This course provides an introduction to the study of the history, major teachings, and practices of the major Chinese religions and spiritual practices and is deigned to give conceptual tools to appreciate diverse religious practice in East. It covers the development of Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism and wide range of popular and local religions. From historical perspective we will also explore the development of key theological, religious and philosophical doctrines as well as associated practices. An effort will be made to spend time on each tradition according to its importance to Asia as a whole. We will explore the role of religions in politics and social relations in East and South, South East Asia and China in particular, and will analyze the origins, central teachings, divisions and branches, rituals and practices, influences on culture, and responses to modern challenges for each tradition. The emphasis throughout the course is on the hermeneutic difficulties attendant upon the study of religion in general, and Asian religions in particular. We will explore new Asian religions as dynamic, ongoing forces in the lives of individuals and in the collective experience of modern societies.
Taoism and the Idea of Immortality
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En provenance du cours de National Research University Higher School of Economics
Religions and Society in China
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À partir de la leçon
Taoism in Chinese society: main religious practises
This module's content describes the paths of development, which were taken by Taoist cults in their history, explains the ways that connected Taoist philosophy and social practice of religious cults and organisations.
Rencontrer les enseignants
Aleksey A. MaslovHead
School of Asian Studies
[MUSIC]
Hello.
Today we continue to discuss the main Taoist ideas.
During our last session we spoke about the philosophical ideas and
philosophical basis of Taoism.
Today we move forward to the more religious idea or
religious practice of Taoism.
And today first of all we'll discuss the idea of the immortality.
The idea of long life and immortality which became a central part,
a focal point of all medieval Taoism.
Different schools of Taoism had a different approach to the idea,
how to reach this immortality.
Some schools regard immortality as a real immortality of the physical body,
it means a long life without death, [FOREIGN], a long life without death.
And other schools regarded immortality more as a spiritual immortality,
and it means that one day human body will come to decline.
But our spiritual soul or souls,
the multiplicity of souls will become untouchable.
So it means in this case, will begin the immortals.
So the main hero in the medieval Taoism is called the immortal,
which is called the xian.
Sometimes it's called the true people or true human, jian jian.
Because all other humans are just fake humans.
Because one day the bodies will die.
It means that they're fake.
They're not eternal.
But the rest of them kind of people which are eternal,
are immortals, that's why they are true people, [FOREIGN].
They understand the nature of the things, the order of this nature,
that's why they could live without any death.
In the ancient and medieval pictures, we can see these images of immortal.
Sometimes, they are very strange.
They are surrounded by different kind of symbols of the immortality.
For example, toad, like in this picture.
Or in the picture on the right side, the old
man surrounded by the pictures of the mushrooms,
which one of the ingredients for the peeler of the immortality and
of the which are also the symbol of the immortalities.
Immortals, it's not just a symbolical name for
these kind of people.
These people practice a different kind of exercises.
First of all meditation exercises, breathing exercises and
finally they made a special kind of elixir.
All the pillar of immortality inside or outside the body.
So it means that all this immortals could be divided into three main categories,
the first one is called the human immortals.
Which already reached immortality but stay in their own bodies.
That's the first step of immortality.
The second or the highest step is called the Earth immortality.
So in this case, according to the major ideas,
this kind of Earth immortals could live in their bodies or
they could go out from their bodies and just wandering all around.
And finally, the highest point in so-called heaven immortals, like this one.
Heaven immortals, it's already the spirits
of these people who leave their bodies, and
they are completely independent from the mundane life.
So these three kinds of immortals were recognized
almost by all schools of Taoism, but once again different school of Taoism
had various views how to reach this immortality.
There are some kind of symbols of immortality almost in all Taoist pictures.
And for people who know how to read these symbols,
they could understand the idea of such kind of pictures.
In this picture we can see an old man,
which is already immortal, speaking with a turtle.
Turtle's one of the symbols of the immortality, so it means
the turtle is kind of bridge between the spiritual world and this world.
Turtle brings some kind of ideas and some kind of science
on its back and in this case, especially in this picture,
two immortal creatures speaks with each other.
