Deck 11: Chinese and Korean Traditions

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT considered a mythical founder/hero in China or Korea?

A) Yao
B) Shun
C) Yu
D) Ming
E) Dangun

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following best describes ancient Chinese attitudes and approaches to religious traditions?

A) Sectarianism
B) Syncretism
C) Orthodoxy
D) Skepticism
E) Agnosticism

Answer 2

B

Question 3

What are the sanjiao, or "three teachings," of Chinese tradition?

A) Daoism, Buddhism, and Christianity
B) Confucianism, Daoism, and Shinto
C) Yin, Yang, and Yi
D) Confucianism, Daoism, and Folk
E) Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Which of the following is an alternative name for Confucius?

A) Zhuangzi
B) Laozi
C) Xunzi
D) Mengzi
E) Kongzi

Question 5

Around what time did Confucius live?

A) First century BCE
B) Second to third century CE
C) Sixth to fifth century BCE
D) First century CE
E) Tenth to ninth century BCE

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT one of the Five Classics in Confucian tradition?

A) Book of Poetry
B) Classic of Changes
C) Book of Rites
D) Spring and Autumn Annals
E) Classic of the Way and Power

Question 7

Who, along with Confucius himself, are considered China's three foremost philosophers of the Confucian tradition?

A) Laozi and Zuangzi
B) Mencius and Dong Zhongshu
C) Mencius and Xunzi
D) Laozi and Mencius
E) Zuangzi and Xunzi

Question 8

During what dynasty in China did the Five Classics of Confucianism originate?

A) Ming
B) Zhou
C) Shang
D) Tang
E) Han

Question 9

Which term refers to the exemplary Confucian?

A) Zhong
B) Junzi
C) Taiji
D) Fengshui
E) Mudang

Question 10

In the Confucian tradition, what idea did the Mandate of Heaven establish?

A) That for people to reach Heaven, they must sacrifice animals regularly
B) That the ruler himself was a god
C) That rulers are given the right to rule from Heaven through moral character and good governance
D) That rulers have the right to govern with an iron fist when necessary for the good of the people
E) That the Supreme Being has established laws that must be communicated to the people

Question 11

What change in religious concepts and in understanding of the universe occurred between the Shang and Zhou dynasties in ancient China?

A) A shift toward ethical monotheism, with emphasis on one all-powerful supreme being
B) A shift in emphasis from this-worldly concerns to focus on achieving rewards in the afterlife
C) A shift toward secularism, where religious concepts played little to no role
D) The addition of several new and important deities that were worshipped regularly
E) A shift in emphasis from the more personal "Lord on High" to the concept of Heaven

Question 12

Which of the following was NOT one of the elements in ancient Chinese cosmology (particularly emphasised in the Naturalist or yin-yang school)?

A) Earth
B) Fire
C) Water
D) Air
E) Metal

Question 13

In Confucian tradition, what does the term li primarily refer to?

A) Rites or ritual
B) Filial piety
C) Power
D) Way
E) Goodness

Question 14

In Confucian tradition, li refers not only to religious ritual but also to which of the following?

A) Compassion
B) Filial piety
C) Breath or life
D) The Mandate of Heaven
E) The rules of social etiquette and everyday courtesy

Question 15

What is the primary source of Confucius' sayings and teachings on how to govern in the period of Lesser Prosperity?

A) Classic of Documents
B) Analects
C) Classic of Changes
D) Spring and Autumn Annals
E) Book of Mencius

Question 16

The Confucian hierarchy of character was all about the mastery of xin, which means which of the following?

A) Soul-body
B) Spirit-flesh
C) Will-virtue
D) Love-humility
E) Heart-mind

Question 17

Which central Confucian term denotes the practical value of humaneness?

A) Dao
B) Qi
C) Jiao
D) Ren
E) Li

Question 18

In the Confucian tradition, what did the word de come to mean?

A) Social etiquette
B) "Way"
C) Moral power rooted in ethical behaviour
D) Filial piety
E) Goodness or humaneness

Question 19

What is "filial piety" as emphasized by Confucius?

