The Answer Through the Millennia

Exploring God's revelation in Chinese Culture from Confucius and - Lao Tsu

By Wang Ren-yi

After a life-time of research, Confucius discovered, to his surprise, that no-one in this world was perfect.

I. Take on the challenge of reality or escape from it

The Chinese nation boasts a long history and a large population. Yet from generation to generation it has always faced  crises of survival which have forced the Chinese people to either take on the challenge of reality or to escape from it. To take on the challenge means to search for our own transcendence and connect our life with some unknown existence. To escape from it is to search for comfort in superstition and to spend our lives passively in an atmosphere of religiosity. Both of these lifestyles result in some connection with religion.

The rise of Taoism, China's native religion, occurred near the end of the Han Dynasty. Although Taoism is undeniably linked to the Taoist school, its essential beliefs contradict the Taoist notion of heaven, in that it attempts to give heaven a worldly fleshliness, based on limited human understanding, and then to isolate it in a wilderness. As a result, for thousands of years it has become a Chinese virtue to cultivate oneself into godhood. Nobody has ever become a god and nobody has ever come back from the gods to proclaim his experience as a god. So the idea for the Chinese has been to seclude oneself in a wilderness and develop an aura of respectability and mysticism.

Buddhism is often called the School of Sakyamuni, or the philosophy of Sakyamuni, and this is in fact an unusually profound definition of Buddhism. This is because the philosophy of Sakyamuni is fundamentally a leap in human understanding of the world. From awareness of their own human limitations, they realized the transcendence of a different existence and they attempted to pursue this transcendence.

China's Confucianism and Taoism share many similarities with the philosophy of Sakyamuni. In the light of the Heavenly Way, however, Confucianism intellectually and carefully developed an understanding of its formation and development. It represented the pragmaticism and objectivity of our Chinese ancestors in the formation and development of their culture.

II. The theistic culture of Zhou and pre-Zhou Dynasties

The pre-Zhou culture of China, which was the cultural forerunner of the enlightenment movement of the post-Zhou era, laid the foundation of cultural development to come. The Book of Songs is representative of the culture of that time. From the messages conveyed in The Book of Songs, we can be certain that pre-Zhou Chinese people already had a very clear understanding of Heaven or of God. At the very least, they had reached the following realisations:

1. Heaven is a great god.

 - in The Book of Songs you can find verses that can be paraphrased, Oh Heaven! You are my father and mother. How great you are!

2.  Heaven is God of creation.

- in The Book of Songs you can find verses that can be paraphrased, Heaven gives life to all. It also provides the law. He who can follow the law is a man of integrity.

3.  Heaven is God who sustains everything and is greater than man.

- in The Book of Songs you can find verses that can be paraphrased, God is omnipotent and omnipresent. He governs all peoples on earth. Oh awesome God, how unsearchable are your decrees!

III. Theism in Confucian philosophy

In the past dozens of years, China's research into Confucian philosophy has been confined within the boundaries of the materialistic theory of knowledge. This approach results in a misunderstanding of Confucian philosophy and, worse, a misunderstanding of the true meanings of Confucius' own ideas. As a matter of fact, there was no materialistic soil in the foundations of pre- and post-Confucian culture. Confucius' own solid intellectualism is not necessarily testimony to his materialism.

In his few speeches, Confucius often spoke of his understanding of  Heaven. He said, "Prayer is useless if you sin against Heaven." This saying indicated that Heaven, as he understood it, has consciousness and is able to control mankind. If a person sins against Heaven, praying will be useless because Heaven will not listen to his prayers.

Confucius also said: "One ought to know the will of Heaven by the time he reaches fifty."

In his long life journey, Confucius realized that Heaven had its will, which provided laws for the universe. These laws were absolute and unchangeable and they were beyond the control of man.

Confucius also said: " Heaven gives morality to mankind."Heaven possesses both morality and integrity. Because of this, he can choose to give morality to his people. Confucius publicly acknowledged this.

