The concept of 'dining in the sunset and lying in the old ravine' seems to be a health preserving method for cultivating one's character, but it is related to these three schools behind it
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introduction
The term "health preservation" has been repeatedly mentioned in recent years, presenting a trend towards youthfulness. The joke of "soaking goji berries in a thermos" is even more popular. So where does the term 'health preservation' come from? In ancient times where medical technology was not developed, how did the royal family and nobles, as well as the common people, maintain their health?
High requirements for "health preservation", with Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism joining forces to create a lively atmosphere
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period more than two thousand years ago, the term "health preservation" had already appeared in the "Annals of Meng Dong" of the Lv family. The book clearly expressed that a wise person's health preservation must comply with the changes in the cold and hot weather of the four seasons, reconcile emotions of joy and anger, and adapt well to the surrounding environment, so that the combination of yin and yang is strong and soft, and diseases like this do not invade people, thus prolonging their lifespan.
The development of health preservation reached the Tang Dynasty, where the Tang people engaged in all material and spiritual activities to maintain their bodies, eliminate illnesses, prolong life, eliminate troubles, entertain the spirit, enhance wisdom, and develop the potential of life.
The health preservation here is not simply a traditional way of preventing and treating diseases to maintain physiological life, nor is it limited to basic health preservation that relies on diet and daily life for body maintenance. It also includes spiritual health preservation that relies on faith to achieve spiritual detachment.
The rulers of the Tang Dynasty adopted an enlightened cultural policy of coexistence and inclusiveness among the three religions, resulting in a cultural phenomenon of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism being three legged. Confucianism, as the orthodox ideology of feudal society, has always been valued by the ruling class, and it was no exception in the Tang Dynasty.Taoism, as a native religion, has long had a widespread market among the people.
The Tang royal family also claimed to be a descendant of Laozi, the founder of Taoism, and highly respected Taoism. The immortal health preservation technique in Taoism had great appeal to rulers, as this Taoism flourished in the Tang Dynasty.
Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism each have their own health preservation ideas and practical approaches, providing multiple choices for Tang people's health preservation and creating a good atmosphere for Tang people's health preservation.
Confucian health preservation, prioritizing "benevolence and righteousness"
Under the social background of the coexistence of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism in the Tang Dynasty, the moral health preservation of Confucianism faced unprecedented challenges. The primary problem to be solved by the Tang Dynasty Confucianism in terms of health preservation is how to awaken people's renewed attention to the moral behavior of health preservation advocated by Confucianism, which emphasizes benevolence, righteousness, solar terms, and social responsibility, and return to the core of people's spiritual beliefs in the disputes among Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.
The representative among them should be Han Yu,He believes that Confucianism's sincerity is to achieve success in entering the world, while Buddhism's governance of the mind is to seek Buddhist liberation without asking about family or national affairs.
Indicate the value of Confucianism. His "theory of orthodoxy" here reaffirms the Confucian idea of using benevolence, righteousness, and morality to maintain health, and highlights the value of the Confucian way of nourishing life. To a large extent, it has countered the challenges faced by Confucianism in terms of Buddhist and Taoist health preservation. Although Han Yu actively advocates against Buddhism, his thoughts incorporate certain Buddhist health preservation ideas.
Han Yu's student Li Ao inherited his teacher's ideas and innovatively proposed the viewpoint of "good nature, evil emotions". In his book "The Book of Restoration", it is mentioned that innate goodness makes people become saints, while the seven emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, evil, and desire confuse and destroy innate goodness. After destroying innate goodness, goodness is hidden and cannot be fully utilized, and people cannot become saints.So to become a saint, one must curb the seven passions and restore one's nature. The ultimate goal of all of this is the path of inner sainthood and outer kingship.
Although Li Ao is a representative figure of anti Buddhism. But these thoughts of his borrowed from the ideas of Zen Buddhism, such as "truly referring to the human heart" and "understanding the mind and nature". Just as Zen believes that everyone has Buddha nature and can become a Buddha. Li Ao believes that everyone has a good nature and can become a saint. This viewpoint was recognized by the Tang Dynasty royal family and thus conveyed to the literati and officialdom class.
The Tang Dynasty emperors placed great emphasis on using the Confucian principles of benevolence, righteousness, loyalty, and filial piety to select and cultivate princes, so they urged and urged the princes to use Confucian moral health preservation to establish themselves and govern the country and the country.
Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty taught the crown prince not to shoot the breeding deer and warned him to be benevolent and filial and promote others.
Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty inherited the tradition of benevolence, filial piety, and wisdom from Wang Hong, and became an early master of poetry and calligraphy
In short, when the emperor chose to appoint a crown prince, he highly valued the moral cultivation of benevolence, righteousness, loyalty, and filial piety in the Confucian school. And those princes who use Confucian benevolence, righteousness, and morality to maintain their health are often conferred the title of Crown Prince.
