Ritual Manuals Research Articles

Ritual and Self-Cultivation in the Daoist Practice of “Oblatory Refinement”

AbstractThis article describes a Daoist salvific ritual called jilian 祭鍊, “oblatory refinement,” as presented within a ritual manual written by Zheng Sixiao 鄭思肖 (1241–1318). Zheng’s formulation of this ritual and his extensive commentary on its individual elements show that he regards this ritual not only as a means of achieving salvation for others, but also as a complete system of self-cultivation that is capable of enabling the practitioner’s self-apotheosis. After discussing the historical background of the ritual and describing its various stages, I analyze Zheng’s approach to ritual practice and his understanding of the relationship between ritual and self-cultivation, both of which are characterized by his emphasis on the quality of “sincerity” (cheng 誠). Ultimately, I argue that the Daoist notion of an “inner,” cognitive and affective dimension of ritual practice points to useful ways of supplementing contemporary theoretical understandings of ritual that focus primarily, if not exclusively, on the formal aspects and social contexts of ritual activities.

Paratextuality, Materiality, and Corporeality in Medieval Chinese Religions

In medieval China, talismans (fu) and sacred diagrams (tu) were ubiquitous elements in religious texts. Since they were composed of divine illegible esoteric patterns, meaning was not produced by the markings talismans and diagrams bore; it was, rather, displaced onto the objects themselves, whether they were two-dimensionally represented in scriptures and ritual manuals or externalized and materialized onto physical supports. In this respect, the objecthood and palpable materiality of talismans and diagrams made them shorthand tokens for direct access to the supernatural. Drawing on emblematic yet understudied scriptures of medieval Daoism and esoteric Buddhist, the present study considers talismans and diagrams as paratextual objects, bringing to light the fact that they not only passively frame the reading of a text but in many instances also constitute the primary and determining level of “text” that is read. In this way, sources in which talismans and diagrams featured prominently were approached first and foremost through their material aspects, namely paratexts. What is more, the talismans and diagrams that appeared in texts were often meant to be externalized and materialized, in some cases onto the bodies of adepts or visualized in their mind’s eye, thereby conflating paratextuality, materiality, and corporeality. In a pair of striking examples, practitioners are instructed to embody and become actual ritual objects, blurring the boundaries between text, object, and body in one single divine locus.

ИЗДАНИЕ УЧЕБНОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ ДЛЯ КОНФЕССИОНАЛЬНЫХ ШКОЛ В МУСУЛЬМАНСКИХ РЕГИОНАХ РОССИЙСКОЙ ИМПЕРИИ В ХIХ- НАЧАЛЕ ХХ ВЕКА


 
 
 The article is devoted to the review of educational literature published in the printing houses of the largest Muslim regions of the Russian Empire in the XIX - beginning of the XX century. The author makes conclusion about general trends in religious education of Muslims, the main elements of which was a maktab (elementary school) and madrasa (high school), and also lists branches of science, that were an obligatory part of the student’s program. Is was noted that madrasas of each region had some sort of program, distinguished by in-depth study of a particular science. It is indicated that the superiority in the publication of Muslim educational literature in the Russian Empire in this period belonged to Kazan, which became the center of Muslim printing. In Daghestan and Turkestan, where Arab graphic printing firmly took its place in the early twentieth century, textbooks for Muslim schools were also produced repeatedly and in large editions, as well as sold for affordable prices. The author lists and characterizes the most popular textbooks that were widely used in these regions, and concludes that educational literature, prayer books and ritual manuals were equally in demand by the local population.
 
