Taoism

도가와 도교

• I. Introduction
• II. General characteristics
  • 1. THE GREAT SAGES AND THEIR ASSOCIATED TEXTS
    • 1) Lao-tzu and the Tao-te Ching.
    • 2) The interpretation of Chuang-tzu.
  • 2. BASIC CONCEPTS OF TAOISM
    • 1) Concepts of the universe and natural order.
      • i) Cosmology.
      • ii) The microcosm-macrocosm concept.
      • iii) Return to the Tao.
      • iv) Change and transformation.
    • 2) Concepts of man and society.
      • i) Wu-wei.
      • ii) The social ideal of primitivism.
      • iii) Ideas of knowledge and language.
      • iv) Identity of life and death.
      • v) Religious goals of the individual.
      • vi) Symbolism and mythology.
    • 3) Early eclectic contributions.
      • i) The idea of Yin and Yang.
      • ii) The idea of ch'i.
      • iii) The idea of wu-hsing.
      • iv) Yang Chu and the Lieh-tzu.
      • v) Kuan-tzu and Huai-nan-tzu.
• III. History
  • 1. TAOISM IN THE CH'IN AND HAN PERIODS (221 BC-AD 220) OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE
    • 1) Esoteric traditions of eastern China.
    • 2) The Huang-Lao tradition.
    • 3) Revolutionary messianism.
  • 2. DEVELOPMENT OF THE TAOIST RELIGION FROM THE 2ND TO THE 6TH CENTURY
    • 1) The emergence of a "Taocracy."
      • i) The Way of the Celestial Masters.
      • ii) Communal ceremonies.
      • iii) Official recognition of the Taoist organization.
    • 2) The literature of Taoist esoterism.
      • i) The scholiasts.
      • ii) Lives of the Immortals.
      • iii) Inscriptions.
      • iv) Texts on the cult of Lao-tzu.
    • 3) The Southern tradition.
      • i) Developments in alchemical and other traditions.
      • ii) The Mao Shan Revelations.
      • iii) The Ling Pao scriptures and liturgies.
      • iv) The great Southern masters.
    • 4) State Taoism in the North.
  • 3. TAOISM UNDER THE T'ANG, SUNG, AND LATER DYNASTIES
    • 1) Taoism under the T'ang dynasty (618-907).
    • 2) Taoism under the Sung and Yüan dynasties.
      • i) Internal developments.
      • ii) Literary developments.
      • iii) Alchemical developments.
      • iv) Syncretism.
    • 3) Developments outside the official current.
      • i) Communal folk Taoism (shen chiao).
      • ii) Secret societies.
• IV. Influence
  • 1. TAOISM AND CHINESE CULTURE
    • 1) Taoist contributions to Chinese science.
    • 2) Taoist imagery.
    • 3) Influence on secular literature.
    • 4) Influence on the visual arts.
  • 2. TAOISM AND OTHER RELIGIONS
    • 1) Confucianism and Buddhism.
    • 2) Other Asian religions.
    • 3) Western mysticism and religions.
  • 3. TAOISM IN MODERN TIMES
• V. Bibliography
  • 1. General works.
  • 2. Texts.
  • 3. History.

• 경전·이론서
  • 도덕경
  • 도장
  • 도인경
  • 열자
  • 오진편
  • 옥추경
  • 음부경
  • 장자
  • 주역참동계
  • 태상감응편
  • 태평경
  • 황정경
• 사상가·교단창시자
  • 구겸지
  • 노자
  • 열자
  • 이소군
  • 장릉
  • 장자
• 유교와의 영향관계
• 종교적·사상적 측면
  • 3교합일
  • 독신(獨身)
  • 성인(聖人)
  • 중국의 종교교육
  • 체용론
• 한국
  • 시대별 전개양상
    • 고구려
    • 조선
  • 신선사상에 끼친 영향

I. Introduction

Taoism, along with Confucianism, is one of the two major indigenous religio-philosophical traditions that have shaped Chinese life for more than 2,000 years. (see also  Chinese religion)

개요

도가사상은 유교사상과 더불어 2,000년 동안 중국과 그 주변국의 생활과 사상을 형성해온 중국 고유의 종교철학이다. 

