Taoism For Dummies E-Book

Jonathan Herman

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Seitenzahl: 739

Beschreibung

The definitive guide to understanding Taoism--no matter your background or faith Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching is the second most translated book in the world, and the practice of religious Taoism is on the rise in China, where adherents currently number in the hundreds of millions. Yet there remains a remarkable lack of reliable information about Taoism for curious westerners. Taoism For Dummies provides comprehensive coverage of Taoism's origins in China's Chou Dynasty, its underlying quietist principles, its emergence as a major religion, various interpretation of its core texts, including both Eastern and Western interpretations, key Taoist concepts, and much more. It also provides a fascinating glimpse of Taoism in contemporary China. * The ideal guide for readers interested in this influential religion, as well as those taking an introductory course on Taoism or Chinese Religion * A valuable source of insight for those with an interest in modern Chinese culture and beliefs

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data

Herman, Jonathan R., 1957–

Taoism for dummies / Jonathan Herman.

Includes index.

Issued also in electronic format.

ISBN 978-1-118-42396-7 (pbk); 978-1-118-42397-4 (ebk); 978-1-118-42398-1 (ebk); 978-1-118-42665-4 (ebk)

1. Taoism. I. Title.

BL1920.S48 2013 299.5’14 C2013-900865-9

Printed in the United States

1 2 3 4 5 RRD 17 16 15 14 13

About the Author

Jonathan R. Herman received his PhD in Chinese Religion from Harvard University in 1992. He is currently the Director of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta, where he teaches courses on Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Shinto, world religions, comparative mysticism, and critical theory in the study of religion. He has also taught at Harvard University, Boston College, Tufts University, the University of Vermont, and Lewis & Clark College, and served for 12 years as an officer in the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions.

Jon is the author of I and Tao: Martin Buber’s Encounter with Chuang Tzu (State University of New York Press) and has written extensively on a range of Chinese religion topics, including American and European transmissions of Taoism, Taoist environmentalism, Confucian hermeneutics, and Neo-Confucian mysticism. He also writes about a number of contemporary issues in the study of religion, including interfaith dialogue, mysticism and postmodernism, the relationship between religion and spirituality, religion and public discourse, and character education in the public schools.

Dedication

To my mother, Mae, who loved to teach and who continues to teach me how to teach out of love.

Author’s Acknowledgments

Thanks to my catcher and copy editor, Elizabeth Kuball; my acquisitions editor at Wiley, Anam Ahmed; my research assistant, Randall Knighton; and my GSU department chair, Kathryn McClymond, who supported this departure from the usual “publish or perish” scholarship. Thanks to my many friends, colleagues, and mentors in Taoist studies and the academic study of religion for all they’ve taught me over the years, with a special thanks to Norman Girardot for his critical eye and enthusiastic support.

Most of all, I thank my family — Carly, Molly, and Ellen — for giving me the space and time to work on this book . . . and just for being my family.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

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Taoism For Dummies®

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/taoism to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions Used in This Book

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Navigating the World of Taoism

Part II: Looking At the Development of Taoism

Part III: Examining Important Taoist Concepts

Part IV: Exploring Taoist Practices

Part V: The Part of Tens

Part VI: Appendixes

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Navigating the World of Taoism

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Taoism

Getting the Lay of the Taoist Land

Delving into the Evolution of Taoism

Taoist origins and development

Tao now (brown cow)

Considering Taoist Ideas

It all begins with the Tao

The expansion of the Tao

Looking at the Practice of Taoism

Methods of personal cultivation

The ritual process

Chapter 2: What Is Taoism?

