i
Contents
Illustrations

v
Map of China

vii
Dynastic Chart

viii
Pronunciation Guide

x
Background to Daoism

1
ShangAncestors and Divination

2
TheYijing

4
Ancient Philosophical Schools

8
Confucianism

10
Part I: Foundations

15
The DaoismThat Can™t BeTold

16
TheText of the
Daode Jing

17
The Dao

20
Creation and Decline

22
The Sage

23
Interpreting the
Daode Jing

25
Lord Lao

28
RitualApplication

30
At Ease in Perfect Happiness

35
The Zhuangzi

36
TheWorld of ZHuang ZHou

38
The Ideal Life

41
PoeticAdaptations

43
The Zen Connection

46
From Health to Immortality

50

ii
Body Energetics

51
Qi Cultivation

52
Healing Exercises

54
Magical Practitioners and Immortals

59
Major Schools of the MiddleAges

64
Celestial Masters

65
Highest Clarity

66
NuminousTreasure

68
TheTheocracy

70
TheThree Caverns

71
State Religion

74
Cosmos, Gods, and Governance

80
Yin andYang

81
The Five Phases

82
The Chinese Calendar

85
Deities, Demons, and Divine Rulers

87
The Ideal of Great Peace

92
Cosmic Cycles

94
Part II: Development

96
Ethics and the Community

97
The Celestial Connection

98
Millenarian Structures

100
Self-Cultivation Groups

103
Lay Organizations

105
The Monastic Life

108
Creation and the Pantheon

114
Creation

115
Spells, Charts, andTalismans

118
Heavens and  Hells

122

iii
Gods,Ancestors, and Immortals

125
Religious Practices

130
LongevityTechniques

131
Breath and Sex

134
Forms of Meditation

136
BodyTransformation

140
RitualActivation

143
Part III: Modernity

148
Modern Daoism

149
NewTexts and Gods

150
Ritual Masters

152
Complete Perfection

154
ImperialAdaptations

157
An Expanded Pantheon

161
Reaching for the Dao

167
Trance Practices

168
InternalAlchemy

170
Healing and MartialArts

173
Philosophical Speculation

177
Vernacular Novels

179
Daoism in ChinaToday

183
Recent Developments

184
Structure andAdministration

185
Daoist Lives

188
RitualActivities

191
The Qigong Connection

195
WesternAdaptations

200
Transmission in EastAsia

201
WesternApperception

203

iv
Temples and Communities

207
Heath Practices

209
Part IV:
5
The Nature and Study of Daoism

216
Key Characteristics

217
Evolution of Study

219
CurrentTrends

221
Activities and Resources

225
Appendix I: Chronology of Daoist History

231
Appendix II:The Daoist Canon

240
TheThree Caverns

240
TheTwelve Classes

241
Canonical Supplements

242
Further Collections

243
Indexes and Discussions

243
Glossary

245

v
Illustrations
Fig. 0.1

The eight trigrams  (author ™s picture)
Fig. 0.2

Confucius (ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 1.1

An ancient scripture carved in stone (author ™s picture)
Fig. 1.2

Laozi, the Old Master (ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 2.1

Sitting in oblivion (ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 2.2

Floating above the clouds (author ™s picture)
Fig. 3.1

Qi
 channels in the body (ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 3.2

The
Exercise Chart
(ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 3.3

The text of the
Stretch Book
(ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 3.4

Master Redpine (ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 4.1

Yin andYang (ancient Chinese text)

Fig. 4.3

TheYellow Emperor, worshiped inTaiwan today (author ™s picture)
Fig. 5.1

A talisman of NuminousTreasure (ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 5.2

TheThree Pure Ones (author ™s picture)
Fig. 5.3

A Daoist temple in the mountains (author ™s picture)
Fig. 6.1

TheWorms in the body (ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 6.2

A Chinese monastery (author ™s picture)
Fig. 6.3

Daoist food in formal presentation (author ™s picture)
Fig. 7.1

Classic talismans (ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 7.2

The Diagram of the Great Ultimate (ancient Chinese text)

vi
Illustrations
Fig. 7.3

A Daoist immortal (author ™s picture)
Fig. 8.1

Sun Simiao (ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 8.2

Beating the heavenly drum (ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 8.3

Visualizing the arrival of the gods (ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 9.1

A Daoist god in shining armor (author ™s picture)
Fig. 9.2

A Ritual Master today (author ™s picture)
Fig. 9.3

A Daoist garden (author ™s picture)
Fig. 10.1

The microcosmic orbit (author ™s chart)
Fig. 10.2

The immortal embryo exits the body (ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 10.3

A woman practices the FiveAnimal Frolics (ancient Chinese text)
Fig. 10.4

Practitioners ofTaiji Sword today (author ™s picture)
Fig. 11.1

A community temple (author ™s picture)
Fig. 11.2

A temporary altar at the Grand Jiao (author ™s picture)
Fig. 11.3

Ceremonial procession at the Grand Jiao (author ™s picture)
Fig. 11.4

Qigong practice at a Hong Kong Daoist temple (author ™s picture)

viii
Dynastic Chart
B.C.E.
Xia

ca. 2100-1600
Shang

ca. 1600-1028
Zhou

1027-221

Western

1027-771

Eastern

770-221

Spring andAutumn

722-468

Warring States

403-221
Qin

221-206
Former Han

206-
8
C.E.
Later Han

25
-220
T
hree Kingdoms

220-265
Western Jin

265-317
Eastern Jin

317-420
Six Dynasties

420-589

SOUTHERN

Liu Song

420-479

Southern Qi

479-502

Southern Liang

502-557

Southern Chen

557-589

NORTHERN

NorthernWei

386-534

EasternWei

534-550

WesternWei

535-577

Northern Zhou

557-681

ix
Sui

581-618
Tang

618-907

EmpressWu

690-705
F
ive Dynasties

 907-960

Liao

916-1125
Song

960-1279

N
orthern

960-1126

Southern

1126-1279
Mongol-Yuan

 1260-1368
Ming

 1368-1644
Manchu-Qing

 1644-1911
Republic (Taiwan)

1911-
People™s Republic

1949-

x
Pronunciation Guide
mainland China.Although Pinyin is most commonly used today, older works and some recent

studies still make use of the traditionalWade-Giles system. Generally, vowels are very close in

both systems, with the one exception thatWade-Giles uses the ﬁüﬂ with umlaut while Pinyin

for the most part does not, especially after the vowels ﬁjﬂ and ﬁch.ﬂThe pronunciation is ﬁüﬂ in

either case.

Wade-Giles all aspirated consonants (written with an apostrophe) are pronounced as original

(T™ =T, P™ = P), while nonaspirated ones are pronounced softly (T = D, P = B).Thus the tradi-

tional transliteration ﬁTaoismﬂ and the more modern ﬁDaoism.ﬂ In addition, ﬁJﬂ inWade-Giles

is ﬁRﬂ in Pinyin, and pronounced like a deep, growling ﬁR.ﬂ Finally, the various ﬁtchﬂ and

ﬁdseﬂ sounds differ:
PY WG  Engl. Example
x
hs
soft sh Xu = Hsü = Shü
j
ch
soft dch Juan = chüan = dchüen
q
ch™
sharp tch Qi = ch™i = tchee
zh
ch
soft dch Zhang = Chang = Dchang
ch
ch™
sharp tch Cheng = Ch™eng =Tcheng
zhi
chih soft dch-rr
chi
ch™ih sharp tch-rr
zi
tzu
soft dse Laozi = Lao-tzu = Laodse
ci
tz™u sharp tse
si
ssu
hissing sse

Background to
Daoism
In this chapter
Daoism forms an integral part of Chinese culture and has not only contributed considerably
to its shaping and development, but is also deeply embedded in it. In the time before even the

-
pher Laozi, dated to around 500
B
.
C
.
E
were established that have had a lasting effect on Daoist philosophy, cosmology, ritual, and

religious cultivation ever since.The four most notable ones form the contents of this chapter.
Main topics covered
ShangAncestors and Divination
TheYijing
Ancient Philosophical Schools
Confucianism

2

|

B ackground to Daoism
ShangAncestors and Divination
T
he
Shang dynasty
 (ca.1600-1028
B
.
C
.
E
.
) is the earliest Chinese state documented

2100-1600
B
.
C
.
E
.
), and its contemporary, the western culture in Sichuan, are only
known from excavated tombs and artifacts. Ruling the central area of China with

a capital in what is today Henan, the Shang state worked through an extensive
administrative bureaucracy, constituted by the king as central ruler, his relatives, local aristo-

ShangAncestors
The dominant belief of the dynasty was that the otherworld was similarly organized as the

Shang bureaucracy. Populated by nature deities such as sun, moon, rain, and thunder as well

occurrences on Earth.Ancestors not only served as intermediaries to the great nature deities

As a result, all actions involving the ruler, from the most mundane to the most decisive, had to
be submitted to the ancestors™ inspection and were either supported or rejected.All events like-

ly to occur were posted to the ancestors for their prediction and guidance. Different ancestors,

moreover, were responsible for different areas of life.They received regular offerings based on

a complex ritual schedule that followed a calendar consisting of a ten-day week and twelve-

year cycle. Both are still in use in China today, notably for fortune-telling purposes (see ch. 4).
AncestorWorship and Divination

usually cast from bronze.They came in all shapes and sizes and were richly ornamented with

Shang bronzes
, exhib-
ited in numerous museums around the world, and the object of more or less skilled forgeries

since the Song dynasty.
Divination
, unlike fortune-telling from palms, playing cards, or dreams, is the reading of di-
vine guidance through secondary signs.A well-knownWestern example is the auguries of

of an upcoming battle. Shang rulers employed the so-called oracle bones. Discovered by ac-

3

|

B ackground to Daoism
museums and gradually their writing, the earliest form of Chinese characters, was deciphered
and has since been called the oracle-bone script.
Oracle Bones
Oracle bones
 were originally carapaces of turtles, seen as symbols of the cosmos with their

square base (Earth) and round top (Heaven). Later, when China ran out of turtles and even

could not import more fromVietnam, shoulder blades of cattle were used.Trained technicians

area the bone would crack.The cracks were interpreted by professional diviners to mean either

yes or no. Even today the character for divination is the image of a crack:
%ë
. Both question
and answer were recorded by scribes, leaving a good record of the concerns and tendencies

of the ancient Chinese. Questions could be both simple and more complicated, including the

outcome of warfare, the birth of son or daughter, the relief for the king™s toothache. Over the

years, the bones were reused, so that many have inscriptions on both sides.
While it is clear that oracle-bone divination was a very involved ritual that required various
specialists, scholars are divided with regard to its exact nature.Was the divination in essence

a bureaucratic and rather rational method of learning the ancestors™ intention (e.g., David

Keightley)? Or was it a more ecstatic and shamanic rite that involved direct contact with the

otherworld and was undertaken to the accompaniment of music and dance, and possibly with

the help of alcoholic drinks and psychedelic drugs (e.g., Chang Kwang-chih)? Similarly it is

not clear whether the bronze vessels, undoubtedly used to present offerings to the ancestors,

were mere vessels for food and drink or, through their animal designs and intricate patterns,

represented the divine conveyance of shamanic priests in their excursion to the heavens. Both

methods, the rational divination according to signs and the ecstatic/shamanic way of con-

necting to the gods have continued actively in Chinese culture, so history does not provide an

answer.
Impact on Daoism
Daoists incorporated a heavy dose of Shang religion into their beliefs and practices.The

Daoist otherworld is hierarchically organized and populated by nature deities and ancestors,

joined in due course by pure divine emanations of the Dao and lofty spirit immortals; regular

rituals to these various deities are essential to maintain harmony in the cosmos.The gods have

to be appeased to prevent disasters but they can also be enticed to give guidance to human

beings; communication with them is a bureaucratic act that involves the written language, no

longer in the form of oracle-bone inscriptions but through petitions, contracts, mandates, and

other formal documents. Daoist priests are intermediaries of the divine realm and occupy of-

4

|

B ackground to Daoism
TheYijing
Another early feature of Chinese culture that exerted a strong impact on Daoism is the
Yijing

or
Book of Changes
. Historically it supplanted Shang oracle-bone divination when the dynasty
changed to the Zhou (1028-221
B
.
C
.
E
.
).
Belief in Heaven
Without giving up on nature gods and ancestors, the Zhou put their dominant faith in
Heaven

(
tian
). Unlike the Highest Ruler of the Shang, this was not a former human being and thus not

guided by personal whims and moods. Rather, Heaven was a process, an abstract representa-

tion of the cycles and patterns of nature, a nonhuman force that interacted closely with the hu-

man world in a nonpersonal way.
For example, if people behaved in morally upright and the ruler did well, Heaven responded
by creating harmony through appropriate weather patterns, fertility, and general wellness. It

thereby showed its approval and granted the dynasty the right to rule, known as the ﬁMandate

of Heaven.ﬂ On the other hand, if people behaved badly and the government mismanaged

locust plagues, epidemics, and the like.These were signs that the ruling dynasty had forfeited

its Mandate and that it was time for a change. In Zhou thinking, Heaven thus represented the

sum-total of human and natural activities, matching their impulses with appropriate responses.
The notion that humanity and nature/Heaven existed in a close, if not immediate, relationship
has remained central to Chinese thinking, and even in 1976 it was very clear to all Chinese

that the massive Earthquake inAugust was a harbinger of the death of Chairman Mao in

-
ing, and the entire complex of Daoist ethics revolves around it (see ch. 6).
Textual History
The
Yijing

aids them in making good decisions through formal judgments and advice. Compiled into a

coherent book by Confucius around 500
B
.
C
.
E
.
, its system claims to go back to prehistory when
a mythical ruler named Fu Xi discerned its original symbols from constellations in the stars.

judgments.
Named one of the Six Classics by Confucius, the
Yijing
 became part of literati training and

5

|

B ackground to Daoism
careers and family concerns; some studied it in more detail and wrote commentaries and in-
terpretations. In recent years, the text has also made inroads in theWest, where translations

The
Kuan-yin Book of Changes
. Numerous people all over the world still explore the ancient clas-
sic for spiritual advice, use it for divination, and trust in its workings.
The EightTrigrams
The system of the
Yijing
 is based on the two cosmic forces yin and yang, which are symbol-
ized by written lines: an unbroken line indicates yang, while a broken line shows yin.The two

lines, like the binary pattern at the base of computing, are combined two by two into four sym-

bols: double yang, yang over yin, double yin, and yin over yang. Next the lines are combined

into eight symbols of three lines each, known as trigrams and linked symbolically with cosmic

phenomena.The
eight trigrams
 (
bagua
) are as follows:

Heaven (
qian
, creative)
Earth (
kun
, receptive)
li
, clinging)
water (
kan
, abysmal)
wind (
sun
, gentle)
lake (
dui
, joyous)
thunder (
zhen
, arousing)
mountain (
gen
, still)
These trigrams are still in

wide use today. For ex-

ample, they signify the Eight

Corners of the house or room

in
fengshui
 and are common-

ly found on mirrors and other

protective devices. In Daoist

cosmology, they have played

an important role in signify-

ing different cosmic direc-

tions and dimensions. For

example, they were arranged

in two different patterns, laid

out on a geographical grit,

that represented the state

before creation or ﬁFormer

Heavenﬂ (
xiantian
) and the
forces of the universe after creation or ﬁLater Heavenﬂ (
houtian
), states that also apply to the
human body as pre- and postnatal.
Fig. 0.1
The eight trigrams

6

|

B ackground to Daoism
Thus, before creation or birth in this body, Heaven (
qian
) is due south, while Earth (
kun
) is
due north, Fire (
li
) andWater (
kan
) are to the east and west. In the course of creation, de-
scribed as the union of Heaven and Earth,
kun
 desires to join with
qian
 and moves south.After
connecting with
qian
, it establishes itself in the southwest. Similarly, Heaven, in an effort to
merge with Earth, begins to move north and eventually comes to reside in the northwest. Fire

andWater in the meantime rotate by ninety degrees and end up on the north-south axis.As

that governs the world as we know it.
Hexagrams and Judgments
In the
Yijing
proper, the trigrams are further used as building blocks for the so-called
hexa-
grams

lines.The sixty-four hexagrams make up the main body of the book. Each hexagram comes

with an explanation of the image, a judgment, an explanation of the judgment, and a fortune

for each individual line. For example, Hexagram no. 5,
xu
 (ﬁwaitingﬂ) consists of the trigrams
kan
and
qian
 or ﬁwaterﬂ over ﬁHeaven.ﬂ Its image explanation runs:
Clouds rise up to the Heaven, the image of waiting.Thus the superior man eats

and drinks, is joyous and of good cheer.
This presents the current situation in its essence.The text then provides a ﬁjudgmentﬂ which

gives advice:
Waiting. If you are sincere, you have light and success. Perseverance brings

good fortune; it furthers one to cross the great water. (Wilhelm,
I Ching
, 24Œ25)
As this shows, the text gives general advice, often couched in rather ambiguous and vague

and communication were hard, the key relationship was with the lord or great man, and inner

sincerity was valued highly. It is accessible today through commentaries, both traditional and

modern, and often has to be read with a good dose of intuition and personal feeling.
Divination Methods
There are two main
methods
 of obtaining a hexagram-fortune from the
Yijing
, both leading to

-

aside, then the remaining forty-nine are divided into two piles. Four stalks are then counted

7

|

B ackground to Daoism

-

ten down from the bottom to the top.The resulting hexagram can then be looked up in the

book. Every line that has a cross next to it, moreover, can be changed into its opposite, again

beginning from the bottom and working upward. In this way further hexagrams are obtained to

indicate later developments.
The second method to obtain a hexagram is a great deal easier and more popular today. It
involves three identical coins, in which head is designated yang and tail means yin.Yang,

moreover, counts 3, while yin counts 2.Throwing the three coins at any one time will result a

total count of 6, 7, 8, or 9.These translate into lines: 9 = strong yang, 6 = strong yin, 7 = weak

yang, and 8 = weak yin.Again, the line is written down, the throwing of coins repeated, and

the hexagram obtained.
Role in Daoism
Daoists as much as other Chinese literati have used the
Yijing
 for millennia to give guidance
and to support them in their decision making. In alchemy, moreover, Daoists have used the

hexagrams to symbolize the waxing and waning of yin and yang through the seasons, placing

them in a series of twelve hexagrams that each show either an increase or decrease in yang

lines:

followed by the increase of yin as the year once again moves toward winter.The system al-

lows a subtle patterning of seasonal change which in turn creates the optimal conditions for

the concoction of an elixir or the growth of the immortal embryo. Besides applying the
Yijing
in its originally intended mode as a divination manual, Daoists also employ its symbols to

express subtle cosmological and internal transformations. In cosmological and alchemical

treatises, the trigrams show the directions and dimensions of the universe while the hexagrams

signify subtle stages and times of cultivation.

8

|

B ackground to Daoism
Ancient Philosophical Schools
The Zhou dynasty ruled China for almost a millennium, from 1028 to 221
B
.
C
.
E
.
However, it
did not maintain power steadily or without challenge for this entire period, but underwent vari-
ous changes and transformations. One change occurred in 771
B
.
C
.
E
.
, when the dynasty was
attacked by CentralAsian tribes and had to move its capital east to what is today Luoyang.

B
.
C
.
E
.
), when it lost all but the most
elementary ritual powers and a number of independent states or dukedoms emerged that in

fact shaped the politics of the country. Historians have called this latter phase of Zhou rule the

frequency.
The IronAge
One reason why war was more of an option than before is that around 500
B
.
C
.
E
.
, China was
undergoing tremendous economic and political changes.The arrival of iron-age technology

created better ploughshares, wagon axles, and weapons. It not only caused an increase in food

production which resulted in massive population growth but also led to greater mobility and

wealth among the people, inspiring them to strive for more power, land, and goods. Rather

lords began to set large infantry armies against each other, disrupting agricultural cycles and

causing devastation in vast sections of the country.The overall result was a time of great un-

rest and transition which left many people yearning for the peace and stability of old.
PhilosophicalTendencies
It was also a time of great learning and increased literacy as the cumbersome writing of the

oracle-bone script had given way to more manageable characters, known as the greater and

lesser seal scripts, which are still used in chops today. Literacy and learning, moreover led to

the arising of several philosophical schools.They all had in common that they bemoaned the

current state of affairs, looked backward to the good times of antiquity, and proposed various

social and individual measures that would lead not only to overall harmony but also to greater

success in rulership, conquest, and population retention. Besides the theoretical and cosmo-

logical speculation typical ofWestern philosophy, Chinese philosophers thus also engaged in

political doctrines and proposed practical methods for the recovery of long-lost harmony.

9

|

B ackground to Daoism
Six Schools
The earliest document of Daoism, Laozi™s
Daode jing
, dates from this time and has to be read
in this context. Daoism forms one of six philosophical schools of ancient China, two of which

have left no serious imprint on the Chinese religious scene.They are the
Mohists
 (named after
Master Mo, ca. 479-438) who preached universal love and equal goodness towards all; and the

Logicians

logical: ﬁA white horse is not a horseﬂ is one of their standard sayings, insisting that everyone

use the correct term and thus, by rectifying his or her mind, contribute to the harmony of the

world.
The remaining three schools have remained present in Chinese thinking; they have variously
impacted Daoism in the course of its history.They are Confucianism, Legalism, andYin-Yang

cosmology. Especially the latter has become the foundation of much of Daoist thought and

cosmic patterning (see ch. 4).
Legalism
Legalism
B
.
C
.
E

is a battle for limited resources and the bottom line is ﬁevery man for himself.ﬂTo make social

harmony possible, there have to be strict rules and enforceable laws joined by punishments

that will make everyone sit up and listen.
The Legalists served as advisers to the
First Emperor
 (Shihuang) of China, whose dynastic

B
.
C
.
E
.
, he is best
known for building sumptuous palaces, the GreatWall, and theTerracottaArmy. Standardizing
measures, wheel sizes, coins, and the Chinese script, he created a new political entity on

Chinese soil, advancing the kingdom of the Zhou to the status of empire. He also ruled with

strict laws and executed ruthless punishments to the point where soon after his death in 210
B
.
C
.
E
.
the populace rose in rebellion and brought about a new dynasty, the Han.

Chinese law.They created a long-lasting system of mutual responsibility, dividing all neigh-

-
marily for the deeds of any one of them.They made widespread use of the death penalty, also

of forced labor and exile, usually in the far reaches of the Chinese empire where the climate

by Confucian trained magistrates but were only used to keep criminals out of circulation while

10

|

B ackground to Daoism
they awaited trial.After trial and sentencing, also run by the magistrate, the culprit would be

escape.
Daoists have always been radically opposed to the Legalist position and relegated their drastic
punishments to the hells and underworld prisons. Still, Daoist organizations and monasteries

had to work in an environment that was dominated by Chinese law, and time and again they

adopted strict rules and measures even within their groups.
Confucianism
Confucianism
 has provided the social conscience not only

righteousness, wisdom, propriety, and honesty) are the lead-

ing light of all Chinese ethics and form an important goal of

Daoist cultivation. Its emphasis on family values and loyalty

to the ruler, its political vision of harmony and Great Peace

-
monly thought, apolitical and detached, but who developed

a complex political philosophy and took an active interest

in running the government at various times in history.Vice

versa, Daoist mystical thought and cultivation practices have

Song and late imperial periods.
BasicTenets
At the root of the teaching is
Confucius
 (552-479
B
.
C
.
E
.)
 with
his sayings as documented in the
Lunyu
 (Analects). Following
him, and matching the dominant trend ofWarring States

philosophy, Confucians look back to the GoldenAge of the

past. Unlike Legalists who see people as inherently evil and establish harsh laws, and unlike

-
ity, Confucians understand that people can be either good or evil and should be taught to do

the right thing.The right thing, then, is the correct understanding of social hierarchies and the

practice of morality and social awareness.
Without denying the value of all-encompassing nature, of cosmological alignment with
Heaven, of laws, and of ancestral advice, Confucianism focuses on ritual formality (
li
) as its
Fig. 0.2
  Confucius

11

|

B ackground to Daoism
key method of bringing the world back to the GoldenAge. Representing the image of a ritual
vessel, the word
li
means ﬁto arrange in orderﬂ and designates ways of how people in society

should best interact in a well-ordered fashion. In practice it means three things: interpersonal

politeness, governmental organization, and religious devotion.
Etiquette and Politeness
First, among personal relationships
li
 means etiquette, politeness, and good social behavior. It

-
ther-son, husband-wife, older-younger brother, friend-friend), honoring one™s elders and caring

for one™s juniors.The key
virtues
 here are benevolence (
ren
), a general sense of consideration
xiao
), the devotion of the younger toward their seniors.
Reciprocity is essential.A senior person has to be generous, giving, and gentle toward the

younger generation, while a junior person needs to behave with respect, circumspection, and

with utmost harmony; if one side fails, the other is released from its obligation and revolution

can occur. Flexibility is equally important. Everyone living in a Confucian society (nowa-

days especially Singapore,Taiwan, Korea, and Japan) has to know how to work in all differ-

ent roles and positions, since no one can always be senior or junior at all times. Comparable

-
cial ostracism and loss of face.There are no formal punishments for failure to work within the

rules, yet the moral structure is pervasive and has worked effectively for millennia.
The Master said: Guide them by edicts, keep them in line with punishments,

and the common people will stay out of trouble but will have no sense of

shame. Guide them by virtue, keep them in line with
li
, and they will, besides
having a sense of shame, reform themselves. (
Lunyu
2.3)
Institutional Correctness
On a second level,
li
 is applied to public organizations and government institutions. Each
agency has to know exactly what to do and when to do it and has to be able to sit back and do

-

-
sure and at the right moment.

12

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B ackground to Daoism
Their key virtues are righteousness or social responsibility (
yi
) and loyalty to the ruler (
zhong
).

Guidelines and rules abound, formulated early in the
Liji
 (Book of Rites), but again there are
Ritual Propriety
Third and last,
li
 also means religious ritual, the practices used to communicate with the ances-
tors, the various gods of Earth and nature, and with Heaven. In the ideal Confucian system, ev-

ery Chinese family takes care of their ancestors, every household worships a stove god, every

larger cosmic realm seen as the direct continuation of life on Earth. In addition, the ruler and

ensuring the proper blessings in the form of right weather and good fortune.The ritual aspect

of Confucianism is not as well known but it has pervaded traditional Chinese society and is

still present in popular stove and village gods as well as the greatAltar to Heaven, one of the

main Beijing tourist attractions in the south of the city.
Learning
To become adapt in the complexity of society and religious worship, people should study, es-

pecially history and literature as contained in the
Six Classics
 (the
Books of Changes, Rites,
Songs, Music,
and
History
, as well as the
Spring andAutumnAnnals
).They should also prac-
tice the six arts of the gentleman: poetry, calligraphy, numbers, music (lute), archery, and

charioteering. Some are inherently more apt to learn and become ideal Confucian gentlemen

(
junzi
) than others, but there is hope for everyone. Learning, moreover, is not a burden but a

pleasure, an exciting adventure of becoming increasingly aware of oneself and the social intri-

cacies in one™s surroundings, an ongoing effort at creating the ideal human being in the ideal

human society.
Connection to Daoism
-

-
ciate the social awareness and cosmic harmony proposed by Confucians. Plus, not only did the

Daode jing
 arise in a dialogue with Confucian thought, but throughout history Daoists have

lived and breathed Confucian society all around them.The need for proper social graces, the

unfolding of essential virtues, and the vision of a well-integrated and harmonious society have

13

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B ackground to Daoism
pervaded Daoism from the very beginning, making Confucianism another important factor in
the background of the tradition.
Key points you need to know
Daoism is deeply embedded in Chinese culture and has incorporated several important ele-
ments that are present in Chinese history even before the beginnings of Daoism.
From Chinese religion as known already from Shang dynasty documents and artifacts,
Daoism has inherited its belief in a bureaucratically organized otherworld, its veneration of
ancestors, its emphasis on the written language in ritual, and possibly its shamanic/ecstatic

tendencies.
TheYijing or Book of Changes is important as a divination manual but also plays a key role
in Daoist cosmological speculation and alchemy.

Daoists do not share the urge to punish with Legalists but have had to live in a society
dominated by Legalist-inspired laws and have created similar rules and organizations within
their tradition.
Confucianism focuses on ritual formality (li) as its key method, sees society as hierarchical-
ly structured, emphasizes life-long learning, and proposes a set of virtues that have played
an important role in Daoist communities and practice.
Discussion questions
What is divination and what are some of its main methods in China and theWest?
1.

How does the
2.

Yijing
work?
What are some key points of difference between Legalists and Confucians?
3.

Further reading
Allan, Sarah. 1991.
The Shape of the Turtle: Myth,Art, and Cosmos in Early China
.Albany:
State University of NewYork Press.
Chang, Kwang-chih. 1980.
Shang Civilization.
 New Haven, CT:Yale University Press.
Eno, Robert. 1990.
The Confucian Creation of Heaven. Philosophy and the Defense of Ritual
Mastery
.Albany: State University of NewYork Press.

14

|

B ackground to Daoism
Graham,A. C. 1989.
Disputers of the Tao: PhilosophicalArgument inAncient China
. La Salle,
Ill.: Open Court Publishing Company.
Keightley, David N. 1978.
Sources of Shang History: The Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Bronze
Age China.
 Berkeley & LosAngeles: University of California Press.
Wilhelm, Richard. 1950.
The I Ching or Book of Changes
. Princeton: Princeton University
Press, Bollingen Series XIX.

The Daoism That
Can™t Be Told
In this chapter
The earliest and best known text of Daoism is the
Daode jing
 (Book of Dao andVirtue),
found in various ancient manuscripts and translated innumerable times into other languages.
The work is associated with the philosopher Laozi, allegedly a contemporary of Confucius

who later grew into the Highest Lord Lao, a major deity of the religion still worshiped widely

today.The text also establishes major fundamental tenets of Daoist worldview, such as Dao,

yin-yang, simplicity, forgetting, sage, and nonaction. It has received numerous commentaries

in China and was translated over 300 times into English alone, including some rather off-beat

versions, such as ﬁTheTao of Meow.ﬂ It has also played an important role in the ritual practice

of religious Daoists.
Main topics covered
TheText of the
Daode jing
The Dao
Creation and Decline
The Sage
Interpreting the
Daode jing

Lord Lao
RitualApplications
1

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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
TheText of the
Daode Jing
T
Daode jing
Laozi
 is a short text in
two parts, one on Dao (ch. 1-37), and one on De or virtue (ch. 38-81). It is writ-

-
tion contrasted with tight punch lines. Many of its lines are terse, almost aphoristic in nature;

the text reads more as a collection of sayings than a philosophical discourse. It has survived in

several key editions.
True words are not beautiful;
Beautiful words are not true.

A good man does not argue;

He who argues is not a good man.

The wise do not have extensive knowledge;

Those of knowledge tend not to be wise.

The sage does not collect things for himself,

Yet the more the does for others, the more he gains,

The more he gives to other, the more he possesses.

So the way of the Sage is to act but not compete. (Ch. 81)
Opening a tomb of the southern Chu culture in Guodian (Hubei) inAugust of 1993, the local
archaeological team unearthed 804 bamboo slips containing roughly 16,000 characters of text.

including fragments of Confucian and other texts.Among them are thirty-three passages that

can be matched with thirty-one chapters of the
Daode jing
, but with lines in different places,
and considerable variation in characters from the standard, transmitted edition.
Generally, the fragments are concerned with self-cultivation and its application to questions

useless or even harmful are not found; instead, negative attitudes and emotions are criticized.

text existed in rudimentary form, and consisted of a collection of sayings not yet edited into

a coherent presentation. It shows that gradually a set of ideas and practices was growing that

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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
From about 150 years later we next have the Mawangdui version, named after a place in
Hunan where three tombs were excavated in 1973 that had been closed in 168 B.C.E. Housing

the local ruler of the area, his wife, and eldest son, they contained a veritable treasure trove of

medical and philosophical manuscripts.The texts were written on silk and for the most part

dealt with cosmology and longevity techniques, such as breathing, exercises, and sexual prac-

tices.Among them were two copies of the
Daode jing
, the so-called silk manuscripts.
Unlike the earlier ﬁBamboo-Laozi,ﬂ the Mawangdui silk text contains a complete version of

the
Daode jing
that differs little from the transmitted edition in eighty-one chapters.There are

some character variants which have helped clarify some interpretive points, and the two parts

are in reversed order, i.e., the text begins with the section on De or virtue, then adds the sec-

tion on Dao.The manuscripts

are important because they

show that the
Daode jing

existed in its complete form

in the early Han dynasty and

that it was considered essen-

tial enough to be placed in

someone™s grave..
Following this, we have
what is know as the stan-

dard, transmitted edition of

the text, which goes back

to the third century C.E.At

this time the erudite
Wang
Bi
 (226Œ249) edited the text

and wrote a commentary on it

that Chinese since then have

considered inspired.This ver-

sion has been venerated for

millennia and carved in stone

many times. It has shaped the

reception of the text™s world-

view until today and forms

the basis of practically all

Western translations.
Fig. 1.1
An ancient scripture carved in stone

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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
Authorship
The
Daode jing
 is commonly associated with an old sage known as
Laozi
, the Old Master.
had both eminent knowledge of the rites and strong reclusive tendencies. Confucius heard of

him and went to learn his teaching. Despite being rebuffed he came away with such a deep

impression that he compared Laozi to a dragon. Later, so the story continues, when Laozi felt

that the dynasty was declining, he left China for the western lands and on the road transmitted

his ideas to the border guardYin Xi who compiled them into the
Daode jing
.
Shiji
 (Historical Records), dated to 104 B.C.E.Admitting uncertainty and referring to several

Zhou court by the name of Lao Dan, but mentions several other personages, such as the re-

cluse Laolaizi, and establishes a connection to the up-andŒcoming Li family, providing Laozi

with a surname.
Legend Development

Confucian stories, written to provide Confucius with a respected archivist as a teacher and

to show his unwavering eagerness to learn. Following this, several polemical moves led to

the composite legend of Laozi. First, the sage was linked to the growing collection of apho-

risms and philosophical sayings which grew into a coherent text around 250 B.C.E. and thus

established a claim of extended longevity for Laozi, useful in view of the First Emperor ™s im-

mortality aspirations.
ThestoryaboutLaozi™sdepartureforthewest,next,wasaddedtoexplainwhytheOldMaster,
although long-lived, was no longer around to advise the First Emperor in person. Under the

Han, moreover, when the Daoists™ link with the toppled Qin dynasty became a liability, Laozi

was resettled to Bozhou (Henan) near the Han rulers™ place of origin.Adopted by the Li clan,

he obtained a family name, while his descendants served the Han as loyal subjects. In the fol-

lowing centuries Laozi continued to rise in the esteem of his countrymen, to eventually be-

come a major Daoist deity by the name of Highest Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun).

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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
The Dao
The key concept of the
Daode jing
 and of all Daoism is the Dao, the underlying cosmic power
which creates the universe, supports culture and the state, saves the good and punishes the
wicked. Literally ﬁthe way,ﬂ Dao refers to the way things develop naturally, the way nature

moves along and living beings grow and decline in accordance with cosmic laws.
The
Daode jing
 begins with the words: ﬁThe Dao that can be told is not eternal Dao.ﬂ Still, it

conscious, active creator or personal entity but an organic process that just moves along. But

-
cesses of the natural world.As such it is predictable in its developments and can be discerned

and described. Its patterns are what the Chinese call ﬁself-soﬂ or ﬁnature,ﬂ the spontaneous and

deepest essence, the inner quality that makes things what they are. It is governed by laws of

nature, yet it is also these laws itself.
In other words, it is possible to explain the nature of Dao in terms of a twofold structure.
ﬁEternal Daoﬂ and ﬁthe Dao that can be told.ﬂ One is the mysterious, ineffable Dao at the cen-

ter of the cosmos; the other is Dao at the periphery, visible and tangible in the natural cycles of

the known world.
Eternal and Peripheral
The eternal Dao is described in the
Daode jing
and boundless, it cannot be named; it belongs to where there are no beings; . . . it is altogether

vague and obscureﬂ (ch. 14).This Dao, although the ground and inherent power of the human

being, is entirely beyond ordinary perception. Beyond all knowing and analysis, it cannot be

grasped.The human body, senses, and intellect are not equipped to deal with it.The only way

a person can ever get in touch with it is by forgetting and transcending ordinary human facul-

The Dao at the periphery, on the other hand, is characterized as the give and take of various

come and go, grow and decline, emerge and die.The
Daode jing
 speaks about it in terms of

clearly visible patterns of nature and society and points out various concrete activities of align-

ment. It shows how things develop in alternating movements of yin and yang, how they al-

ways move in one direction or the other: up or down, toward lightness or heaviness, brightness

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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told

at the center.
Flowing with Dao
Dao is always good. Bad times, bad things, bad people, all forms of evil happen when things

-
cline, or death.All these things are there, but not considered evil. Rather, they are a necessary

Yin and yang are interdependent and relative forces that always move together and in altera-

tion, and neither of them is evil.Thus, for example, decline as such is not evil but part of the

natural rhythm of things. It can become evil when it is violently forced upon nature or society

at a time of growth. Similarly, growth, unlike what modern societies think, is not necessarily

always good. It can become evil, when massive expansion is pushed forward at a time of rest

-
Nonaction and Naturalness
The way to be with Dao is through nonaction (
wuwei
) and naturalness (
ziran
).This does not
mean doing nothing, becoming like a vegetable, or being totally spontaneous without any

headed. It means to abstain from forceful and interfering measures that cause tensions and dis-

ruption in favor of gentleness, adaptation, and ease.Then one can attain success, contentment,

and long life.As the text says:

Act on things and you will ruin them.

Grasp for things and you will lose them.

Therefore the sage acts with nonaction and has no ruin,

Lets go of grasping and has no loss. (ch. 64)
In traditional China this idea was mainly applied in politics, but over the years people have

also found it helpful in ordinary life.An example for a modern application is given by Liu

Xiaogan in a discussion of ﬁnaturalnessﬂ as understood in China today (in Kohn and LaFargue

1998). He presents the case of a farmer who is about to modernize his farm. If the farmer

them and their advantages for everyone concerned, and if he has both the time to investigate

the new methods and the money to make the investment, then the time is right and things in

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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
all likelihood will proceed smoothly. On the other hand, if he is forced into modernization and

philosophy, aided by veneration of the gods and appropriate rituals in the later religion.
Creation and Decline
While Dao exists continuously and is always present in all that is, the original development of

the world proceeded in several stages.The text notes that at the root of creation Dao rested in

deep chaos (ch. 42). Next, it evolved into the One, a concentrated state cosmic unity that is full

of creative potential and often described in
Yijing
 terms as the Great Ultimate (Taiji).The One
then brought forth ﬁtheTwo,ﬂ the two energies yin and yang, which in turn merged in harmony

to create the next level of existence, ﬁtheThreeﬂ (yin-yang combined), from which the myriad

beings came forth. From original oneness, the world thus continued to move into ever greater

states of distinction and differentiation.
Human Beings
A similar development takes place within human beings.The oneness of primordial creation

state of the embryo and the infant, a state of undifferentiation and wholeness.As people grow

up and engage in active life, however, this oneness is lost.The dualism of yin and yang comes

to dominate mind and world.As a result, everything people see happening around them is per-

ceived as depending on the interaction of opposites.
As yin and yang change into each other at their peak, so all opposites in the world alternate.
Whatever is yin can only maintain its yin-nature until it reaches its pinnacle.Then it reverts

back to yang, and vice versa. For people™s activities, this means that the straightforward pur-

Cultural Decline
The active presence of yin and yang in human life and mind leads to varying attitudes and

modes of behavior in the world. Eventually their increasingly sophisticated interaction brings

about cultural and psychological complexity. Gradually the GoldenAge of an intact, harmoni-

ous, and simple society declines.The Dao becomes weaker and seems to be lost completely.

The most obvious manifestation of this loss is the sensory involvement of people with the

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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
things around them, their increasing dependence on outside objects, which eventually will do
them harm.Thus the text says:

Excitement and hunting madden their minds;

Goods hard to get do harm to their ways. (ch. 12)
The multiplicity of sensory inputs and cultural attainments cripples people™s instinctive nature:
not only their eyes and ears but also their spontaneously good moral characters. Originally

people are full of propriety and compassion; they naturally know how to be truly and wholly

in the world.As these things are lost, formal moral codes and social rules, documented espe-

cially in the so-called Confucian virtues, rise to the fore.A conscious knowledge of right and

for natural caring (ch. 18).As a result, human beings impose their conceptions and wills on

-
and confusion prevail in the world.
The Sage
The person who emerges as the hero in this situation, who will bring the world back into bal-

ance, is the perfect human being or sage (
shengren
). He or she can be any individual, man or

Daode jing
, however, the sage is ideally the ruler.
He stands at the apex of human society and mediates between Heaven and Earth like a sacred

shaman-king.The sage has realized the original Dao; in his mind he is like Heaven and Earth.

Because of his exposed position in society, he has the power to impart purity and harmony to

others.Wherever the sage goes, all around him partakes of cosmic oneness.There are no di-

sasters or misfortunes.
Simplicity and Nonaction
The way in which the sage achieves his perfection is through a return to simplicity. Sages, and

essentially all people, should lead a simple life on the outside and develop a pure mind within.

They should give up learning and all conscious efforts at making the world a better place,

placing the efforts into ﬁembracing the One,ﬂ reaching for ﬁhighest weakness,ﬂ becoming ﬁlike

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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
-
herent nature and achieve lasting satisfaction.
The sage as ruler, moreover, naturally leads the country to a full recovery of cosmic harmony.
OncehehasattainedtheOneandhasconcentratedhiscosmicenergy,Daowillradiatethrough

him.To bring peace and purity to the people, he deals with society by acting in nonaction.

perfect way of being in the world and follows the natural course of things as they come and

cosmos and moves along with it in intuitive harmony. Such government brings peace. On the

other hand, any active management of worldly affairs leads to failure and harm.As the text

says:
Those who would take over the Earth
And shape it to their will

Never, I notice, succeed. . . .

At no time in the world will a man who is sage

Over-reach himself,

Over-spend himself,

Over-rate himself. (ch. 29)
Nonintervention is thus the key to good government, to a harmonious and peaceful world.This

people happy.
Ideal Community
The sage is at one with the entire world because he has become one with Dao.The radiance of

his Dao causes the people to recover their original purity and their harmony with the rhythm of

the universe. Society gives up sophistication, culture, and luxury. Ritual propriety and formal

moral codes are no longer needed.The ideal life of plainness and simplicity develops natural-

ly. People once again live in small communities, take care of their simple needs, and happily

refrainfromventuringintotheunknown.Asthetextdescribesit,therewillbesmallcommuni -

ties with few people.They may have all sorts of devices and implements, but they will not use

them.They will be content where they are and not search for different places or fancier goods,

eschewing carriages and wagons, armor and weapons.
Although a neighboring state may be visible,

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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
Although one may hear its cocks crow and its dogs bark,
Yet the people grow old and die

Without ever visiting there. (ch. 80)
This ideal state of a harmonious society, where people lead a life of simplicity, later continues
in the ideal of Great Peace, a key concept in the Daoist religion. It proposes universal perfec-

tion through alignment with the rhythm of yin and yang, an open network of government and

administration, and the practice of seclusion, meditation, and quietude.
Interpreting the
Daode Jing

The
Daode jing
 can be read as a religious, political, military, or naturalistic treatise, dealing

with psychology, the natural world, or society. Even if one decides on one particular reading,

contradictions abound: while there is an obvious relation of Dao to the absolute of mystics in

general,itisnotclearwhetheritisimmanentortranscendent;whiletheremaybeanaturalistic

philosophy in the text that could be linked with modernWestern science, it yet shows a high

concern for government policy and advice on human activity. Similarly, the text contains both

a strong rejection of all value-judgments and clear preferences for one member of the opposite

pairs that it poses (softness over hardness, femininity over masculinity, etc.). Sorting out these

various positions and their interrelation has been the task of commentators and translators for

many centuries.
Commentaries
Each reader of a classic, and particularly one as multifaceted as the
Daode jing
, creates his
or her own understanding of the work. Some engage with the text to such a degree that they

decide to write down their vision and interpret it in a formal commentary. Each commentator

accordingly engages with the text on terms of his own time, culture, and experience, recreating

received by people as meaningful in their own time and becomes relevant to their world.They

hope to render the text into a more current language while circling around its obscurities, less-

ening its paradoxes, and reducing its originality.
The
Daode jing
 is a particularly attractive object for commentaries and translations, because
of its short phrases, its obscure philosophical statements, and its compelling metaphors. Unlike

more historically embedded works, it speaks to people beyond time and culture; unlike more

strictly philosophical texts, it is short in phrasing and natural in language.

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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
MajorTypes
There are three major types of
commentaries
 to the
Daode jing
. One type focuses on philol-
ogy, examining the exact nature of the language, phrasing, and punctuation of the text, and

has the lines: ﬁNonbeing names the origin of Heaven and Earth; Being names the mother

of all things.ﬂ By combining the characters ﬁnonbeing/beingﬂ and ﬁnames,ﬂ this can also be

read: ﬁThe nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; the named is the mother of all things.ﬂ

Philological commentaries thus establish clarity of language through detailed linguistic analy-

Another type of commentary relates the
Daode jing
 to longevity and cultivation practices.
the Former Han dynasty. He connects numerous passages and phrases with physical cultiva-

tion. For example, he reads the phrase ﬁvalley spiritﬂ in chapter 6 as ﬁnurture the spirits,ﬂ then

reads the phrase ﬁmysterious femaleﬂ as ﬁmystery and femaleﬂ and connects the two terms to

Heaven and Earth and the absorption of their energies through nose and mouth. Later com-

mentators worked along similar lines and in their turn found the rationale for various cultiva-

tion practices, such as internal alchemical transformation and embryo respiration in the lines

of the
Daode jing
.
The third major type of commentary engages the text with in-depth philosophical specula-
tion.The most important is byWang Bi whose work also set the standard edition of the text.

He relates Dao to nonbeing (
wu
), the underlying ground of existence, its source and ultimate
end. Nonbeing is at the root of all and needs to be activated in a return to emptiness and spon-

taneity, achieved through the practice of nonaction, a decrease in desires and growth of hu-

mility and tranquility. Other works of this type tend to relate the
Daode jing
 to Buddhist and
Confucian concepts, engaging in process metaphysics and social speculation, respectively.
Recently, modern Chinese thinkers have developed their own vision of the
Daode jing
, see-
ing it as an antidote to environmental damage, government interference, and the increasing
preoccupation with materialist goals. In typical commentary fashion, this reading once again

connects the ancient classic with concerns of the current age, keeping the book and its ideas

relevant and vital.
EnglishTranslations
The
Daode jing
 has received about 300
translations

-
sionariesinthelate19thcentury,triedtorelateittoWesternconceptsofGodandfounditbad-

ly lacking. Early 20th-century readings were more open to its views and strove to understand

it in its own terms. By the mid-20th century, scholars like Joseph Needham and HolmesWelch

27
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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
saw in its philosophy a powerful alternative toWestern mechanistic thinking and a possible
antidote to currentAmerican problems.The book became the harbinger of alternative freedom,

Translations of the text differ widely.This is partly because of the terse, aphoristic nature of
the text which often leaves out pronouns and grammatical particles. In addition, language in

ancient China was not yet standardized so that different characters that had the same sound

(homophones) were sometimes used for the same word, creating potential confusion.Also,

often key words had a wide range of meaning, leaving it to the reader or translator to make a

or past tense.

-
mony to the timelessness of the book and to a constant need for new readings.
Kinds of Renditions
Like commentaries, so translations come in several kinds. One kind strives to stick as closely
as possible to the original. It attempts to do a word-for-word rendition, hoping to capture the

feelings of the text as it presents itself in the original language.The strongest example of this

type is the
Daode jing

example, reads: ﬁDao called Dao is not Dao.ﬂThe phrasing is adept and conveys the terseness

and potency of the original diction.

Michael LaFargue, works to elucidate the historical context and social reality of the original. It

remains close to the text but does not save on nouns or prepositions to clarify certain phrases

or statements. It uses footnotes to amplify and explain the text and hopes to give an accurate

reading of the text within its own cultural framework.
A third type of translation serves to make the text relevant to the modern age. Making ample
use of pronouns, articles, and other grammatical helpers, this type also takes images and con-

cepts and translates them into present-day reality.Thus, for example, the historically-minded

Wing-tsit Chan translates chapter 46:
When Dao does not prevail, war horses thrive in the suburbs.

The contemporary adaptation by Stephen
Mitchell
, on the other hand, has:
When a country is good, factories make trucks and tractors.

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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
When it is bad, warheads are stockpiled outside the cities.
Though the text is still the same, the translation has gone a long way beyond
the mere rendition of words and phrases into the realm of culture and reinter-

pretation.
Recreations
In addition to these translations, there are also some recreations of the
Daode jing
, undertaken
by writers who are fascinated by the text but who do not actually know Chinese.Their work

tends to be highly poetic and is often very enticing, and in some cases even exotic.An enjoy-

able example follows the tradition of Benjamin Hoff ™s
The Tao of Pooh
 (1982). It is
The Tao

of Meow
, a
Daode jing
 by and for cats byWaldo Japussy (1990). Part of chapter 2 reads:
TheWise Cat spends most of his day asleep.
He knows that if he waits, all things will come to him.

He does not have to set things in motion,

Just lie in wait until they appear.
A more serious translation, for people, that also belongs into this group isWitter Bynner ™s
The
Way of Life
 (1944). Based on various translations of the original, it is beautifully written and

carries a deep meaning.A more recent example of the same type isWayneW. Dyer ™s
Change

Your ThoughtsŠChange Your Life
 (2007), in which he encourages people to adopt the teach-

ings of the text in their lives today, changing from fear to curiosity, from control to trust, and

from entitlement to humility. He rephrases
wuwei
 as ﬁnoninterferenceﬂ and explains the idea

of knowing when to stop as: ﬁWhen your cup is full, stop pouring.ﬂ Beyond the written rendi-

tions, the poetic power of the text has also inspired musical versions, as for example one by

TheTaoAlchemical Company which set parts ofWitter Bynner ™s text to country-blues. Even

in modernAmerica, therefore, the
Daode jing
 is still actively consulted and praised in song.
Lord Lao
Just as the text has remained active and undergone numerous transformations, so did its al-

Shiji
 de-
scribed above, the
Old Master

and the savior of humankind.

