Sacred Power and the Influence of the Laozi - Essay Example

Laozi asserts that the most significant thing people can do in life is to have a state of quiet awareness. Become fully empty, quiet the mind’s restlessness only then will you witness all things unfolding from emptiness, witness all things flourish as well as dance in continuous variation. Laozi believes that Dao is the only source of sacred power (Snodgrass, 2009).

The influence of the Laozi goes beyond China, as Daoism gets across Asia and in the contemporary period, Western humanity. In Taiwan, and Hong Kong, as well as amidst the Chinese in and beyond Southeast Asia, Daoism is an existing tradition (Snodgrass, 2009). Daoist practices and beliefs have played a role also in the formation of Japanese and Korean culture, even though here the process of cultural transmission, assimilation, and transformation is very intricate, mainly given the close relations between Buddhism, Daoism, and indigenous traditions like Shintō