Taoism and Confucianism

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Peace,

The unity of opposites

While India was giving birth to Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, three other major religions were developing in East Asia. Taoism and Confucianism grew largely in China, and later spread to Japan and Korea; Shinto was distinctively Japanese. Taoism and Confucianism, though they may seem quite opposite to each other,co exist as complementary value systems in East Asian societies, and a person's thought and action may encompass both streams. Contemporary shifts in China however, have made it difficult to pin point or predict the continued existence of religious ways there.

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Peace,

Ancient Traditions

Chinese civilization is very old and continuous. By 2000 BCE
people were living in settled agrarian villages in the Yellow River Valley, with a written language, musical instruments, and skillful work in bronze, silk, ceramics, and ivory. The spiritual ways of this early civilization permeate all later religious developments in China, Korea and Japan. One major feature is the veneration of ancestors.

Respect must be paid to them- especially the family's founding ancestor and those recently deceased- through funerals, mourning rites, and then continuing sacrifices. The sacred rituals are called li . They are essential because the ancestors will help their descendants , if treated with proper respect, or cause trouble if ignored.

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Peace,

According to Chinese belief, which can be traced back at least to the earliest historical dynasty, the Shang (1751-1123 BCE), there also exists a great spiritual being referred to as Shang Ti , The lord on high, ruler of the universe, the supreme ancestor of the Chinese. Deities governing aspects of the cosmos and the local environment are subordinate to him. The deity is conceived of as being masculine and closely involved in human affairs, though not as Creator God.

In addition to ancestors, spirits, and Heaven, there has long existed in China a belief that the cosmos is a manifestation of an impersonal self- generating energy called ch'i . This force has two aspects whose interplay causes the ever changing phenomena of the universe. Yin is the dark, receptive, "female" aspect; Yang (pron. yon) is the bright, assertive, "male" aspect.
Wisdom lies in recognizing their ever shifting, but regular and balanced, patterns and moving with in them. This creative rhythm of the universe is called Tao or "WAY'. As soon as one aspect reaches its fullest point, it begins to diminish, while its polar opposite increases.

To harmonize with the ancestors and gods, and yin and yang, the ancients devised many forms of divination. One system developed during the "Chou" dynasty was eventually written down as the I Ching , or "Book of Changes". It is a common source for both Taoism and Confucianism and is regarded as a classic text in both traditions.

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Peace,

Taoism

Taoism is as full of paradoxes as the Buddhist tradition it influenced: Ch'an or Zen Buddhism. It has been adored by westerners who seek a carefree, natural way of escape from the industrial rat race. Yet beneath its words of the simple life in harmony with nature is a tradition of great mental and physical discipline.

Taoism is actually a label invented by scholars and awkwardly stretched to cover a wide variety of philosophical or "literati" tradition, a multitude of so called longevity techniques, and an assortment of religious sects.

Religious Taoism itself is often an amalgam (mixture), with the Taoist way of life and meditations as its base, plus Confucian virtues, health disciplines, Buddhist like rituals, and immortality as its goal.

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Taoist Sages

Aside from its general basis in ancient Chinese ways, the specific origin of Taoist philosophy and practices is unclear.
In China, tradition attributes the publicizing of these ways to the "Yellow Emperor", who supposedly ruled from 2697 to 2597 BCE.
The philosophical form of Taoism has been pursued by intellectual and artists over thousands of years. Its foundation is expounded in the famous scripture, the "Tao -te Ching " ( the classic of the way and the power). It is second only to the bible in the number of western translations.
According to tradition the "Tao te Ching" was dictated by Lao Tzu or ( Lao Tse), a curator of the royal library of the Chou dynasty, to a border guard as he left society for the mountains at the reported age of 160.

[ZOOBEAR]

I have read the Tao -te Ching many times. There is great wisdom there regardless of your beliefs. A great book on Taoism is "The Tao of Winnie the Pooh". ;D