The Philosophical And Religious Taoism: An Interesting Religion

Overall, I found Taoism to be an interesting religion. Most of the teachings are clear and logical, such as if you create rules people will be more likely to break them. However, some of the teachings are more interesting and mystical, such as Feng shui, the idea of having proper body positioning during burial, and the notion that you can heal a person by giving them the San huang nei wen to hold during times such as illness or difficult childbirth to prevent death. The philosophical Taoism focuses more on the ethical and logical teachings, while the religious Taoism focuses more on the mystical and magical teachings. However, there is some overlap between the philosophical and religious Taoism like in Christianity, where if you live an ethical life, you will gain happiness during your life through magic and in the afterlife in Heaven.

By this definition, Taoism can be considered a religion because the followers believe the in Tao as a power that flows over heaven and earth. Tao is described as inexhaustible energy, so it is not a conscious power, however it still can be considered a religious power because it dictates how life should flow; “Humans follow earth, Earth follows heaven, Heaven follows Tao. Tao follows its own nature” (Van Voorst, 167). Furthermore, the Tao can be described as “the root of Heaven and Earth,” meaning it is the creator of the world, the heavens and itself (Van Voorst,