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 Foundations
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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
Han Developments
Three main Han-dynasty groups contributed to this process in its earliest stages. First, there
were individual seekers of long life and immortality, the so-called magical practitioners (
fang-
shi
).They adopted Laozi as their patriarch and idealized him as an immortal, a particularly

gifted human being who, by his own initiative and efforts, had attained the purity and power of

the celestials.
tion of Dao and worshiped him as a representative of their ideal of cosmic and political unity

alongside theYellow Emperor (Huangdi) and the Buddha. Laozi here was known as the High-

Third, popular religious cults, millenarian in nature and expecting the end of the world, identi-

the world time and again. He would, they believed, come again as the messiah of the new age

of Great Peace.Also called Lord Lao or, in some groups,Yellow Lord Lao (Huanglao jun),

equipped with tremendous revolutionary power.As a messiah, he could overturn the present

and reorganize the world, leading the faithful to a new state of heavenly bliss in this very life

on Earth.
The Growth of the God

and encountered in trances as the giver of revelations.With

the integration of the various Daoist schools into one orga-

nized system in the sixth century, his life story developed into

a complex, integrated myth and he became the third and most

popular member of the Daoist trinity. Next, the emperors of

theTang dynasty (618Œ907), belonging to a family named

Li, claimed descent from him and recorded many numinous

appearances of his divine form, through which he showed

approval of their rule. He unfailingly protected the land and

gave succor to the faithful.
Under the Song (960Œ1280), Lord Lao received continued im-
perial honors, but was replaced as protector of the state by the

DarkWarrior.To maintain the claim to his central position,

Daoists wrote extensive hagiographies of him that traced his
Fig. 1.2
 Laozi, the Old Master

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 Foundations
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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
cosmic life from the beginning of creation to miracles wrought in the eleventh century.At the
same time, newly emerging Daoist sects venerated him as the giver of revelations and popular

then the downfall of organized Daoism.Taking Lord Lao along, this development resulted in

an overall decrease in his importance, both politically and in the cult. Nevertheless, in the fol-

lowing dynasties he remained the central deity of the two leading Daoist schools, Celestial

Masters and Complete Perfection, and appeared in vernacular literature as a wondrous im-

monasteries, the main locations of his exploits are honored as holy places, and tales of his life

are told in books and picture stories.
RitualApplication
As Laozi grew into a god, so the
Daode jing
 evolved into a holy book.Already in the second

self and state. By the second century C.E., it was the central text of the Celestial Masters, the

earliest communal Daoist organization, who recited it both as a devotional exercise and for its

pure.Accordingly the Celestial Masters also used the text also as the inspiration for certain

behavioral rules, outlined in conjunction with a commentary of the early third century.They

provide both general behavioral guidance based on the philosophy of the
Daode jing
 (such as
practicing nonaction, cultivating softness and weakness, and lessening desires) and a set of

concrete regulations and temporal taboos.

Daode jing
 was widely practiced among Daoist schools
and linked closely with the attainment of immortality. For example,Yin Xi, the Guardian of
the Pass, recited the
Daode jing
 ten thousand times over a period of three years.As a result, he
gained eternal life and the state of no death.According to his biography, he ﬁattained inner sin-

cerity in his essence and pervasion in his meditation so that he could pervade the mystery.ﬂ
That this practice and its effect was not merely part of mythology is evidenced in the
Zhen™gao

(Declarations of the Perfected, DZ 1016), a record of Daoist teachings and practices dated to
around the year 500.According to this, a certain Old Lord instructed three members of the

Zhou family, the father and two sons, to recite the
Daode jing
.The father and elder brother

-
er, however, only reached 9,733 times and did not attain immortality.

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 Foundations
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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
Ritual Meditation
In addition, the
Daode jing
 also stood at the center of a ritualized meditation.According to a
Daode zhenjing xujue
 (Introductory
Explanations to the
Daode jing
), Laozi gave detailed instructions on how to properly vener-
ate the scripture.Adepts should purify themselves thoroughly and enter a special meditation
chamber, where they burn incense, straighten their robes, bow to the ten directions, and ac-

tively visualize Laozi and his major assistants.
Only in the venerable presence of these personages is the
Daode jing
 to be opened. Its recita-
tionmustfurtherbeprecededbyaformalprayer,inwhichtheadeptcallsdowntheLordofthe
Niwan Palace, the central representative of the gods and resident in the central palace of the

head.As the deity approaches, the room undergoes mysterious changes: a radiance as of seven

jewels spreads, doors and windows open spontaneously.A link of light to the higher spheres is

Finding himself among the stars, he has the sun and moon at his sides and approaches divine

of seven generations.
ceeds with the ritual.The text says,
Finish the recitation, then click your teeth and swallow your saliva thirty-six

times.Visualize the green dragon to your left, the white tiger to your right, the

red bird in front of you, and the dark warrior at your back.
Your feet stand between the eight trigrams, the divine turtle and the thirty-six

body.
On three sides you are joined by an attendant, each having a retinue of a thou-
sand carriages and ten thousand horsemen. Eight thousand jade maidens and

jade lads of Heaven and Earth stand guard for you. (sect. 5).
Clicking the teeth and swallowing saliva are part of the standard Daoist meditation ritual,

symbolic forms of announcing one™s communication with the deities and opening the energy

channels within.The adept is instructed to place himself in the cosmic center by seeing him-

self surrounded by the heraldic animals of the four directions, representing constellations in

Yijing
. Everyone bows to him,
and he is fully established among the stars. His body has become a pure constellation of light

and energy patterns.Then he sees himself supported by attendants, one on each side and be-

hind him, who in turn, as in an imperial procession, are joined by thousands of followers and

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 Foundations
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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
established, he can recite the
Daode jing
 in its truest environment and to its greatest effect.
Later Developments
Over the following centuries, the
Daode jing
 continued to be actively used both in meditation
and liturgy. It played an important role in the formal ordination of priests, representing a level

of advanced lay followers who were preparing to leave the householder ™s life but had not yet

universal rules (and also Buddhist precepts) against killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct,

and intoxication, together with a set of guidelines to help practitioners to live in harmony with

their families and their communities.
Second, they took additional precepts and received more detailed instructions on the
Daode
jing
, undergoing an ordination ceremony that named them Preceptors of Eminent Mystery and
bestowed upon them a variety of exegetical, devotional, and technical materials linked with

the text.They included early commentaries on the
Daode jing
, technical interpretations of the
text, philosophical and mystical exegeses, practical manuals on
Daode jing
 meditation and
ritual, and formal hagiographies of Laozi andYin Xi.The importance of the
Daode jing
 as a
sacred scripture in priestly and monastic ordination still continues.To the present day follow-

ers chant the text in monasteries of the Complete Perfection school, whose ordinands receive it

and its alleged author, moreover, have guided seekers of self-cultivation, inspiring numerous

meditation techniques as well as recent qigong methods.
Key points you need to know
The
Daode jing
 is the oldest transmitted text of Daoism; it consists of two main parts and
eighty-one sections or chapters; it is written in verse, often aphoristic.

-
phy dates from around 100 B.C.E.; he was later divinized and still plays an important role in
the Daoist religion as Lord Lao.
Dao at its core is ineffable and inaccessible by human perception or intellect; on its periph-
ery it can be observed in the workings of natural rhythms, described in terms of yin and
yang.

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 Foundations
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The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
There was a GoldenAge in prehistory which declined with the arrival of culture and tech-
nology; by acting naturally in accordance with one™s Dao-given nature one can return to this
state of purity and simplicity.
To do so, one should live a simple life, reduce sensory input, make the mind tranquil, and
follow the natural course of things in nonaction.

The person who realizes this fully is called the sage; he is ideally the ruler of the country, in
which role he can spread the harmony of Dao everywhere.

Commentaries to the
Daode jing
 have interpreted it in terms of philology, philosophy, and
spiritual cultivations; they reach from the early centuries B.C.E. to the present day.

Translations of the text are exceedingly numerous; they can be literal, historical, or spiritual
in nature.

The text has also played an important part in Daoist ritual through recitation, meditation,
and ritual transmission as part of priestly ordination.
Discussion questions
Do concepts like Dao and related ideas have relevance in the modern world? If so, what
1.

might that relevance be?

-
2.

laid by layers of legends?Who might even have been made into gods? How does this pro-
cess work?
Is it legitimate to take an ancient text of out its historical context, reinterpret its phrases and
3.

concepts, and use it in a completely new way from its original intention?
Further reading
Chan,Alan. 1991.
Two Visions of the Way:A Study of the Wang Pi and the Ho-shang-kung
Commentaries on the Laozi
.Albany: State University of NewYork Press.
Chan,Alan. 2000. ﬁThe
Daode jing
 and ItsTradition.ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
, edited by Livia
Kohn, 1-29. Leiden: E. Brill.
Hansen, Chad. 1992.
A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought:A Philosophical Interpretation
.
NewYork: Oxford University Press.
Henricks, Robert. 1989.
Lao-Tzu: Te-Tao ching
. NewYork: Ballantine.

34
Part I:
 Foundations
1
|

The Dao That Can™ t B e Told
Henricks, Robert. 2000.
Lau Tzu™s Tao Te Ching:A Translation of the Startling New Docu-
ments Found at Guodian
. NewYork: Columbia University Press.
Kohn, Livia, and Michael LaFargue, eds. 1998.
Lao-tzu and the Tao-te-ching
.Albany: State
University of NewYork Press.
Kohn, Livia. 1998.
God of the Dao: Lord Lao in History and Myth
. University of Michigan,
Center for Chinese Studies.
LaFargue, Michael. 1992.
The Tao of the Tao-te-ching
.Albany: State University of NewYork
Press.
Schwartz, Benjamin. 1985.
The World of Thought inAncient China
. Cambridge, Mass:
Harvard University Press.

At Ease in Perfect
Happiness
In this chapter
The second major text of Daoism is the
Zhuangzi
, named after the philosopher Zhuang Zhou
and compiled in the third century
B
.
C
.
E
.Written in prose, the work contains various develop-
ments of early Daoist thought, but focuses mostly on a vision of ecstatic freedom in the midst
of ordinary life, expressed as ﬁperfect happinessﬂ or ﬁfree and easy wandering.ﬂ It outlines

state and tells many stories illustrating its realities. Over the centuries, the
Zhuangzi
 has been

ecstatic poetry of the middle ages and on the uniquely Chinese development of Chan (Zen)

Buddhism.
Main topics covered
The
Zhuangzi
TheWorld of Zhuang Zhou
The Ideal Life
PoeticAdaptations
The Zen Connection
2

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 Foundations
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At Ease in Perfect Happiness
The Zhuangzi
T
he
Zhuangzi
 takes its name from a minor government servant by the name of
Zhuang Zhou (c. 370Œ290
B
.
C
.
E
and withdrew to dedicate himself to his speculations, teaching his ideas to disci-

ples and inspiring them to write his teachings down.The same
Shiji
 chapter that
discusses the legendary Laozi mentions that Zhuangzi was famous for his way

-
The
Zhuangzi
emerged from the same political environment as the
Daode jing
 but has a differ-
ent focus in that it is more concerned with mental attitudes and condemns active political in-
volvement. Zhuang Zhou found that the ongoing arguments among the different philosophical

schoolswerefutileandwouldnotleadtoseriousimprovements.Heconcludedthatﬁrightﬂand

ﬁwrongﬂ were highly volatile categories, that all viewpoints were relative, and that the mind

anditsperceptiontendedtobefallaciousandone-sided.Asaresult,hemakesastrongcasefor

Editions

which consists of thirty-three chapters and is divided into three parts: Inner Chapters (1Œ7),

Outer Chapters (8Œ22), and Miscellaneous Chapters (23Œ33).This tripartite division was es-

tablished by the main commentator of the text,
Guo Xiang
 (252Œ312), who lived in the same
era asWang Bi, the principal editor of the
Daode jing
. Both men were part of an intellectual
movement known as ﬁProfound Learningﬂ (sometimes also called Dark Learning or ﬁNeo-

Daoismﬂ). Growing in reaction to the strong Confucian control of intellectual life, this move-

ment focused on a search for a spiritual dimension of life through the recovery and reinterpre-

tation of less political classics, including Daoist philosophers and the
Yijing
.
According to Guo Xiang™s postface to his edition (recovered in a manuscript in Japan), the

Zhuangzi

and fanciful stories he found unworthy of Zhuang Zhou. He duly proceeded to eliminate these

parts, which dealt with magic, exorcism, dream interpretation, ecstatic journeys, medical lore,

and natural transformations. He then set out to streamline the rest into parts and chapters he

found suitable.As a result, with the exception of very few fragments, the earlier version of the

Zhuangzi
is lost and our current edition, and with it the main orientation of its worldview, are

the result of Guo Xiang™s revision.

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 Foundations
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At Ease in Perfect Happiness
Early Daoist Strands
Still, it is likely that the existing text contains materials from the third and second centuries
B
.
C
.
E
.
 In particular it has information from four distinct strands of Daoist worldview and

Chapters (also considered the oldest) and in chapters 16Œ27 and 32 of the later parts of the

book.Then, as analyzed byA. C. Graham, there are the strands of the so-called primitivists

(chs. 8Œ10), the syncretists (chs. 11Œ15, 33), and the hedonists (chs. 28Œ31).
The
primitivist
 chapters express a worldview very similar to that of the
Daode jing
, but are
more radical in their demand for simplicity and the return to an uncomplicated life.They con-
demn all forms of culture as evil and destructive, and see the ideal society strictly in terms of

the
Daode jing
 when it talks about the small community of people who eschew all cultural

and technological advances and live a simple life.Their idea is to keep people in one place as

much as possible, to have them maintain a simple outlook on life and inner contentment by

limiting their horizons of experience.
The primitivists, sometimes also called anarchists, hate all government and idealize the time
before the arrival of iron-age technology.They suggest that when there were fewer people,

no communications, no governments, and no infantry-fought wars, life was simple, easy,

and good.They are, in one word, the proponents of a movement back to the stone age and

away from everything ﬁmodernﬂ society has to offer.Their vision is not the same as that of

the
Daode jing
, which still advises ways of working with the present rather than rejecting it

altogether, but it is built on the same fundamental ideas of simplicity, nonaction, and small,

controlled social units. Later this primitivist strand in Daoism was continued in the ideal of

the anti-social hermit who preferred his lonely hut and simple food to a comfortable and well-

still present today, as Bill Porter has demonstrated in his book
The Road to Heaven
(1993).
Hedonists and Syncretists
The hedonist strand in the
Zhuangzi
 is diametrically opposite to the primitivist vision. It pro-
motes ease and leisure, a life of no constraints and no restrictions, an attitude of giving in to

desires and serving only one™s own happiness and satisfaction.The underlying idea here is:

ﬁWhat is good for me is good for the universe.ﬂThe reasoning behind it is that if the individu-

al is part of Dao, then whatever he or she feels and wants is also part of Dao, and therefore all

without fail.
The hedonist strand is closely associated with a philosopher named
Yang Zhu
 (ca. 440Œ360
B
.
C
.
E
.),
who also merits a chapter in the
Liezi

(Book of Master Lie), a text that was lost early
and reconstituted in the second century
C
.
E
.
Like the primitivists, hedonists radicalize one

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 Foundations
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At Ease in Perfect Happiness
aspect of the teaching of the
Daode jing
, but pick a different one: the idea that all and every-
thing belongs inherently and inextricably to Dao.They refuse to acknowledge the difference
between inner purity and potential forms of disharmony caused by desires and a sensory over-

load. Instead, they accept every aspect of life as positive.The result is a certain ruthlessness

such as the Eight Immortals, who are well known for their ease in life, their eccentric leisure

activities, and their happy laughter at everything and with everyone.
The
syncretist
sectionsofthe
Zhuangzi

forms of cosmology and worldview into the basic understanding of Dao.Already the
Daode
jing
 made a distinction between Dao as the creative, ineffable center and its manifestation in
the visible world. Now the latter aspect of Dao is formulated in more technical detail and out-

lined in recognizable patterns.The rhythm of yin and yang, already present in the
Daode jing
,
-
tions that also take into account observations of the natural world, the movements of the stars,

and the hexagrams of the
Yijing
.Also, the ideas of other thinkers of the time merged into the
system, allowing for social hierarchies and enforced regulations as part of Dao.This dimen-

sion of ancient Daoist thought became dominant under the Han dynasty, when cosmology was

formalized and adopted as a governing tool. It also became the basis of much later Daoism.
Beyond these three strands, which each came to played its own part in the Daoist religion, the
dominant mode of the
Zhuangzi
 is the vision associated with Zhuang Zhou himself. Its overall
outlook, as well as its technical terms and metaphors, have pervaded both Daoism and Chinese

literature ever since.
TheWorld of ZHuang ZHou
Zhuangzi rejects any entity or essence beyond natural life. For him, everything exists the way

it is just because it is, in perfect spontaneity or naturalness (
ziran
).There is no principle or
agency at the origin of life.There is only the underlying current, the continuous and all-en-

that means yin and yang are beings, too.What, then, was before them? I may

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 Foundations
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At Ease in Perfect Happiness
how can it be before anything else? So, what existed before there were beings?
There must always be another being thing without end.Thus I understand that

beings are what they are by nature; they are not caused by anything else.
There is thus no ultimate cause to make things what they are.The universe exists by itself and

of itself; it is existence just as it is. Nothing can be added to or subtracted from it; it is entirely

Like all other entities, they arise and pass away, always in motion and constantly changing.

two, called inner nature and destiny (
xingming
), make people be who they are in life.They are
inescapable just as the natural characteristic of change is in everything that is.Through them,

Daodeterminestheparticularwayofbeingoftheentirecosmosasmuchasofeachindividual.
The ideal way of being in the world, then, is to live as fully as possible in accordance with this
personal Dao, the inner quality that determines the way people are.There is no point in try-

ing to be something else. Nobody can ever comprehend what life is like for beings of a totally

different size and dimension.The frog in the well has no concept of what it is like to live in

an ocean.The little sparrow will never know what it is like to soar as a mighty eagle.Thus,

freedom and ease in life do not come from wishing to attain one single goal that is the same

realizing who one is and where one stands in the world and doing what one does best to the

fullest of one™s ability.
MakingAllThings Equal
The problem with all this is that, despite their inborn Dao qualities, people develop conscious-

ness and try to place themselves in relation to others and the world.They create ideals that do

not match their inborn character or social standing, thus developing strife and fostering dissat-

isfaction.A good deal of Zhuangzi™s presentation accordingly focuses on how to overcome this

consciously imposed limitation and return to perfect happiness.
One way he suggests is to work with the conscious mind, to use critical awareness and analy-
sis to realize just to what degree our perception is unreliable, how our evaluation of life and

death, good and bad, desirable and undesirable depend on mental dualism and the faculty of

divisive discrimination. It means realizing our tendency to split identity into many different

ﬁIﬂs by comparing ourselves with others and by making deliberate choices.There is an ﬁIﬂ that

is richer than the next man, another ﬁIﬂ that is not as smart as someone else.There is an ﬁIﬂ

that thinks it will live on and on, and there is yet another ﬁIﬂ that knows perfectly well it will

die.There is a division into this and that, into past and future, into mine and other.All these

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 Foundations
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At Ease in Perfect Happiness
-
neity and happiness.
Overcoming this inherent tendency of the mind is called ﬁmaking all things equal.ﬂ It means
achieving an open perception though conscious questioning. How do we know that we know?

How do we come to perceive that reality is what we think it is?What evidence is there that

waking and dreaming are not the same thing? How do we know that life is not a great pain and

death a wonderful rest?What, really, is this ﬁI?ﬂThere are many stories illustrating this fea-

Dream:

-

tering around, content with himself and doing what he pleased. He didn™t know

he was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly he woke up.There he was, solid and clearly

Zhuang Zhou. But he did not know whether, in fact, he was Zhuang Zhou who

These are the different transformations of beings. (ch. 2)
There is, therefore, no way of really knowing for sure who we are, where we come from, and

where we are going. It is best to remain fully in the present with immediate attention and de-

Mind Fasting and Oblivion
Beyond the conscious examination and elimination of categories, Zhuangzi proposes several

other methods to achieve perfect happiness. One is a practice called ﬁfasting of the mind;ﬂ it

activates
qi

sensory perception.To do so:
Firmly concentrate your will, and you will no longer hear with your ears. In-

stead, use your mind to perceive sound.Then go beyond this and use your
qi

for hearing. Plain, ordinary hearing stops with the ears, the mind stops with rep-

resentations, but
qi
 is utterly empty and matches all things. In pure emptiness of
qi
, Dao can assemble.The attainment of this state of open emptiness is ﬁfasting

of the mind.ﬂ (ch. 4)

This indicates a state of complete forgetfulness of self and other, high and low, life and

-
ward the ideal mind. Zhuangzi says:

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 Foundations
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At Ease in Perfect Happiness
Practice concentration for three days,
and you can put the world out of your

mind.Then go on for seven days,

and you abandon all things. Once all

things are gone from your perception,

keep on practicing.After nine more

days you can put all life out of your

mind. Once you have reached this,

you attain a level of clarity like the

early morning sun.
After that, you move on to see your
singularity in the cosmos. Once you

get there, you can reach a state of nei-

ther past nor present. Eventually you

transcend even this and attain utmost

freedom by going beyond life and

death. Now the end of life is no longer

death for you; the beginning of life is

no longer life. (ch. 6)
The Ideal Life
The ideal life for Zhuangzi is a way of being in the world that transcends mental categories,

emotional involvement, and bodily concerns. Developing a welcoming attitude toward all

transformations and resting in the process of Heaven, the ideal person, the perfected or real-

ized one (
zhenren
), is free from feelings and at one with Dao, completely spontaneous and at
ease with all that happens, living with a sense of strong immediacy that precludes thinking,

evaluating, and critical mentation.As the text says:
The perfected of old did not know how to delight in life, nor did they know

how to loathe death.They came to be without pleasure and went back to nonbe-

ing [death] without refusal.They came in an instant, went in an instant, and that

was all.They never forgot where they began; they never pursued where they

would end up.They received life and enjoyed it. But then they forgot about it

and returned it [to nonbeing] when the time came. . ..

-

Fig. 2.1 Sitting in oblivion

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 Foundations
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At Ease in Perfect Happiness
Heaven.When they were not at-one, they acted as the companion of humanity.

6)
The ideal way of being in the world for Zhuangzi is, therefore, to be oblivious of conscious

distinctions and evaluations, free from all liking and disliking, hope and fear, and to join

Heaven and Earth in open-ended transformations
Superior Skills
One who has reached this state can truly perfect his inner nature and will exhibit superior

skills.The
Zhuangzi
 illustrates this in various cases of ordinary craftsmen who have mastered

more than just their trade. One example is Butcher Ding who cuts up oxen with the same knife

for years. He never has to sharpen it because he goes along with the natural structure of the

ox™s body (ch. 3).
Other examples include a boatman who runs a ferry across the gulf and a swimmer who in-
stinctively moves with the waves. Both have a knack for the right way to handle themselves

because they do not conceptualize their particular situations but act in the immediacy of life

(ch.19).Anotherswimmer,interviewedabouthisphenomenaldivingskillsbyConfucius,says

know anything about swimming but moves naturally in the water because this is his nature

(ch. 19)
Yet another skilled craftsman at one with Dao isWoodworker Qing.When he carves a bell
stand, he concentrates on it to the exclusion of all else. He calms his mind and empties it of all

outside considerations, fasting for several days. Eventually he reaches the point when:
I am so still I forget I have four limbs and a form and body. By that time, the

ruler and his court no longer exist for me. My skill is concentrated and all out-

side distractions fade away. (ch. 19)

begin to carve the bell stand.
The point of these stories is that Dao will work in all situations of life and raise them from
clumsy attempts at a good performance to the perfection of naturalness or spontaneity.

Naturalness is complete as and when the self is lost.The utter oblivion of the trance-like im-

-

life. Everyone, therefore, is originally and can again become a perfected.

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PoeticAdaptations
Soon after its compilation the
Zhuangzi
, in both language and vision, began to inspire ecstatic
poetry. In particular, it joined with shamanic songs of south China which, as documented in
the
Chuci

(Songs of Chu), detail the ecstatic travels of the shaman through various heavens to

complete dissolution in the center of the universe. Making use of both, Zhuangzi™s vision of

untrammeled freedom and the ecstatic journey of the shaman, the aristocrat, wine merchant,

B
.
C
.
E
.) created his
Daren fu
 (Rhapsody of the Great Man)
to eulogize EmperorWu in his aspirations to immortality.
His protagonist, like the seeker in the
Zhuangzi
, yearns for the transcendent reality of the spirit
and deplores the ordinary world of dust. Like the ancient shaman, he masters the world and
ecstatically soars into the GreatVoid.The poem begins:
In this world there is a Great Man, living in the middle continent.
His abode extends over ten thousand miles, yet is too small for a short sojourn.

Grieved at the world™s unpleasant state, he easily rises and soars away.

-
ward.
In full control over the universe and with a strong sense of majesty, the Great Man sets out
-
ant dragon steeds; he summons stars and deities for his entourage, commanding the powers

that be.Thus set up, he embarks on a triumphant circuit throughout the universe, sure of his

honored reception everywhere. Inspecting the entire world in all directions, he eventually pro-

ceeds upward, always having gods and spirits do as he bids.The River God dances for him

while celestial maidens play their zithers; other deities, who do not quite obey so readily, are

chastised and punished.
No place is too far or too exalted for him to reach; nothing stops him from taking what is his
by right. Eventually he reaches Kunlun and visits the ruler of immortals, the Queen Mother of

theWest.Turning toward the north, the direction of all origins, he samples the drug of immor-

tality.Then he enters the Dark Pass and goes through the Cold Gate. His senses work no more,

he vanishes from the world, spiraling upward into the cosmic emptiness beyond all.
Thepoetheretranslatesthe
Zhuangzi
visionofovercomingego-basedlimitationsintoamajes -
tic journey through Heaven and Earth that culminates in the complete loss of personal identity
as part of the cosmic void.The Great Man is the perfected of old as well as the ruler; he is also

the shaman on his ecstatic journey into the realm beyond. He is a vivid representation of how

ultimate freedom can and should feel.

44
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 Foundations
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At Ease in Perfect Happiness
Freedom and Escape
A later adaptation of this theme appears in
Ruan Ji™s
  (210-263
C
.
E
.)
Daren xiansheng zhuan

(Biography of Master Great Man), which imitates the earlier poem yet also develops the ideal.
One of a group of eccentric outsiders known as the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, Ruan

Ji privatizes the Great Man: he is free within, not outwardly recognizable as the emperor. No

one knows where he lives; ornaments and beauty come naturally to him; he is utterly free in

his heart.
Ruan Ji™s escapist attitude was typical of the politically unstable and insecure time of the third
century
C
.
E
. His friends and fellow poets induced ecstatic experiences through music, wine,
and drugs, especially the notorious Cold Food Powder which created psychedelic states and

made the body feel very hot, causing people to take off their clothes and jump into pools.

When back in their ordinary selves, they wrote poetry of freedom and escape, applying the

Zhuangzi
 concept of free and easy wandering in the sense of getting away from it all and con-

tinuing the text™s tradition in their desperate search for a better world within.Thus Ruan Ji

says:
Heat and cold don™t harm me; nothing stirs me up.
Sadness and worry have no hold on me.

Pure
qi

Leap into Heaven, pass through all with no restraint.

My delights and happiness are not of this world.
Ruan Ji™s version of the Great Man™s journey is an outburst of his desperate and never-ending
yearning for the true world of ﬁloneliness and vastness,ﬂ for complete freedom from all mun-

dane involvement by soaring up and away. He yearns for otherworldly heavens as much as for

peace of mind and a quiet life on Earth. No longer a circuit, the journey in his vision has be-

come linear; it leads away and only away. Strange sights and creatures on the way are merely

appreciated in relation to the protagonist™s happiness and thus in terms of the distance already

placed between him and his sufferings. Neither perfected, sage, or ruler, the Great Man is a

creature entirely of the beyond.

45
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At Ease in Perfect Happiness
TheVirtue ofWine
Another poet who yearned to leave all behind was
Liu Ling
 (d. 265
C
.
E
.
), famous for walking
around naked in his house.When visitors confronted him with this odd behavior, he suppos-
edly said: ﬁI take Heaven and Earth for my pillars and roof, and the rooms of my house for

my pants and coat.And now, what are you gentlemen doing in my pants?ﬂ His other call to

fame is his
Jiude song
 or ﬁOde to theVirtue ofWine,ﬂ drinking being his major vehicle for the

Great Man™s attainment of higher spheres.
This too picks up on the
Zhuangzi
,

which says that when a drunken man falls from a carriage,
he will do himself no harm. Immersed in utter forgetfulness, he did not know he was riding,
he does not know he has fallen: unworried and serene, he can stay whole where others would

suffer grievous harm (ch. 19). But while the
Zhuangzi
 uses drunkenness as a metaphor for the
perfection of forgetfulness, Liu Ling takes it literally. His ideal, hedonistically inspired, is the

own way found ease in perfect happiness. His poem says:
Fig. 2.2  Floating above the clouds

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 Foundations
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At Ease in Perfect Happiness
He takes Heaven and Earth as a single morning,

A thousand years as one short moment.

The sun and the moon are windows for him,

The EightWilds are his garden.

He travels without wheels or tracks,

Sojourns without house or hEarth.

He makes Heaven his curtain and Earth his seat,

Indulges in what he pleases.

Stopping, he grasps his wine-cup and maintains his goblet;

Moving, he carries a casket and holds a jar in his hand.

His only obligation is toward wine,

And of this he knows abundance. (
Wenxuan
 47)
The Zen Connection
Zhuangzi
is also a major forerunner of Chinese
Chan
 (Zen) Buddhism. Developed in the sixth
century as a movement against the formal hierarchies, ritual preoccupations, and increasing

social obligations of monastic institutions, Chan represents a way to recover purity of mind

and meditative attainments in the direct following of the Buddha. Highly iconoclastic, Chan

rejects celestial saviors and buddhas and denies the value of scriptures. Instead, it promotes

direct experience, intense personal contact with a meditation master, and hard manual labor as

training for enlightenment.
It joins the
Zhuangzi
 in emphasizing that there is nothing beyond the world as we know it; that
the Dao (or Buddha-nature) is in everything that exists (even excrement); that all practice has
to be in the present only; and that there is nothing to venerate, especially not the saints and

sages of old. Just as the
Zhuangzi
 calls the works of past masters the more ﬁchaff and dregs of

oldﬂ (ch. 13), so Chan master Linji (d. 866), the founder of Rinzai Zen, says:
What you are seeking in the realms of changing dependence?TheThreeVehi-

cles andTwelve Divisions of the teaching all are just so much old paper to mop

up messes.The Buddha is an illusion; the patriarchs are old monks. (
Record of
Lin Chi
, 10)

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At Ease in Perfect Happiness
Another common point is the emphasis in Chan on the perfect ﬁhuman,ﬂ the true individual
and realized being who is just himself, without standing, position, and rank, an ideal that

closely matches the
Zhuangzi
Man.Also, like Zhuangzi, Chan masters tend to actively dislike philosophical abstracts and

keep pulling people into the bodily here and now, using frequent shouts and hits to shake them

out of preconceptions.This, of course, is to get them into a state of immediacy and away from

Thus the
Xixin ming
 (On Resting the Mind), a seventh-century Chan document, says:

-
ment; it is much better to rest the will.A head full of worries means many fail-

ures; how much better just to guard the One? (
Transmission of the Lamp
, 30)
The Chan version of this guarding of the personal Dao within, then, continues the thought

of Zhuangzi yet also develops it. It places it in a monastic setting and structures it with regu-

Buddhist context of emptiness and the perfection of wisdom; it transforms Daoist thought

through its understanding of body and mind as conditioned over many lifetimes through the

law of karma and retribution.While Chan, therefore, will never be anything but Buddhist, it

yet owes a great deal to the philosophy and vision of Zhuangzi and can be counted among the

most important heirs of the ancient Daoist text.
Key points you need to know
The text Zhuangzi consists of thirty-three prose chapters that also contain materials from
other early Daoist strands: primitivist (back to the stone age), hedonist (what is good for me

The philosophy of Zhuangzi himself focuses on perfect happiness or free and easy wander-
ing, the state of utmost spontaneity that is reached when one fully realizes one™s inner nature
and destiny as given by Dao and stops trying to evaluate and judge things or strive for un-

suitable situations beyond one™s reach.
To achieve this mental state, one should detach from society and practice making all things
equal, fasting the mind, and sitting in oblivion.

The end result will be a life as the perfected, unhindered by concepts and completely at ease
in the world, plus exceedingly skillful at all tasks and inviolate to natural harm and hurt.

48
Part I:
 Foundations
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|

At Ease in Perfect Happiness
travels to the otherworld and dissolves into the cosmic emptiness of Great Nonbeing.
It also served as a model for the worldview of Chan Buddhism, which combined it with mo-
nastic meditation practice and placed it into the context of the perfection of wisdom and the
law of karma and retribution.
Discussion questions
 Is Zhuangzi™s vision of a perfect life in a perfect state of mind and complete harmony with
1.

the world too good to be true? Or could it have relevance for us today?
Is Zhuangzi™s thought a form of mysticism? Is ﬁfree and easy wanderingﬂ a kind of mystical
2.

union? If so, how?

Do poets and Chan Buddhists betray Zhuangzi by using his ideas and metaphors in their
3.

own context? Or is the adaptation of ancient thought a legitimate thing to do?
Further reading
Allinson, Robert E. 1990.
Chuang-Tzu for Spiritual Transformation
.Albany: State University
of NewYork Press.
Graham,A. C. 1982.
Chuang-tzu: Textual Notes to a Partial Translation
. London: University
of London.
Holzman, Donald. 1976.
Poetry and Politics: The Life and Works of Juan Chi (210-263)
.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Knaul, Livia. 1985. ﬁTheWinged Life: Kuo Hsiang™s Mystical Philosophy.ﬂ
Journal of
Chinese Studies
 2.1: 17-41.
Knaul, Livia. 1986. ﬁChuang-tzu and the ChineseAncestry of Ch™an Buddhism.ﬂ
Journal of
Chinese Philosophy
13.3: 411-28.
Mair,Victor H., ed. 1983.
Experimental Essays on Chuang-tzu
. Honolulu: University of
Hawaii Press.
Mair,Victor H. 1994.
Chuang Tzu
. NewYork: Bantam.

Mair,Victor. 2000. ﬁThe
Zhuangzi
 and Its Impact.ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
, edited by Livia
Kohn, 30-52. Leiden: E. Brill.

49
Part I:
 Foundations
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|

At Ease in Perfect Happiness
Watson, Burton. 1968.
The Complete Works of Chuang-tzu
. NewYork: Columbia University
Press.
Wu, Kuang-ming. 1990.

of the Chuang-tzu
. NewYork: Crossroads Publications.

From Health
to Immortality
In this chapter
Cultivating the body is a key aspect of Daoist practice.The body is understood to consist of
qi
 or cosmic vital energy, the material aspect of Dao. Everyone gets a certain type and amount

of
qi
 at birth and uses it during life. By cultivating and enhancing
qi

but live longer and open oneself to the pervasion of Dao.An important practice is guiding the

qi

B
.
C
.
E
.,
then formulated in more detail in the ﬁInwardTrainingﬂ chapter of the
Guanzi

-
lines of breathing and physical exercises, medical at this stage but later integrated into Daoist

practice, stem from the early Han dynasty.At this time, these methods were also used for the

attainment of transcendence and acquisition of magical powers, notably by the so-called magi-

cal practitioners and immortals, important forerunners of Daoist saints and masters.
Main topics covered
Body Energetics
Qi Cultivation
Healing Exercises
Magical Practitioners and Immortals
3

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From Heal th to Immortal i ty
Body Energetics
T
he cultivation and transformation of the body feature centrally in Daoism in all
its different schools.The body is Dao in its concrete, manifest, and individual

form, made up of
qi
, the cosmic energy that pervades all.The concrete aspect of
Dao,
qi
is the material force of the universe, the basic stuff of nature. In ancient

sources it is associated with mist, fog, and moving clouds.The character appears
in Shang oracle bones as consisting of two parts: an image of someone eating and grain in a

pot. Combined, these parts signal an energetic quality that nourishes, warms, transforms, and

rises.
Qi
, therefore, is contained in the foods we eat and the air we breathe. But more subtly it

is also the life force in the human body and as such forms the basis of all physical vitality.
By extension,
qi
 also denotes anything perceptible but intangible: atmosphere, smoke, aroma,
vapor, a sense of intuition, foreboding, or even ghosts.There is only one
qi
, just as there is

only one Dao. But it, too, appears on different levels of subtlety and in different modes.At the

center, there is primordial,

prenatal, true, or perfect
qi
; at the periphery, there is postnatal or
earthly
qi

Qi
is the basic material of all that exists.Already the
Zhuangzi
says: ﬁHuman life is the ac-
cumulation of
qi
; death is its dispersal.ﬂ It animates life and furnishes the functional power of
events; its quality and movement determine human health. Everyone receives a basic amount
of
qi
 from nature and needs to sustain it throughout life.To do so, people draw postnatal
qi
into the body from air and food, as well as from other people through sexual, emotional, and

social interaction. But they also lose
qi
 through breathing bad air, overburdening their bodies
with food and drink, getting involved in negative emotions, or engaging in excessive sexual or

social interactions.
Forms of Flow
If kept in good shape,
qi
 is in a state of proper or upright
qi
(
zhengqi

creates harmony in the body and a balanced state of being in the person.This personal health

disasters. It is also present as health in society in the peaceful coexistence among families,

clans, villages, and states.This harmony on all levels, the cosmic presence of a steady and

qi
,iswhattheChinesecallthestateofGreatPeace(
taiping
),astatevenerated
by Confucians and Daoists alike.
The opposite of this balanced state is wayward
qi
(
xieqi
), also called deviant, pathogenic, het-
eropathic, or even evil
qi
.This is
qi
supports the dynamic forces of change.Whereas upright
qi
 moves in a steady, harmonious

52
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 Foundations
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From Heal th to Immortal i ty
rhythm and effects daily renewal, helping health and long life, wayward
qi
is disorderly and
dysfunctional, creating change that violates the normal order.When it becomes dominant, the
qi

part of a universal system and is not in tune with the basic life force around him or her.
Wayward
qi
 appears when
qi
 begins to move either too fast or too slow, is excessive or deplet-

as too much heat or cold or internal irregularities such as strong emotions or over stimulation.

due to nervousness or anxiety or when its
volume and density have decreased due to serious prolonged illness. However, most common-

ly it means that the
qi

is less concentration in one or the other body part. In the same vein, perfection of
qi
 means its
optimal functioning in the body, while control of
qi
 means the power to guide the energetic
process to one or the other part.
Qi Cultivation
A great deal of Daoist practice accordingly aims at controlling and guiding
qi
 in the body.The
earliest known reference to such practice is an inscription on a dodecagonal jade block of the

Zhou dynasty that dates from the mid-fourth century
B
.
C
.
E
.
The original function of the block
qi
-practice. It
reads:
To guide the
qi
, allow it to enter deeply [by inhaling] and collect it [in the
mouth].As it collects, it will expand. Once expanded, it will sink down.When

it sinks down, it comes to rest.After it has come to rest, it becomes stable.
When the
qi
 is stable, it begins to sprout. From sprouting, it begins to grow.As
it grows, it can be pulled back upwards.When it is pulled upwards, it reaches
the crown of the head.
It then touches above at the crown of the head and below at the base of the
spine.Who practices like this will attain long life.Who goes against this will

die.
The practice described here has played an important role in healing and Daoist exercises since

the middle ages. People inhale deeply and allow the breath to enter both the chest and the

mouth.There they mix it with saliva, another potent form of
qi
 in the body. Moving the tongue
around their mouth, they gather the saliva and gain a sense of fullness, then swallow it, allow-

ing the
qi
 to sink down.They feel it moving deep into their abdomen, where they let it settle

53
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 Foundations
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From Heal th to Immortal i ty
in the central area of gravity, known in Chinese medicine as the Ocean of
Qi
 and in Daoism as
dantian
).There the
qi
 rests and becomes stable.
As adepts repeat this practice, the
qi
accumulates and becomes stronger. Eventually it does
not remain in the lower abdomen but begins to spread through the body or, as the text says, it

the spine, both in close coordination with deep breathing. Not only like the modern qigong

and internal alchemical practice of the microcosmic orbit, this is also the pattern of circula-

tion recommended in several medical manuscripts unEarthed from Mawangdui (where also

Daode jing
 was found) and dated to before 168
B
.
C
.
E
. One of
these, moreover, describes a related practice called the Buttock Pull, a tightening of the pelvic

muscles and the perineum:
Rise at dawn, sit upright, straighten the spine, and open the buttocks. Suck in

the anus and press it down.This is cultivating
qi
.When eating and drinking,
to relax the buttocks, straighten the spine, suck in the anus, and let the
qi
 pass

Tianxia
7)
Moving all the way up the back, the
qi
eventually reaches the top of the head.When the entire

With this line open, long life can be attained and one can reach for transcendence.
InwardTraining
Also dating from the fourth century, and possibly even earlier than the
Daode jing
 in its for-
mulation of body cultivation and self-realization, is the
Neiye

(InwardTraining). It forms a
chapter of the
Guanzi
(Works of Master Guan), a Han-dynasty collection that contains a large
variety of materials, some even considered Legalist.The
Neiye
 chapter has 1,622 characters,
i.e., is about one third as long as the
Daode jing
. Like the latter, it is written in a style of semi-
verse and echoes its description of Dao and the ideal state of a return to purity and simplicity.

Unlike the
Daode jing
, however, it also provides practice instructions and gives a detailed ac-
count on how to work with
qi

The text begins by noting how vital essence (
jing
), a concentrated from of
qi
, is essential to all
vast and lofty, it is like Dao and cannot be halted by force or controlled by rational thinking
and speech. However, and this is the key point of the text and a fundamental Daoist notion, it

can be secured by virtue or inner power (
de
) and brought into the self with the help of aware-
ness or intention (
yi
), the gentle conscious force that guides the
qi
 through the body.

54
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 Foundations
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From Heal th to Immortal i ty
As adepts, moreover, bring the
qi
the complete balance of upright
qi
 in body and mind.They reach a level of simplicity that al-

and repose beyond the emotions of joy and anger, sadness, fear, and worry.They walk through

life in harmony with all, untouched by danger and harm, their bodies unimpaired.At peace in

themselves and in alignment with the world, they reach a level of physical health that keeps

sense of cosmic freedom that allows them to ﬁhold up the Great Circle [of the heavens] and

Adepts as described in ﬁInwardTrainingﬂ are like the perfected of the
Zhuangzi
 in their calm
repose and cosmic dimension; they are like the sage of the
Daode jing
in their deep, nonacting

the early philosophers, they bring about social change:
With a well-ordered mind within you,
Well-ordered words issue forth from your mouth,

And well-ordered tasks are imposed upon others.

Then all under Heaven will be well ordered. (
Neiye
 10)
Unlike the other early texts, though, ﬁInwardTrainingﬂ provides a practice outline that is

is best to stop eating before one is full, to limit fasting and abstention, to refrain from indulg-

ing in leisure, and to let go of planning and worry. Next, adepts should ﬁalign the four limbs,ﬂ

which means they take up a stable sitting posture with the spine straight. Once seated com-

fortably, they begin by breathing deeply and consciously, regulating the breath and practicing

single-minded focus for the attainment of a tranquil mind, also described as the ﬁcultivated,ﬂ

ﬁstable,ﬂ ﬁexcellentﬂ, or ﬁwell-orderedﬂ mind.This well-ordered mind, in turn, allows
qi
 to

and reach longevity.
Healing Exercises
The same fundamental vision is further detailed and linked to physical exercises in several

questions, such as the diagnosis of disorders and the use of moxibustion on points of the ma-

jor meridians. Five texts among them, one included in two editions, clearly represent an early

55
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 Foundations
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From Heal th to Immortal i ty
stage of the meridian and diagnostic system as it became dominant later and was standardized
in medical classics.Three contain herbal and magical recipes; one specializes in childbirth.
Body cultivation is the subject of six texts.Two deal almost solely with sexual hygiene, dis-
cussing the best times and frequency of sexual intercourse as well as herbal remedies for im-

potence and weakness.Two others touch on sexual techniques but for the most part provide

information on how to improve health through breathing techniques, dietetics, and drugs.The

last two echo earlier materials in that they focus on breathing and exercises.The
Quegu shiqi

(Eliminating Grains and Eating
Qi
) covers ways of fasting by means of breathing exercises.
The text repeatedly contrasts ﬁthose who eat
qi
ﬂ with ﬁthose who eat grainﬂ and explains this
in cosmological terms.The
Daoyin tu

to enhance
qi

daoyin
, lit. ﬁguide [the
qi
] and stretch [the
body].ﬂ Beyond that, moreover, there is also the
Yinshu
 (Stretch Book), excavated from a sepa-
rate tomb, which provides the most detailed outline of early body practices yet.
The Exercise Chart
The
Daoyin tu

was discovered partly soaked in water and

already broken into fragments.After careful examination, ar-

chaeologists restored it to its original size of 53 cm high and

110 cm wide (1 ft. 9 in. by 3 ft. 8 in.). It contains drawings of

originally accompanied by captions naming or explaining the

moves, but these have been lost for the most part, just as the

text itself was untitled in the original and received its name

from modern scholars.
A key representation of early body cultivation, the chart

bare-chested, in different postures and from a variety of an-

-
en are present.The majority are fully dressed in knee-length

kimono-style robes over bulging pants and pointy shoes, some

with belts, some without, but a few also wear a mere hip-wrap

or loin-cloth.The garments closely resemble the dress shown

-
like the uniforms of the famous terracotta soldiers.The same

holds true for their hairstyle. Most have their hair either tied

up in various kinds of knots or wear a cap, again representing

Han standard.
Fig. 3.1  Qi
channels in the body

56
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 Foundations
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From Heal th to Immortal i ty
Figures

ﬁto alleviate ham pain.ﬂ another is kneeling ﬁto relieve knee discomfort.ﬂTwo others are in

the neck,ﬂ the other ﬁto enhance
qi

showing various forms of mild exercise. None seem to be engaged in vigorous movements,

wide stances, or athletic poses.
Daoyin tu

shows an integrated sequence. It is much more likely that the chart presents different modes of

deafness, fevers, blockages, internal heat, warm ailments, and muscle tension.
Captions
In addition, a number of surviving captions make it clear that aside from manipulating
qi

through movement, breathing was a key aspect of healing exercises.As a related manuscript,

the
Shiwen
(Ten Questions), notes: ﬁBreathing must be deep and long, so that pure
qi
 is eas-
ily heldﬂ and stale
qi
 can be thoroughly cleansed. ﬁStale
qi
 is that of old age; pure
qi
is that
of longevity. He who is skilled at cultivating
qi
 lets the stale
qi
 disperse at night and the new,
pure
qi

body.ﬂ Having gained
qi
through breathing deeply, at the right times, and in the right man-

-
gions, and guide it purposely to relieve ailments and open energetic blockages.They also used

it to stimulate or calm the body, depending on the need. For example, before going to sleep,

one might practice ﬁdusk breathing by breathing deeply, long and slow, causing the ears to not

hear; thus becoming tranquil, go to bed.ﬂ
Physical exercises as based on the medical tradition were thus intimately connected with the
more spiritual endeavors of body cultivators. Integrating both into their daily life, adepts could

hope to achieve the ideal mental balance of the ancient masters and maintain health and vigor

that has remained a dominant feature of Daoism.

57
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 Foundations
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From Heal th to Immortal i ty
The
Stretch Book
Further details on the practice of healing
exercises appears in a manuscript found at

Zhangjiashan, also in Hunan, in a tomb that

was closed in 186
B
.
C
.
E
.
The text, entitled
Yinshu
, divides into three parts: a general

introduction on seasonal health regimens; a

series of about a hundred exercises, divided

into three sections; and a conclusion on the

etiology of disease and ways of prevention.
-
cusses hygiene, diet, sleep, and movement as
well as adequate times for sexual intercourse.

It is ascribed to Pengzu, a famous immortal of

antiquity, said to have lived over 800 years. It

says, for instance:
Spring days.After rising in the morning, pass water, wash and rinse, clean and

click the teeth. Loosen the hair, stroll to the lower end of the hall to meet the

purest of dew and receive the essence of Heaven, and drink one cup of water.

These are the means to increase accord. Enter the chamber [for sex] between

evening until greater midnight [1 a.m.]. More would harm the
qi
.
Following a general outline of daily routines, the middle part of the
Yinshu
 provides concrete

turn the head to look at your heels.
ﬁDragon Flourishﬂ is: step one leg forward with bent knee while stretching the
Medical Use
After presenting forty exercises of this type, the text focuses on their medical uses. It often

repeats instructions outlined earlier and in some cases prescribes a combination of them. For

example, the lunge called ﬁDragon Flourishﬂ is good for relieving tense muscles.Another kind

of lunge helps with
qi
-disruptions in the muscles and intestines: move the left foot forward and
the right leg back, then twist by bending the right arm at the elbow and looking back over the

left shoulder.After three repetitions on both sides, one is to maintain the lunge position while

raising one arm at a time and then both arms up as far as one can (each three times), bending
Fig. 3.2
The
 Exercise Chart

58
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 Foundations
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From Heal th to Immortal i ty
the back and opening the torso.The idea seems to be that by stretching arms and legs one can
open blockages in the extremities while the twisting of the abdominal area aids the intestines.
In addition, the
Yinshu
, like the
Daoyin tu
, also presents various breathing techniques, notably
exhalations with
chui
(closed mouth, vigorous),
xu
(open mouth, gentle), and
hu
(round lips,
blowing) to strengthen the body and to harmonize
qi

Daoyin tu
, on the
other hand, it outlines exercises in various positions, such as seated, kneeling, or lying down.
For example, to alleviate lower back pain, one should lie on one™s back and rock the pain-

Social Context
Following this detailed outline of concrete exercises, the
Yinshu
summarizes them in a list of
twenty-four brief mnemonic statements.After this, in its third part, it places the practice into

a larger social and cultural context. It notes that the most important factors in causing diseases

are climatic excesses:
People get sick because of heat, dampness, wind, cold, rain, or dew as well

as because of [a dysfunction] in opening and closing the pores, a disharmony

in eating and drinking, and the inability to adapt their rising and resting to the

changes in cold and heat.
This harks back to the seasonal regimen in the beginning of the text, restating the importance

of climatic and temporal awareness.The proper way of treating the body, however, as the text

points out next, is accessible mainly to ﬁnoble peopleﬂ of the upper classes, who fall ill be-

cause of uncontrolled emotions such as anger and joy (which overload yin and yang
qi
). ﬁBase
people,ﬂ whose conditions tend to be caused by excessive labor, hunger, and thirst, on the

contrary, have no opportunity to learn the necessary breathing exercises and therefore contract

numerous diseases and die early.
This, as much as the fact that the manuscripts were found in the tombs of local rulers, makes
it clear that healing exercises and spiritual endeavors in ancient China were the domain of the

aristocracy.They provide a means to alleviate physical discomforts, extend natural longevity,

harmonious integrated society and the state of Great Peace.Yet at the same time, the very ex-

istence of the texts with their detailed instructions shows that the practices were public knowl-

esoteric and hidden away among hermits, some Daoist predecessors thus engaged in spiritual

undertakings while yet maintaining close ties to society and acute political awareness.

