Chapter 12 Section 6 Controversy between Louguan Taoism and Buddhism and Taoism

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Daoguan system gradually emerged, which brought about major changes in the organizational form of Taoism. In the past, Taoist officials and Taoist folks of Wudoumi Road had a room dedicated to religious activities such as self-blame and repentance.The quiet room set up by Taoist officials of a certain level in their homes is generally called Zhi, which probably has something to do with Taoist officials governing Taoist people.There are different levels of governance. The 24 governances directly controlled by the Celestial Master are equivalent to the offices of administrative divisions, but they are just thatched huts or tile-roofed buildings.

Zhu Faman, a Taoist priest of the Tang Dynasty, copied the sayings in the classic "Taizhenke" that is said to be related to the former Taoism of Heaven in the book "Records on the Commandments of Rites and Precepts": Li Tianshi governs, the local area is eighty-one steps, the number of the law is ninety-nine, only the energy of the rising sun.The center of Zhizheng is called Chongxu Pavilion. There are seven frames and six rooms and twelve feet in one area.In the center of the platform, there is a large censer five feet high, burning incense constantly.There are three households in the east, west and south, and windows are installed on the sides of the households.On the two-headed horse road, go down to Feige in Xiamen and go to court.The descendants of the Heavenly Master, the Eight Great Rulers.Taoist priests who live in poverty and help the world can go to the stage to pay homage.The rest of the staff, large and small, Chinese and foreign, offered sacrifices to wine, and bowed in the hall.Chongxian Hall starts from Wuzhang in Chongxuan Taipei.To the south of Xuantai, go to the platform for twelve feet, and near the south gate there are five gate rooms with three frames.In the west room of the door room, Diansi inspects the Qi Ji wine house.The rest of the cottages cannot have books.Twenty-four rules, each of them is like this.

The "rule" mentioned here is based on the architectural format of laying out houses on the north-south central axis, which can be regarded as the prototype of Chinese Taoist temple architecture.The layout and usage of the houses are also described in detail.However, even the names of the 24 governances in the written records of later generations of Taoism are often inconsistent with each other. It is difficult to know whether the specific situation was true at that time.The Wudou Rice Road stipulates that Taoist people be called to meet on specific days every year, with the 24th as the center, to carry out some activities such as sacrificing ancestors, paying rice money taxes, and registering population.This set of organizational structures is used to govern the religious activities of believers.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, some Taoist priests practiced Taoism in the mountains and built residences based on caves. They called them pavilions, and some were called jingshe.When these Taoist priests became famous, the emperor sent people to come down the mountain respectfully and build places for them to live and practice in the city, most of which were called pavilions, meaning to treat them as guests.For example, Emperor Ming of Song Dynasty built the Chongxu Pavilion for Lu Xiujing, and the Huaixian Pavilion in Kuaiji for Taoist Kong Lingchan.The top figures of Taoism are supported by the government.Taoist priests centered on Taoist temples, teaching disciples and preaching; Taoists who entered the temple to learn Taoism did not have to pay taxes to the government and did not accept corvee.Therefore, gymnasiums developed rapidly, and in the Southern Dynasties, they had spread all over the famous mountains in the south of the Yangtze River.Buddhism has its own monk officials, called "Sengzheng" and "Senglu"; ​​Taoism also has its own Taoist officials.Both monk officials and Taoist officials are appointed by the government and enjoy all the treatment of government officials.For example, Emperor Wu of Liang once formally set up the post of "Dao Zheng" to manage Taoist affairs.

The rise of Daoguan is an important symbol of Taoism's transformation from a state of folk secrets to social openness and officialization.Gymnasiums built in cities are mainly supported economically by the imperial court and the alms of nobles and rich people, and a small part comes from the income of performing ceremonies for others.Some gymnasiums in the local area have private households assigned by the government.Most of these households are scattered around the gymnasium. They cultivate the land for the gymnasium and do other work for the gymnasium.The low-ranking Taoist priests were also engaged in labor, and the highest-ranking pavilion master was in charge of all the properties owned by the Taoist priests, including houses and real estate. He had great power and gradually became part of the feudal monks and landlords.Taoist priests lived in the Daoguan, practiced Taoism in the Daoguan, and collectively organized religious activities, forming a Taoist sect or school system based on the Daoguan, and also formed an independent temple economy.These changes brought about by the rise of gymnasiums made the original organizational form of Tianshi Dao, which was characterized by the system of sacrificial wine, further decline.

