Comparison of Chinese and Western religious culture

周煜

【Abstract】Religious culture is an important part in national culture， it has great meaning for the analysis of local political and social background. The two characters with the same rebellious spirit as a spot to research the development of Chinese and western religious culture in the 17th century. In the paper， firstly， we discussed the character of Satan and Monkey King， then， we lead in the image and environment of epic and the description of the novel difference， thus we summarize the differences between Chinese and western religious culture in the 17th century.

【Key words】Satan； Monkey King； Rebellious； Religious culture

1. Introduction

Religion is a special type of human culture， religious culture is the product of human consciousness thinking. Christianity is the source of important thought of western civilization and the spiritual foundation. Chinese localization of Buddhism brings new spirit and life artistic conception in Chinese culture .（Zhang Jing ， Wu Song， 2008）.

2. The same image

2.1 They are under the powerful forces of oppression， but dont give up the pursuit of freedom， never bow to authority.

Monkey King comes from a stone， enjoys freedom and equality. The jade emperor is afraid of his martial arts and the distinct personality. Satan was once a big angel， Lucifer. He waked his friends from the lake of fire and set up the magic house， “I want to be in hell reigns， rather than in hell as slaves， rather than in hell king”. （John Milton，1923）

2.2 similar ending： failed.

Monkey King was given in to the Buddhism and crushed under the Wuzhi Mountain. With Tangs monk to obtain buddhist scriptures， he went through eighty-one hardships to becomes a true Buddha. Satan and his companions would become snakes and suffer pain.

3. Differences between Satan and Monkey King

3.1 birth background

Monkey King absorbs the essence of the universe， he was born from a rock. “Cover since opening， each naively sleeve， the moon and sun are well informed. Because of the wind， it turned into a stone monkey.” （Wu Cheneng， 2006）

Satan was born since god was born in the west， the Christian thought， all god is created by the God， “After the birth of god，” two meter “appeared， object appeared， the operation of the celestial bodies started， space indefinitely， time started， all entered the orbit from the cycle of birth and death.”（Sheng Jing， 1989）

3.2 different fighting targets

Monkey King opposed the heaven. The jade emperor was the ruler of heaven. God was the creature of everything， in pursuit of freedom and power， Satan fighted against the father of Jesus—the God.

4. religious culture of Paradise lost and Western travel

4.1 the religious culture of Paradise lost

4.1.1 Free will

“Free will” is one of the core teachings of Christianity. “free will” first reflect on Satan， he abuse “free will” and want to rebel god and “king”， finally degenerate to devil from angel. The second embodiment is that he was the first man to eat the forbidden fruit， because of the “free will”， he lost eternal life， thus he had to accept the genetic “sin” punishment.

4.1.2 God is the creature of everything.

Christian thinks that god created everything. Satans evil comes from the reaction against god， man dont listen to gods instructions and steal to eat forbidden fruit. So they were expelled from the garden of Eden forever， experience life and death and pain.

4.1.3 guilty feeling

Satan as contrary to the will of god and human beings， so Satan and his people are under the curse of god. This sense of “sin” is a common and inevitable. The bible says： “if we say that he had no sin， that is self-deception， the truth is not in us. If we admit that his own sin， god is fair， he will forgive our sin and cleared all our sin.” “we will be guilty”， this is the “sin” of the western religious consciousness.（Ji Du Jiao Xiehui ， 1989）

4.2 religious culture of western travel

4.2.1 Buddhism culture

The story of tangs monk four people to obtain buddhist scriptures， reflected the Buddhist idea of dont eat meat， do not kill， do not lust. For instance， the Monkey King to kill one of the few times behavior （actually sometimes is wrong）， he was punished by Tang many times， such as 27 back to the（ resin magic tang three Zang holy man hate three play Monkey King）.（Wu Cheneng， 1996）

4.2.2 Taoism culture

In the book， working with Buddhism SIRS fairy are the jade emperor- Tai Shang Lao Jun and Tai Bai Jin Xin.

References：

[1]Robyn Donald，Paradise lost，加拿大禾林出版社[M].Herlequin，1993.

[2]彌爾頓.失樂園[M].編譯：劉彥汝 哈爾濱出版社，2005.

[3]吳承恩.西游記[M].北京出版社，2006.