What makes a person a taoist?
827344
understanding and accepting that you are a part of everything and nothing like the tao. it sounds like a lot of double speak. but it makes sense after awhile.
122350
Be very carefull in your search, many people if not all people who claim to be "masters" of something are in fact frauds. It is like the big man on campus doesn't have to tell people he is the big man on campus, people know. I have put a link below for good info on Buddhism that I use everyday for inspiration.
346089
Can you be more specific?  What are the radicals in these characters.  There are like 15 tao and qi's.\nThough no matter what they are, the answer is probably no.  Just like no two different English words are truly interchangable.  Even though the words may appear to mean the same thing, they may change in context or contain nontransferrable subtleties.
1156109
Taoism is supposed to be based on the teachings of Lao Tzu \n (sometimes written Lao Tze) as written in the book " The Tau Te Ching". The sound in Chinese that Westerners translate as T is more like our D, which is why you will also read "Daoism" and \n"Dao Te Ching". Taoism was also heavily influenced by the writings of Chuang Tzu who lived about 250BC (Lao Tzu lived about 500BC according to Chinese tradition. \n  I say that Taoism is "supposed" to be based on the teachings of of Lao Tzu because although I lived according to his teachings for 4or5 years, I was never in touch with with people who called themselves Taoists. Some people call Taoism a religion, others say it is a philosophy. I would say that Lau Tsu's teachings are more of a philosophy. Much of his teachings have to do with; what is true wisdom, what is the nature of ultimate reality, the nature of how the mind looks at things,and encourages not interfering in other peoples lives. Yahoo does not let us post E-Mails in this "answers" venue but I'll try to get on Yahoo Messenger and I like to share info that I have.
960617
They can have either, especially as both have been dead for decades.\nPerhaps, someone new would help.\nYour first answerrer raises an even bizarrer concept of asking you to speak to an 'older' Chinese person regarding Lao-tse, Confucius et al, and that Chinese person would have to be about 4000 years old. Good luck in finding one that old, but the current communist government does stay within the confines of Confucian guidance on the behaviour of the state. As for Lao, well that's the shaolins job.
315829
Without saying which tones are associated with each word, it could mean any one of a thousand things, most of them nonsense!\n\nIf I make a lot of guesses and also assume that "tao" is being used to mean Tao (the Chinese philosophy), which is actually written as "dao" in Pinyin, then\n\nWo3 mi4 dao4 fa3\n\nmeans something like "I seek the Tao way".  You need to be careful though, as \n\nWo3 mi3 dao4 fa3\n\ncould mean "I repress the Tao way".\n\nWhere did you see the phrase and can you get any more context?
1092497
yes, of coz...\nit's deeply embedded into every chinese (not as a religion, but as a guide to morality and ethics).\nexamples: morals, loyalty to one's country, fillial piety, insistence on education, etc \n\nDaoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Christian 3%-4%, Muslim 1%-2%\nnote: officially atheist (2002 est.)\n\nconfucianism & ethical consumerism have no conflicts.
482761
Taoism and Confucianism have to be seen side-by-side as two distinct responses to the social, political and philosophical conditions of life two and a half millennia ago in China. Whereas Confucianism is greatly concerned with social relations, conduct and human society, Taoism has a much more individualistic and mystical character, greatly influenced by nature.
948660
Confucianism is said to be strict while Daoism(it can be Daoism or Taoism) is sort of free and wild. They therefore complete eachother.
1035048
I don't know much about the political situation at the time of Confucius, I just know that there was a lot of conflict.  Buddhism was around and Taoism was starting up and filial piety was big, I think it is still bigin China
51188
"Chinese paper money"?\nDo you mean the paper money that traditional taoists, mostly Chinese, burn for the dead? If so, they burn these believing that the dead people in Hell need paper money like on Earth to survive, and burn lots of it to ensure they have a good life. If it helps, they also burn paper clothes, paper houses (yes, almost life-sized houses), even paper handphones, beepers, make-up, and basically your everyday items in paper.\nIn Chinese tradition HELL isn't the Christian idea of hell. It's basically just an afterlife called "Hell" which isn't a land of suffering. Heaven is reserved for the Emperor of Heaven and his subjects, as well as exemplary people who have done great or good deeds in their lives who are awarded a special position/status within his palace.\nThere is a Hell for punishing evil people, also called, and it's 16 levels. The lowest being a hell that you can never fully 'graduate' from. (Meaning that you just pay for your sins for a period of time depending on the degree of seriousness to it)
677525
Self confidence, manners, and class are up there for me. Looks help out identify someone but in the end its who they are as a person. Being open minded but logical and moral are a must.
884494
I think you may have your terms a little off.  \n\nAn agnostic is someone who feels that the belief in a diety cannot be proven therefore his or her own belief is one of ambivalence. They don't necessarily have faith, but they don't necessarily deny God's existence either.  They are simply saying they don't know.  \n\nA person who has a belief in a diety, but feeling the existence of that diety, or it's characteristics is unknowable would be a mystic.
854142
the tao that can be spoken is not the eternal tao.....
70963
1st of all, many chinese themselves confused buddhism, taoism & Confucianism altogether,as the these 3 theologies made a very deep impact in chinese culture.\nso, its a 'distorted' view that deities/ 'god' are auspicious.\n(buddha never said he is god, but that's another story altogether).\n2ndly, money/ wealth is very important to chinese way of life. why? because chinese seldom sees peace reigns for a long time. chinese often fight against chinese for the past 5000 years. therefore, with wealth, it equates with 'power'.\nso, to answer your question, why do people (assuming you meant chinese people, sorry if i'm wrong) believe a buddha is good luck, is because people needs affirmation that buddha protects them in wealth & health. it is public knowlege that buddha promotes compassion & loving-kindess.\n(buddha never said that if you pray to him, you'll get wealth & health either. another distorted point of view again).
454034
Not at his website there aint.But studies have been done in Asia on faith healing and there is documented evidence that many Taoist faith healers have produce remarkable results.
221895
Daoist (Taoist), Buddhist, Muslim 1%-2%