Daoism

Daoism (Taoism) (daotong 道統) is a Chinese religious tradition in the process of being transmitted and adapted to a global context. On the most basic level, "Daoism" refers to an indigenous Chinese religious tradition(s) in which reverence for and veneration of the Dao 道, (Tao), translatable as both the Way and a way, is a matter of ultimate concern. In contrast to adherents of other Chinese religious and cultural traditions, Daoists (Taoists) understand the Dao as Source of all that is, unnamable mystery, all-pervading numinosity, and the cosmological process which is the universe. The Dao is impersonal and simultaneously immanent and transcendent. Broadly understood, the point of a Daoist way of life is to cultivate alignment and attunement with the Dao.

Daoism is a Chinese religious tradition. Daoism is Chinese because it originates in Chinese culture and, in some sense, because it is most clearly understood through the Chinese language and views of being. Daoism is a "religion" because it involves an orientation towards and relationship with the sacred. Daoism is a "tradition" because it is a community of dedicated practitioners connected to each other as a historical and energetic continuum.

At the same time, Daoism is now being transmitted and adapted to a global context. Daoism is no longer simply a Chinese religious tradition. It is now a global religious and cultural phenomenon, existing in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Italy, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, and practiced by people of a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. It is also slowly becoming established in the United States in various forms, with varying degrees of connection with the earlier Chinese religious tradition. Without an understanding of such historical precedents, Daoism in the West will simply be a fabrication, a fiction, and a fantasy. This does not mean that there should not be adaptation and modification; change necessarily occurs when a religious tradition enters a new cultural context and when religious practitioners have different concerns and motivations. But it does mean that without a connection and collective memory such "innovations" become meaningless names.

Historically speaking, Daoism begins with the “inner cultivation lineages” of the Warring States period (480-222 B.C.E.), as documented in the early classics Daode jing 道德經 (Scripture on the Dao and Inner Power), Zhuangzi 莊子 (Book of Master Zhuang), and other related but lesser known texts. This period of Daoist history provided many of the foundational principles, worldviews, practices, and ideals of the later Daoist tradition. Drawing insights from these earlier practitioners and communities as well as Early Han dynasty (202 B.C.E.-9 C.E.) longevity practitioners, “formula masters” (fangshi 方士), and immortality seekers, Daoism became an organized religious movement in the Later Han dynasty (25-221 C.E.) with the establishment of Tianshi dao 天師道 (Way of the Celestial Master) by Zhang Daoling 張道陵. This movement branched out into the major schools of early medieval Daoism, namely, Taiqing 太清 (Great Clarity), Shangqing 上清 (Highest Clarity), and Lingbao 靈寶 (Numinous Treasure). The late medieval period included the development of internal alchemy (neidan 內丹) lineages in the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties and the emergence of the Quanzhen 全真 (Complete Perfection) monastic order. This eventually led to the formal establishment of the Longmen 龍門 (Dragon Gate) lineage in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Such historical contours compose the Daoist tradition and have established a foundation for the ongoing transmission of Daoism throughout the modern world (beginning in the 1950s and 1960s) and the formation of “American Daoism.” For Daoists, this religious tradition centers on the external Three Treasures of the Dao, the scriptures, and the teachers.

The Daoist tradition is thus a community of practitioners connected to each other as a historical and energetic continuum. Daoists are those for whom cultivating the Dao (xiudao 修道) is their most important orientation.