Daoist Foundations
FoundationsConcepts, history, and common terminology. This directory lists public entries assigned to this category, organized by knowledge entity and page.
- Daoism and Daoist philosophy
- Dao and qi
- Yin-yang and the Five Phases
- Belief systems
- Common terminology
Daoist Foundationsentries
Bafeng (Eight Winds)
八風, Bafeng, Eight WindsBafeng originally describes winds from eight directions. Ancient works attach different names to the directions; some Daoist body texts further associate them with illness, a historical model rather than a modern diagnosis.
Eight Trigrams
八卦, Bagua, Ba GuaThe Eight Trigrams (bagua) are the eight basic three-line figures of the Zhouyi, formed from combinations of yin and yang lines: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, and Dui. They are used in divination and Changes interpretation, and Daoist texts also draw on them to discuss yin and yang, directions, cultivation, and ritual.
Bagua Directions (Eight-Trigram Positions)
八卦方位, Eight-Trigram Directions, Bagua FangweiBagua fangwei places the eight trigrams in directional diagrams. Earlier Heaven and Later Heaven arrangements differ in both positions and interpretation; a specific diagram should be identified by its textual tradition.
Ba Hui
八會, Eight AssembliesBa Hui can refer to eight qi produced from three cosmic elements and five phases, a sacred-script tradition called Sanyuan Bahui, eight early Quanzhen associations, or other sets of seasonal or directional meetings.
Bajing (Eight Manifestations)
八景, Bajing, Eight ScenesBajing has several senses in Daoist texts: a divine carriage's eight-direction scenery, seasonal manifestations, an astral grouping, or symbolic bodily gateways. Its referent must be established from the passage at hand.
Bamen (Eight Gates)
八門, Eight Gates, Eight DoorwaysBamen, or eight gates, can designate spatial features of Daoist ritual, symbolic body gateways, heavenly directions, or sets in traditional divination. The different systems share a number, not a universal map.
Eight Difficulties (Banan)
八難, Banan, Eight HindrancesBanan, the Eight Difficulties, is not one fixed Daoist list. Different works enumerate rare conditions for encountering the Dao, obstacles to religious learning, forms of suffering, or calamities.
Ba Shen
八神, Eight DeitiesBa Shen has several unrelated lists of eight: Qin-Han sacrificial powers, directional gods, sets of Daoist inner-body deities, and the symbolic spirits of Qimen Dunjia. A shared number does not make one pantheon.
Baoyi (Holding to the One)
抱一, Holding the One, Embracing UnityBaoyi is an expression in Laozi and later Daoist commentary about holding to 'the one.' That one may be read as Dao, underlying unity, or a relation of body and spirit, depending on the interpreter. It is not a single universal bodily exercise.
Northern Dipper
北斗, Beidou, Big DipperThe Northern Dipper, or Beidou, is the familiar seven-star asterism in the northern sky and an important group of stellar deities in Daoist tradition. Astronomical star names, cosmological correspondences, and divine titles are different ways of describing it.
Benming (Life Basis or Birth Cycle)
本命, Benming, Life BasisBenming can refer to the basis of life in inner-alchemy commentary or to a person's birth designation in the sixty-term calendrical cycle. The source and its vocabulary determine which meaning is intended.
Non-Contention
不爭, Buzheng, Non-CompetitionNon-contention, or buzheng, is an ethical and philosophical ideal associated with the Daodejing: acting without struggling for status, profit, or dominance. Daoist traditions later developed it as a principle of conduct; it does not mean refusing every action or judgment.
Changzhu (Daoist Temple Property and Other Uses)
常住, Changzhu, Communal Temple PropertyChangzhu can refer to property held for a Daoist temple community, and in some contexts to a person responsible for temple affairs. Buddhist and philosophical uses meaning enduring or constant are separate senses.
Chenxing (Mercury)
辰星, Mercury, ChenxingChenxing is a classical Chinese name for Mercury, one of the traditional Five Planets. Historical astrology associated it with the north and Water phase and drew political or disaster omens from its appearance; these are not reliable forecasts.
Chengfu
承負, Cheng FuChengfu is an early Daoist account of inherited consequences, developed especially in the Taiping jing. It holds that actions can accumulate across generations and affect descendants and society. Its intergenerational focus differs from an individual's rebirth and karmic retribution.
Chujia (Leaving Home in Daoist Traditions)
出家, Leaving the Household, Daoist RenunciationChujia in Daoist contexts can mean leaving ordinary household life to enter a particular religious community. Rules vary across periods and Daoist traditions. Classical writings also distinguish leaving family attachment from leaving a wider realm of attachment, which is not a command for all Daoists to sever family ties.
