What influence does Taoism have on China's traditional culture?

Taoism is a traditional religion of the Chinese nation, which is different from Buddhism and Islam. It has not spread among people in various Taoist organizations. Until the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to the propaganda and transformation of several generations of Taoist scholars, Taoist teachings gradually met the ruling needs of the ruling class, and finally got official recognition and support, from folk to official, and became one of the ruling tools of the later feudal dynasty. As an indispensable part of feudal culture for two thousand years, it has produced unimaginable huge social effects. It was integrated with Confucianism and Buddhism, which constituted the main body of China feudal culture. Because it was born as a religion based on China's ancient traditional culture, Taoism will inevitably have an impact on China's traditional culture. As for the position of Taoism in traditional culture, Lu Xun said very thoroughly: "It was once said that China's roots are all in Taoism, which is quite popular recently. Reading history can solve many problems. "

The influence of Taoism on China's traditional culture is profound and multifaceted, which is manifested in the following aspects. 1, the field of literature and art: The important influence of Christian culture on western literature can be found in the works of many western writers. Similarly, China's religious culture once had an important influence on China's literature. First of all, Taoism keeps a large number of stories about the Six Gods and folklore, and creates many fairy tales, which add color to the myths in China literature. Legends about Jade Emperor, Dragon Duke, Queen Mother of the West, Pangu, etc. In Taoism, and the fairy tales created by Taoism itself, such as the legend about the Eight Immortals, and the fairy tales about Mount Tai, Huashan, Longhu Mountain and Wudang Mountain, are also deeply loved by people and have had a great influence on China literature.

Taoism pursues the establishment of an equal society in the real world, in which everyone is born for heaven. This pursuit of ideal realm has influenced many writers and produced a number of literary works similar to Peach Blossom Spring, Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Moreover, the ideal of Taoist belief is immortality. This immortal thought has become one of the important themes of literature. Ancient works with the theme of Taoist immortals are full of poems, words, songs, poems, plays, novels and other literary forms, with a large number of authors. For example, the influence of Taoism on literature is not only reflected in the theme, but also in the style. Furthermore, in the field of art, Taoism has an important influence on China's music, calligraphy and painting, sculpture, stone carving, architecture and other forms and spirits. For example, in music, because Taoist music serves Taoist religious activities, it is very utilitarian and contains strong Taoist philosophy. It is closely related to the customs of the masses and is welcomed by people. It not only has a great influence on the development of Chinese classical music, but also retains many tunes of court music and folk music from all over the world, which is an important aspect for people to explore and study Chinese classical music today. Architecturally, Wudang Mountain has four Taoist temples, two palace ruins, two Taoist temples and a large number of sacred words and rock temples. It has reached a perfect state in architectural art and architectural aesthetics, and is rich in ancient China culture and scientific and technological connotation.

2. Science and technology: When it comes to Taoism, one word is bound to come to mind-immortality. Yes, Taoism attached great importance to alchemy from the beginning in order to live forever. Trying to achieve the goal it pursues through various methods, although this is only an illusion, but this goal is impossible to achieve. But objectively speaking, it is of great significance to the development of ancient science and technology in China. For example, the development of alchemy at that time provided conditions for the development of modern experimental chemistry. In the long-term development, Taoism has objectively accumulated a lot of valuable information and experience for China ancient natural science and technology through various alchemy practices. At the same time, many Taoists often know both pharmacology and medicine, and have made important contributions to ancient Chinese medicine and health preservation. Such as Ge Hong, Tao Hongjing and Sun Simiao. Sun Simiao combined Taoism with Chinese medicine, and made great contributions to health care in the aspects of guidance, clothing, pills, bait, massage, eating and living. In addition, Taoism and Taoist classics have preserved many ancient mathematical and physical achievements in different ways, which is of great significance to ancient mathematics in China.

Physics also has a unique contribution. Finally, the gunpowder in four great inventions of ancient china, which we are proud of so far, was invented by Taoist alchemists while refining Dan medicine. The invention of gunpowder has made great contributions to mankind and is one of the greatest inventions in human history. In a word, Taoism plays an irreplaceable role in the history of China's ancient scientific and technological development, leaving us with many valuable scientific and technological heritages.

