One of the many battles fought in the Age of the Warring States was the Battle of One Hundred Schools of Thought. Out of this fight only two survived into the present day: The school of Ru (Confucianism) and the school of Dao (Taoism), even though it was the school of Fa (Legalism) that once seemed to get the upper hand, when its followers conquered and tried to exterminate all others.

Seen in the light of the current discussion about the some Western schools of thought (religion vs. science), it seems interesting to see how the Hundred Schools can be compared.

The most interesting thing is that they are neither religion nor science, nor can they be compared to Western philosophy. Unlike the metaphysics of the West, the Hundred Schools were born out of pure necessity: The kingdom of Zhou had crumbled into many feudal kingdoms that made constant war upon each other. Reading the accounts of these days I doubt if there was ever an age that was more brutal. Yet within this violent world, there were thinkers, people that tried to come up with solutions, that wanted to teach the people to respect each other and live harmoniously with the world around them.

Confucius suggested that with a set of moral rules, people could be taught ethics. The Taoists on the other hand believed that nature was the guideline and that nothing should be forced. Others, like Mozi believed in equality and helping the poor, while yet others, such as the school of Legalism believed that humans should be made to behave with the constant threat of terrible punishments.

Legalism eventually won, because fear is a handy tool if you're a king with worldwide ambitions. According to the legend Qin Shi Huangdi had all Confucian texts burned and all scholars buried, except for two that blinded themselves and pretended to be crazy. These two are said to have recited everything and thus to have passed on all knowledge.

The whole story might have been a myth invented in the Han dynasty, but the fact is that after the fall of the Legalist Qin dynasty, Confucianism returned and became the dominant school of thought, and though Confucius himself taught tolerance and an open mind, some of his followers did not follow that path.

This became particularly clear when Buddhism entered the Middle Kingdom. Until then none of the schools had bothered much about an afterlife. There were no such thing as dualism, karma and nirvana. Yet here there were people who claimed that by meditation one could reach a state of enlightenment and leave this world. Taoists too placed emphasis on meditation, but instead of reaching nirvana, they wanted to become immortal.

Confucianists thought it was all a load of superstition and during the Tang dynasty there were fierce debates...

Yet what is striking is that in today's Chinese 'religion' and 'philosophy', all three have been blended. Buddhist saints have turned into Taoist immortals and the Lunyu and Daodejing don't seem to bite each other. I wonder if that other Battle of One Hundred schools of Thought will ever reach that state.