Taoism

Taoism (pronounced and often written as Daoism (dow-ism)) is the English name for a religious and philosophical tradition in China. While there is a great deal of debate over how and if Taoism should be subdivided, some scholars have divided it into the following three categories.

a family of organized Chinese religious movements such as the Zhengyi ("Orthodoxy") or Quanzhen ("complete reality") sects, which collectively trace back to Zhang Daoling in the late Han Dynasty;
a Chinese folk religion.

The Chinese character 道 (pinyin Dào, Wade-Giles Tao4) "Way".The English word Taoism is used to translate the Chinese terms Daojiao "teachings/religion of the Dao") and Daojia "school of the Dao"). The character Tao (or Dao, depending on the romanisation scheme) means "path" or "way", but in Chinese religion and philosophy it has taken on more abstract meanings. The compound Daojiao refers to Daoism as a religion; Daojia refers to the activity of scholars in their studies. It must be noted that this distinction is itself controversial and fraught with hermeneutic difficulty. Many scholars believe that there is no distinction between Daojia and Daojiao, and that the distinction is propagated by people who are not familiar with Taoism.

Depending on how it is defined, Taoism's origins may be traced to prehistoric Chinese religions in China; to the composition of the Tao Te Ching (3rd or 4th century BCE); or to the activity of Zhang Daoling (2nd century AD). Alternatively, one could argue that Taoism as a religious identity only arose later, by way of contrast with the newly-arrived religion of Buddhism, or with the fourth-century codification of the Shangching and Lingbao texts.

Other accounts credit Laozi (reputed author of the Tao Te Ching) as the teacher of both Buddha, and Confucius, and alleged Laozi to have had thirteen incarnations starting in the reign of Fuxi, one of the Three August Ones and Five Emperors up until his last as Laozi who lived over 900 years. They describe early Taoism to ancient picture writing, mysticism, and indigenous Ancestor worship. Symbology on tortoise shells predates early Chinese calligraphy and is the basis of written Chinese from artifacts dated from prior to 1600 BCE.

Legend has it that while passing through the hills of China, a bridge keeper asked Laozi to write a book containing his thoughts and beliefs, which yielded the text of Tao Te Ching.

Religious Taoism (Daojiao)

A Taoist Temple in Taiwan. The religious practice of incense burning as well as images of the Fu Dog and Dragon guardian spirits can be seen.Taoism has never been a unified religion and has always consisted of different teachings based on many different original revelations. Therefore different branches of Taoism often have very different beliefs. Nevertheless, there are certain core beliefs that all the schools s/hare.[26]

Beyond the Chinese folk religion, various rituals, exercises, or substances are said to positively affect one's physical health (even to the point of immortality); align oneself spiritually with cosmic forces; or enable ecstatic spiritual journeys. These concepts seem basic to Taoism in its elite forms.
 

Books

Chang, Stephen T. The Great Tao (Tao Longevity LLC, 1985). ISBN 0-942196-01-5.
Graham, A.C. Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China (Open Court, 1993). ISBN 0-8126-9087-7
Graham, A.C. (translator). Chuang-tzu: The Inner Chapters (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2001). ISBN 0-87220-581-9
Jordan, David K. Gods, Ghosts, and Ancestors: The Folk Religion of a Taiwanese Village (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972).
Kaltenmark, Max. Lao Tzu and Taoism (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1969 [original French 1965]).
Knauer, Elfried R. "The Queen Mother of the West: A Study of the Influence of Western Prototypes on the Iconography of the Taoist Deity." In Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. 2006 Pp. 62-115. ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
Kohn, Livia. The Taoist Experience: An Anthology (Albany: SUNY Press, 1993).
Kohn, Livia, ed. Daoism Handbook (Leiden: Brill, 2000).
Lau, D. C. Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching (London: Penguin Classics, 1963). ISBN 0-14-044131-X
Maspero, Henri.Taoism and Chinese Religion (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981). ISBN 0-87023-308-4
Ni, Hua-Ching. Tao: The Subtle Universal Law and the Integral Way of Life (SevenStar Communications, 1998). ISBN 0-937064-65-3
Robinet. Isabelle. Taoist Meditation: The Mao-shan Tradition of Great Purity (Albany: SUNY Press, 1993 [original French 1989]).
Robinet, Isabelle. Taoism: Growth of a Religion (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997 [original French 1992]).
Schipper, Kristopher. The Taoist Body (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993 [original French version 1982]).
Sivin, Nathan. Chinese Alchemy: Preliminary Studies (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1968).
Sommer, Deborah. Chinese Religion: An Anthology of Sources (Oxford University Press, 1995). ISBN 0-19-508895-6