Lu Xiujing: a great master of three religions and three caves
2022-04-11
In 471, the seventh year of emperor Tai of song and Ming Dynasties in the Southern Dynasty, a special Zhaiyi was held in Chongxu hall in the northern suburb of Jiankang (now Nanjing), the capital. This Zhaiyi was held for emperor Liu Yu. The host of this Sheng Da Zhai instrument is Lu Xiujing, a famous Taoist priest of the Southern Dynasty and a generation of great master who calls himself "three cave disciple". Lu Xiujing (406-477) was a descendant of Lu Kai, an important Minister of the state of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. Lu Xiujing, who was born in Zanying aristocratic family, is less Confucian and studies Xiangwei next to him; When he grew up, he hid in Yunmeng Mountain and studied Taoism teaching methods; He has visited Emei, Luofu and other Taoist resorts to seek Taoism and widely searched Taoism books. Lu Xiujing first received the attention of the rulers in the late Yuanjia period of the Southern Dynasty (453). He came to the capital for market medicine. Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty ordered him to stay in the capital to preach. The Empress Dowager Wang admired his reputation and asked in person, holding the ceremony of his disciples. Lu Xiujing reasoned, tried hard to persuade, and worked day and night. Soon, it was too early. Liu Shao, the prince of Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty, killed his father and killed the king. He became emperor himself and changed the Yuan Dynasty to too early. However, after only three months in office, Liu Shao was defeated by Liu Jun, the king of Wuling, who led the troops to denounce him. He was captured and killed. For a time, people were terrified and the society was full of doubts and fears. Lu Xiujing then avoided chaos and traveled to the south. He constructed Jinglu in Lushan Mountain and lived in seclusion for several years, but his reputation is far-reaching. There is a popular ballad "sweet and bitter bamboo shoots in Jianji temple and light and salty vegetables in Guizong Temple" in Lushan. The main idea is that because Lu Xiujing's Taoism is exquisite, the bitter bamboo shoots near Jianji Temple become sweet, while the salty vegetables in Guizong Temple become light. In 465, after Emperor Ming of Song Dynasty ascended the throne, he wanted to carry forward Taoism, admire Lu Xiujing's fame and virtue, and prepared the ceremony for solicitation for many times. In the first three years of Thailand (467), he ordered him to the capital and built a Chongxu hall for him in the suburbs of Beijing. The courtesy was very generous. Lu Xiujing lived in Chongxu hall for about 10 years. In the meantime, he collated the Taoist Scriptures and also made a wide range of fasting and sacrificial rites as a canon for later generations. The grand vegetarian ceremony in the first seven years of Thailand was set up by Lu Xiujing for the Ming emperor to pray for medical treatment and presided over it in person. As a great master of Taoism, Lu Xiujing devoted herself to Taoism all her life and devoted herself to the reform of Taoism, which occupies an important position in the history of Taoism. Its main achievements are reflected in three aspects, namely, sorting and compiling Taoist classics, formulating fasting and sacrificial rites of Lingbao school, and innovating the organization system of Tianshi Taoism. Since ancient times, China has attached importance to history and the compilation of scriptures. Influenced by this tradition, Taoism also attaches importance to the collation of scriptures. During the Jin and Song Dynasties, many new Taoist classics, such as "Lingbao" and "Shangqing", appeared in the process of circulation, with unclear origin, no ownership of each other and confusion of authenticity. It is urgent to examine the origin and classification of mirrors. Lu Xiujing has a wide range of knowledge and is familiar with the Heavenly Master, Shangqing Dynasty and Lingbao schools. In his early years, he paid attention to searching and collecting Taoist Scriptures. He carefully and painstakingly examined and sorted out the classics of various factions such as the Shangqing Dynasty, Lingbao and the three emperors, and summarized them as "three caves". He compiled the catalogue of three cave scriptures, the earliest general catalogue of Taoist Scriptures in China, which was presented to the emperor in the seventh year of the beginning of song Tai (471). "Dong" means "Tong", that is, Tong Xuan Da Miao. "Three caves", namely, cave truth, cave mystery and cave God, are three roads to the realm of immortals. Lu Jing's "one cave" is the contribution to the history of Taoism. Dongzhen collected the scriptures of Shangqing Sutra department, Dongxuan collected the scriptures of Lingbao sect, and Dongshen collected the scriptures of the three emperors. "Three holes" scriptures were three mainstream Taoist Scriptures prevailing in Jiangnan at that time. The catalogue of three Dongjing books is now lost, but this classification system is inherited by Taoism and directly affects the compilation structure of daozang in later generations. Lu Xiujing created the "three holes" style and claimed to be a "three holes disciple" who did not belong to a certain Taoist school. After his integration of the three cave scriptures, the Taoist Scriptures school began to form a relatively complete system, which gradually