A Research On Daoist Commandments And Tang Society

The Tang Dynasty was a golden age for the development of Daoism,and Daoism had a great influence in the Tang society.At the same time,the internal integration and institutionalization of Daoism also made great progress,and the System of Daoist commandments became increasingly mature and perfect.In the tang Dynasty,Daoist commandments played an important role in the society.The Daoist commandments of the Tang Dynasty were inherited from the Daoist traditions of the Han and Wei Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties.The formation and development of Daoist commandments before the Tang Dynasty has been closely related to the changes of social environment.In the early Han and Wei dynasties,Daoist commandments came from a wide range of sources and were deeply influenced by social ethics and public order.In the sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty,the changes of the social and political situation and the widespread spread of Buddhism in China contributed to the development and change of Daoist commandments.To the southern and northern Dynasties,the preliminary integration of Daoist commandments profoundly influenced the construction and development of Daoist commandments in the Tang Dynasty.On the basis of inherited the tradition of Daoist commandments before Tang Dynasty,Daoist commandments not only had an important influence on the politics,economy and culture of Tang Dynasty when dealing with the relationship between religion and secularity,but also gained new development in the interaction with the politics,economy and culture of Tang Dynasty.The relationship between Daoist commandments and Tang Dynasty politics can be divided into two aspects:the first is the relationship between Daoist commandments and legal system construction.Both in the construction of Daoist management system and general legal system,the government of Tang Dynasty fully absorbed and accepted the influence of Daoist commandments.The government of Tang Dynasty adjusted and reformed Daoist commandments according to the demand of ruling and management,which facilitated the further integration and perfection of Daoism and Daoist commandments.The second is the influence of Daoist commandments on participants in political life.As the main participant in the political life of the Tang Dynasty,the practice of Daoist commandments by the Royal family of Tang dynasty and the pursuit of Daoism among intellectual group greatly promoted the prosperity and development of Daoism.However,while acknowledging the positive role,we should also pay attention to the negative influence of the Royal family and intellectual group on the normal Daoist order.In addition,although it was inevitable for The Daoist priests to participate in politics in the Tang Dynasty,their excessive activity in the political field also affected the development of Daoism.As for Daoist commandments and social economy,the construction of Daoist economic commandments in Tang Dynasty mainly revolves around the Daoist economic ethics of"living in poverty and enjoying Daoism without storing personal wealth".The Daoist economic ethic is mainly composed of "no private wealth" and "not suppressing public property".Its purpose is to ensure the sufficiency of basic material wealth without affecting the normal practice of Daoism.In social practice,although the Daoist economic ethic as a lofty value concept has been highly respected inside and outside Daoism,but facing the prosperity and development of social economy in Tang Dynasty,the specific economic precepts of Daoism in Tang Dynasty still have space to continue to adjust and improve.In addition,compared with the Buddhist economic precepts,the social wealth concept of Daoist economic commandments also has many deficiencies and defects.Daoism in tang Dynasty did not fully grasp the trend of the transformation from the demand for survival to the demand for material wealth,and the difference in the wealth concept objectively widened the gap between Buddhism and Daoism in Tang Dynasty.In the Daoist commandments and ritual culture,introducing Confucianism into laws is the fundamental principles of the ancient Chinese legal construction,Daoist commandments is didn’t have the common secular law mandatory,but as a Daoist individual order and the cult of the whole order system standard,in dealing with many social relations inside and outside of Daoism,is bound to be affected by the secular ritual.In fact,in the process of constructing Daoist ritual system,Confucian ritual system has been the most important source of Daoist ritual system.Whether it is state sacrifice,or mentoring relationship,or clan marriage and gender,we can see the influence of Confucian ritual system.However,although the ethical norms of Daoist commandments mainly come from the Confucian ritual system,there are still many differences in understanding and procedures between them.The commonness between Daoist commandments and secular rites makes it possible for Daoist theories contained in Daoist commandments to influence social ethics in a more acceptable way.The difference between them,as the "boundary" of Confucianism and Daoism,is the attempt and effort of Daoism to construct its own discourse power.Generally speaking,Daoism and Daoist commandments construction is always in a process of advancing with The Times and developing with innovation.The changing social environment requires Daoism and Daoist commandments to adapt to the new situation and solve new problems.The success and failure of Daoism and Daoist commandments construction in tang Dynasty not only reflects the development and change of the society in Tang Dynasty,but also provides the development foundation and experience and lessons for the construction of Daoism and Daoist commandments in later generations.It is in such a process of continuous inheritance,development and innovation that Daoism has gained its strong vitality.