The cultural origins of Taoism, Taoism and Dan Dao can be traced back to the primitive religious traditions of primitive societies during the matriarchal clan commune period. Before the formation of matrilineal clan society, it was impossible to produce religion, let alone philosophical thought, so the primitive religion of matrilineal clan society was the beginning of Chinese civilization.
01
The primitive religion of matriarchal clan society is spontaneous, and this religion is the product of the collective thinking of primitive people in the common struggle for survival, but when it is produced, it becomes the collective belief of the entire clan and penetrates into all aspects of clan life. Every member of the clan must participate in a collective religious ceremony and strictly abide by the code of conduct of the religion, and violating religion means leaving the clan, and separating from the clan cannot survive. In this way, primitive religion became the all-encompassing superstructure of clan society, and every member of the clan was a faithful believer. This primitive religion includes nature worship, fertility worship, totem worship, celestial worship, ancestor worship, etc., of which the most matriarchal clan system is female worship (including female ancestor worship and female yin worship, female fertility worship, etc.).
The major tribes in ancient China were developed from matrilineal clans, and most of the tribal chiefs who achieved the status of tribal alliance leaders only knew their mothers, not their fathers, and they believed that they were born in the induction of natural objects such as dragons and lightning rainbows. For example, the Huaxu clan of the Fuxi clan stepped on the traces of Lei Ze and gave birth to Fuxi; The daughter of the Yan Emperor (Shennong clan) clan dengyu Long felt that the Yan Emperor; The yellow emperor's appendage treasure sees the electric light to give birth to the Yellow Emperor; The Qingdu of the Yao clan met the dragon and gave birth to Yao; The Shun clan's hand-held Deng saw the rainbow and gave birth to Shun, and the Huaxu clan, the female Deng, and the attached treasure were the female ancestors of these tribes.
The remains of the Yangshao culture discovered by Archaeology in China coincide with the heyday of matriarchal clan society. Judging from the arrangement of tomb bones at that time, it reflects the custom of worship of female ancestors at that time. According to ethnological surveys, the Yunnan Yongning Naxi people, which have preserved the matriarchal tradition, still have the relics of female ancestor worship. Archaeological and ethnological surveys have found that there are more cultural remnants of femininity and femininity in matriarchal clan societies. Large-scale female temples have also been found in the remains of the Niuhe Liang Hongshan culture in Liaoning, including a large number of myths handed down in ancient times, such as the creation of people by the Nüwa clan, which show that female worship is an important feature of a matriarchal society.
It is known that the history of primitive society is much longer than that of class society, that the primitive religion of matriarchal clan communes has gradually formed a traditional force in such a long history, and that the customs and ideas of female worship have been preserved in traditional culture for generations. Tradition is the most conservative force in society and nation, it is not formed overnight, but once a certain cultural element (such as religious belief, ideological concept, social customs, political experience, living habits) forms a tradition in the nation and society, the historical inertia of this tradition forces that nation and society to abandon it or cut it off with a knife.
Since the primitive religion of matriarchal clan society has been put into the vat of Chinese culture as a traditional dye, although the patriarchal patriarchal tradition of patriarchal etiquette has prevailed, we can still find traces of female worship from the ancient cultural accumulation. The existing traditional culture must contain information about the ancestors of the past generations, and it is not surprising that we find traces of the primitive religion of the ancient matriarchal clan in Taoism and Taoist culture.
02
The philosophy of Chinese Taoism stems from the political experience of tribal chiefs in matriarchal clan societies. Incidentally, tribal chiefs in matriarchal clan societies are not necessarily female, but are still male,000, because in the study of cultural anthropology we have not found a precedent for feminist supremacy societies. The view of history that is typically matriarchy is a normal stage in the evolution of social organization is debatable. But the tradition of female worship in matriarchal clan societies is a historical feast. Cover the matrilineal clan society, the old grandmother occupies the dominant position, the tribal members are their descendants, linked by blood ties, women are generally respected by society, and the political tradition of governing the clan is naturally based on loving descendants, less desire, noble and feminine, natural inaction, it is impossible to be as harsh as the patrilineal ancestors, red tape, and there is no need to bind the people with patriarchal etiquette. In this way, the political principles of lao hiring, such as "his government is sullen, and his people are pure" (Lao Tzu, chapter 58), "one is kind, the second is thrifty, and the third is not dare to be the first in the world" (chapter 67) and the political traditions of matriarchal clan communes are not bad.