 

Icons, Troubled and Troubling

The Vimānārcanakalpa, a text of around the 10th century C.E., belongs to the Vaikhānasa medieval corpus of ritual manuals. It contains a wealth of ritual and iconographic prescriptions about man-made icons of Viṣṇu and his manifestations, management of power in icons, atonements for ritual shortcomings, etc. According to the Vimānārcanakalpa, the duty of the founder patron, the priests and the whole society is to perpetuate ritual and preserve the integrity of icons as defectless bodily forms in an unsullying environment, because the benefits aspired to by them through the installation of icons are constantly threatened. Dependent on numerous internal (material damage, ritual defects, etc.) and external (theft, defilement, etc.) factors, icons are forever prone to troubles and can become troubling when deprived of ideal conditions.

Death Rituals and Politics in Northern Song China by Mihwa Choi

Reviewed by: Death Rituals and Politics in Northern Song China by Mihwa Choi Michael D.K. Ing Mihwa Choi, Death Rituals and Politics in Northern Song China. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. xi, 234 pp. US$99 (hb). ISBN 978-0019-045976-5 Death Rituals and Politics in Northern Song China focuses on eleventh-century Chinese discussions about mourning rites (paying particular attention to the years 1008–1085). According to Choi, these rites embodied psychological and social concerns. They also became points of intense political debate, which laid the groundwork for the movement known as Daoxue 道學, or Neo-Confucianism. Daoist (and occasionally Buddhist) rites performed by the state in the early eleventh century led officials to go back into classical Confucian texts to more clearly define and advocate a system of orthopraxis. In the early Song dynasty, court rituals were largely eclectic. By the end of the eleventh century, however, the state more strongly advocated Confucian rites by creating public graveyards, ritual manuals, and laws to punish violators of Confucian death practices. More broadly speaking, Death Rituals and Politics in Northern Song China attempts to utilize various frameworks within the history of religions to “inquire into how rituals enact diverse types of social imaginary, how the social location of a group influences social imaginary, and how contestations over social imaginaries manifested in rituals imply ritual agents’ envisioning of power relations” (p. 8). Choi defines social imaginary in terms of a normative world view, and explains that her work aims to “examine how conflicts over the material presentation of different social imaginaries can rearrange prevailing power relations, as well as why the position of a particular group in a society prompts its members to opt for a particular social imaginary” (p. 9). Her book is organized into five chapters, with the first two providing a historical narrative of events, the third describing Confucian death rituals of the time, and the last two chapters analyzing social imaginaries of “the world-beyond” (p. 11). Chapter 1 largely traces the rise of specific Daoist rituals in the imperial court. Choi does this by describing the Heavenly Text affair of 1008. Toward the end of 1007 and well into 1008, the emperor, Zhenzong 真宗, claimed to have found a divinely created scroll proclaiming the blessing of Heaven on the royal family. Politically speaking, this discovery allowed Zhenzong to respond to the threats of the non-Chinese Liao state, which had recently defeated the Song in battle and forced them into an unflattering alliance. The Heavenly Text affair also encouraged Zhenzong to perform the fengshan封禅 sacrificial rites to various deities on Mt. Tai, which had only been done by five emperors before his time (most recently by Xuanzong 玄宗 in the mid-eighth century). The resources involved in the rite were enormous, including six weeks of travel. The Heavenly Text and fengshan ritual, however, served to legitimate Song superiority over the Liao in the views of those within the Song state. This was in part because it enabled Zhenzong to develop the myth of the Sacred Ancestor, which drew from mostly Daoist ideology to declare the royal family as direct descendants of divine figures. Under the direction of Zhenzong, the Song state disseminated literature that perpetuated the myth, established new holidays, and constructed local temples to relevant deities. Chapter 2 examines the Confucian response, which prevailed after the death of Zhenzong in 1022. At this time, debates ensued among officials. Confucian officials argued against the lavishness of non-Confucian (especially Daoist) rites, in part because they led to financial problems, but also in part because they deviated from the rites as prescribed in classical Confucian texts such as the Yili 儀禮. These officials also appealed to texts such as the Analects to argue against robust conceptions of the afterlife. This eventually led to government officials performing fewer non-Confucian rites, at least in public. The state [End Page 93] also passed laws restricting lavish burial rites, and attempted to enforce the performance of Confucian burial rites as understood to be advocated in Confucian texts. While the focus of the reform was on the literati, the emerging orthopraxy was also pushed beyond the literati, spreading Confucian practices...

