Taoism: A Decolonized Introduction

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... If a techie witnessed the wholly inefficient Luddite way I cobbled this video production together, they would probably die of a brain aneurysm …

Timestamps:
00:00 Why another “Introduction to Taoism” video
00:19 Historical textual definition of and references to the Tao 道
01:29 Canonical statement defining the Tao “一陰一陽之謂道”
02:39 Cultural understanding and usage of the term 道 [Syncretic Taoism]
03:40 Formalizing Taoism 道教 during the Eastern Han
03:50 Scope of Taoism “道教” prior to the Eastern Han
04:42 Conflating Buddhist doctrine with the Tao 道
05:33 Institutionalizing Taoism in the Common Era
05:50 Taoist Beliefs – Four Cornerstones
---- Wu Wei 無為 and Zi Ran 自然
---- True Name 真名 and True Form 真形
---- Taoist Cosmology
---- Xuan De 玄德 (The Mysteries)
06:53 The Dàoshì 道士
07:15 Taoist Practice – Four Cornerstones
---- Invoking Spirits 崇拜鬼神
---- Divination 占卜
---- Ceremonial Rites 祭祀
---- Shamanic Witchcraft 巫祝
07:59 The Fāngshì 方士 (Methods Master)
08:14 Taoism is the indigenous Chinese tradition premised on three fundamental assumptions
08:24 [1st] Working with spirit entities (and what that means) [鬼神崇拜]
09:39 Classifications of spirit entities in Taoism (and Chinese folk beliefs)
10:23 [2nd] Studying cultivation methods for transcendence [神仙信仰與方術]
10:32 Inner alchemy 內丹術 and outer alchemy 外丹術
11:43 Taoist occultism during the Warring States period (472 – 221 BC)
11:55 The five mystical arts 五術
13:02 [3rd] The Huang Lao 黃老道 doctrine [黃老學說中的神秘主義成份]
14:53 Two Key Concepts to Huang Lao Taoism (the highest priorities of the Taoist)
--- Political doctrine of Lì Mín 利民
--- Philosophical doctrine of Wu Wei 無為
16:38 Historical uses of the term Huang Lao Tao
18:16 Mathematical Structure of the Tao 道 (mirroring the Yi 易, in I Ching 易經)
19:29 Taoism and the I Ching: the Tao referenced in the I Ching
20:23 Taoism from the Hundred Schools of Thought
20:48 Taoism as a school of philosophy
22:18 Western Thought: Taoist Philosophy vs. Taoist Religion
22:37 Eastern Thought: Taoist Beliefs & Taoist Practice
23:10 Evolving understanding of the Tao in Imperial China
23:58 First use of the term Taoism 道教 (Confucius)
24:14 Taoism is exemplified by the Six Ancestral Sage Kings [堯舜禹湯文武]
24:53 Dào Dé Jing 道德經 and Dào Dé Tiān Zūn 道德天尊
25:25 Religious personifications of the Tao Te Ching
26:08 Summary and closing remarks

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Related Past Videos:

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[luxtigris]

I don't have words to display my gratitude to this presentation. It has taken me 12 days to make notes, process the information, cross reference with my other studies, watch, rewind and repeat. Your work and conduct is second to none. Thank you.

[alangivre]

Your explanation is wonderful!!! I do not know why you get so hate in the comments.

"Decolonized" herr means clearly that you are trying to give the chinese understanding of it (instead of the New Age one).

[xenocrates]

I will have to listen to this video many times; there is so much information here. And it is all presented with clarity and focus. Much appreciated.

[PeterSchmuttermaier]

Finally! It is so difficult to find detailed, comprehensive first-hand information about Daoism in the languages I speak. There are good, even university grade courses, but they almost exclusively talk about the Dao De Ging and Zhuang Tse, and focus only on the philosophical aspects, which paints a very incomplete picture. Thank you for this and all the other videos you produce!

[SurfTheSkyline]

I've been told by multiple independent friends that my views align with Taoism and I am finally feeling esoterically moved to look into it more as I feel my mind is open and willing and desiring enough to hear it with no judgment. I am very grateful for this video, thank you for making it.

