Taoism
by Peter Occhiogrosso
“We believe in the formless and eternal Tao, and we recognize all personified deities as being mere human constructs. We reject hatred, intolerance, and unnecessary violence, and embrace harmony, love and learning, as we are taught by Nature. We place our trust and our lives in the Tao, that we may live in peace and balance with the Universe, both in this mortal life and beyond.”
-- Creed of the Western Reform Taoist Congregation
For most Westerners who are aware of Taoism at all, the tradition is epitomized by the generic wisdom embodied in the Tao Te Ching, the famously succinct book of wisdom written about 2,500 years ago. This book of 81 brief, poetic chapters has probably been translated more often than any other book of Eastern thought, but although its subtle philosophy is at the heart of Taoism, it is not by any means the whole story. Taoism also has a dimension of religious ritual, although there is no character in Chinese equivalent to “religion” in the Western sense of the word. Philosophical concepts and religious rites coexist in the Chinese tradition with a wide range of physical exercises and yogic practices designed to enhance vitality, stamina, flexibility, and sexual enjoyment; to develop martial arts skills; and to utilize medical practices, from qigong to acupuncture, to relieve pain and increase health and longevity.
Alongside all this practical, earth-oriented wisdom and health-enhancing knowledge and practices, however, the Taoist tradition is also rife with fantastic stories of hundred-year-old adepts who fly on dragons and create elixirs of immortality. To the Western mind these sets of teachings seem utterly incompatible, if not incomprehensible. And yet, as we find the deeper we look into Taoism as it has been practiced in China for over 2000 years, believers and practitioners themselves are comfortable with the intermingling of religious rituals, philosophical beliefs, and physical practices.
On one level, Taoism developed as a response to the problem of human suffering, although out of a set of circumstances that were somewhat different from those in which Buddhism arose to address the same dilemma. Nonetheless the earliest Taoist teachings were a response to the rampant violence and disorder that plagued much of the Asian world in those years. The principles of Taoism are traditionally said to have sprung initially from the writings of the man called Lao-tzu--a name that simply means “Old Master.” Although Lao is presumed to have lived in the 6th-5th century BCE, at roughly the same time as the Buddha taught in India, many scholars doubt his historical authenticity, believing him to be a convenient personalized figure representing the collective wisdom of the early Chinese sages.
China had been so ravaged by continual warfare and inhuman cruelty that the stability of the natural order of life had been seriously undermined. So Lao-tzu, or perhaps a tradition of anonymous sages, sought a more reliable basis for order in their lives to counter the chaotic physical circumstances. They drew on what was undoubtedly an older tradition of nature worship, divination, and shamanism, in which the underlying cycles of the natural world; the harmonious flow of the seasons; the alternation of day and night and the counterbalancing forces represented by sun and moon, hot and cold, male and female energies provided a greater sense of order than military power or the political institutions that attempted to manage the world. These philosophical principles blended with ideas from the Yin-Yang and the Five Elements schools of belief, which expressed the relationships between all phenomena in terms of the principal cosmic forces of the universe: the polarity of yin-yang and the five natural elements of earth, water, fire, wood, and metal.
For Lao-tzu, the underlying order of the world was a mysterious but utterly reliable force he called Tao, which may be translated as the Way or Path. As that name implies, the Tao is conceived of not as an omnipotent Supreme Being in the personalized Western sense but as a universal energetic intelligence that informs and directs all life. Nonetheless, Chinese folk religion is rife with colorful gods and goddesses, such as Ssu-ming, the Lord of Fate, who later became popular as Tsao-chun, the Kitchen God, today the most significant folk deity of Chinese culture. (Said to have originated as early as 800 BCE, Ssu-ming keeps a record of each individual's sins and failings, which he presents to the chief deity, known as Taiyi, each New Year's day, along with his recommendation for extending or shortening that person's life. The parallels between the essentially Christian figure of Santa Claus and the Jewish concept of the Book of Life are intriguing, although no direct relationship has been historically established.) Taoist temples venerate several other deities, including Lao-tzu himself, but these are all seen to be under the direction of the Tao, which is not personified or worshiped in any theistic sense.
It has been said that Chinese religion views these many deities as celestial bureaucrats who keep track of affairs on earth and mete out rewards and punishments. The celestial bureaucracy is arrayed against the forces of evil and disorder, especially ghostlike demons called kuei, who cause pain, illness, natural calamities, and death. And so the minor gods are not worshiped so much as entreated for aid in specific situations, much the way pious Christians call on St. Anthony to help them find a lost object, or St. Christopher (before he was de-canonized) to guard them while traveling.
Probably influenced by Buddhist ideas of a subterranean hell with different levels of punishments, the Chinese came to believe in an afterlife and specifically in a period of time spent in hell. Unlike the Western version, though, the Chinese hell is not a place of eternal damnation, except perhaps for certain demons and politicians. For everyone else it resembles the Catholic purgatory; after alchemical fires of the cosmos purify the spirit in the yin underworld, the soul ascends into the pure yang of heaven. To help speed up this process of refinement and assist the souls of the dead on their journey from hell to heaven, the Chinese employ Taoist and Buddhist funeral ceremonies and memorial services; in recent years, Christian funeral rites have been added, and are often performed in tandem with Buddhist services.
Taoism teaches a complex mixture of philosophical principles and physical exercises, meditations, and breathing techniques with the practical goal of improving health and extending life. Although the ancient Taoists spoke at length of achieving immortality, the aim of their practices was longevity of the body rather than an immortal soul. Not until the arrival of Buddhist missionaries did the idea of an afterlife of the soul enter the Chinese consciousness.
The Old Tao
Lao-tzu's understanding of the Tao as harmonizing force of the universe harks back to a much earlier time when the roles of men and women are said to have been more equitably apportioned, and when spiritual practice centered around the birth of all creation from the Divine Mother. Lao-tzu wrote of an ancient time when the feminine principle was not yet dominated by the masculine:
There was something complete and nebulous
Which existed before Heaven and Earth,
Silent, invisible,
Unchanging, standing as One,
Unceasing, ever-revolving,
Able to be the Mother of the World.
I do not know its name and I call it Tao.
Tao Te Ching, 25
Although the essence of the Tao is ancient and unknowable, it could be witnessed in its manifestations, and the literature of Taoism glitters with closely observed references to the actions of birds, animals, and the entire natural world. Lao-tzu noted, for example, that water, the softest of substances, can wear away the hardest rock, or that an apparently empty bellows is never depleted of air: “Move it and more always comes out.” He turned these simple observations into profound wisdom meant to be used in everyday life.
This reliance on a deep understanding of the natural rhythms and principles of life led to a reliance on techniques to improve and maintain health and to promote longevity. And so the Taoist masters developed a firsthand knowledge of herbal medicine and pharmacology; nutrition, including principles of macrobiotic cooking and other healthful diets; systems of physical exercise to keep the body strong and youthful; and the use of massage and needles to release the blocked flow of energy that they believed accounted for disease.
Philosophical and Religious Taoism
Although the Tao Te Ching is dated at several centuries before the Common or Christian Era, Taoism as a religious practice did not develop until the second or third century of that era. These philosophical, physical, and medical applications of the principles of Taoism make up the face of the religion best known to the West. Asian practitioners of Taoism, of whom there are many millions in Asia but only a few thousand in the West, also follow a related but rather different set of practices and beliefs known collectively as Religious Taoism, to distinguish it from Philosophical Taoism, which is called Tao-chia in Chinese. This “other” Taoism, also called “Church Taoism,” or Tao-chiao, is somewhat mystifying to Westerners, and tends to be of far less interest. It is, however, of great significance to its Asian adherents. Further, it cannot be easily separated from the underlying philosophy of Taoism drawn from the Tao Te Ching and the later work of Chuang-tzu. The various sects of Religious Taoism, such as the Five Pecks of Rice school, also use the Tao Te Ching as their main study text and revere Lao-tzu as their symbolic leader. Lieh-tzu, whose authorship of a book named after him is disputed, comes to us with no biographical details. But he is said to have pursued themes common to philosophical Taoism, such as the direct experience of the Tao and the pointlessness of personal striving or intervention in human affairs.
Toward the end of the Han Dynasties (220 CE), Taoism began to outstrip Confucianism as the philosophy of choice of the intellectual elite, especially as Confucianism became reduced to little more than ritualized codes of conduct -- a kind of handbook for civil servants. Confronted with the same disordered society, in which the race was so clearly not always to the swift, Taoists chose to base their behavior on inclinations that came to them in their meditative trances, preferring to be true to their own natures rather than to established conventions.
Over time, Taoists began to combine yogic and mystical practices with self- hypnosis, restrictive diets, and drugs, not only to induce transcendent states but also in the hope of achieving physical immortality. More and more, Taoism came to be associated with ways of prolonging life; fantastic stories about masters who lived very long lives, exercised magical powers, and ascended into Heaven in broad daylight became commonplace. Once again, some observers claim the import of these elements have been exaggerated by Western popularizers, and do not make up a significant portion of current Taoist beliefs. And yet, although Tao-chiao as a whole system has never had the sweeping appeal of Philosophical Taoism, it remains part of the complex fabric of religious life in China, even after the Communist and Maoist revolutions. Some of the yogic practices that have developed through the various schools of Religious Taoism have also found an increasingly avid following in the West, and those are worth looking at in greater detail.
Qigong
The concept of an afterlife characterized by rewards and punishments did not take a prominent place in Chinese belief until the arrival of Buddhist missionaries from India, probably well after the beginning of the Christian or Common Era (CE). Until that time, the understanding of immortality was based primarily on survival of the body; one's good or bad actions, as carefully noted by the Kitchen God, could lead to the lengthening or shortening of one's life on earth.
The system of enhancing life energy through physical exercises, meditation and breath developed in China is known today by the overall title qigong (pronounced chee-GUNG), a word that means “working with life energy.” Qi, or ch'i, is the Chinese equivalent of prana, the Sanskrit term for the vital energy that flows through the human body. According to the Chinese system, the life force is absorbed into our bodies through entry portals in the skin known as acupuncture points. The subtle energy of qi then circulates along 12 pairs of invisible pathways called meridians or channels, linking the inner organs and other parts of the body and nervous system into a unified whole. Qi is believed to flow freely in healthy individuals; any blockage or imbalance in the flow of qi is said to result in disease and weakness; blockage in a specific channel can lead to a localized ailment.
Related systems of movement, breathing, and meditation that have been devised to maximize the flow of qi throughout the body are known by various names, including taijiquan (t'ai chi chuan, in the old spelling), kung-fu, and medical qigong. Based on traditional Chinese medicine, medical qigong offers preventive, healing, and strengthening exercises designed to regulate the health of the internal organs such as the liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, and spleen. Other forms of qigong focus on developing sexual energy, either alone or in conjunction with a partner; learning to use qi energy to heal oneself or others from a variety of ailments; and the application of principles of qi in the martial arts.
Perhaps the best-known application of qigong principles in healing is the ancient science of acupuncture, which aims at releasing blockages of energy flow by the insertion of needles into the skin at one or more of the approximately 365 acupuncture points located along the meridians. Although acupuncture fell out of favor in China in the late 19th century, Mao Tse-tung returned it to prominence. In the 1970s, American journalists witnessed surgery being performed in China for which the only anesthetic was acupuncture. With Richard Nixon's reopening of ties with China, the knowledge began to flow more freely to the West, and today major insurance companies such as Mutual of Omaha pay for acupuncture for pain management and other therapeutic uses.
The Chinese also developed treatments which use the application of heat to the acupuncture points to achieve similar results. In moxibustion, the heat comes from smoldering balls or sticks of compressed wormwood leaves, called moxa; in cupping, small heated jars are held in place over the acupuncture points through vacuum suction. And in acupressure, the acupuncture points are massaged by the practitioner's fingertips.
Church Taoism:
Historical Background
Church Taoism as practiced primarily in Mainland China and Taiwan can be divided into two main branches. The Way of Right Unity, or Cheng-i Tao, encompasses those schools that use magical practices such as amulets, talismans, and exorcisms. This branch was begun by the long-lived Chang Tao-ling (34-156), who healed people in Szechuan province with magical cures. The price for a cure was five pecks of rice, the name that was later applied to the pivotal school he founded. The Five Pecks of Rice School, or Wu-tou-mi Tao, based on teachings found in the Tao Te Ching and aimed at healing maladies caused by evil deeds, remained active through the 15th century. Members indulged in mass confessions, fasts, and orgiastic feasts. It was also known as the School of the Celestial Masters, since Chang was later venerated as a celestial master, or t'ien-shih, a title that was inherited by each of his successors down to the present day. (When this lineage of “Taoist popes,” as they are sometimes called, was kicked off the mainland by the Communists in 1949, they continued on Taiwan.) Chang's descendants were largely responsible for making Taoism an organized religion. In 165, for instance, official imperial sacrifices were offered for the first time to Lao-tzu.
During the second century, famine and plagues caused enormous turmoil and led hundreds of thousands of Chinese to embrace Taoism, which offered a more personal and emotionally appealing form of religion than state Confucianism. The Han Dynasty's oppressive rule added to the peasants' suffering and helped to accelerate the swing. One sect that especially profited from this development was the Way of Supreme Peace (T'ai-p'ing Tao), founded by Chang Chueh, a follower of Huang-Lao Chun, who pursued conversion through the use of missionaries. Like the Five Pecks school, Chang believed that public confession of sins was an important step toward healing illness, and encouraged fasting rituals called chai.
In 184, the government took steps to stem the flood of conversions, which led to a reaction among the Taoists. Some 360,000 of them put yellow cloth on their heads on the same day as a show of solidarity (and in honor of the Yellow Emperor, Huang-ti, a legendary ruler of the 3rd millennium BCE). The rebellion, which became known as the Rising of the Yellow Turbans, was suppressed and Chang Chueh executed, but the Taoist Church had been established and continued to function alongside the other currents of philosophical Taoism and individual Taoist magicians and sorcerers. Although it made ample use of magical elements including talismans, amulets, holy water, and incantations, the focus of the early Church was more on healing, especially faith healing, than on the elusive search for physical immortality. In this sense, it laid the groundwork for what is today one of the major contributions of Chinese medicine -- healing through herbal remedies, acupuncture, and qigong.
Buddhist teachers had already begun to trickle into China as early as the time of Christ. They were successful in passing on the dharma for several reasons, not least because Mahayana Buddhism, at least, offered a plan of general salvation for the masses, while the complex Buddhist metaphysical system and scriptures appealed to the intellectual elite. Meanwhile, Buddhist monasteries and rituals for the dead provided physical and spiritual solace in times of stress. The monks taught Buddhist practices and doctrines and translated Buddhist texts into Chinese, and by the 11th century, Taoist and Buddhist ideas had merged with folk practices to create a popular religion that survives to this day.
Between the 2nd and 6th centuries, a movement arose within Church Taoism of the Cheng-i Tao branch that came to be known as the Inner Gods Hygiene School. According to this school, the body is a microcosm of the universe, with three energy centers called Fields of Cinnabar (tan t'ien), and is inhabited by 36,000 gods. These gods correspond to the 36,000 in the outer pantheon, where they serve as heavenly bureaucrats, running the physical universe in much the way earthly bureaucrats administer government. Hell also has a bureaucratic structure, divided into ten sections dedicated to punishing different kinds of sins, similar to the nine circles of Dante's Inferno.
Alongside the 36,000 gods live the Three Worms (San-ch'ung), which also dwell in the Cinnabar Fields and cause illness, aging, and death. They report on the sins of their host in an effort to shorten his or her life and thereby set themselves free. Since the Three Worms live on a diet of five grains (wheat, barley, millet, rice, and beans), true adepts must avoid grains, reducing their diets until they have eliminated all solid foods, not unlike certain raw juice advocates today. Under no circumstances are they ever to partake of meat or wine, because the inner gods dislike their smell. Adepts must regularly cleanse their colons and perform exercises based on animal movements to prepare their inner bodies for Embryonic Respiration. This requires lying down in quiet, holding one's breath for anywhere from 12 to 1,000 heartbeats and learning to circulate it throughout the body, moving through all the internal organs as a way of stimulating and healing them. The adept then swallows the saliva that has accumulated in the mouth. The Inner Deity school also required charitable works, such as building roads and bridges and contributing to orphanages, not for any moral or ethical reasons but because good deeds helped accumulate credits toward personal immortality.
During the 6th century, the School of the Magic Jewel (Ling-pao P'ai), which had begun to develop during the two previous centuries, displaced the Inner Gods Hygiene School. The Magic Jewel sect taught that individual liberation was dependent on outside help from the Celestial Honored Beings. The highest gods of the Taoist Church, their title came into use during the 3rd century, just as Buddhism was gaining a foothold in China. The T'ien Tsun are led by Yuan-shih T'ien Tsun (“Celestial Venerable of the Primordial Beginning”), pictured as the pre-existing Creator and Ruler of Heaven and Earth, who spontaneously sprang into existence before the rest of the world. Others include the equally important Tao-te T'ien Tsun (“Celestial Venerable of the Tao and its Power”), and the Jade Emperor (Yu-Huang). After the 3rd century, Taoist priests who lived in monasteries began to practice celibacy, and Taoist women religious entered convents. Both developments reflected the influence of Buddhism, and the Five Pecks of Rice tradition began to fade from common practice.
