ABSTRACT
Daoism, like Confucianism, seeks a way of living well by realizing the harmony of heaven, earth, and humanity and by realizing peace and harmony within society and within the individual person. The story of Daoism can be told in two installments. The first part of the story deals with the philosophy developed in the classical work known as The Treatise on the Way and Its Power (Daodejing). The second part of the story is concerned with the vision of Zhuangzi, who drew out the epistemological and metaphysical implications of Daoism. According to Chinese tradition, Laozi, a slightly older contemporary of Confucius, lived during the sixth century BCE and was the founder of Daoism. Nonaction (wuwei) is an important Daoist concept. It means doing nothing except what proceeds freely and spontaneously from one's own nature. The concept of naturalness (ziran), literally what is "self (zi) so (ran)," is used to describe how the Dao works.
