'The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao' (Daodejing 1). The Dao (Way) is the ultimate source — formless, nameless, prior to all things. 'The Dao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced the Ten Thousand Things' (Daodejing 42). Yin and Yang emerge as the dynamic polarity of all existence.

Alignment with the natural flow of the Dao. The Three Treasures: compassion, frugality, and humility.

To align with the Dao — the natural, effortless flow of reality. To return to one's original nature (ziran). In religious Taoism: to cultivate longevity, achieve spiritual immortality, and unite with the Dao.

Suffering arises from going against the natural flow of the Dao — from excess, force, artificiality, and rigid categorization. The Dao itself is beyond good and evil. Yin and yang are complementary, not oppositional. Loss and gain, life and death are natural transformations, not problems to be solved.

No apocalyptic end times in philosophical Taoism. All things return to the Dao — death is a transformation, not an end. Religious Taoism developed some messianic elements (Li Hong as a savior figure) and millennial movements, but these are not central. The universe is a ceaseless process of transformation.