On Jiajing's Taoism Career

Traditional Taoism was restricted and influenced by the imperial power in ancient China,and its rise and fall were closely related to the ruler's preference.This paper takes Jiajing Emperor's worship of Taoism in Ming Dynasty as a breakthrough point to explain the influence of Ming Shizong's worship of Taoism on social changes.From the perspective of religion,the cause of Taoism in Jiajing radiates to all social strata with the supreme ruler as the starting point.This paper discusses the relationship between imperial power,secular power and religion from the perspectives of religious development,social politics,economy and people's livelihood,and reveals the characteristics and limitations of the relationship between politics and religion of feudal monarchy holism.This paper points out that Jiajing Emperor in a "Taoist robe" was keeping his people in ignorance under the guise of religious authority and ruling the great unity as all the "Sons of Heaven" did in the feudal dynasties.the feudal monarchy occupied the living space of ideology and culture,and the transcendence of religion and spirit were completely destroyed.He spent most of his life immersed in the Chinese tradition of Taoism,unaware of the coming of the transition of modernization.When the world pattern changed in the 16 th century,the Western religious reform made the once Christian countries move towards the separation of the secular and the sacred,and led the European society towards the separation of science and religion in the modernization.However,the humanistic thoughts and economic relations with the progressive significance in the middle of the Ming Dynasty could only be strangled in the backward and rigid feudal shackles.In the historical timeline,the Ming Dynasty,once one of the world's great powers,had lost its advantages.The negative influence of feudal monarchy in China led to the decline of the Ming society from prosperity to decline,and made The East and West started to part their ways.