Do you know who the historical archetypes of taishanglaojun and the four immortals are? Next, the editor of China story net will explain it to you.
As we all know, Taoism is a religion native to our country. Among them, two saints are collectively called “Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi” – that is, Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi. Their thoughts are actually the main theoretical basis of Taoism, especially Lao Zi’s Tao Te Ching, from which the name “Taoism” comes.
Lao Tzu and Zhuang Zi are both living historical figures and one of the hundred schools of thought in the pre-Qin period. However, since they are the saints of Taoism and have successively built a huge Taoist immortal system after the founding of Taoism by Tianshi Zhang in later generations, it is reasonable that these two must be worshipped in a very high position.
However, this point is common to Lao Tzu – he is respected as one of the highest Sanqing in Taoism, and even has a higher evaluation of “one Qi turns into Sanqing”, while Zhuang Zi is only honored as “Nanhua immortal”, one of the four immortals of Taoism, and can be regarded as the apprentice of the supreme Lao Tzu, but later Taoism has built many gods with higher status than him – both as Taoist saints, Why are they so different?
Next, the Lord of mortals will introduce these two saints respectively, and then see their position in the Taoist immortal system.
02 Lao Tzu, one of the three Qing Dynasties, was the supreme Laojun, and Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, was also called laodan. His original name was Li Er. He was from the state of Chu in the spring and Autumn period. It is said that he once worked as a librarian. At that time, Confucius specially visited him and received his advice.
Later, Lao Tzu saw through the world and rode out of Hangu pass West on a green bull. Before leaving, he was begged by his disciples to leave a mental Dharma, which is the famous “Tao Te Ching” in later generations, and also the main ideological basis of Taoism.
After leaving the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu floated out of the pass and disappeared, but according to the disciples and grandchildren behind Taoism, Lao Tzu went to heaven, and then became one of the “Taiqing moral true monarch”, that is, the supreme Lao Tzu.
One more thing to say here is that in the Taoist temple, the display position of Sanqing is generally the Yuanshi Tianzun of Yuqing in the middle, the taozhenjun of Taiqing on the left, and the Lingbao Tianzun of Shangqing on the right, so some friends think that Lao Tzu’s status is not as good as the Yuanshi Tianzun. In fact, this understanding is wrong. In the Tao Te Ching, it was once said that “a gentleman lives on the left”, so it is the most noble position on the left of Taoism, which is different from Confucianism and Buddhism, We must pay attention to this.
“Tao Te Ching”: “a gentleman’s residence is expensive to the left, and his military use is expensive to the right.”
In addition, there is Lao Tzu’s saying that “one Qi turns into three Qings”, which also comes from the “Tao generates one, two, two, three and all things” in the Tao Te Ching, implying that Lao Tzu was born from the Tao of heaven, and then turned into three Qings, and then into all things. From this point of view, the whole three Qings are actually the embodiment of Lao Tzu, so the name of “Daozu” is well deserved.
This is also reflected in literary and artistic works. Don’t be affected by the TV series journey to the West. You feel that the supreme old gentleman is a subordinate of the Jade Emperor. In fact, it is by no means so. The original book clearly states that when the supreme old gentleman visits the Jade Emperor, the Jade Emperor will go out of the door and greet him respectfully, and the two sides are definitely not superior and subordinate.
Moreover, the journey to the West has also been described many times. Since the founding of the world, taishanglaojun has existed. Most of the treasures in the book are not refined in taishanglaojun’s Bagua stove, but also extracted from various fairy vines. It is self-evident how high this qualification and status are.
03 Zhuangzi, Nanhua immortal of the four immortals. After Lao Tzu is finished, let’s talk about Zhuangzi again.
Zhuang Zi, formerly known as Zhuang Zhou, was born in the state of song. It is said that he also worked as a small official like a lacquered garden official. His work Zhuang Zi is magnificent, far-reaching and ethereal. It is the best successor of Lao Zi’s thought. Therefore, it is called “Lao Zhuang” by later generations, which is similar to the two sages of Confucianism, “Confucius and Mencius”.
However, in the Taoist immortal system, Zhuang Zi’s position is far from that of Lao Tzu. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, he was called “Nanhua immortal”, so the book Zhuang Zi is also called “Nanhua Sutra”.
Real person is a unique title or level of Taoism, which refers to those who cultivate truth and become Taoism, have insight into the Tao of heaven, and integrate heaven and man. This is a very high but common title, such as the seven sons of Quanzhen in the legend of the Eagle Shooting hero, who are respected by others as real people.
“Dong Yuan nature Sutra”: “Tao says: a real person, who has a void in his body, is true to Tao, and is the same as nature, omnipotent, omniscient, and omniscient.”
But this is not so special in the immortal system. After all, which of the gods is not cultivated by human beings? Therefore, there are tens of thousands of real people in the heaven, which can’t be generalized with Lao Tzu’s position as the Supreme Lord.
Of course, Zhuangzi, a real person, is certainly not ordinary. Taoism specifically lists the “four real people” and emphasizes that they are the personal disciples of the Taoist ancestor, the Supreme Lord, which is different from the general “real people”.
Which four are these four real people? They are immortal tongxuan, immortal Chongxu, immortal Nanhua and immortal Dongling, and Zhuangzi ranks third. Now let’s introduce the other three people. In fact, they all have prototypes.
Immortal tongxuan refers to Wenzi, a Taoist figure in the Warring States period. His surname is Xin, his name is Xuan, and his name is Ji ran, named Long Zheng. He wrote the book Wenzi, which continued to expound Taoist thoughts, and was later honored as the tongxuan Sutra.
Chongxu immortal refers to Liezi, one of the hundred schools of thought, who is also known as the imperial bandit, the prison bandit, and the bandit. He is a member of the state of Zheng. His book Liezi was an important ancient book of the early Huang Lao Taoism, and later was honored as the Chongxu Sutra.
Immortal Dongling refers to the legendary figure Kang Cangzi, one of the representatives of Huang Laoxin Taoism, also known as Kang Sangzi and Geng Sangzi. It is said that his surname is Geng sang, his name is Chu, and he is from the state of Chen. The book Kang Cangzi was written by him, and later was honored as the Dong Ling Sutra.
It can be seen that these “four immortals” are not fictions, but have real historical figures, and have made great contributions to Taoism.
04 this is a brief introduction of Lao Tzu’s Supreme Lord and Zhuang Zi’s “Nanhua immortal”.
In fact, in terms of the early system of Taoism, the “four immortals” such as the Nanhua immortal, as the personal disciples of Lao Tzu, are not low in status. They are basically the second generation figures of Taoism. They are absolutely high-level. But in the development of later generations, Taoism has built too many immortals, such as the five emperors, the four emperors, the Nine Emperors, the twenty-eight immortals, and so on, and some of them have been promoted to a high status, Like Zhuangzi’s “Nanhua real person”, it was suppressed instead. In fact, it was a little unfair.
After all, these “four immortals” all have real archetypes and make special contributions to Taoist thought, but their influence is not as good as some fictional immortals. Therefore, to some extent, too many immortals in a religion may not be a good thing, which may also be one of the reasons why Taoism gradually declines in the dissemination of later generations. Disclaimer: the above content originates from the network, and the copyright belongs to the original author. Please inform us if your original copyright is infringed, and we will delete the relevant content as soon as possible.