Taoism/Daoism questions....?

My schools world history classes are doing a world religions thing this week and one of the religions involved is Taoism. Now could someone give me basic info on like the founder(s), place of worship, holy books, symbols, etc. Links that provide extended knowledge are greatly appreciated.

Blessed Be

It's just the same religions spell checked different

Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching.

That's all Taoism consists of, no temples, no tithes, no songs, dances, prayers, or snake-handling.

The Tao Te Ching is available at any book store.

Founder: Lao-Tzu/Laozi (6Th century BCE) (Warring States Period, China; between Zhou and Qin dynasties)

Book: The Dao De Jing

Beliefs: 1) Dao/Tao is the first cause of the universe; it is a force that goes through all life 2) Goal: become one with nature 3) Wu Wei- "Go with the flow" 4) To be happy, man must not live contrary to nature

Principles/Point: to escape the "social, political, and cultural traps" of life, one must escape by - 1. Rejecting formal knowledge and learning 2. Relying on instincts and senses 3. Discovering the nature and "rhythm" of the universe 4. Ignoring social and political laws

Main founder Lao Tzu. Main book Tao Te Ching. Yin and Yang is a major symbol. Try taking out the book "The Tao of Pooh". It's a great 'starter' book. Taoism may have came into being some time around 500 BCE.Just go ogle Taoism and you'll get a ton of results.

1. Traditionally, Taoism is attributed to Lao Tzu, the alleged writer of the Tao Te Ching.

2. Taoism has no places of worship, though it's origins are in ancient China.

3. The famous "Yin Yang" symbol is also from Taoism.

Basically, the idea of the Tao is that it was the creator of all things-and all things-whether we deem them good or bad-are of the Tao.

The Tao Te Ching says-

"Look and it cannot be seen. Listen and it cannot be heart. Touch and it cannot be felt."

This is because the Tao is in you and I. It's in a cat or dog, a tree and even a rock. It's in all things (omnipresent).

Yin Yang does not mean "good and evil", nor does it mean that the two oppose each other.

The symbol and the idea behind it is that good gives rise to evil-and evil gives rise to good. Or you can say shadow and light, or any other opposites you can think of.

We have knowledge of what good is only because we have knowledge of what bad is.

"Know the white-but keep the black!"


The basic idea was that it was actually knowledge that made man suffer. Man's nature to over think and rationalize took him further away from nature (or the Tao). He lost the simplicity and fullness of animals, and to this day suffers as a result.

The book itself is very short and can easily be read in one sitting.

Here's a link to a free version of the Tao Te Ching
http://www.sacred-texts.com/tao/taote.htm

It can explain far better than I can and it's easy to read and understand.