Gender, Power, and Talent: The Journey of Daoist Priestesses in Tang China 9780231545495

Table of contents :
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
I. The Rise of Daoist Priestesses as a Gendered Religio-Social Group
II. Destiny and Power of the Ordained Royal Women
III. Religious Leadership, Practice, and Ritual Function
IV. Liu Moran and the Daoist Theory of Inner Cultivation
V. Longevity Techniques and Medical Theory: The Legacy of Hu Yin
VI. The Yaochi ji and Three Daoist Priestess-Poets
VII. Unsold Peony: The Life and Poetry of the Priestess-Poet Yu Xuanji
Conclusion
Appendix: Du Guangting and the Hagiographies of Tang Daoist Women
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

G E N D E R , P OW E R , A N D TA L EN T

Gender, Power, and Talent T H E J O U R N E Y O F DAO I S T P R I E S T E S S E S I N TA N G C H I N A

Jinhua Jia

Columbia University Press New York

Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu Copyright © 2018 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Jia, Jinhua, author. Title: Gender, power, and talent : the journey of Daoist priestesses in Tang China / Jinhua Jia. Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017029657 | ISBN 9780231184441 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231545495 (e-book) Subjects: LCSH: Taoism—History. | Taoist women—History. Classification: LCC BL1923 .J48 2018 | DDC 299.5/1461082—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017029657

Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. Printed in the United States of America Cover design: Milenda Nan Ok Lee Cover images: (background) Princess Jinxian’s epitaph, transcribed by Princess Yuzhen. Courtesy of Chang Chun ⷠ㗍, personal rubbing collection; (inset image) Vestment of a “Dadong nüguan” ⣏㳆⤛ⅈ, from Dongxuan lingbao sandong fengdao kejie yingshi, by Jinming Qizhen (Daozang 1125)

To Bing

Contents

List of Figures and Tables xi Acknowledgments xiii List of Abbreviations xv Introduction xvii I

The Rise of Daoist Priestesses as a Gendered Religio-Social Group 1

Tang Ruling House’s Promotion of Daoism 2 Integration of Daoism and the Establishment of Daoist Monasticism 3 Changing Patterns in Gender Relations 6 The Emergence of Daoist Priestesses as a Gendered Group 12 II

Destiny and Power of the Ordained Royal Women

18

Destiny or Choice: Ordained Princesses and Other Royal and Palace Women 19 Power and Accomplishments: Princesses Jinxian and Yuzhen 32 Concluding Remarks 48 [ vii ]

III

Religious Leadership, Practice, and Ritual Function 50 Overview of the Priestesses’ Religious Experience 51 Religious Leadership and Monastic Management 63 Religious Practices and Social Responsibilities 66 Ritual Functions 74 Concluding Remarks 78

IV

Liu Moran and the Daoist Theory of Inner Cultivation 79 Liu Moran’s Life and Religious Experience 80 Authorship of the Two Zuowang lun 81 Themes of the Zuowang lun Inscription 88 Concepts of the Xue Yuanjun Inscription 95 Concluding Remarks 98 V

Longevity Techniques and Medical Theory: The Legacy of Hu Yin 100

Hu Yin’s Life and the Composition of the HTNJT 102 Correlation Between the Five Viscera and the Five-Phase Cosmology 106 Hu Yin’s Depiction of the Images of the Six Visceral Spirits 109 Hu Yin’s Scheme for Seasonal Nurturing of the Viscera 115 Concluding Remarks 131 VI

The Yaochi ji and Three Daoist Priestess-Poets 133 The Yaochi ji: Compilation, Contents, and Poets 134 The Life and Poetry of Li Jilan 140 The Life and Poetry of Yuan Chun 154 The Life and Poetry of Cui Zhongrong 158 Concluding Remarks 161 VIi

Unsold Peony: The Life and Poetry of the Priestess-Poet Yu Xuanji 164 Toward a Biography of Yu Xuanji 165 Love and Passion: A Desiring Subject 173

[ viii ]

CONTENTS

Gender Awareness and Self-Recognition Concluding Remarks 185

179

Conclusion 188 Appendix: Du Guangting and the Hagiographies of Tang Daoist Women 195 Compilation of the Jixian lu: Date and Purposes 196 Extant Hagiographies of Tang Female Daoists from the Jixian lu 199 Du Guangting’s Re-creation of the Image of Daoist Women 199 Concluding Remarks 208 Notes 209 Bibliography 273 Index 315

CONTENTS

[ ix ]

Figures and Tables

Figures Figure 1.1. Figure 2.1. Figure 3.1. Figure 5.1. Figure 5.2.

Vestments of Tang Daoist priestesses 13 Princess Jinxian’s epitaph, transcribed by Princess Yuzhen 47 Fragments of the Benji jing, transcribed by Dunhuang Daoist priestesses 73 The Visceral Spirits 110 Xiuzhen tu 116

Tables Table 2.1. Table 3.1. Table 4.1. Table 4.2. Table 4.3. Table 5.1.

Ordained Princesses in the Tang Dynasty 20 General Information on Tang Daoist priestesses 52 Correspondence Between the Seven-Chapter Zuowang lun and Zhao Zhijian’s Daode zhenjing shuyi 84 Citations of the Zuowang lun Inscription from the Shenxian kexue lun 86 Formation of the Three-Stage Process of Inner Alchemy 92 Hu Yin’s Method of Caring for and Nurturing the Viscera 118

[ xi ]

Table 5.2. Table 5.3. Table 5.4. Table 6.1. Table 7.1. Table A.1.

Hu Yin’s Method of Six Breaths for Healing the Viscera 122 Hu Yin’s Method of Guiding and Pulling Exercises for the Viscera 125 Hu Yin’s Method of Monthly Dietary Prohibition and Abstinence 127 List of the Twenty-Three Poets Included in the Yaochi ji 138 Yu Xuanji’s Biographical Chronicle 173 Hagiographies of Tang Taoist Women from the Jixian lu 200

[ xii ]

F I G U R E S A N D TA B L E S

Acknowledgments

T

his book traces back to my master’s thesis, completed in 1982, in which I discussed a group of poets active in the lower Yangzi River region ( Jiangnan) of Tang China during the early post–An Lushan Rebellion (755–763) period. Among these southern poets was an outstanding Daoist priestess-poet named Li Jilan (d. 784), about whom I included a brief discussion when I later revised and published part of my thesis under the title Jiaoran nianpu (Chronology of Jiaoran; Xiamen University Press, 1992). Li’s relatively free activities and associations with male poets, as well as her remarkable literary achievements, continued to impel me to think about gender relations and the social status of Daoist women in Tang China even as I was working on other research projects. Finally, opportunity came in the 2005–2006 academic year, when I received an appointment as research associate and visiting faculty from the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School, to start my project on Tang Daoist priestesses. Subsequently, in 2011, several friends and I held the first International Conference on Women and Gender in Chinese Religions, in Macau, to promote and deepen scholarly exploration of the relationship between women, gender, and Chinese religions, after which I coedited the papers from this conference into a volume titled Gendering Chinese Religion: Subject, Identity, and Body (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014). I then received, during the 2014–2015 academic year, a Henry Luce fellowship from the National Humanities Center in Research [ xiii ]

Triangle Park, North Carolina, and a membership from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton to complete this project. In addition to the three fellowships/memberships from the HDS, NHC, and IAS that made it possible for me to finish this undertaking, I have also been greatly indebted to many mentors, friends, and colleagues in this onand-off project over a long period, as well as other projects. These include Roger T. Ames, Ann D. Braude, Victoria B. Cass, Tim Wai-keung Chan, Chang Taiping, Chen Jinhua, Chen Wei, Chen Yinchi, Chen Yunji, Cheng Chun Wai, Cheng Jihong, Cheng Qianfang, Chi Limei, Jessey J. C. Choo, Chu Hung-lam, Nicola Di Cosmo, Deng Delong, Nevia Dolcini, Elling Eide, Nancy Ellegate, Benjamin A. Elman, Sarah S. Elman, Gong Jun, Vincent Goossaert, Beata Grant, Peter Hershock, Hu Xiaoming, Huang Yong, Maria Jaschok, Kakei Fumio, Kang Xiaofei, Kinugawa Kenji, Terry Kleeman, David R. Knechtges, Livia Kohn, Kong Qingmao, Paul W. Kroll, Lai Ganjian, Lai Guolong, Lin Baoqing, Liu Xun, Luo Zongqiang, Catherine Lynch, Ma Xinmin, Victor H. Mair, David McMullen, John R. McRae, Murata Mio, Michael Nylan, Stephen Owen, Gil Raz, Saitō Shigeru, Saito Tomohiro, Edward L. Shaughnessy, Richard J. Smith, Sun Changwu, Stephen F. Teiser, Teng Wei-jen, Tian Xiaofei, Elena Valussi, Wang Ping, Wang Xiaolin, Wang Xiaoyang, Wang Xingguo, Wang Youru, Wang Yunxi, Wei Ronghua, Wai Ching Angela Wong, Xia Jinhua, Xue Yu, Yan Haiping, Yao Ping, Yao Xinzhong, Yao Zhihua, Yeung Siu-kwai, Yi Jo-lan, Yu Liping, Yu Xianhao, Zhong Zhenzhen, Zhou Xunchu, Zhou Zuzhuan, Zhuang Yuan, Harriet T. Zurndorfer, and others. To these I must add my friends of the 2005–2006 class of the WSRP and the 2014–2015 classes of the NHC and IAS. My sincere thanks are also due to Christopher Kelen for his invaluable help with the translation of all the poems; to my students Bai Zhaojie, Huang Chenxi, Liu Gonghuang, and Yu Chunli, who helped to collect research sources; to Jan Ryder, Bruce Tindall, Karen Carroll, and Todd Manza for their helpful suggestions and polishing of versions or parts of this work; to the three external and internal readers for their insightful comments that helped to greatly enhance this book; and to editors Jennifer Crewe, Wendy Lochner, Caroline Wazer, and Kathryn Jorge, who made possible the publication of this book. Furthermore, my special gratitude goes to Li Zehou, Liu Zaifu, Chen Feiya, Qian Nanxiu, Ni Yingda, Huang Shuolin, Shen Zhijia, and Liu Jianmei, and to my son Zheng Bingyu, for their continuing advice, help, friendship, and love. [ xiv ] A C K N OW L E D G M E N T S

Abbreviations

CFYG CSJCCB DJJSL DZ HTJ HTNJT JTS MZ MZXJ P. QTS QTSBB QTW QTWBB S. SBBY SBCK SKQS

Cefu yuangui, ed. Wang Qinruo et al. Congshu jicheng chubian, ed. Wang Yunwu et al. Daojia jinshi lüe, ed. Chen Yuan, Chen Zhichao, and Zeng Qingying Daozang Huangting neijing jing Huangting neijing wuzang liufu buxie tu, by Hu Yin Jiu Tangshu, by Liu Xu Tangdai muzhi huibian, ed. Zhou Shaoliang and Zhao Chao Tangdai muzhi huibian xuji, ed. Zhou Shaoliang and Zhao Chao Numbered Paul Pelliot manuscripts from Dunhuang in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris Quan Tangshi, ed. Peng Dingqiu et al. Quan Tangshi bubian, ed. Chen Shangjun Quan Tangwen, ed. Dong Gao et al. Quan Tangwen bubian, ed. Chen Shangjun Numbered Aurel Stein manuscripts from Dunhuang in the British Library, London Sibu beiyao, ed. Zhonghua shuju Sibu congkan, ed. Zhang Yuanji et al. Siku quanshu, ed. Ji Yun et al. [ xv ]

T THY TPGJ XTS Xulu XXSKQS Yaochi ji YJQQ ZZTJ

Taishō shinshū daizōkyō, ed. Takakusu Junjirō and Watanabe Kaigyoku Tang huiyao, by Wang Pu Taiping guangji, ed. Li Fang et al. Xin Tangshu, by Ouyang Xiu Tang Wudai zhiguai chuanqi xulu, by Li Jianguo Xuxiu siku quanshu, ed. Xuxiu siku quanshu bianwei hui Yaochi xinyong ji, ed. Cai Xingfeng Yinji qiqian, ed. Zhang Junfang Zizhi tongjian, by Sima Guang

Texts cited from the Daozang are listed with the serial numbers given in Kristofer Schipper and Franciscus Verellen, eds., The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004).

[ xvi ] A B B R E V I AT I O N S

Introduction

A

lthough the history of Daoism in China has enjoyed an extensive literature in recent decades, limited attention has so far been paid to the experience of Daoist women. In seeking to fill this gap, I provide in this book a full-length study of Daoist priestesses who distinguished themselves as a gendered religio-social group during the Tang dynasty (618–907). Applying a gender-critical approach combined with religious and literary studies, I bring to light many previously overlooked or understudied sources to describe the life journey of the Daoist priestesses during the heyday of their religious tradition. In particular, I explore how these priestesses took up the Daoist priesthood as their career and realized their individual worth with meaningful presentations. Interacting and negotiating with religious and social forces and norms as the Daoist tradition developed in parallel with Tang society, the priestesses were active in both the religious and social spheres, where they enjoyed many different accomplishments not only in religious leadership, theory, and practice, but also in politics, literature, and the arts. The emergence of Daoist priestesses in the Tang as a distinct religiosocial group was unprecedented in the history of Chinese women. Within the complicated historical context of the Tang era that helped bring about this unique phenomenon, the most fundamental factors were changes in political policies, the religious landscape, and gender relations.

[ xvii ]

From the beginning, the Tang ruling house had traced its ancestry to Laozi, the alleged founder of Daoism. Although at first this was used as political legitimization rather than religious preference, the Tang emperors gradually developed a genuine interest in Daoism, eventually transforming the tradition into the state religion. For its part, the Daoist movement, originating in the late Han dynasty of the second century, developed various social, scriptural, or ritual lineages in the following centuries. In the fifth and sixth centuries, around the divisional Northern and Southern Dynasties period (420–589), Daoism began developing a sense of identity, and leading Daoists worked to canonize and systematize their scriptures, rituals, and lineages. By the Tang dynasty, the ruling house and Daoist leaders were efficiently collaborating to complete the project of integrating various Daoist lineages and to institutionalize the religion. The government formulated important policies, such as allotting farmland, issuing law codes, institutionalizing a Daoist registration system, and establishing specific offices to sponsor and regulate Daoist abbeys and individual Daoists. The Daoist tradition itself also strengthened the integration and unification of its major components and lineages, packaging an overall Daoist image. The result of all these efforts was the full-fledged establishment of Daoist monasticism and a hierarchical ordination system encompassing the transmission of scriptures, precepts, and registers (daolu 忻䰁) from all previous major lineages.1 It was within this dynamic political and religious context that women were able to forge new identities and new roles for themselves as Daoist priestesses, living a communal life in the convents and forming their own communities. The changing pattern in gender relations was yet another critical factor in the rise of the Daoist priestesses, in turn altering the gendered power structure of Tang society. Although the Tang government maintained the traditional gender system, it also provided enough flexibility to allow social relations between the two sexes to undergo significant changes. Meanwhile, other forces and developments in the social, religious, and cultural dimensions were encouraging further shifts in gender patterns. The rise of Empress Wu 㬎⎶ (r. 684–705) as the only enthroned female ruler in Chinese history demonstrated the effects of these new gender patterns, while her forceful rule in turn influenced the reshaping of the gendered power structure. The emergence of a group of writing women, from female court officials to the many female poets included in the Yaochi xinyong ji

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I N T RO D U C T I O N

䐌㰈㕘娈普 (Anthology of New Poetry from the Turquoise Pond), also

marked and promoted a powerful change in gender patterns. Another influence on reconstructing gender relations that pervaded the entire Tang era was a growth in the culture of romance, developing from a variety of religious, cultural, literary, and social impulses. The Daoist tradition had developed a religious practice of using sexuality, whether of a physical or a spiritual nature, to attain longevity and immortality, and such practices persisted into the Tang. The continuing popularity of the goddess cult, which was associated with sensual appeal, erotic desire, and romantic passion, also promoted romantic sentiments. Romanticized secular love stories described in the literati’s poetry and narratives were a third element encouraging the growth of romantic culture. The culture of jinshi 忚⢓ (graduates who took the imperial examinations) in the capital city Chang’an also accelerated these sentimental tendencies through their intimate or romantic relationships with courtesans.2 From the beginning of Daoism, women had been active in the various Daoist lineages from the late Han to the divisional period, both as religious practitioners and leaders. It was only during the Tang era, however, that Daoist priestesses emerged as a religio-social group with its own gendered identity within the historical context I have described. According to an official statistic of the Kaiyuan reign period (713–741), 550 of 1,687 Daoist abbeys (32.6 percent) were convents, indicating that about one-third of the Daoist priesthood was composed of priestesses. The Daoist ordination system designed specific vestments for them, and the priestesses were expressly designated as nüguan ⤛⭀ (female official), nüguan ⤛ⅈ (female headdress), or nüdaoshi ⤛忻⢓ (female Daoist priest). There was even a particular musical tune composed specifically to eulogize them. Moreover, Tang era documents usually distinguished Daoist priestesses from three other religious groups—Daoist priests, Buddhist monks, and Buddhist nuns. Daoist convents were economically independent, thanks to land allotments by the Tang government and private donations. Supported by an independent economy, the priestesses mostly lived a communal life, formed their own communities, and enjoyed their own autonomous sphere. They also reached out to the public, giving sermons, performing rituals, and becoming mentors to people of varied statuses. In addition, some priestesses took on other social roles, as politicians, poets, and artists. Ordained

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royal princesses exerted considerable influence on contemporary religious and political matters, while talented priestess-poets represented a new stage in the development of Chinese women’s poetry and priestess-artists produced excellent calligraphic artworks. Moreover, the popular cult of erotic goddesses was extended to include Daoist priestesses, who were regarded as semi-goddesses or female immortals.3 The priestess-poets in turn analogized themselves as goddesses and immortals and empowered themselves with similar attributes. All these religious and social roles thus provided opportunities for the priestesses to trespass the traditional twin pillars of the so-called three followings—sancong ᶱ⽆, a woman following her father at home, her husband in marriage, and her son(s) in widowhood— and the separate spheres of the inner (domestic or private) and outer (public; neiwai zhi bie ℏ⢾ᷳ⇍ ), and thereby become a considerable force in their own right in the operational system of religion and society.4 In this first book to focus specifically on the priestesses of Tang Daoism, I have based my research on a gender-critical framework. Although the institutional structure of traditional society in general marginalized women, under certain historical conditions the sociocultural context could facilitate the discursive production of women’s dynamic functions. This is especially true in the case of religion, as religious faith and practice often served as a source of encouragement and empowerment for women in specific historical and cultural contexts.5 The notion of gender identity as constitutive of culture, society, and discourse also means there were possibilities for emancipatory remodeling of identity.6 Furthermore, the “gender-critical turn” has urged historians to examine the ways in which gendered identities are substantively constructed and to relate their findings to a range of activities, social organizations, and cultural representations.7 Gender studies encompasses both paradigms of descriptive and historically oriented women’s studies and theoretically grounded and critically oriented feminist studies.8 The gender-critical framework is therefore a more inclusive and efficient approach to our study of Daoist women and their relationships with religious, cultural, and social institutions. In recent decades, the modern victimization of traditional Chinese women has been questioned by many feminist historians. Applying gender as an analytical category, they have compared the traditional gender norms with contrasting evidence of women’s social practices, and they have explored the roles taken by women and the contributions to the functioning of society that these roles enabled. Although family and kinship have been [ xx ]

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the central concern of this scholarship, other female activities and roles, beyond the function of daughter, wife, and mother, also have been discussed, including roles as economic producers, courtesans, teachers, writers, healers, religious figures, and even social reformers.9 These scholars have presented a historical picture of how traditional women of different social statuses and time periods negotiated with social and cultural norms and forces and acted meaningfully and rewardingly in a world that was structured to their disadvantage. These studies have indeed provided invaluable methodological inspiration for the writing of this book. A number of scholars have paid attention to Tang Daoist priestesses. In their study on Daoist women, Catherine Despeux and Livia Kohn included a pioneering section describing the overall experience of the Tang priestesses.10 A number of articles and theses have focused on the priestess-poets and priestess-princesses, and other priestesses also have been studied to a certain extent.11 Some scholars have further explored the religious experience of Tang priestesses based on Du Guangting’s 㜄⃱⹕ (850–933) Records of the Assembled Immortals of the Walled City (Yongcheng jixian lu ⠱❶普ẁ抬; hereafter Jixian lu), from which about seventeen hagiographies of Tang Daoist women are extant. A careful examination of all these hagiographies, however, reveals that Du Guangting greatly modified or rewrote the original sources to serve his own agenda of presenting ideal images of Daoist women. For example, according to several historical records, Wang Fengxian 䌳⣱ẁ, described in Du’s hagiography as a Daoist female saint, in fact ordered, in cold blood, the murder of the commissioner Gao Pian 檀榊 (d. 887) and several hundred members of his family. Using these hagiographies to reconstruct the religious experiences of their subjects and to praise them as Daoist “saints,” as some studies have done, thus becomes problematic.12 Another major problem in studying Tang Daoist priestesses concerns their gendered identity. Throughout the Tang dynasty, the identification of these women (including those who wrote many love poems) as Daoist priestesses was never questioned. However, from the Song (960–1279) to the Qing (1644–1911) eras, a few traditional scholars reidentified Tang priestesses as “courtesans,” deprecating them as “licentious” for their public activities and relative freedom in gender relations as well as for their love poetry,13 even though their actions and poems contained nothing of a pornographic or licentious nature. Many modern scholars have also followed this biased criticism,14 the result being the construction of a I N T RO D U C T I O N

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conventional narrative that greatly hinders any sort of in-depth, comprehensive assessment of the priestesses’ achievements. In this book, I seek to remedy these problems by conducting a historical, comprehensive study on the Tang Daoist priestesses. Since the hagiographies of Du Guangting’s Jixian lu are not reliable sources for studying the actual lives and practices of these priestesses, I have instead searched for and collected other types of sources, and in doing so I have recovered many previously overlooked materials, which constitute mainly three groups of sources. The first group consists of epitaphic and monastic inscriptions either written for or related to Tang Daoist priestesses. Russell Kirkland has studied the two inscriptions regarding the priestess Huang Lingwei 湫曰⽖ (ca. 642–721) by Yan Zhenqing 柷䛇⌧ (709–785), while Yao Ping ⦂⸛ has made a brief survey of thirteen epitaphs written for Daoist priestesses, and Jiao Jie 䃎‹ has added three to Yao’s list.15 I, in turn, have collected additional epitaphic inscriptions, for a total of forty from both transmitted and recently unearthed materials. Although epitaphs written for religious figures may be seen as a kind of hagiography, in general they contain more biographical description and more detailed and complicated narrative because they usually follow the narrative formulas of epitaphs written for secular people. As the editors of the Sui-Tang volume of The Cambridge History of China have found, epitaphic materials “provide information that can be checked against the historical record, providing testimony quite independent of the historical process. When this has been the case, they have almost invariably confirmed that the histories are factually reliable.”16 Zhao Chao 嵁崭 has further produced a comprehensive survey of how epitaphs have been effectively used for historical studies and have tremendously advanced the research of various fields, with a specific section discussing the historical sources contained in Tang epitaphs.17 Historians of Chinese women have also found epitaphic biographies written for women helpful in their studies.18 Of course, there can be considerable variations in different circumstances, and we should always scrutinize epitaphs with a cautious lens, in order to discern the relative prescriptive values, clichés of essential character, and exaggerated judgments invested by their authors’ possible agendas. The second group of sources I have used are manuscripts from Dunhuang, records from official histories, essays and poems by literati,

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anecdotal narratives, and local and monastic gazetteers. Whereas some scholars have cast doubt on the reliability of the essays collected in the Quan Tangwen ℐⒸ㔯 (Complete Tang Essays) because this collection appeared late in the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), many other scholars have indicated that the compilers of the Quan Tangwen were serious scholars, and most of the essays they collected can be found in earlier texts. For example, many of the epitaphic inscriptions included in this collection were probably original rubbings preserved in the imperial library and therefore are in better condition than other sources.19 The use of literary works also is not as naive as it may seem to someone outside Chinese literary studies. It is well acknowledged that traditional Chinese poetry and essays were often used as a tool or a kind of diary to record the authors’ life experiences, usually in a factual manner, with specific times and places. Chen Yinke 昛⭭〒 (1890–1969), for instance, has set up examples of using literary resources for historical studies.20 Stephen Owen has also indicated how, in China, “poems are read as describing historical moments and scenes actually present to the historical poet” and “no one felt uncomfortable about constructing biographical chronologies from poems or about using poems as direct sources for cultural history.”21 Although anecdotes were often based on gossip and hearsay, historians of China have recognized that anecdotal gossip is not without certain historical significance.22 Local gazetteers, though usually appearing in later times, since hardly any survive from the Tang era, are often filled with local materials accumulated from earlier periods and therefore are useful and creditable to a certain extent. The third group of sources I have used are the priestesses’ own poetry, essays, books, and even artistic works, rediscovered from Dunhuang manuscripts or newly unearthed materials. Reading traditional Chinese poems on the presumption that they are basically nonfiction is also significant for interpreting the poets’ works and understanding their subjective experiences. Because of China’s particular cultural tradition and political system, traditional poets conceived of poetry as a means to gain recognition both from their contemporaries and from future generations. Such poetry has also been useful for both traditional and modern critics in getting to know a poet.23 For instance, scholars of Chinese women’s history have successfully used women’s own poetry to explore their emotional experiences.24 Thus, we can use the works of the priestesses to gain a better

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[ xxiii ]

understanding of them, though we should always do so carefully and critically so as to be more analytical in reading beneath their own possible conscious or unconscious agendas. Whereas previous scholarship has overlooked many of these materials, I use them here to place the study of the priestesses’ life journeys on a more solid historical footing, to contextualize their living status, and to gain a more in-depth perspective on their inner feelings and sentiments. Modeling the work on previous studies of Chinese women, I apply the gender-critical approach, combining it with religious and literary studies to tackle the following questions: How was the priestesses’ gendered identity substantially constructed in relation to social organizations and cultural representations? How did changes in the religious landscape and gender patterns influence the ways the priestesses viewed themselves and were viewed by their contemporaries? How did they seize the opportunities these changes brought to interact and negotiate with social and religious institutions, thereby becoming dynamic actors in the functioning of Tang society? What is the difference between their actual experience and Du Guangting’s depiction of them? Why is it biased to disparage them as “licentious courtesan”? This gender-critical and religious-literary approach and inquiry will permit a satisfactory comprehensive analysis and assessment of the priestesses’ religious and social activities, literary and artistic works, and overall accomplishments. After describing in greater detail the rise of the Daoist priestesses as a religio-social group, through historical contextualization in chapter 1, I  turn in the following chapter to ordained royal women in particular, because about twenty-eight princesses and many other royal and palace women were ordained as Daoist priestesses. Although this unprecedented phenomenon can be easily explained by the Tang ruling house’s adoption of Laozi as its progenitor and Daoism as the family religion, the actual situation was much more complicated. Drawing upon ten recently unearthed epitaphs and other sources, I first provide a general picture of the ordination of these women and discuss their varied reasons for entering the Daoist order. I then focus on the two most important princesses, Jinxian 慹ẁ (689–732) and Yuzhen 䌱䛇 (691–762), to detail their powerful relations, deeds, and influences in the religious, political, and cultural spheres. In chapter 3, I look at ordinary priestesses, using thirty epitaphs in addition to other sources to examine their religious experience and the roles they assumed. I describe in rich detail how the priestesses founded, [ xxiv ]

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constructed, and managed their convents and cloisters and how they used them as a locus—both as a female space for self-determination and autonomy and as a public platform for interacting with people of different social strata. I further discuss how they served as qualified mentors and preachers to emperors, palace ladies, high officials, and common people, and how they practiced Daoist longevity techniques and self-cultivation and performed Daoist rituals. In the two subsequent chapters, I focus on two outstanding priestesstheorists, Liu Moran 㞛満䃞 (773–840), in chapter 4, and Hu Yin 傉ゼ (fl. 848), in chapter 5. Liu Moran transmitted or probably even composed an inscription titled Zuowang lun ⛸⾀婾 (Treatise on Sitting in Oblivion), a Daoist text of meditation and inner cultivation traditionally attributed to the Daoist priest Sima Chengzhen ⎠楔㈧䤶 (647–735). I discuss the authorship of this text and of another, also titled Zuowang lun and attributed to Sima Chengzhen, and I analyze the contents of the text associated with Liu. I then examine another inscription that we know for certain was written by her, which eulogized the female Daoist Xue Yuanjun 啃⃫⏃ (Primal Mistress Xue) and presented some ideas similar to the Zuowang lun inscription. Hu Yin, meanwhile, was a physician and medical theorist active in the first half of the ninth century. She is noted for composing an illustrated text on Daoist longevity techniques and medical theory, elaborating on the Daoist classic Huangting neijing jing 湫⹕ℏ㘗䴻 (Scripture of the Inner Refulgences of the Yellow Court), in which she described the spirits, physiological functions, pathological mechanisms, and therapeutic methods of the viscera of the body and offered detailed instructions on longevity techniques and medical treatments for nurturing these viscera. This text would later have an important influence on Daoist inner cultivation and inner alchemy theories and practice as well as on traditional Chinese medical and life-nurturing (yangsheng 梲䓇) theories. In the final two chapters, I then turn to the priestess-poets and their works. Although the anthology Yaochi ji has long been lost, some fragments were fortunately rediscovered among the Dunhuang manuscripts included in the Russian collections in Saint Petersburg. These fragments consist mainly of the poems of three Daoist priestess-poets, Li Jilan 㛶⬋嗕 (d. 784), Yuan Chun ⃫㶛 (d. ca. 779), and Cui Zhongrong Ⲽẚ⭡ (ca. second half of the eighth century). In chapter 6, I first review the compilation, contents, and possibly included poets of this anthology and then use I N T RO D U C T I O N

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both transmitted and rediscovered poems to study these three priestesspoets. Then, in chapter 7, I reconstruct the biography of Yu Xuanji 欂䌬㨇 (ca. 843–868), the most outstanding female poet of the Tang era. By closely reading some of her representative poems, I examine her emotional journey, her feelings of self-esteem and gender awareness, her transformation of the voice and image of women, and her poetic styles and achievements. Finally, in the conclusion I summarize the discoveries in this book and draw a general picture of the Tang Daoist priestesses’ remarkable religious career, which convincingly refutes the biased narrative describing them as “licentious courtesans.” I also compare this picture with the ideal image created by Du Guangting in his Jixian lu hagiographies, which are examined in the appendix of this book, showing how views of gender relations and gendered subjects of Daoist women changed dramatically during the Tang–Song transition period, thereby opening another new chapter for them.

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G E N D E R , P OW E R , A N D TA L EN T

CHA P T E R I

The Rise of Daoist Priestesses as a Gendered Religio-Social Group

D

aoist priestesses emerged as a gendered religio-social group with a distinct identity from within the historical context of the Tang era. As I discussed in the introduction of this book, among the complicated factors leading to this singular phenomenon, the most essential were changes in the ruling house’s religious policy, the development of Daoist tradition, and the changes in traditional patterns of gender relations. Drawing on previous scholarly studies, in this chapter I seek to contextualize these changes and describe the rise of Daoist priestesses. I first outline how the ruling house progressively promoted Daoism during the first half of the Tang era, then describe how the Daoist tradition completed its project of integrating various lineages and establishing its monastic tradition through efficiently interacting and collaborating with the government. Finally, I examine the changing patterns in gender relations from political, religious, cultural, and social perspectives. Following this overall contextualization, I further discuss the rise of Daoist priestesses from within these “fields of force” and how they formed a gendered group of their own, unprecedented in the history of Chinese women.

