Ritual and sacred scripture in Christianity and Taoism

Ritual and Sacred Scripture in Christianity and Taoism

Ritual in Christianity

Christian rituals are bounded in particular days, as opposed to everyday customs. Naturally, Sundays are relevant as Sundays are reserved for pious churchgoing and prayer. But aside from Sundays, there are many other rituals - mainly days of ritualistic practice - that identify Christianity.

First, it is necessary to establish the difference between liturgical (emphasizing standard traditional rituals in worship) and non-liturgical (emphasizing unstructured, spontaneous worship) in church bodies.

As far as the rituals themselves go, the first variety are the sacraments. Sacraments are sacred rituals through which God's saving power comes to believers. There is the Eucharist (also called Lord's Supper, Communion, Catholic 'Mass,' or Divine Liturgy). This is represented by partaking in bread and wine as body and blood of Christ; this ritual is derived from the last supper. (University of Calgary, 2005)

Penance represents a reconciliation and involves confession and God's granting of forgiveness through his representatives (the clergy) on Earth.

In baptism - the immersion or pouring of water - infants are welcomed to life; it is also used for anointing the sick, confirmation of the baptized, ordination of clergy and even for marriage.

But Christianity's rituals are not all saved for special days. There is daily worship too: the daily office happens in monastic settings and non-Protestant denominations. Some churches also observe matins (morning service) and vespers (evensong, or evening service). Gregorian chants play a role here.

Sunday is the Lord's Day in Christianity, the day He rested while making the Earth and its creatures. This is also the day of Jesus' resurrection. Here, there is liturgy of the Word, which is the reading from the bible, with homily. Also, there is the liturgy of the Eucharist: partaking of bread and wine here as well.

As far as the calendar cycle portion of the rituals of Christianity, there is a whole season commemorating Jesus' birth. First, there is the annunciation, which commemorates the announcement to May by the angel Gabriel that she would be the mother of Jesus, in Luke 1:26-38. The Feast of the Annunciation is observed on March 25, which is essentially 9 months prior to Christmas, for obvious reasons.

Epiphany is January 6 which is either the anniversary of Jesus' baptism, or commemorates Jesus' revelations to the Gentiles as the Savior, as portrayed by the arrival of the Three Wise Men.

Christmas celebrates Jesus' birth, and the Advent is a month of preparation for Christmas.

Lent commemorates Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, and is a 40-day preparatory period of repentance, fasting and self-denial that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with an Easter feast, on the day of Jesus' resurrections.

These are the major Christian rituals - as mentioned above, they are closely structured around the life of Christ and they are meant to be observed on certain particular days every year.

Taoist Rituals

In 440 BC, Taoism was adopted as a state religion in China. (Dominguez, 2004) at that juncture Lao-Tse, the founder, became popularly venerated, essentially as a deity. Taoism, along with Buddhism and Confucianism, became the three primary religions of China. With the end of the Ch'ing Dynasty in 1911, state support for Taoism abruptly ended. Much of the Taoist heritage was destroyed during the next period of warlordism and conflict. After the Communist victory in 1949, of course, religious freedom was severely restricted throughout the land, further jeopardizing Taoism. (Dominguez, 2004)

Taoism currently has about 20 million followers, and is primarily centered in Taiwan as opposed to in mainland China. (Dominguez, 2004) About 30,000 Taoists live in North America; 1,720 in Canada (1991 census). Taoism has had a significant impact on North American culture in areas of acupuncture, herbalism, holistic medicine, meditation and martial arts. (Dominguez, 2004)

The basic tenets and practices of Taoism describe the ritualistic nature of the religion. The essence of Taoism is "Tao," "the way," who is not the "eternal Tao," (not God the Father); he is, instead, "the way, the truth and the life" (note the similarity and contrast to the vision of Christ). For instance, the translation of the Bible in Chinese reads, "In the beginning was the Tao, and the Tao was with God, and the Tao was God."..like John1:1... The "Tao" is "infinite profundity," "the origin of all things," "a stabilizing force, for where Tao is equilibrium.".. "it existed before heaven and earth," "it is eternal," "stands alone, and never changes, pervades everywhere," "Tao is the source of all things, the treasure of good men, and the sustainer of bad men.".. He is the "Word," Jesus Christ." (Dominguez, 2004)

However there is a great difference between the rituals of Christianity and Taoism: "Tao" is not a person. Rather, it is a force, a principle. "Jesus" on the other hand is a person, he is God, the creator of all things in heavens and earth, and he wants to live in your heart, and you in him, in his Mystical Body, in his Church. Christian practitioners ask believers to come to Jesus: "just have faith in him and you will be saved... he is the real living Tao!" (Dominguez, 2004)

Tao" (pronounced "Dow") is essentially indefinable. Tao, according to the rituals of the religion, simply has to be experienced. It "refers to a power which envelopes, surrounds and flows through all things, living and non-living. The Tao regulates natural processes and nourishes balance in the Universe. It embodies the harmony of opposites (i.e. there would be no love without hate, no light without dark, no male without female.)" (Dominguez, 2004)

In Taoism, Tao, roughly translated as path, is a force which flows through all life and is the first cause of everything. The goal of everyone is to become one with the Tao. Tai Chi, a technique of exercise using slow deliberate movements, is used to balance the flow of energy or "chi" within the body. People should develop virtue and seek compassion, moderation and humility. One should plan any action in advance and achieve it through minimal action.

