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For other uses of the words "tao" and "dao", see Dao (disambiguation).

Part of a series on Taoism

Fundamentals Tao · De · Xiulian

Prominent Taoists Laozi · Zhuangzi Zhang Daoling · Zhang Jiao Ge Hong · Chen Tuan Wang Chongyang

Deities and Immortals Three Pure Ones Jade Emperor · Xi Wangmu Eight Immortals

Main Sects Quanzhen School Tianshi Dao Zhengyi Dao Shangqing School Lingbao School

Taoist Texts Tao Te Ching · Zhuangzi Daozang

Sacred Sites Shizhou Sandao Grotto-heavens Sanshiliu Xiaodongtian Qishi'er Fudi

Portal:Taoism

Taoism (pronounced and often written as Daoism (dow-ism)) is the English name for a cluster of Chinese religious and philosophical traditions. While there is a great deal of debate over how (and whether) Taoism should be subdivided, some scholars have divided it into the following three categories.[1]

The English word Taoism is used to translate the Chinese terms Daojiao (道教 "teachings/religion of the Dao") and Daojia (道家 "school of the Dao"). The character Tao 道 (or Dao, depending on the romanisation scheme) means "path" or "way", but in Chinese religion and philosophy it has taken on more abstract meanings. The compound Daojiao refers to Daoism as a religion; Daojia refers to the activity of scholars in their studies. It must be noted that this distinction is itself controversial and fraught with hermeneutic[3]

difficulty. Many scholars believe that there is no distinction between Daojia and Daojiao, and that the distinction is propagated by people who are not familiar with Taoism.Much uncertainty exists over the meaning of Taoism. In some countries and contexts (for example, the Taoism organisations of China and Taiwan), the label is applied to Chinese folk religion, which would otherwise not have a readily recognisable English name. However many, if not most, of its practitioners would not recognise Taoism (in any language) as the name of their religion. Moreover, the several forms of what we might call organised Taoism often distinguish their ritual activities from those of the folk religion, which some professional Taoists (Daoshi) tend to view as debased.
Chinese alchemy, astrology, cuisine, several Chinese martial arts, Chinese traditional medicine, fengshui, and many styles of qigong breath training disciplines have some relationship with Taoism.

History

Taoism's origins may be traced to prehistoric Chinese religions in China; to the composition of the Tao Te Ching (3rd or 4th century BCE); or to the activity of Zhang Daoling (2nd century AD). Alternatively, one could argue that Taoism as a religious identity only arose later, by way of contrast with the newly-arrived religion of Buddhism, or with the fourth-century codification of the Shangching and Lingbao texts.[4]

Other accounts credit Laozi (reputed author of the Tao Te Ching) as the teacher of both Buddha, and Confucius, and alleged Laozi to have had thirteen incarnations starting in the reign of Fuxi, one of the Three August Ones and Five Emperors up until his last as Laozi who lived over 800 years. They describe early Taoism to ancient picture writing, mysticism, and indigenous Ancestor worship. Symbology on tortoise shells predates early Chinese calligraphy and is the basis of written Chinese from artifacts dated from prior to 1600 BCE.
Legend has it that while passing through the hills of China, Laozi was asked by a bridge keeper to write a book containing his thoughts and beliefs, which yielded the text of Tao Te Ching.

Beliefs

Taoism has never been a unified religion and has always consisted of different teachings based on many different original revelations. Therefore different branches of Taoism often have very different beliefs. Nevertheless, there are certain core beliefs that all the schools share.[34]

Beyond the Chinese folk religion, various rituals, exercises, or substances are said to positively affect one's physical health (even to the point of immortality); align oneself spiritually with cosmic forces; or enable ecstatic spiritual journeys. These concepts seem basic to Taoism in its elite forms.
The philosophical aspect of Taoism emphasizes various themes found in the Tao Te Ching such as "nonaction" (wu wei), emptiness, detachment, the strength of softness (or flexibility), and The Zhuangzi such as receptiveness, spontaneity, the relativism of human ways of life, ways of speaking and guiding behavior. Most philosophical debate concerns dao--what way we should follow, but really, Taoists more directly question what dao is, how or if we can know it and emphasize more than other schools the ways social daos depend on and presuppose natural daos. Their more detached discussion and their reluctance to formulate or advocate a social dao of their own means their discussions tend to be more playful and paradoxical than dogmatic. This makes their tone strikingly different from Confucian and Mohist texts.

