Immortals And Yin And Yang

This paper aims at explaining the ideology of the Celestial Taoists in Huainan Zi and its position and use in its history of the production of Taoism. The Ideology of the Celestial Taoists in Huainan Zi consider the belief of becoming celestial by corresponding to the rules in the world as the ultimate goal, the belief of Taoism as the noumenon and origin category and Taoism as guiding principles which leads all kinds of theories including celestials, Yin and yang, arts for medicine and preserving health, Confucianism, Monist School, Legalists and it forms a religious inside self-exceeding specific ideological system about celestials’cultivating which merges theology and humanism, reason and unreason, be and not involved in the material world as a unity. This characteristic religious ideology has great exemplary influence on Taiping Classics which is common classics of original Taoism and has crucial effect on the forming of religious thoughts and social behaviour modes of the Taiping Tao and the Five Bushiels Rice Taoism through Taiping Classics. Therefore, Huainan Zi may be rated as a comprehensive representative classice of Huang Lao Taoists or new Taoists work called by Xiong Tiegi in the early period of the han Dynasty and it has great influence on religious doctrine of Taoism in the early period.The immortal in Huainan Zi is the supernatural being called by Ban Gu in Han Shu(History of the Former Han Dynasty) and its immortal belief originates from the immortal ideology emerging during between Xian Qin and the initial stage of Qin and Han Dynasty. On the basis of the immortal ideology, Huainan Zi use the theory on the formation of universe of Taoists as the theoretical fulcrum. It uses the theory of primordial ch’i to unite Yin and yang, five elements, human being and the universe firmly with Taoism as a natural organic unity, and then finish the apotheosis of "Tao" by the theory of the unity of heaven and man and the theory of the interaction of heaven and man and personlaize the preternatural feature of the natural Tao from Laozi and Zhuangzi. The exhibition of the deity of "Tao" in Huainan Zi is that it has the creativity, the absolute, the eternity, the infinite and the transcendence and the "immortal" shares part of deity of "Tao" by imitating the the natual character of "Tao" and tempering oneself gradually in the real social life until becoming a successful priest whose natural instinct suits for the "Tao", then he (she) becomes a supernatural being or a celestial. A firm belief in Huainan Zi is with the eternity, the infinite and the transcendence that the celestial exists and that the celestial can be tempered. It proves the reality of this thesis from the aspect of experience by using the theory of interaction of Yin and yang and way of analogy. Meanwhile, it also compensates the lack of reasoning proves for this thesis through the existence of mythology about the celestials exist in the Kunlun Mountains.The theory on ways to become celestials in Huainan Zi begins with real human beings in actural social relationships which also means begins with the actual historical human beings referred by Marx. The theory thinks that men are from Tao and the nature of human beings has shared the nature of Tao and has the pure and quiet and plain nature. But, because of the infection of the common customs, men will lose the pure and plain nature and become false and showed the character of hate and love or kindness and evil which keeps men from Tao, that is to say, men are mortal who can live and die and become ghosts when men die. Ghost is limited spirit and it can not be permanent and limitless. So human beings must be back to try to make themselves corresponding to Tao, then they can be everlasting and unlimited. To make full-time effort to cultivate one’s spiritual and religious life is the necessary only way. The theory of cultivating oneself according to the Tao’s doctrine in Huainan Zi not only stresses a harmonious combination of the spirit and Tao and also the basic uses of body exercises. It supposes that the key to succeed in Tao is according to whether one can concentrate spirit and return to severity. If a man wants to be concentrated, the outside social environment which one gets along with people must be harmonious, otherwise, the exercise is impossible. So, from this point of view the thesis in Huainan Zi goes into the society positively and wishes to rebuild the society with the highest morals. It considered the theory on formation of universe as logical beginning of human nature and social historical progress and supposed that the human nature and the status of morals in a society is a historic process of being down gradually. Naturally the society can be divided into the highest and being down and according to the degree of the social morals the being down society can be divided into several historic stages. And the society with the highest morals can also be divided into the original and the rebuild and the political standard of the two have the same natual inaction and the human nature is both in the status of plain as one. The difference between the two is that the former needs no rulers and everyone can be natual inaction and self-governing, the later rebuilds the rules after losing it and needs a ruler. Thereby, they constitute the theory on the social historic stages of theory of morals’retrogression. In order to impel the human nature to be back and plain and to rebuild the society with the highest morals, it uses the theory in Huainan Zi on the social historic stages as the basis to criticize and absorb the ideologies of Confucianism, Mohist School and Legalists, confirms the relative values of benevolence, justice or righteousness, politeness, joyness and law in certain social historic stage and builds a complete set of selfless and unity and autonomous politic cultural system all over the world using Tao as command.Huaina Zi, the specific religious theory, is showed fully in Taiping Classics appeared one hundred years later. Through the comparison with the religious philosophy and social political philosophy ideology in the two books, it can be found that there are a highly consistence in the basic standpoint and the whole thinking ways. Taiping Classics is considered as the common classics of the Taiping Tao and the Five Bushiels Rice Taoism of the original Taoism and it has crucial influence on their religious creed and social behaviour mode, which is the common sense in the academic circle and no need to explain again. Then, a conclusion can be deduced, that is, from the point of view of form and reality and facts, the doctrine of original Taoism is from Taiping Classics and from the point of view of nature and history, the religious thought and social behaviour mode of original Taoism has been predetermined early by the immortal Taoist ideology in Huainan Zi, merely the influence happened by Taiping Classics. Therefore, there are adequate reasons to prove that Huainan Zi has vital influence on Chinese Taoism and it is an important original classics in the developing history of ideology of Taoism.Huainan Zi, as an unique immortal Taoist ideology, has great beneficial and enlightenmental meanings for construction of contemporary Taoism and socialism cultural development with Chinese characteristic. How does this contemporary Taoism accommodate with the social construciton in socialism and how does it exist and develop as a native and less advantageous in the process of globalizaiton? How does contemporary Chinese social cultural industry keep its own history and cultural traditions and build a cultural system with its racial and social characters? We can find all experiences and enlightenments in Huainan Zi.