Content Introduction
Some recent events have caused many media and netizens who were relatively unfamiliar with Taoism to suddenly become interested in Taoist culture, especially health preservation and alchemy cultivation. Unprecedented care and interest. I think this is not only a challenge for Taoism, but also a rare opportunity to promote and popularize its own cultural characteristics.
As a scholar who has done some research on Taoism, I would like to express some superficial personal opinions on how to correctly understand and view Taoist culture, especially the issues of health preservation and alchemy cultivation.
1
Taoism is an ancient religion that originated in China and is an important carrier of Chinese traditional culture. There is indeed a lot of content in traditional Taoist culture that talks about health cultivation and traditional Chinese medicine. Such as Cun Si, Dao Yin (including martial arts), bigu, Qi circulation (including fetal breath), massage, throat fluid, Fang Zhong, Zhu You, outer elixir, inner elixir, etc. There are also some alchemy techniques that were popular among ancient people, such as talisman techniques, Kanyu techniques, divination techniques, five thunder techniques, etc. There are even many interesting acrobatic magic performances, such as swallowing mist and spitting fire, falling into water and not drowning, hiding through walls, throwing beans into soldiers, walking on stilts, running towards the sun and the moon, etc. Taoist fasting rituals are also interspersed with various dramatic performances such as music, dance, worship, singing, parades, etc. At the same time, exquisite costumes, paintings, sculptures and plastic arts are displayed.
Some of these alchemy techniques come from China's primitive religion and folk culture, some are created by Taoist masters of the past dynasties, and some are introduced from the Western Regions and India during the Han and Tang Dynasties. In short, Taoism has preserved quite rich traditional cultural content, which is a rare treasure trove of living information for us to understand the beliefs and living customs of the ancient Chinese people, as well as the cultural exchanges between China and neighboring countries.
I don’t want to introduce the content of these alchemy techniques in detail here. What I want to emphasize is that some humanities and religious scholars who do not study Taoism take it for granted when they see that there are many alchemy cultivation contents in Taoism. Taoism is judged as witchcraft and superstition, and it is believed that Taoism is not a religion, or is just a low-level primitive religion like shamanism that lacks the spirit of religious transcendence. This is a misunderstanding.
II
Although Taoist magic has absorbed part of the content of China’s primitive religion or folk beliefs, we cannot think of it as shamanism or witchcraft. Because Taoism is a religion that is guided by Taoist philosophy, accepts Confucian moral and etiquette norms, and absorbs and integrates Mahayana Buddhism's view of vacuum, mind-nature theory, and concepts of cause and effect, and is a religion that combines the strengths of various schools of thought. It is a high-level religion that is reasonable and ethical; it is a form of belief that takes the sublimation and transcendence of human spiritual and physical life as its ultimate goal.
As early as the Han Dynasty, Huang-Lao Taoist thought at that time integrated the pre-Qin Lao-Zhuang philosophy and the cosmology of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, forming a gasification cosmology and world order concept characterized by natural evolution. This concept later became the theoretical basis of Taoist teachings and was instilled in Taoist health practices and various other methods.
The procedures of these alchemy techniques are designed and developed in accordance with the natural Tao method, that is, the cosmology that Yuan Qi generates all things and the world model theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements. Just take Taoist fasting rituals and spells as an example: the height and scope of the Taoist altar in the rituals; the time, direction, and color of the runes; the name, amount, and clothing of the gods to be invoked, and the order of chanting and performing spells, etc. . We can all find that there is a neat and standardized rhythm and scale, which is based on some kind of human rational design and is not arbitrary. If orthodox Taoism and the spell books of folk wizards are put together, experts who study Taoism will be able to see the difference with a little comparison.
This kind of rationality embodied in Taoist alchemy is of course not the logical instrumental rationality in the Western cultural tradition, but the natural principle of the unity of nature and man unique to Chinese culture, or "the principle of heaven". ","reason". Its core concept is to explain the origin, development and changes of the universe and life based on the division and evolution of yin, yang and five elements.
Three
It is a gasification theory of the universe and life. For nearly 2,500 years, this concept has been the basic concept held by various schools of thought in China; it is the theoretical core of Chinese philosophical thoughts, religious beliefs and various practical technologies. Taoism and Taoism have made the most important contribution to the formation and continuation of this concept. If we take away this theoretical core, China's spiritual and material civilization achievements over the past thousands of years will become unreasonable and nameless traces, and reduced to "feudal superstition" that some people can denounce at will. If this kind of cultural nihilism becomes a reality, I am afraid that no Chinese descendants with emotions would want to see it.
