1 Introduction
The following discussion of some aspects of mystery and secrecy in the encounter of Buddhism and Daoism in China refers to a specific time and place; namely the environment of the capital Chang’an
The empire, which had been divided for more than three centuries, was united in 589 under the short rule of the Sui Dynasty. The long period of division had allowed much regional diversity of religion. It had seen what Erik Zürcher has called “the Buddhist conquest of China”: the spread and acceptance of the foreign religion of Buddhism in all levels of Chinese society. Buddhism had introduced new ways of thinking, new ways of interpreting old questions, as well as new conceptions regarding the universe and the human sphere. It had also brought new soteriological conceptions, most influential maybe the idea of universal salvation, and that of the compassionate Bodhisattva, who renounces to personal salvation in order to save all beings. While Buddhism was embraced enthusiastically and became very influential in the intellectual, social and political field, it never held a monopoly.
A counterweight was provided by Daoism, which developed in the same period from different, rather unconnected religious movements that were oftentimes limited only to relatively small master—disciple groups into an institutionalized religion, which stood up in the environment of the court as the autochthonous alternative to Buddhism.1 The movement of the Celestial Masters (tianshidao
The spread of Buddhism and Daoism on all social levels, from common people to the highest levels of imperial administration, including the emperors, made Buddhism and Daoism forces to be reckoned with. Imperial administration in the north as well as in the south took measures to control the religious communities.
Furthermore, with the fall of Han Dynasty, the established concept of the ‘son of heaven’ as legitimization of the emperor had become untenable in many ways. The ‘son of heaven’ of the Han, just like Heaven itself, was one. The Six Dynasties period (220–589) instead saw many contemporary ‘sons of heaven’, different emperors in a fragmented ‘empire’. Thus, new legitimization strategies for those in power were needed. Buddhism and Daoism were both ready to offer these, adding further complexity to the interplay of worldly powers and representatives of Daoism and Buddhism.
This complex interplay forms the background of the following considerations of ‘secret’ as a contact zone on the philosophical and epistemological level as well as of the discussion of the role of secrecy on the social level.
2 Secret as a “Blank Space” and Interface of Transfer: the “Dark” (Xuan) in the Daode jing
What has been termed the notion of secret2 as a “blank [that is, etymologically ‘white’] space,”3 is comparable to what has been called “black” (xuan
The arguably most influential use of the term xuan in the early Chinese literature appears in the Daode jing
The Daode jing employs the term xuan, dark, to denote “the mystery,” in reference to Dao
道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。無名天地之始；有名萬物之母。故常無欲，以觀其妙；常有欲，以觀其徼。此兩者，同出而異名，同謂之玄。玄之又玄，衆妙之門
知者不言，言者不知。塞其兑，閉其門，挫其銳，解其分，和其光，同其塵，是謂玄同。故不可得而親，不可得而踈；不可得而利，不可得而害；不可得而貴，不可得而賤。故為天下貴。
These two passages (emphasis mine), mention two essential characteristics of the mystery (xuan):
It is intrinsically linguistically not definable and epistemologically not knowable.
Yet it can be “grasped” or “achieved” by “those who rid themselves of desires,” or “block the passages,” etc.
Thus, while mystery remains always hidden, there are individuals, who have managed to “grasp” the mystery. These perfected beings are practitioners of some kind of cultivation.12 Furthermore, the notion of “honored by the world,” suggests an association with high position or even the sage ruler.13
The point of this excursion into early meanings associated with xuan or mystery as a descriptive term for Dao is to underscore that while the term refers to the “unknowable” and “unspeakable” mystery, there existed the concept that this unknowable mystery could be reached through some kind of bodily or contemplative practice. In Daoism, reaching the mystery was associated with worldly power, the ability to establish social and political order, and with the quest for physical immortality. A paragon example of this association might be the Yellow Emperor—emperor and Daoist adept, who in an ever-growing lore was associated with the secret Daoist teachings also of later times, including longevity practices.14
3 Strategies of Dealing with Mystery: the Epistemological Level
3.1 Mystery as the Epistemological Indefinite: the Xuanxue Interpretation of the Mystery (Xuan)
While some early trends of thought in Daoism, expressed for example in the Xiang’er
玄者冥也。默然無有也。而言 […] 謂之玄者。取於不可得而謂之然也。〔不可得而〕謂之然。則不可以定乎一玄而已。〔若定乎一玄〕則是名則失之遠矣。故曰玄之又玄也。
As to the “Dark” it is obscure. […] therefore [Laozi] […] only says “[I] designate as …” The [term] “Dark” [xuan, mysterious] is taken for that [aspect of the ultimate principle] which cannot be designated as being thus [and nothing else]. Should one designate it as being thus [and nothing else], it would definitely not be permitted to define it as one [specific] Dark. If one were to define it as being one [specific] Dark and nothing else, this would be a definition, and that would be far off the mark. That is why [Laozi] says “Dark and Dark-again.”17
This epistemologically indefinite xuan became a space, which Buddhists and Daoists would claim equally, and where they competed to show the best way to reach it. Socially, xuanxue was explored in an environment of the intellectual elite, with pure conversations, qingtan
3.2 Inscribing the Blank Space of the Mystery: the Buddhist Appropriation of the Expressions Xuan and Xuan Zhi You Xuan of the First Chapter of the Daode jing
From Zhi Dun
In his foreword to a copy of the Mahāprajnāparamitā sutra, Zhi Dun describes prajnāparamitā, the highest wisdom, with the terms zhongmiao
夫般若波羅蜜者。衆妙之淵府。群智之玄宗。神王之所由。如來之照功。其爲經也。至無空豁廓然無物者也。無物於物。故能齊於物。無智於智。故能運於智。是故夷三脱 22於重玄。齊萬物於空同。明諸佛之始。盡群靈之本無。登十住之妙階。趣無生之徑路． 23
The Prajnāparamitā is the deep treasure of ‘All Wonders’, the mysterious origin of all wisdom. It is the path followed by the spiritual rulers, the (mystic) reflection
照 achieved by the Tathāgatha. As a scripture, it is that which (teaches) the empty expanse of the highest non-being, the tranquil absence of things. It realizes the absence of things in the things (themselves) and therefore it is able to equalize all things; it (realizes) the absence of knowing in knowing (itself) and therefore is able to make knowing function.24 Therefore it levels the three gates of liberation in the Twofold Mystery, and equalizes the ten-thousand things in empty equality. It explains the beginning of all Buddhas, and it exhausts the original non-being of the spiritual realm, it climbs the wondrous steps of the ten stages [of bodhisattvahood] and it brings one quickly ahead on the way of non-becoming.
This short passage exemplifies how a Buddhist author related new content, the concept of prajnāparamitā, to extant, well-known notions of “mystery” from the Daode jing. The fact that xuan, the mystery, was conceived as epistemologically indefinite certainly facilitated this endeavor to “inscribe” the new alongside the old in the mystery. However, the author claims that it is the Buddhist text, which offers the way to reach this mystery.
