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Origin of Taoism

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Origin of Taoism Origin of Taoism By : Taoist Master Mr. Tan Boon Seng Taoism is a Chinese indigenous religion. Its belief consists of many things and it includes the history and cultural characteristics of Chinese. Historians and Taoists think that it was formed around the times of Han Soon Di (A.C. 126-144) and that was more than 1800 years ago. However, if we trace back to the Fang Xian Tao (the scholars of thoughts of "Hwang Di"and "Art of Immortal"), and Western Han Dynasty's "Taoists" who admired the philosophy of Laozi, we will understand that these two streams combined together to be called "Hwang Lao Tao". This religious belief has spread in China for more than two thousand years. Since the compilation of "Sight Trigrams" by "Fu Si Sen, Chinese history has taken place for more than 5000 years. If we count from the time when Hwang Di ascended the throne, the Taoist calendar has been in existence for 4698 years (Up to 2001). Taoism has evolved from three basic thoughts of the society: (1) The belief in deities and spirits; (2) The belief in Fang Xian and (3) The thoughts of Hwang Di and Laozi. These 3 sources have had far-reaching influences on the development and radiation of Taoism. 1. The Belief in Deities and Spirits The belief in deities and spirits originated in aboriginal society. This olden type of belief can be traced. From the archeological records, we can know that skeletons of the upper cave men were discovered and there were ornaments, which accompanied the burial. Surrounding their skeletons was scattered red powder. Thus, it can be said that as far as the times between 25,000 and 50,000 years ago, people had belief in deities and spirits. This shows that the upper cave men believed in non-dying of souls. The belief has developed into the custom of praying to ancestors as part of religious culture. The praying to deities and spirits was caused by the human need of creating close relationship with the spiritual world by thinking of and reminiscence of their relations , for examples their laughing, determination, lodging, enjoyments and hobbies. "The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius" states: "We pray as if the spirits appeared". To feel with sincere respect for everything of the dead inclusive of their smiling was the intended meaning of people of the past. One reason was that people of the past were afraid of the spirits: living human beings had the limitation of the bodies with their own restricted movement. However, spirits had no limitation of this kind and their power was more formidable. Another reason was the virtue of feeling of gratitude as said in the proverb: "When we drink, we must think of the source of the water" and the reminiscence of distantly past people with extreme respect. This led to the praying to deities and spirits. The praying to the nature was the common phenomenon in the history of many nations and it was one of the primitive forms of religions. Objects of praying included sky, earth, sun, moon, stars, times, wind, rain, thunder and lightning. People of the past believed that everything had a soul. They were extremely afraid of the menace of the nature because primitive people depended on the provision of nature for survival. This resulted in the adoration of deities of nature and the later formation of "Chiao" and "refinement of living on vegetarian food" together with other rituals of Taoism. People of the past, relied on hunting and planting for their living, which came from nature. That is why they revered nature. In this way, the belief in praying to the nature has been inherited by Chinese culture and become the contents of Taoism. 2. Belief in School of Mystical Arts Another basic thought which developed into the teaching of Taoism was the belief and mystical arts of "immortal". During the period of Spring and Autumn, "Arts Of Immortal" was another school of thought among the "Hundred Schools of Thoughts". At the beginning, experts of mystical arts started it along the coasts of Yian and Chi and declared that in Poa Sea there were 3 divine mountains in which elixir grew. Chi Wei Emperor, Chi Slang Emperor and Yian Emperor took the rumour for granted and sent people to the sea to look for the immortals and elixir. