East Asia in the Modern World - Essay Example

East Asia in the Modern World In most cases, the millenarian has only been studied in the monotheistic understanding. Nonetheless, this term has never been common in Asia since Asia has ever considered its salvation to be different from other regions that are non-Asia. The understanding of the Taiping and Tonghak movements can be traced from the nineteenth century Asian history. Many scholars have ever considered these two sets of movement as acts of expression that is deeply pegged in the Asian spiritual ideas.

Therefore, these movements are considered as the source of philosophical and historical reflections of the Asian millenarianism (Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais 283). Moreover, both movements consider the spiritual history in material and selfless sense. In both counts, the material self means an individual’s material body that is ever considered real while on the other hand, the selfless is the spiritual consideration of the material body not being real. Notably, the material self often manifest itself in the violent millenarian movements as the selfless struggles often lead to peace of the inner mind (Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais 333).

Apparently, both the Taipings and the Tonghaks are inspired by the “selfless” notion that has made them evade overt violence; however, the movements often attract some elements that are associated with material self-struggle. Despite series of similarities shared by the Taipings and the Tonghaks, they also have some notable differences. The Taipings and the Tonghaks do not share collective sense in the spiritual world. For several decades, the Taiping founded a dream based on the peace and egalitarianism concepts.

These concepts led to corruption, murder, power struggle, and terrible dictatorships (Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais 357). On the other hand, the teachings of the Tonghak advocated for terrestrial salvation; however, it did not teach the realization of the earthly heaven. Regardless of its miniature contributions to the early heaven, it initiated sociopolical reforms that trained and set the minds of people to believe on humanity have God’s nature or humanity is God and humanity is to be achieved through salvation that only comes through an individual’s own efforts.

Works CitedEbrey, Patricia Buckley, Anne Walthall, and James B. Palais. East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Volume II: From 1600, 2nd Edition. Houghton Mifflin, 2009