Confucius believed that Heaven sustained the universe according to his own will. He said, "Heaven needs not speak, but still the seasons progress in their order. Heaven needs not speak, but all creatures live on." Although Heaven speaks no language, the four seasons and the myriads of lives are under his control because he has consciousness and will. So Confucius never denied the existence of God. On the contrary, he viewed all activities in the world as under the control of God.

Nevertheless, because of his human limitations, his understanding of God could not go beyond his level of knowledge as, after all, he had never seen God and God had never revealed Himself to him. For this reason, this great Chinese sage took a cautious position in respect to the unknown. Because he knew that God existed, he had great respect towards God. At the same time, because he was unnable to establish any personal contact with God, he preferred to keep his distance from God so that he would not sin against the Heaven due to his ignorance. Therefore, he always tried to keep himself away from God.

IV. Theism in Lao Tsu's philosophy

While Confucius attempted to express his ideas through the doctrine of the mean, Lao Tsu was very explicit in uncovering his viewpoint about the universe. Lao Tsu claimed unhesitatingly that God did exist. He said, "Something mysteriously formed, born before heaven and earth; in the silence and the void, standing alone and unchanging, ever present and in motion. Perhaps it is the mother of ten thousand things. I do not know its name. Call it Tao. For lack of a better word, I call it The Great." These words sound similar to Genesis 1:1 in the beginning of the Bible. Like Confucius, Lao Tsu also suffered from human limitations; he did not know God and God had not revealed Himself to him. He did not know God's name and he was quick to admit this without hesitation, with the  objectivity of ancient Chinese philosophers. According to Chinese tradition, parents bestow names or people make up their own names. But others can still give an alternative name. By the word Tao, Lao Tsu gave a vague name to God, indicating the vagueness of his understanding of God. Lao Tsu is ranked among the greatest in Chinese culture because he made no attempt to cover up his own ignorance.

He was certain about the existence of God, by whom all lives came into being. He said: "The Tao begot one. One begot two. Two begot three. And three begot the ten thousand things." These words sound similar to the first three chapters of Genesis.

He was certain that God was good and that God was the origin of all goodness. He said, "From ancient times all these things have arisen from the one: The sky is whole and clear. The earth is whole and firm. The spirit is whole and strong. The valley is whole and full. The ten thousand things are whole and alive. Kings and lords are whole, and the country is upright. All these exist by virtue of wholeness."

Taoism derives its name from Lao Tsu's high praise of Tao. Lao Tsu said, "The great Tao flows everywhere, both to the left and to the right. The ten thousand things depend upon it; it holds nothing back. It fulfills its purpose silently and makes no claims." These words depict God's omnipotence and transcendence.

From these examples, we see that Confucius' and Lao Tsu's understandings of Heaven came from God's revelation to man through nature. It is a fact that man cannot know God. Human limitations determine that there is an insurmountable distance between man and the unlimited God. Therefore, it is wholly reasonable for God to enter into man's limitations in order to reveal His own existence.

V. The doctrine of the mean

Despite the heavy influence of China's native Taoism and the Indian Sakyamuni philosophy, the leading player in Chinese culture is still the philosophy of Confucius. The doctrine of the mean, which has been highly praised generation after generation, has created a unique thinking process and pragmatism for Chinese people.

Confucius never doubted the existence of Heaven (or God). In the finiteness of his own life, he lamented the transience of human life. His saying "How time flies, day and night" expressed his passion for life and his understanding of the nature of the world. Living under the unbreakable laws, man can come back to his roots only through the unknown Heaven (or God). Confucius longed to communicate with the unknown God. He attempted to establish a relationship with God through prayer. Once he was sick and his disciples came to see him. They wanted to pray for him, but Confucius said, "I have been praying!" He realized that people were unnable to establish normal relations with Heaven because they sinned against the Heaven. So he sighed, "Prayer is useless if you sin against Heaven". Confucius' idea of  Heaven is not an abstract concept. Rather, it is a true existence.

