Currently 20 million followers mostly in Taiwan, but also in other parts of the world. Taoism has influenced in the last decades the western culture in areas of acupuncture, herbalism, holistic medicine, meditation and martial arts

The red and golden hall is set off resplendent by the verdant trees. Taoist temples are usually located at scenic places so that Taoists can concentrate on their own world.

What is it?
Taoism is a religio-philosophical tradition that has, along with Confucianism, shaped Chinese life for 2,500 years. The Taoist heritage, with its emphasis on individual freedom and spontaneity, laissez-faire government and social primitivism, mystical experience, and techniques of self-transformation, represents the antithesis to Confucian concern with individual moral duties, community standards, and governmental responsibilities.
Taoism is based on the idea that there is one underlying reality called the Tao.
The Taoist is not necessarily a pacifist. He will take military action when needed. A Taoist leader will fight until he has achieved his goal, and then stop saddened at the need for bloodshed and with resolve to foresee better into the future.
The classical Taoist philosophy was a reinterpretation and development of an ancient nameless tradition of nature worship and divination.
Laozi and Zhuangzi, living at a time of social disorder and great religious skepticism developed the notion of the Tao as the origin of all creation and the essence in its manifestations They saw in Tao and nature the basis of a spiritual approach to living.
The order and harmony of nature was far more stable and enduring than the power of the state or the civilized institutions. Healthy human life could flourish only in accord with nature, simplicity, a free-and-easy approach to life. The early Taoists taught the art of living and surviving by conforming with the natural way of things and called their approach to action wuwei or action modeled on nature.
It’s sages were often lowly artisans. To be skillful and creative, they had to have inner spiritual concentration and put aside concern with monetary rewards, fame, and praise. Art, like life, followed the creative path of nature, not the values of human society.
Taoist ideas and images were inspired from the Chinese love of nature and an occasional retreat to it from the cares of the world to rest and heal. It also inspired an intense affirmation of physical life -- health, Well being, vitality, longevity, and even immortality.
Taoists experimented with herbal medicine and pharmacology, greatly advancing these arts; they developed principles of macrobiotic cooking and other healthy diets; they developed systems of gymnastics and massage to keep the body strong and youthful.
Taoists were most interested in the study of and experiments with nature.
As the Taoist pantheon developed, it came to mirror the imperial bureaucracy in heaven and hell. The head of the heavenly bureaucracy was the jade Emperor, who governed spirits assigned to oversee the workings of the natural world and the administration of moral justice. The demons and ghosts of hell acted like outlaws in the real world
The common people sought by worshipping spirits to keep troubles at bay and ensure the blessings of health, wealth, and longevity.
Taoism encompasses both a philosophical tradition (Tao-chia) associated with the Tao-te Ching (Lao-tzu), Chuang-tzu, Lieh-tzu, and other texts, and a Taoist religious tradition (Tao-chiao) with organized doctrine, formalized cultic activity, and institutional leadership.
These two forms of Taoist expression are clearly interrelated, though at many points in tension. Aspects of both philosophical and religious Taoism were appropriated in East Asian cultures influenced by China, especially Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Yin Yan figure
The most common graphic representation of Tao is the circular Yin Yang figure. It represents the balance of opposites in the universe. When they are equally present, all is calm. When one is outweighed by the other, there is confusion and disarray.

Philosophical Taoism
Its basics are contained in the Tao-te Ching ("Classic of the Way and Its Power"), previously known as Lao-tzu According to this philosophy Tao is the Absolute, the "Uncarved Block" experienced only in mystical ecstasy.
Target is to be in harmony with one's original nature. According to Chuang-tzu (4th century BC), an individual in harmony with the Tao comprehends the course of Nature's constant change. At death so in life the individual must return to the original purity and simplicity of the Tao.
The true way of restoration for the Taoists consists in the banishment of “knowledge” and the discarding of wisdom. Manifest the simple, embrace the primitive, reduce selfishness, have few desires is the target..
As the Tao operates impartially in the universe, so should mankind disavow assertive, purposive action. The Taoist life is not a life of total inactivity. It is rather a life of non purpose action (wu-wei). the essence of spontaneity.
While Chuang-tzu and Lieh-tzu are guides directing all persons in the realization of total freedom, the Tao-te Ching is addressed in particular to rulers. Great rulers, taught Lao-tzu, simply follow Nature and the people only know of their existence.
Philosophical Taoism speaks of a permanent Tao in the way that some Western religions speak of God. The Tao is considered unnamed and unknowable, the essential unifying element of all that is. Everything is basically one despite the appearance of differences. Because all is one, matters of good and evil and of true or false, as well as differing opinions, can only arise when people lose sight of the oneness and think that their private beliefs are absolutely true. Because all is one, life and death merge into each other. They are not in opposition to one another but are only two aspects of a single reality. The life of the individual comes from the one and goes back into it.
The goal of life for a Taoist is to cultivate a mystical relationship to the Tao. Adherents therefore avoid dispersing their energies through the pursuit of wealth, power, or knowledge. By shunning every earthly distraction, the Taoist is able to concentrate on life itself. The longer the adherent's life, the more saintly the person is presumed to have become. Eventually the hope is to become immortal.

