In the Taoist Sanqing Hall, there was usually a statue of Taiqing Daode Tianzun (Taishang Laojun). Its position was different. Some said it was in the left position, while others said it was in the right position of Yuanshi Tianzun. There were also different versions of the object held, such as holding a cattail leaf fan or holding a Yin and Yang fan. Furthermore, in the large-scale Taoist fasting ceremony, there was also a god position for the Heavenly Lord Dao De, which was on the right side of the Heavenly Lord Yuanshi.
The Taiqing Heavenly Lord of Dao and Virtue had the Taiji Divine Fan and the Taiji Diagram. The Taiji Divine Fan symbolized the " Absolute Beginning " state where all things were born. The Taiji Diagram was a magic treasure that could prove one's Dao. It was one of the Three Treasures of Heaven and Earth. It was a Primordial Supreme Treasure with both attack and defense. It could suppress fate, suppress the power of earth, water, fire, and wind, transform the power of Yin and Yang, divide the mysteries of the Heavenly Dao, and contain all things in the world. When it was unfolded, it could turn into a chaotic golden bridge that flashed with five-colored light and illuminated the mountains, rivers, and the earth.
Taiqing, Yuqing, and Shangqing referred to Taiqing Heavenly Lord Daode, Yuqing Heavenly Lord Yuanshi, and Shangqing Heavenly Lord Lingbao respectively. They were collectively known as the "Three Pure Ones". They were the three gods respected by Taoism in the Three Pure Realms. They were collectively known as the "Three Treasures Heavenly Lord of the Void, Nature, Daluo, and Three Pure Realms". In Taoism, the Three Pure Ones were the symbol of the Taoist doctrine of " Three Ones " and the creator of all things in the world. They were collectively known as the Void Nature and represented the law of the formation of the Great Dao. One Qi turned into three, three combined into one, used into three, and the root was always one. The Dao turned into the Three Pure Ones, and the Three Pure Ones combined into the Dao. The Heavenly Lord of the Origin of the Jade Pure Realm was the first to ascend to the Pangu Heavenly Lord of the Origin of the Jade Pure Realm, the Heavenly Lord of the Lingbao of the Shangqing Dynasty was the Heavenly Lord of the Lingbao of the Daoist Lord of the Yuchen Realm, and the Heavenly Lord of the Dao De of the Taiqing Dynasty was the Heavenly Lord of the Dao De of the Ten Thousand Sects.
According to Taoist legends, the Heavenly Lord of Dao and Virtue often incarnated into the world to preach, save people, and promote Taoism, but it did not explicitly mention that it had a specific ending. In some stories, he was born from heaven and earth, the incarnation of the Dao. As an important god of Taoism, he was respected as the creator and protector of all things. He had always been in a supreme position in the mythological system of Taoism, and there was no ending statement like the end of life.
"Taiqing Yuan Dao Zhen Jing" is a Taoist classic, included in the "Orthodox Taoist Canon" is a part. The Yuan Dao described in it is the supreme Dao of Taishang Laojun. This Dao is supreme, mysterious, indifferent, inaction and natural. It cannot be learned by those who are not highly intelligent and enlightened, and those who are not afraid of death and climb to the living. Different from other Daos, it didn't have any teachers who didn't punish it, and it could be cultivated in the mortal world. The sutra points out that human life can live as long as heaven and earth, but because of the six evils (eye illusion, ear illusion, nose illusion, mouth illusion, body illusion, mind illusion), human delusions move to nature, do not cling to nature, do not keep its roots, often seek self-improvement, resulting in the dissipation of vitality, can not last long. The original way is the way to return to the root and return to life. The method of restoring vitality is to reduce interest rate as the waiting time, and from reducing interest rate to no interest rate, the original way is to return to the root. The realm of success included the self-adjustment of Yin and Yang, the absence of all diseases, the absence of hunger and thirst, the invulnerability of soldiers and tigers, and the wisdom of the profound. It also elaborated on various aspects such as reducing interest rates, holding qi, and other cultivation methods as well as their effects.
