Chapter 9 Section 3 Kou Qianzhi’s Transformation of the Way of Heavenly Masters

About two years after Ge Hong's death, that is, the first year of Jianyuan in the former Qin Dynasty (AD 365), a famous Taoist figure in northern China was born.Kou Qianzhi died in the ninth year of Taiping Zhenjun in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 448) and lived to be 84 years old. Kou Qianzhi was also born in a bureaucratic and noble family. Several generations of ancestors believed in the Tao of Heavenly Masters, so he was a so-called family of Taoists of Heavenly Masters.Influenced by his family, he began to learn Taoism since he was a child, and later followed Taoist priests to Huashan to practice Taoism, and finally chose Songshan as his "base" for religious activities.

Since the Cao Wei Dynasty, the Tao of Heavenly Masters, which has been widely spread in the north, still maintains a large number of witchcraft elements in its teachings and religious activities, and its organizational system is also very loose.In the last years of Cao Wei, the descendants of Zhang Lu issued the "Orders of Daoist Family" in an attempt to rectify and restore the old system of five buckets of rice, but the effect was not great.In particular, some folk Taoist organizations often launched peasant uprisings, which caused headaches for the ruling class.For example, in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Sun En, a southern Taoist priest, and his uncle Sun Tai mobilized believers to prepare for rebellion.Sun Tae was killed due to the leak of the plan.Sun En fled to the sea, gathered his disciples, and determined to take revenge.Later, he raided Kuaiji and killed Wang Xizhi's younger brother Wang Ningzhi, who was the guard at the time.Once the city was breached, the Quartet responded, and the number of troops quickly expanded to hundreds of thousands.The court was frightened and sent troops to conquer.Sun En couldn't resist, fled to the island, and finally committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea. Many believers jumped into the sea with him.

Taoist priest Lu Xun gathered Sun En's remaining troops, captured Guangzhou, and proclaimed himself General Pingnan.Once surrendered to the imperial court, sent people to pay tribute, and later rebelled, defeated and committed suicide. In addition, Fan Changsheng, a Taoist priest of the Chenghan Dynasty in the Sixteen Kingdoms, took Qingcheng Mountain in Sichuan, the birthplace of the Five Dou Rice Road, as the center of activity, and joined forces with refugee leaders Li Liu, Li Xiong and others to establish a separatist regime in Chengdu. Especially since the Jin Dynasty, Taoism has created a prophecy, which has been widely spread.It is said that the world is in chaos now, and the Taishang Laojun will come to the world under the pseudonym "Li Hong" to govern the world and do justice for the sky.Therefore, people continued to call for uprisings in the name of Li Hong.According to historical records, during the more than 90 years from the first half of the 4th century to the beginning of the 5th century, from Shandong in the east, to Sichuan and Shaanxi in the west, and to Anhui in the south, the so-called "Li Hong" uprising occurred every year.

If some aristocratic and landlord Taoist figures in the south, such as Ge Hong, only theoretically enriched and perfected the doctrines of immortal Taoism in order to attract a large number of believers, Kou Qianzhi in the north was determined to directly teach these celestial masters. Tissue itself cuts.He pretended to be Taishang Laojun and said: The world is deceitful, attacking the wrong scriptures and confusing the foolish people.But it is said that Laojun should rule, and Li Hong should come out.There are many rebels in the world, named Li Hong, and they appear every year.Among them, spirits and ghosts are seen by people in the daytime, confusing the people, calling the words of ghosts and gods, fooling the people to believe them, deceitful, calling officials and setting up titles, ants gathering people... I am very angry (huihui). ("Laojunyin Chanting Precepts Sutra", "Orthodox Taoist Collection" Lizizi)

The purpose of his transformation of Taoism is to prevent it from "creating chaos". First of all, Kou Qianzhi started to rectify the Tianshidao in terms of organizational system, abolishing the practice of privately conferring teaching positions by Taoist officials such as sacrificial wine, as well as the hereditary system of some teaching positions in Tianshidao, requiring Taoist officials and teaching positions to be Find people with good character and ability to take charge, that is, "only the virtuous are taught", so as to benefit the prosperity of Taoism.He said: "There are officials who offer sacrifices to wine, and they are said to be the line of father and son. If the son's Yin [yin seal] is unworthy, how can he inherit his predecessors?" The father died and the son was connected, so that Taoism will not be manifested." (Ibid.) and announced the abolition of the original 24 governance names of Wu Dou Mi Dao, and stipulated that believers should not change to Taoist officials at will, and Taoist officials should have strict requirements for recruiting disciples. .

