Encyclopedia of Spiritual Knowledge

The Teachings of Taoism, that is Teachings about Tao and about Mergence with It, was formulated and described by a Divine Disciple of Huang Di — Lao Tse about 2500 years ago.

The terms Taoist yoga, Taoism originate from the Chinese word Tao meaning the Creator, God-the-Father, the Primordial Consciousness. The word Te has the same meaning as the words Holy Spirit, Brahman.

Tao Te Ching is a remarkable textbook on religion. It should be noted that it contains the same truths as the Teachings of Jesus Christ, Bhagavad Gita, and other Divine Teachings, but expressed in slightly different words. Thanks to this, one can understand the Teachings of God better, more fully.

Putting it briefly, the essence of these Teachings can be described as follows:

One cognizes Tao by developing oneself as a spiritual heart against the background of inner calm. We have to learn to love the beauty of the Creation, to have a careful and tender attitude toward it, to merge with it by the consciousness. Then one can — having become a large and subtle spiritual heart — merge with Te and then with Tao.

In China and in some other countries of that region of our planet, these Teachings about the Beauty, Calm, Harmony, and Mergence with God had a major effect on the formation of the spiritual culture. The examples are tea ceremonies, landscape parks, the arts of painting and photography adequate to this religious-philosophical direction, and even corresponding kinds of martial art.

When China and other neighboring countries adopted Buddhism — similar Teachings about the Path to cognition of the Primordial Consciousness through love for all the living and through spiritual service — then mergence of these two directions happened, which resulted in Chan Buddhism.