Daoism:

The Beliefs and the History By Danielle Petersen

The Dao, The De, and Immortality.

So many people have tried to comprehend the whole truth around Daoism (also known as Taoism); but only a few are able to. The path to understanding is a long one that is must be thought through carefully. The Daoist beliefs are consisted around The Dao or The Path to ultimate understanding. In the Daoist religion; The Dao is no one thing. It is a spirit that is present in everything around them and it is the one who watches over nature. The Dao is not good nor is it a bad force of energy; it is merely a neutral balance between the two. Many people try to live their lives to answer the questions of life and only few are able to succeed. They must achieve the full understanding or The Dao to be completely contented in life. The next important part of Daoism that pertains to The Dao is De. De is really just the proof that the Dao is there and it represents the things it stands for. De symbolizes having virtues, living with mortality, and having integrity. But mortality isnt what is achieved through The Dao, immortality is. It is believed that you can gain immortality by meditating, helping others, and using elixirs. For most of the time Daoism has been around, monks have been attempting to make the elixir for everlasting life, but they ended up creating gunpowder while they were trying.

History in the Making

Daoism started around 500BC by an old philosopher named Laozi. He began the religion with the basic outline and a combination of psychology and philosophy. The balance between nature and life; also demonstrated by the Yin Yang Symbol. Laozi wrote a book about it titled Dao De Jing; it explained his ideas about the religion. Laozis successors name was Zhuangzi; he developed the religion even more and had a dream about a butterfly. Then he began to think that he was the butterfly. It symbolized that Dao was in everything, humans and butterflies. But even though the religion was developed in 500BC it didnt actually begin to be as big as it was until 100 AD. It continued to grow during the period of 200 700 AD.

Yin and Yang

The Yin Yang symbol is one of the most well-known symbols in the world, but just because people know it doesnt mean they understand it completely. Many people believe it means peace; but that is only half of the meaning.

The Black half of the symbol is Yin; it represents the breath in earth or the life in earth. The White half of the symbol is Yang; it represents the breath in heaven or the life in heaven. Yin is considered to be Strong and passive, much like a stone, while Yang is weak and energetic, like the breeze. The circles in Yin and Yang are used to represent that they are nothing without each other. Yin is nothing without Yang and Yang is nothing without Yin. The curved halves of the symbol mean they are interdependent with one another. They are meant to be understood as two halves of a whole, a constant cycle that is always changing but always linked together like dark and light.

Beliefs change and some stay the same

Daoism is the based on the main belief of finding the ultimate truth; once that is found; life is nearly complete. The beliefs have changed over time though and traditions that are used now arent the ones that were originally part of the religion. In the second century a school began to teach the art of meditation. It was believed that meditation could help you achieve the ultimate truth and that it put you more in touch with Dao and the spirits that Dao took form of. The fifth century brought in a school that taught Daoism with some of the beliefs of Buddhism as well. Daoism was taught with reincarnation and cosmology. (Cosmology is a branch of philosophy dealing with the origin and general structure of the universe.) Daoism based its thoughts around reincarnation after the meaning of ultimate understanding; stating that you would keep being reborn until you completely understood the meaning of life. This same school also taught the uses of talismans and alchemy. Talismans were stones, rings, or other objects engraved with words or pictures that had extreme power. Alchemy is a form of chemistry that was associated with philosophy; to find the understanding of the universe and the elixir of life. In the sixth century they began to perform offerings made up of food, papers, wishing sticks, and sticks. Each thing has a different meaning that is important to the gods. The kinds of food that the Daoists offer are green apples, red apples, oranges, peanuts, chestnuts, moon cakes, and tea. The green apples mean the woods and timber, red apples mean fire, oranges mean earth, peanuts mean metals, chestnuts mean water, moon cakes are used for different festivals, and tea is for the gods consumption. The Wishing Sticks are used to ask questions to the gods. You put a bunch of sticks in a barrel and shake it. The first one that pops out has a message on it that gives you an answer. Incense sticks are required to be given to the gods. No one is quite sure why but each god is given three sticks.

The kinds of papers they give the gods are Taoist money. It is bought by believers and burned on the anniversaries of different gods. It is considered disrespectful if you dont. The other kind of paper is Joss paper. It is bought on anniversaries and are used for different festivals. In 1254, meditation and vegetarianism became very popular. They began to combine Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. The lines between these religions are still too blended together to be distinctly told apart and it is very hard to tell the differences. The most important things to know about Daoism beliefs is that there is a distinct harmony with Dao and that health and vitality are important. There are five main organs in your body that go along with the sky (water, fire, wood, metal, and earth). You need to nurture and respect the air or the breath you are given, and lastly they believe that people are compassionate by nature. If they are left alone they will show it without earning anything.

Daoism and the Dynasties

Buddhism and Daoism had constantly been fighting to be the official religion of the state. And for awhile Daoism had succeeded. But after the dynasty that choose them faded; Buddhism was developed as a sub-religion. The Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty was attempting to choose a religion again and Buddhism and Daoism tried to gain the favor. Daoism failed and in result many Daoist text were burned. In 1966-1976 Daoism temples were destroyed because of communism. In 1980 the temples were restored and more people began to follow the religion again. Today there are more than 25,000 Daoist priests and nuns in China and there are about 1,500 Temples in China. Most ethnic minorities practice Daoism and another religion that goes nearly hand in hand. Most of the people that practice Daoism also practice Buddhism.

http://taoism.about.com/od/visualsymbols/p/YinYang.htm http://chineseculture.about.com/od/religioninchina/a/Daoism.htm http://www.religioustolerance.org/taoism1.htm http://www.religioustolerance.org/taoism2.htm http://members.fortunecity.com/oldsage1/offerings.htm Word Definitions http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/alchemy http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/talismans http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cosmology