In 1987, after finishing his doctoral dissertation, a pioneer essay on Daoism in Taiwan, Lee began training to be a Daoist priest and became the pupil of a Daoist master. He was asked to climb onto a four-story high blade-side-up ladder at the final stage of a priesthood test.

"I was protected by 'qi' and the sword ladder did not harm me at all," Lee told the Taiwan News in an interview on Sept. 3.

"Of course one has to be properly trained before climbing onto the ladder but the most important thing is to fully concentrate."

He took up the life of a Daoist priest and Daoist rituals because as a researcher on Daoism, his understanding of living Daoism could only be complete through his own experience.

A prominent researcher of Academia Sinica's Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Lee's exploration of Daoist theory and practice sparked a new interest in Daoist studies in Taiwan in the 1980s, a period when no local scholars were interested in the subject.

Young faces

Unlike in the past where old Daoist priests dominated the Daoist circle, an increasing number of young and educated Daoist followers and priests have been appearing in recent years, according to Lee. Taso Yu-chi, a 22-year-old student, made headlines last August for his getting Daoist priest certificate and experience.

He had taught himself on Daoist practices since high school and became an apprentice of a Daoist master before entering NanHua University in Chiayi. He set up a Daoism club in Nanhua and gave free counseling and taught Daoist rituals. He was even invited to a live TV show and taught believers how to exorcise demons through spells.

Lee said young pupils began to appreciate the hidden meaning behind Daoist rituals, and to understand the social impact of Daoism on society through academic study at religious departments in local universities.

"The new faces of Daoist practitioners and priests would bring positive changes to the stereotypes local people associate with Daoism."

Daoist philosophy

Lee said as Daoist rituals, practices, and texts are highly complex, it is important to bear in mind Daoism's philosophy of life and death, which teaches people to "know death before life" and to "look beyond death."

"Most people are afraid to think about death," said Lee. "Daoism teaches us to look death in the eye and sees life as a cycle of changes."

Lee told a famous Daoist story "Zhuangzi and the Skull." Master Zhuang, originally called Zhuang Zhou, sees an old bleached skull at the roadside and starts talking to it, expressing his empathy for the sorry state of the skull's owner. At night the dead man appears in his dream to assure him that being dead was the best thing that ever happened to him and that he would not exchange a kingdom among the living for the happiness and freedom he had now. Lee said because Daoist practitioners look beyond death, they are keener on the attainment of health practices, longevity, and ultimately immortality.

Liliva Kohn, professor of Religion and East Asian Studies at Boston University, said in her book "Daoism and Chinese Culture" that Daoism philosophy involves ideas of naturalness and ease, non-action and going with the flow. Daoism is a highly unique religious tradition with characteristics and practices clearly distinct from those of Buddhism, Confucianism, and popular religion; it has its own specific cosmology centered on Dao as the underlying power and constituting the pattern of the universe.

Dao may be described as unfathomable and ineffable or represented by celestial powers, but it is always seen as lying at the root of creation, yet manifest in all that exists on the mundane and visible plane. Dao is subtle and soft and essentially benevolent. Mediated through "qi," or cosmos, and aligning oneself with Dao, the state of overall goodness and well-being in the cosmos, nature, society, and the human body will be created, according to the book.

The oldest religion

Daoism (polytheism) is the oldest, vernacular Chinese religion whose followers worship the Three Purities (Sanqing) the Yuanshi tianzun, the Linbao tianzun, and the Daode tianzun. It has its own hierarchical system of deity; at the early stage of Daoism's development, gods of higher rank would not be put on the same table with gods of a lower rank.

The earliest thinker venerated in the Daoist religion, and the best known of all Daoist texts are known by the name of Laozi. Both the person and the text arose around 500 B.C.E, in a period of great change not only in China but also the world over.

Practitioners of Daoism also worship their ancestors and natural gods. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Daoists adopted a number of local popular deities into their pantheon, such as the city god (Chenghuang), the Celestial Consort (Tianfei or Mazu), the God of Literature (Wenchang), etc,. The first Celestial Master of Daoism Zhang Daoling (A.D 34).

Daoism was brought into Taiwan more than 400 years ago when the Ming settlers, among them some Daoist priests, came here and spread Daoist beliefs. During the Japanese colonial rule (1895 to 1945), many Daoist temples were forced to relocate or share their complex with Buddhist temples, resulting in the commonly seen confusing situation where statues of Daoist and Buddhist gods are worshiped in the same temple.

The 63rd generation of Zhang's successors Zhang En-fu (1904 to 1969) came to Taiwan in 1949 and officially shifted the political center of the religion from China to Taiwan. Zhang En-fu and his followers set up the Taoism Society of the Republic of China in Taipei in 1966. The society has training courses for Daoist priest and gives out about 10 Daoist priest certificates every year.

Transformation period

Chang Chao-heng, the society's vice secretary-general, said in an interview with the Taiwan News that he is most worried about the development of Daoism in Taiwan resulting from the lack of proper religious policies.

He said the most serious problem in the past 20 years has been that there are too many bogus Daoist priests who swindle money and lure female believers into having sex with them.

According to Chang, there are more than 200 groups registered under the Ministry of the Interior who claim to be Daoist organizations. Since the current Religious Group Act does not regulate the issuing of religious certificates, fake priests can easily buy certificates from the local temples, and practice non-authentic Taoist rituals.

The official figures available online indicate that there are more than 8,000 Daoist temples, over 4,000 Buddhist temples, some 2,400 Christian churches and 1,700 Catholic churches across the island.

Another weighty problem in the Daoism now, Chang observed, is that there are too many self-claimed Daoist masters who deitify themselves and give twisted sermons on Daoist thoughts and practices.

"Daoism is not alone in facing the problem. Other religions in Taiwan also encounter similar self-claimed masters who don't have their own doctrines or texts but become a religion and swindle followers' money."

Moreover, Taiwan's large-scale Daoist temples nowadays overemphasize rituals and completely neglect the essence of Daoist doctrines.

"There is no religious belief in big temples in Taiwan," "Daoism is not something superficial as hosting a Mazu Pilgrimage only; Daoism is a religion that has its own worldview and its explanation for each Daoist practice and rituals."

Chang said he was glad to see there are more and more young people joining Daoism to help change the stereotyping of the vernacular Chinese religion, but many of the problems - fake priests, bogus masters, and hollow temple rituals - seen in today's Daoist circle can only be tackled if the government implements an effective set of religious policies.

He added that Taiwanese people are very interested in religions, and that only with help from the government can society benefit from the philanthropy of different religions.