Great Tao

There is debate over how, and whether, Taoism should be subdivided.

Some scholars have divided it into the following three categories:

1. “Philosophical Taoism”. (Daojia).
A philosophical school based on the texts Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi;

2. “Religious Taoism”. (Daojiao).
A family of organized Chinese religious movements originating from the Celestial Masters movement during the late Han Dynasty and later including the “Orthodox” (Zhengyi) and “Complete Reality” (Quanzhen) sects, which trace back to Lao Zi or Zhang Daoling in the late Han Dynasty;

3. “Folk Taoism”.
The Chinese folk religion

This distinction is complicated by hermeneutic difficulty. The categorization of Taoist sects and movements is very controversial. Many scholars believe that there is no distinction between Daojia and Daojiao, and that the distinction is propagated by people who are not familiar with Taoism.

Much uncertainty exists over the meaning of Taoism. In some countries and contexts, such as the Taoism organizations of China and Taiwan, the label is applied to Chinese folk religion, which would otherwise not have a readily recognizable English name. However, many of its practitioners would not recognize Taoism (in any language) as the name of their religion.

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