Daoist schools

Taoism is an East Asian religion founded in ancient China with many schools or denominations, of which none occupies a position of orthodoxy and co-existed peacefully.

[1] Taoist branches usually build their identity around a set of scriptures, that are manuals of ritual practices.

[2] Scriptures are considered "breathwork", that is "configurations of energy" (qi), embodiments of "celestial patterns" (tianwen),[3] or "revelations of structures" (li).

[4] The earliest Taoist schools emerged during the late Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE).

[1] From the 12th and 13th centuries onwards several smaller branches merged into larger ones, but in turn, side-schools developed around the large traditions.