This work is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship.Įven if anonymous Public domain Public domain false false I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.įor countries with laws of copyright eligibility Public domain Public domain false false In some countries this may not be legally possible if so: I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. Licensing Public domain Public domain false false Many modern Taoists live in Taiwan, although recent reforms in China have increased the number of Chinese Taoists.This vector image was created with Inkscape by Klem, and then manually edited by Mnmazur. This caused a decline in the practice of Taoism in China. However, during the Communist takeover in 1959, 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.