The other principal branch of Church Taoism, at least since the religious reformation of the Sung Dynasty, is the School of Perfect Realization, or Ch'uan-chen Tao. Founded by Wang Ch'un-yang (1112-1170), who reputedly received a secret transmission from a passing hermit, the aim of the school was total asceticism. Reflecting the influences of both Buddhism and Confucianism with their emphasis on strong codes of personal ethics and moral living, members of Perfect Realization abstained from alcohol, sex, and other pleasures of the senses, refused sleep whenever possible, and practiced Zen-style meditation. One story goes that Wang had himself buried under ten feet of earth and remained there for two years, emerging unscathed. Perfect Realization was dualistic in its attempt to place yang (heaven or spirit) over yin (earth or matter). The focus was on inner alchemy (hygiene and meditation), and did not require monastic life, although their tao-shih were supposed to be celibate.
The Perfect Realization school quickly generated branch sects, starting with those created by seven of Wang's own disciples. The most significant, though, came to be identified as the Northern and Southern Schools. The Northern School, also known as Lung-men (“Dragon Gate”), was led by Wang and his successor, Ch'ang Ch'un, who used the White Cloud Monastery in Beijing as his base beginning in 1224. The Southern School was founded earlier than the Northern, during the 10th century, by Liu Hai-ch'an, who claimed spiritual transmission from Hui Neng, the Ch'an Buddhist master.
Over the centuries, the Inner Gods Hygiene School practice of exterior breath circulation (hsing-ch'i) fell out of favor and was replaced during the T'ang dynasty by the practice of circulating the “interior breath” (nei-ch'i). This procedure didn't require holding one's breath for dangerously long periods of time (although that technique did have the added advantage of hallucinations induced by carbon dioxide intoxication). Similarly, the alchemy of creating an elixir of immortality from lead or mercury was gradually replaced by the search for an inner elixir (nei-tan), beginning during the Sung Dynasty, especially in the sects of the Ch'uan-chen Tao, and came to be known as the Inner Elixir School. The aim of nei-tan is to create within the adept a new being called the sacred embryo (sheng t'ai), which will depart the body at the instant of death and ascend to Heaven, much like the concept of the immortal soul in Western religion. The embryo was sometimes called the golden flower, lending its name to one of the school's key texts, The Secret of the Golden Flower. The best known proponents of the inner elixir were Chen T'uan (906-989) and Chang Po-tuan (984-1082).
The inner elixir was one manifestation of a religious reformation that swept China during the Sung Dynasty. Somewhat paralleling the Protestant Reformation in Europe, the Chinese laity began to take on itself the expression of religious fervor without the intervention of priests and monks, whether Taoist or Buddhist. The clergy retained their function during funeral services, but the people took over officiating at birth, marriage, and healing rituals, among others.
Through yogas pertaining to the inner alchemy, some adepts claimed to be able to use the sacred embryo as an astral body, a subtle configuration that contains the soul but is usually invisible. This allowed them to leave the physical body while alive and travel on the astral plane.
The Three Teachings
Although Eastern religions have had their share of fanaticism and fundamentalism, they have tended to be far more tolerant of other religions than have the Western monotheistic traditions. From at least the first century CE, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism were all considered sacred by the vast majority of Chinese, and by the 11th century, Chinese religious culture was thoroughly steeped in a synthesis of the three. It wasn't just that believers of one tradition accepted the others as valid, but that they actually practiced elements of all three. Referred to as San-chiao kuei-i, or “Three religions, one culture,” this openness reflects the sharing of the basic principles of yin-yang cosmology in popular religion. Despite the occasional attempts by certain emperors to counteract, persecute, or stamp out one or another of these traditions, most Chinese assimilated the Three Teachings in different proportions in their own belief systems, so that in general a Taoist could feel comfortable worshiping in a Buddhist temple, and vice versa. A Buddhist might have an image of the Kitchen God or K'ung-tzu (Confucius) alongside various buddhas and bodhisattvas in the home. One current saying goes, “Confucian head, Buddhist heart, Taoist belly,” implying that even today, at least among those Chinese who are not doctrinaire Marxists, elements of Confucian ethics and morality; Buddhist funeral rituals and prayers for the dead; and Taoist philosophical attitudes toward nature all form a part of their lives. Along with that, they are likely to incorporate elements of folk religion and the ancient cult of ancestor worship, making the Chinese perhaps the most religiously pluralistic people on earth.
Nevertheless, the Taoist Church was responsible for occasional persecutions of Buddhists during the first millennium, when they feared that their hierarchical power was being threatened. Major persecutions took place in 446 and again in 845, when a Taoist emperor moved to counter Buddhism's growing popularity by closing thousands of Buddhist monasteries and defrocking their monks and nuns, leading to the eventual decline, but not disappearance, of Buddhism in China.
Today there are at least 86 sects of Taoism, including many lay societies that, apart from their religious beliefs, have a history of opposing autocratic or tyrannical rule. A prominent non-Taoist sect called the I Kuan Tao (“The Great Way”) embraces Confucian, Taoist, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, and Hindu traditions, including their gods and prophets. Its main deity is the Mother of No-Birth, the creator of the world. Members abstain from meat, alcohol, and tobacco, and focus on controlling the mind by lessening desire. Founded in 1930 by Shi Zueng and Shi Mu in Chi Nan City, I Kuan Tao became well established on the mainland by 1946. But following the Civil War in 1949, many I-Kuan Tao followers in China found their beliefs incompatible with Communist doctrines and so emigrated to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. They claim about 6,500,000 followers in Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and South East Asia, and the World I Kuan Tao headquarters are now located in California.
Peter is the author of The Joy of Sects and lives and works in Woodstock, NY
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Wednesday, August 3, 2011
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Taoism
{dow' - izm}
(6th Century BC)
General Information
Tao means 'the Way' or 'Way of Life.'
Lao - Tse is the supposed author of the Tao Te Ching, a small book containing the main tenets of Taoism. The book is divided into two parts, the Tao and the Tek, and is subdivided into 81 chapters. He was a contemporary of Confucius, who visited him several times and who was deeply impressed by the spirituality and humility of Lao - Tse.
'All things originate from Tao, conform to Tao, and to Tao they at last return.'
Lao - Tse taught a belief in transmigration of souls, which got absorbed into Taoism, Confucianism and the other Eastern religions as reincarnation.
Where Confucianism is rather practical, Taoism is largely negative in its teachings and emphasizes pacifism, mysticism, and the importance of non - activity.
Taoism taught its believers to cast aside worldly pleasures, honors, and glory and to be content with their lot. Later on, Taoism came to be a religion of spirits and ancestor worship far removed from the original simple teachings. A priesthood arose, shrines and temples were erected, and an elaborate system composed of magic, charms, and spells was developed.
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In principle, Taoism suggests not striving for 'the best', which theoretically is never attainable. Just accept 'good enough' and be contented and happy. Taoism teaches simplicity, frugality and love of the soil. Extensive education was not sought in Taoism as in Confucianism.
Three stages of religious growth occurred. The first, eremital, involved abstention from too much food, deep breathing, and learning rules for longevity. (up to about 200 BC)
The second, the magical, lasted from 200 BC to 200 AD. Taoists developed fortunetelling and exorcism.
The third, the ecclesiastical, is a church - like phase up to today. Taoism took over many of the gods of Buddhism over the years as well as other conventions. Lao Tse was deified along with Pan Ku and Yu Huang Shanti who became the Trinity that corresponds to the Three Jewels of Buddhism.
Taoism
{dow' - izm}
Advanced Information
The term Taoism refers both to the philosophy outlined in the Tao Te Ching (identified with Lao - Tzu) and to China's ancient Taoist religion. Next to Confucianism, it ranks as the second major belief system in traditional Chinese thought.
Taoist Philosophy
The formulation of Taoist philosophy is attributed to Lao - Tzu (fl. 6th or 4th century BC) and Chuang - Tzu (c. 369 - c. 286 BC) as well as the Lieh - tzu (compiled during the Han dynasty, 202 BC - 220 AD). Three doctrines are particularly important: Tao (way) is nonbeing (wu), the creative - destructive force that brings everything into being and dissolves everything into nonbeing; return (fu) is the destiny of everything - that is, everything, after completing its cycle, returns to nonbeing; and nonaction (wu wei), or action in harmony with nature, is the best way of life. Chuang - tzu taught that, from a purely objective viewpoint, all oppositions are merely the creations of conceptual thought and imply no judgments of intrinsic value (one pole is no more preferable than its opposite). Hence the wise person accepts life's inevitable changes. The Lieh - tzu said that the cultivation of Tao would enable a person to live for several hundred years. Taoism teaches the devotee to lead a long and tranquil life through the elimination of one's desires and aggressive impulses.
Taoist Religion
Often regarded as a corruption of Taoist philosophy, the Taoist religion began in the 3d century BC with such practices as Alchemy (the mixing of elixirs designed to ensure the immortality of the body). The alchemy was carried out by Taoist priest - magicians at the court of Shih Huang - ti of the Ch'in dynasty (221 - 207 BC). These magicians were also acclaimed as spirit mediums and experts in levitation. They were the heirs of the archaic folk religion of China, which had been rejected by the early Confucianists. Among the prominent features of Taoist religion are belief in physical immortality, alchemy, breath control and hygiene (internal alchemy), a pantheon of deities (including Lao - tzu as one of the three Supreme Ones), monasticism and the ritual of community renewal, and revealed scriptures. The Taoist liturgy and theology were influenced by Buddhism. Its scriptures, the Tao - tsang, consist of hundreds of separate works totaling more than 5,000 chapters.
Among the principal Taoist sects to emerge was the Heavenly Master sect, founded in West China in the 2d century AD. It advocated faith healing through the confession of sin and at one time recruited members as soldiers and engaged in war against the government. The Supreme Peace sect, also founded in the 2d century, adopted practices much like those of the Heavenly Master sect and launched a great rebellion that went on for several years before ending in 205 AD. The Mao - shan (Mount Mao) sect, founded in the 4th century, introduced rituals involving both external and internal alchemies, mediumistic practice, and visionary communication with divinities.
The Ling - pao (Marvelous Treasure) sect, also founded in the 4th century, introduced the worship of divinities called T'ien - tsun (Heavenly Lords). The Ch'uan - chen (Completely Real) sect was founded in the 12th century as a Taoist monastic movement. Eventually the Heavenly Master sect absorbed most of the beliefs and practices of the other sects and, in the 20th century, became the most popular Taoist group.
David C Yu
Bibliography:
M Chiu, The Tao of the Chinese Religion (1985); G Geng and J English, Lao Tzu: The Tao Te Ching (1979); A C Graham, Chuang Tzu: The Inner Chapters (1981); M Kaltenmark, Lao Tzu and Taoism (1969); S Little, Realm of the Immortals: Daoism in the Arts of China (1988); M Saso, Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal (1972); R M Smullyan, The Tao Is Silent (1977); A Waley, The Way and Its Power (1958); H Welch, Taoism (1957).
Lao - tzu (Laozi)
{low' - dzu}
General Information
Lao - tzu, or Master Lao, is the name of the supposed author of the Taoist classic Tao - te Ching. According to Taoist legend, Lao - tzu, the founder of Taoism, was named Li Erh and had the courtesy name Lao Tan. An older contemporary of Confucius (551 - 479 BC), he was keeper of the archives at the imperial court. In his 80th year he set out for the western border of China, toward what is now Tibet, saddened and disillusioned that men were unwilling to follow his path to natural goodness. At the border (Hank Pass), however, the guard Yin Hsi requested that Lao - tzu record his teachings before he left, whereupon he composed in 5,000 characters the famous Tao - te Ching (The Way and Its Power).
The essential teaching of Lao - tzu is the Tao, or Way, to ultimate reality - the way of the universe exemplified in nature. The harmony of opposites (T'ai Ch'ai) is achieved through a blend of the yin (feminine force) and the yang (masculine force); this harmony can be cultivated through creative quietude (wu wei), an effortless action whose power (te) maintains equanimity and balance.
Bibliography:
W T Chan, trans., The Way of Lao Tsu (Tao te Ching) (1963); H Welch, The Parting of the Way (1957); M Kaltenmark, Lao - Tzu and Taoism (1969).
Tao Te Ching (Daode Jing)
{dow duh jing}
General Information
A philosophical classic by Lao - Tzu, the Tao Te Ching is the single most important text of Chinese Taoism. According to tradition, the sage composed its approximately 5,000 words in the 6th century BC at the request of a gatekeeper who wanted a record of his teachings. The book is now considered to date from the 4th century BC. Laced with richly poetic imagery, it counsels balance, restraint, simplicity, and the avoidance of activity and desire as the means of achieving harmony with the natural currents of the Tao, or universal way. In ancient China Lao - tzu's thoughts rivaled those of Confucius in popularity, and his book has elicited hundreds of commentaries and translations.
Bibliography:
Lao - tzu, Tao Te Ching (1964); B B Sims, Lao - tzu and the 'Te Ching' (1971).
Taoism
Catholic Information
(TAO-KIAO.)
Taoism is the second of the three state religions (San-kiao) of China. This religion is derived from the philosophical doctrines of Lao-tze. "Lao-tze's Taoism", says Legge (Religions of China, 229), "is the exhibition of a way or method of living which men should cultivate as the highest and purest development of their nature". According to De Groot (Religious System of China, IV, p. 66): "Taoism, as the word indicates, is the Religion of the Tao, a term meaning Path or Way, but denoting in this peculiar case the way, course or movement of the Universe, her processes and methods. In other words, Taoism is the Religion of Heaven and Earth, of the Cosmos, of the World or Nature in the broadest sense of these words. Hence we may call it Naturism".
Lao-tze, the equivalent to "the Old or Venerable Philosopher" (if taken as a title of respect), or to "Old Boy" (if literally translated), was born in the third year of Ting Wang, Prince of Chou, i.e. in 604, at K'io-jin, in the Kingdom of Ts'u, today Ho-nan Province. The legend given by Ko Hung in his "Record of Spirits and Immortals" (written in the fourth century A.D.), says that "he was not born till his mother had carried him in her womb seventy-two years or, according to some accounts, eighty-one years". "No wonder", adds Legge (1. c., pp. 203-4) "that the child should have had white hair, - an 'old boy' of about fourscore years!" This date of 604, in accordance with historical tradition, is not given by Sze-ma Ts'ien in the biography which he devoted to the philosopher in his "She-ki" (Historical Memoirs); if this date be accepted, it is difficult to admit of the authenticity of the meeting between Lao-tze and Confucius, 500 B.C.; if the latter was then fifty-one years old according to Chwang-tze, Lao-tze was then one hundred and four years old.
The family name of Lao-tze was Li, his name Eul (meaning "Ear"), his honorary title Pe-yang, and his posthumous name Tan (meaning "Flat-eared"). He was one of the "Sze", recorders, historiographers, keepers of the archives of Lo, the Court of the princes of the Chou dynasty. Foreseeing the decay of this dynasty, he gave up his office, and undertook a journey; at the Han-kou Pass, Ho-nan Province, the watchman, Yin Hi, begged him to write his thoughts for his own instruction before he retired from the world; consequently, Lao-tze wrote his work in two parts in the Tao and the Te, and having entrusted it to Yin Hi, he disappeared; the time of the death of the philosopher is not known. Lao-tze had a son Called Tsung who was a general of the Kingdom of Wei and who obtained the grant of land at Twan-kan. His son named Chu had himself a child Kung; Hia, grandson of Kung, was an official under Emperor Hiao-wen-ti, of the Han dynasty. Kiai, son of Hia, became a minister of K'iang, King of kiao-si, and, owing to this circumstance, settled with his family in the Kingdom of Ts'i.
This story is too matter of fact and lacks the marvellous legend which should surround the person of the chief of a new religion. Legend was provided for. Ko Hung, already mentioned, had placed the legend of Lao-tze at the beginning of the "Shon-sion-ch'-wan" (Records of Spirits and Immortals), and he says: "His mother carried him after the emotion she felt in seeing a large shooting star. He received from Heaven the vital breath; as he was born in a house whose proprietor was called Li (Pear tree), so he was named Li". Some authors say that Lao-tze was born before heaven and earth. According to others, he possessed a pure soul emanated from heaven, He belonged to the Class of spirits and gods. The chief work of Lao-tze, in fact the only one which has been ascribed to him with some probability, is the "Tao-teh-king". In the "China Review" (March-April, 1886), Dr. Herbert A. Giles wrote a sensational article, "The Remains of Lao Tzu", to show by various arguments that the "Tao-teh-king" is a spurious work and that its now spurious portions have been mostly mistranslated. It was the starting-point of a controversy in which Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Legge, Dr. Edkins, and some other sinologues took part. The authenticity of the work has been admitted by most of them. Wylie says (Notes on Chinese Literature, new ed., p. 216): "The only work which is known to be truly the production of Lao Keun is the 'Taòu tih king', which has maintained its reputation and secured a popularity to a certain extent among reading men generally of every denomination." Legge writes (Religions of China, p. 203): "No other writing has come down to us from the pencil of Lâo-tsze, its author", and (Brit. Quart. Rev., July, 1883, p. 9): "We know that Lao Tzu wrote the 'Tao Tê Ching'", and (p. 11): "The 'Tao Tê Ching' is a genuine relic of one of the most original minds of the Chinese race, putting his thoughts on record 2400 years ago." The German E. Faber (China Rev., XIII, 241) says that "there is little room left for doubts regarding the authenticity of our Canon."