Your First Encounter with Taoism

Seeing how Taoists are like Yankees

Playing fast and loose with Taoism

Making Sense of the Chaos: Some Important Distinctions

From library classification to school of philosophy

The fuzzy line between philosophy and religion

Not every hermit, magician, or exorcist is a Taoist

Chapter 3: Don’t Believe Everything You Think

Debunking the Main Myth about Taoism

A pure teaching corrupted by superstition and religious opportunists

A Victorian spin on Taoism and Chinese religion

A perfect fit for spiritual seekers

Getting Oriented to Chinese Religion

Circles, triangles, and thinking concretely

Religious syncretism: One from Column A, two from Column B

Deities, spirits, and the concern for concrete effects

Divination and the practical side of religion

Believe It or Not, It’s Not about Belief

Part II: Looking At the Development of Taoism

Chapter 4: Classical Taoist Philosophy

The Hundred Schools

Nostalgia for the good old days

Unemployed intellectuals looking for a job

Basic assumptions and terminology of the period

The moralists: Confucians and Mohists

Lao Tzu: The Traditional Founder of Taoism

The old sage who probably never was

The Tao Te Ching: A classic in 5,000 characters

Chuang Tzu: Skeptic, Storyteller, Comedian

Deconstructing consensus reality

Dreaming he was a butterfly

Trashing scholars and glorifying misfits

Getting into the Tao zone

A Pair of (Almost) Forgotten Early Taoists

Lieh Tzu: The man who was almost Chuang Tzu

Yang Chu: Embracing bright colors and beautiful women

A Moment in the Sun for Taoist Government

Huang-Lao and the School of Tao

A synthesis of Taoism and other philosophies

Chapter 5: The Development of Institutional Taoism

The Way of the Celestial Masters

The deification of Lao Tzu

Chang Tao-ling: The “real” founder of “real” Taoism?

The covenant of Orthodox Unity

The way of great peace

Rebellion and Taoist theocracy

The Next Wave of Taoist Revelations

The Great Purity

The Highest Purity

The Numinous Treasure

The Emergence of a Taoist Identity

The teachings of the Tao

The influence of Buddhism

Later Taoist lineages

Chapter 6: Types of Taoism in China Today

The One (and the Many) Gave Birth to the Two

The liturgical branch: Cheng-i Tao

The monastic branch: Chüan-chen Tao

Comparing the two modern branches of Taoism

The Chinese Taoist Association

Chapter 7: Go West, Old Tao, Go West

Taoism and the Western Imagination

Deviating from the Buddhist model

Looking for Taoism in all the wrong places

Taoism as a Spiritual Path

Deciphering the confusing language of spirituality

Spiritualizing Eastern religion

Universalizing the Tao

Translations of the Classical Texts

Inspiring Theosophists and Trappist monks

Always coming home to the Tao

Pooh-poohing Taoism

Defending the Taoist Territory

American Taoist Temples and Practice Groups

Share Lew, Khigh Dhiegh, and the Taoist Sanctuary

Master Moy, the Taoist Tai Chi Society, and Fung Loy Kok

Ni Hua-ching’s integral way

Mantak Chia’s healing Tao

Taoism as a Social and Political Resource

Taoism in U.S. presidential politics

The Yin strikes back: Taoism and feminism

Taoism and ecology

Part III: Examining Important Taoist Concepts

Chapter 8: What Is the Tao, and What Does It Mean to Follow It?

Understanding the Paradoxical Language of the Tao

Those who know do not speak, those who speak do not know

Effing the ineffable

The gateway of all subtleties

Understanding the Tao as the Source of Existence

The mother of the 10,000 things

Spontaneous self-generation and self-perpetuation

The temptation to think of the Tao as a deity

Seeing Emptiness as the Wellspring of Power

Thirty spokes unite in one hub

Heaven and Earth are not humane

The sun and moon can only go their courses

Following, Experiencing, and Harmonizing with the Way

The theme of returning

The emulation of the Tao

The question of mysticism

Chapter 9: Doing Everything by Doing Nothing

Considering the Counterintuitive Concept of Wu-wei

Nothing left undone

The spontaneous and the natural

The metaphor of the uncarved block

The role of feminine imagery

Ruling by Not Doing

The trouble with laws and government

The sage-king as the empty center

Mixed messages on military affairs

Adapting to the Existential Circumstances

The hinge of the Way

The mind as a mirror

The connection between wu-wei and nurturing life

Looking at Images of a Primitive Utopia

Carriages no one rides, weapons no one wields

Struggling to preserve one’s nature

Chapter 10: For Every Yin, There Is an Equal and Opposite Yang

The Concept of Ch’i: The Psychophysical Stuff of Existence

What is ch’i?

What isn’t ch’i?

Contrasting ch’i and atomic theory

The Role of Yin-Yang in the Taoist Creation Stories

Order from chaos

The chaotic wanton

The Yin-Yang School

Tsou Yen: The architect of a lost school

The five elements theory

A Whole System of Correspondence and Correlation

Everything resonates with everything else

The cultivation of body and spirit

Chapter 11: Blue Heaven, Yellow Heaven: The Belief in a New Age

Millenarian Religious Movements

What is millenarianism?