Religious Taoism

The statue of the god of Upper Purity in Yuquan Taoism Temple. The tone is colorful with dominating red, a reflection of Chinese folk custom

The themes and texts of philosophical Taoism became established during the Warring States period (481-221 BC). Religious or esoteric Taoism developed in the 2nd century AD, appropriating a variety of themes and spiritual techniques associated with the common objective of immortality.
While in fundamental ways such a goal was incompatible with the aims of philosophical Taoism, there were hints in the texts of the philosophical tradition to the extension of life and the protection from harm possible for those in harmony with the Tao.
The lives of such 'perfected ones', or 'hsien' (Immortals) became the central paradigms of religious Taoism.
Lao-tzu became deified as a revealer of sacred texts and a savior, and techniques of spiritual attainment became fully elaborated.
Techniques for achieving immortality included diet, breath control and meditation, sexual disciplines, alchemy, the use of magical talismans, and the search for the fabled Isle of Bliss. Diet concentrated on the needed food only.
In meditation, the Taoist visualized the thousands of gods that inhabited the human body (microcosm) as they inhabited the universe (macrocosm).
Through breath control and the movement of breath throughout the fields of the body, the individual both approached immortality in this life.
By avoiding ejaculation during the sexual act, it was believed that semen could be forced back through the spinal passage to repair the brain. In its search for an elixir of immortality, Taoist alchemy developed both chemical experimentation (wai-tan) and a theoretical internal alchemy (nei-tan).
Nei-tan sought to invert the normal aging processes by an energizing marriage of the cosmic Yin and Yang forces within the body. Talismans (fu) were used for healing, protection from demons, and communication with Taoist immortals.

History of Taoism
Of the two early organized Taoist communities, the religio-political movement known as the "Way of the Great Peace" was destroyed as a threat to the Han dynasty in AD 184. A more important and enduring tradition was that of the "Way of the Celestial Masters," founded by Chang Tao-ling in AD 142.
Two late 4th-century movements were also very important: (1) the Shang-ch'ing (Supreme Purity) Mao Shan sect, and (2) the Ling Pao (Sacred Jewel) scriptural tradition.
During the T'ang dynasty (618-907), Taoism received special favor at court and was characterized by doctrinal and liturgical syntheses.
Despite attempts during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) to curb a growing sectarianism, there remained in the late 20th century a polarization between classical orthodox tradition and heterodox traditions. On Taiwan, orders of the former tradition are referred to as "Blackheads" and those of the latter as "Redheads."
There has been in recent decades some renewed interest in the religion on Taiwan. In addition, Western scholars have recently begun to investigate carefully the many contributions of Taoism to the development of Chinese culture.
Traditionally, Taoism has been attributed to three sources, the oldest being the legendary 'Yellow Emperor', but the most famous is Lao Tse's Tao Teh Ching. According to tradition, Lao Tse was an older contemporary of Kung Fu Tse (Confucius). The third source is Chuang Tse's (untitled) work.
But the original source of Taoism is said to be the ancient I Ching, The Book Of Changes.
Lao Tzu did leave us a problem in translation. Ancient Chinese was extremely succinct, having no verb tense or other complex grammatical construction. This leaves much room for interpretation in the Tao as in just about any text in existence.
Taoism can also be called "the other way," for during its entire history, it has coexisted alongside the Confucian tradition, which served as the ethical and religious basis of the institutions and arrangements of the Chinese empire.
Taoism, while not radically subversive, offered a range of alternatives to the Confucian way of life and point of view. These alternatives, however, were not mutually exclusive. For the vast majority of Chinese, there was no question of choosing between Confucianism and Taoism.
Tao is connected strongly with nature as throughout Chinese history, people weary of social activism and aware of the fragility of human achievements would retire from the world and turn to nature. They might retreat to a countryside or mountain setting to commune with natural beauty.
If Taoist ideas and images inspired in the Chinese a love of nature and an occasional retreat to it from the cares of the world to rest and heal, it also inspired an intense affirmation of life: physical life -- health, Well being, vitality, longevity, and even immortality.
Taoists were supporters both of magic and of proto-science; they were the element of Chinese culture most interested in the study of and experiments with nature.
While the future of Taoist practice on the mainland remains in question, there has been in recent decades some renewed interest in the religion on Taiwan.
In addition, Western scholars have recently begun to investigate carefully the many contributions of Taoism to the development of Chinese culture.