[1]

Tang Ruling House’s Promotion of Daoism The Tang dynasty was a splendid era for the development of Daoism. Many scholarly works have already studied the relationship between the Tang ruling house and the Daoist tradition. From the beginning, the royal house adopted Laozi as its first ancestor, because Laozi’s name had been recorded as Li Er 㛶俛, with the same surname (Li) as that of the ruling house. Although recent studies have indicated that Emperor Gaozu 檀䣾 (r. 618– 627) acted from motives of political strategy rather than reverence for Daoism, this adoption nonetheless helped legitimize the founding of the new empire and profoundly influenced the later development of the close relationship between Daoism and the ruling house.1 The next emperor, Taizong ⣒⬿ (r. 627–650), was also relatively indifferent toward Daoism at the beginning, but late in his reign the Buddhists’ slander of Laozi and the ruling house’s origins prompted him to extend reverence for Laozi to all of Daoism and to transform the tradition into a royal religion. 2 This policy was continued by Emperor Gaozong 檀⬿ (r. 650–684), with great enthusiasm, and even Empress Wu 㬎⎶, who made use of Buddhism during her rule (r. 684–705), offered remarkable support to Daoism. 3 By the reigns of emperors Ruizong 䜧⬿ (r. 710–712) and Xuanzong 䌬⬿ (r. 712–756), members of the ruling house had developed a pious personal belief in Daoism, especially Ruizong, his son Xuanzong, and two daughters, Jinxian 慹ẁ and Yuzhen 䌱䛇.4 Xuanzong himself promoted a series of political and religious establishments from 741 to 755, during which Daoism achieved the status of state religion.5 Although the subsequent An Lushan ⬱䤧Ⱉ Rebellion weakened both Tang authority and Daoist dominance, in time Daoism recovered from the damage and continued to flourish with more or less support from later emperors, even though the integrated tradition was also starting to break down as new religious tendencies and lineages emerged.6 As scholars have studied in detail, the Tang rulers offered Daoists precedence over Buddhists, ordered a Daoist canon to be compiled, dedicated their ancestral temples to Daoist worship, revised official rituals along Daoist lines, and employed Daoists to perform imperial ritual services. They further instituted a Daoist school (Chongxuan xue ⲯ䌬⬠) in each prefecture, added examinations of Daoist classics (Daoju 忻冱) to the imperial examination system, and assigned all Daoists to the supervision of the Court [2]

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of the Imperial Clan (Zongzheng si ⬿㬋⮢) for a period during which they were officially treated as relatives of the royal house. The rulers, moreover, invited to court many renowned Daoists, such as Pan Shizheng 㼀ⷓ㬋 (585–682), Li Rong 㛶㥖 (fl. 658–663), Cheng Xuanying ㆸ䌬劙 (fl. 632–650), Sima Chengzhen ⎠楔㈧䤶 (647–735), Li Hanguang 㛶⏓⃱ (683– 769), Wu Yun ⏛䬈 (d. 778), and Du Guangting 㜄⃱⹕ (850–933),7 and summoned a number of Daoist priestesses to serve at the palace convent of Yuchen 䌱㘐奨.8

Integration of Daoism and the Establishment of Daoist Monasticism Among the numerous endeavors of both the Tang rulers and Daoist leaders was the final integration and institutionalization of Daoism, represented especially by the establishment of Daoist monasticism and a hierarchical ordination system encompassing the transmission of scriptures, precepts, and registers (daolu 忻䰁 ) from all previous major lineages. The Daoist movement, which had arisen during the second century, developed during the following centuries various organized, social, scriptural, or ritual lineages, such as the Celestial Masters (Tianshi ⣑ⷓ ), the Highest Clarity (Shangqing ᶲ㶭), and the Numinous Treasure (Lingbao 曰⮞). In the fifth and sixth centuries, Daoism began developing a sense of identity and selfconsciousness as Daoist leaders worked to canonize, codify, and systematize their scriptures, rituals, doctrines, practices, and lineages.9 All these works presented “a continual effort at integration, which was not merely rhetoric, but intrinsic to the vision of the Dao as One.”10 During the first half of the Tang dynasty (618–755), efficient interaction and collaboration between the ruling house and the Daoist tradition brought this project to completion. The Tang government supported and facilitated Daoist integration and institutionalization by formulating important policies and law codes for sponsoring and regulating both Daoist abbeys and individual Daoists. Early in the Tang period, the government began drawing up law codes aimed at Buddhist and Daoist institutions and monastics, which were later compiled into the Code of Daoist Priests and Buddhist Monks (Daosengge 忻₏㟤), long lost though largely restored by modern scholars.11 The government also established state-sponsored abbeys both inside the palaces and throughout the empire, required Daoist clerics to be officially DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S E S A S A R E L I G I O - S O C I A L G RO U P

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ordained and registered, and instituted offices and officials to administer Daoist abbeys. These included the Office of Daoist Worship (Chongxuan shu ⲯ䌬会), the Commissioner of the Palace of Grand Clarity (Taiqing gongshi ⣒㶭⭖ἧ), the Commissioner of the Palace of Grand Tenuity (Taiwei gongshi ⣒⽖⭖ἧ), the Disciplinarian of Daoism (Daomen weiyishi 忻攨⦩ ₨ἧ), and the Three Authorities (Sangang ᶱ䵙 ).12 Additionally, during the first half of the dynasty, the government allotted thirty mu 䔅 of farmland to each ordained priest and twenty mu to each priestess able to recite the Daode jing 忻⽟䴻 and who was registered in a Daoist abbey or convent.13 Because the lands were in fact allotted to the abbeys rather than to individual Daoists, this policy established landed property as the Daoist abbeys’ basic economic mode, which in turn built a solid financial foundation for Daoist monasticism.14 In addition, by allotting land to abbeys where individual Daoists were registered, the government enhanced the regulation that ordained Daoists must “leave the household life” (chujia ↢⭞) to live a monastic life. The emperors also often bestowed additional lands, properties, farmers, and servants upon major state abbeys or convents or upon those operated by renowned Daoists, to strengthen their economic power.15 In the meantime, the Daoist movement itself further strengthened and completed the integration of its major components, including numerous scriptures, rituals, precepts, and registers from the various lineages. The tradition then narrowed and merged the gaps among these lineages, packaging them into an overall Daoist image, with the final establishment of a hierarchical ordination system as its hallmark. Early on, the Highest Clarity lineage developed the concept that different scriptures should be transmitted in a particular order. The Numinous Treasure and other lineages further hierarchized the scriptures into the system of the Three Caverns and Four Supplements (Sandong Sifu ᶱ㳆⚃庼).16 Then, from the end of the divisional period to the beginning of the Tang (ca. sixth to seventh centuries), a likely Daoist group calling itself Jinming Qizhen 慹㖶ᶫ䛇 formulated a system of ordination that loosely accommodated and ranked all scriptures, rituals, precepts, and registers of previous lineages.17 During the first half of the Tang era, Daoist experts further revised and perfected the Jinming Qizhen formulation, eventually establishing a generally accepted ordination hierarchy encompassing all previous organized, social, scriptural, and ritual lineages.18

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This system comprised several levels of initiation and seven major levels of ordination with some minor variants recorded in different texts. The ordination levels, from lowest to highest, were as follows: 1. Zhengyi 㬋ᶨ (Orthodox Unity; transmission of Orthodox Unity texts); 2. Gaoxuan 檀䌬 (High Mystery; transmission of the Daode jing and related texts); 3. Dongshen 㳆䤆 (Cavern Divinity; transmission of the Sanhuang ᶱ䘯 or Three Sovereigns texts, merged with the Dongyuan shenzhou 㳆㶝 䤆␺ or Cavern Abyss Divine Incantation texts); 4. Shengxuan 㖯䌬 (Ascension to the Mystery; based on the Shengxuan texts); 5. Dongxuan 㳆䌬 (Cavern Mystery; transmission of the Numinous Treasure texts); 6. Dongzhen 㳆䛇 (Cavern Perfection; transmission of the Highest Clarity texts); 7. Completion (Bidao 䔊忻), also called Dadong ⣏㳆 (Great Cavern) or Sandong (Three Caverns; transmission of more Highest Clarity texts).19 According to many epitaphic and monastic inscriptions, Daoists who completed the Dongzhen rank were usually designated Disciple/Daoist Priest of the Three Caverns (Sandong dizi/daoshi ᶱ㳆⻇⫸/忻⢓) because they had received the investitures of all three caverns. Daoists who achieved the highest rank were then called either Disciple of the Great Cavern and Three Radiances (Dadong sanjing dizi ⣏㳆ᶱ㘗⻇⫸) or Supreme Master of the Three Caverns (Wushang sandong fashi 䃉ᶲᶱ㳆㱽ⷓ ). In practice, however, completing the seven-rank ordination system appears to have often been combined or simplified to about three major investitures. For example, according to the epitaph written for the Daoist priestess Wang Xuming 䌳嘃㖶 (792–859), the Zhengyi scriptures and registers were first transmitted to her by the priest Han Zhencui 杻屆䐨 in Xuanyuan abbey 䌬⃫奨 in Luoyang; the Dongshen and Dongxuan scriptures and registers were then transmitted to her by the priest Xing Guiyi 恊㬠ᶨ in Taiyi abbey ⣒ᶨ奨 on Mount Song ⴑⰙ. Finally, the Shangqing scriptures and registers were transmitted to her by Deng Yankang 惏⺞⹟ on Mount Magu 湣⥹Ⱉ, by which she reached the highest rank of the Great

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Cavern and Three Radiances.20 The princesses Jinxian and Yuzhen also went through three somewhat similar investitures.21 In short, together the Tang government and leading Daoists systematically collaborated to more fully integrate and institutionalize Daoism into a unified tradition. They achieved this by establishing Daoist monasticism and formulating a hierarchical ordination system encompassing the transmissions of scriptures, precepts, and registers of the various lineages.

Changing Patterns in Gender Relations Although the Tang government continued the traditional gender system and ritual prescriptions, it also provided flexibility and fluidity that allowed new changes in the deeply embedded patterns of gender relations. Other forces and advances in the social, religious, and cultural dimensions were encouraging further changes in gender patterns. As scholars have generally noted, the Tang ruling house came from the northwestern aristocracy, which was formed of a mixture of ethnic groups, and therefore its lifestyle was influenced by the customs of non-Han peoples. Women in particular “were far more independent and powerful than in traditional Chinese society.”22 Later, looking back from the Song dynasty, which tightened traditional gender relations, Neo-Confucians could only shake their heads at Tang women: “The Tang [ruling house] originated from non-Han people, so they did not see women’s violation against ritual regulations as abnormal” Ⓒ㸸㳩↢㕤⣟䉬, 㓭敐攨⣙䥖ᷳḳᶵẍ䁢䔘.23 For instance, Tang laws allowed divorce by mutual agreement and set no limitations on women remarrying. There were many cases of divorce initiated by wives, and the wife was not the only party considered at fault in a divorce. It was common for divorced or widowed women to remarry, and some princesses married three times.24 Various records and narratives also show that a number of elite or commoner families allowed their daughters to choose their own husbands,25 and there were many more “jealous wives” (dufu ⤺⨎) and “doughty wives” (hanfu 〵⨎) recorded in anecdotal sketches than from other periods.26 Among women, going on outings or sightseeing trips, riding horses, hunting, and even playing polo were common activities, as was socializing with men or women in social and extended family gatherings.27 Women also were free to establish their own societies, through which they helped [6]

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one another in various ways. Indeed, among the Dunhuang texts have been found manuscripts of written records about fifteen women’s societies dating from the sixth to tenth centuries.28 All of these examples indicate that women enjoyed a relatively elevated, relaxed status within society, family, and gender relations. Although the rise of Wu Zetian 㬎⇯⣑ (i.e., Empress Wu) as the only enthroned female ruler in Chinese history resulted from the interweaving of many forces, a major factor was the effects of these new gender patterns. 29 Wu’s strength as a  powerful female ruler presented a gender reversal and a significant change in the gendered power structure, which in turn greatly influenced the reshaping of gender relations. This not only led to other powerful court women in the late seventh and early eighth centuries, such as Princess Taiping ⣒⸛℔ᷣ (ca. 665–713), Empress Wei 杳⎶ (666–710), Princess Anle ⬱㦪℔ᷣ (684–710), and Shangguan Wan’er ᶲ⭀⧱⃺ (664–710), but also changed some deeply embedded ethical norms. For example, Wu’s codification of the mourning period for the mother at three years effectively made the demands of filial piety equally applicable for both parents and, as a result, elevated the status of the mother.30 Although criticisms and rhetorical overthrow of these powerful female rulers started as soon as they fell from power,31 their influence on the changing conceptions of gender lingered throughout the dynasty. The emergence of a group of writing women also marked and promoted a notable change in gender patterns during the Tang era. According to historical records and epitaphs, the daughters of elite families were generally well educated and, when they became mothers, they in turn educated their children.32 Some daughters of commoner families, such as Yu Xuanji 欂䌬㨇 (ca. 843–868), also received a good education. 33 During the first half of the Tang era, women writers came mostly from the imperial palaces or aristocratic clans, and Shangguan Wan’er is an outstanding example. Serving first as Empress Wu’s secretary, she helped draft documents and plan policy. Then, during the reigns of the empress’s sons Zhongzong and Ruizong, she not only continued as their secretary and political advisor but also became a leading figure in court literary activities. She designed the topics for poetic composition and evaluated the works of the most renowned court official–poets.34 Shangguan’s talent and leadership thus likewise presented a gender reversal and change in power structure. Later, from the mid- to late Tang, many writing women arose from common families. For example, the five Song ⬳ sisters, who were daughters of DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S E S A S A R E L I G I O - S O C I A L G RO U P

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an ordinary Confucian scholar, became famous for their profound knowledge of Confucian learning and their literary talents. They vowed never to marry, in order to realize their individual worth and to bring honor to their family. In 788, Emperor Dezong ⽟⬿ (r. 779–805) summoned them to court. Three of the sisters, Song Ruoxin ⬳劍區 (d. ca. 820), Song Ruozhao ⬳劍㗕 (761–828), and Song Ruoxian ⬳劍ㅚ (d. 835) successively held the palace positions of matron (shanggong ⯂⭖) and inner academician (neixueshi ℏ⬠⢓). They also served as mentors to princes, princesses, and palace ladies and took part in court literary activities such as composing poems in gatherings, together with the emperor and his male court officials. Song Ruoxin composed the Women’s Analects (Nü lunyu ⤛婾婆), which Song Ruozhao annotated. Although the Women’s Analects we see today is not the original, according to a Song dynasty bibliography, Song Ruoxin imitated the format of Confucius’s Analects, putting Madam Song ⬳㮷 (b. 283, sobriquet Xuanwen jun ⭋㔯⏃), a female expert of the Rites of the Zhou (Zhouli ␐䥖) during the reign of Qianqin ⇵䦎 (350–394), in the place of Confucius, and Ban Zhao 䎕㗕 (45–116), the first female Chinese historian, and other women in the place of Confucius’s disciples. This format elevated intelligent women to the status of the sage and the virtuous and astonished later Neo-Confucians.35 Similarly, Bao Junhui 欹⏃⽥ (fl. 798, courtesy name Wenji 㔯⦔ ), who was widowed during the Zhenyuan 屆⃫ reign period (785–805), became famous for her literary talent. Summoned to court by Emperor Dezong in 798, she also participated in court poetic composition, though after about a hundred days she asked to return home to care for her aged mother.36 Additionally, the Yaochi xinyong ji 䐌㰈㕘娈普 (Anthology of New Poetry from the Turquoise Pond; hereafter cited as Yaochi ji), the first extant anthology of Chinese women’s writings, compiled by Cai Xingfeng 哉䚩桐 (ca. ninth century) in the first half of the ninth century, contains poems by twenty-three women writers from various social strata, including three Daoist priestess-poets.37 Moreover, from the mid-Tang period, anthologies of poetry often included works by both male and female poets, such as the Zhongxing jianqi ji ᷕ冰攻㯋普 (Anthology of the Resurgent Grace Style), compiled by Gao Zhongwu 檀ẚ㬎; the Youxuan ji ⍰䌬普 (Mystery upon Mystery: An Anthology), by Wei Zhuang 杳匲 (ca. 836–910); and the Caidiao ji ㇵ婧普 (Anthology of Talented Tones), compiled by Wei Hu 杳䷈ (fl. 947). The achievements of these women’s writings and their interaction [8]

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with and influence on men such as emperors, officials, and literati in turn enhanced the reshaping of gender relations. Another influence reshaping gender relations was the growth and pervasion of romantic sentiments that formed a culture of romance during the Tang era. This culture developed from various elements, among them Daoist sexual practices. The early Daoist tradition had followed a religious practice of using sexuality, whether of a physical, spiritual, divine, or symbolic nature, to attain longevity and immortality. Scholars have long noted the initiation ritual known as the Rite of Passage (Guodu yi 忶⹎₨) and its sexual practice, called “conjoining qi” (heqi ⎰㯋), in the early Celestial Masters movement. Daoist texts discussing such rituals and practices were called “yellow books” (huangshu 湫㚠), possibly formulated or reformulated around the fourth century.38 Early Celestial Masters also absorbed the ancient “art of the bedchamber” ( fangzhong shu ㇧ᷕ埻), which concerned sexual and longevity techniques, and transformed it into a religious ritual and practice. Although scholars have differed on how to interpret the initiation ritual, in general they have agreed that it was performed by both male and female initiates under the instruction of a senior master, and that the whole procedure involved visualization, breathing exercises, prayers, incantations, an elaborate choreography, massage, and ritualized sexual intercourse.39 However, beginning in the fourth century, the ritual came under harsh criticism, not only by Buddhists but also by Daoist reformers.40 The aim of the latter, however, was to remove only the Rite of Passage, leaving other timehonored sexual practices in place; for example, after severely criticizing the ritual, the Daoist reformer Kou Qianzhi ⭯嫁ᷳ (365–468) continued to advise his followers to practice regulated sexual exercises.41 Although under Buddhism’s influence the Highest Clarity tradition began advocating celibacy, it also carried on the sexual practices of the early Celestial Masters under new guises. For instance, instead of a husband– wife relation or man–woman partnership, Highest Clarity masters created a new motif for divine marriage, which entailed beautiful goddesses descending from heaven to have encounters with selected men. The goddesses composed poems to express their affections toward these men, offered to marry them, revealed to them sacred texts, instructed them in various Daoist practices, and finally took them by the hand to ascend to heaven.42 The Highest Clarity practice of visualization also used goddesses as an object of focus. Visualizing a specific goddess, the practitioner imagined DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S E S A S A R E L I G I O - S O C I A L G RO U P

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various kinds of intimate contact with her. Superficially, both divine marriage and goddess visualization were described in spiritual and symbolic terms, but in the Highest Clarity texts, descriptions of the spiritual practice contained strong erotic elements and hints of intimacy involving all senses.43 In all these divine marriages and visualizations, the goddesses overpowered male Daoists with their sexual attraction, religious knowledge, and divine force, thereby also presenting a conceptual change in gender relations and power structure in the religious tradition. All these varied physical, spiritual, divine, and symbolic sexual practices continued into the Tang dynasty. Daoists at the lowest rank of novice (i.e., Orthodox Unity) were allowed to marry or remain married; more remarkably, they were also instructed in sexual relations: For those who are husbands and wives, order them to select a season and date, harmonize with yin and yang, and conduct intercourse. In this way, the boys and girls they give birth to will be protected from perverting and foul qi. ℞㚱⣓⨎侭, Ẍ怠㗪㖍, 枮昘春, 埴Ṍ㍍. ⌛㇨做䓟⤛, ⃵デ〾㇦㶓㽩 ᷳ㯋.44 According to the Sandong xiudao yi ᶱ㳆ᾖ忻₨, Daoists of the second rank onward were required to be celibate, and those who had married should separate.45 This does not, however, appear to have been strictly observed, nor did this mean that Daoists other than Orthodox Unity could not follow a sexual practice. For example, Princess Yuzhen received the highest rank of ordination, but she remained married and had at least two sons.46 Under the heading of “Replenishment Benefits of the Bedchamber” (“Fangzhong buyi” ㇧ᷕ墄䙲), the Essential Priceless Prescriptions for All Urgent Ills (Beiji qianjin yaofang ⁁⿍⋫慹天㕡), by the Tang Daoist physician Sun Simiao ⬓⿅怰 (d. 682), contains extensive discussions of sexual practices.47 Even the renowned Daoist master Du Guangting, who advocated serene meditation and pure cultivation, did not prohibit such practices; rather, he devalued them as only a minor concern and indicated that they could be very risky if not performed correctly.48 Thus, the Tang Daoist tradition continued its sexual practice as a way to attain longevity and immortality, while also allowing marriage to be maintained in certain circumstances.

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A second factor promoting the culture of romance and new gender relations in the Tang era was the continuing popularity of the goddess cult. In ancient Chinese myths and popular legends, many goddesses were associated with fertility, divine matchmaking, the wu ⶓ (often translated as “spirit medium” or “shaman”) spirit connection, irresistible sensual appeal, and erotic desire. In their encounters with humans, whether kings or common men, they always took the sexual initiative, playing the role of a seductive maiden.49 The most famous erotic legend was that of the Goddess of Mount Wu ⶓⰙ and the King of Chu 㤂䌳,50 which later became a motif in numerous popular stories and literary works describing goddess–man encounters.51 As the ancient “art of the bedchamber” was developed during the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) and manuals on sexuality flourished, erotic goddesses now became experts in the sexual arts and the central personae of sex manuals. They especially served as sexual advisers and teachers to the Yellow Emperor and other legendary sovereigns, teaching them how to attain longevity and immortality using sexual techniques.52 The Daoist tradition, in turn, integrated all the time-honored goddesses into its pantheon, along with the motif of divine marriage and the practice of goddess visualization of the Highest Clarity tradition. Divine marriage incorporated all the characteristics and expertise areas of the old goddesses, including divine passion, irresistible sensual appeal, and the roles of matchmaker, seductive maiden, desirable lover, sexual teacher (in an imaginary or psychic manner), and instructor for attaining immortality. To these the Daoists added two more kinds of expertise to the Highest Clarity goddesses: the revelation of secret scriptures and the composition of poetry. The Tang literati, fascinated by all these goddesses, dedicated numerous verses to them, expressing their “wish for transcendence and desire for perfect love.”53 Among these goddesses were the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu 大䌳㭵); the Goddess of Mount Wu; the water goddesses of the Xiang River 㸀㯜 and Luo River 㳃㯜; the moon goddess Chang’e ⪎⧍; the two immortal wives in the tale of Liu Chen ∱㘐 and Ruan Zhao 旖倯; the Highest Clarity masters’ divine bride, E Lühua ソ䵈厗; and the stellar spirit Weaving Maiden (Zhinü ䷼⤛).54 Thus, the power of the goddess cult also helped the reshaping of gender relations. Secular love stories and sentiments presented in the literati’s poems, tales of the marvelous (chuanqi ⁛⣯), and anecdotes were a third factor

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encouraging the growth of the culture of romance. For instance, in the mid- to late Tang era, the love story of Emperor Xuanzong and his Precious Consort Yang (Yang Guifei 㣲屜⤫, 719–756) inspired romantic imaginations and sentiments between men and women through the popular “Song of Everlasting Regrets” (“Changhen ge” 攟【㫴) by the renowned poet Bai Juyi 䘥⯭㖻 (772–846) and other narrative works.55 The culture of jinshi 忚⢓ in the capital city Chang’an also accelerated these sentimental tendencies. Young literati seeking success in the imperial examination often engaged in intimate or romantic relationships with courtesans, while senior officials indulged with their concubines and maids.56 These kinds of experiences were then written into their own poetry or elaborated in marvelous tales told by the literati themselves. The result was to further enhance and spread romantic sentiments and facilitate changes in gender patterns.

The Emergence of Daoist Priestesses as a Gendered Group Before the Tang dynasty, women had already been active in the Daoist tradition, both as individual religious practitioners and as functionaries with ritual and administrative powers.57 It was during the Tang era, however, within the contexts of the ruling house’s support of Daoism, the integration of the Daoist tradition and final establishment of its monastic system, and changes in the embedded patterns of gender relations, as discussed, that Daoist priestesses emerged as a gendered religio-social group with its own distinct identity. This gendered group in turn significantly influenced the reshaping of gender relations, the religious landscape, and the functioning of society with the priestesses’ interaction and negotiation with social institutions, their gendered identity and power in religious practices, and their literary, artistic, and political activities.58 With the keen support of the Tang emperors and the promotion of Daoism to the status of “royal religion” and “state religion,” about twentyeight royal princesses became ordained Daoist priestesses, along with numerous other royal women and palace ladies—a phenomenon without parallel in Chinese imperial history.59 To some extent, these royal women then served as role models for women from other social strata to follow. As Daoism became institutionalized and its monastic tradition established, [ 12 ]

DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S E S A S A R E L I G I O - S O C I A L G RO U P

many convents were formed throughout the empire, some of them created by the priestesses themselves. According to an official statistic during the Kaiyuan reign period (713–741), about one-third of Daoist abbeys were convents,60 which suggests that women made up about one-third of the Daoist priesthood. Most priestesses lived a communal life in convents, though in some exceptional cases an ordained priestess might remain at home. The Daoist ordination system designed specific vestments for them, usually including a skirt, a gown, a cloak, and a headdress. For example, in the Fengdao kejie ⣱忻䥹ㆺ, we see vestments designed respectively for “Dadong nüguan” ⣏㳆⤛ⅈ (priestess of the Great Cavern) and “fanchang nüguan” ↉ⷠ⤛ⅈ (ordinary priestess), which retained much more feminine features than the clothing of Buddhist nuns (see figure 1.1).61 The priestesses were further designated as nüguan ⤛⭀ (female official), nüguan ⤛ⅈ (female headdress), or nüdaoshi ⤛忻⢓ (female Daoist priest).62 A musical tune titled “Nüguan zi” ⤛ⅈ⫸ (Female Headdress/Daoist Priestess) was created specifically to eulogize them, and many poets wrote passionate song lyrics to this tune.63 In addition, Tang era documents, from emperors’ decrees to law codes to officials’ memorials, usually distinguished Daoist priestesses, along with other three religious groups. For example:

Figure 1.1 Vestments of Tang Daoist priestesses: (left) Dadong nüguan ⣏㳆⤛ⅈ; (right) Fanchang nüguan ↉ⷠ⤛ⅈ. From Dongxuan lingbao sandong fengdao kejie yingshi, by Jinming Qizhen (Daozang 1125). DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S E S A S A R E L I G I O - S O C I A L G RO U P

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If Daoist priests, Buddhist monks, Buddhist nuns, and Daoist priestesses violate [the law], I hope [that your highness] allows them to be disciplined according to the Code of Daoist Priests [and Buddhist Monks]. 忻⢓, ₏, ⯤, ⤛ⅈ䫱㚱䉗, 㛃㸾忻[₏]㟤嗽↮.64 The previous decree that ordered Daoist priests, Daoist priestesses, Buddhist monks, and Buddhist nuns who violated the law to be punished by secular law should be abolished. ⇵Ẍ忻⢓, ⤛忻⢓, ₏, ⯤㚱䉗ὅ὿㱽侭, ⭄ .65 All Daoist priests are allotted thirty mu of land, and Daoist priestesses are allotted twenty mu of land. The same are [allotted for] Buddhist monks and nuns. ↉忻⢓䴎䓘ᶱ⋩䔅, ⤛ⅈḴ⋩䔅. ₏⯤Ṏ⤪ᷳ.66 From these documents, we see that Daoist priests, Daoist priestesses, Buddhist monks, and Buddhist nuns were regarded as four distinct, gendered religious groups. Moreover, in three anthologies of poetry compiled in the ninth and tenth centuries—the Yaochi ji by Cai Xingfeng, the Youxuan ji by Wei Zhuang, and the Caidiao ji by Wei Hu—the compilers selected works of Tang female poets and enhanced their names with such titles as “Lady” (Furen ⣓Ṣ), “Young Gentlewoman” (Nülang ⤛恶), “Courtesan” (Changji ⧤⤻), and “Daoist Priestess” (Nüdaoshi ⤛忻⢓). All three anthologies unanimously gave the title “Daoist Priestess” to the priestess-poets.67 Daoist convents were economically independent, mainly owing to land allotments by the government. As we saw earlier, the Tang code allotted a priest thirty mu of land and a priestess twenty mu, a difference that may have stemmed from considerations of the different physical abilities and needs of the two sexes rather than from sexual discrimination. Thus, compared with secular women, who (except for widows) were allotted no land,68 Daoist priestesses were treated as a distinct social group. In consequence of this policy, many convents had already acquired a great deal of land through government allotments and bestowals, private offerings, and astute management before the “law of two taxes” (liangshui fa ℑ䦭㱽) of 780 abolished the policy.69 Indeed, some convents had become very rich. For example, the Xianyi convent ①⭄奨, where the priestesspoet Yu Xuanji was registered and lived, included a number of grand buildings donated by the princess-priestess Xianyi ①⭄ when she was [ 14 ]

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ordained, in 762. Female members of official families in Chang’an usually entered this convent upon ordination.70 Because Yu Xuanji had been concubine to the official Li Yi 㛶€ before becoming a priestess, she was able to enter this aristocratic convent and even have her own chamber and courtyard within the complex.71 Supported by an independent economy, the priestesses living in convents formed their own communities and enjoyed their own autonomous sphere. They managed the convents efficiently and became accomplished in many ways. Moreover, the priestesses were not completely cloistered but were also active in public spheres formerly dominated by men. They gave public sermons, performed rituals, reached out to local people, and became religious mentors even to emperors.72 They were allowed to travel through the empire or associate with men of various statuses. Thus they maintained a line of continuity between their convents and the public and an interactive and forceful relation with men. Tang Daoist priestesses were essentially equal to priests in procedures of transmission and ordination and acquired the same ritual status and power, many reaching the highest ranks of the Three Caverns and Great Cavern. Because all ordination ranks required transmission of difficult texts, the attainment of various ranks by Daoist priestesses suggests their considerable levels of education and intelligence. While most priestesses assumed religious roles as leaders, practitioners, and theorists, some took on other social roles as politicians, poets, and artists. With their particular royal background, the princess-priestesses were able to greatly influence contemporary religious and political affairs. Among the three most famous Tang female poets, two were Daoist priestesses who wrote passionate, beautiful love poems. Priestess-artists also created excellent works of calligraphy, four of which have been recovered. All these religious and social roles thus provided opportunities for the priestesses to participate actively in both religious life and social affairs.73 The priestesses’ public activities and their relationships with male associates were largely legitimized by the reshaping of gender patterns—by flexibility in gender relations, the elevation of women’s status, Daoist sexual practices, the cult of the goddess, the culture of romance, and changes in the gendered power structure. In addition to public religious activities, they also took part in secular social occasions, such as gatherings involving men of varying status, including Daoist priests, Buddhist monks, poets, officials, and hermits, and often exchanged poetry with them.74 DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S E S A S A R E L I G I O - S O C I A L G RO U P

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In fact, stories of love between priestesses and priests or literati-officials were openly celebrated. The early Tang poet Luo Binwang 榙屻䌳 (ca. 627– ca. 684), for example, wrote a long poem celebrating the love between the priestess Wang Lingfei 䌳曰⤫ (fl. 656–683) and the famous priest Li Rong 㛶㥖.75 When the late Tang poet Cui Zhiyuan Ⲽ农怈 (857–ca. 928), who served for several years as a low-ranking official in south China, received permission from Emperor Xizong (r. 873–888) to return to his home in Silla, he wrote a poem before leaving, titled “Left to a Daoist Priestess at Parting” (“Liubie nüdaoshi” 䔁⇍⤛忻⢓): I always resent my bad fortune in my official career, But delightfully I have been acquainted with Magu for several years. Before parting, I confide to you my true heart: Like the sea, how can it ever run dry? 㭷【⠝ᷕ⌬⭎⟿, 㔠⸜㶙╄嬀湣⥹. 冐埴冯䁢䛇⽫婒, 㴟㯜ỽ㗪⼿䚉㝗?76 “Bad fortune” refers to Cui’s long-term service as a local official in the south. Magu was a famous goddess, referring here to the priestess. In his unhappy official career lasting more than ten years, Cui had taken great comfort in the love between him and the priestess, and he now swore that, like the sea, his love for her would never run dry. It is worth noting that, during the Tang era, writing poetry was never a private matter. Poems were often composed communally at public occasions such as gatherings at court, provincial offices, and other social occasions, using the same titles or rhyme groups, and they were always broadly circulated among all kinds of readers. Indeed, Bai Juyi’s poems were inscribed and copied everywhere—walls of pavilions, hotels, and restaurants—and were recited even by children and old women.77 Thus, the relations between Daoist priestesses and priests or literati-officials described in these poems would not have been regarded as irregular, abnormal, or a violation of Daoist precepts or Tang laws. In fact, after reading the works of the priestess Li Jilan 㛶⬋嗕 (d. 784), which contained many love poems, Emperor Dezong summoned her to court in 783 to serve at the palace convent Yuchen, which was a great honor to bestow on a priestess.78 Clearly the emperor did not regard either her poetry or her lifestyle as in any way improper. Also during the Tang period, the popular cult of erotic goddesses was extended to include Daoist priestesses, who were regarded as “female immortals” or “semi-goddesses.” Becoming popular personae in the poetry [ 16 ]

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and narratives of the literati, they were described in both factual and imaginary terms. Analogized as immortals and intermediaries between humans and divinities, their beautiful appearance and costumes were erotically admired, and they were portrayed as passionate lovers, often taking the initiative in courtship.79 At the same time, the priestess-poets analogized themselves as goddesses and empowered themselves with similar attributes.80 The perception of the priestesses as “semi-goddesses”—held by both the male official-literati and the priestesses themselves—also enhanced their vitality in the gendered power structure and discourse. Traditional Confucian gender ethics had been founded on the twin pillars of the so-called three followings and the separate inner and outer spheres.81 During the Tang period, however, Daoist monasticism and new gender patterns enabled Daoist priestesses to trespass both pillars more thoroughly than other women were able to do, and in turn they contributed to reconstructing new gender relations. We have seen that Tang people in general acknowledged and celebrated the gendered identity of ordained Daoist women as priestesses and regarded them as a distinct religio-social group—a group whose meaningful career and life journey will gradually and comprehensively unfold in the following chapters.

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CH A P T E R I I

Destiny and Power of the Ordained Royal Women

I

n the course of the Tang dynasty, about twenty-eight royal princesses were ordained as Daoist priestesses, whereas there is no record that any princess ever became a Buddhist nun. In addition to the princesses, many other female members of the royal house and numerous palace women were also ordained. This phenomenon is not seen in any other Chinese dynasty. An easy explanation would be the Tang royal house’s adoption of Laozi as its first ancestor and Daoism as the family religion and even the state religion. The actual situation, however, was much more complicated and multifaceted. Beneath the surface of destined paths lay changing politics, gender relations, religious practices, and individual motives, desires, and ambitions. Some of the princess-priestesses in fact became quite powerful and successful in the religious, political, and cultural domains. These ordained princesses and royal women have attracted considerable attention from modern scholars. Charles D. Benn’s 1991 work The CavernMystery Transmission: A Taoist Ordination Rite of A.D. 711 remains the most important study of the priestess-princesses Jinxian 慹ẁ (689–732) and Yuzhen 䌱䛇 (691–762), while Yu Xianhao has studied Princess Yuzhen’s relation with the great poet Li Bai 㛶䘥 (701–762).1 Li Fengmao has identified sixteen ordained princesses and some ordained palace women and discussed their motives, convents, and relationship with Tang poets.2 Ping Yao has studied the controversy over the building of the convents for Jinxian and Yuzhen.3 Tsukamoto Zenryū ⠂㛔┬昮, Kegasawa Yasunori 㯋屨 [ 18 ]

㽌ᾅ夷, Jinhua Chen, and others have investigated Jinxian’s support for the Fangshan ㇧Ⱉ Buddhist stone canon project.4 Other works have also dis-

cussed ordained princesses and palace women in the Tang era to one degree or another. Overall, however, a comprehensive and in-depth study on this topic has yet to be done, and many newly rediscovered materials have not been fully used. Following previous scholarship and drawing upon all available sources, including ten recently unearthed epitaphs and several Dunhuang manuscripts, I seek here to present a comprehensive, in-depth study of the ordained princesses and other royal and palace women. After describing a general picture of their ordination and discussing their varied reasons and motives for entering the Daoist order, I then focus on Jinxian and Yuzhen, the two most influential priestess-princesses, studying their life journeys, religious and political activities, and accomplishments more completely and in greater detail.

