Taoism or Daoism is a religious or philosophy of Chinese origin. It emphasizes living in
harmony with the Tao “Way”, “path” or “principle”. Tao signifies the source, and the force
behind everything that exists. Various Asian communities practice Taoism as a religion.
However, its theology does not dependent on the existence of godlike figurehead. Some
communities consider and worship Laozi the founder of the religious doctrine. Its
philosophy deals mainly on the formlessness of the Tao. The tenets of the School of Yin
Yang is the basis of cosmological notions for Tao and is also heavily influenced and
informed by the oldest text of ancient Chinese classics, the “I Ching”. I Ching’s
philosophical texts are based on human behaviors and ethics based on changing cycles of
natural and social worlds. As per these texts hexagrams known as “gua” which includes
instructions for divination are practiced Taoists. Also, the Tao Te Ching, a book containing
teachings of Laozi is considered the primary work of this philosophy. Together with the
interpretations of Laozi’s philosophy by Zhuangzi, the classic I Ching texts provide the
philosophical basis for Taoism deriving from the 8 trigrams (bagua) of Fu Xi in the 2700s
BCE in China. I Ching documented about 64 hexagrams combinations.
To understand Taoism is to begin from within “the self” as also prescribed in Hinduism the
eternal “I”. Understand yourself as a system of believes, attitudes and practices set towards
the service and living to a person’s own nature. Accept yourself, while living your life