Daoism The Queen Mother Of The West Summary

Among the most influential religions in China, Daoism has shown the highest regard for women. In the Dao de jing, the idea of being like a woman is encouraged. They are yielding and accepting, but in that, it only makes them one step closer to becoming one with the Dao. Furthermore, in Daoism, there is also the idea of balance in the world because of the coexistence between opposing forces. Understanding these Daoist values helps explain the roles of the female deities in the texts, where the theme of unity is always present. Female deities are essential because their main role is to be the other part necessary in creating a “whole.” Staying true to Daoism’s idea of being nothing and being formless, these female deities are characterized in

In “The Queen Mother of the West,” it states that she “embodies the deepest foundation of the weak and yielding; she represents the origin of the ultimate yin...she mothers and nourishes all kinds of beings.” Her powers are very feminine but this femininity itself is not weakness but rather her greatest asset. Being weak and yielding is ideal in Daoism because by staying still, unchanging and without developing an identity; one stays at one’s most basic, natural form. Being the very epitome of this passivity, the Queen Mother is all the more greater for being closer to the primordial being. In addition, as her title reveals, she is a “mother.” This means that she is in charge of

Together with the King of the East, they “rule the two primal energies, nourish and raise heaven and earth, mold and develop the myriad beings” (“The Queen Mother of the West” from Yong cheng jixian lu). She being the yin and he the yang, are both essential opposing powers to the creation of the world. This union is important as it shows that the world needs both so neither one is more or less important than the other. She is important precisely because she is a woman. Her powers and her role would not make sense with another male god. This would create an imbalance as the weight would shift towards favorability to males and it also shows a kind of bias. This does not correspond with the Dao. Daoism rests on the idea of a perfect mixture of everything so that it fits everywhere.
When two things are so clearly distinct, it’s easy to separate. This is why Daoism is about mixtures and unity of opposing sides because then it is not easy to break apart. This is reflected in the characterization of a Perfected goddess and Yang Xi in “Declarations of the Perfected.” In this text, a lot of gender roles is bent to create balance in order to achieve a successful spiritual union. The woman here, takes on actions that would normally be associated with males while the male, is effeminate in