Important Symbols of Taoism

Throughout history, Taoism has been one of the most influential religions in the Eastern culture. It is one of the most unique of all religions. In fact, many Taoists do not even consider it as a religion, and in many ways it is not. They make no claim that Tao exists. Although very different from others, Taoism also has very important unique symbols. Yin yang diagram, the most important symbol of Taoist represents the movement of heaven or the Tao. The small dots represent the fact that there is good in the evil, as there is evil in the good. Another important symbol of Taoism is the eight trigrams or pakua. Last but not least the dragon is one of the yang symbols, which represents the power, sage and saint. The Yin Yang sign is an old symbol for the universe that has been combined. It shows the two opposing dimensions that give the world its dynamics. It’s used to describe how seemingly contrary forces are joined and dependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites thus only exist in relation to one another. Male and female, light and dark, hot and cold, are thought as demonstration of Yin Yang. The outer circle represents the universe to which all exists. There is a belief that Yin Yang link to good and evil. Taoism believes that even in the most innocent nice people there is evil within them, and even the devil has good inside of him. The eight trigrams of pakua is a group of symbols that hold profound meaning in Chinese philosophy. These symbols represent movement and change. Each of the trigrams is associated with a season, family member, animal, personality, etc. They are ordered into two different arrangements. Primary heaven and future heaven. The arrangements represent the four basic and four minor directions on the compass. South is first at the top. Whichever symbol is at the top represents South. The primary heaven arrangement is organized based on opposite forces. The primary Heaven arrangement is

Citations: <http://www.religionfacts.com/taoism/links.htm>. Center of Traditional Taos. <http://www.tao.org/tao.html>. Cdot.org. 26 Nov. 2010. Zhou GuoXin. <http://www.cdot.org/history/dragon_articles.htm>.