The way that can be named is not the constant Way: alignment with the Dao through wu wei, and, in its religious forms, registers of priests, rites, and gods.
Daoism runs from the Daodejing's quiet philosophy to the organized priesthoods and liturgies of religious Daoism. Its schools differ over whether the Way is contemplated, embodied, or administered, and this tree models them as first-class entities.
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Philosophical Daoism
The Daoism of the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi: the Way contemplated, the sage who rules by non-action, and the self cultivated in stillness.
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Celestial Masters and Zhengyi
The first organized Daoist church, founded on Zhang Daoling's covenant of 142 CE, whose married priests still serve Taiwan and the mainland.
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Shangqing
The Highest Clarity revelations to Yang Xi: visualization of the body's gods, the heavens' bureaucracy, and the aristocratic meditation of the fourth…
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Lingbao
The Numinous Treasure scriptures: universal salvation, communal rites, and the liturgy that absorbed Buddhist forms into Daoist worship.
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Quanzhen
The Complete Perfection school of Wang Chongyang: celibate monasticism, inner alchemy, and the discipline that governs northern China's temples.
Daoism across the site
History of Worldviews (16) · Religious Art Entries (2)
Sources
Primary
- The Daodejing.
Secondary
- Livia Kohn, Daoism and Chinese Culture (2001).