Lao Nie also vividly described his ideal social picture: "A small country and a widow. Make there be a shibai instrument without using it; Let the people die and not far away. Although there are boats and public opinions, there is nothing to take advantage of, although there are armored soldiers, there is nothing to be done. Let the people tie the rope and use it. Eat willingly, serve beautifully, live in peace, and enjoy its customs. Neighboring countries look at each other, the sounds of chickens and dogs hear each other, and the people do not interact with each other until they are old and dead. (Chapter Eighty) If this description is consistent with the social reality of matriarchal clan communes, archaeological findings and ethnological surveys prove that matrilineal tribes are indeed societies in which "neighbors look at each other" and "do not interact." In history, only the primitive society of the matriarchal tribe conforms to this description of the old employment, but this society is still in the barbaric era, and the life of the primitive people is far less beautiful than imagined.
In matriarchal primitive societies, people have the habit of distinguishing things between male and female. The worship of women in primitive religions has led national societies to form a tradition of respecting women's feminine, humble, and quiet qualities. The Taoist philosophy of guiyin and gentleness is obviously an abstraction and generalization of this tradition. The word "mother" is repeatedly used in Lao Tzu, and he refers to "Tao" as "the gate of Xuanmu" (female yin) and "Ceres" (reproductive god) and "can be the mother of the world" (chapter 25) These are the remnants of female fertility worship in primitive religions, and the characteristics of these matriarchal clan primitive religions of The Taoists were later all synthesized into Taoism, making the primitive religious relics of female worship in Taoism more abundant.
The earliest immortal Queen Mother of the Western Immortals in Taoism is the hereditary female chieftain of the matrilineal tribe, and the Bamboo Book Chronicle, the Biography of Mu Tianzi, the Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Inner Biography of Emperor Wu of Han, the Huainan Zi Lan Meditation And Zhang Heng's Lingxian and other books record that houyi, the chief of the wandering tribe, and the Shang Emperor Tai Peng, had asked the western queen mother for immortal medicine, and King Mu of Zhou also personally went to Kunlun Mountain to meet the western queen mother, and even Emperor Wudi of Han also asked the western queen mother for immortal arts. Subsequently, the Taoist world took the Queen Mother of the West as the Sect of Female Immortals, and formed a huge lineage of Female Immortals centered on her. The Records of the Immortals of Yongcheng, the Collection of True Immortals of the Past Dynasties, and the History of the Immortals of the Past Dynasties record the biographies and stories of more than 130 immortals. In folk sacrifice activities, Taoism has Bixia Yuanjun in the north and Tianfei Mazu in the south, becoming the two female immortals who are most visited by pilgrims in the country.
During the Nüwa clan, it was still the era of the matrilineal clan commune. China is in a flood period: clan tribes mostly use hills as settlements to avoid floods, so they are called hill people, and tribal chiefs of various hills form tribal alliances to control water. It is called a tribe, such as the Fuxi, the Yellow Emperor, the Yandi and so on. The tribes were in the process of controlling the water, civilization was opening up, patriarchy was rising, and the flood ended in Yu, the beginning of the summer, and China gradually followed the slave society of patriarchal patriarchy. In the meantime, after many primitive religious revolutions, especially the primitive religious revolution at the time of yin Zhou, the establishment of a primitive pro-religion representing patriarchy, patriarchal ritualism, the new tradition of male superiority and female inferiority, which is the cultural origin of Confucianism. However, the primitive religious tradition of the matriarchal clan has not been interrupted, it has only been reduced to the folk and the exiles or mixed into the new primitive religious witch history culture, and the traces of the worship of the female fairies are still preserved after the male gods have dominated. In China, ruled by Confucian patriarchy, there are so many depictions of fairies and praises in Taoism, and female immortals are not discriminated against, which is obviously a remnant of the primitive religious worship of women.
Since the Xia, Shang, and Three Dynasties, the dominance of the patriarchal primitive religion, lijiao, has been gradually established, and the zhou metric system has enriched the content of patriarchal ritualism, and the Zhou Dynasty has implemented the Shiqing Shilu system, learning in the hundred officials, and the unity of officials and teachers. By the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the patriarchal lord economy of the Zhou Dynasty was gradually replaced by the feudal landlord economy, and the Shiqing shilu system declined. Class relations (jun, qing, dafu, tu, shuren, slaves) also changed, and the "scholar" class between the nobles and the common people expanded rapidly, and they were liberated from their original feudal status as bearers of traditional culture. The scholar class became the first of the four peoples (scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants) who could move freely, and with a conscious sense of social ideals, cultural literacy, and social responsibility, the ancient intellectual class in the strict sense appeared in China.