A) Worshipping ancestors
B) Caring for animals
C) Ritual propriety and etiquette
D) Caring for one's parents
E) Loyalty to one's king

Question 20

What is the "silver rule" in the Confucian tradition?

A) "Look at nothing contrary to ritual; listen to nothing contrary to ritual; say nothing contrary to ritual; do nothing contrary to ritual."
B) "What you would not want for yourself, do not do to others."
C) "Do unto others what you would have done unto you."
D) "The virtue of the exemplary person is like the wind."
E) "Respect without ritual becomes tiresome, circumspection without ritual becomes timidity, bold fortitude without ritual becomes unruly, and directness without ritual becomes twisted."

Question 21

What did the Confucian scholar Mencius believe about human nature?

A) People are born corrupt and must be forced to act properly.
B) With a moral leader, people can be left alone and will automatically emulate the ruler's behaviour.
C) People are either born good or evil, and this nature is unchangeable.
D) Other than a few elite, for the most part people are stupid and ignorant.
E) People's sensitivity to others' suffering is innate, but must be cultivated.

Question 22

Which of the following did Mencius emphasize, calling it the "flood-like vital force, energy or ether."

A) Dao
B) Li
C) Ren
D) Qi
E) Xin

Question 23

What did Xunzi, the famous Confucian scholar, believe about human nature?

A) It was neither good nor evil at birth, but only became so with social influence.
B) It was good and that evil was the result of insufficient moral cultivation.
C) It was evil and that goodness was the result of conscious activity.
D) It was essentially ignorant, with few exceptions, so there was no point in cultivating learning.
E) It was essentially compassionate, though the degree of compassion varied strongly.

Question 24

Which Confucian believed we need to be "straightened out" from "warped" innate desires?

A) Ban Zhao
B) Confucius
C) Xunzi
D) Wan Yangming
E) Mencius

Question 25

What does the Chinese term Dao mean?

A) Virtue
B) Way
C) Power
D) Breath
E) Religion

Question 26

What two branches has Daoism historically been understood to have?

A) Theist and atheist
B) Monotheistic and polytheistic
C) Philosophical and religious
D) Religious and secular
E) Philosophical and mystical

Question 27

Who is the "old master" who traditionally is believed to have written Daodejing (Classic of the Way and Power)?

A) Laozi
B) Zhuangzi
C) Confucius
D) Zou Yan
E) Mencius

Question 28

Next to the Daodejing, what is considered the main source of philosophical Daoism?

A) The Analects
B) The Huang-Lao Silk Manuscripts
C) The Yijing
D) The Zhuangzi
E) The Guanzi

Question 29

What is the collection of texts, traditionally attributed to Guan Zhong of the seventh century BCE, that is useful for reconstructing early development of philosophical Daoism?

A) The Daodejing
B) The Yijing
C) The Guanzi
D) The Analects
E) The Zhuangzi

Question 30

"Guiding and stretching exercises" similar to modern-day taiji (Tai Chi) are mentioned in early texts of what tradition?

A) Confucianism
B) Daoism
C) Mohism
D) Shinto
E) Buddhism

Question 31

What does the notion of wuwei, found in both philosophical and religious Daoism, mean?

A) Filial piety
B) Power
C) Nonaction
D) Ritual
E) Heart-mind

Question 32

Into what three streams can the concerns of the classical texts of philosophical Daoism be classified?

A) Individualist, Pluralist, Monist
B) Earth, Water, Fire
C) Heaven, Earth, Hell
D) Individualist, Primitivist, Syncretist
E) Political. Ethical, Mystical

Question 33

What important section of the Guanzi on cultivation of the heart-mind is an important bridge between religious and philosophical Daoism?

A) Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor
B) Songs of the South
C) Zhuangzi
D) Techniques of the Mind I
E) Inward Training

Question 34

In what famous Chinese text do we find the first line "The way that can be spoken of / Is not the constant way"?

A) The Zhuangzi
B) The Analects
C) The Daodejing
D) The Inward Training
E) The Yijing

Question 35

What topic addressed in the Laozi (or Daodejing) is shunned in the Zhuangzi?

A) Politics
B) Simplicity
C) God
D) The art of warfare
E) Harmony

Question 36

What does the conceptual term ziran denote in the context of Zhuangzi?

