Taoism For Dummies Cheat Sheet

A timeline of Taoist history

Taoism encompasses a wide range of beliefs, practices, and cultural traditions, and its history has often followed a “Way” of complicated twists and turns. Here’s a brief timeline that lays out the basic periods of Taoist history.

Important branches of Taoism

There have historically been many different types of Taoism, and it’s sometimes hard to keep them all straight or understand how they relate to one another. Here’s a brief summary of the different historical and modern branches of Taoism.

Classical Taoism

Taoism traces its roots to a series of texts written more than 2,000 years ago. You can think of Classical Taoism as developing in two stages:

• The Lao-Chuang Tradition: This is the general name given to a cluster of authors and their texts from the Hundred Schools Period (6th to the 3rd centuries b.c.e.), which primarily includes Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, but also some others like Lieh Tzu and Yang Chu.

• Huang-Lao Taoism: This was a short-lived form of Taoism from the early part of the Han Dynasty (2nd century b.c.e. to 2nd century c.e.). It mingled Taoist thought with political philosophy and correlative cosmology (the study of how different elements and dynamic phases resonate and correspond with one another).

Medieval Taoist communities

The first actual communities that can really be called Taoist developed a few hundred years after the Classical Period. Here are the most important ones:

• The Way of the Celestial Masters: The Way of the Celestial Masters was a communal organization formed in the 2nd century. It was a forerunner to Orthodox Unity Taoism and marked the beginning of the history of Taoism as an actual lived tradition (instead of as a collection of texts).

• The Great Purity (Ta-ch’ing): This was an early Taoist self-cultivation group. They were among the first practitioners of alchemy (the laboratory preparation of physically and spiritually transformative elixirs). They operated in the 3rd or 4th century.

• Highest Purity Taoism (Shang-ch’ing): Highest Purity Taoism was an aristocratic self-cultivation group that originated in the 4th century. Practitioners were inspired by years of revelations from Lord Lao.

• Numinous Treasure Taoism (Ling-pao): Numinous Treasure Taoism was a group emphasizing physical and spiritual cultivation that originated in the late 4th and 5th centuries. They built on earlier revelations, introducing secretive rituals and the use of talismans, texts, and charms that provided protection from or power over spirits.

Contemporary Taoist lineages

Growing out of the medieval Taoist communities and many short-lived sects that developed over the next several years, two main lineages of Taoism developed and continue in China today. Here’s a brief description of them:

• Orthodox Unity Taoism: Orthodox Unity Taoism is the primarily liturgical branch of Taoism. It traces its line back to the Way of the Celestial Masters, flourishes mainly in Taiwan and southern China, and has priests who marry and have children.

• Complete Perfection Taoism: Complete Perfection Taoism is the primarily monastic branch of Taoism. It was established more recently, in the 12th century; flourishes mainly in northern China; and has vegetarian, celibate priests living in monasteries and abbeys.

Key Taoists in history

The origin of Taoism reaches back as far as prehistoric China, and has had a strong influence over Chinese culture throughout its history. The following people shaped Taoism over time, making it what it is today:

• Lao Tzu: Lao Tzu is the traditional “founder” of Taoism and the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching. He lived in the 5th century b.c.e.

• Chuang Tzu: Chuang Tzu was the author of several chapters of a text that bears his name. He lived in the 4th century b.c.e.

• Liu An: Liu An was the sponsor of a Han Dynasty text called the Huai Nan Tzu. He lived in the 2nd century b.c.e.

• Chang Tao-ling: Chang Tao-ling was the founder of the Way of the Celestial Masters, which was the first actual Taoist community. He is still revered by all Taoists as the first Celestial Master, the Heavenly mandated spiritual leader of the community. He lived in the 2nd century c.e.

• K’ou-Ch’ien-chih: K’ou-Ch’ien-chih was the leader of a Taoist theocracy and the reviver of the Celestial Masters tradition. He lived from the 4th to 5th centuries.

• T’ao Hung-ching: T’ao Hung-ching compiled the Highest Clarity scriptures, which are some of the most important revealed texts in the Taoist Canon. He also founded a Taoist temple on Mount Mao. He lived from the 5th to 6th centuries.

• Ssu-ma Ch’eng-chen: Ssu-ma Ch’eng-chen wrote the Treatise on Sitting and Forgetting, which teaches techniques of meditation and “unlearning.” He lived from the 7th to 8th centuries.

• Lü Tung-pin: Lü Tung-pin was a legendary poet and alchemist. He was the best known among the Eight Immortals, an octet of mythic Taoist adepts who are revered in the Complete Perfection lineage of Taoism. He lived around the 9th century.

• Chang Po-tuan: Chang Po-tuan was the pioneer of internal alchemy, a form of physical-spiritual cultivation that applied alchemical practices metaphorically. He lived in the 12th century.

• Wang Ch’ung-yang: Wang Ch’ung-yang was the founder of the Complete Perfection Taoist lineage, one of the two main sects of Taoism in China today. He lived in the 12th century.

• Chang San-feng: Chang San-feng was a legendary Taoist immortal, someone who Taoists believe became adept at advanced cultivation techniques and became an immortal spirit in Heaven after his death. He is traditionally identified as the founder of t’ai-chi ch’üan, a set of stylized martial arts thought to promote physical and spiritual health. He lived in the 15th century.

• Ch’en Wang-t’ing: Ch’en Wang-t’ing was the first known practitioner of t’ai-chi ch’üan. He lived in the 17th century.

• Chang En-p’u: Chang En-p’u was the 63rd Celestial Master (the officially recognized spiritual leader) of Orthodox Unity Taoism. He fled to Taiwan to escape communist rule. He lived from 1904 to 1969.

• Chang Tao-ch’en: Chang Tao-ch’en is the current, 64th Celestial Master of Orthodox Unity Taoism, though several other people (all surnamed Chang) claim to be the rightful heir to the title. He was born around 1967.