Belief
Tao is the first-cause of the universe and flows through all life
Tao surrounds everyone and everyone must listen to find enlightenment.
There is only one Tao and the many gods are manifestations of the one Tao, which can not be represented as an image or a particular thing.
There are no personal goods and the universe has been eternal existing.
as is the concept of the creation of the universe. Thus, they do not pray as there is no God to hear Answers to life's problems lie in inner meditation and outer observation
One has to plan in advance and consider carefully each action before making it
Spirits pervade nature
Time is cyclical, not linear as in Western thinking.
Tao strongly promotes health and vitality.
Humans five main organs correspond to the five parts of the universe namely water, fire, wood, metal and earth (Esoteric view)
Each person must nurture the Ch'i (air, breath) that has been given to them
Development of virtue is one's chief task.
Compassion, moderation and humility are to be observed.
let nature take its course (wuwei)
Be kind to other individuals
People left to their own devices will show this compassion without expecting a reward
Yin / Yang represents the balance of opposites in the universe. When they are equally present, all is calm otherwise there is confusion and disarray
Change is the only constant factor in the universe.
Comparable to Zen there are no contraries but everything is in the end one.one
Things create "unnatural" action (wei) by shaping desires (yu).
Knowledge (ming) helps to make distinctions between good and evil, beautiful and ugly, high and low, and "being" (yu) and "non- being" (wu), thereby shaping desires. To abandon knowledge means abandoning names, distinctions, tastes and desires. Thus spontaneous behavior (wu-wei) results.
Fundamental is the essence, things are coarse and accumulation is deficiency
Technique of Tao is to dwell quietly alone with the spiritual and the intelligent
Life comes without warning, and as suddenly goes.
Follow natural inclinations and repress none of your bodily desires. Be spontaneous in your actions.
Behave as you want to behave not as the society wants you.
Master the circumstances by understanding their nature and then shape your actions accordingly. This infused the approach to movement as developed in Tai Chi Chuan.
Don’t attempt to regulate life and society and turn away from it to a solitary contemplation of nature. By doing so one ultimately harnesses the powers of the universe. By 'doing nothing' one could 'accomplish everything. (wuwei)
Having no ambitions one can never fail. Never failing you always succeed. Who always succeeds is all- powerful.

Leading Meditation Tai Chi
Tai chi in particular works on all parts of the body. It "stimulates the central nervous system, lowers blood pressure, relieves stress and gently tones muscles without strain. It also enhances digestion, elimination of wastes and the circulation of blood. Moreover, tai chi's rhythmic movements massage the internal organs and improve their functionality." Traditional Chinese medicine teaches that illness is caused by blockages or lack of balance in the body's "chi" (intrinsic energy). Tai Chi is believed to balance this energy flow.

Books
The Tao was written in a time of feudal warfare and constant conflict. Lao Tzu was reflecting on a way which would stop the warfare, a realistic path for humanity to follow which would end the conflict. And so he came up with a few pages of short verses, which became the Tao Te Ching. This is the original book of Tao.
It expressed the need to a practice of minimal action, particularly violent action. It is the practice of going against the stream not by struggling against it and thrashing about, but by standing still and letting the stream do all the work.
Taoism has been attributed to three sources, the oldest being the legendary 'Yellow Emperor', but the most famous is Lao Tse's Tao Teh Ching. According to tradition, Lao Tse was an older contemporary of Confucius. The third source is Chuang Tse's (untitled) work.
It was shortly followed by a series of commentaries, and commentaries on the commentaries, and then mixed up with Confucianism, Buddhism, and a clutch of other Eastern religions.
Books of Tao from around the time of Christ more closely resemble an unexpurgated 10 commandments than the poetic Tao Te Ching, carefully delineating everything from the proper system of greetings to the proper way to clean one's house.
Most modern Taoists consider this to be a radical departure from the true Tao, since Lao Tzu abhorred the caste systems of Confucianism that riddled the later Taoist books.