3. Folklore: Taoism has exerted a particularly extensive and profound influence on ancient folk customs in China, some of which even continue to this day. For example, the worship and sacrifice of the city god, the land, and the kitchen god have spread to almost all regions, nationalities and even families in China. People in China, whether they believe in Taoism or not, mostly stay away from these gods. At the end of the year and the beginning of the year, the influence of Taoism on folk customs became more obvious. The Spring Festival is the most important festival in the hearts of everyone in China. In this traditional festival, from festivities and entertainments to food and sacrifices, the characteristics of China folk customs and traditional culture, such as pasting doors, cooking horses and painting peach symbols, are very lively. Some of these customs even continue to this day. Among them are door gods, kitchen horses and peach charms. Are all from Taoism.

4. China's national psychology and national character: Taoism regards Taoism as the highest belief and the ultimate goal of life. This philosophy of life has cultivated the tradition of respecting Tao and seeking only Tao from generation to generation. In order to seek Tao, many Taoist priests in history consciously abandoned all material comforts and fame and fortune in the world, were content with simple living, were content with being poor and happy, exercised hard, and took the initiative to endure the unbearable pain and suffering of ordinary people. This tradition, through the religious form with national style, has been spread to the society for a long time and played an important role in forming the psychological quality and national character of the Chinese nation. At the same time, there is an idea in Taoist culture that "my life is in me, not in the sky", and that people's life can be extended through practice. This view that man loves the world and conquers heaven is different from the pessimistic and world-weary thought of Buddhism, and it is also very different from the Confucian view that resignation and wealth are in heaven. It encourages people to actively conquer nature and strive to control their own destiny. This idea has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people through the long-term propaganda of Taoism, which can not but affect the national psychology and character of the Chinese nation, making the belief that man can conquer nature a fine tradition of the Chinese nation. In addition, Taoism advocates tolerance, humility and openness, and opposes conceit, complacency, arrogance, self-mutilation and complacency. This spirit is embodied in the eclecticism of culture, which embraces all rivers. This development of cultural psychology has formed a broad cultural mind of the Chinese nation, and it is easy to absorb all kinds of advanced cultures to develop its own national culture, making the ancient culture of the Chinese nation last forever and become more and more prosperous.

5. Political field: In the long feudal society of China, on the one hand, the upper rulers often used Taoism to serve the consolidation of their feudal rule, so Taoism was supported by the feudal rulers for a long time. On the other hand, many leaders of peasant uprisings also regard Taoism as the organizational form of peasant uprisings, and take some ideas in Taoist classics as their ideological weapons to launch uprisings. It can be seen that Taoism is closely related to the political and social life of the upper and lower classes in China in the past.

6. Moral ethics: Taoism is a religion that attaches great importance to moral education. In the long-term development process, it accumulated a lot of commandments and exhortations, including merits and demerits, which contained many ethical and moral thoughts that were reasonable to the society at that time. These contents are not only of great significance to the development of Taoism, but also have a wide and far-reaching impact on the lifestyle and values of China people. In particular, its various books on good advice are widely spread in society and penetrate into all walks of life. Its fundamental purpose is to persuade people to do good and accumulate virtue, and to do evil and do good. Therefore, the concept of "good is rewarded with good, evil with evil" has been circulated among the people in China, forming a good moral standard in people's minds and playing an indispensable role in social stability.

To sum up, it can be seen that the influence of Taoism on ancient Chinese traditional culture is profound and significant. In fact, its influence is not only reflected in the above-mentioned fields, but also has an impact on national cohesion, folk beliefs and China's academic thought. As an ideology, Taoism is the product of a certain stage of cultural development, a rather strict system of thoughts, emotions and activities, and a great creation of mankind. It belongs to a part of Chinese civilization, and we should take its essence and discard its dross, so that it can be passed on and serve the society better.