So today we move on to Daoism in the Song and the Jin and we've divided this presentation into two parts, the first much longer than the second. The first is on Daoism and popular religion; the second a very brief look at the Quanzhen movement, which is new in this period, and above all aspects of its internal alchemy, its vision of the pantheon. So the key moment today is Daoism and popular religion and their convergence in this period and the impact on the larger issue of Chinese religion as a whole and the creation of a universal pantheon. Our guide will be Matsumoto Kôichi, "Daoism and Popular Religion in the Song." Before the Song, the aristocratic elite —the Tang and into the Northern Song— was primarily concerned that "the rites not descend to the people." We saw the last time that, for example, the <i>jiamiao</i> 家廟, the family temple, was only allowed to the highest officials and even when it was extended to all the officials, it was definitely not extended to —the right to have a special temple for the ancestors— it was not extended to the people. So this was pretty much standard elite view even in the Northern Song and beyond of the role that the rites were to play in creating an ordered hierarchical society. So we can say, I think, without too much problem, that the refusal or the lack of any desire to have the rites go down to the people at this period of Chinese history is to ensure the social status of the elite. But in the Northern Song, with the rise of the examination system, among other things, we see this gradual shift from an aristocratic to a meritocratic elite, and this meritocratic elite turned rather to what we may call "scripture-based social engineering." I quote Matsumoto: "Mediums doing sacrifices in temples, imitating royal rituals, but also popular burial customs, were now criticized from the point of view of rituals in the Classics." This concern for the "reform" of popular customs explains the frequency that we've already talked about of the interdiction of shamanism. It also explains the production of Confucian ritual compendia. We've talked about state ritual compendia, but here I'm talking about Confucian ritual compendia by such famous scholars as Sima Guang 司馬光, who are also important members of the elite in the bureaucratic hierarchy of the government. Sima Guang 司馬光 and Zhu Xi 朱熹 himself. What am I referring to? Well, I'm referring to the emergence of a type of text called <i>jiali</i>. Later, it'll be <i>Zhuzi jial</i>i 朱子家禮, <i>The Rites for the family of Zhu Xi</i>, but Sima Guang had already produced such a compendium of rituals for the family. And so we see in this Northern Song the emergence of ideas that there should be family rituals that perhaps could be extended beyond the elite. And we also see, of course, then, the emergence of a national, universal pantheon. Matsumoto suggests that the Confucians in this early period of the Northern Song felt a sense of crisis, shocked by the fact that certain, by certain popular customs but also by the "gradual universalization of Buddhist and Daoist rites" at all levels of society. One of the customs that shocked them derived from the idea that "several days after death, the deceased would come home" and do his family harm —in fact we've already talked about that in the Period of Division— "so on that day all family members had to stay away from home." Run away from home, let the dead come back for one last visit. Sima Guang also criticized the practice of delaying burial. What for? "While looking for a good geomantic site or an auspicious day." But the fact of the matter was that in the Northern Song, Buddhists and Daoists had a lock on funeral rites, and even Zhu Xi, "who explicitly attacks these rites," accepted that a filial son had to do them for his parents if they insisted on it. Matsumoto suggests that "the real reason that Confucian rituals did not suffice for the dead" was fear. I quote: "The presuppositions of the Confucian rites were that of a normal death and that the deceased had sons and grandsons who could carry on the sacrifices… The Confucians gave no thought to the vengeful souls," these <i>ligui</i> 厲鬼 that we've talked about quite a bit, of the unfortunate dead. "But the people were worried in the first place about precisely such souls, who were suffering in the underworld, received no sacrifices, and nursed their grudges." We go again to Hong Mai and his <i>Record of the Listener</i>. How powerful these grudges could be and what could be done about them we see from Hong Mai's "many tales of vengeful souls causing illness or other catastrophe and then being pacified by Buddhist or Daoist rites." So not just funeral rites,but also these rites of pacification of vengeful souls. I quote: "If the Great emperor of the eastern peak," there he is again, Dongyue dadi 東嶽大帝, "if the Great emperor of the eastern peak considers the resentment of the soul to be legitimate… (or) (if) Heaven has approved an act of revenge… (then) 'Only the performance of a yellow register ritual'," a Daoist ritual in this case, "'can save the resentful soul and enable it to be reborn in Heaven; then the illness will be healed'." So here we have an idea of the main Daoist ritual being used as an exorcism to take care of an avenging ghost, get him saved, off to Heaven, reborn in Heaven, and the illness of the person attacked, possessed, the illness being healed. As we've already seen, many of these vengeful souls were soldiers or generals who had died in battle. In the Northern Song Capital of Kaifeng, on the day of the Middle Prime, <i>zhongyuan</i> 中元: What's that? Well, it's the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The seventh month is often called <i>guiyue</i> 鬼月, the month of the <i>gui</i>, of the demons or of the ghosts who come back to haunt. And so on the first day of that month, the gates of hell are opened and all of these unfortunate dead, these unshriven dead, come back to receive sacrifices and offerings, to get something to eat. And then on the last day of the month, which is the thirtieth day of the month, which is also the birthday of the Buddhist god of the underworld, Dizang 地藏, it's his birthday and then the gates of hell are closed and this <i>guiyue</i>, this month of the demons, the ghosts, comes to an end. But this has been already in the Tang dynasty and increasingly in the Song and right into modern times, right into contemporary times, the time for doing massive universal salvation rituals. So, on that day of the Middle Prime, so the 15th day of the seventh month —we just passed it in fact— "government offices organized"—government offices!