Besides the "Tao-teh-king" a good many works treat of Taoism: the "Yin-fu-king-kiai" which professes to be an exposition of the oldest Taoist record in existence; "Ts'ing-tsing-king" (The Book of Purity and Rest); the "T'ai-hsi-king" (Respiration of the Embryo); the "T'ai-shang-Kan-ying-pien" (Tractate of Actions and their Retributions).
The chief Taoist philosophers are: Tsou-yuen (400 B. C.), author of a work on the influences of the five ruling elements, influenced by Buddhist doctrines; Kweiku-tze (380 B. C.), a mystic, astrologer, and fortune-teller; Ho-kwan-tze (325-298 B.C.), an orthodox Confucianist when writing on jurisprudence, a Taoist in other writings; Chwang-tze (330 B. C.), the author of the "Nan-hua" classic, the adversary to Mencius, and according to Eitel "the most original thinker China ever produced"; Shi-tze (280 B. C.), a Taoist writer, influenced by the heterodox philosopher, Yang-chu (450 B. C.), the Apostle of Selfishness; the statesman Han-feitze (250 B. C.); Liu-ngan or Hwai-nan-tze (died 112 B. C.), a cosmogonist. But the first disciples of Lao-tze were Kang-sang-tze (570-543 B. C.), the first expositor of Taoism as a distinct system, the sceptic Li-tze (500 B. C.), and Wen-tze (500 B. C.). The historian Sze-ma-ts'ien speaking of Chwang-tze says: "He wrote with a view to asperse the Confucian school and to glorify the mysteries of Lao Tze. . . His teachings are like an overwhelming flood, which spreads at its own sweet will. Consequently, from rulers and ministers downwards, none could apply them to any definite use." Giles (Chinese Literature, 60) concludes from this passage: "Here we have the key to the triumph of the Tao of Confucius over the Tao of Lao Tze. The latter was idealistic, the former a practical system for every-day use."
As De Groot observes (l. s. c., IV, 67): "Taoism being fundamentally a religion of the Cosmos and its subdivisions, old Chinese Cosmogony is its Theogony. It conceives the Universe as one large organism of powers and influences, a living machine, the core of which is the Great Ultimate Principle or T'ai-kih, comprising the two cosmic Breaths or Souls, known as the Yang and the Yin, of which, respectively, Heaven and Earth are the chief depositories. These two souls produce the four seasons, and the phenomena of Nature represented by the lineal figures called kwa". In fact the Yang and the Yin produce by the power of their co-operation all that exists, man included. Ancient Chinese philosophy attributes to man two souls:
The shen, or immaterial soul, emanates from the ethereal, celestial part of the Cosmos, and consists of yang substance. When operating actively in the living human body, it is called k'i or 'breath', and kwun; when separated from it after death, it lives as a refulgent spirit, styled ming.
The kwei, the material, substantial soul, emanates from the terrestrial part of the Universe, and is formed of yin substance. In living man it operates under the name of p'oh and on his death it returns to the Earth" (De Groot, IV, p. 5).
Thus the kwei is buried with the man and the shen lingers about the tomb. Marking the distinction between the two souls, there existed in the legendary period, according to the "Li-ki", a sacrificial worship to each soul separately: the hwun or k'i returns to heaven, the p'oh returns to earth. These two souls are composite; in fact all the viscera have a particular shen. "There are medical authors who ascribe to man an indefinite number of souls or soul-parts, or, as they express. it, a hundred shen. Those souls, they say, shift in the body according to the age of the owner; so, e.g. when he is 25, 31, 68 or 74, and older they dwell in his forehead, so that it is then very dangerous to have boils or ulcers there, because effusion of the blood would entail death. At other times of life they nestle under the feet or in other parts and limbs, and only in the 21st, 38th, 41st, and 50th years of life they are distributed equally through the body, so that open abscesses, wherever they appear, do not heal then at all. Such pathologic nonsense regulates, of course, medical practice to a high degree" (De Groot, IV, p. 75). The liver, the lungs, and the kidneys correspond to the spring, to the autumn, to the winter, as well as to the east, the west, and the north. The soul may be extracted from a living man; the body may still live when left by the soul, for instance during sleep; the soul of a dead man may be reborn into other bodies. Ghosts may enter into relation with the living, not only in dreams, but they may take revenge on their enemies.
At the head of the Taoist Pantheon is a trinity of persons:
Yuen-shi-t'ien-tsun, "the honoured one of heaven, first in time", residing in "the jade-stone region", who created the three worlds;
Ling-pan-t'ien-tsun, "the honored one of heaven who is valued and powerful", residing in the "upper pure region", collector of the sacred books, calculator of the succession of time, and the regulator of the two principles yin and yang;
Lao-tze himself, who exposed to mankind the doctrines uttered by the first person in the trinity and collected in the form of books by the second.
Next come: Yuh-hwang-ta-ti, "the great jade-stone emperor", who governs the physical universe; Hen-t'u-hwang-ti-k'i, "Spirit of imperial earth, ruler of the soil"; the star gods, whose lord (sing-chu) resides in a star near the pole; T'ien-hwang-ta-ti, who lives in the pole star, etc.; Liu-tsu, the "father of thunder". "While he discourses on doctrine, his foot rests on nine beautiful birds. He has under him thirty-six generals, t'ien tsiang" (Edkins, "Journ. North China Br. Roy. Asiat. Soc.," III, Dec., 1859, p. 311); the sun and moon; the San-yuen or San-kwan, "the three rulers" who preside over three departments of physical nature, heaven, earth, and water; Hiuen-kien-shang-ti, "high emperor of the dark heaven", who is described as the model of the true ascetic. He has transformed himself eighty-two times to become the instructor of men in the three national religions (Edkins, l. c., p. 312). A number of personages were worshipped under the name of tsu, patriarchs. Confucius himself has a place assigned him among the deities of this religion, and he is addressed as "the honoured one of heaven who causes literature to flourish and the world to prosper" (Edkins). Some men have been worshipped as gods after their death: Kwan-ti, the god of war; Hu-tsu, a physician; a medical divinity, Ko-tsu Sa-tsu ; etc.
One may well ask how the pure abstract doctrine of Lao-tze was turned into a medley of alchemical researches, a practice of witchcraft, with the addition of Buddhist superstitions, which constitute today what is called Tao-kiao, the religion or the teaching of Tao. This was the work of a legendary being, Chang Tao-ling, a descendant of the eighth generation of Chang Leang, a celebrated advisor of Liu-pang, founder of the Han dynasty. He was born in the tenth year of the Emperor Kwang Wu-ti (A. D. 34) in a cottage of a small village of the Che-kiang Province, at the foot of the T'ien-mu-Shan, in the Hang-chou Prefecture. At an early age Chang studied the works of Lao-tze to which he added researches of alchemy, a science aiming at "prolonging life beyond the limits assigned by nature". He found the drug of immortality, and by order of Lao-tze he destroyed the six great demons of the province; Lao-tze gave him also two books, two swords, one male, one female, a seal Called Tu-kung, etc. Chang gave his swords and books to his son Heng, bidding him to continue his pontificate from generation to generation. At noon on the seventh day of the first moon of the second year Yung-shou of the Han Emperor Heng (A. D. 157), Tao-ling ascended the Cloudy Mountain (Yun-shan) with his wife and two disciples, and with them disappeared into heaven. Chang Heng, son of Chang Tao-ling, continued his father's tradition both in spiritual and alchemical researches, and Chang Lu the grandson, played an important part in the Yellow Cap Rebellion at the beginning of the Han dynasty. During the fifth century A. D., when the Wei dynasty was ruling in Northern China, a certain K'iu Kien-che tried to substitute himself to the Chang family and received in 423 from the emperor the title of T'ien-shi, "Preceptor of Heaven", which formerly belonged to Tao-ling. In 748 the T'ang Emperor Hiuen-Tsung conferred this title upon the heirs of the latter, and a grant of a large property near Lung-hu Shan was made to them in 1016 by the Sung Emperor Chen-Tsung. Heredity in the charge of high priest of the cult was secured to the descendants of Chang by the transmigration of the soul of Tao-ling's successor, at the time of his demise, to the body of a junior member of the family, whose selection is indicated by a supernatural phenomenon.
To-day, at the head of the Taoist hierarchy is the Cheng-i-sze-kiao-chen-jen, "Heir to the founder of the Taoist sect"; this title was conferred by the Ming dynasty upon Chang Cheng-shang, descendant from Chang Tao-ling of the thirty-ninth generation. This title "belongs, by an hereditary privilege, to the firstborn descending in a direct line from Chang Tao-ling. He lives upon the Lung-hu Mountain, in the Kiang-si Province. His office consists in using his magical art to frighten demons away, to baffle diabolical influence, and to refrain the evil-doing souls of the dead. He names the new Ch'eng-hwang, 'tutelary deities of the cities', and for a fee, he gives to Taoists titles permitting them to celebrate the ceremonies with more solemnity" (P. Hoang, "Mélanges sur l'Administration", 34). In the capital of the empire the Taoist priesthood includes: two Tao-lu-sze, superiors, a title corresponding with that of the Buddhists, seng-lu-sze; two Cheng-i, Taoists of right simplicity; two Yen-fa, ritual Taoists; two Che-ling, Taoists of great excellence, thaumaturgus; and two Che-i, Taoists of great probity, an inferior class of priests. In the provinces at the head of the priesthood are: Tao-ki-sze Ton-ki, superior of the Taoists of a fu (prefectute), and Tao-ki-sze Fou Ton-ki, vice-superior of the Taoists of a fu; Tao-cheng, superior of the Taoists of a chou or a t'ing; Tao-hwei, superior of the Taoists of a hien. The superiors are appointed by the governors-general (tsung-tu), or by the governors (fu-t'ai), on the presentation of the prefect of sub-prefect of the chou, t'ing, or hien.
Publication information Written by Henri Cordier. Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter. Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIV. Published 1912. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
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Taoism
{dow' - izm}
(6th Century BC)
General Information
Tao means 'the Way' or 'Way of Life.'
Lao - Tse is the supposed author of the Tao Te Ching, a small book containing the main tenets of Taoism. The book is divided into two parts, the Tao and the Tek, and is subdivided into 81 chapters. He was a contemporary of Confucius, who visited him several times and who was deeply impressed by the spirituality and humility of Lao - Tse.
'All things originate from Tao, conform to Tao, and to Tao they at last return.'
Lao - Tse taught a belief in transmigration of souls, which got absorbed into Taoism, Confucianism and the other Eastern religions as reincarnation.
Where Confucianism is rather practical, Taoism is largely negative in its teachings and emphasizes pacifism, mysticism, and the importance of non - activity.
Taoism taught its believers to cast aside worldly pleasures, honors, and glory and to be content with their lot. Later on, Taoism came to be a religion of spirits and ancestor worship far removed from the original simple teachings. A priesthood arose, shrines and temples were erected, and an elaborate system composed of magic, charms, and spells was developed.
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In principle, Taoism suggests not striving for 'the best', which theoretically is never attainable. Just accept 'good enough' and be contented and happy. Taoism teaches simplicity, frugality and love of the soil. Extensive education was not sought in Taoism as in Confucianism.
Three stages of religious growth occurred. The first, eremital, involved abstention from too much food, deep breathing, and learning rules for longevity. (up to about 200 BC)
The second, the magical, lasted from 200 BC to 200 AD. Taoists developed fortunetelling and exorcism.
The third, the ecclesiastical, is a church - like phase up to today. Taoism took over many of the gods of Buddhism over the years as well as other conventions. Lao Tse was deified along with Pan Ku and Yu Huang Shanti who became the Trinity that corresponds to the Three Jewels of Buddhism.
Taoism
{dow' - izm}
Advanced Information
The term Taoism refers both to the philosophy outlined in the Tao Te Ching (identified with Lao - Tzu) and to China's ancient Taoist religion. Next to Confucianism, it ranks as the second major belief system in traditional Chinese thought.
Taoist Philosophy
The formulation of Taoist philosophy is attributed to Lao - Tzu (fl. 6th or 4th century BC) and Chuang - Tzu (c. 369 - c. 286 BC) as well as the Lieh - tzu (compiled during the Han dynasty, 202 BC - 220 AD). Three doctrines are particularly important: Tao (way) is nonbeing (wu), the creative - destructive force that brings everything into being and dissolves everything into nonbeing; return (fu) is the destiny of everything - that is, everything, after completing its cycle, returns to nonbeing; and nonaction (wu wei), or action in harmony with nature, is the best way of life. Chuang - tzu taught that, from a purely objective viewpoint, all oppositions are merely the creations of conceptual thought and imply no judgments of intrinsic value (one pole is no more preferable than its opposite). Hence the wise person accepts life's inevitable changes. The Lieh - tzu said that the cultivation of Tao would enable a person to live for several hundred years. Taoism teaches the devotee to lead a long and tranquil life through the elimination of one's desires and aggressive impulses.
Taoist Religion
Often regarded as a corruption of Taoist philosophy, the Taoist religion began in the 3d century BC with such practices as Alchemy (the mixing of elixirs designed to ensure the immortality of the body). The alchemy was carried out by Taoist priest - magicians at the court of Shih Huang - ti of the Ch'in dynasty (221 - 207 BC). These magicians were also acclaimed as spirit mediums and experts in levitation. They were the heirs of the archaic folk religion of China, which had been rejected by the early Confucianists. Among the prominent features of Taoist religion are belief in physical immortality, alchemy, breath control and hygiene (internal alchemy), a pantheon of deities (including Lao - tzu as one of the three Supreme Ones), monasticism and the ritual of community renewal, and revealed scriptures. The Taoist liturgy and theology were influenced by Buddhism. Its scriptures, the Tao - tsang, consist of hundreds of separate works totaling more than 5,000 chapters.
Among the principal Taoist sects to emerge was the Heavenly Master sect, founded in West China in the 2d century AD. It advocated faith healing through the confession of sin and at one time recruited members as soldiers and engaged in war against the government. The Supreme Peace sect, also founded in the 2d century, adopted practices much like those of the Heavenly Master sect and launched a great rebellion that went on for several years before ending in 205 AD. The Mao - shan (Mount Mao) sect, founded in the 4th century, introduced rituals involving both external and internal alchemies, mediumistic practice, and visionary communication with divinities.
The Ling - pao (Marvelous Treasure) sect, also founded in the 4th century, introduced the worship of divinities called T'ien - tsun (Heavenly Lords). The Ch'uan - chen (Completely Real) sect was founded in the 12th century as a Taoist monastic movement. Eventually the Heavenly Master sect absorbed most of the beliefs and practices of the other sects and, in the 20th century, became the most popular Taoist group.
David C Yu
Bibliography:
M Chiu, The Tao of the Chinese Religion (1985); G Geng and J English, Lao Tzu: The Tao Te Ching (1979); A C Graham, Chuang Tzu: The Inner Chapters (1981); M Kaltenmark, Lao Tzu and Taoism (1969); S Little, Realm of the Immortals: Daoism in the Arts of China (1988); M Saso, Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal (1972); R M Smullyan, The Tao Is Silent (1977); A Waley, The Way and Its Power (1958); H Welch, Taoism (1957).
Lao - tzu (Laozi)
{low' - dzu}
General Information
Lao - tzu, or Master Lao, is the name of the supposed author of the Taoist classic Tao - te Ching. According to Taoist legend, Lao - tzu, the founder of Taoism, was named Li Erh and had the courtesy name Lao Tan. An older contemporary of Confucius (551 - 479 BC), he was keeper of the archives at the imperial court. In his 80th year he set out for the western border of China, toward what is now Tibet, saddened and disillusioned that men were unwilling to follow his path to natural goodness. At the border (Hank Pass), however, the guard Yin Hsi requested that Lao - tzu record his teachings before he left, whereupon he composed in 5,000 characters the famous Tao - te Ching (The Way and Its Power).
The essential teaching of Lao - tzu is the Tao, or Way, to ultimate reality - the way of the universe exemplified in nature. The harmony of opposites (T'ai Ch'ai) is achieved through a blend of the yin (feminine force) and the yang (masculine force); this harmony can be cultivated through creative quietude (wu wei), an effortless action whose power (te) maintains equanimity and balance.