Destiny or Choice: Ordained Princesses and Other Royal and Palace Women The Ordination of the Princesses We begin by investigating some general questions concerning the ordination of the twenty-eight royal princesses: at which life stages were they ordained, where did they stay after ordination, what were their marital statuses, and, most important, what reasons did they have for being ordained? Table 2.1 provides a list of the ordained princesses, along with some basic information to help in answering these questions. From this table and other relevant sources, we can draw some general observations. First, it appears that princesses could be initiated or ordained at any stage in their life journeys: twelve were initiated/ordained when they were young, nine in middle- to old age, with the ages of the other seven unknown. Second, following ordination, the princesses usually moved out the palace or their marital families to live at Daoist convents in the capital city Chang’an, except for the six who died very young.5 In the early cases, the empress or emperor built magnificent convents, such as those at Taiping, Jinxian, and Yuzhen, for their daughters, using government funds and manpower. The building of the latter two convents, however, encountered D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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Father/Mother

Gaozong and Empress Wu (r. 649–704)

Ruizong (r. 684–690 and 710–712)

Ruizong

Ruizong

Princess

Taiping ⣒⸛ (ca. 665–713)

Jinxian 慹ẁ (689–732)

Yuzhen 䌱䛇 (691–762)

Caiguo 哉⚳

Middle to old age

16

18

ca. 8

Age of Initiation/ Ordination

Ordained Princesses in the Tang Dynasty

TA B L E 2.1

Possibly following her second husband’s death

Making merit for her deceased grandparents

Making merit for her deceased grandparents

Making merit for her deceased grandmother/ declining marriage with a Tibetan prince

Reason for Ordination

Jiuhua

Yuzhen

Jinxian

Taiping

Convent or Other Residence

Married

Married

Unknown

Married

Marital Status

Tang huiyao (THY ), 6.64; 50.877; XTS, 83.3656; Quan Tangshi, 317.3568

XTS, 83.3656; and discussions later

XTS, 83.3656; and discussions later

Jiu Tangshu ( JTS), 183.4738–40; Xin Tangshu (XTS), 83.3650–52

Sources

Xuanzong (r. 712–756)

Xuanzong

Xuanzong

Xuanzong

Xuanzong

Xuanzong

Xuanzong

Yongmu 㯠䧮

Tangchang Ⓒ㖴

Wan’an 叔⬱

Shangxian ᶲẁ

Huaisi ㆟⿅

Xinchang 㕘㖴

Chuguo 㤂⚳ (Daoist name: Shangshan ᶲ┬)

Middle to old age (784)

Middle to old age

Young

Young

Young (714)

27

Middle age (748)

Possibly following her husband’s death

Following her husband’s death

Illness

Illness

Making merit for her deceased grandfather

Following her husband’s death in 737

Following her husband’s death in 748

Xinchang

Palace

Palace

Wan’an

Tangchang

Yongmu

Married

Married

Unmarried

Unmarried

Unknown

Married

Married

(continued )

XTS, 83.3659

THY, 50.877; XTS, 83.3658

XTS, 83.3658**

XTS, 83.3658; Tangwen shiyi, 289.11a, 37.8b

THY, 6.69; XTS, 83.3658

XTS, 83.3657; Tangchang’s epitaph*

THY, 6.69, 50.877; XTS, 83.3657

Young Young

Xuanzong

Daizong (r. 762–779)

Daizong

Daizong

Daizong

Shunzong

Xianyi ①⭄ (d. 784)

Yuxu 䌱嘃 (Lingxian 曰ẁ)

Zhending 䛇⭂

Huayang 厗春 (Qionghua zhenren 䑲厗䛇Ṣ; d. 774)

Yuqing 䌱㶭

Wen’an 㔯⬱ (793–828)

Young

Young

Young

Middle age (762)

Father/Mother

Princess

Age of Initiation/ Ordination

Ordained Princesses in the Tang Dynasty (continued )

TA B L E 2.1

Possibly illness

Illness

Possibly illness

Possibly illness

Possibly following her husband’s death

Reason for Ordination

Palace

Palace

Palace

Xianyi

Convent or Other Residence

Unmarried

Unmarried

Unmarried

Unmarried

Unmarried

Married

Marital Status

Tangdai muzhi huibian xuji, 887

XTS, 83.3662

THY, 6.65; XTS, 83.3663

XTS, 83.3662

XTS, 83.3662; Quan Tangwen, 46.506

XTS, 83.3659

Sources

Married

Xianzong

Muzong (r. 820–824)

Muzong

Jingzong (r. 824–826)

Yong’an 㯠⬱

Yichang 佑㖴

Ankang ⬱⹟

Yongxing 㯠冰 (fl. 877)

Young (821)

Possibly following her husband’s death

Unknown

Xianzong

Yongjia 㯠▱

Middle age (829)

Betrothal to the Uighur qaghan Baoyi, who died before the wedding

Dezong

Unknown

Unmarried

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Shaoyang 恝春

Middle age (829)

Dezong

Unknown

Ping’en ⸛】

Middle age (829)

Dezong (r. 779–804)

Xunyang 㼗春

(continued )

XTS, 83.3670

XTS, 83.3670***

XTS, 83.3670

THY, 6.66; XTS, 83.3668; and discussions later

XTS, 83.3667

THY, 6.65; XTS, 83.3666

THY, 6.65; XTS, 83.3666, 3667

THY, 6.65; XTS, 83.3666, 3667

Jingzong

Jingzong

Wenzong (826–840)

Tianchang ⣑攟 (fl. 877)

Ningguo ⮏⚳ (d. ca. 880)

Xingtang 冰Ⓒ (fl. 877)

Reason for Ordination

Convent or Other Residence

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Marital Status

XTS, 83.3670–71

XTS, 83.3670

XTS, 83.3670

Sources

** Huaisi and the three princesses Yuxu, Zhending, and Yuqing all died young, and their names or titles implied Daoist meanings. Therefore, they all might have been initiated or ordained because of illness. *** Xin Tangshu (83.3670) records that, in 877, Emperor Xizong ordered Ankang, Yongxing, Tianchang, Ningguo, and Xingtang to move back to the palace because they were disturbing people outside. XTS records only Ankang as an ordained priestess, but because unmarried princesses lived in the palace and married princesses lived with their families, and only ordained princesses could live outside the palace with a relatively free lifestyle, the other four princesses must also have been ordained priestesses.

* Ma Kuang 楔屢, “Tang gu Tangchang gongzhu muzhiming bingxu” Ⓒ㓭Ⓒ㖴℔ᷣ⠻娴所᷎⸷, in Zhang Quanmin ⻝ℐ㮹, “Tangchang gongzhu muzhiming kaoshi” Ⓒ㖴℔ᷣ⠻娴所 侫慳, Tang yanjiu Ⓒ䞼䨞 20 (2014): 265–80.

Father/Mother

Princess

Age of Initiation/ Ordination

Ordained Princesses in the Tang Dynasty (continued )

TA B L E 2.1

strong objections from court officials. Afterward, emperors no longer built convents for their ordained daughters, and the princesses either resided at established convents or converted their own residences into convents.6 Those donated and converted convents included Caiguo’s Jiuhua convent, Yongmu’s Yongmu convent,7 Tangchang’s Tangchang convent, Xinchang’s Xinchang convent, and Xianyi’s Xianyi convent. Donating and converting one’s residence into a religious venue was a practice originally adopted from Buddhism and was seen as a kind of religious merit (gongde ≇⽟) that would bring blessing and accumulate good effects. The five princesses’ donations showed their sincerity and piety in pursuing Daoist spirituality. Third, we know that nine princesses were married, eight were not, and the marital statuses of eleven were unknown. Since the two official Tang histories do not record these eleven princesses’ marriages, the Yuan scholar Ma Duanlin 楔䪗冐 (1254–1323) assumed that they were all unmarried.8 However, because the Tang Daoist tradition allowed ordained Daoists to maintain their marital status in certain cases, these ordained princesses could choose to have an unofficial marriage while maintaining their identity as a priestess, so it remains uncertain whether in fact these princesses never married.9 For example, Yuzhen’s biographies in the two official Tang histories tell us that she never married, but according to a recently unearthed epitaph written for her daughter-in-law Pei Shangjian 墜⯂䯉 (730–805), she did marry after her ordination and had at least two sons.10 Fourth, from the list we see that the motives for being ordained also varied. Scholars have generally assumed that the reason so many princesses underwent Daoist ordination was owing to the royal house’s promotion of Daoism as their family religion. Certainly this was a major reason, and the ordained princesses were supposed to continue the royal house’s religious genealogy and bring bliss to their ancestors and the empire. For example, in his decree granting ordination for Princesses Xicheng 大❶ ( Jinxian’s original title) and Longchang 昮㖴 (Yuzhen’s original title), Emperor Ruizong said: “The Illustrious Thearch of the Mysterious Prime [i.e., Laozi] was my first ancestor. How far has been the bliss of his nonintervention” 䌬⃫䘯ⷅ, 㚽ᷳ⥳䣾. 䃉䁢㇨ⸯ, ᶵṎ怈᷶.11 The case of Yongmu also provides good evidence. In 740, Yongmu donated money to make statues of the Amitāba Buddha and a bronze bell for the welfare of her father, Emperor Xuanzong,12 thus showing her pious belief in Buddhism. But seven years later, after her husband’s death, she converted her residence into a Daoist convent and became its abbess. It appears that Yongmu had beliefs in both D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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Buddhism and Daoism, as did many Tang women, but when deciding to take religious vows, it appears that she had to choose Daoism. In addition to this basic reason of promoting the royal family’s religious genealogy, other political factors and individual motives were at play in ordaining princesses. For instance, four princesses, Taiping, Jinxian, Yuzhen, and Wan’an, were initiated by order of their imperial fathers (or mother, in the case of Taiping) to make merit for the posthumous welfare of their deceased ancestors (zhuifu 徥䤷 ), again a practice originally adopted from Buddhism.13 The fact that no prince was ever ordained to procure merit for a deceased ancestor shows the rulers’ gender agenda: princesses were much less important and could thus be “sacrificed” to their ancestors, whereas princes could not. On the other hand, although the forced initiations appear to have been carried out against the princesses’ will, they were in fact a kind of temporary expedient, and the princesses could later choose whether or not to finally enter the Daoist order. For example, in 672, at about age eight, Taiping was initiated upon the order of Empress Wu to earn merit for the empress’s deceased mother, but she also remained in the palace without undertaking any Daoist practice. Then, in 681, when a Tibetan prince asked to marry the princess, Empress Wu had to actually establish the Taiping convent and make Taiping its abbess in order to decline the marriage. Shortly afterward, however, when Taiping expressed a desire to marry, her father married her to Xue Shao 啃䳡 and she left the Daoist order for good.14 In 706, Emperor Ruizong ordered the initiations of his daughters Jinxian, age eighteen, and Yuzhen, age sixteen, to earn merit for their deceased grandparents, but they remained in the palace another five years, until 711, when they moved into their convents. Princess Wan’an also had a quite similar experience. The only princess destined to enter the Daoist order was Yong’an, who, according to historical records, was betrothed in 820 to the Uighur qaghan Baoyi ᾅ佑 (r. 808–821). However, when the qaghan died in the third month of the following year, before the wedding could take place, the succeeding qaghan Chongde ⲯ⽟ (r. 821–824) insisted on keeping the betrothal and marrying Yong’an himself. Rather than grant this request, however, Emperor Muzong ordered that another sister of his, Princess Taihe ⣒␴, be married to the new qaghan instead.15 Yong’an then entered the Daoist order and returned the betrothal gift. The Xin Tangshu records the gift

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return as happening during the Dahe ⣏␴ reign period (827–853),16 but it would be unreasonable for the princess to return the gift so many years after Baoyi’s death. Therefore, the date for Yong’an’s ordination and the return of the gifts may instead be 821. It is possible that Yong’an had petitioned to enter the Daoist order in order to avoid the marriage to Qaghan Chongde, so Emperor Muzong had to marry another princess to the qaghan. If this was the case, Yong’an’s ordination was a reluctant choice. As we see on our list, six princesses were likely ordained because of illness, with the hope that ordination would bring them good fortune. Another seven princesses chose the Daoist path after their husbands died. Among these seven, Caiguo married three times17 and Xianyi married twice;18 therefore, their eventual ordination was more likely to have occurred because of their belief in Daoism rather than out of faithfulness to a deceased husband. Although Yongmu, Ankang, and Chuguo each married only once, because their biographies are brief, we cannot be sure whether or not their ordinations implied a motive of faithfulness to their deceased husbands. In the cases of Tangchang and Xinchang, however, we fortunately have two recently unearthed epitaphs that tell us more details about their life journeys. Tangchang’s epitaph, unearthed from Xi’an in 2008, as well as other relevant historical records report her life experience in detail. From a young age she learned Confucian classics, and then, at sixteen (728), she married Xue Xiu 啃接 (d. 737), who was her cousin and a son of Princess Xiguo 悶⚳.19 Xue Xiu later became involved in a palace conspiracy against the crown prince Li Ying 㛶䐃 and was wrongly framed, leading to his death in the fourth month of 737.20 The next year, at age twenty-six, Tangchang requested entrance to the Daoist order and converted her residence into the Tangchang convent. The epitaph describes the princess’s purpose to be remaining faithful to her husband and pursuing Daoist immortality sincerely. Another newly unearthed epitaph, written for Xinchang’s mother-inlaw, He Rui 屨䜧 (682–737), records that the princess was an exemplary woman of Confucian values and always properly observed the rituals during her marriage to He Rui’s son Xiao Heng 唕堉. When He Rui fell ill, the princess attended her without undressing for bed.21 Following her husband’s death, she immediately became a Daoist priestess and converted

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her residence into a convent. Her ordination thus stemmed from motives of remaining faithful to her deceased husband and of pursuing Daoist spirituality. Both Tangchang’s and Xinchang’s life experiences thus present a natural continuity of Confucian family values and Daoist belief. There are additional reasons, conditions, and influences of the priestessprincesses not seen from the list in table 2.1 or told of in the official biographies. First, with a new identity as a Daoist priestess, a princess could gain a certain degree of independence and freedom. After ordination, princesses would move out of the palace or away from family to live in convents, where they became abbesses and could make decisions independently. They had sanction to take part in social, religious, political, and cultural activities; indeed, a few of them, such as Jinxian and Yuzhen, were very successful in these domains. Some of the priestess-princesses, however, indulged in their freedom, so that in 877 Emperor Xizong ordered five of them to return to the palace.22 Second, the princesses could continue to enjoy their wealth and their luxurious lives, as their imperial fathers bestowed the same or somewhat greater stipends on them. During the Kaiyuan period (713–741), Xuanzong ruled that adult princesses, whether married or not, would be given a levy of one thousand households, as well as stipulating the number of servants, while grand princesses such as Jinxian and Yuzhen were given a levy of fourteen thousand households. 23 From 829, Emperor Wenzong made ordained princesses a yearly grant of extra goods equivalent to seven hundred bolts of cloth.24 Third, unlike ordained Buddhist nuns, who had to shave their heads and wear plain kāṣāya, Daoist priestesses kept their hair and wore welldesigned vestments that maintained their feminine attractiveness.25 This would also have been a welcome condition for the princesses to enter the Daoist order. Fourth, when it came to the princesses’ religious experiences, their biographies and epitaphs usually said that they believed in the Daoist pursuit of immortality and understood Daoist doctrines well. It therefore appears that the princesses were driven basically by their ultimate concern over death and wished to prolong their lives forever. In some extraordinary cases, however, such as those of Jinxian and Yuzhen, they had actual religious achievements, which will be discussed later. Finally, the convents of the ordained princesses in the capitals were open to the public and exerted two beneficial influences on contemporary [ 28 ]

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people, especially on the literati. First, through the support of their imperial parents and their own wealth, the princesses’ convents usually included splendid buildings furnished with precious paintings and murals and outfitted with beautiful gardens. As a result, these convents became famous places, both for sightseeing and for composing poetry. The Caiguo convent was famous for its winding pond and therefore as one of the best places for the fuxi 䣻䤲 ceremony (cleansing away inauspicious influences) in springtime, 26 while the Xianyi convent possessed many rare paintings by renowned artists.27 Tangchang meticulously designed and built her own convent, which later became famous for its beautiful jade-pistil flowers (yuruihua 䌱哲剙).28 Second, these convents also provided rooms for officials and scholars to rent for longer or shorter periods. For example, the scholar Chen Kefeng 昛⎗⮩ lived at Huayang convent in 796,29 and the famous poets Bai Juyi and Yuan Zhen ⃫䧡 (779–831) resided at the same convent in 804–805.30 This situation also provided opportunities for the priestesses to associate with scholar-officials, and some even fell in love or had affairs with their next-door male friends.31

Ordination of Other Royal and Palace Women In addition to the twenty-eight ordained princesses, Daoist ordinations of other royal females and many palace ladies were also a striking phenomenon in the Tang dynasty. Since neither group of women was obliged to continue the royal house’s religious genealogy, the reasons for their ordinations differed considerably from those of the princesses. Royal women other than princesses usually chose the Daoist path for individual reasons. Some appear to have been fascinated by the Daoist belief in immortality. The epitaph written for the fifth granddaughter of Emperor Xuanzong (name unknown; 734–754) describes her as longing for immortality from a young age. She recited Daoist scriptures, took elixirs, and practiced sitting in oblivion (zuowang ⛸⾀), but nonetheless died young, at age twenty-one, possibly poisoned by alchemic elixirs. 32 Other women appear to have been following the beliefs of their royal mothers. For example, Pei Shangjian, the daughter of Princess Caiguo and daughterin-law of Princess Yuzhen, developed an interest in Daoism following the death of her husband Zhang Ti ⻝ῄ around 762. Finally ordained in 783, she became abbess of her late mother’s Jiuhua convent.33 D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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In other cases the ordination of royal women resulted from the fallout of vicious court battles. An example is that of Li Yuanzhen 㛶⃫䛇 (b. 776), a descendent of Li Zhen 㛶屆, the prince of Yue 崲䌳. In 712, Li Yuanzhen’s great-grandfather Li Zhen 㛶䍵 was condemned and exiled to the far south, where he and his sons and grandsons died. In 839, Li Yuanzhen escorted four coffins back to Chang’an and presented a memorial to Emperor Wenzong, petitioning to bury her ancestors in the royal house’s graveyard. Following the burial, the emperor allowed her, at age sixty-three with nobody to depend on, to become a Daoist priestess at the Xianyi convent.34 The ordination of numerous palace women was a different story. The Tang imperial palace was always staffed with thousands of attractive women. From time to time, an emperor would release some older women to replace them with young beauties, or for other reasons, such as offsetting the excessive yin of rain or floods, as seen from the many decrees of “Fang gongnü zhao” 㓦⭖⤛姼 or “Chu gongren zhao” ↢⭖Ṣ姼 (Releasing Palace Women).35 These released palace women were then often sent to Daoist convents. This phenomenon in turn became a favorite topic of Tang poets. For instance, the Quan Tangshi preserves eight poems with the same title, “Song gongren rudao” 復⭖Ṣℍ忻 (Sending Off Palace Women to Enter the Daoist Order), composed by eight poets at different times. 36 These poems often describe the palace women as entering the palace when they are young and beautiful and leaving it grayed and melancholy. They are also described as washing off their heavy makeup, wearing Daoist dress, learning rituals, and pursuing their new dream of immortality.37 In rare cases, some palace women themselves asked to become Daoist priestesses and the emperors granted their requests. For example, Priestess Xiao 唕 was a palace dancer favored by Emperor Dezong for her extraordinary talent. Later, hearing stories of immortals and believing immortality could be attained, she petitioned to become a Daoist priestess, and the emperor authorized her to reside at Dongqing 㳆㶭 convent on Mount Song ⴑⰙ.38 Another example is Lu Meiniang 䚏䚱⧀ (b. 792), an embroiderer of extraordinary skill who, at age fourteen, in 805, was presented to the court as tribute from the far south. Although Emperor Xianzong appreciated her skills, he was aware of her desire to leave the palace, so some years later he had her ordained a Daoist priestess, granted her the title Xiaoyao 徵态, and allowed her to return to the south.39 Most of the released palace women appear to have lived in convents in the two capitals, especially those [ 30 ]

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connected to ordained princesses. For example, in a poem composed during a visit to Princess Yuzhen’s Anguo convent in Luoyang, Lu Lun 䚏䵠 (d. ca. 799) wrote: If you look at the gray-haired Who are reciting scriptures, Half of them used to be Singers and dancers in the palace. ⏃䚳䘥檖婎䴻侭, ⋲㗗⭖ᷕ㫴准Ṣ.40 With a melancholy tone, the poet describes the dull, lonely life of the old palace women at the late princess’s convent, in strong contrast to their previous luxurious life of singing and dancing in the palace. Some ordained palace women were also sent to convents in other places, as seen in the cases of Priestess Xiao and Lu Meiniang. A recently unearthed short epitaph reveals to us how these ordained palace women were treated when they died: Daoist priestess He Youjing was 108 years old. On the fifth day of the sixth month in the fifth year of Xiantong [ July 12, 864], the emperor granted that she be built a chamber of concealing the body [a tomb] with a two-tiered brick altar at Zhao village, west of Chongdaoxiang in Wannian district, close to the late priestess Hang Faxin’s tomb, where He was buried. Tomb Keeper Zheng Wenshan; Inscriber [name missing]; Associate Funeral Supervisor and Inner Palace Attendant Zhou Congchu; Funeral Supervisor and Associate Supervisor of Sixteen Houses Bestowed Red-Fish Bag Wei [first name missing]. ⤛忻⢓屨⸥㶐, ⸜ᶨ䘦ℓ㬚. ①忂Ḽ⸜ℕ㚰Ḽ㖍, Ⅾ≭忈啷幓⭌, ᶲḴⰌ 䢂⡯. 㕤叔⸜䷋ⲯ忻悱大嵁㛹, 冯㓭⤛忻⢓㜕㱽㕘⠻䚠役❳㭗. 䚳⠻Ṣ惕 㔯┬; 捠⫿Ṣ [敽⥻⎵]; 䚋吔∗ἧℏ梲␐⽆⇅; 䚋吔ἧ⋩ℕ⬭∗ἧ岄䵳欂 堳杳 [敽⎵].41 From the epitaph, we see that the Daoist priestess He Youjing 屨⸥朄 (657– 864) died at the advanced age of 108 years. She was buried close to the tomb of another priestess, Hang Faxin 㜕㱽㕘, in the suburb of the capital. The funeral was supervised by two court eunuch officials, while the tomb had a two-level brick altar and was assigned a tomb keeper. Thus, we can speculate that these two priestesses must have been retired palace women who, D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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when growing older, were sent to Daoist convents; when they died, palace officials were responsible for burying them in considerably decent tombs, possibly in accord with their previous palace ranks. In addition, Tang law stipulated that when a palace woman died, the Office of Menials Service (Xiguan ju ⤂⭀⯨) should “provide clothes according to her rank and title, and hold a ritual at a nearby monastery or abbey for merit-making for her posthumous welfare. This is also valid for those who do not hold any rank” 䴎℞堋㚵, ⎬夾℞⑩␥, ṵ㕤晐役⮢奨䁢ᷳᾖ䤷. 晾䃉⑩, Ṏ⤪ᷳ.42 From this stipulation we can deduce that a ritual should also have been held for each of these two priestesses, according to their ranks, at their funerals. Some ordained royal and palace women are recorded as possessing outstanding artistic talents. For example, Pei Shangjian read broadly and was especially good at playing the zheng 䬷 and knowing all the melodies.43 Priestess Lian ⹱ used to be a palace academician and was very good in lishu 晠㚠 (official script) calligraphy.44 Lu Meiniang was skillful in embroidering tiny, refined patterns.45 Priestess Xiao was once the finest dancer in the palace.46

Power and Accomplishments: Princesses Jinxian and Yuzhen Other than records from official histories, Daoist texts, and works of the Tang literati about princesses Jinxian and Yuzhen, we previously had only a poorly preserved inscription of a tomb-pathway stele (shendao beiming 䤆忻 䠹所) written for Jinxian, and a few other relevant inscriptions.47 Recent discoveries, however, have given us additional important materials: a wellpreserved epitaph written for Jinxian and transcribed by Yuzhen with excellent calligraphic skill, an epitaph written for Yuzhen’s daughter-inlaw Shangjian, and a few other inscriptions containing information relevant to Yuzhen. Thus, we are now better positioned to undertake a new and comprehensive examination of these two princesses. Jinxian was the eighth daughter of Emperor Ruizong, and Yuzhen was the ninth.48 Originally granted the title District Princess of Xicheng 大❶ ䷋ᷣ when her father was still a prince, Jinxian was promoted to Princess Xicheng, in 710, when her father was enthroned a second time. Her title then changed to Princess Jinxian, in 711, when she entered the Daoist order. The title Jinxian, literally “Golden Immortal,” accorded with her identity [ 32 ]

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as a Daoist priestess, and her Daoist name was Wushangdao 䃉ᶲ忻 (Supreme Dao). She was further promoted to Grand Princess, in 712, when her elder brother Xuanzong came to the throne.49 Likewise, her sister Yuzhen was originally granted the title District Princess of Longchang 昮㖴䷋ᷣ,50 and then promoted successively to Princess Longchang, Princess Yuzhen ( Jade Perfection), and Grand Princess. Her Daoist name was Wushangzhen 䃉ᶲ䛇 (Supreme Perfection) and her courtesy name was Yuanyuan ⃫⃫ (Primal Prime). When, in 744, she petitioned to return her princess title and enfeoffment, her brother Xuanzong granted her request and bestowed on her the Daoist title Chiying ㊩䙰 (Holding Completion).51 Afterward she was also nicknamed Princess Jiuxian ḅẁ (Immortal the Ninth) by the Tang people.52

Investitures of the Two Princesses The ordinations of Princesses Jinxian and Yuzhen went through three different investitures within a complicated political context and involving unusual personal experiences differing from those of other princesspriestesses. This complexity and particularity closely connected them to the sociopolitical changes of their times. Jinxian and Yuzhen accepted their first investitures in 706, at ages eighteen and sixteen, respectively.53 Jinxian’s funeral biographies give the reason for her initial ordination as her sincere aspiration to follow Daoism. This may have been a solid reason, because five years later she and her sister officially entered the Daoist order. The historical records, however, tell us that behind the growth in their Daoist belief and their investiture lay a complicated political and familial context. The two sisters’ early experiences were touched by the adversities of their parents. In 684, their father, Ruizong, had been enthroned as a puppet emperor after his elder brother, Emperor Zhongzong, was deposed by the brothers’ mother, Empress Wu. In 690, Ruizong too was deposed and was demoted to Imperial Successor (Huangshi 䘯▋), and in 698 he was further demoted to Prince Xiang 䚠䌳. If their father’s experience had not been disastrous enough, their mother’s story was thoroughly tragic. Jinxian, Yuzhen, and their brother Li Longji 㛶昮➢ (later Emperor Xuanzong) were born of the same mother, Consort Dou 䩯⤫. On the second day of the first month of Changshou 2 (December 15, 692), Dou and Consort Liu ∱⤫ were framed by a palace D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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slave named Wei Tuan’er 杳⛀⃺, who hated the prince for declining her seduction, and subsequently were murdered by Empress Wu’s order.54 After Emperor Zhongzong’s restoration in 705, his brother Ruizong faced even greater danger because he was also a potential candidate for the throne. He was fully aware of this danger, and in that same year he resolutely declined the appointments of prime minister and Imperial Brother of the Heir Apparent (Huangtaidi 䘯⣒ⷅ). Nonetheless, he was framed twice in the seventh and eighth months of 707 for plotting rebellions with his nephew, the Heir Apparent Li Chongjun 㛶慵ὲ, and with his sister, Princess Taiping.55 Although both cases were fortunately dropped because of help from high officials, he was obviously quite vulnerable to such attack. It was under this new situation of danger that Ruizong had his two daughters initiated, in 706. Later, in his decree of 710 granting his two daughters’ ordination, Ruizong indicated that the ordinations were intended to procure merit for their grandparents, Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu, whereas in another decree, issued in 712, he stated more specifically that the purpose was to make merit for Empress Wu.56 However, because the empress died in the eleventh month of Shenlong 1 (705) and was buried in the fifth month of Shenlong 2 (706), such a purpose should have already been pronounced upon the two ladies’ first investiture, in 706. Nonetheless, the investiture possibly served as a pronouncement on several political and religious matters. First, because the two sisters’ mother had been murdered by order of Empress Wu, their act of merit making for her posthumous welfare demonstrated that the family held no hatred toward her or other Wu family members, who remained powerful after her death. Second, in the first month of Shenlong 2 (706), Emperor Zhongzong granted his sister Princess Taiping and his six daughters permission to establish their own staffs ( fu ⹄) with increasing political powers, forming a sharp contrast to the Daoist investiture of his nieces Jinxian and Yuzhen, who thereby displayed their indifference to the political domain. Third, in the second month of Shenlong 2, Zhongzong restored the title of the family’s alleged founder, Laozi, to Xuanyuan huangdi 䌬⃫䘯ⷅ (Illustrious Thearch of the Mysterious Prime) and ordered that every prefecture establish a Daoist abbey.57 The two sisters’ initiation thus catered to the emperor’s new religious-political policy. Finally, Ruizong composed a commentary on the Daode jing and was also noted for his personality, described as “generous, tolerant, respectful, cautious, peaceful, indifferent, and yielding” ⮔⍂〕嫡, ⬱〔⤥嬻,58 all of [ 34 ]

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which was in accordance with Daoist virtues. Thus, his daughters might have developed the same religious interests under their father’s influence, especially because their first investiture must have included transmission of the Daode jing (which we will discuss). In addition, their brother Li Longji, later Emperor Xuanzong, was also well known for his belief in and support of Daoism and also wrote a commentary on the Daode jing,59 and it was during his reign that Daoism acquired the status of state religion. Possibly his own belief grew through family influence during this earlier period as well. Whatever the case, through the princesses’ investiture, the family together showcased their common religious inclination toward Daoism, which was also an effective way to shun the political vortex. However, the fact that the two ladies remained in the palace and did not actually move into convents after investiture testifies that they were acting mainly out of political expedience rather than religious determination. Although the princesses’ first investiture is not well documented, according to the Tang Daoist ordination system and their second investiture with the Cavern-Mystery transmission, this first investiture might have had at least three levels of initiation and ordination: an initial ritual for taking vows, the transmission of the Daode jing and related texts, and the bestowal of scriptures based on the Sanhuang corpus.60 By the time the two princesses underwent their second investiture, in 711, the entire political climate had changed. Their father was now on the throne and their full brother had been established as the heir apparent. Their fear and misery were gone and they had finally become happy, favored princesses. Nonetheless, at this time they still made their final decision to leave the imperial palace and enter the Daoist order. Thus, their final determination can largely be interpreted as the expression of a sincere belief in Daoism, though without excluding considerations of the independence and freedom enjoyed by Daoist priestesses in the religious and social domains.61 Unlike the first investiture, the ritual process of this second one was recorded in rich detail in the Chuanshou Sandong jingjie falu lüeshuo ⁛㌰ᶱ 㳆䴻ㆺ㱽䰁䔍婒 (Short Exposition on the Transmission of the Scriptures, Rules, and Registers of the Three Caverns), composed by the Daoist priest Zhang Wanfu ⻝叔䤷 in 713.62 Charles Benn, in his excellent translation and study of this text in relation to other Daoist texts, such as the Fengdao kejie, has analogized the investiture with secular theater, analyzing the ritual as comprising dramatis personae, a stage, drama, and a denouement. The personae were the two princesses; their preceptor, Shi Chongxuan ⎚ⲯ䌬 D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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(d. 713), who carried the titles of Grand Canon Preceptor of the Three Caverns and abbot of the imperial Taiqing abbey ⣒㶭奨; the officiant, Zhang Wanfu, who witnessed and recorded the ritual; and some other officiants.63 The stage was a three-tiered altar established at Guizhen abbey 㬠䛇奨, located in the inner palace and embellished with luxurious objects, described by Zhang Wanfu in great detail. The drama was the performance of the Cavern-Mystery transmission, though, unfortunately, Zhang only roughly described a few procedures: on the eighteenth day of the first month of Jingyun 2 (February 10, 711), the two ladies visited Shi Chongxuan at Guizhen abbey to receive the transmission of scriptures; on the eve of the twenty-seventh day (February 19, 711), the officiants performed the ritual; and on the next day the transmission was performed and concluded. The denouement refers to the liturgy toward the end of the investiture, when the officiant bestowed titles on the ordinands. Though Zhang Wanfu did not enumerate the titles bestowed on the two ladies, they should have received, in accordance with the CavernMystery canon transmitted to them, the title Wushang Dongxuan fashi 䃉ᶲ㳆䌬㱽ⷓ (Canon Preceptor of the Peerless Cavern-Mystery). Finally, the third investiture received by Jinxian and Yuzhen took place on the twenty-eighth day of the tenth month in Xiantian 1 (December 1, 712). As Zhang Wanfu briefly narrates, an altar was again constructed, embellished with even more luxurious objects, and scriptures based on the Shangqing canon were transmitted to the two ladies. Although Zhang again did not mention the title bestowed in this investiture, we know from Jinxian’s epitaph and Yuzhen’s title recorded in other sources that they reached the highest ordination rank of Great Cavern and Three Radiances.64

Objections to the Building of the Two Convents Though Zhang Wanfu sighed at the great wealth spent on the princesses’ two investitures, these costs were negligible compared with the huge imperial treasury endowed for building their magnificent convents, which led both political and religious forces to strongly object to the construction.65 The political criticism, beginning in 710 and continuing for two years, involved eight memorials presented by seven court officials. Eventually, Emperor Ruizong was forced to compromise by issuing a decree halting [ 36 ]

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the construction, but by then the convents were nearly finished and the projects in fact continued until completion. The situation began in the twelfth month of Jingyun 1 (710), when Ruizong issued a decree granting the ordination of the two princesses while also announcing his plan to build two convents for them.66 Immediately, Ning Tiyuan ⮏〴⍇ (664–728) counseled against the construction plan.67 Ning presented three arguments: first, magnificent buildings were heretical to Daoism and Buddhism; second, using huge outlays from the treasury and massive manpower to build the convents would cause the people to complain; and third, there were already sufficient monasteries to accommodate Daoists and Buddhists. The emperor praised Ning’s admonition but did not actually accept it. Subsequently, in the third month of Jingyun 2 (711), Ruizong ordered the construction of the two convents.68 They were to be located on the southeast and southwest corners of the Fuxing 庼冰 ward, right next to the imperial palace. The Jinxian convent was a new construction that must have caused the removal of original residences, whereas the Yuzhen convent was a rebuilding and possibly expansion of an office that originally had been the residence of Dou Dan 䩯娽, Jinxian’s and Yuzhen’s grandfather.69 Three more officials, Wei Zhigu 櫷䞍⎌, Li Yi 㛶ᷪ, and Cui Li Ⲽ呆, counseled against the construction.70 Li’s memorial is lost, while Wei’s and Cui’s presented two main arguments: first, starting the construction in the last month of summer violated the heavenly seasonal commands and therefore would bring disasters; and second, the construction was forcing many original residents to move, and the abundant requisition of corvée labor was impairing timely farming. Yet again, Ruizong ignored these criticisms. Then, as though in response to these officials’ predictions, from the summer to autumn of that year came floods followed by droughts. During the tenth month, Wei Zhigu and Xin Tipi 彃㚧⏎ again presented memorials protesting the two convents as well as two other constructions—the He’en monastery 匟】⮢ in Chang’an and the Heze monastery 匟㽌⮢ in Luoyang.71 Wei wasted no time bringing up the predicted natural disasters and possible famine the following spring. Xin used the example of Ruizong’s brother Emperor Zhongzong as a lesson, because the previous emperor had followed the will of Empress Wei in building many monasteries and had spoiled Princess Anle by erecting a luxurious mansion and garden for her, as a result of which he created resentment among the people and destroyed D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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himself. Ruizong praised their frank remonstrations and offered both a promotion, but again refused to change his mind. The following spring (712) again brought a great drought. During the third month, Pei Cui 墜ⅿ warned generally about the construction of all Daoist abbeys and Buddhist monasteries in the two capitals.72 Finally, during the fourth month of that year, Ruizong issued a decree in which he reluctantly ordered that construction on the two convents stop and that the convents and unused funding and building materials be surrendered to the managers of the princesses’ fiefs.73 Yet woods continued to be purchased for the construction while the inner decoration carried on, under the pretense that the princesses were bearing the cost. At this point, Wei Chou 杳㷲 presented one more memorial criticizing these continuing expenditures, but the court responded only by cutting down certain funds.74 In summary, a careful reading of the eight memorials tells us that the court officials mainly concerned the emperor’s misuse of massive funds from the national treasury and of corvée labor that might have impaired agriculture. The fact that several criticized the building not only of the two convents but also of other Buddhist monasteries concurrently being carried out in the two capitals testifies to their true purpose.75 On the religious side, the objection from the Buddhist camp came through a mean conspiracy. Jealous of Ruizong’s more keen support for Daoism, Buddhist monks crafted a plot to frame Shi Chongxuan, the two princesses’ preceptor in charge of the construction, by bribing a man with mental problems to sneak into the palace and proclaim himself emperor. When caught, he declared that it was Shi who had sent him, but the conspiracy was easily uncovered and the emperor issued a decree forbidding contention between Buddhists and Daoists.76 Thus, the religious camp also failed in its objections. Ruizong knew the court officials’ admonitions were righteous, and he even rewarded them with praise or promotion, yet he persisted in building the two convents. Two factors may explain this contradiction, the first being the emperor’s sincere interest in Daoism and his belief that building Daoist abbeys and Buddhist monasteries could accumulate merit. The second was his particular love for his two daughters, possibly owing to their mother’s tragic death because of him when they were very young, and also their sharing of the same religious belief. The court officials were certainly right to criticize Ruizong’s use of large amounts of state funds to build the two convents. However, from the [ 38 ]

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perspective of the Daoist tradition, the two princesses’ grand entry into the Daoist order was a significant event and even a turning point. Excluding the expedient scheme involving Taiping, Jianxian and Yuzhen were the first royal princesses to become Daoist priestesses. Thereafter, following in their footsteps, about twenty-five more princesses were ordained. In turn, all these ordained princesses influenced other royal and common women to walk out of the confinement of family and to take on Daoist priesthood as their career. Furthermore, Jinxian, Yuzhen, their father, Ruizong, elder brother Xuanzong, elder sister Caiguo, and their eight ordained nieces together demonstrated a strong family belief in Daoism, which in turn influenced Xuanzong’s religious policy during his reign, through which he eventually promoted Daoism to the status of state religion.

