there is internal and external alchemy; alchemists are people who want to transform things into something more valuable (converting lead into gold)

Animates life and furnishes functional power of events

cosmic vital energy that enables beings to survive and links them to the universe as a whole

These are opposites that fit together seamlessly and work in perfect harmony

this principle sees the world as filled with complementary forces (action and non action, light and dark, hot and cold)

This concept is not the same as western dualism because the 2 opposites are not at war, but in harmony

Can be translated as uncontrived action or natural non-intervention

the method of following the tao

Also translate as non action but that is wrong because it wrongly implies that nothing at all gets done

Means living by or going along with the true nature of the world; letting things take its natural course

earth, fire, water, wood, metal

These give birth to the 10,000 things- all of manifest existence

Fluid rather than static, like yin and yang

Everything we find in our internal and external terrain belongs to one of the 5 elements, each of which has supporting and controlling relationships with the other elements

When these are balanced, we experience health and prosperity

known as the first god of taoism and as the personification of tao

May not be the name of a person but a reference to “the old master”

ultimate creative principle of the universe, all things are unified and connected in the tao

Concerned with transforming human beings so as to give them longer life and bring them closer to the tao

Root of the human body- its quality and movement determine human health

Includes several concepts in one word: The source of creation, the ultimate, the inexpressible and indefinable, the unnameable, the natural universe as a whole, the way of nature as a whole

Not god and not worshipped

More helpful to regard the tao as a system of guidance

Taoists live lives of balance and harmony- find their way through life in the same way that a river flowing through the countryside finds its natural course

also known as the founder of taoism