" religion-philosophical tradition that has, along with Confucianism, shaped Chinese life for more than 2,000 years. The Taoist heritage, with its emphasis on individual freedom and spontaneity, lasses-faire government and social primitives, mystical experience, and techniques of self-transformation"
Taoism is a religion which was founded in China, several MilenaIAgo, by Lao Tzu.
Basically, he took the traditional Chinese beliefs & formed them into a kind of "one-with-nature" kind of religion, which became what is known as Taoism.
Tao is a Chinese word that means "the way". Taoism is not a religion (at least not the way we westerners think of religion, church, etc.), and is not based on belief in any god. It is simply a philosophy on how to live, similar to Buddhism.
Try starting here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism
and research some of the sources at the bottom of the article if you want more info.
It's an ancient religion (but actually more of a moral philosophy) of China based on the Wu-Wei (non-interference) principle. It was popular mainly among old people, because it advocated complacence and dabbled in production of the elixir of immortality. Some of its principles were fused with Buddhism to produce Zen Buddhism.
Taoist theology emphasizes various themes found in the Daodejing and Zhuangzi, such as naturalness, vitality, peace, "non-action" (Wu Wei, or 'effortless effort'), emptiness (refinement), detachment, flexibility, receptiveness, spontaneity, the relativism of human ways of life, ways of speaking and guiding behavior
It is a Chinese philosophy/religion (did not begin as a religion) that argues for life in tune with The Way (of nature). It's chief text is the Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing). Zen Buddhism emerged when Buddhist missionaries from central Asia used a Taoist vocabulary to explain Buddhism to the Chinese.
Why yes. In fact, I dabbled in the Tianshi Dao school of Taoism in the late '80s - mid '90s!
Basically, Taoism is one of the two main indigenous religions of China (the other being Confucianism, with which it shares a number of core beliefs and philosophies). Taoism is as much a philosophy of life as it is a systematized form of religion, focusing upon the Tao, meaning "the Way", and emphasizing that human beings should align themselves with the natural flow of the Universe in order to achieve harmony and perfection. Founded upon the teachings of Lao Tzu, Taosim focuses upon the quest to find and become one with the harmonious balance between the opposing forces of the cosmos.
Lao-Tzu has long been credited as the author of the Tao Te Ching, which means "Way of the Power."
A good athlete can enter a state of mind-body awareness in which the right stroke or the right movement happens by itself, effortlessly, without any inference of the conscious will. This is a paradigm for non-action: the purest and most effective form of action. The game plays the game; the poem writes the poem; we can't tell the dancer from the dance.
"Less and less do you need to force things
until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone."
Nothing is done because the doer has wholeheartedly vanished into the deed; the fuel has been completely transformed into flame. This "nothing" is, in fact, everything. It happens when we trust the intelligence of the universe in the same way that an athlete or dancer trusts the superior intelligence of the body. Hence Lao-Tzu's emphasis on softness in the Tao Te Ching. Softness means the opposite of rigidity, and is synonymous with suppleness, adaptability, and endurance. Anyone who has seen a t'ai chi or aikido master doing not-doing will know how powerful this softness is.
Lao-Tzu's central figure is a man or a woman who's life is in perfect harmony with the way things are. This is not an idea; it is a reality; I have seen it. The Master has mastered nature; not in the sense of conquering it, but of becoming it. In surrendering to the Tao, in giving up all concepts, judgements, and desires, her mind has grown naturally compassionate. She finds deep in her own experience the central truths of the art of living, which are paradoxical only on the surface: that the more truly solitary we are, the more compassionate we can be; the more we love, the more present our love becomes; the clearer our insight into what is beyond good and evil, the more we can embody the good. Until finally she is able to say, in all humility, "I am the Tao, the Truth, the Life."
Anyone know what Taoism is?
