Divine Knowledge In Chinese Religion

The Divine Knowledge in Chinese Religions
Youteng Bi In no matter what religious traditions the discussion of divine knowledge is always an important topic, for it concerns the questions about the power of the divine. The discussion of the power of the divine often influences believers’ faith. In Abrahamic traditions, the discussion of the divine knowledge directly relates to the mighty of the God, thus many theologians in history devoted themselves to develop systematic theories on divine knowledge. The characteristics of the Abrahamic divine knowledge theory are largely influenced by linear time and space. Thus the discussion about the beginning and the end of the world counts one of the major parts of western theology. However, in …show more content…
It is in relation with the eternity of God. However the notion of time in Abrahamic tradition is linear that there is a clear beginning and the end of things. For example, there is a clear beginning of the universe, which is when God created it. Also there is a clear end of the world, which is the afterlife, when every humans will face the judgement of the God. This linear notion of time that things are always in progress leaving from the beginning and heading to an end is crucial in Abrahamic traditions is that it gives a kind of destination or purpose to all human beings. This kind of purpose or destination give human beings sufficient reasons to believe in God to seek the salvation by God. In deeply confidence that there must be an end for everything including the suffering, people are devote to …show more content…
The meaning of the Buddha, the ultimate divine that transcendent all limited beings and get away from the Samsara, originally refers to “the knower”. It means that Buddha is the one who has reached the ultimate state of knowing and acquired the ultimate knowledge. Unlike divine knowledge in Abrahamic traditions, the ultimate knowledge of Buddha is not with him at the beginning but cultivated through meditation. Also Buddhism is unlike Abrahamic traditions where it is emphasized that divine knowledge ought to be able to cover all the sentient beings and worlds transcending the limit of space and time which is in correspondence with the all mighty of God. In Buddhism, the perfection of the Buddha as well as the Buddha knowledge is often being avoided to discuss, for the matter of detachment. Buddhists avoided depicting the Buddha as all mighty because they do not want to be attached to the notion of the Buddha. After all self-efforts are more emphasized in Buddhism. Then avoiding depicting the Buddha knowledge as perfection, Buddhists tend to focus more on its function of revealing the true