![]() ![]() Lao-Tzu grew impatient with people and with the corruption he saw in government, which caused the people so much pain and misery. Lao-Tzu believed in the harmony of all things and that people could live easily together if they only considered each other’s feelings once in a while and recognized that their self-interest was not always in the interest of others. The historian Sima Qian (145–86 BCE) tells the story of Lao-Tzu , a curator at the Royal Library in the state of Chu, who was a natural philosopher. It fell out of favor as the Tang Dynasty declined and was replaced by Confucianism and Buddhism but the religion is still practiced throughout China and other countries today. Taoism exerted a great influence during the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE) and the emperor Xuanzong (reigned 712–756 CE) decreed it a state religion, mandating that people keep Taoist writings in their home. The original belief may or may not have included practices, such as ancestor and spirit worship, but both of these principles are observed by many Taoists today and have been for centuries. The philosophy grew from an observance of the natural world, and the religion developed out of a belief in cosmic balance maintained and regulated by the Tao. The notion that humans should reconnect with their natural selves by “going with the flow” is called wu wei . ![]() It emphasizes doing what is natural and ” going with the flow ” in accordance with the Tao (or Dao), a cosmic force which flows through all things and binds and releases them. ![]() Taoism is therefore both a philosophy and a religion. 500 BCE), which contributed to the folk religion of the people primarily in the rural areas of China and became the official religion of the country under the Tang Dynasty. Taoism (also known as Daoism ) is a Chinese philosophy attributed to Lao Tzu (c. ![]()
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