The spelling 'Tao' originates with the Wade-Giles system for romanticizing Chinese script, dating back to the 19th Century. The spelling 'Dao' comes from the more recent Pinyin system, which is currently the official system for translating Chinese script into the Latin alphabet in China.
The root for Daoism or Taoism is the Chinese word 道 ("road" or "way"), which was transcribed tao or tau in the earliest systems for the romanization of Chinese and dao or dau in 20th century systems. This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
Another influential interpretation of dao conceives of it as the particular “way” of a thing or class of things. As the universe has its own natural way of emerging and acting, so too does each thing or class of things have its own manner of development.
The Dao De Jing is also known as the Tao Te Ching. Dao and tao mean "the way" and are generally referred to interchangeably, with the latter... See full answer below. being a romanization of the former.
Tao or Dao (道) is the natural order of the universe, whose character one's intuition must discern to realize the potential for individual wisdom, as conceived in the context of East Asian philosophy, East Asian religions, or any other philosophy or religion that aligns to this principle.
Taoism (also known as Daoism) is a Chinese philosophy attributed to Lao Tzu (c. 500 BCE) which developed from the folk religion of the people primarily in the rural areas of China and became the official religion of the country under the Tang Dynasty.
However, both religions are vastly different from one another. For one, Buddhism is considered an offshoot of Hinduism, which has its foundation on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Taoism, on the other hand, is based on the philosophical ideas of Lao Tzu.
Taoism philosophy is based on three pillars: simplicity, patience, and compassion.
Modern Taoism falls into main categories: 'Southern' Taoism, popular in Taiwan and South China and 'Northern' Taoism, a tradition largely unknown to Westerners but widely practised among modern Taoists in mainland China.
3 meanings of Tao:
The way of ultimate reality; 2. The way of the universe; 3. The way one should order one's life in accord with Tao.
Tao was the 82nd-most-common surname in mainland China, but it was unlisted among the 100 most common Taiwanese surnames.
The Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for the word 道 (way, path) is spelled as tao4 in the older Wade–Giles romanization system (from which the spelling 'Taoism' is derived), while it is spelled as dào in the newer Pinyin romanization system (from which the spelling "Daoism" is derived).
Dào/ Tao 道 literally means "way", "road", "path", or "route," but was extended to mean "path ahead", "way forward", "method", "principle", "doctrine", or simply "the Way".
Taoism in the form it takes in Japan can be easily seen as superstitious or astrological and the concept of demons and spirits seem to have their roots in a Taoist influence such as Onmyōdō and Shugendō. The widely practiced ritual of setsubun (節分) where chanters repeat "Demons out!
Dōkyō, (from Chinese Tao-chiao, “Teaching of the Way”), popular or religious Taoism, as distinguished from philosophical Taoism, as introduced into Japan from China. It was the source of many widespread Japanese folk beliefs and practices of divination and magic, some of which persist into modern times.
Taoist pantheon
Taoism does not have a God in the way that the Abrahamic religions do. There is no omnipotent being beyond the cosmos, who created and controls the universe.
One of the most simple and commonly used words in Chinese characters, people (人，Rén) is one of the pictograms characters, and words such as “sky”(天，Tiān)、 “husband”(夫，fū)、 “big” (大，dà) look similar to 人, so you can remember them all together.
Given its long history and the isolation of the region in which it is spoken, Wenzhounese is so unusual in its phonology that it has the reputation of being the least comprehensible dialect for an average Mandarin speaker.
Taoist religious orders often promote a vegetarian diet in order to minimize harm to other sentient life. Taoist levels of dietary restriction, however, are varied. In legend, Han dynasty prince and Taoist adept Liú Ān is credited for inventing the vegetarian food tofu.
Tao (Korean: 타오), born Huang Zitao (Chinese: 黄子韬; pinyin: Huáng Zitāo, Korean: 황지타오) on May 2, 1993 (now aged 30), is from Qingdao, Shandong, China.
Sinologist Herrlee Creel considered wu wei, as found in the Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi, to denote two different things. A "technique by means of which the one who practices it may gain enhanced control of human affairs".