What sects were there in the Tang Dynasty?

Basic situation of Taoist development in Tang Dynasty

Taoism has become a relatively complete religion under the transformation of Kou, Lu, Tao Hongjing and others in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and with the publication of the Book of Changes, the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism has become more intense. Therefore, to talk about the development of Taoism in the later historical period, we have to consider Buddhism.

The rulers of Sui Dynasty paid more attention to Buddhism, which made many Taoist priests feel dissatisfied. At the end of Sui Dynasty, Qi Hui, a Taoist priest in Louguan, and Wang Zhiyuan, a leader of Maoshan Sect, took refuge in Li Yuan and made a lot of predictions for them. In addition, as the gate of Longxi, Li is not a traditional old clan, and needs to find a reasonable ancestor in the genealogy to overwhelm the old clan, while Taoism provides its own ally, Lao Zi, and the two sides hit it off. Since Tang claimed to be a descendant of Laozi, it was naturally impossible for him to be unkind to Taoism.

In the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan began to worship Taoism. He once called three religious figures, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, to debate Buddhism and Taoism. When the argument was fruitless, he even came to the conclusion that "the Tao is big and the Buddha is small." Of course, the monks who saw their status decline were naturally unwilling to submit, so they mistakenly found Prince Li. Wang Zhiyuan of Taoism chose to support Li Shimin. Therefore, after the change of Xuanwu Gate, Li Shimin acceded to the throne and directly promulgated the imperial edict to suppress the Buddha. Once again, all the monks with unclear minds once again tried their best to come to the table and expressed fierce opposition, which made Li Shimin very unhappy. They said the cruel words "all monks, and so on." , wrote a letter to the Ming dynasty, if they don't drop, state-owned Ke Yan ". The monks had to give up. But the wise man resolutely refused and was beaten up in court.

When Li Zhi ascended the throne, he basically followed the previous policy of "worshipping Taoism and restraining Buddhism". This situation changed after Wu Zetian gradually took power in politics. Wu Zetian's worship of Buddha is well known. It's not just a matter of faith behind this. It should be pointed out that Li Tang regards Laozi as his ancestor, so this means that Taoism is the foundation of Wang Zuo in Li Tang. In order to support the opposing forces instead, the ideal thing is to give each other a blow from their beliefs. Therefore, from the middle and late period of Emperor Gaozong to the Wu and Zhou Dynasties, the status of Buddhism rose sharply, reaching the point where it could compete with Taoism. From this, we also know a small mistake in Kenzo's planning copy: Xuan's original name is Li Zhi's son and uncle of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. In 670 AD, when Li Xi was born, the Forbidden City was shrouded in red clouds, when Emperor Gaozong was ill in bed. As soon as he heard this, he ordered the immortal to predict good or bad luck and divined that there was a demon in the palace to confuse China. Emperor Gaozong believed his words and sentenced Li Xi and his mother Liu Fei to death. Among the concubines at that time, Liu Fei was the best for Li Dan, the eighth son of Emperor Gaozong. Li Dan thanked the imperial concubine for her kindness, ventured to rescue Li Xi, and sent someone to Shaolin overnight. -If there is a so-called "Li Xi", then Li Dan's choice is definitely to send him to a Taoist temple instead of a Buddhist temple. Because the closest relationship with the royal family in Li Tang is the Taoist priest, not the wizard. In addition, you can send your children to Zhongnanshan or Huashan overnight, which is close to Chang 'an, but to Shaolin Temple-Shaanxi is too far from Henan! In addition, Shaolin Temple is close to Luoyang, the eastern capital, which is the base camp of Wu Zetian's troops, while Chang 'an is the base camp of Li Tang's troops. In addition, "Wu Zetian's generation, Shaolin tried every means to preserve Li's blood, and together with the government, became the solid backing of the Li family", which is definitely a slap in the face for Shaolin. Because Wu Zetian presided over "Xing Songshan" and "Feng Yusong" several times, the prosperity of Shaolin in Songshan has the most direct relationship with Wu Zetian.