3.3 “Mysterious and Mysterious Again”: Madhyamaka Logic and the Daode jing
Little more than a century later, we find a further process of “inscribing” the blank space of the mystery. Possibly beginning with Kumārajīva and Sengzhao, a specific method of reaching insight into the “mystery,” namely the dialectics of the tetra lemma, were inscribed in the term chongxuan, referring to the sentence xuan zhi you xuan
The tetra lemma consists of a series of four statements, each negating the previous one, so that in the end a negation of all possible statements about the nature of the dharmas or phenomena (or any other argument a debater would choose) is achieved:
All dharmas are [characterized as] being (you
有 )All dharmas are [characterized as] nonbeing (wu
無 )All dharmas are [characterized as] being and nonbeing (yi you yi wu
亦有亦無 )All dharmas are [characterized as] neither being nor nonbeing (fei you fei wu
非有非無 )
The logic of the tetra lemma originated in India. In Buddhism, it was used to a great extent by Nāgārjuna (ca. 150–250 CE), the foremost philosopher of the Madhyamaka School, in refuting propositions of his opponents, but also as a tool to reach insight into that which is beyond any definition, the unknowable. Kumārajīva had translated Nāgārjuna’s hagiography into Chinese in 401 CE (Longshu pusa zhuan
With the Daode jing continuing to play a major role in intellectual life in general, and as a source of the debates on the nature of being and the question of the relation of non-being and being in particular, it is not too surprising that also Kumārajīva produced a commentary to the Daode jing. One fragment of Kumārajīva’s commentary to the Daode jing (48.3) suggests that he used Madhyamaka logic with its characteristic double negation in his interpretation:
羅什曰：損之者無贏而不遣，遣之至乎忘惡。然後無細而不去，去之至乎忘善。惡者非也，善者是也，既損其非，又損其是，故曰損之又損。是非俱忘，情欲既斷，德與道合，至於無為。己雖無為，任萬物之自為，故無不為也。
‘Diminishing them’ means that there is no coarse thing that is not cast away so that this casting away gets to the point of forgetting about evil. Thereupon there is no fine thing that is not eliminated so that this eliminating gets to the point of forgetting about good. Evil is what is to be rejected, good is what is to be approved. Having diminished what is to be rejected, he will also diminish what is to be approved. That is why [the text] says ‘diminishing this [the one], and then again diminishing that [the other]’. Once [things to be] approved and [things to be] disapproved are both forgotten, the feelings and desires are cut off. [Then] one’s [own] capacity harmonizes with the Dao to the point of reaching non-interference. Although oneself is ‘without interference’, one brings to fruition the other entities’ own activities, that is why there ‘is nothing that is not done’.25
The sentence commented here, “diminishing and diminishing again”
夫群有雖衆。然其量有涯。正使智猶身子。辯若滿願。窮才極慮。莫窺其畔。況乎虚無之數。重玄之域。其道無涯。欲之頓盡耶。書不云乎。爲學者日益。爲道者日損。爲道者爲於無爲者也。爲於無爲而曰日損。此豈頓得之謂。要損之又損之。以至於無損耳。
With regard to ‘all being’, although [the things] are many, their number is limited. But still, even if someone would have wisdom like Śāriputra and talent of speech like Pūrņamaitrāyaņīputra, if he used his talents to the fullest and exhausted his thinking [capacities] completely, he still could not see these limits. How much more [is this valid] for the category27 of empty non-being, the realm of chongxuan.28 This Dao has no limits, how could one realize it fully in one moment? Is it not said in the Laozi: ‘Learning means to increase every day. Practicing the Dao means diminishing every day’? He who practices the Dao is the one whose action is non-action. Action through non-action this is why it says ‘daily diminish’. How could that be a name for a ‘sudden obtaining’? One has to diminish and diminish again, until one reaches a point where there is nothing to diminish.29
The first example demonstrates how Kumārajīva inscribed the method of the tetra lemma in his reading of the text of the Daode jing, and the second example suggests that this reading was also correlated to the mystery (xuan), and that the term chongxuan, derived from the first chapter of the Daode jing, was utilized in this context.30
3.4 Mystery as a Contact Zone of Philosophy in the Sixth and Seventh Century
In the following centuries, the term chongxuan continued to be used frequently by leading Buddhists as well as by Daoists.31 Thus, for example, the influential Tiantai Zhiyi (538–597)32 in his short exposition on the Weimo jing
The process of contacts in relation to the blank space provided by ‘secret’ or ‘mystery’ thus cannot be characterized as a simple or one-way process, where one religion is ‘subdued’ or ‘dominated’ by another. Instead, a multilevel dynamic interplay evolved.
3.5 The ‘Literary’ Contact Zone: Early Tang Daoist Chongxuan Commentaries to the Daode jing and the Buddhist Jizang’s Sanlun Xuanyi
The earlier representatives of xuanxue who discussed with the Buddhists were not adepts of the Daoist religion, they were literati laymen. Xuanxue was one of the four subjects (ru
It seems that Daoism in the third and fourth centuries did not quite reach the intellectual and administrative elite of society yet. However, between the fourth and fifth centuries, Daoism started a development integrating different, often esoteric sects and traditions into an institutionalized religion, which differentiated itself from the ‘foreign’ Buddhists and which in the fifth and sixth centuries gained more and more support also in the intellectual and social elite as the third “teaching” next to the Rujiao
The prominent Buddhist author Jizang
問伯陽之道道曰太虛。牟尼之道道稱無相。理源既一則萬流並同。什肇抑揚乃諂於佛（此王弼舊疏以無為為道體）。答伯陽之道道指虛無。牟尼之道道超四句。淺深既懸。體何由一。
Question: “The Dao of Boyang [Laozi] is termed ‘Great Emptiness’ [taixu
太虛 ]; the Dao of Śākyamuni is called ‘without marks’ [wuxiang無相 ].39 Since the principle is essentially one, the myriad tendencies are all the same. When Kumārajīva and Sengzhao criticized [Daoism] and praised [Buddhism], they only wanted to flatter Buddhism.”[Jizang remarks here]: This must refer to Wang Bi’s old commentary, which took nonaction as the substance of Dao [daoti
道體 ].Answer: “With regard to the Dao of Laozi, it points to empty nonbeing; the Dao of Śākyamuni [instead] surpasses the realm in which the tetra lemma can be applied. [With this] there is already a distinction [with regard to the two teachings] of superficial and profound, how could the substance be the same?”40
The discussion in the Sanlun xuanyi continues however, with the opponent claiming that what is called the “Mystery” in the Daode jing equally surpasses the tetra lemma:
問牟尼之道道為真諦。而體絕百非。伯陽之道道曰杳冥。理超四句。彌驗體一。奚有淺深（此梁武帝新義。用佛經以真空為道體）。答九流統攝。七略該含。唯辨有無。未明絕四。若言老教亦辨雙非。蓋以砂糅金。同盜牛之論（周弘政張機並斥老有雙非之義也）。
Question: “The Dao of Śākyamuni is the Dao of the absolute truth41 and the substance is beyond the hundred negations [baifei
百非 ].42 The Dao of Laozi is termed ‘the mysterious’; its principle surpasses the tetra lemma. Examining this again, their substance is one—how could there be [a distinction in] superficial and profound?”[Jizang adds]: This refers to the new interpretation of emperor Wu of the Liang (464–549); he used Buddhist sūtras and took true emptiness for the substance of the Dao.
Answer: “If we take together everything the nine currents [of philosophy say] and everything that is contained in the Seven Summaries [of the bibliography] Qilue
七略 ,43 they all discuss only being and nonbeing; they have not yet explained [something that] surpasses the tetra lemma. To say that the Daode jing contains the twofold negation is like mixing gold with pebbles, just like in the story of the thief of the cows.”44[Jizang remarks that both Zhou Hongzheng and Zhang Ji criticized the theory that Laozi had used the twofold negation.]45
This excerpt suggests that there was an ongoing discussion about the Daode jing and Madhyamaka dialectics in the south, in which aristocrats like Zhou Hongzheng
This discussion about the way of tetra lemma logic to reach the mystery and the question if it was or was not present in the Daode jing in Jizang’s text was possibly still a discussion among two adherents of Buddhism. However, Daoists took up the issue as well. By the sixth and seventh centuries, we find a trend of thought called chongxuanxue
One of the most important representatives of this intellectual trend in Daoism, Cheng Xuanying
所言玄者，深遠之名，亦是不滯之義，言至深至遠，不滯不著，既不滯有，亦不滯無，豈唯不滯於滯，亦乃不滯於不滯，百非四句，都無所滯，乃曰重玄．
“Mystery” is a name for what is profound and far; it also implies the meaning of non-attachment. It denotes the ultimate profoundness and the ultimate distance, no attachments and no clinging; when there is no attachment to being and no attachment to nonbeing.
