Religious Taoism
There exists another type of Taoism which involves a variety of religious features; ‘Taoism’ will henceforth be used here to denote this religious material. This Taoism is an oddly assorted mixture of beliefs and practices with very little in common at first sight.
A firm definition is however possible—all modern Taoist schools, however disparate their practices, recognise the primacy of the first T’ien shih or Heavenly Master, Chang Tao-ling (fl. 126-45 ce) and the revelations received by him, even if they do not venerate the present Heavenly Master. By this definition (proposed by M. Strickmann, in Welch and Seidel (1979), pp. 123-92) alchemy, breathing techniques, meditation, yoga and so forth are seen not necessarily as Taoist arts but as methods, often pre-existing ones, adapted for use by Taoists and hence only admissible into the body of Taoism when practised by Taoists conforming to the above criterion. This definition is useful mainly because, as pointed out in the introduction, Taoism becomes Taoism through contrast with the indigenous religious practices of ancient China from which certain methods were borrowed and certain practices (for example, sacrifice) very strongly rejected.From a very early period, the primary concern of the Taoist has been the attainment of a state usually called immortality. Unification with the tao is concomitant with the achievement of a state transcending putrefaction and death, but many Taoists seem to have interpreted this not in the purely spiritual sense of Chuang-tzu but in a totally literal sense. The term hsien, meaning an ‘immortal’, originally might well have referred to Philosophical Taoists who had taken Lao-tzu’s anchoretic injunctions to heart.
Numerous different types of immortality could be attained. One could become an immortal on our plane and simply inhabit a perfected body here on earth, or, perfected, one could depart bodily to higher realms; if death was somewhat premature, one could descend to the palaces within the earth to continue one’s studies or actually to become the contents of an other-worldly athanor wherein one’s body would be forged into one conforming to transcendent standards.
This last process is very reminiscent of the trancic dismemberment and ‘reassembly’ undergone by shamans throughout North Asia, especially as there are indications that the prospective Taoist immortal merely died a ‘temporary death’ (chan ssu) during which his alchemical transformation took place. It is perhaps from experimentation with fungal, herbal and mineral means to achieve this state of temporary death that the later obsessions with the alchemical process developed, as well as the search for miraculous herbs and mushrooms, and the fabulous mountains and islands on which they were said to grow.The human body is a microcosmic model of the universe, and, as such, can be affected by drawing on the powers of the external world. The body contains three Cinnabar Fields (tan t’ien), respectively located in the head, heart and just below the navel. These Cinnabar Fields imprison the Three Maggots or Worms, which can only be set free by their host’s death. It is thus in their interest to hasten the ageing and death processes, which can in fact be halted if the practitioner abandons consuming the grain, meat and wine on which the Worms feed, and consumes only such herbal and mineral preparations as can hasten the Worms’ demise. The meditative absorption of deities symbolising the tao (the deified Lao-tzu among them) into the Cinnabar Fields from their abodes in the Big Dipper also lengthens the practitioner’s life and keeps the Worms at bay.
Alchemy has already been mentioned in its role as the means by which elixirs of immortality could be obtained, but, just as in Europe, the true alchemist, the practitioner of Internal Alchemy, looked down on the humble ‘puffer’ trying, often unsuccessfully, to concoct his potions. Using meditative procedures the internal alchemist imitated the external alchemical process by creating cinnabar in his lowest Cinnabar Field through uniting the sexual energy with the subtle aspect of breath, and then ascending from the resultant chaotic stage (comparable to the stage of blackness and putrefaction in European alchemy) to a stage where the Yellow Flower finally blossomed and rendered the adept perfected.
The components of cinnabar (mercuric sulphide, HgS) are exactly those which form the basis of the stages of the Lesser (‘mercury’) and Greater (‘sulphur’) Works of European alchemy. The end result was also conceived of in a more external sense as the Mysterious Embryo, rebirth into which would enable the adept to escape his inexorably ageing body and join the ranks of immortals in any one of many heavens.The fang shi or court ‘magicians’ of the Ch’in and Early Han periods (230 bce-24 ce) seem to have been the forerunners of the Taoists proper. The Han dynasty itself was founded with the assistance of a magician who claimed to have received instructions from a manifestation of Lao-tzu, and later on official cults were established to honour the deified Lao-tzu as well as certain other deities who were to become part and parcel of everyday Taoist worship. Of prime importance were the wu ti or Five Emperors, symbolising any group of five (the Five Elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water, or the Five Organs: Ever, heart, spleen, lungs and kidneys, for example). Many of the aphorisms of the/an# shih, as well as cosmological theories and methods for commanding the spirits are to be found in the T’ai-p’ing Ch’ing-ling shu, the Great Peace General Command Book, a text revealed by the spirits to a semi-legendary figure, Yu Chi, which became the basic handbook for many later groups and which also influenced Chang Tao-ling (fl. 126-45), the founder proper of Taoism.
Chang Tao-ling was by all accounts extremely well read in the Classics, and expressed an interest in alchemy, perhaps dating from the time he arrived in Szechuan—alchemy in general seems to have been a primarily southern and western Chinese affair. His disciples were required to pay a tax of five bushels of grain to his administration (hence the Confucian derogatory term for the sect, Wu-tou Mi-tao or Five Bushels of Grain school), an administration which Chang Tao-ling and his grandson and successor Chang Lu established very much on classical lines, following Lao-tzu’s recommendations, among others.
