Key Terms and Figures of Daoism

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Florida Gateway College**We aren't endorsed by this school

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HUM 12

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Religion

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Jan 14, 2025

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Key Terms & Figures of DaoismDownload and print this key terms chart to help you take notes and understand the key concepts of this religion.TermDefinitions/NotesCelestial MastersFirst major movement of organized Daoism, a householder tradition emphasizing communal rituals founded in the second century CE by Zhang Daoling and now referred to as Orthodox Unity.Pg 413Complete PerfectionQuanzhenA second major movement of organized Daoism, a monastic tradition founded in the twelfth century by Wang Zhe and now represented largely by its Dragon Gate lineage.Pg 399Dao“Way”Ultimate Reality and its manifestations in everyday life, the preexisting source of everything in the cosmos, and the process through which everything in it is transformed.Pg 396Daodejing“Scripture on the Way and its Virtue”The most influential text in Daoist history and one of the world’s most frequently translated books, traditionally attributed to Laozi and also called the Laozi.Pg 391dePower or virtue. Those who attain the Dao are also said to attain this power and this virtue.Pg 410

External alchemyEarlier Daoist practice that attempted to create an elixir of immortality out of dangerous metals and minerals.Pg 403Feng shui“Wind and Water”Initially a method for determining the best placement of a grave, this method is now used to find sites for homes and to place objects inside homes.Pg 400Highest ClarityShangqingAlso translated as “Supreme Purity”, a fourth century movement that pushed Daoism away from laboratory alchemy toward meditation and other self-cultivation techniques.Pg 416immortalXianThe central exemplar of the “transcendents”, they enjoy long life and other superpowers achieved through self-cultivation techniques.Pg 404Internal alchemyAn interiorization of older external alchemical processes in which the elixir of immortality is manufactured inside the human body via mediation and visualization.Pg 403

Laozi“Old Master”Legendary figure credited with writing the Daodejing, revered in his deified forms as Lord Lao and Most High Lord Lao.Pg 391LibationerCelestial Masters priestly officiant who employs celestial registers to draft petitions to the gods. Unlike the celibate monastics of the Complete Perfection movement, libationers marry.Pg 413Lord LaoLaozi divinized as the personification of the Daodejing a revealer of Daoist texts and one of the Three Pure Ones.Pg 391Orthodox UnityZhengyiThe leading form of householder Daoism and one of the two main Daoist schools today. Orthodox Unity is the successor to the Way of the Celestial Masters and a classic example of ritual-focused “shrine Daoism.”Pg 399QigongUmbrella term for energy-based slow exercises and breathing techniques first popularized in China in the 1950s. Falun Gong is an offshoot.Pg. 400

Queen Mother of the WestPopular ancient Chinese divinity and overseer of her fellow goddesses who predates Daoism but is widely associated with it.Pg 407registersHeavenly records used in Celestial Masters rituals. These documents identify Daoists by name and rank and list the supernatural beings to whom they can appeal for grace and favor. Pg 397Tai chiA Chinese martial art that features slow, circular movements. Though widely associated with Daoism, it is a broader Chinese practice.Pg 400Three Pure OnesThe highest and most popular gods in the Daoist pantheon, traditionally depicted together: Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning, Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure, and Celestial Worthy of The Way and Its Power.Pg 406Wang ZheFounder of the Complete Perfection movement and one of its patriarchs.Pg 418

Yin and yangAncient Chinese concept in which two complementary principles interact with one another to create individual, societal, and cosmic change.Pg 396Zhang DaolingFounder of the first known Daoist organization, the Celestial Masters, and the first in a lineage of Celestial Masters that continues today.Pg 391ZhuangziDaoist sage credited with writing the humorous and enigmatic book of stories also known as the Zhuangzi. Pg 411