A) Stillness
B) Quietness
C) Nonaction
D) Spontaneity
E) Engagement

Question 37

Neither Inward Training or Daodejing discuss which of the following?

A) Mystical efficacy
B) Women
C) Meditation
D) Vital essence (jing)
E) Vital energy or breath (qi)

Question 38

Both Confucians and Daoists seek to control the heart-mind to attain which of the following?

A) Etiquette
B) Power
C) Strength
D) Intelligence
E) Tranquility

Question 39

During what period was political or state Confucianism established in China?

A) Shang
B) Tang
C) Han
D) Communist
E) Qin

Question 40

What is the name of the classic Chinese manual of divination, based on 64 hexagrams?

A) Book of Poetry
B) Changes
C) Spring and Autumn Annals
D) Zhuangzi
E) Classic of Rites

Question 41

Which influential Confucian at the court of Emperor Wu promoted a "natural model" of the way the world works?

A) Dong Zhongshu
B) Wang Yangming
C) Xunzi
D) Mencius
E) Ban Zhao

Question 42

Which group established a theocracy in the state of Shu (Sichuan) and at one point was the state religion of the Wei kingdom?

A) The Highest Clarity
B) The Celestial Masters
C) The Yellow Kerchiefs
D) New Text Confucians
E) Neo-Confucians

Question 43

The fall of the Han Dynasty marked the beginning of which of the following?

A) Four centuries of instability during the Six Dynasties period
B) Six centuries of peace and prosperity under the Three Kingdoms
C) Immediate and steady decline of Buddhism in China
D) Eradication of the Neo-Confucian schools
E) The weakening of the Celestial Masters

Question 44

Which first-century Confucian wrote Admonitions for Women about the proper cultivation of virtues for women?

A) Lu Xiang
B) Dong Zhongshu
C) Kong Anguo
D) Mencius
E) Ban Zhao

Question 45

During what dynasty was Buddhism introduced into China?

A) Han
B) Song
C) Shang
D) Six Dynasties
E) Old Joseon

Question 46

Which of the following aspects of Buddhism was NOT a criticized by Confucians and Daoists in the Six Dynasties period?

A) Its veneration of texts
B) The seemingly irrational nature of its teachings
C) The monastic tradition of begging for food
D) The renunciation of worldly pleasures
E) Shaving one's head

Question 47

Why did Confucians criticize Buddhist monasticism?

A) Ascetic withdrawal from productive work was considered a shirking of responsibility, and an abandonment of the duties of filial piety.
B) Monastics were unaccustomed to social interaction and tended to be rude.
C) Monasteries grew very wealthy and upset the economic balance of society.
D) Monks trained in the martial arts and posed a threat to political security.
E) Monks could read and write, and thus threatened the governmental positions of authority held by Confucians.

Question 48

During what period did Daoists reinterpret their doctrine in Buddhist terms of karma and rebirth coinciding with building the first Daoist temples?

A) Qin
B) Song
C) Ming
D) Han
E) Six Dynasties

Question 49

During which period were Confucian temples for sacrifices built, and the title "King of Manifest Culture" bestowed on Confucius?

A) Ming
B) Tang
C) Zhou
D) Han
E) Six Dynasties

Question 50

Who, during the Tang dynasty, wrote the Classic of Filiality for Women, and set out to create a female Confucian tradition?

A) Wang Yangming
B) Madame Zheng
C) Ban Zhao
D) Xunzi
E) Dong Zhongshu

Question 51

Who is usually credited with the writing of the Analects for Women?

A) Madame Zheng
B) Song Rouzhao
C) Sun Buer
D) Ban Zhao
E) Empress Xu

Question 52

What became the state religion under Li Yuan, the founder of the Tang Dynasty?

A) Buddhism
B) Confucianism
C) Neo-Confucianism
D) Daoism
E) Zen Buddhism

Question 53

What was integrated in Zongmi's Treatise on the Original Nature of Man?

