Taoism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Terminology== [[File:Birth Places of Chinese Philosophers.png|upright=1.35|thumb|The birthplaces of notable Chinese philosophers from the [[Hundred Schools of Thought]] in the [[Zhou Dynasty]]. Philosophers of Taoism are marked by triangles in dark green.]] ===Spelling and pronunciation=== "Taoism" and "Daoism" are alternate spellings of the same word. "Tao" is in the [[Wade-Giles]] system of [[romanization]], which until the late 20th century was predominant in English-speaking countries and remains in use for certain terms with strongly established spellings. "Dao" is the spelling in the [[Hanyu Pinyin]] system, officially adopted in China in the 1950s, which has largely replaced Wade–Giles. The Standard Chinese pronunciation of both romanizations of the character "Dao" is the same, that is, {{IPA|/daʊ/}}, much like the English "dow". One authority calls the pronunciation with a <t> as in "tie" to be a "mispronunciation" originally caused by the "clumsy Wade-Giles system," which misled most readers.<ref>{{harvp|Carr|1990|pp=58, 60, 62, 68}}</ref> ===Classification=== {{see also|Taoist philosophy}} The word ''Taoism'' is used to translate two related but distinct Chinese terms.{{sfnp|Pregadio|2008|loc=Vol. 1, p. xvi}} # Firstly, a term encompassing a family of organized religious movements that share concepts and terminology from Taoist philosophy—what can be specifically translated as 'the teachings of the Tao', ({{zh|labels=no|c=道教|p=dàojiào|}}), often interpreted as the Taoist "religion proper", or the "mystical" or "liturgical" aspects of Taoism.{{sfnp|Pregadio|2008|loc=Vol. 1, p. 327, "Taoshih"}}{{sfnp|Robinet|1997|p=xxix}} The [[Celestial Masters]] school is a well-known early example of this sense. # The other, referring to the [[philosophy|philosophical doctrines]] largely based on core Taoist texts themselves—a term that can be translated as 'the philosophical school of the Tao' or 'Taology' ({{zh|labels=no|c=道家|p=dàojiā|l=school of the Tao}}, or sometimes {{zh|labels=no||t=道學|p=dàoxué|l=study of the Tao}}). This was considered one of the [[Hundred Schools of Thought]] during the Warring States period. The earliest recorded use of the word 'Tao' to reference such a philosophical school is found in the works of [[Han dynasty|Han-era]] historians:{{sfnp|Kohn|2000|p=44}}<ref name="Stanford Taoism2">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Taoism|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, CSLI, [[Stanford University]]|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/taoism/|access-date=2008-10-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130624092211/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/taoism/|archive-date=24 June 2013|author=Chad Hansen|url-status=live}}</ref> such as the ''[[Zuo Zhuan|Commentary of Zhuo]]'' ({{zh|c=左传|hp=Zuǒzhuàn|labels=no}}) by [[Zuo Qiuming]], and in the ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]''. This particular usage precedes the emergence of the Celestial Masters and associated later religions. It is unlikely that [[Zhuang Zhou]], author of the [[Zhuangzi (book)|Zhuangzi]], was familiar with the text of the ''Tao Te Ching'',<ref name="Stanford Taoism2"/><ref name="Graham 1989 p. 170–171">{{harvp|Graham|1989|pp=170–171}}</ref> and Zhuangzi himself may have died before the term was in use.<ref name="Graham 1989 p. 170–171"/> The distinction between Taoist ''philosophy'' and Taoist ''religion'' is an ancient, deeply-rooted one. Taoism is a positive philosophy that aims for the holistic unification of an individual's reality with everything that is not only real but also valuable, encompassing both the natural world and society.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Xiong |first1=Qinjing |last2=Ju |first2=Yucui |date=2023-03-21 |title=Taoism and teaching without words |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131857.2022.2112031 |journal=Educational Philosophy and Theory |language=en |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=496–507 |doi=10.1080/00131857.2022.2112031 |s2cid=251688453 |issn=0013-1857}}</ref> The earliest references to 'the Tao' per se are largely devoid of liturgical or explicitly supernatural character, used in contexts either of abstract metaphysics or of the ordinary conditions required for human flourishing. This distinction is still understood in everyday contexts among Chinese people, and has been echoed by modern scholars of Chinese history and philosophy such as [[Feng Youlan]] and [[Wing-tsit Chan]]. Use of the term ''daojia'' dates to the Western Han {{circa|100 BCE}}, referring to the purported authors of the emerging Taoist canon, such as [[Lao Dan]] and [[Zhuang Zhou]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Daoist Philosophy {{!}} Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy|url=https://iep.utm.edu/daoism/|access-date=2022-01-27|language=en-US|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211053946/https://iep.utm.edu/daoism/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Hansen|first=Chad|title=Daoism|date=2020|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2020/entries/daoism/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Spring 2020|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2022-01-27|archive-date=1 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901021617/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2020/entries/daoism/|url-status=live}}</ref> Neither the ''Tao Te Ching'' and ''Zhuangzi'' themselves, nor the early secondary sources written about them, put forward any particular supernatural ontology. Nonetheless, that religious Taoism emerged from a synthesis of folk religion with philosophical Taoist precepts is clear. The earlier, naturalistic was employed by pre-Han and Han thinkers, and continued to be used well into the Song, including among those who explicitly rejected cults, both private and state-sanctioned, that were often either labeled or self-identified as Taoist. However, this distinction has been challenged or rejected by some scholars of religion, often those from a Western or Japanese background, who often use distinct interpretive models and techniques.<ref>{{harvp|Robinet|1997|p=3}}; {{harvp|Kohn|2000|p=xi}}</ref> This point of view characterizes the religious and philosophical characteristics of the Taoist tradition as being inseparable. [[Sinology|Sinologists]] such as Isabelle Robinet and [[Livia Kohn]] state that "Taoism has never been a unified religion, and has constantly consisted of a combination of teachings based on a variety of original revelations." The distinction is fraught with hermeneutic difficulties when attempting to categorize different schools, sects, and movements.{{sfnp|Mair|2001|p=174}} Russell Kirkland writes that "most scholars who have seriously studied Taoism, both in Asia and in the West" have abandoned this "simplistic dichotomy".{{sfnp|Kirkland|2004|p=2}} Louis Komjathy writes that this is an untenable misconception because "the association of ''daojia'' with "thought" (''sixiang'') and of ''daojiao'' with "religion" (''zongjiao'') is a modern Chinese construction largely rooted in earlier Chinese literati, European colonialist, and Protestant missionary interpretations." Contemporaneous Neo-Confucianists, for example, often self-identify as Taoist without partaking in any rituals.{{sfnp|Robinet|1997|p=2}} In contrast, Komjathy characterizes Taoism as "a unified religious tradition characterized by complexity and diversity.", arguing that historically, none of these terms were understood according to a bifurcated 'philosophy' versus 'religion' model. ''Daojia'' was a taxonomical category for Taoist texts, that was eventually applied to Taoist movements and priests in the early medieval period. {{sfnp|Komjathy|2014|p=4}} Meanwhile, ''daojiao'' was originally used to specifically distinguish Taoist tradition from Buddhism. Thus, ''daojiao'' included ''daojia''.{{sfnp|Komjathy|2014|p=4}} Komjathy notes that the earliest Taoist texts also "reveal a religious community composed of master-disciple lineages", and therefore, that "Taoism was a religious tradition from the beginning."{{sfnp|Komjathy|2014|p=4}} Philosopher [[Chung-ying Cheng]] likewise views Taoism as a [[religion]] embedded into Chinese history and tradition, while also assuming many different "forms of philosophy and practical wisdom".<ref name="Routledge">{{cite book|editor-last1=Meister |editor-first1=Chad |editor-last2=Copan |editor-first2=Paul |title=The Routledge companion to philosophy of religion |date=2010 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-43553-6}}</ref> Chung-ying Cheng also noted that the Taoist view of 'heaven' mainly from "observation and meditation, [though] the teaching of [the Tao] can also include the way of heaven independently of human nature".<ref name="Routledge"/> Taoism is generally not understood as a variant of [[Chinese folk religion]] per se: while the two umbrella terms have considerable cultural overlap, core themes of both also diverge considerably from one another.<ref name="Robinet 1997, p. 103">{{harvp|Robinet|1997|p=103}}</ref> ===Adherents=== 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'' ({{lang|zh-hant|道士}}, "master of the Tao"), thus strictly defining the priests of Taoism, ordained clergymen of a Taoist institution who "represent Taoist culture on a professional basis", are experts of Taoist liturgy, and therefore can employ this knowledge and ritual skill for the benefit of a community.{{sfnp|Pregadio|2008|loc=Vol. 1, p. 326, "Taoshih"}} This role of Taoist priests reflects the definition of Taoism as a "[[liturgy|liturgical]] framework for the development of local cults", in other words a scheme or structure for Chinese religion, proposed first by the scholar and Taoist initiate [[Kristofer Schipper]] in ''The Taoist Body'' (1986).{{sfnp|Wu|2014|pp=105–106}} ''Taoshi'' are comparable to the non-Taoist ritual masters({{lang|zh|法師}}) of vernacular traditions (the so-called [[Chinese ritual mastery traditions|Faism]]) within Chinese religion.{{sfnp|Wu|2014|pp=105–106}} The term {{transliteration|zh|dàojiàotú}} ({{zhi|t=道敎徒|l=follower of Dao|s=|p=}}), with the meaning of "Taoist" as "lay member or believer of Taoism", is a modern invention that goes back to the introduction of the Western category of "organized religion" in China in the 20th century, but it has no significance for most of Chinese society in which Taoism continues to be an "order" of the larger body of Chinese religion. 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