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The history of Taoism stretches throughout Chinese history. Originating in prehistoric China, it has exerted a powerful influence over Chinese culture throughout the ages. Taoism evolved in response to changing times, with its doctrine and associated practices being revised and refined. The acceptance of Taoism by the ruling class has waxed and waned, alternately enjoying periods of favor and rejection. Most recently, Taoism has emerged from a period of suppression and is undergoing a revival in China.
Laozi is traditionally regarded as the founder of Taoism and is closely associated in this context with "original", or "primordial", Taoism.[1] Whether he actually existed is disputed,[2] however, the work attributed to him - the Daodejing - is dated to the 4th or 3rd century BC.[3]
Sinologist Isabelle Robinet identifies four components in the emergence of Taoism:
- Philosophical Taoism, i.e. the Daodejing and Zhuangzi
- Techniques for achieving ecstasy
- Practices for achieving longevity or immortality
- Exorcism[2]
Some elements of Taoism may be traced to prehistoric folk religions in China that later coalesced into a Taoist tradition.[4][5] In particular, many Taoist practices drew from the Warring-States-era phenomena of the wu (connected to the "shamanism" of Southern China) and the fangshi (which probably derived from the "archivist-soothsayers of antiquity, one of whom supposedly was Laozi himself"), even though later Taoists insisted that this was not the case.[6] Both terms were used to designate individuals dedicated to "... magic, medicine, divination,... methods of longevity and to ecstatic wanderings" as well as exorcism; in the case of the wu, "shamans" or "sorcerers" is often used as a translation.[6] The fangshi were philosophically close to the School of Yin-Yang, and relied much on astrological and calendrical speculations in their divinatory activities.[7]
Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE)[edit]
The term Daojia (usually translated as "philosophical Taoism") was coined during the Han Dynasty. In Sima Qian's history (chapter 63) it refers to immortals; in Liu Xiang it refers to Laozi and Zhuangzi (Daojiao came to be applied to the religious movements in later times). The earliest commentary on the Dao De Jing is that of Heshang Gong (the "Riverside Master"), a legendary figure depicted as a teacher to the Han emperor.[8] In the early Han Dynasty, the Tao came to be associated with or conflated with the Xian Di Emperor. A major text from the Huang-Lao movement would be the Huainanzi, which interprets earlier works of the Taoist canon in light of the quest for immortality.
The first organized form of Taoism, the Tianshi (Celestial Masters') school (later known as Zhengyi school), developed from the Five Pecks of Rice movement at the end of the 2nd century AD; the latter had been founded by Zhang Daoling, who claimed that Laozi appeared to him in the year 142.[9] The Tianshi school was officially recognized by ruler Cao Cao in 215, legitimizing Cao Cao's rise to power in return.[10] Laozi received imperial recognition as a divinity in the mid-2nd century.[11]
The Celestial Masters' activities did hasten the downfall of the Han Dynasty, largely because Zhang's grandson set up a theocratic state into what is now Sichuan province. The same could be said of their contemporaries, the Taoist-leaning Yellow Turban sect.[12]
Three Kingdoms Period (220–265)[edit]
During the Three Kingdoms Period, the Xuanxue (Mysterious Wisdom) school, including Wang Bi, focused on the texts of Laozi and Zhuangzi. Many of the school's members, including Wang Bi himself, were not religious in any sense.[13] Wang Bi mostly focused on reconciling Confucian thought with Taoist thought. Because the version of the Tao Te Ching that has been passed on to the present is the one that Wang Bi commented upon, his interpretations became very influential as they were passed on alongside the Tao Te Ching. In addition, his commentary was compatible with Confucian ideas and Buddhist ideas that later entered China. This compatibility ensured Taoism would remain an important aspect of Chinese culture, and made the merging of the three religions easier in later periods, such as the Tang dynasty.[14]