Chinese traditional religion and culture is a native culture that evolved spontaneously. Its formation path and results are completely different from Western culture and science, but each has its own characteristics. Therefore, we can say that Taoist health-preserving techniques and other methods are unscientific, but they are by no means irrational, and they are not completely ineffective. Traditional Chinese medicine, which is basically similar to Taoist theory, is also non-scientific but effective. The Chinese have used it to treat diseases for thousands of years, and have reproduced the largest population in the world. There has never been a devastating black death like the Black Death in European history.
The Chinese have been able to effectively prevent and treat ancient human killers such as diabetes (diabetes) and smallpox. The method of treating diseases was first seen in the works of Taoist scholars. Of course, there is already a gap between the effectiveness of ancient Taoism and traditional Chinese medicine and contemporary science and Western medicine.
But this is just due to different times and cultural backgrounds. We must not use this to dismiss all non-Western scientific beliefs and cultures in human history as superstition and erase them altogether.
Mr. Joseph Needham, the famous British science historian, spoke highly of the great contribution of Taoist alchemy in ancient Chinese chemistry, medicine, life sciences, etc. in his book "China's Science and Technology and Civilization" . Taoist priests are believed to be the most creative people in ancient China. Gunpowder was first invented by Taoist priests who made alchemy, and later Taoist priests used it to drive away ghosts. The original metal dissolving technology and gold plating technology were also invented by alchemy Taoist priests. The first engraving prints were Taoist talismans. The compass turned out to be a tool used by Feng Shui masters.
The greatest simplicity is the law of development of all things in the universe, the essence of Chinese culture, and Chinese Taoist philosophy. It is an extremely simple principle that can be explained in one or two sentences. As the saying goes, "One sentence of truth is preached, but thousands of books are falsely preached." "The beginning of all things is from simplicity to simplicity, evolution to complexity" comes from Laozi's "Tao Te Ching". The principle of simplicity is not only valued by philosophical schools such as Taoism and Confucianism, but also the realm of life in this world.
The Tao is simple, the Tao is invisible, the Tao is powerless. This is an advanced state of nature, returning to simplicity. In this state of pure inaction, selfless selflessness, and the unity of nature and man, if you don’t seek to increase gong, your gong will naturally increase; if you don’t seek to cure diseases, your body and mind will naturally adjust; if you don’t seek functions, your functions will appear naturally; if you don’t seek to increase the size of the heavens, your abilities will naturally appear. , all the meridians are naturally smooth, and the most profound truth is the simplest and most common truth. Turning the most complex into the simplest is the most brilliant thing. The greatest men were noble simply because they were simple.
The road is simple, and life is also simple. Enlightenment is simple when it is profound, and profound when it is simple. From seeing a mountain as a mountain to seeing a mountain as a mountain, the realm is different. From simple to complex, and then from complex to simple, it is sublimation. The meaning of life lies in simplicity. When people practice to a certain extent, they will be indifferent to some things and become simple. You can understand others, but others may not necessarily understand you. In fact, people no longer understand, but agree.
Be sophisticated in mind and simple in form. Torturing the soul is the ultimate human question. Jane is not only a kind of beauty, but also a kind of ability and a state. Seeing through but not explaining is a high state; seeing hazily, the heart is penetrated; not being penetrated, knowing the unknown, deliberately not seeing through, is penetrating; knowing that the things in the world cannot be penetrated, is penetrating, the incomprehension after thoroughness, the incomprehension after understanding Understand, it is rare to be confused and this is the true state.
"The greatest simplicity" is the wisdom of being a human being. It takes wisdom to make a complex thing simple. To return complicated things to simplicity requires wisdom, ability, and determination. Wise people like simplicity. Therefore, success and profit should not be rushed; fame and wealth should not be burdened by them. Indifference leads to clear aspirations, tranquility leads to distance. We should live a simple life, do things in a down-to-earth manner, and use wisdom to simplify difficulties.
For fame and fortune, we throw away all favors and disgrace, as pure as the innocent virginity of childhood, as simple as the fertile soil cultivated by our fathers. Only those with a calm mood can see "the setting sun shines on the countryside, and the cattle and sheep return to the back alleys." In the leisurely way, you can hear the sounds of nature like "the lotus breeze brings autumn air, the clear sound of bamboo dew dripping", and feel the emptiness of "the empty mountain with no people, but the sound of people's voices". Tao Yuanming was such a person, so he was able to recite the quatrain "Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, leisurely seeing the southern mountains"; Ouyang Xiu was also such a person, so he was still able to write "The Drunkard's Pavilion" leisurely and contentedly when he was exiled.
