The funeral mode of Taoist priests

Back to Nature: Taoism and Taoist Funeral View

Taoism originated from the Taoist school founded by Laozi and Zhuangzi in the pre-Qin period. Taoism believes that life is bound by numerous external constraints, such as physical fatigue, joy, desire for wealth, fear of death and the bondage of benevolence, righteousness, propriety and music. Only on top of all this can we understand the true connection of life-Tao. Tao is the origin of all things in the world and the general law of the operation of the universe. Tao gives birth to all things, and Tao is natural.

Because Taoism holds a detached world outlook and outlook on life that conforms to heaven and advocates inaction, it shows a detached attitude of happy death in the view of individual life and death. Zhuangzi believes that life and death are the same thing, just like the changes of four seasons, so "be happy when you are born, and be happy when you die". He thinks that nature has given me a body, "loading me with form", making me work hard with my life and "making me work for my life"; Let me be at leisure with old age, "I am old"; Let me rest in peace with death, "let me rest in peace with death", so to be good in life is to be good in death. Zhuangzi regards human death as a return to nature. So when Zhuangzi's wife died, he was supposed to be sad, but he was "singing in a drum basin". To further illustrate that death is a great pleasure in life, Zhuangzi not only does not advocate burying Zhu Yu, Jinwen, chariots and horses, but even does not cry. Zhuangzi also told a story that he once met a skeleton on his way to Chu and described his happiness before he died. "No gentleman, no minister, no four seasons. Even if the heavens and the earth are spring and autumn, although the south is king, you can't enjoy it. " Zhuangzi does not believe, and wants to ask the God who controls life to return to its original shape, but this skeleton flatly refuses! Because Taoism treats life and death equally, and is happy to die and be good at living, it shows contempt for the funeral concept of "death is like life" advocated by Confucianism and advocates thin burial.

In view of the concept of filial piety advocated by Confucianism, Zhuangzi did the opposite. He believes that "a husband should be considerate of his relatives and he should be filial." Zhuangzi not only advocated thin burial, but also practiced it. It is said that before Zhuangzi died, his disciples would rebury him according to the prevailing custom at that time, and he firmly opposed it. He said frankly to his disciples, "I take heaven and earth as coffins, the sun and the moon as walls, the stars as pearls, and everything as a gift." Isn't my burial vessel prepared for evil? " Why did you add this? "When the disciples were worried that Zhuangzi's body would be eaten by crows, Zhuangzi joked that the buried one would be eaten by crows, and the buried one would be eaten by crickets and ants. It is unfair to take it out of the crow's mouth and give it to crickets and ants. Today, thousands of years ago, Zhuangzi's words and deeds of thin burial were even more commendable and impressive!

The pre-Qin Taoist views on life and death and thin burial were full of rationalism, which had a far-reaching impact on later generations. From the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the funeral atmosphere changed from thick burial to thin burial, and from triviality to simplicity, among which the Taoist funeral concept played a great role.

By the end of the Han Dynasty, Taoism had transformed from pre-Qin philosophers into a religion-Taoism began to form and develop. Taoism respects Laozi, and strangely calls Laozi the grandfather and the "old gentleman on the throne", but its teachings run counter to the pre-Qin Taoist doctrine representing Laozi and Zhuangzi. Taoism in the pre-Qin period advocated nature, inaction and abstinence, and opposed artificial bondage, but Taoism was not. It believes that there are immortals in the sky, pursuing immortality and ascending to heaven. Nevertheless, a similarity between * * * and Taoism is that Taoism and Taoism hold a nihilistic attitude towards the world, and don't pay much attention to thick burial in funeral, but advocate thin burial. Taoist priests are usually buried on mountains or cliffs after their death. Cliff burial in Sichuan was popular from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and it was the most popular period of Taoism. Taoism began to rise in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. During the Jin Dynasty, many people in the ruling class believed in Taoism and actively advocated it. In the Northern Dynasties, Emperor Tuoba Tao of Shen changed his title to "Prince of True Peace" because he believed in Taoism. Later, Emperor Xiaowen of Wei and the rulers of Dong Fan and Beiqi also believed in Taoism and paid tribute to God. In short, Taoism, like Buddhism, was widely popular in society during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The popularity of thin burial in this period was closely related to factors such as war and economic depression, but it was also closely related to the popularity of Taoism at that time.

Taoism began to form at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, developed rapidly, and finally grew into a major religious faction that competed with Confucianism and Buddhism in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. After the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Taoism continued to advance by leaps and bounds, experiencing the prosperity of the Sui, Tang and Northern Lai Dynasties, the innovation of the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty, and gradually declined until the Qing Dynasty. Undoubtedly, Taoism and Taoism's "returning to the original" thin burial now occupy a unique position in China's funeral culture.