[Then, one is] not only not attached to attachment but also not attached to “non-attachment.” Thus, the hundred negations and the tetra lemma [leave the adept with] no attachments whatsoever. This is called “twofold mystery.”48
“Twofold mystery” in this interpretation designates a method like the tetra lemma used in Buddhist Madhyamaka. Cheng refers explicitly to the terminology of the Madhyamaka School with the technical terms “hundred negations” and tetra lemma; terms that his Buddhist contemporary Jizang used to describe the superiority of Buddhism as cited above.49
In his commentary to Daode jing 32, Cheng discusses “the Dao is eternally without name” (
虛通之理，常淇然凝然，非聲非色，無名無字，寂然獨立，超四句之端，恍惚希夷，離百非之外．
This principle of empty pervasiveness is eternally clear and still. It is neither sound nor color, it has neither name nor style. Still and standing apart, it surpasses the method of the four statements (tetra lemma). Vague and indistinct, inaudible and invisible, it goes beyond the hundred negations.50
Also in his commentary to Daode jing 79, he refers explicitly to the four propositions and the hundred negations in connection to Twofold Mystery:
言體道聖人，竟智冥符，能所俱會，超玆四句，離彼百非，故得久視長生。
This says that for the sage who embodies the Dao, the sphere of objective phenomena and subjective wisdom are in perfect consonance. Subject and object are united in emptiness, going beyond these four statements [of the tetra lemma] and leaving behind those hundred negations. Therefore he obtains enduring vision and long life.51
These excerpts document how both, Buddhists and Daoists, employed “the mystery,” and the “twofold mystery” to inscribe a new way of reasoning on the “mystery”—with the Buddhists claiming they had devised the superior way (namely tetra lemma) to approach the mystery, and the Daoists claiming that they had intended this particular process of reasoning from the outset. Both was possible logically only on the basis of an underlying assumption that ultimate mystery or truth was one.
In this respect, there are similarities with the xuanxue movement. Yet, in the xuanxue context epistemological considerations guided the discourse on mystery, while in the above examples there are underlying soteriological considerations: the method of the tetra lemma was a way to reach the mystery.52
Different from the literati engaged in xuanxue, the proponents of chongxuan xue were ordained Daoists who represented the institutionalized Daoism in the capital, which had entered into a fierce competition with Buddhism. This competition concerned believers from the emperor to the common people, social and financial resources, in particular imperial patronage, as Daoism in the capital adapted to a more and more state sponsored system of larger authorized temples. This competition brings us to the second aspect: secrecy.
4 Strategies of Dealing with Mystery
4.1 Secrecy on the Social Level
Mystery, theoretically at least, was recognized to be one. The ways, however, to reach this mystery, were many. And oftentimes at least in Daoism they were secret. Possibly, the association of obtaining mystery and reaching eternal life favored secrecy in social practice, because common sense would suggest that physical immortality cannot and should not be obtained by all, because this could potentially disturb a natural balance in ‘this’ world. It is noteworthy here that the Buddhist promises of bliss in heavenly paradises, like the ones of Amitābha or Maitreya,53 are promises that by the same line of reasoning can be obtained by all, and the same is true for the goal of liberation in Nirvana; both goals refer to an ‘after-life’, but not to life in this world. The Daoist proposition instead potentially influences life in this world. Therefore, I would argue that in the context of Daoist soteriology, the restriction of access to essential teachings to initiated adepts (esoterism)54 and secrecy in the social practice of transmission of these teachings was not only a habit, but a necessary consequence of the Daoist soteriological proposition. In fact, it seems that many of the early medieval Daoist movements were in their origin usually esoteric, centered around a master and a revelation, handed down selectively to initiated adepts.55 The Shangqing texts are the most evident example, yet also the Lingbao texts and other less well known scriptures were usually handed down from master to disciples.56 Even in the Celestial Master’s (tianshi dao
Buddhism instead, from the time it reached Chinese soil, was open for all. Promising ways to universal salvation for all beings, its texts were freely preached.
When in the fifth century the adherents of these religions began to include also more and more the intellectual and administrative elite, the clash of esoteric and exoteric systems engendered dynamics which would change both religions over the coming centuries.
4.2 Material Aspects of Secrecy in Daoism
The secrecy of the Daoist teachings was an inherent part of their attractiveness—they were something special, something which not everybody could obtain, but which possibly precisely because of this secrecy, was attractive and sought after.57
The southern tradition of Daoism had grown out of oftentimes esoteric master—disciple lineages. It produced the most sophisticated and most voluminous scriptural tradition of Daoism at the time. The esoteric transmission assured that the Daoist scriptures remained at least to a great part within the circles of masters and their disciples, and only few outsiders gained access to the scriptures. In fact, even the sometimes wholesale cooption of Buddhist concepts, terms and texts, especially in the Lingbao scriptures went largely unnoticed for more than a century.58
In practical terms, the exclusivity and esoteric characteristics of Daoist scriptures were reinforced by a complex system of initiation. The adept, in order to gain access to a scripture, had to show his spiritual advancement and he had to present the master with certain offerings, the pledge offerings. Access to the scriptures, according to this model, depended therefore on spiritual and material conditions.
While the spiritual conditions are hard to pinpoint concretely, also because they certainly depended on individual judgments of the master, the material conditions were regulated in a quite straightforward manner. Texts as well as ritual manuals contain specific lists of pledge offerings required for transmission. These offerings include rice, firewood, writing utensils and other items of practical use, but also gold, money, and bolts of silk (which during Six Dynasties were also used as a currency59 ).
The institution of these offerings goes back to an oath, with which the adept vows to keep the received teaching secret and only reveal it to few worthy recipients. As the bibliographic chapter 19 of the third-century Baopuzi documents, there were also certain time lapses for transmission required, which restricted diffusion even further and thus enforced the exclusivity of the texts even more. The vow would be accompanied by blood and hair of the adept, or else by the offering of certain precious and presumably hard to obtain objects, like golden or jade figurines.
Such material offerings in the context of a covenant or oath between Master and disciple are mentioned in early Daoist texts, like for example the Huangdi jiuting shendan jingjue
傳授之法。具以金人一枚重九兩。金魚一枚重三兩。投東流水為誓。金人及魚皆出於受道者也[…]若天晴無風。可受之。受之共飲白雞血為盟。並傳口訣。合丹之要。及投金人金魚於水。
With regard to the method of transmission, in all cases it is required that a golden figure of 9 liang [~125,28g] and a golden fish of 3 liang [~41,76g] weight shall be cast into a river that flows east. The golden figure and the golden fish have to be provided by the one who receives the Dao. […] If the weather is clear and no wind arises, the scripture can be transmitted. At the transmission, master and adept drink the blood of a white cock for the covenant. Furthermore, oral instructions are transmitted about the essentials of alchemy (cinnabar-preparation). Then the golden figure and the golden fish are cast into the water.
Another example of offerings in the context of a blood-oath is cited in Baopuzi (4.83):
金丹：…黃帝以傳玄子，戒之曰，此道至重，必以授賢，苟非其人，雖積玉如山，勿以此道告之也。受之者以金人金魚投於東流水中以為約，唼血為盟，無神仙之骨，亦不可得見此道也。
The Jindan (Golden Elixir) says: The Yellow Emperor transmitted it to the Dark Son and admonished him: this Dao is extremely important; you can transmit it only to worthies. If there are no such persons, then this Dao cannot be transmitted, even if someone should accumulate as much jade as a mountain. Those who receive it have to throw a golden figurine and a golden fish in water that is flowing east, and one has to drink blood for the covenant; who does not have the bones of an immortal is not allowed to see this Dao.61
Offerings of hair and blood to pledge secrecy were eventually replaced by ‘pure’ offerings of silk and gold.62 Scriptures emphasize that the offerings serve to show the sincerity of the student and to provide for ceremonies; however, there are also explicit warnings that Masters should not use the offerings for their own ends.63 The presence of such warnings in many texts suggests that there might have been a need for them—that there were actually masters who did use the pledge offerings to enrich themselves.64
Since proper transmission of the texts was of major concern in Daoism, many texts in the Daoist canon detail the rules for transmission of texts, including lists of pledge offerings. Even a random sampling of such lists shows firstly,65 that in several cases the required offerings for transmission of texts were so substantial, that they certainly excluded adepts from the less privileged classes. They further suggest that these offerings might have been a substantial income for the Daoist Master—keeping in mind that apart from gold and coins, also silk was used as a currency in early medieval China.