The road is simple, and life is also simple. Jane is not material poverty, but spiritual freedom; Jane is not the emptiness of life, but the simplicity of the soul. The principle of simplicity is the highest and is often the simplest. People should learn to be simple, live simply, act simply, put down their selfish thoughts, transcend the prison of self-desire, truly forget their own thoughts, forget their own consciousness, and enter A state of forgetfulness.
The complexity of life comes from confusion, resist temptation with "benevolence", and relieve confusion with "wisdom". The lack of confusion is the sign of life changing from complexity to simplicity. There are three thousand pieces of weak water, but I only take one gourd to drink it; all aspects of life must be followed one by one. To be happy and forget about worries, to be simple to preserve the truth, is the "highest simplicity" in life.
There is a story about the simplicity of the Tao and the Tao with an ordinary mind: A traveler asked the old Taoist: "What did you do before you attained the Tao?" The old Taoist said: "Chopping wood, carrying water, and cooking." The traveler asked : "What about after attaining the Dao?" The old Taoist said: "Chopping wood and carrying water for cooking." The traveler asked again: "Then what does it mean to attain the Dao?" The old Taoist said: "Before attaining the Dao, when chopping wood, I was thinking about carrying water. Always thinking about cooking; after attaining the Tao, cutting wood means cutting wood, carrying water means carrying water, and cooking means cooking. "The conversation between the old Taoist master and the practitioner made us enlightened, and many of the most profound truths are contained in it. Some extremely simple ideas.
The road to simplicity makes life easy. A thousand people have a thousand ways of living and living paths. After passing through the years and life, I have many emotions in my heart. Let go of everything and feel at ease. Let go now and feel at ease now. Many problems in life do not need to be kept in mind. , many of the burdens of life do not need to be carried on your shoulders. Only when you let go of a thought can you feel the joy of simple life and the pleasure of spiritual flight. If you want to change something, you must first find yourself. We all have potential energy, but it is easy: covered by habits, blurred by time, and consumed by inertia. We should remember what should be remembered, forget what should be forgotten, change what can be changed, and accept what cannot be changed. We must face the past with the least regret, the present with the least waste, and the future with the most dreams.
The way of heaven and earth is simple. Life is short, don’t make things too complicated, live simply. Once the drama of life begins, no matter how frightened you are, you have to perform until the end of the drama. The biggest challenge in the process of growing up is that in some parts of the road, you can only walk in silence. Working happily and living a simple life is a happy life. People must understand that contentment is always the best. All sadness, pain, and things that cannot be given up are just the things in life. A transition that you skip to make it more exciting.
The best life is a simple life, with a cup of tea, a table, a quiet place, ordinary days, and no distracting thoughts. But a simple life requires all kinds of efforts, so that you can enjoy life carefree and happily. In general, life is perfect. What is not perfect is the mentality. People who do not know how to appreciate will use pickiness to make everything incomplete. Live a simple life, act spontaneously, be sensible, take things as they come, and accept the reality calmly; do things simply, don't cause trouble, don't cause trouble, don't be afraid of getting into trouble, don't regret, don't complain, and don't hesitate to do what you do.
Life is a long confrontation, some people laugh at the beginning, and some people win at the end. Try to smile, try to look back, relax yourself, don't force yourself, don't be sluggish, don't be impetuous. Live a simple life, follow your heart, spontaneity, and fate, be the best version of yourself, be content, smile, and be indifferent. No matter how hard and tired you are, as long as you keep moving forward, your own scenery will eventually appear.
Life is not easy, the key depends on how you live. The situation depends on the state of mind. If the state of mind changes, the situation will also change. The more you ask from life, the more intense and complex it becomes, and the less easy it becomes. On the contrary, the less you ask for in life, the easier it is to be satisfied and happy. The country and the bright moon have no permanent owner, and they are the masters when they have leisure; the road is simple, live in the present, and you can always be happy if you are content.
Enlighten into the state of tranquility without thoughts, and the moon in the circle of the heart is bright, showing the state of tranquility; the calmness of the mind is natural, free and easy, and the life with a smile like water shows the charm of tranquility. In life, plainness is the most true, silence is the most beautiful, and the most lasting thing in life is not prosperity, but dullness, not excitement but happiness. Keep a childlike innocence. When you are unhappy, talk to your friends about your troubles without restraint. When you are happy, laugh without restraint. Maybe all the sorrows will flow away in the talk and all the tension will be released in the laughter. Like a child, live a simple life, live a happy life, keep your soul original, everything is beautiful.
