Editing Taoism (section)

=== Classical Taoism and its sources ===
Scholars like Harold Roth argue that early Taoism was a series of "inner-cultivation lineages" of master-disciple communities, emphasizing a contentless and nonconceptual [[Apophatic theology|apophatic]] meditation as a way of achieving union with the Tao.{{sfnp|Komjathy|2014|p=8, 24}} According to Louis Komjathy, their worldview "emphasized the Dao as sacred, and the universe and each individual being as a manifestation of the Dao."{{sfnp|Komjathy|2014|p=24}} These communities were also closely related to and intermixed with the [[fangshi]] (method master) communities.{{sfnp|Komjathy|2014|p=8}} Other scholars, like Russell Kirkland, argue that before the Han dynasty, there were no real "Taoists" or "Taoism". Instead, there were various sets of behaviors, practices, and interpretative frameworks (like the ideas of the ''[[I Ching|Yijing]]'', [[School of Naturalists|yin-yang thought]], as well as [[Mohism|Mohist]], "[[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Legalist]]", and "[[Confucianism|Confucian]]" ideas), which were eventually synthesized into the first organized forms of "Taoism".{{sfnp|Kirkland|2004|p=20–33, 75}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=道教信仰 |url=https://www.taoistfederation.org.sg/taoist-beliefs-2/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=Singapore Taoist Federation |language=zh-CN}}</ref>

Some of the main early Taoist sources include: the ''[[Neiye]]'', the [[Zhuangzi (book)|''Zhuangzi'']], and the ''[[Tao Te Ching]]''.{{sfnp|Kirkland|2004|p=23–33}} The ''Tao Te Ching'', attributed to [[Laozi]], is dated by scholars to sometime between the 4th and 6th century BCE.{{sfnp|Kirkland|2004|p=61}}<ref name="Bellingham-1992">{{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=124 |oclc=27192394}}</ref> A common tradition holds that Laozi founded Taoism.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Hackett |first1=Conrad |last2=Grim |first2=Brian J. |date=2012-12-18 |title=Other Religions |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-other/ |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=[[Pew Research Center]] |series=The Global Religious Landscape |language=en-US |archive-date=1 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901021622/https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-other/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Laozi's historicity is disputed, with many scholars seeing him as a legendary founding figure.{{sfnp|Robinet|1997|p=25}}{{sfnp|Kirkland|2004|p=62}}

While Taoism is often regarded in the West as arising from Laozi, many Chinese Taoists claim that the [[Yellow Emperor]] formulated many of their precepts,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Windridge |first=Charles |title=Tong Sing: The Book of Wisdom: Based on the Ancient Chinese Almanac |publisher=[[Barnes & Noble Books]] |others=Consulting work done by Cheng Kam Fong |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7607-4535-9 |edition=Revised and Updated |location=New York |pages=59, 107 |oclc=54439373}}</ref> including the quest for "long life".<ref name="Salamone-2004">{{Cite book |last=Salamone |first=Frank A. |title=Encyclopedia of Religious Rites, Rituals, and Festivals |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2004 |isbn=0-415-94180-6 |editor-last=Levinson |editor-first=David |location=New York |page=431}}</ref> Traditionally, the Yellow Emperor's founding of Taoism was said to have been because he "dreamed of an ideal kingdom whose tranquil inhabitants lived in harmonious accord with the natural law and possessed virtues remarkably like those espoused by early Taoism. On waking from his dream, Huangdi sought to" bring about "these [[virtue]]s in his own kingdom, to ensure order and prosperity among the inhabitants".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Huangdi |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Huangdi |access-date=2023-05-22 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |language=en |archive-date=4 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104135049/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Huangdi |url-status=live }}</ref>

Afterwards, Taoism developed and grew into two sects; One is Zhengyi Taoism, which mainly focuses on spells, and the other is Quanzhen Taoism, which mainly focuses on practicing inner alchemy. Overall, traditional Taoist thought, content, and sects are varied, reflecting the ideal of "absorbing everything inside and mixing everything outside".<ref>{{Citation |last=Guoqing |first=Yu |title=Taoism |date=2020 |work=Rituals and Practices in World Religions: Cross-Cultural Scholarship to Inform Research and Clinical Contexts |series=Religion, Spirituality and Health: A Social Scientific Approach |volume=5 |pages=99–111 |editor-last=Yaden |editor-first=David Bryce |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27953-0_8 |access-date=2024-04-27 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-27953-0_8 |isbn=978-3-030-27953-0 |editor2-last=Zhao |editor2-first=Yukun |editor3-last=Peng |editor3-first=Kaiping |editor4-last=Newberg |editor4-first=Andrew B.| issn = 2627-6011}}</ref>

