Discussion on Orthodox Taoist Beliefs Part 6: Folk Magic and Orthodox Taoist Methods
There are some folk magic arts, for example, in front of people, taking a blade of grass, after chanting a spell, throwing it on the ground, it will turn into a snake, which will then scare the people around; or taking a stone, after chanting a spell, throwing it into a river, it turns into a fish; in the past, some Taoist priests used this fish-transformation art to play pranks by throwing them into rice fields; or using a table, propping it up on one leg, then after chanting a spell, the table would spin by itself. Or seeing someone cooking raw rice, deliberately chanting spells and performing magic to make the rice impossible to cook thoroughly, always remaining undercooked; or seeing someone cooking with fire, with smoke everywhere, to prank the cook, placing something at the door so that the smoke in the house could not escape, becoming extremely choking; or setting up a plate with some chess pieces on it, throwing a cat or mouse inside, which would just keep circling inside, never being able to get out. This is not a formation array. Such transformation techniques are all called illusion arts. They have magical content but are not pure magic.
Illusion arts are mostly harmless and are often used by Taoist priests for play. They have various principles. Some are definite, hard-to-explain magical phenomena, while others are chemical phenomena, some common in modern times and some not: for example, the uncommon phenomenon of making an eggshell fly involves detailed chemical reactions; for example, putting noodles in a pot, which were originally in the water, disappearing in an instant; or for example, a common phenomenon where words written on a piece of paper disappear after a period of time. In ancient times, this was achieved using rice paste or drugs, essentially a chemical change. So these are all reasonable.
There are also some that are hard to explain clearly but are related to physics or chemistry, such as cutting a piece of paper into a fish shape, coating it with fish bile, and placing it in water, where it swims by itself. Although some say this is related to the pressure of bile and water, objective research has not seen evidence for this. Also, taking the oil of a certain fish, coating a small metal jewelry piece with it, and dragging it through the middle of a bowl of water causes the water to part, taking a long time to close again. Although this can be explained from a physical perspective, it is somewhat contrary to common sense.
There is another category that is even harder to explain, such as the instant melon-growth art. A seed is placed in the soil, watered, and a melon grows in less than two hours. Although the operation method and process involve Chinese herbal medicine, no one knows the principle behind this phenomenon. Other similar methods include the withered wood returning to spring art, but their principles, especially what they are, are unknown to anyone.
In the general scientific understanding of modern people, the most unexplainable things are pure magic arts. For example, seeing people carrying a coffin, using spells and talismans to make the coffin heavier, so that what two people could normally carry becomes extremely difficult to lift; or seeing the art of collecting and releasing bees, where after chanting spells, bees fly over and gather, and then through spells, they can be directed to fly to a specified direction or attack others; or the snake-stilling art, where before entering the mountains, one selects a specific grass, chants a spell, ties a five-direction knot, and upon entering the mountains, one will not encounter venomous snakes. Even if small snakes are encountered on the way, they will lie still and not move, let alone attack people. In remote areas, some places still use this kind of magic. Or the odor-absorbing art, usually involving a fixed taboo character and talisman treatment, where a human corpse placed there for a month in summer will not smell bad; or the common arts of collecting fright or collecting ghosts found among folk spirit mediums, such as when a child always has a fever that hospitals cannot cure, but is cured after collecting fright; or when someone suffers from mental illness that cannot be cured, using the ghost-collecting art to restore them to normal instantly.
The last category is magic tricks. Magic tricks are relatively common. Although they always have magical aspects, their principles are relatively easy to find. The level of magic is no longer reflected in objective phenomena but mostly depends on the magician's long-term training and extremely fast hand movements. It emphasizes skill and cooperation with many factors, so it is an art.
From what has been said above, it is obvious that there is a strong folk custom color because they have little to do with the Great Dao and are mostly related to clever tricks. Precisely because of this, these operations are rarely mentioned in orthodox methods, and the operational methods are completely different.
Taking the fright-collecting art as an example, in folk methods, an egg or rice is usually used. The egg is used to collect fright on the person's head and body, or a bowl of rice is covered with red cloth, and spells are chanted while circling above the person's head, or chopsticks are set up to ask ghosts, etc. For better effects, some paper money needs to be burned. It can be clearly seen that these have a strong shamanistic color. Since they are used to heal people, they are not considered evil arts, but they are also not orthodox Taoist methods.
Orthodox Taoist methods handle these situations much more simply. For example, for a child's fright collection, a spell and talisman can solve it directly. If simple techniques cannot solve it, opening an altar to handle it can also easily resolve it, but the entire process does not mix in too strong a folk shamanistic color.
Some Taoist ritual texts collected in certain places show that they contain many elements of folk shamanism. This is mostly due to inadequate ritual performance and insufficient cultivation of the priests, so they have to rely on these means. However, objectively, these means are not orthodox Taoist methods. Although they are not opposed to being used for healing, it should be noted that although these means are sometimes effective, when they are not effective, they leave people helpless.
