Editing Taoism (section)

===Soteriology and religious goals===
[[file:White Cloud Temple (9868245123).jpg|thumb|Illustrations of Taoist immortals at the White Cloud Temple]]
[[File:The Daoist immortal Lü Dongbin crossing Lake Dongting.jpeg|thumb|''The Taoist immortal [[Lü Dongbin]] crossing Lake Dongting'', dated to the [[Song dynasty]].]]

Taoists have different religious goals that include Taoist conceptions of sagehood (''[[zhenren]]''), spiritual self-cultivation, a happy afterlife or longevity and some form of [[immortality]] ([[Xian (Taoism)|''xian'']], variously understood as a kind of transcendent post-mortem state of the spirit).{{sfnp|Kirkland|2004|p=175-183}}<ref name="Gurdon-2002a">{{Cite book |title=World Religions: Eastern Traditions |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |editor=Willard Gurdon Oxtoby |year=2002 |isbn=0-19-541521-3 |edition=2nd |location=Don Mills, Ontario |page=395 |oclc=46661540}}</ref>

Taoists' views about what happens in the afterlife tend to include the soul becoming a part of the cosmos<ref name="NatGeo-2023" /> (which was often thought of as an illusionary place where ''[[qi]]'' and physical matter were thought of as being the same in a way held together by the microcosm of the spirits of the human body and the macrocosm of the universe itself, represented and embodied by the [[Three Pure Ones]]),<ref name="Gurdon-2002a" /> somehow aiding the spiritual functions of nature or ''[[Tian]]'' after death or being [[Salvation|saved]] by either achieving spiritual immortality in an afterlife or becoming a ''xian'' who can appear in the human world at will,<ref name="Gurdon-2002c">{{Cite book |title=World Religions: Eastern Traditions |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |editor=Willard Gurdon Oxtoby |year=2002 |isbn=0-19-541521-3 |edition=2nd |location=Don Mills, Ontario |pages=392, 395 |oclc=46661540}}</ref> but normally lives in another plane. "[S]acred forests and[/or] mountains"<ref name="Gurdon-2002d">{{Cite book |title=World Religions: Eastern Traditions |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |editor=Willard Gurdon Oxtoby |year=2002 |isbn=0-19-541521-3 |edition=2nd |location=Don Mills, Ontario |page=396 |oclc=46661540}}</ref> or a [[Yin and yang|yin-yang]],<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2017-11-16 |title=青山王的秘書長－陰陽司公 {{!}} 保庇網 |url=https://www.nownews.com/news/5622536 |access-date=2023-05-09 |website=NOWnews今日新聞 |language=zh-Hant-TW |archive-date=9 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509131835/https://www.nownews.com/news/5622536 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Wilkinson-1999">{{Cite book |last=Wilkinson |first=Philip |title=Illustrated Dictionary of Religions |publisher=[[DK (publisher)|DK]] |year=1999 |isbn=0-7894-4711-8 |editor-last=Spilling |editor-first=Michael |edition=First American |location=New York |pages=67–68, 70 |author-link=Philip Wilkinson (author) |editor-last2=Williams |editor-first2=Sophie |editor-last3=Dent |editor-first3=Marion}}</ref> yin, yang, or [[Tao]] realm<ref name="Wilkinson-1999" /> inconceivable and incomprehensible by normal humans and even the virtuous Confucius and [[Confucianism|Confucianists]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts |publisher=[[Paragon House|Paragon House Publishers]] |year=1995 |isbn=978-1-55778-723-1 |editor-last=Wilson |editor-first=Andrew |edition=1st paperback |location=St. Paul, Minnesota |pages=467–468}}</ref> such as the mental realm sometimes called "the [[Tian|Heavens]]" where higher, spiritual versions of Daoists such as Laozi were thought to exist when they were alive and absorb "the purest Yin and Yang"<ref name="Minford-2018">{{Cite book |last=Minford |first=John |title=Tao Te Ching: The Essential Translation of the Ancient Chinese Book of the Tao |publisher=[[Viking Press]] |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-670-02498-8 |location=New York |pages=ix-x |language=en-US |author-link=John Minford}}</ref> were all possibilities for a potential ''xian'' to be reborn in. These spiritual versions were thought to be abstract beings that can manifest in that world as mythical beings such as ''[[Xian (Taoism)|xian]]'' [[Chinese dragon|dragons]] who eat yin and yang energy and ride [[cloud]]s and their ''[[qi]]''.<ref name="Minford-2018" />