Conglin (Monastic Community)
叢林, Conglin, Daoist Monastic CommunityConglin can mean a grove. As a religious term it first described Buddhist monastic communities and was later used for some Daoist temple communities. The shared label does not make every guan a conglin or make Buddhist and Daoist institutions identical.
Dajie
大劫, Great Cosmic CycleDajie can describe a cosmic cycle of world renewal, a long ordeal in religious writing, or a major disaster in broad later use. The senses have different time scales.
Da Luo Tian
大羅天, Da LuoDa Luo Tian is a transcendent heaven in Daoist cosmological writing, commonly set above other heavens and sometimes above the Three Pure Ones. Texts differ in how they place it and which divine figure they associate with it.
Great Expansion Number
大衍之數, Dayan zhi Shu, Number of the Great ExpansionThe Great Expansion Number is a term from Yijing divination, later discussed in Daoist interpretations of cosmic change. Its classical formulation gives fifty counting stalks, forty-nine of which are used. The number belongs to a symbolic calculation, not a measurable law governing all events.
Dan
丹, Cinnabar, ElixirDan can name cinnabar or a red color in ordinary Chinese, and an elixir in Daoist alchemical writing. These senses are related historically but not interchangeable in every passage.
Dantai
丹臺, Dantai in Daoist LiteratureDantai can mean an immortal's dwelling or a center in a Daoist symbolic body; texts differ on whether the bodily sense concerns dantian, heart, or a throat-area image.
Dao
道, the Way, TaoDao is a central concept in Chinese thought and Daoism. It can name the source and course of the world, a principle or path to follow, or the orientation of religious cultivation. Its meaning depends on the passage, period, and tradition rather than one fixed English equivalent.
Daoism
道教, Daojiao, TaoismDaoism is a religious tradition formed within Chinese history and culture, centred on the Dao and expressed through sacred teachings, deities, lineages, ritual, and cultivation. Organized communities emerged during the Eastern Han, followed by continuing development across periods and regions.
Daoshi
道士, Daoist Priest, Daoist ClergyDaoshi is a historical term for a person associated with Daoist teachings and, in its more specific religious sense, a Daoist who has entered a tradition through recognized transmission and follows its scriptures, precepts, and duties. Earlier usage could also refer to a person of the Dao, a specialist in techniques, or even a Buddhist monk. Period, lineage, and ordination context determine the meaning.
Daoxing
道性, Dao Xing, Dao-natureDaoxing, or Dao-nature, can mean the nature of the Dao itself or the nature that beings derive from the Dao. In Daoist religious thought, the second sense helps explain why beings are understood to have the potential to realize the Dao.
Daojia
道家, Daoist thought, Lao-Zhuang thoughtDaojia is a historical category of thought centred on works associated with Laozi and Zhuangzi and related questions about the Dao, nature, and governance. The category was gradually consolidated in Han scholarship. It is closely connected with Daoism as a religion, but the two terms are not interchangeable in every period or context.
De
德, Virtue, PotencyDe is a central Daoist concept: it may refer to what beings receive from the Dao, to human character and good conduct, or to attainment in a religious context. English virtue captures only part of its range.
Dihu in Daoist Texts
地戶, DihuDihu is a flexible Daoist image for a bodily gate, variously explained as mouth, nose, a lower-body point, or the lower dantian. A separate mantic usage applies it to six ji days; there is no single anatomical referent.
Movement and Stillness
動靜, DongjingMovement and stillness, or dong and jing, form a paired concept in Chinese philosophy and Daoist writing. They can describe change and rest, but their meanings extend beyond physical motion and immobility.
Dou in Chinese Astronomy
鬥, Dou AsterismsDou in older astronomical writing can name more than one dipper-shaped star group, including the Northern Dipper, Southern Dipper, and a smaller group in the Celestial Market Enclosure. As a verb, a differently pronounced dou describes stars appearing to contend or their light reaching one another.
Twenty-eight Xiu
二十八宿, Twenty-eight Lunar Mansions, Twenty-eight AsterismsThe twenty-eight xiu are groups of traditional Chinese asterisms and unequal sky regions arranged in four directional groups of seven. Daoist texts also personify them as stellar beings, a separate interpretive layer.
Twenty-four Hells (Daoist Underworld Lists)
二十四地獄, Ershisi Diyu, Twenty-four Underworld PlacesTwenty-four Hells is a numbered underworld scheme found in particular Daoist writings. The lists associated with Shangqing Lingbao Dafa and Taizhen Ke differ in names and arrangement; neither is a universal Daoist map of the afterlife.
