Religion and Theology

This paper is an exegesis on Confucianism, Daoism, and Hinduism with reference to relevant excerpts.
Discussed in all these passages is the concept of human beings as constituents of the larger universal power, which primarily rules the actions, the reasons, and the results of all that men do or desire.
The excerpts on Confucianism and Daoism state the origin of Dao and its deeper meaning. Dao or the supreme power is born when a man seeks the path of love, dismisses all thoughts of winning over others and considers the whole of the universe as his home. The heaven and the hell then merely are two states of his mind and there is neither pain nor pleasure.

The excerpts from the Bhagavad Gita, the Vedas, and the hymn sung by Mirabai describe the glory of Krishna or Lord Mahavishnu who rules the universe. The first verse speaks of the greatness of a Brahmin and affirms that it is he, the Lord, who guides the Brahmin. The second verse has Krishna preaching Arjuna during epic war Mahabharata. Here, Arjuna is encouraged to pursue his duty of fighting the war without hesitation and without any pain of killing elders and brothers in his family. The third verse is a sonnet sung by poetess Mirabai who sees the Lord as her ultimate friend, husband, and lover. She loses her husband to death but refuses to pursue her life as a widow and moves on towards salvation by becoming a begging mendicant roaming from one home to another.

All three principles more or less speak that the universe is lead by a larger force, which is present in multitudes within every living thing.

Discussion
Nandini A.

Short exegesis about Confucianism, Daoism, and Hinduism
2nd April 2010

Verses mentioned in The Analects of Confucius, Confucianism, pg. 143, describe the correlation between the fundamental root, which is love and respect for humanity and the basic moral law, known as the Dao. Yu-Tzu describes how Confucius ascertains the disposure of a man as being superior as this is the man who respects his elders and treats everybody else equally, as his own brothers. This man, says Confucius, does not know discrimination, sorrow, or anger towards anybody.

The idea of a superior man arises from the fact that this man is constantly engaged in learning from his mistakes and through lifes experiences and loves making friends everywhere through everybody he meets. This man does not judge others, does not expect anything in return but true love and affection derived from the root of humanity attained through love for elders and respect for the equals. This man knows no sorrow or grief as every endeavor of his is a result of a responsibility driven by supreme morality. This state is the result of understanding that everything he does is only to attain the Dao.

Verses mentioned in The Book of Mercius, Confucianism, pg. 146, reaffirms the goodness that exists in the world and within human beings, as expressed by Mencius, one of the neo-Confucius leaders. Mencius uses Gaozi as his mouthpiece to express his thoughts. Gaozi states that all of Human Nature is good. To explain, there is a sort of defending of the human world, which the neo-Confucian does through using the example of flowing water. All the thoughts, actions, events, or results driving a man and his life, driving all human beings and their lives is primarily as good as the pure, crystalline water flowing downwards. This water exists throughout existence and is nonetheless the pulse of all human life. This water is ever flowing and no amount of sedimentation of any filth or dirt can prove that it is bad. Thus, like the flowing water, the human life keeps renewing itself in thought and action.

Verses in The Western Inscription, Confucianism, pg. 156 are by Zhang Zai, a neo-Confucius thought leader who considers heaven and earth to be his mother and father respectively. Zhang zai here is equating himself as an extension of both his parents who co-exist for him in all elders he knows. He considers all human beings as his brothers, as everybody constitute the same heaven and the earth.
There is a kind of elevation of the self in the lines, Therefore that which fills the universe I regard as my body and that which directs the universe I consider my nature (The Western Inscription, Confucianism, pg. 156). The physical body of the self here is in the sublime, is ascertained to be the universe, and the nature of the self to be the reason and cause of all action and thought. To elaborate, Zhang zai is obliquely pointing at the oneness or the similarity that all beings live by. In this state of oneness, there are no unique identities.  Everything on this universe is the same and will finally lead to sameness. This sameness is what we call the Heaven and the Earth.

