DAO
Dao or Tao literally means "Way" or "Path". The Dao -described in simple words- is the supreme reality, the energy of creation, the primal essence, the field of existence and non-existence. The Dao is the natural order and the harmony of the universe. The Dao is eternal and infinite.
I would personally refer to the Dao as the source of life, where all we are is simple unity, purity, Oneness, an infinite void entirely full of love - but not the love we understand or think we know through our generally limited human minds, the love that does not allow any judgement or distinction at all, the love that has no relation with the form or matter. I may be conceptually wrong, but knowing that in the Dao there is no place for judgement gives me comfort. There, where I have felt the Dao, there is only love, a single yet magnificent reality. That is, for me, the supreme reality.
Daoism is a current of thought or philosophy that follows the principles of the Dao, which have taken philosophical, religious and/or esoteric forms. The classical Daoist texts reflect such principles, like the Dao De Jing (also known as Tao Te Ching or 'Book of the Way and Virtue') written by Lao Zi (or Lao-Tzu), followed by the Book of Zhuang Zi (written by Zhuang Zi or Chuang-Tzu). Scholars have yet to agree on their date of origin, estimated to be around the 3rd or 4th century B.C. Another text of great relevance in relation to Daoism, or more specifically, about the combinations of Yin and Yang, is the Yi Jing (also known as I Ching or 'Book of Changes').
The Dao De Jing says in its first sentence: "The Dao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Dao". This phrase reflects that the understanding of the Dao escapes our conscious capacity, particularly in terms of language. It reminds us that there must be another way to comprehend our own nature, and that this way goes beyond the expression of words.
"The Dao may be attained but not seen" (Zhuang Zi) or, in Watts' words, "felt but not conceived, intuited but not categorized, divined but not explained." "The Dao is the course, the flow, the drift, or the process of nature." However, the Dao is not a path to follow, it is simply the natural way by itself. "You may imagine that you are outside, or separate from, the Dao and thus able to follow it or not follow; but this very imagination is itself within the stream, for there is no way other than the Way. [...] we are it and go with it." Alan calls it The Watercourse Way, as Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi used the flow of water as the purest metaphorical way to describe the Dao.
In its religious, esoteric or even philosophical form, Daoism implies that those that consider themselves to be Daoists (usually with some form of initiation) follow or apply the teachings, precepts, methods, practices and disciplines (See Relation of the Dao with the practices- Qi Gong, Tai Ji, meditation) that lead to the refinement of the Self, in physical, energetic and spiritual terms, as well as in terms of universal values such as love, honesty, humility, respect, forgiveness, compassion, peace, etc., and walk this path of cultivation to achieve immortality (illumination or ascension). These practices vary greatly. Daoist principles make people responsible of their own lives, thoughts, behaviors, attitudes, health, etc., therefore responsible of their own cultivation and ascension.
There are endless scrolls written about Daoism (more than 5000 still waiting to be translated from Chinese)...What I would like to highlight about Daoism is that it poses an organic vision of the universe, this is, that each element of the cosmos exists only in relation to the rest, and that, therefore, absolutely everything has a reason to exist. Take a tree as an example, it cannot be seen just as a tree, but like a tree that does not exist without the clouds, the rain, the soil, the sun and the moon, hence, the tree truly is and consists on all these elements. Besides interdependence, Daoism also suggests that being or existing arises simultaneously with respect to the rest. Watts presents two interesting examples about this: "the sun would not be without our eyes", and "the universe would not exist without consciousness", and vice versa.
The universe came into being with us together; with us, all things are one- Zhuang Zi.
Therefore, the Dao is not a God (as we usually and mistakenly understand the word God, as something that commands), as there is nothing or no one to command. The Dao is simply a virtuous, wise and natural simultaneous interrelation among all beings and everything that exists, which conform to the totality and unity (Oneness), the Dao.
The great Dao flows everywhere, to the left and to the right.All things depend upon it to exist, and it does not abandon them.To its accomplishments it lays no claim. It loves and nourishes all things, but does not lord over them- Lao Zi.
Besides the vital principle of Yin-Yang (the explicit duality expressing an implicit unity) Daoism also poses other principles that I invite you to explore in more detail. For example, Li (the order of organic pattern of the universe, which does not follow a lead but exists for and by itself), Wu Wei (non-action, not forcing, flow according to the present moment, according to the Dao, "Nothing is done yet nothing is left undone") and De (the natural virtue, the virtue of the heart, the grace of living in harmony with the Dao).