Second, the regulations on religious activities were re-enacted.There were loopholes in the original system of renting rice and taxation such as entry fees and medical treatment remuneration, so that some Taoist officials sacrificed wine to oppress Taoist households and squeezed gold and silver at will.Kou Qianzhi announced that they would all be abolished, stipulating that "from now on,... only 30 pieces of paper will be input from households at the age of one year, with one tube for the pen and one stroke for the ink" (ibid.), in order to prevent various disadvantages caused by it.

In addition, he also objected to some cultivation alchemy techniques that Wu Dou Mi Dao has long pursued, especially those that do not conform to Confucian ethics.As for the so-called "immortal prescriptions" that have been passed around and taken with various medicines, Kou Qianzhi said that they can only eliminate diseases and enable people to enjoy their natural life span.He preached that Taoist believers should abide by the precepts of Taoism, such as "not to violate parents and teachers, rebellious and unfilial", "not to rebel against the king, and to murder the family and the country", and they should also earnestly perform fasting and worship, so that they can move the immortal officials from the upper world to come down to earth. He claimed that this is the right way to learn Taoism and seek immortality.

All that Kou Qianzhi did was to use Taoism's belief in Laozi and to do it in the name of the Supreme Lord.He fabricated that the Taishang Laojun gave him a book, let him be the new heavenly master, and practice the new Taoist rules according to the book. This book is "Laojun Yin Chanting Precepts", also known as " Yun Zhongyin recites "The Precepts of Xinke". Whether it is "Laojun's voice" or "Yunzhongyin", it is actually "the voice of Kou Qian", the voice of mortals on earth. It is necessary to seize the supreme leadership of Tianshi Dao, break the practice that Wudoumi Dao has always been hereditary to the position of Tianshi by Zhang's descendants, attack the original hereditary system of middle-level instructors offering wine, and further control Tianshi Dao. no.Kou Qianzhi understood that he must take the upper-level route, find a way to get close to the emperor, and gain the support of the supreme ruler in the world.

Among the dignitaries in the court of the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was a prominent prime minister, Cui Hao, who was favored by Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao (reigned 423-452 A.D.).The Cui family in Qinghe is the most famous family in the north, and Kou Qianzhi used Cui Hao's influence to gain the trust of the emperor and the support of the noble family.Cui Hao himself also believed in the Tao of Heavenly Masters. When his father was seriously ill, he cut off his fingernails and hair according to the religious ritual of the Taoism of Heavenly Masters, and prayed to the Big Dipper at night. The years are endless." ("Wei Shu · Cui Hao Biography") Therefore, Kou Qianzhi and Cui Hao hit it off, and Cui took Kou as his teacher and learned Taoism from him; Kou learned Confucianism from Cui, preparing to be the emperor's teacher .When Kou Qianzhi lobbied the imperial court, the emperor and many ministers were dubious about him, Cui Hao stepped forward to speak for him and suggested the emperor to support him.The emperor later sent people to bring gifts and sacrifices to worship Songyue, and welcomed his disciples from the mountain to the palace. "So worship the celestial master, show the new law, announce the world, and the Taoism will prosper." ("Wei Shu · Shi Laozhi") Kou Qianzhi finally realized his wish.

After being transformed by Kou Qianzhi, the Taoism of Heavenly Master changed from the original folk Taoism with a strong color of primitive witchcraft to an upper-class Taoism that conformed to Confucian ethics and the tastes of the scholar-bureaucrats and aristocrats, and became a tool suitable for the needs of the ruling class. .Therefore, it is generally called the new Tianshi Dao, or Bei Tianshi Dao, to distinguish it from the old Tianshi Dao before the transformation.