Founder of Taoism

LAO-TZU (604-531 BC).
Some people believe that Lao-tzu was historical others believe he was just a pseudonym for a group of thinkers.
His earliest biographer, who wrote about 100 BC around 500 years after his death relates that Lao-tzu lived in present-day Henan Province during the Chou Dynasty (1122-221 BC). Presumably he worked in astrology and divination at the court of the emperor.
He left China during the decline of the Chou Dynasty, and on his way west wrote the `Tao-te Ching', after which he disappeared.

Famous reformers and schools of Taoism

Chuang Tzu (399 - 295 B.C.)
Chinese philosopher, author, and teacher, influential in the development of Chinese philosophy and religious thought. He interpreted Taoism differently from Lao-tzu; He taught that wise people accept the ebb and flow of life without attempting to challenge it. True enlightenment involves freeing oneself of traditions and personal goals that stand in the way of the mysterious, all-encompassing Tao.
Communal religious Taoism is quite distinct from its philosophical counterpart. It emphasizes moral teachings and collective ceremonies. Good moral conduct is rewarded with health and long life, while bad conduct results in disease, death, and suffering in the afterlife. There is an array of gods who are administrators of the universe, of which they are a part. From these gods come revelations of sacred texts. There is an order of married priests who live in the communities they serve and perform exorcisms and complex rituals.
The gods are intimately connected with each individual's life as bringers of calamities or givers of bountiful gifts. Each object of daily life has its presiding spirit that must be consulted and appeased.
He emphasizes the individual's and the group's need for unity through mysticism, magic, and ceremony. His writing is transcendental as well as deeply immersed within everyday life. Whike he is a clear cut mystic he writes in a very rational way.
He took Lao Tzu's mystical leanings and perspectives and made them transcendental. His understanding of virtue (te) as Tao individualized in the nature of things is much more developed and clearer. He pays greater and more exact attention to Nature and the human place within it, leading to a greater emphasis on the individual.
Life for him is dynamic and ever changing.
The contemporary understanding of Taoist philosophy is defined by a very thorough inter mingling of the ideas of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu.
As life is transitory the pursuit of wealth and personal aggrandizement is lost effort.
For Chuang Tzu it was imperative that we transcend all dualities of existence. Seeing Nature at work and the way in which it reconciled these polar opposites pointed the way to the Tao where all dualities are resolved into unity.
The universe is the unity of all things. If one recognizes one’s identity with this unity, then nothing is really important any more. Everything is a harmonious whole.
As to the nature of the Tao itself Chuang Tzu's conception was remarkably similar to that of Lao Tzu.
One of Chuang Tzu's continuing interests was the issue of the interchangeability of appearance and reality. A dream is true for a dreamer, but are we dreaming or awake? That’s the question.
Chuang Tzu points out that much of the meaning of the world is bound up in apparent contradictions, which can not be solved.
Taoist philosophy exerted a great influence on the developing school of Chan (Zen) Buddhism in China. Many of the understandings of Taoists and Zen Buddhists are thus similar..
There is no sign in either Lao Tzu or Chuang Tzu of a religious inclination. Taoism evolved as a philosophy without the religious trappings that later followers added to the movement.
It is also free of any trace of occultism that later attached themselves to this philosophy.
Yang Hsiung (53 B.C. to 18 A.D.)
exponent of Tai Hsuan (Great Mystery). This philosophy combined classical Taoism with elements of Confucian ethics. For him human nature is a mixture of good and evil and immortality was no reality.
The Supremely Profound Principal or law permeates everything but has no physical form
Wisdom is to see and understand
Humanity is to look and love
Courage is to determine and decide.
Impartiality is to control things universally and to use them for all
Destiny is to have or not to have the proper circumstance
The way by which all things emerge is the Way.
Virtue is to follow the principles of the world without altering them
Humanity is to attend to life, to be in society, and to love universally
Righteousness is to follow order and to evaluate what is proper
Business of life is to get hold of the Way, virtue, humanity, and righteousness and apply them.

