This course provides an introduction to the study of the history, major teachings, and practices of the major Chinese religions and spiritual practices and is deigned to give conceptual tools to appreciate diverse religious practice in East. It covers the development of Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism and wide range of popular and local religions. From historical perspective we will also explore the development of key theological, religious and philosophical doctrines as well as associated practices. An effort will be made to spend time on each tradition according to its importance to Asia as a whole. We will explore the role of religions in politics and social relations in East and South, South East Asia and China in particular, and will analyze the origins, central teachings, divisions and branches, rituals and practices, influences on culture, and responses to modern challenges for each tradition. The emphasis throughout the course is on the hermeneutic difficulties attendant upon the study of religion in general, and Asian religions in particular. We will explore new Asian religions as dynamic, ongoing forces in the lives of individuals and in the collective experience of modern societies.
Taoism: Introduction
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來自 National Research University Higher School of Economics 的課程
Religions and Society in China
70 個評分
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從本節課中
Taosim in China
This module's content describes what is Taoism, relates its history and defines its sources, shows the main paths of genesis for the Taoist cults.
與講師見面
Aleksey A. MaslovHead
School of Asian Studies
[SOUND] Hello, today we'll discuss
one of the most interesting topics
of Chinese religious tradition,Taoism.
Taoism is everything and everywhere.
We can find remains and traces of Taoism almost in all
pieces in all moments of human life in general.
In medicine in breathing exercises, in a way of thinking,
in the way of communication.
So Taoism frankly speaking is almost everything, but Taoism also a religion.
And first of all, let's discuss what the main meanings and main notions of Taoism.
First of all Taoism in Chinese is called Dao jiao, Dao jiao,
which called the doctrine of Dao or the doctrine of way.
Some people who are following this doctrine of way are called Taoist or
Daoist, Daoshi.
Usually today, Daoshi means monks, but
today Daoism combine monk and layperson practices.
But anyway,
the traditional people that follow Daoism are called the Daoists or Daoshi.
At the same time, in the present day situation,
we can find usually two main streams of Taoism.
The first one is very mythical or usually called philosophical Taoism.
This philosophical Taoism discuss very important and very basic ideas
of Dao is for example, the doctrine of way, how to practice this way,
how approach to this way or how to be united, unified with this way?
So many it's about the mythical practicing, meditation and
all those breathing exercises.
At the same time in China, we can find what's called the popular Taoism.
Usually this popular Taoism is combined with a popular religions, so
mainly it's a cause of different kinds of spirits, of local spirits.
For example, the spirits of the house, the spirits of the mountain or
the spirits of the long life.
So actually these are two different streams, but they are close together.
Sometimes we can not separate it in the real life.
The main idea of Taoism that there is a dark way
which exists and existed before the beginning of the emergence of this world.
So even before this universe, it's mainly called the pantheistic approach.
It means that Taoism doesn't discuss the idea of God, of one God.
It discusses the idea of Dao and
the premise of the way we can find rather than the anthropomorphic idea of the God.
So Dao is the universal way, Dao is everywhere.
We can find in all pieces in this world, this Dao.
Dao gives life to this world, but at the same time,
we cannot see this Dao, we cannot notice it, we cannot think about it.
It's beyond our knowledge, our understanding and maybe
sometimes it's kind of feeling, and we'll speak about it later.
What are the main ideas of the Taoism?
First of all in real life, the Taoism don't discuss the idea of Dao.
Because it's beyond our discussion, beyond our words.
So how to follow this Dao, how to follow his way?
First of all, to follow the very simple, very natural way of life.
To be desireless, so it means not to
desire more that you need in this moment of life.
To follow a very simple way, not to gain a lot of money or
sometimes not to try to gain too much things that can disturb your money.
Another very important point of Taoism, it's a cult of mortality,
the cult of long life or longevity.
It means that in general, the idea of Taoism speaks about
how to prolong your life and maybe one day, to become immortal.
In some schools, this immortality are considered as a physical immortality.
It means that your physical body will stay,
will remain in this world as far as you want to stay in this world.
In other schools for example, in one of Taoism's immortality is considered
first of all, is immortality of soul or different kind of souls.
Because Taoism is considered several souls, mainly three main eternal
souls that remain together, even after the death of the physical body.
So immortality is not a very important idea for Taoism.
What Taoist do in the everyday life?
First of all, it's meditation and
breath exercises, sometimes it's combined, sometimes it's separated.
But meditation or
visualization of the rekindled spirits is one of the main practice in Taoism.
Breathing exercises today emerge in different kind of medical or
training systems.
For example, very famous [FOREIGN] or
[FOREIGN] also came from this practice of Taoism.
And another point it's the idea of the transformation
of the changes that are around us.
Everything around us is just a change, nothing is stable.
Even myself, even my soul, even my souls intentions are not stable.
So it means that we just have to follow these changes and
only in this way we can stay alive.
We can stay immortal and keep our body in the good health,
so that's the main ideals of Taoism.
This idea is combined in different ways, so
that's why there are a lot of schools and streams in Taoism.
Like in Buddhism, like in other Chinese religions,
there is not any strict hierarchy of Taoism.
There is not any for example, chief Taoist in China.
There are a lot of Teachers, some teachers head of some schools, for
example in the monasteries.
And some teachers live outside of the monasteries,
in mountain roads, in the mountain caves.
Or for example, they even live in cities,
in the modern towns, and they have some groups of followers.
So to date, Taoism is not mainly Taoism of the temples or of the monastery.
Today, it's everyday Taoism.
Taoism is usually called a very Chinese religion.
Why a very Chinese religion?
Well it's about Confucianism, it's about Buddhism and other religions.
First of all Confucianism, and we'll speak about it.
It's a combination of several religious and
philosophical ideas as well as kind of
regulations about the right or good way of life.
Buddhism it's a foreign religion that came from India.
So only Taoism can be considered as a pure, as an indigenous
Chinese religion, so that's the earliest religious tradition.
Some people say that Taoist emerged in the second
millenium BC or even first millenium BC.
There are a lot of discussions about it, the main questions, where
we can find a line which separate the pre-Taoist tradition and Taoist tradition.
For example, I will speak about it later, the idea of yin and yang,
female and male, the positive and negative forces in this life.
Today it's a part of Taoism, but these ideas came outside
to Taoism and existed long before the Taoism emerged.
Another ideas of the idea of the changes, the transformations.
These idea also existed in China along before the beginning or
this called the institutional of Taoist.
So usually we think the Taoist as we understand
started from the maybe sixth or fifth centuries BC and
flourish in the first and third centuries AD.
There are many schools in Taoism, some of these schools
started even 1,000 even more years before.
But today Taoism is represented by the school 14th or 15th century.
So according to Chinese traditional these schools are quite young.
Taoism usually combined monk life and layperson life.
Taoist start as monk life, and only some monks or people,
kind of hermits, followed the Taoist tradition.
Because this Taoist tradition was very strict and very hard to follow.
But step by step, Taoism eventually flourished and
developed to the lay person, layman tradition.
And we can find Taoism in medicine or in the imperial uclt or
even in several prescription of the right behavior today.
So it means that many Taoists beliefs [INAUDIBLE] we can find even today.
But these beliefs, we are consider as it derivates from Taoism.
It's not a pure, genius Taoism.
So this means that the Taoism is, once again as it started is everywhere and
everything.
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