31 - History of Taoism. cover art

31 - History of Taoism.

31 - History of Taoism.

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 History of Taoism. Three Kingdoms period (220–265). During the Three Kingdoms period, the Xuanxue (Mysterious Wisdom) school, including Wang Bi, focused on the texts of Laozi and Zhuangzi. Many of the school's members, including Wang Bi himself, were not religious in any sense. Wang Bi mostly focused on reconciling Confucian thought with Taoist thought. Because the version of the Tao Te Ching that has been passed on to the present is the one that Wang Bi commented upon, his interpretations became very influential as they were passed on alongside the Tao Te Ching. In addition, his commentary was compatible with Confucian ideas and Buddhist ideas that later entered China. This compatibility ensured Taoism would remain an important aspect of Chinese culture, and made the merging of the three religions easier in later periods, such as the Tang dynasty. Six Dynasties (316–589). Taoist alchemist Ge Hong, also known as Baopuzi (The 'Master Embracing Simplicity') was active in the third and fourth centuries and had great influence on later Taoism. Major scriptures were produced during this time period, including the Shangqing ('Supreme Clarity') (365–370) and Lingbao ('Sacred Treasure') scriptures (397–402) received at Maoshan. The Shangqing revelations were received by Yang Xi, a relative of Ge Hong's; the revelations emphasised meditative visualisation (neiguan). They spoke of the Shangqing heaven, which stood above what had been previously considered the highest heaven by Celestial Master Taoists. Yang Xi's revelations consisted of visitations from the residents of this heaven (the "Zhenren") many of whom were ancestors of a circle of aristocrats from southern China. These Zhenren spoke of an apocalypse which was to arrive in 384, and claimed that only certain people from this aristocratic circle had been chosen to be saved. For the first century of its existence, Shangqing Taoism was isolated to this aristocratic circle. However, Tao Hongjing (456–536) codified and wrote commentaries on Yang Xi's writings and allowed for the creation of Shangqing Taoism as a popular religion. The Lingbao scriptures added some Buddhist elements, such as an emphasis on universal salvation. Also, during the Six Dynasties period, the Celestial Master movement re-emerged in two distinct forms. The Northern Celestial Masters were founded in 424 century by Kou Qianzhi, and a Taoist theocracy was established that lasted until 450 CE. After this time, the Northern Celestial Masters were expelled from the Wei court and re-established themselves at Louguan where they survived into the Tang dynasty. The Southern Celestial Masters were centered at Jiankang (modern-day Nanjing), and were likely made of those adherents who fled Sichuan and others who fled from Luoyang after its fall in 311 CE. These various followers of The Way of the Celestial Master coalesced to form a distinct form of Taoism known as the Southern Celestial Masters, who lasted as a distinct movement into the fifth century. Tang dynasty (618–907). Taoism gained official status in China during the Tang dynasty, whose emperors claimed Laozi as their relative.[32] However, it was forced to compete with Confucianism and Buddhism, its major rivals, for patronage and rank. Skepticism about the existence and goodness of xian, the traditional view on heaven, and other factors boosted conversion from Chinese folk religion and Taoism to Buddhism, especially among peasants. Tiān often was seen by Chinese peasants as a capricious force that only granted certain chosen ones the privilege of becoming xian and bound all other souls in "gloomy underworld jails." Taoist sects and Buddhist temple monks were often bitter ideological rivals that made scathing statements about each other and the faith they did not represent. Emperor Xuanzong (685–762), who ruled at the height of the Tang, wrote commentaries on texts from all three of these traditions, which exemplifies the fact that in many people's lives they were not mutually exclusive. This marks the beginning of a long-lived tendency within imperial China, in which the government supported (and simultaneously regulated) all three movements. The Gaozong Emperor added the Tao Te Ching to the list of classics (jing) to be studied for the imperial examinations. Song dynasty (960–1279). Several Song emperors, most notably Huizong, were active in promoting Taoism, collecting Taoist texts and publishing editions of the Daozang. The Quanzhen school of Taoism was founded during this period, and together with the resurgent Celestial Masters called the Zhengyi is one of the two schools of Taoism that have survived to the present. The Song dynasty saw an increasingly complex interaction between the elite traditions of organised Taoism as practised by ordained Taoist ministers (daoshi) and the local traditions of folk religion as practised by spirit mediums (wu) and a new class of non-ordained ritual ...
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