Ancient China

Taoism has been connected to the philosopher Lao Tzu, who around 500 B.C.E. wrote the main book of Taoism, the Tao Te Ching. Taoism holds that humans and animals should live in balance with the Tao, or the universe. Taoists believe in spiritual immortality, where the spirit of the body joins the universe after death.

Taoism does not have a God in the way that the Abrahamic religions do. There is no omnipotent being beyond the cosmos, who created and controls the universe. In Taoism the universe springs from the Tao, and the Tao impersonally guides things on their way.

The Legalists advocated government by a system of laws that rigidly prescribed punishments and rewards for specific behaviours. They stressed the direction of all human activity toward the goal of increasing the power of the ruler and the state.

In Taoism (also commonly written as Daoism), the purpose of life is inner peace and harmony. Tao is usually translated as “way” or “path.” The founder of the religion is generally recognized to be a man named Laozi, who lived sometime in the sixth century B.C.E. in China.

The Taoist ideal is for a person to take action by changing themselves, and thus becoming an example of the good life to others. Changing oneself in that way will make the world a better place, because as a person behaves well towards other people and the world, the community will respond by becoming better itself.

The ruler’s main function in the Confucian state was to educate and transform the people. This was ideally accomplished not by legal regulation and coercion, but by personal rule, moral example, and mediation in disputes by the emperor and his officials.

Taoists believe that nature is a continual balance between yin and yang , and that any attempt to go toward one extreme or the other will be ineffective, self-defeating, and short-lived. When people interfere with the natural balance by trying to impose their egoistic plans, they will not succeed; rather,…

In any case, in Taoism, we can identify a set of ethical principles based on the concepts discussed above (Tao, Te, Yin-Yang) and principle of Not action or Wu-Wei. These Taoist ethical principles are: Peace/Non-Violence. Respect for the world. Self-Knowledge and Wisdom. Unlearn. Control of senses.

The core of the basic belief and doctrine of Taoism is that “Tao” is the origin and law of all things in the universe. Taoists believes that people can become deities or live forever through practicing certain rituals and austerities. The focus of Taoism is the individual in nature rather than the individual in society.

Definition of Taoism. 1 : a Chinese mystical philosophy traditionally founded by Lao-tzu in the sixth century b.c. that teaches conformity to the Tao by unassertive action and simplicity. 2 : a religion developed from Taoist philosophy and folk and Buddhist religion and concerned with obtaining long life and good fortune often by magical means.