What was Taoism like in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties?
Although the Wudou Mi Dao and Taiping Dao in the Han and Wei Dynasties were based on Laozi's Five Thousand Articles, they did not establish religion according to Laozi's theory and formed a religious theoretical system. The revival of Laozi and Zhuangzi in Wei and Jin Dynasties set off the wind of talking about metaphysics. The political situation is turbulent and the environment is bad. "There are many reasons in the world, but few celebrities." People urgently need a way to settle down and pursue spiritual realm more strongly. Their ideological focus gradually shifted from the concern for practical problems to the study of metaphysics. In order to reverse the deviation of the rule of law in fame and rebuild the normal feudal order, it is necessary to seek the theory of "exhaustion and reform" from Taoism. Wang Bi's "A Brief Introduction to Laozi" points out that Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, Fame and Miscellany at that time had their own gains and losses, and only Taoism could achieve the goal of "respecting the mother and saving the child", which not only surpassed the theory of each school, but also lost its strengths. Wang Bi inherited and developed Lao Zi's core idea of taking Tao as the noblest concept and the most basic motivation in Lao Zi's Notes, and further established the authority of Lao Zi's theory in academic circles. However, this has little influence on the essence of Taoism. Taoism still focuses on low-level religious activities, such as forging seals and practicing recipes, and rarely assists metaphysics. Laozi and Zhuangzi have made great achievements in Taoism. During the Jin Dynasty, the Five Mi Dou Daoism spread in the northern society, but in the south of the Yangtze River, Sun Wu's regime and later rulers in the Eastern Jin Dynasty did not like the folk religion and fairy alchemist activities in Cao Wei and the Western Jin Dynasty. From the end of Han Dynasty to Jin Dynasty, Duzi Highway, Lijia Road and Qingshui Road, belonging to Wudoumi Road System, Yujun Road and Bojia Road, belonging to Taiping Road Tribe, and Zhengshi Road of Longhushan and Zhang Tianshi were introduced into Jiangnan. The development of Taoism in the south of the Yangtze River gradually surpassed that of the Central Plains and Bashu, and became the base for the later revival and development of Taoism. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Buddhism flourished. Stimulated by Buddhist philosophy, religious teachings and precepts, Taoist priests, on the one hand, inherited the rest of metaphysics, took Buddhist scriptures, and fabricated a large number of Taoist scriptures such as Cave God, Lingbao and Shangqing. On the one hand, I deified Laozi, annotated Laozi and Zhuangzi, inherited Taoism, established a relatively systematic Taoist system, and emerged many famous Taoist reformers and scholars, such as Kou in the Northern Dynasty, Lu, Sun Yousa, Meng Jingji, Song, Tao Hongjing and others in the Southern Dynasty.