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TAOISM

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Title: TAOISM


1
TAOISM
2
GLOBAL VIEW OF CHINA
3
CONTINENT VIEW OF CHINA
4
COUNTRY VIEW OF CHINA
5
OK So then what is Taoism?
  • Taoism is both a philosophy and a religion. The
    beginnings of Taoism are generally accredited to
  • Lao-tzu, a sixth century philosopher,
  • believed to be from the Henan
  • Province.

6
Oh So then what do Taoists believe?
  • Here are three of the major Taoist concepts
  • TE means power. The power of a thing is its
    virtue, its identity, its integrity. So the te of
    a person is their authentic self, or genuineness.
    Te is expressed through humility and meekness.
  • WU-WEI is a concept involving relaxing the
    conscious mind. It seeks the denial of anything
    personal and the dissolution of the conscious,
    individual self. Wu-wei is best illustrated by
    water it is supple yet strong, it flows over and
    fills what it encounters. It means to simply
    follow the way of nature.
  • PU is a term which literally means unpainted
    wood. PU stresses the importance of simplicity
    and the need to leave things in their natural
    state.

7
Say What??
  • In plain English
  • Taoists advocate a simple honest life and
    noninterference with the course of natural events
  • Taoists dont like politics, administration, or
    elaborate rituals.
  • So then how would you have government?
  • Do not emphasize status, intelligence, or
    possessions.
  • Govern with least visibility and with a serving
    attitude.
  • Reduce laws and govern lightly.
  • Take few actions that involve the people.
  • Treat other countries non-aggressively.
  • Taoists believe that the purpose of life is to
    live according to the Tao.
  • That requires calmness, passiveness, and
    humility.

8
DEITIES
  • When Taoism was first developing, there were no
    deities, only the Tao. As time went by, however,
    many gods became present in the religion. Two
    types of deities developed.
  • The first type consists of the natural gods, the
    highest gods who are believed to have emerged
    from primordial energy at the beginning of the
    world. These gods developed as part of Taoism
    between the second and sixth centuries C.E. We
    will be giving examples of this type of god.
  • The second type of Taoist deity consist of human
    beings who, through learning, self-discipline,
    alchemy, or some other means, have purified
    themselves of mortal imperfections and become
    gods.

9
THE THREE PURITIES(THE THREE CLARITIES)
  • The Three Purities are the highest deities in
    Taoism, they rule over the three greatest
    heavenly realms. The Three Purities are still
    worshiped in China today the most important hall
    in the White Cloud Monastery is devoted to them.

White Cloud Monastery, Beijing
10
Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning
  • This is the central deity of the Three Purities,
    he is believed to have spontaneously formed from
    pure energy at the beginning of the world, which
    is why he is called the Celestial Worthy of
    Primordial Beginning.
  • He created the first writing system by writing
    patterns in gold onto jade tablets therefore he
    is the god of all learning.

11
Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure
  • This deity is considered to be the attendant of
    the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning who
    gave him the task of delivering lessons to lesser
    gods and humans. Therefore he is the god of
    Taoist teaching.
  • (Numinous means supernatural, spiritually
    elevated, or sublime.)

12
Celestial Worthy of the Way and Its Power
  • Here we see Lao-tzu deified. His title was
    derived from the name of the text attributed to
    him the Classic of the Way and Its Power or Tao
    Te Ching. Lao-tzu differs from the others in that
    he played an active role in the development of
    Chinese civilization, often appearing to reveal
    divine teachings to humanity.

13
THE THREE OFFICIALS
  • The Three Officials are a triad of deities who
    are in charge of heaven, earth and water.
  • They travel their domains recording the good and
    bad deeds of people to determine their lifespan
    and destiny. They punish the evil and so are
    considered stern and imposing deities.

14
Official of Heaven
  • This painting shows the Official of Heaven in his
    office surrounded by officers and female
    attendants called jade maidens

15
Official of Earth
  • In this painting the Official of Earth is on a
    tour inspecting his domain. He is also
    accompanied by armed people, as well as demons to
    punish the wicked.

16
Official of Water
  • The Official of Water rides on a dragon, a
    traditional symbol of rain, while two attendants
    ride on sea turtles, symbols of longevity. He is
    further accompanied by several people with armor
    and weapons to emphasize his ability to enforce
    his authority.

17
CREATION
  • Taoists believe that there is no one creator,
    that at the beginning, there was only chaos, or a
    void, called Wuji.

