Taoism
From MartialTalk Online Martial Arts Encyclopedia Project
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Taoism (sometimes written as Daoism) is the English name for:
- (a) the Chinese folk religion;
- (b) a family of organized Chinese religious movements such as the Zhengyi ("Orthodox One") or Quanzhen ("Complete Reality") sects, which collectively trace back to Zhang Daoling in the late Han dynasty; and/or
- (c) academic philosophies or belles lettres based on the texts Daodejing (ascribed to Laozi) and Zhuangzi.
The English word "Taoism" translates the Chinese terms Daojiao (道教) and Daojia (道家). The character Dao 道 (or Tao, depending on the transliteration scheme one prefers) literally means "path" or "way", but in Chinese religion or philosophy has taken on more abstract meanings. The compound Daojiao refers to "Daoism" as a "religion" (i.e., people worshipping at altars); Daojia refers to the activity of scholars in their studies. (It must be noted that this distinction is itself controversial and fraught with hermeneutic difficulty.)
Much uncertainty exists over the meaning of "Taoism." In some countries and contexts (for example, the national "Taoism" organizations of China and Taiwan), the label has come to be applied to the Chinese folk religion, which would otherwise not have a readily-recognizable English name. However many, if not most, of its practitioners would not recognize "Taoism" (in any language) as the name of their religion. Moreover, the several forms of what we might call "elite" or "organized" Taoism often distinguish their ritual activities from those of the folk religion, which professional "Taoists" (Daoshi) tend to view as debased.
Chinese alchemy, Chinese astrology, Chinese cuisine, several Chinese martial arts, Chinese traditional medicine, fengshui and many styles of qigong breath training disciplines have some relationship with Taoism.
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