Chinese myths and legends

In pre-Buddhist China , there were a few similarities between the indigenous religions of the people , and those beliefs of Buddhism Specifically , the idea of karmic retribution was already established in both pre-Buddhist China and later , more fully developed after it was incorporated more thoroughly through the doctrine of Buddhism . The idea that one 's actions result in either positive or negative consequences for the individual who performed those actions was already seen in certain teachings of Confucius , and although these pre-Buddhist doctrines told a similar story of retribution , they were distinct in

br that they did not admit the Indian and Buddhist concept of samsara , the continuous succession of rebirth , and therefore the consequences of one 's actions , if not directly applied to the actor , would be applied to his or her family after their death . However , within the time of the first couple centuries of the Common Era , the two doctrines had merged into one , and these concepts were uniformly accepted (Gjertson 118 - 144

Buddhist morality presented a conflict between its own tenants and some of those of traditional Chinese practices . The use of animals as sacrificial offerings , for instance , was in direct conflict with the Buddhist teaching of non-violence toward all living beings . Also in conflict with this teaching was the use of animals for official purposes , food , or hunting . All of these uses of animals had been accepted in pre-Buddhist China , yet with the influx of the new morality of Buddhism , these were to be stopped . Other traditional practices however , which did not conflict with Buddhism were encouraged . This allowed the acceptance of many indigenous beliefs while at the same time allowing Buddhism to thrive (Gjertson 118 - 144

However much Buddhism altered the indigenous beliefs of the people of China in the 1st century , the indigenous religions so to influenced Buddhism , especially the popular Buddhist conception of the netherworld The religions and customs of both Taoism and Confucianism were already well established in China when Buddhism came on the scene . Taoism , the older of the two indigenous religions , was primarily concerned with the worship of a number of deities and knowledge of alchemy with the purpose of extending life (Skilton 165 - 175 ) Confucianism , on the other hand was much more complex in many respects . It is a system composed of moral , political , social and religious teachings with many commandments to be specifically followed . It is this complexity in all aspects of life for the Chinese people that remained and changed beliefs in Buddhist 's conception of the netherworld (Gjertson 118 - 144

Although the ethical principles central to Buddhism , and those of retribution , remained with the Chinese people through the merging of the two ideas , it was the complex , administrative ' behavior of the Chinese which lead to the same complexity in the netherworld . In T 'ang Lin 's Ming-pao chi , he tells many stories of the netherworld and the incredibly complex administrative practices for those rulers of the netherworld to follow in to weed out punishment to deserving...