Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
Taoism is an indigenous religion of the East, formed by taking the Taoist thought of Laozi and the Yellow Emperor as its theory and developing it together with the arts of the immortals.
It is said that by the end of the Eastern Han dynasty there were already many Taoist organizations, which kept growing and developing into a system and spread widely among the people. Taoism pursues attaining the Tao, becoming an immortal, and helping the people of the world. Compared with Buddhism, Taoism has deeper and broader roots in China.
Even today, many people believe in Taoism. Some have entered Taoism as followers and devote themselves to cultivation day and night; others hold Taoism as a faith and often use Taoist thought to guide their words and deeds.
Although Taoist culture has been handed down for so many years and has a broad base among the public, there are always some things we do not know. Today we share three little-known facts about Taoism—interesting and enlightening, and quite different from what we might imagine. They are well worth reading.
1. The “Pungent Foods” in Taoist Precepts Are Not Actually Meat
When many people hear the word hun, usually understood as “meat dishes,” they think of lavish fish and meat. In fact, Taoism’s interpretation of hun differs greatly from what we imagine. First we must understand what hun actually is. Its original meaning is strong-smelling, pungent vegetables such as scallions and garlic.
For example, the Shuowen dictionary records: “Hun: a foul-smelling vegetable.” The Cangjie Pian says: “Hun: a pungent vegetable.”
In fact, not only Taoism but also Buddhism defines hun as the five pungent vegetables: scallions, garlic, garlic chives, Chinese shallots (xie), and coriander (yansui)—yansui being what is now called xiangcai, coriander leaf.
Taoist cultivation holds that when practicing, one needs to exhale the old and take in the new and cultivate inner alchemy (neidan) within the body. Eating these pungent vegetables hinders one’s practice, and the pungent breath exhaled from the mouth also profanes the gods. So Taoism rules that one may not eat the five pungent vegetables. Later the concept was gradually expanded to include fish and meat.
2. Not All Taoist Priests Are Forbidden to Marry
Whether Taoist priests can marry is a question many people often ask. Some think Taoism has monastic rules and precepts forbidding marriage. Others think that yin and yang must unite, that this is itself the true meaning of the Tao, and that marriage between men and women is a normal thing. In fact, to look at this question, we should turn our attention to the schools of Taoism, and the answer quickly comes to light.
Over its long development, Taoism produced schools large and small, which finally formed two major schools: the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) school and the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) school. The Quanzhen school’s monastic rules and precepts are strict, requiring disciples to be simple and plain. At the very founding of the teaching, Wang Chongyang laid down: “All cultivating the Tao must first follow these twelve words: cut off wine, lust, wealth, and anger; clinging and attachment; worry, grief, and anxious thought.”
The Ten Precepts of Initial Perfection also records: “The fourth precept: Do not indulge in lewdness that ruins your true nature and defiles the numinous qi; guard your chastity and let it suffer no breach.” Clearly the Quanzhen school does not allow its priests to marry.
The precepts of the Zhengyi school are not so strict. They hold that “the alternation of yin and yang is called the Tao,” and that if yin and yang could not unite, all things would inevitably perish. On love and marriage, the Zhengyi school is more humane. In the Chinese Taoist pantheon, the Old Man Under the Moon is in charge of marriages. So whether a Taoist can marry depends above all on which school one has joined.
3. The Steps Taoist Priests Use in Rituals Come from the Crane
Taoist priests performing ritual services is a common sight. Priests who can perform rituals are called ritual masters, and they hold a very high position in Taoism. When performing rituals, they wear ritual vestments and hold a peachwood sword; some also burn talismans and incantations, and their footwork has a distinct rhythm. In fact, the steps Taoist priests use in rituals are called pacing the stars of the Dipper, also known as the Steps of Yu.
This footwork requires the priest to tread in regular patterns on the positions of the seven stars of the Northern Dipper. As for its origin, it is said that when Yu the Great was taming the floods, he was inspired by watching cranes walking by the river, and combining this with the seven stars of the Northern Dipper in the sky, he invented it. So this “pacing the stars of the Dipper” is also called the crane step.