Concept

East Asian religions

Overview

In the study of comparative religion, the East Asian religions, also known as taoic religions, form a subset of the Eastern religions which originated in East Asia.

This group includes Chinese religion overall, which further includes ancestor veneration, Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, Taoism and popular salvationist organisations (such as Yiguandao and Weixinism), as well as elements drawn from Mahayana Buddhism that form the core of Chinese and East Asian Buddhism at large. The group also includes Shinto and Tenrikyo of Japan, and Korean Shamanism, all of which combine shamanistic elements and indigenous ancestral worship with various influences from Chinese religions. Chinese salvationist religions have influenced the rise of Japanese new religions such as Tenriism and Korean Jeungsanism; as these new religious movements draw upon indigenous traditions but are heavily influenced by Chinese philosophy and theology. All these religious traditions generally share core concepts of spirituality, divinity and world order, including Tao ('way') and Tian ('heaven').

Early Chinese philosophies defined the Tao and advocated cultivating the de 'virtue', which arises from the knowledge of such Tao. Some ancient Chinese philosophical schools merged into traditions with different names or became extinct, such as Mohism and others belonging to the ancient Hundred Schools of Thought, which were largely subsumed into Taoism. East Asian religions include many theological stances, including polytheism, nontheism, henotheism, monotheism, pantheism, panentheism and agnosticism.

The place of East Asian religions among major religious groups is comparable to the Abrahamic religions found across the classical world, and Indian religions across the Indian subcontinent, Tibetan Plateau and Southeast Asia.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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When one gives undivided attention to the (vital) breath, and brings it to the utmost degree of pliancy, he can become as a (tender) babe. When he has cleansed away the most mysterious sights (of his imagination), he can become without a flaw. 2. In loving the people and ruling the state, cannot he proceed without any (purpose of) action? In the opening and shutting of his gates of heaven, cannot he do so as a…
Laozi, The Tao Teh King
States what East Asian religions is; the author is tied to East Asian religions in the knowledge graph.
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So this is a prejudicial question, which must be treated before all others. It is not that we dream of arriving at once at the profound characteristics which really explain religion: these can be determined only at the end of our study. But that which is necessary and possible, is to indicate a certain number of external and easily recognizable signs, which will enable us to recognize religious phenomena wherever…
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
Close in meaning to East Asian religions; the term itself is not named.
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Usener distinguishes three stages in the development of gods. First, there was the 'god of the moment.' Some phenomenon--such, for example, as a flash of lightning or a clap of thunder--was felt to be divine. But, inasmuch as the impression was vanishing, the mythological idea in question was that of a 'god of the moment.' Then followed a second stage, in which a demoniacal power was associated with a particular…
Wilhelm Max Wundt, Elements of Folk Psychology Outline of a Psychological History of the Development of Mankind
States what East Asian religions is.
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Philosophers who discussed East Asian religions

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