Buddhism and Confucianism

Buddhism and Confucianism share many similarities, such as their influence on Chinese society and also teaching their people to be virtuous. They do though, differ in their beliefs and on a fundamental point; Buddhism is spiritual, while Confucianism is entirely secular. Buddhism and Confucianism are parallel in several ways. First, as mentioned before, they both influenced Chinese society in a way. Buddhism influenced China by the improvements of landscape painting. Their belief teaches compassion, karma, reincarnation, meditation, enlightenment, and respect of Heaven and Earth. The influence of Buddhism grew o such an extent that vast amounts of finical and human resources were expended on the creation and establishment of impressive works of art and elaborate temples. This growing interest in Buddhism helped to inspire new ways of depicting deities, new types of architectural spaces in which to worship them, and new ritual motions and actions. Confucians influences the basis of society, family structure, and the government for thousands of years. Buddhism encourages a respect for life; in China it helped modify the cruel punishments call for under Legalism. Buddhism espoused respect for all forms of life. Buddhism encouraged the people to be charitable and monasteries became the cultural centers of learning and scholarship. On the other hand, Confucianism had a great impact on the Chinese civilization. It greatly influenced their attitude toward life and it also set their patterns of living and standards of social value. Because of their influence on Chinese society, Buddhism and Confucianism also taught their followers good conduct. The Buddha taught that nirvana, or union with the universal spirit, can be reached through an understanding of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, not through reincarnations from one cast to another. Confucianism taught that social order, harmony, and good government should be based on strong family relationships. Education was also important both to the welfare of an individual and to society and the respect to parents and elders were important to a well-ordered society, too While they may be similar on several levels, Confucianism and Buddhism can certainly be worlds apart in some aspects. One of them, and most important of all the differences, is the distinction between the secular and the spiritual. Confucianism, for one, is very spiritual, as it believes in the afterlife, the spirit that unties everything (Brahman), as well as believing the reincarnation. Even though Buddhism somewhat believe in reincarnation, they desperately try to avoid it, as they want to achieve Nirvana, or union with the universal spirit, which offers release from human suffering. Buddhists focus on minimizing or eliminating suffering. They try to master and reduce the desires and attachments that cause suffering. They are also very big on the cultivation of compassion towards all beings that can suffer. Confucianism, on the other hand, is entirely secular. Its followers devote their time solely to the principal of reciprocity and also the three essential values: Xiao, Ren, and Li. It also focuses mainly on the cultivation of character and human-heartedness, along with fulfilling ones duties to family and country. And because of their differences between their †¦.. t leads to their difference in their belief system. Buddhism is a religion while Confucianism is more of a philosophy. Confucianism believes that you should be improved by education and development of your character, while Buddhism belief is that there will always be negativity in life, and that all life has a lot of suffering in it. Therefore, you cannot change that. This is why Buddhists think reincarnation is a bad thing Also, the Confucians believed you need to understand the relationship with family, and to follow the five goals of Confucianism. The Buddhists had a totally different idea for this though†¦ they believe that you just need to follow behavior in the ways of the eightfold path As you can see Confucianism and Buddhism are very different, but at the same time they are very similar. Each belief has its unique view on basic beliefs, overall goals, goals of the individual believer, view of life, rules of behavior, views of society and influence on China. Even though some of the views are negative, it is the only way the people of that belief know.