[artistlovepeace]

I read the I Ching when I was a young child and read the Tao in high school. I worked for a tibetan family that escaped china, then vietnam and eventually came to MN and opened a restaurant. That restaurant still exists in Mpls. It's name is Rainbow Chinese Restaurant. I love your channel. Thank you for producing and sharing and I hope many people will reference your work in scholarly papers.

[TheLyricalCleric]

Glad to see someone who actually knows what the original text says about Taoism rather than a westerner who has only ever read translations or is working from other translations to make their own “translation”! Taoism has always seemed to me like a very interesting religious/philosophical movement and viewpoint, less harsh than Buddhist non-attachment, which is very hard to put into practice.

[duckdudette]

As I listen to your explanations, I feel the weight of many centuries' understanding in every new concept. It is a joy to stumble across a new academic subject and a new way of thinking.
I know it will take many rewatches to fully follow everything you have discussed, but I have learned so much from even the few things i have understood.
Excellent video and excellent dissemination of academic and philosophical knowledge! Thank you

[froseed]

What a series of videos you've put out, Benebell! They are absolutely fantasticly informative, and at the same time they carry so much soul.

[vadal]

Benebell, I so appreciate you sharing your vast knowledge with us ~ this is the first time I've heard such a comprehensive lecture on the historical basis for the Tao cosmology and its relationship to subsequent schools of thought. I have your first book on I Ching but not the latest one ~ and love that you are doing these instruction videos to help us out! We are lucky to get benefit of your years of study and experience of all the topics you have such an obvious grasp of and competence in, so many thanks for generously making this content, your books, and your decks for us! It's very generous of you. Really really appreciate it!

[hammersaw]

I learned about Tao from a wise Sensei in martial arts as a child, part of training was philosophical, part meditation, stretches, exercise, and kata. Thank you for this detailed elaboration on some of these more esoteric concepts. As a child I knew magic was real, the process of learning has been more like an intense remembering of times when I was unburdened by the past, and thought not of the future.

[nemesisurvivorleon]

Seriously the most underrated channel on youtube

[WitNWhimsyWrites]

Thank you Benebell for providing these teachings in English 💜 I'm so grateful for your well researched resources allowing Asian Americans like myself to study more from reputable sources without the language limitations

[buddhabillybob]

What a wonderful video! I am an American trained in analytic philosophy, but when I read the Tao Te Ching and the Chuang Tzu many, many years ago, they blew my mind. I could perceive that there was a whole world of cultural context there that I could only dimly perceive. The more I learn about this context, the more my appreciation of those texts grows!

[malificusalbert]

Such amazing work constructing this. As a spiritualist and a buddhist, prayer isn't something I do often, but I pray now for you and your family, ma'am. I feel led here - many roads have felt like shadowed footprints lately, following along and just trying to find success. Thank you for the video :3

[jeffatwood]

I really appreciate your commentaries. A teacher once told me, "The true magic of Tao is found between Wuji and Taiji." From limitlessness to polarity. As you explain, connecting Heaven and Earth is the essence of the Tao; therefore, being the foundation of both Shamanism and martial arts neigong/qigong. The 1 is the limitlessness, which immediately becomes 2 as soon as a limited 1 forms boundaries/limits for itself (1 and not-1) within that limitlessness. This is the classic philosophical expression of Nothing being Something, or "2 Shen born together that become Yin and Yang." The subconscious mind arises ("Heaven, " that which is heaved up) from the dead sleep of unconsciousness, and seeks self-identity to "solidify" itself as something powerful. This is the pure Yang, a Something that is Nothing, arising form the chaotic Mother of all Things, or Nothing that is Something. This is how Yang became associated as "solid, " or better described as "consistent/unchanging." Yin, however, is described as being fluidly changing, or unformed, yet she manifests in all forms once yang reunites to give her ever-changing nature a direction by which to make ANY form. 

