The author has a strong interest in philosophy and religious culture, and has dealt with many Taoists and Buddhists, many of whom have great personality, connotation and talent. I have gained a lot from discussing ideas with them. Among them, there are very few women, and the number of contacts is also the same. Just from my limited knowledge, there is a certain difference between female Taoist priests and bhikkhunis.
Many years ago, I went to Shanxi from Beijing on a business trip
and met a few Buddhist nuns from afar. They were young, had been ordained, and
were going to study at the Wutai Mountain Buddhist College for Nuns. I
discussed Buddhist principles with one of them and found that she was a devout
Buddhist and had reached a certain level of practice. After the chat, she left
the address of the college and her Buddhist name, but did not ask about my
professional identity.
A few months later, I was on a business trip near Wutai Mountain, and a local friend invited me to visit the mountain. Under his guidance, I found the Pushou Temple where the Buddhist College for Buddhist Nuns is located. After informing the nun, I met the nun again in the reception room. This time, she was accompanied by a nun whom I had never seen before, who might be her "senior". She was quiet and gentle, while the "senior" was aloof and didn't talk much. I gave them my business card and had to put it on the table first, and then they would take it from the table. In general, the atmosphere was quite serious. They were very disciplined in dealing with people, and their temperament and conversation gave people a different impression from ordinary people.
A few years later, in the cold winter, I went to Wudang Mountain in Hubei alone. After climbing to the top of the mountain on snow, I stayed at Zixiao Palace, where the Wudang Mountain Taoist Association is located. Because it was the off-season and the heavy snow had just stopped, there were no other pilgrims or tourists in the palace. The guest rooms in the palace were originally multi-person rooms, but they were occupied by me alone. Watching the moon rise over the cold mountain, snow falling on pine leaves, listening to Taoists chanting scriptures, and understanding the creation of nature, it was a different artistic conception! During the day, I sat in the square in front of the main hall to bask in the sun. I felt very good and talked with several middle-aged and young female Taoist priests next to me about Laozi's "Tao Te Ching" and Taoist history and culture.
Compared to the bhikkhunis, they are more casual and talkative, similar to our daily social life. Sometimes male Taoist priests pass by and interject a few words on topics of interest. They have no taboos in discussion, and there is no prohibition on men and women in contact. From their knowledge, you can hear that they have worked hard in their "professional" fields. One of them talked about the ancient "sex science" very naturally, not at all shy, and completely regarded it as a kind of Taoist practice of the ancients. On the contrary, I don't think it's easy to talk about this in the secular world.
When it was dusk, I strolled on the road outside the palace and saw young male and female Taoist priests walking in groups, chattering and very active. They are Taoist priests, and they are Quanzhen Taoist priests. Unlike Zhengyi Taoist priests who can live a secular life, Quanzhen Taoist priests must become monks and have more rules, but the ones I met were like college students.
I have only come across a small number of individual cases,
which cannot explain their universality or representativeness. But from my
limited personal experience, female Taoist priests remind me of what Laozi
said, "Tao follows nature", which is not deliberate and natural,
while the impression given to nuns is the "precepts, concentration, and
wisdom" mentioned in Buddhist scriptures, with precepts as the first,
concentration comes from precepts, and wisdom comes from concentration. There
is no difference between the two, but each has its own merits.
笔者对哲学和宗教文化有浓厚的兴趣，和很多道佛中人打过交道，其中不少很有个性、内涵和才华，与他们进行思想探讨，收获不少。其中女性非常少，接触次数也是如此。仅就我的有限见闻来说，女道士和比丘尼有一定的区别。
多年前，我有一次从北京去山西公干，偶遇几位从远方来的比丘尼同路。她们正青春，已剃度，要去五台山尼众佛学院求学。我与其中一位就佛理进行了交流，发现她信佛虔诚，修行到了一定的层次。聊后，她留下了学院地址和法号，没问我的名字和职业身份。
过了数月，我因到五台山附近出差，当地朋友盛情相邀，招待我上山一游。在他的引路下，我找到了尼众佛学院所在的普寿寺，经过通报，与那位比丘尼在会客室重逢，这次她有一位我没见过的、可能是她“学长”的比丘尼陪同。她偏文静、温和，那位“学长”比较高冷，话不多。我把名片给她们，是要先放到桌子上，她们再从桌子上取。总体上，氛围比较严肃，她们待人接物很有规矩，气质谈吐给人印象就和俗人不同。
又数年后，时逢寒冬，我一个人专程赴湖北武当山，踏雪登顶后，投宿于武当山道教协会所在地的紫霄宫。由于是淡季，又大雪方霁，宫中没有其他香客、游客，宫中客房本全是多人间，却被我一人独占，看月出寒山、雪落松叶，听道士诵经、悟自然造化，别有一番意境！白天我就坐在大殿前广场晒太阳，感觉很好，与旁边几位中青年女道士畅谈老子《道德经》、道教历史文化。
比起比丘尼，她们更随意，很健谈，和我们俗人的日常社交类似，有时也有男道士路过，对感兴趣的话题插几句话。她们在讨论上没有禁忌，接触上也不存在男女授受不亲，学识上能听得出在自己“专业”领域下过苦功夫。其中一位谈到古代的“房中术”，都很自然而然，一点都不扭捏，完全是把这视为古人的一种修炼，反而是俗世的我觉得不好去聊这个。
当黄昏时分，我漫步在宫外公路上，见男女年轻道士成群结队也在散步，叽叽喳喳，很是活跃。他们是道士，而且是全真派道士，与正一派道士可以过俗世生活不同，全真派必须出家，规矩较多，但我接触的他们，像是大学在校生一样。
个人接触的只是样本很少的个案，不能说明普遍性和代表性。但就个人的有限感受，女道士让我联想到老子说的“道法自然”，不刻意、自然而然，而比丘尼给我的印象是佛经中说的“戒定慧”，以戒为首，由戒生定，由定发慧。二者并无高下之分，而是各有千秋。
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