{"id":184,"date":"2018-07-04T18:23:45","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T02:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/?p=184"},"modified":"2018-07-04T18:39:55","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T02:39:55","slug":"philosophy-or-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/2018\/07\/04\/philosophy-or-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Philosophy or Religion?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There has been a lot of rumination and debate in the West about whether Daoism is a philosophy or a religion.\u00a0 This started when early Western observers (primarily Jesuit missionaries) perceived a disconnect between the \u201cphilosophy\u201d they read about in Laozi, Zhuangzi, and other early Daoist texts, and the actual \u201creligious\u201d practices they observed in Daoist ritual.\u00a0 A perspective grew in the West during the 20th<\/sup>-century that there were in fact two Daoisms \u2013 the original pure philosophy, and the latter-day religion.<\/p>\n

Chinese Daoists don\u2019t tend to recognize any such bifurcation, and 21st<\/sup>-century scholars have largely debunked the notion of two separate Daoisms as they have continued their research and discussions with actual practitioners.<\/p>\n

Indeed, early Daoist texts do not recommend the kind of complex & elaborate ritual practices that came later.\u00a0 As we know, Laozi & Zhuangzi emphasize simplicity and naturalness.\u00a0 We also know that much of the religiosity of later Daoism appeared as a nativist response to the introduction of Buddhism from India.\u00a0 So there may be a case for distinguishing the original Daoism from later traditions.\u00a0 But many of the practices of Daoist ritual actually pre-date Laozi, dating back to pre-Daoist shamanism.\u00a0 Many \u201cDaoist\u201d practices are not necessarily Daoist but were forms of shamanism that Daoism embraced.\u00a0 More importantly, however, is the dynamic and harmonious interplay of these practices with the various aspects of Daoist \u201cphilosophy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at the meaning of the words philosophy & religion.\u00a0 Philosophy comes from the Greek philosophia<\/em>, meaning \u201clover of knowledge\u201d \u2013 it implies using rational analysis to satisfy an appetite for understanding.\u00a0 Religion comes from the Greek religare<\/em>, meaning \u201cbinding\u201d \u2013 it implies offering sacrifice and relying on a deity for some kind of deliverance.\u00a0 So we can say philosophers are rational thinkers in search of insight into the nature of reality, whereas religious adherents faithfully bind themselves to a higher power.<\/p>\n

Daoism is neither of these.\u00a0 Based on the above definitions, we could say philosophy concentrates qi in the head, and religion concentrates qi in the heart.\u00a0 Daoism at its basis relaxes qi from the head and heart, letting it gather in the belly and likewise letting it circulate all over.\u00a0 Indeed, there are many philosophical concepts underlying Daoism that are important to understand, such as the cosmogeny of wuji, taiji, yin-yang, and the five phases of qi \u2013 not to mention how wuwei relates to these concepts.\u00a0 And there are numerous ritual practices, precepts, and even deities \u2013 but in Daoism these are all simply ways of cultivating qi and expressing Dao-De.<\/p>\n

Daoism is a system \u2013 or rather a broad family of varied systems \u2013 of qi-cultivation with a philosophical basis in ancient Chinese thought and various methods of hygiene, meditation, & ritual.\u00a0 Is this philosophy or religion?<\/p>\n

KAAT!<\/p>\n

The mountain shadow moves with the sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There has been a lot of rumination and debate in the West about whether Daoism is a philosophy or a religion.\u00a0 This started when early Western observers (primarily Jesuit missionaries) perceived a disconnect between the \u201cphilosophy\u201d they read about in Laozi, Zhuangzi, and other early Daoist texts, and the actual \u201creligious\u201d practices they observed in … Continue reading “Philosophy or Religion?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":190,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions\/190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldoakdao.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}