Marriage view of Taoist culture

Taoism is an important part of China's ancient traditional culture. Although there are many differences between Taoism and Confucianism, they all affirm the beauty of life. It's just that Confucianism pays more attention to the social aspects of life and emphasizes the handling of various social relations related to itself. Taoism, on the other hand, pays more attention to praying for the improvement and eternity of natural life, hoping that beautiful things in social life, such as love and marriage, will continue in another world, namely fairyland. Most schools of Taoism hold a positive attitude towards human marriage. Their reason is that everything in the world is composed of yin and yang, and harmony between men and women can reflect heaven.

The early Taoist classic "Taiping Jing" holds that if there is no marriage relationship, it will inevitably lead to "yin and yang will not meet, then (destroy) extinction." Peng Zu, regarded as the authority of health preservation by Taoism, believes that "a man cannot be without a woman and a woman cannot be without a man" based on human physiological and psychological instinct. Many Taoist books express the view that there is a great relationship between men and women. Yang alone is not born, Yin alone is not successful, and human nature cannot be abandoned. It can be seen that Taoism holds a positive attitude towards marriage. Even the strict Quanzhen religion does not uniformly deny the marriage system in society, does not criticize people's marriage, and at the same time accepts the laity at home as a school.

Although Taoism holds a positive attitude towards marriage, it insists on the separation of religion and marriage, and the two do not interfere with each other. The Three Hundred Commandments stipulates that Taoist priests "shall not marry the world". Of course, it is even more impossible to "break up people's marriage" (Yun Qi Seven Signs, Volume 39).

Taoism's respect for women is very unique in the traditional culture of China. This may be related to their inheritance of Laozi's thought that "everything is negative and holds yang, and rushing to think of peace". In their immortal ideal, female immortals and male immortals have the same or similar status, and female crowns (Taoist priests) can become immortals directly like male Taoist priests. The Taoist view of marriage shows the idea of equality between men and women to some extent. Especially in early Taoism, the concept of equality between men and women is particularly typical. "Taiping Jing" holds that "a woman is a husband and an official is not as good as a man." In other words, being a wife is like being an official, and you should enjoy the "salary". Therefore, once the marriage relationship is established, husband and wife should work together to create a better life. "A woman is a husband's family, but if she is a family, it will be handed down from heaven to earth. When she dies, she will be reunited with her flesh and blood, and if she is a family, she will get food and clothing." Not only that, this kind of cooperative work is also an important factor to consolidate the marriage relationship: "If the wife has enough food and clothing, she will have no second thoughts, and she will concentrate on her work and stop being suspicious." (Taiping Economic Cooperative Studies, Volume 35) This concept of equality between husband and wife, which emphasizes * * * on the basis of equal labor, can appear in Taoist classics more than 900 years ago, and people cannot help but admire it.

Taoism emphasizes the harmony of husband and wife's life when discussing marriage life. This is directly related to their long-term health care practice. Originally, advocating sexual harmony is a fine tradition of Chinese medicine. Since its initial establishment, Taoism has inherited and developed the ancient tradition of atrioventricular health preservation. In the later evolution, the witchcraft attached to the human world was gradually ruled out, and the Taoist theory of health preservation was gradually formed. Taoism opposes asceticism, but it also opposes unrestrained indulgence. People of insight in Taoism oppose young men and women getting married prematurely or participating in sexual life. These views are a scientific criticism of the long-standing bad habit of early marriage in China. In addition, Taoism inherited the tradition of ancient atrioventricular health preservation and formed its own atrioventricular health preservation, in which the study of sexology reached a quite high level. This part of the legacy has not been discussed enough. People have exposed more dross, but there is little scientific analysis of its reasonable factors. In this regard, we still have to adopt a realistic attitude.

Taoism holds a negative attitude towards extramarital sexual relations. One of the ten commandments issued by the Buddha in the Taishang Classic in the early Yuan Dynasty is "Don't promiscuous with your own flesh and blood, aunts and other women". Having sex with "flesh and blood", that is, blood sisters, has long been regarded as fornication and disobedience by the ancients in China. As for "Sister menstruation", you might as well marry them. However, from the perspective of modern genetics and eugenics, it is also inappropriate, because the blood relationship of married people is too close, which easily leads to various genetic diseases. Taoism opposes having sex with aunts or cousins for unknown reasons, but its rationality is obvious. The precepts stipulate that you should not commit adultery with your wife or daughter, nor engage in extramarital sex: "You should not instigate others to commit adultery and leave your husband and wife." (Exegesis of Law and Discipline, Volume V) The criticism of "Yin" in Daomen Quanshan Edition is quite prominent, and it gradually became popular after the Song Dynasty. This is aimed at the profligacy of some rich people in feudal times and the unhealthy trend of prostitution and whoring that prevailed in the old society. This decadent sexual relationship, in the old society, is not only a supplement to the unreasonable marriage system, but also a corrosion inhibitor for normal marriage. Taoist attacks on it are of course reasonable. Even today, this Taoist thought has not lost its value.