What is Taoism?

Quatr.us > China > Chinese Philosophy > Taoism

Later portrait of Lao Tsu

Taoism is a philosophy or way of life that may have been started by a man named Lao Tsu (or Lao Tzu) who lived a little before Confucius, about 600 BC. Tao means the "way" or the "path". According to the traditional story, Lao Tsu worked as a librarian in the emperor's library (this was in the Eastern Zhou dynasty).

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY
TAOISM
CONFUCIANISM
CHINESE PHILOSOPHY
CHINESE RELIGION
ANCIENT CHINA

Lao Tsu believed that the way to happiness was for people to learn to "go with the flow." Instead of trying to get things done the hard way, people should take the time to figure out the natural, or easy way to do things, and then everything would get done more simply. This idea is called "wu-wei", which means "doing by not doing".

Lao Tsu also thought that everything alive in the universe (plants, animals, people) shared in a universal life-force. There were two sides to the life-force, which are called the yin and the yang. This picture is often used to show how the yin and the yang are intertwined with each other.

The yin (the dark side) is the side of women, the moon, things that are still like ponds, and completion and death. The yang (the light side) is the side of men, the sun, things that move like rivers, dragons, and creation and birth. Everyone has some yin and some yang in them, and Taoism says that it is important to keep them balanced. Chinese doctors believed that a lot of illnesses were caused by too much yin or too much yang.

Because everything has this life force in it, Lao Tsu thought it was wrong for people to fight each other in wars, killing the life force, and people should be sad when they had to fight, instead of celebrating their victories.

He also thought it was wrong for governments (or anybody else) to make a lot of rules and laws about how people should behave. This would only make people act the same way all the time, and sometimes they would go against the Tao, breaking the principle of wu wei. So Taoism was against anything with rules, like special food diets. He thought people should make their own decisions in each situation.

Lao Tzu (or someone else pretending to be Lao Tzu) wrote down his ideas in a book called the Tao Te Ching, which has been copied over and over and which you can read online at this site.

Bibliography and further reading about Taoism:

One World, Many Religions: The Ways We Worship, by Mary Pope Osborne (1996). .

Taoism (World Religions), by Paula R. Hartz (2004). .

Taoism (Religions of the World), by William Allen (Dec. 2004). .

Lao Tzu : Tao Te Ching : A Book About the Way and the Power of the Way, by Ursula LeGuin and Lao Tzu (1998). A new version of the Tao Te Ching, with a commentary by Le Guin.

Chinese Philosophy
Chinese Religion
Ancient China
Quatr.us home

Professor Carr

Karen Eva Carr, PhD.
Assoc. Professor Emerita, History
Portland State University

Professor Carr holds a B.A. with high honors from Cornell University in classics and archaeology, and her M.A. and PhD. from the University of Michigan in Classical Art and Archaeology. She has excavated in Scotland, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, and Tunisia, and she has been teaching history to university students for a very long time.

Professor Carr's PSU page

Less

Help support Quatr.us!

Quatr.us (formerly "History for Kids") is entirely supported by your generous donations and by our sponsors. Most donors give about $10. Can you give $10 today to keep this site running? Or give $50 to sponsor a page?

Upgrade to Premium

Upgrade to no ads! $19.99/year Premier with Paypal - pay monthly, or save by paying up front.. No distractions, extra goodies!