Yang is to make clear the achievement of nature and throw light on all things
Yin is to be hidden, without form, deep and unfathomable.
Yang knows yang but does not know yin. Yin knows yin but does not know yang. The Profound Principle alone knows both yin and yang, both going and stopping, and both darkness and light.

Wang Ch'ung (27 to 100 A.D.).
Like Yang Hsiung he was a Taoist in terms of his metaphysics which he combined with certain Confucian ideas. Less interested in ethics he was more concerned with human institutions, He cleaned the atmosphere of superstition which had crept in both Taoism and Confucianism.
Acc to him natural events occur spontaneously, fortune and misfortune come by chance; after life it’s really over.

Shih Huang-ti (221-207 BC)
He introduced very strong alchemical currents comparable to Western mystics a millennium later.
Among the important features of Taoist religion were the belief in physical immortality, alchemy, breath control and hygiene (internal alchemy).
His teachings supported a pantheon of deities, including Lao Tzu as one of the three 'Supreme Ones'. His liturgy and theology was much influenced by Buddhism.
There is considerable evidence that this religious Taoism came to take on many 'Tantric' elements, in which the worship of yin-yang takes on a distinctly sexual and erotic form. The interplay of yin and yang elements is represented, and celebrated, as a sexual union. There are some scholars who, in fact, believe that the Tantric schools, which later were absorbed into Buddhism, evolved first as Taoist ones.

Pure Conversation (Ch'ing-t'an) School (created around 200 AD)
A group of younger thinkers and poets who explored issues of Taoism from a 'light' and poetical aspect very much in the spirit of Chuang-Tzu, seeking to free the spirit and sharpen the imagination. Their writing displays lofty ideals and a certain wit, whether on matters of sex or of poetry. The most famous of this group were the Juan Chi (210-263 A.D.) who advocated becoming one with the universe and transcending all distinctions; and Hsi K'ang (223-262 A.D.). According to Wing-Tsit Chan; "These men often met in bamboo groves to drink, write poems, and talk and behave in utter disregard for social conventions or worldly values."

Metaphysical (Hsuan-hsueh) School (created around 250AD)
Led by philosophers such as Wang Pi (A.D. 226 - 249), Ho Yen (died 249 A.D.) and Kuo Hsiang (died 312 A.D.). These philosophers sought to both expand Taoism and to reconcile Taoism and Confucianism.
Wang Pi wrote commentaries on both the Tao Te Ching and the I Ching. For him an explanation of being could be found in the I Ching hexagrams, in which the mingling of the lines in the trigrams illuminate the principles of being and of how to undertake an analysis of it. These ideas were later to penetrate into Tai Chi Chuan with a similar association of the I Ching and the movements of Tai Chi.

Wang Pi made a major contribution to Chinese Cosmogony with his theory of 'original non-being (pen-wu). According to his theory original non-being transcends all distinctions and descriptions. it is the pure, original substance (pen-t'i) which is whole and strong and always in accord with principal. This emphasis on 'principal' is prominent in his work in contrast to Lao Tzu's focus on destiny or fate (ming). In this he anticipates the later Neo-Confucians.

Kuo Hsiang wrote about the interdependency of self and other and of how these concepts are mirror images, one relying on the other for existence. Each being needs the universe to be just what it is if it is to exist at all. If a single principle was violated nothing could exist.

Just as Wang Pi developed on Lao Tzu, Kuo Hsiang developed the ideas of Chuang Tzu. The major concept for Kuo Hsiang was not the Tao of Chuang Tzu, but rather Nature Things exist and transform themselves naturally and spontaneously. There is no external agent that causes this process. 'Heaven' is simply the general name of Nature.
Everything is self- sufficient and there is no need for an embracing original reality to govern them While Wang Pi emphasizes non-being, Kuo Hsiang emphasizes being. Where the former emphasizes the one, the latter draws attention to the many.
Kuo believed that everything has its own principal and hence is determined by it. He therefore believed in attempting to achieve contentment in whatever situation one found oneself. He did not have a place for choice or free will in his philosophy.

