earth is a reflection of heaven

The 6th century was a wonderful time to be a person interested in spiritual matters. There was an explosion of spirituality all around the world. This was the era of the great Hebrew prophets of the Bible; the Buddha’s life and ministry; the preparation of the major scriptures of Hinduism, such as the Upanishads, the Yoga Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita; Zoroastrianism developed in Persia; Athens was in its Golden age; Confucious developed his thinking in China, and at the same time, the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, the figure credited with developing what would become known as the Tao te Ching, or "The Way and Its Virtues," was supposed to have lived.
As in all religions, and perhaps particularly among those who grew up beside and from the same roots as one another, Taoism is not monolithic by any means. In China, it apparently is most strongly connected with the book called I Ching, and is strongly flavored with folk magics, ritual, special deities, as well as the concept of the philosophical recluse living simply, in harmony with nature.
Over time, most major Western articulators of Taoism, including Huston Smith and Benjamin Hoff, have drawn more on the expressions of Taoism as set forth in the Tao te Ching. This is most likely because the Tao te Ching is a text whose simplicity and beauty is nonetheless hallmarked by a uniquely powerful spiritual effectiveness; it is a handbook for the open-minded and practical spiritual seeker, as its wisdoms often include straightforward directives. The I Ching is extremely cryptic, and is used largely for making predictions.
It is one of the greatest appeals of most Eastern traditions that they comment directly and frequently on day to day living. Confucious saw the present as being out of step with the past; therefore, he encouraged a great deal of reflection and respect for ancestors and their ways, and considered the Emperor as the mediator between heaven and earth. He also advocated elaborate systems of behavior, both courtly and governmental. Of Confucious, it was said, "If the mat was not straight, the Master would not sit." The Buddha, on the other hand, felt that attachment to the world led inevitably to suffering, and that the goal should always be to seek ways to be set free of the limitations of this world, seeking Nirvana, which translates most literally as "no wind." Taoists see this view of earthly life as limiting and negative as the formalistic views of Confucianism. Taoism says that earth is a reflection of heaven, and that suffering arises when we try to make things happen outside of their true inner nature – when we try to shove round pegs into square holes or teach fish to fly. "The Tao…is the deep source of everything – it is nothing and yet it is in everything. It smoothes round sharpness and untangles the knots."