Is your Taoism a "Religion"?

[Stigweard]

An associated poll of this thread: The Relationship Between Religious and Philosophical Taoism

 

Apart from all the connotations loaded on the word "religion," I have chosen to stay with the conventional definition of the word.

 

re⋅li⋅gion  (rɪˈlɪdʒən) [ri-lij-uhn]

1. a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

2. a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects

3. the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices.

 

Comments and discussion welcomed and encouraged either in the above thread or below.

[Apech]

I was always taught that religion is from 're' - meaning again. and 'ligere' - meaning to link or bind; thus meaning 'to link back again' - rather like yoga = yoke 'to link or bind'. I think this is non-standard etymology. In this sense I think that my Taoism is a religion, but if you mean some kind of organization of people sharing a belief - no, because I don't particularly care what other people choose to believe (although I am interested).

[Stigweard]

I was always taught that religion is from 're' - meaning again. and 'ligere' - meaning to link or bind; thus meaning 'to link back again' - rather like yoga = yoke 'to link or bind'. I think this is non-standard etymology. In this sense I think that my Taoism is a religion, but if you mean some kind of organization of people sharing a belief - no, because I don't particularly care what other people choose to believe (although I am interested).

Yeah it depends on whether you link it to:

 

relegare "go through again, read again," from re- "again" + legere "read" (see lecture)

 

OR

 

religare "to bind fast" (see rely), via notion of "place an obligation on," or "bond between humans and gods."

[Pax]

Without thought on the question my first impulse is NO, Taoism is not a religion! This reaction is based in my almost universal dislike of the religions I've encountered.

 

However, using the definition supplied by Stig, it would seem the little I know of Taoism does touch on all three...although I'm not well enough informed to reach a conclusive opinion. I'll enjoy watching this thread to read from others more learned on the subject.

[33865_1494798762]

I was always taught that religion is from 're' - meaning again. and 'ligere' - meaning to link or bind; thus meaning 'to link back again' - rather like yoga = yoke 'to link or bind'. I think this is non-standard etymology. In this sense I think that my Taoism is a religion, but if you mean some kind of organization of people sharing a belief - no, because I don't particularly care what other people choose to believe (although I am interested).

Relegion (re-legio) means :

(To go) back to a chosen body

[Apech]

[Marblehead]

I had to vote "No" to all three questions. #1 was close but I had to include the entire question which resulted in a 'no' response.

 

Peace & Love!

[VCraigP]

That's interesting - where did you get this derivation from?

 

Taoism is not my Taoism. My Taoism is my practices. I am a practitioner of certain Tao arts.

 

Where these arts derive from the answer to the poll questions would all be yes.

 

My practices do bind and connect me to Heaven, Earth and Human beings, Sun Moon & Stars, Water Fire & Wind, Jing Qi Shen.

 

To me this is not religion but exploration of Nature, what is, all that is.

 

But by your definition the answer is yes, even though my perception is the answer is no.

 

Craig

[CarsonZi]

I had a hard time answering the first question....

 

"My Taoism" doesn't include a cause or nature of the universe, but it definitely includes a purpose....that purpose being to Know itself as Divine.... I did answer 'yes' to this question despite this conflict though.

 

Love,

Carson

[Marblehead]

... but it definitely includes a purpose....that purpose being to Know itself as Divine.... I did answer 'yes' to this question despite this conflict though.

 

Love,

Carson

 

Funny. That's exactly the reason I had to vote 'no'. Hehehe.

 

Peace & Love!

[Zhuo Ming-Dao]

These are difficult questions.

 

I had the most trouble with the last one, regarding spiritual agents or entities. My trouble arises from the fact that I do not believe in such beings as a matter of faith or because someone told me about them and they sounded like a good idea. But I have experienced supernatural entities, and my experiences fell completely in line with traditional Taoist beliefs in nature spirits, immortals, etc. However, I do not yet have enough evidence to convince me that these beings have any objective reality, even though their archetypal forms correlate with Taoist and Chinese folk mythology.

 

Since part of being a Taoist, for me, is experimenting and experiencing these things personally, comparing them with tradition, and theorizing, rather than accepting based on faith, I find this question difficult.

 

In short, I do not know if I "believe" in spiritual agents as discrete entities, though I know that the experience of encountering spiritual agents is a significant and potentially meaningful event.

[Stigweard]

I am finding this poll to be very interesting

[Apech]

These are difficult questions.