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Magical Practitioners and Immortals
Beyond these socially active and health conscious aristocrats, however, there was also a seg-
ment of the Han population that endeavored to go far beyond healing, wholeness, and long

life. Magical practitioners (
fangshi
) and immortals (
xian
) prided themselves on having reached
a state beyond the limitations of this world. Not unlike the Great Man, they pursued transcen-

dence and ascent to the divine realm at the origins of the universe.To attain this, they lived

in separation from society, engaged in techniques of physical and spiritual control, had their

minds set on interaction with the spirit world, and acquired magical powers as they advanced

in training.
control, healing exercises, sexual hygiene, absorption of solar energies, and meditations. Like

hermits in other parts of the world, Han seekers undertook these practices with great serious-

ness.They lived in the wilderness, dressed in garments of leaves or deer skins, fasted by living

on pure
qi
or ate raw food they found in the woods. Symbolically associated with birds in the

and could exert control over natural phenomena and divine agents. Close to nature, they also

attained extended longevity and continuous vigor and were believed to reach one of several

paradises known as Penglai (in the eastern sea) and Kunlun (in the western mountains), imag-

ined as luscious mountains surrounded by extensive bodies of water.
Magical practitioners and immortals were both important forerunners of Daoist masters and

as hermits, engaging in body cultivation and
qi

-control, pursuing spiritual endeavors, and at-
Social Relevance
Magical practitioners tended to return to society where they used their magical powers in the

service of others to exert control over natural phenomena and divine agents.They predicted

fortunes and performed astrological divinations, analyzed weather patterns and made rain,

healed diseases and exorcised demons, communicated with the dead and conjured up spirits,

advised on military strategy and provided magical weaponry.The also worked on the concoc-

tion of alchemical elixirs, often on the basis of precious metals and cinnabar, that would trans-

form people instantaneously into immortals.
Immortals, on the contrary, followed in the footsteps of Zhuangzi™s perfected and, once with-
drawn from society, completely dedicated themselves to the otherworld.At home both in the

-
ously and made the best of all they met, exhibiting a happy attitude and playful way of being.

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superhuman. Calm and uninvolved, they could take action in just the right way, performing the

most outstanding feats with ease and no particular effort, yet ultimately remained detached and

separate from the human world.
Ways ofAttainment
The way to reaching immortality and attaining magical powers is an extension of physical and

spiritual practices described earlier. It works along the same lines because in Chinese thought

healing, long life, and immortality form three stages along the same continuum of the
qi
-
household of the human body.
This
qi
-household in ordinary people is upset as they interact with the world on the basis of
passions and desires, sensory exchanges, and intellectual distinctions. Soon they lose their

primordial
qi
, begin to get sick and move toward death. Healing, then, is the stabilization of
qi
 with medical means such as drugs, herbs, acupuncture, rest, and so on, moving it from a

level of severe imbalance to a more harmonious state. Long life and
qi
-cultivation, next, come
in as and when people have become aware of their situation and decide to heal themselves.

Attaining a basic state of good health and mental calmness, they increase their primordial
qi

greater sense of peace and oneness with Dao.
Immortality, third, raises the practices to a yet higher level.To attain it, people have to trans-
form all their
qi
 into primordial
qi
qi
 will eventually turn into pure spirit, with which practitioners increasingly identify

to become immortals or spirit-people.The practice that leads there involves intensive medita-

tion and trance training as well as more radical forms of diet, healing exercises, and the mental

guiding of
qi
. Immortality implies the overcoming of the natural tendencies of the body and

its transformation into a different kind of energetic constellation.The result is a bypassing

of death (the end of the body has no impact on the continuation of the spirit-person), the at-

tainment of magical powers, and a residence in the paradises of Penglai or Kunlun. It also

changes, and the ability to command gods and demons to do as one pleases.
Immortals™Tales

Liexian zhuan
 (Immortals™ Biographies).According to this, typical immortals have attained su-

perior youth and vigor as well as a close connection to the otherworld by transforming their
qi

through breath, nutrition, and sexual interaction.They live for centuries, if not millennia, and

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-
trolling the gods and natural phenomena as they please.
Redpine). He served as the Master of Rain in the government

of the mythical emperor Shennong (Divine Farmer), who

is credited with establishing agriculture and medicinal lore.

Eschewing all natural nourishment, he lived only on liquid

-
ing burnt and to move about freely with the wind and the rain.

Traveling to Kunlun at his leisure, he courted another mythi-

cal emperor ™s daughter, and together they moved off into the

immortal realm.
Another famous character is MasterAnqi who used to sell
drugs on the shore of the Eastern Sea and was believed to be

over a thousand years old.A magical practitioner of sorts,

he agreed to meet with the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty,
talking with him for three days and three nights and receiving enormous amounts of gold and

jewels. However, he was also a true immortal in that he did not hang on to these riches but left

them in the village together with a letter to the emperor. He said that he considered himself

been seen since.
Women Immortals
Maonü, the Hairy Lady, represents a different kind of immortal. She served as lady-in-waiting

hermit Guchun (Springvalley), who taught her how to live on pine needles.As a result of this

diet, she became immune from cold and hunger, and her body became so light that it seemed

down.A few days of eating a normal diet caused her to age and die.

received a sacred book in return. She unrolled the book and found that it described ways to

immortality through sexual practices.Without delay, she studied the materials and set up a

separate room for the practice. She invited young men to sample her delicious wine and spend

the night with her.As she practiced the techniques, she grew increasingly younger and more

vigorous.When her immortal instructor returned after thirty or so years, she followed him and

ascended to Heaven.
Fig. 3.3
The text of
the Stretch
Book

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From Heal th to Immortal i ty
The
Liexian zhuan
 contains over ninety such tales, some more likely than others, some placed
more in the distant past and among the courts of emperors, others connected to local legends

of the Han dynasty and relating tales of ordinary folk.All show how techniques of
qi
-manipu-

lation changed the person from ordinary existence to a life of magic and took them far off into

the immortal realms.The stories express the extreme dimension of Daoist body transforma-

tion, which reaches all the way from the fundamental attainment of good health through ex-

tended longevity and enhanced vigor to the realization of supernatural states and the transcen-

dence of immortals.
Key points you need to know
The body is the foundation of Daoist cultivation. It consists of qi, which is given by nature
The earliest documented form of qi cultivation is guiding it through the body in a combi-
nation of deep breathing and visualization. Described also in ﬁInwardTraining,ﬂ it allows
people to come closer to Dao and create harmony in and around themselves.
Healing exercises are the physical component of Daoist body cultivation. Not unlike Indian
yoga, they serve to heal diseases, enhance vitality, and create a sense of connection to Dao.

All these practices can also lead further to a state of ultimate transcendence, called immor-
tality. Immortals overcome natural patterns, live forever, move freely through Heaven and
Earth, and execute various magical feats.
They are similar to magical practitioners, but the latter use their skills in service for society
and may or may not eventually ascend to the paradises. Many immortals™ tales recount sto-
ries of their wondrous feats.
Discussion questions
How can we best understand
1.

qi
? How does it work: in the body, in nature, in human
interaction?
Are physical exercises, combined with breathing and mental awareness, helpful to human
2.

health?What other systems are there that may be similar to Chinese healing exercises?

Are there similar tales like those of the immortals in other cultures?What can immortals
3.

compare to?

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From Heal th to Immortal i ty
Further reading
DeWoskin, Kenneth J. 1983.
Doctors, Diviners, and Magicians ofAncient China
. NewYork:
Columbia University Press.
Engelhardt, Ute. 2000. ﬁLongevityTechniques and Chinese Medicine.ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
,
edited by Livia Kohn, 74-108. Leiden: E. Brill.
Harper, Donald. 1998.
Early Chinese Medical Manuscripts: The Mawangdui Medical
Manuscripts
. London:WellcomeAsian Medical Monographs.
Kohn, Livia. 2005.
Health and Long Life: The Chinese Way
. Cambridge, Mass.:Three Pines
Press.
Kohn, Livia. 2008.
Chinese Healing Exercises: The Tradition of Daoyin
. Honolulu: University
of Hawai™i Press.
Lo,Vivienne. 2000. ﬁCrossing the
Neiguan
, ﬁInner Passﬂ:A
Nei/Wai
 ﬁInner/Outerﬂ Distinction
in Early Chinese Medicine.ﬂ
EastAsian Science, Technology, and Medicine
 17: 15-65.
Lo,Vivienne. 2009.
HealingArts in Early China
. Leiden: E. Brill.
Loewe, Michael. 1979.
Ways to Paradise: The Chinese Quest for Immortality
. London:
GeorgeAllan and Unwin.
Roth, Harold D. 1999. OriginalTao: InwardTraining and the Foundations ofTaoist
Mysticism. NewYork: Columbia University Press.

Major Schools
of the Middle Ages
In this chapter
Under the auspices of Han cosmology and pantheon, with a backdrop of
Daode jing
and
Zhuangzi

-
sions of Great Peace, prophesies, and a variety of omens.They were theWay of Great Peace
and the Celestial Masters.While the former rose in rebellion and were destroyed in civil war,

the latter submitted to a local warlord and survived, then spread throughout China. Mingling

with local cults as well as with alchemical cultivation groups, they gave rise to various new

developments, most importantly the Highest Clarity revelations in the mid-fourth century, fol-

lowed by the school of NuminousTreasure in the 390s.

practice, the Celestial Masters underwent a revival in the north, becoming the central force of

at Louguan. In the sixth century, moreover, the various Daoist schools began to integrate in a

system known as theThree Caverns, which served as state religion under theTang.
Main topics covered
Celestial Masters
Highest Clarity
NuminousTreasure
TheTheocracy
TheThree Caverns
State Religion
5

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Major S chools of the Middle Ages
Celestial Masters
I
n response to a series of natural disasters and bad administration, various peasant re-
volts arose in the second century
C
.
E
.

-
spired by direct contact with the divine who claimed to have the perfect solution to the

a major break with the present and lasting for a millennium.Two of these revolution-

communities.
The
Celestial Masters

China who took up residence on Mount Heming in Sichuan.There, in 142, he had a vision of

Lord Lao who told him that the end of the world was at hand. He was to instruct the people

to repent and prepare themselves for the momentous changes by becoming morally pure so

they could serve as the ﬁseed peopleﬂ of the new age of Great Peace. Closing the ﬁCovenant of

Orthodox Unity,ﬂ the god appointed Zhang as his representative on Earth with the title ﬁceles-

tial masterﬂ and gave him healing powers as a sign of his empowerment. Zhang followed the

god™s orders and, in an era characterized by continuous disasters, gathered thousands of people

organized into tight units and controlled with a strict moral code and ritual schedule, creating a

semi-independent state on a religious and ritual basis.
Around the same time a similar organization sprang up in east China (Shandong). Founded by
the visionary Gan Ji, it was known as the
Way of Great Peace
 and in many ways followed the
same pattern as the Celestial Masters. However, while the latter hoped to see the transforma-

tion of the world by natural means, the leaders of Great Peace decided to help it along and, in

the next
jiazi
year (184,) rose in rebellion.They were called theYellowTurbans after the yel-
lowkerchiefstheyworetoshowtheirgoalofreplacingtheMandateoftheHanwiththeirgov-

ernment under the phase Earth.After decades of bloody civil war, they were defeated and their

organization ceased to exist.Their teachings remain in a fragmentary scripture, the
Taiping
jing
(Scripture of Great Peace).
Later Developments
Unlike the followers of theWay of Great Peace, the Celestial Masters saw themselves as

advisers to a potent worldly ruler rather than his replacement.As a result, they survived and

grew, under Zhang Daoling™s grandson Zhang Lu even merging with another local cult run by

a certain Zhang Xiu.The latter utilized a more stringent military-type organization and prac-

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Major S chools of the Middle Ages
of the Celestial Masters in general.As a result of this merger Zhang Lu controlled a large terri-

tory in southwest China, which he divided into twenty-four districts matching the twenty-four

solar periods of the year. He made amicable arrangements with the local governor and gave his

organization a strong inner structure and ritual system.
After about thirty years of consolidation, battles ensued surrounding the end of the Han dy-
nasty, and the warlord Cao Cao attacked the area. In 215, Zhang Lu submitted to Cao Cao, a

move criticized by followers on both sides as an act of submission and weakness. In the event,

Cao Cao became a powerful leader and decided not to tolerate a separate organization in his

territory. He forcefully moved large numbers of Celestial Masters followers to different parts

of the empire, where they spread their cult, transforming it gradually into a major organized

religion.
As such they are still present today.The current Celestial Master, the 65
th
 of his lineage, re-
sides inTaiwan, and Celestial Masters priests control a wide network of Daoist temples and

there as well, notably in the southeastern provinces that are closest toTaiwan. In addition, an

intact and functioning community of Celestial Masters Daoism is still found among theYao in

northernThailand, who adopted the religion in the twelfth century.
Highest Clarity
When the Celestial Masters were forced to emigrate from their home base in Sichuan, they

moved all over China, including also the southern region around the city of Nanjing. Here, in

a small village near Mount Mao, they mingled with shamanic local cults that focused on com-

from a Heaven known as Great Clarity (Taiqing).The result of this mixture, was a new set of

revelations, received in the 360s and named
Highest Clarity
 (Shangqing) after their Heaven of

The Revelations
The revelations began when two brothers of the aristocratic Xu family hired the mediumYang

Xi (b. 330) to establish contact with the younger Xu™s wifeTao Kedou, who had died in 362.

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Major S chools of the Middle Ages
She appeared and told them about her status in the otherworld, explained the overall organiza-

the Huayang Grotto on nearby Mount Mao, as well as some leaders of the Celestial Masters,

notably the former ritual master LadyWei Huacun (251Œ334).
Together they provided the medium with a detailed description of the organization and popula-
tion of the otherworld, and especially of the top Heaven of Highest Clarity.They also revealed

concoctions.And they instructed the seekers on how to transmit the texts and their methods,

while predicting a new golden age to come with the arising of Lord Goldtower, the Latter-Day

Saint.
The Xu brothers wrote down everythingYang Xi transmitted from the otherworld, however
disparate it may have seemed, and created a basic collection of sacred texts.They shared their

new revelations with their immediate neighbors and relatives.The elder Xu became a full-time

practitioner and vanished into the mountains in 348, never to be heard of again. His brother

continued the family affairs and passed the texts on to his son Xu Hui (b. 341), who in 370

also vanished into the mountains, where he allegedly lived for another sixty years. His son Xu

Huangmin (361Œ429) inherited the texts but did not take them quite as seriously, transmitting

them far and wide and thus allowing them to be scattered in different parts of China.There

they remained until they were collected again a century later by the Daoist master and alche-

mistTao Hongjing.
Canonization
Tao Hongjing
 (456Œ536) was a descendant ofTao Kedou™s native family and thus closely con-

nected with the original revelation circle.A learned scholar and devout seeker, he gained favor

with EmperorWu of the Liang dynasty, who saw in him the potential provider of an immor-

tality elixir.Tao established himself on Mount Mao and founded a center where practitioners

could cultivate immortality, whether alone and celibate or communal and married.There he

pursued alchemical and pharmacological studies, working on various elixirs and editing im-

portant manuals.
One day he came across an original Highest Clarity manuscript and was struck both by its
powerful language and its high spiritual vision. He also noted the unusual quality of the cal-

extensive quest to recover as many texts as possible. He eventually pieced together a close

reconstruction of the original canon and compiled a record of the revelations, contained in his

Zhen™gao
 (Declarations of the Perfected).Through his efforts the Highest Clarity scriptures

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Major S chools of the Middle Ages
became the center of a formal Daoist school, in due course honored as the highest form of
Daoism practiced in medieval China.
NuminousTreasure
Toward the end of the fourth century, when Xu Huangmin began to distribute the Highest

Clarity scriptures more widely and the original group started to lose its cohesion, yet another

Daoist community began to grow.This was the
NuminousTreasure
 (Lingbao) school, named

-
per that symbolized the key powers of the universe and could both create social harmony and

transfer people into the immortal realm.The new school began in the 390s with the inspiration

of Ge Chaofu, a practicing member of Highest Clarity, who was particularly concerned with

recovering the heritage of his own family, notably of the leading alchemist Ge Hong (283-343)

and the magical practitioner Ge Xuan (164Œ244).
To do so, he proposed an alternative worldview, one which adopted the ideas of multiple seg-
ments of Heaven, celestial administration, and an extensive host of divine beings from Highest

deities and practices and which placed a renewed emphasis on Celestial Masters ritual. He

documented this view in various seminal works, which integrated manuals of the magical

practitioners with Highest Clarity practices and new talismanic rituals.
Talisman Power
In one text, the
Lingbao wufuxu
 (Explanation
of the FiveTalismans of NuminousTreasure),

of Lingbao were not only powers of creation

but stood at the root of all enlightened gov-

ernment over the millennia, and especially

served the mythical rulerYu in the control of

the talismans and instead hid them in a sacred

mountain where they were found and illegiti-

mately acquired by King Helü ofWu around

the time of Confucius.The king was duly

punished and the talismans vanished again

until, so Ge Chaofu claims, they were offered

in legitimate revelation to his ancestor Ge
Fig. 5.1
 A talisman of NuminousTreasure

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Major S chools of the Middle Ages
Xuan who duly made them accessible and equipped them with proper explanations, protective
charms, and ritual prescriptions.
If treated correctly, the talismans would not only grant access to the otherworld and immor-
tality for oneself and one™s ancestors but also provide peace and harmony for family, village,

connected sacred mountains), as well as for any number of personal and political designs.A

separate set of talismans, moreover, linked with ancient magical practitioners and rediscovered

effort to create universal harmony.They formed the core of yet a separate school with a more

active political agenda, known as theThree Sovereigns (Sanhuang).
As regards the NuminousTreasure school itself, over time it developed communal rituals for
-
erworld.These rituals, known as purgations (
zhai
), in due course grew to be splendid, large-

scale affairs with music, wine, and drama, led by professional masters and geared to move

the cosmos in its roots. Not only were they extremely popular in the middle ages, making

foundation of all Daoist ritual in later schools and as still practiced today.
The Buddhist Impact
Another innovation of the NuminousTreasure school was its adaptation of Buddhism, which

C
.
E
.
but did not emerge as a strong religious

Kucha came to head a translation institute in the northern capital of Chang™an. Due to his ef-

and worldview, rules and rituals. Both metaphysical speculation and monastic discipline

improved vastly, leading to a great upsurge in Buddhist activity in the country and inspiring

Daoists to imitate the foreign religion.
NuminousTreasure masters integrated aspects of Buddhist cosmology, worldview, scriptures,
and practices, and created a vast new collection of Daoist texts in close imitation of Buddhist

kalpas
, the doctrine
of karma and retribution, visions of hell and torture chambers for the dead, sets of system-

religion that has made a strong impact on Chinese culture ever since.

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Major S chools of the Middle Ages
TheTheocracy
While all this was going on in south China, at the time divided into competing local states
and governed by successive dynasties, the north was under the rule of a CentralAsian people

known as theToba who had adopted the Chinese dynastic name ofWei.Alien to China, mili-

tary in skill, and not well versed in the administration of vast empires, they had to rely on

who remained loyal to the Chinese emperor, they looked to local religious organizations to run

major governmental involvement.
The leader of the theocracy was Kou Qianzhi (365-448). Born into a Celestial Masters family,
he was an ecstatic visionary who practiced assiduously and received several revelations from

Lord Lao between 415 and 423 that provided both personal and social guidelines. Receiving

especially a set of thirty-six rules for priestly ethics and communal ritual called the ﬁNew

Code,ﬂ he went to court to propose his vision of a new Daoist empire to the prime minister

Cui Hao who recommended him to theToba rulers.They appointed Kou as the head of a state-

sponsored Daoist administration which collected taxes, distributed welfare, held regular ritu-

als, and in general maintained social harmony.
Kou presided over a central headquarters in the capital, which housed 120 senior Daoists
in a monastery-like setting, and established Daoist institutions throughout the country.The

high point of his career was reached in 440 when the emperor accepted Daoist initiation and

changed his reign title to ﬁPerfect Lord of Great Peace.ﬂThe system fell into decline with

Kou™s death in 448 and ended in 451 with the execution of Cui Hao, who had become increas-

ingly megalomaniac, gravely insulting both the rulers and rivaling Buddhist factions.The

latter immediately took up the slack created by the Daoist failure and established an adminis-

trative system of so-called sangha-households through which they registered the people, col-

lected taxes, and took care of welfare
Louguan
Many of the Daoists displaced by the end of the theocracy, on the other hand, congregated in a

new institution established by a local master calledYinTong, who claimed to be a descendant

Daode jing
. He asserted that his homestead in the foothills
of the Zhongnan mountains (about 60 km southwest of the capital Chang™an, modern Xi™an)

was the actual place where the famous transmission had occurred. He called it Louguan, the

ﬁLookoutTower,ﬂ in deference toYin Xi™s alleged astronomical observations and opened it to

all practicing Daoists.

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of the Daoist religion and a great center for the collection and integration of the teachings. Its

residents, known as the Northern Celestial Masters or the Louguan lineage, brought forth a

number of important scriptures on precepts, rituals, ordination, and mystical attainments.They

also formulated Daoist philosophy in a new mode, in a work called
Xisheng jing
 (Scripture
ofWesternAscension) integrating the teachings of the
Daode jing
 with the advanced myth of
Lord Lao and the mystical stages they underwent in their practice. In the sixth century, they

played an important role in court politics. In the civil war at the end of the Sui dynasty in the

early seventh century, they actively supported the risingTang rulers, who honored the institu-

tion with a new name and richly endowed it.
TheThree Caverns
By the sixth century, then, the majority of leading Daoist schools were in place, supplemented

by a variety of local traditions and lesser lineages that similarly emerged through the personal

-

and the various southern states getting tired of ever changing and increasingly corrupt dynas-

a doctrinal network that could hold the various factions and forces together.Various emperors

accordingly staged major court debates among Buddhists, Daoists, and Confucians, hoping to

As part of this integration effort, Daoists began to think of their religion as one and made vari-
ous attempts at bringing the different schools into one system. Louguan masters hoped to de-

velop a structure centered on Lord Lao; Highest Clarity followers proposed a central pantheon

of thirty-nine deities.The system that eventually prevailed was known as theThree Caverns.

the NuminousTreasure and Celestial Master schools, the system followed the BuddhistThree

In Lu™s version, the NuminousTreasure school with its strong communal focus was placed

at the top, Highest Clarity with its personal otherworld experiences ranked second, and the

Three Sovereigns with their priestly emphasis on right government placed third.The Celestial

Masters were placed at the very foundation of the entire pyramid.The same basic structure

continued into theTang, except that, in the sixth century, Daoists switched the placement of

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Major S chools of the Middle Ages
Texts and Gods
All Daoist texts were then arranged into three main categories, the works of each school as-
-
giographic materials as well as materials from lesser schools.A fourth supplement was added

to house the Celestial Masters at the foundation.The overall system, still used in the Daoist

canon today, is as follows:
Cavern

School

Supplement

Perfection (Dongzhen)

Highest Clarity

Great Mystery (Taixuan)
Mystery (Dongxuan)

NuminousTreasure

Great Peace (Taiping)
Spirit (Dongshen)

Three Sovereigns

Great Clarity (Taiqing)

Celestial Masters

OrthodoxUnity (Zhengyi)
The gods of theThree Caverns, moreover, were joined together into one group known as the

Pure Ones or the Daoist trinity. Named after the three major heavens of the early medieval

system, they had the HeavenlyWorthy of Primordial Beginning (representing Highest Clarity)

at the center, the Lord of the Dao (NuminousTreasure) to his left, and Lord Lao (adopted from

both theThree Sovereigns and Celestial Masters schools) to his right.
Fig. 5.2
 TheThree Pure Ones

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Major S chools of the Middle Ages
The three deities further matched theThreeTreasures of the religion, another concept adopted
from Buddhism, i.e.,
buddha
 (enlightenment),
dharma
 (teaching), and
sangha
 (community of
followers). In Daoism, they are the Dao, the scriptures, and the teachers.The gods represent

theThreeTreasures in the sense that the HeavenlyWorthy is the creative power at the root of

all existence, the Lord of the Dao is the revealer of scriptures and presenter of revelations, and

Lord Lao is the practical teacher who provides instructions in various techniques and commu-

nicates most closely with humanity.
TAKING REFUGE INTHETHREETREASURES

With all my heart I surrender my body

to the Great Dao of the Highest Nonultimate.

With all my heart I surrender my spirit

to theVenerable Scriptures inThirty-Six Sections.

With all my heart I surrender my life

to the Great Preceptors of the Mysterious Center.
Priestly Ranks
TheThree Caverns also provided the blueprint for the priestly hierarchy of integrated Daoism.
It was a highly complex system, with major and minor ranks, that can be summarized accord-

ing to seven main levels:
School

Rank

Zhengyi (Celestial Masters)

Register Disciple
Taixuan (Great Mystery)

Disciple of Good Faith
Dongyuan (CavernAbyss)

Disciple of CavernAbyss
Laozi (
Daode jing
)

Disciple of Eminent Mystery
Sanhuang (Three Sovereigns)

Disciple of Cavern Spirit
Lingbao (NuminousTreasure)

Preceptor of Highest Mystery
Shangqing (Highest Clarity)

Preceptor of Highest Perfection

-
ther by a householder or a recluse.

Celestial Masters level.After that, each level required extended periods of training, the guid-

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ance of an ordination master, and several sponsors from the community. In theTang, when

China, the most common ordination taken was Disciple of Good Faith. It involved receiving

the
Daode jing
 and several hagiographies of Laozi plus taking a set of ten precepts that includ-

6. I will maintain harmony with my ancestors and family and never disregard my kin.
7.When I see someone do good, I will support him with joy and delight.

8.When I see someone unfortunate, I will support him with dignity to recover good fortune.

9.When someone comes to do me harm, I will not harbor thoughts of revenge.

10.As long as all beings have not attained the Dao, I will not expect to do so myself.
The most elaborate actual ordination ceremony known from theTang was the elevation of two
imperial princesses to the rank of Preceptor of Highest Mystery in the year 711.
The multiplicity of medieval schools as well as their complex integration served as the main-
stay of the Daoist religion through the middle ages and has left a major legacy to the present

day.The schools represent the multifaceted nature of the religion, involving all sorts of reli-

gious communities, beliefs, and practices.
State Religion
-

state religion under theTang.The ruling house, a family with the surname Li, declared Lord

Lao to be their clan founder and elevated him to central deity of the dynasty.The god respond-

ed with a series of miracles.
Lord Lao™s Support

Ji Shanxing and ordered him to convey to the strugglingTang founder that he would indeed

win the empire. In response to this, the emperor in 620 honored the god formally as ﬁsage an-

cestorﬂ of the dynasty and renamed the Louguan center Zongsheng guan. Next, a withered cy-

press at his birthplace in Bozhou began to blossom, which inspired EmperorTaizong in 633 to

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upon its being honored with due ceremony, appeared to express his approval in a vision shared
by the entire court.
The most intense series of miraculous discoveries and appearances occurred under Emperor
Xuanzong (r. 712-755), a serious follower of the religion who wrote several commentaries to

the
Daode jing
, supported the collection of Daoist texts, and had frequent meetings with senior

-
drous talismans buried in a stone container with a golden box and typically inscribed with red

characters in an obscure ancient script.
Daoist Institutions
Encouraged by these signs of divine approval, the emperor reorganized court liturgy, state ad-

ministration, and the worship of the imperial ancestors along Daoist lines. Himself a learned

Daoist who wrote several commentaries to the
Daode jing
 and sponsored collections of Daoist
thought, he supported the creation of Daoist rites, songs, and dances. For example, he sup-

ported a new liturgical choreography called theﬁDanceofthePurple Culmenﬂ as part of of-

-

Laozi), and had worshiped in special temples.
In addition, the emperor established central state-sponsored monasteries in the two capitals
that replaced existing ancestral shrines and centered around the worship of Lord Lao.They

were extensive and grandiose in their layout and architecture and not only provided facilities

for ancestor worship but also served as academies for training in Daoist classics and ritual.As

part of this reorganization of imperial ancestor worship, the emperor further elevated all or-

dained Daoists to imperial family members, causing the renaming of Daoist monasteries from

ﬁtempleﬂ (
guan
) to ﬁpalaceﬂ (
gong
).
Spreading Daoist structures beyond the political center, he also set up state-sponsored institu-

tions in each district, creating a tight network of political control through religious channels.

coopted and controlled religious organizations. In the wake of the latter, the Sui government

sponsored religious temples as state-supporting institutions, establishing Buddhist temples on

continued this practice, and in 666, Gaozong set up one Buddhist and one Daoist monastery in

every prefecture. Emperor Xuanzong merely expanded it further, establishing Daoist institu-

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tions in all major districts.The role of these ﬁtemples,ﬂ which held a statute of Lord Lao side

network throughout the country.
In addition to these state-sponsored centers, there were 1,687 Daoist institutions (including
550 nunneries) registered in the empire in 739.Although they included some major teaching

monasteries, for the most they were small hermitages. Located both in the cities and on moun-

tains, they housed individual recluses or small groups of monks or nuns who went about their

worship in a quiet, unassuming way.
Legal Codes
However minor and unassuming, all clerics had to obey special legal codes that were put in

place under theTang. For one, the rulers took control of ordination and established a system

-
havior.As documented in a special code for the clergy as well as inTang legal codes, ordained
Fig. 5.3
 A Daoist temple in the mountains

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Major S chools of the Middle Ages
clerics were not supposed to ride horses, possess military books, form cliques, solicit donors,
or stay for more than three days with the same lay family.They must not participate in musical

or other entertainments, or behave in any way rudely or abusively to elders or those of higher

rank.
Punishments for transgressions were harsh, and offenders had to be handed over to the secular
authorities for all serious crimes. For example, if recluses partook of improper foods or liquor

they could be condemned to hard labor; if they wore clothes of silk or aristocratic colors, they

could be defrocked and sent to hard labor. Similarly, if they stole or desecrated sacred objects,

they could be punished by imprisonment, hard labor, or exile. If they engaged in fortune-tell-

ing and faith-healing they faced return to lay status and, if they still continued their charlatan-

ery, were threatened by strangulation.
After a long and varied history of multiple revelations and social organizations, Daoism in the
Tang had thus reached not only a pinnacle of internal organization but had come close to the

theTang state, the integrated system of the religion did not survive its downfall and gave way

to a major reorganization after the dynasty™s collapse in 907. Nevertheless, it had created key

doctrinal and ritual features, communal and organizational structures, as well as models for in-

teraction with the state that set the stage for all other developments to come.
Key points you need to know
Organized Daoism began in the second century c.e. with the two movements:Way of Great
Peace and Celestial Masters.They were millenarian in nature and prepared people for the

new age of Great Peace.TheWay of Great Peace ended with theYellowTurban rebellion

in 184; the Celestial Masters transformed into an organized religion and are still active in

Taiwan today.
Highest Clarity goes back to a series of revelations in the 360s; carried by aristocrats, it was
a small self-cultivation group to begin and only later, through the efforts ofTao Hongjing
around the year 500, became a major Daoist school.
NuminousTreasure began in the 390s. Based on Highest Clarity, it yet also incorporated

adopt Buddhism into the Daoist system.
in north China and created an administrative system for the foreign rulers. In its wake, the

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Major S chools of the Middle Ages

system to their teaching, known as theThree Caverns.They organize the textual materials,
the pantheon, and the priestly hierarchy.
Under theTang, Daoism served as state religion. It was elevated to high prominence at court
and in the capitals, and its institutions were present in every district of the empire.At the
same time, it came under the close control of the state which took charge of ordinations, is-

Discussion questions

1.

Islam? Do any of their beginnings bear a resemblance to Daoism?
What is syncretism? Can you think of other examples where religious systems adapt to oth-
2.

er cultures and/or countries and integrate different beliefs and practices?

What exactly is a theocracy? How does it work?Are the other and/or modern examples? Is
3.

it a good form of government?
Further Reading
Benn, Charles D. 1987. ﬁReligiousAspects of Emperor Hsüan-tsung™sTaoist Ideology.ﬂ In
Buddhist and Taoist Practice in Medieval Chinese Society
, edited by DavidW. Chappell,
127-45. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Hendrischke, Barbara. 2000. ﬁEarly Daoist Movements.ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
, edited by
Livia Kohn, 134-64. Leiden: E. Brill.
Kohn, Livia. 1991.
Taoist Mystical Philosophy: The Scripture of WesternAscension
.Albany:
State University of NewYork Press.
Kohn, Livia. 2000. ﬁThe Northern Celestial Masters.ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
, edited by Livia
Kohn, 283-308. Leiden: E. Brill.
Mather, Richard . 1979. ﬁK™ou Ch™ien-chih and theTaoistTheocracy at the NorthernWei
Court 425-451.ﬂ In
Facets of Taoism
, edited by HolmesWelch andAnna Seidel, 103-22.
New Haven, Conn.:Yale University Press.
Ofuchi Ninji. 1979. ﬁThe Formation of theTaoist Canon.ﬂ In
Facets of Taoism
, edited by
HolmesWelch andAnna Seidel, 253-68. New Haven, Conn.:Yale University Press.

79
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 Development
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Major S chools of the Middle Ages
Pregadio, Fabrizio. 2006.
Great Clarity: Daoism andAlchemy in Early Medieval China
.
Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Daoism Handbook
, edited by Livia
Kohn, 196-224. Leiden: E. Brill.
Strickmann, Michel. 1978. ﬁThe Mao-shan Revelations:Taoism and theAristocracy.ﬂ
T™oung
Pao
 63: 1-63.
Yamada,Toshiaki. 2000. ﬁThe Lingbao School.ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
, edited by Livia Kohn,
225-55. Leiden: E. Brill.

T™oung Pao
 66: 84-147.

Cosmos, Gods,
and Governance
In this chapter
In addition to Shang ancestor worship and divination, the philosophy of Dao, Zhuangzi™s ec-
static wandering, and personal body cultivation, the foundations of Daoism also rest on Han-

dynasty cosmology.This cosmology structures the universe in patterns of correspondences,

dividing all existence into the two complementary forces yin and yang, then detailing this

-

Shang) and twelve branches (zodiac animals).
The Han vision of the cosmos, furthermore, included a plethora of deities: celestial gods,
starry constellations, nature deities, mythical sage rulers, divine ancestors, as well as various

ghosts, demons, specters, and hobgoblins. Creating order in the universe accordingly meant

matching the cosmic phases and pacifying the various gods and demons, aligning self and so-

ciety in a larger context that included everything from the stars through the gods to the lowly

creatures of Earth.The vision of ultimate harmony, then, was described in terms of Great

Peace, a state of complete openness and pervasion of all.
Main topics covered
Yin-Yang
The Five Phases
The Chinese Calendar
Deities, Demons, and Divine Rulers
The Ideal of Great Peace
4

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Yin andYang
T
he most fundamental cosmological division in traditional China is into the two
complementary forces
yin and yang
, commonly presented in the well-known
circle with two black and white curved halves, plus a white dot in the black sec-

tion and a black dot in the white section.The image shows the balance and yet

The system of yin and yang is based on correlative thinking, a basic pattern of the human mind

that plays a role in all cultures. For example, to build the plural of
shoe
, we add the letter ﬁsﬂ
to get
shoes
.The same applies to cat/cats, stone/stones, road/ roads. But then we learn that this

correlative pattern when applied to the word
foot
is wrong and instead of
foots
we use another
patternandgofrom
foot
to
feet
,thenapplythesametogetgoose/geese,andsoon.Inallcases,
the organization of language is based on a simple pattern that is correlated and repeated in dif-

ferent concrete cases.
The correlative system of understanding also
comes into play in a more general understand-

ing of reality. For example, the image of the

human body may be applied to politics, so

that the mind in relation to the body is un-

derstood as similar to the ruler ™s relation to

his subjects. Or, vice versa, the workings of

a motor engine may be used as a way to un-

derstand the functioning of the body, creating

an understanding that all the different bodily

parts work together like building blocs of a

complex machine. In all these cases, similari-

ties and differences between patterns are rec-

ognized and reality is understood in terms of

the interaction of different aspects that impact

on each other. In a further step, the correla-

reality and new realities are formed on the basis of further associations.These patterns tend

to work particularly within a given culture and among people who share a common paradigm.

Over time, the paradigms shift, allowing for new correlations and models to take over.
Application
Yang and yin originated from geographical observation, indicating the sunny and shady sides

of a hill. From there they acquired a series of associations: bright and dark, light and heavy,
Fig. 4.1
Yin andYang

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Cosmos, Gods, and Governance
strong and weak, above and below, Heaven and Earth, ruler and minister, male and female,
and so on.
In concrete application, moreover, they indicate different kinds of action:
yang active birth
impulse move change expansion
yin structive completion response rest nurture contraction
These characteristics were in turn associated with items in daily life:
yang Heaven spring summer day big ruler man
yin Earth fall winter night small minister woman
father life unfold noble marriage soldiers speech give
mother death stagnate common funeral laborers silence receive

-
ther is better, stronger, brighter, or more preferable, and the two forces do not represent good
and evil. On the contrary, the yin aspect of things is just as important as the yang, because one

cannot be without the other.They are not opposites but complementary phases of
qi-

bringing forth the other in close mutual interdependence.
The Five Phases
The yin-yang system provides the working basis for understanding the patterns of Dao in the

world and for seeing the concrete manifestations of
qi
made more complex by a subdivision into
s
:
In other words, the rhythmic pattern of rise and decline in the structure of energetic exchange

by taking the rise and dips of hills and valleys as a metaphor.When one begins to climb a

and light: yang in its minor phase.As one ascends further, the sun gets brighter, the views are

broader, there is a feeling of expanse: the major phase of yang. Reaching the top, there is a

balance between yin and yang, where neither one nor the other dominates: yin-yang in bal-

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Cosmos, Gods, and Governance
ance. Continuing the walk, it is not possible to go up any more, so the descent begins.There is
again less light, views are more restricted, a cooling sets in: the phase of minor yin. Eventually

ones reaches the bottom of the valley, with its greater darkness, coolness, and shadiness: yin in

its major phase. However long the sojourn at the bottom may seem, there is no other way but

to go up again: one energetic phase forever moves into the next without stopping.

different stages:
minor yang  major yang
yin-yang
minor yin major yin
 wood
 Earth
 metal
 water
wuxing
).They are often also referred

rhythm of transformation.
The Five Materials

Shujing
(Book
of History), a record dating from about 800
B
.
C
.
E
.,
concrete substances, resources used for human livelihood.They are, at this stage, not under-

stood as
qi

and used with moderation and wisdom.They are offered to the gods on the altars of soil and

grain; they have to be guarded by rulers to ensure their continued productivity without excess

-
cle.Thus, water comes about through rainfall. It makes things grow, so that there is lush veg-

Ashes become Earth, and Earth over long periods of consolidation grows metals in its depths.

Metals in the depths of mountains, moreover, attract clouds and stimulate rainfall, thus closing

this so-called productive cycle.

metal, metal can cut wood, wood can contain Earth, Earth can dam water, and water can again

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Cosmos, Gods, and Governance
-
crease productivity, but to set boundaries and

limit potential excesses.This is known as the

controlling or conquest cycle. In all cases,

the early vision emphasizes that although the

they are not merely innate objects but contain

dynamic powers that can be turned both to

production or control.
The Five Powers
Expanding this early model, the cosmologist
ZouYan (c.350-270
B
.
C
.
E
.
focusing on the potency inherent in the materials, such as wood™s power to grow and be lush

-

new ruler under the symbolic power of the phase water.
Later cosmologists developed this into a great, encompassing scheme of dynastic succession

-

ated not only with colors, but also with directions, seasons, musical tones, and with various

The
basic chart
, at the root of Chinese cosmology, the diagnostic and analytical foundation of

yin/
yang
 phase direct. color season organ1 organ2 emotion sense
mi
yang
wood east green spring liver gall anger eyes
ma
yang
 south red summer heart sm. int. exc. joy tongue
yin-
yang
Earth  center yellow
spleen stomach worry lips
mi yin metal west white fall lungs lg. int. sadness nose
ma yin water north black winter kidneys bladder fear ears
Fig. 4.2

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Practical Use
This set of correspondences served predominantly to identify relationships.As described in
the ﬁMonthly Commandmentsﬂ of the
Liji
 (Book of Rites) and in the early Daoist compilation
Huainanzi
(Book of the Prince of Huainan), it was used to explain why certain actions should

be undertaken in certain seasons. For example, it became a general rule that because Heaven

and Earth make the myriad creatures blossom in spring, one should in that season sleep and

rise early, loosen the hair, relax the body, and allow all beings to live, abstaining from killing.

Spring was a time of giving and not of taking, of reward and not of punishment. By follow-

ing these injunctions, humanity was believed to act in proper alignment with the
qi
of spring
and to secure health and harmony for both body and society.Any actions against the dominant

qi

spring, and would create chills in the summer.They might also arouse aggression and anger,

the corresponding emotions, and make for social upheaval and unhappiness.
In other words, the correspondence system provided a relational and dynamic vision of the
universe, seeing all social, physical, and psychological occurrences in terms of natural cycles

and ongoing patterns. It placed human beings in a world that was not, as in modern science,

governed by invariable laws but subject to a pattern of interaction that could be orderly or

chaotic. It thereby both limited and empowered people. It limited them by placing them into a

natural cycle which responded to their actions and demanded total adaptation for success and

with all things, the power to either support or disturb the natural and political order.
The Chinese Calendar
Another important aspect of Chinese cosmology is the traditional
calendar
. Like itsWestern

however, in China the solstices and equinoxes are not considered the seasons™ beginnings.

Instead, they are the high points of the seasons, which begin about six weeks prior to them.

This creates eight major cadences in the year: two solstices, two equinoxes, and four seasons™

beginnings.They are known as the Eight Nodes and roughly match the festivals of pagan or

Wicca religion
In addition, the Chinese divide the year into twenty-four solar periods of about two weeks
each, which are named after natural and weather patterns such as Insects Stirring, Great Heat,

Slight Cold,Winter Beginning, and the like. Both the Eight Nodes and the twenty-four solar

periods have played important roles in Daoist ritual and organization.

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Beyond this solar calculation, the Chinese is also lunar in that it measures the months ac-

days of the solar year, the NewYear shifts backward every year.To correct for this and keep

the beginning of the year in the spring, the Chinese add one month to their calendar, the so-

-
teen years.This keeps their time calculation on the correct level and maintains the continuity

of always having the winter solstice in the 11
th
lunar month, the spring equinox in the 2
nd
, the
summer solstice in the 5
th
, and the fall equinox in the 8
th
.
The Sixty-Year Cycle
For a larger count of years, the Chinese depend on Jupiter, which revolves around the sun once

as a so-called cyclical character or ﬁheavenly branchﬂ (e.g.,
zi, chou, yin
).They also, under

numbered the days with another set of nominal characters, known as ﬁearthly stemsﬂ (e.g.,
jia,
yi, bing
). Combining the stems and branches in all possible permutations, a set of sixty combi-
-
nary cycle. It looks like this
year 1 =
jiazi
(1-rat)

year 10 =
guiyou
(10-rooster)
year 2 =
yichou
 (2-ox)

year 11 =
jiaxu
 (1-dog)
year 3 =
bingyin
 (3-tiger)

year 12 =
yihai
(2-pig)
year 4 =
dingmao
(4-hare)

year 13 =
bingzi
 (3-rat)
year 5 =
mouchen
(5-dragon)

year 14 =
dingchou
(4-ox)
year 6 =
yisi
(6-snake)

etc., until
year 7 =
gengwu
(7-horse)

year 59 =
renxu
 (9-dog)
year 8 =
xinwei
(8-sheep)

year 60 =
guihai
(10-pig)
year 9 =
renshen
(9-monkey)

year 61 =
jiazi
(1-rat) = year 1
jiazi
(1-rat) year known is
the year 4
C
.
E
.
 Each new cycle, moreover, was seen as a new beginning, based on the idea that
human life lasted for approximately sixty years and that, once it was over, a complete renewal

occurred.The set of sixty was further applied to designate months, days, and hours, and is at

-
able marriages. Religious rituals of all traditions are scheduled according to the auspicious or

inauspicious nature of the signs, and many of the most important Daoist rites occur once every

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Cosmos, Gods, and Governance
sixty years to mark the renewal of the cosmos. In addition, Daoist and other millenarian move-
jiazi
), as the starting
point of a new age.
Deities, Demons, and Divine Rulers

nature gods, ancestors, and various other supernatural entities from a large variety of cultural

and geographical regions. Striving to establish an integrated cosmic pattern while joining to-

structured the multiplicity of divinities into an organized structure.
The Five Emperors
To begin, they took local gods from the regional states and arranged them in a system based on

Xu) became also known asYandi (Fiery Emperor) and was associated with the direction of

the south, the color red, and the power of rise and ascension.The central gods of the so-called

Five Emperors were accordingly:
name translation direction color phase quality
Zhurong Blessed Melter east green wood straightness
Huangdi Yellow Emperor center yellow Earth planting
Shaohao Lesser Brilliance north black water cohesion
Yandi Fiery Emperor south red
ascension
 Di Ku Emperor Ku west white metal sharpness
Not only spatially ruling the four quadrants of the world with theYellow Emperor at the cen-

-
history. In this function they were placed between several other sets of sage rulers, beginning

in high antiquity with the so-calledThree Sovereigns (Sanhuang) and continuing through

the Five Dynasties all the way into actual history.TheThree Sovereigns were Fu Xi (Hidden

Yijing
 from patterns in the stars and arranged for

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Cosmos, Gods, and Governance
human beings from mud and set up life on the planet; and Shennong (Divine Farmer), sup-
ported by Suiren (Fire Drill), who developed agriculture, social structure, and markets, and

Dynastic Succession
In the time of theThree Sovereigns, the world was in complete harmony, free from strive, war,

beings, so that there was enough food for everyone and people lived in a state of great peace,

reaching extreme longevity of hundreds if not thousands of years.
The Five Emperors listed above, next, saw the further expansion and development of culture

battle against an opponent for the throne known as Chiyu (Wormy Rebel).Their rule was still

-
ties and people began to have shortened life expectancies.
Fig. 4.3
TheYellow Emperor, worshiped inTaiwan today

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Next came the Five Dynasties, led by the two paragonsYao and Shun, highly virtuous em-
perors who each ruled for a century or more. Great heroes in Confucian circles, these two are

emperors.The remaining three dynasties, often also listed as a separate entity, connect prehis-

tory to the historical age.They are the Xia, Shang, and Zhou.

succession was governed by the controlling cycle, implying that one ruler had to overcome the

other, the Five Dynasties were seen to have produced each other harmoniously.The story thus

goes thatYao selected Shun and adopted him as his son and successor, while Shun appointed

The new pattern therefore meant that after Di Ku, who ruled under the phase metal,Yao ruled

The First Emperor of the Qin dynasty saw himself as an heir to the Zhou in this cycle and

black, and in general manifesting water symbolism in various ways.
The Han dynasty, faced with a violent succession, dithered between using the productive
or controlling cycles and had multiple legends that alternately associated the colors yellow

-
ous prophesies that (according to the productive cycle) a ruler under the color yellow would

Center Gods
Aside from the Five Emperors in charge of the main quadrants of the world, the Han pantheon

also acknowledged various central powers located above and beyond them.Among them was

direct relation to the emperor, known as the ﬁSon of Heavenﬂ (
tianzi
). Making offerings to the
deities of the directions all year round in accordance with the seasons in a special sanctuary

known as the Hall of Light, the emperor would also report to Heaven on a regular basis and

receive divine communications from this power.
AclosenextinpotencytoHeavenitself,butslightlymorevisibleandaccessiblewasthestarry
constellation of the Northern Dipper (Beidou), already described in the
Shiji
as being ﬁplaced
in the center; . . . it governs all four cardinal points, separates yin and yang, and determines the

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The Dipper, often also associated with the Pole Star (North Culmen, Beiji), was the central
power of the universe and functioned in establishing its inherent order. Situated in the central

palace of the sky, it was seen as the foundation of the world, the root of yin and yang, the pivot

of all creative transformations, the bridge between sun and moon (day and night), and the ul-

timate source and arbiter of all living beings.The Dipper is the celestial match of the center

on Earth, a vertical nub where the middle of the Earth is horizontal.What the Dipper is in the

skies, Mount Kunlun is on Earth: the vertical axis of the world, the polar center of the cosmos.
The Great One
Another central deity important in the Han pantheon was the Great One (Taiyi) an astral and

four things: the primordial state of the world before beings were created; the principle accord-

ing to which creation takes place; the material energy of the world in its primordial form; and

the basic characteristic of all there is, an abstract mark of existence.The One as the root power

of undifferentiation is a close second to Dao itself. It is like the cosmic chaos Hundun, the pri-

mordial energy of all there is, the root power necessary to create and, by extension, to rule.
Matching the characteristics of the Northern Dipper, who represents a more actively governing
aspect of primordial power, the Great One was similarly placed in the stars and venerated as

an astral deity. Formally installed as the god of the center during Han times, he took over the

place of theYellow Emperor, relegating him and the other four emperors to a position of atten-

dants. Losing his place in the center, moreover, theYellow Emperor was established between

the Red and theWhite Emperors. He soon became a key mediator between the celestial and

human realms, representing the eternal learner and serving as the interlocutor in certain tales

of the
Zhuangzi
, in the medical classics, and in sexual manuals.
The Ruler of Fates

quite at the core of the entire universe, he was the chief of an underworld bureaucracy that

kept close records on human deeds and attitudes and ordered people to die and be delivered to

dead resided and received ancestral offerings until such time when their spirits should return to

qi
.

describes the resurrection of a man named Dan in 297
B
.
C
.
E
.
Having killed another, he commit-
ted suicide and was buried after three days of public exposure, only to reappear, alive but not

quite hale, after three years. His resurrection was effected through the workings of the under-

world administration, to whom a surviving friend petitioned on the grounds that Dan had been

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taken before his allotted time had run out.Accordingly, ﬁhe made a declaration to the senior
scribe of the Ruler of Fates, who then had a white dog dig up the pit to let Dan out.ﬂ Reporting

on his experiences in the otherworld, the wronged man explained: ﬁThe dead do not want

The CelestialAdministration
The notion that the otherworld is hierarchically organized goes back to an ancient Chinese

Liji
.According to this, the feudal ranking order
-
ies, who are placed in concentric circles around one king residing in the center of his capital,

which in turn is at the pivot of nine provinces, 120 prefectures, and 1,200 districts. Matching

this complex Zhou bureaucracy, the supernatural realm was accordingly expanded from the

original Shang pantheon to include multiple levels and intricate complexes.
Further formalized under the Han dynasty, the otherworldly administration was located to the

mountain god sits in judgment over the good and bad deeds of the dead and decrees appropri-

ate punishments to be enacted through their descendants. Numerous bamboo slips found in

tombs of the period accordingly contain petitions addressed to theYellow Lord, the Lord of

the Earth, or the Lord of the Underworld, including lists of grave goods and presents to be giv-

en to the responsible bureaucrats. In addition, there are funerary texts that function as a kind of

passport or letter of introduction, by which a celestial envoy recommends the deceased to the

netherworld authorities, thus assuring new arrival of a satisfactory integration into the subter-

ranean territory.
Ghosts and Demons
Should,however,thedeceasednotbereceivedproperlyormissthesupportofhisdescendants,

he might well develop into a negative power and join the forces of demons, ghosts, specters,

and hobgoblins that also populated the Han world. Hungry and desperate, these were a veri-

table horde of nasty creatures that lurked on the fringes of the visible world, ready to pounce

on unsuspecting creatures.They could be unhappy or discontented dead, supernaturally em-

powered animals, or Earth-based monsters. Some were people who had died violently, come

back to wreak vengeance; others were ancestors neglected by their kin, hungry and in search

of sustenance; yet others were mutant animals, creatures that somehow gained the power to

change their shape and cause trouble.
To deal with these, people took basic precautions such as hanging demon-dispelling branches
(preferably of peach wood) or talismans over their doors, muttering spells against ghosts

whenever they entered an unknown area, or performing a divination before venturing out.

