The basic situation of the development of Taoism in the Tang Dynasty

Taoism has become a relatively complete and formed religion under the transformation of Kou Qianzhi, Lu Xiujing, Tao Hongjing and others in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. With the release of the "On the Yi Xia" by Gu Huan, a Taoist priest in Southern Qi, it further marked the fierce struggle between . Therefore, to talk about the development of Taoism in a historical period, Buddhism has to be considered.

The rulers of the Sui Dynasty attached more importance to Buddhism, which made many Taoist priests feel dissatisfied. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the Taoist Qi Hui of Louguan and the leader of Maoshan Sect Wang Zhiyuan both defected to Li Yuan and created a large number of prophecies and divination for him. In addition, the Li family, as a clan of Longxi, was not an old traditional aristocratic clan, so they had to find a reasonable initial ancestor in the genealogy to overwhelm the old aristocratic clan. The Taoist priests provided their own leader Laozi, and the two sides hit it off. Since the Tang Dynasty regarded himself as Laozi's descendants, it was naturally impossible for them to treat Taoism well.

Since Li Yuan began to worship Taoism, he had summoned people from Confucianism, three times to debate . In the face of the failure of the debate, he directly concluded that "Tao is big and Buddha is small". Of course, the monks who saw that their status had declined were naturally unwilling to submit in this way, so they mistakenly found the prince Li Jiancheng. Wang Zhiyuan and others of Taoism chose to support Li Shimin. Therefore, after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Shimin ascended the throne and directly issued an edict to suppress the Buddha. The monks who were not very clear-headed once again made a statement and expressed fierce opposition, which made Li Shimin very unhappy and said the harsh words "When talking to monks, the imperial edict was issued, and if they did not surrender, the country had strict subjects." The monks had to give up. Wei Zhishi was firmly dissatisfied, and were beaten in court.

When Li Zhi succeeded to the throne, he basically followed the previous policy of "respecting Taoism and suppressing Buddha". This situation changed after Wu Zetian gradually participated in the government and took over the great power. Wu Zetian's worship of Buddha was well known. And it was not simply a matter of faith. It should be noted that Li Tang took Lao Tzu as his ancestor, so this means that Taoism was the foundation of King Li Tang. If you want to replace it and support the opposing forces, the most ideal thing is to fundamentally attack the other party from the faith. Therefore, from the middle and late Gaozong to the Wuzhou period, the status of Buddhism rose sharply and reached the point where it could compete with Taoism.

At that time, the Grand Historian Fu Yi (born a Taoist priest and proficient in astronomical calendars) wrote to Emperor Gaozu of Tang twice in the fourth year of Wude and the seventh year of Wude. Based on Confucian ethics, he believed that Buddhism had many disadvantages, "not helpful to the people" and "harmful to the country". He pointed out that Buddhism has its own temple property but does not need to pay taxes, and the number of Buddhists has increased without serving, which is not conducive to the long-term rule of the country.

"Old Book of Tang: Biography of Fu Yi": The Buddha was in the Western Regions, saying that he was far away, and translated the Hu books in the Chinese way, and he was entrusted with his false responsibilities. Therefore, he was disloyal and unfilial, and cut his hair and bowed to the emperor and his relatives; he was wandering with food, and changed his clothes to escape rent and levy.

Fu Yi's move attracted the consent of many Taoist priests, such as Li Zhongqing, who also wrote the book "Ten Different Distinctions and Nine Mysteries" to provide public opinion offensives.

The author's historical bacteria of gossip | 2019-12-9 22:03:10

1. "The Legend of the Two Dragons of the Tang Dynasty" - Upgrading from the protagonist to the dispute between

Huang Yi's "The Legend of the Two Dragons of the Tang Dynasty" is a treasure of Chinese martial arts novels. In the novel, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's journey of upgrading and fighting monsters to becoming top masters, the tense description of the battlefield is fascinating. Huang Yi's setting of combining the characters of the novel with warlords in the late Sui Dynasty, and the various forces in the Central Plains are even more amazing. In the cultural core of "The Legend of the Two Dragons of the Tang Dynasty", it always revolves around civilians and family, Buddhists and Taoism. To avoid being too long, I would like to introduce the dispute between in the book first.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, as the two protagonists in the book, have been indissoluble with Taoism based on the Taoist secret book "The Secret of Eternal Life" in the book. Their practices revolve around the law of inaction, one still and one movement, one yin and one yang, etc. For example, their "Eight Methods in the Well" are the most prominent in the spirit of Taoism. Even the immortal seal method created by their opponent "Shi Zhixuan" also reflects the transformation of yin and yang, life and death everywhere. Cihang Jingzhai, a major martial arts force in the book, is the leader of the Buddhist sect in the book. They strongly support Li Shimin during the chaos in the world, hoping to stabilize the world as soon as possible and resolve the crisis of chaos in the world peacefully. Many decent masters in the book are driven by Cihang Jingzhai, which shows the Buddhist power.

The dispute between in the book is accompanied by the end of the novel, and it finally seems that Buddhism has achieved victory. So in real history, how did the power of evolve in the early Tang Dynasty (here only refers to Li Yuan and Li Shimin periods)? This is the core theme that this article wants to discuss with you.

