The Question of Religion (2/2)

August 13, 2010

Think of the violence and wars that religions have caused—the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, genocide against the Cathars (see video), the wars between Catholics and Protestants, and the persecution of Jews by both Muslims and Christians.

Then there are Islamic fundamentalists and the suffering and death caused by their religious beliefs.

Although most people in China are not religious, religions have caused uprising and wars in China too.

The Ming Dynasty (1368-1643) came about due to a rebellion against the Mongol Yuan Dynasty led by a religious sect known as the “Red Turbans” or “Red Scarves”, which included elements from “White Lotus”, a Buddhist sect from the late Southern Song Dynasty. Source: New World Encyclopedia

During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) when the Manchu minority ruled China, there were a number of religious uprisings.

There was the White Lotus Rebellion (1796-1804) in the mountain region that separates Sichuan province from Hubei and Shaanxi provinces. The White Lotus was a secret religious society promising salvation to its followers similar to the Falun Gong today.

A Christian convert claiming to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ led the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) and more than 20 million died.

The Panthay Rebellion (1856-1873) was a separatist movement led by the Hui people and Chinese Muslims.

There was also the Dungan revolt (1862-1877), led by Muslims in China’s Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Xinjiang provinces. Chinese historians and officials believed that Islam played a role in causing that uprising.

Maybe the reason China survived for thousands of years without collapsing as Western civilization did when Rome fell was the absence of a major religious movement in China stirring the peoples’ emotions.

Instead of listening to God from the mouths of Popes, prophets and priests, the Chinese had a blend of Confucianism and Taoism, which the family taught by example.

Return to The Question of Religion – Part 1

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Question of Religion (1/2)

August 12, 2010

I read a piece in the August National Geographic about Native Lands in America. The piece mentions the horrible atrocities committed by the European invaders against the natives who had lived on the land for more than ten thousand years.

As I read, I wondered if the reason Chinese civilization survived for thousands of years was because China had no organized religion to stir the emotions of the people and set them against each other in endless religious wars. 

When I brought this up with an old friend of mine who is a born again evangelical Christian, his response was that real Christians didn’t cause religious wars.

I question his right to decide who a real Christian is.  In fact, most Christians believe they will be forgiven since the cornerstone of Christian religion is Christ dying on the cross for their sins so killing all those nonbelievers must have been okay.

There are even influential and wealthy Christians (see above video) who support Israel rebuilding Solomon’s temple for the sole reason that it means the end of life on earth as we know it. However, those Christians believe they would be with God as His chosen few.

I wonder if early Christians may have been the reason the Roman Empire eventually collapsed.

See Cults and Christian Cannon Balls

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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1 Comment | America, Buddhism, Buddhist, China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, Christianity, Confucianism, cults, cultural differences, Islam, religion, Taoism | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Seven Wonders of China (4/5)

August 11, 2010

Mount Wudang is home to eight palaces, seventy-two temples in caves, thirty-nine bridges, thirty-six nunneries, twelve pavilions, and two temples.

During the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1643 AD), Mt. Wudang was known as a grand spectacle of all ages and is one of the best examples of ancient-religious architecture anywhere.

The Golden Hall, a temple built on Mt. Wudang in the 15th century is the largest copper building in China. The ninety-ton structure was plated in Gold in Beijing before being moved to the mountain.

6. Shibaozhai  (Precious Stone Fortress)

Near the banks of China’s Yangtze River, a twelve story, five-hundred year-old Buddhist temple made of wood clings to a cliff without the support of a single nail.  Before the temple was built, devout Buddhists climbed the cliff risking their lives to worship the Buddhist statutes on the mountain.  The temple was built to resist high winds and remedy this problem.

To protect and save the temple against rising water due to construction of China’s Three Gorges Dam, the Chinese government had a radical and ambitious solution.

See Li River Cruise or return to The Seven Wonders of China – Part 3

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Seven Wonders of China (2/5)

August 9, 2010

2. Hanging Monastery

Another popular tourist site is the fifteen-hundred year old wooden Hanging Monastery.   The monastery is suspended fifteen stories above the valley floor on the side of a sheer cliff.  It is a mystery why the monastery was built there and why.

One reason might be the floods that once plagued the valley. Today, a dam controls the water. The monastery was built in an indentation in the cliff below an overhand.

What cannot be seen from the valley floor is the Hanging Monastery was built into the cliff’s face. More than forty caves and rooms were dug into the rock.  This process allowed supports to be built into the cliff.  The thin wooden pillars are only there for decoration and were added in the last century.

3. The Great Wall

One of the world’s greatest treasures is the almost four-thousand mile Great Wall, which took two-thousand years to complete.

The early great wall was made of layers of pressed earth and straw. The Qin Dynasty completed the first wall.  The Han Dynasty extended the wall toward Mongolia.  The Ming Dynasty built the wall stronger of stone and mortar.  The Chinese used smoke and fire to send messages over long distances to warn of enemy attacks.

See Traveling the Great Wall or return to The Seven Wonders of China – Part 1

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of The Concubine Saga. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

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The Eighteen Levels of Chinese Hell

June 27, 2010

Many Chinese believe heaven/paradise is out of reach of ordinary mortals. However, hell is a harsh reality and the souls of the dead must go.

Buddhists brought this concept of hell to China from India, and over time, this belief grew wings and picked up baggage as it spread. Taoism, Buddhism and traditional Chinese folk religions believe that the souls of the dead must experience several tests before reaching the gates of hell, where demons demand money to enter, which might explain why many Chinese burn paper money at funerals to make sure beloved family members have some for the journey.

one of the eighteen levels to hell

There are eighteen levels on this journey—each one a test. For criminals, the souls are heavy and the trip long and painful. Chinese almanacs graphically illustrated the punishments. Good souls were light and made the journey quickly.

Today, these beliefs are probably more alive in rural China than urban areas where Mao’s Cultural Revolution had more of an impact driving out old beliefs.  Most Taiwanese and many in Hong Kong still hold to these beliefs.

If given a choice, which hell would you select—Chinese, Islamic or Christian?

Discover The Failure of Multiculturalism in the United States

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

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