Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/186

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THE IDEA OF GOD IN THE MILLENNIUM
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happiness. Man's duty was to cultivate the Way and the sages undertook to teach it to mankind. The Way was one which to all thinkers looked alike, but the methods of reaching it as taught by them were different.

Lao-tze, a great mystic born in 601 b.c., is the founder of Taoism. He teaches quietism. Confucius (551–479 b.c.) is the man of the world and teaches a moral code of personal conduct. His religion is a discipline of life and his system is a reaction against Taoism.