East Asian religions

In the study of comparative religion, the East Asian religions or Taoic religions, form a subset of the Eastern religions, who originated in East Asia.

This group includes Chinese religion overall, which further includes ancestor veneration, Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, Taoism and popular salvationist organisations (such as Yiguandao and Weixinism), as well as elements drawn from Mahayana Buddhism that form the core of Chinese and East Asian Buddhism at large.^[1] The group also includes Shinto and Tenrikyo of Japan, and Korean Shamanism, all of which combine shamanistic elements and indigenous ancestral worship with various influences from Chinese religions.^[2] Chinese salvationist religions have influenced the rise of Japanese new religions such Tenriism and Korean Jeungsanism; as these new religious movements draw upon indigenous traditions but are heavily influenced by Chinese philosophy and theology.^[3] All these religious traditions generally share core concepts of spirituality, divinity and world order, including Tao ('way') and Tian ('heaven').^[4]

Early Chinese philosophies defined the Tao and advocated cultivating the de 'virtue', which arises from the knowledge of such Tao.^[5] Some ancient Chinese philosophical schools merged into traditions with different names or became extinct, such as Mohism and others belonging to the ancient Hundred Schools of Thought, which were largely subsumed into Taoism. East Asian religions include many theological stances, including polytheism, nontheism, henotheism, monotheism, pantheism, panentheism and agnosticism.^[6]

The place of East Asian religions among major religious groups is comparable to the Abrahamic religions found across the classical world, and Indian religions across the Indian subcontinent, Tibetan plateau and Southeast Asia.^[7]