Bibliography:
W T Chan, trans., The Way of Lao Tsu (Tao te Ching) (1963); H Welch, The Parting of the Way (1957); M Kaltenmark, Lao - Tzu and Taoism (1969).
Tao Te Ching (Daode Jing)
{dow duh jing}
General Information
A philosophical classic by Lao - Tzu, the Tao Te Ching is the single most important text of Chinese Taoism. According to tradition, the sage composed its approximately 5,000 words in the 6th century BC at the request of a gatekeeper who wanted a record of his teachings. The book is now considered to date from the 4th century BC. Laced with richly poetic imagery, it counsels balance, restraint, simplicity, and the avoidance of activity and desire as the means of achieving harmony with the natural currents of the Tao, or universal way. In ancient China Lao - tzu's thoughts rivaled those of Confucius in popularity, and his book has elicited hundreds of commentaries and translations.
Bibliography:
Lao - tzu, Tao Te Ching (1964); B B Sims, Lao - tzu and the 'Te Ching' (1971).
Taoism
Catholic Information
(TAO-KIAO.)
Taoism is the second of the three state religions (San-kiao) of China. This religion is derived from the philosophical doctrines of Lao-tze. "Lao-tze's Taoism", says Legge (Religions of China, 229), "is the exhibition of a way or method of living which men should cultivate as the highest and purest development of their nature". According to De Groot (Religious System of China, IV, p. 66): "Taoism, as the word indicates, is the Religion of the Tao, a term meaning Path or Way, but denoting in this peculiar case the way, course or movement of the Universe, her processes and methods. In other words, Taoism is the Religion of Heaven and Earth, of the Cosmos, of the World or Nature in the broadest sense of these words. Hence we may call it Naturism".
Lao-tze, the equivalent to "the Old or Venerable Philosopher" (if taken as a title of respect), or to "Old Boy" (if literally translated), was born in the third year of Ting Wang, Prince of Chou, i.e. in 604, at K'io-jin, in the Kingdom of Ts'u, today Ho-nan Province. The legend given by Ko Hung in his "Record of Spirits and Immortals" (written in the fourth century A.D.), says that "he was not born till his mother had carried him in her womb seventy-two years or, according to some accounts, eighty-one years". "No wonder", adds Legge (1. c., pp. 203-4) "that the child should have had white hair, - an 'old boy' of about fourscore years!" This date of 604, in accordance with historical tradition, is not given by Sze-ma Ts'ien in the biography which he devoted to the philosopher in his "She-ki" (Historical Memoirs); if this date be accepted, it is difficult to admit of the authenticity of the meeting between Lao-tze and Confucius, 500 B.C.; if the latter was then fifty-one years old according to Chwang-tze, Lao-tze was then one hundred and four years old.
The family name of Lao-tze was Li, his name Eul (meaning "Ear"), his honorary title Pe-yang, and his posthumous name Tan (meaning "Flat-eared"). He was one of the "Sze", recorders, historiographers, keepers of the archives of Lo, the Court of the princes of the Chou dynasty. Foreseeing the decay of this dynasty, he gave up his office, and undertook a journey; at the Han-kou Pass, Ho-nan Province, the watchman, Yin Hi, begged him to write his thoughts for his own instruction before he retired from the world; consequently, Lao-tze wrote his work in two parts in the Tao and the Te, and having entrusted it to Yin Hi, he disappeared; the time of the death of the philosopher is not known. Lao-tze had a son Called Tsung who was a general of the Kingdom of Wei and who obtained the grant of land at Twan-kan. His son named Chu had himself a child Kung; Hia, grandson of Kung, was an official under Emperor Hiao-wen-ti, of the Han dynasty. Kiai, son of Hia, became a minister of K'iang, King of kiao-si, and, owing to this circumstance, settled with his family in the Kingdom of Ts'i.
This story is too matter of fact and lacks the marvellous legend which should surround the person of the chief of a new religion. Legend was provided for. Ko Hung, already mentioned, had placed the legend of Lao-tze at the beginning of the "Shon-sion-ch'-wan" (Records of Spirits and Immortals), and he says: "His mother carried him after the emotion she felt in seeing a large shooting star. He received from Heaven the vital breath; as he was born in a house whose proprietor was called Li (Pear tree), so he was named Li". Some authors say that Lao-tze was born before heaven and earth. According to others, he possessed a pure soul emanated from heaven, He belonged to the Class of spirits and gods. The chief work of Lao-tze, in fact the only one which has been ascribed to him with some probability, is the "Tao-teh-king". In the "China Review" (March-April, 1886), Dr. Herbert A. Giles wrote a sensational article, "The Remains of Lao Tzu", to show by various arguments that the "Tao-teh-king" is a spurious work and that its now spurious portions have been mostly mistranslated. It was the starting-point of a controversy in which Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Legge, Dr. Edkins, and some other sinologues took part. The authenticity of the work has been admitted by most of them. Wylie says (Notes on Chinese Literature, new ed., p. 216): "The only work which is known to be truly the production of Lao Keun is the 'Taòu tih king', which has maintained its reputation and secured a popularity to a certain extent among reading men generally of every denomination." Legge writes (Religions of China, p. 203): "No other writing has come down to us from the pencil of Lâo-tsze, its author", and (Brit. Quart. Rev., July, 1883, p. 9): "We know that Lao Tzu wrote the 'Tao Tê Ching'", and (p. 11): "The 'Tao Tê Ching' is a genuine relic of one of the most original minds of the Chinese race, putting his thoughts on record 2400 years ago." The German E. Faber (China Rev., XIII, 241) says that "there is little room left for doubts regarding the authenticity of our Canon."
Besides the "Tao-teh-king" a good many works treat of Taoism: the "Yin-fu-king-kiai" which professes to be an exposition of the oldest Taoist record in existence; "Ts'ing-tsing-king" (The Book of Purity and Rest); the "T'ai-hsi-king" (Respiration of the Embryo); the "T'ai-shang-Kan-ying-pien" (Tractate of Actions and their Retributions).
The chief Taoist philosophers are: Tsou-yuen (400 B. C.), author of a work on the influences of the five ruling elements, influenced by Buddhist doctrines; Kweiku-tze (380 B. C.), a mystic, astrologer, and fortune-teller; Ho-kwan-tze (325-298 B.C.), an orthodox Confucianist when writing on jurisprudence, a Taoist in other writings; Chwang-tze (330 B. C.), the author of the "Nan-hua" classic, the adversary to Mencius, and according to Eitel "the most original thinker China ever produced"; Shi-tze (280 B. C.), a Taoist writer, influenced by the heterodox philosopher, Yang-chu (450 B. C.), the Apostle of Selfishness; the statesman Han-feitze (250 B. C.); Liu-ngan or Hwai-nan-tze (died 112 B. C.), a cosmogonist. But the first disciples of Lao-tze were Kang-sang-tze (570-543 B. C.), the first expositor of Taoism as a distinct system, the sceptic Li-tze (500 B. C.), and Wen-tze (500 B. C.). The historian Sze-ma-ts'ien speaking of Chwang-tze says: "He wrote with a view to asperse the Confucian school and to glorify the mysteries of Lao Tze. . . His teachings are like an overwhelming flood, which spreads at its own sweet will. Consequently, from rulers and ministers downwards, none could apply them to any definite use." Giles (Chinese Literature, 60) concludes from this passage: "Here we have the key to the triumph of the Tao of Confucius over the Tao of Lao Tze. The latter was idealistic, the former a practical system for every-day use."
As De Groot observes (l. s. c., IV, 67): "Taoism being fundamentally a religion of the Cosmos and its subdivisions, old Chinese Cosmogony is its Theogony. It conceives the Universe as one large organism of powers and influences, a living machine, the core of which is the Great Ultimate Principle or T'ai-kih, comprising the two cosmic Breaths or Souls, known as the Yang and the Yin, of which, respectively, Heaven and Earth are the chief depositories. These two souls produce the four seasons, and the phenomena of Nature represented by the lineal figures called kwa". In fact the Yang and the Yin produce by the power of their co-operation all that exists, man included. Ancient Chinese philosophy attributes to man two souls:
The shen, or immaterial soul, emanates from the ethereal, celestial part of the Cosmos, and consists of yang substance. When operating actively in the living human body, it is called k'i or 'breath', and kwun; when separated from it after death, it lives as a refulgent spirit, styled ming.
The kwei, the material, substantial soul, emanates from the terrestrial part of the Universe, and is formed of yin substance. In living man it operates under the name of p'oh and on his death it returns to the Earth" (De Groot, IV, p. 5).
Thus the kwei is buried with the man and the shen lingers about the tomb. Marking the distinction between the two souls, there existed in the legendary period, according to the "Li-ki", a sacrificial worship to each soul separately: the hwun or k'i returns to heaven, the p'oh returns to earth. These two souls are composite; in fact all the viscera have a particular shen. "There are medical authors who ascribe to man an indefinite number of souls or soul-parts, or, as they express. it, a hundred shen. Those souls, they say, shift in the body according to the age of the owner; so, e.g. when he is 25, 31, 68 or 74, and older they dwell in his forehead, so that it is then very dangerous to have boils or ulcers there, because effusion of the blood would entail death. At other times of life they nestle under the feet or in other parts and limbs, and only in the 21st, 38th, 41st, and 50th years of life they are distributed equally through the body, so that open abscesses, wherever they appear, do not heal then at all. Such pathologic nonsense regulates, of course, medical practice to a high degree" (De Groot, IV, p. 75). The liver, the lungs, and the kidneys correspond to the spring, to the autumn, to the winter, as well as to the east, the west, and the north. The soul may be extracted from a living man; the body may still live when left by the soul, for instance during sleep; the soul of a dead man may be reborn into other bodies. Ghosts may enter into relation with the living, not only in dreams, but they may take revenge on their enemies.
At the head of the Taoist Pantheon is a trinity of persons:
Yuen-shi-t'ien-tsun, "the honoured one of heaven, first in time", residing in "the jade-stone region", who created the three worlds;
Ling-pan-t'ien-tsun, "the honored one of heaven who is valued and powerful", residing in the "upper pure region", collector of the sacred books, calculator of the succession of time, and the regulator of the two principles yin and yang;
Lao-tze himself, who exposed to mankind the doctrines uttered by the first person in the trinity and collected in the form of books by the second.
Next come: Yuh-hwang-ta-ti, "the great jade-stone emperor", who governs the physical universe; Hen-t'u-hwang-ti-k'i, "Spirit of imperial earth, ruler of the soil"; the star gods, whose lord (sing-chu) resides in a star near the pole; T'ien-hwang-ta-ti, who lives in the pole star, etc.; Liu-tsu, the "father of thunder". "While he discourses on doctrine, his foot rests on nine beautiful birds. He has under him thirty-six generals, t'ien tsiang" (Edkins, "Journ. North China Br. Roy. Asiat. Soc.," III, Dec., 1859, p. 311); the sun and moon; the San-yuen or San-kwan, "the three rulers" who preside over three departments of physical nature, heaven, earth, and water; Hiuen-kien-shang-ti, "high emperor of the dark heaven", who is described as the model of the true ascetic. He has transformed himself eighty-two times to become the instructor of men in the three national religions (Edkins, l. c., p. 312). A number of personages were worshipped under the name of tsu, patriarchs. Confucius himself has a place assigned him among the deities of this religion, and he is addressed as "the honoured one of heaven who causes literature to flourish and the world to prosper" (Edkins). Some men have been worshipped as gods after their death: Kwan-ti, the god of war; Hu-tsu, a physician; a medical divinity, Ko-tsu Sa-tsu ; etc.
One may well ask how the pure abstract doctrine of Lao-tze was turned into a medley of alchemical researches, a practice of witchcraft, with the addition of Buddhist superstitions, which constitute today what is called Tao-kiao, the religion or the teaching of Tao. This was the work of a legendary being, Chang Tao-ling, a descendant of the eighth generation of Chang Leang, a celebrated advisor of Liu-pang, founder of the Han dynasty. He was born in the tenth year of the Emperor Kwang Wu-ti (A. D. 34) in a cottage of a small village of the Che-kiang Province, at the foot of the T'ien-mu-Shan, in the Hang-chou Prefecture. At an early age Chang studied the works of Lao-tze to which he added researches of alchemy, a science aiming at "prolonging life beyond the limits assigned by nature". He found the drug of immortality, and by order of Lao-tze he destroyed the six great demons of the province; Lao-tze gave him also two books, two swords, one male, one female, a seal Called Tu-kung, etc. Chang gave his swords and books to his son Heng, bidding him to continue his pontificate from generation to generation. At noon on the seventh day of the first moon of the second year Yung-shou of the Han Emperor Heng (A. D. 157), Tao-ling ascended the Cloudy Mountain (Yun-shan) with his wife and two disciples, and with them disappeared into heaven. Chang Heng, son of Chang Tao-ling, continued his father's tradition both in spiritual and alchemical researches, and Chang Lu the grandson, played an important part in the Yellow Cap Rebellion at the beginning of the Han dynasty. During the fifth century A. D., when the Wei dynasty was ruling in Northern China, a certain K'iu Kien-che tried to substitute himself to the Chang family and received in 423 from the emperor the title of T'ien-shi, "Preceptor of Heaven", which formerly belonged to Tao-ling. In 748 the T'ang Emperor Hiuen-Tsung conferred this title upon the heirs of the latter, and a grant of a large property near Lung-hu Shan was made to them in 1016 by the Sung Emperor Chen-Tsung. Heredity in the charge of high priest of the cult was secured to the descendants of Chang by the transmigration of the soul of Tao-ling's successor, at the time of his demise, to the body of a junior member of the family, whose selection is indicated by a supernatural phenomenon.
To-day, at the head of the Taoist hierarchy is the Cheng-i-sze-kiao-chen-jen, "Heir to the founder of the Taoist sect"; this title was conferred by the Ming dynasty upon Chang Cheng-shang, descendant from Chang Tao-ling of the thirty-ninth generation. This title "belongs, by an hereditary privilege, to the firstborn descending in a direct line from Chang Tao-ling. He lives upon the Lung-hu Mountain, in the Kiang-si Province. His office consists in using his magical art to frighten demons away, to baffle diabolical influence, and to refrain the evil-doing souls of the dead. He names the new Ch'eng-hwang, 'tutelary deities of the cities', and for a fee, he gives to Taoists titles permitting them to celebrate the ceremonies with more solemnity" (P. Hoang, "Mélanges sur l'Administration", 34). In the capital of the empire the Taoist priesthood includes: two Tao-lu-sze, superiors, a title corresponding with that of the Buddhists, seng-lu-sze; two Cheng-i, Taoists of right simplicity; two Yen-fa, ritual Taoists; two Che-ling, Taoists of great excellence, thaumaturgus; and two Che-i, Taoists of great probity, an inferior class of priests. In the provinces at the head of the priesthood are: Tao-ki-sze Ton-ki, superior of the Taoists of a fu (prefectute), and Tao-ki-sze Fou Ton-ki, vice-superior of the Taoists of a fu; Tao-cheng, superior of the Taoists of a chou or a t'ing; Tao-hwei, superior of the Taoists of a hien. The superiors are appointed by the governors-general (tsung-tu), or by the governors (fu-t'ai), on the presentation of the prefect of sub-prefect of the chou, t'ing, or hien.
Publication information Written by Henri Cordier. Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter. Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIV. Published 1912. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
The individual articles presented here were generally first published in the early 1980s. This subject presentation was first placed on the Internet in May 1997.
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The Geography of Taoism
The Essentials of the Faith
Founded: Taoism was founded in sixth century CE by the philosopher Li Uhr, commonly known as Lao Tze. Lao Tze is an honorific title meaning either "Old Boy" or "Old Philosopher". Little trustworthy is written about the life of Lao Tze, but the story is told how as Lao Tze was leaving public life as an old man, he was stopped at the city gate and begged to leave behind his wisdom. Lao Tze stopped long enough to write a document of 5,000 characters, now known as the Tao-Te Ching, and departed never to be heard from again (Ballou, pp. 533-535).
Adherents: Taoism is distributed throughout the world, but in very small numbers in areas where Chinese thought has not had influence. It is presently predominant in China and Taiwan. Yet, exact numbers are not known because a clear distinction between the practitioners of Taoism and Confucianism does not entirely exist.
Distribution: The figures of distribution listed below are for all traditional Chinese religionists, including local deities, ancestor veneration, Confucian ethics, Taoists, divination, as well as some Buddhist elements, are given as follows from Markham, pp. 356-357:
Area Adherents Population Percentage
Africa 13,000 0.0%
Asia 186,817,000 5.8%
Europe 60,000 0.0%
Latin America 73,000 0.0%
Northern America 122,000 0.0%
Oceania 21,000 0.1%
Eurasia 1,000 0.0%
World 187,107,000 3.4%
Major Teachings: Taoism is the belief in the natural order of things. Ch'i, which means breath, is central to Taoism. Cosmic energy is derived from Ch'i, and is from which yin and yang spring. Ch'i was split into the light, yang breath forming heaven, and into the dark yin breath, forming Earth. The yin and yang, therefore, are a part of one another and are constantly striving for a balance.
