TA O I S M

A O I S M ?
T I S T
WH A
TAOISM IS A TRADITIONAL CHINESE NATIVE RELIGION.
TAOISM (PRONOUNCED DAO-ISM) IS BELIEVED TO HAVE
ORIGINATED AROUND 300 B.C. THE WORD "TAO" MEANS “THE
WAY” OR “THE PATH”. IT IS A POLYTHEIST RELIGION. TAOISTS
BELIEVES THAT THE UNIVERSE CAN BE DIVIDED INTO TWO
PARTS, HUMAN BEING ANDGODS. THE LATTER CAN ALSO BE
FURTHER DIVIDED INTO SMALLER GROUPS, SUCH AS GODS AND
GHOSTS.
It is basically indefinable. It has Religion that emphasizes
to be experienced. It refers to living with nature and
a power which envelops,
addresses the natural
surrounds and flows through all
things, living and non-living. The balance. (i.e. there would be
Tao regulates natural processes no love without hate, no light
and nourishes balance in the without dark, no male
Universe. without female.)
FOUNDER OF
TAOISM
Lao Tzu
BORN IN 604 B.C. E., HIS NAME MEANS “OLD
MASTER.”
HE WAS CONCEIVED BY A SHOOTING STAR.
WHEN HIS MOTHER GAVE BIRTH TO HIM, HE WAS
ALREADY EIGHTY TWO YEARS OLD, A WISE MAN
WITH FLOWING WHITE HAIR.
HE WORKED AS A GOVERNMENT ARCHIVIST.
EVENTUALLY, HE BECAME DISINCHANTED WITH
THE CORRUPTION OF GOVERNMENT.
HE LEFT HIS TOWN AFTER TAKING THREE DAYS
TO WRITE DOWN HIS WORDS OF WISDOM, THE
TAO TE CHING.
 CHUANG TZU
TAOISM’S SECOND FOUNDER
SEEMS TO HAVE LIVED FROM 369
TO 286 B.C.E.
THE CHUANG TZU, HIS TEXT, IS AS
IMPORTANT AS THE TAO TE CHING
BUT NOT AS WELL KNOWN.
HE IS KNOWN FOR HIS HUMOR,
PROFOUND LESSONS AND
STORIES.
 TAO TE CHING

THE MOST IMPORTANT TAOIST TEXT IS THE “DAO DE JING” (“TAO TE CHING”),
“THE WAY AND ITS POWER”), A 5000-CHARACTER SYNOPSIS OF TAOIST BELIEFS
REPORTEDLY WRITTEN BY LAO-TZU SHORTLY BEFORE HE DIED. THIS SHORT
BOOK WAS DIVIDED INTO EIGHTY-ONE CHAPTERS IN THE TRADITIONAL EDITION
AD WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR A PRIMARILY PHILOSOPHICAL FORM OF TAOISM.
PLACES OF WORSHIP
• THE TAOISTS WORSHIPED IN THE GONG, OR TEMPLE, WHERE THEY WOULD
PERFORM THEIR VARIOUS CEREMONIES
• DIVERSE IN SIZE RELATIVE TO LOCATION AND DEMOGRAPHY OF ATTENDING
PEOPLE
• SHOWS A NEW TWIST ON TRADITIONAL CHINESE ARCHITECTURE LIKE THE
DRAGON AND TIGER THAT ARE IN THE FRONT OF THE TEMPLE AND ARE WOODEN
FRAMED, TYPICALLY BUILT ALONG MOUNTAINS
• USED TAOIST SYMBOLS TO DECORATE WOOD WORK OF THE HALL OF THE TEMPLES
 NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS

• WHILE IT IS DIFFICULT TO GET AN

EXACT NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS
MODERN DAY, RELIABLE DATA BASES
POINT TOWARDS APPROXIMATELY 20
MILLION MODERN DAY FOLLOWERS
SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE GLOBE.
• OF THE APPROXIMATELY 20 MILLION
FOLLOWERS, ABOUT 30,000 OF
THEM ARE BELIEVED TO LIFE IN THE
US, PREDOMINANTLY IN THE
WESTERN HALF OF THE COUNTRY.
 HOLIDAYS
THE MAIN HOLIDAYS OF THE TAOISTS
ARE:
 CHINESE NEW YEAR (BEGINNING OF NEW
YEAR – DIFFERENT THAN LUNAR
CALENDAR)
 LANTERN FESTIVAL (FIRST FULL MOON OF
THE YEAR)
 TOMB SWEEPING DAY (DAY OF CEREMONIES
AT THE TOMB OF ANCESTORS)

 GHOST FESTIVAL (LIKE THE CHINESE

HALLOWEEN)

 DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL (POET’S DAY)

 MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL (FAMILY MEMBERS
CELEBRATE, SPRING FESTIVAL)
SYMBOL(S) OF TAOISM
 • THE YIN-YANG IS THE INFAMOUS SYMBOL OF THE
TAOISTS THAT REPRESENTS THE MAIN IDEALS OF
THEIR PHILOSOPHY INVOLVING BALANCE OF
WEAKNESS (YIN) AND STRENGTH (YANG).

