Editing Taoism (section)

=== Other divisions of Taoism ===
Taoism has traditionally been divided into religious Taoism and philosophical Taoism (Dàojiào and Dàojiā), respectively.

==== Religious Taoism ====
Some Taoist sects are expressly religious in the Western sense.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} "Lord Heaven" and "[[Jade Emperor]]" were terms for a Taoist supreme deity also used in [[Confucianism]] and [[Chinese folk religion]],<ref name="Gurdon-2002f">{{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=326, 393, 401 |oclc=46661540}}</ref> and some conceptions of this deity thought of the two names as synonymous.

The Taoist Jade Emperor in the [[1st millennium|first millennium AD]] was a primary deity among polytheists who had a [[Tian|heaven]] that contained numerous ministries and officials and which was "modelled on...the earthly [[Emperor of China|emperor]]['s rule]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Storm |first=Rachel |title=Myths & Legends of India, Egypt, China & Japan |publisher=Lorenz Books |year=2011 |editor-last=Sudell |editor-first=Helen |edition=2nd |location=Wigston, Leicestershire |page=176}}</ref>

[[Polytheist]] Taoists venerated one or more of these kinds of spiritual entities:<ref name="Cleary-1998">{{Cite book |last=Cleary |first=Thomas F. |title=The Essential Tao: An Initiation Into the Heart of Taoism Through the Authentic Tao Te Ching and the Inner Teachings of Chuang-Tzu |date=1998 |publisher=Castle Books |isbn=0-7858-0905-8 |location=Edison, New Jersey |page=166 |oclc=39243466 |author-link=Thomas Cleary}}</ref><ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /> "deified heroes...forces of nature"<ref name="Gurdon-2002g">{{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=392 |oclc=46661540}}</ref> and "[[nature spirits]]",<ref name="Cleary-1998" /> ''[[Xian (Taoism)|xian]]'',<ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /> spirits,<ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /> [[Deity|gods]],<ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /> [[Deva (Buddhism)|devas]] and other celestial beings from [[Chinese Buddhism]], Indian Buddhism, and [[Chinese folk religion]],<ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /><ref name="Bellingham-1992a">{{Cite book |last1=Bellingham |first1=David |title=Myths and Legends |last2=Whittaker |first2=Clio |last3=Grant |first3=John |publisher=Wellfleet Press |year=1992 |isbn=1-55521-812-1 |location=Secaucus, New Jersey |page=126 |oclc=27192394}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zürcher |first=Erik |date=1980 |title=Buddhist Influence on Early Taoism: A Survey of Scriptural Evidence |journal=T'oung Pao |volume=66 |issue=1/3 |pages=125–126 |doi=10.1163/156853280X00039 |jstor=4528195 |issn=0082-5433}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stevens |first=Keith |date=1998 |title=Images of Sinicised Vedic Deities on Chinese Altars |journal=[[Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch|Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society]] |volume=38 |pages=62, 77–78, 85 |issn=0085-5774 |jstor=23889810}}</ref><ref name="Chua-2007" /> various kinds of beings occupying [[Tian|heaven]],<ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /> members of the [[Chinese theology|celestial bureaucracy]],<ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /> [[ghost]]s,<ref name="Wang-2022" /> "mythical emperors",<ref name="Szostak-2020">{{Cite book |last=Szostak |first=Rick |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781003013518/making-sense-world-history-rick-szostak |title=Making Sense of World History |date=2020-10-22 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-003-01351-8 |location=London |page=466 |doi=10.4324/9781003013518 |s2cid=224902752 |access-date=15 May 2023 |archive-date=15 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515125530/https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781003013518/making-sense-world-history-rick-szostak |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Laozi]],<ref name="Szostak-2020" /> a trinity of high gods that varied in how it was thought of,<ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /> and the [[Three Pure Ones]].<ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /> Some Taoists chose not to worship beings they saw as gods,<ref name="Harari-2015" /> and only worshipped guardian spirits<ref name="Sanders-1980" /> or "celestials",<ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /> such as devas, various kinds of beings occupying heaven, members of the celestial bureaucracy, and ''xian''.<ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /> In some Taoist sects, the Tao was the primary thing that was venerated and beings that would be gods in other sects were merely treated as supernatural beings similar to gods who could only act in accordance with the Tao's wishes.<ref name="Szostak-2020" />

When the ''Tao Te Ching'' was written, many Taoists told stories and legends about heroes "whose bodies had been rendered invulnerable".<ref name="Mackenzie-1986" /> This could be achieved by making contact with "dragon's blood" or a river in the afterlife, or drinking the "waters of the 'Well of Life' and eating the 'fungus of immortality'".<ref name="Mackenzie-1986">{{Cite book |last=Mackenzie |first=Donald Alexander |title=China & Japan (Myths and Legends) |publisher=Avenel Books |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-517-60446-5 |location=New York |pages=317–318 |author-link=Donald Alexander Mackenzie}}</ref>

Ordinary Chinese in the early [[Tang dynasty]] often worshipped local gods, Buddhist gods and devas, and Taoist gods simultaneously,<ref name="Chua-2007" /> and this population included a significant amount of the Taoists who have ever worshipped devas throughout history.{{Explain|reason=Better tensing and more explanation because I can't think of how to phrase this|date=May 2023}}

The trinity is thought by scholars to have evolved into the Three Pure Ones.<ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /> It was thought of in the early [[Han dynasty]] as the three gods Tianyi, Diyi, and "the Taiyi".<ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /> These beings were varyingly interpreted as relatively simple heavenly, earthly, and all-purpose gods respectively,{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} the "supreme deity" (an intangible god that represented the mind of the Tao), "his disciple", the Lord Tao (a more physical god representing the Tao), and Lord Lao (Laozi "deified"),<ref name="Gurdon-2002g" /> or an emanation of the Tao that was ultimately singular in nature.

An unrelated trinity was the [[Three Great Emperor-Officials]], three of the highest [[Shen (Chinese religion)|''shen'']] in some branches of religious Taoism thought to be able to pardon sins.<ref name="EB-2010">{{Cite web |date=2010-02-03 |title=Sanguan |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sanguan |access-date=2023-04-30 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |language=en |archive-date=6 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506181816/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sanguan |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Tao]] was not worshipped alone,<ref name="NatGeo-2023" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-11-12 |title=Gods and spirits |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/taoism/beliefs/gods.shtml |access-date=2023-05-04 |website= |publisher=[[BBC]] |language=en-GB |archive-date=4 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230504172443/https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/taoism/beliefs/gods.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> although gods do exist that anthropomorphize it in various ways. Laozi was sometimes thought to be a god or "the image of the Tao".<ref name="NatGeo-2023" />

"Some Taoist adepts" worshipped thousands of gods that were thought to exist in the body.<ref name="Stevenson-2000" />