The purpose of Taoism is to cultivate immortality and become a Taoist, and to help the world and the people. The essence of Taoist culture lies in its life theory, that is, Taoist health preservation. Taoism is a religion that attaches great importance to the existence of secular life. The early Taoist classic "Taiping Jing" said: "The nature of heaven and earth, 22,000 things, human life is the heaviest." "Du Renjing" said: "Immortal Taoism values life and infinite people", which fully embodies the characteristics of Taoism that values life and measures people. Taoism takes immortality as its ultimate pursuit, which fully shows its passion and exploration spirit of loving life and longing for eternal life. In Taoism, people who cultivate truth and gain enlightenment are called "real people". What is a real person? "If you cultivate your body, protect your spirit and prolong your life, you will be a real person" (Official Seal of Laozi River). These views and propositions reflect a common theme, that is, to explore and realize human health and longevity with human initiative, and to obtain ways for human beings to grasp their own lives through various practical methods.
The basis and starting point of the Taoist concept of health preservation is "attaching importance to people and life", just as Sima Chengzhen, a famous Taoist in the Tang Dynasty, pointed out in On Sitting Forgetting: "Those who maintain health should be careful not to lose their lives, while those who are Taoist should be careful not to lose their lives. Let Tao and life be together, life and Tao be together, and the two are not separated. " The Book of Changes, which everyone is familiar with, also puts forward: "Bring in internal nourishment, be old and natural, be rich in virtue, and return to Yuan." Looking back on the classics of the ancients, we can see that Taoist health care is not simply to recuperate the body, but closely related to the improvement of people's inner mind and self-cultivation, which is the unity of "life and Tao" and "life self-cultivation" and the unity of physical health and moral improvement. Wang Zhongyang, the pioneer of Taoist Quanzhen School, put forward "double cultivation of life", and a noble person can achieve two kinds of lives. Li Daochun, a famous Taoist priest and master of wandering immortals in the Song Dynasty, put forward: "First, keep precepts and be wise, but empty your heart, and then refine essence, qi and spirit to protect your body", which is full of form and spirit and wonderful. After this idea was put forward, it gradually developed into the core of Taoist health preservation theory, pushing health preservation in traditional culture to a new height.
Second, actively promote healthy culture and promote social harmony and progress.
Taoist health culture is extensive and profound, which not only has a thousand-year-old tradition, but also is more and more loved by the broad masses of the people. People's basic desire is health; People's general expectation is a long life. As the saying goes: God has the virtue of good life, and man has the wish of long life; Heaven and earth are like one. After more than 30 years of reform and opening up, the problem of food and clothing for the people has been solved, and of course more attention has been paid to fitness and health preservation. As we all know, Taoism attaches great importance to the value of life, delights in life and pursues the health and longevity of life. In order to keep a healthy life, we must know how to keep healthy. In the long-term development process, Taoism has explored various effective health preserving methods. Exploring and popularizing Taoist health culture is conducive to improving the health level of the whole people and society, and making ancient traditional religions better serve people's health. We should adhere to the health-preserving culture beneficial to physical and mental health in Taoism, and at the same time resist the phenomenon of mystifying, deifying and violating the orthodox inheritance of science and Taoism under the banner of Taoism.
A healthy life can promote physical and mental harmony, thus laying a good foundation for social harmony. At present, the whole country is studying and practicing Scientific Outlook on Development and striving to build a harmonious socialist society. The core of Scientific Outlook on Development is people-oriented. And people's "foundation" should first be health-oriented. Tao Te Ching said: "Deep-rooted and far-sighted."
Taoism's "harmony but difference" is closely related to the essence of life and the harmony between man and nature. One of the profound connotations of Taoist health preservation lies in "cultivating self-cultivation, valuing harmony and promoting social harmony". Exploring and popularizing Taoist health culture is more conducive to creating a healthy and harmonious social atmosphere and becoming a positive factor in promoting the construction of a harmonious socialist society.
Third, dig deep into the wisdom of health preservation and enhance the international influence of Chinese culture.
The Chinese nation has created a profound and long-standing Chinese culture. As the soul and blood of a nation, culture is the foundation of its survival and development, and it is also the spiritual bond to safeguard its unity. Taoism is the only indigenous religion among the five major religions in China. In the development history of 1800 years, Taoist culture, with its distinctive nationality and great inclusiveness, has exerted a wide and profound influence on all aspects of the Chinese nation and has become an important part of China traditional culture. On the international stage, Taoism is also one of the important carriers of China culture. To some extent, as a cultural symbol, it represents or symbolizes China culture.
1 In July this year, the speech at the conference celebrating the 90th anniversary of the founding of China * * * Production Party pointed out: "Efforts should be made to promote Chinese culture to the world, form cultural soft power commensurate with China's international status, and enhance the international influence of Chinese culture." Taoism, as an inherent traditional religion in China, should make some achievements in this respect. In particular, Taoism's health preserving theory, although it has a long history, has been dusty for a long time, is extensive and scattered, and the essence and dross coexist, but it is full of profound wisdom and treasure, which needs to be explored and excavated by all people of insight present. Today, China culture, which represents the oriental civilization, attracts worldwide attention. It is believed that Taoist culture with health-preserving wisdom will surely make its own contribution to promoting China traditional culture, enhancing the international influence of Chinese culture and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.