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Once a demon or ghost had made itself known, more active measures could be taken, such as
throwing a slipper at it, holding up a mirror to reveal its true shape, or calling it by its name.

Normally, these creatures could not stand these acts and would vanish forthwith. Sometimes,

however, more extensive rites of exorcism were necessary, or perhaps a shamanic séance in

with the gods the Han people never lost sight of the ultimate state of perfect harmony that was

at the foundation of all existence and could be recovered with proper personal and political

action.
The Ideal of Great Peace
Great Peace (Taiping) in ancient China meant a realm of total happiness and freedom, where

justice prevailed and all cosmic and social energies circulated in a continuous, smooth rhythm.

sounds. In its more political sense it appears in the historical records of the
Shiji
, denoting the

not only the common people but also the forces of Heaven and Earth, thus leading to a state of

The state of Great Peace, Han people believed, had been fully realized in the time when the

but not too much, under the Five Emperors and been recovered again when the sage kingYao

came to power.According to some readings, notably those of a more Daoist persuasion known

as the Huang-Lao school, it was most extensively realized under the government of theYellow

-
ing the guidance of Laozi.
Measures ofAttainment
-
terns, closely observing the portents, reading the signs of Heaven and Earth, and performing

the right rituals at the right times. It was also essential that ruler perfected his virtue and ob-

it was believed, human government could ensure the proper cooperation of yin and yang and

chaos and destruction.Although attainable in the present, however, this state was not consid-

ered permanent nor was it seen as in total discontinuity with the present.

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The emperor, moreover, who was to realize Great Peace and obtain the full blessings of
Heaven, was believed to either be a sage himself (likeYao) or have the support of one (like

theYellow Emperor and his adviser Guangchengzi). Being part of the natural movement of

Heaven, such a sage supposedly appeared at regular intervals, as part of a cyclical event that

occurred every couple of hundred years or so.
Following this belief, Qin and Han emperors summoned magical practitioners to court in the
hope that one of them might prove to be the key sage or that at least their insights into the

workings of the cosmos would help them establish perfect government. Later, with a shift

toward Confucianism, which became the foundation of the imperial examination system es-

tablished in 136
B
.
C
.
E
.
, Confucius rose to the status of main sage, his teachings venerated and
interpreted with great devotion.At this stage, and unlike in later Daoist visions of Great Peace,

none of these protagonists was considered a supernatural agent or divinely appointed.The ide-

al state of governance could still be obtained at the right cosmic moment with human means

alone, provided the ruler proved himself worthy of the Mandate of Heaven.
The Mandate of Heaven
The
Mandate of Heaven
 (
tianming
Shujing
of the eighth
century
B
.
C
.
E
. as a way in which Heaven (
tian
) directs the course of mundane events by order-
ing (
ming

pattern of events, and the representation of highest moral principle. Its order to govern, more-

over, is closely linked with a moral dimension and a sense of temporality. ﬁNobody gets the

mandate forever,ﬂ the
Shujing
 says. ﬁAs long as you have personal virtue, you can keep the
throne.When you do not have the virtue anymore, the Nine Provinces will slip through your

hands.ﬂ
came to see Heaven increasingly as a natural force, the sum-total of cosmic organization that
governs the inherent structures and cycles of life.Thus the Legalist Xunzi says: ﬁHeaven has

a constant regularity of activity. It did not exist for the sake of [the sage ruler]Yao nor cease

to exist for the sake of [the cruel tyrant] Jie. Respond to it with good government, and suc-

cess will result. Respond to it with misgovernment, and calamity will result.ﬂThe Mandate of

Heaven, already linked with the virtuous nature of a sincere and good ruler, was accordingly

or mythical animals (phoenixes, unicorns, and dragons). More explosively, however, it was

also connected to the will of the common people whose contentment or distress become signs

of a ruler ™s ability to govern. Good harvests and prosperity as well as peace and social harmo-

ny thus showed Heaven™s acceptance and support of a certain ruler.

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Cosmic Cycles
The inverse of this doctrine meant that if a ruler was about to lose the Mandate, Heaven would
signal this fact through omens and portents, such as eclipses, falling stars, untimely weather,

and natural disasters; the common people would be unsettled and even rise in rebellion.The

notion, moreover, that ﬁnobody gets the Mandate forever,ﬂ that cosmic cycles as much as royal

revolutions in government were seen as part of the natural course of events; dynasties actively

began to govern under the auspices of certain phases.
occurred, or some form of social discontent arose, people looked to potential new rulers

matching the next cosmic phase.They were expected to be associated with certain colors,

symbolic numbers, and virtues. Ditties circulated, prophecies abounded, and omen-lore was

-

movements with their own visions of ideal governance and a pervasive state of Great Peace.
Key points you need to know
Traditional Chinese cosmology, which pervades the culture, works with a correspondence
system based on the complementary forces yin and yang, terms originally referring to the

shady and sunny sides of a hill.
then matched with seasons, directions, colors, bodily organs, senses, and political patterns.

They also manifest more subtly in the Chinese calendar with its twelve-year cycle (zodiac
animals) and ten-day week, combined into a sixty-year pattern.

Aside from cosmic forces, the Han universe was also populated by numerous deities: an-
cient sage rulers (Three Sovereigns, Five Emperors,Yao, Shun,Yu), gods of the center

-
cestors, ghosts, and demons).
This divergence could yet be pulled together in harmony through the attainment of a state of
Great Peace, universal perfection on all levels of life. Key to this realization was the ruler,
whose Mandate of Heaven was linked with natural phenomena and the happiness of the

people.

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Discussion questions
1.

continuously unfolding from one state into another?
How do the gods and celestial administrators create a sense of order in people™s lives? Does
2.

What is the connection of religion and governance in other cultures? Is there still a tendency
3.

today to see government in cosmic terms?
Further reading
Csikszentmihalyi,Mark.2000.ﬁHanCosmologyandManticPractices.ﬂIn
DaoismHandbook
,
edited by Livia Kohn, 53-73. Leiden: E. Brill.
Graham,A. C. 1986.
Yin-Yang and the Nature of Correlative Thinking
. Singapore:The
Institute for EastAsian Philosophies.
Harper, Donald. 1985. ﬁA Chinese Demonography of theThird Century B.C.ﬂ
Harvard
Journal ofAsiatic Studies
 45: 459-98.
Karlgren, Bernhard. 1946. ﬁLegends and Cults inAncient China.ﬂ
Bulletin of the Museum of
Far EasternAntiquities
 18: 199-365.
Lewis, Mark E. 1990.
Sanctioned Violence in Early China
.Albany: State University of New
York Press.
Major, John S. 1993.
Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four, and
Five of the Huainanzi
.Albany: State University of NewYork Press.
Matsumoto, Kiiko, and Stephen Birch. 1985.
Five Elements and Ten Stems
. Brookline, Mass.:
Paradigm Publications.
Shahar, Meir, and Robert P.Weller, eds. 1996.
Unruly Gods: Divinity and Society in China
.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Ethics and
the Community
In this chapter
Following this plethora of revelations, medieval Daoists lived in many kinds of communities,
from fundamentally egalitarian millenarian and monastic groups through close-knit self-culti-

vation societies to state-sponsored organizations and lay-based religious associations.Within

this multiplicity, they yet all subscribed to some core ideals, such as the close connection to

Heaven, the importance of the family, and the observation of certain moral rules.Also com-

mon to all Daoist communities were the creation of a priestly establishment and ranking sys-

the year with various types of celebrations.Yet there were also unique aspects to each form of

the Daoist life, a different ethical emphasis and different kinds of ritual practices.
Main topics covered
The Celestial Connection
Millenarian Structures
Self-Cultivation Groups
Lay Organizations
The Monastic Life
6

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The Celestial Connection
T
o live properly in the Dao, people have to realize that they and all beings form
an integral part of nature and the greater universe, which functions in perfect

harmony and is fundamentally good. Created in a series of transformations with-

out a radical break from the pure, formless Dao, the universe manifests itself in

a wondrous combination of manifold forces that ideally work together to con-

This goodness, moreover, once it is realized at any point in the world, radiates throughout the

universe and contributes to a comprehensive harmony in Dao.
Daoist rules and community structures thus serve to create an attitude in the individual that
realizes universal interconnectedness.They acknowledge that while the universe is essentially

perfect, single entities can participate in this perfection to a greater or lesser degree. Ideal

Daoists have realized their inner nature to the utmost and found perfection in who they were

the other hand, have not realized their true potential but have become removed from inherent

harmony, developing patterns of disharmony and an inclination toward immoral and harmful

actions.They are at odds with the universal forces and counteract the tendencies of Heaven

and Earth.
Good and Evil
Because all people in their essence are made up of the
qi
 of Heaven and Earth, their actions

Chisongzi zhongjie
jing
(The Essential Precepts of Master Redpine), people cause cosmic disharmony by disre-

garding Heaven and Earth, harming demons and spirits, cursing the wind and the rain, deni-

grating sages and scriptural teachings, or desecrating shrines and temples. Not only religious

their father and mother; digging up tombs to steal the valuables of the dead; cheating the blind,

the deaf, and the dumb; throwing impure substances into food and drink; killing other beings;

accusing and slandering others or spying on their affairs; obstructing roads and letting drains

be blocked; stealing and cheating, destroying nature™s riches, and in other ways harming soci-

ety and the life around them.All these acts cause Heaven and Earth to be upset, leading to ir-

Warned by these signs from Heaven and Earth, Daoists realize that, being originally one with
the root of the universe, they have the power to make the cosmos move in harmony by act-

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supports all life.They replace negative and destructive attitudes with supportive and helpful
ones. For example, as the
Chisongzi zhongjie
jing says, instead of ﬁwhen burdened by debt,
they wish that the moneylender should die and the debt expire,ﬂ they now strive to pay back

the money.When they see someone blessed with beautiful wives and concubines, instead of

developing an intent toward adultery, they count their blessings and ﬁrealize that their own

partner does not create quarrels or upheaval.ﬂThey observe varying sets of precepts and pro-

hibitions to gradually develop a greater awareness of Heaven and Earth; eventually they create

good fortune for themselves, society, and the world at large.
The CelestialAdministration
In addition to showing signs of disapproval through natural disasters, Heaven and Earth also

unfold their effects on people™s lives through the celestial administration which supervises hu-

man behavior and adjusts people™s life expectancy in accordance with their deeds.Among the

early Celestial Masters, this administration was described in terms of theThree Bureaus of

In the medieval schools, the system was expanded and the Daoist otherworld became an

Siji mingke
(Illustrious Regulations of the Four

killing, theft of celestial treasures, unwarranted spread of sacred texts, cursing

and swearing.

harboring schemes in one™s heart, disobedience, planning harm to others, and

never remembering the Dao.

doubts and duplicity, lack of reverence and faith in heavenly perfection, des-

ecration of heavenly treasures, and thoughts of removing the scriptures of the

Records and Punishments
In each case, the celestial administrators keep a detailed record of every individual ‚s deeds

and intentions, for each sin subtracting an appropriate number of days from his or her life ex-

pectancy.They control a huge staff of divine guards, bailiffs, and local agents; they receive

regular reports from the stove god installed in each family™s hearth and from three divine

agents that live within the person and are known as theThreeWorms orThree Corpses. Half-

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animal, half-human in looks, they reside in the head, torso, and abdomen of each individual,
where they monitor deeds and thoughts.
Once in every sixty-day cycle, on the
gengshen
 day (no. 57), they ascend to Heaven to report
impure, or prone to misfortunes, leading eventually to disgrace, ailments, and death.To escape

the clutches of the celestial bureaucrats and live a happy life, one must therefore act mor-

ally and with proper virtue, worship the gods, pay proper respects to Heaven and Earth, and

practice regular meditations and rituals. One can also stay awake on the
gengshen
 night, thus
preventing theThreeWorms from making their report, which will leave them disoriented and

eventually cause their demise.
If subjected to their noxious machinations, however, and engaged in any form of evil, retribu-
tion and punishment will not stop with the individual. Rather, the misfortune spreads to family

and community, not only by affecting them immediately as the person gets sick, loses money,

Taiping jing
, this means that descendants and communities suffer the results of their elders™

actions, leading to the crippling and early death of children and various kinds of troubles in

neighborhoods and villages.With the spread of Buddhist karma and retribution, moreover, the

sinner was also believed to undergo massive tortures in the underworld prisons and be reborn

various unpleasant circumstances, such as a worm, a snake, a vulture, or the like.
Millenarian Structures

patterns to the mix.Thus, for example, the earliest Daoist communities, the Dao of Great

Peace and the Celestial Masters, were millenarian groups.As described byVictorTurner in his
Fig. 6.1
 TheWorms in the body

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seminal work
The Ritual Process
 (1969), millenarian groups are one form of
communitas
, i.e.,
a total or liminal institution, such as also found in monasteries, boot camps, asylums, and the
like. Consisting of people who have placed themselves intentionally in a liminal or threshold

longer of the ordinary world and not yet of the realm of Great Peace. People in liminal phases

are typically without status, property, insignia, rank, and position. Groups of this type tend

-

ing themselves radically against all outsiders through manifestly different garb, eating habits,

sexual mores, and life style.The early Daoist communities match this description in many

respects.
Ritual Patterns
Religion dominated the administration of the organizations. Followers of the Celestial Masters

were ranked hierarchically on the basis of ritual attainments, with the so-called libationers,

leaders of the twenty-four parishes, at the top. Beneath them were the demon soldiers, merito-

rious leaders of households who represented smaller units in the organization. Members came

either men or women, Han Chinese or ethnic minorities.At the bottom were the common fol-

lowers, organized and counted according to households. Ranks were attained through ritual

initiations, at which followers received lists of spirit generals for protection against demons.

The earliest nitiations were given to children at age seven, then continued at regular intervals,

depending on the follower ™s devotion and community service.The list of spirit generals was

called a register (
lu
) and was carried, together with protective talismans, in a piece of silk
around the waist.
-
ramics, or handicrafts. Its exact amount varied according to the number of productive mem-
bers in each family. It was assigned and collected on the three major festival days of the year,

Primes and celebrated in honor of the celestial administration which kept records of life and

death, and consisted of theThree Bureaus of Heaven, Earth, andWater. Festivities involved

large community assemblies and major banquets known as kitchen-feasts. Unlike on regu-

lar days when the consumption of meat and alcohol was prohibited, at these occasions wine

critics of the movement to condemn their practices as ﬁorgiastic.ﬂ In addition, each smaller

unit or village had a community or parish hall, where members would assemble to perform

regular rituals, confess sins, and discuss local affairs.

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Community Rules
Everybody had to participate in these community events and perform community service, re-
pairing roads and bridges and maintaining so-called lodges of righteousness where travelers

could stay on their journeys. In addition, community life dominated the individual through sets

of rules.The earliest such set is associated with the
Xiang™er
 commentary to the
Daode jing
.
It guides followers to behave with obedience to the leaders and with reticence to their fellow

for popular gods.They must not to do evil, engage in warfare, accumulate riches, or praise

themselves as great sages. On a more positive note, followers should develop a helpful and

positive attitude within the community, controlling their senses and showing humility toward

others.Advancing further, they should give active service to the Dao, preserve living things,

-
sarily and especially not in spring time.The rewards are accordingly.Those who obey the

surviving even the cataclysmic changes to come as the world ends.

Laojun shuo yibai bashi jie
 (180 Precepts Spoken by
Lord Lao) provides rules on practical living and emphasizes personal honesty and community
life.The text prohibits fundamental infractions of cosmic order, such as killing, theft, adul-

tery, abortion, intoxication, destruction of natural resources, and waste of food. It regulates the

-
tion with brigands and soldiers, cruelty to slaves and animals, and familiarity when encounter-

are discouraged as much as the accumulation of personal wealth.
Sex and Sickness
Beyond these community regulations, the Celestial Masters, as other total institutions, also

took control over their members™ bodies, notably in the arenas of sexuality and health.They

exerted sexual control through an initiatory practice known as the ﬁharmonization of
qi
.ﬂ
This involved formally choreographed intercourse between selected non-married couples in

an elaborate ritual. Practitioners underwent this rite when they were promoted from one level

of ritual standing to the next, enacting the matching of yin and yang in their bodies and thus

-
lowers far apart from mainstream Confucian society, thus enhancing cult cohesion and binding

followers strongly to the leader.
Another aspect of physical control appears in the Celestial Masters™ understanding of sickness
and sin. Sickness was seen strictly in supernatural terms as the attack by a demon, who could

only gain entry into a person™s body if the latter was weakened by sin.As a result, all healing

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of the early Celestial Masters was undertaken through ritual and magic; acupuncture, herbs,
and other medical treatments were expressly prohibited.
Concrete measures in the case of sickness, involved four steps. First the sick person was iso-

and together with a formal petition for their eradication from the person™s divine record. Next,

the three copies would be transmitted ceremonially to Heaven (by burning), Earth (by bury-

expel the demons, and restore the person™s good health.Additional, supplementary measures

water), healing

exercises, and meditations.
Self-Cultivation Groups
A completely different kind of Daoist community evolved through various self-cultivation

groups, small (often aristocratic) assemblies of like-minded seekers who shared a common

goal, such as the ecstatic encounter with deities (Highest Clarity), the creation of an alternative

society (Ruan Ji, Liu Ling, etc), or the concoction of an alchemical elixir (Ge Hong). Rather

than an extensive community organization and manifold rules, they had sets of practice in-

community cohesion but served to maintain and enhance internal energies, to create optimal

conditions for successful practice.
For example, Highest Clarity Daoists followed a set of ten so-called immortals™ taboos which

-
Lingshu ziwen

(Numinous Book in Purple Characters) says:
As and when you do so, your primordial body will lose its beginning, and your

deepest root can no longer be accessed.Then the gods of the womb cry out in

agony and the Scarlet Lord [of the heart] wails for affection.Your three spirit

the grave.As this meat enters your mouth, your destiny falls into the long night

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on ﬁcrabﬂ day).They should also avoid urinating, spitting, and combing their hair while facing
Beyond these general taboos, the behavioral guidelines of Highest Clarity were practice in-
structions, which involved exercises, incantations, and personal rituals, as well as methods of

identifying the gods and ways of communicating with them.
Elixir Concoction

Thus any elixir concoction had to take place at exactly the right time and in exactly the right

be done in a completely secluded spot with the right kinds of streams, hills, and trees for the

qi
. Seekers began by setting up a furnace, typically a three-tiered brick oven,

secrecy, and made a formal pledge to their master.
Next, the concoction proper began, a lengthy and complicated procedure that involved cre-
ating a chemical reaction on the basis of highly disparate and often poisonous substances,

cooked according to cosmic instructions and surrounded by magical devices.The most com-

monly used drug was called cinnabar (
dan
), which is also the generic word for ﬁelixir.ﬂ It is

cinnabar (i.e., ﬁreverted cinnabarﬂ). Mercury, of course, is highly poisonous: taken in small

amounts, it causes delusions and brain damage; in massive doses, it is fatal. Parallel to this

concoction work, alchemists also hoped to create gold from base metals and to replicate the

cosmic processes of creation for insights into, and power over, the innermost secrets of the

universe. If and when the elixir had been created successfully, alchemists had to perform a

take varying doses of the elixir, a gray-brown mud that was ingested either rolled into a pill or

dissolved in liquid. Depending on the dose, they could attain magical powers, gain divine pro-

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Lay Organizations

school or association for devotional purposes while remaining the subjects of the worldly ruler

and obeying the laws of the state.Their rank in civil society, their economic status, and their

community does not control every aspect of their life, they do not pay taxes to religiously ap-

-
nies. Rather, members join voluntarily as their schedule permits, they give donations as they

Lay assemblies also differ from self-cultivation groups in that the overarching goal of their
religious practice is not the complete transcendence of this world and the attainment of im-

mortality or ascension. Rather, they follow their rules, perform their rituals, and observe their

practices to enhance life on this Earth, with the goal of creating greater health, happiness, and

Lu Shou: a prosperous and extensive family, good social status and material well-being, as

well as a long and healthy life (posterity, prosperity, and longevity).
CommunalWorship
To this end, lay Daoists participated in regular communal services and took sets of selected

or temporary precepts in order to undergo minor ordinations, join an elite group, or perform

and the integrated form of Daoism, followers observed daily, regular, and special rites, involv-

ing formal feasts and communal meetings. Feasts were divided according to major, medium,

ginger, onions, leeks, and scallions), as well as from sexual relations and contact with impure

activity during feasts, daily services, and ancestral worship, moreover, all involved a series of

bows and prostrations as well as the burning of incense and offering of a prayer or petition.
Special rites were also prescribed for funerals and sicknesses, the latter involving not only rit-
ual prostrations and the sending of petitions but also the public confession of sins . In their or-

celestials, had to behave with particular propriety and be a model to the community. In an ad-

aptation of Buddhist rules, they were moreover bound by special behavioral regulations, such

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as moving about with a straight body and straight face, without turning to look either left or
right. For example:
When entering a parish hall to present a petition, in all cases be of upright posture and quick-
ened gait, take your place on the right and left according to rank and exhibit seriousness and

devotion. Do not allow men and women to intermingle or stand in the wrong place. Do not let

them look around idly, chatter noisily, push and shove, or advance and retreat either too quick-

ly or too slowly. (
New Code
)
Purgations

public rite known as purgation. It involved participants chanting, praying, confessing their

sins, presenting offerings and petitions to the gods, and generally coming to create a divine

community on Earth. One of their most spectacular festivals was the Mud and Soot Purgation,

performed to alleviate the karma accumulated from the past and help the follower and his

the celestial administration. Participants would undergo symbolic punishments, such as being

bound in fetters, hung upside-down, or ceremoniously beaten, while the audience would whip

themselves into a frenzy, wail and weep, cover themselves in ashes, and roll around in the

mud.A typical prayer is:
For three days and three nights, through all the six [double-hour] periods,
We carry out repentance for our pardon.

all our fathers, mothers, uncles, brothers,

Whether dead already or to die in future, down to ourselves, participating
May we all be free from all the evil for
kalpas
For millions of generations, we have committed sins and accumulated burdens.

Reverently we now trust in the rite of this Purgation.

It was also believed that large-scale ceremonies on behalf of the state and the community
as, for example, theYellow Register Purgation would create cosmic harmony in the larger

universe and ease social and political tensions. Festivals of purgation were held at regular in-

tervals, at theThree Primes, the Eight Nodes, and other major annual junctions, as well as on

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occasions important to religious or state institutions.The priests who conducted these festivals
had to be formally ordained and were equipped with the most exquisite robes and implements.

a formal audience with the gods.
DaoistArt
Another way in which communal Daoists offered prayers for the well-being of family, ances-

tors, and state was by sponsoring works of Daoist art, most importantly stone images.A typi-

cal the stele showed the image of a high Daoist god on the front and have inscriptions on the

back and/or on the sides.After the artist had executed the image, the family would hire a priest

and, in a formal consecration ritual, have the object placed on a mountainside to allow its easy

communication with the otherworld.
mostly of Lord Lao, but also of other high gods or of a group of deities that may also include

a buddha or bodhisattva, showing that Daoist followers were not loathe to appeal to other, po-

may avoid the three bad forms of rebirth (as animal, ghost, or hell dweller) and instead come

to life in the heavens; for the happiness and prosperity of currently living family members; for

the imperial family and political peace; and for the liberation of all beings. In addition, there

are occasional prayers for a prosperous human rebirth for the ancestors or for the coming of

the true lord who will bring Great Peace.
May the governors and rulers

Guide the people with bright virtue. ...

May the good teaching be spread widely,

And the people follow it in happiness

Looking up with hope. ...

May they have their wishes realized

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The Monastic Life
Monastic institutions represent the culmination of all the other kinds of religious community.
They are liminal in the sense that their members have already left this world and are preparing

forthenext;theyarecentersforthepracticeofself-cultivationandhavetranscendenceastheir

ultimate goal; yet they also form an important component of ordinary society where they play

various roles: supporting the state, providing relief for the populace, training priests, and often

serving in health care and education. Unlike Christian monasteries where the ultimate goal

of enlightenment, Daoist monasteries hope to create a celestial space, a prototype of the ideal

realm of the perfected on Earth.
theocracy. Following its lead, many important institutions arose which soon not only trained

Daoist priests and leaders but also became major centers of learning and economic and politi-

Fig. 6.2
 A Chinese monastery

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ritual observances, transformed simple ordinary acts such as washing their face and hands and
brushing their teeth into sacred activities, and elevated meals to major ceremonial occasions

thatblessed the heavens and allbeings.They also tightlycontrolledallinteractionsboth within

the community and with members of the opposite sex, and submitted themselves to order and

The Daily Schedule
As the Celestial Masters scheduled their major annual festivals to coincide with administrative

events in the heavens, so monastics arranged their cycles in accordance with nature and the

gods and followed a daily schedule determined by ritual. Matching Buddhist convention, they

-
ly evening. First monastics observed a minor rite at cockcrow, consisting of prostrations and

the chanting of incantations.The morning audience followed at dawn, a formal assembly of

all members in honor of the deities, complete with hymns, prostrations, incense burning, and

scripture reading. Breakfast was served afterward, then there was unscheduled time until noon
The noon meal was served around 11 a.m. It was a ceremony involving offerings, prayers,
praises, and chants of repentance, whose timing coincided with the feeding of the heavenly

-
out formal services, followed by the evening audience at dusk and another, lesser rite in mid-

evening.A sixth period of worship was scheduled around midnight.All around the clock,

therefore, in addition to the high holidays throughout the year, Daoists followed the heavenly

rhythm and arranged their lives in service of the divine. Just as their millenarian forebears,

and nuns abstained from alcohol and meat throughout.
Monastic Food
The noon meal was the central food event of the day. Monks and nuns (often living in so-

They chanted a series of incantations, bowing repeatedly, then with precise movements un-

(rice or millet), followed by a number of different dishes, usually vegetarian and made up of

qi
, medicines,
grain, fruit, and vegetables.
The food should be neither too hot nor too cold, too spicy or too bland, nor should it contain

overall sense of harmony in the body, supporting health and long life.Also, every taking of

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food came with a ritual of sharing it with all beings, from the gods above to the demons below,
from the emperor and donors that made the meal possible to all people on Earth.
Sex andAlcohol
To transform their lives into that of immortals, Daoist monastics also had rules against in-

of uncontrolled behavior: sloth and torpor, violence and killing, eating meat, consuming the

rebirth.
-
ligerent behavior, sexual hankerings and rule violations, as well as riding accidents and getting
lost on the road. Its consumption harms all forms of social interaction and leads to violence

and aggression; also, its production is a perfect waste of thousands of pounds of good grain
Fig. 6.3
 A Chinese monastery

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that could feed the people. It is, therefore, best to stay away from wine completely and instead

qi
.
Similarly, to prevent sensual attachments and sexual activity, men and women should remain

separate and avoid all contact or discussions. If they do not even see an attractive person of the

opposite sex, their minds will not get agitated. Daoists were, therefore, seriously segregated

and had to remain distant whenever they found themselves in the presence of a person of the

other sex. However, even for this rule there were exceptions. For example, Daoist monks were

sisters if other male members of their family could not do so, and in general behave honorably

toward the other sex.

cosmos at large, avoiding all activities that would create disturbance among recluses, families,

villages, country, and state.The goal of the religious Daoist life, however much centered on

the individual or in whatever kind of community, never wavered from the universal vision of

Great Peace.The harmony of Heaven and Earth was always at the core of all communal and

Key points you need to know
Daoist ethics focus on the creation of harmony within the community and the larger uni-
verse.All Daoist activities are closely connected to Heaven and Earth, who signal their dis-

approval through natural disasters, personal misfortunes, sickness, and harm.
The earliest Daoist communities of the second century were millenarian in nature.They
segregated themselves from ordinary society and lived a tightly regulated life full of com-
munity service, rituals, and restrictions.
Self-cultivation groups at the same time had much less stringent regulations but dedicated
themselves to the attainment of an otherworldly goal, such as ascension or immortality.
Their communities were centered on the transcendent; their activities were governed by ta-

boos and practice instructions.
Lay organizations, such as the NuminousTreasure school and the theocracy, used religious
ritual and community to enhance life on Earth: personal good fortune, protection of ances-
tors, peace in the land.They engaged in large-scale rituals and also sponsored works of

Daoist art.

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Ethics and the Community

ground for priests and the core of holiness.They had strict schedules and tight rules and
served to establish a replica of the immortal life on Earth.Avoiding alcohol and sensual at-

tachments, they also worked for the community, offering rituals for political stability and

providing an economic network through the country.
Discussion questions
Why do people behave with goodness?What are some common motivations for people to
1.

do good? How do they compare to the Daoist vision of Heaven and Earth?
How are millenarian and monastic institutions similar and different? Can you think of other
2.

dangers of such total institutions?
What are the main characteristic of an organized religion? If you were to found one, what
3.

would you need most essentially?What elements could be left out?
Further reading
Bokenkamp, Stephen R. 1997.
Early Daoist Scriptures
.With a contribution by Peter
Nickerson. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Campany, Robert. 2005. ﬁEating BetterThan Gods andAncestors In
Of Tripod and Palate:
Food, Politics and Religion in Traditional China
, edited by Roel Sterckx, 96-122. New
York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Hendrischke, Barbara. 1991. ﬁThe Concept of Inherited Evil in the
Taiping Jing
.ﬂ
EastAsian
History
 2: 1-30.
Hendrischke, Barbara, and Benjamin Penny. 1996. ﬁ
The 180 Precepts Spoken by Lord Lao
:A
Translation andTextual Study.ﬂ
Taoist Resources
 6.2: 17-29.
KamitsukaYoshiko. 1998. ﬁLao-tzu in Six Dynasties Sculpture.ﬂ In
Lao-tzu and the Tao-te-
ching
, edited by Livia Kohn and Michael LaFargue, 63-85.Albany: State University of New
York Press.
Kleeman,Terry. 1998.
Great Perfection: Religion and Ethnicity in a Chinese Millenarian
Kingdom
. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Kohn, Livia. 2003.
Monastic Life in Medieval Daoism:A Cross-Cultural Perspective
.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

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Ethics and the Community
Kohn, Livia. 2004.
Cosmos and Community: The Ethical Dimension of Daoism
. Cambridge,
Mass.:Three Pines Press.
Tsuchiya, Masaaki. 2002. ﬁConfession of Sins andAwareness of Self in the
Taiping jing
.ﬂ In
Daoist Identity: History, Lineage, and Ritual
, edited by Livia Kohn and Harold D. Roth,
39-57. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Creation and
the Pantheon
In this chapter
While creation in ancient Daoism is mainly cosmogony, the natural evolution of the world
from Dao, organized Daoists pose Lord Lao as conscious, active creator or, alternatively, see

the celestial sounds and symbols of the primordial scriptures as the root cause and central

power of creation.The latter, moreover, take the concrete shape of sacred spells and incanta-

tions as well as ritual talismans and cosmic charts.As such, they are activated in ritual practice

to ensure adepts™ direct access to the upper reaches of the universe.The universe, moreover,

is now divided into thirty-six heavens, the lower twenty-eight of which remain in the realm

of rebirth and are determined by the laws of karma and retribution.The upper heavens are for

perfected human beings as well as immortals, who serve there in different administrative func-

tions. In addition to these divine beings, Daoists also believe in the nature deities, specialized

gods, ancestors, and ghosts adapted from popular religion.
Main topics covered
Creation
Spells, Charts, andTalismans
Heavens and Hells
Gods,Ancestors, and Immortals
7

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Creation
E
arly Daoist texts describe the
creation
 in terms of cosmogony, that is, as an un-
folding of natural processes from the underlying Dao.They have several models
for this: the boring of seven sensory openings into the shapeless sack of cosmic

chaos (Hundun), which creates the world and its culture but also kills formless

primordiality (
Zhuangzi
); the productive unfolding of several stages from the

Daode jing
;
Huainanzi
); the division of the underlying oneness of the cosmos into the two forces yin and

yang, followed by their further subdivision into different mixtures known as the four emblems

(yang-yang, yin-yin, yang-yin, yin-yang) and from there into the eight trigrams and sixty-four

hexagrams (
Yijing
); and the gradual transformation of the world through a series of initiatory
stages such as Grand Simplicity, Grand Immaculate, and Grand Initiation that eventually give

rise to High, Middle, and LowAntiquity, ruled by the various sage rulers and mythical heroes

of old (
Yijing
commentaries;
Liezi
).
Lord Lao as Creator
Daoists of the middle ages change this fundamental outlook to develop several further models

gives it shape. No longer a mere human philosopher or even a gifted immortal, he is now the

root of the entire world, the representative of the order and creativity inherent in the cosmos.

As Laozi comes to create the world, the beginning of his life extends back to the dawn of the

universe, while his entire career is transformed into a celestial myth.Thus the
Laozi bianhua

jing
 (Scripture of Laozi™sTransformations) of the late second century
C
.
E
.
 says:
He rests in great beginning and wanders in the great origin,
Floats through dark, numinous emptiness. . . .

He joins serene darkness before its opening,

Is present in original chaos before the beginnings of time.

Beyond harmony of the pure and turbid,

Moving along with Grand Initiation,

He resides in the ancient realm of obscurity and vastness. . . .

Alone and without relation,

He has existed since before Heaven and Earth.

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Creation and the Pantheon
Living deeply hidden, he always returns to be:
The Celestial Masters
Lord Lao as creator appears further in the
Santian neijie jing
 (Inner Explanation of theThree

withDaoastheunderlyingcreativepoweroftheworld,ﬁdarkandobscure,vastandopen,and

withoutpriorcause.ﬂRevolvinginemptinessandspontaneity,itﬁ t r a n s f o r m s  a n d  b r i n g s  f o r t h

t h e  E l d e r  o f  D a o  a n d Vi r t u e , ﬂ  f o l l o w e d  b y  t h e  t h r e e  h i g h e s t  h e a v e n s .
Once they exist, the Dao as Great Nonbeing c r e a t e s  t h e  t h r e e  f u n d a m e n t a l
qi
 o f  t h e  c o s m o s :
m y s t e r i o u s ,  p r i m o r d i a l ,  a n d  b e g i n n i n g . T h e y  i n  t u r n  i n t e r m i n g l e  i n  c h a o s  a n d  b r i n g  f o r t h  a
primordial goddess called Jade Maiden of Mystery andWonder, a name that combines the

b a s i c  a t t r i b u t e s  o f  D a o  w i t h  t h e  f o r m a l  t i t l e  o f  a  D a o i s t  g o d d e s s .  S h e  n e x t  g i v e s  b i r t h  t o  t h e

c e l e s t i a l  v e r s i o n  o f  L a o z i  t h r o u g h  h e r  l e f t  a r m p i t . T h e  g o d  i n  t h i s  v e r s i o n  i s  n o t  D a o  a s  s u c h

but its direct product, mediated through a series of transformations that bring forth heav
-

H e a v e n .  H i s  e m e rg e n c e  f r o m  t h e  l e f t  a r m p i t ,  m o r e o v e r,  b o r r o w s  f r o m  t h e  b i r t h  s t o r y  o f  t h e

Buddha, who leaves his mother through her right hip.
N e x t ,  L o r d  L a o  c r e a t e s  t h e  w o r l d .  U n d e r  h i s  g u i d a n c e ,  m y s t e r i o u s  e n e rg y  r i s e s  u p  t o  f o r m

Masters™ universe. In addition, the god creates three major continents with three countries

e a c h ,  w h e r e  h e  p l a c e s  p e o p l e  a n d  r e l i g i o n s :  D a o i s m  i n  t h e  c e n t e r  ( C h i n a ) ,  B u d d h i s m  i n  t h e

w e s t  ( I n d i a ) ,  a n d  t h e  ﬁ Wa y  o f  C l e a r  H a r m o n y ﬂ  ( a  s h a m a n i c  r e l i g i o n )  i n  t h e  s o u t h . T h u s  t h e

world with its main continents and religions comes into existence.
Primordial Symbols
A yet different take on the creation of the universe appears in the other medieval schools. In

Highest Clarity, for example, the key to cosmic unfolding is the celestial existence of powerful

qi
, cosmic sym-
bols existed from the beginning of the universe, in essence identical with the underlying force

of all: uncreated, direct, primordial.Their recitation gave the gods, similarly primordial, the

power to furnish being from emptiness. Not only cataclysms of creation, the scriptures are also

key forces of survival.When the world, as it does periodically, comes to an end, the highest

scriptures alone survive.The word for ﬁscriptureﬂ (
jing
) is thus imbued with a new and more
powerful meaning: the ﬁgoing throughﬂ of the original graph becomes the ﬁeternally surviv-

ingﬂ of the religion.

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Nothing but rays of pure light in the beginning, the primordial energies condensed to form
heavenly signs and integrated scriptures. Made from jade, they are inscribed on tablets of gold

in the highest heavens. Incredibly big and written in a form entirely unintelligible to human

beings, they are stored on the Mountain of Jade Capital in Mystery Metropolis, the center of

gain access to this subtle realm. However, these celestials on occasion transmit them to hu-

script).
Scriptural Power
In either case, the galactic words have enormous power for their possessor and must be han-

dled with great care. Recitation of the esoteric names of the heavens as much as of the scrip-

tures themselves conveys immortal status on the believer. Holding original signs of Heaven

is like having a passport to the higher spheres, a token of immortality, the possession of truth

incarnate. In this sense, sacred scriptures in Daoism are more than containers of divine truth:

theyarepowerfulmeansofmagic,seatsofcelestialpotency,sounds ofempowerment,signs of

the ultimate.
The scriptures can subjugate demons, control natural phenomena, and enable seekers to jour-
ney to the otherworld. Copied carefully and handled only with proper ritual and through pu-

scripture to one not rightfully initiated.
Sacred Sounds
The NuminousTreasure school agrees with this assessment of the primordial and creative

power of scriptures and heavenly symbols, but it also adds the dimension of sacred sounds into

of Han cosmology and the key deities of the world™s beginning. Each god has his own special

name, location, characteristics, and sacred spell. For example, the
Yuanshi wulao zhenwen

(PerfectWritings of the FiveAncient Lords of Primordial Beginning), the primary scripture of

NuminousTreasure, says:
In the east resides the FirstAncient Lord of Green Power, with the Jewel of

Peace, in the Forest of Blossoms. His spell is the pervading mysterious stanza

of precious perfection that brings forth the spirit.
In the south resides the PerfectAncient Lord of Cinnabar Power, with the Jewel
of Brahma, in the Realm of FlamingYang. His spell is the precious numinous

song that reaches to Heaven from the southern clouds. . . .

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The jade tablets of the FiveAncient Lords are all texts made from pervading
emptiness and pure spontaneity. In their original form they rest hidden above

the Nine Heavens on the MysteriousTerrace of the SevenTreasures in the Pal-

ace of PurpleTenuity in the Numinous Capital.There they are guarded by the

mystery, they emerge only once in 40,000 eons.
Revelations of these sacred words, symbols, and sounds are thus rare occurrences that have to

be treated with special care and must not be taken lightly.They come with the full force of pri-

mordiality and have tremendous powers that can be used both to advantage and to the creation

of great danger.
Spells, Charts, andTalismans
As a result of this emphasis on sacred sounds and symbols, medieval Daoists paid close at-

tention to their activation in religious practice.They worked heavily with spells, chants, and

incantations to connect to the original sounds of Heaven; they made ample use of charts, signs,

and talismans to adopt the celestial script into their lives.
For example, the Celestial Masters took control of the supernatural forces that pervaded their
universe by fortifying their houses and bodies with talismans while learning to recognize

the demons and call them by their proper names.They also visualized themselves as demon-

conquering heroes and banished all malevolent forces through their powers, enhanced by the

ritual formula: ﬁSwiftly, swiftly, in accordance with the statutes and ordinances.ﬂ. Used in all

ritual incantations and petitions of the Celestial Masters, this formula is still in use today and

has, moreover, made its way into Japan where it is a key phrase among mountain hermits, the

so-calledYamabushi.
A formal incantation against demons from a fourth-century text known as
Zhougui jing

(Scripture on Cursing Demons) runs as follows:
The Celestial Master said:
I am the scourge that kills all misfortunes under Heaven,

A changing body among men, I am a demon king.

My body tall to sixteen feet, my face square and even,

I have copper teeth, iron molars, and a tough, sharp beak.

In my hands a grindstone and a boiling pot,

I hurl the thunder, throw the lightning, and swing the lights of Heaven.

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Stars and planets lose their course, the moon hides her shining,
Whirlwinds arise, battering Earth, the sun retains his brilliance.

Grasses and ferns scorch and wither, trees lose their foliage.

Mountains tumble, stones cleave asunder, I break all river bridges.

My carriage holds an iron cage, shot with a silver lock,

I beat it thrice in every month, sing six sacred songs.

Thus I search out the many demons, valiant and strong,

Succeed in killing off the numerous misfortunes.

While I thus brandish divine spells, who would dare approach,

Passing fast over a thousand miles, I free all from misery.

Incantations in Highest Clarity
Similarly, Highest Clarity practitioners as part of their visualization practice would chant in-
cantations to the gods to come and empower them.Thus the
Tianguan sandu
 (ThreeWays to

Go Beyond the Heavenly Pass) has:
Oh,Yang Brightness of Mystery Pivot,

Cut off my route to death at the Gate of Demons,

Let my spirit souls be free from the three bad rebirths,

The religious practice that goes with an incantation like this is twofold: a visualization of the
divine representatives of Dao and an ecstatic excursion to the heavenly abodes.Visualization

dirt) and takes place in an oratory.The adept begins by burning incense and bowing to the ten

directions. He or she clicks the teeth to indicate his readiness for contact with the divine and

loosens her clothing to settle on a meditation cushion before a small altar table.Then she visu-

alizes either the seven gods of the stars of Dipper, the HeavenlyWorthy, the Queen Mother, or

-

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Creation and the Pantheon
stellations.The gods descend before him and offer him protection, join him in his own unique
world to raise him to a celestial level of being.They may also communicate with him, describe

for him the delights of the heavens, the ranks and orders of the immortals, or again take him

up on a visit to the celestial realm.
Talismans and Sacred Charts
As concrete aids in this practice, Daoists use magical diagrams, charts of the universe, super-

natural maps of sacred mountains, and potent talismans to activate the original powers of Dao.

They all contain celestial signs and drawings that symbolize the essential power of a place,

fu
-
paigns, where the general would break a token in half, then send one part off with his deputy
-
ment. In Daoism, talismans were used similarly, with the main difference that the matching

half was the original in Heaven.Their earthly parts were oblong pieces of wood, metal or,

more recently, colored paper (usually yellow, red, or blue), inscribed in black or red ink with

situation, they serve as a manifestation of cosmic energies, a geomantic chart, the representa-

tion of a deity, an edict from the spirit world, or a god™s immediate order.
ActivatingTalismans
Talismans could only be handled and activated if the practitioner was in a high state of purity

and mentally prepared to take on the powers they represented.All medieval Daoist schools

They were particularly dominant in the school of theThree Sovereigns, which strove to con-
tinue the activation of sacred talismans as used by the ancient sage rulers to govern the world

in perfect harmony. Revealed to the hermit Bo He in the third century as writings in a cave, the

talismans were later found on Mount Song, then passed down and linked with other cosmic

charts. Followers of theThree Sovereigns school believed that the talismans guaranteed uni-

versal harmony. Safely stored in the higher heavens and accessible only to the gods, they were

transmitted to Earth by Lord Lao or theYellow Emperor.Through them practitioners learned

about the proper behavior, personal integrity, and correct procedures for the effective handling

of the talismans.

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As outlined in the
Badi jing
 (Scripture of the Eight Emperors) of theThree Sovereigns school,
to write a talisman practitioners needed a special brush and ink.They began by purifying
themselves with incense and by fasting in a secluded spot.They should act only at night and in

a clean place, in perfect accordance with the phases of the moon. First they donned immortals™

garb, then summoned the gods by writing the proper talisman. For the gods of Heaven, the

characters should be written pointing upward; for those of Earth, downward.The deities would

announce their presence after a few moments.
Fig. 7.1
  Classic talismans

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Sacred Charts
Celestial symbols were further activated in diagrams or sacred
charts (
tu
). Stylized cosmic maps of sacred areas, they came

true shape of a geographic feature; examples are the charts

in their interior, of NuminousTreasure paradises, and of the

underworld.The second type includes diagrams associated

with the
Yijing
, which reveal the functioning of the universe
and its cosmogonic principles; examples are the
Diagram
of the Great Ultimate
and the
River Chart
, a sacred map of
the universe brought to Earth on the back of a dragon in the

Yellow River.The third consists of representations of the

body, syntheses of cosmogonic elements, depictions of body

gods, the underworld, alchemical processes and talismanic el-

ements; the best known is the
Neijing tu

(Diagram of Interior
Passageways), a picturesque illustration of the world inside

the body.
Heavens and  Hells
The world in Daoism, then, consists of multiple layers of

realms both thisworldly and otherworldly.The majority of ex-

istence is subsumed in a comprehensive structure of thirty-six

heavens, topped by the Heaven of Grand Network, also trans-

lated as the Heaven of GrandVeil, with its capital of Mystery

Metropolis, also known as the (Mountain of) Jade Capital.

Here the great celestial scriptures are stored, managed and

guarded by the highest of deities, powerful representatives of

Dao and elevated immortals.

three major schools of Daoism with their respective gods, scriptures, talismans, chants, and

a host of divine administrators. Below them are the four ﬁBrahma-Heavens,ﬂ named after the

central deity of the Hindu pantheon who represents the purity of the universe and the four ide-

al mental states (
brahmaviharas
): equanimity, love, compassion, and sympathetic joy.These
four heavens are reserved for true believers, human beings who have attained a very high level

of purity in their lives and minds and who are transposed into these divine realms of pure bliss.
Fig. 7.2
 The Diagram of the Great
Ultimate

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They can advance to become immortals in the Clarities or, like bodhisattvas, decide to return
to the lower realms if they decide to assist humanity in its quest for peace and perfection.
TheThreeWorlds
The lowest twenty-eight
levels of existence
 are called theThreeWorlds and adapted from
Buddhism.The lowest six form theWorld of Desire; the following eighteen are theWorld of

Form; and the four heavens above them constitute theWorld of Formlessness.This is more or

less the world people inhabit, their level determined by their dominant way of life.Are they

mainly guided by desire and is their life governed by passion? Or do they follow fundamental

principles, ethical rules, and inherent virtues that go beyond desire yet can still be expressed in

form? Or are they spiritually advanced and have developed a strong intuition, a sense of right-

ness in themselves and in the universe, subject neither to desire nor to limiting rules?These

highest of beings participate in theWorld of Formlessness and are poised for ascension into

the Brahma Heavens or even theThree Clarities when all physicality is transcended
The Five Paths of Rebirth
TheThreeWorlds, unlike the higher heavens, are governed by the laws of karma and retribu-

tion. Here people transmigrate from birth to birth, passing repeatedly through
being
, adapted from Buddhism.They are the realms of gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts,

asuras
).

the modern, psychological reading, each realm is associated with a particular attitude or emo-

tion: gods are addicted to pleasure, human beings are fundamentally ignorant, animals run on

instinct, hungry ghosts are driven by greed and desire, and hell dwellers are full of anger and

hatred.We all pass through these states variously in our lives, but some people are dominantly

more in one mode than another and can be described as living in that particular realm.
The Chinese traditionally have read these states more cosmologically and asserted that one can
actually be reborn as an animal or a god and suffer or enjoy the kind of life that plane offers.

