How to read Zhai?

Interpretation: Fasting is the traditional name of Taoist rituals, commonly known as "Dojo", that is, fasting the gods to avoid disasters. The method is to keep a clean heart, build an altar to confess, and write a book to pray for the gods. "House" originally meant cleanliness. In ancient China, when offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods, you must first fast and bathe, not listen to music, and take care of your heart, hands and feet, so as to prevent evil and lust before offering sacrifices to the gods. Taoism inherited the ancient system and had to fast before the ceremony. "Xi" refers to sacrifice and prayer.

The word "fasting" refers to all kinds of Taoist sacrifices, prayers, altars and chanting ceremonies. The rituals of early Taoism were simple and not unified. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, relatively complete instruments and procedures were formed, such as Lu in the Southern Dynasty and Kou in the Northern Dynasty, and the fasting methods of Lingbao Liuzhai, Jiuzhai and Shierzhai appeared. After the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, it became popular with the development of Taoism, but it also changed because of the development and formation of various Taoist factions in various places, especially the emperor's fasting, which was used to pray for national security.