Yin - dark YANG- LIGHT

 Negative  POSITIVE
 Passive
 ACTIVE
 Feminine
 MASCULINE
 Earthly
 HEAVENLY
 • Another sacred
symbol of the
Taoists was the
tortoise which
represented
immorality in their
philosophy.
• MOUNTAINS ARE ANOTHER IMPORTANT
SYMBOL OF THE TAOISTS, DEPICTED IN
THEIR ART FORMS, THAT REPRESENTS
THE LAND OF THE IMMORTALS AND
RETREAT FROM THE NEGATIVE.
• The Yang, strength, is
not only represented by
the Yin-Yang symbol but
also a dragon.
THE FIVE
TAOIST
ELEMENTS
Fire’s planet is Mars, the intense red planet. Fire’s
season is summer, the time of heat, growth,
warmth, and increased light. Fire corresponds to
the three earthly branches of summertime:
Serpent (May), Horse (June) and Sheep Fire’s
direction is south. Fire’s position on the feng shui
ba-gua represents fame and illumination. Fire’s
tri-gram is two solid lines above and below a
broken line. Fire’s symbol Fire
is a personality
red Phoenix.traits are love, passion,
leadership, spirituality, insight, dynamism,
aggression, intuition, reason, and
expressiveness. The fire personality is direct-
right out front. A fire type succeeds by
becoming warm- hearted and generous.
Experiences of love, compassion, fun, joy,
and pleasure are healing for fire individuals.
The challenge for a fire type is to share joy
and laughter without thought of reward.
 THE ELEMENT EARTH IS YIN, FEMININE, LIKE MOTHER EARTH IN THE
WEST. EARTH’S PLANET IS SATURN. EARTH CORRESPONDS TO ALL
TWELVE EARTHLY BRANCHES, AND ITS “SEASON” IS THE LAST EIGHTEEN
DAYS OF EACH OF THE FOUR SEASONS, THE TIME OF SEASONAL
TRANSITION. EARTH’S LOCATION (DIRECTION) IS THE CENTER.

The emotion associated with earth is sympathy.

Other earth qualities are pensiveness,
thoughtfulness, and reflection. Just as one
assimilates nutrients through the stomach, one
assimilates life experiences through the element
earth. A strong earth element helps to digest and
accept fate and expand one’s circle of
knowledge.
THIS ELEMENT IS FEMININE BECAUSE METAL IS EXTRACTED FROM THE FEMININE EARTH,
ALTHOUGH METAL IS CONSIDERED LESS FEMININE THAN EARTH OR WATER. METAL’S
PLANET IS VENUS. METAL’S SEASON IS AUTUMN, THE TIME OF HARVEST (WITH A METAL
SCYTHE), COMPLETION, AND THE BEGINNING OF REST. METAL CORRESPONDS TO THE
THREE EARTHLY BRANCHES OF FALL: MONKEY (AUGUST), PHOENIX (SEPTEMBER), AND
DOG(OCTOBER). METAL’S DIRECTION IS WEST. ON THE FENG SHUI BA-GUA METAL
CORRELATES TO CHILDREN AND CREATIVITY. METAL’S SYMBOL IS A WHITE TIGER.