In the Ming Dynasty novel Journey to the West, Taishang Laojun was also known as the Lord of Dao De. His image originated from the deification of Laozi, the founder of Taoism. The deification of Laozi began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. At that time, Zhang Tianshi of the Zhang mausoleum founded the Five Buckets of Rice Sect to fight against Buddhism and respected Laozi as the Supreme Elderly Lord. Grand Supreme Elder was regarded as the ancestor of Chaos, the parent of heaven and earth, the master of Yin and Yang, and the emperor of all gods. In the story of Journey to the West, there were many plots about him. For example, Sun Wukong secretly ate the Nine-Turn Golden Pill that he had refined. He used the diamond chakram to sneak up on Sun Wukong and helped Erlang God capture him. He put Sun Wukong into the Eight Trigrams Furnace and refined him for 49 days. Later, he sent the boy to transform into the Golden Horn King and the Silver Horn King to make things difficult for Tang Sanzang and his disciples. Sun Wukong also asked him to borrow the Resurrection Pill. His mount, the Green Bull Spirit, had also descended to the mortal world to stir up trouble. In terms of status, some people believed that he was the head of the six Sages in the world, the eldest brother of the Three Pure Ones, one of the Three Pure Ones transformed from Pangu's Primordial Spirit after the creation of the world, and carried most of Pangu's merits. He also had the protection of the Heaven and Earth Black Yellow Exquisite Pagoda. However, in Journey to the West, his incarnation seemed to be a little "weak". This may be his intentional behavior, but it was also related to the trend of the Way of Heaven after the apotheosis. In addition, his image had spawned many types of works, including movies, games, comics, animations, and so on. In " Dream Making Journey to the West 3 ", he was a virtual character who had entered the stage. After taking the poison pill refined by Taibai Jinxing, he had lost his nature.
There was a complicated relationship between the Abyss King and the Heavenly Lord of Dao and Virtue. The Abyss King had a deep hatred for the Heavenly Lord of Dao and Virtue and thought that he was a hypocrite. The Abyss King's mother, Ming Ji, had once died because of the betrayal of the Heavenly Lord of Dao and Virtue. This became the source of the Abyss King's hatred for him. In one battle, the Abyss King even punched through the body of the Heavenly Lord of Dao and Virtue, causing the gods to cheer. However, there were also some search results that mentioned that when the Heavenly Lord of Dao and Virtue met with the Abyss King during the war, he did not attack him and showed some conscience. In addition, some search results mentioned that the Abyss King was the illegitimate daughter of the Lord of Dao and Virtue, although the Lord of Dao and Virtue did not personally admit this. In summary, the relationship between the Yuan King and the Lord of Dao and Virtue was complicated and full of hatred.
In the Taishang Induction Chapter, it was mentioned that Taishang was Taishang Laojun, the Lord of Dao De. The opening chapter explained that "misfortune and fortune have no door, only people call themselves; the retribution of good and evil follows like a shadow", and the induction was taken from the Taoist "Heaven-man Connection". It was believed that the natural way of heaven and the way of man were interacting with each other. The good and evil behavior of human beings would be sensed by the "heaven" and thus have corresponding blessings and misfortunes. This might be regarded as a manifestation of the induction related to the Lord of Dao and Virtue of Taiqing. At the same time, from the perspective of cultivation, doing things with the heart could eliminate disasters and avoid disasters. Fortune and disaster were summoned by oneself. This was also a kind of connection with the Dao represented by the Lord of Dao and Virtue. From the perspective of saving all living beings, the Heavenly Lord of Dao and Virtue was merciful and loving to all living beings. If a person could have a pure and compassionate state of mind, it was also a manifestation of this kind of spirit.
The Heavenly Lord of Dao and Virtue had many incarnations, such as Wuhuazi, Yuhuazi, Dachengzi, and so on.
"Taiqing Yuan Dao Zhen Jing" comes from the Northern and Southern Dynasties of the Eastern and Western Jin Dynasties. The original title is the annotation of Mingzi Yinzhi Neixiu. It is a volume. Its reference version is included in the Orthodox Daoist Canon. It is said that this scripture was passed down from the ancient Taishang Laojun to nineteen people, all of whom had ascended the immortal throne and reached the highest rank. This scripture did not leave the world. In the year of Wu Shu in Kaiyuan of Tang Dynasty, Fan Dajun of Nantong dictated to Meng Zhexian (Tang Dynasty poet Meng Haoran). Meng Zhexian also dictated to Wang Xuyu. Wang Xuyu wrote three articles on the secrets of Yuan Dao, which were later passed on to Zhang Sanfeng, the founder of Ming Dynasty. After the change of dynasties, the culture suffered many "catastrophes". The inheritors of the Yuan Dao cultivation method were not recorded in the history books, and were probably only passed down in the Taoist temple. It was not until Taoist Priest Zhang Zhishun came across the Taiqing Yuan Dao True Scripture in the Tripitaka Building of Baiyun Temple in Beijing that the scripture appeared in front of the world again and entered the folk community.