condensed the "miscellaneous and multi-faceted" and unorganized Taoism into a whole, and improved its competitiveness with Buddhism. "The three cave Scripture of the Supreme Court" says: "one master of the three cave Dharma preaching will pass the world, surpassing thousands of Taoist priests in yellow." Another important contribution of Lu Xiujing was the compilation of lingbaozhai instrument. Lingbao sect is famous among Taoism sects for attaching importance to fasting and sacrificial rites. It is said that "Lingbao comes from all kinds of rites in the world". Ritual is one of the basic elements of religion and the behavioral expression of religious consciousness. Lu Xiujing proposed to restrict people's thought and behavior with fasting ceremony. He believes that "fasting" is the foundation of seeking Tao, which can make people open-minded and calm down, so as to achieve no distractions, "open-minded to the original truth" and "calm down for the gods". Through Zhai Yi, "the top can be raised to immortality and get the way; the middle can stabilize the country and tranquilize the family, prolong life, protect happiness and wealth, and get the way of inaction; the bottom can eliminate the wrongs, forgive the past, save the suffering, eliminate the diseases, free the suffering of the dead, and spend all things." It can be seen that Lu Xiujing takes persuading good and abstaining from evil as the purpose, starts from the position of the unity of self-cultivation and governance, and establishes the ritual of fasting and sacrificing for the purpose of "the king obeys". Lu Xiujing took lingbaozhai as the main body, absorbed the fasting methods of other schools, and fabricated a more complete fasting instrument system, namely "nine fasting and twelve methods". Lu Xiujing has detailed instructions on the specific ceremony of each fasting method. The fasting ceremony, which was completed by Lu Xiujing, had an important impact on later generations. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the collection of fasting rites continued to be based on Lu Xiujing. He put forward ten requirements on how to practice fasting, namely: fragrant soup bath; Abandon worldly affairs and break the cause of customs; Chinese food has no taste and frustrates appetite; Be respectful and obedient, and give up your pride; Keep your mouth shut and don't talk nonsense; Cleanse the mind and avoid evil thoughts; Burn incense, play smoke and call God with drums; Repent your sins and ask for a wish; Great compassion, mindful of all things, disaster and distress, salty desire to take off; Stop pitching and repent. In terms of commandments, Lu Xiujing stipulated Ten Commandments for Taoists. They are: the heart does not hate jealousy; Keep benevolence and do not kill, give aid to the group, and be kind and save the people; Do not commit adultery or steal, and always do good thoughts; No color, no desire; No evil words, no beautiful words; Break the wine festival line and reconcile the nature of Qi; Don't envy others, win yourself, and retreat to help others; Don't talk nonsense about scriptures and teachings, and Zi destroys scriptures; Don't quarrel with others and comment on the four generations; Act as one, equal as one. It can be seen that Lu Xiujing's fasting rules and regulations show the characteristics of significantly integrating the three religions. They not only integrate the Confucian ethics, but also absorb the concepts of Buddhist body, mouth and meaning, and combine the Taoist personal physical and mental exercise, immortality and immortality with the Confucian moral cultivation, and the Buddhist breaking of customs and the liberation of life and death, so as to further enrich the Taoist theory of "cultivating and generating gods" and strengthen its ideological and theoretical nature, Ethical color is also more prominent. In the process of "harmony" with Confucianism and Buddhism, Taoism did not lose its personality and characteristics, but improved and opened up a broader road of development. As the British philosopher Russell said, "some of China's supreme ethical qualities are extremely needed by the modern world. Among these qualities, I think harmony comes first." It is one of the important signs that Lingbao school is different from the old Tianshi Taoism to combine the ritual of fasting and sacrificial rites with the cultivation of physical and mental morality. Since Lu Xiujing formulated the ritual of fasting, the procedures of Taoist fasting ceremony have rules to follow. No matter setting altar, wishing incense, chapter playing, chanting and praising, they all follow the Scriptures. He personally practiced and presided over various fasting activities. Lu Xiujing's third contribution is the innovation of the organizational system of Tianshi Dao. The Wei and Jin dynasties have fallen, and Taoist organizations are in chaos in the north and south. Erotic worship prevails, and Taoist organizations are mixed. After Kou Qianzhi's reform in the north, wudoumi Dao has been transformed into North Tianshi Dao, which has washed the crude color of folk religion and occupied the position of official orthodox religion. Lu Xiujing was a little later than Kou Qianzhi. He began to reorganize Tianshi Dao in the South and made a series of improvements. His "Mr. Lu daomen's strategy" has a clear reform plan. First of all, in terms of Taoist organization system, improve the three meeting day system; Secondly, in