Taoism (also known as Daoism), is a religion rarely encountered by many yet very much powerful nevertheless. The Taoist population saturates in China, it's country of origin, where it garnered 12 million followers. Taoism first budded as a philosophy by Lao Tzu, it soon found it's way contributing towards the folk religion of the Chinese. To sum up the belief of the Taoists, they strive to understand reality to live in harmony with it. Taoism encourages its followers to follow the Dao. The Dao is indescribable, said by many sources, but generally is believed as 'The Path' in which would lead followers to reaching the ultimate goal of Taoism which is to let go of worldly constructs and become one with nature.
The beliefs of Taoism has reached the ears of more than just Taoist followers and it has definitely penetrated places beyond East Asia. Taoism as a religion might be weak in numbers in places outside of East Asia, however, it's philosophies are very widely-known. It's two principles are the Wu Wei and the Yin Yang.
The Yin Yang, now, has often found its value being degraded to an 'aesthetic'; being sold as necklace charms and it's design used loosely in everyday life. To be frank, the concept and imagery of the Yin Yang is open to many interpretations, however, the Taoists interpreted the Yin Yang as life which contains both 'good' and 'bad'; both never standing purely alone and always present in each other. On the other hand, Wu Wei, a less famous principle of Taoism, could be translated to 'actionless action' or 'non-action'. The Wu Wei encourages followers to be like water; to go with the flow, not against the tide. Simply, taking 'action' effortlessly as you are being moved by the flow, hence, being 'actionless'.
Taoism had a wide impact on China back in the day. Taoism has been honored as the state religion of China during the Tang Dynasty (618--904 BC), hence, making it obligatory for every person in Chinese soil to take upon the religion. This phenomenon has given birth to many ancient scriptures, practices, paintings, arts, etc. that are heavily influenced by Taoism. A practice that has continuously been done up to the present day is holistic medication which is a type of medication that are very heavily influenced by nature.
In short, Taoism is a religion in which beliefs I reside with, in fact, I found myself being comforted during my research of the ways of Taoism. As the world is spinning faster and faster, I found that their philosophy would come off as very noble to the average person."Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished", as the wise words of Lao Tzu goes.