Louguan Taoism is such a sect of Gongguan Taoism.Centered on Louguan (now Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi Province) located at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain, it spread widely in the northern Guanlong area. Some Taoist scriptures related to Louguan Taoism record that Yin Xi, the magistrate of Hangu Pass in the Western Zhou Dynasty, built a tower with grass at the northern foot of Zhongnan Mountain, and watched the stars at night on it. This is the origin of Louguan's name.Soon, Lao Tzu passed Hangu Pass on a green ox. Yin Xi welcomed Lao Tzu to Lou Guan and learned Taoism from him, which was taught by Lao Tzu.Taoist priests fabricate myths with the purpose of deifying themselves or their sect.The real history of Louguan Taoism probably began during the Wei and Jin Dynasties. At the earliest, a Taoist priest named Liang Kan lived in seclusion in Zhongnan Mountain with his apprentice Wang Jia to practice Taoism.Wang Jia later passed it on to Sun Che, Sun Che passed it on to Ma Jian, Ma Jian passed it on to Yin Tong, and then passed it on to Yin Faxing, Niu Wenhou and others.Niu Wenhou passed on Wang Daoyi, which lasted until the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and was merged into Quanzhen Taoism in the Yuan Dynasty.

Many famous Taoist priests emerged from the successors of Louguan Dao. Through their activities, the ruling class often gave Louguan Dao very generous treatment, rewarding large amounts of money, land, and households for service.Louguan Taoist temple buildings were continuously added and repaired, and became the largest Taoist center in the north at that time. Louguan Taoism integrates the classic teachings of various sects and widely absorbs the teaching methods of various sects in the south and north, but has its own characteristics in terms of belief in immortals.Many Taoist books fabricated and taught by this Taoist school, such as "The Book of Lou Guan", "The Story of Lou Guan", "Xisheng Jing", etc., all have the content of deifying Lao Tzu and Yin Xi.Among them, the one that is particularly promoted is the story of the Taishang Laojun granting Yin Xi, and the two went to the Western Regions to transform Hu into a Buddha.Taoism has always worshiped and deified Lao Tzu, but these vivid stories of Lao Tzu turning Hu into Hu are related to the struggle between Buddhism and Taoism.

Hu, in ancient times, was originally the collective name of the ethnic groups in the Northwest. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, it mostly referred to the Xiongnu, and later generally referred to foreign countries.Buddhism originated in India. Of course, it is the religion of the "Hu people" and a foreign culture. Its introduction will inevitably meet the resistance of the Chinese native culture.At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Xiangkai recommended the "Taiping Jing" to the emperor, he said "or say that Lao Tzu went to the barbarians and became a pagoda".The pagoda is the Buddha, which just means that Laozi went to a "foreign country" and became a Buddha, which is different from Laozi's saying that he turned Hu.Whether Lao Tzu became a Buddha, or Lao Tzu taught them Buddhism in order to educate the barbarians, it is no longer clear who first put forward this kind of saying.Perhaps at the beginning of Buddhism's introduction, Buddhism deliberately made up this kind of saying in order to spread the word smoothly, which means that our Buddhism was also introduced by Chinese Laozi, and Chinese Laozi is also a Buddha, so don't treat us as "Hujiao".But later, Taoism likes to mention this kind of thing the most.At the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, Wang Fu specially compiled the "Hua Hu Jing" to promote this story, belittle Buddhism, and describe the Buddhist Sakyamuni as a disciple of Lao Tzu to elevate his own status.Your Buddhism is still passed down by our ancestors, what a big deal!

After Buddhism became powerful, it also faced tit-for-tat, forged scriptures, and made up stories about the Buddha sending Confucian boy Bodhisattva Confucius, Guangjing Bodhisattva Yan Yuan, and Mahakasyapa Laozi to China to preach.Confucius, Yan Yuan, and Lao Tzu, who are revered by the Chinese, are all said to be disciples of Buddha. Taoism attacks Buddhism to be ordained and become a monk, not to marry, and not to have offspring, saying that the reason why Lao Tzu set up these rules and laws for the Hu people that are not in line with Chinese ethics and ethics is because they saw that the Hu people were too barbaric and uncivilized, and wanted them to become extinct, so they told them not to marry men , women do not marry, if a country believes in Buddhism, it will naturally perish.Seeing that the other party was so rude, the Buddhists also spoke ill of each other, and tried their best to denigrate Taoism's practice of alchemy and practice.The two religions attacked each other with the purpose of overpowering each other, gaining the support of the rulers, and expanding their power.

