Taoism in China

China Cultural Tour

A Taoist's Pilgrimage by David Dawson click here

Taoism in China

TAOISM began in the 2nd century AD. It is one of China’s indigenous religions and derives its ideology from ancient traditions including Huang-Lao, a learned tradition named after Huang Di ( the legendary Yellow Emperor ) and Lao-Tzu and followed by their devotees during the Western Han Dynasty ( 206 B. C. - A. D. 24 ).

Taoism soon divided into two sects: the Taoism of Great Peace and the Taoism of Five Bushels of Rice, but only the Taoism of Five Bushels of Rice has been handed down, as the Taoism of Great Peace was later forbidden by the feudal rulers. Zhang DaoLing, known as Heavenly Teacher Zhang, founded the Taoism of Five Bushels of Rice and is considered the founder of today’s Taoism.

Thanks to the reforms by Ge Hong, Kou QianZhi, Lu XiuJing and Tao HongJing during the period of the Three Kingdoms (200 - 280), the Jin Dynasty (265 - 420), and the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420 - 581), Taoism perfected its literature, doctrines, discipline, rituals and organization. Because of the support from the emperors of the Tang (618 - 907) and Song (960 - 1279) dynasties, Taoism entered a period of full bloom and became an important religion in China, second only to Buddhism.

The three most important books of Taoist thought are The Book of the Way of Power ( Dao De Jing ), The Book of Chuang-Tzu and The Book of Great Peace. Lao-Tzu, who founded the early Qin Taoist school, is worshiped as the forefather of Taoism and the idea of the Way ( Dao) that he put forward in The Book of the Way of Power is the basis of the religion.

Taoists believe the Way is the origin of the universe and creates all living beings, so they worship all life in the universe and everything else created by nature. They also believe that man can attain immortality and become a celestial being through practicing austerities.

In the 12th century, Taoism gradually divided in two: Chuan-Chen Taoism and Cheng-I Taoism. The priests of Chuan-Chen Taoism renounced their families and lived together in temples. They were vegetarian and practiced austerities in order to become immortal. Many priests of Cheng-I Taoism, however, lived with their families and did not avoid meat, and their ideal was to help others attain good fortune and avoid the bad.

According to Taoism, the gods act as administrators and control everything in the universe, from the sun, moon and stars in the heavens to the mountains and rivers on earth as well as the life spans, births, good or bad fortunes, careers, wealth, and safety of human beings. Among the many gods by Taoists, the god of the primal origin, the god of sacred jewel, and the god of the way of power (Lao-Tzu ) are regarded as the supreme gods, and the god of the way of power, also known as Supreme Lord Lao-Tzu, is the most widely worshiped.

Many of the Taoist temples were built on mountains where, according to tradition, celestial beings lived or ancient Taoists had practiced austerities and become immortal. The famous mountains sacred to Taoism include Mount TaiShan, or the Eastern Mountain, in ShangDong Province; Mount HuaShan, or Western Mountain, in ShaanXi Province; Mount HengShan, or the Southern Mountain, in Hunan Province; Mount HengShan, or the Northern Mountain, in ShanXi Province; Mount SongShan, or the Central Mountain, in Henan Province; Mount QingCheng in Sichuan Province; Mount MaoShan in JiangSu Province; and Mount LongHu in JiangXi Province.

Famous Taoist temples include the BaiYun ( White Cloud ) Temple in Beijing; the Louguan Terrace in ZhouZhi, ShaanXi Province; the QianShan Wuliang Temple in AnShan, LiaoNing Province; and the ZiXiao (Purple Heaven) Temple on Mount WuDang in HuBei Province. These temples, all several hundred years old, reflect ancient Chinese culture and attract many visitors. At present, there are over 1,600 Taoist temples in China, home to more than 25,000 Taoist priests and nuns.

The Chinese Taoist Association, established in 1957 in Beijing, is a nationwide organization, with Min ZhiTing as chairman. To carry forward and spread the ancient Taoist culture, the association has published dozens of Taoist classics, including The Book of the Way of Power in modern language, The Book of the Interior Aspects of the Lower Elixir Field, The Book of Purity and Silence and The Book of Morning and Evening Study , and has compiled more than 30 books about Taoism, such as A Dictionary of Taoism, General knowledge of Taoism, and a series of books on Taoist culture.

