Taoism

[Romeo]

Can anyone explain to me briefly the beliefs of Taoism? I've tried websites but they are wordy and extremely vague indeed. I just want to know in a sentence, do they believe in a god? Do they believe in an afterlife? If so, is it heaven / hell, or reincarnation? Do they meditate? What do they see as the meaning of life? No big deal, surely. Just quick honest answers without all the 'not doing' sh*t. Any other religion would tell you straight off. I'm genuinely interested, but I like straight-to-the-point answers.

[Clanad]

Taoism originated in China about the same time as Confucianism around the 4th or 5th century B.C. It is something to be achieved not a religion in the classic sense. The focus is not to worship one god, but instead on coming into harmony with tao. Tao is the essence of everything that is right, and complications exist only because people choose to complicate
their own lives. (Source Taoism: The Way )
The goal in Taoism is to achieve tao, to find the way. But no diffinitive directions are given to do so. To the Taoists, Tao is the ultimate reality, a presence that existed before the universe was formed and which continues to guide the world and everything in it. This something one has to determine for themselves. Hence, there is no God, but a force or a way.. Most Taoists are Pantheists or Polytheists. Afterlife consists of some sort of reincarnation, but this disputed by differing adherents of which there are many...
I hope this meets your requirement for straight forwardness...

[Theland]

And as Clanad describes it, it is another man centred philosophy / religion, that denies the one true living God. Taoists are still in need of a saviour.

[annavc]

Can I recommend you read a book called "The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet" - it basically talks about how Winnie the Pooh is the ultimate taoist and as well as being very funny is very interesting and I think explains Taoism very well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tao-Pooh-Te-Piglet-Wis dom/dp/0416199259/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/026-0638880- 7480453?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185965583&sr=8-1

[VS Prasad]

These sites provide simplified explanation:

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/80/story_8059_1 .html

http://altreligion.about.com/od/taoism/Taoism_ Daoism.htm

http://www.religioustolerance.org/taoism.htm

http://www.taopage.org/

[tao]

Life is really hilarious. Just you have to know how to love it. Taoists don't have any God, they don't have any heaven and hell. They have only this moment, so they can pour all their energies into it. They don't pray. They are not beggars. And to whom to pray? There is nobody in the sky to pray to. Taoists meditate. They sit silently doing nothing, they enter into their own silence, enjoy it. The more you enjoy it the deeper and deeper you enter into it.
All questions disappearing, all doubts dissolved, you have found the answer. The answer is within you -- nobody can supply it. And all these prophets and messiahs have been doing just that: they are suppling you the answer. And borrowed answer is not going to help. Those borrowed answers have made the whole humanity miserable. They have taken their enquiry, they have taken everything away from the people and left them utterly poor. Taoism is multidimensionally rich.