and when they do, a dragon named Yu comes out, and he finds the magic
piece of earth and throws it in the flood, making it finally recede.
How does traditional Chinese religion view dragons (e.g. Yu)?
Temperamental but they bring good luck and wisdom
What is the Yin and Yang?
Yin: fem/dark/earth/passive
Yang: masc/light/heaven/active
Must find a balance of both and they must work in harmony, both are required
How do traditional Chinese religious practitioners treat their ancestors?
Remember/honor them so they
don’t come haunt you. You may write their name on a wooden block in their home, have a photo of them in their home, visit their grave and have a feast on the death of their anniversary
What is divination?
What is divination?
How was divination practiced in ancient China?
Placing an animal’s bone/shell in a fire and watching the
cracks to read the future (like palm reading with lines on your palm)
How is divination practiced today (refer to I Ching)?
Using a book called the I Ching (book of changes/predictions) rolling dice and reading combinations of corresponding lines (yin/yang) to make predictions
What is Feng Shui?
Wind & water. This practice made its way to the west in its own way.
How is Feng Shui practiced in China?
Where buildings and gravesites are placed (never place a house at
the top of a T intersection bc of ghosts)
How is Feng Shui practiced in the West?
Decoration/home decor
who is Confucius also known as
Kung Fu Tzu
the life of Confucius?
His father was a soldier and his mother was a prostitute. His father dies and they are very poor so he has to work but his mother finds a way to educate him so he gets a
position in Chinese government. The Zhou dynasty is not doing great because they practice
feudalism/slavery and were on the verge of civil war/collapse. Confucius makes some suggestions and nobody listens so he leaves, gains disciples, and travel the countryside writing down his stories/sayings in the Analects. He was not very popular when he was alive, only after when his disciples shared his
stories.
Analects
literally “Dialogues”
like the golden rule
3 main tenets of Confucius philosophy
- tradition
2.Education - relationship - patriarhal
What should govern such relationships?
Li (rituals) and Jen (goodness). bow to the older
the two students of Confucius
Mencius and Hsun Tzu
What did Mencius believe?
Confucianism should be a religion rather than just a philosophy
What did Hsun Tzu believe?
he disagrees with Confucius about Jen/goodness, and that our nature is actually evil (Christianity traditionally believes this too)
Of these two thinkers, whose ideas were most accepted amongst the Chinese populace?
Hsun Tzu because they were in the middle of a civil war and killing each other
Taoism means
The Way. and its major thinkers was Lao Tzu
the life of Lao Tzu
Not the founder of Taoism, but most important figure. Some say he was made up, as his story mirrors Confucius by getting a job for Zhou dynasty but leaves and lives alone in the woods, writing a famous book called the Tao Te Ching (“book of the way of power”)