Jinxian and the Buddhist Stone Canon of Fangshan Jinxian’s two funeral inscriptions do not provide much information about her religious activities. Fortunately, however, another extant stele inscription records her crucial contribution to the monumental project of the Buddhist stone canon located in Fangshan County, Hebei province. The Stone Canon of Fangshan (Fangshan shijing ㇧Ⱉ䞛䴻), one of the most significant cultural treasures in the world, preserves the largest Buddhist stone scriptures in China, with more than fourteen thousand stones having been discovered. Beginning near the end of the Sui dynasty with individual sutras inscribed by the monk Jingwan 朄䏔 (var. Zhiyuan 㘢剹; d. 639), the carvings continued under the Tang dynasty, with significant support from Jinxian. The stele inscription recording Jinxian’s contribution, written and transcribed by Wang Shoutai 䌳⬰㲘, reads as follows: In the eighteenth year of the Kaiyuan reign period of the great Tang, Grand Princess Jinxian presented a memorial to the emperor for bestowing more than four thousand fascicles of new and old sutras translated in the great Tang to Fanyang district of Youzhou to be used as the base texts for stone scriptures. She also made a memorial to bestow those estates forever for the expenses of the Yunju monastery: a wheat farm and an orchard on the swampy area of Zhao D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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Xiangzi in Shangfa village located fifty li southeast of Fanyang district, and the forest encircling the mountains that border in the east on Fangnan peak, in the south toward other mountains, in the west at the mouth of Mount Baidai, and in the north in the watershed of the great mountain. She again presented a memorial to commission the dhyāna master Xuanfa to recite the Buddhist canon annually, in order upwardly to extend the precious calendar of the Tang and bless the compassionate emperor, and downwardly to guide sentient beings to ascend to the tree of enlightenment together. On the eighth day of the fourth month in the twenty-eighth year, which is a genchen year [May 8, 740], I, Wang Shoutai, a native of Mozhou and a former ordinary appointee of the Ministry of Personnel recorded this event on the back of the stone pagoda at the top of the mountain. ⣏Ⓒ攳⃫⋩ℓ⸜, 慹ẁ攟℔ᷣ䁢⣷俾ᶲ, 岄⣏Ⓒ㕘冲嬗䴻⚃⋫检⌟, ⃭ ⸥⹄劫春䷋䁢䞛䴻㛔. ⍰⣷劫春䷋㜙⋿Ḽ⋩墉ᶲ‫ج‬㛹嵁壬⫸㽙ᷕ湍䓘匲 ᷎㝄⚺ᶨ㇨, ⍲䑘Ⱉ㜿渻, 㜙㍍㇧⋿ⵢ, ⋿忤ṾⰙ, 大㬊䘥ⷞⰙ⎋, ⊿旸⣏ Ⱉ↮㯜䓴, ᷎㯠⃭ὃ䴎Ⱉ攨㇨䓐. ⍰⥼䥒ⷓ䌬㱽, 㬚㬚忂廱ᶨ↯䴻. ᶲ⺞⮞ 㬟, 㯠䤷ヰ䌳; ᶳ⺽㆟䓇, ⎴㒨奢㧡. 䱝攳⃫⺧ℓ⸜⹂彘㬚㛙㖶ℓ㖍, ⇵卓 ⶆ⎷悐ⷠ怠䌳⬰㲘姀Ⱉ枪䞛㴖⚾⼴.77 According to this inscription, in 730, Jinxian presented a memorial to her brother Emperor Xuanzong to request three things: that he deliver more than four thousand fascicles of Buddhist scriptures to the Yunju monastery ḹ⯭⮢ in the Fanyang district 劫春䷋; that he bestow a large estate, including a wheat farm, an orchard, and broad forests, on the monastery; and that he commission the dhyāna master Xuanfa, possibly the abbot of the Yunju monastery, to recite the entire canon annually for the blessings of the empire, the emperor, and the people.78 Xuanzong granted all three requests. Ten years later, in 740, the canon was sent to the monastery by two monks from the capital, Zhisheng (fl. 740s) and Xiuzhang (fl. 710–740). These three events initiated by Jinxian had a crucial influence on the great stone project. First, Zhisheng, the leading scripture deliverer, was the compiler of the Kaiyuan shijiao lu 攳⃫慳㔁抬 (Buddhist Scriptures Recorded in the Kaiyuan Reign Period), which was possibly a catalogue of the Buddhist canon compiled during the Kaiyuan era, known as the Kaiyuan zang 攳⃫啷 (Kaiyuan canon). Since the Kaiyuan shijiao lu happens to have been completed and presented to Xuanzong in 730, scholars generally believe that the collection of Buddhist scriptures sent to the Yunju monastery was [ 40 ]

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the main body of the Kaiyuan canon.79 This finely compiled and collated collection provided the best available base texts for the carving of the stone canon.80 Second, the bestowal of a large estate established a strong financial foundation for the project, because the quarrying and carving of stones consumed great wealth and manpower. Finally, the commission and appointment of Xuanfa legitimized his and the monastery’s authority over the project. Thus, Jinxian’s generous support greatly promoted the project and guaranteed its successful continuation textually, financially, and institutionally. As a result, by the end of the Tang period, more than four thousand pieces of stones had been carved.81 Why would a Daoist priestess have any interest in supporting a Buddhist canon project? Among modern scholars’ discussions, Tsukamoto Zenryū’s explanation of the general interpenetration of Buddhist and Daoist practices in the Tang era seems to be reasonable.82 Tang people in general considered both religions to provide compatible spiritual paths. Although both Jinxian’s father, Ruizong, and brother Xuanzong were fascinated by Daoism, they also supported Buddhism in various ways. As noted earlier, Jinxian’s niece Yongmu was an ordained Daoist priestess, but she also donated money to make Buddha statues. Jinxian’s sister and co-priestess, Yuzhen, also promoted Buddhist monks in several ways (see later discussion). A similar case is that of Princess Huayang, who was reported to be especially devout in her Daoist belief, yet when the Tantra master Amoghavajra (Bukong ᶵ䨢; 705–774) built the Pavilion of Mañjuśrī in 772, Huayang donated significant wealth to help the project.83 Thus, Jinxian’s help with the Buddhist stone canon was really nothing out of the ordinary. In addition to this general trend of thought, I further suggest the possibility that either Xuanfa had gone to the capital to persuade Jinxian to support the stone project, or Jinxian had herself visited the Yunju monastery, where she was impressed by the project. Certainly, it is impossible that the detailed listing of the estate in Jinxian’s memorial, including a wheat farm, an orchard, and forests with specific boundaries in the four directions, would have been of her own design; it must have been provided by Xuanfa in one way or the other. When Sun Chengze ⬓㈧㽌 (1592–1676) visited Mount Zhuolu 㵧渧Ⱉ (also called Mount Shijing 䞛䴻Ⱉ) next to Yunju monastery in the seventeenth century, he saw several pagodas atop the mountain, two of which were recognized as having been built by Jinxian: D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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On the top of the [mountain] are five stone towers, and small pagodas made of white stone on all the towers. Two of the pagodas in the south were built by Princess Jinxian of the Tang dynasty, and there are characters inscribed on them that still look new. No inscription is seen on any of the other pagodas, so it is impossible to examine them. [Ⱉ]枪㚱Ḽ䞛冢, 冢ᷳᶲ䘮㚱䘥䞛⮷㴖⚾. ℞⋿Ḵ侭ᷫⒸ慹ẁ℔ᷣ㇨⺢, ⇣⫿⤪㕘. 检䃉柴嬀, ᶵ⎗侫.84 It is not impossible for Jinxian to have taken such a trip; her sister Yuzhen also visited many Daoist and Buddhist sites all over the empire (see below). In either case, whether she was persuaded by Xuanfa in the capital or made an actual visit to the site, Jinxian appears to have been deeply touched by the great aspirations and dedicated efforts of the stone project and therefore decided to help. Her efforts, in turn, display her religious insight and enthusiasm and have turned out to be her everlasting legacy, in one of the world’s great cultural treasures.

Yuzhen: Patronage of Religion, Literature, and Politics and Calligraphic Accomplishments Two years following her help with the Buddhist stone canon project, Jinxian died at age forty-four in Kaiyuan abbey in Luoyang. Her sister Yuzhen was more fortunate, living to age seventy-two, as a result of which many more records of her deeds have been left. Yuzhen was talented in managing public and religious matters as well as in arts such as calligraphy. Like Jinxian, as the beloved full sister of Xuanzong (and the only one still living after Jinxian’s death) and sharing his belief in Daoism, Yuzhen received his full support for her religious, cultural, and even political activities, and she therefore accomplished much in various domains. According to the recently unearthed epitaph of Pei Shangjian, the wife of Yuzhen’s second son Zhang Ti, we know that Yuzhen married a man surnamed Zhang and gave birth to at least two sons.85 There is also a narrative text telling how, in 733, Xuanzong intended to marry Yuzhen to the Daoist adept Zhang Guo ⻝㝄 but Zhang refused,86 and his biographies in the two Tang histories copy this story.87 However, this is possibly mere hearsay, for two reasons. First, Yuzhen was already married, and, from a [ 42 ]

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poem by Li Bai written around that time, we know that her husband was alive (as we will discuss). Second, in 733 Yuzhen was forty-five years old, while, according to his biographies, Zhang boasted an age of several hundred years, though in fact he looked more like sixty to seventy years old; this age gap also made such a marriage proposal unlikely. In addition to the Yuzhen convent her father had built for her, the princess presided over at least two more: Anguo convent ⬱⚳奨 in Luoyang and Lingdu convent 曰悥奨 on Mount Wangwu 䌳⯳Ⱉ. Originally Princess Taiping’s residence, the Anguo convent was converted to the Zhengping abbey 㬋⸛奨 in 710. In 722, Yuzhen, who was residing at the abbey, changed it into a convent,88 in which she built a meditation cloister decorated with Laozi’s statue and pictures of famous Daoists. In the courtyard was a pond in which three rockeries were built to symbolize the three legendary immortal mountains of Penglai 咔厲, Fangzhang 㕡ᶰ, and Yingzhou 㿃㳚.89 Later, in 742, she built the Lingdu convent on the site of the old Fengxian abbey ⣱ẁ奨 on Mount Wangwu.90 She owned a mountain villa on Mount Li 樒Ⱉ, east of Chang’an,91 and she possibly also had a cloister in or a villa near Zongsheng abbey ⬿俾奨 (better known as Lou abbey 㦻奨).92 These residences became popular spots for contemporary or later poets to visit and compose poetry. During the Kaiyuan–Tianbao reign periods (713–756), Yuzhen acted as a religious “ambassador,” carrying out missions for her brother the emperor throughout the empire. For example, in about 727, Xuanzong sent Yuzhen and Wei Tao 杳䷂, Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Entertainments (Guanglu qing ⃱䤧⌧ ), to hold the fast of the Golden Register ( jinluzhai 慹抬滳) at Sima Chengzhen’s Yangtai abbey 春冢奨 on Mount Wangwu.93 In the third month of Tianbao 2 (743), she was sent by Xuanzong to make a pilgrimage to the Zhenyuan palace 䛇㸸⭖ in the Qiao commandery 嬁悉, traditionally recognized as Laozi’s birthplace, and also to pay homage to other great and sacred mountains. In the fourth month, she arrived at the palace, where she performed the ritual of the Golden Register fast, including the ritual of throwing dragon writ (toulong jian ㈽漵䯉).94 Leaving the palace, she visited the priestess Jiao Zhenjing 䃎䛇朄, Sima Chengzhen’s female disciple,95 on Mount Song, then visited Mount Wulao Ḽ侩Ⱉ (in present-day Yongji in Shanxi), where she again performed the ritual of throwing dragon writ.96 Finally, she went to Mount Wangwu, where she met Priest Hu 傉. From the twenty-fifth day of the fourth month (May 23, 743) to the third day of D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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the fifth month (May 30, 743), Hu conducted an investiture, during which he transmitted several Shangqing scriptures to Yuzhen and titled her Perfected Person of Yuzhen Wanhua (Yuzhen Wanhua Zhenren 䌱䛇叔厗䛇Ṣ). Because the region had been afflicted that year with a great drought from spring to summer, Yuzhen performed a ritual of praying for rain from the Xianren tower ẁṢ冢, and it was reported that afterward it rained, the local people gratefully calling it the “rain of the princess” (gongzhu yu ℔ᷣ暐).97 In addition to the religious tasks commissioned by the emperor, Yuzhen also initiated some projects and recommended many provincial Daoists and Buddhists to reside at major abbeys and monasteries in the capital or to be appointed as court officials. For example, in 736, Yuzhen sent an emissary to invite the priest Liu Ruoshui ∱劍㯜 to Xingtang abbey 冰Ⓒ奨 on Mount Song to collate Daoist scriptures and registers.98 In 732, Yuzhen recommended Shuai Yeguang ⷍ⣄⃱, originally a monk, to present his work Sanxuan yiyi ᶱ䌬䔘佑 (Variant Meanings in the Three Mysteries) to the emperor, who in turn appointed Shuai as Editor 㟉㚠恶 and Auxiliary Erudite of the School of the Four Gates ⚃攨⌂⢓䚜⚳⫸䚋.99 During the late Tianbao reign period (742–756), Yuzhen visited Mount Kongdong ⲮⱺⰙ in Yuanzhou ⍇ⶆ (present-day Pingliang in Gansu), where she met the dhyāna master Changyi ⷠᶨ. Appreciating his knowledge of Buddhism, she recommended him to her brother, who summoned him to the capital. Later, during the An Lushan Rebellion, Changyi contributed to Emperor Suzong’s battle against the rebels.100 Yuzhen was also related to and influential within the literati circle and their poetic activities in the capital.101 She often entertained the emperor in her residence or accompanied him to visit their elder brother Prince Ning ⮏䌳. As happened at many gatherings during the Tang era, poems were composed to celebrate these joyful occasions. For example, according to one poem by Emperor Xuanzong,102 two poems by the court official– poet Zhang Yue ⻝婒 (667–730),103 and one poem by another court official– poet, Wang Wei 䌳䵕 (701–761),104 we know that Yuzhen twice accompanied Xuanzong to visit Prince Ning’s mountain pond, and for each occasion the emperor wrote a poem and had it transcribed on a rock wall. Then Zhang Yue, possibly along with other official-poets, wrote poems in response to the emperor’s. We also know that Xuanzong visited Yuzhen’s mountain villa, where he composed a long poem of twenty lines. Although Zhang Yue and Wang Wei could have written their responding poems later, it also is possible that they and other court official–poets accompanied these [ 44 ]

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excursions and participated in the poetic activities together with the emperor, the princess, and the prince, just like the well-documented excursions of emperors Taizong and Zhongzong.105 Yuzhen’s most important influence on Tang literature, however, was her friendship with and recommendation of Li Bai, one of the greatest poets in Chinese literary history. Li Bai, a Daoist follower, received the Daoist investiture of ordination several times. Upon first arriving in the capital, in 730, to seek a political career, Li became a friend of Yuzhen and was accommodated in her villa. At this time he composed two poems, titled “Yuzhen gongzhu bieguan kuyu zeng Weiwei Zhang qing ershou” 䌱䛇℔ᷣ⇍棐劎 暐岰堃⮱⻝⌧Ḵ椾 (Depressed by Rains at Princess Yuzhen’s Villa: Two Poems Presented to Chief Minister of the Court of the Imperial Regalia Zhang),106 in which he expressed his anxiety about seeking political success while residing in the princess’s villa (Zhang is Yuzhen’s husband).107 Li Bai also penned another poem, dedicated to Yuzhen, titled “Yuzhen xianren ci” 䌱䛇ẁṢ娆 (Song of Immortal Yuzhen),108 which describes Yuzhen’s Daoist cultivation on Mount Hua and Mount Song. Finally, in 742, Yuzhen successfully recommended Li Bai to Xuanzong, who summoned him to serve as Hanlin Academician (Hanlin xueshi 侘㜿⬠⢓) at court.109 Yuzhen also possibly recommended another contemporary poet, Kang Qia ⹟㳥, to the emperor, which we know from a poem composed by the poet Li Qi 㛶架 ( jinshi 735).110 In the poem, Li says that Kang was going to the capital to present yuefu 㦪⹄ songs to the emperor, on the recommendation of a grand princess. It is highly possible that this grand princess was Yuzhen, because, among the grand princesses, only she and Jinxian had traveled outside the capital. Also, Kang Qia was originally from Jiuquan 惺㱱 (in present-day Gansu), in the northwestern region, which Yuzhen had once visited.111 Other contemporary or later Tang poets who wrote poems admiring or commemorating Yuzhen include Gao Shi 檀怑 (ca. 700–765), Chu Guangxi ⃚⃱佚 (ca. 706-ca. 762), Lu Lun 䚏䵠 (d. ca. 799), Sikong Shu ⎠䨢㚁 ( jinshi ca. 766), Zhang Ji ⻝䯵 (ca. 766-ca. 830), Li Qunyu 㛶佌䌱 (d. ca. 862), Wang Jian 䌳⺢ (b. ca. 766), and Liu Yuxi ∱䥡拓 (772–842).112 No other Tang princess was so enthusiastically celebrated and memorialized by the literati, and even after the Tang era, many literati continued to compose poems venerating her. Unlike her aunt Taiping or her cousin Anle ⬱㦪, Yuzhen showed no political ambition, though she did become involved in the political domain D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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by using her powerful connections to rescue members of the royal house or the descendants of virtuous officials from various troubles. For instance, Li Yixun 㛶佑䎋, the son of Li Shangjin 㛶ᶲ慹, Prince Ze 㽌䌳, who had been killed by Empress Wu, was falsely accused as an imposter by Li Huan 㛶䒀, Prince of Xu 姙䌳, and was banished to the far south, while his title and fief were stolen by Li Huan’s brother Li Liu 㛶䐮. In 724, Yuzhen presented a memorial to Xuanzong, clarifying that Li Yixun was in fact Li Shangjin’s son, upon which the emperor recovered Yixun’s title and fief and deprived Li Liu’s.113 Then in 727, when the prime minister Yuwen Rong ⬯㔯圵 (d. 730) tried to frame Li Wei 㛶䤽, Prince Xin’an ᾉ⬱䌳, Yuzhen, and the eunuch Gao Lishi 檀≃⢓ (690–762) spoke to Xuanzong, whereupon the emperor demoted Yuwen Rong and saved the prince.114 When Wei Zhan 櫷䝣, a descendant of the virtuous official Wei Zheng 櫷⽝ (580– 643) under Emperor Taizong, was convicted of a capital crime, Yuzhen took pity on him and helped him avoid the death penalty.115 Such events indicate that Yuzhen was a person of integrity and possessed political insight. After Xuanzong retired from the throne, however, Yuzhen’s power and fortunes declined, and she even came under suspicion from her nephew Emperor Suzong during the An Lushan Rebellion, yet she remained loyal to her brother and accompanied him in his lonesome and unsettled last years. The Tang scholar-official Liu Cheng 㞛䎝 recorded that, in 761, the eunuch Li Fuguo 㛶庼⚳ (704–762) forced Xuanzong to move from the Xingqing palace 冰ㄞ⭖ to the Taiji palace ⣒㤝⭖, while a Lady Jiuxian ḅẁ⩃ was banished to the far south.116 Lady Jiuxian must refer to Yuzhen, because she was called Princess Jiuxian in her later days. However, the two Tang histories and Zizhi tongjian record that she was ordered to return to the Yuzhen convent, which is probably closer to the truth.117 She died, lonely, at her convent in the jianchen ⺢彘 (third) month of Yuannian ⃫⸜ (Baoying 1; March 30 to April 28, 762),118 only one month before Xuanzong’s death.119 Wang Jin 䌳䶱 (700–782), Wang Wei’s brother, wrote her epitaph, which has been long lost, with just a few fragments recorded in the Jinshi lu.120 One more remarkable accomplishment of Yuzhen is her excellent calligraphy. Jinxian’s epitaphic inscription was transcribed by Yuzhen, and the original stele and its cover were rediscovered in 1974 in Pucheng County 呚❶䷋, Shaanxi province (figure 2.1).121 As full sisters, Jinxian and Yuzhen had lost their mother at ages four and two, respectively, and since then they [ 46 ]

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had kept each other company through the ceaseless palace strife, eventually becoming Daoist priestesses together, with a shared religious belief. As the elder sister, Jinxian probably guided her younger sister in many ways. It was with deep grieving for her sister that Yuzhen transcribed the epitaph.122 She then ordered Wei Linghe 堃曰浜, one of the most outstanding inscribers of the Tang era, to inspect, collate, and inscribe the transcribed epitaph.123 Consequently, the inscription achieves perfection in calligraphic art, and it may be regarded as the cooperative work of both Yuzhen and Wei Linghe. The inscription was transcribed with regular scripts (kaishu 㤟㚠).

Figure 2.1 Princess Jinxian’s epitaph, transcribed by Princess Yuzhen. Courtesy of Chang Chun ⷠ㗍, personal rubbing collection. D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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The entire piece is skillfully structured, and the scripts are balanced and harmonious, with every hook, stroke, and dot perfectly defined and executed. Overall, its features are neat, elegant, and vigorous yet delicate. Its style is considered to follow that of Ouyang Xun 㫸春娊 (557–641), one of the most renowned calligraphers in the Tang, though with certain innovative changes.124 In addition, Yuzhen also contributed to the calligraphic work of the Ling fei liujia jing 曰梃ℕ䓚䴻 (Scripture of the Six-Jia for Summoning the Lingfei [Jade Maidens]), which has been generally regarded as the most outstanding and influential Chinese calligraphic work of small regular script (xiaokai ⮷㤟). This Daoist scripture was transcribed in Kaiyuan 26 (738). There have been some incomplete copies reproduced in China, and the extant authentic fragment of forty-three lines of the work was first included in Weng Wange’s 佩叔ㆰ family collection and is now preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. At the end of the work, it is signed with Yuzhen’s name, indicating she commissioned and inspected the transcribing of this work under the order of Emperor Xuanzong.125 The scribe of this work has been postulated as the famous calligrapher Zhong Shaojing 挦䳡Ṕ (659–746), Yuzhen, or an unknown scholar of imperial schools,126 but these are all just speculations without any evidence. Because the work indicates Yuzhen as the commissioner, and because the calligraphic style of this work is different from that of Jinxian’s epitaph, we can determine that she did not transcribe this work. This extant rare treasure, however, does inform us that Yuzhen might have commissioned many other similar projects, thus helping propagate Daoist scriptures and produce numerous artistic masterpieces that have mostly been long lost.

Concluding Remarks It was unique in Chinese history for so many princesses and other royal and palace women to be ordained as Daoist priestesses. The Tang ruling house’s adoption of Daoism as its family religion established a common religious-political foundation for the princesses and their imperial parents, as well as other royal and palace women, from which arose varied purposes and motives for ordination. The ordained princesses were supposed to continue the royal house’s religious genealogy, help increase the sacredness of their ruling, and bring bliss to their ancestors and grand dynasty. [ 48 ]

D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

The initiation or ordination could be used as an expedient for political or religious purposes, so as to shun palace strife, to avoid diplomatic marriage beyond the border, or to make merit for deceased imperial ancestors. Some princesses developed their sincere belief in Daoism along with their fear and weariness of palace coups. Young princesses with serious illness were ordained in the hope of bringing bliss to them. Middle- and old-age royal women were ordained for being faithful to their deceased husbands, for sincere pursuit of Daoist immortality, or for both reasons. Some princesses enjoyed the freedom, independence, and even indulgence gained as a priestess. Some royal women became homeless because of political strife and had to enter the Daoist order as their final destination. Numerous palace women were forced to retire to Daoist convents to pass the rest of their lives. All these complicated and varied reasons and experiences were intermingled with the changing social, political, religious, and economic currents throughout the Tang dynasty. In turn, the ordained royal women forcefully influenced the changes in gender relations and religious-political power structure. They set up role models for other women to follow in the religious path. Their convents accommodated many ordained aristocrat women and became cultural landmarks in the capitals. Princess Jinxian played a crucial role in the project of the Buddhist stone canon of Fangshan, which has become one of humankind’s great cultural heritages. Princess Yuzhen carried out religious missions entrusted to her by Emperor Xuanzong or initiated by herself, recommended virtuous and talented literati and religious figures to the emperor, and rescued people trapped in political plights; her extant calligraphy also added an invaluable treasure to the storehouse of Chinese arts. In their own forceful ways, Jinxian, Yuzhen, and other ordained royal women participated in the operation of religion and society and helped promote the “Daoist empire,” religious and cultural prosperity, and political stability in Xuanzong’s reign, the so-called High Tang period and one of the cultural peaks in Chinese history.

D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

[ 49 ]

CH A P T E R I I I

Religious Leadership, Practice, and Ritual Function

I

n addition to the ordained royal women who appear to have established a role model for other women, numerous women from both elite and commoner families became ordained as Daoist priestesses throughout the Tang dynasty, and many convents were built. According to an official statistic from the Kaiyuan reign period (713–741), 550 of the total of 1,687 Daoist abbeys (32.6 percent) were convents, meaning that about one-third of the Daoist priesthood were females. Following in the footsteps of previous female Daoists, they assumed religious roles as leaders, mentors, preachers, theorists, adepts, and ritualists and achieved considerable public recognition as Daoist priestesses. Instead of the hagiographies from Du Guangting’s Jixian lu, which present idealized versions of Daoist women’s lives (as demonstrated in the appendix of this book), I have collected a total of thirty epitaphic and monastic inscriptions (excluding the ten epitaphs written for princesses, discussed in the previous chapter) written for or related to ordinary Daoist priestesses from both transmitted and recently unearthed materials; another six texts presented or copied by Daoist priestesses from the Dunhuang manuscripts, which reveal their religious activities and even artistic achievements; and other relevant sources. Together, these primary texts enable us to investigate the religious path and role of Tang Daoist priestesses, describing a comprehensive and solid picture that differs from that which current scholarship has provided. [ 50 ]

In the following four sections, I first provide the general information about fifty-three Daoist priestesses described in these sources, such as family background, reasons for ordination, and ordination ranks and convent positions. I then discuss their active engagement in religious leadership and monastic management, religious practice and social activities, and ritual function, in order to shed light on their religious experience and accomplishment.

