Taoism is a religion that believes in many gods, with thousands of gods believed in. For such a large group of gods, if there is no order constraint, it will become very chaotic, which is not conducive to the development of religion. Therefore, the emergence of the immortal lineage that can establish order is of great significance.
1. What is a fairy?
The description of the Taoist gods in "The Interpretation of the Scriptures in Three Days": "Laozi is responsible for life and transformation, and Sakyamuni is responsible for death." Here, life and transformation refers to immortality, so immortality is the biggest difference between Taoism and Buddhism.
The definition of immortals first appeared in "Book of Han·Yiwenzhi" written by Ban Gu: "Immortals protect the truth of life and seek outsiders. To calm the mind and calm the mind, we are in the same realm of life and death. And always keep it in mind." It can be seen from the earliest definition that immortals have the characteristics of immortality.
In primitive religions, myths and legends, and early Taoism, the "god" and "immortal" in the word "god" are two different concepts.
"God" in many classics is a supernatural and mysterious being with magical powers. It has no material body or image and is not subject to the laws of nature. It has an influence on everything in the world, and can even create everything. For example, in "Yi Zhuan": "The unpredictability of yin and yang is called God", "God is extremely changeable, and all wonderful things are expressed in words", "Only God is quick and unstoppable, and arrives without progress." And in "Shuowen Jiezi" it is written: "God is the one who leads all things."
Lightning is a god in the ancient descriptions
This shows that gods have extremely high status and great magical powers, and that gods exist innately and are not created through cultivation.
"Immortals" are created by human cultivation.
It is said in "Shi Ming·Shi Chang You" that "the old but not dead are called immortals. Immortals move to the mountains, so the people who make the characters are close to the mountains." From the above text, we can see that if you want to become an immortal, you must go into seclusion. Only by practicing deep in the mountains for a long time can you become immortal without dying. This is why people who seek immortality always go to remote mountains that are inaccessible.
Ge Hong described the image of "immortal" in "The Legend of Immortals: Peng Zu": "Immortals may enter the clouds and fly without wings; they may ride on clouds on dragons and climb up to the heavenly steps; or they may turn into birds. Beasts float in the blue clouds; some sneak in rivers and seas, soar over famous mountains; some feed on vitality, or grow on grass; some go in and out of the human world without being recognized by others; some hide themselves without being seen." Here it is more emphasized that in addition to immortality, immortals also Has supernatural transformation.
Fairy descends to earth
The main difference between gods and immortals is that gods are created innately, while immortals are achieved through cultivation.
2. Types of Gods and Immortals
God refers to an innate deity.
1. God: God is the god of heaven and lives in the heaven.
2. Di Di: Di Di is the god of the earth. All the gods of Sheji, the Five Mountains, mountains, forests, rivers and seas belong to Di Di.
3. Objects and Spirits: Heaven, earth, mountains, rivers, exotic flowers and plants, and other natural objects, all of which are rare and strange, have divinity.
4. The gods of the underworld: the gods in charge of ghost affairs in the underworld.
5. God of the human body: There are three parts, eight classics and twenty-four truths in the human body, each of which is protected by a god.
6. God of humans and ghosts: Become a god after death.
Types of Gods Diagram
Since immortals are cultivated by humans, there are fewer types.
1. Heavenly Immortal: Because of good cultivation, superior immortals can directly physically ascend to immortality;
2. Earth Immortals: Medium immortals cannot ascend to heaven and can only stay on the ground, but they also become immortals directly in their physical bodies;
3. Corpse-dissolving immortal: The body of a lower-level immortal cannot directly become an immortal in front of the public. It needs to feign death and then transform into an immortal;
4. Ghost Immortal: A new level added later, after the body dies, the soul becomes a ghost, and finally becomes an immortal. It is difficult to distinguish between ghosts and immortals and humans, ghosts and gods.
