Shamanic Rites,Technique And Politics

Taoist Gongfu,as an indispensable and important theory of pre-Qin Taoist philosophy,is a theoretical method and practical wisdom on how to develop Taoist ideal personality and achieve transcendence.It aims to prove insight and realize the truth of "Tao" by moral cultivation as well as physical and mental cultivation.It is a "learning of heaven and humanity" whose ultimate ideal is to communicate with heaven and man.Taoist Gongfu theory involves ontology,cosmology,epistemology,ethics,political philosophy and aesthetics.It is also a distinctive theory of Chinese philosophy,which is different from western philosophy with epistemology as the mainstream.It is a knowledge of combining theory with practice,resorting to physical and mental transformation and intuitive understanding.This paper mainly makes a four-dimensional and comprehensive exploration on the Taoist Gongfu theory,including its historical origin with ancient religious practice,the philosophical theory construction of Taoist Gongfu and its extension and expansion in politics-ethics and art-aesthetics,so as to outline and present the overall appearance of Taoist cultivation,which is rich,diversified and harmonious.Tracing back to the form of Gongfu before Taoism,it is a religious practice of "communicating with ghosts and gods" by means of shaman rites,divination and sacrifice.The mode of thinking that the wizard communicated with heaven and humanity in the pre-Axis period,is the predecessor of the philosophy of the pre-Qin thinkers in the Axis period,which laid the ideological foundation of the "unity of nature and human" of the pre-Qin philosophers,shaped the ultimate pursuit and the highest goal of the later Chinese philosophy,and also became the source of Taoist Gongfu theory.After the rational disenchantment and spiritual baptism of the political system,ritual civilization and humanism since the Western Zhou Dynasty,Taoist philosophy has realized "the breakthrough of Tao" and philosophically transformed the shaman rites and sacrificial tradition in the pre-Axis era,thus forming two kinds of Gongfu theory,namely "virtue cultication" and "Qi cultication".The two theories complement each other.They are the two sides of Taoist Gongfu,such as the wings of a bird and the wheels of a car.Both of them are the rational transformation and philosophical transformation of Taoist scholars to the religious practice and mysterious experience of "communicating with God" and "surrender to God".This rational transformation and philosophical transformation is not only a revolutionary breakthrough,but also a continuous inheritance,which means both "moral cultivation" and " Qi governance" of Taoist Gongfu have the dual characteristics of humanistic rational spirit and religious mysticism.Taoism’s moral practice is to cultivate of the highest and most profound "Xuande","Shangde" or "Changde",so as to achieve the ideal personality of saints,gods and perfect-man.The essence of "Xuande","Changde" and "Shangde" is "tranquility and inaction".Tranquility and inaction not only reflects the individual spiritual quality of "indifference and Nihility",but also reflects the value pursuit and grand construction of Taoism in political philosophy,ethics and ideal society.In the construction of political philosophy,the rulers are required to "govern by non-activity" so as to realize the people’s "self-improvement","self rightness","self-enrichment" and "self simplicity";in the assumption of ethics,it is expanded into the primary ethics of "morality is not to morality",so as to guard against the distortion and alienation of human nature caused by the promotion of secular morality(such as benevolence,righteousness,filial piety and kindness)in normative ethics;Projected into the imagination of the ideal society,Taoism yearns for "a small territory and population","a world of supreme virtue" and "a country of virtue".The practice and political techne of Taoist sage’s "emptiness,quietness and inaction" lies in following the example of heaven’s "assisting the nature of all things by non-activity",so that all things can exist and develop naturally and freely according to their own nature.It seems that saints have no merit to all things,but they have the greatest merit to all things.The virtue of inaction is the greatest and most profound spiritual character in the world.Therefore,the "cultivation of morality" of Taoism is not only the pursuit of personal physical and mental practice,but also an assumption of reasonable political behavior and good ethical norms.It is the concern for public politics and ethics in accordance with the order of heaven and nature.It is the respect and protection for the nature and survival freedom of all things.It is also the Taoist sage’s practice of the ideal of " inner saint and outer king".In addition to the field of politics and ethics,another humanistic field opened up by Taoist Gongfu is the field of art and aesthetics.If we say that the political skills of politics and ethics deal with the relationship between people and monarch,then the art aesthetic skills deal with the relationship between man and nature,man and everything.The sage of Taoism is not only an ideal moral personality,but also an aesthetic personality of experiencing "great beauty" and enjoying "supreme happiness".The aesthetic practice of Taoism is the recognition and contemplation of "Tao".It is neither empirical perceptual cognition nor conceptual rational cognition,but a non-object and non-utilitarian aesthetic cognition.It is the "body cognition" of the unity of "form,Qi and spirit".It is the "body cognition" or "body view" under the intuition.It is a kind of body experience with original significance without reflection.Because of this,in the later classical Chinese painting and calligraphy theory and literary criticism,the concepts of "view","flavor","taste","similarity in shape","muscle and bone","aura" and "spiritual Tour" around the "body" have become the indispensable key words in the expression of traditional Chinese art and aesthetic mood.In Taoist aesthetics,"observing things with Tao" also means making "things become things",that is,the so-called "things discover things".Under the aesthetic perspective of "things discover things",the "human" as the aesthetic subject and the "things" as the aesthetic object are no longer the objective relationship of the opposition between the subject and the object,but an aesthetic relationship of the forgetting of the object and the melting of the subject and the object.In this aesthetic relationship,the aesthetic subject and the world’s things are "interlinked in great Qi ",thus entering into the aesthetic realm of "body Assimilates with object" or sublimation to "spirit plays with things",resulting in the aesthetic experience and aesthetic pleasure of "spring with things".While feeling the vivid charm of the world,the mind naturally presents the meaning of spring harmony.It can be said that Taoist aesthetics is a kind of life aesthetics or existential aesthetics.The skills and techniques in Zhuangzi’s fables are the self-cultivation efforts leading to the aesthetic contemplation of "the unity of body and mind" and entering into the aesthetic realm of " spirit plays with things ".In their daily life and work,ordinary craftsmen,through the integration of body and mind,show their superb skills,which to some extent are close to those who practice Taoism.The essence of aesthetics lies in freedom.It is in the skillful art that craftsmen achieve their own physical and mental freedom,which seems to show us that "Tao" is open to anyone at any time.To sum up,Taoist Gongfu involves religious practice,philosophical theory,political ethics and art aesthetic.It shows the complex and subtle relationship between human being and gods,heaven,the other and natural things,which embodies the unity of truth,goodness and beauty in the realm of Taoism.It is the ancients’ personal understanding and deep insight of the universe,all natural things and the truth of life in the practice of introspection.It also implies the academic ambition and spiritual belief of the ancient Chinese with the ultimate ideal of "studying the relationship between heaven and humanity".All ancient Chinese learning originated from this.Is it not "the learning of heaven and humanity" ?...