Sublime

The Tao is the source of life of all things. It is nameless, invisible, and ungraspable by normal modes of perception. It is boundless and cannot be exhausted, although all things depend on it for existence. Hidden beneath transition and change, the Tao is the permanent underlying reality. These ideas will become the center of all future Taoist thi

The Taoism of Lao-tzu was about the Way, the Tao, which is something we experience when we are more attentive to our inner and outer worlds. The Tao can be followed and experientially known when we have surrendered our controlled, conditioned identity over to the effortless realm of spontaneity and trust, wu-wei. This effortless realm is why the Ta

Tao is a way of life, not a god or religion. It literally means “Way,” or path—a trail on the journey through life that conforms to nature’s own topography and timetables. Any path but Tao is, by definition, artifice. Western ways, which attempt to conquer rather than commune with the forces of nature, lead inevitably to a schizophrenic split betwe

everything in the universe is integral and symbiotic in nature, and that everything functions harmoniously according to the rhythm of the universe. So, he asks, why would humanity be the exception? The Way of the Tao and our experience of it comes from allowing all aspects of the universe to happen as they will without conscious interference.

To be at one with the Tao, one must practice wu-wei and refrain from forcing anything to happen that does not happen of its own accord. To be at one with the Tao is to accept that we must yield to a power much greater than ourselves. Through this acceptance of the natural flow of life, and by discarding all learned doctrines and knowledge, a person

Internal-Alchemical Taoism, the Way of Transformation, advocates changing mind and body to attain health, longevity, and immortality. Central to its beliefs is the idea that internal energy, or ch’i, in the body is the foundation of health. Thus, Internal-Alchemical Taoism advocates cultivating, gathering, and circulating energy. Of all the paths o

Inspired by the Confucian philosophy of the original nature of goodness and the Zen techniques of stilling the mind, a synthesis of the three philosophies—Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism—was reached. This form of Taoism is found in the teachings of two major Taoist sects today: the Complete Reality School (Ch’üan-chen) and the Earlier Heaven Way