A Study on the Recognition of Death and the Interment Method of Korean Adventists

Death is the last experience of all human life, and it is the crisis that comes with the greatest sorrow for the remaining family. Therefore, funeral ceremonies can be solemn and meaningful events and at the same time, minor differences and mistakes can be the cause of great conflicts among family members or community members. Korean society has recognized ‘burial’ as the main interment method. Since 1990, however, ‘cremation’ has been increasing due to environmental and economic causes. In Korean Christian society, the idea that ‘burial’ is biblical and consistent with Christian tradition has been dominant for a long time, but theological discussion about interment methods are actively proceeding according to the influence of social change. On the other hand, the Adventist Church in Korea has not been discussing funeral culture. The purpose of this study is to collect opinions regarding deaths and funerals of Korean Adventist Church members for further theological discussions. According to the findings of this study, Korean Adventists prefer ‘cremation’, like other Korean people. However, since the preference for ‘burial’ is still high in the older age group, the study suggested that on the denominational level dialogue between the generations should be coordinated with the concept of interment methods and prepare a ritual manual, funeral facilities, and sites for ‘cremation’.

How Did Buddhists Venerate the Avataṃsaka-sūtra in Late Premodern Korea? Insights from Two Manuscript Ritual Texts

This paper examines two manuscript ritual manuals titled Hwaǒm yemun (華嚴禮文) from the late Chosǒn period preserved in the Old Books Collection of the Dongguk University Library. The first is dated to 1767 with the name Pak Chinhae 朴震海 on the cover, and the second was assembled by an unknown hand in 1891. The differences between the texts suggest the evolution and amplification of Hwaǒm-oriented liturgy in late premodern Korea. By examining the structures of and the ritual procedures delineated in these two documents, scholars gain a clearer picture of how the Avataṃsaka-sūtra was worshipped in Korean Buddhism as the capstone or culmination of the monastic curriculum for Sǒn monks. In addition, these texts further our understanding of how ritual functioned as a means of articulating doctrinal and devotional classifications, as a procedure for reinforcing mainstream Mahāyāna doctrines and aspirations, and as a malleable framework for making of vows and invocations, performing penance, and chanting efficacious spells.

Study of Buddhist Texts Published by Buddhist Temples during the Early Joseon Period

