Touching on Taoism

Somehow, I felt that my Monday passed very quickly, a very rare occurance. Anyway today's my girlfriend's birthday. So I would like to wish her a very Happy Birthday! May all your wishes come true dear!

Since it's Tuesday again, it means that I'll be looking into another religion. And as requested by the one and only (currently very stressed out) smiles, I'm going to take a look at Taoism.

Taoism is said to originate in China around the 5th century BC. The Founder of Taoism was Lao-Tze. He was born in 604BC in the state Chu, and was the state Historian. Lao-Tze later wrote the book Tao Te Ching, that he presented to the Emperor Ching, who "decreed that Lao-Tze’s work on Tao should be respected as a canonical book." This book would later become the foundation of Taoism.

Now to understand Taoism, we must first understand what Tao is. Tao, or the Way, is the source, truth, or creative principle behind all the appearances of life. It exists in everything and everywhere and for all time. One site explains Tao in this way.

Lao-Tze says: Tao is one. It was in the beginning. It will remain for ever. It is Impersonal, eternal, immutable, omnipresent, bodiless, immaterial. It cannot be perceived by the senses. It is nameless. It is indescribable.
It is the first cause from which all substances take their origin and all phenomena flow. The great Tao is all-pervading. All things depend on it for life. It is the mother of all phenomena, of heaven and earth. It existed before the Personal God. It is the father of God. It is the producer of God. It is the originator of heaven and earth. It is the mother of all things.

While another site puts it this way:

The Way begat One (the lifeforce), which in turn begat Two (Yin and Yang), finally producing the entirety of the world as we know it (the 10,000 things) through the harmony of the Wuxing. The Way is therefore circular, acting upon itself to renew the cycle of life and death in harmony with nature.

Taoism, in its true sense, is more of a philosophy, much like Hinduism, however some might say it is both a religion and a philosophy. The gods that exist in Taoist temples stem from the mythological element of Taoism, stories of practitioners of Tao that have achieved immortality. Taoism was one of the 3 great religions of China - the other 2 being Buddhism and Confucianism.

Taoism places emphasis upon individual freedom and spontaneity, non-interventionist government and social primitivism and ideas of self-transformation. It also emphasises on controling ones desire.

One's mental activities should be stilled or allowed to dissipate until one finds a deeper source for guiding one's interaction with the universe. Desire hinders one's ability to understand The Way, and tempering desire breeds contentment. Taoists believe that when one desire is satisfied, another, more ambitious desire will simply spring up to replace it. In essence, most Taoists feel that life should be appreciated as it is, rather than forced to be something it is not. Ideally, one should not desire anything, not even non-desire.

There are many other philosophies and principles to Tao, but I think they are better understood if you go read about them yourself. Cos honestly, I find them quite confusing and deep, yet seemingly contradictory.

Taoism is also seen as the root of many Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) terms and practices. Taoism is the origniator of the term Qi or Chi (air, breath, internal energy) that flows within the body. This also led to the development of Taiqi or Tai Chi. Ideas like the "five main organs and orifices of the body correspond to the five parts of the sky: water, fire, wood, metal and earth" also stem from Taoism. Zen is also said to have its roots in Taoism.

Well, that's all I'll be typing on Taoism. Personally, I find it all a little confusing, but that is to be expected since it is a philosophy, and it just wouldn't be much of a philosophy if it wasn't confusing now would it?

Anyway, just for fun you might want to take a look at this quiz to see how much of a Taoist at heart you are. And if you want to read up more on Taoism, you can click here, here or here.