Overview of the Priestesses’ Religious Experience Among the thirty epitaphic and monastic inscriptions, eleven (about 37 percent) were written by people related to the subjects, such as the priestesses’ husbands, sons, brothers, aunts, nephews, or disciples. They often write emotionally about their subjects and present factual details about their lives. Although they inevitably seek to idealize their subjects, we can often distinguish factual narrations from formulaic clichés. As for other epitaphs written by unrelated authors, because they were often based on raw materials such as “records of conduct” (xingzhuang 埴䉨) provided by associates of the deceased subjects, they usually also represent similar details and a comparable level of credibility.1 Based on these epitaphs and adding information from other primary sources,2 table 3.1 offers some basic information on the dates, convents, ordination ranks, convent posts, family backgrounds, ages and reasons for entering the Daoist order, and marital status of fiftythree priestesses described in these sources.3 Some general conclusions concerning these priestesses’ religious journey can be drawn from this table. First, thirteen among the fifty-three priestesses (about 25 percent) were abbesses of convents. As scholars have noted, in the early Celestial Master tradition, women could take up leading positions such as nüshi ⤛⢓ (female master), nüguan (female officiant), and jijiu 䤕惺 (libationer), just as men did.4 During the period of division (Northern and Southern Dynasties, 420–589), when Daoist monasticism was emerging, some female Daoists built their own Daoist residences (Daoguan 忻棐).5 During the Tang era, as Daoist monasticism became institutionalized, many priestesses were officially appointed as abbesses of convents, and they fulfilled their responsibilities in outstanding fashion (see below). Second, the table shows that thirteen priestesses (25 percent) attained the rank of master of Three Caverns (sandong ᶱ㳆 ) or of Great Cavern and L E A D E R S H I P, P R A C T I C E , A N D R I T UA L F U N C T I O N

[ 51 ]

Zhide guan 军⽟奨, Chang’an 攟⬱

⬇朄䳈 (542–638)

Ziyang guan 䳓春奨, Jizhou ℨⶆ (Hebei)

Bian Dongxuan

Zhang Zhen ⻝䛇 (courtesy name: Su’e 䳈⧍; 657–715)

(ca. 656–739)

Taiqing guan ⣒㶭奨, Chang’an; Linzhi guan 湇嵦奨, Luoyang 㳃春

Dongling guan 㳆曰奨, Xiantan yuan ẁ⡯昊, Fuzhou 㑓ⶆ ( Jiangxi)

Huang Lingwei 湫曰⽖ (ca. 642–721)

怲㳆䌬

In family

Lady Li 㛶⣓Ṣ (631–707)

Meng Jingsu

Convent/Residence

Name and Dates

Three Caverns

Abbess

Abbess

Rank/ Position

General Information on Tang Daoist Priestesses

TA B L E 3.1

Elite

Commoner

Elite

Elite

Family

22

Young

Young

Middle to old age, fulfilled domestic duties

15

Age of and Reason for Ordination

No

No

No

Yes

No

Marriage

MZ 1165–66

Taiping guangji 63.392; Quan Tangwen (QTW) 32.363a–b

Yan Lugong ji 9.1a–7a, 9.7a–9b

Tangdai muzhi huibian (MZ) 1078–79

Jinshi xubian 4.16a–19b

Source

Abbess Orthodox Unity and High Mystery

Chongxu guan (?), Dunhuang

Taiping guan ⣒⸛奨, Chang’an

Xiantan yuan, Fuzhou

Chongxu guan, Dunhuang

Zhao Maioxu

Wang Zixu 䌳䳓 嘃 (673–754)

Li Qiongxian 湶䑲ẁ (b. 692)

Ⓒ䛇ㆺ (b. 693)

Tang Zhenjie

嵁⥁嘃

Three Caverns

Chongxu guan (?), Dunhuang

Guo Jinji 悕慹➢ (fl. 678)

Abbess

Chongxu guan 㰾嘃奨, Dunhuang (Gansu)

Song Miaoxian ⬳⥁ẁ (d. ca. 678)

Commoner

Elite

17

Young

68, after fulfilling domestic duties

No

Yes

(continued )

P. 2347; Dunhuang Daojiao 166

Yan Lugong ji 9.1a–7a, 9.7a–9b

Tangdai muzhi huibian xuji (MZXJ) 656

Numbered Paul Pelliot manuscripts (P.) 2170; Dunhuang Daojiao 194

Numbered Aurel Stein manuscripts 3135; Dunhuang Daojiao 36–37

Dunhuang baozang San 0689; Dunhuang Daojiao 37

Taiping guan ⣒⸛奨, Chang’an

Longheshan guan 漵浜 Ⱉ奨 (Sichuan)

Changqiu guan 攟䥳奨, Qiongzhou 恃ⶆ (Sichuan)

Songshan ⴑⰙ (Henan)

Zhide guan, Chang’an

Wang Zixu 䌳䳓嘃 (673–754)

Cheng Wuwei ㆸ䃉䁢 (b. ca. 700)

Yang Zhengjian

Jiao Jingzhen 䃎朄䛇 (fl. 743)

Yuan Chun ⃫㶛 (courtesy name: Chunyi 㶛ᶨ; d. ca. 779)

(fl. 713–741)

㣲㬋夳

Convent/Residence

Name and Dates

Abbess

Abbess

Rank/ Position

TA B L E 3.1 General Information on Tang Daoist Priestesses (continued )

Elite

Commoner

Commoner

Elite

Family

Young

Young

68, after fulfilled domestic duties

Age of and Reason for Ordination

No

No

No

Yes

Marriage

MZXJ 729–30

QTW 712.28a–b

Shuzhong guangji 74.21b, 13.7b, 12.28a

Quan Tangwen bubian (QTWBB) 36.442

MZXJ 656

Source

Lushan

Kaiyuan guan 攳⃫奨, Luoyang

Xiantan yuan, Fuzhou

Cai Xunzhen 哉⮳䛇 (d. ca. 787)

Ma Lingxu 楔㶑嘃 (734–756)

Zeng Miaoxing

杻㶑嘃 (fl. 798)

Han Lingxu

Madam Liu ∱㮷

Jing yuan 曾昊, Zhongtiaoshan ᷕ㡅Ⱉ (Shanxi)

Jiayou guan ▱䋟奨, Chang’an; and Lushan

Li Tengkong 㛶様䨢 (d. ca. 787)

㚦⥁埴 (fl. 771)

Lushan ⺔Ⱉ ( Jiangxi)

Liang Dongwei 㠩㳆⽖ (d. ca. 780–784)

Great Cavern

Abbess

Abbess

Elite

Commoner

Commoner

Elite

Elite

After husband died

21, left courtesan life

Young

Young

Yes

No

No

(continued )

Daojia jinshi lüe (DJJSL) 169

Yinhua lu 4.407

Yan Lugong ji 9.1a–7a, 9.7a–9b

MZ 1724

Nankang fuzhi 8.42a–43b

Nankang fuzhi 8.42a–43b; Chang’an zhi 8.4b–5a

QTW 691.1b–2a

Madam Jiang

Yin Zhiqing 昘⽿㶭 (b. 764)

哋㮷 (755–827)

Chongxu guan (?), Dunhuang

In family

Orthodox Unity

Abbess Elite

11

Old, after fulfilling domestic duties

Young

No

Yes

No

Wutong guan Ḽ忂奨, Chang’an

Feng Deyi 楖⼿ᶨ (739–809)

Elite

DJJSL 169

Jing yuan, Zhongtiaoshan

Yao Huixing

⦂よ⿏ (fl. 798)

Dunhuang baozang BD 14532; Dunhuang Daojiao 294

MZXJ 879–880

MZXJ 814

DJJSL 169 DJJSL 169

Great Cavern

Jing yuan, Zhongtiaoshan

Source

Yao Wuzhen ⦂ぇ䛇 (fl. 798)

Marriage

Jing yuan, Zhongtiaoshan

Family

Li Yizhen 㛶シ屆 (fl. 798)

Rank/ Position

Convent/Residence

Age of and Reason for Ordination

Name and Dates

TA B L E 3.1 General Information on Tang Daoist Priestesses (continued )

After husband’s death

Yongmu guan 㯠䧮奨, Chang’an

Wangwushan 䌳⯳Ⱉ (Henan)

Wangwushan

Wangwushan

傥⍣⠝ (768–830)

Liu Moran 㞛満䃞 (773–840)

Zhao Yousu 崝⎛䳈 (d. before 840)

Zhao Jingxuan 崝㘗䌬 (fl. 840)

Neng Quchen

After husband’s death

Great Cavern and Three Radiances

Great Cavern and Three Radiances

Abbess

Elite

Elite

Elite

Elite

Young, followed belief of mother, Liu Moran

Young, followed belief of mother, Liu Moran

ca. 34, after fulfilling domestic duties

Young

Daolin guan 忻㜿奨, Lunzhou 㼌ⶆ ( Jiangsu)

Commoner

Zhenyuan 䛇⃫ (fl. 785–804)

Three Caverns

23

Guozhou 㝄ⶆ (Sichuan)

Elite

Xie Ziran 嫅冒䃞 (d. 794)

Great Cavern and Three Radiances

Yuchen guan 䌱㘐奨, Chang’an

Han Ziming 杻冒㖶 (764–831)

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

(continued )

MZ 2201–202

MZ 2201–202

MZ 2201–202; DJJSL 176–77

MZXJ 902; QTWBB, 67.815

QTW 531.23b–24a

Yudi beijimu 4.98; Ba Shu Daojiao beiwen jicheng 34–35

MZXJ 906

Yandong gong 䅽㳆⭖, Maoshan ( Jiangsu)

Anguo guan ⬱⚳奨, Luoyang

∱农㝼 (789–849)

Wang Xuming 䌳嘃㖶 (792–859)

Great Cavern and Three Radiances

Great Cavern

Yuchen guan, Chang’an

Tian Yuansu 䓘⃫䳈 (courtesy name: 䞍䘥; 787–829)

Liu Zhirou

Great Cavern and Three Radiances

In family

Zhang Rongcheng ⻝⭡ㆸ (783–801)

Rank/ Position

In family

Convent/Residence

Feng Xingzhou 楖埴␐ (778–858)

Name and Dates

TA B L E 3.1 General Information on Tang Daoist Priestesses (continued )

Elite

Elite

Elite

Elite

Elite

Family

ca. 44, after sons’ death

Middle age

Young, followed father’s belief

Young

Converted from Buddhism

Age of and Reason for Ordination

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Marriage

Luoyang xinhuo qichao muzhi 252

MZ 2303–304

MZXJ 892–93

DJJSL 169–70

Luoyang xinhuo qichao muzhi 365

Source

Old age, after fulfilling domestic duties

In family

Qian Youxuan

Xu Pan ⼸䚤 (807–829)

拊⍰䌬 (807–880)

Yaotai guan 䐌⎘奨, Huazhou 㹹ⶆ (Henan)

Young

Taibaishan ⣒䘥Ⱉ, Shaanxi

Hu Yin 傉ゼ (fl. 800–848)

Three Caverns

Daochong guan

Lü Xuanhe ⏪䌬␴ (793–830)

ⷠ䃱ⷓ

Daochong guan 忻㰾奨, Henan (Henan)

Elite

Elite

Elite

23

Young

Followed belief of daughter Lü Xuanhe

Young, followed belief of aunt Wang Xuming

Priestess Chang

Elite

Anguo guan, Luoyang

Young, followed belief of aunt Wang Xuming

Liu Taixia 㞛⣒曆 (fl. 859)

Elite

Anguo guan, Luoyang

Liu Miaoshou 㞛⥁椾 (fl. 859)

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

No

No

MZ 2114

(continued )

Da Tang xishi 1018–19

Daozang 432, 6:686c–93b; 263, 4: 835c–843c

Luoyang xinhuo qichao muzhi 219

Luoyang xinhuo qichao muzhi 219

Luoyang xinhuo qichao muzhi 252

Luoyang xinhuo qichao muzhi 252

Yuchen guan, Chang’an

Daoxing guan 忻冰奨, Zizhou 㠻ⶆ (Sichuan)

Hou Qiongzhen ὗ䑲䍵 (fl. 830)

Feng Xingzhen

Miss Chen 昛㮷

漸⽟䣾 (fl. 837)

Yuchen guan, Chang’an

In family

Zhi Zhijian 㓗⽿➭ (812–861)

Pang Dezu

Daoxing guan, Zizhou

He Zhenjing ỽ䛇曾 (fl. 836–855)

(fl. 836–855)

楖埴䛇

Convent/Residence

Name and Dates

Great Cavern

Great Cavern; abbess

Abbess

Rank/ Position

General Information on Tang Daoist Priestesses (continued )

TA B L E 3.1

Elite

Elite

Elite

Family

Young

34, converted from Buddhism

Age of and Reason for Ordination

No

No

No

Marriage

MZXJ 1055–56

Cefu yuangui 54.607

MZ 2393

QTW 779.22b–27b

QTW 779.22b–27b

Da Tang huiyuan guan zhonglou ming

Source

Three Radiances (dadong sanjing ⣏㳆ᶱ㘗), the two highest ranks in the Tang Daoist ordination system (as discussed in chapter 1). Daoist women were provided relatively equal opportunity for their spiritual pursuits, meeting the same requirements and going through the same procedures as priests, and they were able to reach the same high ranks. Moreover, because different ordination ranks required the learning and transmitting of large groups of Daoist scriptures from different traditions, many of which were very difficult texts, the attainment of various ordination ranks by the priestesses speaks to their considerable levels of education and knowledge of Daoist doctrines. Third, we see that six ordained priestesses (11 percent) did not live in Daoist convents but instead remained at home or took turns staying at both locations. This was in accordance with the Tang Daoist ordination system, which allowed ordained Daoists of certain ranks or circumstances to maintain their marital status or to live at home (as discussed in chapter 2). Here we observe that although Tang Daoist tradition established monasticism and required a majority of Daoists to live in abbeys, it also provided flexibility and fluidity for these accomplished women to trespass the traditional inner–outer divide. Fourth, twenty-nine among the fifty-three priestesses (55 percent) were from elite families and seven were from commoner families; the backgrounds of nineteen are not indicated. Genealogies of elite families were especially emphasized during the Tang period, and unknown or unstated background usually indicates a commoner family. Because priestesses from elite families were typically more likely to have epitaphs written for them, the statistics derived from this table may not reflect the actual ratio of different family backgrounds. They do, however, show that women from different social strata were attracted to Daoism and could be ordained as priestesses. Fifth, we also see from the table the varied reasons that Tang women entered the Daoist order. Six (11 percent) followed the Daoist leanings of their parents or other relatives to become priestesses. Twenty-two priestesses (42 percent) were initiated into the Daoist order at a young age and never married, and eleven of the epitaphs recount their subjects as “holding Daoist beliefs from childhood.” Although it was a stereotype in biographies to describe subjects as gifted prodigies and as religious devotees from a young age, some of them might indeed have had very early interest and belief in Daoism, such as the six priestesses who followed in their relatives’ footsteps, and the Dunhuang priestess Yin Zhiqing, who received the L E A D E R S H I P, P R A C T I C E , A N D R I T UA L F U N C T I O N

[ 61 ]

Zhengyi initiation or ordination at the age of eleven.6 The epitaphs describe some of the girls as having “vowed rather to die than to marry” when confronted with the conventional expectation of marriage, and as having eventually obtained their parents’ acceptance of their decision. This shows determination in refusing traditionally prescribed family roles and pursuing their own spiritual goals. Seven of the priestesses in our table were ordained at middle age or older, after having fulfilled their domestic duties, and some of them were praised as observing the Confucian “women’s Way” ( fudao ⨎忻) properly.7 Five entered the Daoist order after the death of a husband, and thus followed the traditional gender norm of keeping faithful to a deceased husband. One was a courtesan before her ordination, and one was ordained on account of illness, in the hope that the ordination might bring her blessings. It is especially notable that two priestesses were transferred from being Buddhist nuns, because of the government persecution of Buddhism in the Huichang 㚫㖴 era (841–847) , and they did not transfer back after the persecution, suggesting that they considered that both religions provided a similar path for religious life. All of these different reasons for entering the Daoist order indicate that Daoism offered women of different situations a desirable pathway for spiritual pursuits during different stages of their life journeys, presented them an opportunity to negotiate with or escape from the constraints of traditionally prescribed family roles, and provided them a new identity, career, and various roles to perform in the broader social sphere. Like the princesspriestesses, their experience often demonstrates a natural continuity between Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. Sixth, the fifty-three priestesses tabulated here are representative of the Tang dynasty in both temporal and spatial distributions. Temporally, they range from the transitive period of Sui-Tang in the early sixth century to the late Tang in the second half of the ninth century. Geographically, they were spread and active throughout the empire, including the two capitals and seven present-day provinces in both the north and the south: Chang’an (ten); Luoyang (six); Jiangxi (six); Sichuan (five); Henan (five); Gansu (five); Shanxi (four); Jiangsu (two); Shaanxi (one); Hebei (one); in family (five); and unknown (two). Having surveyed the general facts about these women’s lives, we can now consider more specific questions. For instance, what roles did these and other Tang priestesses assume within or outside the convent? What [ 62 ]

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talents did they display and what initiatives did they demonstrate in their religious and social activities? What sorts of rituals did they perform?

Religious Leadership and Monastic Management Of the thirteen abbesses on our list, seven had other accomplishments in addition to their leadership talents and will be discussed in next section. The remaining six—Huang Lingwei, Li Qiongxian, Cheng Wuwei, Feng Deyi, Feng Xingzhen, and Lü Xuanhe—are said to have displayed piety, creativity, and persistence in creating, constructing, renovating, and managing shrines, cloisters, and convents. They also demonstrated a gender awareness of following in a distinct female genealogy within the Daoist tradition. The first of these abbesses, Huang Lingwei, sobriquet name Huagu 厗⥹, has been studied in detail and depth by Russell Kirkland. Following Kirkland’s study and the two inscriptions by Yan Zhenqing,8 Huang’s life and religious experience can be described as follows. She was likely a commoner, because the inscriptions make no mention whatever of her family background. At age twelve, she was ordained into the Tianbao ⣑⮞ abbey in Fuzhou. In 692, when she was around age fifty, she resolved to rediscover the early shrines devoted to Lady Wei Huacun 櫷厗⬀ (251–334), an important Daoist figure from several centuries before.9 She found the ruins of a shrine in Wugui yuan, south of the outskirts of the prefecture, which she then renovated. Sometime between 710 and 712, Emperor Ruizong (r. 710–712) ordered the Dongling convent to be built beside the shrine and the ordination of seven priestesses to reside therein. Huang was likely appointed as its abbess. Afterward she discovered and renovated another shrine of Lady Wei, at Mount Jing ḽⰙ, and built next to it a cloister named Xiantan ẁ⡯. As founder of the cloister, she also probably became its abbess. Dying there in 721, she was described as having become a perfected person (zhenren 䛇Ṣ). As Kirkland indicates, Huang Lingwei’s image presents a woman of great piety and exceptional courage. By restoring the shrines, she also displayed a gender awareness of a female Daoist tradition and “identified with Lady Wei because of their common gender.”10 In addition, Yan Zhenqing’s two inscriptions tell us not only the story of Huang Lingwei but also the experience of her disciple Li Qiongxian 湶䑲ẁ. The inscriptions says that, in 768, when Yan arrived in Fuzhou as L E A D E R S H I P, P R A C T I C E , A N D R I T UA L F U N C T I O N

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prefect, Wei Huacun’s shrines were again deserted. Yan assigned seven priestesses to reside in the Xiantan cloister. Because Li Qiongxian is mentioned as the leading figure among the seven priestesses, she was possibly appointed as abbess. Li led her disciples to renovate the cloister and stood a statue of Huang Lingwei beside that of Lady Wei. Li Qiongxian’s renovation activities appear to have followed in her mentor’s footsteps, with similar piety and conviction. By erecting her mentor’s statue alongside Lady Wei’s, Li also identified herself with Huang and Wei because of their common gender. The next abbess to be considered is Cheng Wuwei ㆸ䃉䁢. The inscription related to Cheng is not an epitaph but was engraved on a stele in her convent, to commemorate her establishment of the Longheshan convent and her planting of trees all over the mountain.11 This inscription was written in 750, when Cheng was still alive and just over fifty years of age. The inscription does not mention her family background, and thus she was likely from a commoner family. The inscription begins with the cliché that, at a young age, Cheng practiced Daoist longevity techniques masterfully and developed a profound learning of Daoist scriptures. Although this cliché may not be taken fully at face value, the statement that follows—that Cheng determined not to get married and instead entered a Daoist convent when very young—probably describes her actual experience. The inscription then narrates that Cheng later went to Mount Longhe, located in her hometown, where she built a convent of her own. She then planted “more than ten thousand” trees covering the mountain, no doubt along with her disciples and followers. In addition, Cheng fulfilled the routine duties of a religious leader both inside and outside the convent, such as observing required fasts, reciting Daoist scriptures, performing Daoist rituals, making sacrifices to the spirits of the mountain, and assisting both the local people and officials when in need. The afforestation of the mountain also benefited the local residents. Cheng Wuwei is thus presented as a figure of admirable piety, courage, and hard work in establishing a new convent on a remote mountain and afforesting its environment. She is also lauded for not just remaining cloistered in the convent but also reaching out for public service.12 Unlike the abbesses of obscure family background discussed thus far, Feng Deyi 楖⼿ᶨ came from a renowned elite family. Wishing to remain unmarried and intent on entering the Daoist order, she received her family’s approval to do so. She was ordained, possibly at a young age, into the [ 64 ]

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Wutong convent in Chang’an. She is said to have understood the Daoist classic Daode jing in depth and to have mastered all the recipes of alchemy. Described as bright, fair, and possessing a talent for management, she was first elected as weiyishi ⦩₨ⷓ (master of discipline), with responsibility for overseeing the convent’s rituals and disciplines,13 and later became abbess. Her epitaph records her accomplishments after assuming the post of abbess as follows: The immortal master therefore established rules and regulations and renovated the ruined [buildings]. Within several years, there were new establishments day by day. She created a contemplation cloister, and then constructed a mill as a common estate [of the convent]. When she began planning the constructions, everybody said these would be impossible to accomplish. The immortal master had made her sincere decisions and would not give them up. In less than a year, all these were completed. Her meritorious deeds in such various planning and building are too many to record, and the monastic assembly put their reliance on her. ẁⷓ㕤㗗㍸㋗䵙柀, 个䶅晛 [敽ᶨ⫿], 㔠⸜ᷳ攻, 㖍㕘ㆸ䩳. ∝伖䱦⿅ 昊ᶨ㇨, ℵᾖⷠỷ䡹ᶨ䩈. 䔞㫚䶈㥳ᷳ⇅, 埮Ṣ䘮媪ᶵ⎗. ẁⷓ䱦婈⶚军, 䡢᷶ᶵ㉼, 㚦㛒㴡䦼, ⵳䃞ẍ⯙. 媠㇨䆇⺢, ℞≇暋䲨, ⼺埮岜䂱.14 The most important of her construction projects were the building of a contemplation cloister and of a mill that served the local people and supported the convent’s priestesses. It was a common practice during the Tang period for Daoist and Buddhist monasteries to build mills and, by serving the local people, to make a profit to help sustain the monasteries, but building a mill was expensive and difficult.15 Though her projects were opposed by “everyone,” she persisted successfully. In addition to her strong initiative, Feng seems to have displayed an aptitude for financial management in running the convent. Feng Xingzhen 楖埴䛇, another abbess from a great family, and her fellow priestess He Zhenjing ỽ䛇曾 were celebrated for their efforts in reconstructing the Daoxing convent 忻冰奨 in Zizhou. Originally an abbey built during the Sui dynasty, it was destroyed by fire during the wars at the dynasty’s end. In 729, it was rebuilt, but by the Yuanhe reign (806– 820) was again deserted. In 835, Feng Su 楖⭧ (767–837) became prefect and military commissioner of the prefecture. Because his daughter Feng L E A D E R S H I P, P R A C T I C E , A N D R I T UA L F U N C T I O N

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Xingzhen had been ordained as a Daoist priestess, he began rebuilding the abbey, changing it into a convent, but he died the following year, before the project was completed. Feng Xingzhen and He Zhenjing then led the other women of the convent to seek continuing support from the local people and eventually finished the construction. In a commemorative inscription, the famous poet Li Shangyin 㛶⓮晙 (ca. 813–ca. 858) expressed his admiration for the two priestesses: They practiced their righteous duties and therefore are supported by the people; they are able to unite with others, so their work has succeeded. . . . They are brilliant and capable in management and discipline. They succeeded in following previous examples and renewed the old building. 佑埴㕤⼿䛦, ḳ普㕤␴⃱ . . . 劙唌䥨古, 㕳䵙㬍䲨. ⃳巰⇵㬎, 傥㕘 冲⛨.16 Although it is not explicitly indicated by the inscription, the two women were obviously the leaders of the convent, with Feng Xingzhen most likely the abbess and He Zhenjing possibly the head priestess.17 The epitaph for Lü Xuanhe ⏪䌬␴, the last abbess in this group of six, is brief, but it tells a similar story: Lü was also good in managing the convent and disciplining the residences.18 It seems evident from the sources examined so far that some women leaders in the Tang Daoist tradition successfully founded, built, and managed shrines, convents, and cloisters. They are described as displaying initiative and independence in making their own decisions and then bringing them to fruition and success. They also were able to manage their convents appropriately. Because the construction projects and associated social services unavoidably involved dealing with local laity, the convents and cloisters served not only as a locus of female action and autonomy but also as a platform for interacting with people in the public sphere and contributing to the order of society.

Religious Practices and Social Responsibilities Tang Daoist priestesses further crossed traditional gender demarcations in their performance of other religious roles, as preachers, mentors, adepts, [ 66 ]

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and theorists, as well as in the particular way they fulfilled social and family responsibilities. They were also active in copying out Daoist scriptures. The experience of Tian Yuansu 䓘⃫䳈 is an example a priestess in the role of preacher and religious mentor. Tian was the daughter of the famous Daoist master Tian Guidao 䓘㬠忻, who wrote a commentary on the Daode jing. Following in her father’s footsteps, she entered the Daoist order at a young age. In 814, she received the Highest Clarity scriptures and attained the highest ordination rank of Disciple of Great Cavern and Three Radiances. We are told that she was exceptionally eloquent and versed in the Daoist scriptures, especially the Daode jing, which we might expect, given her father’s attachment to it. When she preached, she always attracted a large audience. Her epitaph records: She applied herself to the study of the canon and read through the entirety [of the scriptures]. When she expounded the “mysterious marvels” of the five-thousand-character text [Daode jing], listeners filled the hall; when she ascended the doctrinal platform [to preach], spectators [gathered round] like a wall. ℏḳ℠⡛, 念䘮㉓奥. 㺼Ḽ⋫ᷳ䌬⥁, 倥侭䙰➪; 䘣㱽⹏侴㔟㎂, 奨侭 ⤪⟝.19 This description is reminiscent of a passage in Han Yu’s 杻グ (768–824) roughly contemporary poem “The Maiden from Mount Hua” (Huashan nü 厗Ⱉ⤛), which tells of a Daoist priestess who preached to the public and attracted a large audience: Human traces are swept away in all Buddhist monasteries, As fine horses and ladies’ carriages fill the street [to the convent].20 People crowd into the convent, some even sitting outside, Latecomers find no place to stand and listen. ㌫昌䛦⮢Ṣ嶉䳽, 槲槖⠆嶗忋廄廏. 奨ᷕṢ㺧⛸奨⢾, ⼴军䃉⛘䃉䓙倥.21 Here, even the followers of Buddhism are won over by the priestess’s sermon. The Huashan priestess spoke inside the Daoist convent, but her audience included secular men and women who came by horses and carriages, so we know the sermon was open to the public. As a matter of fact, much earlier than Tian and the priestess from Mount Hua, during the Sui and early Tang periods, the priestess Meng Jingsu L E A D E R S H I P, P R A C T I C E , A N D R I T UA L F U N C T I O N

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⬇朄䳈, who was summoned to the capital and appointed abbess of the Zhide convent 军⽟奨 by Emperor Wendi of the Sui dynasty (r. 589–604),

and then further revered by emperors Gaozu (r. 618–626) and Taizong (r. 626–649) of the Tang dynasty, was a renowned preacher and mentor in the capital and is reported to have converted many followers.22 Thus, we can assume that, during the Tang dynasty, it might not have been uncommon for Daoist priestesses to preach to the public, and that their religious passion, profound knowledge, and eloquent sermons attracted, influenced, and converted many people.23 Because of his critical attitude toward Buddhism and Daoism and his mission of reviving Confucianism, Han Yu’s poem carries a light tone of irony, but not explicit and serious. In later times, a few traditional scholars, such as Zhu Xi 㛙䅡 (1130–1200), criticized Tang Daoist priestesses who preached publicly as “indecent women” (shixing furen ⣙埴⨎Ṣ), 24 while many modern scholars have further condemned them as being “licentious” (yindang 㶓唑),25 “corrupting public morals” (shangfeng baisu  桐㓿὿),26 and so forth. This kind of criticism appears to have two main sources. The first is the traditional, embedded gender pattern of “separation of male and female” (nannü zhibie 䓟⤛ᷳ⇍ ) and “separation of inner and outer” (neiwai zhibie ℏ⢾ᷳ⇍ ), requiring women to be restrained in their speech and confined to their inner quarters. The second is ignorant disregard of historical context. As the examples of Meng Jingsu, Tian Yuansu, and the priestess from Mount Hua indicate, during the Tang, the public preaching of Daoist priestesses (as well as of Buddhist nuns) was often appreciated. Meng Jingsu was admired by emperors of the Sui and early Tang, and in Han Yu’s poem the maiden from Mount Hua was summoned to the palace. In 819, Tian Yuansu also was summoned to the palace, by Emperor Xianzong. At the palace, the emperor built a special cloister inside the Yuchen convent for Tian Yuansu’s residence. There, Tian became a mentor to emperors, empresses, and other palace ladies and maidens. She was esteemed by four successive emperors, Xianzong, Muzong (r. 820–824), Jingzong (r. 824–826), and Wenzong. Again, “when she preached [in the palace], several thousands of people from imperial consorts downward listened to her speech” 㭷ᶨ嫃婒, ⤫⫒⶚ᶳ䚠䌯侴倥侭㔠⋫Ṣ. Upon her death, in 829, Emperor Wenzong bestowed upon her the posthumous title of Perfected Person of the Azure Sovereign of the Eastern Sacred Mountain (Dongyue

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qingdi zhenren 㜙ⵥ曺ⷅ䛇Ṣ). In the end, she received high praise from Song Ruoxian ⬳劍ㅚ, a female Confucian scholar who was the author of her epitaph and was her distant aunt. 27 It seems that, as public preachers and mentors to emperors, Tian Yuansu, Meng Jingsu, and the priestess from Mount Hua present a kind of gender reverse, which to a certain extent undermines traditional expectations. The epitaphs of other of our priestesses describe specialties and activities as Daoist adepts and practitioners. Thus, Lady Li 㛶⣓Ṣ specialized in the Daoist classics of Daode jing and Zhuangzi and reached the state of spiritual transcendence. She described death as a “return to the court of perfection.” In her will, she criticized the ritual of burying deceased husband and wife in the same tomb as damaging the ancient Way of purity and perfection, and she ordered her sons not to bury her in the same tomb with her husband.28 This indicates that her new identity as an ordained priestess was of more significance to her than the traditional Confucian role of wife. Here, an independent grave represents an independent and equal status. Li Tengkong 㛶様䨢, the daughter of the notorious prime minister Li Linfu 㛶㜿䓓 (683–753), moved from the Jiayou convent ▱䋟奨 in the capital to a cloister on Mount Lu ⺔Ⱉ, perhaps after her father’s fall, in 752, along with Cai Xunzhen 哉⮳䛇, also the daughter of a high official, who lived at another cloister on the same mountain. Li and Cai had reputations for helping people in need and healing them with Daoist elixirs, medicines, and therapeutic talismans. After their passing, local people performed cult sacrifices to them.29 Yuan Chun, the daughter of an official and the abbess of the Zhide convent for thirty-six years, is described as being an excellent practitioner of outer, or laboratory, alchemy.30 In addition to the epitaphs, we find many Daoist female adepts mentioned in poems, essays, and narratives of Tang literati. For example, the collector of marvelous tales, Dai Fu ㇜⬂ ( jinshi 757) described a certain Bian Dongxuan 怲㳆䌬 as engaging in Daoist exercises, such as abstaining from grains and ingesting elixir drugs, for forty years.31 Jiao Jingzhen 䃎朄䛇, one of the two most renowned disciples of Sima Chengzhen ⎠楔㈧䤶 (647–735), was praised in poems by several literati for her skills in outer alchemy, breath control exercises, and abstention from grains.32 Another poet, Zhang Ji ⻝䯵 (ca. 766–ca. 830), wrote admiringly of a priestess who was expert in visualization practices and abstention from grains. 33 One more poet, Qin Xi 䦎䲣 (ca. 720–ca. 800), described a priestess who ate no

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food not all, including herbs, for forty years.34 There were also two outstanding priestess-theorists, Liu Moran 㞛満䃞 (discussed in chapter 4) and Hu Yin 傉ゼ (discussed in chapter 5). The ordained Daoist priestesses usually did not cut off relationship with their families but rather continued to fulfill family duties in particular ways. Han Ziming 杻冒㖶, who received the ordination of the Great Cavern, hailed from an elite family and married a young scholar at the age of twenty-two. A year later she gave birth to a child, but her husband died unexpectedly. Entrusting her child to her parents, she chose to become a priestess. Around 790 or 791, when her father Han Yi 杻ἦ was prefect of Guozhou 㝄ⶆ in Sichuan, she became a good friend of the local priestess Xie Ziran 嫅冒䃞, and together they received the Three Caverns ordination from the Daoist master Cheng Taixu 䦳⣒嘃. 35 Han Ziming later resided on Mount Hua, and then in the Xianyi convent ①⭄奨 in the capital.36 Her strict self-discipline and profound knowledge of Daoist teachings are said to have attracted many women from aristocratic families as eager students. Although she earlier gave up her own child, Han Ziming was praised, after the death of her elder brother, for raising his orphaned children, seeing them married and settled, and even paying off the remaining debts of this brother through her business acumen: The master was compassionate to all, and her giving started with her family. She raised her orphaned nephews and had all of them married and settled in residences. In addition, she once purchased an abandoned mountain villa, and collected profits [gained from it] to pay off the debts owed by her [deceased] brother to a eunuch. Personally, although enduring hardships of hunger and cold, she showed no unhappiness or frustration in her expression. ⷓヰ㸋㕤ᶨ↯, 侴㕥䓙奒⥳. 㓭㑓⬌⦒⻙⫸, ①ᾦ㚱⭞侴⯭⭌. ⍰▿屐 㡬Ⱉ⠭, 倂䔄⫸䤧, ẋ⃬⃇徳屔㕤ᷕ屜Ṣ. 幓晾⚘⽵⭺棏, 侴刚䃉⟁櫙.37 Han Ziming’s experience shows an unusual role dislocation. In the case of her own family, she gave up the traditional role of mother to pursue her religious devotions, whereas in the case of her deceased brother’s family, she assumed the role of “father” or “husband” as family supporter and protector. During the Tang, as in other periods of premodern history, women were traditionally prescribed the three roles of daughter, wife, and mother; [ 70 ]

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they were normally constrained from shouldering “outer” responsibilities such as providing for a family, even though some were described as highly capable in managing household finances and operations in the inner quarters, and some working women provided certain support for their families. 38 In exceptional cases, some widows were known to support their families with diligence, frugality, and hard work, and some women even ran their own businesses.39 Han Ziming’s success provides an example of a woman stepping into a man’s role, when need and opportunity required. Her experience also indicates that Daoist priestesses had certain freedoms to choose their social and family roles and functions. It is said that when Emperor Wenzong heard of Han’s virtue in supporting her deceased brother’s family, he summoned her to become a palace priestess and mentor: When news of her virtue had reached high to the emperor, he wished to receive instruction from her. Early in the Dahe reign period, he summoned her to the palace to reside in the Yuchen convent. Whenever the master made her presence before the throne, His Highness never failed to sit upright and cup his hands with a serious countenance, listening to her sermon quietly. He bestowed upon her clothes of high rank and built for her a cloister. ⽟㖊⋯倆, ⷅ⿅Ḇ妨. [⣏␴]⇅, ⎔ℍ⭖䌱㘐奨. ⷓ㭷忚夳, ᶲ㛒▿ᶵ⯭ 㬋䪗㊙, 㔜⭡⭪倥. ⁁␥㚵ᷳ拓, ⲯ䭱⭌ᷳ岄. Here two important points should be noted. First, Han Ziming’s successful carrying out of the “father’s” role of supporting a family was regarded as virtue worthy of imperial reward. Second, after entering the palace, Han seemingly became a Daoist mentor to the emperor and was respected as such. Han Ziming’s fostering of her deceased brother’s family was not a unique phenomenon in the Tang. We find a description of similar deeds in the epitaph written for Zhi Zhijian 㓗⽿➭, another ordained priestess.40 Also from an elite family, Zhi Zhijian became a Buddhist novice at age nine because of a serious illness, though she did not take up residence in a Buddhist establishment but was allowed to remain at home. She is said to have showed extraordinary filial piety and took on the responsibility of educating her younger brothers. Upon the government suppression of Buddhism, in 845, she converted to Daoism and was ordained a priestess. L E A D E R S H I P, P R A C T I C E , A N D R I T UA L F U N C T I O N

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In 853, when her younger brother Zhi Shuxiang 㓗⍼⎹ was on his deathbed, he entrusted his wife and daughter to the care of Zhi Zhijian,41 who willingly took up the obligation to foster her niece and sister-in-law. Her epitaph was written by another younger brother, Zhi Mo, and his feelings of gratitude and respect toward his sister are thoroughly effusive. While fulfilling their roles as priestesses, both Han Ziming and Zhi Zhijian were capable, at the same time, of playing the role of family provider or protector. Rounding out our survey of the activities of Daoist priestesses, we find that certain Dunhuang manuscripts pleasantly surprise us with masterpieces of calligraphic art by some priestesses. First, at the end of a fragmentary copy of the Taixuan zhenyi benji jing ⣒䌬䛇ᶨ㛔晃䴻 (Book of the Original Term of the True One), there is this note: Song Miaoxian ⬳⥁ẁ, abbess of the Chongxu convent 㰾嘃奨, went to the capital to copy out the Daoist canon, but she passed away there before coming back. Now I copied this scripture for her. 㰾嘃奨ᷣ⬳⥁ẁℍṔ⮓ᶨ↯䴻, 㛒怬幓㓭. Ṳ䁢⮓㬌䴻.42 In 675, the crown prince Li Hong 㛶⻀ died, and Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu ordered that thirty-six copies of Daoist canon be transcribed for the purpose of accumulating merit for the prince’s posthumous welfare.43 Song Miaoxian might have been summoned to the capital to join this huge project. This would suggest that she was a fine calligrapher. The person who copied the Benji jing for Song’s own posthumous merit was highly likely one of her disciples who resided in the same Chongxu convent. In addition, two more fragments of the Benji jing, copied by priestesses Zhao Miaoxu 嵁⥁嘃 and by Guo Jinji 悕慹➢, also are extant among the Dunhuang materials.44 The Benji jing, originally comprising ten juan, composed by Liu Jinxi ∱忚╄ and supplemented by Li Zhongqing 㛶ẚ⌧ in the early seventh century, exists in the current Daozang only in a two-juan version. The many fragmentary manuscripts of it that were preserved at Dunhuang have now completed this important Daoist text for us (with the exception only of the still missing eighth juan).45 The three priestesses’ copies, obviously done originally to help disseminate this text, have contributed to the modern reconstruction of the Benji jing. Furthermore, all three extant copies present exquisite examples of [ 72 ]

