Taoism
or TAONISM that had preceded them, by believing firmly that ultimately good would gain the victory over evil, and by insisting that good should be returned for evil, as the sure way to overcome it. The head of the body was a sort of patriarch, who had the power of transmitting his dignity and office to a member of his own family, and the descendants of the first are said to have held the office for centuries. Tao was afterward personified, and regarded as the first being of the universe. The Taoists attributed to him eternity and invisibility; but they do not seem to have regarded him as being in any way able to assist or comfort his followers. All they had to do was to contemplate him and his virtues, and to strive to keep in the "way." When Taoism appears as a definite factor in the history of China, in the 3d century B. C., it appears as a congeries of superstitions. Taoism was largely modified by Buddhism, some of the doctrines and practices of which it adopted; but it still adheres to its old superstitions, though in its treatises it enjoins much of the Confucian and the Buddhistic morality.