 

I had the most trouble with the last one, regarding spiritual agents or entities. My trouble arises from the fact that I do not believe in such beings as a matter of faith or because someone told me about them and they sounded like a good idea. But I have experienced supernatural entities, and my experiences fell completely in line with traditional Taoist beliefs in nature spirits, immortals, etc. However, I do not yet have enough evidence to convince me that these beings have any objective reality, even though their archetypal forms correlate with Taoist and Chinese folk mythology.

 

Since part of being a Taoist, for me, is experimenting and experiencing these things personally, comparing them with tradition, and theorizing, rather than accepting based on faith, I find this question difficult.

 

In short, I do not know if I "believe" in spiritual agents as discrete entities, though I know that the experience of encountering spiritual agents is a significant and potentially meaningful event.

 

 

Zhou,

 

I thought about this because I had the same kind of problem. However, in the end I answered in the positive on the balance of possibility. I take a broad definition of entity as I take the nature of reality to be something like a field of energy (shorthand version!) and that all beings, human, animal, plants are zones of specific vibration or energy pattern. It is therefore possible to have entities which do not possess corporeal bodies in the way we do and exist in a way very different to the ordinary (and therefore limited) human existence. The test for 'real' in this case is not the same as the test for real for another human i.e. you can see, touch, smell etc. and talk to them. I believe therefore in non-human intelligences which exist but which have a different set of rules determining their reality. What for us may be a dream, for instance could be real for them if you see what I mean. You could always argue, as a Buddhist would that these beings do not have selves and therefor are not existent but then that same argument applies to you and me, so in the ordinary sense of the word both us and they do exist.

 

A.

[innerspace_cadet]

I'm not re-ligious I'm just re-tarded, especially after a night of heavy drinking. But I'm not sure what the etymology of that is though.

[Encephalon]

Edited October 9, 2009 by Blasto

[thelerner]

I answered no, yes, no.

 

MY Taoism is no doubt a blasphemous conglomerate of ideas w/ much Zen mixed in half hazardly.

 

 

Michael

[Encephalon]

I answered no, yes, no.

 

MY Taoism is no doubt a blasphemous conglomerate of ideas w/ much Zen mixed in half hazardly.

Michael

 

Good answer. Less typing.

[33865_1494798762]

That's interesting - where did you get this derivation from?

I got this from a guy, my stepfather, I partly grew up with. He was a bishop.

[Stigweard]

Bump

[JustARandomPanda]

I don't know enough about Taoism yet to decide one way or the other. I did notice (going off what little I know) there seem to be a lot of similiarities between Taoism and Stoicism.

 

Unfortunately I don't live near any Taoist temples or whatnot to learn directly from a Taoist priest so if anyone can recommend some Taoist texts other than the Tao te Ching or works of Chang Tzu I'd appreciate it.

[Sloppy Zhang]

I took a random survey, and normally I don't fill out anything under "religion", but on a list of options "Taoism" was available, so I checked it. That was the first and only time I ever identified it as a "religion" of mine, and I mostly did it just to be cheeky

 

I mostly follow the whole Buddhist thing of "direct experience". There's a lot I haven't experienced directly- origin of the universe, meaning of life, etc etc etc. So I don't really have any beliefs about that one way or the other. I keep up with the major theories/beliefs out there, and mostly just keep them in mind as viable options to take under consideration until I get some direct experience which tells me one way or the other.

[ChiDragon]

There are two Chinese terms 道學(Tao Xue2) and 道教(Tao Jiao4).

1. 道學(Tao Xue2): The study of the principles of Tao. Taology, if there was such a word, I would like to use it...???

 

2. 道教(Tao Jiao4): The Tao cult. This is a Tao religious cult, in China, which has two groups interpreting the Tao Te Ching in favor for the purpose of their believes.

 

a. There is an ascetic group that the members were not married and stay in the Taoist Temple at all times to practice the Taoist religion.

 

b. There is another group, each member does have a family; and goes to the temple eight hours a day for the practice just like a full time job. Then, they go home in the evening to their families.

 

In the west, there is only one general term "Taoism" including both terms 道學(Tao Xue2) and 道教(Tao Jiao4) which was causing some ambiguity and confusion. IMO I would consider looking into matters more closely if I'm studying one culture from another. I will listen to what the other side has to say instead of making false assumptions and believe in some fairy tales to build up stories as I go along. Another word, find out the truth before anything else.

 

Because of the ambiguous term "Taoism", it would make the answer to be yes and no.

Edited July 30, 2011 by ChiDragon