What is Daoism?

Below is an extract from a book on Daoism that I did not managed to finish writing. Nevertheless, I have put it up here to share the parts I have written. I will post most of them up in time to come.


What is Daoism?

Daoism is actually a collective term used to describe various religious movements and schools of thought that are native to China. We conveniently called them Daoism because the concept of Dao is a common theme present in all of them. Basically, it can be classified as two main categories, Philosophical Daoism (Dao Jia) 道家 and Religious Daoism (Dao Jiao) 道教. Philosophical Daoism would refer to the school of thought made popular by Lao-zi during the Spring and Autumn Period 春秋 to the Warring States Period 战国. Strictly speaking, Lao-zi 老子 and his later counterpart Zhuang-zi 庄子 did not call themselves Daoist. In fact, the label was unheard of until the Han 汉 Dynasty when Sima Qian 司马迁, the famous Chinese historian was faced with the challenge of categorizing philosophers of the classical period into various schools of thoughts. To facilitate his work, two new groups were created which is the Daoist because of their common idea of Dao, and the Legalist (Fa Jia) 法家.

Religious Daoism on the other hand is a religion that was established amidst the Eastern Han dynasty later on, which makes it more than 1800 years old. It is a religion that upholds the Dao as its highest belief as well as the possibility of attaining immortality through cultivation of the body and mind. To some Daoists, Philosophical Daoism is a thing of the past since it was almost completely substituted by the Daoist religion. Thus, after the Jin4 晋 dynasty, references to the term Dao Jia will actually refer to the Daoist religion, unless it is made clear that one is talking about the pre-Qin Philosophical Daoism. One important point to note here is that despite the classification we have above, we must remember that each part is essential to the whole to enable us to have a comprehensive understanding of Daoism. The stratification of Daoism into two major styles was actually more of the effort of scholars and historians so as to facilitate their work than literal occurrences. In fact, change is the only constant in the history of Daoism, making the diffentiation an overly simplified depiction. Discretion must be practiced in order to define Daoism accurately as it has the tendency to mean different things in the many dynasties prevalent in Chinese history. Another point to take note here is that Daoism is more of a way of life than just an occasional practice or worship. The reason being that philosophy, religion and life style have always been inseparable in the Asian context all this while.

The present facet of Daoism commonly practiced by worldwide Chinese communities is mainly of the religious nature but alas, most of its believers are ignorant to the underlying concepts and principles behind its rituals nowadays.

Written by Alvin Chua. All rights reserved. Copyright @. Not for commercial use of any kind.