[ { "id": 204331, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1961", "page_number": 99, "title": "RAS-1961", "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\n95\n\nB\n\n(c) The T'ao T'ien-chün ( or Celestial Master T'ao), one of the four attendant-generals forming the retinue of the Premier Wên T'ai-shih in the Fêng-shên Yen-i is an invention of the author of the Fêng-shên for a particular reason.3\n\nIn any one of the earlier works before the Fêng-shen, whether Taoist canonical texts or popular literature, we can find the other three T'ien-chün but not this one. This fact strengthens the hypothesis that this particular character was created with a purpose. But he appears also in Wu Ch'êng-ên's Hsi-yu-chi. (Ch.4 etc.)\n\n(d) Yin Chiao () in his transformed figure is an ugly and evil god. \"His face was as blue as indigo, and he had long projecting teeth\" (Ch.63, Fêng-shên Yen-i). He was canonized as the T'ai-sui (✯ the God of the Cycle) in Ch.99 of the Feng-shên. Now in Wu's Hsi-yu-chi there is a line of verse, \"The other had a blue face and protruding teeth as ugly as the T'ai-sui.”\n\n(56)\n\n(e) In Wu's Hsi-yu-chi, when Sun Wu-k'ung ( the Monkey) was repelled by Hsüan-tsang (), he thought of “going to the islands (hai-tao ) but he was rather ashamed to meet those immortals in the three fairy-lands (san-tao chu-hsien l)\". (Ch.57) This is probably influenced by the islands and the immortals there (hai-tao tao-yu fă‡) in Chs.38, 47 and 59 of the Fêng-shễn. In Ch.59 of the Feng-shên when Lü Yüeh (BG) was defeated by the troops of Chiang Tzu-ya, he fled to the islands as his last resort.\n\n(f) In Wu's Hsi-yu-chi (Ch.60), the Demon-king of Oxen (Niu Mo-wang 4E) rode on a \"water-proof golden-pupiled monster\" (Pi-shui Chin-ching Shou HR). I think this name was invented after the \"fire-spitting golden-pupiled monsters\" (Huo-yen Chin-ching Shou ) ridden by Chêng Lun, Chiên Ch'i and Ch'ung Hei-hu in the Fêng-shên Yen-i.\n\n(g) In Ch.61 of the Wu's Hsi-yu-chi there are the \"four great Vajras\" (MAI) which are no doubt an adaptation of the “four great heavenly kings\". One of their dwelling-places is in the Chin-hsia Tung ( Golden Clouds Cave) of Mt. K'un-lun. In fact this Chin-hsia Tung is exactly the name of the grotto where the Yü-ting Chên-jên (EMRA Immortal of the Jade Urn) lives in the Fêng-shên Yen-i, and Mt. K'un-lun is the sacred mountain of the Promulgating Sect.\n\n37 Ibid., pp. 251-55.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208751, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 208, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "RELIGIOUS LIFE IN PRESENT-DAY TAIWAN\n\n(c) Taoism\n\n181\n\nTaoism, as a religion nowadays, is hard to define; it is much more than Buddhism caught up in popular religion and very often identified or confused with it, not only by students of Chinese religions but by believers as well. Examples are lists of temples in Taiwan, where temples are identified either as Taoist or Buddhist, with the rare exceptions of Confucian temples and ancestral halls. If we see the folk-religion as a separate category, then Taoism as such should be stripped of all the folk-religious elements and seen in its purity. In that case, only a few temples can be identified as Taoist, and the Taoist religion has thus basically to be identified with the various sects of Taoist priests. The matter has become more complicated since the institution of a Taoist Association in 1950. This is organized and run by Taoist laymen but has requested and obtained membership among many temples of the folk religion (in many temples, one can see the metal membership plates on the wall).\n\nThe Taoist priesthood is divided into 3 (or 4) sects: the ling-pao, cheng-yi, or t'ien-shih and san-nai sects. The cheng-yi sect, or the sect of the Heavenly Master, has been trying for a long time to control the Taoist priesthood of all sects to unify them (and collect their dues). The 64th successor to Chang Tao-ling, living in Taipei, confers ordinations and promotions all over the island. However, as over the centuries, candidates to the priesthood (often hereditary) are not well trained in Taoist philosophy: they start their instruction as apprentices of a particular master, but throughout their training, they usually do not go beyond learning to recite the sacred texts and performing the various rituals. There are, happily, exceptions to the rule, and a fascinating example is Master Chuang of Hsinchu city, who is not only a master of rituals but performs the esoteric meditations of inner alchemy as well.