What is Taoism?

[explanation]:

China's inherent traditional religion. Named after taking Tao as the highest belief. It is an organized religion formed on the basis of China's ancient Taoist thought and theory, absorbing immortal alchemy, folk worship of ghosts and gods and witchcraft activities. Taoism, as an organized and institutionalized religion, not only has its classic teachings, practices and activities, but also has its religious groups, discipline systems and places (temples) for religious activities. This mature and complete Taoism has gone through a long process of formation and development.

History and Sect Taoism began to form in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty. From the late Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Taoism was formally formed and established. The earliest religious organization was Wudou Midao, which was founded by Ling and spread in the southwest Bashu area. Taiping Road, initiated by Zhang Jiao of Julu people, is spread all over the eight states of Qingxu, Ji You, Jingyang and Yu Yan in the Central Plains. Taiping Road and Wudoumi Road both treat people with water curses and make good use of Taoism to educate the people. Judging from its teachings and magic, it belongs to the folk primitive religious group. During the late Han Dynasty and Wei and Jin Dynasties, these two Taoist groups often organized and launched uprisings and rebellions of the lower classes, which seriously threatened the interests of the ruling class, so they were suppressed and restricted by the government. After Wei and Jin Dynasties, Taoism began to develop into an institutionalized official orthodox religion. Ge Hong, a Taoist scholar in Jin Dynasty, systematically summarized the belief in immortals and various witchcraft methods popular in the society since the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties, expounded the possibility of cultivating immortals in theory, and put forward taking elixir and other witchcraft methods to cultivate immortals. He also lashed out at the activities of early folk Taoism and put forward the theory of combining immortal magic with Confucian classics, which laid a theoretical foundation for the further development of Taoism. Since then, from the late Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Taoist reform activities initiated by Taoist priests have appeared in the north and south of China, with representatives such as Kou, Lu and Tao Hongjing. The classics, doctrines, canons and sects of Taoism have been transformed and enriched, and some new schools of Taoism, such as Shangqing School, Lingbao School, Xintianshi Road and Louguan Road, which are mainly based on classical science and education, have emerged one after another and become the mainstream of Taoism. Neo-Taoism was recognized by the official rulers, which laid the foundation for the later pattern of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.

Stone Carvings of Tao Te Ching (Zhao Meng? Book)

During the Sui, Tang and Northern Song Dynasties, official Taoism flourished. The royal family in the Tang Dynasty claimed to be the descendants of the old gentleman. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, it has praised Taoism and made it the first of the three religions. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty believed in Taoism in particular, and named Laozi the Emperor Xuanyuan and the Great Sage, taking Tao Te Ching as the imperial examination subject. The Taoist crown belongs to Zongzheng Temple, and the famous Taoist priest is deeply loved by the court. He also ordered the capitals of the two countries and all parts of the country to build large-scale palaces and temples to worship the old man, and repeatedly called the old man to teach auspicious things. Beihe honored Zhao, a Taoist god, as the ancestor of the royal family, and awarded the title of Jade Emperor many times, and built palaces for worship. Due to the respect and support of the rulers of Tang and Song Dynasties, Taoism flourished at that time. During the Tang and Northern Song Dynasties, Daozang was repeatedly edited by the government, and scholars who studied Taoist classics, doctrines and scientific instruments emerged in an endless stream, making great contributions to the development of Taoist academic culture.

After the late Tang Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty, some new changes began to appear in Taoist teachings. It is mainly manifested in the combination of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and the Golden Ludan School, which focuses on inner alchemy, began to rise in Taoism. Chen Tuan, a Taoist priest in Huashan Mountain in the Five Dynasties and the early Song Dynasty, and Zhang Boduan, a Taoist priest in the Northern Song Dynasty, absorbed the Confucian Book of Changes and the Buddhist Zen theory, combined with Taoist thought and the early Taoist alchemy method to explore the theory and method of inner alchemy. By the time the Southern Song Dynasty confronted the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, great changes had taken place in Taoism, and new Taoist schools emerged one after another. There are Quanzhen Daoism, Zhendao and Taiyi Daoism in the north, and Nanzong Daoism, Wei Qing Daoism, Shen Xiao Daoism and Jingming Daoism in the south. Early old Taoism, such as Shitiandao, Shangqing Daoism and Lingbao Daoism, also had new changes in doctrine and Taoism. The common feature of these Taoists in doctrine is that they advocate the unity of the three religions and the homology of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The question of mind and nature jointly discussed by the three religions became the central topic of Taoist philosophy in this period. Confucianism's view of heaven and Buddhism's enlightenment and Zen are absorbed and integrated by Taoism. Quanzhen Taoism and the Southern Sect of the Elixir School at that time were both religious groups specializing in inner alchemy and advocating double cultivation, forming two schools of teachers and students in the order of cultivation. Influenced by Inner alchemy, other southern Fuyou Taoism schools integrated Inner alchemy with Fuyou Taoism, and advocated "Internal alchemy for external use" and "Internal Daoism for external use", taking Inner alchemy as the basis of Fuyou mantra. Taoism is also more complete and mature. After the reunification of the Yuan Dynasty, the northern and southern Taoist schools regrouped to form Quanzhen Taoism and Zhengyi Taoism, which have been passed down to this day.

