The Development of the Thunder God’s Image from the Tang to the Song Dynasty: The Case of Deng Bowen

Abstract

Belief in the Thunder God has been important in China since ancient times. During the Tang Dynasty (618–906), the Thunder God was personified and incorporated into official rituals. Due to the increasing presence of Tantric Buddhism in China during the Tang Dynasty, in Daoism (particularly the Divine Empyrean lineage 神霄派), several Thunder Gods formed a military organization, among which Deng Bowen (鄧伯溫) was considered as a marshal who largely preserved the characteristics of the Thunder God from the Tang Dynasty, featuring traits of a half-human and half-bird. This study focuses on interreligious influences and aims to elucidate the logic that informs the evolution of the Chinese Thunder God’s image through Deng Bowen’s case. Through the analyses of iconography and text analysis, this study discusses how Deng’s image was blended with the image of the Hindu deity Garuda (迦樓羅), which was introduced to China during the Tang Dynasty through Tantric Buddhism. This study will also explore how Deng’s image evolved from before the Tang Dynasty to the period after the Song Dynasty and will indicate that the Tang Dynasty was a significant period for the development of Thunder God worship as well as its iconography.