Daoism

Teacher Aaron: Because I did the blog homework this time, and didn't do my last homework. I'm going do the last womework.

I searched around on the Internet and found this website:http://www.daoiststudies.org/
I clicked the link a short history of daoism.

I learned that Daoism is an organised religion, and it's been keeping chaging and developing since it originated from China. Daoism has spread all over the world, it becomes a world religion now. However, there aren't many people know what Daoism is now. Moreover, when people have an understanding of it, they often have quite different understanding from someone else's.

The history of Daoism can conveniently be divided into four periods: Proto-Daoism, Classical Daoism, Modern Daoism and Contemporary Daoism.

The first period, Proto-Daoism, was from antiquity to the 2nd century A.D. The Daode jing (I studied Dao De Ching in class), and the Zhuangzi (I studied Chuang Tzu in class) in particular, were written during this period. They were highly influential to the flourishing of the classical Daoist tradition. Many textbooks on world religions still take this period as representing the essence of Daoism.

The second period, Classical Daoism, started in 142 A.D. When Zhang Daoling established the Way of the Celestial Masters, he also known as the Way of Orthodox Unity, the first successful organized Daoist religious system. Daoist priests of today also claim in a lineage that stretches back to this original founder. This period between the 2nd and the 7th centuries called the classical period because scholars of Daoism look back to this time which also known as the medieval period of Chinese history, as the era in which many Daoist practices, texts and rituals initially took shape. During this period, Buddhism was brought to China by missioners from India and Tibet. Daoism took some ideas and practices from Buddhism. Nonetheless, there were also periods rivalry between them. The classical period of Daoism ends with the Tang dynasty--one of the high-points of Chinese civilization from the point of view of the development of art and culture. During the Tang dynasty Daoism became fully completed with the imperial court system particularly under the reign of the Xuanzong Emperor. During this time, Daoism functioned ahead of Buddhism.

The third period, Modern Daoism, started in Song Dynasty. On the syncretism that began in this period, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate out Daoism as a religious category from the popular Chinese religious culture as it functions on the ground. The most significant event in terms of elite Daoism was the founding of the Way of Complete Perfection by Wang Zhe.

The fourth period, Contemporary Daoism, since in 1914 A.D, it has been a near-total catastrophe for Daoism. Especially during the period of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution when many Daoist temples were destroyed and the opened functioning of the religion to all intents and purposes ceased to exist in mainland China. Daoism has begun to be practiced openly again in China and a new generation of Daoists are struggling to rebuild their temples and recover their tradition since 1980. In the other hand, a lot of Chinese people emigrate across the world, many
Daoist temples have been established in Europe. The Americas and elsewhere and many popular Daoist practices have taken root in the West. It wasn't certain that Daoism had survived this cataclysmic upheaval until recently. But the study and practice of Daoism is going to floursh again in China and all over the world.