WORLD RELIGIONS

Detailed explanation-1: -Taoism (also spelled Daoism) is a religion and a philosophy from ancient China that has influenced folk and national belief. Taoism has been connected to the philosopher Lao Tzu, who around 500 B.C.E. wrote the main book of Taoism, the Tao Te Ching.

Detailed explanation-2: -Taoism is not a religion; it is a philosophy – a way of looking at life and a way of thinking about things. Taoists believe that if one looks at life and thinks about things in the right way, then one will be much happier.

Detailed explanation-3: -Laozi (Lao Tzu) is traditionally regarded as the founder of the Taoist religion and is closely associated in this context with “original", or “primordial", Taoism. Whether he actually existed is disputed, and the work attributed to him – the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching) – is dated between the 8th and 3rd century BC.

Detailed explanation-4: -Taoism as a religion began in the year 142 C.E. with the revelation of the Tao to Zhang Daoling or Chang Tao-ling by the personified god of the Tao, Taishang laojun (Lao Tzu), the Highest Venerable Lord. Zhang Daoling became the first Celestial Master and founder of the first organized Taoist school of thought.

Detailed explanation-5: -Taoism does not have a God in the way that the Abrahamic religions do. There is no omnipotent being beyond the cosmos, who created and controls the universe. In Taoism the universe springs from the Tao, and the Tao impersonally guides things on their way.