Whether pleasant or unpleasant, though, as long as one is still in theThreeWorlds and passes

reached the ideal state of immortality and divinity in the Dao.
Karmic Punishments
Unfavorable planes of life in the Daoist system, then, are described as the ﬁthree bad rebirths,ﬂ

-

Jieye benxing jing
(Scripture of Controlling

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Karma and Original Conduct), the three bad rebirths are in the hells, as hungry ghosts, or

-
-
erty, as an orphan, or as a lowly person; as a sick person; as a mentally retarded, mad, or dis-

and in a country that lacks Dao.

hells
, envi-
sioned as supernatural courts of inquisition and torture that were also adapted from Buddhism.
The text lists them:
1.To have to step on the mountain of knives;
2.To have to climb the tree of swords;

3.To be thrown into the boiling cauldron;

4.To be tied to the hot iron pillar;

5.To have to lie on the bed of spikes;

7.To have one™s head grasped and one™s tongue twisted;

beaten with iron staffs;
10.Tocometolifeonlytobetiedinfetters,tobedeeplyintroubleanddistress,
and to be eventually killed.
Medieval Daoists adopted these tortures from Indian sources but they had clear reality also in

Later arranged in ten successive ﬁcourts of hellﬂ and each associated with a particular kind of

transgression, they are to the present day depicted in vivid detail on temple walls, providing

massive deterrents for the faithful.
TheWorkings of
Karma
The process by which one is affected by bad karma is gradual.As the sixth-century
Yinyuan

jing
 (Scripture of Karmic Retribution) describes it, people who live immorally and go against

This will put great stress on their minds and cause increasing madness, while their bodies will

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suffer greatly from a variety of diseases and discomforts.Too sick to live yet not sick enough
to die, they are caught in a living hell on earth.
Even after death, there is no respite. On the contrary, the real suffering starts in the various
depths of
hell

of a domestic animal, as a pauper or despised person, crippled, dumb, or deaf, condemned to

a life of suffering from hunger, cold, and chronic diseases.This situation, of course, gives rise

to create the good karmic conditions necessary for a better life. Moral behavior and formal

-
sequences. Even the most elementary prohibitions against killing, stealing, and lying help to

create a setting that allows relief and eventual growth in Dao.
Gods,Ancestors, and Immortals
Living in a positive relationship to Dao, moreover, means engaging in constant interaction not

only with the community of the living but also with innumerable supernatural entities, most

importantly forces of nature and the dead.They both, in traditional yin-yang pattern, come in

a good and a bad form, so that there is a fourfold division of divine agents: gods and demons,

ancestors and ghosts.The Chinese terms for these are the same:
shen
 and
gui
, showing that,

between them.
Nature Gods
Forces of nature include gods of soil and grain (worshiped in every village), the
dragon gods

Lady, the various powers of the planets and the Northern Dipper, as well as other marvelous

-
mos, representing pure powers of life and creation that help to steer the universe in its right

course.
On the negative side, natural forces also manifest as demons that bring disasters and epidem-

and demons of cold wind that cause sickness and infertility.

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Ancestors
The divine and the demonic are also present within people and among the dead. In people,
they are their material (
po
) and spirit (
hun
)
souls
. Characterized as yin and yang, respectively,
they represent the earthly and heavenly
qi
in the person and serve to ensure healthy instincts
of self-preservation and survival as well as provide guidance toward intellectual or spiritual

pursuits.
Having joined to form the person during gestation, after death they each return to their native
realms: the
hun
 or yang part to Heaven, the
po
 or yin part to Earth. Both continue to have both
spiritual potency as well as some material nature, so that they need support and sustenance

from the living.The
hun
 soul thus becomes an ancestral spirit (
shen
), is represented in an
ancestral tablet placed on the altar in the center of a traditional Chinese home, and there re-

through the hells and descendants make every effort to ensure its smooth transit, having scrip-

The
po
 soul remains with the corpse and is buried in the Earth under positive auspices and

of an extensive family visit at
Qingming
, the Pure and Bright Festival in the fourth month. It,
In some cases, the ancestor is considered so meritorious, having been a person of high exem-

plary standing and great virtue, that his powers are too good to be used by just one family.

-

hierarchy, such as a village or city god.
Ghosts
Ghosts
 (
gui
) are the lost dead, people who have died violently or far from their kin, other-

rest.They are exceedingly numerous and typically hungry, with a limited degree of conscious-

or boys, possess harmless people to get them to do their wishes, and in general wreak havoc

wherever they appear.
A typical countermeasure is to throw a shoe as soon as one spots them, calling out their names
if one can identify them, or using peach wood to make a sacred bow and arrow for one™s de-

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Creation and the Pantheon
fense.Talismans and exorcisms complete the armory of unsuspecting citizens constantly sur-
rounded by otherworldly malevolence.

their cooperation. In some cases, one or the other ghost may turn benevolent and emerge as

increases dramatically: the ghost becomes a god. Many such deities are local, and their cult

-
All these supernatural agents, gods and demons, ancestral spirits and ghosts depend on their
close interaction with the living.The living and the otherworldly help or harm each other and

exist in a mutual relationship, having no real independence in the universal scheme.They are

deeply embedded in the complementary nature of yin and yang.
Immortals

ThreeWorlds and do not participate in the mutuality system.These are the immortals and per-

fected beings of Daoism, who are also of two

kinds: either uncreated or created, born form

pure celestial energies or transformed from a

human base.
Celestial perfected include the pure gods of
the Dao, who are not forces of nature but

stand beyond nature at the root of existence

and represent the core heavens and scriptures.

Transformed immortals, on the other hand,

are human beings who, either through an elix-

ir or a variety of practices have found direct

access to Dao and succeeded in transforming

themselves completely.
In either case, immortals are part of the pure
level of Dao at the root of creation, beyond

the yin-yang division of the mainstream cos-

mos.They stand alone and interact with other

beings entirely on their own terms. No feed-

ing or forcing is possible. Like bodhisattvas

orWestern gods, one can pray to them but
Fig. 7.3
 A Daoist immortal

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Creation and the Pantheon
their response, if it ever comes, is entirely an act of grace and not based on a mutual relation-
ship of any kind.
Transcendence
Immortals are physical beings, as everything in the Chinese universe is physical in a more or

less subtle form. But while the gods of the mainstream pantheon consist of high yang energy

and the dead of high yin, immortals are beyond either, having bodies of ultimate yang that

makes up the base of all other forms of
qi

-

practices to transform to increasingly purer levels of yang and eventually go beyond all.After

having created a new, transcendent type of body, they pass through death, always the gateway

to the otherworld, as the mere falling-away of their human form, shedding the body ﬁlike the

The successfully transformed immortal is duly rewarded with a position in the celestial ad-
ministration, usually beginning as a lowly manager in the realm of the dead, the Six Palaces of

Fengdu
, then gradually working his way up to the higher realms in centuries of dedicated ser-

as meritorious ancestors of devout Daoists and popular gods from the mainstream pantheon.

-
tinues mainstream Chinese beliefs while yet transforming them in a new vision.
Key points you need to know
The Daoist universe is created from the Dao either by evolution or through the agency of
Lord Lao or the sacred sounds and signs of the scriptures. Daoists gain access to the oth-

erworld by using the primordial sounds and signs in the form of incantations and spells or

talismans and cosmic charts.
They strive to attain the higher of altogether thirty-six heavens, overcoming the tribula-
tions of karma and retribution which rule the lower twenty-eight, also known as theThree
Worlds, a concept adapted from Buddhism.TheWorld of Desire, moreover, also includes

several undesirable realms of rebirth, such as that of animals, hungry ghosts, and hells.
The various heavens and deities are also present in the human body, which is a replica of
the universe and houses a variety of gods, palaces, and passageways. In the higher reaches
of Heaven, immortals serve as celestial administrators along with nature gods and divinized

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Creation and the Pantheon
human beings.At the same time, Daoists also subscribe to the beliefs of popular religion,
including worship of nature deities, ancestors, and divinized humans.
Discussion questions
How do the Daoist visions of creation compare to other creation stories?Are they more or
1.

less plausible? In what ways are they similar or different?
Is there anything in the Daoist vision of Heaven and hell that reminds you ofWestern or
2.

other comparative concepts?What are some common themes in such visions?

What are some uses of sacred signs and sounds used in rituals or group organization?
3.

Further reading
Bokenkamp, Stephen R. 2007.
Ancestors andAnxiety: Daoism and the Birth of Rebirth in
China
. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Eberhard,Wolfram. 1967.
Guilt and Sin in Traditional China
. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Despeux, Catherine. 2000. ﬁTalismans and Sacred Diagrams.ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
, edited by
Livia Kohn, 498-540. Leiden: E. Brill.
Girardot, Norman. 1983.
Myth and Meaning in Early Taoism
. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Jordan, David K. 1972.
Gods, Ghosts andAncestors
. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Major, John S. 1993.
Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four, and
Five of the Huainanzi
.Albany: State University of NewYork Press.
Seidel,Anna. 1969.
La divinisation de Lao-tseu dans le taoïsme des Han
. Paris: Ecole
Française d™Extrême-Orient. Reprinted 1992.
Teiser, Stephen F. 1994.
The Scripture of the Ten Kings:And the Making of Purgatory in
Medieval Chinese Buddhism
. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Religious Practices
In this chapter
Daoist religious practices can be personal or communal, focus on meditation or ritual.They

through longevity practice.The latter involves a moderate lifestyle together with efforts at
qi
-

regulation, notably through diet, exercise, breathing, and sexual control.Also common to both

ritual and meditation is the importance of mental concentration, learned through exercises of

focused one-pointedness, and of visualization, the internal seeing of energies, deities, and ec-

static journeys to the stars.
-
tion, a variety of methods called ﬁobservationﬂ that allow practitioners to identify fully with
Dao, and visualization methods that enhance the
qi
 in the inner organs and cosmicize the body.

-
ditional court ritual.The core of the rite is an audience with Dao as celestial deities. It involves

extensive preparations, detailed orchestration of all aspects, the formal invitation of numerous

deities, and a series of incantations of repentance followed by prayers for harmony and good

fortune. It concludes with a large communal banquet.
Main topics covered
LongevityTechniques
Breath and Sex
Forms of Meditation
Visualization
BodyTransformation
RitualActivation
8

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LongevityTechniques
T
he Daoist path has both an individual and communal dimension. On the com-
munal level, advanced Daoists serve as priests and advisers, ritual specialists and

intermediaries between this world and the divine, aiding people in their ascent

to Heaven and granting them release from the tortures of hell.While communal

practice involves extensive ritual training, it also means a thorough transforma-
tion of self in terms of cosmicizing the body, activating different levels of
qi
, and acknowledg-
ing the nature and importance of supernatural agencies. By the same token, individual practice

is never far removed from the community of believers and always also involves ritual aware-

ness and a close connection to the gods. In other words, all different kinds of Daoists, whatev-

er their specialization and main orientation, in some form or another undertake the full variety

of religious practices of the religion.

-
ments of Chinese culture and society.The longevity methods, for example, go back to medical

sources and originally formed part of preven-

tative medicine. Many meditation and certain

ritual techniques similarly are of Buddhist

origin and were integrated after the foreign

religion had food a strong foothold in the

country.

In theTang dynasty (618-907), two leading
Daoist masters, the physician and alchemist

Sun Simiao
 (582-683) and the Highest Clarity

Patriarch
Sima Chengzhen
 (647-735), cre-
ated a formal systematization of practices,

from the elementary moderation of lifestyle

-
ment to stages of meditation and ascent to

immortality.
The following presentation follows their out-
line, but it should be understood that in actual

reality Daoists did not follow a set structure.

Rather, they adapted the plethora of practices

on some and leaving out others.They could

also, as again documented inTang sources,

specialize so that there were alchemical mas-
Fig. 8.1
  Sun Simiao

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Rel igious Practices
ters, exercise specialists, herbal pharmacists, sexual practitioners, and various kinds of medita-
tion leaders.
Moderation
Most outlines of Daoist practice begin by emphasizing the need to establish harmony on

the personal level.This means that one should live as healthily as possible in close adapta-

tion to the natural cycles of day and night and the changes of the seasons.The fourth-century

Yangsheng yaoji
(Long Life Compendium), for example, cites the ancient immortal Pengzu as

saying:
The method of nourishing life consists mainly in not doing harm to oneself.

Keep warm in winter and cool in summer, and never lose your harmony with

-
low sensuous beauty, provocative postures, easy leisure, and enticing entertain-

spirit.
The most important advice is to remain moderate in everything, since any excess will harm the

lungs and kidneys: to eat and drink with control, to stay away from various luxuries that lead

to a weakness of
qi
, and to keep speech and laughter within limits.
Continuing, the text cites Pengzu again and points out that heavy clothing and thick comfort-
ers, spicy foods and heavy meats, sexual attraction and beautiful women, melodious voices

and enticing sounds, wild hunting and exciting outings, as well as all strife for success and

ambition inevitably lead to a weakening of the body and thus a reduction in life expectancy.

In the same vein, various mental activities harm key psychological forces and bring about a

diminishing of
qi
, which takes one further away from Dao and reduces life. In other words,
harmony with Dao manifests itself in mental stability and physical wellness, and any form of

agitation or sickness indicates a decline in one™s alignment with the forces of nature.
Diet
On the basis of a healthy and well-adjusted lifestyle, practitioners then conform to a
Daoist
diet
, which essentially means eating moderately (never to complete satiation) and in natural

to the seasons.
As described by Sun Simiao in his
Sheyang lun
(On Preserving and Nourishing [Life]), one
should eat warming foods in winter and cooling foods in summer; prepare foods in accordance
with the celestial constellations; observe the various food taboos associated with one™s astro-

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logical signs; use locally grown and organic ingredients as much as possible; and systemati-
cally and in accordance with one™s personal constitution supplement regular foodstuffs with

herbal and mineral substances.
themselves from ordinary foodstuffs, replacing grains and heavy foods with raw vegetables,

fruits, and nuts.They can then increase herbal supplements, liquid nourishment, and concen-

trated internal guiding of
qi
 to the point where they do not need any food to sustain themselves
but can live entirely on
qi
.This process of removing ordinary food in favor of breath is called
ﬁabstention from grainﬂ (
bigu
).As all dietary cultivation, the idea here is to create a well-ad-
justed body where the
qi

-

Healing Exercises
Another way of opening and lightening the body is through the practice of
healing exercises

(
daoyin

Highest Clarity, Daoists expanded and systematized these practices. Placing a greater empha-

sis on internal awareness without completely giving up on physical movements, they devel-

oped integrated sequences and associated them with famous immortals of old, such as Master

such as dragons and turtles.
TheTurtleWay
Daoyin jing
 (Exercise Classic) describes a series of practices
called the ﬁTurtleWay of Guiding the
Qi
.ﬂ It involves several medical exercises, such as the

following:
Kneel upright and interlace your hands behind your back.This is called the

excessive yin.
Doing so, practitioners tighten the abdominal muscles and lengthen the back, thus massaging

the inner organs and releasing tension.They thereby open the pathways of
qi
, balance yin and
yang energies, and engage with a subtler dimension of their physical being.
Next, theTurtleWay suggests inversions to let the
qi
 move in various directions. It says:

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With both hands holding on to a rope, pull yourself up, then hang upside down,
so that the legs are above the torso.This relieves dizziness in the head and cra-

ziness due to wind.
Pull up with both hands and reverse yourself, so you hang from the rope with
your back at the top.This relieves lack of concentrated essence and failure to

digest properly.

brain which causes a relief of dizziness and mental confusion.They also alleviate heaviness in

the legs and lower body, aiding digestion and the overall balance of circulation.
Another set ofTurtleWay practices pays conscious attention to breath. One method involves
covering the mouth and nose with a garment and holding the breath for the count of nine, then

gently releasing it through the nose.Alternatively one can raise the head like a turtle and hold

Medieval and later texts record a large number of similar practices, in all cases asserting that,
as Master Redpine says in to the
Daoyin jing
, ﬁif done regularly, the practice will make your
hearing keen, your vision bright, and your years extended to great longevity, with none of the

hundred diseases arising.ﬂ
Breath and Sex
Daoists also engaged in breathing techniques without body movements, with the goal to sub-

-
tions and throat movements that created breaths with certain sounds while stabilizing their

related organs.Already mentioned in the
Zhuangzi
 and Han manuscripts, these were later sys-
tematized into a set called the
Six Breaths
 (today the Six Healing Sounds).They are:
1.
Si
, a gentle, relaxed exhalation that lets the breath escape between slightly

opened lips; it is associated with the lungs.
2.
He
, a strong breath with open mouth accompanied by a guttural rasping
through tightening of the throat at the base of the tongue; it expels heat and aids

the heart.
3.
Hu
, the standard term for ﬁexhale,ﬂ is a blowing out of breath with rounded
lips; it supports the spleen.
4.
Xu
, a gentle expulsion of breath with open mouth; it balances the liver.

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5.
Chui
, a sharp expulsion of air with almost closed lips; it, expels cold and aids
the kidneys
6.
Xi
, traditionally the sound of sighing, is a soft exhalation with the mouth
slightly open; it supports theTriple Heater, a uniquely Chinese organ which ab-

sorbs
qi
 from food and breath and directs it to the vital organs.
In addition, Daoists practice guiding the
qi
 as outlined in the ancient inscription discussed
earlier.They breathe in deeply, mix the breath with saliva in the mouth, then swallow it and

consciously direct it to different parts of the body, nourishing the organs and moving freely

through the energy channels.
Sexual Control
Yet another way of accessing and sublimating
qi
 in the body is through
sexual energy
 or es-
sence (
jing
). Emerging from the body™s primordial
qi
, it is present in people from birth in
limited amounts and centers in the Ocean of
Qi
Cavern of
Qi
-
tive organs as well as the bones, marrow, teeth, brain, and overall energy system of the body;

it easily diminishes through sexual engagements.As a result, both Chinese medical and Daoist

practitioners focus on conserving the stock people have originally and on replenishing what is

lost.
People conserve essence by limiting the frequency of its loss through ejaculation and men-
struation as well as by using massage techniques that keep the
qi

working on its ﬁreturnﬂ or ﬁreversionﬂ into primordial
qi
with the help of both partner and solo
practices.The latter involve developing a state of excitement and then, instead of allowing

the
jing

along the spine and into the head, guiding it along the microcosmic orbit and thus enhancing

the body™s vitality.
Levels of Practice

(1) among ordinary people they are part of marital intercourse and focus largely

on healing and conservation;
(2) among longevity seekers they are known as ﬁreverting sexual energy to
nourish the brain;ﬂ they can be undertaken individually through meditative re-

are brought to orgasm while the practitioner retains
qi
;

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(3) in organized Daoism sexual practices are known as ﬁharmonization of
qi
ﬂ
among the early Celestial Masters and as ﬁdual cultivationﬂ in the internal al-
chemy of late imperial China. Ritually transformed ways of intercourse, these

techniques are employed to enhance oneness with Dao and often lead on to solo

practice, where yin and yang are isolated within the practitioner ™s body and

a spirit being that will survive this body and ascend to the higher heavens as an

immortal.
Forms of Meditation
A different and somewhat subtler way of attaining
qi
-balance, sublimating the body-mind, and
connecting to Dao is the practice of meditation. Meditation is the inward focus of attention in

a state of mind where ego-related concerns and critical evaluations are suspended in favor of

several major forms of meditation, notably concentration, observation, and visualization.
Concentration
Concentration
 is one-pointedness of mind. It involves complete control of attention and the

the goal of calming the mind and quieting internal chatter.
The earliest form of Daoist meditation described in the texts is a form of concentration: the
quietist simplicity encouraged in the
Daode jing
, which comes with a general withdrawal of

of
qi
 and strive to gain a balance and one-pointedness of mind, gathering their attention in

stillness so that they can be receptive to the purity of Dao.A similar set of practices is also

outlined in the
Neiye
, which guides adepts to a deep, nonacting quietude and a profound align-
ment with the natural transformations.
Guarding the One
A more complex form of concentration appears in a method known as ﬁguarding the One.ﬂ

ﬁthe One.ﬂThis can be an abstract principle, a sense of power at the root of creation, a point

inside the body, a central constellation in the stars, or Lord Lao as present in the body.

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In the latter form, the One resides in the scarlet palace of the heart or in the purple chamber
in the head, the center of vital energy in the middle or upper parts of the body.Also called the

Perfect Great One of theYellow Center, he looks like a baby and appears clad in purple robes

while sitting on a golden throne. In his left hand, he holds the handle of the Northern Dipper;

in his right hand he has the Pole Star, signifying his power at the central command of all.

mainly aimed at the establishment of one-pointed concentration and inner tranquility, it is al-

ready a form of visualization which dominates medieval Daoist practice.
Observation
mindfulness

It often begins with the recognition of physical sensations and subtle events in the body but

may also involve paying attention to outside occurrences. Early Daoist examples of this prac-

tice appear in the
Zhuangzi
, which describes the fasting of the mind as a replacing of ordinary
sensory patterns with pure
qi-
mentation and sketches the practice of sitting in oblivion with its
complete forgetfulness of self and others.
Sitting in Oblivion
InTang Daoism, aided by the integration of Buddhist insight practice,
sitting in oblivion
 be-
cameamajorDaoisttechnique.SimaChengzhen,inhis
Zuowanglun
(OnSittinginOblivion),
presents a detailed outline, describing it in seven stages. From a basis of ﬁrespect and faith,ﬂ

practitioners leave the world (at least temporarily) to ﬁintercept karma,ﬂ then practice con-

centration to ﬁtame the mindﬂ and gain one-pointed focus.The fourth step, ﬁdetachment from

After this, adepts move on to ﬁtrue observationﬂ to overcome their attachment to any personal

bound to rot sooner or later; the mind is just a succession of thoughts and ideas that have no

-
ing phenomena and see the end of life as merely a change of residence of the spirit. ﬁThus,ﬂ

the text says, ﬁrelinquish all desires and abide in nonexistence. Be placid, pure, and well-

rooted, and turn to observation.Whatever you loved before will not only cause weariness and

disdain.ﬂ
The last two steps are an enstatic immersion in a deep trance called ﬁintense concentration,ﬂ

of all body-centered reality into the spheres above where alone ﬁrealizing the Daoﬂ is possible.

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The ultimate goal is complete disconnection from all worldly affairs and the attainment of im-
mortality in the heavens above.
Inner Observation
Closely connected to this practice and also formulated inTang sources is a inner observation

(
neiguan
), which consists of careful introspection of body and mind under the auspices of

the starry heavens above, full of palaces and chambers, gods and deities.This cosmic body,

works through the human mind and governs life perfectly. Instead of trying to follow sensory

impressions, make judgments, and develop critical evaluations, people learn to be at rest in

their original cosmic nature and let the intuition of the spirit guide them through life.
Visualization
Visualization

seen with complete detachment or involve the participation of the practitioner. In either case,

visualization opens the consciousness to more subtle levels, allowing the powers of the uncon-

scious to manifest themselves and bringing new dimensions to the practitioner ™s life.
Also called creative imagination, visualization is an important method used today in a variety
of contexts, from sports training to business presentations. In the Daoist world, it was called

ﬁactualization and imaginationﬂ (
cunxiang
) and applied both internally and externally, that is,

body and was also a means to ecstatically travel to the otherworld and engage with the deities,

not unlike the cosmic journey of the Great Man.
OrganVision
The earliest visualization practice described in Daoist texts involved seeing lights of different

inner organs.As the
Taiping jing shengjun bizhi
 (Secret Instructions of the Holy Lord on the
Scripture of Great Peace) describes it, one should begin by sitting quietly with eyes closed un-

til a brilliant light arises in the mind.
This light will initially be red, with prolonged practice it will turn white.After

another long stretch, it will be green.As you penetrate these lights, they will

come nearer and nearer and eventually merge into one brilliance. Nothing is not

illuminated within; the hundred diseases are driven out.

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Each light, moreover, is connected to its matching inner organ so that, for example, the
green light is directed to the liver, the red light to the heart, and so on.The lights vitalize

and strengthen the inner organs, creating health and long life as well as a sense of cosmic

connection.
The Five Sprouts
An expanded version of this practice as undertaken in Highest Clarity is known as absorb-

Chengzhen™s
Fuqi jingyi lun
 (On the Essential Meaning of theAbsorption of
Qi
), at dawn
when everything awakens to life and is full of potential, adepts begin by swallowing the saliva

while holding sacred talismans and chanting purifying invocations.
They face the direction in question, usually beginning with the east, and in their minds visual-
ize its
qi
 in its appropriate color.A general mist in the beginning, it gradually forms into a ball,
sort of like the rising sun, then through further concentration shrinks in size and comes closer

to the adept. Eventually the size of a pill, the sprout can be swallowed and guided mentally to

and gradually the adept™s body becomes infused with cosmic energy and partakes more active-

ly in the cosmos as a whole.The incantations are short and to the point. For example:
Green Sprout of the East:
Be absorbed to feed my [internal] green sprout [liver].

I drink you through the Morning Flower [root of upper teeth]. (3a)

Vermilion Cinnabar of the South:

Be absorbed to feed my [internal] vermilion cinnabar [heart].

I drink you through the Cinnabar Lake [root of lower teeth].
By ingesting the sprouts, Daoists partake of the inherent power of the celestial bodies and feed
on the pure creative energy of the universe its most subtle form. Increasingly joining the ger-

minal energy of the universe, they become lighter and freer, learn to appear and disappear at

will, overcome the limitations of this world, and attain immortality in the heavenly realm.

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BodyTransformation
Another way of creating a sense of cosmic reality in the body is through internally traveling
through its various parts, uncovering the larger universe as represented in microcosmic form

within.AlreadyHancosmologyandChinesemedicinesawthebodyasanetworkof
qi
-storage
areas and energy channels, a replica of nature and the cosmos.
Medieval Daoists advanced this vision to see the body as a veritable storehouse of divine
outlined in the
Huangting jing
 (Yellow Court Scripture), a fourth-century meditation manual,
and depicted in later charts, such as the

Neijing tu

(Chart of Internal Passageways),

they would develop concentration and with

slow and conscious breathing move mentally

into their heads, entering through the Deep

Valley of the nose and passing between the

sun and the moon (left and right eyes) to visit

the paradise mountain of Mount Kunlun or

Laozi™s palace of theYellow Court in the

head.
To attain entry, they sounded the gong or
musical stone placed in the DarkTowers of

the ears through an exercise called ﬁbeating

the heavenly drum:ﬂWith both palms cover-

are snapped to sound against the back of the

skull.They thus produced reverberations that

created a sound not unlike distant drumming.
InternalTravel
Practitioners thus entered to the divine realm of the head, made up of Nine Palaces that were

the stars. Most important among them were the Hall of Light, located in the center of the eye-

brows about one inch into the head; the Grotto Chamber, one inch further in; and the Niwan

Moving lower from there, they would come to the Flowery Pond, i.e., the mouth, made up
Jade Fluid or Sweet Spring, i.e., saliva. Crossing the pond over its central bridge, i.e., the

tongue, adepts reach the deeper regions of the body. First there is theTwelve-StoriedTower,
Fig. 8.2
  Beating the heavenly drum

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i.e., the throat, followed by the Scarlet Palace (heart), the Imperial Granary (stomach), the
Purple Chamber (gall), the GreatWall (large intestine), and many others more. Going ever

deeper, another cosmic region is reached. Here there is yetYellow Court (spleen) with another

set of DarkTowers, the kidneys.
Seeing the body as a replica of the universe and traveling through its depths, Daoists would

rather than the bones and blood of ordinary physical existence.The very foundation of being,

the root of personal identity, would be sublimated and cosmicized to create a sense of oneness

with the universe.
Ecstatic Excursions
The most advanced and complex form of visualization is the practice of ecstatic excursions,

and adaptation of
shamanic soul travel
 to the far reaches of the universe, into the starry con-
stellations above, and eventually to the highest heavens gods and immortals.The practice typi-

the otherworld usually start with a tour around the far reaches of the Earth.They then move on

to an imitation of the planets™ movements, especially of the sun and the moon, in an effort to

make the body into a replica of the universe and gain control over its rhythm.
Once perfectly aligned, adepts reach out to visit the higher spheres of the planets and superior
heavens to eventually approach the central axis of the world at the Dipper. Here they establish

themselves in the quiet center of Dao, around which everything else revolves, thus becoming

one with the root of creation. On their way, moreover, they encounter numerous gods and im-

mortals, from whom they learn cosmic secrets and receive instructions for further attainment.

By ecstatically traveling through the far cosmic reaches, adepts turn themselves increasingly

than their existence on Earth.
Divine Relations
Another form of bodily transformation is through energetic exchange with a divine agent.As

described in the
Xuanzhen jingjue
 (Scripture of the Mysterious Perfected), a technical manual
of Highest Clarity, adepts visualize the pure energy of the sun or the moon, then imagine a

goddess in its midst, called Jade Maiden of Highest Mystery. On her head she wears a purple

cap, her cloak and skirt are made of vermilion brocade.
With prolonged practice, the Jade Maiden grows stronger and more vivid until she is felt pres-

space between the light rays of the sun or the moon.They allow the rays to merge and com-

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bine with the morning light of the Jade Maiden, then open their own mouth to absorb the ce-
lestial power, guiding it through their body.
In a more advanced form of the practice, adepts imagine that the Jade Maiden presses her

time, they are to chant the following:
Oh, Purple Perfected of Great Empyrean,

Oh, come out of the sun and enter the moon,

-
scend and lie down to share your mat. She might even divide her shape for you into a host of
like jade maidens who will serve your every whim.ﬂA sublimated form of sexual harmoniza-

tion as practiced in Celestial Masters ritual, this visualization makes the adept an accepted

partner of the divine and full denizen of the otherworld, transported from his mundane indi-

viduality to the realm of utmost perfection.
Fig. 8.3
 Visualizing the arrival of
the gods

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RitualActivation
-
si
-
tion (
zhai
), and thanksgiving or offering (
jiao
). In ancient China, and still in Confucian

ritual objects such as wine, tea, rice, sweets, and animal carcasses to the gods and ancestors.

Following this there is a communal feast, when the food offerings are shared by the congrega-

third and concluding part of the ceremony, offering, is a kind of merit-assuring rite after the

Kinds of Rites
-

-
tion of written documents, such as petitions, memorials, announcements, and mandates.They

-

zhai
), during which partici-
-
tice, listened to monks™ lectures, and had the opportunity to confess their sins. Beyond that,

medieval Daoists developed the purgation (
zhai
), a spectacular public and major communal

ritual. It involved several days of communal chanting and praying, the confession of sins, and

presentation of offerings. In the Song dynasty, this emphasis on offering led to a renaming

of the central Daoist rite as ﬁofferingﬂ (
jiao
) which is today known as the ﬁfestival of cosmic

renewal.ﬂ
The Ritual Setting

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to enhance peace and protection against enemies. Monasteries or major temples would hold
rites as part of seasonal and clerical festivals, such as at theThree Primes. Communities might

sponsor a festival to enhance cohesion, give thanks to the gods, and create renewal.And, last

butnotleast,privateindividualsonoccasiondonatedtoaDaoistritetoexpiatesins,encourage

healing, or pray for success in business. In all cases, the scope and length of the rite depended

Once basic arrangements are made and an auspicious date and place are found, the rite begins
with the establishment of a sacred space, usually a three-tiered altar to represent the key levels

of the universe. It may be set up inside an established temple structure or arranged as a tempo-

rary facility in a specially cordoned-off area. Its essential feature being the audience with the

celestials, it is essential that the area be completely secure, protected with exorcistic formulas

and surrounded by benevolent spirits.
Key Protagonists

was appointed: a Ritual Master of LoftyVirtue, a Cantor, a Purgation Overseer, an Incense

Attendant, and a LampAttendant.
The Ritual Master was the key protagonist and formed the central focus of the purgation; he
visualized the gods and commanded the divine presence, and tended to remain in isolated

purity to focus on his inner powers.The Cantor was the main organizer: he orchestrated the

movements of the Ritual Master, made sure the intention of the donor (to create peace, heal a

disease, pray for renewal, or offer repentance) was clearly expressed in the memorials, sched-

uled all activities, and gave cues to the sound, light, and incense crews. He also led the congre-

gation in chanting and responses, thus his appellation ﬁcantor.ﬂ
ThePurgationOverseer,next,wastheon-sitemanageroftheevent.Heinteractedmostclosely

before the scheduled event, needed proper housing set up for visiting Daoists, could use only

ritually acceptable food for the offerings, and must never turn any visitor away or impose a

fee for anyone participating.They also had to wear the right clothes, ornate and formal but not

imitating priestly vestments, and give a donation in accordance with their wealth to show their

devotion.

that the burners were well stoked so that the incense could rise continuously throughout the

celebrations and that the lamps were plentiful and distributed widely, lit in good time to cre-

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others, especially groups of musicians to strike the bells and chimes, sound the gongs, drums,
and bamboo clappers, and play the reed pipes and stringed instruments.There would also be

staff members to direct people and answer questions.The entire atmosphere and organization

must have been similar to the staging of a major theatrical production, and indeed there was a

close relationship between ritual and theater in traditional China.
Ritual Procedures

invites the deities to descend and participate. He often starts by visualizing a colored cloud of

qi
 that transforms into the image of a god dressed in appropriate garb and equipped with the

right attributes. Gradually he populates the sacred space with all various gods, ancestors, and

people.
The priest visualizes each group of participants and asks them to take their seats. Daoist gods
sit to the north so they can face south as did the emperor of old. Popular deities are established

to the south, facing the superior Daoist gods. heavenly bureaucrats of yang quality, administer-

ing the living, Earth, and dragon spirits, are in the east; those of yin quality, ruling the dead,

water, and tiger spirits, are in the west. People occupy the southeast, and the various other

types of spirits are in the remaining corners.
Next the Ritual Master orchestrates a series of formal acts to inform the celestials that a ma-
jor audience is being prepared.This includes raising sacred banners, beating drums, lighting

lamps, and burning incense. Using another practice common in meditation, the priest clicks his

teeth a number of times to let the gods know that something of import is going to happen.
Over several days, then, various kinds of rites are being performed, combining formal acts and

purpose of the rite.As the activity draws to a close, the Ritual Master thanks the gods for their

attendance and politely sends them off again to their various celestial homes.The ritual con-

-
cessful cosmic invigoration of the community.
Key points you need to know
Daoist religious practice divides into meditation and ritual.They both have in common that
-
cus, and extended visualization practice.

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To gain a strong body and long life, Daoists practice moderation and control their qi through
a harmonious diet, healing exercises, breathing, and sexual control. Beyond longevity prac-
tice, meditation involves various methods of concentration, such as quietist simplicity, in-

ward training, and guarding the One; certain types of observation or insight, such as fasting

of the mind, sitting in oblivion, and inner observation; and various forms of visualization,

-
cally traveling to the otherworld, and engaging in relations with divine beings.
Daoist major rituals used to be called purgations but are now known as offerings.They last
many days and may be sponsored by the state, a temple, a community, or a family, in each

through visualization and, with chants of repentance and petitions for good fortune, creates

a new level of harmony in the world.
Discussion questions
Do Daoist longevity methods work? How do they compare toWestern recommendations for
1.

health and long life?
What is meditation?What are some commonly known examples in today? How do they
2.

compare to what Daoists are doing?

What is ritual? How does it function in our lives?Are there daily rituals in addition to reli-
3.

gious ones? How important is a priest in the performance of ritual?
Further Reading
Benn, Charles D. 1991.
The Cavern Mystery Transmission:A Taoist Ordination Rite ofA.D.
711
. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Benn, Charles. 2000. ﬁDaoist Ordination and
Zhai
 Rituals.ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
, edited by
Livia Kohn, 309-38. Leiden: E. Brill.
Johnson, David, ed. 1989.
Ritual Opera Š Operatic Ritual: ﬁMu-lian Rescues His Motherﬂ in
Chinese Popular Culture
. Berkeley: University of California, IEAS Publications.
Kohn, Livia. 1987.
Seven Steps to the Tao: Sima Chengzhen™s Zuowanglun
. St.Augustin/
Nettetal: Monumenta Serica Monograph XX.
Kohn, Livia, ed. 1989.
Taoist Meditation and Longevity Techniques
.AnnArbor: University of
Michigan, Center for Chinese Studies Publications.

147
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Rel igious Practices
Kohn, Livia, ed. 2006.
Daoist Body Cultivation: Traditional Models and Contemporary
Practices
. Magdalena, NM:Three Pines Press.
Robinet, Isabelle. 1993.
Taoist Meditation
.Translated by Norman Girardot and Julian Pas.
Albany: State University of NewYork Press.
Schafer, Edward H. 1978. ﬁThe JadeWoman of Greatest Mystery.ﬂ
History of Religions
 17:
387-98.
Wile, Douglas. 1992.
Art of the Bedchamber: The Chinese Sexology Classics Including
Women™s Solo Meditation Texts
.Albany: State University of NewYork Press.

Modern Daoism
In this chapter
With the end of theTang dynasty in 907 the integrated, state-supported system of Daoism
collapsed and the religion began to reorganize into new structures, matching the social condi-

tions of the Song dynasty. New masters emerged who catered to the needs of the merchant and

literati classes and some of whom founded new schools. Largely lay-based, exorcistic, and

devoted to martial deities, these schools linked themselves to the Celestial Masters.A major

exception was the school of Complete Perfection, which was monastic and ascetic and estab-

lished an independent system.
These two schools became the only government-recognized venues of Daoism in late imperial
China, providing an administrative umbrella for numerous sub sects and lineages.The gov-

ernment, moreover, enhanced its policy of strict control and established both administrative

-

national prominence, adding a new dimension to the Daoist religion.
Main topics covered
NewTexts and Gods
Ritual Masters
Complete Perfection
ImperialAdaptations
An Expanded Pantheon
9

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NewTexts and Gods
T
he integrated system of theThree Caverns, with the patriarch of Highest Clarity
at the top and the systematic ordination hierarchy below, depended to a large

extent on the imperial support of theTang.The dynasty, badly shaken by the

rebellion ofAn Lushan
 in 755, went into decline and increasingly suffered from

incursions by local warlords until it collapsed completely in 907.
Daoism suffered from these circumstances but also adapted, developing strongholds in lo-

Black SheepTemple
 (Qingyang gong) in Chengdu, Sichuan,

protection from and enhancement of martial powers.A leading master at the time was Du

Guangting (850-933), a master at theTang court who later served a local Sichuan ruler. Seeing

cataclysmic changes on the horizon, he made a strong effort to maintain and record traditional

forms, leading extensive ceremonies and writing numerous works on Daoist worship, ritual,

cosmology, geography, and hagiography.
NewTexts
In a more forward-looking development, Daoists of the lateTang also receivedrevelationson

Daoist rites for their changing social and political environment.A typical example is a set of

-
tions. Linked explicitly with Lord Lao, they purport to record a second major revelation to

Zhang Daoling in 155, after he received the Covenant of Orthodox Unity in 142. In content,

these texts outline devotional measures of protection involving scriptural recitation and formal

rites for the Dippers, preferably undertaken on one™s birthday, the new moon, or other auspi-

cious days. For example:
TheTrue Lords of the Six Stars, the Divine Lads of the Six Stars, the Gener-

to them with a pure heart, they will respond immediately.As long as you are

diligent in worship and in the petition™s presentation, the perfected sages will

descend to protect you from all harm and extend your years.You will live as

long as the Dao.
Typical for the newly emerging Daoism, the texts focus on protection, exorcism, and heal-

delivery from all evil.

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New Gods
These new methods were therapeutic, exorcistic, and mortuary rather than liturgical, medita
-

from an improved infrastructure, the invention of printing (paper money), and an overall increase

inliteracy.Theywerealsoveryattractivetotheliteratiwhohadtoprovethemselvesinimperial

examinationsinsteadofbeingcarriedbyaristocraticlineages.
GivenalmosttwocenturiesofcivilwarastheTangdeclinedandthecontinuedthreatfrom
CentralAsian federations under the Song, their pantheons, moreover, were dominated by mar
-
tial, humanized, and historicized deities rather than by cosmic powers, immortals, or emana
-

DarkWarrio
r

dynasty as the mythical animal of the north, depicted as an intertwined turtle and snake. By the

Song, he had acquired human shape andappearedwith:
his face stern and striking, his hair unbound, . . . he was wearing a breastplate

of gold and a belt set with jewels. His hand brandished a sword, his feet were

bare, and round his head there shone a halo of light, while the ends of his sash

Fig. 9.1
 A Daoist god in shining armor

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Ritual Masters
The religious specialists who received such revelations and carried the methods of the new
gods among the people, moreover, were only rarely Daoist priests (
daoshi
), i.e., formally
-
ated with a temple and an established school. Much more frequently they were ritual masters

(
fashi
), lay practitioners beyond formal organizations whose lineages were vocational rather

than hereditary.They lived in the communities or among the families they served or traveled

through the villages and towns of the country, performing exorcisms, establishing protection,

and effecting cures among the populace.
also be illiterate and part of the common folk. Some followed entire sets of texts and methods

boy who would go into trance under the guidance of the master.Though trance the master

commanded any disturbing forces to cease and desist while inviting benevolent protectors to
Fig. 9.2
 A Ritual Master today

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comeand serve. In alltheseactivities,ritualmasterswere,moreover, in closecompetitionwith
itinerant monks and tantric masters who performed similar services under Buddhist auspices,

as well as with shamanic spirit-mediums who traditionally controlled the exorcism and protec-

tion market in the countryside.
Modern Daoists
The ritual masters, more colorful and less organized that earlier Daoists, set the tone of Daoist

practice for the late imperial and modern periods. Unlike medieval practitioners, who be-

longed to formally established schools that existed as corporate entities with the right to train,

approve, and certify, modern Daoists are independent and work predominantly through lin-

eages.Although both imperial and modern governments require formal adhesion to one of the

two main orders, in actual reality it is a matter of personal choice to study a particular text or

practice and allegiance is mainly to one™s personal teacher.
Some Daoists stay with one teacher and one system; some study with several different masters
and become holders of multiple lineages; others move on to become fully ordained by under-

going government-sponsored training at major centers.There is, thus, a two-tiered system of

organization and practice of Daoists today that goes back to the Song-dynasty emergence of

ritual masters in addition (and sometimes opposition) to formally ordained Daoist priest.
Song Schools
SomeritualmastersintheSong,then,receivednewrevelationswiththehelpofspirit-mediums

orrediscoveredspellsandtalismansinobscuremountaingrottos.Insomecases,theyassembled

themwiththeCelestialMasterswhohadbeenappointedchiefDaoistadministratorsbythe

court.
Most pervasive among all new schools were the so-called
Thunder Rites
 (
leifa
), a popular form
of exorcism and protection that invoked the deities of the celestial Department ofThunder,

them is called Heavenly Heart (Tianxin). It can be traced back to the ritual masterTan Zixiao

Exorcising Deviant Forces, ruled by the Northern Emperor and administered by the Black

Killer, DarkWarrior, and Heavenly Protector.When his successor Rao Dongtian found a col-

lection of sacred talismanic texts in a cavern on Mount Huagai in 994, the school developed

a full set of practices which included rites of the Celestial Masters, ecstatic excursions of

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Another Song school is calledYouthful Incipience (Tongchu). It goes back toYang Xizhen
(1101-1124), the son of a rice merchant who entered the Huayang Grotto on Mount Mao

(Jiangsu) and came back with a new ritual system that, too, includedThunder Rites and vari-

ous forms of exorcism; it was also linked with Zhang Daoling and the Celestial Masters.The

same pattern holds also true for various NuminousTreasure methods. One set of diagrams

and rituals was rediscovered on Mount Longhu (Jiangxi), the headquarters of the Celestial

Masters, by the ritual master and rainmaker LiuYongguang (1134Œ1206).Another set was de-

veloped by Ning Benli (1101Œ1181), a southern seeker who traveled to various sacred moun-

joining them with new exorcistic practices. His work
Shangqing Lingbao dafa
 (Great Rites of
Highest Clarity and NuminousTreasure) in sixty-six chapters is a major compendium of the

time.
Complete Perfection
In contrast to these dominantly exorcistic and therapeutic schools which arose for the most

-
acterized by monasticism, ascetic practices, and mystical experience.This was the school of

Complete Perfection (Quanzhen), founded byWang Chongyang (1112Œ1170), a member of the

-
tion of the CentralAsian dynasty under the Jurchen-Jin (who had conquered north China in

1125).

near modern Xi™an, where he built a thatched hut and began to lead the life of an eccentric her-

mit.There he had a revelatory experience, spiritually meeting the two immortals Lü Dongbin

and Zhongli Quan from whom he received various secret methods.Thus inspired,Wang inten-

called ﬁthe tomb of the living dead.ﬂ In 1167, he burned his hut to the ground while dancing

around it.Then he moved to Shandong in eastern China, where he preached his visions and

his death in 1170.
The Seven Perfected
Wang™s work was continued by seven disciples, six men and one woman, known collectively

as the Seven Perfected.After observing the standard three-year mourning period for their

master, they went separate ways to spread his teaching in different parts of north China, each

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founding various communities that developed into separate lineages (
pai
).The most important
among them was
Qiu Chuji
 (1148Œ1227), better known as Master Changchun, the founder of
the Longmen (Dragon Gate) lineage.
As patriarch of the school, he was summoned to see Chinggis Khan in his CentralAsian head-
quarters in 1219. Since the Mongols by this time were well on their way to conquering China

(and to ruling as theYuan dynasty) and were likely to endanger the lives of many people, Qiu

could not refuse the summons. Despite his advanced age of 72 years, he undertook the strenu-

ous, three-year journey in the company of eighteen leading disciples.This was documented in

the
Xiyou ji
(Journey to theWest), translated into English byArthurWaley as
The Travels of
anAlchemist
.
Qiu seems to have established good communication with the Khan, although he could not give

him the secret of immortality.As he was leaving, the Khan appointed him the leader of all re-

ligions of China and exempted his followers from taxes and labor.This, in one stroke, made

Complete Perfection the most powerful and popular religious group in north China and thus

contributed greatly to its lasting prominence.
Sun Buer
The only female member of the Seven Perfected was
Sun Buer
 (1119Œ1182), born as Sun
Yuanzhen in a small town in the Ninghai district of Shandong.The daughter of a powerful

local family, she received a classical education, then married the landowner Ma Danyang

(1123Œ1183) and raised a family.
In 1167,Wang Chongyang arrived in Shandong and set himself up in the southern gardens
of Ninghai on a piece of Ma™s property. He built himself a hermitage and entered a 100-day

movement Complete Perfection. Ma Danyang became his eager follower, but his wife was

standing, and local comfort.
Some accounts even suggest that rather than entering his retreat voluntarily,Wang Chongyang
was incarcerated in his hermitage by an irate Sun who wanted him out of her life so badly that

she tried to starve him to death.When he was still alive after a hundred days, not only had

he perfected his personal sainthood but had also made a reluctant convert of Sun, whom he

renamed Buer (Nondual) for her single-minded dedication to whatever cause she chose.The

story of the retreat, embellished variously, became a model for later monastic practice. It is

religious calling.

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After more dissension with the religious leader, Sun eventually became a model student and
ordained as a nun of Complete Perfection. Residing at the local Shandong center, called the

Golden Lotus Hall, she received the Daoist title ﬁSerene One of Clarity and Stillness,ﬂ which

provided the name of her future lineage (Qingjing pai).Trained in internal cultivation and

meditative absorption, she was also made privy to several sets of sacred writs, received in

trance through spirit-writing, and learned to perform advanced rituals, exorcisms, and magi-

cal feats.AfterWang™s death, she moved to Luoyang, where she set herself up in a dilapidated

temple called Grotto of the Immortal Lady Feng. Choosing this residence, she symbolically

inherited not only a female lineage but also a claim to exorcism and eccentricity. She attracted

quite a following and eventually ascended to Heaven in broad daylight.
Later Developments
-
cally by the Mongol rulers, Complete Perfection spread through north China and made numer-

ous converts. Many communities entrusted local temples to their clerics for management, and

people often formed lay congregations of adepts eager to learn self-cultivation techniques.
Under the Ming, which established stringent controls of all religious organizations and favored
the Celestial Masters as Daoist administrators, Complete Perfection temples were absorbed by

only under the Qing, when the Manchu rulers supported a monastic organization with strong

Confucian overtones, that the school reemerged and organized itself along modern lines.
At this time
Wang Changyue
 (d. 1680), abbot of the
White CloudTemple
 (Baiyun guan) in
a monastic hierarchy divided into beginners, intermediate practitioners, and celestial immor-

and ordination rites. Doing so, he ensured that Complete Perfection became the favored order

of the new rulers.

As a result, within a few decades the Longmen lineage came to dominate the religion, gaining
control of most major Daoist monasteries and supporting the foundation of new communities.

It grew into an extensive geographical and administrative network that has remained in place

to the present day.

