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The term Tao means "way", "path" or "principle", and can also be found in Chinese philosophies and religions other than Taoism. In Taoism, however, Tao denotes something that is both the source and the driving force behind everything that exists. It is ultimately ineffable: "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao." [1] Also called Daoism.
Since the initial stages of Taoist thought, there have been varying schools of Taoist philosophy and they have drawn from and interacted with other philosophical traditions such as Confucianism and Buddhism. Taoism differs from Confucianism in putting more emphasis on physical and spiritual cultivation and less emphasis on political organization.
Traditionally, the Chinese language does not have terms defining lay people adhering to the doctrines or the practices of Taoism, who fall instead within the field of folk religion. Taoist, in Western sinology, is traditionally used to translate daoshi/taoshih (道士; 'master of the Tao'), thus strictly defining the priests of Taoism, ordained ...
Chinese ritual mastery traditions, also referred to as ritual teachings (Chinese: 法教; pinyin: fǎjiào, sometimes rendered as "Faism"), [1] [2] Folk Taoism (民間道教; Mínjiàn Dàojiào), or Red Taoism (mostly in east China and Taiwan), constitute a large group of Chinese orders of ritual officers who operate within the Chinese folk religion but outside the institutions of official ...
The tao/dao "the way" English word of Chinese origin has three meanings, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. 1. a. In Taoism, an absolute entity which is the source of the universe; the way in which this absolute entity functions. 1. b. = Taoism, taoist. 2.
Laozi (Lao Tzu) is traditionally regarded as the founder of the Taoist religion and is closely associated in this context with "original", or "primordial", Taoism. [1] Whether he actually existed is disputed, [2] and the work attributed to him – the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching) – is dated between the 8th and 3rd century BC.
During the medieval period (中世紀) Taoists developed the idea of the "true form" or zhenxing.The term "true form" denotes the original form something has as a part of the Dao (道, dào), which Taoists refer to as the "Great Image without form" (大象無形), [5] and can be applied to a broad range of things such as a deity, an icon, a purified self, a talisman, or a picture.
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]