이 글에서는 조선 전기 사찰판 불서의 간행배경과 이 시기 불서가 다량으로 간행된 사찰들 중 특징이 도출되는 사찰들을 중심으로 불서의 간행양상을 살펴보았다. 15세기 조선에서는 왕실의 불서간행이 두드러졌으며 일부의 사찰을 제외하고는 불서간행이 그다지 활발하지 않았던 것으로 보인다. 그러나 16세기에 이르면 불서간행의 주도권은 사찰로 넘어오게 된다. 사찰은 더 이상 왕실의 불서간행이 이루어지지 않았고, 儒臣들의 지속적인 반대로 결국 불교가 국가의 정책에서 완전히 배제되어 방임되었던 분위기 속에서 자구책으로서 민간을 대상으로 하는 齋儀나 追善을 위한 경전과 의식집, 그리고 승려들의 교육을 위한 불서들을 간행하였다. 이와 같은 사찰의 불서간행은 1520년대를 기점으로 서서히 증가하였고, 불교가 일시적으로 중흥했던 명종대를 지나 선조 대에 이르기까지 지속적으로 활발하게 이루어졌다. 조선전기 사찰에서 간행된 불서들을 정리해 본 결과 대부분의 사찰들은 대승경전과 의식집, 승려들의 학습을 위한 불서들이 복합적 으로 간행되는 경향을 띄었다. 하지만 이와는 대조적으로 敎宗과 관련된 전적의 간행이 드물었던 이 시기에 華嚴과 관련된 불서들이 대량으로 간행하였던 歸眞寺와 星宿寺, 禪과 관련된 불서들이 집중적 으로 간행되었던 普賢寺와 新興寺, 의식집의 간행이 두드러졌던 廣 興寺 등과 같이 특정한 분야의 불서간행이 집중적으로 이루어진 사찰들이 있어 해당 사찰의 불서간행 경향과 그 연유를 함께 살펴보았 다.This article examined the backgrounds of publication of Buddhist texts by Buddhist temples during the early Joseon period and analyzed cases of Buddhist temples that produced Buddhist texts of specific fields in large quantities in order to understand the trend of publishing Buddhist texts at those temples. In fifteenth-century Joseon, Buddhist texts were published mainly by the royal court and rarely by Buddhist temples except for certain cases. In the sixteenth century, however, Buddhist temples emerged as main publishers of Buddhist texts. In this period, the royal court discontinued the tradition of publishing Buddhist texts and Buddhism was eventually abandoned in state governance and policies due to constant opposition from Confucian scholars. Against this backdrop, Buddhist temples published Buddhist scriptures that were necessary for performing rites for ordinary people or deceased souls, manuals of rituals, and texts for education of Buddhist monks. Publication of Buddhist texts at Buddhist temples gradually increased from the 1520s and continued through the short renaissance of Joseon Buddhism during the reign of King Myeongjong (明 宗, r. 1545–1567) and the subsequent period under the rule of King Seonjo (宣祖, r. 1567–1608). The examination of the Buddhist texts published by Buddhist temples in the early Joseon period revealed that most temples published several categories of texts as mentioned above—e.g., scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism, ritual manuals, materials for teaching and learning of monks. Interestingly, certain temples including Guijinsa Temple and Seongsusa Temple in Hwanghae-do produced many texts related to Avatamsaka (華嚴; Kr. Hwaeom, Ch. Huayan) school of Buddhism while publication of texts other than those on Seon Buddhism was rare at the time. Bohyeonsa Temple in Pyeongan-do and Sinheungsa Temple in Gyeongsang-do intensively produced texts of Seon (禪) Buddhism. This study analyzed the aspects of publishing Buddhist texts at those temples and the reasons behind such trend.

On the Xiapu Ritual Manual Mani the Buddha of Light

This paper first introduces Mani the Buddha of Light—a collection of ritual manuals of the Religion of Light from Xiapu county, Fujian Province, China and Diagram of the Universe—a Manichaean painting produced in South China in the late 14th to early 15th century. It then gives a detailed description of Mani the Buddha of Light with some illustrations of Diagram of the Universe. This paper further compares Mani the Buddha of Light and Buddhist worship and repentance ritual to demonstrate that the former utilized the form of the latter. It also analyzes the similarities and differences between the pantheons of Mani the Buddha of Light and other Manichaean materials. Ultimately it discusses the hypothesis that many pieces of the original texts in Mani the Buddha of Light should have come into being during the 9th–11th centuries and have been handed down generation after generation because of the strong vitality of its rituals.