Familiar (and unfamiliar) millenary traditions in the West

More than crystals, incense, and aromatherapy

The Peaks and Valleys of Taoist Millenarianism

The earmarks of Taoist new age beliefs

Traces of Taoist messianism

The legacy of Taoist millenarianism

From Millenarian Movements to the New Age Movement

The place of Taoism and Taoist ­millenarianism in New Age thought

Two New Age movements without any new age

Chapter 12: Writing What Can’t Be Spoken: The Many Texts of Taoism

The Tangled World of Taoist Literature

Setting the record straight on Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu

Picking through a mysterious and unwieldy body of scriptures

The Development of the Taoist Canon

The process of canonization

The Three Caverns compilation

The importance of the Ming Canon

Reclamation projects: Cataloguing the Canon

Materials Found in the Taoist Canon

Philosophies and commentaries

Talismans and registers

Ritual texts and alchemical manuals

Morality books

From medicine to numerology

Part IV: Exploring Taoist Practices

Chapter 13: Remembering to Keep Forgetting

Return, Reversal, and the Idea of Unlearning

The farther you go, the less you know

Learning not to learn

The Goal of Unlearning and the Task of Forgetting

Forgetting virtue and forgetting ­everything

The fasting of the mind and heart

The Treatise on Sitting and Forgetting

The seven stages of forgetting

From forgetting to spirit liberation

Contemporary Forgetfulness

Modern Taoism and the practice of forgetting

Electronic forgetting

Chapter 14: Seeking the Path to Immortality

Acceptance of Life and Death in Classical Taoism

Recognizing death as part of the cosmic process

Questioning the fear of death

Sagehood, Longevity, and Imperviousness to Harm

Images of the super-sage

Indications of cultivation practices in Classical Taoism

Reconstructing a lineage of interior ­cultivation

The Immortality Cults

Legendary tales of immortals

The first emperor’s obsessions

Taoism and So-Called Immortality

The idea of postmortem immortality

The Eight (and other) Immortals

Chapter 15: Internal Cultivation through the Discipline of Alchemy

A Global Perspective on Alchemy

What is alchemy?

The presence of alchemy in the West

Early Alchemy in China

The relationship between Taoism and alchemy

The Master Who Embraces Simplicity

The Seal of the Unity of the Three

The Taoist Integration of Alchemy

Alchemy in the Taoist cultivation groups

The changing map of the human body

The role of visualization

From External to Internal Alchemy

The body as the crucible

Transformation from essence to emptiness

Internal alchemy for women

Alchemical meditation

Chapter 16: Martial, Gymnastic, and Healing Arts: T’ai-chi and Ch’i-kung

T’ai-chi Ch’üan: The Boxing of the Great Ultimate

The roots of t’ai-chi

The steps of t’ai-chi

Sunrise in the park

The cement mixer of American Taoist martial arts

Ch’i-kung: The Efficiency of the Psychophysical Stuff

The roots of ch’i-kung

The ch’i-kung explosion

Hard and soft ch’i-kung

Fa-lun Kung: The Skills of the Wheel of the Law

Origins and practices of Fa-lun Kung

Controversies and persecution

Chapter 17: Cosmic Renewal and Other Rituals

The Truth about Taoism and Ritual

What is ritual?

Attitudes toward ritual in the classical texts

The bare facts of Taoist ritual

Swords and plaques and implements of petition

Rituals of Purification and Offering

Rituals of fasting, purification, purgation, and retreat

The rite of cosmic renewal

The great offering for a peaceful world

Taoist Funeral Rituals

Negotiating a treacherous journey

Crossing the bridge to Heaven

Part V: The Part of Tens

Chapter 18: Ten Common Misconceptions about Taoism

Taoism Is a Philosophy, Not a Religion

Taoism Was Founded by Lao Tzu

The Tao Te Ching Is the Taoist “Bible”