Scriptures and Significant Writings: The primary text of Taoism is the Tao-Te Ching, the collection of wisdom from Lao Tze. Also important is the Lieh-tzu, a collection of stories and philosophical musings, and the Chuang-tzu.
Symbols: The symbol most universally recognized for Taoism is the circle divided into black and white, representing yin and yang. Within the yin and the yang is a little spot of the opposite, demonstrating that they are in reality a part of the other. This symbol is portrayed on the button representing Taoism on this website and is shown here.
Major Divisions: There are various sects and divisions within Taoism. The most prominent is the Heavenly (or Celestial) Masters sect, founded in West China in the second century CE. It was founded by Chang Tao-ling who supposedly possessed healing powers. The sect advocated faith healing through the confession of sin. The Mao-shan (Mount Mao) sect, founded in the fourth century, introduced rituals involving both external and internal alchemy, mediumistic practice, and visionary communication with divinities (having been mortals who through diligent practice achieved immortality).
The Details about Taoism
Taoism is a philosophy that is deeply embedded into the traditions and history of China. It is difficult to distinguish between what is Taoist and what is Confucian because they both have many of the same ideas about man, society, rulers, Heaven, and the universe. Confucianism deals with the practical and the earthly while Taoism deals with the esoteric and the heavenly. Both beliefs stem from traditional Chinese ideas that were not delegated to one religion. Therefore, it is difficult to place the origins of Taoism. Yet, it is believed to have been present in China as far back as 500 or 600 BCE.
Lao Tze is the principal figure in Taoism. The author of the Tao-Te Ching, Lao Tze was the first to take Taoistic principles and put them in writing. The Tao-Te Ching is the basis of many other works in Taoism. Interpretations of the parables within the work are diverse. Therefore, many different sects have developed. Yet, there are some inherent principles that remain throughout the changes of Taoism.
Most of the Tao-Te Ching deals with the interaction of yin and yang and their influences upon nature. Yin represents the female and is serene and without motive. Yang represents the masculine aspects of the universe, which are hot, dry, and active. The ideal balance is to able to retain the characteristics of both. The nature of paradox illustrates this balance of yin and yang. Tao represents "the way" or "the path" or possibly even "God". Te means virtue. Thus, the title of the Tao-Te Ching might be rendered "The Canon of the Way of Virtue" (Ballou, p. 535).
The highest motive is to be like water:
water is essential to all life,
yet it does not demand a fee
or proclaim its importance.
Rather, it flows humbly to the lowest level,
and in so doing it is much like Tao....
Nothing in the world is weaker
or more yielding than water;
yet nothing is its equal in wearing away
the hard and the strong.
There is nothing quite like it.
Thus, the weak can overpower the strong;
the flexible can overcome the rigid.
The whole world can perceive this,
but does not put it into practice.
-- The Tao-Te Ching,
sutras 8 and 78, pp. 16, 17.
In addition to Ch'i, yin, and yang, there are other characteristics of Taoism that are just as important. According to Wu Wei, one should not work against the natural order of things. This does not mean complete inaction, rather it means that whatever action one does, it is so perfect in harmony with the natural order, that there is no trace of the action. Nothing can be achieved unless Wu Wei is incorporated. For this reason, every time the natural order is deliberately intervened upon, the exact opposite of what was trying to be accomplished will result. Failure, therefore, is the only result of nonconformity to the Wu Wei.
Taoists do not concern themselves with society. Taoism is a very individual philosophy in that Taoists are expected to value their own life above all else. They should not worry about wealth and power. These are not the concerns of people. There is no need to sacrifice oneself for the good of society. Everyone is responsible for their own Ch'i.
Taoism looks upon death as a natural occurrence that one should not fear or dread. Yet, as the philosophy evolved into different sects, there are some who seek immortality. These believe that, even though death is natural, it can be avoided by practicing Taoism so completely that the energy of the soul is released and the person becomes pure cosmic energy. This is directly connected to the Ch'i which each person is filled with at birth. To strive against the natural order depletes the Ch'i; yet through practicing Wu Wei, it can actually be retained.
Because Taoism is very concerned with the health of the spirit, the body, which directly reflects that health, is a primary concern. If one is unhealthy, it could be from an imbalance in the Ch'i. Medicine and different ceremonies were adapted to help balance the Ch'i. Through this belief, the herbal remedies associated with Chinese medicine originated.
Taoism, in it's involvement in maintaining the balance of the natural order, is preoccupied with repairing that balance. Through medicine and meditation, this balance is maintained. Therefore, many of the Taoistic ceremonies center around this need. The Mao Shan sect believed that those with special powers could be used as a medium to dispense a cure for illnesses. The spirit that was within them could speak through the medium and prescribe the correct medication or course to take to heal someone.
The Geography of Taoism
The organization of space, both spiritually and physically, is very important in Taoism. In fact, an art of household design, based on Taoist principles, exists called Feng-shui.
Space continued to interact with Taoism as the various sects developed. For example, the Mao-shan sect hold the Mao Shan mountains in Kaing-su province as sacred because of their belief in a massive period of cleansing of the earth with fire and flood. The good will take refuge deep within the earth, in caverns of the perfected beneath the mountains of Mao Shan.
References
Ballou, Robert O., (Editor), The Viking Portable Library World Library. New York: The Viking Press, 1967.
MacHovec, Frank J., (Translator), The Book of Tao. White Plains, NY: Peter Pauper Press, Inc., 1962.
Markham, Ian S., (Editor), A World Religions Reader. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1996.
O'Brian, Joanne, and Mark Palmer, The State of Religion Atlas. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.
Links for More Information
Anne Morken's Taoism Page
Pooh-Wei Corner
Su Tzu's Chinese Philosophy Page (lots of Taoist texts!)
Taoism Depot
Taoism Information Page
Taoism and the Philosophy of Tai Chi Chuan
Taoist Resource Center
Tao-Te Ching by Lao Tzu
The Temple of the Immortal Spirit
Thigpen's Taoism Page
Version 1.0 dated 1.15.98
Return to The Geography of Religion Menu Page
The Essentials of the Faith
Founded: Taoism was founded in sixth century CE by the philosopher Li Uhr, commonly known as Lao Tze. Lao Tze is an honorific title meaning either "Old Boy" or "Old Philosopher". Little trustworthy is written about the life of Lao Tze, but the story is told how as Lao Tze was leaving public life as an old man, he was stopped at the city gate and begged to leave behind his wisdom. Lao Tze stopped long enough to write a document of 5,000 characters, now known as the Tao-Te Ching, and departed never to be heard from again (Ballou, pp. 533-535).
Adherents: Taoism is distributed throughout the world, but in very small numbers in areas where Chinese thought has not had influence. It is presently predominant in China and Taiwan. Yet, exact numbers are not known because a clear distinction between the practitioners of Taoism and Confucianism does not entirely exist.
Distribution: The figures of distribution listed below are for all traditional Chinese religionists, including local deities, ancestor veneration, Confucian ethics, Taoists, divination, as well as some Buddhist elements, are given as follows from Markham, pp. 356-357:
Area Adherents Population Percentage
Africa 13,000 0.0%
Asia 186,817,000 5.8%
Europe 60,000 0.0%
Latin America 73,000 0.0%
Northern America 122,000 0.0%
Oceania 21,000 0.1%
Eurasia 1,000 0.0%
World 187,107,000 3.4%
Major Teachings: Taoism is the belief in the natural order of things. Ch'i, which means breath, is central to Taoism. Cosmic energy is derived from Ch'i, and is from which yin and yang spring. Ch'i was split into the light, yang breath forming heaven, and into the dark yin breath, forming Earth. The yin and yang, therefore, are a part of one another and are constantly striving for a balance.
Scriptures and Significant Writings: The primary text of Taoism is the Tao-Te Ching, the collection of wisdom from Lao Tze. Also important is the Lieh-tzu, a collection of stories and philosophical musings, and the Chuang-tzu.
Symbols: The symbol most universally recognized for Taoism is the circle divided into black and white, representing yin and yang. Within the yin and the yang is a little spot of the opposite, demonstrating that they are in reality a part of the other. This symbol is portrayed on the button representing Taoism on this website and is shown here.
Major Divisions: There are various sects and divisions within Taoism. The most prominent is the Heavenly (or Celestial) Masters sect, founded in West China in the second century CE. It was founded by Chang Tao-ling who supposedly possessed healing powers. The sect advocated faith healing through the confession of sin. The Mao-shan (Mount Mao) sect, founded in the fourth century, introduced rituals involving both external and internal alchemy, mediumistic practice, and visionary communication with divinities (having been mortals who through diligent practice achieved immortality).
The Details about Taoism
Taoism is a philosophy that is deeply embedded into the traditions and history of China. It is difficult to distinguish between what is Taoist and what is Confucian because they both have many of the same ideas about man, society, rulers, Heaven, and the universe. Confucianism deals with the practical and the earthly while Taoism deals with the esoteric and the heavenly. Both beliefs stem from traditional Chinese ideas that were not delegated to one religion. Therefore, it is difficult to place the origins of Taoism. Yet, it is believed to have been present in China as far back as 500 or 600 BCE.
Lao Tze is the principal figure in Taoism. The author of the Tao-Te Ching, Lao Tze was the first to take Taoistic principles and put them in writing. The Tao-Te Ching is the basis of many other works in Taoism. Interpretations of the parables within the work are diverse. Therefore, many different sects have developed. Yet, there are some inherent principles that remain throughout the changes of Taoism.
Most of the Tao-Te Ching deals with the interaction of yin and yang and their influences upon nature. Yin represents the female and is serene and without motive. Yang represents the masculine aspects of the universe, which are hot, dry, and active. The ideal balance is to able to retain the characteristics of both. The nature of paradox illustrates this balance of yin and yang. Tao represents "the way" or "the path" or possibly even "God". Te means virtue. Thus, the title of the Tao-Te Ching might be rendered "The Canon of the Way of Virtue" (Ballou, p. 535).
The highest motive is to be like water:
water is essential to all life,
yet it does not demand a fee
or proclaim its importance.
Rather, it flows humbly to the lowest level,
and in so doing it is much like Tao....
Nothing in the world is weaker
or more yielding than water;
yet nothing is its equal in wearing away
the hard and the strong.
There is nothing quite like it.
Thus, the weak can overpower the strong;
the flexible can overcome the rigid.
The whole world can perceive this,
but does not put it into practice.
-- The Tao-Te Ching,
sutras 8 and 78, pp. 16, 17.
In addition to Ch'i, yin, and yang, there are other characteristics of Taoism that are just as important. According to Wu Wei, one should not work against the natural order of things. This does not mean complete inaction, rather it means that whatever action one does, it is so perfect in harmony with the natural order, that there is no trace of the action. Nothing can be achieved unless Wu Wei is incorporated. For this reason, every time the natural order is deliberately intervened upon, the exact opposite of what was trying to be accomplished will result. Failure, therefore, is the only result of nonconformity to the Wu Wei.
Taoists do not concern themselves with society. Taoism is a very individual philosophy in that Taoists are expected to value their own life above all else. They should not worry about wealth and power. These are not the concerns of people. There is no need to sacrifice oneself for the good of society. Everyone is responsible for their own Ch'i.
Taoism looks upon death as a natural occurrence that one should not fear or dread. Yet, as the philosophy evolved into different sects, there are some who seek immortality. These believe that, even though death is natural, it can be avoided by practicing Taoism so completely that the energy of the soul is released and the person becomes pure cosmic energy. This is directly connected to the Ch'i which each person is filled with at birth. To strive against the natural order depletes the Ch'i; yet through practicing Wu Wei, it can actually be retained.
Because Taoism is very concerned with the health of the spirit, the body, which directly reflects that health, is a primary concern. If one is unhealthy, it could be from an imbalance in the Ch'i. Medicine and different ceremonies were adapted to help balance the Ch'i. Through this belief, the herbal remedies associated with Chinese medicine originated.
Taoism, in it's involvement in maintaining the balance of the natural order, is preoccupied with repairing that balance. Through medicine and meditation, this balance is maintained. Therefore, many of the Taoistic ceremonies center around this need. The Mao Shan sect believed that those with special powers could be used as a medium to dispense a cure for illnesses. The spirit that was within them could speak through the medium and prescribe the correct medication or course to take to heal someone.
The Geography of Taoism
The organization of space, both spiritually and physically, is very important in Taoism. In fact, an art of household design, based on Taoist principles, exists called Feng-shui.
Space continued to interact with Taoism as the various sects developed. For example, the Mao-shan sect hold the Mao Shan mountains in Kaing-su province as sacred because of their belief in a massive period of cleansing of the earth with fire and flood. The good will take refuge deep within the earth, in caverns of the perfected beneath the mountains of Mao Shan.
References
Ballou, Robert O., (Editor), The Viking Portable Library World Library. New York: The Viking Press, 1967.
MacHovec, Frank J., (Translator), The Book of Tao. White Plains, NY: Peter Pauper Press, Inc., 1962.
Markham, Ian S., (Editor), A World Religions Reader. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1996.
O'Brian, Joanne, and Mark Palmer, The State of Religion Atlas. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.
Links for More Information
Anne Morken's Taoism Page
Pooh-Wei Corner
Su Tzu's Chinese Philosophy Page (lots of Taoist texts!)
Taoism Depot
Taoism Information Page
Taoism and the Philosophy of Tai Chi Chuan
Taoist Resource Center
Tao-Te Ching by Lao Tzu
The Temple of the Immortal Spirit
Thigpen's Taoism Page
Version 1.0 dated 1.15.98
Return to The Geography of Religion Menu Page
Faith healing
Faith healing
Topic HomeDiscussionDefinition
OverviewFaith healing is healing claimed to be brought about by religious faith—either through prayers or rituals that, according to adherents, evoke a divine presence and power toward correcting disease and disability. Belief in divine intervention in illness or healing is related to religious belief. In common usage, faith healing refers to notably overt and ritualistic practices of communal prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are claimed to solicit divine intervention in initiating spiritual and literal healing.
Claims that prayer, divine intervention, or the ministrations of an individual healer can cure illness have been popular throughout history.
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Unanswered QuestionsHow can you talk on the phone to someone you can't see and not believe in a God who can grow a ear where there wasn't one? Recent DiscussionsWinging scapula injury story EncyclopediaFaith healing is healing claimed to be brought about by religious faith—either through prayers or rituals that, according to adherents, evoke a divine presence and power toward correcting disease and disability. Belief in divine intervention in illness or healing is related to religious belief. In common usage, faith healing refers to notably overt and ritualistic practices of communal prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are claimed to solicit divine intervention in initiating spiritual and literal healing.
Claims that prayer, divine intervention, or the ministrations of an individual healer can cure illness have been popular throughout history. Miraculous recoveries have been attributed to many techniques commonly lumped together as "faith healing". It can involve prayer, a visit to a religious shrine, or simply a strong belief in a supreme being.
The term is best known in connection with Christianity. Some people interpret the Bible, especially the New Testament, as teaching belief in, and practice of, faith healing. There have been claims that faith can cure blindness, deafness, cancer, AIDS, developmental disorders, anemia, arthritis, corns, defective speech, multiple sclerosis, skin rashes, total body paralysis, and various injuries.
Unlike faith healing, advocates of spiritual healing make no attempt to seek divine intervention. The increased interest in alternative medicine at the end of the twentieth century has given rise to a parallel interest among sociologists in the relationship of religion to health.
The American Cancer Society states "available scientific evidence does not support claims that faith healing can actually cure physical ailments." "Death, disability, and other unwanted outcomes have occurred when faith healing was elected instead of medical care for serious injuries or illnesses."
In various belief systems
Faith Healing claims have been made by many religions and the sick have visited their shrines in hopes of recovery.
Overview
One use of the term faith healing is in reference to the belief of some Christians that God heals people through the power of the Holy Spirit, often involving the laying on of hands. It is also called supernatural healing, divine healing, and miracle healing, among other things. In the Old Testament, Jehovah-Rapha, translated "I am the Lord your Physician" or "I am the Lord who heals you", is one of the seven redemptive names for Jehovah God. Healing in the Bible is often associated with the ministry of specific individuals including Elijah, Jesus and Paul.
Christian physician Reginald B. Cherry views faith healing as a pathway of healing in which God uses both the natural and the supernatural to heal. Being healed has been described as a privilege of accepting Christ's redemption on the cross.p says, "This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah, 53:5 (NKJV): 'He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.'" "Faith" in this context is based on biblical uses of the term. Faith has been called "the very nature of God." A classic definition of faith appears in the New Testament: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…." Charisma writer Larry Keefauver considers it important to distinguish between the faith aspect in seeking a cure and the divine source of the healing. points to God as the source: "I am the Lord that heals you." "The truth is that God is the God who heals. Faith is trusting the God who heals. Faith is a radical, absolute surrender to the God who heals. Faith is not holding on for your healing but holding on to the God who can do the impossible."
