Does maoshan taoist, which frequently appears in Hong Kong films, have a real prototype in history?

In the 1980s, Hong Kong films created a new genre called "Fantasy Kung Fu Films". This kind of movies with ghosts and kung fu comedies became famous for a while. Mr. Zombie, Catch a Man with One Eyebrow and other blockbusters made Ching-Ying Lam's image of "maoshan taoist" unpopular. The "maoshan taoist" in Hong Kong movies is of course only an artistic image depicted in the movie text, and most of them are imaginary. So what is the true prototype of "maoshan taoist" frequently presented in old Hong Kong films?

"maoshan taoist" and Hong Kong Folk Religious Culture

Hong Kong's folk religious culture has a strong regional color, which not only attracts orthodox Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, but also vividly attracts believers from central sects such as Nanyou, Liu Ren and Maoshan. They are different from ordinary religious clergy and are called "folk ritual experts" by academic circles. Their rituals are a mixture of Taoism, Buddhism and folk beliefs, with witchcraft elements.

In the film, Ching-Ying Lam wears a black tile scarf, a hat and a Huang Haiqing or double-breasted robe, which is a typical costume commonly known as "Nan Yi guy". This image is still very common in contemporary temples in Hong Kong. The plot of Ching-Ying Lam's illegal exorcism in the film belongs to another kind of "Master Maoshan" spell.

The book "Taoist Biography through the Ages" circulating in the northern New Territories says: "His habits are either Huang Guanyu, or fighting against the stars and witches, or acting in Maoshan, or setting up evil spirits. These witches all respect the old gentleman as a Taoist priest. "

Of course, they are all called the old lords who worship Taoism, but their origins are different. Scholar Huang Guanyu refers to Taoist priests, while those who perform Famao Mountain and those who set evil spirits refer to wizards. Originally, there were clear boundaries between the three, but under the complicated folk religious and cultural background in Hong Kong, there are many differences in sects, and even the locals have no intention to distinguish their identities. Maoshan taoist in the film is not a Taoist in theory, but the product of multiple identities after the combination of roles.

Although the image of "maoshan taoist" is the same as that of "Nanyilao", which borrows the identity label of Taoist, it mainly shows the mage who practices Maoshan Buddhism, and people call them "Maoshan Master" or "Maoshan Master". The Maoshan method mentioned here is a genre of folk witchcraft, which is not the same as the Maoshan Shangqing school of decent Taoism.

"Maoshan method" in witchcraft.

In the folk, Maoshan is generally written as "Maoshan" or "Maoshan", and their Sect is called Maoshan School. In 1930s, anthropologists and ethnologists discovered Maoshan School when they visited Yaoshan area in Guangdong and Guangxi, which attracted the attention of sinologists. Maoshan religion, which prevails in Guangdong and Guangxi, has deep roots with Lushan religion in Fujian and Meishan religion in Hunan. These folk witchcraft religions are usually called "legalism" and "teacher education". The practitioners of witchcraft are called "masters of kung fu" and "end kung fu", that is, "martial arts masters" in ancient literature. Master Gong of Jianyang, Fujian, even called himself a "sorcery disciple".

When Malinowski, an anthropologist, distinguished witchcraft from religion, he put forward that "witchcraft is an applicable technology, and all actions are just a means to achieve the goal". Witchcraft is a quasi-religious phenomenon, but witchcraft is different from other religions.

Witchcraft masters do not preach classics and doctrines, but control witchcraft and provide transcendental services for ordinary people. They played a very important role in the social life of ancient agricultural society. Witchcraft is a mysterious culture besides the scholar-bureaucrat culture and popular culture in China traditional society. Hidden in the bottom of society for a long time, suppressed by the government. In Daming Law, it is pointed out that "anyone who deceives evil spirits, spells water, helps Luan to pray for the holy, and ends the public and the Pacific Ocean ..... should use left-wing chaos" to curb witchcraft such as Maoshan Law by legal means.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, there was also a novel "Travels at Sea" reflecting witchcraft works, the full name of which was "Travels of the Snake Sea". The book attempts to juxtapose witchcraft with the three religions, saying that "since the opening of heaven and earth, people have settled in Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and witchcraft and spread it to the world", which reflects the influence of witchcraft culture in civil society.

In Travels at Sea, Lushan method and Maoshan method are considered to be the two schools of good and evil in witchcraft. Lushan Mountain and Maoshan Mountain described in the book are both magical resorts in the mythical world, not in theory, and certainly not in Taoism.

