What Is Taoism

Taoism is often reduced to an aesthetic — yin-yang, wu wei, harmony with nature. Calendar quotes. But the Taoist tradition is something far more layered, and understanding its real structure is necessary for anyone who practises internal martial arts, Qigong or meditation of Chinese origin.

There are three main currents.

Philosophical Taoism (道家, Dàojiā) is the original one: Laozi, Zhuangzi, the Tao Te Ching. It is the attempt to describe the fundamental principle of the universe — the Tao — and to live in accordance with it. Wu Wei, non-action, is its most known principle. It is not laziness or passivity: it is acting without forcing, flowing instead of resisting. Concepts that seem abstract but which in practice — in physical training, in managing the body, in the relationship with an opponent — become very concrete.

Religious Taoism (道教, Dàojiào) emerged during the Han dynasty. Here the Tao becomes pantheon, rituals, alchemical practices in search of immortality. The deities are not objects of passive worship: the practitioner uses them actively to build their own character, absorbing their qualities through specific practices. It is in this context that Qigong, meditation and internal alchemy are structured as coherent systems — not as wellness hobbies, but as paths of radical transformation.

Shamanic Taoism (巫教, Wūjiào) is the oldest root: the world of spirits, energetic healing, mediation between the visible and invisible. It is the component that the twentieth century most systematically marginalised, both in the West and — above all — in China.

Mao’s Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) did what it did. Temples destroyed, texts burned, masters persecuted. Oral transmission — the only vehicle for the deepest knowledge — was severely broken. What remains as official “Chinese Kung Fu” is often the sanitised, re-codified version, stripped of its esoteric-alchemical elements. Technique without knowledge.

Those who practise today outside China paradoxically have more access to authentic tradition than many Chinese themselves, because some lines of transmission survived in the diaspora. But the problem is distinguishing them from the commercialised ones — and for that, knowledge is required.

Understanding Taoism in its complexity is not optional for those who practise internal martial arts. It is the map of the territory.