Taoists Don’t Believe in Any Gods

Taoism Rejects Religious Doctrine

Taoists Don’t Practice Rituals

Taoism Is All about Nature and Going with the Flow

Taoists and Confucians Are Exact Opposites

Religious Taoism Is Just Silly Superstition

Anyone Can Be a Taoist

Chapter 19: Ten Bits of Advice for Acquiring Taoist Wisdom

Become Educated

Observe Nature

Learn to Play

Seek the Simplest Way

Practice at Music and Sports

Eat Raw and Organic Fruits and Vegetables

Ask Questions

Interrogate Your Own Preferences and Motivations

Think About When to Be Skeptical and When to Be Generous

Don’t Pretend You Can Acquire Taoist Wisdom through Ten Easy Steps

Chapter 20: Ten Places to See Taoist Stuff Happening Today

The White Cloud Monastery

Dragon Tiger Mountain

A Question of Balance

American Taoist Temples and Study Centers

The Abode of the Eternal Tao

The Taoist Tai Chi Society

Healing Tao USA

The British Taoist Association

The Reform Taoist Congregation

The Writings of Ursula K. Le Guin

Part VI: Appendixes

Appendix A: Glossary

Appendix B: Resources

Appendix C: Pronunciation Guide

Cheat Sheet

Introduction

Taoism is one of China’s “Three Teachings,” a religious tradition that traces back to a mythic sage named Lao Tzu and flourishes today in modern China, as well as other parts of East Asia. In recent years, it has even begun to make some headway into Western Europe and North America. Almost every basic world religions textbook has a chapter on it, and many bookstores carry a smattering of Taoist texts or books about some aspect of Taoism.

But if you want to start learning something about Taoism, how do you know where to begin? Some books barely whet your appetite with a brief historical summary and provocative quotations from a handful of classical texts, while others overwhelm you with technical language and microscopic analysis. Some encourage you to adopt Taoist philosophy in your own life, or package Taoism as the latest in “self-help” — but you never really know whether they’re just making it all up!

Fortunately, your troubles are over.

About This Book

This book introduces Taoism in a way that makes it easy to grasp, while at the same time giving you a clear sense of parts of the tradition that can get a little complicated. You can follow the development of Taoism from its origins in ancient China, through the specific sects that have survived in a rapidly changing contemporary Chinese society, all the way to organizations that have popped up in New York, San Francisco, and other North American cities. And you can find out about Taoist ideas, texts, and practices — everything from “non-doing” and yin-yang philosophy to ch’i-kung and rituals of cosmic renewal.

We’re talking here about a religious tradition that has undergone more than two millennia of history, transformed over time, given rise to multiple sects and lineages, and played a role in the lives of literally billions of people, so it would be pretty hard to dig into every single detail with the depth that each one deserves. But that doesn’t mean that a book like this can’t touch as many bases as possible and have some fun while doing so. You can count on this book being broad (it covers a wide spectrum of Taoist information), accurate(it doesn’t tell you anything that isn’t true), and understandable (it never tries to dazzle you with fancy language or dense philosophical banter). And mostly, you can count on it being an enjoyable and entertaining read.

Conventions Used in This Book

Because this book presents its subjects in a straightforward, easy-to-digest style, you don’t have to memorize a bunch of specialized conventions before you even get started, but I do want to let you know about a few standard practices that this book follows:

The book assigns dates using b.c.e. (Before the Common Era) and c.e. (Common Era) instead of b.c. (Before Christ) and a.d. (Anno Domini, or “In the Year of the Lord”), because the newer designations are more religiously neutral. But this isn’t a big deal, because they’re referring to the same calendar.

I don’t talk about Taoism as a “religion” as much as a “religious tradition” or simply a “tradition.” This helps break the habit of thinking of Taoism (or any –ism, for that matter) as one fixed, unchanging entity that exists apart from the way human beings construct it, employ it, and transform it. Somehow, a “tradition” gives the impression of being more fluid and internally diverse than a “religion.”

Finally, and this is the big one, although I don’t want to overwhelm you with long lists of hard-to-pronounce Chinese words, there are enough important people in Taoist history that you really need to pick up some rudimentary ground rules for how to read Romanized (that is, English-language versions of) Chinese words and names. And this will probably come in handy well beyond Taoism For Dummies. The system of Romanization this book uses is the Wade–Giles system, which is covered in Appendix C.

When you read Chinese words and names, try saying them out loud(using the pronunciation guide in Appendix C). People learn words and names better when they actually hear them, instead of just reading the letters on the printed page, and I promise you it’ll be a whole lot easier to keep track of them when you try it this way.

These are the biggest conventions to keep in mind. But in addition to these, my editor wanted me to let you know that I italicize new terms when they're first used (and define them shortly thereafter, often in parentheses), and I use monofont for web addresses.