This is explained in the first 2 verses of Genesis; [1] "In the beginning cycle of expansion (B'reishit...Big Bang), the powers (Elohim..."Qi") shaped (bara...bar means "son of" which suggests birthing as giving shape to a form) the Heavens and the Earth." There are multiple Heavens, but only 1 earth, who is "void without form." [2] "Ruach hovered like a bird over the Deep." The ruach is the Holy Spirit, that power passed down in forms through the maternal genetics, which is why to be a natural born Jew your mother must be a Jew. Yet, it is this power of consciousness (the fire within the wind) that the earth, after the segregation, is apparently lacking which keeps her formless and chaotically confused...thus, unable to produce any form, since as she moves toward any form she is perpetually distracted toward another form. This is the psychological state known in Buddhist meditation as "Monkey Mind, " and characterized as the Stone Monkey King in the Chinese epic, A Journey West. The ruach hovering is the state of Nirvana, "No Wagon, " where the mind is "outside" its physical vessel, leaving an empty shell below. Such a state is often assumed to be positive, typical of gaining the Sky View of clear insight (Vipashyana/Vipassana) during meditative practice. It can, however, also be negative as during a traumatic event where the mind escapes the suffering experienced by the shell of the body.

This apparent segregation is an illusion, though. Spiritual practice reminds us that reunion is the cornerstone of solving the chaotic suffering in polarity where the opposing ends of a single pole appear to be 2 separate things. Like a thread holds several pearls together in one single necklace, the word Tantra means "continuous weave, " as if 1 thread weaves the entire fabric of Life into a beautiful tapestry. Religion literally means "re-link, " as -ligion gives rise to the word ligament as well. Heaven, the primal "Father, " appears so far away from the Earth where "we" live that the dead ancestors are used as messengers through which we living here may connect. This is how ancestor worship developed across the very ancient world. Shaman can be derived from Sanskrit Sham-an (connecting spirit) as a shaman reconnects the spirits of sick people with themselves, or connects to the spirit of a sacrificial animal in order to ride it like a horse to a particular place/hall in Heaven. This is why calling any sacrificial animal a "horse" became common across the ancient world. A water-horse, therefore, could well be the turtle sacrifice in the Fuxi story of the Bagua/Luoshu. A highly interesting correlation is the Etruscan hippocampus, or water horse that a priest must conquer to ride across the river between living and dying. Norse Sleipnir is the 8-legged horse that is the only one who can ride across the river to the dead and return. The mandala is like a magical shield and the Bagua is an early expression of that cosmological paradigm of 8x3=24 that is also found in the earliest Runic order in the Germanic expression of letters which they received from Etruscans. The most common order of runes, however, has 16, and not 24, which I believe expresses the Etruscan cosmology which was a 16 "sliced pie" shape and they were the divination masters of the early Iron Age. 16 is also important in Bagua practice, as your pictographs here show the 2 arrangements relating to form the 64 Hexagrams of the Yi Jing. 

Obviously, I'm fascinated with the common cosmological consistencies/homogeny within Bronze Age cultures through a shamanic priesthood, which was apparently dominated by women before men took over in temple based urbanization coming out in the Neolithic revolutions from nomadism toward settled agriculture. When I can afford to splurge on myself again I will surely be buying your books, because your videos are full of gems for my studies.

[weaviejeebies]

This is the explanation I've been looking for over the last 25 years. Thank you so much!

[kayvee]

Really appreciate this! Had a big lifestyle change recently and looking at religion again with an open heart, and Taoism is really speaking to me. A lot of what I'm finding is naturally in english and from a western perspective. This was really informative for rounding out a lot of context I was missing in an accessible way, thank you very much!

[krosack]

Collab with esoterica would be legendary

[woodygilson]

The line about "seeking the same thing through different lenses" struck me. As did the parts about how syncretic beliefs are part of Taoism, then seeing that brilliantly simple illustration of _Taoist Religion_ and _Taoist Philosophy_ reconciled as simply _Taoist beliefs_ has really got my wheels turning. I guess I literally needed someone to spell it out it for me, and in animated text no less, for me to finally get it. Regrettably, I've kinda been a jerk about some of this stuff towards some people at times. I'll be definitely be more mindful from now on.

Tldr; This video was as enlightening as it was informative. A serious deep-dive. Just so much to like about the content. So glad I clicked.