Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Taoist |
TaoistAdjective1. Of or relating to the popular Chinese religious system based on the teachings of Lao-tse but including a pantheon of gods along with divination and magic; "Taoist temples". 2. Of or relating to the philosophical system developed by Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu advocating a simple honest life. Noun1. An adherent of any branch of Taoism. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Yin Yang is often used to symbolize taoism. Taoism (from Chinese 道, in pinyin dao4, and thus sometimes spelled Daoism; see Daoism versus Taoism) is an Asian philosophy and religion, though it is also said to be neither but rather a way of life. Translated literally, it means "Way" or "Path". The Tao is the natural order of things. It is a force that flows through every living or sentient object, as well as through the entire universe.
Introduction and historical context
Taoism is a tradition that has, with its traditional foil Confucianism, shaped Chinese life for more than 2,000 years. Taoism places emphasis upon individual freedom and spontaneity, non-interventionist government and social primitivism and ideas of self-transformation, and so represents in many ways the antithesis to Confucian concern with moral duties, social cohesion, and governmental responsibilities, even if Confucius' thought includes those Taoist values, as one can read in the Analects.
Traditionally, Taoism has been attributed to three sources:
- The oldest, the mythical 'Yellow Emperor';
- the most famous, the book of mystical aphorisms, the 'Dao De Jing' (or in Wade-Giles spelling, 'Tao Te Ching'), said to be written by Lao Zi (Wade-Giles, Lao Tse), who, according to legend, was an older contemporary of Confucius;
- and the third, the works of the philosopher Zhuang Zi (Wade-Giles, Chuang Tse).
- Other books have developped Taoism, as the True Classic of Perfect Emptiness, from Lie Zi; and the Huainanzi compilation.
- Additionally, the original source of Taoism is often said to be the ancient 'I Ching', The Book Of Changes.
The Dao De Jing
Main article: Dao De JingThe Dao De Jing, or Tao Te Ching as it is most commonly rendered in English, was written in a time of seemingly endless feudal warfare and constant conflict. The literal meaning of the title is approximately "Way Virtue Classic" (see Dao De Jing for a more in-depth discussion on translating the book's title into English.)
According to tradition, the book's author, Lao Zi, was a minor court official for an emperor of the Zhou dynasty. He became disgusted with the petty intrigues of court life, and set off alone to travel the vast western wastelands. As he was about to pass through the gate at the last western outpost, a guard, having heard of his wisdom, asked Lao Zi to write down his philosophy, and the Dao De Jing was the result. Lao Zi was reflecting on a way for humanity to follow which would put an end to conflicts and strife. He came up with a few pages of short verses, which became the Dao De Jing. This is the original book of Taoism.
Taoist Philosophy
- 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 Way is therefore circular, acting upon itself to renew the cycle of life and death in harmony with nature.
- Do not try to force things, for nature is overpowering. In particular one must act in accordance with how things are, not how one wants things to be.
- 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 (see 'wu wei' below). Tempering desire breeds contentment, which hinders their ability to understand The Way. 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-is, rather than forced to be something it is not. Ideally, you should not desire anything, not even non-desire.
- Oneness - by realising that all things (including ourselves) are interdependent and constantly redefined as circumstances change, we come to see all things as they are, and ourselves as a simple part of the current moment. This understanding of oneness leads us to appreciation of life's events and our place within them as simple miraculous moments which 'just are'.
- Dualism, the opposition and combination of the Universe's two basic principles of Yin and Yang is a large part of the philosophy. Some of the common pairs are male and female, light and dark, strong and weak, action and inaction. Taoists believe that neither side is more important than the other; indeed, neither can exist without the other, as they are ultimately aspects of the same whole. They flow into each other. They complete each other. It is a balance.
Wu Wei
Much of the essence of Tao is in the art of 'wu wei' (action through inaction). This does not mean, "sit doing nothing and wait for everything to fall into your lap." It describes a practice of accomplishing things through minimal action -- by studying the nature of life, you can affect it in the easiest and least disruptive way. It is the practice of working with the stream rather than against it; one progresses the most not by struggling against the stream and thrashing about, but by remaining still and letting the stream do all the work.Wu Wei works once we trust that our human "design" which is perfectly suited our place within nature. In other words, by trusting our nature rather than our mental contrivances, we can find contentment without a life of constant striving against forces real and imagined.
The Taoist Religion
Though specific religious aspects are not mentioned in the Dao De Jing or Zhuang Zi, as Taoism spread through the population of China, it became mixed with other, pre-existing beliefs, such as Five Elements theory, alchemy, ancestor worship, and magic spells. Attempts to procure greater longevity were a frequent theme in Taoist alchemy and magic, with many extant spells and potions for that purpose. Many early versions of Chinese medicine were rooted in Taoist ways of thought, and modern Chinese medicine is still in many ways concerned with Taoist concepts such as qi and the balance of yin and yang.In addition, a Taoist church was formed, originally being established in the Eastern Han dynasty by Zhang Daoling. Many sects evolved over the years, but most trace their authority to Zhang Daoling, and most modern Taoist temples belong to one or another of these sects. The Taoist churches incorporated entire pantheons of deities, including Lao Zi, Zhang Daoling, the Yellow Emperor, the Jade Emperor, Lei Gong (The God of Thunder) and others.