A) Daoism and Confucianism into a Zen framework
B) Daoism and Confucianism into a Buddhist framework
C) Buddhism and Confucianism into a Daoist framework
D) Buddhism and Daoism into a Zen framework
E) Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism into a Korean framework

Question 54

What Daoist school is distinctive in its monasticism modelled after the Buddhist tradition?

A) The Celestial Masters
B) The Highest Clarity
C) The Complete Truth School
D) The New Text
E) The Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace

Question 55

During what period was there a renewal of Confucianism, which is often referred to as neo-Confucianism?

A) Zhou
B) Shang
C) Communist
D) Han
E) Song

Question 56

Who was the founder of the School of Principle and main contributor to neo-Confucianism?

A) Zhu Xi
B) Ban Zhao
C) Dong Zhongshu
D) Sun Yatsen
E) Song Ruozhao

Question 57

Which neo-Confucian argued that the moral sense or intuition of the good is innate in the heart-mind of every human and the cultivation of it is more important than external learning?

A) Mencius
B) Madame Zheng
C) Ban Zhao
D) Wang Yangming
E) Zhu Xi

Question 58

What practice is associated with the Daoist concept of qigong?

A) The ceremony of preparing and pouring tea
B) Ingesting poisonous substances such as cinnabar to achieve immortality
C) Repeatedly chanting Daoist mantras in the evening
D) Slow-motion movements that encourage tranquility
E) Breathing exercises that help the movement of vital energy through the body

Question 59

What are the two goals or streams that guide practitioners of popular religion in China?

A) Health and wealth
B) Prosperity and longevity
C) Meditation and divination
D) Immortality and this-worldly benefits
E) Personal religiosity and political activism

Question 60

On the elite level, traditional Korean religiosity could theoretically be described as which of the following?

A) Nontheistic
B) Atheistic
C) Agnostic
D) Monotheistic
E) Polytheistic

Question 61

What earliest Korean proto-state preceded the Three Kingdoms in South Korea?

A) Goguryeo (Koguryo)
B) Son
C) Silla
D) Baekje (Paekche)
E) Old Joseon (Choson)

Question 62

What are the mudang within the Korean tradition?

A) Monastics
B) Temple priests
C) Ancestor spirits
D) Shamans
E) Sage-hermits

Question 63

Today, Korea has the largest network of what kind of shrines?

A) Confucian
B) Buddhist
C) Ancestor
D) Daoist
E) Christian saints

Question 64

What tradition was associated with Japanese imperialism in Korea in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?

A) Shinto
B) Confucianism
C) Buddhism
D) Daoism
E) Christianity

Question 65

In the early 2000s in South Korea, of those who claimed institutional affiliation, which two religions claim nearly all membership in that country?

A) Christianity and Buddhism
B) Buddhism and Daoism
C) Daoism and Confucianism
D) Christianity and Daoism
E) Buddhism and Confucianism

Question 66

Most East Asians do not consider Confucianism a religion, so it is impossible to gauge exactly how many adherents there are.

Question 67

Religion in East Asia has, from the beginning, rarely mixed with politics.

Question 68

Animism and shamanism has little if any traces in modern East Asian religions.

Question 69

Sanjiao refers to the three teachings in China of Confucianism, Daoism, and folk religions.

Question 70

Chinese religions emphasize the importance of actions that bring stability and security.

Question 71

Everything we now call "Confucianism" traces back to the Chinese sage Kongzi.

Question 72

Some of the seminal ideas of Confucianism can be found in the Seven Classics.

Question 73

The Classic (or Book) of Changes is one of the Confucian Five Classics.

Question 74

Mencius is one of the three most revered figures in the Daoist tradition.

Question 75

The exemplary Confucian is known as the Shangdi.

Question 76

The prototypes of the Confucian sage are mythical "sage kings" named Yao, Shun, and Yu.

Question 77

The fall of the ancient Shang dynasty to the Zhou was explained as a withdrawal of the Mandate of Heaven.

Question 78

From the Zhou dynasty onward, the notion of a personal "Lord on High" became important in China.

Question 79

The basis of the Classic of Changes or Yijing is a set of sixty-four hexagrams.

Question 80

The term wuxing in the Yin-Yang school refers to the processes, that is, metal, wood, earth, water and fire.