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Figure 3.1 Fragments of the Benji jing, transcribed by Dunhuang Daoist priestesses: (a) fragment transcribed by Priestess Zhao Miaoxu (P. 2170, from Faguo Guojia tushuguan cang Dunhuang xiyu wenxian); (b) fragment transcribed by Priestess Guo Jinji (S. 3135, from Ying cang Dunhuang wenxian); (c) fragment transcribed by an anonymous priestess (from Zhensongtang cang xicui miji congchan).

calligraphic art in regular style (kaishu; see figure 3.1). At Dunhuang, located in the remote northwest region of the empire, there were a total of thirty-seven priestesses in 758.46 This number was probably more or less average during the first half of Tang. Yet we know that four of them were L E A D E R S H I P, P R A C T I C E , A N D R I T UA L F U N C T I O N

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excellent calligraphers. It seems likely that many other priestesses throughout the empire and dynasty were active in the copying and spreading of Daoist scriptures, in similar fashion.47

Ritual Functions Ritual functions were part of the routine religious practice of Daoist priestesses. Because of the importance of rituals, and also thanks to some newly unearthed documents to place alongside transmitted texts describing Tang priestesses’ ritual activities, we devote a separate section to this area. As is well known, in the Daoist tradition many aspects of both religious  and secular activity were connected to rituals. We have various records attesting to ritual performances presided over by priestesses. For example, according to epitaphs, Neng Quchen 傥⍣⠝, ordained after her husband’s death, became abbess of the Yongmu convent 㯠䧮奨 in Chang’an and was reputed to have a great command of rituals;48 the abbess Cheng Wuwei, discussed earlier, is also reported as excelling in the performance of rituals.49 As discussed in the previous chapter, Princess Yuzhen performed the rituals of Golden Register fast and throwing dragon writ commissioned by Emperor Xuanzong. Tang poets writing lyric-songs to the tune titled “Nüguan zi” ⤛ⅈ⫸ (Daoist Priestess) often refer to the priestesses’ performance of rituals. For example: Tranquil night, winds through pine trees, She worships on the altar to heaven. 朄⣄㜦桐ᶳ, 䥖⣑⡯.50 “Pacing the void” on the altar, Among red banners and cloud flags, She attracts the perfected and immortal. 㬍嘃⡯ᶲ, 䴛䭨暻㕴䚠⎹, ⺽䛇ẁ.51 Although poems do not provide exact documentation, there must have been a real-life basis for such description. The performance of Daoist rituals by Tang priestesses at the imperial palace is faithfully and richly recorded in one recently unearthed inscription, as well as eight transmitted essays written in the subgenre of tan Dao [ 74 ]

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wen 㫶忻㔯 (text for extolling the Dao). The inscription records that, during the summer of Dahe 4 (830), Emperor Wenzong bestowed upon the Huiyuan abbey ⚆⃫奨 a bell, plus the funding to build a bell tower. Before its construction, the emperor ordered that the “Daoist priestesses Hou Qiongzhen and others together establish an altar in the Yuchen convent of Daming palace to present the registers.”52 According to the inscription, these priestesses resided in the palace convent, Yuchen, and Hou Qiongzhen was probably their abbess. It seems that upon the imperial initiation of certain important religious events, these women were responsible for holding Daoist rituals in the palace. The eight extant compositions of “Text for Extolling the Dao” describe in greater detail the ritual performances and activities of the priestesses inside the palace. These essays were written at different times by three scholar-officials, Bai Juyi 䘥⯭㖻 (772–846), Feng Ao ⮩㓾 (d. ca. 862), and Dugu Lin 䌐⬌暾 (fl. 860–873). All three had been appointed as academicians of the Hanlin Academy (Hanlin xueshi 侘㜿⬠⢓)—Bai Juyi in 807–811, Feng Ao in 842–845, and Dugu Lin in 862–869.53 In the mid- to late Tang period, Hanlin academicians served mainly as secretaries to the emperor and took turns being on duty in the palace, day and night. Because the Yuchen convent was located immediately behind the Zichen 䳓⭠ hall where the academicians were on duty,54 they had the opportunity to observe at close hand the Daoist rituals the priestesses performed, as well as other of their activities in the palace. We may therefore assume that these writings are highly credible, as it would not be likely for the academicians to spin unfounded stories about palace rituals. The tanwen 㫶㔯 (text of extolment) can be regarded as a literary subgenre. The large tenth-century literary collection titled Wenyuan yinghua 㔯剹劙厗 (Flowers from the Literary Garden) includes nine essays under this category.55 One is a “Tan Fo wen” 㫶ἃ㔯 (Text for Extolling the Buddha) by Song Zhiwen ⬳ᷳ⓷ (ca. 656–712), while the others are all “Text for Extolling the Dao.” The character tan (extolling) here also denotes a musical, vocal category in Daoist ritual music and possibly in Buddhist ritual music as well.56 In this sense, the title “Tan Dao” may also refer to the singing or chanting of Daoist music by the priestesses during the performance of the ritual. These essays tell us once again that, in the inner palace, Daoist rituals were performed mainly by the priestesses of the Yuchen convent. According to these essays, the rituals were held primarily in four situations. The L E A D E R S H I P, P R A C T I C E , A N D R I T UA L F U N C T I O N

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first concerned seasonal and festival celebrations. For example, on the day of the Upper Prime (Shangyuan ᶲ⃫, the fifteenth day of the first month), “the priestesses respectively and sincerely burn incense, practice the Dao, and generate merit for the emperor.”57 On the day of the Beginning of Spring (Lichun 䩳㗍), “the priestesses reverently fast and kowtow for the emperor, solemnly burning incense.”58 In both rituals, the priestesses prayed for the emperors’ longevity and for the empire’s peace and prosperity. The second situation concerned rituals for special days pertaining to the emperors, such as their birthdays or anniversaries of death. Feng Ao describes in one essay how the priestesses prayed for deceased Emperor Xianzong to rest in peace in the Yellow Court (Huangting 湫⹕) and for blessings for his descendants and the empire on the day of his death anniversary.59 In another essay, Feng Ao describes how the priestesses celebrated Emperor Wuzong’s birthday on the eleventh day of the sixth month, which was establish during his reign as the Qingyang ㄞ春 festival, and prayed for his longevity.60 The third situation involved rituals to pray for rain. Dugu Lin wrote two essays, both titled “Yuchen guan qiyu tan Dao wen” 䌱㘐奨䣰暐㫶忻㔯 (Text for Extolling the Dao for Rain-Praying in the Yuchen Convent), in which he described the priestesses performing supplicatory rituals to heaven during great extended droughts.61 The final situation for these rituals pertained to occasional events known as beixiu gongde ⇍ᾖ≇⽟ (special service for merit making). Two such events were recorded by Dugu Lin. In the first, the priestesses prayed for a peaceful and bountiful autumn on the first day of the ninth month (the first day of the season), while in the second, they “reverently elaborated on the essence of Daoist doctrines to the emperor to inspire his understanding of the truth.”62 This second event deserves special attention, as it also shows the priestesses acting as imperial mentors. The ritual performed for the building of a bell tower, mentioned earlier, can be seen as a kind of special service for merit making as well. It was customary for Daoist abbeys to hold rituals for the “three prime days” (the fifteenth day of the first, seventh, and tenth months), for the birthdays and death anniversaries of emperors and empresses, and in other situations, such as praying for the empire’s well-being.63 The eight essays and one inscription just discussed illustrate how these required rituals

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were carried out inside the imperial palace by priestesses of the Yuchen convent. In addition, they also reveal to us some other important facts. The first concerns the significant status of the Yuchen convent among the so-called neidaochang ℏ忻⟜ (palace chapels). The term “daochang” is a translation of the Sanskrit term “bodhimaṇḍa,” which originally referred to the place under the bodhi tree where Śākyamuni achieved enlightenment. It was first used in Chinese Buddhism and then extended to Daoism, with various meanings, including religious observances and places of carrying out such observances. During the Tang dynasty, a number of Buddhist and Daoist monasteries, abbeys, temples, and altars were built inside the palace to carry out religious observances, practices, and rituals sponsored by the emperors and other members of the royal family.64 The frequency of the priestesses’ ritual practices indicates that the Yuchen convent was one of the most important of these palace chapels.65 Second, the priestesses were capable of undertaking high-level rituals independently of their male counterparts, which verifies the descriptions of ritual expertise by Daoist priestesses, as expressed in epitaphic inscriptions and various poems and lyric songs. The details of ritual processes included establishing an altar, presenting registers to divinities and spirits, fasting, burning incense, kowtowing, and possibly singing and chanting prayers. Third, in addition to performing rituals, the priestesses could sometimes serve as mentors to the emperors. This suggests the depth of their knowledge of Daoist scriptures and practices and accords with the epitaphic biographies of Tian Yuansu and Han Ziming, who were also said to have instructed emperors and palace ladies. Finally, some priestesses of the Yuchen convent appear to have been summoned to the palace from convents elsewhere; one assumes this would have been owing to their reputations and accomplishments. For example, Han Ziming was summoned from the Xianyi convent in Chang’an, and Tian Yuansu was probably called from another convent in the capital, too. We also have examples of priestesses being summoned from the far south: Li Jilan 㛶⬋嗕, a famous priestess-poet, summoned from Yangzhou ㎂ⶆ (in present day Jiangsu) in about 783,66 and Pang Dezu 漸⽟䣾, called from Mount Magu 湣⥹Ⱉ in 837. Such summons represented recognition of a priestess’s achievements by the highest authority of society.

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Concluding Remarks Our analysis of the new primary sources used in this chapter, especially epitaphic inscriptions and Dunhuang manuscripts, presents a rich picture of the religious experience of Tang Daoist priestesses. For some women, in varied situations and during various stages of their life journeys, Daoism opened a desirable path for spiritual pursuit and often provided them with a new identity, career, and role to play in the broader social sphere. As we have seen, these women developed themselves in many ways—in a variety of religious roles, as leader, mentor, preacher, adept, or ritual performer, as well as in some unusual secular situations—and they contributed to the functioning of religion and society through their multifaceted accomplishments. Tang Daoist priestesses represent an important female religiosity that is remarkable both in the Daoist tradition and in the history of Chinese women.

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CH A P T E R I V

Liu Moran and the Daoist Theory of Inner Cultivation

A

mong the many outstanding priestesses during the Tang dynasty was Liu Moran 㞛満䃞 (773–840), courtesy name Xiyin ⶴ枛, who received the highest ordination rank of the Great Cavern and Three Radiances. She transmitted, or possibly even composed, the treatise titled the Zuowang lun ⛸⾀婾 (Treatise on Sitting in Oblivion), a Daoist text of meditation and inner cultivation traditionally attributed to the renowned Daoist master Sima Chengzhen ⎠楔㈧䤶 (647–735). In addition, she composed a eulogy praising the female Daoist Xue Yuanjun 啃⃫⏃ (Primal Mistress Xue), in which she described cultivation of the female body while advocating inner cultivation over outer alchemy. Liu Moran has, however, largely been ignored by both traditional and modern scholars. I undertake here an examination of her life based on the epitaph written for her and other relevant sources, as well as an analysis of her writings to reveal her unique contribution to Daoist theories. Additionally, I also discuss the complicated issue of authorship of both the Zuowang lun and a second treatise by the same name that has also been attributed to Sima Chengzhen.

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Liu Moran’s Life and Religious Experience According to Liu Moran’s epitaph, which provides a detailed account of her life and religious experience, she came from an elite family and was well educated.1 She was the granddaughter of the famous Confucian scholar Xiao Yingshi 唕䧶⢓ (709–760) and daughter of the poet Liu Dan 㞛㶉 (also written as Dan 㽡; courtesy name Zhongyong ᷕ⹠), who was Xiao’s student and son-in-law.2 Before entering religious orders, she followed the conventional path defined for an elite daughter. In 786, at age fourteen, she married Zhao Hang 嵁ằ, who came from a great clan, and together they had three sons and two daughters. She was praised as properly observing the Confucian “women’s Way” ( fudao ⨎忻) and was capable in managing a large family. In 806, after twenty years of marriage, her husband died unexpectedly, whereupon she raised and educated her children by herself, “teaching them strictly and nurturing them lovingly” (yanjiao ciyu ♜㔁ヰ做). Two of her sons, Zhao Lin 嵁䑀 and Zhao Huang 嵁䑄, passed the civil examination and entered officialdom, while the youngest, Zhao Gui 嵁䎒, died early. Zhao Lin became a famous scholar and authored an anecdotal text titled Yinhua lu ⚈娙抬 (Records of Intimate Conversations).3 Although Liu Moran exemplified an ideal Confucian wife and mother who perfectly fulfilled her family duties, the death of her husband, and of her brother at about the same time, led her to look for spiritual comforting beyond Confucian norms. After first studying Buddhist scriptures and doctrines, she then converted to Daoism. It may have been after her children were already grown that she first received ordination and transmission of the Zhengyi and Lingbao texts on Mount Tiantai ⣑⎘Ⱉ, then further received ordination and transmission of the Shangqing texts on Mount Heng 堉Ⱉ. Finally, she went to reside in the old Yangtai abbey 春冢奨 on Mount Wangwu 䌳⯳Ⱉ, where the great master Sima Chengzhen used to stay. There she made more than ten statues of the Lord of Perfection (Zhenjun 䛇⏃) for worship.4 Liu was generally respected for her strict fasting and observation of precepts. Her two daughters, Zhao Yousu 嵁⎛䳈 and Zhao Jingxuan 嵁㘗䌬, followed her in becoming Daoist priestesses. Zhao Yousu died earlier than her mother, while Zhao Jingxuan also reached the highest ordination rank of Great Cavern and Three Radiances. Liu Moran’s life journey thus appears to have incorporated Confucian family values and female virtues with [ 80 ]

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Buddhist philosophy and Daoist practice of self-cultivation. As her epitaph records: The venerable master learned the Dao for a long time. A disciple once came to ask: “My master, at the beginning you learned the Buddhist Dharma and understood the theory of no-birth, reaching its ultimate level. Are you still coming and going through the Buddhist gate?” The venerable master replied: “No. To illuminate the Dao by means of Dharma is like a craftsman’s use of good tools. If the ridge beam has been built, where will axes be used? Since I have attained the Dao, there is no longer the use of Dharma.” ⮲ⷓ⬠忻㖊ᷭ, 攨Ṣ▿忈侴⓷㚘: “ⷓ⥳ẍ㱽⼿䃉䓇䎮, 㖊冣℞㤝, 侴Ṳ ↢ℍ味䓙℞㇞俞?” ⮲ⷓ䫼㚘: “⏎. ⣓`㱽ẍ㖶忻, ℞劍ⶍᷳ⇑☐䇦. 㢇㠩 ⶚⯙, 㕌㕏ỽ㕥. ⏦忻㖊忼, 㱽Ṏỽ㚱.” From this conversation, we see that Liu Moran was well acquainted with Buddhist doctrines and used them as tools for illuminating and attaining the Dao. It thus appears that in her life and religious experience, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism were integrated with a natural continuity.

Authorship of the Two Zuowang lun Two extant texts, both titled Zuowang lun, are attributed to Sima Chengzhen. One is longer, with seven chapters describing the seven stages of sitting in oblivion, while the other is much shorter and was originally engraved on a stele commissioned by Liu Moran. In recent decades, scholars have questioned the authorship of these two texts. Some have cast doubts on Sima’s authorship but have hesitated in deciding who wrote these treatises,5 whereas others have speculated that the longer, seven-chapter text was written by the Daoist Zhao Jian 嵁➭ but still attribute the shorter text to Sima.6 Through carefully examining and comparing the two texts, I have come to agree that the longer text was indeed written by Zhao Jian, and I here provide additional evidence to substantiate this conclusion. At the same time, however, I find that Sima could not have written the shorter text, either, and although authorship of this text remains uncertain, it is possible that it was composed by Liu Moran herself. L I U M O R A N A N D T H E T H E O RY O F I N N E R C U LT I VAT I O N

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The shorter Zuowang lun is engraved on the back of the “You Tang Zhenyi xiansheng miaojie” 㚱Ⓒ屆ᶨ⃰䓇⺇䡋 (Temple Stele of Master Zhenyi of the Tang Dynasty). “Master Zhenyi” was Sima Chengzhen’s posthumous title, bestowed by Emperor Xuanzong. At the end of the stele’s inscription, Liu Moran states that, in 821, she and her daughter Zhao Jingxuan received this treatise from a priest surnamed Xu ⼸, and that in 829 she had the treatise engraved on the stele.7 Thus, according to the inscription, this treatise was transmitted to Liu Moran and she preserved it. The inscription does not, however, clearly indicate who transmitted the text to the priest Xu. Notably, this shorter Zuowang lun sharply criticizes a longer text of the same title: Recently there was a Daoist priest, Zhao Jian, who composed a Zuowang lun with one juan and seven chapters. Covering a broad subject matter with overloaded words, it discusses simple ideas with eloquent arguments. It barely enough becomes a distinctive work of its own, but it does not match the true abstrusity. Thereby when reading it, one thinks only about its sections and phrases and remembers its structure and order. It can be called “sitting in wandering,” not “sitting in oblivion.” 役㚱忻⢓嵁➭, 忈⛸⾀婾ᶨ⌟ᶫ䭯. ḳ⺋侴㔯䷩, シ䯉侴娆彗. 劇ㆸᶨ ⭞ᷳ叿徘, 㛒⎗ẍ⣹䛇䌬. 㓭ἧṢ嬨ᷳ, Ữ⿅℞䭯䪈⎍㭝, 姀℞攨㇞㫉㔀侴 ⶚. ⎗媪 “⛸楛,” 朆 “⛸⾀” ḇ.8 This Zuowang lun text by Zhao Jian is thus described as having seven chapters with overloaded words and a clearly ordered structure, all of which accords with the extant seven-chapter text attributed to Sima Chengzhen. The earliest version of this text is seen in the early-Song Yunji qiqian 暚䪰 ᶫ䯥 (Cloudy Bookcase with Seven Labels), compiled by Zhang Junfang ⻝⏃㇧ ( jinshi 1004–1007), with no indication of authorship.9 Therefore, Zhang evidently did not think that Sima Chengzhen was the author. Subsequently, another version of the same Zuowang lun text, this time attributed to Sima Chengzhen, with an additional preface by Master Zhenjing (Zhenjing xiansheng 䛇朄⃰䓇), came out around the late Northern Song period, while the original preface was shortened and a conclusion titled “Zuowang shuyi” ⛸⾀㧆侤 (Complementary to the Pivot of the Sitting in Oblivion) was added.10 This concluding section, “Shuyi,” is actually [ 82 ]

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an adaptation of the Dongxuan lingbao dingguan jing zhu 㳆䌬曰⮞⭂奨䴻㲐 (Commentary on the Scripture of Intent Contemplation of the Dongxuan Lingbao Canon), an early Tang text.11 Meanwhile, Zeng Zao 㚦ㄍ (d. ca. 1155) included an abbreviated version of the same Zuowang lun text in his Daoshu 忻㧆, including the “Shuyi,” but without indicating authorship.12 Almost all Song dynasty bibliographical catalogs, however, attribute this text to Sima Chengzhen.13 Some scholars have noted the correspondence of the seven chapters between this extant text and the text attributed to Zhao Jian, which was criticized by the shorter inscription of the Zuowang lun. They have suggested that Zhao Jian could be Zhao Zhijian 嵁⽿➭, who lived in the early Tang and composed a commentary on the Daode jing titled Daode zhenjing shuyi 忻⽟䛇䴻䔷佑 (Commentary on the Daode jing).14 As Meng Wentong 呁㔯忂 has noted, in his commentary Zhao Zhijian summarizes three methods of contemplation: “The first is substantial contemplation, the second empty contemplation, and the third perfect contemplation” ᶨ侭㚱奨, Ḵ侭䨢奨, ᶱ侭䛇奨,15 while in the seven steps discussed in the Zuowang lun, the fifth is named Perfect Contemplation 䛇奨,16 the same as Zhao Zhijian’s third method.17 Careful comparison, however, shows even more similarities in ideas and phrases between Zhao Zhijian’s commentary and the seven-chapter Zuowang lun. In the commentary, Zhao repeatedly emphasizes the concept and practice of zuowang (sitting in oblivion): No-intervention and sitting in oblivion, these are advanced cultivation of the marvelous Dao. 䃉䇚⛸⾀, 忚ᾖ⥁忻. Sitting in oblivion is close to the Dao and leads to attaining spiritual perfection upwardly. ⛸⾀役忻, ᶲ䌚䤆䛇. The sin is brought by past bad retribution. Now because of sitting in oblivion, the sin perishes of itself. 伒㗗⼨㗪ら⟙, Ṳ⚈⛸⾀, 伒冒扟㹭. Now I consider getting rid of flashy things and returning to my substance. To gain Daoist merits for myself, I let my physical structure fall away and sit in oblivion. I practice this perseveringly and gradually feel it quite helpful. Ṳ⇯⿅⍣䈑厗, ⾝㬠ㆹ⮎. 忻屯幓⼿, 晛橼⛸⾀. ᾖᷳ㚱⿮, 䦵奢列䙲.18 L I U M O R A N A N D T H E T H E O RY O F I N N E R C U LT I VAT I O N

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TA B L E 4 .1

Correspondence Between the Seven-Chapter Zuowang lun and Zhao Zhijian’s Daode zhenjing shuyi Zuowang lun

Daode zhenjing shuyi

If one’s mind is calm and void, the Dao spontaneously comes to reside [in him]. The scripture says, “If one can void his mind and be nointervening, the Dao returns to him spontaneously even though he does not desire the Dao.”

Directly practicing nonintervention and sitting in oblivion, the Dao spontaneously comes to reside [in him]. This is called attaining [the Dao]. The Scripture of Western Ascension says: “If one can be void and no-intervening, the Dao returns to him spontaneously even though he does not desire the Dao.”

⽫⬱侴嘃, 忻冒Ἦ⯭. 䴻ḹ: “Ṣ傥嘃⽫ 䃉䁢, 朆㫚㕤忻, 忻冒㬠ᷳ.” (a)

䚜ẍ䃉䁢⛸⾀, 忻冒Ἦ㬊, 㓭ḹ⼿ḇ. 大 㖯䴻ḹ: “Ṣ傥䨢嘃䃉䁢, 朆㫚㕤忻, 忻 冒㬠ᷳ.” (b) Sources: (a) Yinji qiqian, by Zhang Junfang, 94.568; (b) Daode zhenjing shuyi, 5.958a.

Obviously, Zhao Zhijian was very interested in sitting in oblivion and elevated it as an effective way to cultivate oneself and attain the Dao. Some passages in the two texts are even almost identical, as seen in table 4.1. In considering all these correspondences, we can conclude that authorship of the seven-chapter Zuowang lun should be attributed to Zhao Jian instead of Sima Chengzhen. Zhijian must be Zhao Jian’s courtesy name, as Du Guangting also recorded a commentary of the Daode jing with six juan by Zhao Jian, which obviously refers to the extant commentary attributed to Zhao Zhijian.19 Returning to the short inscription of the Zuowang lun, several indications also suggest that Sima Chengzhen was not the author, and it is even possible that Liu Moran herself composed it. First, in the inscription, Liu Moran states only that the treatise was transmitted by a priest named Xu, without giving his full name and without indicating where and from whom he received the text—in other words, a rather vague description. If the text really had been transmitted from the great master Sima Chengzhen, whom [ 84 ]

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Liu highly revered, surely she would have recorded the transmission in detail to validate its authenticity and authority. Second, the Zuowang lun inscription cites Wu Yun’s ⏛䬈 (d. 778) Shenxian kexue lun 䤆ẁ⎗⬠婾 (Treatise on How Immortality Can Be Learned) four times, as seen in table 4.2.20 When Sima Chengzhen died, in 735, at the age of eighty-nine, as a great Daoist master, Wu Yun was still young; therefore, it would have been impossible for Sima to cite Wu’s work extensively.21 Is it then possible that Wu Yun was citing Sima Chengzhen’s work instead? The answer here is also negative. The Zuowang lun inscription uses the phrase “it is said” to indicate the citations, whereas Wu’s treatise uses the tone of direct narration; therefore, the former should be citing the latter, not the latter copying the former. The bibliographical catalog in the Southern Song Tongzhi 忂⽿ (General Annals) records a Zuowang lun in one juan, which it attributes to Wu Yun,22 raising the possibility that the text was composed by Wu and transmitted by the priest Xu. This, however, is quite unlikely, for three reasons. First, because Wu Yun was a renowned master, the inscription would have clearly indicated if he were the author. Second, because Wu Yun’s works were compiled into a collection soon after his death, if he ever composed such a text, it should have been included in this collection and noted by others. However, not only is this text not seen in Wu’s extant collection 23 but also nobody ever mentions it until several centuries later. Finally, although many works by Wu Yun are extant, none ever mentions zuowang (sitting in oblivion); thus, it seems he took no interest in this concept and practice and would be unlikely to compose a treatise on it. A third indication that Sima did not author the shorter Zuowang lun is found in the last line of the original inscription engraved on the stele, written thus: “Sitting in Oblivion. Zhenyi, bestowed by the Emperor. Transcribed by Priest Zhang Hongming of Yuxi on Mount Wangwu” ⛸⾀婾. ≭岰屆ᶨ. 䌳⯳Ⱉ䌱㹒忻⢓⻝⻀㖶㚠. 24 This line casts some doubt on both the title and the author. First, if Zuowang lun was indeed the inscription’s title, it should have been placed at the beginning, not the end. Second, Zhenyi xiansheng (Master Zhenyi) was Sima Chengzhen’s posthumous title, bestowed by Emperor Xuanzong, and this has been regarded as the most important evidence for Sima’s authorship. 25 However, numerous unearthed stele inscriptions from the Tang period show that, when they are signed and listed, authors are always given their full titles and names, L I U M O R A N A N D T H E T H E O RY O F I N N E R C U LT I VAT I O N

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TA B L E 4 . 2

Citations of the Zuowang lun Inscription from the Shenxian kexue lun Zuowang lun

Shenxian kexue lun

1 Therefore, one beckons the perfected in order to refine the body-form. When the body-form is pure, it merges with the qi energy. One embraces the Dao to refine the qi energy. When the qi energy is pure, it merges with the spirit. The body-structure unifies with the Dao; this is called attaining the Dao. Since the Dao is no doubt boundless, how could immortality have an end?

1 Therefore, one beckons the perfected in order to refine the body-form. When the body-form is pure, it merges with the qi energy. One embraces the Dao to refine the qi energy. When the qi energy is pure, it merges with the spirit. The body-structure unifies with the Dao; this is called attaining the Dao. Since the Dao is no doubt boundless, how could immortality have an end?

㓭㊃䛇ẍ䃱⼊, ⼊㶭⇯⎰㕤䀩; ⏓忻ẍ

㇨ẍ㊃䛇ẍ䃱⼊, ⼊㶭⇯⎰㕤㯋; ⏓忻

䃱䀩, 䀩㶭⇯⎰㕤䤆. 橼冯忻⅍, 媪ᷳ⼿

ẍ䃱㯋, 㯋㶭⇯⎰㕤䤆. 橼冯忻⅍, 媪ᷳ

忻. 忻⚢䃉㤝, ẁ寰㚱䳪?

⼿忻. 忻⚢䃉㤝, ẁ寰㚱䩖᷶?

2 Therefore, it is said, “The trigrams of Qian and Kun embody [the pattern of ] the Changes. If Qian and Kun are destroyed, one can no longer see the Changes. The bodyvessel is the storehouse of the inner nature. If it is destroyed, the inner nature has no place to reside. If the inner nature has no place to reside, where would I be?”

2 [They] don’t know that the trigrams of Qian and Kun embody [the pattern of ] the Changes, and therefore if Qian and Kun are destroyed, one can no longer see the Changes; that the body-vessel is the storehouse of the inner nature, and therefore if it is destroyed, the inner nature has no place to reside. If the inner nature has no place to reside, where would I be?

㓭㚘: “Ḧ✌䁢㖻ᷳ喲, Ḧ✌㭨⇯䃉ẍ夳 㖻; ⼊☐䁢⿏ᷳ⹄, ⼊☐㓿⇯⿏䃉㇨⬀.

㬲ᶵ䞍Ḧ✌䁢㖻ᷳ枓, Ḧ✌㭨⇯䃉ẍ夳

⿏䃉㇨⬀, ⇯㕤ㆹỽ㚱?”

㖻; ⼊ [☐] (㯋) 䁢⿏ᷳ⹄, ⼊ [☐] (㯋) 㓿⇯⿏䃉㇨⬀. ⿏䃉㇨⬀, 㕤ㆹỽ㚱?*

Zuowang lun

Shenxian kexue lun

3 Therefore, it is said, “The wandering hun-soul is transformed.”

3 The wandering hun-soul is transformed and attaches to another body-vessel.

㓭㚘 “忲櫪䁢嬲” 㗗ḇ. 忲櫪怟朑, ⇍⬰Ṿ☐.

4 This body-self cannot escape the molding of yin and yang and loses itself in transmigration.

4 [They] don’t know that once they enter the mighty furnace of destiny they are molded by yin and yang freely.

