Confucianism & Taoism

• In Confucianism, man is the center of the universe.
• Taoism is a system of belief, attitudes, and practices set towards the service and living to a person’s nature.
• Taoism is one of the most followed and practiced religions in China.
• Taoism teaches a person to flow with life.
• Taoism was first recognized as a religious system during the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE.
• Taoism became a semi-official Chinese religion during the Tang dynasty and continued during the Song dynasty.
• Taoism pre-dates Confucianism.
• The term “tao” in Taoism refers to the origin and law of all things in the universe.
• Taoists believe that people can become deities or live forever through practicing certain rituals and austerities.
• Taoism also focuses on bringing harmony through the way of meditation and disengagement from worldly possessions.
• Lao Tzu, the founder of philosophical Taoism and a deity in religious Taoism and traditional Chinese religions, is thought to have lived in the 6th century BCE.
• Tao Te Ching, a collection of poetry and sayings from around the third and fourth centuries B.C.E., guides Taoist thought and actions.
• Yin yang is a concept of dualism, describing how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.
• In Taoism, yin is the receptive and yang the active principle, seen in all forms of change and difference.
• Ch’i (qi), also known as the Taoist Principle of Life Force, is believed to be a vital force forming part of any living entity.
• The flow of ‘chi’ energy, as the essential energy of action, is compared and believed to be the influence that keeps the universal order of Tao balanced.
• Taoist thought focuses on genuineness, longevity, health, immortality, vitality, wu wei (non-action, the state of flow), detachment, refinement (emptiness), spontaneity, transformation, and omni-potentiality.
• Taoism does not identify man's will as the root problem, but rather asserts that man must place his will in harmony with the natural universe.
• Taoist philosophy recognizes that the Universe already works harmoniously according to its own ways; if a person exerts his will against or upon the world, he will disrupt the harmony that already exists, he will go ‘against the flow of life’.
• Violence is the last thing that comes to the mind of Taoists, who do not find it as a solution to any problem in this world.
• Confucianism strongly emphasizes mercy, social order, and the fulfillment of responsibilities.
• Taoists believe in simplicity; they find it as the essence of life.
• The way of life propagated by Confucius in the 6th–5th century BCE and followed by the Chinese people for more than two millennia is known as Confucianism.
• East Asians profess themselves to be Shintoists, Daoists, Buddhists, Muslims or Christians.
• Zhougong, a good friend and a hero for Confucius helped expand and refine the ritual system based on blood ties, marriage alliances, and old covenants.
• The Analects ("Selected Sayings") is an ancient Chinese book composed of a large collection of sayings and ideas attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius.
• Confucius initiated a cultural process but he and those who followed him considered themselves a part of tradition, later identified by Chinese historians as Rujia, scholarly tradition.
• Confucianism is an all-encompassing way of thinking and living entailing ancestor reverence and profound human-centred religiousness.
• Taoism encourages its followers to perform only good deeds and not the bad ones, to seek inner peace and calm.
• Confucian ethical values have well over 2,000 years as source of inspiration as well as the court of appeal for human interaction between individuals, communities, and nations in the Sinitic world.
• Yi - Righteousness. Xin - Honesty and Trustworthiness. Chung - Loyalty to the state, etc. Li - Includes ritual, propriety, etiquette, etc. Hsiao - Love of parents for their children, and love of children for their parents.
• “Ren” is the central ethical principle, and is equivalent to the concepts love, mercy, and humanity.
• What is the active principle in Taoism?

  Yang
• What does "Lao Tzu" mean?

  old master
• Taoism is also called Daoism.