Not only the royal family, but also officials who were prime ministers in the early Middle Tang Dynasty, Fang Xuanling, attached great importance to educating their children with the Confucian moral integrity of "loyalty".Huan Yanfan's mother also admonished his son Huan Yanfan by saying, 'Loyalty and filial piety do not stand side by side, and righteousness is the foundation of the country.'.
Buddhist and Taoist health preservation, seeking internal blessings and rewards, and using external elixirs and talismans
Buddhist health preservation mainly relies on one's own scriptures, and the focus is on achieving liberation and nirvana through the practice of transcending the cycle of life and death. Taoist health preservation often relies on external powers, such as elixirs, talismans, and so on.The health preservation methods of the Buddhist and Taoist families have many supporters at various levels of society, including royal officials and ordinary people.
There is a lot of content related to Buddhist health preservation in Buddhist scriptures, mostly written by eminent monks. For example, in the Tang Dynasty's Zhan Ran's "Zhuan Hongjue of Zhi Guan Fu Xing", it is mentioned that one should regularly work and regulate their diet during childbirth. And as mentioned in the "Sutra of Infinite Pure and Equal Consciousness", it is necessary to do all kinds of good deeds and not do all kinds of evil things, so that the body can transcend life and death, obtain its virtues and blessings, and obtain the path of longevity and nirvana.
For the Taoist way of health preservation, Buddhism directly expressed its disapproval in the "Guanghongming Collection", denying the Taoist method of external alchemy health preservation, believing that the length of life depends on karma, and doing evil karma has evil consequences, and doing good karma will have good consequences.People can achieve selflessness and benefit the world by achieving good and evil retribution to maintain health.
In terms of the royal family, there were emperors in the Tang Dynasty who believed in Buddhism spiritually and wanted to use Buddhism to solve problems and eliminate troubles. For this purpose, an order was issued to establish an "Inner Dao Hall" in the palace. The so-called "Inner Dao Field" refers to a specialized place set up by the emperor in the palace for worshipping Buddha, so that the emperor can practice Buddhist affairs. The duty of a monk in the Inner Taoist Temple is to preach scriptures, answer questions and dispel doubts, and relieve worries for the emperor.
Later emperors such as Empress Wu Zetian, Emperor Yizong of Tang, and Emperor Xizong of Tang, in order to demonstrate their devout faith in Buddhism, invited eminent monks to receive Bodhisattva's precepts or canonization in the Inner Taoist Temple.Tang Zhongzong also invited the monk Daoliang to accept the Bodhisattva precepts for him, and Tang Zong invited the monk Liangjie as his Bodhisattva preceptor. The so-called acceptance of Bodhisattva's precepts. It is to practice according to the precepts of becoming a Bodhisattva.
The influence of Taoism in the imperial family of the Tang Dynasty was no less than that of Buddhism. In the Li Tang Dynasty, Laozi Li Er was revered as the "Holy Ancestor of Tang" and posthumously named Emperor Xuanyuan of the Supreme Court, demonstrating its influence. In the early days of Taoism, the famous proposition was put forward that "my destiny belongs to me, not to heaven and earth". So Taoism tries every means to exert its subjective initiative to extend its lifespan. Specifically, it manifests as refining pills and taking pills to maintain health.
Most members of the Tang Dynasty's royal family, from the emperor to the aristocratic women, hoped to use pills to stay away from diseases and prolong life. Since Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, emperors of the Tang Dynasty have been enthusiastic about refining alchemy pills in order to achieve longevity.Emperor Gaozong of Tang was weak and sickly, and in order to cure and nourish himself, he relied on alchemy and medication.
In the first year of the Zongzhang reign, Emperor Gaozong ordered the widespread use of various Taoist techniques to refine yellow and white together.
Yellow and white are used to make gold and silver. This type of gold is called medicinal gold by Tang people, and silver is called medicinal silver. Only experts can discern the presence of five colored qi from the burning flames and distinguish the authenticity of medicinal gold from gold.
During the reign of Empress Wu, she ordered Ye Fashan and Zhang Changzong to collect herbs and refine pills for her. In addition, she has also taken pills refined by Zhang Changzong's brothers. During the Wuzong Dynasty, Wuzong still planted immortal grass in front of the palace.Tang Wuzong, Tang Xuanzong, and Tang Xizong all took pills.
However, from the perspective of the effectiveness of health preservation practices, things went against their wishes. The alchemy and consumption of the Tang emperors did not fulfill their desire to drive away diseases and prolong life, but instead accelerated their deaths. Both Xianzong and Wuzong became irritable and moody due to taking pills, and were prone to beating and scolding the attendants around them. This is highly likely due to the emperors damaging their nerves by taking pills, resulting in a change in temperament and abnormal behavior.
