orthodox, catholic and protestant are all exoteric
you are reading the tao te ching, this is even an exoteric scripture of taoism, you don't really understand taoism until you have at least read the writings of chuang tzu, where he explains the fundamental precepts of taoism, the uncarved block, action without action
the exoteric churches, no matter who their avatar, all covertly or overtly try to keep people from uncovering the esoteric, i have seen exoteric taoism, buddhism, hinduism, christianity, all of them just practising forms without a real understanding of the meaning, and an excessive interest in the material and the grotesque