\n\nIn Taiwan, there are no Taoist monasteries where priests live as celibate monks, although there seems to be a movement of return to the ancient model: in one temple in Kaohsiung, the Tao-Te-Yuan, a group of young women have been ordained as Taoist priests and have made the vow of celibacy. The same temple also organizes study sessions for laymen to foster a deeper understanding of Taoist philosophy. As in Buddhism, the laymen again are promoters of a more serious involvement in Taoism.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210413, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1985", "page_number": 20, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "TAN TSE TAO: A CONTEMPORARY CHINESE FAITH-HEALING SECT IN HONG KONG*\n\nI. Introduction\n\nBARTHOLOMEW P. M. TSUI\n\nIt should not be surprising, given the laissez-faire attitudes of Hong Kong, to find a frequent occurrence of religious sects which can only be described as out of the ordinary. There are, for example, societies for women who live together and perform Buddhist chants and are bound by rules which make them neither laywomen nor nuns, or Taoist groups which centre their activities around fu-chi (planchette), groups which centre on morning and evening devotions in which the Buddhist prajñā-pāramitā hrđaya sūtra (the hsin ching) and the Confucian canon of filial piety (hsiao ching) are chanted, and groups interested in the primary worship of Lü Tsu, or, again, sects whose beliefs and practices show individualistic combinations of the traditional Three Teachings (san-chiao) and worship of deities of popular religion. Yet, Tan Tse Tao, a contemporary Chinese faith-healing sect which I am about to describe, is extraordinary even among this unusual group. Its origin is attributed entirely to the unusual events surrounding its founder, originally a thoroughly Western-educated Protestant. The foundation of the sect is based entirely on a fresh revelation given to the founder by a god (God, for there is only one God according to Tan Tse Tao) whose personal name has never been used in earlier history. And yet the adherents of Tan Tse Tao claim that its teachings correspond to many traditional concepts in Chinese philosophy, concepts vital to philosophic Taoism. Its faith-healing activity is surprisingly similar to the early Taoist religion of the Heavenly Master's sect of the Han Dynasty, and yet there is little evidence that the founder was aware of the resemblance until well after the establishment of the sect. The sect is noted for its worship of only one god and for the avoidance of crude symbolism in worship. These characteristics lift Tan Tse Tao out of the ordinary.\n\n*Plates 1 and 2.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210425, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1985", "page_number": 32, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "13\n\nMaster Sect of Chang Tao-lin. All these sects claim to have received a special revelation. They all teach that disease is caused by sin and/or demons. Healing must go hand-in-hand with repentance. They all decline the use of medicine but resort to prayer and exorcism. They are all organized into religious sects. Do these similarities among healing sects speak for a type of religious expression? Perhaps, underneath the conscious mind, all men have something in common which, when manifested externally, is constituted along similar lines.\n\nThe second reflection to which I would like to draw attention concerns the association of Tan Tse Tao with Taoism. As can be seen from the history of the Supreme Deity's revelation and the teaching as recorded in Lo's important writings, there is little hint that Tan Tse Tao is a form of Taoism. Yet in its later development, Tan Tse Tao was considered as such by the Patriarch and his disciples. It is in fact at present a member of the Hong Kong Taoist Association. It is not too clear how this could have occurred. Perhaps Patriarch Lo felt that the ineffable quality of the Supreme Deity is the same as the \"Tao\" discussed by Lao Tzu, and that the quiet-sitting is similar to Chuang Tzu's \"sitting in forgetfulness.” Or perhaps he found an identity in the terminology used in his own religion and that of Taoism. Or perhaps the association with Taoism is simply revealed.42 Whatever the reason for the association, it