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ImperialAdaptations
As is already evident from the previous discussion the imperial court loomed large in the de-
administrative control systems; by choosing certain deities, masters, and practices for imperial

protection; and in the personal devotion and sponsorship of individual rulers.
Administrative Control
The Song dynasty continued control measures initiated by theTang, requiring ordained priests

-

Daoist administrator of the country. However, faced with the rise of the ritual masters who

operated on the fringes of the established system, they did not enforce these measures too

strongly.
Under the Mongols, administrative control passed to the new school of Complete Perfection
who managed their own enclaves, supervised the Celestial Master in south China, and also had

power over Buddhist and other temples.They abused this privilege, were harshly criticized,

and even persecuted. In 1281, Daoist books with the exception of the
Daode jing
 were pro-

The Ming Dynasty

-
sures that remained in place until the founding of the Republic of China in 1911. First, he

made all religious affairs subject to approval by the Ministry of Rites, which now housed a

could hold ordinations, when, and for how many initiates, making sure the number of recluses

was restricted to serve the government™s needs.
Next he limited access to ordination. Men could only join an order between the ages of four-
teen and twenty; women could not become nuns while still of child-bearing age. Soldiers and

artisans were excluded categorically.Those who made it into the ordination system not only

-
tored through the so-calledAll-Knowing Register.Third, he severely curtailed the number of

-

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duced enthusiasm for the religious path among the populace, effected a high level of standard-
ization among institutions and practitioners, and encouraged local and popular groups beyond

the scope of imperial oversight.
Later Measures
The Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty continued the same overall pattern, supporting orga-

nizational standardization through the Longmen lineage of Complete Perfection while pro-

Rites.They relied on the former to survey Daoist priests and institutions and on the latter to

-

Complete Perfection. Still, the networks of both organizations remained, one lay and village-

and temple-based, with a main concern for cultivation and moral uprightness.
State-Protectors
Just as theTang found a state supporting deity in Lord Lao, the ancestor of the ruling house, so

DarkWarrio
r
,themartialforce
of the north, they found a power behind the moving energy of the universe worthy of their devo
-

tion.AlreadyunderEmperorTaizu(r.960Œ76),hiscultwasraisedtonationalstatus,inspiredby

a manifestation of a the Black Killer, who claimed to be an assistant of the DarkWarrior and ap
-

TheimperialstandingoftheDarkWarriorwasgreatlyenhancedunderEmperorZhenzong(r.
998Œ1022),whenaseriesofﬁheavenlytextsﬂwerediscovered,aturtleandsnake(theemblem

ofthegod)madeamiraculousappearanceinthecapitalKaifeng(Henan),andahealingspring

bubbledupnearby.HesawfurtherelevationunderEmperorRenzong(r.1023Œ1063),who,in

distinctareas:politicaladministration,militarysuccess,climatecontrol,healingofdiseases,and

supported the compilation of a holy biography of the god.
Emperor Huizong (r. 1100-1125) had a vision of him as mighty warrior with stern face and
loose hair. Both theYuan and Ming dynasties associated him with political power and vener-

1403-1425) greatly expanded the god™s center on MountWudang (Hubei). He also supported

the religion by sponsoring the collection and printing of the Daoist canon, still the main repos-

itory of Daoist materials today (seeAppendix).The DarkWarrior was duly supported by both

leading Daoist schools and grew vastly in popularity.The hero of the vernacular novel
Beiyou

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ji
 (Journey to the North), he has sanctuaries today all over mainland China, inTaiwan, Hong
Kong, Singapore,Thailand, and in overseas Chinese communities.
Emperors as Immortals

of Daoist worship for their dynasties, certain emperors went much further and became serious

devotees of the religion. Most prominent among them are Huizong of the Song (1082-1135,

r. 1100-1125) and the Jiajing Emperor of the late Ming, Zhu Houcong (1507-1567, r.

practiced themselves.They supported the collection of Daoist texts, sponsored temple con-

struction, and actively designed extensive gardens that replicated immortals™ paradises.They

themselves with Daoist masters as personal advisors.
Fig. 9.3
 A Daoist garden

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Emperor Huizong
Emperor Huizong
 in particular had the house of his birth converted into a Daoist shrine, and
built two new palaces richly adorned with Daoist art. He also worked on a major garden proj-

and mountain, a network of streams, grottoes, and waterfalls, and an extensive rock collection

from many regions of China.
In 1107, he engaged the services of Liu Hunkang (1035-1108), the 25
th
 patriarch of Highest
Clarity, to learn about healing and exorcism. Following his guidance, he sponsored the collec-
tion of liturgies for the Golden Register Purgation, a service specially designed to ensure the

welfare of the imperial house.After Liu™s death, he summoned an ascetic Daoist to serve as a

medium in communications with a deceased consort. He was succeeded by a clairvoyant who

provided healing talismans and aided the emperor in his prayers for rain.

who claimed to have received a revelation from a Heaven known as Divine Empyrean

of Long Life (Chengzhen dadi).This god, using sacred materials from this newly discov-

ered Heaven, would be the harbinger of a new age and establish peace on Earth.The Divine

Empyrean system, which developed into yet another new Daoist school, integrated the pan-

theon of Highest Clarity and followed the cosmology of NuminousTreasure. It employed tal-

disgrace.
The Jiajing Emperor
None of this stopped the
Jiajing Emperor
 of the Ming dynasty to engage in very similar pur-
suits. He, too, had various Daoist advisers, supported and practiced Daoist arts, engaged in

and created an extensive spiritual realm in theWestern Park (Xiyuan), located to the northwest

of the Forbidden City in Beijing. Unlike Huizong, however, the Jiajing Emperor completely

withdrew from the halls of government and for the last twelve years of his reign lived in

Western Park, fully dedicating himself to Daoist practice and the recovery of his original im-

mortal nature. He exerted a huge impact on the Daoist dimension of Chinese architecture, arts,

and literature.
Other emperors, too, without going quite as far, were supportive of the religion, opening new

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inspired and ritual works. New schools of Daoist painting developed; Daoist themes appeared
widely in paintings, murals, and on ceramics; Daoist sanctuaries and training facilities were

expanded; and Daoist collections were supported and published.There was thus a new ex-

pansion of the religion, reaching from the court through ordained Daoists, ritual masters, and

community assemblies to remote corners of the empire.
An Expanded Pantheon
As the religion expanded through new schools and under imperial sponsorship, so the panthe-

on took on a new form. Daoists began to integrate popular deities, making them part of their

traditional hierarchy and thereby adapting to two major changes: the greater importance of

local cults and regions centers, and the increased importance of deities that were personal pro-

were essentially bureaucrats and could only be accessed through the mediation of a Daoist

priest.
A well-studied example are theThree Immortals of Mount Huagai who rose to prominence

edict of 1085 to present local deities for general worship to the court, which was followed by

Huizong™s call for Daoist scriptures and sacred materials, local leaders enhanced their cult and

presented them to the court. First coexisiting with the Daoist school of the Heavenly Heart,

which had a major center at Mount Huagai, theThree Immortals were eventually integrated

theThree Pure Ones. In a very similar fashion, Daoists adopted various popular gods and

The City God
A clear example of this is the
City God
-

creating a celestial archetype, a single central City God who resides in the heavens of the Dao

and receives his powers from Lord Lao.The fourteenth-century
Chenghuang jing
 (Scripture of
the City God) describes him:
Representing the sagely Dao, he is lofty and illustrious.
He shows no favor, no one-sidedness,

But is public and loyal, upright and straight. . . .

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He has the authority of Heaven and orders all on Earth,
Cuts off all evil and dispels all killing.

He protects the state and guards the country,

With great merit aids the gods of soil and grain. . .

He commands eighteen perfected marshals,

And has a million divine generals at his call.
It then points out that the power of the god is entirely due to his position and role in the overall
Mazu

Celestial Consort
 (Tianfei or Mazu), the protectress of
-
nasty local saint into of the most popular Chinese deities. She, too, was empowered by Lord

Lao, who gave her a Daoist title and is said to be at the root of her powers to slay demons,

the
Tianfei jing
 (Scripture of the Celestial Consort) from the early Ming dynasty

this, she took the following vow:
From this day forward, whether a traveling merchant or resident shopkeeper

seeking assets in doing business, whether farmers in their sowing or artisans

in their professions, whether troops in transit engaged in battle arrays, whether

-
bances from public wrongs, whether there be any abusive language that results

Should anyone [so mentioned] reveal reverence and respect and call my name,
then I will offer immediate and trustworthy response and cause them to attain

whatever they wish.
The popular and immediate nature of the deity thus remains intact. She gives support and re-

assurance to ordinary people, exerting celestial powers on their behalf, rescuing them from

bureaucratic rank and receives her powers ultimately from the Dao..

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Other Deities
Other popular deities adopted into the Daoist pantheon at this time include the Goddess of the

to conceive, keeps safe during pregnancy and delivery, and helps in many other ways.
Then there is the Mother of the Dipper (Doumu), originally a Hindu goddess named Marîcî,

Governing the stars of the Dipper, who are in charge of all natural and personal events, she

rules human destiny and saves people from peril.
In addition, there is also the
God of Literature
 (Wenchang), originally a Sichuan hero who
-
pointed by Lord Lao and rose to occupy a position in the expanded Daoist pantheon.
The Eight Immortals
A yet different set of new Daoist appears in the
Eight Immortals
, a group of seven men and
one woman who, since attaining immortality, have continued to serve humanity by manifest-

the thirteenth century, portrayed as an eccentric and happy lot who respond to pleas in emer-

gencies and grant favors and protection.They remain highly popular today, as symbols of long

life and happiness, appearing on cards for happy occasions and in restaurants for good luck

and enjoyment.They play an active part in Chinese folk culture and have been featured time

and again in comic books and popular movies.
Lü Dongbin

Complete Perfection but a frequent guest of spirit-writing sessions and instructor of tech-

niques. Depicted as a Confucian gentleman with aristocratic features and a sword, Lü is best

known for the story of the ﬁYellow Millet Dream,ﬂ in which he lives mentally through an

the futility of worldly endeavors and dedicates himself to Dao. Following another of the Eight

-
cere dedication to the Dao, emerges victorious and becomes a highly respected and very popu-

lar immortal.
He is the only one among the group who merits separate temple complexes, such as the
Palace of Pointing South (Zhinan gong) on the outskirts ofTaipei and the Palace of Eternal

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Joy (Yongle gong) in Ruichong (Shanxi), which shows him and the celestial host in splendid
murals.
Ironcrutch Li

story is that he was an expert in ecstatic excursions and once decided to go up into the heavens, leaving his

corpse-like body behind for an entire week.To make sure nothing happened to it, he ordered a disciple to keep

When Li returned, he found his body gone and entered that of a recently dead man who happened to be an old,
crippled beggar.To help himself get around, he used an iron crutch, thus his name, yet despite his transformation

-
ries, novels, comic books, and even movies show his martial exploits, combining in a fashion typical for this new

form of Daoism, physical vigor with deep compassion and magical powers with a tremendous sense of humor.
Key points you need to know
Modern Daoism begins with the Song dynasty in the tenth century, after the collapse of the
integrated system of theThree Caverns at the end of theTang. Its main representatives are
the ritual masters, unorganized lay practitioners who perform various rituals and services for

the populace.
As Chinese society is dominated more by the merchant class and the educated elite, so re-
ligious concerns shift toward exorcism and healing, often with the help of trance practices.
Many new schools arise that focus on this aspect of practice.They tend to linke themselves

with the Celestial Masters.
One school is notably different: Complete Perfection, founded byWang Chongyang in
1170, is monastic, ascetic, and focused on personal self-cultivation. Supported by the
northern rulers and the Mongol emperors, it becomes the second leading school of modern

Daoism.
The fate and shape of the religion is closely connected to the imperial court.The govern-
ment establishes stringent regulations for all practitioners; it co-opts Daoist gods and ritual
-
comes to adaptat various local cults and popular gods into its pantheon. Important dei-

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ties include the Eight Immortals, the City God, the goddess Mazu, as well as a number of
Buddhist and other deities.
Discussion questions

1.

over the other?Are they compatible? Should religion be focused more on personal salvation

or on community coherence?
2.

situation?
Is there anything comparable to the multiple gods and immortals of the Daoist pantheon in
3.

other religions? Do other countries and cultures have local cults and popular deities? How
do they work with religious multiplicity?
Further reading
Boltz, Judith M. 1987.
A Survey of Taoist Literature: Tenth to Seventeenth Centuries
.
Berkeley: University of California, China Research Monograph 32.
Davis, Edward L. 2001.
Society and the Supernatural in Sung China
. Honolulu: University of
Hawaii Press.
DeBruyn, Pierre-Henry. 2000. ﬁDaoism in the Ming (1368-1644).ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
,
edited by Livia Kohn, 594-622. Leiden: E. Brill.
Ebrey, Patricia. 2000. ﬁTaoism andArt at the Court of Song Huizong.ﬂ In
Daoism and theArts
of China
, edited by Stephen Little and Shawn Eichman, 95-111. Berkeley: University of

California Press.
Esposito, Monica. 2000. ﬁDaoism in the Qing (1644-1911).ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
, edited by
Livia Kohn, 623-58. Leiden: E. Brill.
Goossaert,Vincent. 2007.
The Taoists of Peking 1800-1944
. Cambridge, Mass.:Harvard
University Press.
Hymes, Robert. 2002.
Way and Byway: Taoism, Local Religion, and Models of Divinity in
Sung and Modern China
. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Kleeman,Terry F. 1994.
A God™s Own Tale: The Book of Transformations of Wenchang, the
Divine Lord of Zitong
.Albany: State University of NewYork Press.

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Modern Daoism
Komjathy, Louis. 2007.
Cultivating Perfection: Mysticism and Self-Transformation in
Quanzhen Daoism
. Leiden: E. Brill.
Skar, Lowell. ﬁRitual Movements, Deity Cults, and theTransformation of Daoism in Song and
YuanTimes.ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
, edited by Livia Kohn, 413-63. Leiden: E. Brill.

Daoism Handbook
, edited by Livia
Kohn, 567-93. Leiden: E. Brill.

Reaching for
the Dao
In this chapter
Modern Daoists in many ways continue the practices of the medieval system, working com-
munal rituals to multiple deities and engaging in personal self-cultivation.The central focus

is still to connect to the Dao through a variety of practices, however, the methods take on new

forms.Thus immersion into trance plays a much greater role, both for exorcistic purposes and

to gain information from the otherworld. Similarly, self-cultivation develops into a new sys-

tem called internal alchemy which makes use of traditional body practices and meditations but

places them into the context of alchemical transformation.
Another new dimension is the emphasis placed on martial arts as an extension of healing ex-
ercises and physical cultivation. Most prominent in this context is the emergence of taijiquan,

which begins in a military and Confucian environment, then develops into a form of Daoist

discipline. On another plane, Daoist thought plays a role in the philosophy of late imperial

China which is dominated by Neo-Confucianism but also places great importance on unifying

the various theoretical systems in an intellectual trend known as ﬁharmonizing the three teach-

ings.ﬂ Last, but not least, Daoist themes are made prominent in a variety of vernacular novels

that feature the quest for immortality, the adventures of the Eight Immortals and ord Lao as a

martial hero.
Main topics covered
Trance Practices
InternalAlchemy
Healing and MartialArts
Philosophical Speculation
Vernacular Novels
10

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Trance Practices
E
ntering a deep trance to connect to the gods is part of shamanistic practice and
has played an important role in Daoism from the beginning. Most medieval

revelations of sacred texts and divine instructions occurred in altered states of

consciousness, with the seeker in deep meditative absorption or a spirit-medium

in ecstatic trance. Practitioners of Highest Clarity cultivated their trance ability
to engage in soul travel to the stars and interact with the gods, whom they often met in vivid

and had the means of direct communication with the divine.
In the Song dynasty, this emphasis on trance states gains a new level of importance. It is acti-
vated in two main modes: by a ritual master, often with the help of a spirit-boy, for the purpose

ofexorcisingdemonicandunwantedforces;andbycommunityleaders,throughaprofessional

spirit-medium, to gain information and instructions from benevolent deities.
Exorcism
The exorcistic use of trance states is most clearly documented in a Song rite known as

Summoning for Investigation (
kaozhao fa
), employed as a cure for demonic possession and
various other unexplained and hard-to-cure symptoms, such as erratic behavior, imaginary

-

ritual master to perform the rite.

whom he has a close connection.While performing ritual steps, sacred hand gestures, and in-

cantations, he visualizes the deity within his body and mentally creates a cosmic scenario for

-
mand all sorts of spirit forces and wield all kinds of wondrous weapons that will allow him to

perform the task at hand.

-
ing object.At the same time, the patient is asked to blow on this object, thus making sure that

patient opens his eyes and describes the entity he sees in the object, giving him the chance to

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ATrance-induced Cure
In a third step, the master reintroduces the demonic entity into the patient.This is done quite
forcefully.Visualizing a group of divine bailiffs binding and pushing the demon, the master

inhales cosmic
qi
and mixes it with a mouthful of water.As the bailiffs force the entity into the
patient, the master spits the
qi
-water over him, putting him into trance and causing a shaking

While in this trance state, the patient-cum-demon is subjected to an interrogation by the mas-

patient be too weak or too young to speak, the trance state is induced in a surrogate, a family

member or professional medium to be possessed in his stead. In all cases, the root cause of the

remove themselves; in yet others, he may install a plan for remedial action to be taken in the

patient™s waking life.
The rite concludes with the master thanking the entity for its cooperation and waking the pa-
tient to normal consciousness while dismissing the supernatural helpers and extricating him-

self from his divine persona.
Spirit-writing
Another major use of trance techniques in modern Daoism is for the purpose of gaining in-

formation and instruction. Undertaken by literati as much as by commoners, but most often

by Daoist community groups, this usually involves a technique called
spirit-writing
 or the
planchette.
A form of automatic writing, the practice took place in a sacred setting, such as a temple, an
association hall, or a special room inside a devotee™s residence.The hall typically contained a

square table, on which was the planchette: a wooden tray covered with sand or incense ashes

andsurmountedbyaT-shapedframemadeofpeachorwillow.Itstopfeaturedathree-pronged

sharp stick, about two feet long, ideally cut on a particularly good day from the southeastern

side of a tree exposed to the rising sun. Held by two spirit-mediums, who went into trance, this

stick would trace characters into the sand of the tray, thus conveying the divinities™ message.
Ceremonial Procedures
The spirit-writing ceremony was usually held on an auspicious day and in front of a congre-

gation of devout seekers. Before inviting the spirit to descend into the stick, devotees offered

-

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-

them down.After the deity had left again, the community would offer thanks and proceed to

put the instructions into action.

some cases, deities also initiated communication, by appearing in a dream and commanding a

session.They usually responded to the needs of the community, but it also happened that they

revealed entirely unexpected and unheard-of information. Daoist gods and immortals have

-

consulting their leading deity.
InternalAlchemy

-
nant system for this is
internal alchemy
 (
neidan
), which combines concepts of operative alche-
my with visualization of body gods, the transformation of sexual essence and other forms of

qi
, medieval forms of meditation, and cosmological speculation associated with yin and yang,

Yijing
.
Adopted by all Daoist schools since the Song dynasty, internal alchemy appears in a multi-

tude of forms and teachings. Different schools and lineages place varied emphasis on physi-

cal, meditative, ritual, or ecstatic practices and envision the process in somewhat different

cosmological and psychological terms.As centuries passed, further schools created yet dif-

nüdan
).They also
integrated more traditional Confucian thought in the overall climate of ﬁharmonizing the three

with a preparatory phase of moral and physical readiness, which involves practicing longevity

techniques, setting one™s mind fully on the GreatWork, and learning to control the mind with

breath observation and concentration exercises.

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Beginning the GreatWork
Once ready, practitioners typically pass through a series of three transformations: from essence
(
jing
) to energy (
qi
), from energy to spirit (
shen
), and from spirit to Dao, consciously and ac-

tively reversing human gestation and cosmic creation.
They begin by focusing on essence, the tangible form of
qi
 that sinks down periodically from
its original center in the Ocean of
Qi
 (abdomen) in men and in the Cavern of
Qi
(chest) in
women, manifesting as semen and menstrual
blood respectively.To revert essence back

to
qi
, men allow a feeling of arousal to oc-

along spine and into the head, thus ﬁsubdu-

ing the white tiger.ﬂWomen, when they feel

menstrual blood sink down from the Cavern

of
Qi
, massage their breasts and visualize it

rising upward and transforming into
qi
. Over
several months, this will cause menstruation

to cease, the ﬁdecapitation of the red dragon.ﬂ
qi
in
the microcosmic orbit, guiding it along the
central channels of the torso and opening

a series of passes along the way. Not only

strengthening the body and enhancing health,

this
qi
-circulation eventually leads to the

manifestation of a concentrated pearl of pri-

mordial
qi

concludes when the pearl coalesces.
The Immortal Embryo
The second stage is the same for men and women. It focuses on the transformation of puri-

qi

-
muted
qi

with different metaphors depending on the level of purity attained.Typically there are the

following:
li
  = pure lead = dragon = red bird;
 yin = kidneys = water = trigram
kan
 = pure mercury = tiger =white tiger.
Fig. 10.1
 The microcosmic orbit

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Ateachstageofthetransmutationprocess,theenergiesaregivendifferentnamesanddifferent
metaphors are employed. Eventually adepts learn not only to mix them in the abdomen but to

revolve them through an inner-body cycle that includes not only the spine and breastbone but

leads all the way to the feet and is known as the macrocosmic orbit. Gradually one™s energies

-
Once the embryo starts to grow, adepts switch their practice to nourish it for ten months with
embryo respiration. Not only nurturing the embryo, this practice also makes the adept increas-

stage is easier for women because they are naturally endowed with the faculty to grow an em-

bryo.After ten months, the embryo is complete.
Realization
Adepts then proceed to the third stage.The

as yet semi-material body of the embryo is

transformed into the pure spirit body of the

immortals, a body of primordial
qi
.After
it is nourished to completion, it takes birth

by moving up along the spine and exiting

adept™s celestial rebirth and is accompanied

by the perception of a deep inner rumbling,

like a clap of thunder.After passing into the

celestial spheres, the spirit communicates

with the gods, thus transcending the limita-

tions of the body.
Once the embryo has been born, it grows
through a further meditative exercise known

as ﬁnursing for three years.ﬂ Gradually get-

ting used to its new powers, it moves faster

and travels further away until it can go far

and wide without any limitation.As the spirit

enters into its cosmic ventures, the adept ex-

hibits enhanced faculties and gains powers of

direct interaction with the gods.These powers

are also essential for the successful perfor-
Fig. 10.2
 The immortal embryo exits the body

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mance of Daoist ritual, so that all superior masters require thorough training in the procedures
of internal alchemy.
Healing and MartialArts
Beyond ritual and spiritual attainments, Daoists also engage in physical cultivation, for the

purpose of healing and/or to prepare for more advanced undertakeings. Practices developed

in the middle ages continue and are standardized, such as the Six Healing Sounds and various

exercise sequences associated with animals and famous immortals. Most popular among the

latter is a set of practices called the FiveAnimal Frolics, which still plays an important role in

qigong today. In addition, matching the demon-dispelling and martial nature of Daoist gods

since the Song, martial practices become more prominent and develop into new forms. Best

known among them is taijiquan or ﬁGreat Ultimate Boxing.ﬂ
The FiveAnimal Frolics
The FiveAnimal Frolics is an exercise sequence that mixes standing and moving practices

associated with the crane, bear, monkey, deer, and tiger.While animals-patterned exercises

are documented as far back as the
Zhuangzi
,
this system appears in historical sources for

physician HuaTuo of the second century
C
.
E
.

It notes that he developed it on the basis of

earlier movements to keep the body smooth

The practice aids the elimination of

diseases and increases the functioning

of the limbs and joints.Whenever a

disorder is felt in the body one of the

Animals should be practiced until one

perspires freely.When perspiration is

strong, one should cover the affected

parts of the body with powder. In due

course the body becomes lighter and

more comfortable and a healthy ap-

petite will return. (
Record of the Three
Kingdoms
)
Fig. 10.3
 A woman practices the FiveAnimal Frolics

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with Sun Simiao; it outlines a series of rather vigorous movements, gearted to induce sweat
and cleanse the inner organs.A later form, documented in the Ming collection
Chifeng sui
(Marrow of the Red Phoenix), has more gentle moves and places more emphasis on the breath.
This same version also occurs with illustrations showing female practitioners in the
Wuqin wu
gongfa tushuo
(Illustrated Explanation of FiveAnimal Dance Practice).The preface explains
that a woman living in the seclusion of the family home who wishes to cultivate herself should

-
ods) to accumulate
qi
. Next, she should take the
qi
and circulate it through the arteries and

Animal Frolics to eliminate all diseases and allow the emergence of subtler energetic levels.

-
ment of internal alchemy.
FiveAnimalsToday
Today the Frolics play an active part in qigong, using a basic form that is much longer and

ten different exercises so that, for example, the Bear has eight standing practices, such as Bear

Pushes Paws, Bear Pushes Back, Bear Extends Paws, and Bear Double Push, followed by four

variations of the BearAmble that range from a basic form through BearAmbles with Fists to

Pointing to the Sun and Holding the Moon.
This new version was developed in the early 1980s by Jiao Guorui and Liang Shifeng. It has
since grown into over twenty variations which the Chinese government hopes to standardize

-
calted, eachAnimal is now also linked with a cosmological entity, an inner organ, a section of

animal cosmos organ body area effect quality
crane Heaven heart muscles breathing lightness
bear Earth kidneys

lower back inner focus rootedness
monkey Humanity spleen joints, wrists openness agility
deer Spirit liver calm mind subtlety patience
tiger Body lungs whole body awareness strength
As a result, the FiveAnimal Frolics has become a comprehensive system of healing and long
life, aiding ordinary people as well as religious seekers.The development, moreover, is typical

for other healing exercises and Daoist techniques of body cultivation.

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MartialArts
-
nation with ethical principles.They inherit two traditional value systems: ancient Confucian
chivalry, which encouraged the practice of archery and charioteering as tools for aristocratic

self-cultivation and emphasized honor, respect, good manners, precise timing, balance, and

composure in all actions; and traditional Daoist concepts of bending and softness, expressed

most clearly in Sunzi™s
Art of War

inner focus, and wisdom.
Martial practice is divided into hard and soft or outer and inner forms.That is to say, forms
-
feat of the opponent tend to be hard or outer; those that encourage a strong internal awareness

latter were not alien to the religious institutions of medieval China, and historical records sug-

theTang rulers win the empire. However, the practice remained esoteric and only emerged as

that created modern Daoism with its ritual masters, local cults, and widespread social appeal.
Unarmed Combat
was in decline and looting bandits and marauding armies made self-defense a priority.At

Unarmed combat (
quan
-
teenth century, when the incoming Qing rulers prohibited all use of weapons among non-mili-

-
ing defensive moves with the age-old practices of controlled breathing and healing exercises.
Among monastics, this occurred most prominently at the Buddhists
ShaolinTemple
 (Henan)
and the Daoist
MountWudang
 (Hubei), the sacred site associated with the DarkWarrior and
a major center of Ming imperial worship.Within civil militias, it was most prominent in the
southern part of the country, where it led to the development of taijiquan and other strengthen-

of healing exercises, and their patterns still form an active part of qigong.
Taiqiquan
 (
Additional reference
)
Legend has it that taijiquan began when the Daoist immortal
Zhang Sanfeng
, a hermit on

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The two animals turned and twisted in such a complex pattern, neither gaining the advantage
of the other, that the immortal saw in them the workings of pure Dao, the cosmic interac-

and his complete autobiography, channeled to the Sichuan Daoist Li Xiyue (1806-1856).

Zhang in due course became the patron saint of the practice; he is also the main link to Daoism

development.

through the family, his methods were organized into a slightly less martial system by his de-

scendant Chen Zhangxing (1771-1853), leading to what is today known as the Chen-style, a

series of rather simple moves in the four directions.TheYang-style, on the other hand, goes

back toYang Luchan (1799-1872), who originally studied Shaolin boxing, then became a

student of Chen Zhangxing. His practice is softer and rounder, with wide arm movements, cir-

further into various sub-lineages, it is the most popular form of taijiquan today.
Joining the Cosmos
In the original creation of this self-defense form, Master Chen used healing exercises in com-

bination with military training. He also followed the dominant thought of the time, which

combined Daoist and Neo-Confucian thinking, and picked the popularTaiji (Great Ultimate)

his practice.This diagram, representing the state of the universe at the time of creation, has in

medieval Daoist charts adopted by internal alchemists and Neo-Confucians.
Taijiquan is executed exclusively from a standing position and involves continuous move-
ments that are choreographed into lengthy and complex sequences. In both its basic, unarmed

and variant forms (with sword, fan, stick, or pole), it eschews the development of large

muscles and powerful strength in favor of internal suppleness (
jin
), a springiness in tendons,
sinews, and ligaments. Rather than using the mind to systematically guide
qi
, practitioners
keep it open and relaxed, allowing the
qi
receptive to all stimuli.The practice thus combines an open and relaxed meditative awareness

creation in a smooth, supple, and relaxed way.

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Philosophical Speculation
Another area of Daoist development since the Song dynasty is philosophical speculation.
Throughout the centuries, Daoists continued the tradition of intellectual awareness, cosmologi-

generation saw new commentaries to the Daode jing, and Daoists continued to apply the terms

and ideas of the Zhuangzi in their presentation of immortality.They also interacted variously

with other schools of thought, and under theTang widely integrated Buddhist concepts and

systems of thought into their own modes of theoretical speculation, opening their own tradi-

tion of Daoist scholasticism.
In the Song dynasty, Confucianism rose to a new level of prominence. Its thinkers integrated
concepts and systems from other schools and developed a fondness for the ﬁharmonization of

the three teachingsﬂ (sanjiao heyi), in their Neo-Confucian mode claiming that there was only

one Dao and one qi and that people could attain essential harmony by following various paths

and modes of thought. Confucian thinkers accordingly adopted Daoist cosmic charts and lon-
Fig. 10.4
 Practitioners ofTaiji Sword today

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gevity methods as well as Buddhist principles and meditations.While Confucian intellectuals
thus actively engaged in internal alchemy and used its vocabulary to explain their vision of

the progress toward universal virtue and oneness with Heaven and Earth, Daoists opened new

forms of thought that integrated ideas of Confucianism and Buddhism. Especially practitioners

of taijiquan developed a philosophy to go with their practice that actively merged the three

teachings.
Harmonizing theThreeTeachings
A typical way of joining the three teachings, was to see Confucianism as maintaining society

through its emphasis on moral values, Chan Buddhism as concentrating on the cultivation of

inner nature through meditation, and Daoism as encouraging bodily transformation through

the enhancement of inner nature and destiny.
In Ming Confucianism, moreover, several Daoist concepts became prominent.They include
the vision of Dao as the pure underlying essence of the universe as expressed in the
Daode
jing
qi
 and its
cultivation by inner circulation, the regulation of breath as a means to concentration and good

health, embryo breathing as a form of gaining inner subtlety, and the use of the trigrams and

hexagrams of the
Yijing
 to mark progress.
ConfucianThinkers
Confucian thinkers such asWang Dao (1487Œ1547), Zhan Ruoshui (1466Œ1560),Wang

Yangming (1517Œ1579), and Lin Zhaoen (1517Œ1598) would use these concepts, often in con-

junction with Chan Buddhist meditation practice and Daoist ways of breath control.With their

help these thinkers explained the inner development of subtler states of mind, which led them

qi

turn was found essential for the unfolding of bright virtue that connected everyone to the cos-

mos, the goal of Neo-Confucian realization.
According to this view, everyone is inherently part of the larger universe and connected with it
through principle (
li
) and
qi
-energy.These abstract/mental and concrete/physical aspects of ex-
istence were further related to Buddha-nature and karmic retribution, as well as to Daoist ideas

of inner nature and destiny. Both aspects have to be cultivated equally for the ideal state to

arise, a state that in the three teachings is called, respectively, oneness with Heaven and Earth,

nirvana, and immortality.

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Vernacular Novels
The various aspects of Daoism at the time were, moreover, made popular in various novels
that couched traditional themes in enjoyable language and tales of the miraculous. One that

integrates the three teachings is the
Roupu tuan
 (Carnal Prayer Mat; trl. by Patrick Hana),
ascribed to LiYu (1611-1680).The book™s hero works his way to Buddhist enlightenment in

a moralistic Confucian society with the help of Daoist sexual techniques. Moving from one

partner to the next, engaging in extensive, highly creative sexual relations that are described in

great, even pornographic detail, the hero eventually comes to realize that the universe is one at

its core and that there is no need for major techniques of one sort or the other.
Another story full of Daoist motives that has remained widely popular to the present day is
Wu Chengen™s (d.1582) Xiyou ji (Journey to theWest), also translated as Monkey (byArthur

Waley). It tells the adventures of the monkey king SunWukong who steals the peaches of im-

the pilgrim Xuanzang (596-664) who actually traveled to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures.

On they way they encounter all sorts of monsters and magical situations, which the monkey

successfully overcomes with the help of Daoist techniques.
Tales of Daoists

and wondrous adventures. One of them is the
Qizhen shizhuan
(Seven Daoist Masters; trl. by
EvaWong), written by an anonymous author around the year 1500.The book retells the story

ofWang Chongyang and the Seven Perfected of Complete Perfection, including their various

feats, complete with magical powers and supernatural connections.
Another is the
Dongyou ji

a title adapted from the popular
Xiyou ji
.This is a story about the Eight Immortals and their
adventures as they travel east across the sea toward realization of the Dao. It describes each

immortals cultivation of per

fection as well as their joint travels. It also recounts the hagiogra-
phy of Lord Lao, outlining his birth under the Shang, his exploits on Earth, the transmission of

the
Daode jing
, and his various appearances in Chinese history.

Song.They are recounted in the
Beiyou ji
 (Journey to the North; trl. by Gary Seaman) byYu

Warrior, showing his progress from human crown prince to divine emperor and detailing his

appearances on Earth and the miracles he worked on behalf of humanity.

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Zhang Sanfeng quanji
 (Complete Collection of Zhang
Sanfeng, trl. Shiu-HonWong), channeled by Li Xiyue in the nineteenth century. It outlines
the life and manifestations of Zhang Sanfeng together with a history of his Daoist lineage and

a number of biographical notes on hidden scholars, hermits and wise men. It also presents

Zhang™s internal alchemical techniques and Daoist doctrines as well as a collection of his po-

ems and philosophical notes.The latter detail the immortal™s take on the harmonization of the

three teachings, understanding of human life, and key ethical precepts.
Creation of the Gods
A yet different from of Daoist tales, which caters to the increasing popularity of the martial

arts, emerges in the novel
Fengshen yanyi

(Creation of the Gods; trl. Zhizhong Gu), attributed

to either Xu Zhonglin (d. 1566) or Lu Xixing (ca. 1520Œ1601).The book describes in mytho
-

second millennium
B
.
C
.
E
.

In each case, developments on Earth are paralleled by activities in the heavens, and Lord

Sect (Shanjiao), against the opposing Intercepting Sect (Jiejiao), led by the Grand Master of

Heaven.This latter group lays various traps for the advancing Zhou army, and time and again

Lord Lao is asked to give advice and support, provide weapons and help, mastermind battle

plans, or seek truce and adjudication.
A Daoist Battle
For example, called upon to help spring a particularly nasty trap, the Daoist god joins the bat-

Supported by another god, the HeavenlyWorthy of Primordial Beginning, he begins by trying

to parley with the enemy; then, still on his faithful ox, he enters the trap to engage his divine

charts turn into bridges, walking sticks become wondrous weapons, and swords glitter with

numinous brilliance.Then, in the middle of the battle
Laozi suddenly pulled in his rein and jumped out of the combat circle. He

his head transformed into three immortals, called the ‚clarities.™
These three immortals identify themselves as representatives of theThree Clarity heavens

and together with Lord Lao proceed to attack his opponent from all sides. Not being real, they

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Next, Lord Lao and the HeavenlyWorthy decide they need two extra immortals to break the
trap and invite two buddhas from the western Pure Land to join them. Protected by auspicious

-
ics and lotus blossoms, and successfully enter the trap. Lord Lao promptly sends a crash of

-
tions.This supernatural defeat at the same time opens the road for the Zhou army to advance.
Tales such as these as well as the various other novels, therefore, spread Daoist ideas and
mythical themes among the populace, creating the image of the religion that is still domi-

nant today and remains alive in kungfu movies: a strong emphasis on Lord Lao and the Dark

Warrior, a deep veneration for the Eight Immortals and Seven Perfected, a unique way of be-

ing in the world, and a sense of the miraculous and martial.
Key points you need to know
Modern Daoism since the Song dynasty appears in various modes and social contexts.
Institutional religion tends to focus on exorcism and fortune-telling, often with the help of

trance practices, activated through mediums or spirit-writing.
Individual cultivation centers on the practice of internal alchemy, which integrates medieval
forms of longevity practice and meditation withYijing speculation and the concoction of
alchemical elixirs. It outlines the progress toward immortality in three stages, transforming

essence, energy, and spirit into the purity of Dao.
Among the wider populace, Daoism continues to be known for its healing exercises, as

popular emphasis on martial arts, notably the unarmed combat of taijiquan, which integrates

ancient philosophical principles and notions of chivalry with physical practice.
religions have a valid form of access to it.
new aspect of Chinese culture in the Ming dynasty. Daoist hagiographies are reformulated
and embellished with magical tales, and many heroes exhibit Daoist powers and martial

prowess.

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Discussion questions
How do religions relate to trance techniques? Do many religions make use of them?Are
1.

they honored or despised?What role can trance states play in religious practice?

2.

ﬁCrouchingTiger, Hidden Dragon,ﬂ ﬁKungfu Hustle,ﬂ and the like and examine them from
a Daoist perspective.
What role does religion play in art, philosophy, and literature? It is essential or marginal?
3.

How does this change over historical periods? Do you personally prefer religious themes?
Further reading
Ching, Julia. 1976.
ToAccumulate Wisdom: The Way of Wang Yang-ming
. NewYork:
Columbia University Press.
Davis, Barbara. 2004.
The Taijiquan Classics:AnAnnotated Translation
. Berkeley: North
Atlantic Books.
Davis, Edward L. 2001.
Society and the Supernatural in Sung China
. Honolulu: University of
Hawaii Press.
Despeux, Catherine, and Livia Kohn. 2003.
Women in Daoism
. Cambridge, Mass.:Three
Pines Press.
Jordan, David K. and Daniel Overmyer. 1986.
The Flying Phoenix
. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Kohn, Livia, and Robin R.Wang, eds. 2009.
InternalAlchemy: Self, Society, and the Quest for
Immortality
. Magdalena, NM:Three Pines Press.
Shahar, Meir. 2007.
The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the MartialArts
.
Honolulu: University of Hawai™i Press.
Skar, Lowell, and Fabrizio Pregadio. 2000. ﬁInternal alchemy (
Neidan
).ﬂ In
Daoism
Handbook
, edited by Livia Kohn, 464-97. Leiden: E. Brill.

Daoyin
Tradition:The ‚FiveAnimal
Mimes™.ﬂ
Asian MedicineŠTradition and Modernity
 2.2: 225-53.

Daoism in
China Today
In this chapter
The fate of Daoism in China today is closely linked with politics. Suppressed from the found-
ing of the People™s Republic in 1949 until the Four Modernizations in 1978, it has made a

gradual come-back but remains under tight control.All Daoist institutions are state-owned,

monastics are paid by the government, several bureaus compete for revenues and administra-

tive power, and training centers require courses in Marxism as preparation for full ordination.

in all major cities. People chose the Daoist life for a variety of reasons: to take refuge from ci-

Daoist-based business.
As the religion has grown, so have its ritual activities, the most notable being the Grand

of this kind was in Hong Kong in 2007, with hundreds of Daoists in attendance. Its cultiva-

tion practices, too, are taking off in unprecedented ways, Daoists increasingly adopting qigong

while developing traditional martial arts, such as taijiquan.
Main topics covered
Recent Developments
Structure andAdministration
Daoist Lives
RitualActivities
The Qigong Connection
11

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Recent Developments
D
aoism, together with all other religions of China, was the victim of the po-
litical transformation of the 20
th
 century.AfterWorldWar II ended with
the capitulation of Japan in 1945, the Chinese engaged in civil war, the

Communists (CCP) under the leadership of Mao Zedong (1893Œ1976) battling

the Republicans (Kuomintang), led by Chiang Kaishek (1888Œ1975). It ended

Republic of China on the mainland.
attacked as a form of escape from a country that badly needed workers and soldiers, while
popular practices were condemned as superstitious and wasteful.Traditional myths and sto-

ries were debunked while gods toppled and organizations declined. On the other hand, trance

Marx in seeing religion as an opiate for the people, necessary only while their living condi-

tions were horrendous. Religion would naturally evaporate once the true realm of freedom un-

der the dictatorship of the proletariat was realized.
Communist Policies
With no patience to wait for the natural demise of religion, the Communists suppressed it

radically. In 1952, private holdings of land were outlawed and all was collectivized into com-

munes. Religious organizations were dissolved, monks and nuns returned to the laity, and

temples made into schools, assembly halls, garrisons, or storage facilities. In 1958, during the

Great Leap Forward, every commune was encouraged to have its own steel mill, and all metal

their way into the furnaces.
During the
Cultural Revolution
 (1966Œ1976), young people (Red Guards) were encouraged to
do away with all remnants of culture.All sorts of artifacts and what remained of temple build-

ings were destroyed, desecrated, and defaced.This only ended with the death of Mao Zedong

in 1976 and the new leadership of Deng Xiaoping (1905-1997), who in 1978 began the Four

Modernizations.As a result, since 1980 religious organizations and practices, as well as the

academic study of religion, have undergone a revival.
New Religions
Exploiting this freedom, in the 1990s various groups under the umbrella of the sanctioned

health practice of qigong (lit. ﬁworking with
qi
ﬂ) grew into large-scale organizations and re-

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couped traditional religious patterns. In addition to healing exercises, they taught devotion
to deities, chanting of sacred scriptures, taking of precepts, and obedience to group leaders.

Typical groups included Zangmigong (Tantric Qigong), essentially a new religion based on

Tibetan Buddhism, and
Zhonggong
 (Central Qigong), an organization that led practitioners to
Buddhist-style liberation.
There was also the notorious Falungong (DharmaWheel Practice), founded in 1992, which
proposed exercises and meditations in combination with ethical principles for the attainment

of supernatural powers and transcendence into Heaven. Refusing to bow to government regu-

atmosphere for personal religious cultivation.
Structure andAdministration
After 1949, all religions had to organize themselves under state law. Daoists, dominantly of

the Complete Perfection school with headquarters at theWhite CloudTemple in Beijing, ac-

cordingly formed the
Chinese DaoistAssociation
 (CDA). It began in 1956 withYue Chongdai
as president, who was succeeded by ChenYingning (1880-1969) in 1962.The organization

sponsored a national conference of Daoist representatives, which also included the Celestial

Masters based on Mount Longhu, and created a basic forum for interaction with the state.

Nothing much happened during the Cultural Revolution, when it had to lie low.

in all major cities and provinces, sponsored Grand Offerings in 1993 and 2001, arranged for

contacts with Daoists all over the world.
Training and Ordination
While the Celestial Masters on Mount Longhu routinely train priests and have held regular

ordinations since 1995, the main training center for monastics (now only monks) is at the

White CloudTemple in Beijing.A second center has recently opened on Mount Qingcheng in

Sichuan.A school especially for nuns was established on Nanyue (Hunan), the sacred moun-

tain of the south, in 2005.Training usually lasts for two years, with classes of 50-100 students

that are selected upon examination from local temples, where they were apprenticed to an es-

tablished Daoist.
-
-

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tiation ceremony with the transmission of sacred texts, a vow to continue the tradition, and the
bestowal of a religious name. Both Complete Perfection and Celestial Masters follow this sys-

tem; there is no requirement to be a monk or nun.Also, masters typically specialize in certain

kinds of texts, rituals, or practices, and disciples may decide to study other methods as well.

In that case, they move on to other teachers and become holders of multiple lineages. Most

Daoists in China remain on this level; so-called ﬁordainedﬂ foreigners, too, participate here.
The second level involves training at a large, state-sponsored center for the full two-year pro-
gram, studying Chinese culture, foreign languages, temple administration, Marxism-Leninism,

as well as Daoist history, ritual, music, literature, thought, cultivation, and so on. Graduates

undergo full ordination to Daoist monk or nun, live in temples full-time, and become organiza-

tional leaders. Many begin by being religious enthusiasts but come out despising Daoist doc-

trines and practices, their highest loyalty being to the state. Full, large-scale ordinations were

interrupted by war and Communism, and none was held between 1927 and 1989. Since then,

three major ceremonies have taken place, at each of which several hundred Daoists received

ordination.
Multiple Bureaus
Temples and monasteries have a semi-democratic management; they work largely through

-
tion, whose administrators include ordained Daoists as well as supportive lay followers.
Above and beyond this, temples and practitioners are administered by the Bureau of Religious
Affairs, which is staffed by hard-core Communists with little patience for religious needs or

-

the Department is interested mainly in revenue and the smooth entertainment of large crowds.

It, too, has no concern with religious activities or the creation of a spiritual atmosphere.
The effect of this multiple administration is twofold. On the one hand, the two agencies tend
to squabble over money, and if one gets more from a temple activity than the other, they alert

the police and accuse monks of nefarious activities. On the other hand, they channel state and

tourist funds toward restoration and expansion, so that many Daoist sanctuaries now have a

revivedandenergizedlook, areopen tothepublic,andoffer a widevarietyof Daoistresources

(books, charms, herbs, teas, martial training).
There is great regional variation in the degree of support and cooperation between these
agencies and Daoist institutions. In some areas (Sichuan, Hubei), Daoists are made very wel-

come and religious activities and festivals are supported with enthusiasm. In others (Shaanxi,

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Shandong, Hunan), the politicians are wary of all religious organizations and a restrictive
mode prevails.
Important Centers
The most important Daoist centers are on mountains.The
s
 of traditional
China all have Daoist institutions: MountTai in the east (1545m, near Confucius™s birth-

place in Qufu), Hua in the west (2200m, near Xi™an), Heng in the north (2017m), Nanyue

(Hengshan) in the south (1290m, near Changsha), and Mount Song in the center (1440m, near

Luoyang; south of Shaolin monastery). Most of these mountains have multiple peaks and

include large-scale temples at the bottom as well as numerous hermitages and monasteries

perched on mountain tops and built into cliffs.
In addition, there are several important Daoist mountains.They are Mount Longhu, the head-
quarters of the Celestial Masters in Shanxi; the Zhongnan mountains (west of Xi™an) with

Louguan, where Laozi allegedly transmitted the
Daode jing
; Mount Qingcheng in Sichuan
(northwest of Chengdu), where Zhang Daoling founded the Celestial Masters; Mount Mao

near Nanjing, the location of the Highest Clarity revelations; Mount Lao in Shandong (near

Qingdao), where the Complete Perfection school developed; and MountWudang in Hubei

(nearWuhan), the state-sponsored sanctuary of the DarkWarrior and main Daoist martial arts

academy.
In terms of inner city temples, the most prominent is the
White CloudTemple
 in Beijing,
headquarters of the CDA and a major training center; anotherWhite CloudTemple is found
in Shanghai, which also houses a popular City God temple now run by Daoists. Beyond the

eastern seaboard, there are: the Black SheepTemple (Qingyang gong) in Chengdu (Sichuan),

where Laozi supposedly metYin Xi before they emigrated to the west; the Eight Immortals

Temple (Baxian an) in Xi™an, the headquarters of the local association; and theTemple of

shopping district.
The Complete Perfection school has another important temple in Ruichong (Shaanxi), the al-
leged birthplace of the immortal Lü Dongbin. Moved due to dam construction to Longquan

village in 1959, the Palace of Eternal Happiness (Yongle gong) is the site of exquisite murals

from the 13
th
 century and a major ritual center.

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Daoist Lives

-
reer.The most common is to take refuge from the vicissitudes of civilian life. Statistics show
that hardly any Daoists have advanced education, and most have barely made it to a high-

school diploma.They often come from low-class families with no resources or from commu-

nities with no job opportunities. In some cases, their marriage has turned sour or they have a

health issue, and they simply do not know where else to turn.
With little religious motivation and less understanding of the tradition, they just want to be
comfortable and enjoy their state stipend.They do their duty manning the entrance gate or

selling souvenirs, but most of the time they play games, watchTV, chat, or otherwise hang out.
The comfort-seekers make up about 80 percent of all Daoists.The remaining 20 percent divide
into two groups: approximately 16 percent who wish to do community service or advance in

the administration, and maybe 4 percent who are in Daoism for spiritual cultivation or busi-

Community Service
A Daoist career lends itself easily to community service, either on the local level, where small

temples play an increasingly important role in satisfying the religious needs of the people, or

on the national level, where well-trained (and properly indoctrinated) representatives are need-

ed to run central institutions, Daoist associations, and relevant state agencies.
Local temples have revived continuously since the 1980s. First, priests and monks were al-
lowed to return from their lay occupations as farmers, carpenters, or vendors, and buildings

were reassigned from their civilian uses.Then funds were raised for the materials and workers

necessary to refurbish the places, add new wings, and create new statues and ritual imple-

ments.As time went on and private ownership became possible again, the temples were also

lands for planting or to be built on, thus ensuring a private income in addition to the state

stipends.
although often ancestral tablets and ritual manuals had been burned during the Cultural

Revolution and are lost forever.Today, all major life transitions (birth, marriage, retirement,

death) are marked by religious ceremonies, Daoists taking a large portion of this market. In ad-

businesses) as well as the production of talismans, amulets, charms, and other gewgaws are

-

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and community rituals is on the rise.
work in one or the other state-sponsored institution, from the local Daoist association through

the large training monasteries to government agencies. Daoists on this level have to be or-

dained centrally and cannot just hold one or the other local lineage.They are accordingly bet-

ter educated and there is a much higher degree of standardization in doctrine and practices.

The tendency is for an increased demand toward such centralization and, as more training

education.
Hermit Life
Another Daoist lifestyle choice is being a hermit outside of institutional structures. Daoists

have traditionally supported life away from society, and to the present day there are hermits
Fig 11.1
 A community temple

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in far-off mountain reaches as well as in the inner cities. Mountain hermits tend to subsist
on a minimum of food and drink, often gathering nuts or herbs that they eat and sell for ba-

Revolution, take on employment, and even get married.There is only one case reported where

a hermit, interviewed by Bill Porter in the early 1990s, upon the question of how he fared un-

der Mao Zedong, said: ﬁMao who?ﬂ
Most mountain hermits choose the isolation intentionally, but there are also situations where
a particularly unruly monk, who does not conform to state-imposed discipline, is banished to

a distant cliff. Left out of the tourist loop and thus deprived of income, he becomes a spiri-

tual seeker by default. Other hermits do not even retire to the mountains but live in the cities,

where they do minimum work to keep themselves alive and otherwise engage in Daoist culti-

vation.An example is a former vice-abbot and leader of Complete Perfection. In 2006, he got

cities.There he is all but unknown and can live in splendid isolation.
martial arts, an activity hardly ever found in monastic institutions today.They are ordained as

-
tion, or a combination of these. Unless they take on disciples who spread the word of their ac-

complishments, they remain hidden, and there is no way of telling how common this phenom-

enon is in China today.
Daoism as Business
A completely different Daoist lifestyle has emerged recently with the growth of a free-market

economy and the rise of newly rich business executives who are in desperate need of stress

release and body pampering.This is the path of Daoism as business or the establishment of

Daoist spas.
An example is the Intertwined DragonTemple (Shaolong guan) in the southwestern metropo-
lis of Chongqing.A vast complex of various buildings, nicely refurbished in traditional style,

it contains not only worship, lecture, and meditation halls, but also extensive areas dedicated

to massages, physical treatments, medical diagnoses, herbal prescriptions, and exercise. It has

modern hotel facilities for visitors, spacious rooms and up-to-date dining areas, a computer lab

to stay in touch with business affairs, hot tubs and pools to languish in after working out, as

well as all sorts of other amenities associated with pricey retreats.
Its infomercial, shown byAbbot Li Jun at the end of theThird International Conference on
Daoism in 2006, presents the monastery entirely as a center for the unique acquisition of

Daoist secrets of long life, following the ancient model of theYellow Emperor who, about

5,000 years ago, concocted his cinnabar elixir on this very mountain. Its monks appear as

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Daoism in China Today
model healers, serving as grand masters of qigong and performing acrobatic moves of taiji-
quan and other martial arts.They offer a new version of Daoist service by teaching the newly

wealthy and accordingly stressed-out class of upscale Chinese businessmen how to relax and

A Beijing Spa
Similar spas are springing up all over the country, some even placed in the gym section

of modern high-rise apartments.An example is the Daoist Long Life Center in the Blue

Iris Garden (Qingzhi yuan) condo complex in Beijing. Run byWang Chengya, a Beijing

-
munity building.Arranged according to fengshui principles, its rooms are extremely well fur-

nished and tastefully decorated with Daoist art.
and astrological predispositions.They then receive a treatment plan, which includes dietary

suggestions, herbal concoctions, special teas as well as herbal baths, massages, facials, qigong,

and healing exercises.The Center employs an extensive staff and has a high rate of success,

treating senior party cadres, the prime minister, and increasing numbers of foreigners.
Its founder, who owns twenty-nine companies including herbal nurseries, publishing busi-
nesses, and other resorts, is himself a Daoist scholar and teaches its theory and methods at rep-

utable academies. His work shows how Daoism can develop and what an impact it can have

to resort to hyperbole of any kind.
RitualActivities
As Daoism makes further inroads into various levels of Chinese society and serves wider

needs of the community, its ritual activities increase. In addition to private rites and village

events, Daoists also perform large-scale ceremonies, known as
Grand Offering
 (
dajiao
).
Traditionally held once every sixty years to coincide with the sixty-year cycle, they are venues

to renew the world and society, pray for peace and stability, and enhance community cohesion.
A Grand Offering is an elaborate event that can last from three days to several weeks. It
involves the establishment of temporary altar facilities, the participation of several Daoist

troupes, the invitation of major deities, and continued ritual services with full community par-

ticipation. Historically the successor of the medieval purgation (
zhai

was held in 759 to pray for peace and stability after the devastation of theAn Lushan rebel-

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lion. In the Song dynasty, the Offering became the main venue of public Daoist ritual, and
various detailed descriptions survive from the eleventh and thirteenth centuries.
took place at theWhite CloudTemple in Beijing.This was followed by a ceremony on Mount
Min in Shanxi in 2001. In addition, Offerings were held inTaiwan in 1980 (Gaoxiong), 1984

(Tainan), and 1998 (Taipei, at the Lü Dongbin temple).The most recent was a Grand Offering

to the Highest Heaven (
luotian dajiao
) held in Hong Kong in November, 2007.
The Hong Kong Offering

peace, the harmony of yin and yang, and the cessation of all disasters, as well as to give thanks

for ten years of mainland rule over Hong Kong and forty years of successful activities of the

Hong KongTaoistAssociation.
The ceremony was sponsored by various Daoist organizations in Hong Kong and was ac-
companied by a lecture series, an international conference, an art exhibition, a martial arts

competition as well as several concerts and book publications. It took place at the
Yuen-Yuen
Institute
, a Daoist center inTsuenWan in the southwest part of the NewTerritories.The

Institute, which has both resident and visitor facilities and can easily accommodate large

crowds for vegetarian meals, has ample space behind its main halls.
Situated auspiciously on a north-south axis, protected in the back by gorgeous mountains and

imposing triple gate for the ceremony.The timing was auspicious as well: activities began on

the fourth of the tenth lunar month (Nov. 13), the day of the traditional La Festival, and ended

the last of theThree Primes of the ancient Daoist calendar.
Over 400 Daoists, many of them women and including numerous lay disciples, participated
in continuous ritual activities for those eleven days, with the exception of the eleventh (Nov.

