Taoism
Article
Taoism is a recurring concept in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 3 times across 3 issues between August 19, 2022 and October 04, 2024. The archive places it in contexts such as “There he studied both Buddhism and Taoism”; “4% know what Chinese religion was founded by Lao Tse (Taoism)”; “Chinese religion was founded by Lao Tse (Taoism)“. It most often appears alongside ACX, Buddhism, China.
Metadata
- Category: Concepts
- Mention count: 3
- Issue count: 3
- First seen: August 19, 2022
- Last seen: October 04, 2024
Appears In
- Your Book Review: 1587, A Year Of No Significance
- A Theoretical “Case Against Education”
- Against The Cultural Christianity Argument
Related Pages
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- ACX (2 shared issues)
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- Buddhism (2 shared issues)
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- China (2 shared issues)
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- 1587 (1 shared issues)
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- 1587 (1 shared issues)
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- 1587, A Year of No Significance: The Ming Dynasty in Decline (1 shared issues)
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- 1880 - 1930 period (1 shared issues)
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- 1890s (1 shared issues)
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- 1984 (1 shared issues)
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- 1984 Calendar Meme (1 shared issues)
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- 20th century (1 shared issues)
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- A Universal History of Infamy (1 shared issues)
External Links
Source Context
Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.
But Wan-li did not want to spend his whole life re-enacting a tedious role which he had no say in choosing. He had been a gifted student, with a talent for calligraphy and an interest in reading newly printed popular literature. But as he grew more estranged from the bureaucracy he became less and less interested in the Four Classics of Taoism and Confucianism which were regarded as something akin to holy writ, and which comprised the entirety of his officially prescribed studies. He started “banging out sick,” claiming to suffer from various vague ailments which prevented him from showing up for most of the endless, ponderous rites and ceremonies and study sessions which were intended to take up most of his days.
Li’s early career was full of poverty and misery, as he tried and largely failed to support a family while working as a low-level civil servant. At 53 he had a mid-life crisis, retired from the Civil Service, sent his wife away, shaved his head and went to live in a Buddhist temple. There he studied both Buddhism and Taoism, in an effort to find some solace in philosophy and spiritualism.
4% know what Chinese religion was founded by Lao Tse (Taoism)
But the Christian cultural package also fell apart and became the current post-Christian world. This wasn't just a one-time coincidence either. Protestantism gave way to modernism in Scandinavia, Germany, and the US. Catholicism gave way to modernism in Spain, Italy, and Latin America. Orthodoxy gave way to modernism in Greece, Eastern Europe, and Russia (with a slight Putinist resurrection-in-name-only which hardly seems to have produced a flourishing liberal society). Meanwhile in China, the local mix of Buddhism/Confucianism/Taoism gave way to modernism. In South East Asia, Buddhism gave way to modernism. Only 10% of Israeli Jews are ultra-Orthodox, and it would be lower if they didn't breed so fast. India is moderately Hindu but still noticeably modern. Even the Middle East is gradually becoming less Muslim.