Yin (dark side) and Yang (light side) categorize pairs of opposites which are seen through the universe, such as good and evil, light and dark, male and female. The impact of human civilization upsets the balance of Yin and Yang.

Taoists feel that people are by nature, good, and that one should be kind to others simply because such treatment will probably be reciprocated, and their rituals reflect this belief structure.

For instance, Taoism's fascination with nature and the natural order complements the societal focus of Confucianism, and its synthesis with Buddhism is the basis of Zen.

According to Dominguez's research, "The concept of a personified deity is foreign to Taoism, as is the concept of the creation of the universe. Thus, they do not pray as Christians do; there is no God to hear the prayers or to act upon them. They seek answers to life's problems through inner meditation and outer observation.... Each believer's goal is to become one with the Tao." (Dominguez, 2004)

Taoism's Sacred Scripture

The greatest Taoist philosopher was Chuang-tzu, who lived in the late fourth and early third centuries B.C. His greatest contribution was to develop and spread the teachings of Laotzu, writing commentaries which Taoists regard as scripture. Now the Taoist canon, known as the Tao Tsang, or Tao-te-Ching, consists of about 1,120 volumes. (Refuge-Outreach, 2005)

Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu taught that the wise man in Taoism should do everything according to the Tao. He should live passively, and completely in tune with the universe. This concept is expressed in the term wu wei, which means something like "not doing" or "actionless activity." In Taoism, one must not - and indeed, cannot -- alter nature. Instead he should lead a life of reflection and quiet passiveness. He must avoid violence of all forms. The wise man will go with Tao and live in complete simplicity and quiet. In these respects Taoism is similar to the Greek Epicureans' philosophy that the Apostle Paul debated (Acts 17:18). (Refuge-Outreach, 2005)

In translation, one of the first lines of the Tao-Te-Ching, the primary text of Taoism, is "The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name." (Legge, 1891, Translation)

This concept addresses the mutability of Taoism, which contrasts starkly with the relative unchanging nature of Christianity.

Comparison of Christianity and Taoism in Scripture and Ritual

Taoism is more a way of life, and Christianity is a way of being pious and connected to God, under the outlines described above. Christianity, in ritual, is corralled mainly to Sundays for modern day observers, whereas Taoism cannot be sequestered to one day or even a set of holidays (holy days) as is Christianity.

This difference sets apart the two religions on one important way: Christianity is a religion allows followers to lead their lives in the context of piousness and belief in Christ; Taoism actually subsumes the lives of its followers, and it itself is the end objective for followers, via the ritual of entirety.

Contrast between Taoism and Christianity in Sacred Scripture

The two religions differ primarily in their scriptures in that the Tao-te-Ching is a mutable text: It changes with the times and it adds different volumes as time goes on. The Bible, on the other hand, is a collection of stories from yesteryear that is not changed today; like the U.S. Constitution, it remains constant, and even though changes in interpretation can take the form of Amendments, the original document remains absolutely unchanged.

The Tao-te-Ching, then, is, in some ways, more adaptable to the modern lifestyle than is Christianity. The Tao molds itself to people's actual lives as their lives change over the decades. However, the drawback is, since the Tao is a way of life, and cannot be sequestered to days of worship, Taoism depends on an amenability of humans to actually live their life subsumed in the context of religion.

Christianity, with its amendments via modern day interpretations may be more suited to the more secular modern day lifestyle, where religion is assigned certain days of the year and secularism and capitalism the remaining days.

Interview Results: Taoism

The Taoist practitioner interviewed is a college student in New Brunswick, NJ. He indicates that he does not so much as pray to a Taoist "God" as he lives his life by the teachings in the Tao-te-Ching. As he is a student, this works well with his schedule as he is limited in the amount of time he can dedicate to his faith.

He does not really observe holidays or special prayer days, but he does get together with his family several times over the year to discuss the Taoist scriptures and belief structures.

Interview with Christian

The Christian interviewed is an editor for a national magazine. She goes to church every Sunday and declined to mention her particular faith within Christianity. She also celebrates Christmas by going to midnight mass, but she does not really celebrate Easter (indicating, of course, that she is probably not Catholic). She believes in the modern day tenets and interpretations of Christianity: She is concerned that religion is becoming obsolete and recognizes the need for religions to adapt to modern times and customs.