Though Taoism is somewhat simple at its core, it seems few people want to explain exactly what it is or what Taoists believe. When people visit the Taoism subreddit and ask, "What is Taoism? Can you explain what Taoists believe?" the most common response is this: "Nothing." Over and over people will tell you that Taoism is about nothing (which is an oversimplified interpretation of several Taoist ideas). Or if you were to ask the community to explain the key beliefs of Taoism, the most likely response would be, "Taoism has no rules or beliefs." Even in searching on the web you may struggle to find anything about core Taoist philosophies. A few websites provide some insight, but I was still surprised that I couldn't find anything that clearly explained, "This is what Taoists believe." I thought people would benefit from such an approach, and so I've tried to identify and talk about key Taoist tenets in this site.

 

One reason there is no clear, distinct list of Taoist beliefs is that the Tao Te Ching, the key Taoist text, is not written in terms of distinct themes. Everything is sort of thrown together, and to see separate themes takes analysis. Additionally, Taoists tend to believe it is better to view things in terms of the whole rather than its parts.  In fact in verse 38 of the TTC Lao Tzu cautions against attempting to separate and name individual parts of things. Some say that by attempting to break Taoism into pieces we actually lessen the power the Tao can have in our lives. While it's true no one should take a list of beliefs and walk away thinking they know understand Taoism, there is some value in naming some key Taoist concepts so as to better understand them and perhaps more easily start applying them to one's life path.  So here is a list of what I see as the basic beliefs of philosophical Taoism.  It is definitely incomplete, and you can't really grasp these concepts without fully exploring them through reading, meditation, and living. But for anyone who really wants to know what is at the essence of a Taoist way of life, here is a starting point.

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The Tao is the universe and the path of nature and balance.​

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All things in the Tao are composed of opposing but interrelated forces (e.g., yin/yang)

and understanding and balancing those forces is part of living an enlightened* life.

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The Tao is a path of acceptance, simplicity, humility and compassion.

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To tap into the power of the Tao, we force nothing and "try" less.

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Social conditioning often blinds us to the presence and wisdom of the Tao,

so before we can understand the Tao, we often need to unlearn our social conditioning.

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The Tao exists in the present moment.

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We understand the Tao better through feeling than thinking. 

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The more pragmatic I Ching reminds us that we are only aligned with the Tao when we strive to remain innocent, which in essence means not allowing the selfish ego to drive our lives. Instead,  we give in to our higher nature through patience, modesty, tolerance, perseverance, devotion to inner truth, balance, restraint, adaptability, detachment, innocence and conscientiousness, and avoiding fear, anger, desire, arrogance, aggression, cunning, goal-orientation and self-indulgence (BBW).

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*Many Taoists would argue there is no such thing as "enlightenment" in Taoism. Here and elsewhere, I use words that non-Taoists will understand to help them understand something in Taoism that may not be named at all. In my view, when one's thoughts and actions are aligned with the truths of Taoism, that person is "enlightened."

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