Modalities of Doing Religion

Abstract

In the long history of religions in China, different ways of "doing religion" have evolved into 5 kinds of relatively typical modalities: Discursive/scriptural, Personal-cultivational, Liturgical, Immediate-practical and Relational modalities. These modalities do not exist independently. They most often interrelate on and interact on each other. In practice, most religious belief activities actually are those activities which are closely related to local custom, historical events, social environment, personality and modalities of doing religion.