A Study Of Taoist Thought In Flowers In The Mirror Analysis Based On Female Image

Flowers in the mirror is a novel written by Li Ruzhen in the Qing Dynasty.It mainly describes the story of a hundred immortals who were banished to the earth,where they went through hardships,practiced female cultivation,and then returned to the heaven again.The women in the novel are not the traditional women confined in the house.They have the consciousness of equality between men and women and put it into practice,which is deeply influenced by the Taoist worship of women.Therefore,this paper will study the Taoist thoughts contained in the novel from the perspective of women.The first part mainly discusses the fairy tale mode adopted in the novel—immortals banished to cultivate Taoism.There were different reasons for the cultivation of the relegated immortals.The fairy commanding the flowers and Moon vixen of heart,one is demoted for making mistakes,and the other is condemned for longing for worldly life.But they will eventually return to heaven and become immortals,which is their destiny.The second part discusses the concept of women under the influence of Taoism.It has always been the attitude of Taoism to pay importance to weakness and advocate Yin,which is not only reflected in female immortals,but also in women in the mortal world.The female immortals such as the Queen Mother of the West,the Fairy of Flowers and the female Kuixing have a high status and independent divinity in the fairyland.Women in the mortal world also have equal rights and status with men.They have an important position and role in economic,political and social aspects.And they also show their outstanding talents in the fields of Confucian classics,history,philosophy,literature and martial arts such as riding and shooting that men are good at.The third part mainly discusses the Taoist female cultivation in the novel.Female cultivation in Taoism is determined by the unique religious ideology of women’s worship,which also follows the reverse practice direction of "returning to the original" in Taoism.The women in the novel attach importance to the ethical cultivation of Taoism,and take establishing good virtue and eliminating desire as the main methods of cultivation.They hope to get rid of the worldly annoyance and achieve spiritual independence and freedom,so as to truly wake up and realize enlightenment.The female worship in the novel is not only to break the traditional idea that men are superior to women,but also to emphasize that women should be self-reliant and have independent personality.They should actively participate in social life,show their personality and charm,so as to realize their own value.