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| Taoists revere Mount Laojun in Luoyan, Henan Province, China, as a sacred location. Every year, hundreds of Taoists travel on pilgrimages to witness this amazing sight, together with others from all over the world. |
Definition of Taoism
The ancient Chinese religion and philosophy known as Taoism (sometimes written Daoism) has affected popular culture and national belief.
The Tao Te Ching, the primary text of Taoism, was authored by the philosopher Lao Tzu approximately 500 BCE. According to Taoism, both people and animals should coexist in harmony with the Tao, or the universe. Taoists think that after death, the spirit of the body merges with the universe, therefore granting them spiritual immortality.
The Tao Te Ching, also known as "The Way and Its Power," is a body of poetry and proverbs that dates back to the third and fourth centuries B.C.E. and serves as the foundation for Taoist philosophy and practice. Although Lao Tzu is credited as the book's author, there is actually very little proof to support this. The Tao Te Ching is actually a compilation of older quotations from other authors. Lao Tzu was given credit as the author of this text for cultural and political reasons. Lao Tzu has been accorded legendary status and is occasionally interpreted as the Tao, a divinity, or both.
Although the Tao (or Tao) is difficult to define, it is occasionally thought of as the universe's natural order. According to Taoism, all living things should coexist peacefully with the universe and the energy that exists within it. The energy that permeates and governs everything in the universe is known as qi, or ch'i. The Tao Te Ching and other Taoist works offer instructions on how to behave and do spiritual practices that are in tune with this energy.
Taoists, however, do not regard this energy as a deity. Instead, the Taoist religion includes gods that were frequently imported from the many cultures located in what is now known as China. These deities, like all living beings, are a part of the Tao. Taoist communities are served by temples, monasteries, and priests who provide sacrifices, practise meditation, and carry out various rituals.
The belief in opposing forces, sometimes known as yin and yang, is one of the central concepts of Taoism. These concepts stand for complementary pairs that function as a single, all-encompassing whole, such as light and dark, heat and cold, motion and inaction. Yin and yang demonstrate how the cosmos is interconnected and that nothing is comprehensible on its own.
As the official religion of the Tang dynasty, Taoism rose to prominence in the eighth century C.E. It coexisted with Buddhism and Confucianism (another philosophical religion) in the centuries that followed. However, Taoism, Confucianism, and other religions were outlawed after the Communist takeover in 1959. As a result, Taoism was less frequently practised in China. Although recent reforms in China have boosted the number of Chinese Taoists, most modern Taoists reside in Taiwan.
The three tenets of taoism are known as the "Three Jewels of Tao" (Chinese: ; Pinyin: snbo):
1) Compassion, kindness, and love (in Chinese, ; pinyin: c; meaning "compassion, tenderness, love, mercy, kindness, gentleness and indicates the phrase "mother" or "mother's/parental love").
2) Moderation, simplicity, and frugality (meaning "frugality, moderation, economy, constraint, be sparing" in Chinese; pinyin: jin).
3) Modesty and humility.
The third treasure, which refers to the taoist path to prevent premature death, is a six-character phrase in Chinese called Bugan wei tianxia xian, which means "not dare to be first/ahead in the world."
Mythology and symbolism
Taoists favour using metaphors and stories to communicate their blissful insights. The Tao is the "mystery feminine," the source of all life, the Mother of the Ten Thousand Things, and it is as smooth and life-giving as water, low and receiving as a valley. Humans should develop their male and female sides but "prefer femininity," "feed on the mother," and locate within themselves the well that never runs dry. They should become weak and yielding like water that overpowers the hard and the strong and always chooses the low ground.
Tao is also the pivot, the empty hub's centre, the ridgepole, and the axis. Sage is the "useless tree" or the enormous gourd that is too big to be made into tools. The ability to be skilled at a craft is a common metaphor for how the Tao operates. In unity with the tao of their subjects, skilled artisans carry out their tasks automatically and without conscious thought.