Later, gods and immortals were mixed together, and the immortals were classified and sorted using the hierarchy of the feudal court in the human world. In "A Brief Introduction to the Great Precepts of the Three Altar Perfect Immortals", the nine levels of immortals are: Hunyuan Wushi Golden Immortal, Dongyuan Taichu Golden Immortal, Lingyuan Good Fortune Golden Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, Earth Immortal, Narcissus, Divine Immortal, Human Immortal , ghost fairy.
Since the immortals were arranged with reference to the feudal bureaucracy system, the theory of immortal officials began to emerge. There are three palaces in different immortal realms: left, middle, and right. In the palace, there are the immortal king, the immortal prince, and the immortal prince. Immortal Bo, Immortal Doctor. There are also waiters and retinues. Immortals who do not have any position, are not waiters or followers, are called loose immortals (the Eight Immortals are typical representatives).
Immortals and idle personnel——Eight Immortals
3. The origin of gods
Taoism originated from Chinese culture, and the many gods it believes in can be traced back to their origins in the culture. To sum up, Taoist immortals come from primitive worship, early myths and legends and immortal thoughts.
1.Primitive worship
Primitive worship includes nature worship and ghost worship.
Nature worship mainly refers to the worship of the sun, moon and stars, the worship of wind, rain, thunder and lightning, the worship of mountains, rivers, lakes and seas, the worship of animals and plants, the worship of fire and the worship of the country. Mainly due to the ancestors' incomprehension of the powerful natural forces, the vagaries of nature, and their expectation for a good harvest, the gods gradually emerged.
One sentence sums up nature worship: everything you look at is God.
Ghost worship includes ancestor worship and underworld worship. For example, the Yellow Emperor was the great leader of the clan society. The sacrifices to the leader were absorbed by Taoism, and the Yellow Emperor turned into a god. The concept of the underworld was transformed by Taoism and became part of Taoist beliefs, and was equipped with a large number of gods.
Yellow Emperor
2. Early myths and legends
The belief in gods in my country has a long history and can be traced back to primitive society. For example, "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" describes the elixir of death, the tree of immortality, and the miraculous medicine that brings the dead back to life.
Zhuangzi described "real people", "perfect people", and "gods". These are all people who have achieved Taoism and have various magical powers. Zhuangzi's description of gods can be regarded as the prototype of Taoist gods.
Mozi believed that Heaven was the supreme god with a certain role and the supreme authority of clear rewards and punishments. And expanded the scope of gods and ghosts.
Qu Yuan described the story of Chi Xianzi, Fu Shuo, Han Zhong and others who ascended to immortality in "Chu Ci·Yuanyou". "Historical Records" also records that the princes of the Warring States Period sent people to sea to seek elixirs.
Chenwei theology is similar to a side story, that is, adding new gods to the existing gods, such as equipping the sun, moon, stars, Beidou, Five Sacred Mountains, etc. with gods and corresponding appearances and costumes.
In the Qin Dynasty, first Emperor Qin Shihuang sent Xu Fu to lead thousands of boys and girls out to sea to seek immortality. Later, the alchemist Lu Sheng deceived Qin Shihuang into asking for the elixir of death. After Qin Shihuang found out that he had been deceived, he retaliated against the alchemists, which was known as the Burning Book Pit. Confucianism.
In myths and legends, Kunlun myth and Penglai myth are two important myth systems. The fairy caves gradually developed from these two places, forming the mythical world of Taoism.
The formation of gods is due to the fear of death and the hope of immortality of the ancestors. Early humans were ignorant and weak and did not understand the vagaries of nature. So hope there is a will to govern nature. The powerful ancestors and the animals and plants that accompany humans have gradually become people's early beliefs. The former leads the group to be strong, and the latter nurtures the tribe.
After these gradually formed the system of immortals, due to the combination of the attitudes of each dynasty and the legends of the time (personally I think some of them are nonsense and fabricated stories), the genealogy of immortals was expanded, and some people ranked their seniority and wrote books and biographies. constitute the existing huge group of immortals.