Mid-Term Assignment. Literature & Language Assignment

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Mid-Term Short Written Assignment
The origin of the Chinese Philosophy can be traced as early as the sixth century BCE which comprised of political and social philosophies. These philosophies were as a result of the fall of the bronze-age society during the Zhou and Shang dynasties. Major political philosophies include the Confucian, Daoist, and Mohist schools of thought. These philosophies advocated for different views on the nature of man and life. Ideas of Chinese Philosophers were applied in both Chinese and Japanese traditional societies for a long time. However, during the third century, Mahayana Buddhism arrived in China from India. Mahayana Buddhism came with a different view concerning the nature of life and man. The Mahayana philosophy differed with the Chinese and Japanese schools of thought concerning the same topic. The Mahayana Buddhism advocated for Socratic myths and beliefs in explaining the nature of man. However, the advocates of Chinese and Japanese philosophies responded by developing systems that responded to Mahayana Buddhism. Unlike the Buddhists, the neo-Confucians believed that there was the existence of the reality and it could be understood by mankind. Despite the fact that these interpretations were different at some level, the school of neo-Confucianism believed that reality existed. However the spirit of the neo-Confucians is opposed to that of the Buddhists.
There are different ways in how the Tendai school of Mahayana Buddhism differs from the Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism while agreeing on some aspects of the nature of human life.
Tendai is the Japanese branch of Mahayana Buddhism, which belongs to the Tiantai and Lotus Sutra schools of thought from China. Tendai was introduced in Japan during the middle of the eighth century at the mount of Tantai by a Japanese monk known as Saicho (Chan 26). Although Tendai has denominated the Japanese history and is the most comprehensive school of Chinese Buddhism, this school of thought is not common in the western countries. The teachings of Tendai did not differ from those of Tiantai, but Sacho added some doctrines such as Mikkyo and Vinaya schools of thought. One of the fundamental principles of the Tendai Buddhism is the ‘simple truth’ or ‘Truth in the Middle Way.’ (Chan p. 398) This doctrine says that all things are empty, ‘dharma’ but they have a temporary existence. Additionally, the Tendai thought is centered on ‘original enlightenment,’ which points out that Buddha-hood is central to everything (Chan 398). Therefore, the world that we experience is central to ‘dharma,’ who is the Lotus Sutra. Furthermore, the Tendai school of thought believes in, ‘the four noble truths’ which govern human life. The first noble truth states that human life is prone to mental and physical suffering, stress, illness, and death (Chan 399). The second noble truth is the origin or, ‘dukkha’ which is translated to mean ignorance. The third truth is the cessation of ‘dukkha’ or innocence, and the fourth truth is the path leading to the ’dukkha (Chan 399)’. Therefore, according to Tendai, human life i...