In the broadest sense, a Taoist attitude toward life can be seen in the accepting and yielding, the joyful and carefree sides of the Chinese character, an attitude that offsets and complements the moral and duty-conscious, austere and purposeful character ascribed to Confucianism. Taoism is also characterized by a positive, active attitude toward the occult and the metaphysical (theories on the nature of reality), whereas the agnostic, pragmatic Confucian tradition considers these issues of only marginal importance, although the reality of such issues is, by most Confucians, not denied.

More strictly defined, Taoism includes: the ideas and attitudes peculiar to the Lao-tzu (or Tao-te Ching; "Classic of the Way of Power"), the Chuang-tzu, the Lieh-tzu, and related writings; the Taoist religion, which is concerned with the ritual worship of the Tao; and those who identify themselves as Taoists.

Taoist thought permeates Chinese culture, including many aspects not usually considered Taoist. In Chinese religion, the Taoist tradition--often serving as a link between the Confucian tradition and folk tradition--has generally been more popular and spontaneous than the official (Confucian) state cult and less diffuse and shapeless than folk religion.

Taoist philosophy and religion have found their way into all Asian cultures influenced by China, especially those of Vietnam, Japan, and Korea. Various religious practices reminiscent of Taoism in such areas of Chinese cultural influence indicate early contacts with Chinese travellers and immigrants that have yet to be elucidated.

Both Western Sinologists and Chinese scholars themselves have distinguished--since Han times (206 BC-AD 220)--between a Taoist philosophy of the great mystics and their commentators (Tao-chia) and a later Taoist religion (Tao-chiao). This theory--no longer considered valid--was based on the view that the "ancient Taoism" of the mystics antedated the "later Neo-Taoist superstitions" that were misinterpretations of the mystics' metaphorical images. The mystics, however, should be viewed against the background of the religious practices existing in their own times. Their ecstasies, for example, were closely related to the trances and spirit journeys of the early magicians and shamans (religious personages with healing and psychic transformation powers). Not only are the authors of the Tao-te Ching, the Chuang-tzu (book of "Master Chuang"), and the Lieh-tzu (book of "Master Lieh") not the actual and central founders of an earlier "pure" Taoism later degraded into superstitious practices but they can even be considered somewhat on the margin of older Taoist traditions. Therefore, because there has been a nearly continuous mutual influence between Taoists of different social classes--philosophers, ascetics, alchemists, and the priests of popular cults--the distinction between philosophical and religious Taoism in this article is made simply for the sake of descriptive convenience. (see also  ecstasy)

There is also a tendency among scholars today to draw a less rigid line between what is called Taoist and what is called Confucian. The two traditions share many of the same ideas about man, society, the ruler, Heaven, and the universe--ideas that were not created by either school but that stem from a tradition prior to either Confucius or Lao-tzu.

Viewed from this common tradition, orthodox Confucianism limited its field of interest to the creation of a moral and political system that fashioned society and the Chinese empire; whereas Taoism, inside the same world view, represented more personal and metaphysical preoccupations.

In the case of Buddhism--a third tradition that influenced China--fundamental concepts such as the nonexistence of the individual ego and the illusory nature of the physical world are diametrically opposed to Taoism. In terms of overt individual and collective practices, however, competition between these two religions for influence among the people--a competition in which Confucianism had no need to participate because it had state patronage--resulted in mutual borrowings, numerous superficial similarities, and essentially Chinese developments inside Buddhism, such as the Ch'an (Japanese Zen) sect. In folk religion, since Sung times (960-1279), Taoist and Buddhist elements have coexisted without clear distinctions in the minds of the worshippers.