![]() God finds sorcery “detestable” ( Deuteronomy 18). Taoists speak to spirits by occult means. But those spirits do not direct or guide us. Such festivals unite a community in celebration or are held to ask for intervention in hard times.ĭivisions of spiritual and earthly life are encompassed within the natural balance of Taoism, part of the mystery of being connected and obligated to one another. Taoists (or Daoists) “invite communion with the spirits and the gods” and see the “altar” as “the place where the earthly realm meets with the divine.” Ancestral and other spirits are honored during special festivals too expensive for regular observance. “Cosmic balance maintained and regulated by the Tao.” This natural flow involves both good and evil “opposites in balance” otherwise known as “yin-yang.”īut the balance of opposites does not include “good and evil, life and death, because nature does not recognize anything as good or evil” and does not “recognize a difference between life and non-life.” Everything exists harmoniously with nature.” Taoist observers say “in their own way things are all right … generosity, strangeness, deceit, and abnormality. The “Tao” or “way” is an “idea ” a “force, principle, or energy” in nature. Taoism asserts that there is no “God” but an impersonal cosmic force connecting all things. ![]() “Action in harmony with the Tao is called wu-wei,” literally “non-action.’” A Cosmic Force “Yield and overcome/Empty and become full/Bend and become straight.” Be at peace with self, with change, and learn to adjust. His book contains advice about how to live peacefully with one another and the world. This he passed on to the city’s gatekeeper before “vanish into the mist.” In it, he explained how he thought the problem should be solved. He was a “natural philosopher” who became frustrated with “the corruption he saw in government, which caused the people so much pain and misery.” He favored exile over life amid this corruption, but he wrote a book for the people as a parting gift. Mythical Originsīelievers are divided as to whether or not the philosophy’s origin story is true, but the tale of Lao-Tzu provides some insight into Taoism. Instead, their aim is to “go with the flow” since everything natural is good. In the West, on the other hand, there are attempts to interpret Tao Te Ching alongside the Bible.More than a thousand years before the birth of Christ, the “ philosophy of Taoism grew up from the peasant class during the Shang Dynasty.” Proponents of this philosophy say it is not a religion since religions are directive. This explains why until today, Taoist literature is still being used to interpret Buddhism. ![]() When Buddhism was first introduced into the country, Taoism was used as a vehicle to spread the religion. This is because Taoism per-existed Buddhism in the country. In China, Taoism is sometimes akin to Buddhism. They see the Tao as a philosophy, and live it as the religion. For those who worship it as a religion, they would call it Daojiao (道教), meaning ‘the religion of Dao’. For those who observe it as a philosophy, they’d portray the system of belief as Daojia (道家), or the ‘school of Tao’. In China - the origin of Taoism - it is practiced both as a philosophy and religion. Tao Te Ching, the best-known Taoist classic, has become the most translated text, second only to the Bible. ![]() Originally a Chinese philosophy, Taoism is gaining popular in the West and the rest of the world, and has been widely embraced as a way of life. ![]()
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