Diverging Conceptions of Apotheosis in Fourth-Century CE Upper Purity Daoism

Abstract

This article examines evidence from hagiographies that emerged from the Upper Purity (Shangqing) Daoist lineage in the late fourth century CE to investigate the attitudes of early medieval writers towards human beings gaining status as gods and goddesses. Whereas previous scholars tend to treat these texts as part of a single movement, this article demonstrates that there are complex and conflicting accounts of how humans attain divine status. Most notably, these authors hold different views concerning whether Daoist adepts acquire celestial titles when they are initiated or if they must first finish their cultivation. By comparing and contrasting the hagiographies of three Daoist saints (Pei Xuanren 裴玄仁, Wang Zideng 王子登, Wei Huacun 魏華存), this article asks how such stories might have informed and influenced the mental worlds of the readers who encountered and perhaps even lived out these narratives.