Morality and Health Preservation

☯Taoism attaches great importance to moral health preservation, pointing out that "those who pursue the Tao should first establish merits and virtues" and "if one does not cultivate virtues but only focuses on esoteric techniques, they cannot achieve longevity". That is to say, accumulating kindness and nurturing virtue is the prerequisite for longevity and health.

☯Ge Hong, a Taoist health preservation expert in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, pointed out: "Those who desire longevity must accumulate good deeds and perform meritorious services, show kindness to all things, be lenient to others as they are to themselves, extend benevolence even to insects, rejoice in others' good fortune, sympathize with others' sufferings, relieve others' emergencies, help those in poverty, never harm living beings with their hands, never incite disasters with their words, regard others' gains as their own, regard others' losses as their own, not value themselves highly, not praise themselves, not be jealous of those who are better than themselves, and not be sycophantic or secretly malicious. Only in this way can one be virtuous, receive blessings from heaven, succeed in whatever they do, and have hope of seeking immortality." This indicates that if a person often accumulates virtues and does good deeds, even if they are not proficient in health preservation techniques, they can still be blessed and protected by heaven to live to an old age.

☯The Zhouyi Cantongqi (The Unity of the Three: A Commentary on the I Ching) states: "People in the world are fond of trivial techniques and do not examine the depth of the Tao. They abandon the right path and follow evil ways, hoping for quick results, but end up blocked and unable to proceed." This shows that blindly pursuing a shortcut to immortality while neglecting the cultivation of one's own mind, nature, and moral thoughts can only lead one astray, and the desire for speed will result in delay. Therefore, Taoism requires its disciples to abide by precepts while practicing the Tao.

☯The Longmen Xinfa (The Heart Method of the Dragon Gate School) says that "observing precepts" is "a pestle to subdue demons, capable of suppressing evil spirits; a talisman to protect life, capable of increasing longevity and good fortune; a ladder to ascend to heaven, capable of paying homage to the Three Pure Ones".

☯The Laozi Xiang'er Zhu (Annotations on Laozi for Xiang'er) holds that "those who practice the Tao without violating precepts are as profound as the Tao itself" and "upholding the Tao's precepts, accumulating good deeds to achieve success, accumulating essence to become a spirit, and the spirit becoming an immortal with longevity".

☯Doing more good deeds is inherently a happy thing, which is called "external merits and internal fruits". That is, good deeds that benefit people and things will bring joy to one's spirit and life, and even "accumulate virtues and merits". On the contrary, being selfish and evil, and harming others to benefit oneself will lead to mental illness and organ lesions. Because of improper intentions and doing bad things, one will worry about being accused by the world and severely punished by the gods, living in constant fear, losing psychological balance, and being unable to live peacefully.

☯Therefore, Taoism has always closely combined moral cultivation with secular ethics and morality, firmly believing that doing good deeds and accumulating virtues is a necessary condition for cultivating immortality and learning the Tao. Cultivating virtue will surely lead to longevity, and with longevity, one can learn the Tao and become an immortal. With the development of Taoist doctrines and the improvement of Taoist cultivation theories, Taoists all believe in the basic essence of Taoist practice: "cultivating the Tao and nurturing virtue, practicing internal skills and external deeds".

☯Paying attention to moral cultivation and shaping a beautiful soul can promote human physical and mental health, and noble moral cultivation is not only beneficial to the health of individual life but also conducive to the development of social civilization.