Daoist Priests of the Li Family: Ritual Life in Village China by Stephen Jones

Reviewed by: Daoist Priests of the Li Family: Ritual Life in Village China by Stephen Jones Daniel M. Murray Stephen Jones, Daoist Priests of the Li Family: Ritual Life in Village China. St Petersburg, FL: Three Pines Press, 2017. x, 406 pp. US$42.95 (PB). ISBN 978-1-931483-34-6 Stephen Jones has engaged in fieldwork on the ritual and music of northern China for the past thirty years, and his previous book In Search of the Folk Daoists of North China1 brought the hereditary Daoist priests of Shanxi, Hebei, and Gansu to the forefront of his work. Daoist Priests of the Li Family continues this focus, but shifts from a large-scale survey to deeply intimate portraits of the Daoists (or Yinyang 陰陽, as they are referred to locally) Li Manshan 李满山, his deceased father Li Qing 李清, and other members of the current band of ritual performers. Jones first met the group in 1991, returning to the village in 2001 and 2003, and has focused his research primarily on them since 2011.The book and accompanying film2 illustrate a close connection between Jones and Li, providing great detail on the family of Daoists and Jones’ interactions with them. The work is something of a reference book to the Li family, chronicling their history, ritual and musical performances, and manuscript collection. It is divided into six parts, each with three to four chapters, as well as introductory and [End Page 80] concluding chapters, and three appendices. The first three parts present a history of the Li family from Li Qing’s father’s early life in the 1920s, through the Maoist era, and up to the present based largely on interviews with Li Manshan and other surviving relatives, as well as drawing on gazetteers and other local historical documents. Part 4 explains the collection of hand-written manuscripts that Li Manshan currently holds, though as Jones points out, these are generally not used. Here Jones stresses the importance of performance over text on the assumption that texts, not ethnography, are what the reader is interested in. Part 5 contrasts the texts with the sound and performance of rituals; he describes the various instruments used and details the funerary rites, which are now the most common rituals, as well as rites for thanking the earth for individual households, which are no longer performed, and temple fair rites, which are no longer common for this Daoist group to perform. Here numerous musical scores and translations of hymns are included, but the Chinese text is only present in images of certain manuscripts. The final section focuses on the future outlooks for the Daoists, their rising prestige through government Intangible Cultural Heritage projects, and travels abroad for performances organized by Jones. These shifts have occurred alongside declining interest paid to them by the rural residents who would normally hire them, perceptions of the instability of the tradition in the future due to its limited income, and simplification of ritual practices. The first appendix presents an argument for fieldwork, with a focus on performance and oral history in Daoist studies, though these points can be found repeatedly throughout the text. The other two appendices list the collection of ritual manuals and describe the chanted scriptures. Jones should be commended for the great detail provided about a tradition for which he clearly has much respect and admiration. While he writes that his expertise lies in ethnomusicology and not ritual studies, it is evident that he has developed a serious understanding of many of the subtleties of Daoist texts and ritual performance. However, those seeking a more analytic or theoretical account of the Shanxi Daoists will be disappointed. The monograph is largely descriptive, lacking much analysis of the changing social life in rural north China or the rituals themselves. Jones’ main argument is largely the same as in his previous book, that the field of Daoist studies is overly concerned with textual evidence and that local historians draw on fieldwork as if contemporary rural life can be taken as a mirror of local society in late imperial times. Additionally, he points out the problematic division of household Daoists in southern China and monastic...

The early Lingbao transmission ritual: a critical study of Lu Xiujing’s (406–477) Taishang dongxuan lingbao shoudu yi

ABSTRACTThe Taishang dongxuan lingbao shoudu yi (hereafter, Shoudu yi; DZ 528) compiled by eminent Daoist master Lu Xiujing (406–477) is the first ritual manual in the history of Daoism that describes in detail the complete procedures of the Lingbao transmission ritual. However, up to the present, thorough and comprehensive studies of this text are very few. This article will provide a synopsis and a critical transcription of the text, and discuss three key, interrelated problems, namely the nature of the Shoudu yi and its redaction, the hierarchy and rank symbols of the early Lingbao transmission ritual, and the ritual order and structure. The purpose of this study is to deepen our understanding of the content, characteristics, and values of the Shoudu yi.

