While Taoism generally embraces nature and what is natural and spontaneous in human experience, even to the point where much of China`s advanced culture, learning, and morality is rejected, Confucianism views human social institutions—including family, school, community, and state—as essential to human flourishing and moral excellence. because they are the only field in which these achievements, as conceived by Confucius, are possible. China`s two great indigenous philosophical and religious traditions, Taoism and Confucianism, emerged around the same time (6th-5th centuries BC) in what is now the neighboring eastern Chinese provinces of Henan and Shandong, respectively. Both traditions have permeated Chinese culture for about 2,500 years. Both are associated with a single founder, although in the case of Taoism, the figure of Laozi (flourishing in the 6th century BC) is extremely obscure and some aspects of his traditional biography are almost certainly legendary. A conventional but unlikely story says that Laozi and Confucius (551-479 BC), the founder of Confucianism, met once, and that the ancient (older) philosopher was not impressed. Regardless, their respective traditions share many of the same ideas (about humanity, society, ruler, heaven, and the universe), and over the millennia they have influenced and borrowed from each other. Even since the end of the dynastic period (1911) and the founding of the Communist People`s Republic (1949), often violently hostile to religion, the influence of Taoism and Confucianism in Chinese culture remains strong. A lover of antiquity, Confucius generally sought to revive the scholarship, cultural values, and ritual practices of the early Zhou Kingdom (from the 11th century BC) in order to morally renew the violent and chaotic society of his time (that of the spring and autumn periods) and to promote individual self-culture. – the task of teaching virtue (ren, or “humanity”) and a moral example (junzi or “gentleman”) becoming. According to Confucius, all people, regardless of position, are capable of possessing Ren, which manifests itself when social interactions show humanity and kindness towards others. Self-cultivated junzi possess ethical maturity and self-knowledge acquired through years of study, reflection and practice; They are therefore contrasted with the little people (xiaoren; literally “little person”) who are morally like children. Confucius` thought was interpreted in various ways over the next 1,500 years by later philosophers who were recognized as the founders of their own schools of Confucian and Neo-Confucian philosophy.
Around 1190, the Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi published a compilation of remarks attributed to Confucius, which had been transmitted orally and in writing. Known as Lunyu or the Analects of Confucius, it has since been considered the most reliable historical account of Confucius` life and teachings. The basic ideas and teachings of philosophical Taoism are expounded in the Daodejing (“Classic of the Road to Power”) – a work traditionally attributed to Laozi, but probably written by many hands after his life – and in the Zhuangzi (“Master Zhuang”) by the eponymous Taoist philosopher from the 4th to 3rd centuries BC. The philosophical concept from which the tradition takes its name, dao, is broad and multifaceted, as evidenced by the many interconnected meanings of the term, including “way,” “road,” “path,” “language,” and “method.” As a result, the concept has different interpretations and plays different roles in Taoist philosophy. In its deepest interpretation, the Cosmic Dao or the Way of the Cosmos, it is the immanent and transcendent “source” of the universe (Daodejing) that spontaneously and endlessly produces the “ten thousand things” (a metaphor for the world) and in its constant fluctuation produces the complementary forces of Yinyang that make up all aspects and phenomena of life. The cosmic Dao is “imperceptible” and “imperceptible” in the sense that it is indefinite or nothing specific; It is the vacuum that latently contains all the forms, entities and forces of certain phenomena. Another important interpretation of Dao is that of the particular “path” of a thing or group of things, including individuals (e.g., sages and rulers) and humanity as a whole. Taoist philosophy characteristically contrasts the cosmic Dao in its naturalness, spontaneity and eternal rhythmic fluctuation with the artificiality, coercion and stagnation of human society and culture.
Humanity will flourish only to the extent that the human way (rendao) is harmonized or harmonized with the cosmic Dao, in part by the wise reign of wise kings who practice Wuwei, or by the virtue of not undertaking an action that is not in harmony with nature. Taoism and Confucianism emerged as philosophical worldviews and ways of life. However, unlike Confucianism, Taoism eventually evolved into a trusting religion with organized doctrine, worship practices, and institutional leadership. Partly because the teachings of religious Taoism inevitably differed from the philosophy from which they came, it became common among later scholars to distinguish between philosophical and religious versions of Taoism, with some viewing the latter as a superstitious misinterpretation or falsification of the original philosophy. However, this critical view is now generally dismissed as simplistic, and most contemporary scholars view philosophical and religious interpretations of Taoism as information and mutual influence.