Confucius took his philosophical research very seriously and he never pretended to know what he did not know. He knew about the omnipotent God to a certain extent, but in spite of all he never met Him. So he adopted the doctrine of the mean in dealing with God, so that he could have peace when confronting things he was unsure of. Out of his great awe of God, he realized the terrible outcome of sinning against God. So in his daily life, he tried to protect himself by keeping himself away from God.

Nevertheless, Confucius did not stop at a passive attitude because of his ignorance of God. On the contrary, he believed that God was good and he hoped to get to know more about God through promoting human morality and transcendence. So he said, "Heaven determines our fate. But human nature is good; so our physical body can come close to the good. Enrich yourself with knowledge in order to come closer to Heaven. Do your best and you will know the will of Heaven." He was certain that there existed in man a goodness that came from God. And through the pursuit of goodness, one could come close to knowing God better.

But it was not the ultimate goal of Confucian philosophy to get to know God. What Confucius was trying to achieve was to co-exist with the sun and the moon and to unite with God. So he said, "A great man will unite with the heaven and the earth for morality, with the sun and the moon for brightness, with the four seasons for order, with the spirits for fortune telling. When he is ahead of Heaven, Heaven follows him. When he is behind Heaven, he follows Heaven. When Heaven follows him, men follow him. So do the spirits." Mencius also wrote about uniting with the sun and the moon in his works, expressing his wish for human longevity.

VI.Human limitations and the only solution

Idealism is based on a hope that can be pursued. According to Confucius' theory of the goodness of human nature, anyone can become a saint. After his life-long research, however, Confucius discovered, to his surprise, that here in this world there was no perfect person or even anyone that could be called a great person. Confucius said, "I have never met a person with as much morality as lust." Everybody pursues their lusts, but Confucius never met anyone who pursued after morality in the same way.

Confucius spent his whole life teaching and cultivating human nature before he finally discovered the limitations of humanity. Natural revelation can only lead man to acknowledge the existence of God. But because of his human limitations man cannot achieve goodness and therefore he is ultimately unnable to unite with God. Confucius blamed human frailty on the human pursuit of worldly things, but I believe that the idea of "sin", as taught by Jesus Christ, points more convincingly to the true cause of eternal separation between man and the only God. Sin is man's refusal to seek God even though he knows that God is there. Sin is man's refusal to seek goodness even though he knows that goodness exists. Sin is man's continual pursuit of lust even though he knows it is shameful...

In his pursuit of perfection man comes up against a dead end. And because of his limitations, he cannot find any effective way to save himself. The only hope for man lies in God's goodness. Because of His responsibility and love toward mankind He created, God reveals Himself among men so that those who believe in Him and trust in Him can now come back to Him because of His love. Although man cannot get rid of his sins by himself, God is the master and He is capable of doing He wills. By His own power, He is able to remove sins from men so that men whose spirits have been sanctified can now be united with Him.

This is also the revelation given us by Chinese culture. If we truly believe that the God of Heaven is both good and almighty and it is He who gives us life and virtue, we must also believe that He has entered our world and brought us a message about Himself. He freed us from the bondage of sin and brought us back to our origin and to the true God.

If we truly believe that God is the creator of the universe and the sustainer of the world, we must not try to understand God within the realm of our limited culture and we must not under-estimate His omniscience and omnipotence. It is His great purpose to reveal Himself to any culture and nation and He does not need us, whom He created, to give our consent. If we are certain that He is from heaven, we must believe Him and trust Him because this is the only way to the true God. Inasmuch as our ancestors and Confucius suffered from human limitations, we, too, cannot go beyond them. But yet through God's Son we can now go beyond them. Jesus Christ said, "I am the life," "I am the way," "I am the bread of life."

To walk in Him is to walk into eternal life. To walk in Him is to walk toward eternity. To walk in Him is to obtain the bread of life and to become rich for eternity.

The author lives in Canada and is involved in evangelism.