Daoist Ritual Manuals in Vietnam: Self-Cultivation, Cosmic Steps, and Healing Talismans

This paper examines visual representations—charts, talismans, and drawings—in Daoist ritual manuals contained in a collection of about 200 Chinese-language manuscripts from the Sino-Vietnamese border. Today kept in Taiwan, they presumably belonged to ritual specialists of Zhuang and Yao ethnic minority groups. This paper provides detailed analysis of many common graphic and pictorial images featured in Daoist manuals omnipresent in south China and, as this research shows, neighboring Vietnam. Used during the ritual of salvation of the soul of a deceased, these manuals present numerous talismans that formed part of the healing techniques practiced by Daoist priests.

韓國 腹藏의 密敎 尊像 安立儀禮적 성격 고찰

What does it make a buddha image into a buddha? This question has been hotly discussed since the 1990s centering on the installation ritual of Buddhist images in Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism or on the objects yielded from inner recesses of Chinese and Japanese Buddhist images. There are few textual evidences for such rituals for Chinese and Japanese examples, making it difficult to examine scriptural basis or doctrinal background of them. In contrast, the Korean tradition of bokjang or the practice of interring objects within Buddhist images provides us a rare opportunity to compare a ritual manual called Josang gyeong with extant bokjang deposits yielded from Goryeo and Joseon Buddhist statues. The distinctive composition of the bokjang, shown in both the ritual manual and remaining objects, has led scholars to characterize this important ritual tradition as a unique product of Korean Buddhism. Most Korean scholars define bokjang as consecration, a ritual to invest a material image with sacred presence of the divine. This view accords well with a pervasive explanatory model in the Western academia that often describes the consecration as a ritual tool to animate, enliven, or empower an inert image. The emergence of this view, which I call a ritualistic view of Buddhist images, marks a significant turning point in the history of Korean Buddhist image-making practices. I have argued elsewhere that a ritual idea, derived from late Indian Esoteric Buddhism and transmitted to the Korean peninsula through Chinese translations of scriptures and manuals during the Song and Liao periods, have played a vital role in the transformation of Korean Buddhists’ perception of Buddhist images. This article aims to reconsider the overall structure of the bokjang ritual in light of pratiṣṭhā or the ritual of image-installation in Indian Esoteric Buddhism. This line of inquiry helps us better understand how the formation of bokjang ritual and its spread transformed the medieval Korean perception of Buddhist images and the practice of making images.

Reflections on Rasāyana, Bcud Len and Related Practices in Nyingma (Rnying Ma) Tantric Ritual

The Tibetan term, bcud len, "imbibing the essence juice", is considered an equivalent for the Sanskrit term, rasāyana. But in Tibetan Buddhist ritual manuals, both terms occur, apparently with slightly different connotations. Practices classified as bcud len are frequently relatively short, and seem primarily designed for the use of individual yogis, usually as a subsidiary practice to complement their main tantric meditation. The production of bcud len pills which are said to sustain, rejuvenate and extend the life of the body, or even to bring immortality, is often an integral part of the practice. The term, rasāyana, is used in Tibetan transliteration (ra sā ya na), not as a title or classification for a specific ritual practice or recipe for pills, but rather to refer to the processes of alchemical transformation of substances within complex ritual "medicinal accomplishment" (sman sgrub) performances which are generally communal. In this case too, pills are produced, of the broader "sacred elixir dharma medicine" (dam rdzas bdud rtsi chos sman) type. This paper will consider a range of the practices, and of substances used in the sacred medicinal compounds.

Standard Phrasings in Esoteric Ritual Manuals and the Initial Formative Stages of <i>Shidai</i>

Imported Chinese esoteric ritual manuals at times demonstrate standardized phrasings. Standard phrasings here means wordings that follow a certain (or fixed) pattern.