18
Then from the void (Wuji) the cosmos came into
being.
19
With the cosmos came the energies of yin and yang
which combined to create what is called the Taiji
Du
20
Qi emerged from the blending of yin and yang
The concept of the joining of yin and yang is
often compared to the big bang theory.
21
The concept of Qi may be more easily understood
through Filmmaker George Lucas idea of the
force in his film Star Wars. Qi is the very
stuff of life. It fills the universe permeating
everything, rocks, trees, water, clouds, animals,
and people. Qi is often compared to quantum
physics. It is like the atom, the building block
of life.
22
Wuxing, or the 5 qualities (elements) developed
from Qi.These 5 qualities make up all known
substances. They areFire, earth, metal, water
and wood.
23
Diagram
24
TRICKSTER STORY
  • Ghosts, spirits, and superstitions are very
  • prominent in both ancient and modern
  • Chinese stories. Foxes were often imagined
  • to be problematic shape shifters and
  • tricksters. They often appeared in the guise
  • of beautiful young women, trying to lure
  • men into falling under their power. Taoist
  • priests often served as intermediaries
  • between the ordinary human world and the
  • world of the supernatural. They could be called
    to
  • rid a person of these spirits, or to exorcise it.

25
A scholor named Li Yi was reading under the
lamplight one evening, when a beautiful woman
appeared before him. She teased him mercilessly
and soon grew quite brazen, and eventually Li
found himself subjected to all sorts of lewd
advances.With firm resolve Li remained impassive
throughout the ordeal.Later that evening, after
Li had finished dinner, he heard a voice coming
from his stomach, I attached myself to some
eggplants you ate for dinner he heard the voice
say. Now that Im actually housed in your
stomach you wont be able to ignore me!The
woman Li had encountered was in fact a fox fairy.
26
A Taoist grand master named Zhang was called in
to exorcize the fox fairy. Zhang built an alter
at the local Pavilion and commenced the
purification of scholar Li. For three days they
ate sacred vegetarian meals and chanted
incantations. Grand Master Zhang's magicians then
lifted a scroll on which was written 'We will
exorcize the demon on the fifteenth of March.'
When the day arrived, spectators had gathered
from far and wide to view the exorcism. The grand
master took a position at the center with the
magicians seated along the sides. Li was asked to
kneel before the grand master and open his mouth.
Zhang then put two fingers down Lis throat and
pulled out a fox the size of a small cat.
27
HENGSHAN MONASTERY
  • Hengshan Monastery is located on the cliffs of
    Mt. Hengshan, which is one of the five sacred
    mountains of Taoism. In the Shanxi province of
    China, near the city of Datong.

28
The gravity defying Hanging Monastery was built
on extremely sheer cliffs above Jinlong Canyon
1400 years ago.
29
Bridges and corridors connect those pavilions and
caves in which dozens of bronze, iron, stone and
clay statues are enshrined.
30
In the Three Religions Hall, Buddha, Confucius
and Lao-tzu are all enshrined together. This is
because in present day the three faiths co-exist
in the temple.
31
The mythical creatures on the eaves serve to
protect the monastery from evil spirits.
32
Why would someone build a monastery on a cliff?
  • The monastery was built at this location because
    it was convenient for passing pilgrims. It was an
    important passage leading to a shrine to the
    South and Datong City to the North. The problem
    is that the river which flowed past the foot of
    the cliff would flood whenever there was a storm.
    In those days it was believed that a golden
    dragon was the cause of the flooding, therefore
    they built the temple high up on the cliffs to
    keep away from the flooding, and ward off the
    influence of the dragon.

33
Hengshan Mountain
34
QINGYANG PALACE
35
The Qingyang Palace, also called The Grey Goat
Palace, is located in the suburbs of Chengdu. In
the Sichuan province of China.
36
Qingyang is one of the oldest and most extensive
Taoist temples in Chengdu area. Legend says that
Lao Tzu asked a friend to meet him there. When
the friend arrived he saw only a boy leading two
goats on a leash. He soon realized the boy was
Lao Tzu. That is the reason that in the compound,
stand two eye-catching bronze goats. Although
called a goat, one of them is actually a strange
creature with mouse ears, an ox nose, tiger paws,
rabbit back, snake tail, dragon horns, horse
mouth, goat beard, monkey neck, chicken eyes, dog
belly and pig thighs. It is said that this goat
has some supernatural powers and anyone who
touches it could survive from illness and
mischance.
37
These are the stairs to the palace.
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