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Chapter 4: Culture and Religion

In this chapter it talks about the different religions and cultures in different regions. Today i'll be writing about the three main religions, Confucianism, Hinduism and Buddhism. In China, Confucianism became the main religion which was based on the ideas of Confucius. He believed that he could fix all of China's political issues, but he never got the chance. Instead, he taught his beliefs and complied a book of his teachings. Confucius believed that China needed order. In China family was the most important thing so that being said he focus everything on class and order. In a family the man is the head and most people assume the wife comes next, but not Confucius. He believed women should always serve men because they were superior. He was also a strong believer of education and felt as if it should determine class. Both Hinduism and Buddhism originated in India. This story I find particularly interesting because Hinduism originated because there was too much chaos in India. By this I mean India had too many traditions and did not have one dominate religion. Hinduism was similar to Confucianism in the sense of order and class. The only difference is that class was determined by good or bad karma moving people up and down classes after their rebirth. Good or bad karma was a decision made by the gods based on the decisions from a persons life. In Hinduism women were also not acknowledged and were considered inferior to men. While Hinduism was the main religion in India it was mainly practiced by the upper class. This being said, Buddhism was created by a prince, Siddhartha Guatama. Many high powered people like the prince believed in Hinduism, but Siddhartha Guatama, later known as Buddha created Buddhism. He believed in good and bad karma, but he believed the enlightened state could be reached before death. Buddhism was about reaching enlightenment without being in a high class. Buddhism appealed to many lower class citizens. Later on Hinduism and Buddhism created a division in India.

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