The Taoists, who depended on ancient Chinese mythology to support their beliefs, retained a great deal of it. The undifferentiated primal unity is represented by a chaos (hundun) story; mythological monarchs (Huangdi and others) are praised for their wisdom Taoist governance or condemned for bringing destructive civilisation into the world. Dreams of fanciful paradises, flights on clouds, and aerial adventures serve as metaphors for the soul's wanderings, the realisation of the Tao, and the distinction between dream and reality.
Some old tales have been changed and modified by taoists to fit their ideas. As a result, the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu), a tigress, plague goddess, and mountain spirit, rose to the status of high deity and the Fairy Queen of All Immortals.
Secret Societies
Since the very beginning (2nd century CE), politically oppositional messianic movements have formed and grown apart from the official Taoist church. They had priest-shamans as their leaders, who were comparable to contemporary fashi priests of folk Taoism. Their organisation was akin to that of modern secret organisations and syncretistic faiths, and their adherents were the uneducated or semiliterate classes socially below the tradition of orthodox Taoism. The religious beliefs, practises, and symbols of the secret societies contain some Taoist elements, including initiation rites, worship of Taoist deities, mediumship, and the use of charms and amulets for invulnerability, despite the fact that they have had no organisational contact with the Taoist tradition for centuries. Either directly or through mainstream religion, these influences got through to them.
Modern-day Taoism
In the 20th century, Taiwan served as Taoism's main haven. The massive emigration from the opposing mainland province of Fujian in the 17th and 18th centuries is likely when it was established on the island.
However, since the 63rd celestial master, Zhang Enbu, sought refuge there in 1949, the religion has gained new momentum. Taoism is still practised in Taiwan in its original context, separate from the popular religions that surround it. The exorcists (fashi) or "redheads" (hongtou) of the ecstatic cults can easily be distinguished from hereditary Taoist priests (Taiwanese saigong), known as "blackheads" (wutou) because of their headdress. Their elaborate rituals are still performed, however they are now referred to as offerings (jiao) rather as retreats (jai) as they were in the past.
Even in its extended Song form, the liturgy chanted has characteristics that can be linked to Zhang Taoling's sect. Since the 1960s, the faith has had a rebirth, with significant work being carried out in temple construction and repair.
INFLUENCE
Chinese culture and Taoism
Contributions of the Taoists to Chinese science
Taoist physiological practises don't have a devotional quality in and of themselves. They are equally concerned with preserving health and extending physical life as doctors are. Since roughly the first century CE, medicine has evolved independently, but numerous Taoist faith healers and hygienists have contributed to medical knowledge.
The Huangdineijing, also known as "The Yellow Emperor's Esoteric Classic," was the first medical text still in existence and claims to be a legendary Celestial Master's teachings to the Yellow Emperor (3rd century BCE? ).
The 52 chapters of pharmacopoeia known as Bencaogangmu, or "Great Pharmacopoeia," were the result of experiments with minerals, plants, and animals that were partially motivated by Taoist dietetics and the pursuit of the elixir of life (16th century).
This interest in science is thought to be a reflection of Taoism's emphasis on personal experience and direct observation of the world, as opposed to Confucianism's reliance on tradition.
Tradition only teaches what was beneficial for a bygone era, not what is beneficial for the present, according to Zhuangzi.
Following a thing's natural course is the Taoist secret to effectiveness; this does not entail conducting scientific research but rather developing sensitivity and skill through "minute concentration on the Tao running through natural objects of all kinds." This skill and knowledge were carried with the old men when they passed away and cannot be passed on (Zhuangzi). It is symbolised by the artisanal skill that the Taoists admired in their numerous parables about wheelwrights, butchers, swordsmiths, carvers, animal trainers, and musicians.
The Taoists extolled intuitive understanding and deft use of matter but did not examine nature in the Western sense and did not use technology since they disliked the artificial. In China, any novel insight or finding was framed in terms of "what the old masters really meant." It is challenging to research the development of scientific thought because of this rediscovering ideology. Alchemy, for instance, has advanced over time, but the Taoist contribution to Chinese science may not have been as significant as previously thought.
