Tao

Part of a series on
Taoism
Outline History
Concepts Daoxue Dao De Wuji Taiji Yin-Yang Bagua Wu xing (Five Phases) Bianhua Fan (reversal) Wu-wei (non-action) Ziran Xian (immortal) Zhenren Zhenxing (true name) Three Treasures Jing Qi Shen Hun and po
Practices Three Treasures (virtues) Five Precepts Ten Precepts Meditation Neidan Waidan Bugang Chu Diet (Bigu) Sexual practices Art Talismans Priesthood
Texts I Ching Daodejing Zhuangzi Huainanzi Taipingjing Xiang'er Liezi Sanhuangjing Huahujing Qingjing Jing Baopuzi Daozang
Deities Hongjun Laozu Three Pure Ones Yuanshi Tianzun Lingbao Tianzun Daode Tianzun Four Sovereigns Yuhuang Dadi (Great Jade Emperor) Ziwei Dadi (Great Emperor of the North Star) Gouchen Dadi (Great Emperor of the Curved Array) Houtu Huang Diqi (Empress of the Earth) Others Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West) Dongwanggong (King Father of the East) Three Great Emperor-Officials Eight Immortals Chang'e Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors Yellow Emperor Guan Shengdi Li Hong Other deities
People Laozi Zhuangzi Lie Yukou Heshanggong Wei Boyang Zhang Daoling Gan Ji Zhang Jue Zhang Lu Ge Xuan He Yan Wang Bi Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove Guo Xiang Sun Hanhua Wei Huacun Ge Hong Bao Jingyan Kou Qianzhi Lu Xiujing Tao Hongjing Cheng Xuanying Chen Tuan Zhang Boduan Sun Bu'er Wang Chongyang Qiu Chuji Zhang Guoxiang Zhang Sanfeng Zhu Quan Fangshi
Schools Huang–Lao Way of the Taiping Xuanxue Shangqing Lijia Lingbao Chongxuan Quanzhen (Longmen) Wuliu Tianshi (Celestial Masters) Wudoumi Southern Tianshi Northern Tianshi Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Folk Taoism Yao Taoism
Sacred places Grotto-heavens Sacred Mountains of China Wudang Mountains Mount Penglai Mount Kunlun Taoist temple White Cloud Temple (Baiyun Monastery) Louguantai Temple Cebu Taoist Temple Taoist Temple (Hanford, California)
Institutions and organizations Chinese Taoist Association Celestial Masters Taoist priests
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In various Chinese religions and philosophies, the Tao or Dao^{[note 1]} is the natural way of the universe, whose character one's intuition must discern to realize the potential for individual wisdom, as conceived in the context of East Asian philosophy, religion, and related traditions. This seeing of life cannot be grasped as a concept. Rather, it is seen through actual living experience of one's everyday being. Its name derives from a Chinese character with meanings including 'way', 'path', 'road', and sometimes 'doctrine' or 'principle'.^[1]

In the Tao Te Ching, Laozi explains that the Tao is not a name for a thing, but the underlying natural order of the universe whose ultimate essence is difficult to circumscribe because it is non-conceptual yet evident in one's being of aliveness. The Tao is "eternally nameless" and should be distinguished from the countless named things that are considered to be its manifestations, the reality of life before its descriptions of it.

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