The way of life’, rituals, certain foods ( Five Elements), meditation, visualisation, imagination, mystical worlds, qigong, t'ai-chi-ch'uan, certain techniques of breathing, sexual practices (spiritual and cosmic pursuit, maintaining health, enhance one’s lifespan) and substances and medicine effect the believers physical and mental health, as well as the knowledge of nature with its natural herbs, traditional chinese medicine and knowledge of alchemy does. This book is a trip. Don't go in expecting a cohesive narrative or a well-tied together memoir. The book is wide-ranging, covering kung-fu, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, hip-hop, the hood, violence, and, not to mention, the story of the Wu-Tang Clan! The RZA is super insightful, and a few moments stand out to me. In particular, his reflection on how expressing violence through art leaves a piece of yourself behind really resonated with me. The Tao of the Taoist is the divine intelligence of the universe, the source of things, the life-giving principle; it informs and transforms all things; it is impersonal, impartial, and has little regard for individuals. . . . Above all, the one important message of Taoism is the oneness and spirituality of the material universe. [5]

Among scholars there is debate about the founder of philosophical Taoism to the extent that some question whether Lao Tzu, the traditional founding figure, even existed. Interestingly, modern scholars of religion have become more and more skeptical about knowing anything about the religious figures of the past. This is true even of Jesus, many scholars claiming that the Gospels contain no historically accurate information about him. It is the sense of the current author that this “doubting Thomas” attitude has gone too far. Thus for the purposes of this chapter, we will accept Lao Tzu as the founder of the philosophical Taoist school, and we will accept him as the author of the foundational text, the Tao Te Ching (or Dao de Jing). He also details the coming together (and apart) of the Wu-Tang Clan, and the various personal relationships and experiences within the group's (relatively short) history.Like the Daodejing, the lesser known Neiye is a short wisdom sayings text. However, the Neiye focuses on Taoist cultivation ( xiū, 修) of the heartmind ( xīn, 心), which involves the cultivation and refinement of the three treasures: jīng (“vital essence”), qì (“spirit”), and shén (“soul”). [18] The Neiye's idea of a pervasive and unseen "spirit" called qì and its relationship to acquiring dé (virtue or inner power) was very influential for later Taoist philosophy. Similarly, important Taoist ideas such as the relationship between a person's xìng (“inner nature”, 性) and their mìng (“personal fate”, 命) can be found in another lesser known text called the Lüshi Chunqiu. [19] In these texts, as well as in the Daodejing, a person who acquires dé and has a balanced and tranquil heartmind is called a shèng-rén (“sage”). [20] According to Russell Kirkland: Think how closely one would have to walk with the Spirit to never ask amiss of the Lord. Nephi accomplished that. He had reached the goal that Jeremiah stated when he said: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

As we have already seen, there are multiple spirits to worship in Chinese mythology. There are the gods of the earth or the village gods. There are also the family gods of the doors, wells, wealth, hearths, and kitchens. These can all be benevolent if treated properly with appropriate sacrificial offerings. As the emperor has official duties to his ancestors, so the average person has responsibility to his or her ancestors. While the emperor makes offerings at official shrines, the people may have ancestral temples or home altars where offerings may be made to ancestors. At the popular level, little has changed in three millennia. Country information: China | Bhutan | Hong Kong | India | Japan | Korea | Laos | Malaysia | Mongolia | Nepal | Singapore | Taiwan | Tibet | Thailand | VietnamLao Tzu, who was disenchanted with society, wrote the Tao Te Ching and departed, never to be heard of again. Courtesy of Tommy Wong. The late Ming and early Qing dynasty saw the rise of the Longmen ("Dragon Gate" 龍門) school of Taoism, founded by Wang Kunyang (d. 1680) which reinvigorated the Quanzhen tradition. [47] Longmen Taoist writers such as Liu Yiming (1734–1821) also simplified Taoist “Inner Alchemy” practices making more accessible to the public by removing much of the esoteric symbolism of medieval texts. [48] It was Min Yide (1758–1836) though that became the most influential figure of the Longmen lineage, as he was the main compiler of the Longmen Daozang xubian and doctrine. [47] It was Min Yide who also made the famous text known as The Secret of the Golden Flower, along with its emphasis on internal alchemy, the central doctrinal scripture of the Longmen tradition. [47]