Difference between revisions of "Taoism"
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[[Image:Yin_yang.jpg|thumb|500px|left|Taoism is represented by [[Yin and Yang]]]] | [[Image:Yin_yang.jpg|thumb|500px|left|Taoism is represented by [[Yin and Yang]]]] | ||
Taoism is a commonly used word to denote many native Chinese folk religions. There are two common terms used in Chinese - dao4 jia1, 道家，and dao4 jiao4, 道教. The former refers to the school of thought that originated in the Warring States period, between the end of the Zhou dynasty and the beginning of the Qin that centres around three philosophical treatises - the Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Liezi. They all share some commonalities, although it should be mentioned that the Zhuangzi uses the term "dao4" infrequently, and indeed, the work known as the Mencius (mengzi), a work of the Ru school, or "Confucianism", uses the term far more often. Some scholars say that the writer of the Zhuangzi didn't even know he was a Daoist. | Taoism is a commonly used word to denote many native Chinese folk religions. There are two common terms used in Chinese - dao4 jia1, 道家，and dao4 jiao4, 道教. The former refers to the school of thought that originated in the Warring States period, between the end of the Zhou dynasty and the beginning of the Qin that centres around three philosophical treatises - the Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Liezi. They all share some commonalities, although it should be mentioned that the Zhuangzi uses the term "dao4" infrequently, and indeed, the work known as the Mencius (mengzi), a work of the Ru school, or "Confucianism", uses the term far more often. Some scholars say that the writer of the Zhuangzi didn't even know he was a Daoist. | ||
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| + | The latter term refers to the religious variety of "Taoism" that developed during the Han dynasty. Combining the more esoteric passages of the Laozi, Zhuangzi and Liezi with Chinese creation concepts, myths and legends and worship of all sorts of icons and figures, the religion developed into something greatly separate from the philosophy of the early period, into what some believe to be a bastardised version of Taoist thought. Naturally, using the same term in English to denote two different concepts leads to some confusion, and there is a great misunderstanding of Taoism in the west. | ||
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Revision as of 14:05, May 13, 2007
Taoism is a commonly used word to denote many native Chinese folk religions. There are two common terms used in Chinese - dao4 jia1, 道家，and dao4 jiao4, 道教. The former refers to the school of thought that originated in the Warring States period, between the end of the Zhou dynasty and the beginning of the Qin that centres around three philosophical treatises - the Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Liezi. They all share some commonalities, although it should be mentioned that the Zhuangzi uses the term "dao4" infrequently, and indeed, the work known as the Mencius (mengzi), a work of the Ru school, or "Confucianism", uses the term far more often. Some scholars say that the writer of the Zhuangzi didn't even know he was a Daoist.
The latter term refers to the religious variety of "Taoism" that developed during the Han dynasty. Combining the more esoteric passages of the Laozi, Zhuangzi and Liezi with Chinese creation concepts, myths and legends and worship of all sorts of icons and figures, the religion developed into something greatly separate from the philosophy of the early period, into what some believe to be a bastardised version of Taoist thought. Naturally, using the same term in English to denote two different concepts leads to some confusion, and there is a great misunderstanding of Taoism in the west.
For more, read World History Lecture Three.