Daoism was influenced by the Chinese conception of the universe and the beliefs of primitive religion. Observing natural phenomena such as the pupating of cicadas and the sloughing of snakes led people to believe that ways exist to transcend corporeal form.
道教受中國宇宙觀影響，加上源於原始宗教的信仰，蟬蛻、蛇蛻等自然現象引導人們相信有超越形體的方法存在。