Image and Text in Newar Buddhist Ritual Manuals

This article addresses the relationships between text and image in a group of Newar Buddhist manuscripts from Nepal. While these manuscripts all describe essentially the same ritual, a version of the ubiquitous Vajradhātu maṇḍala, they do so in widely varying ways, serving more as practitioners’ notes than as a meticulously copied sacred text. In this context, words and drawings are employed complementarily to communicate both visual and ritual information, neither complete in itself. While one might expect the images to be straightforward illustrations of visual aspects of the texts, some images perform ritual functions entirely outside the text, while some textual passages convey far more specific and useful visual information than the associated illustrations. Furthermore, both text and image have complex relationships with the meditative visualizations and ritual practices ostensibly performed via the manuscripts. In the end, the illustrations perform multiple functions, including the protection of the manuscript itself, practical instruction in the actions and visualizations of the ritual, and indexing key moments of the performance. These contrasting functions are not explicit, but they are marked by both formal differentiation in the illustrations and noticeably dissimilar relationships between the images and accompanying texts.

Re-presenting a Famous Revelation

This article considers issues of authorship and textual development over the generations, focusing on the contributions of the erudite scholar/lama Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (bdud ’joms ’jigs bral ye shes rdo rje, 1904–1987, hereafter, Dudjom Rinpoche), to the revelations of Bhutan’s national saint, Pema Lingpa (padma gling pa, 1450–1521), on the tantric deity Vajrak?laya. Dudjom Rinpoche compiled a number of ritual practice texts for this revelation cycle, also writing commentarial instructions on them. Here, two of his compilations are examined in detail, considering how they relate to the original revelation, what they add, and what they neglect, reflecting on what they might tell us about Tibetan approaches to continuing textual production in revelatory traditions. Much of Dudjom Rinpoche’s ‘Ultra Secret Razor Lifeforce’ Framework text for the Major Practice session (sgrub khog) reproduces virtually unchanged his earlier Framework text for the Dudjom tradition ‘Meteoric Iron Razor’, which itself draws on Guru Chöwang’s (chos dbang, 1212–1270) ‘Ultra Secret Razor’, as presented by Terdak Lingpa (gter bdag gling pa, 1646–1714), the founder of Mindroling Monastery in central Tibet. On the other hand, Dudjom Rinpoche’s main Ritual Manual (las byang) for Pema Lingpa’s cycle is more clearly rooted in the Pema Lingpa cycle, but there has been considerable re-working of the phrasing and even of some key visualisations. Some of the significant modifications were already present in an earlier Ritual Manual of the third Sungtrul (gsung sprul) or Pema Lingpa reincarnation, Tsultrim Dorje (tshul khrims rdo rje, 1598–1669), and Dudjom Rinpoche acknowledges this source. In assessing Dudjom Rinpoche’s two texts, various aspects of the productive process are highlighted, such as: the ‘blessings’ of a current generation high status lama connected with the tradition; the needs of the ritual community for familiar textual structures and liturgies; beautiful metrical verses for chanting; the integration of materials from the broader tantric heritage, but also the preservation of some highly individual elements of the revelation.

Daoist Ritual Manuals in Vietnam: Activating Stars and Trigrams

This paper examines visual representations—charts, talismans and drawings—in Daoist ritual manuals from the collection of approximately 200 Chinese-language manuscripts originating from the Sino-Vietnamese borderland and, supposedly, belonging to ritual specialists of Zhuang and Yao ethnic minority groups (now stored in private collection in Taiwan), dates on several manuscripts show that these copies were made in the first half of the 20th century in Vietnam, manuscripts served for the needs of living and deceased members of rural community. Visual representations either serve as “instructions” to be followed by officiating priest, or as representations of ritual action per se.