In fact, in class society, the identity of the intellectual is dual. On the one hand, intellectuals, because of their similar social status, economic conditions, interests and needs, form a social class with consistent interests and requirements. On the other hand, they are the spokesmen of all classes and interest groups in society as a whole. As many classes, strata and interest groups as there are in society, intellectuals can reflect as many ideological views as represent these different interests and demands. Thus, intellectuals do not belong to any particular economic class, but are a class with common social interests. Intellectuals are not limited by their socio-economic status, but are the bearers of national culture and the representatives of social ideals and the spirit of the times. Mencius's statement that "those who have no permanent property but have perseverance, only the soldiers are able" (Mencius Liang Huiwang) describe this characteristic of ancient intellectuals.
The rise of the "scholar" class has led to an unprecedented rise in rationalism and humanistic thought, the decline of the traditional primitive religion of the Zhou Dynasty, the "collapse of etiquette and bad music", the learning of the hundreds of sons and hundreds of families has broken through from the witch history culture of primitive religion, and traditional culture has risen to a higher level of philosophy along the road of rationalism. Inheriting the primitive religious traditions of the ancient matrilineal clan system and patriarchal patriarchy, the Zhou Dynasty Wushi culture is the sum of ancient scholarship, and during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, this Wushi culture was baptized by rationalism and humanistic thought, and divided into the Hundred Schools of Thought of the Sons.
At that time, the whole country could be divided into six cultural regions with different tribal traditions: Zoulu, Sanjin, Yanqi, Jingchu, Wuyue, and Bashu. Confucian culture inherits the most traditions of patriarchal ritualism in the Zhou Dynasty, followed by the Fajia, which is based in the Zoulu region, and the Fajia is the most prevalent in the Three Jins. In addition to the Taoists and Mo families who inherited the original religious traditions of the matrilineal clans, according to the Hanshu Yiwenzhi, there are still Yin and Yang families, numerologists (including astronomers, almanacs, five elements, turtle families, miscellaneous zhanjia, and shape-form scholars), and Fang jijia (including medical classicists, Jingfang families, Fangzhong families, and immortal families). The Taoist school first developed around the Yanqi culture and the Jingchu culture, and also spread in the Wuyue culture and the Bashu culture. Since the Zhou Dynasty, the ancient matriarchal clan primitive religion of The Four Yis has spread mainly in the border areas of Yanqi, Jingchu, Wuyue, Bashu and other border areas, which are also areas where the immortals and Wuzhu and Fangshi are active. Therefore, Taoism at the end of the Han Dynasty was developed on the basis of the cultural background of these regions.
In particular, it should be pointed out that the ancient primitive religion's witch history culture, not only the simple concept of female worship or male superiority and inferiority, actually contains many profound ideas. As early as the fuxi and yellow emperor eras of Taoism, the ancients promoted the development of humanistic knowledge due to the increase of astronomical knowledge, and many inventions and discoveries appeared one after another. The ancients used the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper to determine the movement of celestial bodies and divide the sun and moon into twenty-eight stars, to control the calendar and observe meteorology. The October calendar of the solar calendar was once practiced in primitive societies, and the Xia Dynasty was still applied to the Shang and changed, and now there are still the relics of this October calendar among the Yi people of Ailao Mountain in Yunnan. There are also records of this ancient October calendar in the Poems, Xiaoya, and The Marriage of October, Guan Zi and Yougong, and Xia Xiaozheng.
The ancients also accumulated a wealth of medical knowledge, and gradually produced psychophysiological health theory, meridian theory, shape, qi, god's view of the human body, and medical techniques such as potting, acupuncture, moxibustion, decoction medicine, and zhuyu. The timing method of heavenly stem and earth branch invented by the ancients probably coincided with a certain cosmic rhythm, which effectively promoted the development of technical numbers and forecasting in later generations. The ancients' concepts of heaven (the cangs are heaven), the concept of god (those who communicate with heaven and earth are called gods), the concept of ghosts (God returns to the earth as ghosts), the concept of man, and the idea of the trinity of heaven, god, and man laid the foundation for the concepts of the unity of heaven and man, the theory of the five elements of yin and yang, the theory of three talents and four elephants, and the concept of tao. The seeds of wisdom sown by the ancients in the culture of Wushi have long been pregnant with the flowers of later Generations of Taoist culture.
(Excerpt from: Hu Fuchen's General Theory of Taoism: Taoists. Taoism. Dan Dao," pp. 9-14. ）
About author:Professor Hu Fuchen Hu Fuchen, male, born in December 1945 in Wuqiao County, Hebei Province. Researcher of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. His main academic specialty is Taoism and Taoist culture, and he is currently engaged in the study of Chinese philosophy.
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