The Chinese seem to have been very pragmatic with regard to their deities (it may not be the case anymore, however). By this I mean the Chinese would never think of propitiating a deity, a person like Jesus, or a creator god if the deity didn’t help them get what they wanted. The door had to swing both ways as if to say, “Okay deity, if you do this for me I will sacrifice to you.”
Going back to the Shang dynasty (1766–1122 B.C.), which is quite a long time ago, deities were understood to depend upon their devotees for their sustenance. No devotees—no god. On the other hand, a popular deity would naturally be one that when sacrificed to, produced tangible results.
It is worth adding to say that a Chinese Old Testament Job-like character would have been considered quite insane in the China dominated by Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and popular religion. Why would anyone in their right mind sacrifice to a god who caused them almost unbearable suffering as was the case with Job? In fact the whole story of Job, besides being paradoxical from a Buddhist standpoint, makes any thought of worshiping a deity like Job's a likely red flag indicating the onset of madness!
The Chinese state had the last say in the worship of deities. The state, in effect, had the power to make or break gods. This also meant that the Chinese state exercised power over the spiritual world. Such a world had to be approved by the state, in other words. On the same score, an official of the state had the power to have the image of a particular deity dragged out of its temple and publicly flogged if the official believed that the deity had not performed its proper duty!
For Muslims, Christians and Jews, this may seem quite strange. Still, we can surmise that in ancient China the God of Abraham, if he had been worshiped in China, might have been removed from office if he didn’t bring good fortune to the Chinese people and the state. The Chinese mind might reason that if this god is not efficacious, why bother with him?
This is certainly something for Westerners to consider who have an amazing penchant to defend what the ancient Chinese would consider to be an ineffectual deity that doesn’t deserve worship. One quick parenthetical bit of history I need to add is that the fall of Rome was blamed on the Christians which, as a consequence, forced Augustine, the Roman bishop of Hippo, to write his work The City of God as a response to these charges. I assume that like the Chinese the ancient Romans were also pragmatic who considered Jupiter and the other gods (and goddesses) to be efficacious and deserving of worship—after all Rome was doing fine until Christianity showed up.
As the author of this blog himself has said in person before (regarding other authors):
"I praise him for his accuracy, but I dont praise his mistakes/ignorances"
Posted by: wisdomISking | December 25, 2008 at 09:33 PM
To WisdomisKing( aka Ken Wheeler):
Oh dear, Mr Dictionary seems to have deserted us again. It seems that your inexorable pig-headed attitude towards the nicely written connotations and denotations of this author on various Buddhist subjects are entirely missed. There must be a reason why you are going to extraordinary lengths to discredit and excoriate the author. Me thinks that once upon a time there were some kind of abandoness due to mental implosions (on your part). Perhaps he got tired of you and sent you off to green pastures? Are you the mad cow that returned from hell (Laughs)? Anyways, You seem to have more teeth than brain cells. You need to kool down. Preferably taking a shower in liquid oxygen. On this forum you are nothing more then a dyslectic verbal polluter, showing of your own spiritual inadequacy.Tune in to sanity FM buddy.
Zengirl
(Enlightenment is never pink - bummer!)
Posted by: zengirl | December 25, 2008 at 05:31 AM
author has said "The Chinese mind might reason that if this god is not efficacious, why bother with him?"
You, like the ignorant chinese, confuse a 'better life/wealth/health/' with Transcendence (vimuttati).
That ignorant chinese are want to pray to Gods whom they hear "granted wishes", this is their ignorance to improve their current lives, rather than have the wisdom to desire for transcendence.
Why ask why idiot Chinese pray to "da' buddha" who himself was UNABLE to get past great physical pain and suffering as illuminated in ALL translations of the Mahaparinirvana Sutra "Gotama was vomitting,....in great pain, and physical suffering" MN2.
Your passage, if wisdom were a mountain, is alike to the Grand Canyon, not only void, but dirrected the 'other way' (=Marahood)
Posted by: wisdomISking | December 25, 2008 at 12:12 AM