Taoism is a Chinese philosophical and religious tradition, dating to around the 6th century BCE, centered on living in harmony with the Tao — "the Way," the natural order underlying the universe.
Also romanized as Daoism, the tradition takes its name from the Tao, usually translated as "the Way." Its foundational text is the Tao Te Ching, 81 verses attributed to the sage Laozi, whose historical existence scholars still debate; the Zhuangzi is its other principal classic. Taoism emerged as a philosophical school in the Warring States period and developed organized religious forms from the 2nd century CE.
At the center of Taoist thought is wu wei — often rendered as "non-action" or "effortless action" — the practice of acting in accordance with the natural flow of things rather than against it, without force or ego. Related principles include ziran, or naturalness and spontaneity; simplicity and humility; and the balance of yin and yang, the complementary opposites whose interplay produces all change. Together these frame a life lived in alignment with the Tao rather than in resistance to it.
Taoism has shaped Chinese medicine, art, martial arts, and statecraft, and it influenced the development of Chan — later known as Zen — Buddhism. It is also notably syncretic, as the book 📝Taoist Meditation observes:
"Taoism has a capacity for subtle pervasion because it can be understood and practiced within the frameworks of other world religions, or without any religious framework at all."
In the West, the tradition was widely interpreted by 📝Alan Watts, whose 📝Tao: The Watercourse Way remains a standard introduction.
I first read Taoist Meditation in 2018, when I was still trying to understand what 📝MythOS wanted to become — and that quote, which opens the book's first page, hooked me immediately. The idea of subtle pervasion, of something that lives within any framework or none, is why I now think of MythOS as the Tao of communication.