Annotating the Divine: The History of the Creation of Fa-Shan Worship in the Tang and Song Periods Introduction

Added for Divinity: The History of the Creation of the Worship of Ye Fashan in the Tang and Song Dynasties Author: Wu Zhen Publication: Beijing: China Social Science Press, 2012 Book No.: 9787516108338 ? Description

This book discusses the history of the creation of divinity by Ye Fashan, a court Taoist priest of the Tang Dynasty, who became a god in the flesh during the Tang and Song dynasties. As a social public **** resource, the famous Taoist priest became a symbol of the saint in the form of an arrowhead, which was exploited by various social forces and constantly imbued with new divinities, among which there were political imbibing by the central court, literary imbibing by legendary novels, name-supporting imbibing by Taoist troupes and Taoist scriptures, localizing imbibing by local Taoist temples, ancestor worship by Ye's clansmen, and so on. When a social force chooses to annotate the divinity, it often invokes the existing divinity already attached to the name of the saint, either to derive a new divinity or to deconstruct the old one, thus constituting a flow of divinity. The divinity of the saint is chosen to be utilized, and the annotation of divinity is not a history of mere cascading and superimposition; the divinity of the folk gods and goddesses is always in a dynamic process of annotation and de-annotation. The annotation and de-annotation of divinity are only related to the realistic demands of social forces. -

Chapter 1: The Political Life of the Taoist Masters I A Taoist Family with Five Generations II Ye Fashan, the Taoist Priest of the Inner Dojo III Ye Fashan and Ye Jingneng during the Wuwei Period IV The Second Spring of Politics at the Age of 97 V The Circle of Friends of the Master of the Jinglong Guan in Chang'an Summary Chapter 2: The Immortal Master's Self-Design and the Political Annotation by the Imperial Court I The Three Times of Returning to the Countryside II The Returning to the Countryside to Establish a Monument and to Build a Residence for the Guan III The Self-Design in the Posthumous Poems IV The Political Annotation 19 Years Later V The Political Annotation of the Immortal Master V Chapter 3: Literary Annotations to Ye Fashan's Immortal Biography I Liu Gu Shen's Biography of Ye Fashan II The Biography of Ye Fashan in Taiping Guangji is mainly derived from Du Guangting's Gleanings from the Immortal Biographies III The Origins of Dunhuang's Ye Junneng Poetry and Liu Gu Shen's Biography of Ye Fashan IV Du Guangting's Apotheosis of Daoism V Du Guangting's Annotations to Local Knowledge VI The "Removal of the Taints" from Ye Fashan VII The Cult of Ye Junneng's Charms and Charms in Dunhuang Society Chapter 4 Typological Stories and Divinized Characters I Attachment Points of Typological Stories II Impressions of Daoist Ye in the Legacy of Emperor Ming III Images of Daoist Masters in Similar Stories and Dharma Fighting Stories IV Daoist Masters and Taoist Laws in Secular Imagination V Daoist Ye as "Able to Capture the Good Clothes" Chapter 5 The Emergence of the Cult of Ye Fashen in Kuoqang, the Middle and Late Tang Dynasties I Conversion of the Clan's Property from Mansions to Guan Leap into a major local clan IV Ye family Taoists in the Late Tang Dynasty V Ye Tianshi's prophecies and those who answered them VI The new myth of the Tianshi sword VII Xuanyang Guan's turn to public ****ness Summary Chapter 6 The invention of Taoist traditions in the Song Dynasty and the consignment of Taoist scriptures I The "Spiritual Writings of the Northern Emperor" and Ye Jingsheneng II The obliterated "Spiritual Writings of the Northern Emperor" III The renamed "Marrowed Spirit Writings" of Ye Fashen IV The Nine Immortal Sutras of the Heavenly Truthful Imperials and Ye Fashen/Ye Jingshen V The "Book of Lightning" and Ye Fashen/ Ye Jingshen V The "Book of Lei" of Thunder and Ye Tianshi VI Lei Shu (Book of Thunder) and Ye Tianshi VI Tang Tianshi Ye Zhenzhen and Ye Jingneng in the Lingbao Dafa (The Great Law of Lingbao) VII Ye Tianshi in Marshal Wen Yuanshuai's Earth and Goddess Laws VIII Ye Fashan in the Daoist Immortal Biographies of the Song Dynasty Summary Chapter 7: Individual Annotations to the Local Taoist Guan of the Song Dynasty: I. Prayer for Rain by the Blessed Lord Ye Tianshi II. Legend of the Taoist priests of the Chongzhen Guan and the Tianshi's relics III Affiliations and Identity of Taoist Guan of the Suzhou Region IV. Business Strategies VI Local Ye Fashen Cults with Their Own Gods VII The Memory of the Chuzhou Gong**** in the Tang Ye Zhenzhen Biography VIII The Stagnation of Ye Fashen's Spirituality Summary Chapter 8 Taoist Ancestor Worship in the Ye Clan I The Chongdao Temple in Gaoxi and the Ye Migration II The A and B Abbot System and Clan Control III The Ye Lineage Genealogy in the Tang Ye Zhenzhen Biography IV Clan Ancestralization of the Daoshan Taoist Temple V The Direction of Ye Fashen Cults from the Chuzhou Religious Market Summary Concluding Thoughts for the Divine Annotation: The History of the Creation of Gods by Taoist Priests I Categories of Divine Annotation II Flows of Divinity III Divine Annotation Losses IV Stagnation of Divine Narratives Appendix Literature I Golden and Stone Sources II Official Historical Sources III Literary Immortal Biographies Cited Literature Afterword