[Source: | Date of publication: June 5, 2006 | Number of visits (526) | Contributions | Collection]
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Bai Xiaoyu Xia Hesheng
Believing in Taoism and Laozi is the outlook on life of Taoist believers. In order to carry forward Taoism and expand its influence and function, Taoism often renders and increases the appeal of religion in the form of literature and art; At the same time, the idea of the birth of religion and its wonderful fantasy are often appreciated by literati. The ethereal and refined religion can broaden the horizons of literati, enrich their imagination and increase the romanticism and detached emotional appeal of their works. In this way, in the field of literature, there have been writers' works with religious themes and religious thoughts, which are diverse and colorful.
Taoism is the root of China culture.
From the Six Dynasties to the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, many novels deeply influenced by Taoism appeared in China. For example, in the Six Dynasties, the biographies of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Ten Stories of the Sea, and The Wonderland of the Cave were all specially written for Taoism. Others are closely related to Taoist thought, such as "searching for gods" and "after searching for gods". Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there have been legends and novel books with the theme of immortal Taoism, such as Pillow Story in the Tang Dynasty and Taiping Guangji in the Song Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, novels flourished unprecedentedly, and many of them were related to Taoism, such as The Journey to the West, Romance of Gods, Dream of Red Mansions and Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio.
There are also many works expressing immortal Taoist feelings in China's ancient poems. As early as the Warring States Period, the great poet Qu Yuan left a prose poem "Travel Far", expressing his reverie about immortals and expressing his admiration of "leaving the virtue of real people and leaving the beauty immortal". There are many famous poems about immortals after Han Dynasty and Tang Dynasty, among which Tao Hongjing and Li Bai are outstanding representatives.
The drama literature in Yuan Dynasty was developed, and the drama with the story of immortals ascending to immortality was very prominent. According to Zhong Sicheng's Ghost Record, there are at least 40 such plays, such as Song Qing Ji, Yue Yang Lou Ji, Huang Liang Meng, Eight Immortals on Birthday, Blue Cai He, Tie Guai Li, and Breaking Peach Blossoms in the Night of Sa Zhenren. Ma Zhiyuan was a famous opera creator in Yuan Dynasty, and a representative writer with the theme of Taoist immortals. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Xianwang and Zhu Chengzhai were also playwrights who wrote fairy tales, creating liberation dramas, fairy dramas and birthday dramas.
In addition, in the history of China literature, there are some special literary forms to express the content of Taoist thought, such as "step function words" in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and famous writers Lu, Yu Xin, etc. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was even worse. "Dunhuang Zaduo" records that the Taoist priests in the Tang Dynasty "praised the dynasty and praised all the ways". Du Guangting, a famous Taoist priest in the Tang Dynasty, is an expert in writing "step function words", and he has preserved a lot in his "A Complete Collection of Xuanmen Kefan".
In the Tang and Song Dynasties, there was another literary form called "Green Ci", also known as "Green Chapter", which was a memorial to the gods when Taoist priests built altars. In the Ming Dynasty, with the development of Taoism, this style became more prosperous. Because the emperor worshiped God, literati ministers competed to offer green ci, and Yan Song, the minister, was ridiculed by the world as "the prime minister of green ci".
In view of the profound influence of Taoism on the ancient culture of China, many thinkers believe that Taoism is the root of China culture. Mr. Lu Xun once said: "China's roots are all in Taoism ... From this perspective, many problems can be solved." Xu Dishan has a similar view. He said: "Judging from Chinese people's daily habits and religious beliefs, Taoism has more components than Confucianism. We can simply say that Taoism dominates the ideals and lives of ordinary people in China. "
Religion influences art and art spreads religion.
Because art has the special appeal of image and emotion, Taoism uses art as a means to publicize the principles of Taoism and strengthen people's religious psychology and feelings. At the same time, art reflects life, religious life is a part of social life, and art will naturally reflect and express people's religious life. In this way, religion will inevitably have an important impact on the development of art, and gradually form a religious art with unique significance and style. Forms include painting, sculpture, music and so on.
There are many painters engaged in Taoist painting, such as Gu Kaizhi, a great painter in the Six Dynasties, Wu Daozi, a great painter in the Tang Dynasty, and Zhang, a Taoist painter. During the Five Dynasties, there were nearly 100 famous painters engaged in Taoist painting, and Wu Zongyuan, a famous painter in the Song Dynasty, was also mainly engaged in Taoist painting. There are many works by these painters, including Gu Kaizhi's Biography of Immortals, Three Maidens, Statue of Luo, Wu Daozi's Statue of Five Emperors and Five Mountains, Stars, Uncle Ghost, Old Man, Zhang's Biography of Yulong and Laozi Crossing Quicksand, and Wu Zongyuan's Fairy in Yuan Chao, etc.
Taoist statues originated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, including the statues of Sakyamuni and Laozi in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the colossus of the old gentleman in Quanzhou in the Song Dynasty, the Longshan Grottoes and Yexian Grottoes in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, the mysterious stone statues in Anle, Sichuan Province in the Tang Dynasty, and many cliff statues in Dazu County. Taoist sculpture adheres to the tenet of "writing with spirit", "conveying spirit with form" and "painting with meaning", and the religious thought of concentration, peace, solemnity and transcendence, which has deeply influenced China's traditional art theory and works. For example, most of China's landscape paintings have the artistic conception of Taoist thought. There are often immortals and hermits in the paintings, and the clouds are lingering, the cliffs are towering, and pine trees, bamboo forests and monkeys and cranes dance together, giving people a feeling of being free from vulgarity. Tempting to get rid of secular troubles and look for beautiful fairyland; At the same time, it also endows the landscape with spirituality and promotes the philosophy of artistic conception.
Taoism is also closely related to music. According to legend, witches greet gods with songs and dances. Taoism comes from ancient times, and Taoist priests must use music when holding religious ceremonies. The so-called drums gather together and pray earnestly. There are many Taoist ceremonies. According to the procedures set by the ceremony, Taoist songs such as ode, praise, tonic and melody are combined, which varies with the content of the ceremony. Taoism, accompanied by music, originated from Kou's Poems "Chanting for Huai" and "Buxusheng" in the Northern Wei Dynasty. After a long period of development, it constantly absorbed the rhyme of court music, folk music and Buddhist music, gradually enriched and improved, and accumulated quite rich classical music materials. Taoist music has also influenced the traditional music in China during its development, such as Colorful Feather, Dream of Zhuang Zhou, Feather Becoming Immortal, Wandering and so on in the Tang Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, the charm of Taoist lent music was revealed to some extent. Taoism has some rhymes and qupai, which are still loved by people.
Religion and art influence each other deeply. No wonder Mr. Chen Yinque said in the article "The Relationship between Tianshidao and Binmei Region": "The development of art is mostly influenced by religion; The spread of religion also depends on art. "