There is always a story in life that I want to tell but find it difficult to tell. In this way, it gradually becomes a song in my heart. That's how people are, they always yearn for what they can't get, and they only feel precious when they lose it. The so-called gains and losses, love, scenery, and inns are all slowly fading away in the dust and smoke of time. Although it is difficult to let go of some things, things that do not belong to you will eventually go away.
A person is destined to experience a lot in his life. On the road of mortal life, there are loud laughter, tears of grievance, ignorant persistence, confidence of success, and vigilance of failure. Every experience is destined to be precious. The abundance of life comes from the compassion of the heart, the beauty of life comes from having a normal heart, a simple life makes people relaxed and happy, and simple thoughts make people peaceful and tranquil. Because of simplicity, we can deeply understand the lightness of life, and because of simplicity, we can understand the tranquility of the soul.
Four
At least three of China’s four great inventions are related to Taoism. There are also anesthetic herbs, which may have been originally collected by Taoist priests seeking immortality in the mountains; Hua Tuo, the famous doctor who invented Ma Fei Powder, was revered as a deity by Taoism and is still worshiped today. Famous traditional Chinese medicine experts in history, such as Ge Hong, the author of "The Back of the Elbow", Tao Hongjing, the author of "Compendium of Materia Medica", Sun Simiao, the author of "Qian Jin Yao Prescription", and Meng Shen, the author of "Dietotherapeutic Materia Medica", are all Taoists and alchemists. If there were no Taoist priests who were "superstitious" about alchemy, how could China have these inventions? In the Western Middle Ages, religion was the enemy of science. In ancient China, Taoist priests were the mothers of technological creation. It can be seen from this that the true relationship between religion and technology is by no means as simple as some so-called "scientific anti-counterfeiting" people imagine.
In human history, two different intellectual and cultural systems, the West and China, have emerged, each with effective effects. This is a blessing to mankind. Because of the mutual exchanges between them, they can each learn from each other's strengths and complement each other's weaknesses, forming a new original culture. The rapid development of China's social system and ideological culture in modern times is the result of absorbing Western science, technology and humanistic ideas. Similarly, many modern Western scholars, from Leibniz to Jung, have been inspired by Chinese Confucian and Taoist classics to create their new theories. Cultural diversity and difference are the source of human creativity. This is a truth proven by both history and reality. Wouldn't it be better to preserve an effective spiritual and cultural system for mankind? Why should it be unified with the West?
We have already said that Taoist alchemy is not witchcraft, but Taoism that can be explained with reason. In fact, even witchcraft is the subject of scientific research. You don’t need to get nervous or excited when you hear this word. Witchcraft is a phenomenon that has existed for a long time in human history. From primitive tribes to the most technologically advanced European and American countries today, there are people who believe in witchcraft. Since it is an objective social phenomenon, we should observe, understand, analyze and study it with a scientific attitude, and explain its existence and reasons. Rather than beating it to death with a stick in the name of science.
Five
There are many anthropologists who study witchcraft in modern times in the West. The most famous British scholar Fraser is known as "The Golden Bough". One of the greatest books ever written.” Fraser divided the progress of human culture into three stages: magic, religion and science. When it comes to the relationship between witchcraft and science, he has a shocking point. He believed that witchcraft and science were close relatives, and that witchcraft had paved the way for the development of science. He said: "Wicca and science are similar in their concepts of understanding the world. Both believe that the succession of events is completely regular and certain.
And because these evolutions are caused by Determined by unchanging laws, they can be accurately foreseen and deduced. All uncertain, accidental and unexpected factors are excluded from the natural process and can be understood by those who know the cause of things well. To him who comes into contact with the mysterious clockwork of this vast and complex natural machine of the universe, both magic and science seem to open up to him infinite prospects of possibility.” (Chapter 4 of "The Golden Bough", translated by Xu Yuxin and others, Beijing New World Publishing House, 2006)
I believe those who blindly worship science and belittle witchcraft will be shocked when they read this passage. The greatest scientist in the West actually believes that both magic and science can accurately predict and predict the future? This is no joke. I also want to tell these people that the reason why so many people believe in witchcraft from ancient times to the present is not because they are ignorant and easily deceived, but because belief in witchcraft can indeed bring certain effects to people. Witchcraft may be ineffective in fulfilling people's true wishes, but it is effective in soothing and satisfying people's emotional needs. In fact, humans have many psychological or emotional needs that can only or only be satisfied by witchcraft.
Six
For example, if you have hatred and fear of a powerful enemy, you cannot defeat him, you can only curse him. The curse cannot actually harm the enemy, but it can help restore one's own psychological balance and alleviate the mental disorder caused by fear and hatred. Another example is that for a patient with a difficult disease, although the witch doctor's magic cannot cure him, it can at least alleviate his psychological pain and fear of death.
