The Cultural Dilemma of Taoist Culture

After a religion has been popular for a long time, it will inevitably produce some dross and burdens, so it is often necessary to inject new blood or carry out reforms to make it adapt to the times, last forever, and make its theory and missionary methods more and more perfect. For example, Buddhism was founded in India, but it has become one of the three major religions in the world today. In fact, it is to constantly absorb the strengths of others and take them for yourself. Hinayana Buddhism advocates impermanence, bitterness, emptiness and selflessness, and is a religion based on birth; After Mahayana was introduced to China, influenced by China culture, it absorbed a lot of Taoist thoughts of metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties, and began to change, advocating righteousness, happiness, self-sufficiency and purity. In the Tang Dynasty, tantra turned to worship the altar and went deep into the ordinary life of ordinary people seeking money and treating diseases. After the Republic of China, the west wind spread eastward and the traditional society changed greatly. In the second year of the Republic of China, Master Taixu of Buddhism vigorously advocated the Buddhist revolution, starting from the aspects of doctrine, organization and property, advocating human Buddhism, getting rid of Buddhism's religion of rebirth (the dead) and becoming a religion of the living. Although these changes made Buddhism gradually become a non-Buddhist Buddhism, and at that time, it also attracted strong opposition and struggle, but it made Buddhism survive. The space Buddhist revolution has made great contributions to Buddhism. The explanation is as follows:

Taixu was born in December of the 15th year of Guangxu (1980) and became a monk at the age of sixteen. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, I deeply felt the social changes at that time, the influx of western thoughts, the prevalence of Darwin's theory of evolution, the great changes in social customs and the necessity of Buddhist reform. In the late Qing Dynasty, Taixu often interacted with revolutionaries. After the founding of the Republic of China, Taixu advocated the Buddhist revolution. In the second year of the Republic of China (19 13), Taixu advocated at the memorial service of Shanghai Eight Fingers Toutuo:

"There are three suitable revolutions in Buddhism: one is organizational revolution, the other is property revolution, and the third is academic revolution. However, such an idea was slandered as fallacy by the Buddhist series at that time, and was regarded as framing devadatta of Sakyamuni. Moire: "The monk Taixu said that Buddhism needs revolution in three aspects: organizational revolution, property revolution and academic revolution. ..... Our reporter: It's ridiculous to find the term "Buddhist Revolution" in the near future! It would be reckless to openly talk nonsense in public! However, just like a monk's speech, Buddhism wants revolution for three reasons, and only the second property issue remains to be discussed. If the third article involves academic theory, devadatta, pretending to be a new Buddha, will rise from hell! The word "organizational revolution" in Article 1 is not only unreasonable, but also illogical! 」

Although Taixu's reform thought was attacked by Buddhists themselves from the beginning, Taixu still kept his original intention, publishing personal articles, universal truth, atheism and other articles in Buddhist monthly magazines one after another, denying the theory of creator and soul, and thinking that "there is no God, neither creator nor soul, and everything is inaction." Taixu regards Buddhism as an atheistic religion, and the Taoist language uses the word "inaction". It can be seen that there is a difference between Taixu and traditional views in doctrinal interpretation. In the fourth year of the Republic of China (A.D. 19 15), Taixu wrote "Sorting out the Sangha System", which established a Buddhist organizational structure quite similar to the western Catholic organization model and advocated the separation of church and state. "Teaching research institutes, teaching tasks, teaching books, teaching products and canon are divided into different systems, and centralized production system is implemented. He also wrote "People Take the Right Path", which regards the five precepts and ten virtues of Buddhism as the moral norms of believers at home, so as to go deep into the people and improve society. Gradually turn Buddhism from secularization to the world. In the 9th year of the Republic of China (1920), the first issue of Haichaoyin magazine founded by Taixu was published. Haichaoyin magazine is an important publication of Buddhism, and Taixu used it to publicize his reform ideas. He has published articles in this magazine and different publications under his real name or pseudonym. Taixu himself has trained many students, and his students are also infected with Taixu's revolutionary enthusiasm. In order to achieve the goal of reforming Buddhism, he constantly struggled with the conservative monks at that time and made extreme remarks. In the fierce reform movement at the annual meeting of Buddhist youth under Taixu's jurisdiction, he distributed leaflets and attacked Yin Guang and other traditional monks, calling Yin Guang "the first demon king".