Taoism Outside Of China
In Korea, the Taoist philosophy is practiced as Kouk Sun Do.
Taoist philosophy has found a large following throughout the world, and several traditional Taoist lineages have set up teaching centers in countries other than China.
See also: Qi, Qigong, Eastern philosophy, list of Taoists, Do, Yingtan
External Links
- Taoism Information Page
- Resources for East Asian Language and Thought
- Translation of the Daodejing
- Lao Tse & Daoism
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Taoism."
Synonym: TaoistSynonym: Tao (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Taoist |
| English words defined with "Taoist": Heavenly Jewel ♦ Ling-pao ♦ Mystic Jewel ♦ Shen-pao, Spiritual Jewel ♦ Taoism, Tien-pao. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Taoist" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. German (taoist), Serbo-Croatian (taoist). |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | A Taoist temple of Peking. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Chefoo - Taoist Temple near Chefoo. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Mr. Hopper 1" by Erika Thorpe Commentary: "The deep meditations of a Taoist grasshopper." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Singapore | Religions: Buddhist Taoist, Muslim, Christian, Hindu. (references) |
Indigenous People | Taiwan | More than 70 percent are Christian, while the dominant Han Chinese are largely Buddhist or Taoist. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Taoist" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Taoist" is used about 8 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 8 | 124,375 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "Taoist": Taoist Diet ♦ Taoist Energy Touch ♦ Taoist five element nutrition ♦ Taoist Healing Imagery ♦ Taoist Qigong ♦ taoist Trinity. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
taoist | 56 | medium taoist | 3 |
taoist tai chi | 32 | taoist alchemy | 3 |
symbol taoist | 14 | quote taoist | 3 |
taoist temple | 10 | practice sexual taoist | 2 |
taoist yoga | 9 | taoist sexuality | 2 |
taoist meditation | 8 | christian taoist | 2 |
art taoist | 8 | belief taoist | 2 |
chi society tai taoist | 7 | taoist tattoo | 2 |
energy sexual taoist yoga | 7 | saying taoist | 2 |
taoist philosophy | 6 | master taoist | 2 |
taoist sex | 6 | poetry taoist | 2 |
massage taoist | 5 | australia gong qi taoist | 2 |
god taoist | 5 | religion taoist | 2 |
taoist wandering | 4 | sexology taoist | 2 |
magic taoist | 4 | astrology taoist | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "Taoist"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 藏 (accumulate, Buddhist or Taoist scripture, depository, store, storehouse, Tibet, to conceal, to harbor, to hide away, Zang). (various references) | |
German | taoistisch, taoist. (various references) | |
Hungarian | taoista. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 道学者 (moralist). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | どうがくしゃ (moralist). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | aoisttay.(various references) | |
Russian | таоист. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | taoistički, taoist. (various references) | |
Spanish | taoísta. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | người theo đạo Lão. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Taoist" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Daoust, taiot, Tiousso. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-i-o-s-t-t" | |
-1 letter: iotas, ostia, stoai, stoat, toast, toits. | |
-2 letters: aits, iota, oast, oats, sati, stat, stoa, taos, tats, toit, tost, tots. | |
-3 letters: ais, ait, att, its, oat, sat, sit, sot, tao, tas, tat, tis, tot. | |
-4 letters: ai, as, at, is, it, os, si, so, ta, ti, to. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-i-o-s-t-t" | |
+1 letter: altoist, atomist, station. | |
+2 letters: altoists, atomists, botanist, citators, mattoids, oscitant, ostinati, ostinato, outwaits, patriots, ricottas, stations, stomatic, stotinka, strontia, tactions, talipots, titanous, toastier, toasting, totalise, totalism, totalist, traitors, tritomas, votarist. | |
+3 letters: abattoirs, adroitest, agitators, anatomist, antiatoms, antidotes, antipasto, antistory, atomistic, atonalist, botanists, citations, coattails, cogitates, dictators, dogmatist, dotations, estimator, etiolates, fetations, floatiest, gestation, gustation, heliostat, imitators, intonates, isostatic, isotactic, kilowatts, littorals, motivates, mutations, natations, nitrators, nonartist, notations, nutations, obstinate, optatives, ostinatos, outpaints, parotitis, patooties, portraits, posttrial, potations, prostatic, protistan, rotations, saltation, satiation, siltation, situation, stational, stationed, stationer, statolith, stirabout, striation, strontias, taconites, tailcoats, tattooist, taxations, telotaxis, thionates, thiotepas, tithonias, titrators, toastiest, tortillas, totalised, totalises, totalisms, totalists, totalizes, toxicants, tractions, tutorials, vitiators, votarists, waistcoat. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
