Discovery of Dunhuang Manuscripts

Date: June 25, 1900 • Location: Laojunmiao, China

The Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu discovers the Dunhuang manuscripts, a cache of ancient texts that are of great historical and religious significance, in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China.

Taoism or Daoism is a philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao. With a range of meanings and interpretations in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', 'path', or 'technique', all dependent on intention as the Chinese language is polysemic in design, but generally understood in the Taoist sense as an enigmatic process of transformation ultimately underlying what is understood as reality. Taoist thought has informed the development of various practices within the Chinese societal history, including traditional medicine, meditation, astrology, qigong, feng shui, and internal alchemy. A common goal of Taoist practice is self-cultivation, to understand and embody a deeper appreciation and connection to the concept of the Tao, and self understanding by living a more harmonious existence and experience with nature as its expression. Taoist ethics generally emphasize as a foundation the embodiment of the three treasures that include compassion, humility and frugality, the virtues of effortless action, naturalness, simplicity, (Wuji) that then naturally aligns with the virtues of the five phases (Wuxing).