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Acknowledging the wisdom of Chinese proverbs, most anthologies of Chinese religion are organized by the logic of the three teachings ("sanjiao") of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.
Historical precedent and popular parlance attest to the importance of this threefold division for understanding Chinese culture.
One of the earliest references to the trinitarian idea is attributed to Li Shiqian, a prominent scholar of the sixth century, who wrote that "Buddhism is the sun, Taoism the moon, and Confucianism the five planets."<1> Li likens the three traditions to significant heavenly bodies, suggesting that although they remain separate, they also coexist as equally indispensable phenomena of the natural world.
Other opinions stress the essential unity of the three religious systems. One popular proverb opens by listing the symbols that distinguish the religions from each other, but closes with the assertion that they are fundamentally the same: "The three teachings--the gold and cinnabar of Taoism, the relics of Buddhist figures, as well as the Confucian virtues of humanity and righteousness--are basically one tradition."<2>
Stating the point more bluntly, some phrases have been put to use by writers in the long, complicated history of what Western authors have called "syncretism." Such mottoes include "the three teachings are one teaching"; "the three teachings return to the one"; "the three teachings share one body"; and "the three teachings merge into one."<3>
Lao Tze
Chinese religion does not come to us purely, or without mediation. The three teachings are a powerful and inescapable part of Chinese religion. Whether they are eventually accepted, rejected, or reformulated, the terms of the past can only be understood by examining how they came to assume their current status. Even the seemingly pristine translations of texts deemed "primary" are products of their time.
By Donald S. Lopez, Jr , Religions of China in Practice, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996)
Notes:
1. Li's formulation is quoted in _Beishi_, Li Yanshou (seventh century), Bona ed. (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), p. 1234. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Chinese are mine.
2. The proverb, originally appearing in the sixteenth-century novel _Investiture of the Gods_ (_Fengshen yanyi_), is quoted in Clifford H. Plopper, _Chinese Religion Seen through the Proverb_ (Shanghai: The China Press, 1926), p. 16.
3. The first three are quoted in Plopper, _Chinese Religion_, p. 15. The last is quoted in Judith Berling, _The Syncretic Religion of Lin Chao-en_ (New York: Columbia University Press, 1980), p. 8. See also Timothy Brook, ``Rethinking Syncretism: The Unity of the Three Teachings and Their Joint Worship in Late-Imperial China,'' _Journal of Chinese Religions_ 21 (Fall 1993):13-44.
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