On the Date of the Ritual Manual for the Celebration of the Birthday of the Ancestor of Promoting Well-being from Xiapu

Abstract

Man, Nature and the Infinite: The Scope of Taoist Thunder Magic Rituals by Florian C. Reiter (review)

interrupted and diverted the flow of ideas. The authors provide ample, eloquent evidence of the many byways or side-chains that developed over several centuries of innovation. Their book can be read without this framing narrative, which does not significantly intrude on the exegesis of the text or the analysis of the art. STEPHEN F. TEISER Princeton University FLORIAN C. REITER, Man, Nature and the Infinite: The Scope of Taoist Thunder Magic Rituals. Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, vol. 81. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2013. ix, 178 pp. J48 (pb). ISBN 978-3-447-06904-5 The Daofa huiyuan 道法會元 (DZ 1220, referred to hereafter as DFHY), one of the longest works included within the Ming edition of the Daoist canon, is also one of the least well understood. Its 268 fascicles encompass a bewildering array of ritual manuals belonging to a variety of Song and Yuan liturgical traditions and lineages, largely centered around the theory and practice of the genre of exorcistic and apotropaic ritual methods generally referred to as ‘‘thunder ritual’’ (leifa 雷法). Florian Reiter has published over a half-dozen articles and a full-length monograph1 on various aspects of thunder ritual as represented in the DFHY, and he continues this important work in his most recent study. In Man, Nature and the Infinite: The Scope of Taoist Thunder Magic Rituals, Reiter concentrates on three manuals comprising chapters 90–92 of DFHY, translating most of their contents and providing annotations and analyses of their main themes, supplemented with material drawn from other thunder ritual texts from the DFHY and elsewhere. Reiter’s work is divided into seven parts, in addition to an introduction and conclusion. The introduction provides a brief overview of the development of thunder ritual in the Song. Noting the tendency in Song thought to ‘‘rationalize and formalize the essence of intellectual insight into the nature of things and the living world [. . . ] [and] to analyse and describe how the cosmic forces were organized and could be used through ritual methods,’’ Reiter puts forth the central objective of his study: ‘‘[. . . ] to understand and describe how man, nature and the infinite found expression in the Thunder rituals that Wang Wen-ch’ing2 and his followers worked out and documented. What were the rituals all about, and in which way did they do justice to the claim of an omnipotent spiritual might that was believed to materialize in ritual action?’’ (p. 3). In part I (‘‘Aspects of the Pantheon in Thunder Magic’’), Reiter examines the pantheon of thunder ritual as described in texts associated with the Shenxiao 神霄 and Qingwei 清微 traditions. Parts II, III, and IV consist of summaries and translations of the contents of the three texts contained in DFHY chapters 90–92: the Thunder Rituals of the One Breath of Anterior Heaven (Xiantian yiqi leifa 先天 一氣雷法, fasc. 90), the Great Rituals and Prayers of the Emissary Joy of Heaven and the Six Yi of Thunder and Thunderclaps (Leiting liuyi Tianxi shizhe qidao dafa 1 Florian C. Reiter, Basic Conditions of Taoist Thunder Magic (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2007). 2 [Wang Wenqing 王文卿, 12th century—ed.] 124 BOOK REVIEWS 雷霆六乙天喜使者祈禱大法, fasc. 91), and the Great Rituals of the Emissary Joy of Heaven and the Six Yi of Anterior Heaven (Xiantian liuyi Tianxi shizhe dafa 先天六 一天喜使者大法, fasc. 92). These works are rich with a variety of content, such as theoretical discussions of the principles of thunder ritual, incantations and invocations, templates for petitions and other ritual documents, directions for drawing talismans, esoteric formulae, and complex ritual and meditation instructions . Reiter translates much of the material in these texts, interspersing his own commentary throughout, and summarizes the remainders of the texts. In parts V and VI, Reiter draws upon other texts to attempt to demonstrate that, despite the great variety of deities and ritual elements found in thunder ritual manuals, there is an underlying, unifying worldview to be found throughout them. Part VI contains a translation of a treatise found in DFHY, fasc. 67, the Comprehensive Discussions of All Rituals (Wanfa tonglun 萬法通 論), by Zhang Shanyuan 張善淵 (fl. 1280–1294). Part VII contains a ‘‘tabular survey and formal assessment’’ of DFHY chapters 90–92, listing all of the various deities, talismans, incantations, and ritual methods found across those three...