In fact, for a patient with terminal cancer or AIDS, even in the most modern hospital, the chief doctor may prescribe him a placebo medicine or analgesic. At this time, neither the witchcraft of quacks nor the imported medicines of medical doctors had much the same effect on patients, and the latter was much more expensive than the former. From a cost-effectiveness perspective, patients are likely to choose not to go to the hospital. This is not because he is stupid, but because he is smart, or because he simply cannot afford expensive medicine.
The role of witchcraft in psychotherapy also applies to Eastern religions such as Hinduism (esotericism) and Taoism that retain more elements of primitive religions. Western scholars have conducted research and writings in this area. For example, Jung, a master of analytical psychology in the 20th century, made incisive comments on the German translations of the Taoist inner alchemy classics "Taiyi Jinhua Purpose" and "Huiming Jing" and wrote a book "The Secret of the Golden Flower".
It explores the psychological activities of human unconsciousness. In addition, it is said that some scholars in Europe are applying Taoist doctrines to research on hospice care to comfort endangered patients. There are Chinese scholars in the United States who are trying to use interventricular surgery to treat male dysfunction. There are also scholars who run Taoist health centers. Some European countries have Tai Chi, martial arts, Qigong and other practice groups. There are Chinese religious groups in Southeast Asian countries who are trying to use alchemy to cure drug addiction. In general, the exploration of traditional Eastern religious alchemy for health care and treatment, especially for common psychological, spiritual, and functional diseases in modern society, to make up for the shortcomings of Western medicine, has been launched overseas.
Seven
In fact, the living conditions of human beings are extremely complex. Everyone is faced with a situation that only he knows how to deal with. The ancients said that just like drinking water, one knows whether it is cold or warm. That's what it means. In order to cope with complex life situations, people have developed various forms of spirituality and wisdom.
Witchcraft, religion, science, ethics, customs, etc. are all forms of wisdom used by humans to deal with life problems. Relying on a certain kind of wisdom alone, whether it is high-level or low-level, scientific or non-scientific, is not enough to deal with all the problems faced by mankind. The most ignorant people in the world are not those who believe in witchcraft, religion, or health care, but those who blindly believe that a certain kind of wisdom can solve all problems. The original meaning of the word "superstition" is blind belief.
The question is not what you believe, but how you believe it. If scientific knowledge is regarded as rigid dogma instead of a truth-seeking and pragmatic spirit of exploration, science will also become harmful superstition. Just like worshiping a mortal Taoist priest as a great immortal. The truly creative Taoists in history were actually honest people who were humble, simple, and obscure. The truly accomplished scientists are those who do serious and practical learning in their studies and laboratories. We will never go to the media to show off and go around looking for targets with a scientific stick.
Looking objectively, Taoist health and cultivation methods contain reasonable elements that are still effective today, or elements that need to be studied and transformed; of course, there are also many that have become invalid, but some ordinary people still believe in them. Harmful content. Personally, I think that those reasonable elements should be carried forward and those that need to be reformed can be studied. Some methods that have failed but are not harmful do not need to be banned altogether.
8
In some legal religious sites, professional Taoist priests can be allowed to engage in related activities that are not illegal and harmful to others. Analyzing and studying the works of professional scholars to identify authenticity should be encouraged. People must be allowed to research and explore new ways to maintain health and treat diseases. During the exploration process, there will be mistakes and mistakes, and mistakes must be corrected in a timely manner. But if exploration is not allowed, there will never be new inventions or creations. Foreign countries are already ahead of us in this regard, but domestically there are almost none due to restrictions in policy, funding and professional talent. It is precisely because there are no people who seriously study and explore that there is room for scammers.
The most unacceptable attitude is to blindly worship Western science, while belittling and criticizing China's own religion and culture, always citing issues that are not in line with science, and slandering and belittling China's own religion and culture as "feudal superstition" and "witchcraft" technique". Science is a good thing and no one is against the development of science. But the purpose of developing science is to benefit mankind, not to use it as a whip to beat the rich and diverse flowers of human spiritual civilization until they wither.
Yesterday, we wanted to eliminate traditional Chinese medicine. Today, we are insulting Taoist priests. We wish we could write off Chinese culture. Such people should really be given popular science education, not to teach them scientific common sense, but to teach them the true scientific spirit and the moral character that scientists should have. In addition, they should also be given additional courses in humanities and social sciences, including basic knowledge of Taoism. In terms of guarding against deception, knowledge from the humanities is sometimes more effective than the natural sciences.