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Chinese Religions: Traditions

Traditions

Confucianism

  • Neo-Confucianism
  • New Confucianism

Taoism (Daoism)

  • Neo-Daoism
  • Huang-Lao
  • Lingbao
  • Zhengyi
  • Shangqing

Mohism

Buddhism

  • Tientai
  • Pure Land
  • Mahāyāna
  • Madhyamaka
  • Chan
  • Han Buddhism
  • Tibetan Buddhism
  • Therevada

Folk Religion

Shamanism

Christianity

  • Nestorianism
  • Catholicism
  • Protestantism

Islam

Judaism

Marxism

Maoism

Qigong

Falun Gong

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Entering on the path....

"Chinese religion.  Religion in China is not a single system of belief and practice. It is a complex interaction of different religious and philosophical traditions, of which four main strands (themselves by no means uniform) are particularly important: popular or folk religion (vivid with festivals, spirit-worlds, procedures in crises, and care of the dead), Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism (see BUDDHISM IN CHINA)....Read More"

"Chinese Religions.  Religion, in the modern Chinese context, is festive, celebrating the passage of men and women in the Chinese community through the cycle of life and death. Chinese religion is traditionally defined by the rites of passage, i.e. birth, maturation, marriage and burial, and the annual cycle of calendrical festivals....Read More"

Chinese in English Translation   One of the greatest challenges for anyone studying Chinese religions in English translation is that there are many different systems of romanization (transcribing Chinese characters into English words).  You are likely to find that the spellings of personal names and place names differ from one source (book, article, web site) to another. You might see Confucius spelled Kong Fuzi or K'ung Fu-tzu; Guangzhou spelled Kuang-chou or Canton; and Mount Wutai as Wutai Shan ("shan" means mountain).

Background / Overviews

How is it spelled?

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Fred Rowland
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215-204-3188
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