First of all, I think it is mainly the core ideal of Tao, and the style is too high. In the history of China, there are many famous Taoist masters, but few of them take the initiative to accept disciples and preach. Most of the disciples have to deliver them themselves. The so-called Taoist masters, in fact, are all devoted to the study and exploration of Tao, and have no spare mind to accept disciples.
Of course, there is still some difference between Taoist priests and Taoist priests. Taoism is also enlightened, but it is generally aimed at becoming immortal. Immortality is an ideal that can hardly be realized in a lifetime, and it also needs a lot of time and experience. For novices, without a good teacher's guidance, many truths are difficult to understand, so even if ordinary people have the heart to be Taoist, they often suffer from no master and access.
And even if you take the initiative to accept apprentices, the threshold for accepting apprentices is very high. From ancient times to the present, what we see most is the story of the immortal master testing his apprentice, rather than the spiritual root qualification often mentioned in online novels, which mainly depends on people's character and firm heart for Tao.
For example, Legend of the Immortal records that there was an old master named Li Babai who had been a monk for more than 800 years. He heard that a man named Tang Gongyun believed in Taoism wholeheartedly, so he became a sick old man and asked Tang Gongyun to lick his sores and treat him. After that, I won't accept my apprentice.
These situations are tolerable. After all, there is nothing life-threatening, more extreme. For example, Wei Boyang, a famous Taoist priest in the Eastern Han Dynasty, took three disciples up the mountain to make an alchemist. After practice, he tried to dance with a dog. The dog died immediately after taking Dan medicine, but he insisted on eating it and let his disciples eat it.
As a result, he took Dan medicine and died. The remaining three disciples ran away at that time. Only one disciple gritted his teeth and decided to follow in Master's footsteps. He also took Dan medicine, and then Wei Boyang came back to life. It turned out that he was just pretending to be dead to test his disciples' morality. His disciples must have some orange, hemp and wheat skins in their hearts, so one day Zhang Daoling often used this routine.
Moreover, Taoism also pays attention to a kind of chance, fate, mystery and no rules to follow. For example, there is a man named Duke Lu who is Wen Jing. One day, he went up the mountain to collect medicine and met three tall people. These three people, one surnamed Lu, one surnamed Sun, one surnamed Wang, are all brothers. Therefore, these three experts say that they are very close to Duke Lu, and they all have the same name. They insisted on dragging him to build a temple, and it was impossible to be immortal.
Therefore, Taoism cannot recruit disciples to the world like other religions. Indeed, a large part of it is due to its own reasons. The style is too high and it is too difficult to get started. Our own people have been shut out, let alone developed outward. Almost all of us, such as Chinese medicine and martial arts, faced the same problem and finally gave up on our own.
I am the leader of salted fish. Thanks for your support.