Yu Chi’s writings also inspired a certain Chang Chiao to establish another movement, this time one which was militant in the extreme and made the fatal error of actively trying to overthrow the by now sickly but not yet impotent Han dynasty. The Way of Great Peace, as it was known, was soundly suppressed for its pains, while its followers were renamed the Yellow Turbans after the headgear they wore to their deaths.
With the increasing influence of Buddhism during the North-South Period (265-581), the best minds of China had to come to grips with some of the best that India could offer in the way of philosophy, cosmology and personal salvation. The Religion of Numbers, as the Chinese termed the—to them—arcane lore of Sakyamuni, inspired several major changes in Chinese (and, more specifically, Taoist) religious practice. That linchpin of Chinese thought and morality, filial piety, was extended to cover all sentient beings through the Mahayanist idea that all living beings throughout the universe had at some time been the parents of every other being. As a practical manifestation of this, increasing influence came to be laid on burial practices, ensuring a smooth transition for the deceased from this life through the intermediate state to a favourable rebirth. All the Taoist orders came to consider the newly created, Buddhist-inspired liturgies of the San Tung (Three Arcana), the first Taoist Canon, as basic to their practice.
The sect which seems to have been most influenced by Buddhism, and the founding of which dates from this period of strong Indian influence is the Mao Shan or Shang Ch’ing (Highest Purity) sect, based on a series of revelations received by Yang Hsi in c. 364 from several immortals, and notably from a manifestation of a perhaps legendary woman, Wei Hua-ts’un (251-334?). The Mao Shan sect was essentially monastic and much more concerned with contemplation than with collective worship. Mao Shan treatises in general show considerable Buddhist influence, yet the prime Taoist concerns with immortality and internal alchemy are still predominant.
Eschatologically, some see a reflection of Maitreya, the coming Buddha, in the idea or the Hou sheng or Coming Sage who will at some future date, after the extermination of all evil, establish t’ai p’ing (Great Peace) on earth.During the Sui and T’ang Dynasties (581-905), Indian Buddhist Tantrism reared its mysterious and colourful head(s) in China. Taoism responded by incorporating a vast selection of mudrds (hand gestures) and pseudo-Sanskrit mantras (spells, or potent formulas) into its liturgical corpus. Public ritual started increasing in popularity at the expense of meditation, one result of which was the increasing fragmentation of Taoism. T’u Kuang-t’ing (842-926) is worthy of note as being the last truly ecumenical master of ancient Taoism. The rise of sectarianism continued unabated during the Sung and Yuan periods (960-1341), a phenomenon that may be seen as akin to that of the Reformation—though, not atypically, the rivalry was less intense than in Europe, perhaps because the differences were ritual or methodological rather than doctrinal, and frequently stemmed merely from a Taoist response to new developments in Buddhist practice. It should not be thought, however, that the relationship between Taoism and Buddhism was as rosy as may be gathered from this short survey. Debate was often acrimonious in the extreme. The founding of the North Chinese Ch’iian Chen sect in particular was an obvious effort to match the rigorous, simple yet effective techniques, both meditational and monastic, of Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism. It is commonly stated that Ch’an itself was influenced by Taoism to no small degree, especially in its attachment to spontaneity and in its—theoretical—rejection of scriptural authority and outward form. However, these practices belong to the repertoire of the ‘Philosophical Taoist’, and are as far divorced from religious Taoism as they are from more ritualised Buddhist schools such as T’ien T’ai.
The old sects still continued to function, often in revitalised form, or under different names.
The Cheng I sect was not much more than the officially sanctioned continuation of the Heavenly Master sect. Also during this period the imagination of Taoists was captured by Buddhist Tantrism, not in its Indian form this time, but in its seemingly more demoniacal Tibeto-Mongol form as practised by the Yuan court. Various sects arose, all specialising in different versions of what is known as lei fa or Thunder Magic, a technique whereby the energy of a thunderstorm is absorbed by the practitioner through breathing techniques, mudrds and mantras, and is then employed to light the inner fire of the alchemical furnace or to exorcise evil. Members of certain sects, notably the Shen Hsiao, were often accused of abusing the powers thus gained and not following strict canonical rules. Indeed, the Shen Hsiao is still regarded as somewhat unorthodox.Official patronage of Taoism continued through the Ming period (1368-1644). The present Taoist Canon, the Tao-tsang, was first printed in the reign ofCheng-t’ung in 1447 in some 1,100 volumes, unbelievably enough a considerable reduction in size compared to earlier versions. The tripartite division of the Taoist Canon is reminiscent ofthe tripitaka of the Buddhist Canon, but, strictly speaking, the division corresponds more to the Three Vehicles of Buddhism, i.e. Hina-, Maha- and Vajra-yana.
Sectarianism was gradually brought under control in the Ming and Ch’ing periods (1644—1911) by issuing licences to all practising Taoists once they had learnt the canonical registers and one particular brand of Thunder Magic. This of course just led to an increasing dichotomy between the ‘official’ orders and proliferating local orders which were in effect practising illegally. Taoism lost considerable influence under the generally pro-Buddhist Ch’ing, though it is doubtful whether its stock was as low as is commonly thought, especially as true Taoist practice found today in Taiwan and Hong Kong seems to be refined, sophisticated and based very much on old canonical standards.
Bibliography
Lao-tzu Tao Te Ching, translated with an introduction by D.C. Lau (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1963)
Boodberg, P.A. Selected Works of Peter A. Boodberg (Berkeley, 1979)
Saso, M. The Teachings of Taoist Master Chuang (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1978)
Welch, H. The Parting of the Way—Lao Tzu and the Taoist Movement (London, 1958)
----- and Seidel, A. (eds.) Facets of Taoism (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1979)