A Research On The History Of Formation Of Wushang Mi Yao

Taoism is a religion with distinct Chinese characteristics.Rooted in Chinese traditional culture,it has developed on the basis of absorbing Buddhism and become an important part of traditional culture.Today,Taoism still plays an important role in society.The period of Wei-Jin,Northern and Southern Dynasties is a critical period for the emergence and development of Taoism.During this period,there were various activities of scripture-making and preaching among various regions and factions of Taoism,which shows distinct characteristics in the interaction with Confucianism and Buddhism.In the Sui and Tang Dynasties,Taoism changed from pluralism to unity.An important part of the transformation process is Wu Shang Mi Yao.This article is attempting to discuss the formula and compiling Process of Wu Shang Mi Yao within the framework of the bibliography,aiming to enhance people’s understanding of the transformation of Taoism in Zhou and Sui DynastiesIn the first chapter,this article reveals its compiling formulas from the compilation purpose of Wu Shang Mi Yao.In order to solve the contradiction between the purpose of establishing a unified Taoist doctrinal architecture and the framework of genus-book,the compilers,On the one hand,arrange interactive quoted passages before or after the main content to increase the doctrinal connection between the chapters.On the other hand,the quoted passages are arranged according to the order of three caverns,among them there are transcendent passages which express the main idea,to keep the hierarchical order of the original texts.These two formulas are basic rules for the arrangement of formulas in this book,and even changed the rank of daoist Pantheons in order to keep the same style.In the second chapter,Starting from the contradiction of the quoted passages arrangement in Wu Shang Mi Yao,this article confirm the existence of stratification and explore its characteristic.Through the analysis of Fa Xin Pin,it can be confirmed that the contradiction of the quoted passages arrangement is the result of compiling books by layers.This stratification is distributed in the Pin,Ke and Catalogue,and it has some characteristics,such as outstanding Lingbao Scriptures on the level,mainly by the way of adjustment and supplement,few additions,and the scope of stratification is basically concentrates inside Pin and Ke.In the end,although the original doctrinal system was retained,some of the chapters appeared the quoting contrary to the main idea.These characteristics indicate a small number of compiler,a lack of understanding of the original system,and short time.And these also shows that there is no succession between the stratified groups and the compiling groups.In the third chapter,according to the characteristics of compilation and stratification of Wu Shang Mi Yao,this article judges the time range of the compilation and accumulation of this scripture,and discusses the Taoist history background behind it.It can be gained by analyzing that the first compilation of Wu Shang Mi Yao began in the third year of Jian De in the Northern Zhou Dynasty and ended in the first year of Kai Huang in the Sui Dynasty.And the stratification of Wushang Miyao should have been completed by southern Taoists in a short time of the early Sui Dynasty.From the northern and Southern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties,Taoism experienced two stages: the northern Taoists took the lead in accepting the southern Taoism,and the southern Taoists came to the north because of the unification and participated in and even led the integration of the northern and southern Taoism.Wushang Miyao is the epitome of the transformation.