Taixu students Ning and Zhang Zongzai, etc. Describing Yin Guang and Xian Di as great demons; Space students woke up and called Yin Guang and Xian Di "pig-headed elders" and Wang Yiting and Han Huang "maggots and laymen". The words are extremely abusive and thrilling. We can imagine the fierce attack of the Buddhist reformers on traditional monks at that time from the fact that Yin Guang's letter contained "3,000 words in leaflets" and Taixu disciples called Yin Guang and other monks "devils" and "pig heads". This situation is easily reminiscent of the fierce debate, mutual attack and even killing between the traditional Hinayana Buddhism and the reformed Mahayana Buddhism when Hinayana became Mahayana. Although Mahayana later won, the teachings of Mahayana were absorbed and preserved. Hinayana and Mahayana were opposed by contradictions and eventually unified. By the same token, although modern reformist Buddhism has won with the change of the current situation, the conservative forces represented by Yin Guang have been absorbed and carried forward by modern Buddhism because of their traditional practice of Buddhism, especially the simple and easy-to-understand Pure Land Buddhism such as chanting Buddha. The Buddhist revolution described in detail above is mainly used to show that the reform process of a religion is arduous, but it has to be. On the other hand, Taoism advocates that "my life lies in lawlessness", believing that there is no need to die if I live, and I can contend with heaven and pursue eternal life by myself. According to Records of Historical Records Guan Chan, the theory of seeking immortals was popular during the Warring States Period. Since the Zhou Dynasty, there have been great reforms, such as the Five Taoism in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the improvement of Koudui in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the creation of Quanzhen Taoism in the Jin (Song) period. None of these changes is as great as Buddhism. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, there have been no major new reforms in 800 years. Especially after the Republic of China, under the impact of the west, great changes have taken place in the whole social ideological trend and social form. Various religions, old and new, have emerged in China and the West. Taoism did not adjust its pace to suit it, nor did it organize complete missionary work, so it could not compete with other religions, thus gradually losing its followers and heading for decline. The decline of Taoism is related to the lack of powerful people to lead Taoist reform; Here are a few more examples to discuss the main reasons for its decline: Taoist priest, if invited to perform the ceremony, can last for three days and three nights; But it's hard for him to give a lecture, and it's hard to last for half an hour. There is a serious imbalance between "learning" and "technique". Now the abbots of many temples in Taiwan Province Province not only can't read the Taoist scriptures, but even mispronounce them. The abbots and believers in temples generally have the problem of low quality. Although there are many reasons for this phenomenon, Taoism and temples attach more importance to "technique" than "Jia Yan Road". 1April, 1982, the Shifang University in Keelung printed a complimentary book, and "Printing Main Banknotes" is the most comprehensive book for collecting banknote printing. Later, the Taichung Lotus Society also published it, but it did not include this letter, almost out of a taboo mentality for sages. Yin Guang was attacked by Taixu students more than once. In the 18th year of the Republic of China, Yin Shun's Chronicle of Master Taixu said: "When I was old (May 29th), I reviled the great fool. It can be seen that in addition to the leaflets of the Buddhist YMCA, Tai Xu's disciple Dayu also wrote an article attacking Yin Guang.

Learning is one of the main reasons.

"Art" refers to scientific instruments, geomantic omen, divination and fortune telling. "Learning" refers to expounding the truth of Confucian classics. Chinese communities in Taiwan Province Province and Southeast Asia attach great importance to the five techniques commonly known as "mountain", "medicine", "destiny", "physiognomy" and "divination". Mountain (immortal road) refers to meditation, gas refining, health preservation, medicine bait, practice and so on. Medicine (medical treatment) refers to acupuncture, prescription, massage, diet therapy and psychotherapy. Fate (fortune telling) refers to the number of Chinese characters, eight characters, four pillars and so on. Facade (reconnaissance) refers to palm reading, physiognomy, physiognomy, name reading (Ming Xue), tomb reading (Yin Zhai), house reading (Yang Zhai), geomantic mapping and so on. Divination refers to divination such as Yizhan, Liu Ren and Taiyi. These ancient sayings of numerology have their own value. They only pay too much attention to "skills" and instruments, but don't discuss them from a philosophical point of view, which can easily lead people to falsely call them superstitions. "Skill" must be guided and introduced by "learning" so as not to be vulgar and inferior, and the deeper the skill, the higher the practice, so as not to take skill as evil. "Learning" refers to the essence of philosophy in Confucian classics. There are many good classics in the Taoist scriptures, some of which are about benevolence and righteousness, such as Tao Te Ching, Nanhua Ching, Huangdi Yinfujing, Taiping Ching, Zhouyi Shentongqi, Baopuzi, Neijing, Wuzhenpian and so on. Some of them involve folk customs such as Beidou Qing and Nandou Qing. Today, there are too many Taoist techniques, but academic theoretical knowledge is generally ignored, and it is difficult to improve the quality of believers.

Third, there is a lack of religious organizations, poor preaching and no sense of identity.

