Within the Daozang, the great currents of Taoist tradition appear less as rival factions and more as interwoven streams. The classic revelatory movements of Shangqing and Lingbao are strongly represented, with their meditation scriptures, visualization methods, liturgies, and cosmological reflections. These currents, together with the early Celestial Masters (Tianshi) tradition, form the ritual and doctrinal foundations that later come to be associated with the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) lineage. In this way, the Daozang preserves not only discrete schools, but the shared scriptural bedrock from which later institutional forms arise.

Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) materials also find a place in the collection, especially in later compilations and supplements. Their texts emphasize internal alchemy (neidan), monastic discipline, and the cultivation of original nature, and include writings attributed to Wang Chongyang and his early disciples. Alongside these, the Daozang contains a wide array of ritual manuals, talismanic texts, and ceremonial instructions that reflect the mature Zhengyi tradition, deeply rooted in the Celestial Masters heritage and its interaction with local deities and communal rites.

Beyond these major lineages, the Daozang encompasses a broad spectrum of earlier and more specialized traditions. Alchemical and esoteric writings, thunder rites, and other ritual lineages appear as part of a vast tapestry rather than isolated threads. The compilers sought to gather these diverse voices into a single canon, organizing them according to older classificatory schemes while allowing the distinct accents of Shangqing, Lingbao, Zhengyi, and Quanzhen to remain audible. For a careful reader, the collection thus reveals how Taoist schools both preserve their own identities and continually absorb, reinterpret, and transform one another.