The emotion associated with metal is

grief. Other metal emotions are
insecurity, inability to achieve parental or
spousal expectations, and lack of
confidence. The challenge for a metal
type is to learn how to express grief and
 Water is the most feminine of the five
elements and therefore is considered very
yin. In Taoist cosmology, femininity is not
considered weak. On the contrary, water is
the most powerful element for it can move
around any obstacle in its path without
losing its essential nature. Water can, in
time, dissolve the hardest mountains.
Water qualities are creativity, sensitivity, reflection, persuasion,
effectiveness, and desire for life and sex. Water types value family
and social contacts and possess the ability to attract (being
receptive, water can attract, rather than pursue). The emotion
associated with water is fear. Other water emotions are
indecisiveness, vacillation, and uncertainty. Those born in a water
year succeed by not allowing fear to block the fullest expression of
creativity. The challenge for water types is to overcome their fears
and become active participants in life.
 The element wood is masculine and considered
less yang than fire. Wood’s planet is Jupiter, the
largest planet, symbolic of wood’s growth in
springtime. Wood’s season is spring, the time of
planting seeds, beginnings, and new growth.
Wood corresponds to the three earthly branches
of springtime: Tiger (February), Hare (March), and
Dragon (April). Wood’s direction is east. Wood’s
position on the feng shui ba-gua represents
Wood qualities are bold actions, planning,
ancestors and family relationships. Wood’s
initiating new projects, idealism, imagination,
symbol is an azure Dragon.
compassion, and competition. Wood types
possess decision-making skills and the ability to
create change. From an Asian perspective, the
go-getter, do-or-die, pioneering spirit of
American culture is very wood. The challenge for
a wood type is to learn to control anger and
channel it into positive work that benefits all
Major Beliefs
of Taoism
 CREATION STORY
THE STORY OF THE CHINESE PHILOSOPHICAL
CREATION TALKS ABOUT THE MYTH OF PAN KU:
CREATION AND THE UNIVERSAL EGG. IN THE
BEGINNING OF TIME, THERE WAS CHAOS, AND
THE SHAPE OF THE CHAOS WAS AN EGG. FOR
18,000 YEARS THE EGG WAS INCUBATING UNTIL
IT HATCHED, AND WHEN IT HATCHED, THE
HEAVENS AND THE EARTH CAME INTO
EXISTENCE. AT THE SAME, THE GIANT PAN KU
WAS BORN. HIS SIZE DIVIDED HEAVEN AND
EARTH, AND WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF FOUR
CREATURES, A TORTOISE, A DRAGON, A
PHOENIX, AND A UNICORN, HE CREATED THE
EARTH THAT’S SEEN TODAY. WHEN PAN KU
PERISHED, HE BECAME “ONE WITH NATURE”
MEANING HIS BODY TRANSFORMED INTO THE
ENVIRONMENT.
 PURPOSE OF LIFE
TAOISTS BELIEVED THAT IF HUMAN NATURE
WAS ALIGNED PERFECTLY WITH THE REST OF
NATURE, THE RESULT WOULD BE BOTH
HARMONY AND ORDER. WHEN PEOPLE
DEVIATE FROM THE NATURAL ORDER, THEY
ARE ONLY BRINGING DESTRUCTION UPON
THEMSELVES. THE ONLY WAY TO ENCOURAGE
NATURAL BEHAVIOR IS BY USING A MODEL
LEADER. A MODEL EMPEROR ONCE SAID, “HE
WHO GOVERNS HIS BODY, GOVERNS THE
COUNTRY”. BASICALLY YOU EXIST TO
BECOME ONE WITH NATURE.
 

1) LAW OF THE YIN YANG-THERE MUST ALWAYS BE A

BALANCE OF YIN AND YANG, EXISTING IN EVERY PART OF LIFE 
2) LAW OF MUTUAL IMMANENCE-YIN YANG IS MUTUALLY
IMMISCIBLE
3) LAW OF DYNAMICS -EXISTENCE ITSELF IS DYNAMIC

  TAOISTS BELIEVE THAT ADVANCEMENTS IN EMPIRES WILL

ACTUALLY BRING THEIR DOWNFALL AND ALSO THE FACT THAT
SIMPLICITY IS BEST.
 END TIMES STORY
• THE TAOISTS DID NOT ACTUALLY BELIEVE IN
THE END OF TIME, THEY DID AGREE WITH THE
FACT OF DEATH AS A NATURAL PART OF LIFE
(DID NOT HAVE SIGNIFICANCE ON THEIR WAY
OF LIVING)
• THEY DID NOT BELIEVE IN AN AFTERLIFE, BUT
INSTEAD THAT DEATH WAS THE “ULTIMATE
END”.
THE CORE OF THE BASIC BELIEF AND DOCTRINE
OF TAOISM IS THAT "TAO" IS THE ORIGIN AND
LAW OF ALL THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE. TAOISTS
BELIEVES THAT PEOPLE CAN BECOME DEITIES OR
LIVE FOREVER THROUGH PRACTICING CERTAIN
RITUALS AND AUSTERITIES.
THANK YOU
FOR
LISTENING