Compared with Japan's acceptance and recognition of Buddhism and Confucianism, whether or not Chinese Taoism has had a major impact on Japanese culture has always been the focus of academic debate. Although Japanese scholars have studied Taoism a lot and achieved fruitful results, their main purpose is to recognize Chinese culture through Taoist studies. There is little strong argument for the influence of Taoism on Japanese culture. Some Japanese scholars have denied many influences of Taoist beliefs on Japanese ancient culture. For example, in his "Taoist Code", Fukui Wenya not only denied the influence of Taoism on ancient Japanese culture, but even directly denied that Taoism was introduced to Japan. Japanese historian Tsuda, who believes that although part of the knowledge of Chinese Taoism was introduced to Japan, it did not affect and form a belief in the Japanese life world. The author tries to explore the influence of Taoism on ancient Japanese culture through the interpretation of the Taoist attributes of the Taishan Prefecture.
The ritual has Taoist attributes
"Taishan Fujun" is one of the Taishan gods. Its title was first seen in the Eastern Jin Dynasty "Sou Shen Ji", originally originated from people's natural worship, and later existed as a form of Taoist immortal belief. In China, the name of Taishan Prefecture was changed many times. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it was “Taishan Prefecture Jun”, the Tang Dynasty was “Tianqi Wang”, the Song Dynasty was “Dongyue Emperor”, and the Ming and Qing Dynasties was “Bixia Yuanjun”. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a saying that "the soul returned to Taishan". During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Taishan Prefecture was considered to be the god of the land and the ghost of governance. After the Taishan Fujun belief was introduced to Japan, he was regarded by the believers as the god who had the power to control life and death and honor and disgrace. After the belief was merged with Buddhism, Taishan Fujun was considered the waiter of the demon king. During the nearly a thousand years from the Ping An to the Meiji period, there were more than 400 records of the Taishan Fujun sacrifices of the Japanese emperor, the upper aristocrats, and the samurai. This shows that Taishan Prefecture has an important historical position in the ancient Japanese belief culture.
The "duple shape" of the Taishan Fujun Festival is one of the paths that the sacrificial performer expresses the purpose of sacrifice and prayer to the gods. It is the same as the "wish" in Japanese Buddhism and the "eulogy" in Shinto. The rituals are universal in the heart of the rituals, so their content is true and reliable. Compared with the books compiled and transformed by the posterity, it is undoubtedly more direct and objective to reflect the true demands and beliefs of the rituals. In the case of the monarchs of the Taishan Prefecture, which were sacrificed by the Emperor and the nobles, there were many prayers of Taoism and thoughts such as “the disasters and delays”, “longevity and long-sightedness” and “protection of Wanfu in the centuries”. For example, Fujiwara Izumi, who is in the rank of the official ranking of the four right-handed, is the sacred ritual of the Taishan Fujun for the treatment of seriously ill women. There is a saying that "three pots are famous, Ning's fairy medicine is in the moon of Pengdao", and the Taoist classics. The idea of "Dan Yao" in Bao Puzi's Inner Chapter is exactly the same; Fujiwara practiced in the rituals of praying for the ascension, "The Spring of the Ancestral Temple, the Home of Xing Dexin and the Homeland", among which the "Zhugu Shooting Mountain" was published. In the Daoist scriptures "Zhuangzi·Xiaoyao Tour", this means that Xianshan, where the gods live in the distance, refers to the Imperial Palace of the Emperor in the rituals, and wishes the Emperor Taishou to live as long as the gods. It can be seen that the purpose of the Taishan Prefecture monarchy is related to the beliefs of disaster relief, longevity and immortality in Taoism, which is different from the nirvana of Buddhism. In addition, the monarchy of Taishan Prefecture adopts the writing form of “Yellow Paper Zhushu”, which is similar to the “Yellow Watch” form used in the previous chapter of Taoism.
To be continued in the next part