5 Secrecy in the Contact Zone 1: Soteriology, Ultimate Truth and the Material Question
The Daoist system of secrecy and esoteric transmission of scriptures, in the inner logic of Daoism, especially with a view to its soteriological proposition of immortality, was logically sustainable and reasonable, it guaranteed the exclusivity of the scriptures and their soteriological teachings, and in addition contributed possibly substantially to the livelihood of the Daoist Master. Yet, how did the system fare when it came in direct contact with the exoteric ways of Buddhism? Was this system sustainable in the contacts with Buddhism, especially with a view to the assumption that the ultimate truth of both teachings was one?
The Buddhist model of universal salvation during early medieval times continued to gain support. One factor in this development might have been precisely the exoteric nature of this teaching, which allowed an easier spread in the whole society, which in turn then served to give clout to the movement in form of wide support of the people. Beginning with the Lingbao scriptures of the early fifth century, we find evidence that the Buddhist concept of universal salvation was adopted also by Daoists. It is by now well known that especially the Lingbao Scriptures unabashedly incorporated Buddhist concepts into their teachings.66 It seems that in a first stage of adaptation of Buddhist exoteric conceptions in Daoism, the claim of universal salvation was adopted without giving up the requirement of secrecy altogether. Thus, for example, the Lingbao Duren jing
說經十遍，枯骨更生，皆起成人。是時，一國是男是女，莫不傾心，皆受護渡，咸得長生。
When he expounded the scripture for the tenth time, withered bones returned to life, they all arose to become human beings [again]. At this time, the whole kingdom, male and female, inclined their hearts to the Dao. All received protection and salvation. All achieved long life.67
Or:
仙道貴生無量度人 […]
The Way of transcendence values life, providing limitless salvation for humanity […]68
Yet we also find the stanzas:
有秘上天文，諸天共所崇。泄慢墮地獄，禍及七祖翁。
One who is able to keep secret this text of the highest heavens, will be honored in all of the heavens alike. Those who leak it or are remiss will fall into the earth prisons and disaster will reach even to the heads of their seventh-generation ancestors.69
These and other passages in the text indicate that the claim of providing universal salvation did not overwrite the esoteric characteristics of the texts and the secrecy that accompanied the transmission of the sacred Daoist scriptures. However, the adoption of the concept of universal salvation and the presence of Buddhism with its exoteric, easily accessible scriptures—scriptures, which the epistemological and philosophical discourse of Daoists and Buddhists claimed to contain the same ultimate truth—must have posed a challenge to the established Daoist ways of secret transmission of scriptures. One major question was certainly tied to the material question: why give expensive pledge offerings to receive Daoist scriptures, when Buddhist scriptures were for free?
The issue of pledge offerings and secrecy in the diffusion of scriptures in Daoism in relation to the exoteric model of scriptural diffusion of Buddhism, was addressed in a passage in the Taishang dongxuan lingbao zhihui dingzhi tongwei jing
The Heavenly Worthy explains the different rules of transmission:
天尊於是告右玄真人曰：卿受此經，可擇其人傳，不須法信。又告左玄真人：卿受此經，當依冥典法信，所用金錢，紋繒等物，皆令如式。
The Heavenly Worthy told the Perfected of Mysterious Truth to the Right: When you receive this scripture, you can choose the people to whom you transmit it, you do not need to [request] pledge offerings. Furthermore, he told the Perfected of Mysterious Truth to the Left: When you receive this scripture, you have to conform to the secret ceremonies and pledge offerings, the gold, money, silk and these things all have to conform to the regulations.73
However, the Daoist Perfected of Mysterious Truth to the Left does not readily accept this difference in scriptural transmission, where his scripture can be transmitted only with pledge offerings, and the Buddhist can give the same scripture away freely:
左玄真人心疑不平，因白天尊曰：右玄真人受此經文，不須信物，而反見使頓責如許，經法是一同，即有二異，其可解乎。
The Perfected of the Mysterious Truth to the Left remained with a doubt in his heart and was not tranquil [about his issue], therefore he addressed the Heavenly Worthy: “The Perfected of Mysterious Truth of the Right, when receiving this scripture, does not need pledge offerings, but on the contrary [I] see that [you] have arranged [my] responsibilities like this, since the teaching of the scripture is one, how can there be these two different [ways of transmission], can you explain it?”
天尊曰：非為偏也、子未知乎。眾兆不同，心心各異，故開二塗，其歸一也。所以爾者，右玄弟子，桑門居士，居士普行乞求，破惡以為法橋，能有施者，福報萬倍。故今授經，不重責信。卿今弟子，縱使分衛，以乞求度人，人無與者，更益彼罪，信心無表，何由得度。今故制以法信。法信之報，報在無量，如經無盡，不妨右玄布施福也。
The Heavenly Worthy answered: “It is not, that I am biased, you do not understand. The many beings are not all the same, each mind is different; therefore I open two ways, [ultimately] they come down to one. This is so, because the disciples of the Mystery of the Right are śramanas [Buddhist monks] and lay Buddhist followers; the lay followers74 go around everywhere begging, [they take] breaking the evil as the bridge of the teaching [for salvation], if there are people that donate [danapatis], the blessed rewards [for this] are 10.000 fold. That is why when I give him the scripture today, I do not additionally oblige him [to give] pledges. Your disciples, even if they live on alms and want to save the people by begging for alms, the people who do not give, they add to the former’s [that is the beggar’s] guilt, their devotion has no [way to] manifest itself, so how could they “cross over” [to salvation]. Now this is why I have established the pledge offerings. The reward of the pledge offerings is a limitless reward, just like the scriptures are limitless; it does not interfere with the blessings of alms giving of the Mystery of the Right.
天尊又曰：右玄弟子施居士者，是能减割施財與人，福報萬倍，萬倍有盡。左玄弟子齎信受經，此為信道，則是施財於道，是故福報如經無盡。左玄真人雖奉教旨，心猶未體福報如經無盡之理，理復云何。
The Heavenly Worthy further said: The Disciples of the Mystery of the Right give alms and are lay followers, thus they can diminish, divide and offer wealth to other people, the ten-thousand-fold reward is limited.
The Disciples of the Mystery of the Left offer pledges to receive scriptures, this is the way of the pledges, this is giving wealth to the Dao, therefore the blessed reward is like the scriptures without limits.
The Perfected of the Mystery of the Left, even though he received the instruction, in his heart he still did not fully understand the principle of the blessed rewards being unlimited like the scriptures, how can this principle be said again?
天尊知其心念，即語大賢：卿有疑耶，無所嫌也。所以云福報如經無盡也，何以故。譬卿得此經，寫治一通，傳與一人、十人、百人、千萬人、千億萬人不可計。人人寫一通、一通無限量通，彌布無外。
卿本猶存法信之報，如此無盡。假令卿今以一金萬金，從師受經，後得福報如經無盡，隨復永無耗竭，…
The Heavenly Worthy knew his thoughts, so he told the great worthy: Your doubt has not been relieved yet. Why did I say: The blessed rewards are as unlimited as the scriptures? [It is because] for example, if you obtain this scripture, and you write and study it once, and you transmit it to one person, ten persons, one hundred persons, ten million persons, hundred millions of ten-thousands of people, so many that it is uncountable. Each of these writes it once, [as long as each person only copies the text] once, there are no limitations to the number [of such transmissions], so the [scriptures] are spread everywhere. If you originally keep the pledge offering reward, this is like this without limits. So, if you today take one [piece of] gold or ten thousand [pieces] of gold, and receive the scripture from a teacher, later on you will get the blessed rewards like the scriptures without limits. And following this again, forever without end.