20), which was considered unlucky.They came in groups of various sizes, representing Daoist

institutions and bringing their various forms of Daoist ritual and incantation to the meeting.

Groups came form Hong Kong (18), mainland China (14), Singapore (3),Taiwan (1), Macao

(1), and Hawai™i (1).
Daoist Gods
 (
Additional Reference
)
The Offering was dedicated to the Highest Heaven and involved the presence of numerous

Daoist deities, representing the entire pantheon.They were arranged in six halls.TheThree

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Pure Ones, central to the main heavens, schools, and scriptures, were placed in the main sanc-
tuary at the far end of the sacred compound. It was the site for the most important rites, in

which all different groups participated.
To its right was a hall to the Jade Emperor, a popular deity adopted into the pantheon who is in
charge of the celestial administration. Usually he is assisted by the Ruler of Fates, who man-

ages the records of life and death; and the King of Hell, who supervises all activities in the un-

derworld prisons.To the left of the main sanctuary was the hall to stellar deities: Sun, Moon,

Northern Dipper, Pole Star, PurpleTenuity, and other Heavenly bodies that furnish residences

for immortals and govern the rhythms of the world.
Celestial Masters Hall with a special altar for Zhang Daoling. Opposite was a hall dedicated

to Lü Dongbin, the Eight Immortals, as well as the founder of Complete Perfection,Wang

Chongyang, and his main disciples, the Seven Perfected. Last, but certainly not least, and fac-

Fig. 11.2
 A temporary altar at the Grand Jiao

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administrators arranged in a hierarchical system, commonly designated by the ranks of immor-
tal, perfected, and sage.
Popular gods
 adopted into Daoism were not given a special hall.To conclude this survey of
the pantheon, they include deities with a special portfolio and divide into two major groups:

general protectors, such as the God ofWealth (Guandi), the City God (Chenghuang), the

Goddess of Mercy (Guanyin), and the Goddess ofWayfarers (Mazu); as well as healing dei-

ties, including theYellow Emperor, the King of Medicines (Sun Simiao), the Goddess of the

Morning Clouds (Bixia yuanjun), and the LadyWho Brings Children (Songzi niangniang).
Ornamentation

-
cial seal of the residing deity together with various tablets and ritual implements. Colorfully

veiled in red and yellow curtains of soft gauze, they created the feeling of a gradually deepen-

and incense, as well as a large incense burner where community participants would place joss

Each hall also was furnished with tables and folding chairs for the participants to sit and do
their chanting. On the left of the main sanctuary was room for the musical troupe, consisting

of about ten players of percussion, string, and wind instruments.The entire area was wired for

sound and large speakers created a massive presence of music and chanting.

sacred mountains, the four heraldic animals, and the twenty-eight lunar stations.The banners

were printed with the mystic talismans of various groups of Daoist heavens, including the

Three Clarities.The lamps again showed the holy signs of the twenty-eight lunar mansions,

representing the order of time in the universe.
RitualActivities
The Grand Offering usually involves an initial opening of the altar area and formal invitation

proceeds through several cycles of scripture recitation, repentance ceremonies, and audiences

mandates) to conclude with the sending-off of the deities.
The Hong Kong ceremony, since it was carried by large numbers of different kinds of Daoists,
featured many variations of these rites, so that on any given day there would be repentance

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the big offering to Highest Heaven were held at the main sanctuary and involved participants
from all groups, as did the huge concluding banquet that celebrated the successful blessing of

the cosmos.
The Qigong Connection
Qigong
 is a system of slow body movements in coordination with deep breathing and mental

guiding of body energies that releases tension, effects healing, and contributes to overall well-

being.Adapting it from traditional Daoist and medical exercises, the Communist Party gave

it its modern name and set out to transform it, cleansing it from all ancient cosmology and

existence, qigong has spread and changed, affecting both the Chinese people and Daoism in

various ways.
Fig. 11.3
  Ceremonial procession at the Grand Jiao

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History
cadres and was predominantly practiced in a medical setting, both in specialized qigong clin-

ics and general hospitals. During the Cultural Revolution it was banned, clinics and hospi-

tal wards were closed, and practitioners went underground. In the1970s, when practitioners

ﬁcame out of the mountains,ﬂ qigong became a popular movement, encouraging self-healing

government set up various national organizations to control the rapidly expanding scene while

the main focus of the practices shifted to the acquisition of extraordinary powers, like clair-

voyance, telepathy, psychokinesis, distance healing, and so on.
The craze for these powers slowed down in the 1990s, when several masters were arrested
for fraud and many feats were unveiled as quackery.While the state issued more stringent

-

made ethics a fundamental part of the practice.To all intents and purposes new religions, they

claimed to lead their followers to transcendent salvation.
This in turn resulted in the emergence of
Falungong
, a messianic cult centered on the founder

highly empowered followers for the new world to come.To this end, he controlled people™s

lives and minds, prohibiting the reading of anything except his books and the practice of heal-

ing other than through his practices. He was also opposed to mixed marriages, women™s auton-

omy, and various other modern features. His group was outlawed and has been actively perse-

cuted since 1999.The fall-out from this is that qigong in China has shrunk considerably and is

sanctioned as a sport (soon to be part of the Olympics),Western-style aerobics, or ballroom

dancing.Also, yoga is making great headway in China, seen entirely as a physical workout

and to the exclusion of all spirituality or religious context.
Daoist Response
-

so that, in addition toWudang martial arts, there are now systems related to various holy

places, such as the ﬁMount Emei Sage Styleﬂ qigong form in twenty-four movements that will

open energy channels and enhance personal healing abilities. In addition, they have adopted

bodily well-being as part of Daoist doctrine, integrating it with the traditional emphasis on

moderation and longevity techniques.

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An example of this is found in a small pamphlet from Mount Qingcheng (Sichuan), entitled
Daojiao yangsheng quanxiao geyan
(PertinentWords on Daoist Long Life and Filial Piety).
Written in an easygoing, popular style and rhythmic verses that are easy to remember, it covers

various activities and aspects of daily living. It begins:
Work the body and live long;
Enjoy your pleasures and cut life short.

Rest in quietude to nurture spirit;

Move with vigor to exercise the body.

If you can rest and move in equal measure,

You can extend your destined years.

And if you really want health,

Then practice every day.
Fig. 11.4
 Qigong practice at a Hong Kong Daoist temple

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It then recommends that one should do exercise of some sort or the other
Practice self-massage.

Kick a ball,

Or go for a walk,

But never cease your efforts.
In addition, the text stresses the need for a healthy diet, limiting the intake of fat, sugar, and
salt while eating much greenery and vegetables. ﬁIt™s o.k. to drink a little wine, but tea is

nice, hot soup, then even in old age you won™t be tired.ﬂThe only more religious note in this

otherwise entirely health-centered booklet is an encouragement to ﬁaccumulate meritﬂ by do-

ing good deeds and behaving ethically. But again, it is not morality for its own sake. Instead, it

will aid the attainment of long life by keeping one™s conscience clean and one™s mind pure.
Key points you need to know
Daoism today is subject to political interference. It was suppressed until the early 1980s
and has since made a major comeback, but it still administered through various governe-

ment agencies, including the Chinese DaoistAssociation with many branches, the Bureau of

ReligiousAffairs, and the Department ofTourism.
Ordained Daoists are either disciples of individual masters whose lineage they continue or
trained in large state-sponsored institutions that also require courses in Marxism. Most join
the religion to escape from civilian life and take it easy. Some are dedicated to do commu-

utilizing Daoist health practices.
Communal Daoists engage in rituals, both personal and village-based.They also, every few
years sponsor a Grand Offering, which serves to renew the world and strengthen peace.An
example of such a rite held in Hong Kong in 2007 shows the grand scale of the ritual, the

cooperation of numerous Daoist groups, the continuation of the tradition, and the cultural

impact of Daoist practice.

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Individual Daoists may also practice health exercises which in China are now known as
dominant emphasis on physical training, they incorporate health advise into their modern-

ized doctrines.
Discussion questions
How are religious organizations run in theWest?Are temple/church leaders elected?What
1.

How does tourism enter the picture?
Are there any large-scale rituals comparable to the Grand Offering in other countries or re-
2.

ligions?What kind? Do members of other religions come together in joint ceremonies even
though they belong to different sects?
Look up qigong on theWeb and examine some forms. How is it different from yoga?What
3.

are some claims people make about its effects?What is its appeal?
Further reading
Herrou,Adeline. 2005.
La vie entre soi: Les moines taoïstes aujurd™hui en Chine
. Nanterre:
Société Ethnographique.
Katz, Paul R. 2000.
Images of the Immortal: The Cult of Lü Dongbin at the Palace of Eternal
Joy
. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Lagerwey, John. 1987.
Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History
. NewYork: Macmillan.
Ownby, David. 2007.
Falun Gong and China™s Future
. NewYork: Oxford University Press.

Palmer, David. 2007.
Qigong Fever: Body, Science and Utopia in China
. NewYork: Columbia
University Press.
Pas, Julian F., ed. 1989.
The Turning of the Tide: Religion in China Today
. Hong Kong:
Oxford University Press.
Porter, Bill. 1993.
The Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits
. San Francisco:
Mercury House.
Wang,Yi™e. 2006.
Daoism in China:An Introduction
.Warren, Conn.: FloatingWorld Editions.

Western
Adaptations
In this chapter
In the course of its long history, Daoism has been transmitted and adapted variously beyond
China. Deeply embedded in Chinese language and culture, its ritual and communal practices

have generally been less adaptable, but
Daode jing
 thought, tales of immortals, and the various
longevity and meditation techniques have found eager audiences. Especially Daoist thought

and long life practices have spread in several EastAsian countries, notably Korea, Japan, and

Vietnam.
In theWest, too, the best known and most widespread aspect is Daoist thought; many concepts
and maxims of the
Daode jing
 have made their way intoAmerican and European culture.
Much less well known and embedded in a different social milieu is the transmission of Daoist

temples and ritual structures. Many remain within the framework of Chinese immigrants, but

some organizations also attractWestern devotees.
Most recent is theWestern adaptation of Daoist-inspired health practices and meditations.
Following in the wake of increased health awareness and the popularity of yoga and Buddhist

meditation, Daoist associations, centers, and masters are becoming popular. However, not all

of them are properly speaking Daoist; rather, they often focus on qigong and taijiquan.
Main topics covered
Transmission in EastAsia
WesternApperception
Temples and Communities
Health Practices

12

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Transmission in EastAsia
I
n comparison to other religions, Daoism is a hybrid. Most religions tend to be either
ethnic or universal.That is to say, an ethnic religion is embedded in a certain culture

else adopt the culture to a large extent (e.g., Hinduism, Shinto, Judaism).A universal

religion, on the other hand, is freely chosen by the individual and has core principles
independent of local culture.As a result, it moves easily from country to country, changing

somewhat in the process but still retaining its essence (e.g., Buddhism, Christianity, Islam).
Daoism does not fall into either of these categories but has aspects of both. Its rituals, with for-

are more on the ethnic side and do not lend themselves easily to transmission. Its philosophy,

notably the thought of the
Daode jing
, and its practices, especially longevity techniques and
energy-based meditations, have no such limitations.They can be translated into many differ-

appeal to people all over the world.As a result, there is relatively little ritual Daoism in coun-

practices.
Korea, Japan, andVietnam

All three had a close relationship with the Chinese imperial court:Vietnam was part of the

Chinese empire for over a thousand years, Korea served as a vassal state by sending regular

tributes and emissaries, and Japan adopted large segments of Chinese political organization

and culture, especially in the Heian era (Tang dynasty).All three, moreover, made classical

hinagana
in Japan in the 800s,
hangul
in Korea in the 1400s, and theWestern alpha-
bet inVietnam under French occupation in the 19
th
 century.
Ideas and Immortals
As a result of these close ties, the
Daode jing
 was transmitted early and has formed an impor-
tant part of the countries™ culture to the present day. Its sayings are well known, its thought has

Zhuangzi
and tales of immortals have inspired the people™s imagination, and there are famous hermits

and magical masters in all three countries.

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Thus, both Korea and Japan claim to be the original location of the paradise mountains of
Penglai.They have various places of this name, some even with temples dedicated to the

Chinese admiral who was supposed to discover them for the First Emperor. Both countries

have also developed their own brand of Daoist mountain asceticism, best known from the

beliefs in sacred mountains, and Daoist magical and ritual practices (spells, incantations, tal-

Japan, which was founded in 1984.

-

offerings for the sake of the state and established Daoist-based state temples, andVietnamese

kings followed Daoist state-religion models. In all cases, this adaptation involved the integra-

tion of Daoist cosmology and ordination patterns; it also brought the worship of Daoist gods

such as the Queen Mother of theWest, the Northern Dipper, and the Lord of MountTai.
Aristocrats, moreover, eagerly took to the practice of holding a vigil on the night of the 57
th

-
ing) report. Named
gengshen
 or in Japanese
after the day of their ascent, the practice

can only leave the body if and when the person is asleep.
Aristocrats enjoyed this practice very much, holding extensive vegetarian feasts in conjunc-
tion with community activities and prayers to a protective deity in charge of helping believers.

-
Today it is quite unknown in China, but still observed in conjunction with health fairs for se-

niors at certain Buddhist temples in Japan.
New Developments
Since the seventeenth century, Daoism has been part of forming new religions in EastAsia. It

brought a strong culture of internal alchemy to Korea, and the practice of honoring and follow-

ing morality books to both Korea and Japan. Partly carried by immigrants, partly encouraged

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by the adoption of Neo-Confucianism as state doctrine in both countries, new Daoist texts ar-
rived, were studied and interpreted, and became part of a developing tradition.
Often linked with the transmission of Chinese medical materials, Daoism also provided ac-
cess to ways of self-cultivation and personal improvement, and in this role has inspired the

founding of certain new religions, especially in Korea.These included the
Donghak
 (Eastern

1901.They both make ample use of Daoist talismans and ecstatic excursions, worship gods of

the Daoist pantheon, and name immortality as their key spiritual goal.
InVietnam, too, a new religion called
Caodai

of the universe. It integrates all major world religions through the notion of Caodai™s dispensa-

it combines the virtues and social consciousness of Confucianism, the precepts and vegetari-

anism of Buddhism, and the rituals and talismans of Daoism, with an organization patterned

on the Catholic church and guided by a central leader known as ﬁpope.ﬂ Caodai has under-

gone a varied fate through the twentieth century; it is still active today, especially in southern

Vietnam.
WesternApperception
Just as different aspects of Daoism have attracted different audiences in EastAsia over the

millennia, so the modern transmission of the religion to theWest matches a variety of inter-

ests and works in multiple social contexts. Most generally one can say that philosophical or

-
fered a different way of looking at the world, proposed new principles of life, and encouraged

a change of attitude toward the world.Today it is seen as opening a balance to theAmerican

(andWestern) tendencies toward uncontrolled growth, environmental exploitation, corporate

greed, and political corruption. Small is beautiful, and most happiness can be found in a sim-

ple life.
Organized Daoism with its priestly hierarchy, religious scriptures, and devotional practices,
on the other hand, fosters a sense of connection to the gods, community integration, as well

Chinese immigrants and in close connection with Chinese popular religion and has remained

for the most part an ethnically based organization, housed in inner-city temples and supported

by local residents.

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Longevity Daoism, with its exercises, meditations, diets, and fengshui, has only been available
in theWest for a few decades. It appeals to well-situated, health-conscious people who are

concerned with personal well-being, business success, and environmental protection.They of-

chronic disease, increased signs of aging, or the wish to reduce body stress exerted by contact

sports, hard martial arts, or power yoga.Typically practitioners begin by looking for merely

qi
of a completely different sort.While many stop there, some move on to inquire more deeply

into the conceptual and historical background of the practices and thus encounter Daoism.

From there, some go on to advanced training in internal alchemy and more spiritual techniques

whose ultimate goal is complete health leading to immortality.
DaoistThought

Daode jing
, the best-known

a translation into Latin by Jesuit missionaries, presented to the British Royal Society in 1788.

This rendition hoped to show that the mysteries of the Christian faith were known to the an-

cient Chinese, matching Dao with God, like logos conveying the triple sense of supreme be-

ing, reason, and word.
to impose Christian theology onto the Chinese text.This changed in the course of the twenti-

eth century, so that by the end ofWorldWar II a number of translations and interpretation had

appeared that attempted to read the text in its own right and do justice to Chinese thinking.

By now, there are over 300 English translations of the text and its concepts have made major

inroads intoWestern societies.The dominant mode of apperception is individual and personal;

people appreciate the philosophy as it helps them to change their own thinking and their way

of being in the world. Unlike in China, where the text has always also had a strong public di-

mension, there are very few political concerns associated with the
Daode jing
 in theWest.
Key Notions
Popular
Daode jing
 ideas tend to involve four distinct areas of application: theWestern ten-

dency toward action and progress; the importance of reducing stress; the reversal of come

common cultural and ethical values; and concerns for the environment and social harmony.
Balancing theWestern push for increased consumption, the need to always have more, always
get new things, and always acquire bigger objects, is the essential idea of the text to ﬁknow

when it is enough.ﬂThis means that there is a level of material wealth and internal satisfaction

that requires one to go along with the present and let go of advancement and progress. Having

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reached this point, an increase in consumption, a rise in position, or a multiplication of wealth
will add nothing further to one™s community status or internal well-being.

unnecessary and make one feel worse, not better.This latter concept in the
Daode jing
 is ex-
pressed as the ﬁcontinuous alternation of yin and yang.ﬂ Understanding the world as moving

much growth will result in reduction; a period of calmness and apparent stagnation is the be-

ginning of a new surge of energy.There cannot always be nothing but growth; nature requires

moves in all directions, up and down, rise and decline, come and go.
Nonaction

nature to move at its own speed and in its own way.This can be applied to relationships,

parenting, careers, businesses, and much more. In parenting, for example, it is wise to allow

children to make their own discoveries, develop their dominant talents, and grow at their own

rate.There is no point in pushing them to do things they are ill equipped for or are not ready

to tackle. Businesses, too, have a dynamic of their own, matching the tendencies of the market

and moving along with the needs of the populace.There is little one can do if the circumstanc-

es are simply not right.
On the other hand, the
Daode jing
 asserts that ﬁby doing nothing, there is nothing that is not
done.ﬂThis means that, instead of being constantly active and on the move, trying to control
and manage everything, one steps back and lets things unfold naturally. Matching one™s activi-

more pleasure and less stress.A reduction in personal tension is also the target of another fa-

mous
Daode jing

-

ple to be patient and make small efforts toward big goals. Rather than trying to do everything

-
fully in mind.Thus, for example, in writing a long paper or a book, one sets a goal to complete

PersonalValues

nonaction, the
Daode jing
 also encourages certain key values. For example, it extols ﬁweak-
ness and softness,ﬂ indicating that strength often does not prevail but creates more problems

than it solves. Cultivating a value of gentleness and kindness, a laid-back relaxation, or an in-

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concrete practice in the soft martial arts, such as taijiquan.
Anothervalueinthe
Daodejing
istruthfulnessorreliability.Itsays:ﬁTruewordsarenotbeau-
tiful; beautiful words are not true,ﬂ emphasizing that one should always be honest and clear in
what one says and not be taken in by the marvelous claims of some orators.Another Chinese

proverb that expresses a similar idea is: ﬁDogs aren™t good if they™re good at barking.ﬂ In other

words, look to the quality of the person, not to his or her outward expression, and make sure

you yourself express inner sincerity in word and deed.
A similar concept with a slightly different twist is expressed in the text™s emphasis on seeing
to the value of emptiness or what is not there: ﬁThirty spokes make a wheel, but it is the empty

center that makes it work.ﬂThis, as other sayings that speak of the bowl and the bellows,

whose empty inner space makes them useful, indicate that one should look beyond the obvious

and realize the value of what is not there.This goes for people as much as for spaces, utensils,

and business dealings.The person who is quiet and restful often has more to offer than the

pool or a tennis court are only effective if they are essentially empty.
Social Impact
The person in the
Daode jing
the ruler, but any individual who follows the principles of the text. Such a person, moreover,

will not remain in a vacuum but his or her good values will have a lasting impact on society,

creating a sense of stability and harmony wherever he or she goes.
This impact is never on a grand scale and does not involve political parties or elections.
Rather, it begins with the transformation of small communities or social units that develop a

model of simple living and show the importance of applying nonaction and using resources

responsibly. Eventually the process leads to the realization of ﬁnaturalness,ﬂ an overall balance

in society and nature.This aspect of the Daoist teaching, moreover, connects most actively to

modern ecology and has often been related to visions of environmental harmony and the pro-

tection of all species.Although nature in ancient China was seen more of a threat (with its wild

animals and unpredictable weather patterns) than as being threatened, the concept of natural-

ness ties in closely with the overall attitude of live and let live, of harmony within oneself and

with the world at large.

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Temples and Communities
Then earliest presence of Daoist priests in theWest occurred in the mid-nineteenth century in
connection with the Gold Rush (1848-1855), when numerous Chinese immigrated to work on

the greatAmerican railroad.They established communities and built local temples, some of

which were staffed by Daoists and a few of which still remain in northern California.
Today, Chinese-based Daoist communities still have temples in major cities, such as New
York, San Francisco, LosAngeles, andToronto. In addition, there are also several ritual orga-

nizations run by ordainedWesterners who attract a more ethnically diverse clientele.And, last

but not least, there are efforts to create Chinese-style Daoist associations in variousWestern

countries with the purpose of teaching a Daoist lifestyle and ritual practices.
Chinese Communities
There are three Daoist temples in San Francisco: Quong Ming, Chi Sin, and Ching Chung

Taoist and BuddhistAssociations, founded in 1967, 1976, and 1978, respectively.They are

all offshoots of Hong Kong organizations that follow the Longmen branch of Complete

Perfection and actively ﬁharmonize the three teachings:ﬂ they combine Confucian ethics

with Buddhist meditation, Daoist practices, and popular rituals, such as ancestor worship.

-
ing.They have a few hundred members each and cater primarily to the local immigrant com-

munity, for whom they perform practical services, such as weddings and funerals.
A similar organization is also found in NewYork City: theAmerican Buddhist andTaoist
Association, founded in 1979 by HsienYuen fromTaiwan. Its temples have altars to both

Buddhist and Daoist deities; they perform rituals and community services of various kinds.

The congregation is small and consists mostly of Chinese-Americans.
Another set of Daoist temples is found inToronto, Denver, andTallahassee.They are run by
Fung Loy Kok
 (Penglai Pavilion), founded in 1968 by Moy Linshin and Mui Mingte as a

branch of theYuen-Yuen Institute in Hong Kong. Claiming lineage to a sect based on Mount

Hua, they established theToronto shrine in 1981, followed by many others, including also

centers in New Zealand andAustralia.They have around 10,000 followers worldwide. Like

its parent organization dedicated to the harmonization of the three teachings, these temples are

different from other Chinese-based shrines in that they also teach taijiquan and qigong through

an organization called theTaoistTai Chi Society, thereby increasing their popularity and at-

tracting a wider variety of members.

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WesternTemples
Four Daoist temple organizations in the United States are run byWesterners: the Center of
TraditionalTaoist Studies byAlexeiAnatole inWeston, Mass. (1970s); theTaoist Sanctuary

by Kenneth Dickerson (Khigh Dhiegh) in LosAngeles (1970s); Orthodox Daoism ofAmerica

(now DaYuan Circle) by Charles Belyea (now Liu Ming) in Oakland, Calif. (1986); and the

Abode of the EternalTao by SolalaTowler in Eugene, Oregon (1993).They all have in com-

mon that they combine traditional ritual services with
Daode jing
 and
Yijing
philosophy as
well as with various health practices, such as breathing, diet, meditation, qigong, and soft mar-

tial arts.
AlexeiAnatole at the
Center ofTraditionalTaoist Studies
 is originally from Russia, where he
studied with a Chinese martial arts master for twenty years and later received formal ordina-
tion as a Daoist priest. In the 1970s, he immigrated to the United States and established his

temple in a suburban villa near Boston. Since 1994, it has also a formal association with the

White CloudTemple in Beijing.Anatole™s teachings being rather exclusive, his community is

small and consists mostly ofWesterners who come every Saturday for joint practice and ritual

services.The facility has a three-tiered layout, with an altar dedicated to a wide Daoist pan-

theon at the top, a reading and study room in the middle, and a martial arts studio at the bot-

tom. He emphasizes the need to properly understand the
Daode jing
, on which he has written
a commentary, as well as train physically to keep the
qi
 moving harmoniously while yet also
showing the proper ritual devotion.
A similar combination appears in the
Taoist Sanctuary
 in San Diego and LosAngeles, one

1970s by Kenneth Dickerson (1910-1991), anAmerican of Near Eastern descent who played

Oriental villains in Hollywood movies, and Share Lew (b. 1918), an ordained Daoist and

martial arts master from Guangdong. Now called theTaoist Institute, it has transformed into a

martial arts and qigong center and focuses largely on health practices.
Further Organizations
Orthodox Daoism ofAmerica, now
Dayuan Circle
, too, encourages a combination of practices
and has been recognized as a church. It is different, though, in that its founder Charles Belyea,

after training for many years inTibetan Buddhism, claims to have received the transmission

of Celestial Masters ritual from the Liu family inTaiwan in the late 1970s. He accordingly

changed his name to Liu Ming and set up various small temples in northern California plus a

branch in Seattle. Doubts about the authenticity of his ordination created a schism in his com-

munity, and he moved his center to Oakland in 2003. His community is small and consists en-

tirely ofWestern adepts.

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SolalaTowler of the
Abode of the EternalTao
 came to the practice of Daoism through health
problems. He trained in several forms of qigong that helped his condition while immersing
himself in the thought of the
Daode jing
. Continuing to grow as a Daoist, he opened a shrine
dedeicated to theThree Pure Ones, Lü Dongbin, and other deities in Eugene in 1993.The he

offers ritual services as well as classes in meditation and health practices. He also publishes

the quarterly journal
The Empty Vessel
, the only non-scholarlyWestern publication solely
dedicated to Daoism.
The overall tendency among these Daoist communities is to begin with a ritual transmis-

practice.Those that hope to attractWesterners, moreover, tend to add martial arts and health

practices to their curriculum. For the most part, the numbers are small, but some (such as Fung

Loy Kok) have succeeded in creating a worldwide organization and are spreading rapidly.
DaoistAssociations
In imitation of the Chinese DaoistAssociation, severalWestern organizations have sprung up

effort was made in 2000 by Brock Silvers, an initiated Daoist who supports Daoism in all its

forms and is also the head of theTaoist Restoration Society which provides funds for temple

repair in China.The United StatesTaoistAssociation was conceived as a web-based organiza-

tion in the hope to increase global awareness of the religion and provide networking and infor-

mation. Never getting off the ground, it was succeeded by theAmerican DaoistAssociation in

2004, which is still in its formative phase.
In contrast, the
BritishTaoistAssociation
 is well established. Formed in 1996 by a group
of four ordained Englishmen and with active help from Chinese masters, it represents vari-
ous strands of Daoist teachings. Its major center sponsors weekend seminars on a variety of

Daoist-related topics as well as retreats in qigong, Daoist exercises, and internal alchemy.

Maintaining close contacts with its Chinese parent organization, the Eight ImmortalsTemple

-

ports temple restoration and other projects in China. It hopes to maintain an active exchange

with Chinese practitioners and to spread Daoist thought and lifestyle in Britain.
Heath Practices
Chinese health practices and martial arts began to make serious inroads in theWest in the

late 1960s, after the 1965 repeal of theAsian ExclusionAct (established in the 1920s) opened

American immigration to large numbers ofAsians.As a result martial arts masters, Chinese

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medical doctors, fengshui practitioners, and other health-related professionals entered the
country.When qigong began to boom in China in the 1970s, qigong masters arrived in the

-
gan to gather followers and establish formal centers.
Today the scene of Chinese and/or Daoist health practices is highly complex and increas-
ingly popular. It can be divided according to four types of teachers and practices, with the

underlying commonality that the original masters were Chinese but current teachers tend to be

Westerners, and followers come from all social strata and ethnic backgrounds.
Kinds of Practitioners
First and most common are martial artists, taijiquan masters, and qigong healers who are con-

cerned strictly with health issues and physical improvements. Like acupuncturists and practi-

yang cosmology but make no claim to anything Daoist in their teachings.Well-known masters

Next are practitioners who are still mainly martial artists and taijiquan masters yet also have
some training in meditation (often Buddhist) who call themselves or their centers Daoist.
They
have come to Daoism from a combination of religious and health concerns and make every

effort to represent the tradition in aWestern setting
. Paul Gallagher, Stephen Chang, Jerry

also have undergone Daoist initiation.They undertake medical cultivation and meditation with

ritual overtones and retain a strong link with the Chinese tradition. Here we have Ken Cohen,

Michael Rinaldini, Harrison Moretz, Scott Rodell, and B. K. Frantzis.

-
cal cultivation and meditation but who have also advanced to more sophisticated levels of
Daoist practice and whose goal goes beyond healing and reaches for transcendence and im-

Daoist Living
All these practitioners, many of whom are members of the National QigongAssociation

(
NQA
), have in common that they teach a way of yin-yang living in the contemporary world,

qi
 and includes various self-cultivation meth-
ods.They typically arrange their living space and furniture to optimize energy patterns with

the help of fengshui and subscribe to a
qi

-friendly diet that pays attention to the seasons and

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consists largely of whole foods, organic vegetables, and hormone-free meat.They supplement

-
qi
 into a patient™s body by a trained master.
In addition, they may also practice physical cultivation, such as the breathing method of the

Six Healing Sounds
, the exercise systems of
daoyin
Five
Animal Frolics
, and engage in meditation that focuses on the circulation of
qi
 through the en-
ergy channels of the body (especially the central vessels of the torso in the microcosmic orbit)

organs and visualizing colored
qi
 in them in a practice called the Inner Smile).A minority will
in addition engage in ritual or devotional practices, relating to the deities and performing daily

prayers.

different aspects of life, allowing
qi

-
tary time without favoring one above all else.They also hope to develop a strong and healthy

body so that they can enjoy life and live long; and they encourage success, understood as good

relationships, enjoyable work, and the creation of wealth.
ModernAlchemy
Two groups go further in their ideal of opening paths to immortality in addition to health,

wealth, and success.They are IntegralWay and Healing Dao: established by Chinese-trained

-
sands of members.
IntegralWay
 was founded by Ni Hua-ching fromWenzhou, a coastal city in Zhejiang prov-
ince.After training as a physician of traditional Chinese medicine, he moved toTaiwan in

1949, where he continued his medical practice and began to study Daoism. In 1976, two

students of theTaoist Sanctuary brought Ni to California.They installed him in a house in

Malibu, where he opened a shrine called the Eternal Breath ofTao and began teaching classes

in a venue he named College ofTao. Over the years, his organizations have multiplied: his

acupuncture clinic is known as the Union ofTao and Man; he foundedYosan University of

Traditional Chinese Medicine; and he created the IntegralWay for supported practice.
Ni began publishing books in English in 1979, and today, with the help of his students who
work as volunteer editors, designers, and publishers, he has some sixty self-published books in

print. He lives in semi-retirement, and his various ventures are headed by his sons, Maoshing

and Daoshing.They enjoy wide popularity and include advanced training in internal alchemy.

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Healing Dao
Healing Dao
 is the other major Daoist training venue in theWest. It operates in a more strictly
Daoist mode and without any medical and acupuncture connection. It was founded by Mantak

Chia (b. 1944), the son of a Chinese family inThailand. Recognized early for his spiritual

potential, he began Buddhist meditation at age six. During his teens, he went to live in Hong

Kong, where he learned taijiquan, aikido, and kundalini yoga.There he met the Daoist master

Yi Eng (One Cloud), who taught him internal alchemy.Achieving expertise in these methods,

he decided to integrate them withWestern thinking to enhance health, reduce stress, and open

higher spiritual awareness.

center in NewYork City.Today he resides in northernThailand but travels widely to give

lectures and workshops. His main disciple is MichaelWinn, who runs the Healing Dao

University in North Carolina and supports local centers that can be found in all metropolitan

area, such as the HealingTao Institute run by Jampa Stweart inAustin, and theWhite Cloud

Institute under the direction of Caryn Diel in Santa Fe.
Stages of Progress
Modern adaptations of internal alchemy see the unfolding of spirituality in three levels:
1. create healing energy, strengthen and calm the body;
2. change negative emotions into strong, positive energy;

3. develop creative and spiritual practices.

and control.This serves to open the body and strengthen the
qi

and well-being. On the second level, they move into several meditations that clear negative

emotions and enhance connection to the Dao. Practices include the Six Healing Sounds, the

Microcosmic Orbit, and the Inner Smile.
From here they proceed through the recovery of
qi
 from sexual energies to different levels of

energies, they achieve the transformation of the self into a divine child.They thereby create an

inner sense of oneness with Dao, an empowerment within the body that transcends the limita-

tions of physical existence.

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Key points you need to know
Daoism divides into three major kinds: philosophical speculation, ritual and communal de-
votion, and health practices.All three have been transmitted beyond China and are making
inroads in theWest today, the philosophical and health aspects more so than ritual.
In EastAsia, Daoist traces are found in Korea, Japan, andVietnam. People in these coun-
tries venerate the Daode jing and practice forms of Chinese medicine and Daoist cultivation.
They have also integrated Daoist ritual and had state-sponsored Daoist institutions for a pe-

riod in history.

nonaction, patterned change, softness, relaxation, and naturalness. Its thought is seen less in
a political context than for personal balance and harmony which it achieves by counteract-

ing certain dominant tendencies of the modern world.
Ritual Daoist practice appears mainly in Chinese immigrant communities and is found in
major cities, such as San Francisco and NewYork, but there are also some temples that inte-
grate forms of cultivation and invite an ethnically diverse membership.

-
quan, and qigong.They use the practices in a more spiritual and religious context, adding

transformations through internal alchemy.
Discussion questions
What characteristics make a religion prone to being transmitted from culture to culture?
1.

What characteristic make such transmission impossible? Name three each and apply them to

religions you know.
Find a translation of the
2.

Daode jing
 and read some parts of the text.Are there sayings that
resonate with you? If so, why? How can you apply the text™s maxims to your life?

Find aTaoist center or temple on the internet and examine its background, teachings, and
3.

practices. Do its offerings appeal to you?Would you go there for training? If so, why? Or,
why not?
Further reading
Clarke, J. J. 2000.
The Tao of the West: Western Transformation of Taoist Thought
. NewYork:
Routledge.

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Tao-te-ching
.ﬂ In
Lao-tzu and
the Tao-te-ching
, edited by Livia Kohn and Michael LaFargue, 165-88.Albany: State
University of NewYork Press.
Jung, Jae-Seo. 2000. ﬁDaoism in Korea.ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
, edited by Livia Kohn,
792-820. Leiden: E. Brill.
Komjathy, Louis. 2004. ﬁTracing the Contours of Daoism in NorthAmerica.ﬂ
Nova Religio

8.2:5-27.
Masuo, Shin™ichiro. 2000. ﬁDaoism in Japan.ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
, edited by Livia Kohn,
821-42. Leiden: E. Brill.
Siegler, Eliah. 2001. ﬁTheTao ofAmerica:The History and Practice ofTaoism in the US and
Canada.ﬂ Ph. D. diss., University of California, Santa Barbara.
Winn, Michael. 2006. ﬁTransforming Sexual Energy withWater-and-FireAlchemy.ﬂ In
Daoist
Body Cultivation
, edited by Livia Kohn, 151-78. Magdalena, NM:Three Pines Press.

The Nature and
Study of Daoism
In this chapter
Daoism is hard to classify in standard terms: it has both ethnic and universal characteristics,
embraces both cyclical and linear models, and engages with nature both through alignment

and transcendence. It is, moreover, closely connected to various other aspects of Chinese cul-

ture, so that its study has tended to linger on the margins of sinological awareness.
-
-

recently it has moved on to include the critical examination of Daoist practices, such as ritual

and self-cultivation. Only little effort has yet been made to study Daoist religious philosophy,

political involvement, literature, art, music, and regional diversity. However, various activities,

such as international conferences, workshops, websites, and dedicated journals, are moving

the study along with great acumen.
Main topics covered
Key Characteristics
Evolution of Study
CurrentTrends
Activities and Resources
13

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Key Characteristics
I

degree into the mold of ancient cosmologies that see the world as cyclical and create

-
tinctly linear outlook in its vision of Great Peace and the complete overcoming of the
human condition in an ideal world.
The same tension between cyclical and linear also applies to its relationship to nature: for the
most part Daoist practices serve to create greater harmony with nature, better health in the

individual, increased communication with the gods. But then there is also its ultimate goal of

immortality, which clearly means to transcend all natural constrictions and live in an utterly

nonhuman manner: eating
qi
-
-
stead of the local yamen, and living forever instead of undergoing death, rebirth, and ancestral

veneration.
Cultural Connections

made more complex by the fact that the religion is also deeply embedded in Chinese culture,

and often the boundaries between Daoism and other cultural aspects of China are blurred.The

question ﬁWhat is Daoism?ﬂ has plagued religion scholars and sinologists alike, and there is

no easy answer.The boundaries between Daoism and mainstream thought, traditional cosmol-

ogy, Chinese medicine, Buddhism, and popular religion are vague at best.
For example, even in its very early stages, the Daoist school of thought was closely related
to other forms of Chinese philosophy, the term
dao
 being used by all to refer to the underly-
ing patterns of the cosmos and ideal way of governing.Throughout its history, moreover, the

religion has never lost its connection to the Confucian mainstream, extolling Confucian vir-

tues, integrating Confucian ethical principles, and often working closely with Confucians in

the government of the empire.The same holds true for classical Chinese cosmology. Daoism

wide use of the
Yijing
, the traditional calendar, forms of divination (astrology, physiognomy),
and various ways of manipulating
qi
 (fengshui, music, exercises).Although often called
ﬁDaoist,ﬂ there is nothing uniquely Daoist about any of these.
Similarly blurry boundaries exist between Daoist practice and Chinese medicine, Daoist and
Buddhist forms of meditation and worldview, and between Daoist worship and popular cults.

Daoism has, throughout its history, continued to adapt to the changing times by integrating

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new and varied forms of practice and visions of the universe. It has never stopped doing so,

adaptation and transformation.While this explains the apparently amorphous nature of the re-

answer the question:What is Daoism?
UniqueAspects
Despite all these, however, there are a few things that make Daoism unique and delimit it

clearly vis-à-vis other religions and the various aspects of Chinese culture.Three are most im-

portant: the concept of Dao as the underlying power that creates and supports everything in the

best possible way and to which one can relate through intuition and by cultivating nonaction;

theunderstandingofmultiplelayersofHeaven,occupiedbypure,cosmicdeitiesandtranscen-

dent bureaucrats, in their turn aided by human priests who become their equals through ritual

qi

-based human body-mind can be transmuted
into an immortal spirit entity through the systematic and persistent application of longevity

techniques and advanced meditations.

social relationships and ethical rules as central nodes of life.They expand on traditional cos-

mology by proposing additional levels of Heaven that are closer to the purity of creation and

house uniquely Daoist gods.They work with the fundamental methods of Chinese medicine

yet take them to new heights by applying them to transmutation above and beyond healing and

long life.
In addition, they add a dimension to popular religion by enabling their priests to become oth-

suits against spirits and successfully delivering people from the depths of hell.And they are

clearly distinct from Buddhists not only because their monks keep their hair and maintain re-

lations to their native families while their nuns and priestesses are treated as equals, but also

-
mate perfection in a permanent spirit existence in the heavens above.
Periodization
This being so, Daoism underwent a series of distinct stages of development.Three are most

obvious: an ancient or classical phase that includes the philosophers and extends through the

Han dynasty; a medieval or formative phase that sees the emergence of the major schools and

their integration in the systematic hierarchy of theTang; and a modern or popular phase char-

acterized by the emergence of martial culture, the integration of popular gods, and the harmo-

nization of the three teachings.

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Each of these can be further subdivided into two sections each, delimiting theWarring States
philosophers from the integrative cosmology, mythology, and medicine of the Han; the emer-

gence of the separate schools through various revelations during the Six Dynasties from the

market and multiple facets of Song religion from the tight imperial restrictions and increasing

local centers in the Ming and Qing.To all this, moreover, a seventh stage should be added that

marks Daoism today with its adaptation of modernity, relation to qigong, and spread to the

West.
Evolution of Study
Daoist Studies began in the 1930s after the Daoist canon, whose woodblocks had barely sur-

vived the centuries stored away in monastic basements, had been reprinted in Shanghai in

1923-25. Japan and France, present in China as colonial powers, were the two countries that

purchased copies of this newly available treasure trove, and it was there that the academic

Key Figures
The pioneers of Daoist Studies were Henri Maspero in France,YoshiokaYoshitoyo in Japan,

scholars furnished the grand old men of Daoist Studies, whose institutions and students are

The students of Maxime Kaltenmark, trained in the 1960s and 1970s, in turn, became the
teachers of seniorWestern scholars today:Anna Seidel, Michel Strickmann, Isabelle Robinet,

KristoferSchipper.AnothergreatsourceofDaoistscholarswasthetrainingofferedbyEdward

Schafer at the University of California at Berkeley, who can be considered the grandfather of

American Daoist Studies. Since then, students and scholars have multiplied, and there are nu-

Spreading the Study
Partly due to the work of these inspiring scholars and partly because of the 1960sTaiwan re-

print of the Daoist canon in a reduced edition (which made it both affordable and movable),

the study of Daoism began to spread in the 1970s.While France and Japan have remained

great centers, there are now also serious Daoist scholars in other European countries (Great

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Britain, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Italy) as well as in the United States, Canada, and
Australia. In addition, after the end of the Cultural Revolution and with the increased religious

In Japan, the main research organization is the Japanese Society for Daoist Research (Nihon

 (Eastern Religions). BothTokyo and Kyoto, as

In France, two research and two teaching institutions promote Daoist Studies: the Centre

d™Extrême-Orient with representatives in Japan, Hong Kong, China, andTaiwan; the Ecole

Pratique des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, located at the Sorbonne and the academic home of

Kaltenmark and Schipper; and the Collège de France with the Institut des Hautes Etudes

Chinoises that produces with an extensive publication series including many important works

on Daoism.

three international conferences, which took place in Bellagio (Italy) in 1968,Tateshina (Japan)

in 1973, and Unterägeri (Switzerland) in 1979, and also included participants from various

other countries. French and Japanese scholars are moreover responsible for the compilation of

a number of important indexes and concordances to the Daoist canon and various individual

texts, materials that are essential in opening access to key sources.The most important of these

reference works is
The Daoist Canon
, edited by Kristofer Schipper and FranciscusVerellen

(2004), a comprehensive guide to texts in the
Daozang
 and the result of a major international
cooperative project that was begun in the 1970s with funding from the European Union.
Areas of Exploration
The overarching tendency of the early generations of scholars, in the 1940s-60s, was to focus

on textual issues.Which texts belonged to what school?What were their dates? How were

they related to each other? Had they survived intact or were they composites including later

additions?Who were their authors?And what were the circumstances of, and motivations for,

their compilation?
All these were essential questions in an initial effort to come to terms with the approximately
1,500 texts of the Daoist canon plus its various supplements as well as manuscripts found at

Dunhuang, a large variety of stele inscriptions, and texts contained in non-Daoist collections.

Guided by Japanese scholars who excelled at this kind of philological groundwork, this effort

led to a fairly clear understanding of the major schools, texts, and protagonists of the religion.

It centered particularly on the formative phase in the middle ages, between the Han andTang

dynasties, leaving the study of modern Daoism to later generations.

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basic vocabulary of technical terms, in the 1970s-80s, scholars turned their attention to the

understanding of Daoist history.Who exactly was active in what school under what circum-

stances and for what reasons? How did Daoist schools, concepts, and practices relate to events

in Chinese history?What were their cultural and political connections to mainstream patterns?

Beyond the fundamental coming-to-grips with the tradition, a key concern at this stage was

also to overcome the inherent prejudice among classical sinologists.Their dominant attitude

was that Daoism was a subject to be taken up after retirement and that its study had little to of-

fer for the understanding of mainstream Chinese politics, literature, and philosophy.

study of Daoist practices.There is now much material, both ethnographic and historical, avail-

able on Daoist ritual.The various techniques of self-cultivation and meditation have received

a great deal of attention. For example, internal alchemy, all but unknown a few years ago, is

known and special practices for women being understood in more detail.
CurrentTrends
The current tendency these days, after exploring the basics of the tradition, is to create com-

prehensive surveys, integrated histories, and encyclopedic collections.These works greatly

populace.They also serve as textbooks in college classes and allow interested students to ac-

exploration of new areas of study, including the relation of Daoism to other aspects of Chinese

culture, such as politics and the arts.This trend, too, opens the examination and presentation of

-
standing of China, its history and culture.
Another widening effect is achieved through the increased dialogue with contemporary practi-

in China, not only studying priests, monks, nuns, and Daoist business men, but also learning

from them.The same holds true for students of Daoism in theWest.Where scholars until the

-
cused mainly on Chinese medicine or the
Daode jing
st
 century has seen an active and
ongoing exchange between scholars and practitioners that is growing at a rapid rate.
Last, but not least, Daoist scholars are actively engaged in various academic associations,
opening an engagement with scholars of Chinese culture and of other religions.They work

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hard not only to have their voice heard in relevant venues such as a journal of their own, but
also to create independent sections in important scholarly societies such as theAmerican

Academy of Religion.As a result, Daoist Studies is emerging from being merely one aspect of

comparative topics such as, for example, the role of women or the nature of ritual, now have

access to clearly presented information and accordingly can bring Daoism into the discussion

of religion in general.
Comprehensive Surveys
Following the model of Japanese and Chinese scholars,Western academics have recently

made the effort to present integrated and comprehensive surveys of the Daoist religion.The

earliest work of this kind was the three-volume
, a collection of systematically arranged
-
lished in 1983. It was followed, in 1994, by two comprehensive Japanese dictionaries, one ar-

ranged again in thematic format, featuring relevant articles, the other itemizing a huge number

of topics.All three publications, moreover, were richly furnished with colorful illustrations

and priced for the general market.They contributed greatly to the spread of Daoist awareness

in Japan
Around the same time, Chinese scholars began to present systematic histories of Daoism,
notably those by Qing Xitai (1988) and Ren Jiyu (1990), as well as three major dictionaries

(1994). Edited byWu Feng, LiYangzheng, and Hu Fuchen respectively, they are each several

thousand pages long and build on the cooperation of numerous local Daoist associations and

hundreds of scholars.They present descriptions of Daoist scriptures, personages, organiza-

tions, and practices; collect information from many different localities and summarize issues

of current scholarship; and provide bibliographies of Daoist Studies as well as systematic

chronologies.
Western Dictionaries

Daoism Handbook
, edited by Livia Kohn
(2000).Arranged chronologically and thematically, it comprises articles by thirty scholars

from various countries (including Germany, Italy, France,Australia, China, Japan, and Korea)

and covers not only the major schools and periods but also thematic issues such as women,

divination, talismans, art, music, and sacred mountains, as well as Daoism in Korea and Japan.