order to solve the confusion of Taoists' names, we should strengthen the system of registered residence and strictly manage the registration of household registration. Third, prohibit Taoist officials from signing their own posts, improve the Taoist official promotion system, promote by level, and "receive records according to merit". Lu Xiujing's intra religious hierarchy promotion system is extremely complicated, which is completely a replica of the patriarchal hierarchy in real society. In history, Lu Xiujing's improved Taoism is called the southern Tianshi Taoism. It integrates the old Tianshi Taoism and immortal Taoism, and makes the early Taoism develop into an official new Taoism characterized by adhering to the classics of three cave disciplines and precepts. It has become an important Taoism school competing with Kou Qianzhi's northern Tianshi Taoism. Lu Xiujing's improvement measures and religious practice activities not only made Taoism "fully prepared for teaching methods" and ascended to a new level, but also made "the government and the public pay attention to Taoism and customs return", which expanded the influence of Taoism in society. Kong Zhiyu, a famous scholar, praised him as "the capital of the Taoist crown and flowing into the eastern kingdom. The emperor reported its rules and the human spirit obeyed its laws". Lu Xiujing has the virtue of immortality and moralization. In the second year after the abolition of the emperor Yuanhui (474), the king of Guiyang launched a rebellion, and the dead Sergeant covered the field with his bones. Lu Xiujing "received the coffin and buried it", and accumulated countless merits and virtues. In the spring of the fifth year of Yuanhui (477), Lu Xiujing drove the crane West in Chongxu hall. It is said that before his death, he made a will and asked his disciples to put themselves in cloth bags and throw them into the cliff Valley next to his residence. But the disciples couldn't bear to send him back to Lushan for burial. Lu Xiujing gained a higher status and glory behind her, and was posthumously named "Mr. Jianji", and the old residence of Lushan was called "Jianji view". During the Xuanhe period of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, he was canonized as "real person of Dan Yuan Dynasty". Before the Tang Dynasty, Jianji temple was once the most famous Taoist temple in Lushan Taoist center and nantianshi Taoism. At its peak, there were up to 500 or 600 Taoists and incense was very popular. The inscription of Jianji Temple written by Shen Xuan in the Liang Dynasty of the Southern Dynasty said: "Lu Xiujing, a master of the three caves, has few desires, is good at both sex and storage, forgets to live as a habitat, and interprets the prosperity of the city. He puts on a happy land and solves the Ligularia Lingshan mountain." It outlines Lu Xiujing's life devoted to the cause of Taoist innovation and her deep affection for Lushan Mountain. Lu Xiujing has extensive knowledge and is also an expert in Confucianism and Buddhism. After his emergence, a large number of legends about him spread in Lushan area. One of the most widely spread and representative legends is "three smiles in Huxi". Huxi is in front of Donglin temple in Lushan, Jiangxi Province. It is said that when Hui, an eminent monk of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was stationed in xidonglin temple, there was an endless stream of visitors. Huiyuan sees off guests, but it has always been no more than Huxi. One day, the poets Tao Qian (Tao Yuanming) and Lu Xiujing visited. The three outstanding figures of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism talked very speculatively. When Huiyuan saw off the guests, the three people were still talking and laughing. They unknowingly walked through the tiger River, breaking the Convention. The tiger in the mountain river sounded a trumpet, and the three people laughed and left. Later generations built "three laughter Pavilion" here. In fact, Hui Yuan died in the 13th year of emperor Yixi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (417). At that time, Lu Xiujing was just 11 years old, and it seemed difficult for the three to make friends. However, the story of "three smiles in Huxi" shows that since the northern and Southern Dynasties, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism have had close and frequent exchanges, and the convergence and mutual infiltration of the three religions has gradually become the trend of the times. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, "three smiles in Huxi" has become more popular and often appears in the works of literati. Su Shi has a poem saying, "I came from Lushan Mountain and saw off the lonely clouds. I met Taoist Lu on the road and knew that I was a thousand year old man. Ask my friend at that time, Huxi had been dust. It seems that I heard of the lost old hall and knew how many grandchildren it was. I can write five character poems and still wear a wet wine towel. I call myself Ge Tianmin on the Xiaojing Festival." The widespread spread of the story of "three smiles in Huxi" shows that Lu Xiujing's Taoist reform cause of conforming to the trend of the times and integrating the three religions is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. His understanding of Confucianism and Buddhism
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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