Daoists on the Southern Marchmount

Abstract

177 Daoists on the Southern Marchmount ROBIN R. WANG The Southern Mountain (Nanyue 南岳) in Hunan is one of the five cen‑ tral Daoist mountains, with a long history of living masters. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor lived there, and Zhang Daoling 張道陵, the founder of the Celestial Masters, visited the site. The female matriarch Wei Huacun 魏華存 (252‑334), one of the key revealing deities of Highest Clarity, had a sanctuary there, and the Huangting jing 黃庭經 (Yellow Court Scripture), a major meditative manual, is associated with the site. Today, the mountain is home to thirteen temples with over forty female and thirty male Daoists. There is an Academy of Female Daoists (Kundao Xueyuan 坤道學院) in the main temple (Damiao 大庙) at the bottom of the Southern March‑ mount. 1 Part of the Chinese Daoist College (Zhongguo Daojiao Xueyuan 中國道教學院), originally founded by the Chinese Daoist Association in 1990, the Academy houses a two‑year program committed to train fe‑ male Daoists. Both the academy and the mountain are under the leadership of the well‑known female master Huang Zhian 黃至安, president of the Hunan Daoist Association and also vice‑president of the Chinese Daoist Asso‑ ciation. She is one of the most prominent female Daoists in China today, at least in terms of political and social involvement. A member of the 1 For more detailed information about this school, its trainees, and curricu‑ lum, see my “To Become a Female Daoist Master: Kundao in Training” in Internal Alchemy: Energetic Transformations for Vitality and Transcendence (forthcoming in 2009). 178 / Journal of Daoist Studies 1 (2008) People’s Congress as a Daoist representative, she regularly attends ses‑ sions at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. She is also the chief editor of the biannual journal Hunan Daojiao 湖南道教, which contains ten sec‑ tions that range from discussions of current events through presentations of classical texts and Daoist history to contemporary moral issues. Mas‑ ter Huang has the long‑term vision and firm commitment to promote Daoism in the contemporary world. Supported by various kinds of fund‑ ing, she has recently acquired a large abandoned elementary school building and turned it to the site of the academy. The first class of female students matriculated on September 12, 2005 and graduated on June 25, 2007. The class consisted of forty‑eight female Daoists, selected from thirty‑two temples in sixteen provinces. Its mission is summarized in the slogan: “Honoring Dao, Respecting De; Learning and Cultivation Progressing Together” 尊道贵德, 学修并进. The goal of the program is to train Daoist leaders who can manage temples all over the country and participate in the official administration of the religion. Upon graduation, the women return to their original temples and take on the responsibilities of managing them in a modern way. Usually aged between 21 and 35, this newly trained elite is set to become a vigorous force affecting the development of Daoism in the coming decades. This group of students lives and studies in the temple facilities. Classrooms are located around a quiet courtyard; they are equipped with new equipment and computing facilities. Learning and living conditions are better than in many overcrowded Chinese colleges. Each dormitory is shared only by two students; a cafeteria provides three vegetarian meals a day. It even caters to the tastes of students from dif‑ ferent regions, making saltier food for northerners and spicier food for southerners. This academy is financially supported through a variety of sources: a) local fund raising; b) annual donations by Hong Kong organi‑ zations; c) a small amount of local and central government funding. Nanyue is located in Hengyang 衡陽 county of Hunan province. It is about 100 kilometers from Changsha 長沙, the provincial capital. Changsha’s claim to fame is as the location of Zhu Xi’s (1130‑1200) Con‑ fucian academy and as Mao Zedong’s hometown. Daily trains and buses connect it to Nanyue. The name of the stop is Hengshan 衡山. From there, a 20‑minute cab ride will take the visitor to the temple. I flew from Bei‑ Wang, “Daoists on the Southern Marchmount” / 179 jing to Changsha (about two hours) then arranged a private car to get to Nanyue in two hours. After concluding my work there, I took...