Recitation

Recitation

Reciting passages from the Tao Te Ching has been a spiritual practice for over 2000 years. For people who couldn't read and write it was an important way to learn the text, but even for those who could read, recitation was a vital expression of devotion and a way of spiritual growth.

As Taoism became more religious, various groups taught that recitation could do more than make the reciter a better person: the words of the Tao Te Ching were thought to have the power to cure sickness, banish evil spirits, and bring good luck.

For the Celestial Masters group, the Tao Te Ching was a liturgical tool as well as a source of philosophical wisdom.

Many other Taoist groups gave the Tao Te Ching a central place in the liturgy and chanted it ritually in the belief that doing so under the right conditions would prolong life and bring human beings closer to complete unity with the Tao.