You've given instances in which the word "worship" was used, but this is not the same thing as explicit worship like how Christians worship God.
When Christians recite "Our Father," they're also functionally worshiping the Son and the Holy Spirit. If Daoists make offerings to the Three Pure Ones, they're worshiping the Dao.
There is no separation between the Dao and its gods. And liturgies are to those gods (among others, yes).They have their own offerings and liturgies, but the offerings are to other gods, not the Tao itself, and the liturgies are meant to help one cultivate the Dao, either through ritual or through worship of gods or communion with the heavens, because these things are things a virtuous person should do.
You are assuming that the Daoists perform worship in a way dissimilar to Christians or religious persons in general. Regardless of whether Daoist worship is similar to Stoic worship, I already have pointed out references to worshiping the Dao. You haven't referenced anything.In the original post on the matter, post #13, the first link is what I said about Lao Tsu mentioning that all things worship the Tao. It is similar to the Stoic concept that all things come from the Logos, and all things are guided by the pneuma, and so humans in order to follow nature must cultivate virtue as virtue is appropriate to man's nature. In this sense they are following the Logos, and one could call this a sort of "worship." But this is not like Christian worship or Worship of Zeus. This is simply following the proper course of action, and for Taoists, this is cultivating the Tao. This is just how the word was translated though, so other people do say "Worshipping the Tao" but again, they mean it like cultivation of the Tao, not worshipping it like a deity. Can you find any explicit sources that claim people worship the Tao as people Worship Zeus? Or do they merely worship Gods, who come from the Tao, as all things do? People Worship gods because this is the thing a Virtuous man should do, and because certain gods remind us and help us cultivate certain aspects of virtue, such as health or wisdom.
No, the worship of the gods is to get what the petitioner requests, whether it is good harvests, immortality, sons, or cultivation of the Dao. Where are you getting your information on Daoism?Except they're not. The worship of gods is to help one cultivate the Dao, or "worship" it, not to worship the Dao itself like a god.
EDIT: Edited for format.
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