must have provided a strong support by reason of Taoism's reputation as the most ancient native Chinese religion. This association is a parallel to the association of the Heavenly Master's sect with Lao Tzu. Scholars with Confucian sympathies have invariably ridiculed the association of the Han Dynasty faith-healing sect with Lao Tzu. In their minds the faith-healers have simply twisted the meaning of Lao Tzu to fit their own purpose. The association of Tan Tse Tao with Lao Tzu should make us think again. Perhaps the association is not as arbitrary as Confucian scholars make it out to be. Perhaps Maspero's conjecture of a religious base to Lao Tzu is still a live issue.43\n\nThe last notable character about Tan Tse Tao is its exclusive veneration of the Supreme Deity. This practice is unprecedented in Chinese cults. Writers have often drawn attention to the fact", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211628, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 43, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "18\n\nTHE JADE EMPEROR AND HIS FAMILY\n\n玉皇大帝\n\nYU HUANG TA TI\n\nKEITH STEVENS\n\nThe Jade Emperor, also known as the Lord of Heaven (T`ien Kung), is the chief deity of the pantheon of the Cheng I sect of Taoism. He is only a secondary deity of the Taoist Lungmen sect. He was worshipped China-wide as the supreme ruler of the Heavens, and even of some of the Underworld. In folk religion, he is worshipped as the protector of all mankind, having replaced Lao Tzu in that role and as head of the Taoist faith, possibly because people were uncomfortable taking their problems to a philosopher. According to a majority of Taoists his earthly mouthpiece was Chang T'ien Shih, The Heavenly Master and his descendants.\n\nAlthough he is well known to both Chinese and to interested foreigners, what is not so well known are the ramifications of his family and the extent to which several of its members have their own cults.\n\nThe development of the supreme deity in China is far from clear. In earlier times the all-seeing, all-powerful, unseen god was Shang Ti who even now is occasionally referred to as the all-highest. Not only is the term Shang Ti used by Protestants for the Supreme Deity, God, but also the late Chairman Mao in his statement that, at the age of 72, “he was soon going to see God“, used this expression.\n\nHoward Smith, a missionary in China for 24 years, describes how the Chou dynasty (ca 1050-256 BC) founded its government on religion and transformed 'Shang Ti', probably originally a term used for the deified spirits of the imperial ancestors under the previous dynasty, the Shang, into a high God, independent and supreme, He added \"The importance of this change cannot be over-emphasised. When this supreme deity finds the rule of an emperor abhorrent, whenever a king fails, by persistent misrule, in his duties to God, then God rejects him and seeks out a suitable substitute.\" The transfer of the mandate of Heaven, based on the belief in a supreme deity, carried with it strong ethical implications, and continued down to the last dynasty, which fell in 1911.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214316, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1998", "page_number": 174, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "138 \n\nLegends surrounding the birth, life and death of Xu Sun are numerous, complicated and tangled stories. Just before his birth his mother is said to have dreamed that a golden phoenix dropped a pearl from its beak into her hand. A popular story claims that he was born either in Henan province or at Nanchang in Jiangxi, ca AD 240 where he lived out his life as a saintly doctor. Xu Sun passed the imperial examinations, became a prefect of a district and distinguished himself by his benevolence. According to some versions, his popularity was due to his power and ability to heal diseases using secret preparations. Others claim that he was an official who, having served in Sichuan province, died in about AD 293 or AD 374 when still only in his fifties. In another version, a typical mythological finale to a virtuous and extraordinary life, he died at the great age of 134 and was borne off to Heaven 'together with his wives, children, dogs, chickens and beasts'. \n\nMembers of the Daoist Jingming sect claim that he was the founder of the cult with its centre at the temple dedicated to him in Nanchang city. This no longer exists; however, a temple