Daoism And Legalism

Three areas of philosophy emerged during the chaos and constant warring of the Zhou era. These three were called Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. At the time of these philosophies, Ancient China was going through a stage of complete mayhem and confusion. This time in history was called the Warring States Period, a period in which small feuding kingdoms struggled for supremacy. Each of the philosophies were considered a practical method, a tool, to help achieve order during these chaotic times. Confucianism is often characterized as a system of social and ethical philosophy rather than a religion. Confucius, a Chinese philosopher developed the teachings of Confucianism. in his life he was a teacher, a politician, and a philosopher. A

It has had an intense influential impact on Chinese culture for centuries. The common belief of Daoism is that a teacher named Laozi, founded the school and wrote its major work, the Daodejing. Nowhere in the philosophy do they mention a name of a founding thinker. Modern scholars have said that Laozi is entirely legendary and never existed in real life. The influence of Daoism spreads far beyond China. Daoism's influence spread widely cross Asia and in the modern period, the Western world. In Taiwan, Hong Kong and among the Chinese population in Southeast Asia, Daoism is a living tradition. Inside the Daodejing there are five thousand Chinese characters that are divided up into two parts. The two parts discuss “the meaning of Dao and virtue.” The Dao is a divine reality, and Laozi is recognized as the embodiment of the Dao. The Dao, meaning the “way”, the “guide”, or the “road”, is made up of three kinds of Dao. The Human Dao, the action of humans, the Natural Dao, the way of the heaven, and the Great Dao, the history of all things. A theme of the Daodejing is the retreat and flow of the forces of reality: yin and yang, male and female, excess and defect, leading and following, active and passive. So for people that live and breath this philosophy, they have to do good over