Important Taoist Sects (selection)

Heavenly Masters
One of the main and until today surviving was founded in West China in the second century A.D. by Chang Tao-ling (AD 34-156), who reputedly possessed remarkable healing powers. It advocated faith healing through the confession of sin.
In the 11th century, the sect obtained a large tract in Jiangxi province that remained an important Taoist center until 1927. The sect still flourishes in Taiwan and continues to pay homage to Zhang Daoling, who is regarded as immortal.

Yellow Turban Taoists
Chang Tao-ling (157-178 A.D.),
is the founder of the Yellow Turban Taoists It is believed that he received the Ling-pao (spiritual Treasure) Scripture written on golden tablets, from the Gods. He is said to have succeeded in finding the elixir of immortality, swallowed it, and ascended to Heaven, leaving his secrets with his son.
Since then the title T'ien-shih has passed through the family for generations. The current (63rd) Chang T'ien-shih lives in Taiwan and heads the Five Bushels of Rice Taoist sect. He continues to retain the sword and seals of Chang Tao-ling.

Deities of Taoist
The religious current of Taoism evolved its own pantheon of deities that were worshipped in temples by the various sects , like the Buddhist or Hindu pantheon.

Yu-huang -- The Jade Emperor
The great High God of the Taoists -- the Jade Emperor.
Rules Heaven as the Emperor doe Earth.
All other gods must report to him. His chief function is to distribute justice, which he does through the court system of Hell where evil deeds and thoughts are punished.

Yuan-shih T'ien-tsun -- The First Principal

The High God, there are other abstract deities above him.
He rules; they simply exist and instruct. He is self-existing, changeless, limitless, invisible, contains all virtues, is present in all places and is the source of all truth.

San-ch'ing -- Three Pure Ones
Yu-ch'ing (Jade Pure),
Shang-ch'ing (Upper Pure)
T'ai-ch'ing (Great Pure).
They are believed to be different manifestations of Lao Tzu.
They are not rulers, but rather seek to save mankind by teaching and benevolence.

San-kuan -- Three Officials
The San-kuan rule over all things in the three regions of the universe, keep a register of good and evil deeds and award good or bad fortune accordingly.
T'ien-kuan( Ruler of Heaven, grants happiness.)
Ti-kuan (Ruler of Earth, grants remissions of sins)
Shui-kuan, Ruler of Water, averts all evil.

San-yuan -- Three Principals
Shang- yuan ruled the first six moons (winter and spring)
Hsia-yuan ruled the 7th and 8th moons (summer)
Chung-yuan ruled the 9th to 11th moons (fall).
It was believed that they dwelled in the North Star (tzu-wei).

T'ien-shih
T'ien-shih was the title awarded to Chang Tao-ling .
The founder of the Yellow Turban Taoists It is believed that he received the Ling-pao (spiritual Treasure) Scripture written on golden tablets, from the Gods. He succeeded in finding the elixir of immortality, swallowed it, and ascended to Heaven, leaving his secrets, including his seals and demon-dispelling sword, with his son. Since then the title T'ien-shih has passed through the family for generations. The current (63rd) Chang T'ien-shih lives in Taiwan and heads the Five Bushels of Rice Taoist sect. He continues to retain the sword and seals of Chang Tao-ling.

Pa-hsien -- Eight Immortals
They were believed to live in grottos in Heaven. They are:
Lu Tung-pin(755 - 805 A.D.)
A scholar, doctor and official. He represents the wealthy and literacy.
Ts'ao Kuo-chiu
Represents the nobility for he was connected with the Imperial Sung Dynasty.

Chang Kuo-lao
He was summoned to court by the Empress Wu (684-705 A.D.) however, when he reached the Temple of the Jealous Woman he fell down dead. Shortly afterwards he came back to life.
He had a magic mule which could travel thousands of miles a day. When he reached his destination the mule would turn to paper and Chang Kuo-lao could fold it up and put it in his pocket. To revive it he unfolded it and spurted water on it with his mouth. He is often pictured riding the mule, facing the tail.

Li T'ieh-kuai
He represents the crippled and deformed .He has an iron crutch and a black face.c He tries to alleviate human suffering.
Ho Hsien-ku
Represented holding a lotus blossom (a symbol of purity) and a peach.

Han Hsiang-tsu
Represents youth .A disciple of Lu Tung-pin.

Han Chung-li
Represents military men. He is recognized as a figure who holds a fan or a peach.