The Influence of Taoist Thought on China Culture

The influence of Taoism, especially Taoism, Laozi and Zhuangzi, on China's literature and art has surpassed that of a hundred schools of thought, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. This influence is so great that it is still not out of date.

Many modern masters of literature and art, such as Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Hu Shi, Zhou Zuoren, Lin Yutang, Fei Ming, Shi Zhecun, Shen Congwen, Wang Zengqi, Fan Ceng, Acheng, Han Shaogong, Yan Lianke, Gao Xingjian, etc., are deeply influenced by Taoist thought, and their works also have a strong Taoist meaning, so that some people regard Gao Xingjian's winning of Nobel Prize in Literature as "the triumph of Zhuangzi".

Generally speaking, the influence of Taoism on China's literature and art is mainly reflected in three aspects.

1 aesthetic

Taoism advocates Tao and nature, so the pursuit of natural beauty has become the highest realm of China's literature and art.

2. Literary creation

It is "clear water gives hibiscus, natural carving"; Reflected in the art of painting, it is the simple and implicit style of ink painting with both form and spirit.

3. Architectural art

It is the artistic conception of private gardens, "although it is done by people, it is open to the sky"; Reflected in the art of music, it is the musical character of Guqin, which is "beautiful and elegant".

At the same time, Taoism advocates inaction and forgetting words, so it also makes literature and art form a kind of aesthetic pursuit of reality and reality. At the same time, because Taoism is closely related to the prosperous times, it helps to increase the heroic color of literature and art, and Taoism is the spiritual pillar for literati to treat trauma in the declining times, so it also creates the artistic style of literature and art.

In addition, Taoism advocates that the advantages and disadvantages depend on each other, which greatly affects the structure of China's literature and art. China's architecture, especially gardens, always pursues a tortuous and repeated effect, which should be obvious first, straight and curved, and put it first and then collected. The same is true of the story process of novels and operas: first, from combination to separation, then through numerous twists and turns in the middle, and finally from separation to combination, the ending is happy.

Extended data:

Tao is an important category of China's ancient philosophy, which is used to explain the origin, noumenon, laws or principles of the world. In the history of China's philosophy, the category of "Tao" was first put forward by Taoism.

The original meaning of Tao refers to the road and the smooth road, and later it gradually developed into a truth to express the regularity of things. This change has gone through a long historical process.

At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Laozi first regarded Taoism as the origin and universal law of the universe and became the founder of Taoism. Since then, although its meaning is different in different philosophical systems, it has basically become synonymous with world origin, ontology, law or principle.

Baidu encyclopedia-Taoism