NOT A FRONTPAGE - You dropped food on the floor…should you eat it? Homework: None

That which cannot be named…

Background to Taoism  Develops in China during the Zhou dynasty  Founder is believed to be Lao Tse (604 – 531BC); lived at the same time as Confucius  Followers studied nature and made discoveries in science and technology  Perhaps the magnetic compass and gunpowder  Currently there are about 20 million followers of Daoism, most in Taiwan

Beliefs/Teachings  Teachings of Lao Tse written down in the book, Tao te- Ching –  “a humble effort to talk about that which cannot be talked about or even named.”  Name roughly translated to “the way” or “the path”; it is basically indefinable and must be experienced  Way to live in happiness and peace is to gain experience of the Dao by living in harmony with nature  No worship or prayer, as no gods exist according to Daoists;  Answer to life’s problems comes from inner meditation and outer observation.  Provides an alternative to the many rules and rituals of Confucianism, which Daoists believed disturbed the natural order.

Yin and Yang  The nature of change, balanced as two halves of a whole.  Yin and Yang is perhaps the most known and documented concept used within Taoism.  Yin and Yang illustrated from the Tao Te Ching [2]  When people see things as beautiful, ugliness is created. When people see things as good, evil is created.  Being and non-being produce each other. Difficult and easy complement each other. Long and short define each other. High and low oppose each other. Fore and aft follow each other.