Taoism

Well, if you've been following my reading pattern it is probably no surprise to see that Taoism by Jennifer Oldstone-Moore was up next. First thing I learned - Taosim and Daoism are the same thing.

I was going to say something about Taoism being to Confucianism as Kabbalah is to Judaism, but then I realized that I actually know less about Kabbalah than Taoism. Anyway, Taoism and Confucianism have the same base of ideas, but Taoism goes more into mysticism.

The Tao is "the way" and is the force that brought the world into existence. It's not a god, but rather a force (there are plenty of other gods - I think somewhere between Confucianism and Shinto for number of types of gods). People are not supposed to go against the Tao. Yin-Yang and Qi (Chi) are both key concepts in Taoism. Feng-Shui is also involved in Taoism.

The more mystical side of Taoism is that it involves searching for immortality through several means, one of which is alchemy (it is interesting the alchemy in the Neal Stephenson series I just finished is much closer to that of Taoism than what I would normally think of alchemy). Apparently gun powder was discovered in Taoist pursuit of immortality as well as several other scientific advancements. Also if you need an exorcism a Taoist priest is the way to go.