Taoism tended to decline in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and its social status gradually declined. Generally speaking, although the Taoist doctrine and teaching system have not developed greatly, Taoist thought has been further popularized and spread in the vast society. Inner alchemy, popularly explained by Taoist priests, spread to all walks of life, especially among Confucian scholars. A number of Taoist advice books, such as "Induction on Mount Tai" and "Yin Wen", are widely circulated among the people as popular books for bureaucrats and scholars to promote feudal ethics. All kinds of Taoist temples, large and small, are widely worshipped by officials and gentry. It is popular in society to help immortals turn over and fast. Taoist belief in immortals and the theory of alchemy penetrated into a large number of literary works of this era. During this period, a large number of secret religious groups in the lower classes appeared one after another, and they also absorbed Taoist thought. Some of these sects, such as Luo religion, Huang Tiandao and Hongyang, are deeply influenced by Taoism in terms of doctrines, methods and organizational systems. By the end of the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, Taoism, as a traditional religious belief, still had a certain influence on China's ideological culture and social customs.

Taoist chanting at Baiyun Temple in Beijing

Belief and magic Taoism is named after its belief in Taoism, and its teachings and immortal magic are derived from this. "Tao" was originally a philosophical concept of pre-Qin Taoism. Both Lao Zi and Zhuangzi regard Tao as the mysterious origin of all things in the world, and it is also the supreme law of the universe that transcends all things in the real world. Taoism, which began to form in the Eastern Han Dynasty, inherited Taoist thought, highlighted the mystery and transcendence of "Tao" and deified it into a religious idol with unlimited power. Taoism believes that "Avenue" not only gave birth to all things in the world when it was born in chaos, but also changed its shape and name in later generations, and came to the world to assist the emperor and save the danger? Pass on the scriptures and preach, educate the people. The old gentleman on the throne (that is, Laozi himself) is the incarnation when Daodao came to preach. The earliest Taoist group, Wudou Midao, took Avenue as the highest god and Taishang Laojun as the ancestor. After the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the gods worshipped by Taoism changed, forming a multi-god worship system headed by Sanqing Zun Shen. "Sanqing", that is, the Buddha in the early Qing Dynasty, the Buddha in the spiritual treasure of Shangqing, and the Buddha in the moral life of Shangqing, is the highest deity in the metaplasia universe, the president world and the classics. There are four emperors, five emperors, thirty-two emperors, the gods of the sun, the moon and the stars, the gods of the five mountains and the four seas, and the gods of the underworld. These are all respected by Taoism. These great gods also ruled many Cao Tian officials, magic soldiers and generals, young children and royal women, royal husbands and ceremonies, and so on. This huge and orderly system of gods is actually the projection of the bureaucratic hierarchy headed by the emperor in feudal society in heaven.

Immortals are another kind of gods in Taoist belief. Different from the above-mentioned gods of nature in heaven and earth, immortals mainly refer to gods and real people who have attained the Tao through cultivation. They live in the Qionglou of the Heavenly Palace, the Fairy Mountain Cave House or the island of China, and they have all kinds of magical powers. They can hide, change things, and come and go freely. There are many immortals recorded in the fairy tales of Taoist books, including legendary ancient immortals, emperors and generals of past dynasties, outstanding cultural figures, and Taoist magicians in Taoist history, such as Zhang Tianshi, Lv Dongbin and Zhang Sanfeng. Taoism worships some common gods worshipped by the people, such as door gods, kitchen gods, wealth gods, three official gods, earth gods, city gods, Mazu, Dongyue Emperor and so on. The worship of immortals and secular gods makes Taoism more attractive to the lower classes and becomes an integral part of their daily production and entertainment activities and customs.

Taoist alchemy furnace (Ming Dynasty)

Taoism believes that human beings can overcome disease and death by practicing health preservation and gain eternal life. Therefore, a set of complicated theories and methods of religious practice has been created. These recipes can be summarized into the following categories: the first category is the eating method originated from ancient immortals, including taking collected natural animal and plant medicinal materials and artificially refined elixir (external elixir). The purpose is to strengthen the body with drugs, prolong life and eliminate diseases, and live forever. The second category is the cultivation methods that originated from ancient health-preserving experts, including various health-preserving methods, such as thinking and nourishing the mind, breathing with fetal breath, consolidating essence in the room, guiding flexion and extension, avoiding eating and swallowing, chewing teeth, massage, beauty and so on. The purpose is to strengthen the body, calm the spirit and prolong life through self-physical and mental exercise. These two kinds of pills for external use, together with the inner alchemy for shaping the spirit, formed the inner alchemy in the later period of Taoism. The third kind of magic originated from ancient wizards and magicians, such as chanting, fasting and praying, bowing down for the first time and so on. The purpose is to summon gods to exorcise ghosts, evil spirits and eliminate disasters. This folk prescription has many superstitious elements, but it was also considered to have the effect of treating diseases and sanitation in ancient times. In addition, there are many Taoist miscellaneous techniques, such as fortune telling, fortune telling, observing the stars, observing the wind angle, changing fractal, making fog and spitting fire, begging for rain, hiding, thunder and so on. Although this kind of magic performance is also commonly used by Taoist priests in Jianghu, it has nothing to do with immortality.

The place where Taoists practice and hold religious ceremonies was called "Lu" or "Quiet Room" in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and "Taoist Hall" or "An Hall" after Sui and Tang Dynasties. Temples in past dynasties have different forms and scales, but most of them are palace-style, including Sanqing, Jade Emperor, Lv Zu and Lingguan. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, Taoist temples spread all over urban and rural areas. The daily religious activities of Taoism include chanting classes, offering sacrifices to gods and praying for festivals, and praying for believers in the Dojo to eliminate disasters and turn over the dead. There are complex disciplines in Taoism, such as learning from teachers, teaching classics, spreading Buddhism, daily life, traveling abroad, practicing meditation and so on.

[Classification]: Comprehensive Encyclopedia