I think Taoism is the most practical and realistic religion. Even though it is not always logical. Taoism is immensely complex, vast, and interesting. It understands what being a human really is. It lets a person live for the right reasons and have a full understanding of his place on the earth.

I have found that there is not one set definition for Taoism. The word Taoism is over two thousand years old. All of the Chinese philosophies used the word but the context in which the word is used varies. Tao originally meant "the way", to a Taoist Tao is regarded as a substance or non-substance. One context in which a Taoist knows the word Tao is in the sense

The Taoist calls the perfect person the sage. The sage or true man is he who is one with the Tao. The Taoist's call this the un-carved block. It is the ultimate goal of all Taoist. He lives by everything the Tao teaches and in every step he takes he is in unity with the Tao. He does so not so he can succeed but he knows it is the way. He is set in his ways and at total happiness and total peace. Nothing can take him out of the state he is in. It is to go back to the simplest form of oneself. It is when man returns himself back to his original nature.

Mystic intuition is how you know the Tao exists. "The Tao is unknowable, and in it's essence, and the most enlightening sage is ignorant"(Creel1970 pg2). The Taoist philosophy says that all things are relative, right and wrong aren't justifiable, and everyone has his own true and false. Taoists believe that things are such as benevolence and righteousness are foolish and more than likely to do harm. Taoism says human heartedness and morality aren't natural. To the Taoist these things are irrelevant.

The First Emperor was the sole ruler of China from 221 to 210 BC. He unified China, built the Great Wall, burned books, and laid the political foundation that would last for two millennia. He also had roads built so travel would be easier and centralized currency, weights, and written language (among other things). The First Emperor did great things but he also did it because he thought he was great. He did things for his reputation so that he would be remembered as being so powerful. He didn't take very good care of the people and he even used them to do the large-scale projects he thought of.

of a method and a course of conduct.

The First Emperor had almost been assassinated. After this threat on his life was on his shoulders he became afraid of dying. Close to his own death the First Emperor disliked death so much that nobody dared to mention the word around him. In 221BC after he unified China the thousands of fang shih (immortality specialists) rushed to the great leader. They offered to help him search for the elixir of immortality. The First Emperor soon found that his search for immortality would not be an easy one. As soon as the First Emperor heard of the island of the immortals he sent unmarried men and women to see to search for it. The First Emperor also had all documents/reports of magical herbs and fungi sent to him. As time past the First Emperor realized that the people he sent out to search for the island of the immortals would not be coming back. They had taken their chance to flee the country or maybe even died at sea. The First Emperor's search for immortality intensified. The fang shih suggested to him that maybe since he was ruling the country and not practicing quietism that he was holding himself back. They also told him he would be avoiding evil spirits, which he feared and, they mentioned his chances of seeing an immortal would be greater. So the First Emperor took their advice and moved to a palace he had built in form of the heavens. He then had several more palaces built with roads with walls around them so when he traveled he would go undetected by other people. After some time the fang shih doubted the First Emperor's capabilities for becoming immortal and they fled. He got angry and had 460 fang shih and scholars killed. The First Emperor continued his search for immortality. He traveled to the mountains then to the coast. One day he caught a big fish which, was said to one of the keys to immortality. He died with in hours of catching the fish. A strange thing is that the servants or whoever was with him kept his death a secret. A month or so after his death he was finally buried in the immensely great tomb he had waiting for him. I know I didn't mention it yet but it was one of the greatest projects that The First Emperor accomplished. The construction on the tomb began shortly after he became the

Some common words found in the essay are:
Chronicles Emperor, Chuang Tzu, Historical Records, Taoism Neo-Taoist's, Tzu Creel, China Taoist, Eastern Sea, Tao Taoist's, Taoist Tao, Tzu Tao, chuang tzu, search immortality, fang shih, terra-cotta army, taoist religion, emperor's tomb, elixir immortality, emperor's search immortality, taoist writings, immortal probably, evil spirits,
Approximate Word count = 2751
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)