Expert: Joe McSorley - 3/13/2006

Question
What is the basic teaching of Taoism? Are the gods almighty? Who is the almighty god in taosim?

Answer
      Taoism is more a philosophy than a religion.  There are no gods in the original teachings of Taoism though there are references in the folk practice of it.  There is no creator or creation story, so no almighty god. To try to define Taoism or the Way  immediately creates a problem.  It's a problem because it is not a particular thing or way.  There are no tenets, dogma, belief or laws and no central authority.  Tao is often understood as the way nature works or the natural order of things but its meaning is really deeper than that.  I would say that the central theme of Taoism is the ‘interpenetration' of things.  Many might say harmony with nature but this would be a superficial understanding. Many talk about following the tao (way) which is the natural order of things but that is an anthropomorphic concept.  By this I mean that it is a construct of human thought trying to say what is natures' way and what is not natures' way.  How can humans speak for all of nature? Taoism has many articulations but if you look into the heart of Lao Tzu and Chuang tzu  what you find is the emphasis on interpenetration.  What this means is that things are co-originating, intertwined and mutually defining.  This is the meaning of the yinyang/Tai Chi  symbol which I am sure you have seen.  The black and white swirls in the circle with the dots of opposite colors in them.  What this icon symbolizes is that opposites actually define one another.  That the foundation for darkness is light and vice versa.  Thus in the dark field you have a white dot and in the white field you have a black dot.  Each is the foundation for the other and cannot be separated from the other.  All being is defined by non-being.  Life is life precisely because you can die and without life there is no death.  Mutually defining and existing.  This is the heart of Taoism.
 So all nature is an expression of the Tao and Tao is the expression of all nature.  In the West we have a split that is God/Man/Nature, all separate but in the East it is Man=Nature=Man, not split so this is why nature is integral to Taoism.
  There is no particular place of worship for Taoist though there are temples and monasteries such as the famous Shaolin temple that kung fu supposedly comes from.  You don't need a building or a place to be one with nature.  For the individual the everyday practice is everything from eating a good diet and exercise to practicing kung fu, chi qong ( breathing exercises) and  meditation.  For the most part it is trying to still the mind so that one may see ‘what is' and thus live harmoniously.
  
   It is hard to learn Taoism because so much of it is cloaked in superstition and myth.  The only true reading in Taoism is either Lao Tzu's  ‘The Tao Te Ching' or Chuang tzu's  ‘Inner Chapters', but reading them and understanding them are two different things.  They are written by two men who had deep spiritual insight that went beyond description and then had the daunting task at trying to write about them
     Lao Tzu envisioned his writings to guide the rulers to become ‘emperor sages' that they would rule in harmony with nature and man.  Chuang Tzu is much deeper than Lao and in his writings tries to explain the relativity of things, man in particular, and the interpenetration of things.  There are no real formal schools of Taoism and it's articulations today go from to harmonious to bizarre.  
  I hope this has helped you.
                 Joe