After the spread of Han immigrants, witchcraft such as Lushan Mountain, Maoshan Mountain and Meishan Mountain also spread widely among southern minorities. Witchcraft occupies a central position in the traditional cultures of Yao, Zhuang, Dong, Gelao and She nationalities. For example, the She nationality's "Drawing a Mountain for Ancestors" is painted with the content of their ancestors' "Maoshan Learning Method", which is also the Han nationality since the Song Dynasty.

"Shangqing Taoist" in Maoshan of Taoism

Taoist Maoshan Shangqing school refers to the Shangqing school centered on Maoshan in Jurong, Jiangsu Province. Wei, the wife of Nanyue, was the first generation master of the Shangqing school, and Tao Hongjing, known as the "Prime Minister in the Mountain", was the ninth generation master. He often lived in Maoshan, where he set up a Taoist temple and taught the classics of Shangqing School, making Maoshan the activity center of Shangqing School, which made him famous. In the second year of Xingning in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (364), Mrs. Wei awarded the Shangqing Classic to Yang, the counselor of Stuart, the king of Langya.

In the third year of Xingning (365), immortals came to give lectures to military commanders' historians, and a brand-new religious thought was born in the apocalypse at night. Mr. Tao Hongjing, a hermit in the Southern Dynasties, collected and compiled Mao Shan's instructions into a book "The Letters of Truth", which strictly recorded the noble and colorful words left by Xian Zhen, and was called "the Enlightenment of Mao Shan" by Western scholars such as Sima Xu.

So what kind of image should the people on the track be?

Shangqing School is the mainstream of Taoism in the Tang Dynasty, with branches such as Maoshan and Tiantai Mountain. The Taoist learning experience of the Tiantai Mountain Welcome Ceremony can be regarded as the benchmark of the life of the Taoist priests. Becoming a monk at the age of 7, becoming a monk at the age of 65,438+03. He began to participate in Zheng Yiyong at the age of 65,438+05, entered the Shangqing Classic at the age of 32, and obtained the position of the highest Taoist priest in the Tang Dynasty. The process of studying the Three-hole Classics all his life and obtaining the corresponding legal status is similar to today's degree system, but it is quite different from "maoshan taoist" who practiced exorcism skills in movies.

Therefore, Maoshan Shangqing School, which occupies an important position in the sports history of the Six Dynasties, has nothing to do with the popular witchcraft Maoshan religion in civil society. Because of the powerful influence of the film, some viewers are caught in an embarrassing situation where right and wrong are mixed.

"Maoshan Stone" in Notes of Ancient Novels

In addition, many stories of "Master Mao Shan" are also recorded in the Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio and notes of literati in past dynasties. They can rely on all kinds of forbidden spells to cure ghosts and drive away foxes. Of course, what they write is the strange things in the mysterious world, but it can better reflect the human world, which may be the ideological origin of Hong Kong's fantastic kung fu films. However, in ancient novels, the people who control Maoshan law refer to teachers and mages, sometimes called mages, but of course they don't refer to the Taoist priests in Maoshan. According to Hong Mai's "Jane Yizhi" in Song Dynasty, there was a layman who practiced Maoshan Buddhism. Although he is not a Taoist, Li people call him "Master Tan".

. It is said that in Dexing County, Jiangxi Province, an old fox turned into a human form and an old Huang Man. He often visits his two sons who are plowing outside. The ending of the story is embarrassing. Old Huang Man was killed by two sons who mistook him for a fox demon. Finally, Master Tan appeared, let the old fox demon appear, and killed him.

Jiang Yingke, a Hunan native in the Ming Dynasty, also told a story that there was a wizard named Li Si in his hometown. Most of the Maoshan Buddhism he has learned is harmful. "Try it" to close the wall, sour wine and break the rope. Once, he teased a walking woman with witchcraft, and the nepotism of the woman suddenly faded automatically. Later, he learned that this woman was his daughter and became a laughing stock.

Ji Yun's Notes on Yuewei Caotang in Qing Dynasty also described the story of Master Mao Shan and the fox demon, which is very similar to the official bribery. After a family suffered from a fox spirit, they contacted a Maoshan teacher. When he was ready to set out to drive the fox, he met an old man who claimed to be a friend of the fox and paid a high bribe to get through Maoshan Division to stop him from driving the fox. The greedy Maoshan master didn't stop after getting the money, but threatened to "thunder axe fire" and asked the fox demon for gold and silver from time to time. Finally, the unbearable fox stole his handprint, which made him commit suicide.

For ordinary people, the influence of film and television works and secular novels is obviously far greater than religious classics. Therefore, in ideal life, people often ask whether a real Taoist can "catch ghosts and subdue demons" according to the virtual image of "maoshan taoist" in old Hong Kong films. Faced with such problems, Taoist priests are either speechless or sarcastic.