Presented by: Group 3

In the Chinese language the word tao means "way," indicating a way of thought or life. There have been several such ways in China's long history, including Confucianism and Buddhism. In about the 6th century BC, under the influence of ideas credited to a man named Lao-tzu, Taoism became "the way" . Like Confucianism, it has influenced every aspect of Chinese culture. Taoism was a highly influential philosophy that evolved about 2,500 years ago in China. Its principle proponent was Lao Tsu (Lao Tzu) who was a contemporary of Confucius, the originator of another highly influential and differently-oriented philosophy. The essence of Taoism was preserved in the writings attributed to Lao Tsu called the Tao Te Ching, written in 81 short chapters, with a total of about 5,000 characters. From this base, Taoism developed rich and varied manifestations in Chinese culture. A subgroup of the Taoists pursued alchemy and medicine, and their work had a substantial impact on the development of herbal medicine. Taoism remains of interest to many people around the world today, even though its influence in China has waned considerably from its former level. It has been said that there are more translations of the Tao Te Ching than any other book besides the Christian bible.

The Taoist sage lives in close harmony with the natural rhythm and flow of life. His closeness to nature is organic and spiritual. It is undogmatic and vital. Even in the midst of the city, he remains intimately close to the instinctual and natural in himself, and his innate goodness guides him so that he never becomes part of an ignorant society's furtive scramble to reach an imaginary pinnacle. Thus the sage knows that relative to the river, he still moves against the current. To the outside world the sage appears to take no action but in fact he takes action long before others ever foresee the need for action. Thinking well about one's actions before making them is another aspect of the Tao. Human life consists of the time between mortal birth and mortal death. Only the body is subject to age. The spirit of a person is immortal. The body allows a person to interact with others, manipulate his or her physical environment, and to experience sensory perception while in the physical world. When a body dies, the person continues to exist. When the body dies, the soul is set free. If one learns to live in harmony with the Tao during mortal life, that person will be in harmony with the Tao after death. Some believe that at death, the soul is judged by up to ten different gods of Hell, is purified by punishment, then reborn again. There are also those who believe death is avoidable, and that by practicing special meditations or eating certain foods, one can make the body immortal.

Perhaps the most frequently portrayed aspect of Taoism is the image of the unobstructed flow of life. In the Tao Te Ching (chapter 48) it is said: "The world is ruled by letting things take their course, it cannot be ruled by interfering." An image of water flowing through a stream bed is sometimes used to convey the concept. That the flow of water has great potential, as one can see by the deep gorges in solid rock carved by a stream. "Nothing is more soft and yielding than water, yet for attacking the solid and the strong, nothing is better." Letting things take their course is often described as "being in harmony with nature." Nature is one with the Tao, and to not go against nature is to be in harmony with nature. Harmony with nature requires yielding, but it results in great things. The Tao, often translated as the Way (capitalized because it is beyond ordinary description), might be called the "yielding way;" Te is usually translated as power; the book title Tao Te Ching means, roughly, the classic about the power of the yielding way. Despite the common reference to this aspect of Taoism, I think that this view of the teaching, when taken out of the larger context of the Tao Te Ching, is usually too difficult to put into practice because it is so abstract. What does it mean to lead a life that flows like water and harmonizes with nature? In this article, I want to call attention to another aspect of the Taoist teaching that may prove more practical, because it answers the question in relation to how humans live: not just with nature, but with each other and with the powers and vagaries of one's own mind. The underlying principle presented in the Tao Te Ching is that one should take care of things that are in need of doing, and then move on to the next thing that needs to be done, without any attachment to the accomplishment. By avoiding any "attachment to the accomplishment" it is meant that one should not dwell in such things as taking credit for it, accumulating rewards (including material things and power), or spending time with retelling it in order to get recognition.

The Mien, also called Yao, are one of the many semi-migratory people living in the highlands of southern China, and the northern regions of Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. They practice swidden, or slash-and-burn, agriculture mainly for the growing of rice for their own consumption and maize with which to feed their pigs and poultry. During approximately three thousand years of contact with the Chinese, they have acquired many elements of Chinese culture. They have merged Chinese Taoism, including the Chinese Taoist painting tradition, with their animist beliefs to form a unique tradition of Taoism. Mien Taoist paintings are religious, not decorative. Each has a ritual function and is considered the abode of the gods. During the one to two months it takes to complete a set of paintings, the artist must work in an atmosphere of religious devotion and ceremonial purity. When the work is finished, the painter himself opens the eyes of each character according to the Chinese custom for consecrating Taoist icons. The Mien Taoist tradition goes further and also requires a priest to perform a ceremony that introduces the gods to the paintings. Priests then display the set of paintings in a certain order to play a part in ceremonies. At other times, they are rolled and stored up in a box hanging near the domestic altar. When a set of paintings is judged worn out, the owner may decide to replace it.

Like Confucianism, however, Taoism is not limited to the teachings of one sage or one book. Taoists believe that the Dao itself originated in a far more distant past: it is a cosmic Way (the literal meaning of Dao) that formed, or began to form, before the existence of all individual things. As the Dao de jing relates, Before there was a two and a three, there was the One. This Cosmic One describes the original unity of the universe, an undifferentiated energy that gave birth to the ten thousand things. The Dao continues to exist. In fact, it is eternally evolving or coming into existence and is never complete. It is an energy which permeates the universe, and can be tapped into as a source of health, vitality, long life, and supernatural power. The Taoist religion is an historical transmission of texts and rituals that attempt to explain, harness, create and re-create that cosmic energy. Until recently, Western historians of China limited Taoism to a school of philosophy set out abstrusely in the Dao de jing and elaborated by the sages Zhuang-zi (dates uncertain, but he lived between 370 and 301 BCE) and Lie-zi (an historical figure only known by a book appearing in his name, dating anywhere from 300 BCE to 300 CE). These three thinkers were said to be the authors of a philosophy that was distinctly anti-Confucian: rebelling against education, against government service, against the moral and ethical codes of social interaction, and against the norms and rules that govern everyday life. But this is only one part of the story of Taoism. Whereas historians used to limit Taoism to these thinkers and their reclusive philosophy, we now know that Taoism continued to evolve and develop, and came to include not just philosophical texts, but also church-like institutions, rites and ceremonies (with hundreds if not thousands of ritual instruction manuals), a rich tradition of physical and hygienic practices with the goal of long life or immortality, a pantheon of terrestrial and celestial deities, and mythologies of their lives and heavenly existence.

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