There are also many royal women who are infatuated with Taoist health preservation techniques. They hope to maintain their appearance and immortality by taking pills. According to the "Tang Huiyao", "New Book of Tang", and "Old Book of Tang",About 207 princesses in the Tang Dynasty, including Princess Taiping, Princess Xindu, Princess Changning, Princess Ankang, Princess Jinxian, Princess Yuzhen, and others, have entered or have entered the Tao.
The preferences of the royal family often lead to social trends, which are pursued and imitated by aristocrats, literati, literati, and other social classes. In terms of Buddhism, many literati actively choose to practice meditation, enlightenment, and self-cultivation. They believe that spiritual transcendence and breaking free from worldly constraints can help them maintain health.If there is initiative, there will be passivity. These passive scholars who enter Buddhism are mostly for the purpose of avoiding political disasters, and they retreat into empty doors only to save their own lives.
In the late Tang Dynasty, some literati, due to poor imperial examinations and hopeless career prospects, and coincided with turbulent times, used the Taoist philosophy of seclusion and health preservation to seek liberation. One of the more famous is Li Bai, the "Poetry Immortal".
Li Bai often encountered setbacks in his official career, and his ambition to be loyal to the monarch and serve the country, as well as to achieve success, could not be fully realized. In this situation, Li Bai turned to Taoism. His thoughts were not only deeply influenced by the philosophical ideas of Laozi and Zhuangzi, but also deeply influenced by the Dao style.He has received Fu Zhuan script, collected herbs, refined elixirs, practiced Qigong, and became a Taoist in the wandering world.
And he not only became a Taoist himself, but also led others to search for immortal grass, find immortals, and refine immortal elixirs. Du Fu and Gao Shi traveled around the country with him, but later they left after a period of unsuccessful searches. Of course, Li Bai did not have any gains at all. In addition to admiring the great mountains and rivers, and having rich knowledge, he also invited Master Gao to teach Taoism in the Purple Pole Palace.
Not only literary officials, but also military generals are not to be underestimated in this regard. The most famous one is the Huainan Jiedushi Gao Pian, who himself specialized in refining alchemy and seeking immortality. It's both carving wooden cranes and wearing feather suits, refining gold and burning pills, costing countless expenses.
Apart from those who are obsessed with alchemy and taking pills, there are also those who experience physical poisoning and discomfort after personally taking pills or awaken to the death of other users. They have fiercely criticized and exposed Taoist alchemy and taking pills.
Among them, Bai Juyi wrote poems such as "Stop Medication" and "Quit Medication" for this purpose. Han Yu also deeply exposed the harm of Tang people taking the Golden Pill. He recorded with his own eyes the tragic deaths of seven civil and military officials who had befriended him, who had been poisoned by the Golden Pill, making the world deeply aware of it.
Finally, there was the common people, and Buddhism was prevalent in the Tang Dynasty. Due to the demonstration role of Buddhism by emperors, bureaucrats, and literati, monks preached through preaching scriptures, secular teachings, and promoting the suffering of life, karmic reincarnation, and entering the Western paradise after death, leading many people to convert to Buddhism in order to relieve the suffering of reality.
The common people's belief in Buddhism is more manifested in the fact that devout faith can help them eliminate diseases and achieve longevity. They use Buddhist health practices such as making good wishes, releasing life, chanting Buddha, worshipping Buddha, reciting scriptures, holding mantras, and practicing blessings.
At the beginning of the New Year, "there were hundreds of communes in Tongzhou, which created images of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva in the east and west, and set up workshops every day."
In terms of Taoist health preservation, ordinary people have limited financial resources. Moreover, there is a lack of sufficient knowledge and cultural literacy in alchemy to absorb Taoist alchemy and dietary health preservation theories. So their Taoist health preservation is mainly manifested in their adherence to Taoist rituals and a devout attitude of worship.
There is a superstitious element in the folk Taoist belief in health preservation.They believe that diseases can be cured through Taoist practices and the use of talismans, including life prolonging talismans, eye washing talismans, birth inducing talismans, and exorcism talismans.
epilogue
The health preservation culture of the Tang Dynasty evolved around the development of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, playing an important role in the development history of ancient Chinese health preservation culture. And it provides a scientific basis for modern scientific health preservation in China in a certain sense. Although there are also many absurd and unscientific elements mixed in it, overall, the flaws do not conceal the merits, which does not affect the glorious achievements and contributions of the Tang people in health preservation. I believe that with the continuous progress of science and technology, people's health preservation theories will also become more perfect, and their health preservation techniques will also become more advanced.
reference:
The Book of Sui
Taiping Guangji
Zhiguan Assistant Xing Zhuan Hong Jue
Guanghongming Collection
The Buddha's Sutra of Infinite Purity and Equal Consciousness
Tang Huiyao
The New Book of Tang
Old Book of Tang
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