TaoismCaroline &Ashley

The Philosophy• Humans should accept life as it is

and not wish for life to be any other way

• Wu-wei is a phrase that translates into “non-doing,” which means letting things come naturally

• Yin and yang• Heaven, earth, and humanity all

come from the yin and yang

Yin and Yang• are complete opposites of each other

but compliment each other• The white part of the symbol is male,

heat, passive, day and heaven• The black part of the symbol is female,

coolness, night, active, and earth• Black and white do not oppose each

other, but they complete each other• Everything comes from the forces of yin

and yang

The Religion• The symbol in the background is

“Tao,” which means “The Way”• Taoism religion is blended with

Buddhism and Confucianism• T’ai Chi is “Ultimate Cause,”

which is the reason for everything in existence

Myths• The Jade Emperor

-controlled the heavens

• kuei-means ghosts

-these ghost bring with them death

Tao-Te Ching• Written by a man named Lao –Tzu• It is a collection of all the beliefs of

Taoism• These beliefs have been practiced

since the b.c. era

The Five Elements

• The five elements in Taoism are, from greatest to least important, water, fire, wood, metal, and earth

• The elements are thought to produce all the seasons: wood/spring (wood gives birth to fire) fire/summer (fire gives birth to ash or earth. Earth then gives birth to metal) metal/autumn (metal gives birth to water) water/winter

Bibliography Occhiogrosso, Peter. The Joy of Sects.

Doubleday: New York, 1994. 147-149.

“Taoism” Wikipedia, the free

encyclopedia. 4 Jan 2005. Wikipedia. 4Jan 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoist