Taoism and Chinese Religions

Course Code:: 158000150
Status:: Course Not Running 2012/2013
Unit value:: 1
Year of study:: Year 2 or Year 3
Taught in:: Full Year

While the word 'Taoist' (or 'Daoist') increasingly occurs as a label for fashionable items on the New Age spiritual market, Taoism has often proved elusive to academic discourse. This course will offer a narrative of Taoism as a recognisable, if not linear, tradition of religious ideas and practices throughout the history of China. It will explore in succession the ancient texts of proto-Taoism like Laozi, Zhuangzi and Neiye, the development of Taoism as an organised religion in medieval China, the sectarian branching and the blurring of Taoist identity since the Song dynasty (960-1279) through the modern period. The final segment of the course will assess the presence of Taoism in contemporary China and Taiwan, both among the perpetuators of pre-modern traditions and lineages as well as in hybrid new movements like the Falun dafa. The historical approach will provide students with a convenient frame for the study of Taoism. However, major issues of doctrine and practice (e.g. meditation, cosmology, alchemy) will be dealt with recursively throughout the course, beyond the boundaries of a strictly diachronic treatment.

Objectives and learning outcomes of the course

The aim of the course is to introduce students:

to the history
doctrines
and rituals of Taoism, in the wider context of Chinese indigenous religions.

At the end of the course, students should be able to provide a definition of Taoism as an organised religion, locating its overlaps with and departures from popular cults and Buddhism.

Students will be able to map the different strands and lineages of Taoism, tracing their background in classical Chinese thought, and their relevance to the identification and description of contemporary Chinese religious practice. They will also be aware of the debate in Western academia surrounding the very notion of Taoism.

Scope and syllabus

This course will offer a main narrative of Taoism as a recognisable, if not linear, tradition of religious ideas and practices throughout the history of China.

In the first term:

the course will explore the early shaping of Taoist identity at the stage sometimes defined as 'proto-Taoism' ( from antiquity to the second century CE)
focusing on ancient texts like Laozi (Daode jing), Zhuangzi and Neiye
attention will then be paid to the emergence and development of Taoism as an organised religion during the Chinese Middle Ages (3rd-9th century), with special emphasis on the structure and ritual of the Celestial Master (Tianshi) church and its dialectic with popular cults
other topics will be the Shangqing and Lingbao traditions, the formation of the Taoist canon, and the relationship of Taoism with Buddhism and power.

In the second term focus:

will shift to modern and contemporary developments. Starting from the new brands of Taoim that appeared in the Song period (960-1279), some of which, like the Quanzhen sect, have lasted to the present day, the course will follow the gradual blurring of Taoist identity in the second millennium CE down to the recent revival.

The final segment of the syllabus will:

assess the presence of Taoism in contemporary China and Taiwan, both among the perpetuators of pre-modern traditions and lineages as well as in hybrid new movements like the Falun dafa.

The historical approach of the course is set to provide students with a convenient frame for the study of religion like Taoism, which has often proved elusive to academic discourse. however, major issues of doctrine and practice ( e.g. meditation, cosmology, alchemy) will be dealt with recursively throughout the course, beyond the boundaries of a strictly diachronic treatment.

Method of assessment

2 essays (3,000 words each) (20% each), 3-hour examination (60%).

SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Department of the Study of Religions