Mount Tai Consensus

On Oct. 22nd，2011 Mt. Tai

From October 20th to 22nd，2011，the academic symposium，“Comprehensive Perspective of Mt. Tai：Religion and Traditional Chinese Culture”，was hosted at Mt. Tai by the Chinese Religion Association and Center for Globalization Civilization，Zhejiang University.

More than thirty distinguished guests participated in this academic symposium；these well-known scholars and prominent personages in the field of religion and traditional Chinese culture included authorities with great academic achievements along with some open-minded，young talents.

Mt. Tai has been crowned the first of the Chinese Five Sacred Mountains because of its geographical location and cultural significance.It is considered a symbol of ancient Chinese civilization and spirituality with high political and cultural status and rich religious resources from traditional society.

With its special status and significance，Mt. Tai inspires people to consider the history，religion，and symbolism of traditional Chinese culture with a rational and objective attitude，to consider the awareness and confidence of indigenous culture sincerely and respectfully，and to discover the positive uses and values of the religion and traditional cultures in “Culture Rejuvenation” strategies.

Since implementation of reform and opening-up policies，new cognitive attitudes toward traditional Chinese culture have arisen in political and academic circles and among ordinary people.Nevertheless，differing opinions about the relationship between religion and traditional Chinese cultures still exist，including the status of religions and their development in current society.Everyone has a personal opinion about religion，thus no unanimous conclusion can be drawn.Sadly，some people still imagine religion as a civilization devouring scourge to be guarded against.It is important that this misperception be corrected.

With this in mind，the scholars and young talents of this academic symposium sought for ways to rediscover and rejuvenate Chinese culture. Their hopes extended beyond deepening and reform，to promoting the development of social cultures，improving the ethical quality of the whole nation，and strengthening the “soft power” of the national culture.They pursued these efforts intent on finding ways to build a powerful socialist culture.

In a daylong discussion on October 21st，the participants successfully reached the three following consensuses：

Ⅰ.Rethink traditional cultures，correct radical reactions and attitude towards it，and advocate respecting traditions to go back to rational reflections.

Since the “New Culture Movement” at the beginning of the 20th century，there has been strong criticism of traditional cultures.It is good to reform and improve our cultural traditions but we must be careful of criticizing too much，so that we do not destroy our cultural foundations.

“Tradition” preserves spiritual and moral attitudes.We can improve upon traditional civilization by removing anemic and unfashionable forms without having to change our civilization’s inherent qualities.

There are，however，deviations of traditions that some people think have choked the inherent spirit of Chinese culture，and have impeded its original power and freedom.As a result，anti-tradition movements of the past，especially “the Cultural Revolution of China in the 20th century”，used a variety of oppressive and violent methods in an attempt to artificially fracture and ultimately eradicate traditions.This led to a near century-long identity crisis that resulted in a visible decline of standards in moral life and values system.

We therefore appeal to the public，envisioning the continuing success of Chinese civilization，that our long and lasting national tradition be reviewed with a holistic historical view，that naive and violent attitudes regarding traditions be discarded，that unbalanced examinations be corrected，and that the traditional meaning，position，and identity of China be rediscover in a modern context.

Ⅱ.Traditional cultures contain deep-rooted and common religiosity.

There is no doubt that the main structure of Chinese traditional cultures is built on Confucianism，Buddhism and Taoism.Each of these is considered a “religion” in the abstract.Yet there are great divergences of opinion whether they should actually be treated as such.

In the course of the country’s long history，various religions have become part of traditional Chinese thinking and culture.Since the dynasty of Emperor Wu of Han，Confucianism has been accepted as an official ideology；it has been increasingly blended with the national and social power becoming，in essence，a state religion.China’s two other major traditions，Buddhism and Daoism，also differ inherently from the three major “revealed” religious institutions that were born to the West.Along with Confucianism，Buddhism，and Taoism，many other historical folk beliefs have come together to form a complete religious pedigree，and have helped to nourish Chinese traditional，spiritual，social values and morality，and have transferred the traditional society into modern society as a basic cultural resource and spiritual bond.They are key to understanding Chinese cultures comprehensively and completely.

Of course，in Chinese traditional culture，religious beliefs and Atheism are not inherently opposed. They are dialectical and complementary to each other，like two sides of a coin used to accomplish the magnificent prospects of developing Chinese traditional culture.

Ⅲ.Promote cooperation between each religion and Chinese traditional culture to improve the development of current Chinese traditional cultures.

Confucianism，Buddhism and Taoism were the primary source of spiritual tradition in Chinese civilization for thousands of years.We believe they will still be very important in the future.To complete their modern transformation，they must import vigorous values and spiritual resources into the society，supply rich nutrition to Chinese cultural “soft power” and cultural strategies，and offer positive power for rejuvenating the nation.In addition，some popular religions such as Christianity and Islam develop themselves in “indigenous” or “national” artistic forms in China；they are complementary rather than competitive with Chinese traditional religions，they have ultimately enriched Chinese culture by joining in the search for a way to adjust to modern society.This shows that Chinese cultures can be as wide as the ocean for building our common spiritual home.

In sum，the consensus above shows the symposium participants’ basic attitude and deep concern about the combination between traditional Chinese cultures and modern society，the deep relationship between religions and the inherent temperament of the Chinese civilization，and the balancing of indigenous and universal currents in cultural development.

The aim of the “Mount Tai Consensus” is to avoid cultural bias，discard narrow partisan psychology，encourage current intellectuals to pay attention to both academic and public issues，and promote responsible aspirations for greater truth.It advocates the mixture of knowledge with society and the use of culture to nourish spirits and advance ideology.We should set an example personally to try to help intellectuals，and all of Chinese society to gain correct understandings and rational opinions of religions and Chinese traditional cultures，and to export vigorous ideas and mental resources to the world.This will promote high cultural consciousness as well as confidence to reconstruct national spirits and moral values.

Translated by ZHUANG Qian

Revised by Joseph Sorensen