Early Taoism drew on the ideas found in the religion of the [[Shang dynasty]] and the [[Zhou dynasty]], such as their use of [[divination]], [[Ancestor veneration in China|ancestor worship]], and the idea of Heaven ([[Tian]]) and its relationship to humanity.{{sfnp|Kohn|2008|p=23–33}} According to modern scholars of Taoism, such as Kirkland and [[Livia Kohn]], Taoist philosophy also developed by drawing on numerous schools of thought from the [[Warring States period]] (4th to 3rd centuries BCE), including [[Mohism]], [[Confucianism]], [[Legalism (Chinese philosophy)|Legalist]] theorists (like [[Shen Buhai]] and [[Han Fei]], which speak of ''[[wu wei]]''), the [[School of Naturalists]] (from which Taoism draws its main cosmological ideas, [[yin and yang]] and the [[Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)|five phases]]), and the [[Chinese classics]], especially the ''[[I Ching]]'' and the ''[[Lüshi Chunqiu]]''.{{sfnp|Kirkland|2004|p=2-10}}{{sfnp|Kohn|2008|p=23–33}}<ref name="Robinet 1997, p. 62">{{harvp|Robinet|1997|p=6}}</ref>

Meanwhile, Isabelle Robinet identifies four components in the emergence of Taoism: the teachings found in the ''[[Tao Te Ching]]'' and ''[[Zhuangzi (book)|Zhuangzi]],'' techniques for achieving ecstasy, practices for achieving longevity and becoming an immortal ([[Xian (Taoism)|xian]]), and practices for [[exorcism]].{{sfnp|Robinet|1997|p=25}} Robinet states that some elements of Taoism may be traced to [[prehistoric]] folk religions in China.<ref>{{harvp|Demerath|2003|p=149}}; {{harvp|Hucker|1995|pp=203–204}}</ref> In particular, many Taoist practices drew from the Warring States era phenomena of the ''[[Wu (shaman)|wu]]'' ([[Chinese shamanism|Chinese shamans]]) and the ''[[fangshi]]'' ("method masters", which probably derived from the "archivist-soothsayers of antiquity").<ref name="Robinet 1997, p. 36">{{harvp|Robinet|1997|p=36}}</ref>

Both terms were used to designate individuals dedicated to "magic, medicine, divination,&nbsp;... methods of longevity and to ecstatic wanderings" as well as exorcism.<ref name="Robinet 1997, p. 36" /> The ''fangshi'' were philosophically close to the School of Naturalists and relied greatly on astrological and calendrical speculations in their divinatory activities.{{sfnp|Robinet|1997|p=39}} Female shamans played an important role in the early Taoist tradition, which was particularly strong in the southern state of [[Chu (state)|Chu]]. Early Taoist movements developed their own tradition in contrast to shamanism while also absorbing shamanic elements.<ref>{{harvc|author=Catherine Despeux|c=Women in Taoism|in=Kohn|year=2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EXVk1tr6lEYC&q=shamanism|access-date=13 September 2016|pp=403–404}}</ref>

During the early period, some Taoists lived as [[hermit]]s or recluses who did not participate in political life, while others sought to establish a harmonious society based on Taoist principles.{{sfnp|Komjathy|2014|p=24}} [[Zhuang Zhou]] (c. 370–290 BCE) was the most influential of the Taoist hermits. Some scholars hold that since he lived in the south, he may have been influenced by [[Chinese shamanism]].{{sfnp|Nadeau|2012|p=42}} [[Zhuang Zhou]] and his followers insisted they were the heirs of ancient traditions and the ways of life of by-then legendary kingdoms.<ref>{{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=161 |oclc=39243466 |author-link=Thomas Cleary}}</ref> Pre-Taoist philosophers and mystics whose activities may have influenced Taoism included shamans, naturalists skilled in understanding the properties of plants and [[geology]], [[diviners]], early [[environmentalist]]s, tribal chieftains, court scribes and commoner members of governments, members of the nobility in Chinese states, and the descendants of refugee communities.<ref>{{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 |pages=123–124 |oclc=39243466 |author-link=Thomas Cleary}}</ref>

Significant movements in early Taoism disregarded the existence of gods, and many who believed in gods thought they were subject to the natural law of the Tao, in a similar nature to all other life.<ref name="Harari-2015">{{Cite book |last=Harari |first=Yuval Noah |title=Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind |publisher=Penguin Random House UK |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-09-959008-8 |location=London |page=249 |translator-last=Harari |translator-first=Yuval Noah |oclc=910498369 |author-link=Yuval Noah Harari |translator-last2=Purcell |translator-first2=John |translator-last3=Watzman |translator-first3=Haim |translator-link=Yuval Noah Harari |translator-link3=Haim Watzman}}</ref><ref name="Sanders-1980">{{Cite book |last=Sanders |first=Tao Tao Liu |title=Dragons, Gods & Spirits from Chinese Mythology |publisher=[[Peter Bedrick Books]] |year=1980 |isbn=0-87226-922-1 |location=New York |page=73}}</ref> Roughly contemporaneously to the ''Tao Te Ching'', some believed the Tao was a force that was the "basis of all existence" and more powerful than the gods, while being a god-like being that was an [[Ancestor veneration in China|ancestor]] and a [[mother goddess]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Armstrong |first=Karen |title=A Short History of Myth |publisher=[[Canongate Books]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-84195-716-6 |edition=First American |location=Broadway, New York |pages=90–91 |author-link=Karen Armstrong}}</ref>

Early Taoists studied the natural world in attempts to find what they thought were supernatural laws that governed existence.<ref name="Bellingham-1992" /> Taoists created scientific principles that were the first of their kind in China, and the belief system has been known to merge scientific, philosophical, and religious conceits from close to its beginning.<ref name="Bellingham-1992" />