Taoism or Daoism is usually described as an Asian philosophy and religion, although it is also said to be neither but rather an aspect of Chinese wisdom. Translated literally, it means "the Teaching of the Way" or "Path", or "Tao". In Taoist context, Tao can be understood as a space-time path--the order in which things happen. As a descriptive term, it can be taken to refer to the actual world in history--sometimes distinguished as "great Dao" or prescriptively, as an order that should unfold--the moral way of Confucius or Laozi or Christ or . . . . A theme in early Chinese thought is Tian-dao or way of nature (also translated as 'heaven' 'sky' and sometimes 'God'). This would correspond roughly to the order of things according to natural law. Both 'nature's way' and 'great way' can inspire the stereotypical Taoist detachment from moral or normative doctrines. Thus, thought of as the course ...
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