As we all know, Taoism is a religion born and developed in China. There are two saints named Lao Zi and Zhuangzi. Their thoughts are actually the main theoretical basis of Taoism, especially Laozi's Tao Te Ching, from which their famous Tao comes.
Laozi and Zhuangzi are both living historical figures, and they are also one of hundred schools of thought in the pre-Qin period. However, because they are Taoist saints, after Zhang Tianshi founded Taoism, they successively established a huge Taoist immortal system, so it is reasonable that these two people are enshrined in a high position.
Only this point is universal for Lao Zi-he is considered as one of the highest-ranking Sanqing in Taoism, and even has a high evaluation of Yiqi Sanqing, while Zhuangzi is only known as the South China reality, one of the four great Taoists, and is regarded as a disciple of Taishang Laojun. Taoism, on the other hand, has successfully established many gods with higher status than himself-two Taoist saints. Why is there such a big difference between them?
The following red dust will introduce these two saints respectively, and then look at their position in the Taoist immortal system.
Laozi, one of the three clean-ups, is an old gentleman. Laozi, also known as Lao Dan and formerly known as Li Er, was a Chu man in the Spring and Autumn Period. It is said that he used to be a librarian. Confucius paid a special visit to him and listened to his advice.
Later, I saw through the world and left Hanguguan on a green cow. Before I left, my disciple begged me to leave a mental method, the famous Tao Te Ching, which is also the main ideological basis of Taoism.
After leaving the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu crossed the ocean and disappeared. But according to the disciples behind Taoism, Lao Tzu went to heaven, and then became one of the true gentlemen of Taiqing Road, that is, Taishang Laojun.
Here, I want to say one more thing, because Sanqing is generally placed in the Taoist temple in the middle of the Buddha in Yuanshi County, Yuqing, with the moral king in Taiqing on the left and the Lingbao Buddha on the right, so some friends think that Laozi's position is not as good as that in Yuanshi County, but this understanding is actually wrong. Tao Te Ching once said that the gentleman is on the left, which is the highest position of Taoism, different from Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.
Tao Te Ching: The gentleman is on the left and the villain is on the right.
In addition, there is Laozi's theory of "One Qi and Three Purities", which also comes from the Tao Te Ching's theory of "One, Two, Two, Three and Three Things", meaning that Laozi was born in heaven, then turned into three purities, and then turned into everything. From this perspective, the whole Sanqing is actually the embodiment of Laozi, so the name Daozu deserves its name.
Even in literary and artistic works, this is reflected. You shouldn't be influenced by the TV series The Journey to the West. You think the old gentleman on the throne is a subordinate of the jade emperor, but he is not. The original text is very clear. When Grandpa Laojun visits the Jade Emperor, the Jade Emperor will personally greet him respectfully. The relationship between the two sides is definitely not a superior-subordinate relationship.
In addition, The Journey to the West described the existence of Taishang Laojun many times from the beginning of his creation. Most of the treasures in the book are not extracted from the gossip furnace of Taishang Laojun, but selected from various vines. It goes without saying how high the qualifications and status are.
Zhuangzi, a real person among the four real people in southern China, will talk about Zhuangzi after Lao Zi.
Zhuangzi, formerly known as Zhuang Zhou, was born in Song Dynasty, and is said to be a small official like a painter. His book Zhuangzi is the best successor of Laozi's thought. His boldness of vision, deep artistic conception and ethereal spirit were called Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi by later generations, similar to Confucius and Mencius.
However, in the Taoist immortal system, Zhuangzi and Laozi are far apart, and they were called South China Real People in the Xuanzong period of Tang Dynasty, so Zhuangzi is also called South China Classic.
The real person is the special name or rank of Taoism, which refers to the person who practices truth, sees the heaven, and integrates heaven and man. This is a very tall but common name. For example, the seven sons in The Legend of the Condor Heroes are regarded as real people by others.
Dongyuan Natural Classics: a real person, with no point, true Tao, same sex, omnipotence, omniscience and omniscience.
But this is not special in the immortal system. After all, which god is not cultivated by human beings? So in reality, God doesn't know that there are thousands of Qian Qian, and the position of Lao Tzu as an old gentleman can't be generalized.
Of course, Zhuangzi is definitely not an ordinary person. Taoism specifically lists four real people, emphasizing that they are disciples of Taizhang Laojun, which is different from ordinary real people.
Who are these four people? They are Xuan Tong reality, Xu Chong reality, South China reality and Dongling reality, and Zhuangzi ranks third. Let's briefly introduce the other three. Have prototypes.
Xuan Tong's real person refers to Wen Zi, a Taoist figure in the Warring States Period, whose names are Mingxin, Ji Ran and Zhenglong. He wrote Wen Zi, continued to elaborate Taoist thoughts, and was later hailed as a mirror of Xuan Tong.
Xu refers to the son of a hundred schools, named Yu Kou, also known as Bo Kou, Pi Kou and Zheng Guoren. Liezi is an important classic of Taoism in the early period of Huang Lao, and was later honored as the mirror of Xu Chong.
The real person of Dongling refers to the legendary character Kang Cangzi, one of the representatives of Huang Lao's Neo-Taoism, also known as Sang Kangzi and Geng Sang Zi. It is said that his surname is Geng Sang, Chu and Chen Guoren. He wrote Kang Cangzi, and was later honored as Zhen Jing of Dongling.
It can be seen that the four real people are not fictional, but real historical figures, who have made great contributions to Taoism.
This is a brief introduction to the reality of Lao Zi's grand old gentleman and Zhuangzi's southern tour.
In fact, from the perspective of the early Taoist system, the status of South China Zhenren and other four Zhenren as disciples of Laozi is not low, and they can basically be said to be the second generation of Taoism. The absolute high level is only the development of Taoism in later generations. Too many immortals are imaginary, five emperors, four emperors, nine emperors and twenty-eight nights. Some were pulled out and put in a very high position, like the southern classics in Zhuangzi.
After all, these four real people have real prototypes and made special contributions to Taoism, but their influence is not as good as that of some fictional gods, so to some extent, too many gods in a religion may not be a good thing, which may also be one of the reasons for the gradual decline of Taoism in later generations.