㬌幓Ṏ㛒⃵䁢昘春㇨昞揬侴廒㲗ḇ. ⬱䞍ℍ忈⊾ᷳ㳒䆸, ả昘春ᷳ溻揬. * Qi ☐ is originally written as qi 㯋, here collated with Zuowang lun’s citation.

and authorship is clearly indicated by the character zhuan 㑘 (written by). Here, however, “chizeng Zhenyi” ≭岰屆ᶨġ is not the complete title, and Sima Chengzhen’s name and the character zhuan are both missing. Because the stele was reestablished and the inscription was reengraved by Cui Ke’an Ⲽ⎗⬱, abbot of Yangtai abbey, in 1094,26 it is possible that the characters chizeng Zhenyi and the title Zuowang lun were added at that time to indicate Sima Chengzhen’s authorship, because Song people in general believed him to have written this inscription.27 If this is the case, then this inscription originally had no title. Finally, together with the Zuowang lun inscription, Liu Moran also engraved on the back of the same stele another inscription she had written, titled “Xue Yuanjun shengxian ming” 啃⃫⏃㖯ẁ所 (Inscription on the Ascension of the Primal Mistress Xue).28 “Yuanjun” (Primal Mistress) is a title for perfected female Daoists and high-ranking female immortals; Xue is the family name, while the first name or Daoist name is unknown.29 This inscription commemorates a female Daoist who cultivated herself on Mount Heng, the southern sacred mountain, and eventually ascended

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as an immortal during the Chen dynasty (557–589). Comparing this inscription with the Zuowang lun inscription, we find some similar ideas on the Daoist theory of inner cultivation, which we will discuss later. Putting together these four arguments, we can conclude that the Zuowang lun inscription that Liu Moran claimed was transmitted to her from the priest Xu should be attributed neither to Sima Chengzhen nor to Wu Yun. Although it is possible that Xu himself composed this text, Liu Moran’s omission of his full name makes this implausible. Therefore, the authorship remains uncertain, leaving open the possibility that Liu herself composed the text. The fact that the inscription was engraved on the back of the stele of Sima Chengzhen’s temple on Mount Wangwu might be why it was mistaken as his work. Indeed, it was Du Guangting who first mistakenly attributed it to Sima when describing the “sacred signs” of Sima on Mount Wangwu.30 Later, when this text was included in the Song dynasty Daoshu, it was then attributed to Sima Chengzhen.31

Themes of the Zuowang lun Inscription We can now go further to analyze the themes of the Zuowang lun inscription. As is well known, zuowang, or “sitting in oblivion,” first appears in the classic of the Zhuangzi, in which it is described as a state of deep meditation that eliminates the ordinary features of worldly connections, social rules, and moral virtues. 32 Later, it gradually became the core of Daoist meditation theory, signifying “a state of deep meditative absorption and mystical oneness, during which all sensory and conscious faculties are overcome and which is the base point for attaining Dao.”33 In criticizing Zhao Jian’s seven-step meditation, the Zuowang lun inscription emphasizes directly entering the mental state of deep absorption. Using this state as a base, the adept then goes through a three-stage refinement of body, qi energy, and spirit to eventually become one with the Dao. In this way, the adept attains perfection in both spirit and body. These themes subsequently contributed to the development of Daoist inner cultivation theory as it was gradually evolved into inner alchemy theory, which eventually matured and was codified in the early Song dynasty. Zhao Jian’s Zuowang lun designed and elaborated seven steps for the practice of sitting in oblivion:

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1. “Faith and Reverence” (Xinjing ᾉ㔔), to believe in the practice reverently; 2. “Interception of Karma” (Duanyuan 㕟䶋), to detach oneself from society; 3. “Restraining the Mind” (Shouxin 㓞⽫), to detach one’s mind from external affairs; 4. “Simplifying Life” ( Jianshi 䯉ḳ), to live a simple life; 5. “Observation of Perfection” (Zhenguan 䛇奨), to meditate insightfully; 6. “Great Absorption” (Taiding 㲘⭂), to reach complete oblivion; and 7. “Attaining Dao” (Dedao ⼿忻), to realize oneness with the Dao.34 As noted earlier, the Zuowang lun inscription criticized Zhao Jian’s seven steps as “covering a broad subject matter with overloaded words” and discussing “simple ideas with extensive arguments”; it also mocked it as “sitting in wandering.” The inscription then singles out just one step—the “Great Absorption,” which is listed as the sixth step in Zhao’s text—but offers a different interpretation: Therefore the step of attaining the Dao first relies on sitting in oblivion. Sitting in oblivion means detachment from the myriad things. Therefore, first one understands that all things are illusion, and next one’s mind is absorbed. Above the absorbed mind everything is open and coverless; beneath the absorbed mind everything is empty and bottomless. If one remains in this state without moving, one will become one with the Dao. This is called the great absorption. 㗗ẍ㯪忻ᷳ昶, ⃰屯⛸⾀. ⛸⾀侭, 䁢ṉ叔⠫ḇ. 㓭⃰Ḯ媠⤬, 㫉⭂℞⽫. ⭂⽫ᷳᶲ, 審䃞䃉央; ⭂⽫ᷳᶳ, 䨢䃞䃉➢. 妠䃞ᶵ≽, ⤪㬌⇯冯忻⅍, 媪 ᷳ⣒⭂䞋.35 The inscription instead advocates directly entering oblivion or the great absorption by seeing through the illusory nature of the myriad things. Once entering such a state, the mind becomes empty of all sensory and conscious faculties and no thought ever arises again. Remaining in this state of deep meditation, the adept will eventually realize oneness with the Dao. It is noticeable that, in addition to Zhao Jian’s Zuowang lun, other earlier Daoist meditation texts—such as the Cunshen lianqi ming ⬀䤆䃱㯋所 (Inscription on Visualizing the Spirit and Refining the Qi Energy),

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attributed to Sun Simiao ⬁⿅怰 (ca. 581–682); the Dingguan jing (Scripture on Absorption and Observation); the Laozi shuo wuchu jing zhu 侩⫸婒Ḽ⺂ 䴻㲐 (Commentary to the Scripture of the Five Kitchens Preached by Laozi), by Yin Yin ⯡ゼ (d. ca. 741) in 735;36 the Tianyin zi ⣑晙⫸ (Master of Heavenly Seclusion), transmitted or composed by Sima Chengzhen;37 and the Xinmu lun ⽫䚖婾 (Treatise of Mind and Eyes), by Wu Yun38 —all elaborate a gradual progression in meditation for becoming one with the Dao, while the Tianyin zi especially warns against overeager expectations and suddenness.39 The Zuowang lun inscription’s stress on directly entering the great absorption with an empty mind to merge with the Dao is thus very different from its Tang Daoist forerunners. We may account for its simplification and transformation of earlier meditation theories in two ways. First, the inscription’s central theme is to refine body, qi energy, and spirit to merge with the Dao based on the mental state of oblivion or deep absorption, so that the gradual steps of meditation become insignificant. Second, if the author was indeed Liu Moran, who had gained profound learning in Buddhist scriptures and doctrines before converting to Daoism, it would be no wonder that the inscription’s new theory was obviously influenced by Buddhist concepts such as the understanding that “all things are illusion,” the advocacy of entering deep absorption with a mind empty of all sensory and conscious faculties, and the sudden enlightenment especially advocated by Tang dynasty Chan Buddhism. The Zuowang lun inscription further specifies that, after entering the great absorption, the adept should focus on refining the body, qi energy, and spirit. In citing Wu Yun’s Shenxian kexue lun, the inscription first describes two stages in this inner refinement: refining the body form to merge it with the qi energy, and refining the qi energy to merge it with the spirit. The inscription then adds a third stage: refining the spirit to become one with the Dao and ascend to the void: “Therefore, the sage urges people to refine the spirit to merge it with the Dao, ascending into the formless and becoming one with the Dao” 㓭俾Ṣ⊠䃱䤆⎰忻, ⋯ℍ䃉⼊, 冯忻⅍ᶨḇ. The “sage” here may refer to the author of the Dingguan jing, a text describing a seven-stage transformation of the body in which the three stages discussed in the Zuowang lun inscription are similar to its fifth, sixth, and seventh stages.40 The seven stages of the Dingguan jing may in turn be based on the Cunshen lianqi ming attributed to Sun Simiao, in which the three stages of the Zuowang lun inscription are listed as the fourth, fifth, and sixth stages,

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though the sixth stage is “to refine spirit to become the forms (se 刚)” instead of “the Dao.” 41 It is worthy of particular attention that the three stages discussed in the Zuowang lun inscription are quite close to the typical three-stage process of the inner alchemy (neidan ℭᷡ) tradition that matured in the early Song era: (1) refining the essence to transmute it into the qi energy (lianjing huaqi 䃱䱦⊾㯋); (2) refining the qi energy to transmute it into the spirit (lianqi huashen 䃱㯋⊾䤆); and (3) refining the spirit to return to the void/the Dao (lianshen huanxu 䃱䤆怬嘃).42 The only significant difference is that the “body form” in the first step of the Zuowang lun inscription was later changed to the “essence” in the first stage of the inner alchemy theories. The Zuowang lun inscription appears to have been the first to simplify these early seven stages into three, and thus played an important role in the early germination of the inner alchemy formula. Table 4.3 shows the gradual simplification and formation of this formula from seven to three stages. As scholars have indicated, the traditions of inner alchemy gradually developed over a long period. Before the Tang dynasty, there were isolated notions related to later inner alchemy traditions. During the Tang and Five Dynasties, while laboratory alchemy was in its heyday, theories of inner cultivation, including those found in the four texts listed in table 4.3, gradually developed in the direction of inner alchemy. By the early Song, the inner alchemy theories had reached maturity with codified texts, a stabilized terminology, standardized practices, and retrospectively constructed genealogies, with the completion of the Wuzhen pian by Zhang Boduan in 1075 as its emblem.43 The mature theories and practices of inner alchemy involved not only transforming internal energies but also creating a holy embryo (golden elixir) that would return to the primordial, eternal void or the Dao. The three-stage process described in the mature theories are much more complex, sophisticated, and mystical than the earlier narrations, full of cosmological terms, alchemical symbols, and medical emblems, woven with the trigrams and yin-yang dialectics of the Book of Changes and its classical commentaries, and synthesizing Daoist, Confucian, and Buddhist doctrines and practices.44 However, the earlier, simpler narrations of the inner cultivation stages in the Tang period remain important links in the developing chain toward the mature theory. As Isabelle Robinet has insightfully indicated, “the first clearly dated texts presenting articulated features of interior

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TA B L E 4 .3

Formation of the Three-Stage Process of Inner Alchemy Text

Description of the Stages in Inner Cultivation

Cunshen lianqi ming

Seven stages: . . . The fourth stage is refining the body-self to become the qi energy. . . . The fifth stage is refining the qi energy to become the spirit. . . . The sixth stage is refining the spirit to merge it with the form. ᶫ῁ : . . . 䫔⚃῁, 䃱幓ㆸ㯋, . . . ; 䫔Ḽ῁, 䃱㯋䁢䤆, . . . ; 䫔 ℕ῁, 䃱䤆⎰刚.

Dingguan jing

Those who attain the Dao undergo seven stages. . . . The fifth is refining the body-form to become the qi energy. . . . The sixth is refining the qi energy to become the spirit. . . . The seventh is refining the spirit to merge it with the Dao. ⣓⼿忻ᷳṢ, ↉㚱ᶫ῁ : . . . Ḽ侭䃱⼊䁢㯋, . . . ℕ侭䃱㯋ㆸ 䤆, . . . ᶫ侭䃱䤆⎰忻.

Shenxian kexue lun

Therefore, one beckons the perfected in order to refine the body-form. When the body-form is pure, it merges with the qi energy. One embraces the Dao to refine the qi energy. When the qi energy is pure, it merges with the spirit.

Zuowang lun inscription

Therefore, one beckons the perfected in order to refine the body-form. When the body-form is pure, it merges with the qi energy. One embraces the Dao to refine the qi energy. When the qi energy is pure, it merges with the spirit. The body-structure unifies with Dao; this is called attaining the Dao. Since the Dao is no doubt boundless, how could immortality have an end? . . . Therefore, the sage urges us to refine the spirit to merge it with the Dao, ascending into the formless and becoming one with the Dao.

Inner alchemy theory, Wuzhen pian, and other works

To refine the essence to transmute it into the qi energy; to refine the qi energy to transmute it into the spirit; and to refine the spirit to return to the void/the Dao.

alchemy as defined above go back to the eighth and ninth centuries, illustrated, for example, by certain passages in the work of Wu Yun.” She specifies these passages as being from Wu Yun’s Shenxian kexue lun,45 which are precisely what the Zuowang lun inscription cites and further develops, as seen in tables 4.2 and 4.3. One more major theme in the Zuowang lun inscription is “completeness of both the body and the spirit” (xing shen juquan ⼊䤆ᾙℐ). Again it cites Wu Yun’s Shenxian kexue lun to illustrate this idea: What longevity is cherished is the completeness of both the spirit and the body-form. Therefore, it is said, “The trigrams of Qian and Kun embody the pattern of the Changes. If Qian and Kun are destroyed, one can no longer see the Changes; the body-vessel is the storehouse of the inner nature. If it is destroyed, the inner nature has no place to reside. If the inner nature has no place to reside, where would I be?” Thus, this is why the completeness of both the bodyform and the spirit is cherished. If one nurtures the spirit alone without nurturing the body-form, this is like destroying the house and dwelling outdoors—where will the spirit attach itself to? Then, the consciousness is transformed along with situations and entrusts itself to alien people or species. Therefore, it is said, “The wandering hunsoul is transformed.” ㇨屜攟䓇侭, 䤆冯⼊ᾙℐḇ. 㓭㚘: “Ḧ✌䁢㖻ᷳ喲, Ḧ✌㭨⇯䃉ẍ夳 㖻; ⼊☐䁢⿏ᷳ⹄, ⼊☐㓿⇯⿏䃉㇨⬀. ⿏䃉㇨⬀, ⇯㕤ㆹỽ㚱?” 㓭㇨ẍ 屜᷶⼊䤆ᾙℐḇ. 劍䌐梲䤆侴ᶵ梲⼊, 䋞㭨⬭侴曚⯭ḇ, ⇯䤆⬱旬⑱. ⇯嬀 晐⠫嬲, ㈀᷶䔘㕷䞋. 㓭㚘 “忲櫪䁢嬲” 㗗ḇ. The inscription is saying that the human body is the storehouse of one’s inner nature (xing ⿏) and spirit. If the body is destroyed, one’s inner nature and spirit have no place to reside and as a result become a wandering soul or consciousness, which is transformed with situations and eventually attaches itself to alien people or other species. Therefore, to attain immortality one must nurture and keep both the spirit and the body in their complete and integrated conditions. Notably, the Daoist theory of Twofold Mystery, which flourished in the early Tang era, emphasized metaphysical speculations and spiritual transcendence while ignoring physiological cultivation and longevity techniques.46 Although the Zuowang lun inscription does not clearly say so, its criticism may have been targeting this tendency L I U M O R A N A N D T H E T H E O RY O F I N N E R C U LT I VAT I O N

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in Tang Daoist theorization.47 The inscription also criticizes the Buddhist doctrine of consciousness transmigration, indicating that after one dies, one’s consciousness may transmute into animal or nonconsciousness, and thus the mind-consciousness is remolded by the cosmic yin and yang forces and is no longer decided by oneself. The Zuowang lun inscription’s theme of “completeness of both the body and the spirit” also presents several important ideas pointing to the later mature inner alchemy theories and practices. First, by criticizing earlier theories, such as the Twofold Mystery, which emphasized spiritual transcendence but ignored corporeal refinement, the text advocates both physiological and spiritual transformation carried out through meditation. The text also indicates that the inner nature’s attachment to the body is as important as that of the spirit. In the mature inner alchemy theories, the motto of “completeness of both the body and the spirit” is more often stated as “twofold cultivation of the inner nature and the endowed life span” (xingming shuangxiu ⿏␥暁ᾖ); the so-called Southern Lineage (Nanzong ⋿⬿) especially promoted this theory.48 Second, the text emphasizes the dynamic power of Daoist practitioners in attaining immortality in both the body and the spirit and controlling their own destiny by concluding with this proud announcement: “This is called attaining the Dao, and then yin and yang are controlled by myself ” 媪ᷳ⼿忻, 䃞⼴昘春䁢ㆹ㇨⇞ḇ. This later became the core belief of the inner alchemy theories. Finally, the Zuowang lun inscription was among the first Daoist texts to use “jindan” 慹ᷡ (golden elixir) to refer to the outcome of the inner refinement of the body, qi energy, and spirit. After entering the great absorption, one generates insight spontaneously. Although insight is generated, it does not disturb absorption. Wisdom, however, can only observe the illusion of things and understand the marvel of perfection, while this body-self is still unable to escape the molding of yin and yang and therefore loses itself in transmigration. One must rely on the golden elixir to transform into a feathered immortal. Then, one can ascend to the formless, go beyond the transformative mechanism, enter the boundless gate, and become one with the Dao. 㖊⣒⭂䞋, 侴 [ㄏ] ( よ) 冒䓇. [ㄏ] ( よ) 晾䓇, ᶵ 㕤⭂. Ữ傥奨᷶媠 ⤬, Ḯ忼䛇⥁, 侴㬌幓Ṏ㛒⃵䁢昘春㇨昞揬侴廒㲗ḇ. 天ῇ慹ᷡẍ佥⊾, 䃞 ⼴⋯ℍ䃉⼊, ↢⊾㨇ᷳ堐, ℍ䃉䩖ᷳ攨, 冯忻⎰⎴. [ 94 ]

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Here the inscription borrows the Buddhist meditation concept and practice of “ding-hui” ⭂ㄏ (dhyāna-jñāna, meditation and insight) to describe the state of sitting in oblivion or the great absorption. When one enters the great absorption, one immediately generates insight that sees the illusory nature of the myriad things. However, absorption and insight together remain in the state of ordinary being. It is only when one gains the golden elixir that one can merge with the Dao and attain immortality. Although the text does not directly explain what the golden elixir refers to, we can infer from its discussions that it means the outcome of the refinement of the body, energy, and spirit based on absorption and insight. As scholars have indicated, jindan (golden elixir) was the more common designation for neidan (inner alchemy) and its outcome of the “holy embryo” in the later mature theories.49 The Zuowang lun inscription is one of the few early texts to use this designation to indicate this outcome of inner refinement of the body, energy, and spirit.

Concepts of the Xue Yuanjun Inscription The second inscription engraved on the same stele, “Xue Yuanjun shengxian ming,” which we know for certain was composed by Liu Moran, presents some concepts similar to the Zuowang lun inscription, thus suggesting an inner connection between the two and explaining why Liu had the two texts engraved together. The complete translation of the inscription is as follows: The highest male immortal is called perfected man, and the highest female immortal is called primal mistress. Primal Mistress Xue of the southern sacred mountain embodies the profound mystery of integral indeterminacy, and ascends the marvelous state of successive living. Her spirit realizes perfection, and her body-structure transmutes into the spirit. She attained the Dao in the Shenxi cave during the Chen dynasty. Her biography reads as follows. When she walked in daytime, purple clouds drooped to cover her, and white apes and yellow sparrows led the way for her. When she sat at night, azure dragons and variegated tigers attended to protect her, and divine lads and jade maids served her. This situation continued for a long time until she left one day. I, the later learner and female disciple Liu L I U M O R A N A N D T H E T H E O RY O F I N N E R C U LT I VAT I O N

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[Moran] (Ningran), came from Mount Tiantai to visit Zhuling [Mount Heng]. I resonated with and admired her fragrant virtues and reverently wrote this eulogy. It reads: How mysterious! The supreme person transcends the cosmos; Embodying the spirit, refining internally, Her body-form realizes perfection. When the yin sediment subsides, Her pure qi energy transmutes into clouds; Unintentionally her virtues remain, And creatures come into the present. When the yang essence is verified, She separates herself from the mortal world; Along with thousands of immortals riding on carts and horses, She presents herself to Divine Lord Yuchen. Looking down, so many people Are working on alchemy in vain. 䓟ᷳ檀ẁ㚘䛇Ṣ, ⤛ᷳ檀ẁ㚘⃫⏃. ⋿ⵥ啃⃫⏃橼㶟㰴ᷳ⤏, 䘣䓇䓇 ᷳ⥁, 䤆⎰㕤䛇, 幨⊾䁢䤆, ẍ昛ẋ⼿忻㕤䤆㹒㳆. 㛔姀ḹ: 㘅埴⇯䳓暚 ✪央, 䘥䋧湫晨⺽嶗; ⣄⛸⇯曺漵㔹嗶ἵ堃, 䤆䪍䌱⤛䴎ἧ. 䇦侭ᷭ, ᶨ㖎 侴⍣. 㘂⬠⤛⻇⫸㞛ↅ䃞冒⣑冢媩㛙昝, デヽ剛⽟, 㔔䁢所㚘: 䌬⑱军Ṣ№崭⼤Ḧ✌, ⏓䤆ℏ䃱№⼊⎰᷶䛇. 昘㹻句№㶛㯋䁢暚, 䃉⽫⽟䔁№䔘䈑Ἦ屻. 春䱦嫱№⠝ᶾ↮, ⋫Ḁ叔榶№㛅䌱㘐, ᶳ夾䃱ᷡ№ỽ䳃䳃.50

This inscription provides us little biographical information about Xue Yuanjun. Liu Moran states that Xue attained the Dao by inner refinement and ascended as a perfected person. Liu then cites an earlier biography that offered a brief description of the appearance of auspicious clouds and attendance of mystical animals and divine lads and maids during Xue’s progress of inner refinement, which is a conventional description in Daoist hagiographies. The significance of this inscription lies first in Liu Moran’s discussion of the Daoist theory and practice of neilian ℏ䃱 (inner refinement), which in turn can be connected to the Zuowang lun inscription. In the Xue [ 96 ] L I U M O R A N A N D T H E T H E O RY O F I N N E R C U LT I VAT I O N

Yuanjun inscription, Liu emphasizes that, through inner refinement, Xue’s body and qi energy were first transmuted into the spirit and yang essence; then the spirit and yang essence realized perfection and she attained immortality, as seen in these lines: “Her spirit realizes perfection, and her body-structure transmutes into the spirit”; and “Embodying the spirit, refining internally / Her body-form realizes perfection. / When the yin sediment subsides, / Her pure qi energy transmutes into clouds . . . / When the yang essence is verified / She separates herself from the mortal world.” In addition, the inscription stresses Xue’s ascension with both her spirit and body, which also corresponds with the Zuowang lun inscription’s theme of “completeness of both the body and the spirit.” Moreover, while emphasizing inner cultivation, the inscription openly criticizes the futility of outer or laboratory alchemy: “Looking down, so many people / Are working on alchemy in vain.” Although many Daoists during the Tang period, such as the authors of the meditation texts mentioned earlier, advocated inner cultivation and refinement, most theorists, including Sima Chengzhen and Wu Yun, still grouped it with outer alchemy and considered both to be effective ways to attain immortality. Liu Moran appears to have been among the first to openly advocate inner cultivation and to criticize outer alchemy at the same time, which again marks her contribution to the gradual movement toward inner alchemy theories and practices. The Xue Yuanjun inscription is also important in the sense that it reveals Liu Moran’s gender awareness of Daoist female religiosity. In the lines “When the yin sediment subsides / Her pure qi energy transmutes into clouds” and “When the yang essence is verified / She separates herself from the mortal world,” Liu is describing the cultivation and refinement of the female body. Xue Yuanjun refined and transmuted her yin qi energy, which became sediment and subsided, while the pure yang qi energy became the essence and ascended to heaven. In the theory of female alchemy (nüdan ⤛ᷡ) that emerged during the Ming–Qing period, female practice was assumed to strive to transform the pure yin body to produce a pure yang body.51 In this sense, Liu Moran’s inscription can be seen as a germ of later female alchemy. This inscription also expresses Liu Moran’s self-consciousness in maintaining the continuity of Daoist female genealogy. As was discussed in chapter 3, about a century earlier than Liu, the Daoist priestess Huang Lingwei restored the shrines of an early female Daoist leader, Lady Wei Huacun, and in doing L I U M O R A N A N D T H E T H E O RY O F I N N E R C U LT I VAT I O N

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so “identified with Lady Wei because of their common gender.”52 Huang’s disciple Li Qiongxian then renovated the cloister established by Huang Lingwei, made Huang’s and Lady Wei’s statues, and had them placed side by side, thus further identifying with Huang and Wei along the lines of their common gender. Liu Moran’s commemoration of Xue Yuanjun thus demonstrates the same gender awareness and her intention to continue Daoist female genealogy through space and time.

Concluding Remarks Like many other Daoist priestesses, Liu Moran’s life experience represents an example of the natural continuity between the Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist traditions: as a wife and mother, she exemplified the Confucian “women’s Dao”; after fulfilling her family duties, she first learned Buddhist doctrines and was then ordained a Daoist priestess and became a theorist. A careful examination shows that the authorship of both texts of Zuowang lun does not belong to Sima Chengzhen, as traditionally attributed. Instead, the longer, seven-chapter Zuowang lun was written by Zhao Jian (courtesy name Zhijian), who also composed a commentary on the Daode jing, with terms and ideas identical to those in the Zuowang lun. The shorter Zuowang lun, meanwhile, was commissioned by Liu Moran to be engraved on a stele preserved on Mount Wangwu. The similar ideas and terms between this text and the “Xue Yuanjun shengxian ming” composed by Liu Moran and engraved on the same stele suggests, along with other evidence, that Liu could possibly be its author. The Zuowang lun inscription presents some important arguments concerning the Daoist theory of inner cultivation, developing it and connecting it to later theories of inner alchemy. The inscription stresses that one should directly enter oblivion or deep absorption with a mind empty of all sensory and conscious faculties. It also simplifies the seven stages of inner cultivation illustrated by earlier Tang Daoist masters, putting forward instead a theory of refinement in three stages: refining the body form to merge it with the qi energy, refining the qi energy to merge it with the spirit, and refining the spirit to become one with the Dao. These three stages are close to the typical three stages of inner alchemy as it matured in the early Song dynasty. The inscription further emphasizes “completeness of both the body and the spirit” and the dynamic power of Daoist [ 98 ]

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practitioners in their efforts to attain immortality in both corporeal and spiritual forms, which later became the core notion and belief of mature inner alchemy. Finally, the inscription was among the first to use the designation jindan (golden elixir) to refer to the outcome of the inner refinements, which was later commonly used for neidan (inner alchemy) and its outcome of “holy embryo.” Together, these points show that the Zuowang lun inscription was an important link in the development from the theories and practices of inner cultivation to those of inner alchemy. In the “Xue Yuanjun shengxian ming” inscription, Liu Moran illuminates Daoist inner cultivation theory in a similar way. She describes how, through refinement, Xue Yuanjun’s body and qi energy were transmuted into the spirit and yang essence, and then the spirit and yang essence realized perfection and immortality. Liu also stresses Xue’s ascension with both perfected spirit and body. While emphasizing inner refinement, Liu also criticized the futility of outer alchemy, being among the first to openly advocate the former over the latter, thus also marking her contribution to the gradual movement toward inner alchemy. Finally, the Xue Yuanjun inscription reveals Liu Moran’s gender awareness of Daoist female genealogy. Describing the cultivation of the female body, it expresses the author’s self-consciousness in maintaining the continuity of Daoist female religiosity and genealogy by commemorating and eulogizing a perfected Daoist woman.

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CHA P T E R V

Longevity Techniques and Medical Theory The Legacy of Hu Yin

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nother of the many outstanding Daoist priestesses of the Tang era was Hu Yin 傉ゼ (fl. 848), sobriquet Jiansunü 夳䳈⤛ (Woman of Knowing the Plain), a physician and medical theorist active in the first half of the ninth century. She is noted especially for composing a work on Daoist longevity techniques and medical theory titled Huangting neijing wuzang liufu buxietu 湫⹕ℏ㘗Ḽ冇ℕ價墄㾱⚾ (Chart of the Tonification and Purgation of the Five Viscera and Six Receptacles According to the Scripture of the Inner Refulgences of the Yellow Court) (HTNJT ), which is preserved in the Daozang as an individual text.1 In addition, the Xiuzhen shishu ᾖ䛇⋩㚠 (Ten Books on the Cultivation of Perfection) series, also included in the Daozang, contains a Huangting neijing wuzang liufu tu 湫⹕ℏ㘗Ḽ冇ℕ價⚾ (Chart of the Five Viscera and Six Receptacles According to the Scripture of the Inner Refulgences of the Yellow Court), which is also attributed to Hu Yin.2 The contents of both texts are about the same, with some minor variants. These two texts must therefore be different editions of the same text.3 Hu Yin’s text is an illustrated treatise elaborating the Daoist classic Huangting neijing jing 湫⹕ℏ㘗䴻 (Scripture of the Inner Refulgences of the Yellow Court) (HTJ).4 She describes the spirits, physiological functions, pathological mechanisms, and therapeutic regimens of the five viscera and one receptacle: the heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, and gallbladder. It further offers detailed instructions on longevity techniques and medical [ 100 ]

treatments, such as seasonal and timed breathing exercises, gymnastics, and dietetics for nurturing the viscera, activating the body’s qi (breath or energy) flow, and integrating it with the cosmic rhythm so as to perfect health and attain immortality. These descriptions and instructions profoundly influenced the later development of Daoist inner cultivation and inner alchemy theories, as well as traditional Chinese medicine and life-nurturing (yangsheng 梲䓇) theories. Yet, despite the significance of her work, Hu Yin has seldom been noticed by modern scholars. Not until the early 1940s was her work first noted by a renowned scholar of the HTJ and Daoism, Wang Ming 䌳㖶 (1911–1992), who evaluated it highly: The Tang woman Hu Yin was a great scholar in the learning of the HTJ. . . . Her work analyzes the physiological functions and pathological mechanisms of the five viscera and six receptacles. It uses medicine to cure symptoms and breathing practices and gymnastic exercises to strengthen the root. It talks little about the mysterious aspect of religion and is a practical medical classic of nurturing life. The HTJ mixes medical theory with religious ideas, but this work discards the religious hue and returns to medicine. Greatly developing the implications of the HTJ, the HTNJT thus represents a momentous change in the learning of this scripture. Ⓒ⤛⫸傉ゼ, 䁢湫⹕⬠侭ᷳⶐ㒀. . . . 㗗婾㜸Ḽ冇ℕ價ᷳ䓇䎮⍲䕭ン, ẍ喍䈑㱣℞㧁, 埴㯋⮶⺽⚢℞㛔, ㇨妨䳽⮹䤆䦀ᷳ⬿㔁⿏岒, ⹞䁢⮎晃㓅 䓇ᷳ慓䴻. 湫⹕䴻⍇䎮慓⬠冯⬿㔁⿅゛䱭⎰侴䁢ᶨ, Ṳᷫ埚㹴⬿㔁刚⼑侴 ⽑㬠㕤慓埻. ⮵湫⹕䴻佑, 䘤㖶⮎⣂, 㗗湫⹕ℏ㘗Ḽ冇ℕ價墄㾱⚾⎗媪湫 ⹕⬠ᷳᶨ⣏埵嬲ḇ.5 Wang Ming thus acknowledged Hu Yin’s great achievement in studying and developing this significant Daoist classic and appreciated her contributions to traditional Chinese medicine. Subsequently, Yan Yiping ♜ᶨ厵 (1912–1987) examined Hu Yin’s identity as a Daoist priestess and the cataloging and preservation of her work,6 while Joseph Needham, Isabelle Robinet, Wang Jiayou 䌳⭞䣸 and Hao Qin 悅⊌, Gai Jianmin 味⺢㮹, and Jean Lévi have also offered brief analyses of the contents of the HTNJT.7 Some recent works on the history of Daoist or Chinese medicine have further provided some descriptions of Hu Yin’s work. L O N G E V I T Y T E C H N I Q U E S A N D M E D I C A L T H E O RY

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Generally, however, studies on Hu Yin and her work have been insufficient and lacking in depth, and many issues await more sophisticated investigation. I therefore seek, in this chapter, to provide a comprehensive, in-depth study of Hu Yin and her work in order to reveal more completely her contributions to the development of both Daoist and Chinese medical theories.

Hu Yin’s Life and the Composition of the HTNJT The Chongwen zongmu ⲯ㔯䷥䚖 (Catalogue of the Collections in the Chongwen Academy, 1041) records, under the category of medical books, a Huangting neijing wuzang liufu tu 湫⹕ℏ㘗Ḽ冇ℕ價⚾ (Chart of the Five Viscera and Six Receptacles According to the Scripture of the Inner Refulgences of the Yellow Court) in one juan by “the woman Hu Yin” (nüzi Hu Yin ⤛⫸傉ゼ). It further records, under the category of Daoist books, a Huangting neijing tu 湫⹕ℏ㘗⚾ (Chart of the Scripture of the Inner Refulgences of the Yellow Court) in one juan and a Huangting waijing tu 湫⹕⢾㘗⚾ (Chart of Scripture of the Outer Refulgences of the Yellow Court) in one juan, which were “annotated by the woman Hu Yin” (nüzi Hu Yinzhuan ⤛⫸傉ゼ⁛).8 Additionally, the bibliography of the Xin Tangshu records a Huangting neijing tu in one juan by “the woman Hu Yin,”9 while the bibliography of the Tongzhi 忂⽿ (General Annals) records a Huangting wuzang neijing tu 湫⹕Ḽ啷ℏ㘗⚾ (Chart of the Five Viscera According to the Scripture of the Inner Refulgences of the Yellow Court) in one juan by “the Tang woman Hu Yin,” and a Hu Yin fang 傉ゼ㕡 (Prescriptions by Hu Yin) in two juan.10 The bibliography of the Songshi ⬳⎚ (Song History) further lists the three titles recorded in the Chongwen zongmu and adds one more text, the Buxie neijing fang 墄൮ℏ㘗㕡 (Prescriptions of the Tonification and Purgation According to the Scripture of the Inner Refulgences), attributed to “Hu Yin, the Woman of Knowing the Plain on Mount Taibai” ⣒䘥Ⱉ夳 䳈⤛⫸傉ゼ.11 The Daozang, meanwhile, includes the HTNJT in one juan, with a preface signed “Hu Yin, the Master of Knowing the Plain on Mount Taibai” ⣒䘥Ⱉ夳䳈⫸傉ゼ and dated the second year of the Dazhong reign period of Emperor Xuanzong (848).12 However, the other edition of the HTNJT, titled Huangting neijing wuzang liufu tu and included in the Xiuzhen shishu [ 102 ]

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series, as mentioned, attributes the authorship to “Hu Yin, the Women of Knowing the Plain on Mount Taibai” ⣒䘥Ⱉ夳䳈⤛傉ゼ.13 Contrasting these two editions with the records of the Song–Yuan catalogs, we can assume that Huangting neijing wuzang liufu buxie tu must be the complete title, and that Huangting neijing wuzang liufu tu and Huangting neijing tu are likely abridged titles, while Buxie neijing fang and Hu Yin fang are possibly prescriptions extracted from the complete text for individual circulation. Because the Huangting waijing tu is not seen in transmitted texts, it may have been lost or simply have been a wrong title for the Huangting neijing tu, because “Huangting waijing” should refer to the Huangting waijing jing 湫⹕⢾㘗䴻 (Scripture of the Outer Refulgences of the Yellow Court), which is quite similar to the inner scripture of the HTJ. Modern scholars have variously assumed the outer scripture to be a brief summary of the inner scripture, or else the latter to be an elaboration of the former.14 Because Hu Yin’s life does not appear in any other record, we must rely on her own preface to the HTNJT and on the Song–Yuan catalogs for information about her. As noted above, of the two editions of her work preserved in the Daozang, the individual edition names her as “Master of Knowing the Plain,” while the Xiuzhen shishu edition designates her as “Woman of Knowing the Plain.” All Song catalogs name her “the woman Hu Yin,” whereas the Yuan dynasty Songshi also calls her “Woman of Knowing the Plain.” Because no other source mentions her, the fact that the Song–Yuan people knew she was a woman means that this information must have come from her own text. Therefore, the Xiuzhen shishu and Songshi appear to keep the correct record, and Hu Yin’s Daoist sobriquet should be “Woman of Knowing the Plain.” The phrase “Knowing the Plain” may have been taken from the medical classic Suwen 䳈⓷ (Plain Questions), included in the Huangdi neijing 湫ⷅ ℏ䴻 (Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon) and compiled probably in the first century BCE, with various layers added later.15 About the title Suwen, Quan Yuanqi ℐ⃫崟 (fl. Southern Qi-Liang period) explained su 䳈 as ben 㛔 (root, origin, or substance), whereas Lin Yi 㜿€ (fl. 1057–1077) further clearly defined it as taisu ⣒䳈 (primordial plain) and explained it as “zhi zhi shi ye” 岒ᷳ⥳ḇ (origin of substance).16 Thus, instead of its standard translation as Basic Questions, the exact translation for the Suwen should be Plain Questions. This medical classic greatly influenced both the HTJ and Hu Yin’s HTNJT, and the HTNJT frequently cites it. In particular, the HTNJT L O N G E V I T Y T E C H N I Q U E S A N D M E D I C A L T H E O RY

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develops its central themes of tonification and purgation of the viscera and breathing exercises in harmony with the four seasons, following from the Suwen, which is based on the concept of qi and emphasizes “tonification and purgation without failing, becoming oneness with Heaven and Earth” 墄⮓⊧⣙, 冯⣑⛘⤪ᶨ. Wang Bing 䌳⅘, who lived just before Hu Yin, emphasized in his annotation to the Suwen that tonification and purgation are “in harmony with the constant Dao of Heaven and Earth” ㅱ⣑⛘ᷳⷠ忻. He further indicated that tonification is used mainly to cure asthenic patients, while purgation is used mainly to cure strong patients. Both are also applied in breathing therapy, with inhaling as tonification and exhaling as purgation.17 These concepts were absorbed into Hu Yin’s work (discussed later), which is why she named it the “Chart of Tonification and Purgation.” As for Mount Taibai, where Hu Yin lived, Gai Jianmin believed it was located in Wuzhou ⨢ⶆ (present-day Jinhua, in Zhejiang), according to Ge Hong’s 吃㳒 (283–343) record of ideal places for alchemy in his Baopu zi ㉙㧠⫸ (Book of the Master Who Keeps to Simplicity).18 Ge Hong, however, first mentioned the Mount Taibai located in Qizhou ⰸⶆ (presentday Meixian, in Shaanxi) as one of the famous national mountains, and then said that if these were unavailable, one could replace them with the famous mountains east of the Yangzi River, including the Mount Taibai in Zhejiang.19 Therefore, when a Daoist text mentions only Mount Taibai, it usually refers to the famous one, located in Shaanxi. Moreover, the HTNJT was greatly influenced by the works of Sun Simiao (see discussions later), who had secluded himself on Mount Taibai of Shaanxi for many years.20 Thus, it is highly likely that the Mount Taibai where Hu Yin lived was the one in Shaanxi. As Hu Yin talks about herself in her preface, “I, Hu Yin, am not quick by nature, and loved the mysterious gate at a young age. I have cultivated my mind in nonintervention and settled my heart in simplicity” ゼ⣁⿏ ᶵ㓷, ⸤ヽ䌬攨, 䃱⽿䃉䁢, 㢚⽫㽡㱲.21 From “nonintervention,” “simplicity,” and “mysterious gate,” we know Hu was referring to Daoism, and scholars have assumed she probably entered the Daoist order at a young age and was ordained a priestess.22 In addition, owing to her profound knowledge in medical theory and practice, scholars have also assumed she was probably an experienced physician.23 The preface is signed with Dazhong 2 (848), and before that year Hu had already “passed many, many years” Ⰺ㚜 㬚㚰 in her life. She must thus have been in her middle to old age when [ 104 ]

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she finished the book, and therefore her active period was about the first half of the ninth century. In her preface, Hu Yin also indicates that her purpose in composing such an illustrated treatise is to elaborate the theory of the viscera in the HTJ and to correct errors in previous commentaries. This scripture, composed in heptasyllabic verses, is representative of early Daoism. Absorbing traditional Chinese medical knowledge from classics such as the Suwen, discussions on the five viscera and the five-phase scheme from the Warring States period to the Han dynasty, and the theory and visualization of visceral spirits found in the Taiping jing ⣒⸛䴻 (Scripture of the Great Peace) and the Laozi Heshanggong zhu 侩⫸㱛ᶲ℔㲐 (Heshanggong’s Commentary on the Laozi), the HTJ describes the major body organs and their spirits and discusses how to attain immortality by visualizing those spirits and using other longevity techniques, such as breathing exercises. It especially emphasizes the five viscera (lungs, heart, liver, spleen, and kidneys) and six receptacles, although the text lists only the gallbladder as one of the receptacles;24 thus, altogether it discusses six viscera. Regarding the date of the HTJ, views among scholars have varied, but in general it has been set during the Jin dynasty (265–420). From the Jin to the Tang, Daoist scholars had annotated and interpreted this scripture,25 but in the view of Hu Yin, many of them presented either minor or serious mistakes: I humbly found that the old charts are profound and secret, and the paths are dark and deep. The words and theories are mysterious, so that few people could delve into them. They pointed to the forms and images, or merely summarized the names of the spirits. Many authors composed works and different arguments emerged. This situation caused later learners to be unable to find the gate. When a slight error occurred, the mistake could become huge. ặ夳冲⚾⤏⭮, 㳍嶗⸥㶙. 娆䎮㖊䌬, 岦ᷳ侭歖. ㊯ẍ刚尉, ㆾ䔍姀䤆⎵, 媠㮷个ᾖ, 䔘䪗㕗崟. 忪ἧ⼴⬠ᷳ廑, 份⼿℞攨. ⶖᷳ㮓慸, 嫔忦⋫慴.26 To provide a good text for beginners, Hu Yin summarized all previous works and elaborated her own opinions, thereby developing a new scheme of narration on both the religious and medical dimensions of the viscera. Using the correlative relation between the five viscera and the five-phase cosmology to structure her narrative, she discussed the six viscera, one by L O N G E V I T Y T E C H N I Q U E S A N D M E D I C A L T H E O RY

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one, and included for each a chart of the visceral spirit, as well as sections titled “Tushuo” ⚾婒 (Explanation of the Chart), “Xiuyang fa” ᾖ梲㱽 (Method for Caring and Nurturing), “Xiangbing fa” 䚠䕭㱽 (Method for Observing Illnesses), “Liuqi fa” ℕ㯋㱽 (Method of the Six Breaths), “Yuejin shiji fa” 㚰䤩梇⽴㱽 (Method of Monthly Dietary Prohibitions and Abstinence), and “Daoyin fa” ⮶⺽㱽 (Method for Guiding and Pulling). All these will be discussed in the following sections.