More specifically, possibilities for "the spirit of the body" include "join[ing] the universe after death",<ref name="NatGeo-2023">{{Cite web |date=January 30, 2023 |title=Taoism |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/taoism |access-date=2023-04-30 |publisher=[[National Geographic Society]] |archive-date=26 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426232309/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/taoism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> exploring<ref name="EB-2023" /> or serving various functions in parts of ''tiān<ref name="Chua-2007">{{Cite book |last=Chua |first=Amy |title=Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance–and Why They Fall |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-385-51284-8 |edition=1st |location=New York |page=65 |oclc=123079516}}</ref>'' or other spiritual worlds,<ref name="EB-2023" /><ref name="Lagerwey-2018">{{Cite web |last=Lagerwey |first=John |date=2018-05-21 |title=Xian |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/asia/chinese-political-geography/xian |access-date=2023-04-30 |website=[[Encyclopedia.com]]}}</ref> or becoming a ''xian'' who can do one or more of those things.<ref name="EB-2023" /><ref name="Chua-2007" />

Taoist ''xian'' are often seen as being [[Eternal youth|eternally young]] because "of their life being totally at one with the Tao of [[nature]]."<ref>{{Cite book |title=World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts |publisher=[[Paragon House|Paragon House Publishers]] |year=1995 |isbn=978-1-55778-723-1 |editor-last=Wilson |editor-first=Andrew |edition=1st paperback |location=St. Paul, Minnesota |page=20}}</ref> They are also often seen as being made up of "pure breath and light" and as being able to [[Shapeshifting|shapeshift]], and some Taoists believed their afterlife natural "paradises" were palaces of heaven.<ref name="Murrell-2017">{{Cite journal |last=Murrell |first=Jasmyn |date=January 2017 |title=Virtuous Life, Honored Afterlife and the Evolution of Confucianism |url=https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1031&context=history-in-the-making |journal=History in the Making |publisher=[[California State University]] |volume=10 |issue=7 |pages=89, 97 |access-date=3 June 2023 |archive-date=3 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603143550/https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1031&context=history-in-the-making |url-status=live }}</ref>

Taoists who sought to become one of the many different types of immortals, such as ''xian'' or ''zhenren'', wanted to "ensure complete physical and spiritual immortality".<ref name="Salamone-2004" />

In the [[Quanzhen School|Quanzhen]] school of [[Wang Chongyang]], the goal is to become a sage, which he equates with being a "spiritual immortal" (''shen xien'') and with the attainment of "clarity and stillness" (''qingjing'') through the integration of "inner nature" (xing) and "worldly reality" (ming).{{sfnp|Kirkland|2004|p=183}}

Those who know the Tao, who flow with the natural way of the Tao and thus embody the patterns of the Tao are called sages or "perfected persons" ([[zhenren]]).{{sfnp|Kohn|2008|p=23}}{{sfnp|Komjathy|2014|p=80}} This is what is often considered salvation in Taoist [[soteriology]].<ref name="EB-2023" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=zhenren |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/zhenren |access-date=2023-04-23 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lagerway |first=John |date=2005 |title=Zhenren |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/zhenren |access-date=2023-04-23 |website=[[Encyclopedia.com]]}}</ref> They often are depicted as living simple lives, as craftsmen or [[hermit]]s. In other cases, they are depicted as the ideal rulers which practice ruling through non-intervention and under which nations prosper peacefully.{{sfnp|Kohn|2008|p=23}} Sages are the highest humans, mediators between heaven and earth and the best guides on the Taoist path. They act naturally and simply, with a pure mind and with wuwei. They may have supernatural powers and bring good fortune and peace.{{sfnp|Kohn|2008|p=23-24}}

Some sages are also considered to have become one of the [[Xian (Taoism)|immortals (xian)]] through their mastery of the Tao. After shedding their mortal form, spiritual immortals may have many superhuman abilities like flight<ref name="Lagerwey-2018" /> and are often said to live in heavenly realms.{{sfnp|Kirkland|2004|p=184}}<ref name="EB-2023" />

The sages as thus because they have attained the primary goal of Taoism: a union with the Tao and harmonization or alignment with its patterns and flows.{{sfnp|Komjathy|2014|p=162-163}} This experience is one of being attuned to the Tao and to our own original nature, which already has a natural capacity for resonance ([[ganying]]) with Tao.{{sfnp|Komjathy|2014|p=163}} This is the main goal that all Daoist practices are aiming towards and can be felt in various ways, such as a sense of psychosomatic vitality and aliveness as well as stillness and a "true joy" (zhenle) or "celestial joy" that remains unaffected by mundane concerns like gain and loss.{{sfnp|Komjathy|2014|p=163-166}}

The Taoist quest for immortality was inspired by Confucian emphasis on [[filial piety]] and how [[Ancestor veneration in China|worshipped ancestors]] were thought to exist after death.<ref name="Murrell-2017" />

Becoming an immortal through the power of yin-yang and heaven, but also specifically Taoist interpretations of the Tao, was sometimes thought of as possible in [[Chinese folk religion]],<ref name="Wilkinson-1999" /> and Taoist thoughts on immortality were sometimes drawn from Confucian views on heaven and its status as an afterlife that permeates the mortal world as well.