The association has a journal, China Taoism, which is published every other month and distributed both at home and abroad. Thanks to the efforts of the association, the Chuan-Chen Taoist ceremony for initiation into the priesthood and the Cheng-I Taoist system of drawing talismans has been resumed after 50 years of suspension. The association is also a member of the World Union of Religious and Environmental Protection.

The Chinese Academy of Taoism, founded in 1990, offers specialized classes for teaching students to become managerial personnel of Taoist temples and advanced classes in the research and teaching of Taoism. Hundreds of students have graduated from the academy since its establishment.

The Chinese Taoists have maintained contact with Taoists all over the world. Especially in the last twenty years, since China’s implementation of the reform and opening policies, the Chinese Taoist Association and Taoist temples in different parts of China have had frequent contacts and exchanged visits with Taoist priests and organizations from around the world. In 1993, Taoists from the temples in China’s mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan jointly held a grand ritual at the Beijing BaiYan Temple. Also in attendance were Taoist priests from a dozen foreign countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada and the United States.

Lao Zi

Very little is known about Lao Zi,the founder of Taoism.According to some historical works,his original name was LiEr,and was born in the state of Chu,but the date of his birth was unknow.For some time he was a keeper of archives in the Zhou court,Zhou being the name of the dynasty which nominally ruled all the states during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period

that followed.When he saw the decline of the Zhou,he lefe his post to live the life of a hermit.On his way he had to pass a gate.The gate keeper,who had heard of his learning,begged him to write a book.He agreed,and wrote a small book of 15,000 words,discussing "dao and De",or the Way and its functions.The book is generally called Dao De Jing,or the Lao Zi.After he finished the book,he went away,and nobody knew where he went or when he died.As there was a record of his meeting with Confucius and their discussion of the rites,we know he was a contemporary of, and perhaps older than Confucius. Laozi (Lao Tzu: dates uncertain. Speculation ranges from from 600 BC to 200 BC) is, we assume, the author of the Daode Jing (Tao Te Ching), the most beloved and widely translated Chinese philosophical text. The figure of Laozi has always been shrouded in mystery. It deepens the more we discover about the texts. Tradition regarded Laozi as Confucius' (6th Century BC) teacher and the "founder" of Daoism, the "doubt tradition" movement in modern China gave influential arguments for dating the text to the middle "Warring States" period (4th Century BC). The discovery of 1st Century BC version of the text suggested the text was in flux over a long period of time. A. C. Graham argued that the text probably became important only after Zhuangzi died (ca. 295 BC). Scholars in China, on the contrary, have reverted to the traditional dating placing Laozi before Confucius. Many scholars dismiss Laozi as mythological or use his name as shorthand for "the author(s) of the Daode Jing."

Taoism

Taoism can also be called "the other way," for during its entire history, it has coexisted alongside the Confucian tradition, which served as the ethical and religious basis of the institutions and arrangements of the Chinese empire. Taoism, while not radically subversive, offered a range of alternatives to the Confucian way of life and point of view. These alternatives, however, were not mutually exclusive. For the vast majority of Chinese, there was no question of choosing between Confucianism and Taoism. Except for a few straightlaced Confucians and a few pious Taoists, the Chinese man or woman practiced both -- either at different phases of life or as different sides of personality and taste.

Classical Taoist philosophy, formulated by Laozi , the anonymous editor of the Daodejing (Classic of the Way and its Power), and Zhuangzi, was a reinterpretation and development of an ancient nameless tradition of nature worship and divination. Laozi and Zhuangzi, living at a time of social disorder and great religious skepticism (see article on Confucianism), developed the notion of the Dao (Tao -- way, or path) as the origin of all creation and the force -- unknowable in its essence but observable in its manifestations -- that lies behind the functionings and changes of the natural world. They saw in Dao and nature the basis of a spiritual approach to living. This, they believed, was the answer to the burning issue of the day: what is the basis of a stable, unified, and enduring social order? The order and harmony of nature, they said, was far more stable and enduring than either the power of the state or the civilized institutions constructed by human learning. Healthy human life could flourish only in accord with Dao -- nature, simplicity, a free-and-easy approach to life. The early Taoists taught the art of living and surviving by conforming with the natural way of things; they called their approach to action wuwei (wu-wei -- lit. no-action), action modeled on nature. Their sages were wise, but not in the way the Confucian teacher was wise -- learned and a moral paragon. Zhuangzi's sages were often artisans -- butchers or woodcarvers. The lowly artisans understood the secret of art and the art of living. To be skillful and creative, they had to have inner spiritual concentration and put aside concern with externals, such as monetary rewards, fame, and praise. Art, like life, followed the creative path of nature, not the values of human society.

