Taoist Philosophy
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Taoist Philosophy
Taoist philosophy (Chinese: ; pinyin: '; ) also known as Taology refers to the various philosophical currents of Taoism, a tradition of Chinese origin which emphasizes living in harmony with the '' Dào'' (, also romanized as ''Tao''). The ' is a mysterious and deep principle that is the source, pattern and substance of the entire universe. Since the initial stages of Taoist thought, there have been varying schools of Taoist philosophy and they have drawn from and interacted with other philosophical traditions such as Confucianism and Buddhism. Taoism differs from Confucianism in putting more emphasis on physical and spiritual cultivation and less emphasis on political organization. Throughout its history, Taoist philosophy has emphasised concepts like '' wúwéi'' ("effortless action"), '' zìrán'' (, "natural authenticity"), '' qì'' ("spirit"), '' wú'' ("non-being"), '' wújí'' ("non-duality"), '' tàijí'' ("polarity") and ''yīn-yáng'' (), '' biànhuà'' ("transformat ...
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Chinese Language
Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the world's population) speak a variety of Chinese as their first language. Chinese languages form the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages family. The spoken varieties of Chinese are usually considered by native speakers to be variants of a single language. However, their lack of mutual intelligibility means they are sometimes considered separate languages in a family. Investigation of the historical relationships among the varieties of Chinese is ongoing. Currently, most classifications posit 7 to 13 main regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin (with about 800 million speakers, or 66%), followed by Min (75 million, e.g. Southern Min), Wu (74 million, e.g. Shangh ...
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Daoshi
A daoshi (道士 "master of the Tao"), translated as Taoist priest, Taoist monk, Taoist master or Professional Taoist, is a priest in Taoism. Along with Han Chinese priests, there are also many practicing ethnic minority priests in China. Some orders are monastic (Quanzhen orders), while the majority are not (Zhengyi orders). Some of the monastic orders are hermitic, and their members practice seclusion and ascetic lifestyles in the mountains, with the aim of becoming ''xian'', or immortal beings. Non-monastic priests live among the populace and manage and serve their own temples or popular temples. The activities of the Taoists tend to be informed by materials which may be found in the ''Daozang'', or Daoist Canon; however, Taoists generally choose, or inherit, specific texts which have been passed down for generations from teacher to student, rather than consulting published versions of these works. Orders Taoist orders are conventionally categorised into two main branches: Q ...
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Taipingjing
''Taipingjing'' ("Scriptures of the Great Peace") is the name of several different Taoist texts. At least two works were known by this title: :*, 12 Chapters, contents unknown, author: Gan Zhongke :*, 170 Chapters, only 57 of which survive via the Taoist Canon, author: unknown ''Taipingjing'' usually refers to the work which has been preserved in the Taoist Canon. It is considered to be a valuable resource for researching early Taoist beliefs and the society at the end of the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty. Zhang Jue (d. 184), the leader of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, taught "Taiping Taoism" () based on this work. The contents of the ''Taipingjing'' are diverse but it primarily deals with subjects such as heaven and earth, the Wuxing (Chinese philosophy), five elements, yin and yang and the sexagenary cycle. Fundamental concepts in the ''Taipingjing'' The ''Taipingjing'' is a guide that reveals the proper methods to bring forward an era of great peace or ...
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Mohism
Mohism or Moism (, ) was an ancient Chinese philosophy of ethics and logic, rational thought, and science developed by the academic scholars who studied under the ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi (c. 470 BC – c. 391 BC), embodied in an eponymous book: the '' Mozi''. Among its major ethical tenets were altruism and a universal, unbiased respect and concern for all people regardless of relations or affiliations. The ideology also stressed the virtues of austerity and utilitarianism. It evolved at about the same time as Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism, and was one of the four main philosophic schools from around 770–221 BC (during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods). During that time, Mohism was seen as a major rival to Confucianism. Although its influence endured, Mohism almost disappeared as an independent school of thought in the wake of the cultural transformations of the Qin dynasty, after the 200s BC. Overview Mohism is best known for the concept pop ...
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Hundred Schools Of Thought
The Hundred Schools of Thought () were philosophies and schools that flourished from the 6th century BC to 221 BC during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period of ancient China. An era of substantial discrimination in China, it was fraught with chaos and bloody battles, but it was also known as the Golden Age of Chinese philosophy because a broad range of thoughts and ideas were developed and discussed freely. This phenomenon has been called the Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought (百家爭鳴/百家争鸣; ''bǎijiā zhēngmíng''; ''pai-chia cheng-ming''; "hundred schools contend"). The thoughts and ideas discussed and refined during this period have profoundly influenced lifestyles and social consciousness up to the present day in East Asian countries and the East Asian diaspora around the world. The intellectual society of this era was characterized by itinerant scholars, who were often employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods of ...