Ershisi Qi (Twenty-Four Solar Terms and Other Schemes)
二十四氣, Twenty-Four Qi, Twenty-Four Solar TermsErshisi Qi most commonly denotes the twenty-four solar terms of the year, but Daoist texts also use it for natural qi, three groups of eight, a four-direction total, or a symbolic count of bodily qi. These are not all the same calendar.
Fa
法, Method, LawFa is a common Chinese word whose meanings include law, rule, method, and religious technique. A Daoist use of fa must be distinguished from legal and Buddhist uses of the same character.
Falun (Wheel of the Teaching)
法輪, Dharma Wheel in Daoist Usage, Wheel of the TeachingFalun is originally a Buddhist image for the teaching and its continuing movement. Some Daoist scriptures borrow and reshape it to speak about wisdom, overcoming delusion, and religious deliverance. The shared metaphor does not make the two doctrinal settings identical.
Fashi (Daoist Teacher and Liturgical Title)
法師, Fashi, Daoist Religious TeacherFashi is a Daoist title used for a learned religious teacher or a leader in a communal rite. Its scope changed across periods; the title was adopted from Buddhist usage but developed Daoist institutional meanings.
Fanpu Guizhen
返樸歸真, Return to Simplicity and Authenticity, Returning to the Uncarved and the GenuineFanpu Guizhen expresses an ideal of returning to simplicity and authenticity in Daoist thought. Early philosophical discussions and later religious or neidan interpretations share a vocabulary but are not one fixed physical technique.
Fangzhang
方丈, Abbot, Fangzhang IsleFangzhang has several religious meanings: an abbot or abbot's quarters in a temple, and a legendary island of immortals. The senses must be separated by context.
Gaogong
高功, Gao Gong, Chief Ritual OfficiantGaogong names a chief officiating role in Daoist zhai and jiao ceremonies, often grouped with dujiang and jianzhai as the three ritual masters. General Chinese dictionaries also use the same written term for outstanding achievement; that is a separate sense.
Gongguo Ge (Merit and Fault Ledger)
功過格, Gongguo Ge, Merit-Fault LedgerGongguo ge is a genre of moral ledger that classifies actions as merits or faults for self-examination. Daoist texts adapted the form within broader Chinese traditions of ethical accounting; claims that a tally brings reward or punishment belong to religious belief, not verified outcomes.
Guan (Temple or Contemplation)
觀, Daoist Temple, ContemplationGuan is a Chinese character with several readings and religious senses. Read guàn, it can name a Daoist temple; read guān, it can mean to observe or contemplate. Buddhist discussions of contemplation use the same character in a separate technical setting.
Guidao (A Context-Dependent Historical Term)
鬼道, Guidao, Ghost PathGuidao is a context-dependent historical expression. Some chronicles use it for the religious movement associated with Zhang Lu; Buddhist accounts can use the same characters for the hungry-ghost path, while Daoist texts have still other senses. The term alone does not identify one tradition.
Valuing Softness
貴柔, Guirou, Esteeming YieldingnessValuing softness, or guirou, is a Daoist preference for yielding, flexibility, and restraint over rigidity or force. The Chinese entry follows this idea from the Daodejing into later religious explanations of conduct and cultivation.
Taking Refuge
皈依, guiyi, Daoist refugeTaking refuge in Daoism means turning toward the Three Treasures of Dao, scriptures, and teachers, establishing religious commitment and a path of learning. It may lead to further teacher relationships or cultivation, but does not automatically confer priestly status, register ordination, or monastic membership.
Hua
化, TransformationHua commonly means to change, transform, or influence. In Daoist writing it can describe cosmic change or religious transformation; in a separate historical usage it may name a Daoist establishment.
Huangguan
黃冠, Huang Guan, Huangguan DaoshiHuangguan is an alternative designation for a Daoist priest, generally referring to a male Daoist; the fuller expression is huangguan daoshi.
Huang-Lao
黃老, Huanglao, Yellow Emperor and LaoziHuang-Lao joins the Yellow Emperor and Laozi and can name a current of early Chinese thought associated with them. An older alchemical dictionary sense uses the same characters for a material; the three senses should not be collapsed.
Huang-Lao Learning
黃老之學, Huang-LaoHuang-Lao learning refers to currents of political and philosophical thought associated with the Yellow Emperor and Laozi that emerged in the late Warring States and became influential in the early Han. It is not one fixed scripture or a synonym for all Daoism.
Comet
彗星, HuixingA comet is a small Solar System body that can develop a visible coma and tail near the Sun. Historical Chinese records also made comets part of omen interpretation; the physical event and that interpretation are distinct.