At the beginning of the evolution of the catalogue, Taoist schools were mainly engaged in folk activities, so it was almost necessary to participate in folk funerals. For example, the lifting of the tomb door (a magical ceremony for the tomb of the dead, intended to separate people from ghosts, but also including the function of the town tomb) and the lifting of the reunion (so that the bad luck that caused death will not interfere with the living) are routine activities. In the later development, the connotation of funeral gradually highlights the theme of filial piety. It is emphasized that through Taoist practice, the dead can ascend to heaven as soon as possible, and the dead ancestors can get rid of the torture of ghosts as soon as possible. This activity has long been a common folk custom.
In the Tang Dynasty, it was stipulated in Xuanzong that monks and nuns were not allowed to associate with each other at ordinary times, but when the family needed to lend it out for good or ill luck, they were allowed to go to the temple before informing the state and county officials. It can be seen that it was the custom at that time to kill people with monks and Taoist priests. In Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang attached importance to the position and influence of Taoism and Buddhism in folk funeral customs, but thought it should be fixed. So, he asked someone to compile the Rites of Ming Chengzu, and prefaced it himself, saying, "If there is a funeral in the home of the government and the people, it is difficult to send it unless it is a monk or a Taoist. If we don't make use of these two funerals, it will be unkind for parents to be descendants, unfilial for children to be parents, and shameful to meet their neighbors. The emperor who used to be a monk knew that the folk custom of giving people a funeral by Buddhism was deeply rooted, so he made it a fixed model to increase unity and promote the propaganda of filial piety. Most of the Confucian scholars in the Ming Dynasty were critical of the mourning of Taoist and Buddhist participants, but failed to block its source.
A man named Wang Langchuan said: "In this world, if you lose your family, you can be a vegetarian by the way of monks, or you can write scriptures and make statues by water and land." If the cloud reduces the sin of the dead, it will be a paradise and enjoy all kinds of happiness. " Do it or go to hell. What's more, during the day, the dutiful son followed the monk along the street to ask for advice, and at night, he broke the prison and took photos of the stars. Or do a character play, lecture and sing; Or men and women go out to meet the spirits at night. It is unreasonable for the law to prohibit it. The scholar's family changed for this reason, saying it is not accurate, so talk about it. "[1] The taxi family he mentioned mainly refers to the literati who have read Confucian books. As Confucian scholars, we should uphold the teachings of saints and not invite monks and Taoist priests to attend the funeral, but we can't do it, all for the sake of following the custom.
The funeral ceremony of Daomen in this period was quite complete, but many folk factors permeated in folk practice. Taoist funeral, strictly speaking, belongs to the category of fasting. However, since the Song Dynasty, Li's influence has exceeded the fasting method, and people used to call him Li. Both Taoist and ordinary believers have corresponding fasting. For example, after Qiu Chuji, the founder of Quanzhen Dragon School, was removed, his master held a sacrificial ceremony for the throne of Lingbao. A Dream of Red Mansions was written in the 13th time after Qin Keqing's death. He chose to stop mourning for forty-nine days, invited one hundred other eight monks to chant Buddhist scriptures, and invited ninety-nine Quanzhen Taoist priests to play for forty-nine days. Of course, it describes the ostentation and extravagance of aristocratic families. It is common for ordinary people to play a game or two in the palace, or to invite Taoist priests to work at home. It is more common to do seven things, that is, to do a ceremony every seven days after death. Starting from seven, do seven more things, usually five or seven.
Content: The content of Daomen fasting instrument is extremely rich. The perfection of the funeral ceremony and the perfection of the ceremony are simply jaw-dropping. By the Ming Dynasty, the ceremony approved by Zhu Yuanzhang himself was more concise. They can be divided into one-day tours and three-day tours. In one day, it still includes fifteen programs:
Send prayers to the altar of safety supervision, ask the teacher to turn off the lights, summon the dead, bathe, take part in the ritual curse, set up food sacrifices, preach precepts, set up wine offerings, recite and send them to the gods. This is greatly simplified, and several contents are combined into one. However, from the actual implementation of the people, there are various changes depending on the wealth of the victim's assets and the length of the ceremony, and in the long-term interaction with folk culture, some folk cultures and customs have been absorbed and attracted. From the perspective of folklore, door burial has the following common practices.
Buddhism Taoism believes that Buddhism has great merits, and chanting Buddha to the dead can get rid of the suffering of the underworld as soon as possible. In the funeral, the classics that are often recited are Du Fu, Jade Emperor Jing and Sanguan Jing. Because there are no certain rules for people to invite monks or Taoist priests to hold funerals, sometimes even monks and Taoist priests invite them together, so after the Ming and Qing Dynasties, monks and Taoist priests often recite Buddhist scriptures, such as Guanyin's popular products. But if you do things in the Taoist temple, you must recite the Taoist scriptures.
