Jessica Shaw, age 17, of Lynn, Mass., for her question:
WHEN DID TAOISM ORIGINATE?
Taoism is a philosophy that started in China during the 4th century B.C. It is also the name of a religion that started in about 100 B.C.
Throughout the centuries, Taoism has influenced artists and writers in both the East and the West. The religion today has about 32 million followers.
The word 11tao" originally meant "road" or "way." The Tao represents the characteristics or behavior that makes each thing in the universe what it is. The word is also used to mean reality as a whole, which consists of all the individual "ways."
The beliefs of Taoism as a philosophy appeared in two books, the "Lao Tzu (later renamed "Tao Te Ching, The Classic of the Way and the Virtue") and the "Chuang Tzu." The books came from a collection of several sources and their authors and editors are unknown.
The ideas of Taoism were partly a reaction against Confucianism, a philosophy that developed in China beginning in about 500 B.C.
According to Confucianism, people can live a good life only in a well disciplined society that stresses attention to ceremony, duty and public service. The Taoist ideal, on the other hand, is a person who avoids conventional social obligations and leads a simple, spontaneous and meditative life close to nature.
Taoism, as a religion, was influenced by Chinese folk religion. In folk religion, most of the gods are human beings who displayed exceptional powers during their lives. For example, Kuan Ti, the protector of businessmen, was a mighty general in 3rd century A.D. Such gods are classified according to importance.
Taoism has a hereditary priesthood. Priests conduct public rituals, during which they submit the people's prayers to the gods of folk religion.
In a Taoist religious service, the chief priest goes into a trance. He then prays to other divinities on behalf of his worshipers. These divinities are not former human beings but represent aspects of Tao.
The members of some Taoist groups have sought immortality through magic, meditation, special diets, breath control or the recitation of scriptures.
The Taoist search for knowledge of nature has led many believers to pursue various sciences, such as alchemy, astronomy and medicine.
Lao Tzu, according to legends, wrote one of Taoism's basic books, "The Classic of the Way and the Virtue." The author pointed out in the book that a wise man desires nothing. He never interferes with what happens naturally in the world or in himself.
"The highest good is like water," one passage of the book says. "Water excels in giving benefit to all creatures, but never competes. It abides in places that most men despise and so comes closest to the Tao."