The founder of Taoism is believed to be Lao-Tzu. Lao-Tzu was a philosopher who created Taoism while in search for a way to avoid the constant feudal warfare and conflicts that plagued society during his lifetime. At the end of his travels, he wrote all his knowledge down in a book that became the Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing) which started off as the basis for Taoism.
Taoism was originally a combination of philosophy and psychology until it was adopted as a religious faith in China in 440 CE; a position it shared with Buddhism and Confucianism.
In 1911, state support of Taoism ended and warlordism, the 1949 Communist victory, and the 1966 Cultural Revolution resulted in the destruction of Taoist textx and its heritage.
Today, Taoism has 20 million followers and is primarily centered in Taiwan. Around 30,000 taoists live in north America, with about 1,720 living in Canada.
*(Religious Taoism is different from Taoism - to learn about it, go to the Links section)
