At the farthest reaches of popular Western appropriations and exploitations of Daoism
are adherents who are best understood as members of a new religious movement (NRM),
or, following their own self-representations, an ancient but new and perennially
relevant form of “spirituality”. That NRM may be labeled “Popular Western Taoism”
(PWT), with “Taoism” pronounced with a hard “t” sound. In the case of the United
States, PWT adherents and groups are the most publicly visible self-identified “Daoists.”
They are most likely to construct Daoism as “ancient philosophy” and (trans-religious)
“spirituality”, wherein the Dao (Tao) is identified as an abstract first principle
or “energy field,” and wherein Dao-ists just “go with the flow” (read: follow their
own desires and egoistic motivations) Such accounts of “Daoism” are characterized
by ahistorical, acultural and anti-religious views. Here the Daode jing (Tao-te-ching)
is read, most often in inaccurate popular translations (e.g., by Ursula LeGuin, Stephen
Mitchell), as the “Daoist Bible”, as source of “universal wisdom”, and as a guidebook
for alternative spirituality. When people read such “translations”, they are not
reading a Daoist scripture (sacred text written in classical Chinese), but rather
a contemporary American cultural production.
While its roots extend back to the first moments of the “Western encounter with the
Orient,” including received legacies of colonialism, missionization, and Orientalism,
PWT as an emerging form of alternative hybrid spirituality first emerged in the mid
to late 1970s. Major early players in the formation of Popular Western Taoism included
James Legge (1815-1987), John Blofeld (1913-1987), Alan Watts (1915-1973), Gia-fu
Feng (1919-1985; Stillpoint Foundation), Al Chung-liang Huang (b. ca. 1930; Living
Tao Foundation), Stephen Chang (b. ca. 1940; Foundation of Tao), Bruce Lee (1940-1973),
and Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine; 1972-1975). While PWT appropriates certain
elements from Daoism (e.g., the Dao [Way] and Daode jing), its primary informing
worldview derives from modern cultural influences. In the case of the United States,
these include Protestant Christianity, American Transcendentalism, 1960s counter-culture,
the human potential movement, New Age spirituality, Perennial Philosophy, alternative
healthcare, health and fitness movements, self-help and popular psychology, and so
forth. Contemporary PWT adherents are most likely to conflate Daoism with other Chinese
cultural traditions, including Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Fengshui, Chinese
martial arts (e.g., Taiji quan), and Qigong, which have only tenuous connections
with the Daoist religious tradition. Almost everything found on the internet is one
form or another of PWT. It, along its representatives’ ubiquitous influence on the
popular understanding of “Daoism”, has now become institutionalized in such groups,
physically existing and virtual, as the Reform Taoist Congregation, Tao Bums, Wandering
Daoists, and various other “Tao Groups”. The PWT construction of “Daoism” is found
in the whole gamut of “new age capitalism” and “alternative spirituality”, from Fengshui
consultations and Yijing divination to “Yin Yoga” and the “Tao of” genre of literature.
There are also various popular appropriations of the Daode jing (Tao-te-ching) by
such individuals as Wayne Dyer, Benjamin Hoff, Ursula LeGuin, and Stephen Mitchell,
among others.
There are major differences between the historical contours and defining characteristics
of the religious tradition which is Daoism and the construction of “Daoism” within
Popular Western Taoism. In addition to the obvious connection with Chinese culture,
members of the Daoist religious tradition have placed and continue to place a strong
emphasis on revelation, lineage, community, material culture, and place. Throughout
Chinese history, Daoists have tended to believe that “tradition” was larger than
“self”. In addition, although the primary form of Daoist “theology” (discourse on
the sacred) is monistic, Daoists have recognized the immanent presence of the Dao
in all things, including in immortals and gods. Traditionally speaking, Daoists are
polytheists. In contrast, PWT, following the cultural traditions mentioned above,
tends to reject all of these defining characteristics of Daoism. The matter is complicated
by the frequent emphasis on “essences” and use of a “rhetoric of tradition” among
PWT adherents.
Further Reading: Daoism: A Short Introduction/James Miller; Daoism and Chinese Culture/Livia
Kohn; Daoism Handbook/Livia Kohn (ed.); Daoist Identity/Livia Kohn and Harold Roth
(eds.); Daoism in China/Wang Yi’e; New Age and Neopagan Religions in America/Sarah
Pike; New Age Capialism/Kimberly Lau; New Age Religion and Western Culture/Wouter
Hanegraaff; Selling Spirituality/J. Carrette and Richard King; Spiritual Marketplace/Wade
Clark Roof; Taoism: The Enduring Tradition/Russell Kirkland; “The Dao of America”/Elijah
Siegler; “The Taoism of the Western Imagination and the Taoism of China”/Russell
Kirkland; “Tracing the Contours of Daoism in North America”/Louis Komjathy.
See also Adherent, American Daoism, Americanization, Dao, Daoist (Historical), Daoist
(Normative), Daoist (Popular Construction), Sympathizer, Tao Groups, and the entries
on Daoism.