Taoist commentators have been puzzled by the opening lines of the Tao Te Ching, which has usually been translated:The way which can be uttered, is not the eternal Way. The name which can be named, is not the eternal Name. (The original words are道可道，非常道。 (dao (ways) can be spoken, not usual ways) 名可名，非常名。 (names can be named, not usual names)) In Chinese, "道" or "Dao" is used both as a noun and verb. 'Way' works well for the noun, but the translation for the verb "to speak" seems unmatched in meaning, unless we think in terms of "to advocate, to preach, to formulate etc." Notice in the second line, the noun and verb use of '名' seem closer in meaning, "names" and "to name". Concretely, a road is a dao--a guide for where to go or how to get where we want to go. However, daos can be marked in other ways--e.g. simply by pointing or putting signs "along the way" etc. Daoists are intrigued both by how daos are made by our walking (wearing a path) and by how we can read what way to go from natural signals (animal paths). The verb probably would be something like pointing, marking, setting an example or otherwise signaling which way to go.
It should also be noted that while the above has become a standard translation, scholars have noted it is grammatically and conceptually problematic. Grammatically, it has no article so could be read "a/any dao can be dao-ed, (but) this is not the constant dao-ing. A name can be named, (but) this is not the constant naming". Conceptually, the character for "constant"(常) is used philosophically to describe a dao that does not need to change in different times or societies and reliably guides behavior. Laozi later describes a dao as "reversing" and the texts emphasises opposites, i.e.: high and low, hard and soft, etc. The Mawangdui version of the text contains similar passages, vide: ch.1, 3, 40).

Thus, any terms we use to advocate a dao can be reversed and still guide behavior. The other term in the title (which, compounded with 'dao', formed the Chinese term for 'ethics') is 'de.'. It is "the dao within" which may comprise the capacity we have to learn a way of life and the result of learning/practicing it. De should interpret the learned "way of life" into a correct pattern of behavior--hence its usual translation as "virtue" or "excellence." Other terms were later integrated into philosophical Taoism including yin and yang (closely related to Dialectical monism) and five elements (五行, wuxing) theories, and the concept of qi. Originally belonging to rival philosophical schools, these themes entered Taoism by way of Han Confucianism which focused on cosmic cycles and portents to guide the ruler's deportment dress, and so forth. They blend into Daoism as examples of "natural" dao with which any viable human dao must harmonise.The way which can be uttered, is not the eternal Way. While academic deconstructions of this phrase result in much confusion, there is also a much simpler interpretation by metaphor: The Way is like dancing. You can talk about dancing, but your talk about dancing isn't the dance itself. Nor does your description really teach someone else how to dance unless they figure out how to apply it for themselves. No matter how complicated the description (words, sketches even video) it always lacks the entirety of what is.

This interpretation shares Korzybski's observation that "the map is not the territory".

Relations with other religions and philosophies

The origins of Taoism and other philosophical schools are intimately related. The authorship of the Daodejing is assigned to Laozi, traditionally thought to be a teacher of Confucius, yet appears to be reacting against Confucian doctrine (suggesting the text comes after Confucianism). Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu), the other defining philosopher of Daoism, reacted both to the Confucian-Mohist ethical disputes and to related developments in theory of names (language). There is little evidence of a link between Laozi and Zhuangzi--whose most frequent interactions are with Hui Shi (of the school of names). However, the chapters of the Zhuangzi written after his death include dialogues between Laozi and Confucius that mimic (or inspire?) the style of the Daodejing, suggesting the first association of the two texts dates from around that time. The "history of thought" contained in the Zhuangzi cites Laozi as a prior step (and demotes Hui Shi to a postscript). It includes the Mohists by name and the Confucians by implication and a cluster of other less well known thinkers.

