Title: Chapter Eight. Confucian Morality As A Substitute For Religion
Abstract: This chapter highlights that Liang developed his own understanding of China's religions. He showed his creativity and originality by developing Confucianism as a third type of religion, or quasi-religion, placing it at the mid-point between a Christian engagement with the world and the Buddhist drive to escape from it. The chapter evaluates Liangs dichotomy between religion and morality. It explains how Liang inserted a Confucian morality into a Buddhist soteriology. For Liang, Confucianism was relevant in two ways. First, it provided the modern age with an alternative to conventional religion, by developing self-reflection, introspection and the inner life. Second, Confucianism was relevant in the sense that it directly prepared ones mind to turn inward, and prepare for a final enlightenment that would require even more lucidity and courage. Liang envisioned the modern age not as shaped by religion, but as being shaped by morality.Keywords: Buddhist soteriology; China's religions; Confucian morality; Confucianism; Liang
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-01-01
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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