Taoism
Taoism
Taoism (sometimes written as Daoism) is the English name for:
(a) a philosophical school based on the texts the Tao Te Ching (ascribed to Laozi and alternately spelled D¨¤o D¨¦ J¨©ng) and the Zhuangzi.
(b) a family of organized Chinese religious movements such as the Zhengyi ("Orthodoxy") or Quanzhen ("complete reality") sects, which collectively trace back to Zhang Daoling in the late Han Dynasty;
(c) a Chinese folk religion.
The Chinese character T¨¤o or D¨¤o ("Way").The English word "Taoism" is used to translate the Chinese terms Daojiao (µÃ½Ã) and Daojia (µÃ¼Ã'). The character Tao µà (or Dao, depending on the Romanisation scheme one prefers) literally means "path" or "way", but in Chinese religion and philosophy 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 difficulty.
Much uncertainty exists over the meaning of "Taoism". In some countries and contexts (for example, the national "Taoism" organisations of China and Taiwan), the label has come to be applied to the 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 "elite" or "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
Depending on...
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