Some Christian writers believe it extremely rare that God provides a supernatural intervention that actually reverses the natural laws governing the human body. Keefauver cautions against allowing enthusiasm for faith healing to stir up false hopes "so that a sufferer stakes all his or her faith on belief in miraculous healing at this level. We cannot build a water-tight theology promising physical healing, surely, for the most 'miracle-ridden' Christian will die in the end, yielding to the natural processes of senescence." Those who actively lay hands on others and pray with them to be healed are usually aware that healing may not always follow immediately. Proponents of faith healing say it may come later, but that it may not come at all.
Some biblical examples
In the four gospels in the New Testament, Jesus cures physical ailments well outside the capacity of first-century medicine. Most dramatic perhaps is the case of "a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was not better but rather grew worse." After healing her, Jesus tells her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace! Be cured from your illness." At least two other times Jesus credited the sufferer's faith as the means of being healed: and .
Jesus endorses the use of the medical assistance of the time (medicines of oil and wine) when he praises the Good Samaritan for acting as a physician, telling his disciples to go and do the same thing that the Samaritan did in the story.
The healing in the gospels is referred to as a "sign" to prove Jesus' divinity and to foster belief in him as the Christ. However, when asked for other types of miracles, Jesus refuses some but grants others in consideration of the motive of the request. Some theologians' understanding is that Jesus healed all who were present every single time. Sometimes he determines whether they had faith that he would heal them.
Jesus commands his followers to heal the sick and states that signs such as healing are evidence of faith. Jesus also commands his followers to "cure sick people, raise up dead persons, make lepers clean, expel demons. You received free, give free."
Jesus sternly orders many who received healing from him: "Do not tell anyone!" Jesus did not approve of anyone asking for a sign just for the spectacle of it, describing such as coming from a "wicked and adulterous generation."
The apostle Paul believes healing is one of the special gifts of the Holy Spirit, and that the possibility exists that certain persons may possess this gift to an extraordinarily high degree.
In the New Testament Epistle of James, the faithful are told that to be healed, those who are sick should call upon the elders of the church to pray over [them] and anoint [them] with oil in the name of the Lord.
After Jesus' death, Peter and Paul heal the sick and cast out demons, make a lame man walk, and raise the dead.
Research of beliefs about miraculous healing
A study of beliefs about miraculous healing among the more religiously committed has indicated that there are significant differences in belief about miraculous healing even among people within the same denomination (Anglican). Researchers found that positive belief in faith healing was mainly a characteristic of conservative Christians, most especially those with charismatic experience. Belief about miraculous healing was seen as a subset of belief about health and well-being in general. Older people had less belief in miraculous healing or the sovereignty of God over illness, while those with experience of higher education had more inclusive beliefs about miraculous healing and saw human input as less important in the healing process. The study further showed that people with degrees or post-graduate qualifications can and do believe in the possibility of miraculous healing. No significant gender differences were noted.
Pentecostalism/Charismatic movement
At the beginning of the 20th century, the new Pentecostal movement drew participants from the Holiness movement and other movements in America that already believed in divine healing. By the 1930s, several faith healers drew large crowds and established worldwide followings.
The first Pentecostals in the modern sense appeared in Topeka, Kansas, in a Bible school conducted by Charles Fox Parham, a holiness teacher and former Methodist pastor. Pentecostalism achieved worldwide attention in 1906 through the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles led by William Joseph Seymour.
During the Azusa Street meetings, according to witnesses who wrote about them, blind, crippled or other sick people would be healed. Some of the participants would eventually minister extensively in this area. For example, John G. Lake was present during the years of the Azusa Street revival. Lake had earned huge sums of money in the insurance business at the turn of the century but gave away his possessions with the exception of food for his children while he and his wife fasted on a trip to Africa to do missionary work. Certain people he had never met before gave him money and keys to a place to stay which were required to enter South Africa at the dock. His writings tell of numerous healing miracles he and others performed as over 500 churches were planted in South Africa. Lake returned to the U.S. and set up healing rooms in Spokane, Washington.
Smith Wigglesworth was also a well-known figure in the early part of the 20th century. A former English plumber turned evangelist who lived simply and read nothing but the Bible from the time his wife taught him to read, Wigglesworth traveled around the world preaching about Jesus and performing faith healings. Wigglesworth claimed to raise several people from the dead in Jesus' name in his meetings.p
During the 1920s and 1930s, Aimee Semple McPherson was a controversial faith healer of growing popularity during the Great Depression. Subsequently, William Branham has been credited as being the founder of the pos-World War II healing revivals. By the late 1940s, Oral Roberts was well known, and he continued with faith healing until the 1980s. A friend of Roberts was Kathryn Kuhlman, another popular faith healer, who gained fame in the 1950s and had a television program on CBS. Also in this era, Jack Coe and A. A. Allen were faith healers who traveled with large tents for large open-air crusades.
Oral Roberts's successful use of television as a medium to gain a wider audience led others to follow suit. His former pilot, Kenneth Copeland, started a healing ministry. Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, and Peter Popoff became well-known televangelists who claimed to heal the sick. Richard Rossi is known for advertising his healing clinics through secular television and radio. Kuhlman influenced Benny Hinn, who adopted some of her techniques and wrote a book about her.
Catholicism
Faith healing is reported by Catholics as the result of intercessory prayer to a saint or to a person with the gift of healing. According to U.S. Catholic magazine, "Even in this skeptical, postmodern, scientific age—miracles really are possible." Three-fourths of American Catholics say they pray for miracles.
According to Notre Dame theology professor John Cavadini, when healing is granted, "The miracle is not primarily for the person healed, but for all people, as a sign of God's work in the ultimate healing called 'salvation,' or a sign of the kingdom that is coming." Some might view their own healing as a sign they are particularly worthy or holy, while others do not deserve it.
The Catholic Church has a special Congregation dedicated to the careful investigation of the validity of alleged miracles attributed to prospective saints. Since Catholic Christians believe the lives of canonized saints in the Church will reflect Christ's, they have come to actually expect healing miracles. While the popular conception of a miracle can be wide-ranging, the Catholic Church has a specific definition for the kind of miracle formally recognized in a canonization process.
Among the best-known accounts by Catholics of faith healings are those attributed to the miraculous intercession of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary known as Our Lady of Lourdes at the grotto of Lourdes in France and the remissions of life-threatening disease claimed by those who have applied for aid to Saint Jude, who is known as the "patron saint of lost causes".
The Catholic Church has given official recognition to 67 miracles and 7,000 otherwise inexplicable medical cures since the Blessed Virgin Mary first appeared in Lourdes in February 1858. These cures are subjected to intense medical scrutiny and are only recognized as authentic spiritual cures after a commission of doctors and scientists, called the Lourdes Medical Bureau, has ruled out any physical mechanism for the patient's recovery.
Christian Science
Christian Science claims that healing is possible through an understanding of the underlying, spiritual perfection of God's creation. The world as humanly perceived is believed to be a distortion of the underlying spiritual reality. Christian Scientists believe that healing through prayer is possible insofar as it succeeds in correcting the distortion. This is not "intercessory" prayer, but recognition of the good believed to be already present behind the illusory appearance and gratitude for that good.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
With claims of being the true and restored Church of Jesus Christ, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had a long history of faith healings. Many members of the LDS Church have told their stories of healing within the LDS publication, the Ensign. The church believes healings come most often as a result of priesthood blessings given by the laying on of hands; however, prayer oftentimes accompanied with fasting is also thought to cause healings. Healing is always attributed to be God's power. Latter-day Saints believe that the Priesthood of God, held by prophets (such as Moses) and worthy disciples of the Savior, was restored via heavenly messengers to the first prophet of this dispensation, Joseph Smith.
According to LDS doctrine, even though members may have the restored priesthood authority to heal in the name of Jesus Christ, all efforts should be made to seek the appropriate medical help. Brigham Young stated this effectively, while also noting that the ultimate outcome is still dependent on the will of God.
Most LDS members believe that healing is one of the signs of the true church of Christ, as Christ told his disciples to heal the sick as one of their duties(Matt 10:8 KJV); however, they also believe that healing is not just restricted to the true church. It is believed that faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing in a faith healing; however, it is also believed that even the devil has some ability to heal and work other miracles (Matt 7:21-23 KJV, Rev. 16:14 KJV).
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a system of belief which holds as a tenet the belief that contact is possible between the living and the spirits of the dead. For this reason, death, as an outcome of disease, may not seem as frightening to Spiritualists as it does to those who practice other religions. According to the 20th-century Spiritualist author Lloyd Kenyon Jones, "This does not mean that sickness is unreal. It is real enough from the mortal viewpoint. The spirit feels the pain, senses the discomfiture of the flesh-body, even though the spirit is not ill." Spiritualism does not promote "mental" cures of the type advocated by New Thought; however, help from the "spirit world" (including advice given by the spirits of deceased physicians) is sought and may be seen as central to the healing process. As with practitioners of New Thought, Spiritualists may combine faith healing with conventional medical therapies. As Jones explained it, "We are not taught to put the burden on our minds. We do not 'will away' illness. But – we do not fear illness. [...] When we ask the spirit-world to relieve us of a bodily ill, we have gone as far as our own understanding and diligence permit. [...] We have faith, and confidence, and belief. [...] If medicine at times will assist, we take it – not as a habit, but as a little push over the hill. If we need medical attention, we secure it."
United States law
The 1974 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) required states to grant religious exemptions to child neglect and abuse laws in order to receive federal money. The CAPTA amendments of 1996 state:
Thirty-one states have child-abuse religious exemptions. These are Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming.
Scientific investigations
While faith in the supernatural is not in itself usually considered to be the purview of science, claims of reproducible effects are nevertheless subject to scientific investigation.
A Cochrane review of intercessory prayer found conflicting evidence for claims of a positive effect, but there was a conclusion that "evidence presented so far is interesting enough to justify further study." A recent study not included in the review also found inconclusive results for the effect of intercessory prayer on the outcome of heart surgery. (See also Studies on intercessory prayer)
Criticism
According to the American Cancer Society:
The American Medical Association considers that prayer as therapy should not be a medically reimbursable or deductible expense.
Skeptics of faith healing offer primarily two explanations for anecdotes of cures or improvements, relieving any need to appeal to the supernatural. The first is post hoc ergo propter hoc, meaning that a genuine improvement or spontaneous remission may have been experienced coincidental with but independent from anything the faith healer or patient did or said. These patients would have improved just as well even had they done nothing. The second is the placebo effect, through which a person may experience genuine pain relief and other symptomatic alleviation. In this case, the patient genuinely has been helped by the faith healer or faith-based remedy, not through any mysterious or numinous function, but by the power of their own belief that they would be healed. In both cases the patient may experience a real reduction in symptoms, though in neither case has anything miraculous or inexplicable occurred. Both cases, however, are strictly limited to the body's natural abilities.
There have been case studies of claims made. Following a Kathryn Kuhlman 1967 fellowship in Philadelphia, Dr. William A. Nolen conducted a case study of 23 people who claimed to have been cured during her services. Nolen's long-term follow-ups concluded there were no cures in those cases. Furthermore, "one woman who was said to have been cured of spinal cancer threw away her brace and ran across the stage at Kuhlman's command; her spine collapsed the next day, according to Nolen, and she died four months later." In 1976, Kuhlman died in Tulsa, Oklahoma, following open-heart surgery.
There are also some cases of fraud (faking the condition) or ineffective healing (believing the condition has been healed immediately after the "healing" and later finding out it has not). These are discussed in following sections.
Negative impact on public health
Reliance on faith healing to the exclusion of other forms of treatment can have a public health impact when it reduces or eliminates access to modern medical techniques. This is evident in both higher mortality rates for children and in reduced life expectancy for adults. Critics have also made note of serious injury that has resulted from falsely labelled "healings", where patients erroneously consider themselves cured and cease or withdraw from treatment. It is the stated position of the AMA that "prayer as therapy should not delay access to traditional medical care."
Christian theological criticism of faith healing
Christian theological criticism of faith healing broadly falls into two distinct levels of disagreement.
The first is widely termed the "open-but-cautious" view of the miraculous in the church today. This term is deliberately used by Robert L. Saucy in the book Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?. Don Carson is another example of a Christian teacher who has put forward what has been described as an "open-but-cautious" view. In dealing with the claims of Warfield, particularly "Warfield's insistence that miracles ceased," Carson asserts, "But this argument stands up only if such miraculous gifts are theologically tied exclusively to a role of attestation; and that is demonstrably not so." However, while affirming that he does not expect healing to happen today, Carson is critical of aspects of the faith healing movement, "Another issue is that of immense abuses in healing practises.... The most common form of abuse is the view that since all illness is directly or indirectly attributable to the devil and his works, and since Christ by his cross has defeated the devil, and by his Spirit has given us the power to overcome him, healing is the inheritance right of all true Christians who call upon the Lord with genuine faith."
The second level of theological disagreement with Christian faith healing goes further. Commonly referred to as cessationism, its adherents either claim that faith healing will not happen today at all, or may happen today, but it would be unusual. Richard Gaffin argues for a form of cessationism in an essay alongside Saucy's in the book Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? In his book Perspectives on Pentecost Gaffin states of healing and related gifts that "the conclusion to be drawn is that as listed in 1 Corinthians 12(vv. 9f., 29f.) and encountered throughout the narrative in Acts, these gifts, particularly when exercised regularly by a given individual, are part of the foundational structure of the church... and so have passed out of the life of the church." Gaffin qualifies this, however, by saying "At the same time, however, the sovereign will and power of God today to heal the sick, particularly in response to prayer (see e.g. James 5:14,15), ought to be acknowledged and insisted on."
Fraud
Skeptics of faith healers point to fraudulent practices either in the healings themselves (such as plants in the audience with fake illnesses), or concurrent with the healing work supposedly taking place and claim that faith healing is a quack practice in which the "healers" use well known non-supernatural illusions to exploit credulous people in order to obtain their gratitude, confidence and money. James Randi's The Faith Healers investigates Christian evangelists such as Peter Popoff, who claimed to heal sick people and to give personal details about their lives, but was receiving radio transmissions from his wife, Elizabeth, who was off-stage reading information that she and her aides had gathered from earlier conversations with members of the audience. The book also questioned how faith healers use funds that were sent to them for specific purposes. Physicist Robert L. Park and doctor and consumer advocate Stephen Barrett have called into question the ethicality of some exorbitant fees.
There have also been legal controversies. For example, in 1955 at a Jack Coe revival service in Miami, Florida, Coe told the parents of a three year old boy that he healed their son who had polio. Coe then told the parents to remove the boy's leg braces. However, their son was not cured of polio and removing the braces left the boy in constant pain. As a result, Coe was arrested and charged on February 6, 1956 with practicing medicine without a license, a felony in the state of Florida. A Florida Justice of the Peace dismissed the case on grounds that Florida exempts divine healing from the law. Later that year Coe was diagnosed with bulbar polio, and died a few weeks later at Dallas' Parkland Hospital on December 17, 1956.
See also
Anointing of the Sick
Efficacy of prayer
Followers of Christ Church
T.B. Joshua
Kara Neumann case
Neil Beagley
Nganga
Pseudoscience
Sangoma
Studies on intercessory prayer
Therapeutic touch
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
Faith healing
Topic HomeDiscussionDefinition
OverviewFaith healing is healing claimed to be brought about by religious faith—either through prayers or rituals that, according to adherents, evoke a divine presence and power toward correcting disease and disability. Belief in divine intervention in illness or healing is related to religious belief. In common usage, faith healing refers to notably overt and ritualistic practices of communal prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are claimed to solicit divine intervention in initiating spiritual and literal healing.
Claims that prayer, divine intervention, or the ministrations of an individual healer can cure illness have been popular throughout history.
Discussion
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Full Discussion Forum
Unanswered QuestionsHow can you talk on the phone to someone you can't see and not believe in a God who can grow a ear where there wasn't one? Recent DiscussionsWinging scapula injury story EncyclopediaFaith healing is healing claimed to be brought about by religious faith—either through prayers or rituals that, according to adherents, evoke a divine presence and power toward correcting disease and disability. Belief in divine intervention in illness or healing is related to religious belief. In common usage, faith healing refers to notably overt and ritualistic practices of communal prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are claimed to solicit divine intervention in initiating spiritual and literal healing.
Claims that prayer, divine intervention, or the ministrations of an individual healer can cure illness have been popular throughout history. Miraculous recoveries have been attributed to many techniques commonly lumped together as "faith healing". It can involve prayer, a visit to a religious shrine, or simply a strong belief in a supreme being.
The term is best known in connection with Christianity. Some people interpret the Bible, especially the New Testament, as teaching belief in, and practice of, faith healing. There have been claims that faith can cure blindness, deafness, cancer, AIDS, developmental disorders, anemia, arthritis, corns, defective speech, multiple sclerosis, skin rashes, total body paralysis, and various injuries.
