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Today, Taoism is one of five religious doctrines officially recognized by the Chinese government, also having official status in Hong Kong and Macau. [9] It is considered a major religion in Taiwan, [10] and also has significant populations of adherents throughout the Sinosphere and Southeast Asia.
Taoism evolved in response to changing times, with its doctrine and associated practices being revised and refined. The acceptance of Taoism by the ruling class has waxed and waned, alternately enjoying periods of favor and rejection. Most recently, Taoism has emerged from a period of suppression and is undergoing a revival in China.
Paronomastically, tao is equated with its homonym 蹈 tao < d'ôg, "to trample," "tread," and from that point of view it is nothing more than a "treadway," "headtread," or "foretread "; it is also occasionally associated with a near synonym (and possible cognate) 迪 ti < d'iôk, "follow a road," "go along," "lead," "direct"; "pursue the right ...
The Tao Te Ching describes the Tao as the source and ideal of all existence: it is unseen, but not transcendent, immensely powerful yet supremely humble, being the root of all things. People have desires and free will (and thus are able to alter their own nature). Many act "unnaturally", upsetting the natural balance of the Tao.
Most traditional Chinese Taoists are polytheistic. Taoism or Daoism is a type of belief, or a way of thinking about life. It is at least 2,500 years old and it comes from China. Taoism is now said to be a philosophy. Tao (or Dao, 道) is the name of the force or the "Way" that Taoists believe makes everything in the world.
Today, many Tao people have converted to a Christianity (especially branches of Catholicism and Protestantism). [16] However, much of their traditional Christian ideologies are muddied with adherence to ancient superstitions. The Tao people greatly fear anito, the collection of evil spirits, even more than they worship an omnipotent God. [15]
Professionalised Taoism (i.e. priestly orders) usually presents Laozi and the Three Pure Ones at the top of the pantheon. [29] Worship of nature deities and ancestors is common in popular Taoism, while professional Taoists put an emphasis on internal alchemy. The Tao is never an object of worship, being treated more like the Indian concept of ...
While Confucianism was the ideology of the law, the institutions and the ruling class, Taoism was the worldview of the radical intellectuals and it was also compatible with the spiritual beliefs of the peasants and the artisans. The two, although opposite ends of the philosophical spectrum, jointly created the Chinese "image of the world". [4]