Daoism, China’s indigenous religion, is one of the country’s five officially recognized religions today. Practiced by millions of people in China and around the world, Daoism takes on many forms, stretching back from ancient roots to the modern world.
It challenges the conventions of how people often define religion. Unlike many other faiths, Daoism does not necessarily center on a deity, though there are many Daoist deities. Nor does it have a unified system of beliefs or follow a singular authoritative doctrine.
In fact, followers say the Dao, which literally means the “way,” cannot be truly explained. Rather, it is often viewed as something like a mysterious, balanced cosmic force. Daoist practices, then, are based on the premise that everything that makes up the world emanates from the Dao.
Daoism approaches the world not from the perspective that the world is broken or needs to be saved, but rather that it is naturally balanced. When things go wrong, Daoist, also referred to as Taoist, practice seeks to bring the world back into harmony with the Dao.
As a scholar of Daoist ritual, I am interested in the diversity of Daoism’s ideas and practices. These include rituals related to cosmic realms, guidance for navigating the challenges of daily life and even the worship of powerful deities. Many of these practices stretch back thousands of years, offering a window into China’s religious and cultural past.
Early textual sources describe the Dao not in terms of what it is but rather what it does.
The Daodejing – “The Classic of the Way and its Power” – is the first known text to articulate the Dao as the source of all things. Composed sometime during the fourth century B.C.E. by the legendary figure Laozi, it states, “The Dao begets the One, the One begets the Two, the Two begets the Three, the Three begets the 10,000 things.” In other words, everything we can see and know can be traced back to the Dao.
Intentionally vague and obscure, the Daodejing would go on to inspire various interpretations ranging from philosophical reflections to how to realize the Dao in everyday practice.
Other early texts describe the Dao through illustrative anecdotes. For example, the fourth century B.C.E. author Zhuangzi describes the Dao through often humorous anecdotes. One of the most well-known vignettes asks whether a dozing Zhuangzi dreams that he is a butterfly or whether he is a butterfly dreaming that he’s Zhuangzi.
Through deceptively simple illustrations, the book attributed to Zhuangzi, which is also known as the “Zhuangzi,” artfully raises complicated questions on the relationship between our world and how we know what we think we know.
While Daoism asserts that the world is naturally balanced, it recognizes that sometimes it gets out of order. This is where Daoist practice steps in to help.
Daoist practice includes sophisticated rituals and visualization techniques to align one’s own body with the rhythms of the world. Practitioners understand their own bodies to be a microcosm of the entire cosmos based on the idea that everything stems from the same Dao.
Daoists believe these practices help their own longevity and also rebalance the world at large through their connection to the Dao.
Daoist ideas of alchemy play an important role in this relationship. In general, Daosist alchemy is understood as distilling elements of the world into potent spiritual essences. Daoist specialized practices aim to recombine those essences – known as “jing” – into spiritual potency.
In its earliest forms, beginning in the second century B.C.E., Daoist alchemical practices would mix rare ingredients from the earth to transform them into what they believed to be “elixirs of immortality.”
Subsequent centuries witnessed these practices moving away from physical ingredients, such as rare plants and minerals, to become more focused on visualization techniques. This form of “inner alchemy,” or “neidan,” does not use actual ingredients but rather focuses on distilling the spiritual essences within one’s own body to achieve immortality.
To do so, practitioners of “inner alchemy” would call upon new hosts of Daoist deities to aid them in their internal processes.
There is no single, authoritative Daoist collection of deities. Rather, various Daoist traditions have their own preferred deities they revere based on their own particular histories and practices.
Still, some figures appear across pantheons. The Three Pure Ones, known as the Sanqing, are understood to be the most pure representation of the Dao. They consist of three figures, including Laozi, who often appear in rituals on painted ritual scrolls as Daoists seated on imperial thrones.
These three deities are thought to be personifications of the Dao who inhabit the highest realms of the Daoist cosmos, far from the dust of day-to-day life. To reach them, Daoists perform rituals to take the long journey all the way to the court of the Three Pure Ones in order to have an audience and report on the merits of the community.
Some Daoist communities refer to Laozi as “Lord Lao Most High,” or “Taishang Laojun.” The earliest Daoist community, known as the Celestial Masters, believed that their founder, Zhang Daoling, had made a special contract with the deified Laozi that would protect them through a cataclysmic end of times.
As the influence of the Daoism of Celestial Masters spread, Zhang Daoling would also come to be seen as a powerful deity in his own right, often depicted with bulging eyes and wearing a red robe, accompanied by a tiger.
One of the most mysterious Daoist deities is the popular Perfect Warrior, or Zhenwu. Zhenwu’s roots stretch back to ancient days as the god of the North, when he was often depicted as a turtle entwined with a snake.
Later on, Zhenwu took a human form, often shown wearing robes or armor, with long black hair flowing behind him, bare feet, and holding a sword or banner emblazoned with the Big Dipper.
By the Ming dynasty, which ruled from 1368 to 1644, Zhenwu had become the patron deity of the imperial household. Known for his command of ferocious demon-quelling deities, Zhenwu remains a popular deity in Daoist exorcist rituals in places such as Taiwan.
Daoism also incorporates many deities from Chinese mythology and other religious traditions, such as Buddhism. Among the most prominent are the popular Eight Immortals, whose wild adventures often culminate with a lesson on the natural order.
Other ubiquitous Chinese deities, such as the regal Jade Emperor, the faithful warrior Guan Yu, the wondrous savior Mazu, and the demon-quelling Zhong Kui, fill both the popular imagination and the stuff of Daoist ritual.
Many of these figures can now be found in movies, books and even video games, but they have their roots in the rituals and myths of Daoism.
Throughout its history, Daoism never lost touch with the local traditions. Local gods and even vengeful ghosts come to be incorporated into Daoist pantheons, where they now serve to keep troublesome spirits from upsetting the community. As a result, Daoism continues to be an integral part of everyday life.
In places such as Taiwan, Daoist priests can be seen today conducting rituals at community temples and annual festivals. In mainland China, Daoism continues to be practiced in some of the most important and ancient sites of Chinese culture, such as the eighth-century “White Cloud Abbey” in Beijing.
Meanwhile, those outside China remain fascinated by Daoism, as well, with new translations of the Daodejing hitting the market every year.
As such, Daoism maintains its complex and diverse nature well into the modern era, still striving to bring it all back into balance with the Dao.
This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Michael Naparstek, University of Tennessee
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Michael Naparstek does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
