l, to achieve tao, to have reached the deeper life. This is the after
life for a Taoist, to be in harmony with the universe, to have achieved tao (Head1, 65).
To understand the relationship between life, and the Taoism concept of life and death, the
origin of the word tao must be understood. The Chinese character for tao is a combination of
two characters that represent the words head and foot. The character for foot represents the idea
of a person's direction or path. The character for head represents the idea of conscious choice.
The character for head also suggests a beginning, and foot, an ending. Thus the character for tao
also conveys the continuing course of the universe, the circle of heaven and earth. Finally, the
character for tao represents the Taoist idea that the eternal Tao is both moving and unmoving.
The head in the character means the beginning, the source of all things, or Tao itself, which
never moves or changes; the foot is the movement on the path (Harts 9).
Taoism upholds the belief in the survival of the spirit after death. "To have attained the
human form must be always a source of joy. And then to undergo countless transitions, with
only the infinite to look forward to, what comparable bliss is that! Therefore it is that the truly
wise rejoice in, that which can never be lost, but endures always" (Leek 190). Taoist believe
birth is not a beginning, death is not an end. There is an existence without limit. There is
2continuity without a starting point. Applying reincarnation theory to Taoism is the belief that the
soul never dies, a person's soul is eternal. "You see death in contrast to life; and both are unreal -
both are a changing and seeming. Your soul does not glide out of a familiar sea into an
unfamiliar ocean. That which is real in you, your soul, can never pass away, and this fear is no
In the writings of The Ta...