Taoism

Tao can be roughly translated into English as path. The founder of Taoism was
Lao-Tse who lived from 604 BC tp 531 BC, around the same time as Confucius. (AKA: Lao Tze, Lao Tsu). He was searching for a way that would avoid the constant warfare
and other conflicts that disrupted life during his era. He wrote the book Tao-te-Ching which became the base of Taoism.

Taoism started as a combination of psychology and philosophy but evolved into a
religion in 440 CE when it was adopted as a state religion. At that time Lao-Tse
became popularly venerated as a deity.

Taoism, along with Buddhism and Confucianism, became the three great religions of
China. Taoism currently has around 20 million followers, and is primarily centered in
the Republic of China in Taiwan. About 30,000 Taoists live in North America.

Beliefs and Practices:

•   Tao is the first-cause of the universe. It is a force that flows through all life.
• Time is cyclical, not linear as in Western thinking.
• Yin (dark side) is the breath that formed the earth. Yang (light side) is the
  breath that formed the heavens. They symbolize pairs of opposites which are
  seen throughout the universe, such as good and evil, light and dark, male and
  female. Intervention by human civilization upsets the balances of Yin and Yang.
  The symbol of Taoism, represents Yin and Yang in balance.
• The Tao surrounds everyone and therefore everyone must listen to find enlightenment.
• There are five main organs and orifices of the body correspond to the five parts of the
  sky: water, fire, wood, metal and earth.
• Each person must nurture the Ch'i (air, breath) that has been given to them.
• The goal of everyone is to become one with the Tao.
• Development of virtue is one's main task. One must seek sought after compassion, moderation and humility.
• Taoists follow the art of "wu wei", which is to achieve action through minimal
  action. It is the practice of going against the stream not by struggling against
  it and thrashing about, but by standing still and letting the stream do all the
  work. Thus the sage knows that relative to the river, he still moves against
  the current. To the outside world the sage appears to take no action - but in
  fact he takes action long before others ever foresee the need for action.
• One should plan in advance and consider carefully each action before making it.
• A Taoists is kind to other individuals, largely because such an action tends to be
  reciprocated.
• People are compassionate by nature.
• One exercise widely practiced by Taoists is Tai Chi.

  Two recommended books are: Tao-te-Ching and Chuang-tzu.

  I would like to thank http://www.religioustolerance.org/ for help with this information.