Temple Taoism is the religion as most Chinese people actually meet it: incense, paper offerings burned for the dead, divination blocks thrown for yes-or-no answers, and priests hired for funerals and blessings. Western readers who arrive through the Tao Te Ching are often surprised by it, and the split between philosophical Taoism (daojia) and religious Taoism (daojiao) is largely a Western scholarly invention — inside the tradition, the sage's detachment and the villager's incense have coexisted without much friction.