Throughout Chinese history, people weary of social activism and aware of the fragility of human achievements would retire from the world and turn to nature. They might retreat to a countryside or mountain setting to commune with natural beauty. They would compose or recite poetry about nature, or paint a picture of the scene, attempting to capture the creative forces at the center of nature's vitality. They might share their outing with friends or more rarely -- a spouse, drinking a bit of wine, and enjoying the autumn leaves or the moon.

Chinese utopian writings also often bore a Taoist stamp. Tao Qian's famous "Peach Blossom Spring" told the story of a fisherman who discovered by chance an idyllic community of Chinese who centuries earlier had fled a war-torn land, and had since lived in perfect simplicity, harmony, and peace, obliviously unaware of the turmoil of history beyond their grove. Although these utopians urged him to stay, the fisherman left to share his discovery with friends and a local official. He could never find his way back. He did not understand that this ideal world was to be found not by following an external path, but a spiritual path; it was a state of mind, an attitude, that comprised the utopia.

If Taoist ideas and images inspired in the Chinese a love of nature and an occasional retreat to it from the cares of the world to rest and heal, it also inspired an intense affirmation of life: physical life -- health, well-being, vitality, longevity, and even immortality. Laozi and Zhuangzi had reinterpreted the ancient nature worship and esoteric arts, but they crept back into the tradition as ways of using knowledge of the Dao to enhance and prolong life. Some Taoists searched for "isles of the immortals," or for herbs or chemical compounds that could ensure immortality. More often, Taoists were interested in health and vitality; they experimented with herbal medicine and pharmacology, greatly advancing these arts; they developed principles of macrobiotic cooking and other healthy diets; they developed systems of gymnastics and massage to keep the body strong and youthful. Taoists were supporters both of magic and of proto-science; they were the element of Chinese culture most interested in the study of and experiments with nature.

Some Taoists believed that spirits pervaded nature (both the natural world and the internal world within the human body). Theologically, these myriad spirits were simply many manifestations of the one Dao, which could not be represented as an image or a particular thing. As the Taoist pantheon developed, it came to mirror the imperial bureaucracy in heaven and hell. The head of the heavenly bureaucracy was the jade Emperor, who governed spirits assigned to oversee the workings of the natural world and the administration of moral justice. The gods in heaven acted like and were treated like the officials in the world of men; worshipping the gods was a kind of rehearsal of attitudes toward secular authorities. On the other hand, the demons and ghosts of hell acted like and were treated like the bullies, outlaws, and threatening strangers in the real world; they were bribed by the people and were ritually arrested by the martial forces of the spirit officials. The common people, who after all had little influence with their earthly rulers, sought by worshipping spirits to keep troubles at bay and ensure the blessings of health, wealth, and longevity.

The initiated Taoist priest saw the many gods as manifestations of the one Dao. He had been ritually trained to know the names, ranks, and powers of important spirits, and to ritually direct them through meditation and visualization. In his meditations, he harmonized and reunited them into their unity with the one Dao. However, only the educated believers knew anything of the complex theological system of the priest. Thus communal rituals had two levels: (a) a priestly level, which was guided by the priest's meditation and observed by major patrons, who were educated laymen; and (b) a public and dramatic ritual, usually performed by lower ranked Taoist assistants, which was theatrical in form. It conveyed the meaning through visible actions such as climbing sword ladders, or lighting and floating lanterns. The same ritual had a subtle metaphysical-mystical structure for the theologians, and a visible dramatic structure for the lay audience.

Taoism was also an important motif in fiction, theater, and folk tales. Local eccentrics who did not care for wealth and position were often seen as "Taoist" because they spurned Confucian values and rewards. In fiction Taoists were often eccentrics; they also had magical or prophetic powers, which symbolized their spiritual attainment. They healed, restored youth and vitality, predicted the future, or read men's souls. They were also depicted as the stewards of a system of moral retribution; the Taoist gods in heaven and hell exacted strict punishments for wrongdoing, and would let no sinner off the hook. On the one hand, then, they were non-conformists who embodied different values and life styles; on the other, their strict moral retribution reinforced the values of the society. Taoism was "the other way," but it did not threaten the moral consensus. It was, perhaps, a kind of safety valve to escape the pressures of society, or at least a complementary channel for alternative views and values.

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