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Confucianism And Daoism Similarities

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When Opposites Attract: The Harmonious Connection between Daoism and Confucianism A majority of the world’s population holds some type of spiritual belief. In China, two of the major religious systems practiced by the country include Daoism and Confucianism. According to a primary source passage in Daoism, the individuals lying the foundation to these divisions were both alive at a certain point in this period of time. However they did not share the same perspectives regarding the guidelines one should strive to follow in order to achieve enlightenment. Confucius was more concerned with family units and society, while Laozi focused on fixing the individual. Regardless of the polarity, it has been seen time and time again that opposites in …show more content…

In Daoism, One reaches immortality through following the natural way of the Dao and independence of the mind. The underlying similarity bringing these two together is that they are both trying stop the cycle of reincarnation, freeing there soul from their physical body allowing it to return back to the original source. A second contradiction arises when Laozi starts to recognizes the values his society once held dear were deteriorating. As a result he made the decision to remove himself in order to detach from anything related to social norms, allowing him to embrace individuality, spirituality and spontaneity. In contrast, Confucius sees the primary rulers who are supposed to be morally perfect sons of heaven became corrupt which in societal dysfunction. His teachings sought to correct the injustices in society through proper ancestral worship and conforming to social norms. The micro-similarity in this case is that both individuals saw a problem that needed a remedy and provided a cure. Furthermore, Confucius claimed that the Nobel man understands righteousness in regards to giving back to those who need it and that the golden rule an aspiring Junzi should live by was not to do to others what one does not want done to ones self. While Laozi described the true man as one would never desire material objects, form attachments, just simply enjoying the simple things in life on a day to day

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