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A daoshi () or Taoshih, translated as Taoist priest, Taoist monk, or Taoist professional is a priest in Taoism. The courtesy title of a senior is daozhang (道長, meaning "Tao master"), and a highly accomplished and revered is often called a .
Along with Han Chinese priests, there are also many practicing ethnic minority priests in China. (2025). 9780824824297, University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 9780824824297 Some orders are monasticism (Quanzhen orders), while the majority are not (Zhengyi orders). Some of the monastic orders are hermitic, and their members practice seclusion and asceticism lifestyles in the mountains, with the aim of becoming , or immortal beings. Nonmonastic priests live among the populace and manage and serve their own temples or popular temples.
The activities of the Taoists tend to be informed by materials which may be found in the (Taotsang), or Taoist Canon; however, Taoists generally choose or inherit specific texts which have been passed down for generations from teacher to student rather than consulting published versions of these works.
Traditionally, they were thought to be able to manipulate fate on their or their followers' behalf and they could grant miracles or inflict divine punishment on people in the afterlife or the mortal world.
Taoist priests organized themselves into different categories, and assigned themselves different jobs based on their rankings. Both Taoist priests and priestesses performed rituals. Their rankings were included when Taoist priests signed records for rituals which would be burned for certain rituals, such as the Yellow Register Zhai (黃籙齋) rituals, or burial rituals, and Golden Register Jiao (金籙醮), or temple renewal-type rituals. Some scholars tasked themselves with copying down the manuscripts before they were burned in the ritual.
The Taoist belief system was also seen as legitimate by many during the middle Ming period when, with the growth of commerce in the state, it became a trend for different industries to worship their own Taoist patron gods. For example, ink makers would worship , ironsmiths would worship , and prostitutes and thieves would worship and , in many ways to prove the legitimacy of their occupations.
In 1392, during the reign of Hongwu Emperor, a minimum age was decreed, with only men over 40 years old and women over 50 years old being allowed to become priests. These restrictions, however, changed over time, as in 1419 laws stated that only those above 14 and below 20 years old, and whose parents both approved, would be allowed to study Taoist classics in temples and sit for the examination after five years, resulting in priests being younger than was previously required. Those who passed would be given the , while the others would have to secularize. Teenagers whose parents or grandparents did not have other offspring to depend on were not allowed to become monks or priests. Those older than 30 or younger than 40 years old, who were once monks or priests but later secularized, were not allowed to become priests again.
In 1380, the government also restricted the number of priests by imposing regional quotas for both Buddhist and Taoist priests, 40 for each prefecture , 30 for each independent department , and 20 for each county . These quotas were not strictly enforced in the remote provinces which had been loosely regulated until the Yongle Emperor reign (1403-1425), during which Taoist regulatory agencies were established in these provinces and quotas were enforced. During the Yingzong reign (1435-1464), the quotas as well as other regulations started to be undermined, with counts of priests far exceeding their regional quotas and being sold to priests who had not passed the official examination.
Ming criminal law also had some very strict regulations for priests. Since 1398, the Ming law books stated that owning a was the only valid proof of identity for Buddhist monks and Taoist priests. Falsely claiming to be a priest without this identification was punishable with 80 lashings. If self-declared priests were by their family members, those family members were also guilty. If a priest managing a temple accepts unlicensed priests, they would be charged with the same crime and then forced to secularize.
Despite the threat of these punishments, the regulations started to degrade and enforcement became increasingly loose during the mid to late Ming. After 1435, abuse became widespread, while the quota system was increasingly ignored. In the mid to late Ming, more than 10,000 were issued every period, compared to the mere hundreds issued in the early Ming. The three-year issuing period was also often changed depending on the will of the government.
The government itself was partly to blame for the increasing abuse. For instance, after 1487, in the wake of famines or other natural disasters, the government would often issue large numbers of as a way of increasing state income. Sometimes during famine, a could be acquired not only with a monetary purchase, but even by trading in grains to the state.
Taoist dress during the Ming Dynasty was said to not have changed much from that of previous dynasties. In a book written by the Prince of Ning , he states that the clothing of Taoist priests in Ming was not too different from the “ancient” style of the Northern and Southern dynasties (420-589 AD).
Laws from 1382 Sumptuary laws of Taoist priests of different rankings. Those who worked as officials in the capital were to wear red robes with golden embroidery, those who worked as officials elsewhere were to wear un-ornamented red robes, and common priests were to wear teal robes.
Taoist priests were also expected to perform various kinds of exorcisms and rituals for people who wanted a cure disease, resolve drought, etc. Such processes were detailed in Thunder Magic texts, which detailed which and when certain ritual items were needed and place, such as placing a talisman on some rice. Such rituals were performed near or at temples and other pure areas away from the public eye, and if the homeowners allowed it, the priests were able to enter their homes and erect a sacred space to perform the ritual. It is believed that the shortage of such texts from earlier periods were due to the high standards of the officials that approved them and the biased beliefs that these rituals were related to Shamanism ideas and rituals.
Taoist temples were used as places people could donate to fund new communal structures like Bridge or Road.
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