There was a pre-existing religion in China before Confucianism and Daoism emerged. This prehistoric Chinese religion emerged no later than 1600 B.C.E., more than a thousand years before the emergence of the two traditions. Both Confucianism and Daoism can be seen as two distinct extensions or outward manifestations of this traditional Chinese religion, with the former emphasizing human social interactions and the latter emphasizing the physical and spiritual wellness of the person. Reading the Book of Changes, generally known as the Yijing, which is considered to be the first manifestation of the Chinese religious worldview, is one of the rituals. It communicates a worldview that has been named “organismic,” in which each element of the cosmos is a part of an organic whole and engages in ongoing interactions with one another. The Book of Changes does not contain a creation myth, in contrast to most religions’ foundation texts.
The lack of a creation myth may be explained by the ancient Chinese culture’s predominance of ancestor worship. Instead, three two-polar, complimentary energies known as qi emerged from an initial condition of “undifferentiated chaos” (hundun). Yang is one of them. The endless interaction and alternation of yin and yang, which stand in for all binary thoughts and beings, creates a continuum or spectrum that contains all the different components of the universe.
Honoring the dead was one of the Ancient Chinese religion’s practices. Their forebears were not just dead, buried, and forgotten by the ancient Chinese. Instead, they remained involved in the lives of their living offspring. They were frequently contacted on both large and trivial issues. Chinese religious practice has always been centered on kinship relations and practical life. It was not confined to a separate “holy” region. The presence of the ancestors in the lives of their offspring has remained a vital and distinguishing feature of Chinese civilization. In this way, the picture of Qingming at the beginning of this chapter represents Chinese religious conduct. The ancient Chinese similarly believed in gods and what happens after death. According to the faith, the deceased’s spirit persists beyond death as long as the energy required to maintain the current identity of hun and po persists.
Furthermore, the spirit of one who passes away at a ripe old age and is properly cared for by the descendants may become shen, a good power that guards and benefits the living, even though it is merely a faint shadow of its former self. On the other hand, a person’s spirit will transform into gui. This spiteful and malicious ghost brings misfortune upon people if they die tragically or early or are not given a proper burial or sacrifice.