Note: When this book was printed, some web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. If that happened, rest assured that we haven’t put in any extra characters (such as hyphens) to indicate the break. So, when using one of these web addresses, just type in exactly what you see in this book, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist.

Foolish Assumptions

No, I’m not going to knock whatever assumptions you may have about Taoism — that wouldn’t be fair. But I am going to come clean about some of the assumptions that I have about you:

You’re probably not a Taoist, but you have some interest in this particular tradition, in China more generally, or in any religious tradition that’s not your own.

You take seriously the religious beliefs and practices of other people, and you want to become familiar with Taoism as one way to understand your friends, neighbors, or colleagues a little better.

You don’t necessarily know a lot about Taoism, and you probably don’t know all the technical vocabulary when it comes to religion, but you’re interested in the subject and a quick-enough study that you’ll pick up a lot, as long as I don’t talk down to you and just explain things in a straightforward way.

How This Book Is Organized

Regardless of websites that tell you Taoism is nothing more than adopting a philosophy of simplicity and “going with the flow,” the historical Taoist religious tradition is actually tremendously complex, with distinct lineages and sects, an extensive pantheon of deities, a hierarchical priesthood, and texts that are intelligible only to those who’ve been initiated into certain teachings.

To make your journey into Taoism a little less intimidating, this book is organized into distinct parts, each of which is built around a broad theme. These parts don’t follow any standard formula, or correspond to any official Taoist “orthodoxy” — they’re just presented in a way that makes the subject more approachable and lets you look into the areas you find most interesting.

Part I: Navigating the World of Taoism

This part lets you tiptoe into the world of Taoism by introducing you to its Chinese religious background and presenting an overview of the tradition. It straightens out some common misconceptions, points out the ambiguity of the word Taoism, and gives you some important distinctions to help you navigate the rest of the book.

Part II: Looking At the Development of Taoism

Every story starts at the beginning, and the story of Taoism is no exception. But this story doesn’t just give you a dry “names and dates” version of history; instead, it takes you through a remarkable journey of narrative twists and turns. You see how the tradition begins with a handful of classical texts, produces communitarian organizations and self-cultivation groups, evolves into the liturgical and monastic sects you can find in China today, and is developing a Western identity as we speak.

Part III: Examining Important Taoist Concepts

Here’s a chance to take a look at some enduring Taoist ideas and themes, including the concepts of Tao, “non-doing,” and yin and yang. It’s also a chance to discover some important aspects of Taoism that don’t always make it into the world religion textbooks, like the belief in a “new age” or the scriptural canon that includes well over a thousand texts.

Part IV: Exploring Taoist Practices

Religion is more than a collection of beliefs, doctrines, or texts; it involves how people live and what traditions they practice. This section takes a look at some important aspects of Taoist practice, including meditation, alchemy, self-cultivation, martial arts, and ritual.

Part V: The Part of Tens

In a hurry? Just want some quick bedside reading? Or maybe you like your Taoism straight, with no chaser? Here’s Taoism condensed into bite-size portions, a trio of top-ten lists that give you a very brief summary of basic entry points into Taoism. Here, you can redress the most common misconceptions, get a road map for seeing some Taoism in action, and even pick up pointers for acquiring Taoist wisdom and applying it to your life.

Part VI: Appendixes

Doctors say that the human appendix is useless, something that may have once served a purpose but is now just taking up space. But the appendixes in this book actually contain some pretty useful information, and you may want to turn to them from time to time as you read the book.

Appendix A contains a glossary of important Taoist figures, key Taoist terminology, and other technical terms. These can jog your memory if you read the chapters out of sequence, pick up the book only once in a while, or just want a quick way to review a critical mass of material. Appendix B contains some recommendations for other resources you can consult if you’d like to delve deeper into any of the subjects discussed here. And Appendix C is a pronunciation guide, giving you pointers on how to pronounce all the difficult Chinese names and terms you encounter throughout this book. It also includes a chart that compares the Wade–Giles system used in this book with the pinyin system that many other sources use.

Icons Used in This Book

A handful of cute icons show up periodically throughout this book, in part to give you a “goose” to break up the “duck-duck-duck” rhythm of each chapter, but mainly to draw your attention to points that are especially important, interesting, or just worth repeating. Here are the icons you’ll find:

The Remember icon points out things to keep in mind as you read a particular chapter or move on to the next one. Often, this contains a surprising bit of information or corrects common misconceptions about Taoism, China, or both.