In the early years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Cui Hao, who believed in Taoism and represented the bureaucratic forces of the Han nationality, encouraged Emperor Taiwu to issue an edict to exterminate Buddhism, saying that Buddhism was "the way of gods and ghosts" that endangered Confucian ethics and feudal kingly laws.In the sixth year of Tianbao in the Northern Qi Dynasty (AD 555), Qi Wenxuan Emperor Gao Yang (reigned 550-559 AD) asked Buddhism and Taoism to debate, but Taoism failed in the debate and lost.Gao Yang issued an edict to abolish Taoism, ordering Taoist priests to shave their heads and become monks, and those who disobeyed would be beheaded, leaving almost no Taoist priests in Qi.

In the fourth year of Tianhe in the Northern Zhou Dynasty (569 A.D.), Emperor Wu of Zhou called together more than 2,000 prominent figures of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, as well as civil and military officials, to hold a public debate. Of.Three years later, Emperor Wu went to Xuandu Temple again and presided over the debate again, but there was still no result.In the second year, civil and military officials and people from Buddhism and Taoism were called together, and the order of "Confucianism first, Taoism second, and Buddhism last" was set.Buddhism is not convinced, and the two religions are still fighting fiercely.Finally, in the third year of Jiande (574 A.D.), Emperor Wu issued an edict to "cut off the two religions of Buddhism and Taoism, destroy all the scriptures and images, stop the recluses (that is, monks) and Taoists, and order them to return to the vulgar" (Volume 8 of "Guang Hongming Collection") , It is said that a total of more than 2 million people have returned to the secular world, and both Buddhism and Taoism have suffered losses. However, less than a month after Emperor Wu of Zhou abolished the Second Religion, he ordered the construction of Tongdao Taoist Temple, and invited Louguan Taoist priests Yan Da and Wang Yan to enter the temple as bachelors, and asked them to sort out Taoist scriptures. While Buddhism and Taoism are fighting each other, they are also merging and absorbing each other.Taoism teaches Buddhist teachings and precepts; Buddhism also learns Taoist alchemy.Tao Hongjing built the Huayang Pavilion in Maoshan. On one side of the pavilion, he built a Taoist altar and on the other side a Buddhist pagoda, which means that he "cultivated both religions".When he was about to die, he ordered that after his death, he should be buried in a large cassock used by Buddhists, and that both Buddhism and Taoism should be included in the burial utensils.In terms of Buddhism, Zen Master Nanyue Huisi, the third generation patriarch of Tiantai Sect, made a vow in his "Vows" that he would first practice to become a Taoist god, and then practice Buddhist Zen. After Yu Wenyong, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty pacified the Northern Qi Dynasty, he presided over the compilation of a hundred-volume "Supreme Secret Essentials". "Orthodox Taoist Collection" contains this book, with a catalog of 100 volumes and 68 volumes in existence.It imitates the writing style of Buddhist scriptures, and divides the previous Taoist classics into different meaning categories according to the content, and extracts and arranges them separately. It is divided into 49 meaning categories and 288 categories. The system structure of this book is very strict, and it covers a wide range, such as Taoist theology, alchemy cultivation, talisman rituals, precepts, genealogy of immortals, biographies of immortals, etc., all-encompassing.There are as many as 170 volumes of excerpts and quotations from Daoist scriptures, which reflect the development scale of Taoism in various aspects such as doctrine and religious practice in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and also reflect the desire and historical trend of the original Taoist schools to move towards integration and unification.The book mixes many sayings of Buddhism and Taoism.Like the cosmology it promotes, as well as the explanations about the formation of the human body and the destination of life, etc., you can find a lot of Buddhist sayings in it.Some of the Taoist precepts, which take up a considerable amount of space in the book, also come directly from Buddhism. Both Buddhism and Taoism compete with each other and absorb each other out of the need for self-development.In the Tang and Song dynasties, many people advocated the integration of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. This is a very striking phenomenon in the history of Chinese culture.