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful. During Qin Dynasty (B.C. 219), after Qin Se Emperor (Shi Huang Ti) united the nations, he went to Taishan of Shandon to pray to Taishan Deity and carved the record of credits on the memorial stone. Thereafter, a mystical art practitioner, Ci Se, from Chi territory submitted report to Qin Se Emperor stating that in the sea there were 3 divine mountains where the immortals stayed. He requested the emperor to send boys and girls to look for the elixir. The emperor believed and authorized him to lead few thousand people to the sea. Unfortunately, there was no divine mountain because that was only a mirage. Of course, that mystical art expert, Ci Se, could not find any elixir in spite of incurring large expenses and he was afraid of probe by the emperor. Therefore, he created the story that he was prevented by giant fish from reaching the divine mountains. In consequence, Shi Huang Ti ordered archers and others to bring along big dragnets to accompany him to the sea to kill the fish. However, the elixir was never found and the emperor even died at Northern Sand Hill on the way back. Subsequently, emperor Han Wu Di did as Shi Huang Ti and he was not successful as well. Although, the experts of mystical arts exerted bad influences on the rulers, in the process, the Tao of mystical arts made various contributions to science, medicine and society. 3. Thought of Hwang Lau The contents of Hwang Lau Tao of Han Dynasty consisted of two aspects namely cosmology (Tao of Heaven) and ethics (Human Tao). Tao of heaven is cosmology and human Tao includes caring of body and improving health. Tao of improving health is the method of self-refinement, improving health and longevity. The development of Hwang Lau must suit the realistic needs of society as well as the two requirements of the rulers namely longevity and continuous governing. The thoughts of Hwang Lau presumed that Tao of heaven was in line with personal affairs of human beings. Human Tao of Hwang Lau also presumed that governing nation was like taking care of human body. 2 Taos were based on the natural emptiness. Complying with Tao of heaven, observing the nature, using of "Not to be" to govern the nation and improving health with "pure serenity" formed the basic thoughts of Hwang Lau. The experts of mystical arts in the olden days used "moving qi" to improve health. They paid attention to the contents of longevity and cultivated power of sustainable observation by means of "moving qin". The documents of early Han showed that the arts and medications of improving health such as "fasting", "Taoist mystical arts" and "combination of yin and yang" became the foundation of strengthening human body and methods of refining Tao. During the early Western Han Dynasty, the school of Hwang Lau tended towards the arts of governing nation. During this period, the rulers used Taoist theories to govern the nation and there was peace. However, after Han Wu Di, Confucianism was used to govern the nation and thoughts of Hwang Lau turned to be deployed for improving health. In the society of Han Dynasty, the tendency to look for longevity and becoming immortal grew. Thus, the school of Hwang Lau' s improving health and the mystical arts of immortal combined to become one body. Because of the promotions of the rulers, the school of Hwang Lau, the mystical arts of immortal and religious belief came together to gradually become religious and mystified. Thus, at the later stage of Eastern Han, the indigenous religion, Taoism was born in China. School of Hwang Lau was the combination of improving health and mystical arts of immortal, people of Eastern Ban Dynasty thought that the primary objective of School of Hwang Lau was to improve health in order to become immortal. They thought that governing of nation was only its subsidiary purpose. People of Eastern Han Dynasty thought that the content of School of Hwang Lau was to improve health to become immortal. However, "Master Ho Shan" of Eastern Han used the thought of "Serene improving health" to interpret Tao De Ching (Tao and Virtue Scripture) Laozi's Tao in "Tao De Ching" can be divided into two parts:(1) Forever Regular Tao: it means the Tao of natural longevity. (2) Practical Tao: it means Tao of scripture, mystical arts and governing. The basis of the Tao of natural longevity such as the arts of Hwang Lau School's improving health had the arts of eliminating emotion and greed to refine vitality, qi and spirit. It laid emphasis on preservation of vitality, qi and spirit too. At the beginning stage of Western Han, the rulers used the thoughts of Hwang Lau School to govern the nation and at that time, these thoughts guided the national policies. Therefore, this was the period when thoughts of Hwang and Lau combined to promote Hwang Di and subsequently to adore Laozi. During the early Eastern Han, there were signs that the school of immortals was forming religious organizations to further combine with the philosophy of Laozi. At last, they adored him as the supreme saint who was the incarnation of Tao.
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