Taoism
is one of the two great philosophical and religious traditions that originated in
The other religion native to China is Confucianism. Both and Confucianism
about the same time, around the sixth century B.C.E. China's third great religion,
Buddhism,
came to China from India around the second century of the common era. Together,
these three
faiths have shaped Chinese life and thought for nearly twenty-five hundred years
(Hartz 3).
One dominate concept in Taoism and Buddhism is the belief in some form of
reincarnation.
The idea that life does not end when one dies is an integral part of these religions and
the culture
of the Chinese people. Reincarnation, life after death, ...
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the source of all
things. That
source is not a god or a supreme being, as Taoism is not monotheistic. The focus is
not to
worship one god, but instead on coming into harmony with tao (Hartz, 8).
Tao is the essence of everything that is right, and complications exist only because
people
choose to complicate their own lives. Desire, ambition, fame, and selfishness are
seen as
1
hindrances to a harmonious life. It is only when a person rids himself of all desires
can tao be
achieved. By shunning every earthly distraction, the Taoist is able to concentrate on
life itself.
The longer the person's life, the more saintly the person is presumed to have become.
Eventually
the hope is to become immortal, to achieve tao, to have reached the deeper life. This
is the after
life for a Taoist, to be in harmony with the universe, to have achieved tao (Head1,
65).
To understand the relationship between life, and the Taoism concept of life and
death, the
origin of the ...
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is the
belief that the
soul never dies, a person's soul is eternal. "You see death in contrast to life; and both
are unreal -
both are a changing and seeming. Your soul does not glide out of a familiar sea into
an
unfamiliar ocean. That which is real in you, your soul, can never pass away, and this
fear is no
part of her" (Head2 199).
In the writings of The Tao Te King, tao is described as having existed before
heaven and
earth. Tao is formless, stands alone without change and reaches everywhere without
harm. The
Taoist is told to use the light that is inside to revert to the natural clearness of sight.
By divesting
oneself of all external distractions and desires, ...
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Taoism. (2004, February 14). Retrieved December 22, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Taoism/3063
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"Taoism." Essayworld.com. February 14, 2004. Accessed December 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Taoism/3063.
"Taoism." Essayworld.com. February 14, 2004. Accessed December 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Taoism/3063.
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