Subscribe Feed (RSS)Taoism, historical impact: how has it affected politics, and society, etc?
June 7th, 2008 by Admin | Filed under Religion & Spirituality.
WahChing23OceanSide asked:
well i have to do some research paper on it, can anyone help me.. anything would be great, because ive looked all over the net, and came up with little imformation.
basicly, can anyone answer my question..
thank you in all for participating in advance !!
Tags: Basicly, Politics, Research Help, Research Paper, Taoism
Chinese culture were taoist by nature until Buddhism was brought over. Along with Buddhism came the religious zone of Tibet. It changed politics for china forever.
The Way that can be experienced is not true;
The world that can be constructed is not real.
The Way manifests all that happens and may happen;
The world represents all that exists and may exist.
To experience without abstraction is to sense the world;
To experience with abstraction is to know the world.
These two experiences are indistinguishable;
Their construction differs but their effect is the same.
Beyond the gate of experience flows the Way,
Which is ever greater and more subtle than the world.
In the western world… it hasn’t, naturally.
However, honestly I’ve got about half a bookshelf dedicated just to Taoism. The problem is that what you’re asking is going to take far more to answer then can be broached in a Yahoo Answers.
Taoism has had great political and social influence in China over the past 2000 years. For the most part it offered a counterbalance to the extremely structured world of Confucianism. Advocating a more passive approach and a belief that the universe governed itself according to it’s own rhythms. That the way to find peace was by allowing the natural patters to happen and allowing yourself to flow within them rather than trying to structure and control the world to you own needs and desires. That’s the brief and mildly misleading version of the story. Taoism has had hundreds of years of impact on a number of Chinese Dynasties, and unfortunately getting into here would be difficult.
However, if you want the quick version. Go online and see if you can find an audiobook called “From Yao to Mao: 5000 years of Chinese History”. It’s actually pretty easy to find, I think there are torrents around. Anyway, you’re looking for the 5th to the 7th or so chapter. It’s will give you at least a foundation and lead you toward more information and specific historical figures you can look into.
As a last note, it’s important to make a distinction between the two schools of Taoism. Tao Chia is the philosophical approach and isn’t considered to be a religion but just a life philosophy. Tao Chiao is the esoteric side and it deals heavily with various superstitions. Tao Chiao has at times been banned from China.
Edit: The reason I say that’s it’s very complicated is because the impact of philosophical Taoism on Eastern Ideals is as much as Christianity has had on Western Ideals. You really can’t separate them. If you have the time it’s worth listening to the whole audiobook on the history of China… but that’s if you have the time.
Oh, and if you get the chance read up on the Yellow Turban Revolt. Interesting stuff.