random thoughts on religion

I have talked about my belief in the former blog post, but I think I could also record some thoughts about religion.

Generally there are two types of belief system, theistic belief and atheistic belief. Christianity, Judaism and Islam are the most influential religion belief system in the world. Actually these religions share the same origin. They believe in one God, share the same prophet Abraham(Ibrahim) and Judgment Day caused by original sin of human beings. Arabians and Jews all claimed that Abraham are their ancestor. However, there are some distinctions between them. In regard to prophets, Christianity regard Jesus as the Savior sent by God, but Jews don't think so and they are still waiting for the advent of the real Savior, Muslin just think Jesus as one of the prophets and also regard Muhammad as the last prophet sent by God(Allah). As for holy books, Jews accept that Old Testament is their only revelation from God, but Christians also read New Testament. Islam accept some parts of the Bible but think it is not original or authentic, also Islam regard Koran as the most complete and authentic holy scripture.

On the other hand, Buddhism is the most influential atheistic belief. Buddhism don't believe there is a God because it don't think anyone else can help except ourselves. There is nothing permanent in this ever-changing world, so pursuing a lasting spiritual existence is impossible. All suffering comes from our craving and clinging to wrong things, and there are a lot of causes and effects(Karma) in our life. Human life is continuing living and death before attaining liberation from Karma. However, we can avoid suffering by arduous self-promotion such as meditation，morality and wisdom and finally reach Enlightenment(a mental state beyond suffering).

Also there are some other types of atheistic belief such as humanism, rationalism and postmodernism. I can't elaborate them in this post. Maybe I can do it sometime later.

Personally speaking, I can't tell which is better or worse. Each one has some merits and flaws. But I would prefer a atheistic type of belief because it is more reasonable for me.

about belief of Chinese

Before I met greenapple(nickname) several days ago, I never thought about belief. I never think it is problem. My talking with greenapple about religion made me begin to think about this old question.

So, the first question I would ask is if I have a belief? I think I do have a belief. First of all, I am still practicing some traditional Chinese religion. I stand in awe of Heaven and Earth. I think human's power of rationality is limited but the universe we live in is infinite. Although science has been advanced a lot in the late several centuries, science is an endless progress. So I think keeping a awe of the nature is a necessity. Also I have a great respect of my ancestors. I have to be grateful to the heritage(materialistic and spiritual) from my ancestors. It is their great efforts that laid a rich foundation for our modern life. Although I got these ideas from my parents and also practiced them, but I think they are more of a custom than a belief for me because at least I can express my respect on my ancestors.

Moreover, I think my behavior is definitely influenced by Confucianism that prevailed in China for about 2000 years. In the late 20th century, with the demise of Qing dynasty, Confucianism was disdained and discarded by modern Chinese intellectuals. However, I think the basic Confucianism is still in Chinese people's mind as a cultural heritage. We still act according to those ethnics taught by Confucianism, such as respect, loyalty and kindness. So that's about my understanding about my belief.

Actually I heard a lot of points that Chinese is a nonbeliever people. It is not really true. For religion, there are a lot of followers of Buddhism, Taoism and Islam. Moreover, most Chinese have the similar belief as me. Another feature of Chinese belief is pantheism. We worship Emperor Yuhuang, Heaven, Earth, Buddha, Lady Guanyin and also Confucius and Laotze. They just choose some of them to worship. If someone say that Chinese have some kind of pragmatism, it is true. They worship those deity which can bring them goods.