What is the influence of the Shangqing Sutra on Taoism

The Shangqing Sutra is regarded as the Taoist "Three Wonders of the First Wonder", which has been passed down through the ages, claiming that if you get the "Shangqing Sutra", you don't need to refine the Dan and cultivate the Tao at all, you only need to read it 10,000 times, and you can become an immortal. The full name of "Shangqing Sutra" is "Shangqing Dadong Zhenjing Thirty-nine Chapters", also known as "Dadong Zhenjing", "Three Days Dragon Book", "Nine Heavens Taizhen Tao Sutra", "Thirty-nine Chapters Sutra", which is the first scripture of the Shangqing faction. According to legend, when Emperor Jin Ai, Mrs. Nanyue lowered the pen, Yang Xi wrote with Lishu, originally only one volume, and later generations added more and attached, now it is six volumes.

The Shangqing Sutra is the development of the Huang Ting Sutra, which restores the gods, emphasizes the preservation of the gods and the chanting of the "treasure chapter", which is the Taoist technique of internal viewing and vipassana, and guards the "gods" of oneself with contemplation; This is a typical cultivation method of the Shangqing School, so it has both the Taoist way of health preservation and longevity, which can be described as a book of health preservation, containing simple and vague scientific knowledge of health preservation; But at the same time, it is full of mystical religious overtones, such as the names of the gods involved, the spirit of the contemplation process, the chanting of mantras, and the wearing of charms. The health preservation techniques advocated by the "Shangqing Sutra" still have a reference role for our qigong techniques for fitness and disease treatment today; The method of contemplation that it praises also has a potential impact on our traditional national thinking. In addition, because it is the first scripture of the Shangqing Jing system in Maoshan, it has certain value for the study of the religious history and ideological history of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

One of the three Qings, Shangqing Lingbao Tianzun is located to the left of the primordial Tianzun. This book, Reciting Well, Naturally Inducing, is the same as the Tao Te Ching, the Tao Te Ching.

The emergence and circulation of the Shangqing Jing are closely related to the establishment of the Shangqing School. According to Tao Hongjing's "True Talk about Empty Nahe" volume 20, when the Eastern Jin Dynasty mourned the emperor, the Taoist priest Yang Xi claimed that Mrs. Wei and other immortals had descended and awarded him 31 volumes of the Shangqing Sutra. So Yang Xi first recorded it in the official book, and then passed on Xu Mi and Xu Yong's father and son as a scripture teacher, and the second Xu copied it separately and passed it on.

In the process of conferring and receiving the "Shangqing Sutra", Yang, Xu and others gradually founded the Shangqing School of Taoism at that time. The Shangqing Sutra originally had 31 volumes, and it continued to increase in the future, becoming a type of scripture with a huge volume. The most important of the Shangqing classics are the earlier "Huang Ting Jing" and the "Thirty-nine Chapters of the Shangqing Dadong True Scripture".

The main invention of the Shangqing Sutra is the cultivation method of internal visualization and contemplation. These scriptures believe that the joints of all parts of the human body are also the same as the outside world, each guarded by gods, and if the learner can know the names and images of these gods, insist on thinking about the gods and reciting the truth in his heart, and sympathize with the true spirits, with chanting, mantras, pharyngeal fluids and other methods, he can feel the gods, enter the town's body, and be able to calm the soul and gods, and live forever. Its essence can even soar to the top and become immortals.

The advent of Shangqing classics such as the Great Cave True Scripture has enriched Taoist cultivation techniques. In the past, the cultivation of Taoism was mostly based on taking the bait Jindan medicine as the ultimate immortal path, and the Shangqing faction that respected the "Shangqing Sutra" took reciting the "Great Cave True Scripture" and keeping the spirit and keeping one as the ultimate way. This kind of contemplation technique was further developed later, absorbing the theory of the outer Dan technique, and then forming the inner Dan school in Taoism.