e their own lives. Desire, ambition, fame, and selfishness are seen as hindrances to a harmonious life. It is only when one rids himself of all desires can tao be achieved. By shunning every earthly distraction, the Taoist is able to concentrate on life itself. The longer the one's life, the closer to tao one is presumed to have become. Eventually the hope is to become immortal, to achieve tao, to have reached the deeper life. This is the afterlife for a Taoist -- to be in harmony with the universe. To understand the relationship between life and the Taoism concept of life and death, the origin of the word tao must be understood. The Chinese character for tao is a combination of two characters that represent the words head and foot. The character for foot represents a person's direction or path. The character for head represents a conscious choice. The character for head also suggests a beginning, and foot, an ending. Thus the character for tao also conveys the continuing course of the universe, the circle of heaven and earth. Finally, the character for tao represents the Taoist notion that the eternal Tao is both moving and unmoving. The head in the character means the beginning, the source of all things, or Tao itself, which never moves or changes; the foot is the movement on the path. Taoism upholds the belief in the survival of the spirit after death. To have attained the human form must be always a source of joy for the Taoist. It is truly a reason to rejoice because despite whatever is lost, life always endures. Taoists believe birth is not a beginning and death is not an end. There is an existence without limit. There is continuity without a starting point. Applying reincarnation theory to Taoism is the belief that the soul never dies, a person's soul is eternal. It is possible to see death in contrast to life; both are unreal and changing. One's soul does not leave the world into the unknown, for it can never go away. Therefore there is no fear to come with death. In the writings of The Tao Te Ching, tao is described as having existed before heaven and earth. Tao is formless; it stands alone without change and reaches everywhere without harm. The Taoist is told to use the light that is inside to revert to the natural clearness of sight. By divesting oneself of all external distractions and desires, one can achieve tao. In ancient days, a Taoist that had transcended birth and death and achieved tao was said to have cut the Thread of Life. The soul, or spirit, is Taoism does not die at death. The soul is not reborn, it migrates to another life. This process, the Taoist version of reincarnation, is repeated until tao is achieved. The followers of the Buddha believe life goes on through a repitition of reincarnations or rebirths. The eternal hope for all followers of Buddha is that through reincarnation one com

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1911
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)