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JULIAN F. PAS

• M. Saso, Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal (hereafter abbreviated: Cosmic Renewal).

* K. Schipper, "The Written Memorial in Taoist Ceremonies" in A.P. Wolf, Ed. Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society, Stanford Univ. Press, 1974,

* Liu Chih-wan, see end-note 9.

This is the translation of J.J.M. de Groot's "Messe Taoïque". See his Les Fêtes Annuellement Célébrées à Emoui (Amoy). Paris, 1885 (Taipei reprint, 1977). This translation of chiao as well as de Groot's rendering of 'Buddhist Masses' for the Chinese Yu-lan-p'en are not satisfactory.

* K. M Schipper. Le Fen-Teng. Rituel Taoïste (Publications de l'Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, vol. 103). Paris: Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1975.

Schipper's monograph on the Fen teng ritual is a product of great erudition. After a short introduction, pp. 1-13, (in which he briefly discusses the four manuscripts utilized to establish the text; and sketches the history and present day performance of the ritual), he describes the ritual itself with a detailed time schedule, pp. 15-32. Then follow references to sources in the Tao-tsang (pp. 33-38) and notes (pp. 39-43).

The text itself (starting from the 'back') is given twice: first in fac simile, a beautiful reprint on high quality paper of a manuscript dated 1889, in 44 folios (or 88 pages); secondly a critical edition of the text based on the four above mentioned manuscripts with variant readings included, (pp. 1-36).

Although this publication has its importance, it does not fully satisfy the wishes of the readers: no translation of the text is given (Schipper is certainly one of the few Taoist scholars capable of offering a translation!) and nowhere does one find an interpretation of the ritual.

In the same year as Schipper's Fen-teng monograph "came to light”, (1975), M. Saso published his collection of Chuang-lin hsü-tao-tsang in 24 vols. In vol. 6, pp. 1629-1725 (a total of 96 pages), we find a reproduced manuscript of the Fen-teng ritual, dated 1883. The calligraphy is inferior to Schipper's manuscript, but at least Saso's manuscript is six years older.

* Liu Chih-wan, Taipei-shih Sung-shan ch'i-an chien-chiao chi-tien (Great Propitiatory Rites of Petition for Beneficence at Sung chan, Taipei, Taiwan), Taipei: Academia Sinica, Institute of Ethnology, (monographs no. 14), 1967.

Liu Chih-wan, Chung-kuo min-chien hsin-yang lan-chi (Essays on Chinese Folk Belief and Folk Cults), Taipei: Academia Sinica, Institute of Ethnology (monographs no. 22), 1974.

10 On the two occasion described by Liu Chih-wan (3-day festivals), the ritual likewise took place on the first evening. On other occasions, however, I have seen the ritual performed on the 2nd evening. The timing depends on the actual length of the festival, which may only last one day, but is more commonly a three or five-day event. One should, however, not confuse two things: first, the actual chiao is called san-ch'ao, wu-ch'ao or ch'i-ch'ao, etc., and refers to the number of days that the essential rituals are performed. However, the total event may last even longer; I have observed that the actual chiao was preceded by two days of preliminary rituals, such as the exorcisms of the water-spirit and fire-spirit. That brought the total duration of the chiao to

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