So where do folk magic arts come from? Some come from shamanism, and some are fragmented fragments from Taoist methods. Their origins are difficult to verify. Personally, I guess either it is due to fragmentation caused by historical inheritance, or because masters only passed on fragments they thought were useful to their disciples, leading to severely incomplete inheritance.
This phenomenon is quite obvious in folk magical sects. Of course, there are still many sects with very complete inheritances, but in the current situation, some inherited methods are obviously incomplete. Taking the Small Heavenly Dipper Palm as an example, by pinching mudras on the hand and visualizing the Heavenly Dipper Great Sage, then absorbing the Dipper Qi, this can be used for healing and exorcism. Many practitioners find the effect extremely good in practice. This method is obviously a small fragment cut from the Taoist Heavenly Heart Method, practicing only the Dipper. But this method has problems. Practicing only the Dipper without the Sun and Moon means the Dipper Qi lacks yin-yang harmony, which will have side effects. So many people who practice this palm technique find their own bodies becoming worse after using it too much.
Taoist methods are different. If practiced according to the methods, not to mention the benefits of prolonging life, at least ensuring one's own health is not a problem. Usually, normal people cultivating Taoism basically do not need to go to the hospital. Ordinary occasional colds and flu can heal themselves, and serious illnesses are basically not contracted. Of course, reality also depends on actual circumstances. One cannot say that a Taoist priest seeing a doctor means their cultivation is incomplete. Getting sick is a probability issue. Cultivation can lower this probability, but it does not mean one can never get sick. Achieving complete immunity requires high-level skills. Another situation is that some Taoist priests focus too much on a specific task, neglecting cultivation and health preservation skills, which is no different from ordinary people, so getting sick is quite normal.
Moreover, folk skills have many taboos. For example, some sects forbid eating bullfrogs and fish, some sects completely forbid meat, and some sects require accepting orphans and the poor. Taoist skills do not have such problems. Sometimes cultivators say that eating beef causes magic to become ineffective. Actually, this statement does not exist for orthodox methods. Before the Tang Dynasty, there was no saying against eating beef. Not eating beef is because Buddhism was introduced and influenced by Indian culture, because they considered cows as incarnations of deities and thus sacred, so they could not be eaten. However, with cultural evolution, later Zhengyi Taoism considers the cow as one of the representatives of loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness, so not eating it is to show respect. This is a reverence for heaven and earth and nature. If one joins the sect, they should abide by this doctrine.
Therefore, whether in terms of system or the positive significance for oneself, orthodox Taoist skills and folk skills have many differences. A large part is reflected in the side effects of cultivation. In folk magic cultivation, although some claims that with the progress of the times, accepting characters is no longer needed, in reality, some folk cultivators unknowingly encounter such problems, resulting in their luck becoming worse and worse. This is also why folk magic experts are often very unremarkable ordinary people in some inconspicuous places, but actually have very high levels in magic.
Although it may seem that the methods of many folk sects are incomplete, we cannot deny their essence. There are many ideological essences in folk magic worth learning. Taking the simplest "One Bowl of Water for All Diseases" as an example, many diseases can be cured by the patient drinking water treated by a folk priest. Although some psychological factors cannot be excluded, the real effect is not something that can be explained solely by psychological factors.
What is most worth learning is: folk methods often repeatedly use a simple small magic until it is used very skillfully. The method "One Bowl of Water for All Diseases" is actually known by any Taoist priest who knows how to conduct a Taoist altar. However, the water is only used for purification and sprinkling, and the rest is casually poured away. Many priests cultivate for a long time but do not know that if that water is refined, even just that little bit of water can be used for healing and exorcism. If used more skillfully, it can also be used to improve feng shui energy fields, with extremely powerful effects --- provided that more cultivation is added.
There is an objective phenomenon like this: many old Taoist priests have a low level and leave a poor impression of having no skills. If you say they don't know, actually they know everything, but it is not effective. And other folk priests know little but are very effective when used. Why is this?
The reason is that if folk magic is a point, Taoist ritual methods are mostly a plane. In terms of magical power, limited magical power used on a point will naturally be stronger than when used on a plane. However, the use on a point has its limitations. When there is sufficiently strong magical power, the coverage effect on a plane will be far greater than the effect on a point.
Current cultivators mostly do not seriously cultivate every link, and then rush to perform the entire ritual method. Not only that, they also require a large number of believers to participate together, resulting in even more dispersed magical power. Often, the effect of doing one altar is worse than a general folk priest solving a problem for one person in a few quick moves. This needs reflection.
Therefore, cultivating Taoist methods requires patience and a good mindset, cultivating bit by bit. The method is not in quantity, but in precision. Mastering one method is far more useful than knowing a pile of methods but being proficient in none. And, as long as one cultivates seriously, one will naturally discover that specializing in one method after another does not simply equal adding one plus one to get two.