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longer recorded in genealogies. While this article limits itself to the case of the Hakka, preliminary investigation suggests that the practice is probably also found among some Cantonese-speaking lineages.*
The Nature of Ordination Names
Many Hakka genealogies contain names for ancestors described as faming, langming, or duming. The three are used interchangeably. The first and third of these terms can be translated respectively as “magic/religion name” and “ordination name”, and the second refers to the form of such names. The ordination names found in Hakka genealogies are of two varieties: the first with Fa as the first character of the given name, reminiscent of the titles of some Buddhist monks and the Hakka “Daoist” ritual specialists. The other is a non-numeric character followed by a number and the word “Lang”, reminiscent of some Japanese given names such as Junichiro in the name of the famous novelist Tanizaki Junichiro. The ordination names for earlier times, perhaps during the Song, tended to be of a simpler form: just a numeral followed by lang. The non-numeric character could have been a refinement to the system for telling generations apart. The “Japanese” pattern is also found in the names of some of the gods of the Lu Shan tradition of sorcerers, which I shall discuss later.
The two styles of ordination titles are identical to those found as the Daoist titles in Yao documents from Qujiang county of Northern Guangdong prepared for an ordination ceremony.* Information on the Yao of Thailand and Laos provided some hints as to why two different styles of names are used. There was more than one level of initiation. Although there are variations in the specifics, the following example would help to illustrate the point:
[A] Yao man is introduced to the Taoist Pantheon through the Kwa tang “hanging the lamps” ceremony. Its main purpose is to entitle him to perform some rituals, and to confer on him a first “official” degree in the celestial hierarchy. As a result, he will be granted a religious name fa bua [faming] when he will drop his middle generation name and replace it by the word fa, “The Law (of Tao)”. For example, somebody whose adult name reads Tang (family) Fu (generation) On (personal) will then be called Tang Fa On, that is ‘the faithful On of the Tang family’, in all religious documents and ceremonies, including
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longer recorded in genealogies. While this article limits itself to the case of the Hakka, preliminary investigation suggest that the practice is probably also found among some Cantonese speaking lineages.*
The Nature of Ordination Names
Many Hakka genealogies contain names for ancestors described as fuming, langming or duming. The three are used interchangeably. The first and third of these terms can be translated respectively as “magic/ religion name" and "ordination name", and the second referred to the form of such names. The ordination names found in Hakka genealogies are of two varieties: the first with Fa ( as the first character of the given name, reminiscent of the titles of some Buddhist monks and the Hakka "Daoist" ritual specialists. The other is a non-numeric character followed by a number and the word “Lang", reminiscent of some Japanese given names such as Junichiro in the name of the famous novelist Tanisaki Junichiro. The ordination names for earlier times, perhaps during the Song, tended to be of a simpler form: just a numeral followed by lang. The non-numeric character could have been a refinement to the system for telling generations apart." The "Japanese" pattern is also found in the names of some of the gods of the Lu Shan tradition of sorcerers, which I shall discuss later.
The two styles of ordination titles are identical to those found as the Daoist titles in Yao documents from Qujiang county of Northern Guangdong prepared for an ordination ceremony.* Information on the Yao of Thailand and Laos provided some hints as to why two different styles of names are used. There was more than one level of initiation. Although there are variations in the specifics, the following example would help to illustrate the point:
[A] Yao man is introduced to the Taoist Pantheon through the Kwa tang "hanging the lamps' ceremony. Its mam purpose is to entitle him to perform some rituals, and to confer on him a first "official" degree in the celestial hierarchy. As a result he will be granted a religious name fa bua [faming] when he will drop his middle generation name and replace it by the word fa, "The Law (of Tao)" For example, some body whose adult name reads Tang (family) Fu (generation) On (personal) will then be called Tang Fa On, that is 'the faithful On of the Tang family', m all religious documents and ceremonies, including
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