This long passage reflects presumably the doubts, which must have risen as a result of the combination of a claim to universal truth on the one hand and the contacts of esoteric and exoteric models of scriptural diffusion on the other hand. Why should Daoists be required to offer expensive pledge offerings for a teaching, that claimed to lead to the same truth as the Buddhist teaching, which was freely available? The answer to this doubt, which supposedly shows the ultimate superiority of the Daoist esoteric system of scriptural diffusion shows that the pledge offerings were conceived as a material reward and that a master could ‘regain’ his initial expense for obtaining a scripture by transmitting it and receiving pledge offerings himself. This material aspect is differentiated from the “rewards of believing in the Dao,” which makes the adept intelligent etc., which are discussed separately in the text.75
This relatively early discussion of the respective advantages of the exoteric and esoteric models of diffusion originated most probably at a time, when the competition between Buddhism and Daoism had not yet reached the stage of open debate and confrontation. Daoist scriptures co-opted Buddhist tenets, teachings and concepts, and as the example showed even engaged in an evaluation of the respective methods of the two teachings, in scriptures, which were accessible only to other Daoists, but not to Buddhists.
The interaction with the ‘other’ religion was therefore not in an open ‘contact-zone’, but on ‘home ground’ in an environment, where only fellow believers, i.e., Daoists, had access. However, this should change fast, and in the early medieval period direct open confrontations between representatives of both religions should become more and more frequent.76
6 Secrecy in the Contact Zone 2: the Attractiveness of Secrecy and Its Shortcomings in the Environment of the Court
One important platform for open confrontations between Daoists and Buddhists was the environment of the court, where representatives of both religions began to compete for the same clients, including the emperor.
Daoist representatives of chongxuan xue and Buddhists representatives of the Sanlun and Tiantai schools, whose efforts to inscribe their respective teachings in the mystery met in the ‘literary’ contact zone as discussed above, were also the ones with particularly close ties to the court and the elite in the capital.77 Addressing this audience, which included the emperor, Buddhism and Daoism had originally two different, both powerful, strategies.
Buddhism, in China prevalently Mahayana Buddhism, offered an exoteric model of universal salvation. All the emperor had to do was sponsor the sangha, so the sangha could do its mission work, and people would become not only enlightened (which might have been of minor interest for the emperor), but also morally good and content.78 Going one step further, the emperor (provided he did sponsor the Buddhists) was identified as a Buddha himself,79 bringing universal salvation and deserving adoration and reverence. The teachings in this model were accessible to all; a panacea extending from peasants to princes.
Daoism instead proposed secret methods to gain and immortality and power to rule well and bring about Great Peace. These teachings were not to be shared and imparted only to a few initiated. Reaching the Dao by way of secret teachings, knowledge, and methods would bring both, personal immortality, and power to rule and successfully practice good government. These two aspects, power and immortality, were emphasized variedly, some emperors sponsored Daoists to create elixirs,80 some emperors inquired teachings relating to good governance from Daoists,81 some did both.
For the rulers, who were sometimes initiated also into secret Daoist scriptures,82 both teachings, the esoteric and the exoteric one, must have been attractive; both had their merits. In fact, during medieval times emperors usually had contact with Daoist masters and Buddhists at the same time. Considering the respective advantages and necessities of exoteric and esoteric models in this context might prove a useful tool to understand the dynamics involved. If we start our inquiries from the perspective of an emperor’s needs, we can discern that both models catered to different needs and thus were complementary. While both religions offered access to the realm of the unseen, enlisting powerful support from various deities, the exoteric Buddhist concept of universal salvation offered a way to “transform” the people and thus bring “Great Peace” to the empire, whereas a secret Daoist teaching could offer personal strength and power, and longevity in this world to an emperor—which also would enable him to bring about “Great Peace.” As stated above, the soteriological proposition of Daoism was intrinsically geared as a benefit for a few, the secrecy with which the teachings were imparted could not be done away with.
Yet, in the social realities of the ongoing competition with Buddhism, this same secrecy had certain disadvantages. With the development of public court debate as a forum for representatives of Buddhism and Daoism to propagate and discuss their teachings—a forum which gained importance during Six Dynasties period and Tang times83 —it actually proved to be a severe handicap.
A court debate between Daoists and Buddhists in early Tang was a major event held before hundreds of guests, including the emperor.84
The tradition of religious court debate, which is traceable back through most of Nanbeichao
This competition probably played a role as a catalyst in the integration process of Daoism: Whereas in reality there were different traditions, different schools and different claims to having the most potent, most original scriptures within Daoism, at the same time Daoism in the environment of the court found itself to stand up against Buddhism as the Daoism, comparable to the Buddhism (which also at the time held different teachings).
It is noteworthy that many Daoist Masters involved in the systematization and integration of Daoism had participated in debates with Buddhists.85
In the various records of court debates from the Six dynasties and early Tang, it becomes obvious that the Daoists were limited to present the Daode jing, the Zhuangzi or similar other texts which did not require secrecy in public propagation.86 Their most potent and most sophisticated texts—the Shangqing scriptures, which also in the internal Daoist hierarchy were considered the highest and most valuable scriptures, could not be preached or revealed in public, a dilemma a Daoist text from the fifth century confirms:
道家經之大者，莫過五千文，大洞玄真之訪也。[…]五千文是道德之祖宗，真中之真，不聞穢賤，終始可輪讀，敷言妙義，則王侯致治，齋而誦之，則身得飛仙，[…]洞真道欲成可誦之，以致雲龍。不得人間詠之。人間詠之，大魔王敗之也。
As far as the importance of the Daoist Sutras is concerned, nothing is superior to the Classic in 5000 words (i.e., the Daode jing), and the [texts of] the visits of the Mysterious Perfected [collected in the] Great Cavern.87 […] The Daode jing is the ancestor of Dao and De, the truth in the truth, it knows neither impurity nor meanness, beginning and end can be constantly recited and its wonderful meaning can be proclaimed, thus kings and lords can govern. If it is recited in ritual, one can obtain to become a flying immortal. […] About the Dao of the Cavern of the Perfected (Dongzhen): If one wants to perfect it, one may recite [the Dongzhen texts] in order to call down cloud dragons, but one may not recite [this text] among men. If one recites it among men, one will be destroyed by the great demon king.88
The restrictions with regard to transmission and spread of the Shangqing scriptures made it impossible to preach them in public. The Lingbao scriptures, which proposed a soteriological model of universal salvation, had similar, if less strict and possibly less enforced, restrictions. The need to propagate the Daoist soteriological message on the basis of a Daoist scripture might have been one of the major reasons for inscribing the method of the tetra lemma into the text of the Daode jing; it allowed representatives of Daoism to present their teachings, which included exoteric models of universal salvation, with the text of the Daode jing, a text which was not restricted with regard to public propagation, and which had a longstanding pedigree as a subject of public debate.89
Yet, even if the new interpretations of the Daode jing, proposed by Daoists who were active in the environments of the court, allowed to present Daoist soteriological teachings in public debate, the disadvantage of the secrecy of Daoist scriptures, and the resulting limitation for their texts to be presented at court, must have been felt as a severe problem.
We find a reflection of this issue in the Benji jing
時老君怡然更貌，含笑而答太帝君曰：帝君所寶玉清隱書，上清高旨，神真虎文，太清神丹，琴心要誦，唯深隱秘，不使中仙所聞，而乃見勤授此下仙道德之奧乎？其可解耶？ 91
At this point Lord Lao showed a friendlier bearing. He smiled and answered Lord Great Emperor [Fusang]: “The secret scriptures of Jade Clarity which you, Lord Emperor, treasure, the eminent decrees of Highest Clarity, the prayer texts of Divine Perfection, the potent cinnabar of Great Clarity (
太清 ),92 the Scripture of the Inner Luminants of the Yellow Court (黃庭内景經 )93 —if you want to recite them, you only do it in deepest secrecy! You never let immortals of medium rank hear them, yet now you call on me and urge me to teach the profound subtleties of Dao and virtue to these low-ranking creatures? How do you explain that?