A seminal effort that continues to inspire scholars and followers, it has since been reprinted in

a two-volume paperback version.
Along the same lines, but arranged according to individual items rather than articles, is the
Encyclopedia of Taoism
, another intense work of international cooperation under the leader-

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ship of Fabrizio Pregadio (2005). More than any other work it allows easy access to detailed

of the presentation of complex and often intractable data.
Histories
A for systematic presentations of Daoism, an early effort was made by HolmesWelch in his

Taoism: The Parting of the Way
 (1965). Still very sketchy, this short volume outlines the main

Daoism than the
Daode jing
.A more powerful work is Isabelle Robinet™s
Histoire du taoïsme:
Dès origins au XIVe siècle
(1991), which came out in English under the title
Taoism: Growth
ofA Religion
 (1997).A well founded chronological survey, it became the standard for Daoist
histories in the 1990s. However, as the French title suggests, it outlines the religion only to

the fourteenth century, matching available research at the time and leaving out all modern

developments.
This changed in the 21
st
 century, when three books appeared in English that each presented
Daoism in a different way and from a different perspective. Livia Kohn™s
Daoism and Chinese
Culture
 (2001) is a chronological survey of Daoist history from the beginnings to the present

day that takes into account events in Chinese history and strives to create connections with de-

velopments and key features of Chinese culture. James Miller ™s
Daoism:A Short Introduction

(2003) is a thematically rather than chronologically arranged work that presents the tradition

through its ideas and practices which it places in both historical and contemporary contexts.
Russell Kirkland™s
Taoism: The Enduring Tradition
(2004) is neither a historical survey nor a
thematic presentation but a critical evaluation of what scholars know and do not know about

Daoism.The work serves to correct innumerable preconceptions and argues for a different

perspective on the religion. Rather than fundamental information on the religion, it provides a

different way of looking at it.
NewAreas of Study
Several areas of Daoist Studies that have received only little attention so far are increasingly

-
tion of Daoism to the arts: literature, music, painting, calligraphy, ceramics, and so on.All too

often these aspects are neglected, and Daoist works are not recognized as such. For example,

when Stephen Little put together the exhibition ﬁTaoism and theArts of Chinaﬂ in Chicago

and San Francisco in 2000, he discovered many Daoist art works that had been wrongly clas-

institutions. Similarly, scholars are only beginning to glimpse the impact of Daoist-minded

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The Nature and Study of Daoism
emperors on the symbolism and execution of paintings and calligraphy, as well as the evolu-
tion of musical patterns due to Daoist ritual.
Another desirable research goal is the better understanding of Daoist political thought and
activities.We know of the Daoist theocracy in the NorthernWei, the use theTang emperor

Xuanzong made of the religion in governing his empire, and of the Daoist infatuation of Song

Huizong and the Jiajing emperor of the Ming. However, there is no comprehensive under-

standing of how Daoists view politics and how they have related to the political elite and to

government over the millennia.
Further Subjects

Daode jing
 which is almost too well-
known by now, but Daoist religious thought as presented by intellectuals who were also or-

dained priests and deeply embedded in ritual, devotion, and cosmology. Especially in the Six

hardly been examined yet.Advanced practitioners of internal alchemy have created profound

treatises on cosmology and philosophy that remain untranslated and for the most part unread.

And, of course, there are all those later thinkers harmonizing the three teachings, whose par-

ticular take on Daoism yet remains to be studied.

-
ligion and its adoption by ethnic minorities in China.Again, a few facts are known, such as
that theYao, a tribe in southwest China and northeasternThailand converted to the Celestial

Masters in the middle ages and still runs its society along Daoist lines, with libationers as of-

-
gional differences.These can be explored historically; they are also increasingly the subject of

ethnographic investigations, which also shed light on social mobility and structural factors in

the practice of religion.
Practitioners
The practical side of the religion, its actual activation in the daily life of dedicated followers,

was neglected as an academic resource for the longest time.This had to do with the fact that

all religious institutions were shut down under Chinese Communism and that very few seri-

ous masters offered courses and training programs in theWest. In the past twenty years, this

has changed considerably, and we now have a strong presence of Daoist practitioners both in

China and in theWest.

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The Nature and Study of Daoism
In China, academic studies of actual Daoist practice include the ethnographic analysis of
Daoist temples, the documentation of ritual activities and festivals, and the conscientious

recording of the current status and modern history of both individual masters and complex

institutions. In theWest, they involve an increasing number of cooperative ventures, such as

joint conferences, scholar-practitioner workshops, and practitioners™ reports at meetings and in

there only beforeWorldWar II, is giving way to an increasing awareness that authentic mas-

ters and well-trained teachers are spreading methods of qigong, taijiquan, and Daoist medita-

tion which not only make increasing inroads among the general populace but are having a

strong impact on health awareness and spiritual aspirations in the modern world.
Activities and Resources
-
ues.They have a strong presence in several key academic associations, publish their own jour-

nal, websites, and data bases, and convene more and more often in specialized workshops and

international conferences.
AcademicAssociations
There are three major academic associations in the U.S. that provide a venue for Daoist

Studies: the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions (
SSCR
) with its
Journal of Chinese
Religions
; theAssociation forAsian Studies (
AAS
), which publishes the
Journal ofAsian
Studies
; and theAmericanAcademy of Religions (
AAR
), which has its own organ, the
Journal
of theAmericanAcademy of Religion
.The two latter have large-scale annual meetings that
draw thousands of scholars from Religious orAsian Studies; at each, Daoist scholars furnish

several panels and present new explorations.They also actively participate in regional con-

ventions of these two organizations as well as in SSCR meetings, usually held in conjunction

with the other annual meetings of the two larger associations. In theAAR, in particular, Daoist

Studies has just been elevated from ﬁconsultationﬂ to ﬁgroupﬂ status, which means its repre-

sentatives can now offer two independent panels at each annual meeting.The journals of all

Publications
A uniquely Daoist academic journal, called
Taoist Resources
the initiative of two self-styled Daoist nuns who contacted a number of Chinese religion schol-

ars with only secondary interest in Daoism.When the nuns found themselves overwhelmed by

the task, the journal passed on to the editorship of Stephen R. Bokenkamp at the University of

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The Nature and Study of Daoism
Indiana, where it prospered in twice annual issues for ten years. In 1997, however, a decision
was made to absorb it into the
Journal of Chinese Religions
, published by the SSCR.
Another effort at establishing an independent Daoist forum is underway. It involves the cre-

ation of ﬁtwo new journals: (1)
Daoism: Religion, History and Society
,
Daoism: Religion,
History and Society
 a bilingual academic venue in English and Chinese, to be published

jointly by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Ecole Française d™Extrême-Orient ;

(2) the
Journal of Daoist Studies
Journal of Daoist Studies
,

facilitated by Livia Kohn, Russell
Kirkland, Ronnie Littlejohn, is published byThree Pines Press. It divides into three sections:

-
text, a deeper understanding of internal alchemy, and relating the thought of the
Zhuangzi
to
contemporary psychology, appeared in 2008.The section on contemporary practice typically

has reports on Chinese temples, training facilities, and ritual activities as well as presentations

byAmerican Daoists on their education, methods, and concerns.
Websites
In addition, various online data bases present important materials for the study of Daoism.

They include a directory of scholars, students, syllabi, publications, and events at
www.daoist-
studies.org
 (James Miller, Queen™s Univ.); an extensive data base of Daoist artworks as part of

the
Daoist Iconography Project
.
 (PoulAnderson, Hawaii); a growing textual collection as part if the
Chinese Religions
Initiative
(FabrizioPregadio,Stanford);anoverviewoftextualandorganizationalresourceson
the
Daoism Information Page
 (GeneThursby, Univ. of Florida); as well as articles and infor-

mation on Daoist Studies at
www.daoistcenter.org

There are, moreover, several new foundations that hope to attract wealthy sponsors to en-

hance the academic study and practical dissemination of Daoism.They include the Daoist

Foundation, with its goal of ﬁpreserving and transmitting traditional Daoist cultureﬂ [
www.
daoistfoundation.org
]; as well as Legacy of Dao, ﬁdedicated to spreading ancient Daoist wis-

dom in the modern worldﬂ and ﬁmaking ancient Daoist knowledge and practices available to

everyoneﬂ [
www.legacyofdao.org
]. Both organizations, once funded, will offer scholarships
to help with the creation of translations of Daoist texts, encourage the increased production of

video documentations and practice DVDs, and sponsor conferences and workshops.
International Conferences
The three international conferences sponsored by French and Japanese scholars in the 1960s

and 1970s did not result in a sustained multi-national effort.The next event of this sort was a

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The Nature and Study of Daoism
small workshop atToyo University inTokyo in 1995, when a group of Japanese scholars invit-

-
cal invitation of Japanese academics toAmerica in 1998; they convened a 3-day workshop at

the Breckinridge Center of Brunswick University in Maine. Both events resulted in publica-

tions, edited byYamadaToshiaki and Fukui Fumimasa (1998) as well as by Livia Kohn and

Harold Roth (2002).
Most important in the evolution of Daoist conferences was the 2002 initiative by Qing Xitai,
the doyen of Daoist Studies in China. He asked Liu Xun, a specialist of modern Daoist history

who grew up inWuhan and graduated from the University of Southern California, to establish

a venue for Chinese Daoist scholars to meet and interact withWestern academics to enhance

the organization.

Daoist conference
,
ﬁDaoism and the ContemporaryWorld,ﬂ held in June, 2003 at Boston University in coopera-
tion with the Fairbank Center of Harvard University. Unlike all earlier events, this was open

to the general public, attracted large numbers of practitioners, and addressed also an interested

general audience, such as people involved in Chinese medicine and the martial arts. Funding

had been secured to invite a substantial group of scholars from China, however, they could not

participate in the end because of the outbreak of SARS that year. Still, the meeting was highly

successful and attracted over 150 participants.
The one Chinese scholar who managed to come was Zhang Qin from Sichuan University,
who was so enthused about the meeting that he invited everyone to his home for the following

year.The second conference accordingly took place in 2004 in Chengdu City and on Mount

Qingcheng in Sichuan.This was followed by a
third event
, held on an island in a Bavarian

lake under the sponsorship of the University of Munich and the German Medical Society for

QigongYangsheng.The fourth conference took place in Hong Kong in 2007. Organized by the

Hong KongTaoistAssociation
 and theYuen-Yuen Institute, it was held in conjunction with a

Grand Offering toAll Heavens, allowing participants to actively engage with contemporary

Daoist ritual. Participation has continued to increase and there is a strong sense of a growing

international community of Daoist Studies.

weekend in June. In 2009, it will be held on MountWudang in Hubei; in 2010, it will be at

provides access to conference papers. Further up-to-date information appears in the
Journal of
Daoist Studies
 and on www.daoiststudies.org.

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The Nature and Study of Daoism
Workshops
In addition to these large international efforts, there have also been quite a number of smaller

events include the conference on ﬁDaoism and Ecologyﬂ (Harvard University, 1998); the

symposium on ﬁDaoism and theArts of Chinaﬂ (Art Institute of Chicago, 2000); the dialogue

of scholars and practitioners under the heading ﬁDaoist Cultivation:Traditional Models and

Contemporary Practicesﬂ (Vashon Island, 2001); the workshop on ﬁTantra and Daoism:The

Globalization of Religion and Its Experienceﬂ (Boston University, 2002); the conference on

ﬁDaoism in the ModernWorldﬂ (Harvard University, Harvard 2005); the symposium on ﬁThe

School of Complete PerfectionTodayﬂ (UC Berkeley, 2006), and the workshop on ﬁInternal

Alchemy: EnergeticTransformations forVitality andTranscendenceﬂ (New Mexico, 2007).

Similar events continue to be organized, such as the meeting on the translation and interpreta-

tion of texts on women™s alchemy (LosAngeles, 2008) and a general Daoism symposium at

the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, 2008).
Taking all these developments together, there is a widespread effort to enhance and increase
thedevelopmentofDaoistStudies.CoupledwithagrowingpresenceofDaoist-relatedpractic-

es among the larger populace, this is bound to lead to a greater awareness, wider knowledge,

improved presentation, and higher relevance of Daoism in the modern world.
Key points you need to know
in close relationship with other aspects of Chinese culture and religion. Its unique character-

istics include the creative force of Dao, multiple heavens, and the potential of human trans-

formation toward immortality.
Daoist Studies began in the 1930s and, until the 1970s, was centered in France and Japan.
Scholars from these countries organized three international conferences and were respon-
sible for groundbreaking studies and the compilation of essential research aides.
-
tion of the texts through history, schools, and biographies to the examination of ritual and
self-cultivation practices.Areas such as art, music, literature, politics, religious philosophy,

and local divergences are still largely unexplored.
Only very recently have comprehensive histories and encyclopedias of Daoism appeared.
Similarly, Daoist Studies has only been recognized as a separate entity in theAmerican
Academy of Religion in 2007 and has only had its own journals since 2008. However, there

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The Nature and Study of Daoism
are growing numbers of relevant internet sites and data bases, and new foundations have
sprung up that hope to attract funding for the dissemination of Daoist wisdom and practices.
The most important factor in the creation of an international community of scholars is a se-
ries of conferences, held every year in June in various countries and attracting around 200
participants. Small workshops, moreover, serve to enhance cooperation among scholars and

create forums for productive exchange.
Discussion questions
Make a list of religions you are familiar with and examine them in terms of ethnic versus
1.

universal, linear versus cyclical, medical versus spiritual, communal versus hermit, ritual

versus self-cultivation.What typical patterns emerge?What are some areas to examine with

respect to the key characteristics?
Inthestudyofreligion,whichaspectsdoyouconsidermostimportantandmostinteresting?
2.

What do you think is most important in the study of Daoism at this point?Which subject
would you most like to learn more about?And should this be a book, audio, video, or online

presentation?
Go to the internet and look up Daoist studies, centers, and foundations.What are some
3.

points all these organizations have in common?What are their goals? Do you think they are
effective?
Further reading
Ding, Huang. 2000. ﬁThe Study of Daoism in ChinaToday.ﬂ In
Daoism Handbook
, edited by
Livia Kohn, 765-91. Leiden: E. Brill.
Kirkland, J. Russell. 1997. ﬁThe Historical Contours ofTaoism in China:Thoughts on Issues

Journal of Chinese Religions
 25: 57-82.
Kohn, Livia, and Harold D. Roth, eds. 2002.
Daoist Identity: History, Lineage, and Ritual
.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Leung, Man-Kam. 1991. ﬁThe Study of ReligiousTaoism in the People™s Republic of China
(1949-1990):A Bibliographical Survey.ﬂ
Journal of Chinese Religions
 19: 113-26.
Sakai,Tadao, andTetsuro Noguchi. 1979. ﬁTaoist Studies in Japan.ﬂ In
Facets of Taoism
,
edited by HolmesWelch andAnna Seidel, 269-88. New Haven, Conn.:Yale University

Press.

230
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The Nature and Study of Daoism
Schipper, Kristofer, and FranciscusVerellen, eds. 2004.
The Taoist Canon:A Historical
Companion to the Daozang
. 3 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Seidel,Anna. 1990. ﬁChronicle ofTaoist Studies in theWest 1950-1990.ﬂ
Cahiers d™Extrême-
Asie
 5: 223-347.
Sivin, Nathan. 1978. ﬁOn theWord ‚Taoist™ as a Source of Perplexity.ﬂ
History of Religions

17: 303-30.
Strickmann, Michel. 1982. ﬁTheTao among theYao.ﬂ In
,

YamadaToshiaki andTanaka Fumio, eds. 1998.

.Tokyo: Hirakawa.

Appendix I: Chronology of Daoist History
B. C. E.

till10
th
 c.

Shang oracle-bone divination, ancestor worship, bronze vessels, shamanic roots

till 6
th
c.

Zhou belief in Heaven as natural balance

Yijing
, divination manual working with trigrams and hexagrams

Shujing
, chronicle of ancient history and cosmology

5
th
 c.

Life of Laozi (legendary)

Life of Confucius (552Œ479), philosopher, founder of Confucianism

Life of Mozi (c. 479-438), philosopher of the Mohist school

Liji

4
th
 c.

Daode jing
, central text of ancient Daoism

Neiye
, chapter of
Guanzi
, on inward training

Life of Zhuangzi (c. 370Œ290), philosopher

Life of QuYuan (340Œ278), shaman and poet, author of
Chuci

3
rd
 c.

Liji

Life of Xunzi (c. 300-230), Confucian and Legalist thinker

Zhuangzi
, text recording Daoist thought of Zhuangzi and other schools (c. 250)

Reign of First Qin Emperor (221-210), builds GreatWall,TerracottaArmy; search-

es for isles of immortals

2
nd
 c.

Chuci
, collection of shamanic songs from south China (c. 200)

Zhangjia shan manuscripts (186), including
Yinshu
 on exercises

232
Appendix I

|

Chronology of Daoist History

Mawangdui manuscripts (168), including
Daode jing
,
Daoyin tu
, and

Quegu shiqi
on health techniques

Huainanzi
 (145), philosophical compendium sponsored by Prince LiuAn

Life of Sima Xiangru (179-117), author of poem on the Great Man

EmperorWu (140Œ86), employer of magical technicians

Shiji

1
st
 c.

Liexian zhuan
(c. 70), collection of immortals™ tales

Life of Heshang gong, commentator on the
Daode jing
C. E.

1
st

Life of Cao Cao (155-220), warlord who conquered the Celestial Masters

2
nd
 c.

Celestial Masters, aka Orthodox Unity school (142)

Way of Great Peace (145)

Life of Ge Xuan (164Œ244), magical practitioner

Laozi bianhua jing
 (180)

Taiping rebellion (184)

3
rd

Xiang™er zhu
, Celestial Masters commentary to the
Daode jing

Zhougui jing
, Celestial Masters collection of spells against demons

Life ofWang Bi (226Œ49),
Daode jing
commentator

Life of Guo Xiang (252Œ312)
Zhuangzi
commentator

Life of Ruan Ji (210-263), author of poem on the Great Man

233
Appendix I

|

Chronology of Daoist History

Life of Liu Ling (d. 265), author of ﬁTheVirtue ofWineﬂ

Life ofWei Huacun (251Œ334), libationer and revealing deity

Discovery of
Sanhuang wen
 by Bo He (292)

Life of HuaTuo, physician and creator of FiveAnimals Frolic

4
th
 c.

Huahu jing
 (c. 300), text on Laozi converting western barbarians

Chisongzi zhongjie jing
, text on Daoist ethics and behavior

Yangsheng yaoji
, compendium on longevity techniques

Life of Ge Hong (283Œ343), alchemist and author of the
Baopuzi

Life of Xu Mai (b. 301) and Xu Mi (303-373), founders of Highest Clarity

Life ofYang Xi (b. 330), medium for Highest Clarity

Highest Clarity revelations (364Œ70)

Life of Xu Huangmin (361Œ429), distributor of Highest Clarity texts

Huangting jing
, Highest Clarity meditation scripture

NuminousTreasure school (390s)

Wufu xu
, text on NuminousTreasure myth, dietary practices, and talismans

5
th
 c.

NORTH:

Life of Kou Qianzhi (365Œ448), leader of Daoist theocracy

Life of Cui Hao (d. 551), prime minister of the theocracy

Life ofYinTong, descendent ofYin Xi and founder of Louguan

Life ofWang Daoyi (447-510), Louguan leader

Xisheng jing
, mystical text from Louguan (c. 480)

234
Appendix I

|

Chronology of Daoist History

SOUTH:

Santian neijie jing
 (420), Celestial Masters cosmology and history

Laojun shuo yibai bashi jie
, Celestial Masters code of 180 precepts

Siji mingke
, description of Daoist celestial administration

Life of Lu Xiujing (406Œ477), Daoist master and compiler of catalogs

Daode zhenjing xujue
, ritual commentary to the
Daode jing

Daoyin jing
, comprehensive account of exercise practices

6
th
 c.

NORTH:

Court debates on Buddhism versus Daoism (520; 570)

Life ofWei Jie (497Œ569), Louguan Daoist and debater

Xiaodao lun
(570), anti-Daoist polemic

Wushang biyao
 (574), Daoist encyclopedia

Beginning of Chan (Zen) Buddhism

SOUTH:

Life ofTao Hongjing (456Œ536), collector and editor of Highest Clarity

manuscripts

Zhen™gao
 (500), main collection byTao Hongjing

Badi jing
, text of theThree Sovereigns School

7
th
 c.

Yinyuan jing
 (c. 600) on deeds and karmic effects

Sandong zhunang
, Daoist encyclopedia (680s)

Sun Simiao (582-683) Daoist, physician, alchemist

Sheyang lun
, long life treatise by Sun Simiao

8
th
 c.

 Ordination ofTang princesses (711)

235
Appendix I

|

Chronology of Daoist History

Reign of Xuanzong (712Œ756), supporter of Daoism as state religion

Life of Sima Chengzhen (647Œ735)

Fuqi jingyi lun
, outline of Daoist long life and
qi
 practices, by Sima Chengzhen

Zuowang lun
, outline of Daoist ﬁsitting in oblivion,ﬂ by Sima Chengzhen

An Lushan rebellion (755)

9
th
 c.

Life of Du Guangting (850Œ933), court Daoist and compiler of records

Life of Linji (d. 866), Chan master who used Daoist concepts

10
th
 c.

Arising of martial deities and ritual masters; growth ofThunder Rites

Life of ChenTuan (d. 989), creator of precursor of Great Ultimate diagram

1 1
th
 c.

Dunhuang caves closed (c. 1008)

DarkWarrior adopted as state protector of the Song

Yunji qiqian
 (1023), Daoist encyclopedia

Development of internal alchemy as main form of Daoist meditation

Neo-Confucianism established as mainstream Chinese thought

Taiji tu
, formal chart of the Great Ultimate

12
th
 c.

Reign of Huizong (1101Œ1125), Daoist adept and exiled immortal

Life of Lin Lingsu (1076Œ1120), founder of Divine Empyrean school, adviser to

Huizong

Life ofYang Xizhen (1101-1124), founder ofYouthful Incipience school

SOUTH:

236
Appendix I

|

Chronology of Daoist History

Life of Ning Benli (1101Œ1181), creator of new ritual synthesis

Life of Zhang Boduan (d. 1182) and BaiYuchan (c. 1194Œ1227), leaders of internal

alchemy

NORTH:

Life ofWang Chongyang (1112Œ1170), founder of Complete Perfection school

Life of Sun Buer (1119Œ1182), only female among the Seven Perfected

13
th
 c.

NORTH:

Qiu Chuji (1148Œ1227) of the Seven Perfected meets Chinggis Khan (1219)

Xiyou ji
 (1220s), record of Qiu™s travels

Murals atTemple of Eternal Happiness depict Daoist gods (1252)

Persecution of Daoism (1281)

14
th
 c.

Reign ofTaizu (1368Œ1399), establishes system of control

City God, Mazu,Wenchang, and other popular gods adopted into Daoist pantheon

15
th
 c.

Yongle Reign (1403Œ1425), sponsors compilation of Daoist canon

Life of Zhang Sanfeng (legendary)

DarkWarrior center on MountWudang expanded

Life of ZhangYuqing (1364Œ1427), editor of Daoist canon (1445)

Daoist canon (1445)

Life ofWang Dao (1487-1547), philosopher of the three teachings

16
th
 c.

Life of

Zhan Ruoshui (1466Œ1560),WangYangming (1517Œ1579), and Lin

Zhaoen  (1517Œ1598), Neo-Confucian thinkers integrating Daoist concepts

Reign of Jiaqing Emperor (1522-1566), Daoist adept and sponsor of the arts

Qizhen shizhuan
, novel about the Seven Perfected

237
Appendix I

|

Chronology of Daoist History

Xiyou ji
, novel about the exploits of the Monkey King

Life ofWu Chengen (d. 1582), author of the
Xiyou ji

Dongyou ji
, novel about the travails of the Eight Immortals

Dongyou ji

Fengshen yanyi
, novel about the Zhou conquest of the Shang

Life of Lu Xixing (c. 1520-1601) and Xu Zhonglin (d. 1566), authors of the

Fengshen yanyi

Chifeng sui
 (1578), collection of Daoist exercise practices
17
th
 c.

Xu daozang

Beiyou ji
, novel about the DarkWarrior

Beiyou ji

Roupu tuan
, pornographic novel with Daoist themes

Life of LiYu (1611-1680), author of the
Roupu tuan

Perfection ordination

18
th
 c.

Life of JiangYuanting (1722-1819), compiler of the
Daozang jiyao

Life of MinYide (1758-1836), 11
th
 Longmen patriarch and author

Taiyi jinhua zongzhi (Secret of the Golden Flower) on internal alchemy (1775)

FirstWestern translation of the Daode jing, into Latin (1788)

19
th
 c.

Daozang jiyao
, canonical supplement (1820)

Life of Li Xiyue (1806Œ1856), who channeled Zhang Sanfeng™s autobiography

Life of Chen Zhangxing (1771-1853), creator of Chen-style taijiquan

Life ofYang Luchan (1799-1872), creator ofYang-style taijiquan

238
Appendix I

|

Chronology of Daoist History

Founding of Donghak, Korean new religion (1860)

Life of James Legge (1831Œ1905, English translator of
Daode jing
 (1891)

Neijing tu
 (1889), visual depiction of internal alchemy practice

Life of Ding Fubao (1874-1952), compiler of the Daozang jinghua

20
th

Dunhuang caves discovered (1905)

Daozang jinghua lu
, collection of new Daoist texts(1922)

Daoist canon reprinted in Shanghai (1923-25)

Founded of Caodai,Vietnamese new religion (1921)

Beginning of Daoist Studies in Japan and France (1930s)

Life of Ni Hua-ching (b. 1938?), founder of IntegralWay

Life of Mantak Chia (b. 1944), founder of Healing Dao

CCP approves health methods and coins the name qigong (1947)

Temples nationalized and consolidated into communes (1952)

Founding of Chinese DaoistAssociation (1956)

Life of ChenYingning (1880-1969), president of CDA

Statues and religious implements melted for steel during Great Leap Forward

(1958)

Destruction of religion during Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)

Hong KongTaoistAssociation founded (1964)

Taiwan reprint of the Daoist canon in reduced edition (1960s)

Growth of Daoist Studies, especially in France and Japan (1960s)

Daozang jinghua
,Taiwan collection of new Daoist texts (1963)

Fung Loy Kok temple and organization founded in Hong Kong (1968)

239
Appendix I

|

Chronology of Daoist History

Mainland religious revival through Four Modernizations (1978)

Daoist community temples in NewYork, San Francisco, and LosAngeles

(1970s)

Zhuang-Lin xu daozang
,Taiwan collection of Daoist ritual texts (1975)

Qigong boom (1980s)

Life of Jiao Guorui and Liang Shifeng, creators of modern FiveAnimals Frolic

Qigong yangsheng congshu
, collection of qigong and long life practices

(1980s)

American Daoist Studies begins (1980s)

Fung Loy Kok temple inToronto (1981)

Mawangdui manuscripts excavated (1983)

First Healing Dao center inAmerica (1983)

Life of MichaelWinn (b. 1952),American leader of Healing Dao since 1985

Life of Charles Belyea aka Liu Ming (b. 1947), founder of Orthodox

Daoism ofAmerica (ODA) in 1986

Life of Li Hongzhi (b. 1954), founder of Falungong in 1992

British DaoistAssociation founded (1996)

Persecution of Falun gong and various qigong forms (1999)

21
st
 c.

Daoist Handbook
published (2000)

International conference series initiated (2003)

American DaoistAssociation founded (2004)

Enclyclopedia ofTaoism published (2005)

Grand Offering held in Hong Kong (2007)

new journals initiated (2008)

Appendix II: The Daoist Canon
The Daoist canon (
Daozang
) [Daozang] {http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Daozang/
id/2042925} goes back to the early Ming dynasty. It is also called
Zhengtong daozang
(Daoist
Commissioned by theYongle Emperor and executed under his successors by a large staff in

the imperial bureaucracy, its collection and editing was the responsibility of ZhangYuqing

(1364-1427), the 44
nd

of MountWudang. It was later condensed into the
Daozang jiyao
 (Collected Essentials of the

the Qing (1796-1820).
TheThree Caverns
The Daoist canon is the central resource for the study of Daoism. It divides materials into

three caverns
.That is to say, theThree Caverns originally matched
theThreeVehicles to enlightenment: bodhisattva (savior), pratyekabuddha (self cultiva-

tor), and sravaka (listener) and represented the teachings of the three major medieval Daoist

schools: Highest Clarity, NuminousTreasure, andThree Sovereigns. Each of these, moreover

was supplemented by technical and hagiographic materials as well as texts of non-mainstream

schools.The overall system is as follows:
Cavern Chinese School
Chinese Supplement Chinese
Perfection Dongzhen Highest Clarity Shangqing Great Mystery Taixuan
Mystery Dongxuan
Numinous

Treasure
Lingbao Great Peace Taiping
Spirit Dongshen Three Sovereigns Sanhuang Great Clarity Taiqing
Orthodox Unity Zhengyi
It is interesting to note that the school of Complete Perfection, of central importanced in

late imperial and modern Daoist administration, does not feature in this system at all but has

its texts in several Caverns.Also, the Celestial Masters, the original and most fundamen-

tal of all organized Daoist schools, appears almost as an afterthought as the last of the Four

241
Appendix II

|

The Daoist Canon

and later Daoism, they were at the bottom of the medieval hierarchy, requiring only basic

precepts and ritual knowledge of their priests and eschewing celibacy and monastic living in

favor of services to the larger populace.
TheTwelve Classes
Each Cavern and Supplement contains a variety of textual materials that are further itemized

into twelve classes adopted from the Buddhist
Tripitaka
 and arranged according to content and
format.They are:
1. FundamentalTexts

7. Rituals and Observances
2. DivineTalismans

8.Techniques and Methods
3. Secret Instructions

9.VariousArts
4. Numinous Charts

10. Records and Biographies
5. Genealogies and Registers

11. Eulogies and Encomia
6. Precepts and Regulations

12. Lists and Memoranda

FundamentalTexts inmclude the holiest scriptures, texts that are believed to reside originally

in Heaven and only appear on the human plane in approximate translation. DivineTalismans

and Numinous Charts are sacred symbols that directly correspond to holy marks in Heaven.

Nonverbal and graphic in nature, they are more immediately divine than the scriptures but

Secret Instructions, another revealed category, are the oral teachings received from the gods

and immortals that are transcribed by human beings, explaining how best to work with the ma-

terials of the scriptures.
involve intimate knowledge of the patriarchs and traditional hierarchies; detailed explications
of behavioral rules and moral guidelines; instructions on the proper performance of rituals;

and manuals for the many techniques of self-cultivation and enhancement of life and spiritual

prowess.They are written by human beings based on direct experience with the divine activi-

priestly, and lay followers.There is no standard set of patriarchs, rules, rituals, or self-cultiva-

tion practices that applies to all Daoists.

242
Appendix II

|

The Daoist Canon
The last four classes include works that are even further removed from the purity of Dao.They
contain records of practices and experiences through the ages, collected either according to

type of practice (VariousArts) or based on individual personages (Records and Biographies).

In addition, this part of the canon also contains formal praises for masters and patriarchs of old

(Eulogies and Encomia) as well as concrete models and instructions for the preparation of the

proper ritual and administrative documents (Lists and Memoranda).
Canonical Supplements
In the wake of the publication of the canon in 1445, additional materials collected or compiled

in the late Ming dynasty were pulled together in the so-called
Xu Daozang
 (Supplement to the
Daoist Canon). Inspired by his mother, in 1598, Emperor Shenzong commissioned a reprint of

the Daoist canon and assigned Zhang Guoxiang (d.1611), the 50
th
 Celestial Master, to produce
a supplement, which was added to the collection when it was printed in 1607.The
Supplement

is still part of every reprint of the canon today.

Under the Qing, a further collection appeared in 1834. Entitled
Daozang xubian
(Supplementary Collection of the Daoist Canon), it was compiled by MinYide (1758-1836),
the eleventh patriarch of the Longmen branch of Complete Perfection.The work assembles

twenty-three internal alchemy works not found in the Daoist canon and is especially important

for its sources on women™s alchemy.
In Rpublican China, Ding Fubao (1874-1952) edited the
Daozang jinghua lu
 (Record
of Essential Blossoms of the Daoist Canon), which was published in Shanghai in 1922.
Consisting of one hundred titles, many of which come from the original canon,

and focusing
on internal alchemy and longevity techniques, it also contains biographical notes, doctrinal

statements, and ritual texts. Each text is accompanied by a brief abstract and notes on its ori-

gin. It is an important collection for the study of Ming and Qing internal alchemy traditions

and for materials written in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Another important canonical supplement is the
Daozang jinghua
 (Essential Blossoms of
the Daoist Canon), compiled by XiaoTianshi, aTaiwan-based physician and scholar, and
published in 1963. It contains both texts from earlier collections as well as later and contem-

porary texts.Also from inTaiwan is the
Zhuang-Lin xu daozang
 (Zhuang and Lin [Family]

Saso. Focusing largely on ritual and exorcistic practices, the materials are especially relevant

for the study of communal Daoism in contemporaryTaiwan.

243
Appendix II

|

The Daoist Canon
Further Collections
More recently, on the Chinese mainland scholars have created further reduced editions of the
Daoist canon and put its texts on CD-ROM to make it more easily available.They also edited

a collection of Daoist related stele inscriptions (
Daojia jinshi lue
; 1988) and assembled Daoist
texts published outside the canon (
Zangwai daoshu
, 1992 and 1995).The latter contains 991
titles in thirty-six volumes, including texts from earlier collections, works of single authors,

and otherwise inaccessible contemporary materials.
-
cally on health practices. Called
Qigong yangsheng congshu
(Comprehensive Collection on
Qigong and Longevity Practices), this has appeared in installments since the 1980s and to date

a photo-reprint of Daoist manuscripts found at Dunhuang [Dunhuang] {http://www.textile-art.

com/dun1.html}. Dunhuang is a small town in the western desert of China that served as a

hundreds of caves in a steep cliff that were richly ornamented and housed precious statues and

devotional materials, the center was abandoned in 1008 under the threat of Muslim invaders. It

remained hidden by desert sands until 1905, when explorers such as Swen Hedin, Paul Pelliot,

and SirAurel Stein uncovered it.Although predominantly Buddhist, its library also contained

Daoist manuscripts as well as works on medicine, divination, and fengshui.The approximately

title

 (Daoist Manuscripts of Dunhuang) in 1979.
Indexes and Discussions
Boltz, Judith M. 1987.
A Survey of Taoist Literature: Tenth to Seventeenth Centuries
.
Berkeley: University of California, China Research Monograph 32.
Chen,WilliamY. 1987.
A Guide to Tao Tsang chi yao
. Stony Brook, NY: Institute for the
Advanced Study ofWorld Relgions.
Komjathy, Louis. 2002.
Title Index to Daoist Collections
. Cambridge, Mass.:Three Pines
Press.
Ofuchi Ninji. 1979. ﬁThe Formation of theTaoist canon.ﬂ In
Facets of Taoism
, edited by
HolmesWelch andAnna Seidel, 253-68. New Haven, Conn.:Yale University Press.

244
Appendix II

|

The Daoist Canon
Schipper, Kristofer M. 1975.
Concordance du Tao Tsang: Titres des ouvrages
. Paris:
Publications de l™Ecole Française d™Extrême-Orient.
Thompson, Laurence G. 1985. ﬁTaoism: Classic and canon.ﬂ In
The Holy Book in
Comparative Perspective
, edited by Frederick M. Denny and Rodney F.Taylor, 204-23.
Columbus: University of South Carolina Press.
Weng, Dujian. 1935.
Combined Indices to theAuthors and Titles of Books in Two Collections
of Taoist Literature
. Beijing: Harvard-Yenching Sinological Index Series no. 25.

Glossary
intake, from grains to raw foods to herbs to breath

immortal through conconction and ingestion of an elixir (cinnabar)

Studies

Weston, Mass.

Studies
Badi jing

containing practical instructions on talisman writing
Baopuzi

medieval alchemy; outline of recipes and related practices
ears with the palms
Beiyou ji

DarkWarrior as he grows from prince to deity over several life times
northern California

246
Glossary

Song dynasty

where Laozi allegedly metYin Xi before their western emigration

Worms; added to
gengshen
 practices in theTang dynasty; still popular in Japan
rd
-century magical practitioner who received the talismans of theThree Sovereigns

United Kingdom, founded in 1996
shapes and forms

what is reality and what imagination

Masters

Christianity; founded in 1921
Cavern of
Qi

qi
in women

outlook, strict discipline, formalized annual rituals, still present today,centered in southeast
China andTaiwan

Anatole, inWeston, Mass.

247
Glossary
th
 century and integrated
a great deal of Daoist thought, especially from the
Zhuangzi

Daoist thinker and leader in the 20
th
 century

style

Chifeng sui
meditations, such as the Six Healing Sounds

headquartered in Beijing, with many regional branches; established in 1956

magical powers, and ascended to the immortal world
Chisongzi zhongjie jing
Daoist ethics and the connection of human behavior and cosmic patterns

Chuci
dated to around 200
B
.
C
.
E
.

alchemical experimentation; also the word for ﬁelixirﬂ

pure deities of Dao (Three Ones) and major places of elixir cultivation

248
Glossary
communitas

or ﬁthresholdﬂ space
emphasis on monastic discipline and personal cultivation
proper social interaction, hierarchies, virtues, and learning
B
.
C
.
E
.
) who founded Confucianism, edited the
Yijing
Zhuangzi
 that combined the thought
of the
Daode jing
 with yin-yang cosmology and
Yijing
speculation
Daode jing

as the One, theTwo, theThree, and the Myriad Beings

in the world in natural rhythms and cosmic patterns
Daode jing

300
B
.
C
.
E
.
, recovered in multiple manuscripts, the subject of numerous commentaries and
Daode zhenjing xujue
(Introductory Explanations to the
Daode jing
of
Daode jing
 background and ritual activation

knowledge and practices

Daojiao yangsheng quanxiao geyan
(PertinentWords on Daoist Long Life and Filial Piety)
Daoyin jing
th
-century compendium on exercise methods

249
Glossary
Daoyin tu

physical practice

and popular god in modern Daoism; dynastic protector of Song and Ming

in bones, or lines based on the throw of coins
Emperor

agriculture and developed herbal medicine

Dongyou ji
journey to perfection

Daoist ritual, cosmology, and hagiography
that were closed in 1006 and contained numerous art works and manuscripts

prominence inYuan drama and are still widely worshiped today

250
Glossary
four seasons

himself to be incarnation of a Daoist god

qi qi
 which governs the kidneys, reproductive organs, bones,
teeth, brain; clearly manifest in semen and menstrual blood

Daoist practices in qigong guise
Zhuangzi
 by which perception is made subtle
and the person connects to Dao

qi
 and thereby health and good fortune
Fengshen yanyi
Zhou™s take-over of the Shang empire

B
.
C
.
E
builder of the GreatWall and theTerracottaArmy

and expanded; includes movements in imitation of the crane, bear, tiger, deer, and monkey

animals, hungry ghosts, and hell dwellers
metal water; correlated either in a productive or control cycle; associated with directions,
seasons, colors, bodily organs, musical notes, emotions, senses, and many more; core

system of Chinese cosmology

251
Glossary
benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith (trust, honesty)

and longevity
Yijing
from
the stars; senior member of theThree Sovereigns

Denver, andTallahassee
Fuqi jingyi lun
 (On the Essential Meaning of theAbsorption of
Qi
techniques by Sima Chengzhen

century

compendium on Chinese alchemy, the
Baopuzi

NuminousTreasure talismans
gengshen

57
th
 day of the sixty-day cycle; night when theThreeWorms ascend to Heaven to
make their report; occasion for nightlong vigil and extensive partying; still popular in Japan

face and long beard; very popular

can appear in many guises and is now commonly depicted as female; helps all sincere
seekers in whatever predicament

superviser of the ancient realm of the dead; especially dedicated to the welfare of women

252
Glossary

brothers from mishaps at sea; after death worshiped and later canonized; very popular,
especially inTaiwan and south China

Grand Offering (
jiao
change and renewal; lasts three days to several weeks; involves large numbers of Daoists
and a serious community effort
seekers; school and textual class with focus on alchemy

state at creation as well as the abstract principle of unity with Dao
cycles and by human means; later seen as new divine age to be brought about through
cataclysmic changes and with the help of messianic saviors
visualizing a central deity in the abdomen
guiding
qi
qi
 through breath and saliva, then
B
.
C
.
E
.
the
Zhuangzi
Daode jing
 were
discovered in 1993
Palaces in the head in Daoist meditation
harmonization of
qi

253
Glossary
into one system of thought; dominant trend since the Song dynasty

alchemy, founded by Mantak Chia, with a mainAmerican center in North Carolina under
the leadership of MichaelWinn
healing exercises (
daoyin
mental guiding of
qi
 originally part of the medical tradition, later essential in Daoist body
cultivation
matches and interacts with humanity and provides the governing dynasty with the mandate

to rule
natural phenomena; respond to human good and evil
Chinese zodiac
traditional meditation and ritual

Zhuangzi
 that encourages following one™s
every whim as an expression of Dao
tortures; later organized into a system of ten

Daode jing
 commentator of the Former Han, connects concepts with body
cultivation
the
Yijing
 as to how best to secure good fortune
on immortality methods were revealed in the 360s; school and textual class with focus on
individual realization through chanting, visualization, and ecstatic excursions

254
Glossary

supportive of the business community; greatly involved in social services

Huangting jing

th
-century meditation manual
through boring of seven sensory openings
and become the adept™s spiritual alter ego
to administer human affairs and transmit sacred teachings, but rarely respond to acts of
worship

for ancestors™ sins
condition, one™s genetic make-up and social circumstances or opportunities in life
visualize colored
qi
 in them

alchemy, founded by Ni Hua-ching, with a main center in LosAngeles
qi
internal alchemy (
neidan

Yijing

Chongqing, formerly part of Sichuan province

on Earth

255
Glossary
sexual relations with selected adepts

qi
, who gives birth
to the celestial Lord Lao
Daode jing
(1891)

gardens, hoping to recover immortaltiy

jin
of taijiquan.
Journal of Daoist Studies

1901

LosAngeles

th
 day (
gengshen
) and

activities surrounding the vigil for the
ThreeWorms

Lao, author of the ﬁNew Code,ﬂ and head of the Daoist theocracy
West, location of the peaches of immortality; also name of the head in Daoist meditation

256
Glossary

pregnancy, delivery, and children™s welfare
Complete Perfection center
Laojun shuo yibai bashi jie
Celestial Masters precepts and community rules
Daode jing
who
emigrated to the west and was later divinized as Highest Lord Lao
Laozi bianhua jing

nd
-century scripture describing
Laozi as god of Dao

and practices
B
.
C
.
E
.
) that sees human
beings as inherently evil and proposes strict laws and punishments for the creation of social
order

biographyﬂ of the legendary Zhang Sanfeng

Roupu tuan`

Liexian zhuan

Liji
individuals and government agencies

the Divine Empyrean
notions into his system

257
Glossary
Lingbao wufuxu

chapters, from the fourth century, that outlines the mythical lineage of the Numinous
Treasure together with several sets of practices
Zhuangzi
 ideas into his thinking
ﬁvirtue of wineﬂ in continuation of
Zhuangzi
 thought

and Celestial Masters schools, instructor and protector of humanity

ancient realm of the dead

and revealer of scriptures
toWang Chongyang; deity of Complete Perfection; subject of murals at Palace of Eternal
Happiness; frequently appears in seances to support the faithful

texts and schools

Fengshen yanyi
Lunyu

Perfection; husband of Sun Buer

hermits, then served as diviners, doctors, and exorcists

258
Glossary
to mismanagement of affairs
revelations
and attained extensive longevity until she was discovered and had to eat normal food
Daode jing
 was
unEarthed in 1973
qi
 along the Governing and ConceptionVessels,
moving up the spine, through the head, and down along the front of the body

Yijing
 divination

B
.
C
.
E
.
) that proposes
universal love and goodness towards all

training center for Daoist nuns (
kundao
)

Chinese/Daoist self-cultivation
Daode jing
, describing the essential nature of Dao, also
described as spontaneity
Neijing tu

the body dating to the 19
th
 century
Neiye

Guanzi
, contemporaneous with the
Daode
jing
, that details practical mediation and body cultivation methods to attain oneoness with
Dao

259
Glossary
inclusion of Daoist practices

healing and spiritual complex in LosAngeles, notably the IntegralWay Society

nose and into the forehead

exorcistic practices
deities
Daode jing
, encouraging the letting go of personal or political

Daode jing

cycles

Ocean of
Qi

Shang dynasty, covered in notations about the questions asked

certain rank in the hierarchy of priests

260
Glossary

northern California

to Lü Dongbin and other patriarchs; in Ruichong (Shaanxi), moved in 1999 to Longquan;
famous for its 14
th
-century murals of the Daoist pantheon
the backs of supernatural turtles

Zhuangzi
, who goes along perfectly with the patterns of Dao;

descend during spirit-writing séances

Zhuangzi
 that eschews all culture and
wishes to return to the stone age
principle (
li
to
qi
, the material base; key concept in Neo-Confucianism
purgation (
zhai

that celebrates seasonal change, prays for political stabitily, or aids in the expiation of sins
qi

for human life expectancy, health, and good fortune, it appears in two major forms:

coined by the Chinese Communist Party; system cleansed of all spiritual and ﬁsuperstitiousﬂ

elements

261
Glossary
nuns

lineage; patriarch of all Chinese religions as appointed by Chinggis Khan
Qizhen shizhuan
marvelous exploits of the Seven Perfected of Complete Perfection Daoism

representative of the powers of yin and queen of immortals
Quegu shiqi
(Eliminating Grans and Eating
Qi
replacement of physical nourishment with
qi

the Celestial Masters
interpersonal politeness, institutional correctness, and ritual propriety
ritual master (
fashi
River Chart

Roupu tuan
numerous Daoist motifs
frustration and desire to escape the worldly fetters
and death
Daode jing
, realizing simplicity and nonaction, preferably the ruler
Santian neijie jing

th
-century scripture outlining
the creation according to the Celestial Masters

262
Glossary
heavens, and revealed to humanity

founders of main lineages

Shangqing Lingbao dafa

compendium of Song rites by Ning Benli
center
Sheyang lun
qi
 methods by
Sun Simiao
Shiji

B
.
C
.
E
.
Shiwen

includes numerous Daoist concepts and techniques
Shujing
events and principles of government

Siji mingke
details of the celestial administration in Daoism

temples in China, as well as of the United States DaoistAssociation, an online network for
Daoist practice
th
Daoist practice
Sima Xiangru (179-117
B
.
C
.
E
Great Man, a combination of emperor, shaman, and perfected
Zhuangzi
 by which perception and intellect
are drive out in favor a state of complete forgetfulness and openness to Dao

263
Glossary

numbers, music (lute), archery, and charioteering

Books of Changes, Rites, Songs, Music,
and
History
, as well as the
Spring
andAutumnAnnals
; allegedly edited and standardized by Confucius, they formed the key to
inner organs
stems; key to human life cycles and political renewals

supporting Daoist Studies

agricultural cycle
monastery

spirit and material souls (
hun
,
po
)
spirit (
shen
qi
that works mainly through the heart, governing the
psychological and spiritual aspects of the person

Wang Chongyang; founder of Qingjing lineage within Complete Perfection

Xiyou ji`

also seat of the otherworld administration and center of the realm of the dead in Han China

264
Glossary
movements with emphasis on relaxation and suppleness; developed in the early Qing
dynasty (17
th
 c.)
Taiji tu
Taiping jing

lost after their rebellion in 184 and reconstituted in the late sixth century
Taiping jing shengjun bizhi
 (Secret Instructions of the Holy Lord on the Scripture of Great

Taiping jing
 that describes the visualization of lights in
the body

written on special paper with red ink using celestial characters

pharmacology; collector of the original Highest Clarity revelations and author of the
Zhen™gao

Taoist Resources

Kenneth Dickerson, in LosAngeles

administrative powers; Daoist management of theToba-Wei state, 424-451

and tenth months
NuminousTreasure, andThree Sovereigns
harmony and perfection

from Buddhism:World of Desire, Form, and Formlessness

265
Glossary

people sick or cause misfortune
Thunder Rites (
leifa

important administration of fate since the Song
Tianguan sandu

incantation instructions of Highest Clarity
cosmic directions and dimensions

righteousness, wisdom, propriety, and honesty

Daode jing

Longmen lineage who created the integrated ordination hierarchy of Complete Perfection

White Cloud ordinand

system

Daoist notions into his system

the Chinese DaoistAssociation

266
Glossary

Dao University in North Carolina
women™s internal alchemy (
nüdan
documented in texts since the eighteenth century

Xiyou ji

Dongyou ji

DarkWarrior; famous for its Daoist martial arts
Wuqin wu gongfa tushuo

th
-
century description of the FiveAnimal Frolics, adapted for women adepts
Xiang™er
Daode jing
, ascribed to Zhang Lu,
foundation of earliest Daoist precepts
Xixin ming
th
-century Chan document on mind cultivation
Xiyou ji

Monkey
, famous novel about the monkey
king SunWukung who accompanies the Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang on his travels to India;
includes numerous Daoist magical scenes and wondrous motifs
Xiyou ji

1220s

started to transmit the texts to a wider audience
into the mountains

Fengshen yanyi

Xuanzhen jingjue

Clarity, probably ofTang origin, describing sexual relations with deities

267
Glossary

Yangsheng yaoji
th
-century text on longevity techniques

usually in the abdomen (spleen), may also be placed in the head

mediator between humans and celestials

in the
jiazi
 year of 184

Chia and thus is the grandfather of Healing Dao
Yijing
follow the course of Heaven

teachings and writing the
Daode jing
Yinshu
B
.
C
.
E
. outlining the concrete practice of
healing exercises

sides of a hill, then indicating d sets of dynamic movement: up and down, night and day,
begin and end, and so on
Yinyuan jing
th
-century scripture detailing the karmic
effects of good and bad deeds

Celestial Masters ritual

268
Glossary

of NuminousTreasure talismans

Beiyou ji
Yuanshi wulao zhenwen
 (PerfectWritings of the FiveAncient Lords of Primordial Beginning)

th
 century

with Buddhist scriptures and Daoist practice; location of a large Grand Offering in 2007;
parent organization of Fung Loy Kok

practices in qigong guise
system

upon a revelation from Lord Lao in 142

Cao Cao
invented taijiquan; information on his life, works, and teachings came from an ﬁauto-

biography,ﬂ channeled in the 19
th
 century
Zhang Sanfeng quanji

the legendary immortal Zhang Sanfeng, channeled to Li Xiyue in 19
th
-century SIchuan
Zhen™gao
chapters, compiled byTao Hongjing around the year 500
practices in qigong guise
Complete Perfection
Zhougui jing
demons

269
Glossary
Zhuangzi
chapters, ascribed to Zhuang Zhou (c. 370-290
B
.
C
.
E
.
)

commonly found in Chinese restaurants
ZouYan (c. 350-270
B
.
C
.
E
.
Zuowang lun
Chengzhen (8
th
 c.)