Why didn't Taoism become the main religion with worldwide influence? Why can Japanese Shintoism rank among the top ten religions in the world?

Zhang Daoling, the tenth grandson of the Han Dynasty (34th year), regarded Taiping Jing, Zhouyi (also the core classics of Confucianism) and Laozi as the highest Taoist classics, and compiled 24 Taoist classics, such as Notes on the Elephant Ear of Laozi, which were easier for ordinary people to understand and spread (based on the adaptation of three generations of Lu), and expounded the methods of cultivation, alchemy and Taoist symbolism for the first time. It created the first religious management system in China, taking Laozi as the ancestor, and understood Laozi's worldview as "one is Tao, the other is Qi, and the other is the old gentleman on the throne", so Laozi was deified as the old gentleman on the throne (the highest ruler in the world). Zhang Daoling claimed to be Shi Tian (the founders of Taoist schools are all called Shi Tian, that is, the founder), and said that he was taught by Taoism and spread the "Way of Righteousness and Alliance" (hereinafter referred to as Taoism, later called Shi Tian, which was the orthodoxy of later Taoist schools, and was also called "Five-Point Teaching" at the beginning of teaching). Zhang Daoling was the first Taoist Shi Tian. He adopted the hereditary system of "home is in the world" and established a missionary organization with the unity of politics and religion, namely, Twenty-four Rulers and Thirty-six Lujing. Each government has a wine offering ceremony, which is divided into households, like killing and keeping. The third generation of Lu (? ~2 16) At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Hanzhong established a warlord regime with the integration of politics and religion, and ruled Hanchuan for more than 30 years. After surrendering to Cao Cao, Shi Tian spread northward. Zhang Shengshou, the fourth generation descendant of Shi Tian, went to Longhu Mountain to preach, established Longhu Mountain and became the ancestor of Shi Tian. Although Zhang Daoling's "Shi Tian" is Taoist orthodoxy, it has formed a religious organization of a certain scale in the early stage. Later, due to its missionary system, which pays too much attention to karma and the relationship between mentoring and mentoring, it advocates self-cultivation and separation from society. Under the dual influence of Buddhism, which is closer to the people, and Confucianism, which is attached to the political power, Taoist sects can no longer produce the organization when Taoism was founded in 2000. In the face of the more advanced contemporary regime of "ruling the world by the party", most Taoist sects shun the world with secular Taoist views, and Shi Tian, the only orthodox Taoism, has hindered the development and growth of Taoism because of its huge inheritance disadvantage of "ruling the world". Finally, it avoided Taiwan Province Island, passed on to the 63rd generation Zhang Tianshi Enpu after its death in 1969, and it existed in name only.

San Xuan classics of Taoism are just like other classics expressed in ancient Chinese. Everyone has his own understanding and sentiment in the "mysterious" situation. However, Taoism pays attention to the method of predestined relationship between master and apprentice, and has the bad habit of learning from others. Therefore, Taoism has formed more than 100 sects with different practice methods in later generations because of different missionaries. At present, it is mainly inherited by Zhengyi, which is mainly based on Fuxi culture. In Sui, Tang, Song, Jin and Ming Dynasties, various Taoist factions competed for the ruling class with health-preserving alchemy, met the psychological and practical needs of ordinary people with divination on good and evil, and attracted intellectuals with quietism, thus gaining different degrees of blessing from the political power (Taoism was listed as the first of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in the Tang Dynasty because it respected Li Er as its ancestor), and coexisted with Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Other dynasties were basically suppressed by Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, which made the inheritance of Taoism gradually decline. Only Taoism, as one of China's traditional cultures, continues to be inherited, which seems to be the characteristic of China's philosophy. Zhang Daoling, the first founder of Taoism, was also the founder of the later Shi Tian School (the way of alliance). He and Ge Xuan, the founder of Lingbao School, Sa Shoujian, the co-founder of Xihe School and Tianshan School, and Xu Jingyang, the founder of Jingming School, were called the four Taoist Shi Tian by Taoism.

It is worth mentioning that the Taiping Sect of Zhang Jiao's three brothers is another Taoist Sect with perfect religious organization besides Pentecostalism. Taiping Gate takes Taiping Jing as its doctrine and Laozi as its ancestor. The original intention of the Taiping Sect (founded around AD 170) was to overthrow the Han Dynasty. Therefore, Zhang Jiao contains many personal items (political requirements) in his teaching. Although he claimed to inherit Huang Lao, his core teachings did not see Laozi's thoughts. Taipingmen is actually a semi-religious organization of military nature (the Yellow Scarf Army), which consists of 36 political parties, each with a general. Farmers were absorbed into the religion with the medical skills and Fuxi techniques of Huangdi Neijing, and gradually disappeared after the failure of the uprising (185). The descendants of Anbalism also inherited the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, with Zhang Jiao as the leader, but as an anti-government underground secret organization, it was only a flash in the pan. If the rebellion succeeds in reunification, perhaps Chinese civilization will enter a country where western religions are unified. Unfortunately, there is no divinity in Taoism and Confucianism. For a nation far away from ghosts and gods, China people believe that all things can be gods, and gods are used to worship, not to take care of themselves. Some people say that both Taoism and Confucianism can be regarded as national religions, but the Chinese nation, including the Han nationality, has always been polytheistic, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism coexist, and mainstream religions in the world have beliefs in China, so China does not have its own national religion.