Since ancient times, during the prosperous times, people often saw monks begging for alms in busy cities, but Taoist priests were rarely seen. But if war breaks out, this scenario will be exactly the opposite. This directly led to the popular saying, "In troubled times, Taoist priests go down the mountain to save the world, while monks close their doors to avoid disasters. In prosperous times, Taoist priests retreat to the mountains, and monks go out to make money." This makes people feel very strange. Why is there such a difference? And this has to start with the beliefs of the two professions.
First of all, let’s look at monks. Monks are representatives of Buddhism. Buddhism pays attention to exploring the progress and enlightenment of human soul and morality. Their followers (mainly people under the leadership of monks) participate in the practice. The purpose is mainly to discover the truth of life and the universe. They hope to use their own practice to eventually transcend life, death and suffering, cut off all troubles, and gain liberation from life.
In ancient China, people often became ordained as monks after experiencing the hardships of life. In other words, this was an act of escaping reality. Since the purpose of becoming a monk is to avoid disasters, how can it be possible to leave the mountain easily in troubled times? At the same time, Buddhism pays attention to the reincarnation of cause and effect. In the eyes of Buddhist believers, they always believe that "good will be rewarded with good and evil will be rewarded with evil." Therefore, they believe that those who cause war will one day reap the consequences, so they do not need their help. .
On the contrary, if in the prosperous times, because many emperors respected Buddhism and they needed Buddhist ideas to educate the people, then it would become normal for monks to go down the mountain. Of course, since Buddhism has been taken seriously and there are more temples, part of the expenses such as repairs and monks' food expenses must be supported by their own efforts. In addition to the money for incense, of course, it also includes ways to go down the mountain to beg for alms, so in the prosperous age, there will be Monks can often be seen.
Let’s talk about Taoist priests. Taoist priests are representatives of Taoism. Taoist thought regards "Tao" as the highest belief, worships many gods, pursues immortality, attains Tao, becomes an immortal, and helps the world and saves people. Taoists mainly believe in Taishang Laojun, who is a god who refines elixirs in the sky and can refine all kinds of elixirs.
In the prosperous age, the country is peaceful and the people are safe, the country is prosperous and the people are strong. Since the people's lives are worry-free, at this time, some people hope to pursue immortality, or become immortals and become Taoist priests. The ancient Chinese believed that the way to achieve immortality was to take elixir, and to become an immortal requires meditation. No matter what the purpose is, they all have one thing in common, that is, they need a quiet environment, and the busy city is naturally not their first choice. Therefore, in prosperous times, Taoist priests often retreat to the mountains and forests to help themselves work towards their goals.
On the contrary, Taoism also advocates saving people. If they are in troubled times, they hope to contribute to their own practice by helping others, so as to achieve the goal of becoming immortals. This is why in times of war, , the reason why Taoist priests can often be seen.
After this analysis, it is not difficult to find that the statement that "Taoist priests never show up in prosperous times and take the initiative to go down the mountain in troubled times, but monks do the opposite" has a scientific basis and is based on the ideological foundation of the two. The pattern of behavior does not mean that there is any moral superiority or inferiority between the two. In fact, they just perform their respective duties.