Religions in today's world, such as Christianity and Catholicism in the West, and even Buddhism and emerging religions in Taiwan Province Province, mostly meet regularly (or often), and they organize religious groups to preach. On the other hand, Taoists are scattered. At ordinary times, everyone worships their own gods and doesn't get together regularly. Temples don't communicate with each other, and no one teaches. Those who worship Mazu consider themselves Mazu believers; Those who worship Guan Yu are Guan Yu believers; I have no concept of Taoist immortals, have no sense of identity with Taoism, and don't even think I am a Taoist; Some even deliberately cling to Buddhism, making Taoist temples abboted by monks and becoming a strange phenomenon that is neither Buddhism nor Taoism. Therefore, although there are many temples with flourishing incense in Taiwan Province Province, they can't play their due role due to their own fragmented ways and lack of sense of identity.

Fourth, there is a lack of preachers.

The abbot and Taoist priest of the Palace Temple have devoted their whole lives to science, instruments and skills, and few people can explain the scriptures, and there are no regular and public lectures. There are many wireless TV stations in Taiwan Province Province, six or seven of which regularly broadcast Buddhist lectures, and even many TV stations broadcast Buddhist programs all day. Buddhism has its own dedicated TV station to preach. In addition to the TV station, the expanded radio station also has Buddhist lectures. In contrast, there are few lectures on Taoism on TV and radio. How can you win believers by preaching like this? In terms of training talents, although there is a small-scale Muzha Taoist College, it has never trained talents who can preach and preach. A religion that lacks the initiative to preach to the people has lost a lot in its starting point. Failure to train and attach importance to lecturers will lead to the rapid loss of Taoism among the younger generation of believers. You can imagine the consequences of the old job without new branches.

Fifth, the practice method is too wandering and not sorted out.

In all religions in the world, believers are often divided into "sacred" and "secular". Ordinary people are "models". Only by practicing Buddhism in a specific religion can they become "models" and "saints". Practice plays an important role in religious activities. As far as Taoism is concerned, enlightened people are sacred, and those who are not enlightened are all. Ordinary people are ordinary, and immortals are sacred. Ordinary people, no practice; Being a "god" after death and a "fairy" after practicing good deeds are all "saints". From being a saint, we should take practice as a bridge. Taoism has a long history, so there are many factions and different cultivation methods. It is a heavy symbol, and it is important to keep thinking on the surface. The outer Dan is yellow and white, and the inner Dan is exquisite, emphasizing the harmony between men and women in the room; In addition, there are different methods of worship, calling, sending, drug bait, avoiding grain, eating gas, keeping one, being silent and so on. In today's utilitarian society, someone needs to simplify the practice order and summarize it in order. If no one collects and sorts out many methods of Taoism, it will be difficult for beginners to start and attract believers.

Six, excessive tolerance, lost himself.

Tolerance, originally a virtue, should also be one of the conditions for success; Because Taoism is broad and tolerant, although there are religious disputes in China and Turkey, there will be no religious war. The result of the dispute is gradually moving towards integration. However, excessive tolerance has turned advantages into disadvantages and lost its own characteristics, which has become the main reason for failure. Since the Song Dynasty, a large number of Buddhists have been mixed with Taoism for a long time, which leads to people today who can't distinguish Buddhism from Taoism and think that worshipping Buddha is a kind of belief. This is not only the case in Taiwan Province Province, but also in overseas Chinese communities. At the beginning of March this year, the author went to Singapore for a meeting. Li, a Taoist leader, told the author that some Taoist temples in Singapore even put Indian gods and Muslim gods in temples for worship. However, this seemingly religious integration and the existence of the nation have not been recognized, but have attracted protests from Hindus and Muslims who believe that their gods have been blasphemed. This example shows that excessive tolerance is not only useless, but also harmful. Tolerance is not a bad thing, but it must be selective, not just from tolerance, but from philosophical principles, scientific instruments, missionary methods and other aspects, using tolerance to absorb each other's strengths for their own use, so as to benefit. The tolerance of Taoism promotes the integration of Buddhism and Taoism, but excessive tolerance also makes Taoism lose itself. For example, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, due to the advocacy of novels such as The Journey to the West and Romance of Gods, Taoism absorbed Guanyin, Yuanbao Buddha, Manjusri and other gods as its own gods, which were under the jurisdiction of the Jade Emperor. However, this practice has been given a high status, resulting in the consequences of regardless of Buddhism and Taoism. In contrast, although Buddhism also absorbs Taoist gods, for example, Guan Gong's rank in Taoism is emperor, but Buddhism regards him as a wise god, and his rank is only the protector of Buddhism, so his status is low. Taoism puts the gods of Buddhism at a higher level, while Buddhism puts the gods of Taoism at a lower level, which leads to the misleading of Buddhism.