Taoism

Basics:
Founded by Lao Tzu around 500 BCE.
Taoism taught people to live in Harmony.
Simplicity was a good value.
Ying- Yang. Lao Tzu believed that the universe was split into two
separate groups.
Ying (black)- ways of things still like pond, ways of women,
moons, and death.
Yang (white)- the ways of men, the sun, dragons, birth, and
things fast as rivers.
He believed that there was a little both of those in us.

fractalenlightenment.com

Taoism Compared to Legalism:

Taoism believed that there was peace and Harmony.
Legalism believed that the only way to live orderly is through strict
laws and harsh punishments. There were three rules that guided all
rulings.
Fa- laws are clearly written and are fully public.

 Shu- special details are kept hidden to protect ruler in fights in

court.
Shi- it is the position of power that holds the power, not the
ruler himself.
Both are from a Chinese origin.
Both affected China massively.
Timeline:

c.550BCE

Taoismfounded
TaoTeChing
writtenbyLaoTze.

c.350BCE

ChuangTzufurtherdevelopsTaoistphilosophy.

c.150BCE

ImmortalityTaoismdevelops
TaipingJing
iscompiled.

142CE

ZhangLingfoundsthesectoftheWayofFiveBushelsofRice.

155220CE

ZhangLuorganizestheWayofFiveBushelsofRiceintoreligiouscommunities,which
becameknownasTaoismofHeavenlyMasters.

226249

WangBiintroducesTaoistconceptsintoConfucianlearning.

251334

WeiHuacunisthefirstfemaleleaderoftheShangqingsect.

c.320

GeHong(283363)writes
TheMasterWhoHasEmbracedSimplicity
.

365448

KouQianzhirevivesTaoismofHeavenlyMasters.

456536

TaoHongjingdevelopstheShangqingschool.

618626

EmperorGaozubuildsagreattempleatthebirthplaceofLaoTze.

637

EmperorTaizong(r.626649)issuesanedictensuringthatTaoiststakeprecedence
overBuddhists.

691

EmpressWu,aBuddhist,reversesTaizong'spolicyandbuildsBuddhisttemples.

712756

RuleofTaoistEmperorXuanzong.QuestionsonTaoisttextsbecomeafeatureofcivil
serviceexaminations.

768824

EmperorHanYuopposesBuddhism.

845

EmperorWuzongpersecutesBuddhistsandallothernonTaoistreligions.

9601279

DuringtheSongdynasty,PerfectTruthTaoismandOrthodoxOneTaoismariseand
theTaoistcanonisedited.

16thC.

SanyiJiao(ThreeinOneReligion)isfoundedbyLinZhaowen(151798)asa
synthesisofConfucianism,Buddhism,andTaoism.

1584

TempleoftheThreeinOneReligionisbuilt.

16441911

DuringtheManchuQingdynasty,newmovementsarefoundedwithinTaoism,
BuddhismandChristianityinChina.TheThreeinOneReligionispersecuted.

1851

HongXiuquanfoundstheHeavenlyKingdomofGreatPeacemovementbasedon
Christianideas.

late19thC.

ViolentclashesbetweenChristianmissionariesandtheChinesepeople.

1912

Chinabecomesarepublic.

1919

TheFourthofMaymovementisfoundedandseekstostampoutreligionusing
science.

1920s30s

NationalTaoistorganizationsarefounded.

1928

TaoistandBuddhisttemplesaredismantled.

1950s

ReligionsaretightlycontrolledbytheChinesegovernment.