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Laozi
Laozi (), also known by numerous other names, was a semilegendary ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher. Laozi ( zh, ) is a Chinese honorific, generally translated as "the Old Master". Traditional accounts say he was born as in the state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ... of Chu in the 6th centuryBC during China's Spring and Autumn Period, served as the royal archives, archivist for the Zhou dynasty, Zhou court at Wangcheng (Zhou dynasty), Wangcheng (modern Luoyang), met and impressed Confucius on one occasion, and composed the ''Tao Te Ching'' before retiring into the western wilderness. Chinese folk religion considers he then became an Taoist immortal, immortal hermit or Laojun, a god of the celestial bureaucracy under the name Laojun, one of the Three Pure O ...
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Tao Te Ching
The ''Tao Te Ching'' (, ; ) is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion dates back to the late 4th century BC, but modern scholarship dates other parts of the text as having been written—or at least compiled—later than the earliest portions of the ''Zhuangzi''. The ''Tao Te Ching'', along with the ''Zhuangzi'', is a fundamental text for both philosophical and religious Taoism. It also strongly influenced other schools of Chinese philosophy and religion, including Legalism, Confucianism, and Chinese Buddhism, which was largely interpreted through the use of Taoist words and concepts when it was originally introduced to China. Many artists, including poets, painters, calligraphers, and gardeners, have used the ''Tao Te Ching'' as a source of inspiration. Its influence has spread widely out and it is one of ...
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Homogeneity And Heterogeneity
Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts often used in the sciences and statistics relating to the uniformity of a substance or organism. A material or image that is homogeneous is uniform in composition or character (i.e. color, shape, size, weight, height, distribution, texture, language, income, disease, temperature, radioactivity, architectural design, etc.); one that is heterogeneous is distinctly nonuniform in at least one of these qualities. Heterogeneous Mixtures, in chemistry, is where certain elements are unwillingly combined and, when given the option, will separate. Etymology and spelling The words ''homogeneous'' and ''heterogeneous'' come from Medieval Latin ''homogeneus'' and ''heterogeneus'', from Ancient Greek ὁμογενής (''homogenēs'') and ἑτερογενής (''heterogenēs''), from ὁμός (''homos'', “same”) and ἕτερος (''heteros'', “other, another, different”) respectively, followed by γένος (''genos'', “kind”); - ...
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Birth Places Of Chinese Philosophers
Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the fetus at a developmental stage when it is ready to feed and breathe. In some species the offspring is precocial and can move around almost immediately after birth but in others it is altricial and completely dependent on parenting. In marsupials, the fetus is born at a very immature stage after a short gestation and develops further in its mother's womb Pouch (marsupial), pouch. It is not only mammals that give birth. Some reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates carry their developing young inside them. Some of these are Ovoviviparity, ovoviviparous, with the eggs being hatched inside the mother's body, and others are Viviparity, viviparous, with the embryo developing inside her body, as in the case of mammals. Mammals Large mammal ...
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Daozang
Daozang (), meaning 'Taoist Canon', consists of around 1,400 texts that were collected (after the ''Daodejing'' and ''Zhuangzi'' and Liezi which are the core Taoist texts). They were collected by Taoist monks of the period in an attempt to bring together all of the teachings of Taoism, including all the commentaries and expositions of the various masters from the original teachings found in the ''Daodejing'' and ''Zhuangzi''. These three divisions were based on the main focus of Taoism in Southern China during the time it was made, namely; meditation, ritual, and exorcism. These Three Grottoes were used as levels for the initiation of Taoist masters, from lowest (exorcism) to highest (meditation). As well as the Three Grottoes there were Four Supplements that were added to the canon c. 500. These were mainly taken from older core Taoist texts (e.g. ''Daodejing'') apart from one which was taken from an already established and separate philosophy known as Tianshi Dao (Way of th ...
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Wang Bi
Wang Bi (226–249), courtesy name Fusi, was a Chinese philosopher and politician, expertise in Yijing and Xuanxue Life Wang Bi served as a minor bureaucrat in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. He was married with a daughter when he died of sickness at the age of 23. Wang Bi's most important works are commentaries on Laozi's ''Tao Te Ching'' and the ''I Ching''. The text of the ''Tao Te Ching'' that appeared with his commentary was widely considered the best copy of his work until the discovery of the Han-era Mawangdui texts in 1973. He was a scholar of Xuanxue. Writings At least three works by Wang Bi are known: a commentary on Confucius' ''Analects'', which survives only in quotations; commentaries on the ''I Ching'' and the ''Tao Te Ching'', which not only have survived but have greatly influenced subsequent Chinese thought on those two classics. His commentary on the ''I Ching'' has been translated into English by Richard John Lynn, ''The Classi ...
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I Ching
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zhou period (1000750), the ''I Ching'' was transformed over the course of the Warring States and early imperial periods (500200) into a cosmological text with a series of philosophical commentaries known as the "Ten Wings". After becoming part of the Five Classics in the 2nd century BC, the ''I Ching'' was the subject of scholarly commentary and the basis for divination practice for centuries across the Far East, and eventually took on an influential role in Western understanding of East Asian philosophical thought. As a divination text, the ''I Ching'' is used for a traditional Chinese form of cleromancy known as ''I Ching'' divination, in which bundles of yarrow stalks are manipulated to produce sets of six apparently random numbers rang ...
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