— "organized massive assemblies where paper money was burned and all soldiers who had sacrificed their lives were sacrificed to." In the Southern Song capital of Hangzhou on that day Daoist abbeys performed rites of universal salvation—the <i>pudu</i> 普度, while Buddhist monasteries celebrated the Yulanpen 盂蘭盆 or Avalambana rites, which are the Buddhist equivalent. In the massive ritual compendium of the Daoist Jin Yunzhong 金允中, dates to around 1225, so towards the end of the Southern Song, a ritual called the "Distribution of food for the universal salvation" rite. It involved "the invitation of the entire social hierarchy divided into twenty-four groups, from former kings down to executed criminals. (And) it passes in review the hardships and inconstancy of all forms of livelihood, not just of solitary souls, and may therefore be qualified as a truly universal salvation ritual." The Daoist Universal Salvation ritual "begins with the summoning of the solitary souls," <i>guhun</i> 孤魂, another term for these unfortunate dead. They're solitary because, of course, they have no one to take care of them, no one to make sacrifices to them on a regular basis. It is clearly stated that the aim of the ritual is to eradicate the sins of the ancestors —so now here focusing not on the unfortunate dead but the ancestors who are unhappy in the other world— so that they may be released from purgatory. Purgatory or the underworld prisons: we sometimes translate "hell," sometimes translate "purgatory." Purgatory is probably a better term, because it suggests that it's not permanent like Western hells tend to be, okay? So: a kind of purgatory, a place where you have to transit until all of your sins have been paid for or eradicated, okay? So: that's why the summoning of the souls and then the aim of the whole ritual to remove, to efface the sins of the ancestors so that they can ascend to the realm of the immortals. The next step, after summoning, is to heal all the ills of the solitary souls and restore them to health in body and spirit (by) infusing them with "perfect energies," <i>zhenqi</i> 真氣. So once again we see constantly in Daoist ritual that it's not the gods who are at the heart of the ritual practice, it's these energies, these energies, cosmic energies, which can be channeled by the Daoist priests. So infusing them, healing them, by infusing these perfect energies into them. The Daoist next creates fragrant water to bathe the reconstituted souls, then burns paper clothing so they can dress and put on caps, and then they are at last ready for the distribution of food. "Having first burned incense to invite all the gods, the priest of high merit" as he's called, <i>gaogong</i> 高功, "begins by transforming himself into the Heavenly worthy who saves from suffering," Jiuku tianzun 救苦天尊. The first time I saw this transformation was at a Daoist ritual in Tainan, southern Taiwan, back in the 1980s. So starting at that time in the Northern Song or the Southern Song, this idea of the priest transforming himself into the Heavenly Worthy who Saves from Distress and who presides, he's really the equivalent of the Buddhist Guanyin or Dizang combined in one. In any case, he's the one who saves souls from the dead, from the hells. So he transforms himself into the Jiuku tianzun and then he "visualizes the golden energies of the Way," of the Dao, "pouring down from the gate of Heaven," the <i>tianmen</i> 天門. "He then pours the luminous energies into the ritual food… (Next is) recitation led by the Lord on High of jade purity produces a stream of purple energies that break hell open," <i>podiyu</i> 破地獄, the destruction of hell is one of the standard terms for these rituals. So it breaks the hells open, the purgatories open, "destroys all (the) cangues (of the prisoners, that traps them), and transforms hell (or purgatory) into a realm of peace and purity." So again that in-breaking of purple energies, of course coming from the center of Heaven, <i>ziwei</i> 紫微, the palace where Taiyi lived, okay? Or, Ziwei dadi in other Daoist rituals, in any case, from the center of the night heavens. So these are these purple energies that are pouring down and breaking hell open. "All souls are released and come to the altar for the distribution of food... The souls are invited to give rise to hearts of compassion." So here we see the idea that it's in fact the transformation, the renewal of their body, renewal of their soul, purification, exit from hell, food, but above all, to have a spiritual transformation, a heart of compassion, as they enjoy the food. They're receiving something, they should think about those who also need to receive in turn. "Before the ascension (of the souls then to the land of the immortals), the souls must be preached to… The sermon is followed by rites of sublimation," which come from alchemical practices of the Daoists and finally "transmission of the commandments." So there they are at that point they're ready to <i>shengtian</i> 升天, to ascend to Heaven. Such is the rite of universal salvation in the Song dynasty, Southern Song, in Southern Song China.