Next, consider the verses by Laozi in The Dao, The Dao Di Jing, pg. 166. Laozi equates all beings as actually being non-existent. There is an exploration of what we could call the momentary-ness of things, people, and all happenings. As he says, the dao is not the Dao forever (The Dao Di Jing, Laozi, pg. 166). There are many ideas discussed here. One is the existence of the highest self, known as the mother. It is from this mother that all ideas, beings and things take birth. The Dao therefore is an aggregation of several multitude daos that keep dying and keep taking re-birth.

Following the above, the verses by Laozi in Anti-Contifucianism, The Dao Di Jing, pg. 167 describe that the doctrines of ren and yi, i.e., knowledge and wisdom appeared when the Dao disappeared. The two examples of filial brotherhood and royal ministries highlight the birth of knowledge and wisdom and therefore speculation supported by these two forces. Both the ren and yi are devoid of the Dao or the morality. The ren and yi are born out of mans propensity to speculate and see everything through his own eyes that are blind to the higher power guiding him. This ignorance of seeing through the higher power is what Anti-Confucius is.

Verses on Daoism (pg. 193) further reaffirm the momentary nature of all life. These lines clearly state that no man on this earth can possess anything forever. The heaven and the earth supplicate every man, such that no thought, action, or deed, or possessions such as body, mind, or the heart are his own. Man is nothing but a sublime speck, a minute replica of the realm that fills the space between the heaven and the earth.

The verses on Hinduism nevertheless express the same ideas as that expressed by Confucianism and Daoism. The verse from the Upanishads, (Realize the Brahmin, Hinduism, pg. 65) recalls what a Brahmin is all about. The Brahmin is a pure god-like man propelled by two divine forces, the Om and the Atman. The two respectively are equal with the bow and the arrow. The om is the Lord and the atman is the Soul. Thus, any man driven by these two is bound to succeed in everything he does. The Brahmin is patient, tolerant, and yet a winner is all that does because he acts as a tool of the Lord who has created the heaven and the earth. Reciprocally, a true Brahmin is someone who uses these two instruments to lead his life. These two forces, the om and the atman hold similarities to the root and the moral law or the Dao as stated in Confucianism and Daoism. However, the context is different.
The verses from the Bhagvad Gita, (I am the Beginning and the End, Hinduism, pg.66) has Lord Krishna, or Mahavishnu known as the protector, creator, and destroyer of the universe in Hinduism addresses the sorrowful warrior Arjuna, who is hesitating to make war. The idea is not to propagate war but to enlighten man that he is born to perform his duties on this earth as is expected of him. In other words, man cannot achieve anything through inaction of his responsibilities. The Lord here encourages Arjuna by reinstating that the entire universe is he alone. It is he who created it, he who carries out everything done by everybody, and it is he that destroys when there is a need. There is nothing that is not the Lord himself, neither the sacred scriptures and nor the five elements that make up the whole of this universe. Om is a symbol of purity and the Vedas are the book of rules through which life is to be lived.

The final verses in context here is by Hindu poetess and saint Mirabai (Without Krishna, I cannot sleep, Hinduism, pg. 79). In these verses, the saint surrenders herself completely to the Lord and expresses the desire to be one with the Lord. The great Lord Krishna is her only love and only Light that can bring her out of Darkness. The poetess refuses to be bound by any rules the society set for her after her husbands death, to live the life of a widow. Instead, she chooses to live in the longing for the love of her life, Lord Krishna, for the rest of her life. She spends her life as a begging mendicant or a woman Brahmin who roams from one home to another. Nonetheless, a human being is just a sub-presence of the supreme power called Nature. Mirabai reaffirms this through this sonnet.

Conclusion
It would be appropriate to conclude by saying that all of them, Confucianism, Daoism, and Hinduism propagate the idea of the One supreme force that drives the earth and the heaven, alike. Men, mere mortals are a subset of this supreme power.

Therefore, all actions and deeds guided by the supreme are the best. Any act of knowledge or wisdom carried out by man without the supreme guidance is prideful and may lead a man towards failure.