ABSTRACT
Daoism’s indifference to doctrinal and conceptual questions has frequently been overstated. Praxis, it has often been said of Daoism, largely overshadows dogma. It is true that its conception of this world and the next, and its ontological and moral approach, have never been the subject of scholastic treatises. But although it is unrivalled as a source of meditation techniques and alchemical methods, thaumaturgy and exorcism, Daoism has still concerned itself with theological reflection. While unquestionably a religion of rites and formulae, it is nonetheless a religion in the full sense of the term: it is a model for structuring time and space, socially and cosmically, and it has as its foundation ethical values that constitute its raison d’être as well as its identity.