The terms Dao and De (virtue/excellence) are shared terms of debate in this period. Most of the texts of ancient Chinese philosophy argued for some daode in that favored dao. While dao was initially ethical-social norms, it quickly broadened to include the norms of language use and of claiming or attributing knowledge. This broadening dialectic about dao is what warrants describing the views of Laozi and Zhuangzi as Daoism. Daoism represents the view that the norms for language, knowledge, ethics and society are grounded in and continuous with natural norms. So any discussion of dao and de involves us in reflections on the nature of human society and its place in the universe as a whole.
These early Taoist texts reject numerous basic assumptions of Confucianism, embracing instead values based on nature, perspectivalism, and spontaneity. They express skepticism of conventional moralities and Mozi's Utilitarian or Mencius' benevolence based revisions. Since politics was conceived by these traditional schools as a scheme for unifying all "under the sky" in their favored dao, Taoists tend toward anarchism, mistrustful of hierarchical social structures and particularly, governments. (Zhuangzi argues that the proponents of benevolence and morality are usually found at the gates of feudal lords who have stolen their kingdoms.) Although philosophical Taoist appear to be anarchist, it is clearly an over statement. Mitigated Anarchism would better categorise the philosophical Taoists, they tend to believe in the idea that the government should act in a 'non acting' or 'wu wei' manner. This means that they should only act when necessary and their actions should not be felt directly by the people, nor should they be visible to the people. Chapters 57-81 of the Dao De Ching all deal with government, ruling, and appeasing the people.

or other and advocated cultivating Taoist thought partly inspired LegalistQin Shi Huang, founder of the Chinese Empire. The junction point can be found in the work of Hanfeizi, a prominent Legalist thinker who commented on the Tao Te Ching. Hanfeizi used some chapters of the book to justify a structured society based on law and punishment and on the undiscussed power of the Emperor.
The entry of Buddhism into China was via its dialectic with later Taoism which transformed them both. Over the centuries of Chinese interactions, Buddhism gradually found itself transformed from a competitor of Taoism, to a fellow inhabitant of the Chinese cultural ecosystem.[47] Originally seen as a kind of foreign Taoism, its scriptures were translated into Chinese with Taoist vocabulary. Chan Buddhism in particular is inspired by crucial elements of philosophical Taoism, ranging from distrust of scripture, text and language to its more positive view of "this life", practice, skill and the absorption in "every-moment". In the Tang period Taoism incorporated such Buddhist elements as monasteries, vegetarianism, prohibition of alcohol, the celibacy of the clergy, the doctrine of emptiness, and the amassing of a vast collection of scripture into tripartite organisation.[48]
Ideological and political rivals in ancient times, Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism have inevitably deeply influenced one another, and eventually achieved a kind of modus vivendi in which each has its own particular ecological niche within Chinese society. With time, most Chinese people likewise came to identify to some extent with all three traditions simultaneously. This became institutionalised by the time of the Song Dynasty, when aspects of the three schools were consciously synthesised in the Neo-Confucian school, which eventually became Imperial orthodoxy for state bureaucratic purposes.

philosophers, whose theories were used by In spreading Catholic Christianity to China, Jesuit Matteo Ricci sought to ally the Church with Confucianism. In so doing the Jesuits encouraged the view that China lacked a high religion of its own (since Confucianism was not regarded as such). Until well into the twentieth century, Christians have tended to view religious Taoism as a hodgepodge of primitive superstitions, or even as a form of demonolatry due to insufficient understanding.
In the last century or so, Taoism (along with Confucianism and Buddhism) has become incorporated into the theology of the Way of Former HeavenYiguandao. The same could be said with respect to Vietnam's religion of Caodaism.

sects, notably Western New Agers have embraced some aspects of Taoism: the name and concept of Dao, the names and concepts of yin and yang; an appreciation for Laozi and Zhuangzi, and a respect for other aspects of Chinese tradition such as qigong. At the same time, Western appropriations differ in subtle (or not so subtle) ways from their Asian sources. For example, the word Tao is used in numerous book titles which are connected to Chinese culture only tangentially. Examples would include Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics, or Benjamin Hoff's The Tao of Pooh.
Taoism has also been a resource for those in environmental philosophy, who see the non-anthropocentric nature of Taoism as a guide for new ways of thinking about nature and environmental ethics. Some consider Taoism to fit naturally with the radical environmental philosophy of deep ecology. Daoism and Ecology: Ways Within A Cosmic Landscape edited by N. J. Girardot, James Miller, and Liu Xiaogan is currently the most thorough introduction to studies done on concepts of nature and ecology within Taoism.