The highest realm of Taoism: "harmony between form and spirit, soaring and immortal." It means that spiritual cultivation, physical exercise and the unity of form and spirit are inseparable from the concept of health preservation.
Taoism regards the human body as a "small universe" and nature as a "big universe". The operation of size should be harmonious, conform to the way of nature and cannot be violated. Only in this way can we enjoy the happiness of interpersonal relationship.
The Taoist way of keeping in good health is divided into three levels: upper, middle and lower. The best is the quietism advocated by Laozi in the pre-Qin period. The middle rider is the immortal of alchemists in Qin and Han Dynasties, and the lowest rider is Zhang Daoling in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Taoist health preservation has developed to a quite perfect level, and a set of methods have been formed in the aspects of spirit, breathing, body and diet cultivation, many of which have strong vitality and have been passed down to this day as the essence of Taoism.
Taoism especially emphasizes spiritual cultivation, with "quietness and inaction" and "forgetting to leave the country" as the core of spiritual cultivation. Taoism believes that nature is boundless and desires are endless. Pursuing endless material fame and fortune with limited life is bound to hurt the body and health. To achieve "not to harm the body by fame, not to change the heart by position", we must "get rid of material desires and simplify the complexity"
Although this kind of psychological and spiritual "quietism" advocated by Taoism is unrealistic, it will be beneficial to people living in a fast-paced and competitive society. If there is a moment in the tense and noisy modern life, the whole body and mind will return to the natural state and enter the realm of excellent monasticism, which will help to reduce diseases, purify the soul and enlighten wisdom. Another core way of Taoist health preservation is to pay attention to breathing practice. The most basic and important method is the method of taking qi, which is very similar to the methods of pranayama, breathing, internal vision and internal defense in modern Qigong. Taoism believes that you can live forever by inhaling the righteousness of the four seasons of heaven and earth and the essence of the sun, moon and stars. Combined with breathing exercises, Taoism also attaches great importance to physical exercises. Its main contents include massage, instruction and boxing. Massage, that is, along certain acupoints, acts on the human body by pressing, kneading and pinching; Guiding and boxing is to guide the limbs to do various flexion, extension and supination actions, so as to achieve the therapeutic effect of dredging meridians, regulating qi and relieving pain.
The ultimate goal of Taoist health preservation is to live forever. This idea of longing for immortality was elaborated in the works of Laozi and Zhuangzi as early as. In Zhuangzi's "Wandering Away" and "On Everything", there is a description about immortals: "The skin is like ice and snow, and it is graceful like a virgin. Don't eat whole grains, suck the wind and drink dew. Take the cloud, the dragon, and travel overseas. " It means that the fairy's skin is as smooth and white as ice and snow, and her appearance is as beautiful as a girl. Don't eat whole grains, just suck wind and drink dew. Riding clouds in the sky, driving dragons, traveling around the world. Zhuangzi also talks about these immortals. They don't feel hot when they are on fire, they don't feel cold when rivers freeze, and they don't panic when they are hit by lightning and hurricanes. There is a story of offering fairy medicine in the Warring States Policy Chu Ce. Although it satirizes the king of Chu and exposes that people who take medicine "bully the king", it reflects that our ancestors have been seeking ways to live forever and explore the mystery of life and death for a long time.
The Biography of the First Emperor in Historical Records and the Sacrifice to the Suburb in Hanshu both recorded that Qin Shihuang and Wu Di were keen on seeking fairy medicine. /kloc-during the reign of Qin Shihuang in 0/2, the alchemist took boys and girls to the sea to make an alchemist. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, alchemists obtained the elixir of life by refining Huangbaiyao.