ANCIENT CHINESE RELIGION

CONFUCIANISM BELIEFS

• People should live by following principles of concern for others
• Young people obey elders, subjects obey rulers

TAOISM BELIFS

• People should be one with nature
• All living things have a universal force
• All nature has balancing forces (yin and yang)

BUDDHISM BELIEFS

• Reincarnation (being reborn to reach nirvana)
• Nirvana (state of perfection)
• Eight fold path (believe right, desire right, think right, live right, and more)

RELIGIOUS LEADERS

• Buddhism- Buddha(Siddhartha Gautama)
• Taoism- Lao-Tzu
• Confucianism- Confucius

BOOKS OF TEACHINGS

• Buddhism- Tripitaka
• Taoism- Tao Te Ching
• Confucianism- no official book be cause Confucius did not write down his beliefs but his followers did

HOLIDAYS

• Chinese New Year (all religions)
• Vesak(Buddhism)-Buddha’s birthday
• Qing Ming (Confucianism)- give offering to dead ancestors
• Confucius’s birthday (Confucianism)

MORE HOLIDAYS

• Hungry ghost festival (Buddhism and Taoism)- those who didn’t get get proper funerals get released from the underworld
• Lantern festival (Taoism)- first full moon of the year and Tianguan: the Taoist god of good fortune