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Tao or Dao (/ta?/, /da?/; Chinese:; pinyin: About this sound Dào (help·info)) is a Chinese complex word which cannot specifically be fully explained except it signifies 'way', 'path', 'route', or sometimes known as a 'principle' laid down by Heaven to assist mankind back onto the righteous path. Within the context of traditional Chinese philosophy and religion, The Tao is the intuitive knowing of "life" that of which cannot be grasped full-heartedly as just a concept but known nonetheless through actual living experience of one's everyday being. Cosmologically, Tao signifies the primordial essence or fundamental nature of the Universe. In the oldest surviving text of the Tao Te Ching, Chapter 15, Laozi (Lao Tzu) refers to "The Tao masters of antiquity" - clearly Laozi must have been a cultured person knowing the Way of the Cosmos and mankind when he authored the Tao Te Ching. It is inaccurate to describe the Tao Te Ching as the foundational text of Taoism, it is all that remains to this time. The somewhat older work, the I Ching is usually associated with the Tao. Tao clearly predates Laozi (Lao Tzu) as he refers to "The Tao masters of antiquity" in Chapter 15 of the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching). The Yellow Emperor (see Wikipedia page), Huangdi (2697 - 2597 BCE) is one of the great Patriarchs of Tao. As Tao is the "Way" it is the origin of the Universe, myriad things including humans. Tao in the Tao Te Ching, Laozi explains that Tao is not a 'name' for a 'thing' but the underlyi . . . more
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao
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