Fusang excuses himself, referring to the restrictions of secrecy imposed on the scriptures related to his teachings:
大帝謝曰：薄德盲能，位當於此，非不念傳後學，而威禁難達． 94
Being of poor virtue and little capability, my position has to be like this. It is not that I do not think of transmitting [these texts] to less gifted students, but the severe prohibitions [to divulge the scriptures to the uninitiated] are hard to oppose.95
This section of the Benji jing draws attention to the internal Daoist polemics against the secrecy and esotericism. Esotericism of course did not only keep non-Daoists away from the scriptures, but also Daoists, because not every scripture was accessible to every Daoist. It is in this context quite plausible that initiated members of one tradition did not consent to show their scriptures to members of other Daoist traditions—their rancor is reflected in this passage. This inner-sectarian esotericism had to be certainly resolved in the context of a Daoist religion that presented itself as a unified institutionalized religion. It eventually was resolved in the form of a hierarchical initiation order within Daoism, however, this process involved inner-Daoist competition for the higher ranks within this order—and it is this competition which is reflected in the cited passage from the Benji jing.
On a different occasion, the same text also addresses the question of esotericism towards outsiders, the issue of esoteric initiation, in a rather straightforward manner: In the first chapter, Zhang Daoling raises the question about the practicalities of transmitting the scripture to men:
正一真人三天法師白天遵曰：[…]若將來時有善男子女人來詣師門，求欲清受，不審傳授其法云何？天尊答云：傳此經者，不須法信，當觀其心，具十善願，便可授之。
The Perfected Man of Orthodox Unity, Master of the Three Heavens [i.e., Zhang Daoling] said to the Heavenly Worthy: “[…] If in the future good men and good women come to ask me to be their teacher, and they desire to receive [this teaching], it is not [yet] clear how to transmit this method.” The Heavenly Worthy answered: “To transmit this scripture, you do not need any pledge offerings, you have to look at their minds, they have to have ten good vows, then you can transmit it.”96
This statement shall serve to underscore wider implications of the question of esotericism vs exotericism:
The pledge offerings, which as we have seen above could be rather substantial, presumably assured an income to the Daoist Master. At the same time, like an expensive price tag of a luxury item, they assured the exclusivity of the scriptures. Renouncing openly to this practice would have opened the circle of possible recipients of the scripture: the originally esoteric Daoist teaching now was open to all, in line with the claim of offering universal salvation to all beings.
This rejection of pledge offerings in the milieu of the Daoists in the capital of the Sui and Early Tang, as expressed in the Benji jing cited above, indicates a shift towards exotericism of this particular Daoism—a shift that made sense in the context of a soteriological proposal of universal salvation and the need of the Daoists to propagate their teachings on a public stage. At the same time, it suggests also that the means of existence of the Daoist priests must have come from another source than before: instead of relying on payments made by disciples, the subsistence of the Daoists could have been guaranteed by state-sponsorship of temples. In fact, the biographies of the Daoist masters called representatives of chongxuan xue all mention that they lived in the big state-sponsored temples. Daoxuan
Yet, we have to beware to think this was a change that encompassed “all” of Daoism. In spite of early Tang scriptures from the chongxuan environment calling for open transmission and arguing against secrecy, ritual compendia of Tang dynasty continue to list the pledge offerings required for initiation into different scriptures.99 Therefore it seems that esoteric scriptures continued to be esoteric, even if in the emerging state sponsored form of Daoism other, mostly newer, exoteric scriptures were propagated. Esoteric scriptures remained attractive: Ritual compendia confirm that the esoteric scriptures were tied to the highest ranks in the emerging internal Daoist hierarchy.
The above remarks underscore that even though there was a clear need for exoteric teachings in Daoism in order to compete efficiently with Buddhism and in order to be able to become the state religion it did become under the Tang, the esoteric sides were not lost. Secrecy and secret scriptures continued to be attractive for Daoists and outsiders. Obviously, the nature of secrecy is such that it resists scholarly inquiry to a large extent, precisely because it is kept secret. Only in rare cases, like in the heated competition of the early Tang between Buddhists and Daoists, a period where many changes happened, which involved also aspects of secrecy, do we get glimpses of the issue; most of it remains hidden.
While today we have access to the secret scriptures of early medieval Daoism in the Daoist Canon, we need to keep in mind that the printing of this canon dates to 1926 only. Earlier editions of the Daoist canon were generally limited to Daoist monasteries and the imperial library—the emperor and the initiated Masters. And even after the printing, and recently digitalizing, of the Daoist canon, anthropological studies refer that Daoists today use texts which are handed down secretly, sometimes orally only, and which are not contained in the Daoist canon.100
All of this points to the fact that secrecy in Daoism never lost its attractiveness. Exoteric teachings were needed in the competition with Buddhism, and they were developed, yet they did not completely supersede the esoteric teachings, testifying to the lasting attractiveness of secrecy in Daoism.101
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Yao xiu keyi jielu chao要修科儀戒律鈔. DZ 463.
Yuanshi wulao chishu yupian zhenwen tianshu jing元始五老赤書玉篇真文天書經, DZ 22.
Yuanshi wuliang duren shangpin miaojing sizhu元始無量度人上品妙經四諸. DZ 87.
Zhaolun肇論, by Sengzhao 僧肇. T 1858.
Zheng fahua jing正法華經. T 263.
Zhongguanlun shu中觀論疏, by Jizang 吉藏. T 1824.
Zhonglun中論 (Mādhyamaka-kārikā). T 1564.
Zhuangzi shu, ed. Guo Qingfan 國慶藩. Zhuangzi jishi莊子集釋. In Zhuzi jicheng, vol. 3. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986. Vol. 3.
Secondary Sources
Assandri, Friederike. Die Debatten zwischen Daoisten und Buddhisten in der frühen Tang-Zeit und die Chongxuan-Lehre des Daoismus [The Debates between Daoists and Buddhists in the Early Tang and the Chongxuan Teaching of Daoism]. Ph.D. diss., University of Heidelberg 2002. Ann Arbor: UMI, 2004.
Assandri, Friederike. “Inter-religious Debates at the Courts of the Early Tang: An Introduction to Daoxuan’s Ji gujin Fo Dao lunheng (T. 2104).” In From Early Tang Court Debates to China’s Peaceful Rise, edited by Friederike Assandri and Dora Martins, 9–32. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009.
Bokenkamp, Stephen. “The Silkworm and The Bodhi Tree: The Lingbao Attempt to Replace Buddhism in China and Our Attempt to Place Lingbao Taoism.” In Religion and Chinese Society. Volume 1, Ancient and Medieval China, edited by John Lagerwey, 317–339. Hongkong and Paris: Chinese University of Hongkong and École française d’Extrême-Orient, 2004.
Muller, Charles. Digital Dictionary of Buddhism. Established 1995, updated monthly. URL: http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/.
Reichling, Philipp and Knut Martin Stünkel. “Secret as Zone of Contact—Results of a Work in Progress.” Manuscript. Käthe Hamburger Kolleg ‘Dynamics in the History of Religions’, Focus Group “Secret”. Bochum, September 9, 2011.
Stuckrad, Kocku von. “Die Esoterik in der gegenwärtigen Forschung: Überblick und Positionsbestimmung.” Zeitenblicke 5, no. 1 (2006). http://www.zeitenblicke.de/2006/1/Stuckrad.
While this development of Daoism did not preclude the continued existence of diverse, local Daoist lineages, and probably never included ‘all’ of Daoism, that is all and every Master that claimed his teachings derived from Dao, its impact nevertheless led to the development of an integrated Daoism, which represented ‘Daoism’ in the capital and the environment of the court and was recognized by the emperor Taizong
Philipp Reichling and Knut Martin Stünkel, “Secret as Zone of Contact—Results of a Work in Progress” (Manuscript. Käte Hamburger Kolleg ‘Dynamics in the History of Religions’, Focus Group “Secret”, Bochum, September 9, 2011.), 1.
Reichling and Stünkel, “Secret as Zone of Contact,” 10.
Kees W. Bolle states that it is “neither necessary nor useful to draw a sharp line between secret and mystery […].” See Kees W. Bolle, Secrecy in Religion (Leiden: Brill, 1987), 3.