dedicated to him in the small town of Xi Shan [Western Hill] some twenty miles south-west of Nanchang, is the present cult centre. A large notice before his altar in the temple informs devotees that he lived during the Eastern Jin [317-420 AD] and during a twenty year struggle managed to solve the problem of annual flooding in the province and that he should be revered mainly for his success in water conservancy in northern Jiangxi, particularly around the Boyang Lake. The notice also claims that he lived for 136 years. \n\nHis cult centre in Xi Shan is now a bustling temple complex with two main halls and some four lesser halls set in large grounds. The two large main halls, side by side, are dedicated one to Xu and the other to the Jade Emperor. The inside walls of the hall dedicated to Xu are lined with some twenty or so anonymous minor perfected lords whilst the Jade Emperor's hall is lined by sixteen guardian generals, again unnamed. The Jade Emperor is flanked by four major Daoist deities, the philosopher Lao Zi; the founder of the Heavenly Master sect Zhang Daoling; the doctor of the Eight Immortals Lü Dongbin and the Northern Emperor, Zhen Wu. The main altar in Xu's hall bears two images of Xu, one tall gilded statue of Xu standing, and a smaller, portable image of him sitting swathed in red robes. Neither has any unique characteristic and he is depicted with a black beard, pink face and holding a tablet in both hands before his chest. He is attended by two youthful attendants.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 214367, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1998", "page_number": 225, "title": "RAS-1998", "content_text": "191\n\nindustry. It was common, so it claimed, for construction teams to hold Taoist rituals, including the sacrifice of oxen before work began.*\n\nOn the other side of the coin, according to the Bureau of Religious Affairs, about 200 Taoist temples have been re-opened to the public in China since the 1980s and seven Taoist provincial associations have been established. One of these temples is the former Taoist Cheng-i sect centre, the Heavenly Master Sect temple [T'ien-shih Miao] on Dragon and Tiger Mountain, Lung-hu Shan, in Kiangsi province. It was burned down in 1945 and work on rebuilding it did not begin until 1983. This consisted of the renovation of the main hall and the re-sculpturing of the images of the San Ch'ing, the Three Pure Ones, and fourteen other clay statues. Other sites nearby have also been renovated, including the Shang Ch'ing Palace, where the Immortals lived, and the Lien-tan Ch'ih, the Furnace [where pills of immortality were made]. It is interesting to read that both local and central authorities donated more than half a million yuan towards the project.\n\nAbout the same time as the iconoclastic campaign began, a ban was also imposed in Tsingtao, the port in southern Shantung, on the manufacture, sale and burning of funeral objects in a bid to curb a resurgence in superstition.\n\n...\n\nDespite all of these reports of the destruction of illegal temples and the crackdown on superstition, my daughter and I during the years 1995-1997 have visited a number of temples both urban and rural in remote areas of China as well as in cities and towns which, without doubt, fall under the category of superstitious religious establishments. We have not only been guided to several such temples by policemen but also in one instance we found the local party cadre actually lived with his mother inside a small popular religion temple. The only instance where a member of a temple staff had reason to explain that an activity was banned because it was superstition happened in the suburbs of Shanghai. When we asked why there were no oracular blocks on the altar with which to obtain the deity's answers to questions posed by devotees, we were told by the temple guardian that this particular practice was superstition and not permitted, whereas other routine rituals seen in temples in Hong Kong and Taiwan were. A Chinese scholar recently explained that in his view illegal temples are the structures built without permission because local State authorities have not had the quid pro quo erection of a village school, crèche or health centre paid for by the villagers with the same sum funded for the project as\n\nPage 225\n\nPage 226", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1998.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794", "rank": 0 } ]