This idea of the dialogue between immortal.
How you can reach immortality?
According to the main Taoist theory, each people,
each human being has at least ten different souls.
So called the three Yang or Heavenly souls, and seven yin or Earth souls.
This is a picture of the dialogue between the ten different souls.
After the physical death seven souls go to the Earth.
So in this case they completely disappear.
At the same time three Heaven souls could stay and
could keep together even after the human physical death.
It means that if you can keep together these three
heavenly souls, it means that can be an immortal, heaven immortal or
earth immortal because you can be reborn in other body.
These three young souls, after the physical deaths, once again,
can be kept together or they can be dissolved and
be the complete and complete death of the human beings.
So the difference between the ordinary men and immortal is that the second
one the immortal could keep three souls together without the dissolution.
That's the idea of immortality.
So, the main question how to keep it together.
Some schools suggest that you have to practice meditating exercises and
breathing exercises, and
in this case after the death you would keep your three main souls together.
Another school suggest that you could get a so
called the pillar of immortality the medicine that you should
take inside and in this case also to get immortality.
So the difference between school one of the difference
is about the question how to reach this immortality.
The idea of immortality came from Taoism and
arrive to the different kind of folk religions.
One of the main subject, and one of the main theories of Taoism
became this is called the eight immortals, or eight heroes of Taoism.
Some of these eight people really historically existed, and
some of them were military commanders.
Some of them were just practitioners of the Taoism,
and among them there is one woman, one lady.
The head of these eight immortals is the famous hero,
[FOREIGN], which became a patron
of immortality in China.
That's why a lot of texts and
scriptures about immortality are prescribed to [FOREIGN].
That's why we have a lot of texts by [FOREIGN], which is completely fake,
the authorship,
but anyway, all this text discussed the idea how to reach this immortality.
One of the most interesting part of this eight immortals,
that if we look from the mortal side to the behavior,
they were completely un-moral and some of the behavior are just disgusting.
They drank a lot.
They practiced some sexual practices that
were condemned by the Confucianist.
But these are mainly folk heros.
They represent and they reflect the folk ideas of the freedom and
of the freedom of any conventions, the freedom of any limits of the behavior.
That correlation between the religious Taoists and
folk understanding of these religious ideas.
These folk heroes became the heroes of different kind of
folk stories which are really not connected to the Taoism.
But anyway this idea of the immortality that
came to the popular religious practices.
For example on the right side, you can see a very famous figure.
It's a figure of the Ba xian of the eight immortals sitting
on the ship of the immortality.
And this figure is made from the root of the tree.
Why the root of the tree?
Because the root of the tree is also a symbol of Taoism,
the immortality of Taoism.
Because tree could be dead, but root stay inside the earth.
And mean that immortality is invisible, but it exists.
That's one of the explanation of the different kind of text or
scriptures that called the rootless tree or the root of immortality.
A folk heroes were transformed to the eight friends,
to the story about the eight friends or to the story of eight poets or
eight painters that correlate with the idea of eight immortals.
So that the idea about the eight sage from bamboo grove,
eight poets of the Tang and Song dynasties that are writing
poetry speak about different things, drink hot wine.
So it's the idea of hedonism, the idea of the relaxed life
inside the wisdom and a life that could bring you to the immortality.
Another symbol of the immortality in China became, is called Shouxing.
Shouxing is the god of the long life,
the god of longevity Shouxing was pictured in different ways.
On the left side, it's a classical picture, the old man
with the wild bird and with a crutch in his hand.
That idea or the competence of the ingredients of the pillar of immortality.
All this Shouxing, these two pictures came from
not the Taoist space but mainly came from the folk space.
It meant that this folk figures and became folk heros.
that's why, for example,
the figure of Shouxing you can find to be not only in the Taoist temples.
But first of all, in the family shrines,
in the house of the Chinese.
So it means that Shouxing that came from the Taoist ideas of
became a full hero today.
That is once again the connection, the bridge between the religious and
the mystical ideas of Taoism to the folk ideas of everyday life.
[SOUND]
[MUSIC]
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