Shuowen jiezi, j. 5. “xuanbu”
See for example Sengzhao
In particular, the term chongxuan
It is repeated in Daode jing 1 as cited below. We find an explicit confirmation of the association of xuan with the concept of Dao, in the writings of one of the best known early representative of the southern tradition of Daoism, Ge Hong
Ziporyn (Brook Ziporyn, Zhuangzi. The Essential Writings with Selections from Traditional Commentaries (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2009), 214) points out that the term Dao, often translated as “Way”, “[…] originally designated a program of emulation and study by means of which a particular set of skills could be cultivated […]” and thus could be translated as “Guiding Discourse,” in pre-Daoist thought has a “highly normative and ethical flavor.” Beginning with the Daode jing, the term was used in ironic reversal, to “signify the nondeliberate and indiscernible process that is claimed to be the real source of value and being […].”
Daode jing, 1, ed. Laozi zhu, 1.
Daode jing, 56, ed. Laozi zhu, 34. Translation in Arthur Waley, The Way and Its Power (London: Unwin, 1977) [1934], 210. Note that while many translators, like Waley (op. cit.), take this passage to refer to the practitioner, others take the sequence to refer to what is reached through practice (Dao), translating the last part for example as “it is thus the most precious thing in the world”. See Roger T. Ames and David Hall, Daodejing. Making This Life Significant. A Philosophical Translation (New York: Ballantine Books / Random House, 2003), 164.
About the origins of early Daoism in communities of practice, and the importance of contemplative practice and in particular breathing meditation, see Harold D. Roth, “Evidence for Stages of Meditation in Early Taoism,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 60, no. 2 (1997).
In the Daode jing, as well as in other Daoist texts and contexts, the association of gaining knowledge of the secret, reaching Dao, and ideal kingship is present in many ways. Compare e.g., the term xuande
Cf. Ute Engelhard, “Huangdi,” in The Routledge Encyclopedia of Taoism, ed. Fabrizio Pregadio (London/New York: Routledge, 2008), 504–506 for a concise discussion of the development of the Yellow Emperor.
The Xiang’er
Tang Taizong
See Laozi zhu, 1, transl. in Rudolf G. Wagner, A Chinese Reading of the Daodejing (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003), 122–123.
Erik Zürcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China (Leiden: Brill, 1959), 95.
Compare Pelliot, “Autour d’une traduction sanscrite,” 418f. and Robinet, Les commentaires du Tao tö king, 90ff. about Buddhist commentaries to the Daode jing. About the fragments of Kumārajīva’s commentary see Wagner, “Exploring the Common Ground.” Note that also Sengzhao is said to have written a commentary to the Daode jing, but this attribution is not beyond doubt. See Tang Yongtong, Han Wei Liang Jin Nanbeichao fojiaoshi vol. 1: 332.
Zürcher, The Buddhist Conquest, 106.
Compare for example Guang hongming ji
This refers to three gates of liberation mentioned in Prajnāparamitāsutra (Maheboreboluomi jing
Zürcher, The Buddhist Conquest, 124.
Wagner, “Exploring the Common Ground,” 113–114, translating from Daode zhenjing qushan ji
See Zhaolun
Shu
The expression
Zhaolun, T 1858, 160b; Sengzhao refers here to Daode jing chapter 48.
Compare also Sengrui
Thus we find in the Daoist Kaiyan mimizang jing
In Buddhism, Sengzhao speaks in his Zhaolun (T 1858, 160b20) of
See his Miaofa lianhua jing wenju (T 1718, 126c19:
Weimo jing lueshu, T 1778, 7.590a27–28.
For a discussion of this strand of commentarial hermeneutics see Jörg Plassen, “The Taoist Voice of the Buddhist Commentaries?,” in Transcending Words. The Language of Religious Contact Between Buddhists, Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Premodern Times, eds. Görge Hasselhoff and Knut Martin Stünkel (Bochum: Winkler, 2015), 18–25 and Plassen, “Entering the Dharma-Gate,” 231ff.
The first imperial university was established in 438 by emperor Song Wendi, beginning with a school for ru
The term rujiao appears in the context of apologetic writing in the preface of Seng You
Jizang is considered the founder of the Sanlun zong
Jizang refers that Emperor Wu of the Liang tried to use Buddhist texts in the interpretation of the Daode jing and that Zhou Hongzheng
Compare Han Yanjie, Sanlun xuanyi jiaoshi, 32n2: “Wuxiang in the Madhyamaka teachings is the real mark of true emptiness, it is like a realm of Nirvana.”
Sanlun xuanyi, T 1852, 2a16–20.
Absolute truth refers to the absolute truth in distinction from the worldly truth, elaborated in the theory of the two truths.
‘Hundred negations’ is the technical name for the continuing negation used in Madhyamaka.
The Qilue bibliography is traditionally attributed to Liu Xin
This refers to a story related in the Daban niepan jing
Sanlun xuanyi, T 1852, 2a20–25.
For a detailed introduction compare Assandri, Beyond the Daode jing (Magdalena: Three Pines Press, 2009).
He was most probably not the first one; a Daoist source (Daode zhenjing guangsheng yi
Laozi Daode jing yishu kaiti
Sanlun xuanyi, T 1852, 2c and 5c, op. cit.
Daode jing yishu
Daode jing yishu 79; Meng Wentong, Daoshu jijiao shizhong, 531, Assandri, The Daode jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying, 357. Another eloquent example appears in his commentary to Zhuangzi 2, see Zhuangzi shu, 1, 12; cf. Robinet, Les commentaires du Tao tö king, 121; see Friederike Assandri, “Inter-religious Debates at the Courts of the early Tang: An Introduction to Daoxuan’s Ji gujin Fo Dao lunheng (T. 2104),” in From Early Tang Court Debates to China’s Peaceful Rise, eds. F. Assandri and Dora Martins (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009), 97, for a translation of the passage.
The soteriological scope of Twofold Mystery Teaching (chongxuan xue) is a major factor that differentiates it from the earlier Mystery Studies (xuanxue). Holcombe, In the Shadow of the Han, 110 pointed out that Buddhist teachings came to eclipse Mystery Studies because ultimately the concept of nothingness as ultimate reality, a concept they derived from their epistemological discourse, was an emotionally unsatisfying logical abstract. “With Buddhism, medieval Chinese thought moved from the existential nihilism of native Chinese hsüan-hsüeh to a triumphant religion of salvation” (Charles Holcombe, In the Shadow of the Han (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994), 110). The soteriological scope of Twofold Mystery Teaching is an expression of and possibly also a reaction to this change from existential nihilism to an emphasis of salvation.
The enthusiastic reception of these promises of afterlife bliss in heavenly paradises in early medieval China is well documented in archaeological relics; see especially Hou Xudong
Kocku von Stuckrad (“Die Esoterik in der gegenwärtigen Forschung: Überblick und Positionsbestimmung,” Zeitenblicke 5, no. 1 (2006): 21. http://www.zeitenblicke.de/2006/1/Stuckrad) pointed out, that esotericism is not an independent tradition or school of thought of European history, but an analytic construct of modern researchers. Therefore, it seems admissible to use the term esotericism also in reference to early medieval Daoism.
Compare Gil Raz, The Emergence of Daoism. Creation of Tradition (New York: Routledge, 2012), 91f.
Compare for example the bibliographic chapter 19 of Ge Hong’s Baopuzi neipian, DZ 1185. We might add here, that in addition to “disciples,” texts were handed down at times also (but not always) to family members.
Cf. Stephan-Peter Bumbacher, “Cosmic Scripts and Heavenly Scriptures: The Holy Nature of Taoist Texts,” Cosmos 11, no. 2 (1995) and Empowered Writing. Exorcistic and Apotropaic Rituals in Medieval China (St. Petersburg, FL: Three Pines, 2012), 121.
Thus, the Buddhists became aware of the massive incorporation of Buddhist tenets in the Lingbao scriptures, which had occurred already in the earliest Lingbao scriptures produced around 400 ce, only much later, in the latter half of the sixth century, when Zhen Luan’s
Cf. Helen Wang and Valerie Hansen, eds., “Textiles as Money on the Silk Road,” Special Issue of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 23, no. 2 (2013) and Angela Sheng, “Determining the Value of Textiles in the Tang Dynasty. In Memoriam of Professor Denis Twitchett (1925–2006),” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 23, no. 2 (2013).