Worship and land and water Dojo worship refer to holding a ceremony before God to express repentance and beg for forgiveness. Used as a funeral confession, it is to forgive the mistakes of the deceased before his death and to ascend to heaven as soon as possible or live happily. The Taoist fasting method originally had the content of repentance, and later it formed a special repentance instrument, which was named after "Nine Youren Exile" and "Nine Youren Exorcise". Generally speaking, many people go to Taoist temples to ask for a confession ceremony for the dead. If they have relatively strong financial resources, please invite Taoist priests to visit their homes. More ostentatious than the general ceremony is to hold a land and water fast. Fasting on land and water usually takes seven days, but it can be longer. The so-called land and water refers to the worship of the gods of heaven and earth, including freeing the undead and hungry ghosts from their troubles and sufferings, so it is very large in scale, including many components and even many death ceremonies, which can be held independently in small-scale fasting instruments. Water and land Dojo Buddhism is also often held for the dead. However, judging from its content, there are Taoist unique practices such as dharma symbols, which can be sure to be deeply influenced by Taoist land and water fasting.
Burning lanterns and putting water lanterns are also Buddhist and Taoist customs. As far as Taoism is concerned, in the Lingbao fasting method, there are cases of burning lamps and candles, and there are also some independent lamps, such as the Nine Lamps, which are mainly used to make the gods shine to break through the hell and make the dead get enlightenment and go out of the underworld. Lingbao believes that the lamp is not "to shine for beauty", but contains the meaning of "inviting light to break the secluded place" Because "when the dead soul falls into the shade, there is sunshine shining on the candle in the long night, which transcends good and difficult." So it is necessary to light the lamp and tell the signs. "The so-called dharma world is to lay a lamp altar on the dharma world, hang the images of the sun, the moon and the stars, and lay the square corners of gossip and jiugong on the ground to make the sun shine, enlighten the darkness and make the dead take the light. Folk custom, after death, put a clear oil lamp behind the corpse's feet as a way to illuminate the ghost. Besides burning lanterns, water lanterns are often attached to funerals. Legend has it that people pass through the Styx after death. In order to avoid falling into it, they should light the Styx, that is, put paper lanterns into rivers or lakes as symbols. Generally, paper lanterns are made into boat-shaped or lotus-shaped, with clay pots or wooden boards as the bottom, candles are burned internally, chanted and cast, and then put into water. It is generally believed that the longer the water lamp floats in the water without overturning, the higher the skill of the mage and the greater the blessing of the undead.
Also known as the welcome dish, it is awarded to welcome guests. A similar ceremony in Buddhism is called flaming throat, and some are a mixture of Buddhism and Taoism, which is generally called flaming throat. Some Buddhist books say that anyone who falls into the Hungry Ghost Road has a needle-thin throat and the dripping water is difficult to swallow because of the karma before his death. Whenever food comes near his mouth, it will automatically spray flames and burn the food, so he feels hungry and troubled. Only by using magic to extinguish the flame and open your throat can you get relief. This ceremony is called "Fire Sacrifice", or "Fire Sacrifice" for short. The Buddhist flame mouth instrument was compiled when the tantric Sect of Xuanzong in Tang Dynasty was not free. Its core is to open the throat and feed the hungry ghost. Taoist ghost-eating was recorded in the early Tang literature "Yi Wen Ji", much earlier than the non-empty flame mouth instrument. Non-empty work may also refer to the practice of Taoism. However, the two religions absorbed each other in later generations, and some practices such as opening the throat in Taoist death ceremonies also appeared. Some people confuse the practices of the two religions and generally call them "flame mouths".
In fact, in Taoism, the official names are Jing Xiu, Fa Xiu and Sacrifice Fa Xiu, which not only can generally relieve the thirst of the deceased, but also can let the mage use his yang to relieve the yin and spiritual bondage of the deceased and ascend to heaven as soon as possible. When refining, it is generally necessary to establish a pool fire pot (zho, also called Zhao, is a brazier lit after casting, symbolizing Vulcan), which is called the degree of fire and water refining with water to cleanse its quality and refine its spirit. There are also some scientific instruments, such as the popular Sanqing Refiner in Hong Kong, which do not take fire and water as symbols. They think that it can be effective only by the internal qi of the mage, and they still retain their intentions without fire and water. There are also some rituals that only highlight the hunger and thirst of the deceased, generally called giving food, and the most distinctive refinement is abandoned. These ceremonies were held at the invitation of vegetarians, except for all ghosts who are still suffering from ghosts on major festivals. Therefore, they are closely combined with folk customs, with strong folk customs and obvious regional characteristics.
The above practices will vary in various places, but their intentions are the same, mainly because of filial piety and kindness, but also bring a sense of security to the family and alleviate the psychological shadow caused by the death of loved ones. ↑ Ming Collection of Wang Langchuan's words and deeds