Unlike faith healing, advocates of spiritual healing make no attempt to seek divine intervention. The increased interest in alternative medicine at the end of the twentieth century has given rise to a parallel interest among sociologists in the relationship of religion to health.
The American Cancer Society states "available scientific evidence does not support claims that faith healing can actually cure physical ailments." "Death, disability, and other unwanted outcomes have occurred when faith healing was elected instead of medical care for serious injuries or illnesses."
In various belief systems
Faith Healing claims have been made by many religions and the sick have visited their shrines in hopes of recovery.
Overview
One use of the term faith healing is in reference to the belief of some Christians that God heals people through the power of the Holy Spirit, often involving the laying on of hands. It is also called supernatural healing, divine healing, and miracle healing, among other things. In the Old Testament, Jehovah-Rapha, translated "I am the Lord your Physician" or "I am the Lord who heals you", is one of the seven redemptive names for Jehovah God. Healing in the Bible is often associated with the ministry of specific individuals including Elijah, Jesus and Paul.
Christian physician Reginald B. Cherry views faith healing as a pathway of healing in which God uses both the natural and the supernatural to heal. Being healed has been described as a privilege of accepting Christ's redemption on the cross.p says, "This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah, 53:5 (NKJV): 'He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.'" "Faith" in this context is based on biblical uses of the term. Faith has been called "the very nature of God." A classic definition of faith appears in the New Testament: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…." Charisma writer Larry Keefauver considers it important to distinguish between the faith aspect in seeking a cure and the divine source of the healing. points to God as the source: "I am the Lord that heals you." "The truth is that God is the God who heals. Faith is trusting the God who heals. Faith is a radical, absolute surrender to the God who heals. Faith is not holding on for your healing but holding on to the God who can do the impossible."
Some Christian writers believe it extremely rare that God provides a supernatural intervention that actually reverses the natural laws governing the human body. Keefauver cautions against allowing enthusiasm for faith healing to stir up false hopes "so that a sufferer stakes all his or her faith on belief in miraculous healing at this level. We cannot build a water-tight theology promising physical healing, surely, for the most 'miracle-ridden' Christian will die in the end, yielding to the natural processes of senescence." Those who actively lay hands on others and pray with them to be healed are usually aware that healing may not always follow immediately. Proponents of faith healing say it may come later, but that it may not come at all.
Some biblical examples
In the four gospels in the New Testament, Jesus cures physical ailments well outside the capacity of first-century medicine. Most dramatic perhaps is the case of "a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was not better but rather grew worse." After healing her, Jesus tells her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace! Be cured from your illness." At least two other times Jesus credited the sufferer's faith as the means of being healed: and .
Jesus endorses the use of the medical assistance of the time (medicines of oil and wine) when he praises the Good Samaritan for acting as a physician, telling his disciples to go and do the same thing that the Samaritan did in the story.
The healing in the gospels is referred to as a "sign" to prove Jesus' divinity and to foster belief in him as the Christ. However, when asked for other types of miracles, Jesus refuses some but grants others in consideration of the motive of the request. Some theologians' understanding is that Jesus healed all who were present every single time. Sometimes he determines whether they had faith that he would heal them.
Jesus commands his followers to heal the sick and states that signs such as healing are evidence of faith. Jesus also commands his followers to "cure sick people, raise up dead persons, make lepers clean, expel demons. You received free, give free."
Jesus sternly orders many who received healing from him: "Do not tell anyone!" Jesus did not approve of anyone asking for a sign just for the spectacle of it, describing such as coming from a "wicked and adulterous generation."
The apostle Paul believes healing is one of the special gifts of the Holy Spirit, and that the possibility exists that certain persons may possess this gift to an extraordinarily high degree.
In the New Testament Epistle of James, the faithful are told that to be healed, those who are sick should call upon the elders of the church to pray over [them] and anoint [them] with oil in the name of the Lord.
After Jesus' death, Peter and Paul heal the sick and cast out demons, make a lame man walk, and raise the dead.
Research of beliefs about miraculous healing
A study of beliefs about miraculous healing among the more religiously committed has indicated that there are significant differences in belief about miraculous healing even among people within the same denomination (Anglican). Researchers found that positive belief in faith healing was mainly a characteristic of conservative Christians, most especially those with charismatic experience. Belief about miraculous healing was seen as a subset of belief about health and well-being in general. Older people had less belief in miraculous healing or the sovereignty of God over illness, while those with experience of higher education had more inclusive beliefs about miraculous healing and saw human input as less important in the healing process. The study further showed that people with degrees or post-graduate qualifications can and do believe in the possibility of miraculous healing. No significant gender differences were noted.
Pentecostalism/Charismatic movement
At the beginning of the 20th century, the new Pentecostal movement drew participants from the Holiness movement and other movements in America that already believed in divine healing. By the 1930s, several faith healers drew large crowds and established worldwide followings.
The first Pentecostals in the modern sense appeared in Topeka, Kansas, in a Bible school conducted by Charles Fox Parham, a holiness teacher and former Methodist pastor. Pentecostalism achieved worldwide attention in 1906 through the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles led by William Joseph Seymour.
During the Azusa Street meetings, according to witnesses who wrote about them, blind, crippled or other sick people would be healed. Some of the participants would eventually minister extensively in this area. For example, John G. Lake was present during the years of the Azusa Street revival. Lake had earned huge sums of money in the insurance business at the turn of the century but gave away his possessions with the exception of food for his children while he and his wife fasted on a trip to Africa to do missionary work. Certain people he had never met before gave him money and keys to a place to stay which were required to enter South Africa at the dock. His writings tell of numerous healing miracles he and others performed as over 500 churches were planted in South Africa. Lake returned to the U.S. and set up healing rooms in Spokane, Washington.
Smith Wigglesworth was also a well-known figure in the early part of the 20th century. A former English plumber turned evangelist who lived simply and read nothing but the Bible from the time his wife taught him to read, Wigglesworth traveled around the world preaching about Jesus and performing faith healings. Wigglesworth claimed to raise several people from the dead in Jesus' name in his meetings.p
During the 1920s and 1930s, Aimee Semple McPherson was a controversial faith healer of growing popularity during the Great Depression. Subsequently, William Branham has been credited as being the founder of the pos-World War II healing revivals. By the late 1940s, Oral Roberts was well known, and he continued with faith healing until the 1980s. A friend of Roberts was Kathryn Kuhlman, another popular faith healer, who gained fame in the 1950s and had a television program on CBS. Also in this era, Jack Coe and A. A. Allen were faith healers who traveled with large tents for large open-air crusades.
Oral Roberts's successful use of television as a medium to gain a wider audience led others to follow suit. His former pilot, Kenneth Copeland, started a healing ministry. Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, and Peter Popoff became well-known televangelists who claimed to heal the sick. Richard Rossi is known for advertising his healing clinics through secular television and radio. Kuhlman influenced Benny Hinn, who adopted some of her techniques and wrote a book about her.
Catholicism
Faith healing is reported by Catholics as the result of intercessory prayer to a saint or to a person with the gift of healing. According to U.S. Catholic magazine, "Even in this skeptical, postmodern, scientific age—miracles really are possible." Three-fourths of American Catholics say they pray for miracles.
According to Notre Dame theology professor John Cavadini, when healing is granted, "The miracle is not primarily for the person healed, but for all people, as a sign of God's work in the ultimate healing called 'salvation,' or a sign of the kingdom that is coming." Some might view their own healing as a sign they are particularly worthy or holy, while others do not deserve it.
The Catholic Church has a special Congregation dedicated to the careful investigation of the validity of alleged miracles attributed to prospective saints. Since Catholic Christians believe the lives of canonized saints in the Church will reflect Christ's, they have come to actually expect healing miracles. While the popular conception of a miracle can be wide-ranging, the Catholic Church has a specific definition for the kind of miracle formally recognized in a canonization process.
Among the best-known accounts by Catholics of faith healings are those attributed to the miraculous intercession of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary known as Our Lady of Lourdes at the grotto of Lourdes in France and the remissions of life-threatening disease claimed by those who have applied for aid to Saint Jude, who is known as the "patron saint of lost causes".
The Catholic Church has given official recognition to 67 miracles and 7,000 otherwise inexplicable medical cures since the Blessed Virgin Mary first appeared in Lourdes in February 1858. These cures are subjected to intense medical scrutiny and are only recognized as authentic spiritual cures after a commission of doctors and scientists, called the Lourdes Medical Bureau, has ruled out any physical mechanism for the patient's recovery.
Christian Science
Christian Science claims that healing is possible through an understanding of the underlying, spiritual perfection of God's creation. The world as humanly perceived is believed to be a distortion of the underlying spiritual reality. Christian Scientists believe that healing through prayer is possible insofar as it succeeds in correcting the distortion. This is not "intercessory" prayer, but recognition of the good believed to be already present behind the illusory appearance and gratitude for that good.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
With claims of being the true and restored Church of Jesus Christ, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had a long history of faith healings. Many members of the LDS Church have told their stories of healing within the LDS publication, the Ensign. The church believes healings come most often as a result of priesthood blessings given by the laying on of hands; however, prayer oftentimes accompanied with fasting is also thought to cause healings. Healing is always attributed to be God's power. Latter-day Saints believe that the Priesthood of God, held by prophets (such as Moses) and worthy disciples of the Savior, was restored via heavenly messengers to the first prophet of this dispensation, Joseph Smith.
According to LDS doctrine, even though members may have the restored priesthood authority to heal in the name of Jesus Christ, all efforts should be made to seek the appropriate medical help. Brigham Young stated this effectively, while also noting that the ultimate outcome is still dependent on the will of God.
Most LDS members believe that healing is one of the signs of the true church of Christ, as Christ told his disciples to heal the sick as one of their duties(Matt 10:8 KJV); however, they also believe that healing is not just restricted to the true church. It is believed that faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing in a faith healing; however, it is also believed that even the devil has some ability to heal and work other miracles (Matt 7:21-23 KJV, Rev. 16:14 KJV).
Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a system of belief which holds as a tenet the belief that contact is possible between the living and the spirits of the dead. For this reason, death, as an outcome of disease, may not seem as frightening to Spiritualists as it does to those who practice other religions. According to the 20th-century Spiritualist author Lloyd Kenyon Jones, "This does not mean that sickness is unreal. It is real enough from the mortal viewpoint. The spirit feels the pain, senses the discomfiture of the flesh-body, even though the spirit is not ill." Spiritualism does not promote "mental" cures of the type advocated by New Thought; however, help from the "spirit world" (including advice given by the spirits of deceased physicians) is sought and may be seen as central to the healing process. As with practitioners of New Thought, Spiritualists may combine faith healing with conventional medical therapies. As Jones explained it, "We are not taught to put the burden on our minds. We do not 'will away' illness. But – we do not fear illness. [...] When we ask the spirit-world to relieve us of a bodily ill, we have gone as far as our own understanding and diligence permit. [...] We have faith, and confidence, and belief. [...] If medicine at times will assist, we take it – not as a habit, but as a little push over the hill. If we need medical attention, we secure it."
United States law
The 1974 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) required states to grant religious exemptions to child neglect and abuse laws in order to receive federal money. The CAPTA amendments of 1996 state:
Thirty-one states have child-abuse religious exemptions. These are Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming.
Scientific investigations
While faith in the supernatural is not in itself usually considered to be the purview of science, claims of reproducible effects are nevertheless subject to scientific investigation.
A Cochrane review of intercessory prayer found conflicting evidence for claims of a positive effect, but there was a conclusion that "evidence presented so far is interesting enough to justify further study." A recent study not included in the review also found inconclusive results for the effect of intercessory prayer on the outcome of heart surgery. (See also Studies on intercessory prayer)
Criticism
According to the American Cancer Society:
The American Medical Association considers that prayer as therapy should not be a medically reimbursable or deductible expense.
Skeptics of faith healing offer primarily two explanations for anecdotes of cures or improvements, relieving any need to appeal to the supernatural. The first is post hoc ergo propter hoc, meaning that a genuine improvement or spontaneous remission may have been experienced coincidental with but independent from anything the faith healer or patient did or said. These patients would have improved just as well even had they done nothing. The second is the placebo effect, through which a person may experience genuine pain relief and other symptomatic alleviation. In this case, the patient genuinely has been helped by the faith healer or faith-based remedy, not through any mysterious or numinous function, but by the power of their own belief that they would be healed. In both cases the patient may experience a real reduction in symptoms, though in neither case has anything miraculous or inexplicable occurred. Both cases, however, are strictly limited to the body's natural abilities.
There have been case studies of claims made. Following a Kathryn Kuhlman 1967 fellowship in Philadelphia, Dr. William A. Nolen conducted a case study of 23 people who claimed to have been cured during her services. Nolen's long-term follow-ups concluded there were no cures in those cases. Furthermore, "one woman who was said to have been cured of spinal cancer threw away her brace and ran across the stage at Kuhlman's command; her spine collapsed the next day, according to Nolen, and she died four months later." In 1976, Kuhlman died in Tulsa, Oklahoma, following open-heart surgery.
There are also some cases of fraud (faking the condition) or ineffective healing (believing the condition has been healed immediately after the "healing" and later finding out it has not). These are discussed in following sections.
Negative impact on public health
Reliance on faith healing to the exclusion of other forms of treatment can have a public health impact when it reduces or eliminates access to modern medical techniques. This is evident in both higher mortality rates for children and in reduced life expectancy for adults. Critics have also made note of serious injury that has resulted from falsely labelled "healings", where patients erroneously consider themselves cured and cease or withdraw from treatment. It is the stated position of the AMA that "prayer as therapy should not delay access to traditional medical care."
Christian theological criticism of faith healing
Christian theological criticism of faith healing broadly falls into two distinct levels of disagreement.
The first is widely termed the "open-but-cautious" view of the miraculous in the church today. This term is deliberately used by Robert L. Saucy in the book Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?. Don Carson is another example of a Christian teacher who has put forward what has been described as an "open-but-cautious" view. In dealing with the claims of Warfield, particularly "Warfield's insistence that miracles ceased," Carson asserts, "But this argument stands up only if such miraculous gifts are theologically tied exclusively to a role of attestation; and that is demonstrably not so." However, while affirming that he does not expect healing to happen today, Carson is critical of aspects of the faith healing movement, "Another issue is that of immense abuses in healing practises.... The most common form of abuse is the view that since all illness is directly or indirectly attributable to the devil and his works, and since Christ by his cross has defeated the devil, and by his Spirit has given us the power to overcome him, healing is the inheritance right of all true Christians who call upon the Lord with genuine faith."
The second level of theological disagreement with Christian faith healing goes further. Commonly referred to as cessationism, its adherents either claim that faith healing will not happen today at all, or may happen today, but it would be unusual. Richard Gaffin argues for a form of cessationism in an essay alongside Saucy's in the book Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? In his book Perspectives on Pentecost Gaffin states of healing and related gifts that "the conclusion to be drawn is that as listed in 1 Corinthians 12(vv. 9f., 29f.) and encountered throughout the narrative in Acts, these gifts, particularly when exercised regularly by a given individual, are part of the foundational structure of the church... and so have passed out of the life of the church." Gaffin qualifies this, however, by saying "At the same time, however, the sovereign will and power of God today to heal the sick, particularly in response to prayer (see e.g. James 5:14,15), ought to be acknowledged and insisted on."
Fraud
Skeptics of faith healers point to fraudulent practices either in the healings themselves (such as plants in the audience with fake illnesses), or concurrent with the healing work supposedly taking place and claim that faith healing is a quack practice in which the "healers" use well known non-supernatural illusions to exploit credulous people in order to obtain their gratitude, confidence and money. James Randi's The Faith Healers investigates Christian evangelists such as Peter Popoff, who claimed to heal sick people and to give personal details about their lives, but was receiving radio transmissions from his wife, Elizabeth, who was off-stage reading information that she and her aides had gathered from earlier conversations with members of the audience. The book also questioned how faith healers use funds that were sent to them for specific purposes. Physicist Robert L. Park and doctor and consumer advocate Stephen Barrett have called into question the ethicality of some exorbitant fees.
There have also been legal controversies. For example, in 1955 at a Jack Coe revival service in Miami, Florida, Coe told the parents of a three year old boy that he healed their son who had polio. Coe then told the parents to remove the boy's leg braces. However, their son was not cured of polio and removing the braces left the boy in constant pain. As a result, Coe was arrested and charged on February 6, 1956 with practicing medicine without a license, a felony in the state of Florida. A Florida Justice of the Peace dismissed the case on grounds that Florida exempts divine healing from the law. Later that year Coe was diagnosed with bulbar polio, and died a few weeks later at Dallas' Parkland Hospital on December 17, 1956.