See Kristopher Schipper and Franciscus Verellen, The Taoist Canon. A Historical Companion to the Daozang (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 378; and Fabrizio Pregadio, Great Clarity. Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 80–82.
Baopuzi neipian, 4, 14 (Zhuzi jicheng ed.).
In Lu Xiujing’s (406–477) Taishang dongxuan lingbao shoudu yi
“That the True scripts of the five talismans are placed between cinnabar and green silk, is because they represent the cutting of the hair and smearing the mouth with blood of the older forms of covenants. Green silk replaces the hair, and cinnabar replaces the oath of smearing the mouth with [sacrificial] blood. True beings don’t harm their bodies or injure their virtue, therefore one uses [silk and cinnabar] to replace hair and blood.” Compare further Raz, The Emergence of Daoism, 111.
Wushang biyao
The decidedly economic dimension of the pledge offerings has been pointed out already by one of the pioneers of the research on the southern schools of Daoism in early medieval China, Michael Strickmann, “The Mao Shan Revelation, Taoism and Aristocracy,” T’oung Pao 43, no. 1 (1977): 21–26.
Two examples shall suffice to make the point: Taizhen jiuzhen mingke
Cf. for example Stephen Bokenkamp, “The Silkworm and The Bodhi Tree: The Lingbao Attempt to Replace Buddhism in China and Our Attempt to Place Lingbao Taoism,” in Religion and Chinese Society. Volume 1, Ancient and Medieval China, ed. John Lagerwey (Hongkong/Paris: Chinese University of Hongkong/École française d’Extrême Orient, 2004), 326.
DZ 87, Yuanshi wuliang duren shangpin miaojing sizhu
DZ 87, Yuanshi wuliang duren shangpin miaojing sizhu
DZ 87, Yuanshi wuliang duren shangpin miaojing sizhu
This Perfected also plays an important role in the Benji jing.
The idea to correlate Buddhism with female gender and Daoism with male gender was not new. It allowed to acknowledge some sort of spiritual equality, the oneness of ultimate truth, while still maintaining a ‘biological’ difference—a difference which at the time most probably implied a lower ranking for the teaching associated with female gender, corresponding to the position of women in society. We find this concept also in the apologetic literature, see e.g., Xiaodao lun 8 (in Guang hongming ji, T 2103, 9.146c2), cf. Kohn, Laughing at the Dao, 79. Compare further the Santian neijie jing
Taishang dongxuan lingbao zhihui dingzhi tongwei jing
Taishang dongxuan lingbao zhihui dingzhi tongwei jing
The use of the term jushi, lay followers, seems unclear—it should be the monks, not the lay followers, who go around begging. Possibly the Daoist text does not distinguish between monastic and lay Buddhists, throwing both into the same category of ‘Buddhists’—as ‘the other’.
Cf. Taishang dongxuan lingbao zhihui dingzhi tongwei jing
For a discussion of the development of the Buddho-Daoist confrontations in early medieval China see Kohn, Laughing at the Dao and Friederike Assandri, Dispute zwischen Daoisten und Buddhisten im Fo Dao lunheng des Daoxuan (596–667) (Gossenberg: Ostasienverlag, 2015), 5–21.
The most important representatives of the chongxuan philosophy in Daoism were active in the capital and the environment of the court (Assandri, “Inter-religious Debates,” 27–47), also Jizang and Tiantai Zhiyi had close ties to the courts of their times (cf. Stanley Weinstein. Buddhism under the T’ang (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 10–11 and “Imperial Patronage in the Formation of T’ang Buddhism,” in Perspectives on the T’ang, eds. A. Wright and D. Twitchett (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973), 283–284).
Compare for an early example Zhi Dun’s Introduction to his “Eulogy on an image of the Buddha Sakyamuni”, in Guang hongming ji, T 2103, 15.195c–196b, translated in Zürcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China, 177–179. Compare further Thomas Jülch, Die apologetischen Schriften des buddhistischen Tang Mönchs Falin (München: Herbert Utz, 2011), 79, 72–74.
See Shilaozhi
Examples would be Wu Zetian (Norman Harry Rothschild, “Empress Wu and the Queen Mother of the West,” Journal of Daoist Studies 3 (2010): 41f.), or Sui Yangdi, who asked Pan Dan to brew him an elixir of longevity (Victor Cunrui Xiong, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. His Life, Times and Legacy (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006), 151).
Stephan-Peter Bumbacher, Fragments of the Daoxue zhuan (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2000), 204: Emperor Wen of the Song summoned Lu Xiujing to lecture on Daoism. Bumbacher, Fragments of the Daoxue zhuan, 222: Meng Jingyi lectured on behalf of the state for Liang Wudi. Bumbacher, Fragments of the Daoxue zhuan, 237: Tao Hongjing was requested by the emperor of Qi in 496 to pray for the state. We may note here, that Tao Hongjing’s attempts to produce the elixir of immortality were also sponsored by emperors of his time (cf. Michael Strickmann, “On the Alchemy of T’ao Hung-ching,” in Facets of Taoism, eds. Holmes Welch and Anna Seidel (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 1979) and Huayang Taoyinju neizhuan
A detailed study of the question of emperors’ initiation into esoteric Daoist scriptures remains to be done, however, we know that the Imperial library of the Northern Zhou must have held many secret Daoist scriptures, because it served as the source of the Xiaodao lun (op. cit.). We also have records of emperors being initiated into the esoteric Shangqing or Lingbao scriptures: for example, Sui Yangdi
See Assandri, “Inter-religious Debates,” 9–32.
Assandri, “Inter-religious Debates,” 22f.
Lu Xiujing, who established the tripartite division of the Sandong of the Daoist canon, was called by Song Mingdi after 467 to debate at court (Sandong zhunang
Compare Assandri, Dispute zwischen Daoisten und Buddhisten and “Inter-religious Debates.”
The sentence
Taiji zuoxiangong qingwen jing
For the details of this presentation of exoteric teachings and conceptions of universal salvation in the interpretation of the Daode jing see Friederike Assandri, “Understanding Twofold Mystery: Daoism in Early Tang as mirrored in the FDLH (T 2104) and Chongxuanxue,” Journal of Chinese Philosophy 32, no. 3 (2005) and Beyond the Daode jing.
The first complete reconstructed edition of this text, of which only two of its originally 10 chapters had survived in the Daozang (second chapter under the title Benji miao jing
Taixuan zhenyi benji jing, 5. P 2366, lines 68–72; Wan Yi, “Dunhuang daojiao wenxian Benji jing,” 430.
These lines refer to the scriptures of the Three Caverns matching the three heavens of Great Clarity, Highest Clarity, and Jade Clarity.
Qinxin
Taixuan zhenyi benji jing, 5. P 2366, lines 72–73; Wan Yi
“Severe prohibitions” refers to the prohibition of divulging the scriptures to the uninitiated. Cf. Bokenkamp, Early Daoist Scriptures, 313, 283, 427.
Taixuan zhenyi benji jing, 5, Dunhuang Manuscript P 3371, lines 204–207; Wan Yi, “Dunhuang daojiao wenxian Benji jing,” 391. The ten good vows, or good intentions refer to being intent to (1) leave the world, (2) become a monk, (3) when meeting friends to explain the teaching, (4) find famous teachers, (5) hear the correct teaching and practice it, (6) see Tianzun, (7) save all beings, and to put themselves behind and other people in the front, (8) dispel ignorance with the sound of the teaching, (9) make all beings gain interest in the [way of salvation of the] Dao, and (10) that their own heart is immovably set on these intentions. See P 3371, lines 209–217, in Wan Yi, “Dunhuang daojiao wenxian Benji jing,” 391.
Ji gujin Fo Dao lunheng, T 2104, 3, 386a26.
Ji gujin Fo Dao lunheng, T 2104, 3, 386b8.
See for example Chuanshou jingjie yi zhujue
See e.g., Adeline Herrou, A World of Their Own. Daoist Monks & Their Community in Contemporary China (St. Petersburg: Three Pines Press, 2013), 57 or Michael Saso, The Teachings of Taoist Master Chuang (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978), 128.
Research for this article was funded by DFG Project Nr. 431303814.