Organized Daoism: Celestial Masters

The Three Pure Ones

The Jade Pure One (Chinese: Yùqīng)

The Supreme Pure One (Chinese: 上Shàngqīng)

The Grand Pure One (Chinese: 太清Tàiqīng)

• Political upheaval in the Han Dynasty.

• Visions in 142 CE of Taishang Laojun (The Supreme Lord Lao), a deified version of Laozi who granted Zhang Daoling the title of Celestial Master.

• Here we can see the similarities between the pantheon and government. The title will be passed on within the family of Zhang Daoling, first to his son, and after the death of his son, to his nephew.

• Importance of the Zhang family.

• Sichuan Provice

• Divided into 24 administrations (parishes) each led by a priest

• They all met in the parishes 3 times a year where they would keep records of births and deaths in the community (religion as bureaucracy)

• Each family would contribute five measures of rice as a faith offering. That’s why Celestial Masters will also be called the “The Way of the Five Pecks of Rice”

• Celestial Masters provided social organization during an era, the end of the Han Dynasty, when the State could not. It is important to understand the social and political background to understand the emphasis on social organization by the Celestial Masters: the government could not do it.

• They became a very important political player, to the point that they scared the Han dynasty. They challenged central authority by offering an alternative way of government.

• This has always been an issue in Chinese history. We see it now with the central government by possible challenges like Falun Gong (we will discuss this during the final lectures of the semester)

• During 364-370 a number of scriptures were transmitted to a medium Yang Xi (330-386), they were known as the Shangqing or Upper Clarity scriptures, the name of the heaven from where they came from.

• It revised Celestial Master ritual and practice. Considered a gentry form of Daoism that appealed to the literati, to the educated.

• Importance for the early development of alchemy, “the art that sought to create the medicine of transcendence through the precisely phased baking of mineral and vegetable drugs in a closed crucible” (Bokenkamp, pp. 6-7)

• From Outer to Inner Alchemy

• What’s the goal? There are two powerful metaphors to describe the ultimate goal: Immortality and the fetus.

• Immortality is the most famous soteriological goal of traditional Daoism

• The fetus will operate as a powerful metaphor for meditation techniques that will recreate a process of regression to our original state... This is related to the idea of getting closer to the original Dao, before creation...

Long history of the connection between Daoism and the arts. The Zhuangzi is filled with poets, and artists.

Organized Daoism

Rewriting the Daodejing

Lola

Megan

Lingbao

Shangqing

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 14th century novel

YELLOW TURBANS

ORGANIZED DAOISM

ZHANG DAOLING

• Another group associated to the early Celestial Master Tradition was the Yellow Turbans. Their founder, Zhang Jue believed in the upcoming end of the world that would occur precisely in the year 184 CE. We need to remember that this time is seeing the collapse of the Han dynasty so millennial prophecies are common. Zhang Jue described that prophecy in the Taiping Jing, the Scripture of the Great Peace.

• His followers wore Yellow Turbans and this became the nickname for the group. They became big and politically active rebelling against the Han dynasty. The Han dynasty, in its dying breath crashed them, but here we see an early pattern for later millennial movements.

• Remember here the political theology of the Mandate of Heaven. If the ruling dynasty cannot provide, the people have the right to rebel.

Utopias in times of political distress

Reminder: Beware of the problems with the distinction between philosophical and religious daoism: useful but not accurate. We use Classical and Organized instead.

3 Main Traditions:

• Celestial Masters - The social and political impact of Daoism
• Shangqing - Alchemy
• Lingbao - Daoism - Buddhism Dialogue

RED CLIFF

• Around 400 CE a new corpus of texts appear, the Lingbao (Spiritual Treasure) with obvious influence from Buddhist scriptures

• They could freely “copy” from Buddhism since it was, from their perspective, a foreign version of Daoism (hua hu debates)

• Concerned with Universal salvation, just like in the Buddhist bodhisattva ideal.

• The Daoist Canon (a compilation from all Daoist traditions, will be modeled in the Buddhist Canon)

It is important to see the complex relationship between ideas and institutions.

LEFT BEHIND

The Search for Immortality in American Culture

Talking about millennial movements...

https://blog.bulletproof.com

Clarke Hudson

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

CELESTIAL MASTERS

Inner Alchemy

IMMORTALITY

The 8 Immortals

(16th Century), Details from Scholar in Thatched Hut Dreaming He is an Immortal

• Starts in the 2nd century with the Celestial Masters and the revelations of Zhang Daoling

• The Han Empire is collapsing

• With Celestial Masters, Daoism becomes an established religious ideology:

• The Dao not only as the supreme source of everything but as a God, a God that can manifest in many different forms (like the Three Pures): “The Dao posseses consciousness and movement, likes and dislikes. It acts in the world not only through spreading its teachings, but also by means of its pneumas (qi), which vivify all living things and provide the motive force behind all existence. Sometimes the pneumas (qi) of the Dao congeal to form ‘essences,’ which are the spirits that inhabit both the universe and the bodies of human beings.” (Bokenkamp p. 39)

• Laozi also becomes deified

• Complex set of doctrines, ritual and practices

• The Daodejing becomes a central sacred scripture of the sect. Followers had to memorize it.

• Process of revelation and scripture (the visions of Laozi by Zhang Daoling in 142 CE)

Early practices of the Celestial Masters

• Illness was considered a sign of sin that could be cured through confession. Confession becomes a central and collective practice of the tradition. Very practical (“practical metaphysics”): a minor offense could be punished with road-repair duty (here we see again the practical and social aspect of Chinese society!)

• Morality: While issues of morality where not particularly prescribed in the Laozi, Celestial Masters will codify a moral code:

Think of the Evangelical agenda in the United States: if we enforced religious based laws, the country will be better, stronger, more righteous.

• They will attack Confucian morality of being artificial, contrived, fabricated and false (Bokenkamp p. 51), since Daoists considered that Confucians are not genuine in their practice of morality since it pursues earthly rewards and social prestige. Celestial Masters will propose a morality “based not on human desire for wealth and acclaim but on fear and respect of heaven” (Bokenkamp, p. 54)

• Sexual practices:

• Criticism of “sexual hygiene” practices
• They offer an alternative to these practices although still sexual in nature
• Some of these practices will be important for alchemy later on

Ge Hong and the

Baopuzi

(Master Who Embraces Simplicity)

• Ge Hong (280-343)
• Inherits Daoist traditions going back to Han era although probably not influenced with Celestial Masters
• Bringing Confucianism and Daoism together: Daoism as the root, internal, for the individual; Confucianism the branch, external, social and ethical behavior. Daoism more important though.
• He writes about Inner and Outer alchemy
• Goal: Achieve immortality

Daoism and the Arts

Qi and Martial Arts

Taijiquan

Qigong master projecting his Qi energy