The word or "Dao" can be roughly be translated as "the Way." Taoism was founded by Lao-Tzu (604-531 BCE) a contemporary of Confucius. Taoism evolved into a religion around 440 CE when it became the state religion of China during which time Lao-Tzu became venerated as a deity.

Taoism is regarded both as a philosophy and a religion and the two distinctions are dually recognized. The Taoist religion is known as tao chiao while Taoist philosophy is known as tao chia.

Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, became the three great religions of China. All three religions eventually spread to Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia.

Today, it is estimated that there are approximately twenty million Taoists in the world residing mostly in China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Another thirty thousand or so Taoists live in North America and slightly under two thousand in Canada.

The practise of Taoism has once been described as "the way of man's cooperation with the course or trend of the natural world."¹ Fundamentally, Taoism advocates observation of natural phenomenon and living in close correspondence with these laws.

For much of its history, Taoism has existed alongside Confucianism. The Taoist teachings and philosophy both counterpoint and complement the Confucian tradition with its emphases on rituals, forms and social obligations. Taoism is older than the teachings of the man to whom its origins are attributed and in some scholarly circles there is a debate as to whether the was a person called Lao Tzu, for the name simply means "the Old One."

Like Confucianism, Taoism emerged in time of great social and political chaos and those not given to activism and overt social action found meaning in the philosophy of the negative which formed the basis of Taoist teachings.

A fundamental premise of Taoism is that everything humans think about, talk about and based their action upon are in effect imaginary constructs rather than reality or real objects. The Tao or Way is thus, to paraphrase a philosopher, the "map" and not the terrain. Yet humans either ignore this or are blind to the constructed nature of they take as real.In the opening verse of the Tao Te Ching, the collected teachings of Lao Tzu, we thus learn that "the Tao that can be named is [therefore] not the name."

The Cultural Impact of Taoism

Over the many years of its existence, Taoism has contributed immensely to the life and cultural practises of its adherence. Besides fostering a love of nature, Taoism has played a major rule in Chinese healing practises, physical cultivation, food habits, art and poetry.

Religious Taoism

Religious Taoism came in time to have its own pantheon of Taoist gods who are worshipped to this day in temples by the various Taoist sects. These gods may be described as correlatives of human and natural attributes and there are various different rituals and ceremonies attached to the different deities. Many of these deities and rituals attached to them are also linked to the folk religions and practises of China with a pantheon of folk deitiesof their own.

Some of the major deities in religious Taoism include Yu-huang,or the Jade Emperor, who is considered to be the great High God of the Taoists. Yu-huang is regarded as the ruler of Heaven. He is also considered to be the ruler of all the other gods who in turn must report to him.

The Taoist pantheon also includes gods who seem to come in cohorts--the Three Pure Ones, the Three Official Gods, and the Eight Immortals come readily to mind. Three Pure Ones (San Ching) include Yu-ch'ing or Pure Jade, Shang-ching, the Most Pure, and T'ai-ching, the Great Pure One.

The Three Official Gods are T'ien-kuan, the ruler of heaven, Ti-kuan, Ruler of the earth, and Shui-kuan who rules the water. Each of the three have, in addition specific roles to play in the lives of humans. T'ien-kuan grants happiness and prosperity, Ti-kuan forgives humans of their sins, and Shui-kuan grants protection from evil.

The most popular Taoist deities are the pa-hsien or Eight Immortals who were once historical human characters who became gods. The only feminine deity among the eight is Ho-hsien ku the patron saint of women.

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