2. A great discussion on in the Tang Dynasty in history

However, when determining the specific development strategies of the two schools of in the early Tang Dynasty, the government and the people had a great discussion. Before explaining the strategy, it is necessary to introduce this crucial Buddhist and Taoism debate first.

(I) The attack of Taoist forces

At that time, the Grand Historian Fu Yi (born a Taoist priest and proficient in astronomical calendars) wrote to Emperor Gaozu of Tang twice in the fourth year of Wude and the seventh year of Wude. Based on Confucian ethics, he believed that Buddhism had many disadvantages, "not helpful to the people" and "harmful to the country". He pointed out that Buddhism has its own temple property but does not need to pay taxes, and the number of Buddhists has increased without serving, which is not conducive to the long-term rule of the country.

"Old Book of Tang: Biography of Fu Yi": The Buddha was in the Western Regions, saying that he was far away, and translated the Hu books in the Chinese way, and he was entrusted with his false responsibilities. Therefore, he was disloyal and unfilial, and cut his hair and bowed to the emperor and his relatives; he was wandering with food, and changed his clothes to escape rent and levy.

Fu Yi's move attracted the consent of many Taoist priests, such as Li Zhongqing, who also wrote the book "Ten Different Distinctions and Nine Mysteries" to provide public opinion offensives.

(II) The counterattack of Buddhist forces

However, in the face of Taoist public opinion offensive, some people in Buddhism also stood up. The eminent monk Falin at that time was known as the "protective monk". In the face of the criticism of Fu Yi and others, his response was very complete. He learned from the previous lessons of direct reference to Buddhist scriptures and refuting the poor effect and wrote the book "Theory of Destruction of Evils".

In "Theory of Destruction of Evils", Falin discusses that Buddhism and Confucianism not only have similarities, but even have more than that. They both advocate the use of the Five Constant Persons (the corresponding Five Precepts in Buddhism) as the standard for conduct and dealing with things. Confucianism uses the Five Constant Persons as the standard for human beings, while Buddhism even regards the Five Constant Persons as the prerequisite for being a person. He believes that Buddhism is just a formal way to give up family affection, monarch and ministers, etc., but in order to find the "great sentimentality" to escape from the sea of ​​suffering:

"Theory of Defeating Evil": Although the appearance is lacking in the form of a relative, he is filial to his filial piety, and his ritual is in harmony with the master and his heart is in a favor. He is favored by his enemies and relatives, and his blessings are revealed. How can he be confined to minor violations?

Not only that, he also refuted the "Ten Distinctions and Nine Mysteries" by writing the book "The Discussion on the Righteousness", which can be said to be a waste of money.

In fact, the early Tang Dynasty had a completely different attitude than the Sui Dynasty. Although the two dynasties were short, Li Yuan, Li Shimin and others were once officials in the Sui Dynasty, but they were completely different from Emperor Wen of Sui’s fanaticism about Buddhism. They chose to respect Taoism and support the development of Taoism. When Li Yuan was in power, he recognized Laozi Li Dan as the ancestor of the Li Tang Dynasty.

In the eighth year of Wude, Li Yuan issued an edict to determine the basic religious strategies of Taoism first and Buddhism later:

The old teaching Confucius, the sect was the first to the sect, and then to the rise of Buddhism. It is advisable to follow the guest rituals. The old teachings were the first, the second to Confucius, and then to the last to the sect.

After Li Shimin's reign, in the eleventh year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin once again promulgated the "Order of Taoist Priests in Front of Monks" in order to support the development of Taoism, which once again reiterated the leading position of Taoism:

...As for titles, the Taoist priest’s female crown can be before monks and nuns.

Of course, compared with Li Yuan, Li Shimin's support for Taoism is more obvious. For example, he once built Taoist temples in Bozhou, Yanzhou and other places, and also arranged funds and personnel specifically.

It can be said that Taoism ushered in a period of vigorous development at this time.

In fact, from the perspective of social reality, Buddhism had developed to a peak at that time, and the phrase "480 temples in the Southern Dynasties" revealed the rapid development of Buddhism. If the Sui Dynasty was the honeymoon period of Buddhism, then the early Tang Dynasty, especially during Li Yuan's reign, was not so friendly to Buddhism.

After Li Yuan ascended the Nine Five Emperors, he not only directly established the position of Buddhism as the edict as mentioned above, but also issued an edict in March of the ninth year of Wude. Although the edict affirmed the role of Buddhism, it exposed more of the drawbacks of Buddhism. For example, the edict pointed out that Buddhism has disadvantages such as "the lazy and lazy people who avoid labor service and slaughter them." Moreover, because Buddhism was powerful at that time, although Taoism was also among the edict, it objectively played a role in supporting Taoism. According to the edict of "The Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the Edict of the E

However, things turned around at this time. Due to the Xuanwu Gate Incident on June 3 of that year, Li Yuan was forced to abdicate. After Li Shimin ascended the throne, in order to stabilize the situation and fight for the original Li Jiancheng as soon as possible, Li Yuanji's forces chose to amnesty the world, so Buddhism returned to its original appearance.
Chapter completed!