Taoist health care

Taoism is a philosophical thought put forward by Laozi and Zhuangzi during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Their academic thoughts have a certain influence on the formation of TCM health preservation. Taoism, because it advocates lofty nature and despises narrow utilitarianism, has long been wrongly regarded as extreme by modern people, because modern people mistakenly believe that Taoism has these historical limitations and negative aspects, which has had many adverse effects on China's traditional culture and a certain corrosive effect on the Chinese national spirit. In fact, these views of modern people are extremely wrong. To correctly understand the inaction in Taoist thought, it is not that you don't want to do anything. It just means that everything should be "right at the right time, right at the right place, and harmonious with people", and we can't act according to subjective wishes and imagination. Laozi's theory of "inaction" is often understood as a negative thought by contemporary philosophers and politicians, but it is actually wrong. Judging from the reflection of the whole philosophical concept in Tao Te Ching, inaction is actually an act without subjective judgment, and no one does it, but it is an act that follows objective laws. Generally speaking, inaction is a scientific behavior, a reasonable behavior, and therefore a positive behavior. In fact, "negative" and "positive" in modern vocabulary are misunderstood by people. Negative is to eliminate paranoia and extremism, which is a very correct behavior; Being positive means strengthening paranoia and extremes, which is a very wrong behavior. Now that the rumor has spread, there is really nothing we can do. I only hope that people who study hard will see this and know that someone has corrected it.

1. Selfish

"Small selfish desires" in Tao Te Ching. This idea of nourishing the mind and prolonging life has always been valued by health experts in past dynasties, and has penetrated into all aspects of health care, such as nourishing the mind, flirting, qigong guidance, fitness exercise and so on.

2. Be gentle and return to nature

Laozi observed in real life that new things are weak but full of vitality; When something is strong, it will cause aging. He pointed out in the Tao Te Ching: "The strong are the dead; The weak are born. " If you are often in a weak position, you can avoid premature aging. Therefore, Laozi advocates no desire, ignorance and inaction, and returns to the original and simple life state, which is the so-called "return to simplicity".

3. Have both form and spirit

Zhuangzi advocated getting rid of material desires and introducing emptiness and quietness to nourish the heart, but he did not deny that it had a certain effect on strengthening the body. "Zhuangzi Deliberately" said: "It is only a matter of longevity for bears to learn from the old and learn from the new. The person who is led by this way and the person who raises the shape are also good for Peng Zushou. " It can be seen that the ancient Daoism in China was advocated by Taoism, and it was used for fitness, treatment and disease prevention from the very beginning.

Huangdi Neijing

Huangdi Neijing said: "In the past, I was born as a god, weak but able to speak, young but not biased, long and sensitive, and successful." On the surface, this description means that the Yellow Emperor is different from us ordinary people. Every stage of his life far exceeds everyone else-he can speak when he is weak and is very agile and decisive when he is young; When I grow up, I am very stocky and agile, and when I grow up, I become the son of heaven. In fact, this is not only about the Yellow Emperor, but also about all of us-everyone is "born with spirit, weak but able to speak, young but not biased".

Children come into this world with fists in their hands, which is called "being born with God". A newborn child clenched his fist and put his thumb in it. The thumb is pressing an acupoint (between the ring finger and the little finger), which is the Shaofu point of the Heart Meridian. The heart hides the gods, and the heart governs the gods, indicating that the baby contains gods and the gas is not leaked. When everyone first came out, they were connected with their mother's soul through the umbilical cord. When the umbilical cord was cut with a bang, people were born the day after tomorrow. When people grow up, their hands slowly loosen. In the rest of their lives, some people cling to power, some people cling to fame, some people cling to profits, some people cling to money, some people cling to people and finally give up. They give up, there is no god, and people die. Lao Tzu also discovered this secret. Laozi found that babies are "weak in bones and soft in muscles, and firm in grip". Although the muscles and bones are weak, the fist is firm. So it reminds us that health care should be restored and we should slowly return to the state of babies.

"Weak but able to speak" means that when you are weak, you can speak. Let's imagine what children are saying when they first start talking. They always ask, "Mom, where am I from?" Others will ask, "Mom, will people die?" Where will you go after you die? "This is a question about the nature of life, an ultimate question and a philosophical question. Babies ask philosophical questions. The closer a person is to philosophy, the closer he is to the state of a baby. It's close to the baby's state, and it's hard for you to live long. When we grow up, we ask mostly secular questions. For example, we always ask, "Have you eaten?" "How much money can you earn a year?" "How big a house do you live in? "We lost our childlike innocence and detachment when we were young, no longer cared about the essence of life, and lost more and more innocence. Today, when we are not worried about food and clothing, we actually need to be detached, care about the essence of life and ask the ultimate question. Only by thinking more about this kind of problem can we become naive and live a long life.

"Young and impartial" means doing things very quickly when you are young, and doing what you want immediately without hesitation. When he was a child, everyone was so dedicated. For example, when a child sees a flower, he will catch it at once, no matter whether it is prickly or poisonous, no matter how bumpy the road is. But when we grow up, we tend to look forward and backward, think about it, hesitate and swing from side to side. Consider too many problems, stop "favoritism", deviate from the truth intentionally or unintentionally, concentrate on one thing, troubles gradually arise, and health is damaged.

Therefore, the life of the Yellow Emperor described in Huangdi Neijing is actually the life of each of us, but as we grow up, we gradually forget, lose our spirit, speech, eccentricity, sensitivity and childlike innocence. Through practice, let our aging life return to childhood and the baby's "sensitivity", "extreme" and "spirit", which is health preservation.

Health dilemma

Unmanned reform

It is difficult to improve the quality of believers by attaching importance to skills rather than learning.

Taoist priest, ask him to perform the ceremony, which 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. We should not only start from tolerating each other's gods, but also start from philosophical principles, scientific instruments, missionary methods and other aspects, and absorb each other's strengths as our own with tolerance, 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.