The Tip icon alerts you to strategies for sorting things out, or for making sense of things that could seem confusing. It may suggest to you how you can read or think about a particular section.

The Warning icon gives you a heads-up about places where the subject could start to get more complicated, or topics that not all Taoists agree on or do the same way.

The Technical Stuff icon points out information — background history, complex explanations, problems in interpretation — that is certainly important, but that may be harder to keep track of on your first reading. Feel free either to skim these tidbits or read them extra-carefully, whichever suits you better.

Where to Go from Here

Think of this book as an educational buffet on Taoism, a smorgasbordof resources that are here for only one purpose: to help you understand Taoism better. Depending on which plate you pick up, or where you dip your ladle, you can engage the classical philosophers, meet the medieval alchemists, locate Taoist practice groups in America, hit your head against the counterintuitive idea of “actionless action,” explore the Taoist practice of “sitting and forgetting,” get a look at cults of immortality, and find out how Taoist priests perform rituals from time to time that serve to renew the entire cosmos.

Read this book the way that works best for you. Feel free to read it in order from beginning to end, poke through the Table of Contents to find the themes that most attract you, or just use the Index to chase down a particular text or historical period you’d most like to explore in more detail. Whichever you choose, make sure you have some fun, because Taoism promises you an exciting world of learning. Or to give just a sniff of the Taoist cork, perhaps I should say that Taoism promises you the even more exciting world of unlearning — and what could be more fun than that?

Part I

Navigating the World of Taoism

In this part . . .

When you take your first steps into the world of Taoism, be prepared for some basic questions to come fast and furious. Is Taoism a philosophy or a religion? What’s the relationship between Taoism and other Chinese traditions, like Confucianism, Buddhism, or folk religion? What are the different types of Taoism? What are the most common misconceptions about Taoism? How is Taoism different from Western traditions?

Sit back, and get ready to participate in a great adventure. Or better yet, lean forward and prepare to devour every word, because Taoism can be fascinating, sophisticated, and inspiring, and it can also surprise you at every turn.

Chapter 1

An Introduction to Taoism

In This Chapter

Getting oriented to Taoism

Tracing Taoist history

Considering Taoist ideas

Examining Taoist practice

Not much more than a half-century ago, many Americans had their main exposure to Chinese people and things Chinese from an exotic meal at the local Chinese restaurant, a touristy adventure in a big-city Chinatown, or even a Charlie Chan movie. Today, things have certainly changed, and the Chinese presence in America (and in the world) has come a long way from pu-pu platters, isolated ethnic enclaves, and cinematic sages speaking fortune-cookie dialogue in broken English. Today nearly 4 million Chinese people (or people of at least partial Chinese descent) live in the United States, and Chinese people may make up close to 5 percent of the Canadian population. What’s more, Chinese people now participate in pretty much every aspect of modern American culture — their contributions to schools, neighborhoods, businesses, and local communities are as important and as visible as those of any other American. And, by the way, you just may have heard somewhere that China is now an important global economic and political power, too!

So, what could possibly be a better time for picking up a few pointers on Taoism, one of China’s oldest (and most interesting) indigenous religious traditions? If you’re not Chinese, learning about Taoism could help you gain some insight into Chinese religious, philosophical, and cultural sensibilities. If you are Chinese, it’s a chance to get to know your own background and history a little better. But the funny thing is that even though Taoism has informed much of Chinese identity, it isn’t the easiest thing to find. Very few Chinese people in America identify themselves specifically as Taoists, and most communities don’t have Taoist temples. And when you do find a Taoist temple or teaching center, you may find that the staff and students consist entirely of non-Chinese people. In other words, despite the unprecedented integration of Chinese in the West, and even with the deluge of “Tao of” readers on bookstore shelves, Taoism is still pretty much a mystery to many people.

Taoism or Daoism?

Maybe you already know that the first syllable of Taoism is pronounced dow (as in the Dow Jones Industrial Average), or that some books spell it rather than Maybe you’ve noticed that the capital of China used to be called “Peking” but today is called “Beijing” (even though you still order Peking duck at Chinese restaurants). And textbooks used to call the longtime leader of China “Mao Tse-tung,” but today they call him “Mao Zedong.” What’s going on here?