Daoisms

I Ching

Guide to divination in the future; similar to a Chinese tarot card

• They’ll ask when you were born, what time you were born, and give you coins and/or dice to figure out your divination

• A way to track how the future will unfold

Ancient Pharmacopia

• People in China have been tracking effect of certain ingredients for thousands of years—oldest writing in China

  • Ingredients that make you hot (blood, metabolism) and cold

• Shops found across China (and Chinatowns) where these different ingredients are all for sale

  • They are in plastic bags now for convenience, but still look similar to what they did thousands of years ago

• The energy in these different ingredients impacts the energy in you—there is energy (a force) in all things

Daoist Priests

• Are in temples

• Give people incense to burn, teas, etc. to help give people the power of the Dao

  • Manipulate the Dao in your favor

Mana

Polynesian ideal similar to that of the Dao in China, where everything has energy

• Some things have more than others

• If you do the right thing, you will have more

Kami

Japanese ideal similar to that of the Dao in China

Popular Daoism

In Japan (and China too) you go to the temple and buy a charm for luck, richness, etc. 

• Laozi did not like this and thought that the priests and temples were just trying to steal people’s money—not everybody can master the power of the Dao

Laozi

He was very old, but in very good, healthy shape

• Confucius (much younger than him, but alive at the same time) called him the Dragon because he was an intimidating priest

Frustrated, he leaves China and writes a book

• “The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao”—if someone thinks they can explain it to you, they are just trying to sell you something

• The rest of the book is filled with poetry and metaphors

  • Repeatedly refers to the Dao as a great river

Rivers

• Uncontrollable and do what they want

• You cannot go against the flow/current

  • Michael Phelps swimming with vs against the current

Wu Wei

Pure effectiveness is frictionless—Daoist principle taught by Laozi

• Going with the flow, the easy way is the better way, you have the Dao at your back

• Why are you giving so much effort to something there is no future in

Yin-Yang

In the heart of the light, there is darkness; in the heart of the darkness there is light

• Opposites are connected

You don’t know in any situation whether what happens to you is good or bad

• Possibilities for good and bad are in all things (e.g., horse story)

Chi (Xi)

The Dao passing through your body

• You are supposed to let it pass through you—go with the flow

• Ex.) Karate chop, letting it pass through you so your energy can break the board

Acupuncture

Points on your body that connect to the rest of your body—putting a needle in one of these points helps other specific points

• You get sick when the chi cannot flow through you

• In Japan, they electrify the needles—it is taken super seriously

Confucian, Daoist

People in China say when you’re young you’re […] because you want to make the world a better place; when you are old you are […] because you want to take care of your health

Acupressure

When someone massages your chi (the pressure points in your body) as it passes through your body

• You get sick when the chi cannot flow through you

Tai Chi

Meditative dance that is supposed to help with anxiety and managing your chi 

• Thousands of people do this every morning in China

• Health practice