Taoist
Quanzhen Taoism (Complete Perfection, monastic)
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Celibate monastic Taoist tradition founded by Wang Chongyang (12th c.). Beijing Baiyun Guan is the principal monastery.
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Low Control
BITE breakdown
Behavior Control3/10
Information Control2/10
Thought Control2/10
Emotional Control2/10
Modifiers (+0)
0 — celibate monastic Taoist tradition; voluntary low-control.
Profile facts
Founded
12th c.
Members
Tens of thousands of monks
Active in
Asia
In context
Quanzhen ('Complete Perfection') is the monastic Taoist tradition. Celibate practice, vegetarian diet, internal-alchemy meditation. Mainstream voluntary monastic tradition.
Recovery resources
- ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — General referral and cult-aware therapist directory.
- INFORM (Information Network on Religious Movements) — LSE-founded UK research-based information service covering new religious movements.
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation; BITE-model resources and family-side exit guidance.
See the full curated list at /resources.
Evidence by BITE axis
Information Control
- voluntary low-control
Timeline
- 12th c.Wang Chongyang founds Quanzhen
Evidence matrix
Structured sources cross-linked to the claims they document. Tiered per the source hierarchy. For free-text citations see the Sources section below.
Sources
- Vincent Goossaert academic work search ↗
- Mathematics and Science in China and the West — Science & Society: A Journal of Marxist Thought and Analysis (1956) — https://doi.org/10.1177%2F003682375602000403 open ↗
- Daoist Philosophy — https://iep.utm.edu/daoismdaoist-philosophy/ open ↗
- The Tao of Textbooks: Taoism in Introductory World Religion Texts — Teaching Theology & Religion (2001) — https://doi.org/10.1111%2F1467-9647.00093 open ↗
- Taoism — Religion, Spirituality and Health: A Social Scientific Approach (2020) — https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-3-030-27953-0_8 open ↗
- On the Historical Background and Ideological Resources of the Confluence of Islam and Confucianism — https://doi.org/10.3390%2Frel13080748 open ↗
- Taoism, an Appreciation — https://doi.org/10.1086%2F475692 open ↗
- Front Matter of Volume 1 — International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (2015) — https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fb978-0-08-097086-8.99002-0 open ↗
- Buddhist–Daoist Interaction as Creative Dialogue: The Mind and Dào in Twofold Mystery Teaching — Chán Buddhism in Dūnhuáng and Beyond (2020) — https://doi.org/10.1163%2F9789004439245_009 open ↗
- Buddhist Influence On Early Taoism — T'oung Pao (1980) — https://doi.org/10.1163%2F156853280X00039 open ↗
- Chinese consumer trends — The Chinese Consumer Market (2009) — https://doi.org/10.1016%2FB978-1-84334-332-5.50001-2 open ↗
- Virtuous Life, Honored Afterlife and the Evolution of Confucianism — https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/history-in-the-making/vol10/iss1/7/ open ↗
- Teaching the Dao: monotheism, transcendence, and intercultural philosophy — International Communication of Chinese Culture (2021) — https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs40636-021-00225-1 open ↗
- BBC – Religion: Taoism — https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/taoism/ open ↗
- Daoist Canon — Oxford Bibliographies in Chinese Studies (2018) — https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fobo%2F9780199920082-0164 open ↗
- Jordan: The Taoist Canon — http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/chin/hbcanondaw-u.html open ↗
- 10.1353/Tao.2013.0003 — https://doi.org/10.1353%2FTao.2013.0003 open ↗
- Huainanzi: The Pinnacle of Classical Daoist Syncretism — Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy (2014) — https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-90-481-2927-0_15 open ↗
- Windows on Asia — http://www.asia.msu.edu/eastasia/China/religion.html open ↗
- Daoism and medicine 1 — Routledge Handbook of Chinese Medicine (2022) — https://doi.org/10.4324%2F9780203740262-32 open ↗
- Making Sense of World History (2020) — https://doi.org/10.4324%2F9781003013518 open ↗
- Gods and spirits — https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/taoism/beliefs/gods.shtml open ↗
- Whence the Pronunciation of Taoism? — Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America (1990) — https://doi.org/10.1353%2Fdic.1990.0004 open ↗
- Religion in China in the Twenty-first Century: Some Scenarios — Religion, State and Society (2005) — https://doi.org/10.1080%2F09637490500118570 open ↗
- Religion and Society. A Summary of French Studies on Chinese Religion — http://www.academia.edu/6919287/2014_Religion_and_Society._A_Summary_of_French_Studies_on_Chinese_Religion open ↗
- Religion and Society — Review of Religion and Chinese Society (2014) — https://doi.org/10.1163%2F22143955-04102008 open ↗
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s40636-021-00225-1 — https://doi.org/10.1007/s40636-021-00225-1 open ↗
- Taoist philosophy — https://iep.utm.edu/Taoism open ↗
- Collection: "Daoism/Taoism — https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/23944 open ↗
- What Is Taoism? And Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History. — https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2757965 open ↗
- What Is Taoism? And Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History — Pacific Affairs (1978) — https://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F2757965 open ↗
- https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/neo-daoism/ — https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/neo-daoism/ open ↗
- http://www.iep.utm.edu/ — http://www.iep.utm.edu/ open ↗
- O Cânon Taoista — http://weber.ucsd.edu/dkjordan~queixo/Jordan-hbcanondawu.html open ↗
- Encyclopédie philosophique de Stanford-Taoïsme — http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/taoism/ open ↗
- Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy — https://www.iep.utm.edu/daoism/ open ↗
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/daoism/ open ↗
- Grove Art Online — https://doi.org/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T021382 open ↗
- Das Tao der Politik — https://taz.de/Das-Tao-der-Politik/!1730534/ open ↗
- Daoist Philosophy. — http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/daoism.htm open ↗
- Britannica (онлайн) — https://www.britannica.com/topic/Daoism open ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-29Phase 1 Batch J: per-group recovery resources applied via programmatic palette (closest-fit by category + subCategory + score). Palette: Mainstream-comparator lighter.
- 2026-05-20Source-density flags derived from existing free-text sources[]: academic sources. Heuristic auto-flag; subsequent editorial pass will populate structuredSources[] with reliability tiers.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
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Disclaimer. This profile is an educational summary based on publicly available reports. Many members of this group do not experience the patterns described. Individual congregations and chapters vary widely. If you or someone you know needs support, contact a licensed therapist or the International Cultic Studies Association.