What is Daoism?

Daoism, also known as Taoism, is an organised religious tradition that has been continuously developing and transforming itself through China, Korea and Japan for some two thousand years. Now it has spread around the globe from Sydney to Toronto and includes among its followers people from a whole range of ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. Day by day, Daoism is truly becoming a world religion, but as it does so, it seems to resist being pinned down in neat categories. Not many people know what Daoism is, and when people do have an understanding of it, often it is quite different from someone else's. One reason for this is that the history of Daoism is one of continuous change and reinvention, rather than one of linear progress or development. Daoism has no single founder, such as Jesus or the Buddha, nor does it have a single key message, such as the gospel or the four noble truths. Rather Daoism bears witness to a history of continuous self-invention within a vast diversity of environmental contexts.

• Learn more about the origins and history of Daoism.
• Read an overview of the Daoist tradition.

What is the Daoist Studies Website?

The Daoist Studies website is a portal designed to assist researchers and scholars of Daoism, practitioners, and interested members of the public in furthering knowledge about Daoism. It is not affiliated with, nor does it represent any religious institution. The website features an extensive bibliography of secondary sources as well as links to collections of Daoist texts including the an index to the Daozang 道臧 and PDF facsimiles of the Zangwai Daoshu 臧外道書 and other e-texts. Follow this link to learn more about what is on the website. I encourage you to register with the website so that you can

• post notices of new books, conferences, reviews and jobs
• add items to the bibliography and, by visiting your profile, you can associate yourself with items in the bibliography list
• view the profiles of users and communicate with them
• make postings to the discussion forums
• add comments to existing posts