The same goes for beauty, truth, usefulness, and so on. What is good for one individual might not be good for another, or good for a single individual at different times. The Zhuangzi maintains that the truth value of any claim is related to its context or perspective and must, therefore, always be carefully qualified in order have any validity at all. It is this element of catering for the outsider and of questioning the ways of society, that has appealed to many millions of Chinese over the millennia, and to many Westerners today. Yet what he found in Daoism was something that did not offer clear-cut answers and rules, and which was opposed to the conformity and convention of society. However, he tells us that because of his reading of Zhuangzi he became another and better person. For him the punishment was terrible, because it stripped him of everything that defined life for a Chinese gentleman of his class. An illustration of this is the story told about Bo Juyi, a poet-official, who was exiled in 815CE, because of his outspoken criticisms of the government. They have also enabled millions of people to see themselves and their age more clearly and to transcend their sense of personal identity. The two books are both literary masterpieces and well worth reading for the quality of their writing. The religion mixed magic, alchemy and shamanism with the search for immortality, while the philosophy was born with the collection of aphorisms, anecdotes and stories known as the Zhuangzi ( Chuang-Tzu) in about 320BCE and the epigrammatic poem the Daode-jing ( Tao Te Ching) – probably collectively authored but given the named authorship of Laozi (Lao Tzu) – around 250BCE. Many modern Taoists live in Taiwan, although recent reforms in China have increased the number of Chinese Taoists.SUBSCRIBE NOW Death Death in Classical Daoist Thought Bernard Down explains how two ancient Chinese philosophers explored new perspectives on matters of life and death.ĭaoism (or Taoism) is both a religion and a philosophy. This caused a decline in the practice of Taoism in China. However, during the Communist takeover in 1949, Taoism, Confucianism, and other religions were banned. In the following centuries, it existed alongside Buddhism and Confucianism (another philosophical religion). Taoism became well-known in the eighth century C.E. Yin and yang show that everything in the universe is connected and that nothing makes sense by itself. These ideas represent matching pairs, such as light and dark, hot and cold, action and inaction, which work together toward a universal whole. One of the main ideas of Taoism is the belief in balancing forces, or yin and yang. Taoism has temples, monasteries, and priests who make offerings, meditate, and perform other rituals for their communities. These gods are part of the Tao, like all living things. Rather, there are gods as part of the Taoist beliefs, often introduced from the various cultures found in the region known now as China. However, Taoists do not believe in this energy as a god. The Tao Te Ching and other Taoist books provide guides for behavior and spiritual ways of living in harmony with this energy. Ch’i, or qi, is the energy present in and guiding everything in the universe. Taoism teaches that all living creatures ought to live in a state of harmony with the universe, and the energy found in it. The Tao (or Dao) is hard to define but is sometimes understood as the way of the universe. Lao Tzu is sometimes understood as the image of the Tao, or a god, and given legendary status. This book was given an origin with the philosopher Lao Tzu for cultural and political reasons. Rather, the Tao Te Ching is a gathering of earlier sayings from many authors. While the author is traditionally believed to be the philosopher Lao Tzu, there is little evidence that Lao Tzu existed at all. The Tao Te Ching, or “The Way and Its Power,” is a collection of poetry and sa yings from around the third and fourth centuries B.C.E. Taoists believe in spiritual immortality, where the spirit of the body joins the universe after death. Taoism holds that humans and animals should live in balance with the Tao, or the universe. wrote the main book of Taoism, the Tao Te Ching. Taoism has been connected to the philosopher Lao Tzu, who around 500 B.C.E. Taoism (also spelled Daoism) is a religion and a philosophy from ancient China that has influenced folk and national belief.
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