See also
Anointing of the Sick
Efficacy of prayer
Followers of Christ Church
T.B. Joshua
Kara Neumann case
Neil Beagley
Nganga
Pseudoscience
Sangoma
Studies on intercessory prayer
Therapeutic touch
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
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Society and Culture > Religion > Major Religions of the World
Taoism
Taoism, one of the major religions of China, is based on ancient philosophical works, primarily the Tao Te Ching, “Classic of Tao and Its Virtue.” Traditionally, this book was thought to be the work of Lao-tzu, a quasi-historical philosopher of the 6th century B.C.; scholars now believe that the book dates from about the 3rd century B.C. The philosopher Chuang Tzu (4th–3rd centuries B.C.) also contributed to the seminal ideas of Taoism.
Tao, “the Way,” is the ultimate reality of the universe, according to Taoism. It is a creative process, and humans can live in harmony with it by clearing the self of obstacles. By cultivating wu-wei, a type of inaction characterized by humility and prudence, a person can participate in the simplicity and spontaneity of Tao. Striving to attain virtue or achievement is counterproductive and unnecessary. Taoism values mystical contemplation and balance. The human being is viewed as a microcosm of the universe, and the Chinese principle of yin-yang, complementary duality, is a model of harmony.
The religious practices of Taoism emerged from these ancient philosophies and from Chinese shamanistic tradition; by the 2nd century A.D., it constituted an organized religion. Longevity and immortality were sought through regulating the energies of the body through breathing exercises, meditation, and use of medicinal plants, talismans, and magical formulas. A cult of immortals, including the divinized Lao-tzu, also developed. Influenced by Buddhism, Taoists organized monastic orders. Temple worship and forms of divination, including the I ching, were practiced.
Since its beginnings, many sects have arisen within Taoism. All subscribe to the philosophical origins of the religion; some have emphasized faith healing, exorcism, the worship of the immortals, meditation, or alchemy. Buddhism and Confucianism influenced some sects; some operated as secret societies.
Though the present Chinese government has tried to suppress it, Taoism is still practiced in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. It profoundly influenced Chinese art and literature, and Taoist ideas have become popular in the West.
See also Encyclopedia: Taoism.
See also Text: The Tao Te-Ching.
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Society and Culture > Religion > Major Religions of the World
Taoism
Taoism, one of the major religions of China, is based on ancient philosophical works, primarily the Tao Te Ching, “Classic of Tao and Its Virtue.” Traditionally, this book was thought to be the work of Lao-tzu, a quasi-historical philosopher of the 6th century B.C.; scholars now believe that the book dates from about the 3rd century B.C. The philosopher Chuang Tzu (4th–3rd centuries B.C.) also contributed to the seminal ideas of Taoism.
Tao, “the Way,” is the ultimate reality of the universe, according to Taoism. It is a creative process, and humans can live in harmony with it by clearing the self of obstacles. By cultivating wu-wei, a type of inaction characterized by humility and prudence, a person can participate in the simplicity and spontaneity of Tao. Striving to attain virtue or achievement is counterproductive and unnecessary. Taoism values mystical contemplation and balance. The human being is viewed as a microcosm of the universe, and the Chinese principle of yin-yang, complementary duality, is a model of harmony.
The religious practices of Taoism emerged from these ancient philosophies and from Chinese shamanistic tradition; by the 2nd century A.D., it constituted an organized religion. Longevity and immortality were sought through regulating the energies of the body through breathing exercises, meditation, and use of medicinal plants, talismans, and magical formulas. A cult of immortals, including the divinized Lao-tzu, also developed. Influenced by Buddhism, Taoists organized monastic orders. Temple worship and forms of divination, including the I ching, were practiced.
Since its beginnings, many sects have arisen within Taoism. All subscribe to the philosophical origins of the religion; some have emphasized faith healing, exorcism, the worship of the immortals, meditation, or alchemy. Buddhism and Confucianism influenced some sects; some operated as secret societies.
Though the present Chinese government has tried to suppress it, Taoism is still practiced in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. It profoundly influenced Chinese art and literature, and Taoist ideas have become popular in the West.
See also Encyclopedia: Taoism.
See also Text: The Tao Te-Ching.
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Shinto
Major Religions of the World
CITEPRINTEMAILHOTWORDSBOOKMARK
Add bookmark
Add to del.icio.us
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More on Taoism from Infoplease:
Taoism - Taoism Taoism , refers both to a Chinese system of thought and to one of the four major religions ...
Taoism: meaning and definitions - Taoism: Definition and Pronunciation
Taoism: Religious Taoism - Religious Taoism Religious Taoism appropriated earlier interest and belief in alchemy and the ...
Faith Healing vs. Medical Treatment
Faith Healing
-a form of healing that is usually associated with a belief in a divine being and the power of prayer exerting a beneficial effect upon a sick animal or human.
Religion: Taoism
•the practice of ritual movements supports the flow of internal chi (energy) and provides health benefits.
•Tai Chi is a physical exercise that focuses the mind, while conditioning the body and is a type of faith healing in the religion of Taoism.
Faith Healing: Arthritis
•not a complete cure for Arthritis
•Tai Chi strengthen the muscles around an arthritic joint; this improves flexibility and range of motion
•this low and flowing movement can actually counteract the effects of other activities that push joints together
-other faiths just prays which many find non-effective
-its more natural, doesn’t have any side-effects
-some people believed that faith healers should be persecuted for fraud
-not legitimate
political, economic and social issues
-it concentrates on what you have to do. One waste less energy and attention on body static, so you have the stamina to ride out crazy days and long hours at work and still have something left for your family
Medical Treatment
-people with arthritis take many drugs such as Aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
political, economic and social issues
-medical treatment is expensive and Canadians have to pay for people’s treatment through our tax dollars such as chemotherapy
-many who avoid medical treatment die!
Cloning
•Cloning means to create an organism from a cloned cell
•Three main types of cloning:
Recombinant DNA technology/DNA cloning
•Basically means finding a part of a DNA segment that wants to be cloned.
Therapeutic Cloning
•Takes stem cells from an egg that has been dividing for 5 days, which kills the embryo
Reproductive Cloning
•Is when scientists take genes from the nucleus of an animal and place the genetic information into the egg of another preexisting animal with the same nuclear DNA
•Because the egg is not fertilized naturally, chemicals and/or electric current is placed on the egg for the cells to divide
Science view
-Agree to cloning stem cells and animals but not all scientists are for human cloning
-Agree with therapeutic cloning because could clone healthy cells to replace old, damaged ones, but this process still needs more research
-Also need more research but scientists hope to one day transplant organs through therapeutic cloning and the theory is if the healthy DNA is taken from the same patient, then their own body wouldn’t reject the new organs
Religious View
•Roman Catholics think that cloning humans in any way is evil. They also think that cloning is playing God
•Think that people are created in an image to look like another person instead of God and •think it puts humans’ unique identities at risk
•Jews agree with cloning
•Christians believe that there is a human soul and don’t believe that it can be cloned
Benefits
•Relieve infertility
•Allows one of the couples with a hereditary disease not to pass it onto their offspring
•Original person is able to use tissues and organs from the “later twin” for transplant
Disadvantages
•Many clones could lose their “lives” in the process of cloning
•Individuals wouldn’t be seen as important
•90% of reproductive cloning failed
•Many mammals cloning have failed
•Expensive
•Lack understanding
•Humans could die at young age or even before birth due to infections
•Could impact mental development
Creation vs. Evolution
Evolution – the general process of change over time
The Big Bang Theory- a theory that states that the entire universe was formed by an ‘explosion’ of gases
Creation – the belief that a greater being or a deity created all matter in the universe
-Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Muslim and even Aboriginal beliefs are all examples of religions that believe in creationism
-There was always a constant debate over whether the world was initiated through creation, evolution or The Big Bang Theory. However, recent studies show that these theories do not contradict each other. In fact, many scientists and religious figures accept the fact that instead of conflicting with each other, these ideas, in reality, complement each other and go hand in hand. Evolution or the big bang theory DOESN’T prove that there is no God!!
-the Bible is not threatened by responsible scientific investigations.” – Mark Noll, professor of Christian thought
Work Cited Listed
Barrett Stephen, M.D.
http://www.skeptictank.org/heal1.htm
(18 April 2005)
Chuck, Howard Health Benefits of Tai Chi
http://www.taichiacademy.com/healthbenefits.htm#Science%20and%20Tai%20Chi
(17 April 2005)
Cohen, Daniel Cloning Twenty-First Century Books: Brookfield, 2002
Fagin, Barry Skepticism and Politics
http://www.csicop.org/si/9705/politics.html
(18 April 2005)
Faith Healing
-a form of healing that is usually associated with a belief in a divine being and the power of prayer exerting a beneficial effect upon a sick animal or human.
Religion: Taoism
•the practice of ritual movements supports the flow of internal chi (energy) and provides health benefits.
•Tai Chi is a physical exercise that focuses the mind, while conditioning the body and is a type of faith healing in the religion of Taoism.
Faith Healing: Arthritis
•not a complete cure for Arthritis
•Tai Chi strengthen the muscles around an arthritic joint; this improves flexibility and range of motion
•this low and flowing movement can actually counteract the effects of other activities that push joints together
-other faiths just prays which many find non-effective
-its more natural, doesn’t have any side-effects
-some people believed that faith healers should be persecuted for fraud
-not legitimate
political, economic and social issues
-it concentrates on what you have to do. One waste less energy and attention on body static, so you have the stamina to ride out crazy days and long hours at work and still have something left for your family
Medical Treatment
-people with arthritis take many drugs such as Aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
political, economic and social issues
-medical treatment is expensive and Canadians have to pay for people’s treatment through our tax dollars such as chemotherapy
-many who avoid medical treatment die!
Cloning
•Cloning means to create an organism from a cloned cell
•Three main types of cloning:
Recombinant DNA technology/DNA cloning
•Basically means finding a part of a DNA segment that wants to be cloned.
Therapeutic Cloning
•Takes stem cells from an egg that has been dividing for 5 days, which kills the embryo
Reproductive Cloning
•Is when scientists take genes from the nucleus of an animal and place the genetic information into the egg of another preexisting animal with the same nuclear DNA
•Because the egg is not fertilized naturally, chemicals and/or electric current is placed on the egg for the cells to divide
Science view
-Agree to cloning stem cells and animals but not all scientists are for human cloning
-Agree with therapeutic cloning because could clone healthy cells to replace old, damaged ones, but this process still needs more research
-Also need more research but scientists hope to one day transplant organs through therapeutic cloning and the theory is if the healthy DNA is taken from the same patient, then their own body wouldn’t reject the new organs
Religious View
•Roman Catholics think that cloning humans in any way is evil. They also think that cloning is playing God
•Think that people are created in an image to look like another person instead of God and •think it puts humans’ unique identities at risk
•Jews agree with cloning
•Christians believe that there is a human soul and don’t believe that it can be cloned
Benefits
•Relieve infertility
•Allows one of the couples with a hereditary disease not to pass it onto their offspring
•Original person is able to use tissues and organs from the “later twin” for transplant
Disadvantages
•Many clones could lose their “lives” in the process of cloning
•Individuals wouldn’t be seen as important
•90% of reproductive cloning failed
•Many mammals cloning have failed
•Expensive
•Lack understanding
•Humans could die at young age or even before birth due to infections
•Could impact mental development
Creation vs. Evolution
Evolution – the general process of change over time
The Big Bang Theory- a theory that states that the entire universe was formed by an ‘explosion’ of gases
Creation – the belief that a greater being or a deity created all matter in the universe
-Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Muslim and even Aboriginal beliefs are all examples of religions that believe in creationism
-There was always a constant debate over whether the world was initiated through creation, evolution or The Big Bang Theory. However, recent studies show that these theories do not contradict each other. In fact, many scientists and religious figures accept the fact that instead of conflicting with each other, these ideas, in reality, complement each other and go hand in hand. Evolution or the big bang theory DOESN’T prove that there is no God!!
-the Bible is not threatened by responsible scientific investigations.” – Mark Noll, professor of Christian thought
Work Cited Listed
Barrett Stephen, M.D.
http://www.skeptictank.org/heal1.htm
(18 April 2005)
Chuck, Howard Health Benefits of Tai Chi
http://www.taichiacademy.com/healthbenefits.htm#Science%20and%20Tai%20Chi
(17 April 2005)
Cohen, Daniel Cloning Twenty-First Century Books: Brookfield, 2002
Fagin, Barry Skepticism and Politics
http://www.csicop.org/si/9705/politics.html
(18 April 2005)
| Share
Society and Culture > Religion > Major Religions of the World
Taoism
Taoism, one of the major religions of China, is based on ancient philosophical works, primarily the Tao Te Ching, “Classic of Tao and Its Virtue.” Traditionally, this book was thought to be the work of Lao-tzu, a quasi-historical philosopher of the 6th century B.C.; scholars now believe that the book dates from about the 3rd century B.C. The philosopher Chuang Tzu (4th–3rd centuries B.C.) also contributed to the seminal ideas of Taoism.
Tao, “the Way,” is the ultimate reality of the universe, according to Taoism. It is a creative process, and humans can live in harmony with it by clearing the self of obstacles. By cultivating wu-wei, a type of inaction characterized by humility and prudence, a person can participate in the simplicity and spontaneity of Tao. Striving to attain virtue or achievement is counterproductive and unnecessary. Taoism values mystical contemplation and balance. The human being is viewed as a microcosm of the universe, and the Chinese principle of yin-yang, complementary duality, is a model of harmony.
The religious practices of Taoism emerged from these ancient philosophies and from Chinese shamanistic tradition; by the 2nd century A.D., it constituted an organized religion. Longevity and immortality were sought through regulating the energies of the body through breathing exercises, meditation, and use of medicinal plants, talismans, and magical formulas. A cult of immortals, including the divinized Lao-tzu, also developed. Influenced by Buddhism, Taoists organized monastic orders. Temple worship and forms of divination, including the I ching, were practiced.
Since its beginnings, many sects have arisen within Taoism. All subscribe to the philosophical origins of the religion; some have emphasized faith healing, exorcism, the worship of the immortals, meditation, or alchemy. Buddhism and Confucianism influenced some sects; some operated as secret societies.
Though the present Chinese government has tried to suppress it, Taoism is still practiced in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. It profoundly influenced Chinese art and literature, and Taoist ideas have become popular in the West.
See also Encyclopedia: Taoism.
See also Text: The Tao Te-Ching.
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Shinto
Major Religions of the World
CITEPRINTEMAILHOTWORDSBOOKMARK
Add bookmark
Add to del.icio.us
Digg It!
Add to Reddit
More on Taoism from Infoplease:
Taoism - Taoism Taoism , refers both to a Chinese system of thought and to one of the four major religions ...
Taoism: meaning and definitions - Taoism: Definition and Pronunciation
Taoism: Religious Taoism - Religious Taoism Religious Taoism appropriated earlier interest and belief in alchemy and the ...
Taoism: Philosophical Taoism - Philosophical Taoism The philosophical system stems largely from the Tao-te-ching, a text ...
Taoism: Bibliography - Bibliography Taoist ideas have enjoyed wide circulation in the West in the late 20th cent. and have ...
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Society and Culture > Religion > Major Religions of the World
Taoism
Taoism, one of the major religions of China, is based on ancient philosophical works, primarily the Tao Te Ching, “Classic of Tao and Its Virtue.” Traditionally, this book was thought to be the work of Lao-tzu, a quasi-historical philosopher of the 6th century B.C.; scholars now believe that the book dates from about the 3rd century B.C. The philosopher Chuang Tzu (4th–3rd centuries B.C.) also contributed to the seminal ideas of Taoism.
Tao, “the Way,” is the ultimate reality of the universe, according to Taoism. It is a creative process, and humans can live in harmony with it by clearing the self of obstacles. By cultivating wu-wei, a type of inaction characterized by humility and prudence, a person can participate in the simplicity and spontaneity of Tao. Striving to attain virtue or achievement is counterproductive and unnecessary. Taoism values mystical contemplation and balance. The human being is viewed as a microcosm of the universe, and the Chinese principle of yin-yang, complementary duality, is a model of harmony.
The religious practices of Taoism emerged from these ancient philosophies and from Chinese shamanistic tradition; by the 2nd century A.D., it constituted an organized religion. Longevity and immortality were sought through regulating the energies of the body through breathing exercises, meditation, and use of medicinal plants, talismans, and magical formulas. A cult of immortals, including the divinized Lao-tzu, also developed. Influenced by Buddhism, Taoists organized monastic orders. Temple worship and forms of divination, including the I ching, were practiced.
Since its beginnings, many sects have arisen within Taoism. All subscribe to the philosophical origins of the religion; some have emphasized faith healing, exorcism, the worship of the immortals, meditation, or alchemy. Buddhism and Confucianism influenced some sects; some operated as secret societies.
Though the present Chinese government has tried to suppress it, Taoism is still practiced in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. It profoundly influenced Chinese art and literature, and Taoist ideas have become popular in the West.
See also Encyclopedia: Taoism.
See also Text: The Tao Te-Ching.
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Major Religions of the World
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