Correlation Between the Five Viscera and the Five-Phase Cosmology One of the most important features of Hu Yin’s HTNJT is that its theory, structure, and narration are built on a correlative relation between the five viscera and the five-phase cosmological scheme. The five viscera played a significant role in constructing the cosmology of the yin-yang and fivephase scheme, developed from the late Warring States period to the Han dynasty. In the Guanzi 䭉⫸, Lüshi chunqiu ⏪㮷㗍䥳, Huainan zi 㶖⋿⫸, and Taixuan ⣒䌬, the five viscera were already connected to the five-phase series.27 The Suwen discusses in great detail the relationship of mutual generation and destruction between the five external series (five phases, five directions, five seasons, five qi, five colors, five sounds, five flavors, and so forth) and the five internal series (five viscera, five/six receptacles, five sensory organs, five senses, five emotions, five body parts, five bodily fluids, and so forth).28 Thus, the universe and the human body were envisaged as mutually corresponding and functioning macrocosm and microcosm.29 Other Han dynasty works further developed concepts of the five viscera’s spirits. As the Taiping jing reads, “The essence and spirits of the four seasons and five phases enter a man to become the spirits of the five viscera” 㬌⚃㗪Ḽ埴䱦䤆, ℍ䁢ṢḼ冇䤆. 30 The Laozi Heshanggong zhu also states: If one can nurture the spirits he will not die. The spirits refer to the spirits of the five viscera. The liver contains the hun/yang soul, the lungs contain the po/yin soul, the heart contains the spirit, the spleen contains the consciousness, and the kidneys contain the essence and will. If all the five viscera are injured, then the five spirits will leave [the body]. [ 106 ]

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Ṣ傥梲䤆⇯ᶵ㬣, 䤆媪Ḽ啷䤆ḇ. 偅啷櫪, 偢啷櫬. ⽫啷䤆, 僦啷シ, 僶 啷䱦冯⽿. Ḽ冇䚉 ⇯Ḽ䤆⍣.31

Thus, in pursuing longevity and immortality, one needs not seek the help of celestial divinities but rather only nurtures one’s own bodily spirits, especially those of the major organs. The HTJ follows these concepts and further forms a theology of the human body. It deifies and personalizes the five viscera and one receptacle, describing each visceral organ in terms of name, color, and clothing and correlating each more closely with the five-phase scheme. For example, the heart spirit’s name is Danyuan ⃫ᷡ (Cinnabar Prime) and its zi ⫿ (courtesy name) is Shouling ⬰曰 (Guarding the Numina), symbolizing red, fire, and south; the lung spirit’s name is Haohua 䘻厗 (White Flower) and its zi is Xucheng 嘃ㆸ (Void and Completion), symbolizing white, metal, and west; the liver spirit’s name is Longyan 漵䄁 (Dragon Mist) and its zi is Hanming ⏓㖶 (Embodying Light), symbolizing green, wood, and east; the kidney spirit’s name is Xuanming 䌬⅍ (Mysterious Gloom) and its zi is Yuying 做⫘ (Nursing Infant), symbolizing black, water, and north; the spleen spirit’s name is Changzai ⷠ⛐ (Constant Existence) and its zi is Hunting 櫪  (Soul Residence), symbolizing yellow, earth, and central; and the gallbladder spirit’s name is Longyao 漵㚄 (Dragon Shine) and its zi is Weiming ⦩㖶 (Mighty Light), symbolizing green, wood, and east. 32 As Liangqiuzi said in his commentary: Each of the five viscera and six receptacles has its office, and all have their laws and images, which resemble heaven and earth and harmonize with yin and yang. This is the Dao of natural resonance and intake. Ḽ冇ℕ價⎬㚱㇨⎠, 䘮㚱㱽尉, ⎴⣑⛘, 枮昘春, 冒䃞デ㓅ᷳ忻.33 Through visualizing the visceral spirits, one resonates and correlates with heaven, earth, yin, and yang to attain longevity and immortality.34 The Wuzang lun Ḽ冇婾 (Treatise on the Five Viscera) composed in the late Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589) also connects the five viscera with the five phases, five stars, five sacred peaks, and so forth.35 At the very beginning of her preface, Hu Yin elaborates the correlation between the five viscera and the five phases: L O N G E V I T Y T E C H N I Q U E S A N D M E D I C A L T H E O RY

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Heaven presides over yang and nurtures humans with five qi; earth presides over yin and nurtures humans with five flavors. The interaction of qi and flavors condenses to the five viscera. By spreading, the qi of the five viscera forms the four members, the sixteen sections, and the three hundred and sixty articulations; by stretching, it makes the tendons, veins, humors, blood, and marrow; by condensing, it forms the six receptacles, triple heater, and twelve meridians; by circulating, it makes the nine orifices. This is why the five viscera are the governors of the body. If one of the viscera weakens, an illness appears; when the five viscera weaken, the spirits disappear. This is why the five viscera are the dwelling places of the luminous spirits, the hun/ yang and po/yin souls, the will, and the essence. Each of the viscera has its responsibility. The heart is in charge of the spirit, the lungs the po soul, the liver the hun soul, the spleen the consciousness, and the kidneys the will. Externally extended, they correspond to the five stars above and to the five sacred mountains below, all of which are modeled on heaven and earth and imaged on the sun and moon. ⣓⣑ᷣ春, 梇ṢẍḼ㯋; ⛘ᷣ昘, 梇ṢẍḼ␛. 㯋␛䚠デ, 䳸䁢Ḽ冇. Ḽ冇ᷳ㯋, 㔋䁢⚃偊⋩ℕ悐, ᶱ䘦ℕ⋩斄䭨, ⺽䁢䫳傰, 㳍㵚, 埨橻, 喲ㆸ ℕ價, ᶱ䃎, ⋩Ḵ䴻, 忂䁢ḅ䩭. 㓭Ḽ冇侭, 䁢Ṣ⼊ᷳᷣ. ᶨ冇㎵⇯䕭䓇, Ḽ冇㎵⇯䤆㹭. 㓭Ḽ冇侭, 䤆㖶櫪櫬⽿䱦ᷳ㇨⯭ḇ, 㭷冇⎬㚱㇨ᷣ. 㗗ẍ ⽫ᷣ䤆, 偢ᷣ櫬, 偅ᷣ櫪, 僦ᷣシ, 僶ᷣ⽿. 䘤㕤⢾⇯ᶲㅱḼ㗇, ᶳㅱḼⵥ, 䘮㧉䭬⣑⛘, 䧇尉㖍㚰.36 Hence, the five qi energies and five flavors of heaven and earth enter the human body and form the five viscera, which contain both the physical and mental energies. The qi of the viscera spreads internally to form all the organs and externally to correspond to the stars and mountains; together all of these are modeled on the movement of the universe. Hu Yin absorbs previous discussions about the five viscera’s important status in the cosmological scheme of the five phases and further develops them,37 indicating more clearly the two-directional function of the viscera between the microcosm of the human body and the macrocosm of the universe. Internally, they are the spiritual core and constitutive energies of the body, which integrate all other bodily parts together as an organic totality and a micro universe. Externally, they are the symbolic channels through which the cosmic rhythm, energy, and pattern are absorbed into and modeled by the body. [ 108 ]

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By elaborating and developing the correlative relations between the five viscera and the five-phase cosmology, Hu Yin thus provided a theoretical framework for her depiction of the visceral spirits and her scheme of seasonal life nurturing. These were her most influential contributions to Daoist theory and Chinese medicine, as the next two sections discuss.

Hu Yin’s Depiction of the Images of the Six Visceral Spirits In the HTNJT, Hu Yin provided an image for each indwelling spirit of the five viscera and one receptacle. These images are zoomorphic in appearance: the lung spirit resembles a white tiger (baihu 䘥嗶), the heart spirit a vermilion bird/sparrow (zhuque 㛙晨), the liver spirit a green dragon (canglong 呤漵), the spleen spirit a jade phoenix (yufeng 䌱沛), the kidney spirit a two-headed deer (shuangtou lu 暁柕渧), and the gallbladder spirit a turtle– snake couple (xuanwu 䌬㬎, i.e., guishe 潄噯; see figure 5.1). Among all transmitted and unearthed texts, it is notable that these visceral images are first seen in Hu Yin’s work. This accords with her preface that she “drew different images based on various scriptures” ㊱㒂媠䴻, ⇍䁢 ⚾⺷. 38 The HTJ described all the visceral spirits in the form of a young boy. In the Huangting zhongjing jing 湫⹕ᷕ㘗䴻 (Scripture of the Central Refulgences of the Yellow Court), the lung spirit is described as riding a white tiger, the liver spirit as riding a green dragon, and the kidney spirit as riding a turtle, but all the spirits are still depicted as a young boy.39 In his commentary on the Huangting waijing jing, Wuchengzi mentioned that “the liver is the green dragon and the lung is the white tiger,” but he did not depict the images for them.40 The green dragon and white tiger are two of the traditional four star images (sixiang ⚃尉)—the vermilion sparrow and black turtle-snake being the other two—originated from ancient times. By the late Warring States and early Han periods, in texts such as the Lüshi chunqiu and Huainanzi, these four images were established as the spirits of the twenty-eight constellations (ershiba xiu Ḵ⋩ℓ⭧) and the four cardinal directions and were correlated with the five-phase scheme: the white tiger symbolizes the western palace, encompassing the seven constellations in the western sky, the west, metal, and so forth; the green dragon is the eastern palace, encompassing the seven constellations in the eastern L O N G E V I T Y T E C H N I Q U E S A N D M E D I C A L T H E O RY

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Figure 5.1 The Visceral Spirits: (a) Spirit of the Lungs; (b) Spirit of the Heart; (c) Spirit of the Liver; (d) Spirit of the Spleen; (e) Spirit of the Kidneys; ( f ) Spirit of the Gallbladder. From Huangting neijing wuzang liufu buxie tu, by Hu Yin (Daozang 432).

sky, the east, wood, and so forth; the red sparrow is the southern palace, encompassing the seven constellations in the southern sky, the south, fire, and so forth; the turtle-snake couple is the northern palace, encompassing the seven constellations in the northern sky, the north, water, and so forth.41 In her work, Hu Yin transformed these four spirits of stars and directions into visceral spirits and depicted their images, with white tiger symbolizing the lung spirit, vermilion sparrow the heart spirit, green dragon the liver spirit, and the turtle–snake couple the gallbladder spirit. In addition, Hu Yin added the image of the two-headed deer, symbolizing the spirit of the kidneys, and the image of the jade phoenix as the spirit of the spleen. These additions also had their antique origin. Archaeological discoveries, such as the bronze mirror from a Guo State 嘊⚳ tomb dated around the mid-ninth to mid-seventh centuries BCE and the famous lacquer box from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng State 㚦ὗḁ, dated early Warring States, tell us that, before the early Warring States, the northern palace of stars was symbolized by the deer (or the qilin 渺湇, which is a legendary animal with features of the deer).42 In apocryphal texts (chenwei 嬾䶗) and Daoist ritual texts prior to the Tang, the phoenix is described as representing earth, the central phase in the five-phase cosmology, and is also related to the Big Dipper (Beidou ⊿㔿), which is located in the central palace of heaven and whose function is the same as the polestar (Beiji xing ⊿㤝㗇).43 Hu Yin’s innovative transformation and depiction of the visceral spirits presented significant symbolic meanings for the cosmography of the human body. By identifying the visceral spirits with the constellational and directional spirits, she made the human microcosm more seamlessly identical with the macrocosm of the universe. Just as the spirits of the constellational palaces and four cardinal directions guard the central kingdoms in both heaven and earth, the visceral spirits guard the major organs of the human body and operate in the microcosm with their natural energies, guaranteeing the body’s harmony and health. The visceral spirits further symbolize the holiness of the human body, providing a theological rationale for the Daoist goal of longevity and immortality and the eventual emergence and maturity of Daoist inner alchemy during the Song dynasty (960–1279). Nonetheless, the two editions of Hu Yin’s HTNJT differ somewhat in the images and their explanations. The individual edition preserves the six images but, except for mentioning “visualization of the spirits and nurturing [the viscera]” (cunshen xiuyang ⬀䤆ᾖ梲),44 the explanatory sections L O N G E V I T Y T E C H N I Q U E S A N D M E D I C A L T H E O RY

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never refer to the spirits again. Instead, they focus on describing the physiological structure and function of each of the viscera and its relationship with the five-phase scheme. In the Xiuzhen shishu edition, the six images are missing but the explanatory sections appear more complete. These sections describe the six spirits’ names, appearances, incarnations, personalities, attendants, and so forth based on the HTJ and other Daoist and medical texts.45 For example, the explanation of the liver spirit is as follows: The liver spirit’s name is Longyan (Dragon Mist) and its zi is Hanming (Embodying Light). The liver is the qi of zhen (thunder) and the essence of wood. Its color is green, its shape is like a hanging gourd, and its spirit looks like a green dragon. The liver is in charge of the hun/yang soul. It transforms into two jade boys, one in green cloth and the other in yellow cloth. Each is nine cun tall and holds jade liquids from the liver. There is another saying that the liver is guarded by three boys and six jade maids. Its spirit loves humaneness, so humaneness and kindness generate from the liver. 偅䤆漵䄁⫿⏓㖶. ⣓偅侭, 暯ᷳ㯋, 㛐ᷳ䱦, ℞刚曺, ℞尉⤪ㆠ⊷, ℞䤆 ⼊⤪曺漵. 偅ᷣ櫪, ⊾䁢Ḵ䌱䪍, ᶨ曺堋, ᶨ湫堋, ⎬攟ḅ⮠, ㊩䌱㻧↢㕤 偅啷. ᶨḹ偅㚱ᶱ䪍⫸, ℕ䌱⤛⬰ᷳ. ℞䤆⤥ṩ, ṩよ味䘤Ḷ偅啷.46 Because Hu Yin depicted the six images of visceral spirits, she should have matched the images with the explanations in the “Explanation of the Chart” sections. Both editions thus appear to have lost something: one lacks the images, while the other lacks some parts of the explanations. Reading them together, however, we gain a more complete picture of the original text.47 The HTJ’s theory emphasizing the visualization of bodily spirits was further developed by Highest Clarity Daoism and also venerated as the origin of inner alchemy by Daoist traditions from the Song dynasty onward. During the late Tang period in which Hu Yin lived, outer alchemy had already started coming under question, and in her HTNJT, Hu Yin openly criticized it while developing the inner cultivation theory of the HTJ: If I am able to visualize the spirits, nurture [the viscera], restrain myself, and make vigorous efforts, I will complete the Dao. Then, the viscera become strong. No poisons can encroach even though [ 112 ]

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rotten materials enter my body; no qi can be weakened even though my body catches diseases externally. I become bright and pure, preventing old age and prolonging life. My determination is high on immortality, and my appearance shows no fatigue. The essences and lights of the sun and moon come to attach to my body-self, and the four seasons and six qi come to integrate with my body-structure. I enter the Dao of changes, understand the principle of divinity, take control of yin and yang, and breathe the subtle spirit. That which generates all things in turn is then controlled by me. When reaching this stage, I do not need golden elixirs, jade liquids, or the elixirs of Langya and Dahuan, but naturally transform my spirit and rush to the void. My qi integrates with the Grand Harmony and ascends to the clouds. The qi of the five viscera twists itself into five clouds to ascend to Heaven. 劍傥⬀䤆ᾖ梲, ⃳⶙⊝⽿, ℞忻ㆸ䞋. 䃞⼴Ḽ冇➭⻟, ⇯ℏ⍿儍僸, 媠㭺 ᶵ傥Ὕ; ⢾怕䕦䕭, 媠㯋ᶵ傥㎵. 倘㖶䲼䱡, ⌣侩⺞⸜, ⽿檀䤆ẁ, ⼊䃉 ⚘䕚. 㖍㚰䱦⃱Ἦ旬ㆹ幓, ⚃㗪ℕ㯋Ἦ⎰ㆹ橼. ℍ嬲⊾ᷳ忻, 忂䤆㖶ᷳ䎮, ㈲㎉昘春, ␤⏠䱦䤆, 忈䈑侭侣䁢ㆹ㇨⇞. 军㬌ᷳ㗪, ᶵ`慹ᷡ䌱㵚, 䎭䈁 ⣏怬, 冒䃞䤆⊾㰾嘃, 㯋⎰⣒␴侴⋯暚㻊. Ḽ冇ᷳ㯋, 䳸Ḽ暚侴ℍ⣑ᷕ.48 This passage is important for understanding Hu Yin’s theory of the body pantheon and inner cultivation. The visualization of spirits consisted of calling the names of the visceral spirits and visualizing their images, functions, and powers. One must also carefully nurture one’s viscera, restrain oneself in daily life, and make vigorous efforts. When cultivation is complete, the viscera become strong and the bodily energy is strengthened for resisting disease. With perfected health, the aging process is reversed and life is prolonged. Thereupon the cosmic essence and energy of the sun, the moon, the four seasons, and so forth are spontaneously absorbed and incorporated into the body. With the cosmosized body, one enters the Dao of eternal changes and becomes harmonious with the principle of divinity and the operation of yin and yang. Hu Yin proudly announces that, through all these practices, one is eventually able to manipulate one’s destiny of life and death and, without relying on golden elixirs, ascend to become immortal in daytime. Here, Hu Yin compares inner cultivation with outer alchemy, clearly privileging the former over the latter. She also displays strong confidence in believing that Daoist cultivation and human efforts can overcome the ultimate destiny of death. L O N G E V I T Y T E C H N I Q U E S A N D M E D I C A L T H E O RY

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Not only did Hu Yin’s work represent an important development of the inner cultivation theory of the HTJ but also it was one of the pioneering works in formulating inner alchemy theory and practice during the late Tang and Five Dynasties (907–960) periods. Although her goal of immortality appears to have remained that of early Daoism—extending the life of the physical body—Hu Yin’s conception of the visceral spirits signaled the early development of the inner alchemy theory of nurturing a separate immortal spirit–body that returns to the eternal matrix of the Dao. Indeed, her images of visceral spirits and accompanying explanations significantly influenced inner alchemy theory. For instance, the Daozang includes a text titled Shangqing Huangting wuzang liufu zhenren yuzhou jing ᶲ㶭湫⹕Ḽ冇ℕ⹄䛇Ṣ䌱庠䴻 (Precious Scroll of the Perfected Man on the Five Viscera and Six Receptacles of the Yellow Court of Highest Clarity) in one juan, with no author attribution.49 Although the beginning and the end of the text consist of fictitious conversations between the Celestial Venerable of Primal Commencement (Yuanshi tianzun ⃫⥳⣑⮲) and the Yellow Emperor, the middle portion is an “Illustrated Essay on the Five Viscera and Six Receptacles” (Wuzang liufu tuwen Ḽ啷ℕ⹄⚾㔯). Here, the images and explanations are roughly the same as Hu Yin’s, except that each chart provides an additional image of the corresponding organ. Wang Ming asserted that this text was likely an abridged version of Hu Yin’s book, with some alterations,50 a quite reasonable claim, because the anonymous work bears an obvious appearance of alterations and hodgepodge. In addition, an abridged version of the Yuzhou jing found in the Huangting dunjia yuanshen jing 湫⹕忩䓚䶋幓䴻 (Book of the Hidden Period and the Causal Body of the Yellow Court), included in the Yunji qiqian, contains similar images of the six visceral spirits.51 The Siqi shesheng tu ⚃㯋㓅䓇⚾ (Illustrated [Method] of the Four Seasonal Qi for Conserving One’s Health), attributed to Liu Ding ∱溶 (Late Tang), also includes similar images of the six visceral spirits but places them inside the corresponding images of the viscera; these images are also followed by seasonal nurturing methods of the viscera,52 similar to those discussed in Hu Yin’s work (covered later). Because the Chongwen zongmu and other Song dynasty catalogs record this text, it likely appeared between the late Tang and Five Dynasties periods.53 Moreover, the “Baiwen” 䘦⓷ (One Hundred Questions) chapter in the Daoshu 忻㧆 (Pivot of the Dao) records a fictitious conversation between

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the legendary figures Lü Dongbin ⏪㳆屻 and Zhongli Quan 挦暊㪲 concerning inner alchemy theory, which cites Hu Yin’s transformation of the directional and constellational spirits into visceral spirits. It also lists the liver as green dragon, the lungs as white tiger, the heart as vermilion bird, and the kidney as turtle, but changes the spleen to qilin 渺湇.54 The “Zhongmiao” 䛦⥁ (All Subtleties) chapter in the same book records another theory of inner alchemy from the Song, which assumes the liver as green dragon and mercury, and the lungs as white tiger and lead; when the dragon and tiger interact, the inner elixir is complete.55 The “Taiqing” ⣒㶭 (Grand Clarity) chapter in the same book records yet another theory of inner alchemy, which assumes the qi of the liver as green dragon, the qi of the lungs as white tiger, the qi of the heart as vermilion bird, the qi of the kidneys as turtle, and the qi of the spleen as snake. These five qi of the viscera fuse in the furnace of the human body and then condense into the inner elixir.56 All these zoomorphic images of the visceral spirits are the same as or similar to those of Hu Yin. In addition are the various versions of the Xiuzhen tu ᾖ䛇⚾ (Chart for the Cultivation of Perfection), popular since the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). These charts for cultivating the human body, created by the Longmen branch of Quanzhen Daoism, summarize the theories and practices of inner alchemy. They include the Xiuzhen tu preserved in the Sanyuan abbey ᶱ⃫⭖ of Guangzhou (in present-day Guangdong), the Lianxing xiuzhen quantu 䃱⿏ᾖ䛇ℐ⚾ (Complete Chart for the Cultivation of Nature and Perfection) preserved on Mount Wudang 㬎䔞Ⱉ, the Xiuzhen tu preserved in the Baiyun abbey 䘥暚奨 in Beijing, and the Xiuchi zhenyuan tulu ᾖ㊩䛇 ⃫⚾䰁 (Chart and Register for the Cultivation of Perfect Primordiality) preserved in Longhu tang 漵嗶➪ and reproduced by Li Zhaosheng 㛶⃮䓇. All these charts contain images of the six visceral spirits and accompanying explanations that are essentially the same as those in Hu Yin’s work (see figure 5.2),57 thus demonstrating her profound influence on the formation and evolution of Daoist inner alchemy theory.

Hu Yin’s Scheme for Seasonal Nurturing of the Viscera Although Hu Yin’s HTNJT does not discard the mysterious, religious aspects of the HTJ, as some scholars have asserted, her work goes beyond

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Figure 5.2 Xiuzhen tu. Courtesy of Yin Zhihua ⯡⽿厗, Baiyun guan, Beijng.

the scripture’s central theme of describing bodily spirits and emphasizing  their visualization to also focus on medicine, life nurturing, and longevity techniques. In the sections titled “Explanation of the Chart,” Hu Yin not only describes each spirit of the six viscera but also discusses in detail each organ’s color, weight, shape, position, and function, as well as its traditional relations to the five-phase scheme, which are treated as the theoretical foundation of healing disease and nurturing life. In the sections titled “Method for Observing the Viscera’s Illness,” she lists a series of symptoms that reveal the weaknesses of each organ, offers methods to tone or purge the organ, and provides an empirical prescription of combined herbs to cure its most serious illnesses. These sections demonstrate a profound medical knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and therapeutics; most of them were summarized from traditional medical works such as the Suwen; Tao Hongjing’s 昞⻀㘗 (456–536) Yangxing yanming lu 梲⿏⺞␥抬 (Records Concerning Cultivating Nature and Prolonging Life);58 the Fuxingjue zang fu yongyao fayao 庼埴 始冇價䓐喍㱽天 (Supplementary Formulas for Essential Medication of the Viscera), attributed to Tao Hongjing and possibly compiled by his descendants;59 the Wuzang lun, possibly compiled during the late divisional period;60 Chao Yuanfang’s ⶊ⃫㕡 (fl. 610) Zhubing yuanhou lun 媠䕭㸸῁婾 (Treatise on the Origins and Symptoms of All Diseases); Sun Simiao’s Beiji qianjin yaofang ⁁⿍⋫慹天㕡 (Essential Priceless Prescriptions for All Urgent Ills); and others. However, some of Hu Yin’s discussions are untraceable to any earlier source and therefore quite possibly derived from her own medical experience as a physician. The most important contribution of Hu Yin’s work, however, was not in therapeutic theory but rather in methods for nurturing life and longevity techniques. The sections on “Method for Caring and Nurturing,” “Method of the Six Breaths,” “Method of Monthly Dietary Prohibitions and Abstinence,” and “Method for Guiding and Pulling” discuss various techniques for nurturing the viscera; these also incorporate the correlations between the five viscera and the five-phase cosmological scheme into the practice of seasonal caring and cultivation. Among the techniques and methods of medical caring and Daoist cultivation placed by Hu Yin within the traditional five-phase scheme are meditation, breathing exercises, teeth clapping, saliva swallowing, gymnastic exercise, massage, and dietetic regimens. All these exercises together form an innovative scheme for seasonal nurturing of the viscera, which we will discuss. L O N G E V I T Y T E C H N I Q U E S A N D M E D I C A L T H E O RY

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Spring (1st, 2nd, and 3rd months)

On the 1st day of each month, clap the teeth 3 times, hold breath 9 times, and inhale 9 breaths from the east.

Season

Method for Caring and Nurturing

Winter (10th, 11th, and 12th months) During the 3 months of winter, live regularly, practice meditation/ visualization, and inhale 3 breaths from the north. During the 3 months often sit smoothly facing the north, clap the teeth 7 times, swallow saliva 3 times, and inhale 5 breaths from the north.

In the early morning of the 1st and 15th days of each month, sit smoothly facing the west, clap the teeth 7 times, swallow saliva 3 times, practice meditation/visualization, inhale 7 breaths from the west, and hold breath 70 times.

In early morning of the 1st day of the month and the last 18 days of each season, sit straight, hold breath 5 times, clap the teeth 12 times, and inhale 12 breaths from the earth.

In early morning of the 1st, 7th, 8th, 22nd, and 23rd days of each month, sit straight facing the south, clap the teeth 9 times, swallow saliva 3 times, inhale 3 breaths from the south, and hold breath 30 times.

Water

Gallbladder

Winter (10th, 11th, and 12th months)

Water

Kidney

Autumn (7th, 8th, and 9th months)

Metal

Lung

Late summer (6th month)

Earth

Spleen

Summer (4th and 5th months)

Fire

Heart

Note: This and the following three tables are based on the Huangting neijing wuzang liufu buxie tu edition, by Hu Yin, included in the Daozang as an individual text, and collated and complemented by Hangting neijing wuzang liufu tu, the edition included in the Xiuzhen shishu series. In the text, Hu Yin also lists the five viscera’s correlation with the five cardinal directions, five sacred peaks, five stars, five colors, five flavors, five sounds, five sensory organs, five emotions, and so forth. Since these are about the same as the traditional five-phase scheme, I have omitted them from the tables.

Wood

Phase

Liver

Hu Yin’s Method of Caring for and Nurturing the Viscera

TA B L E 5.1

Method of Caring for and Nurturing the Viscera Hu Yin’s “Method for Caring and Nurturing” combines various Daoist techniques for nurturing and prolonging life, including swallowing saliva; clapping the teeth; absorbing, holding, and circulating the breath; and meditating and visualizing (see table 5.1). This regimen was developed from the HTJ, which, while emphasizing the visualization of bodily spirits, also advocated the exercises of swallowing saliva and absorbing qi breath. The inner scripture reads: Closing my mouth and rolling my tongue to swallow the embryonic fluid, It nurtures me and makes me ascend to immortality. 攱⎋⯰冴梇偶㳍, ἧㆹ忪䃱䌚梃ẁ.61 The outer scripture reads: The pure water of the jade lake irrigates the spiritual root, If one knows and cultivates it he will lead a long life. 䌱㰈㶭㯜㿴曰㟡, ⮑傥ᾖᷳ⎗攟⬀.62 Both “embryonic fluid” (taijin 偶㳍) and “pure water of the jade lake” (yuchi qingshui 䌱㰈㶭㯜) refer to saliva, which is called the water of life and is supposed to prolong life. It appears that, from the late Warring States period to the Han dynasty, people were already practicing swallowing saliva to improve health and prolong life. The Hou Hanshu ⼴㻊㚠 (Later Han History) records that Wang Zhen 䌳䛇 practiced saliva swallowing and looked under fifty years of age when he was about a hundred years old.63 Caring for the teeth by clapping them is already seen in the early Han or even earlier manuscript of Yinshu ⺽㚠 (Book of Guiding [and Pulling]) unearthed from Zhangjiashan ⻝⭞Ⱉ.64 In his Beiji qianjin yaofang, Sun Simiao records that Huangfu Long’s 䘯䓓昮 (fl. 249–254) petition to Cao Cao 㚡㑵 (155– 220) mentioned the methods of swallowing saliva and clapping the teeth by the Daoist Kuai Jing 呗Ṕ.65 Ge Hong’s 吃㳒 Shenxian zhuan 䤆ẁ⁛ (Biographies of Immortals) has a similar record.66 Daoists had been practicing swallowing saliva and clapping the teeth since the Wei–Jin period (220–420), as seen in many Daoist and medical texts.67 L O N G E V I T Y T E C H N I Q U E S A N D M E D I C A L T H E O RY

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The HTJ also emphasizes breathing exercises: “Accumulate your essence and collect your qi to become a perfected man” 䧵䱦䳗㯋ẍ䁢䛇; “Inhaling and exhaling the primordial qi to attain immortality” ␤⏠⃫㯋ẍ㯪ẁ.68 Classical thinkers of the Warring States period already regarded qi as the root and substance of the human body and life, observing that “when there is qi one lives; when there is no qi one dies” 㚱㯋⇯䓇, 䃉㯋⇯㬣,69 and “Human life is the coalescence of qi. When it coalesces there is life; when it dissipates there is death” Ṣᷳ䓇, 㮼ᷳ倂ḇ. 倂⇯䁢䓇, 㔋⇯䁢㬣.70 As a result, “those who absorb qi become spiritual and immortal” 梇㯋侭䤆㖶ᶵ㬣.71 Before the HTJ, methods for absorbing the vital qi energy of heaven and earth to cultivate one’s mind and body were contained in many transmitted and unearthed texts, such as the Guanzi, Zhuangzi, Xingqi ming 埴㯋所 (Inscription of Breathing Exercise), Mawangdui manuscripts Quegu shiqi ⌣䧨梇㯋 (Abstinence from Grain and Absorbing Qi), and Shiwen ⋩⓷ (Ten Questions); the Shuanggudui 暁察➮ bamboo manuscript Xingqi 埴㯋 (Breathing Exercise); and the Huainanzi, Taiping jing, and Suwen.72 Since the Wei–Jin period, breathing exercises had generally been applied as a Daoist longevity technique. For example, Tao Hongjing’s Yangxing yanming lu cites the Yuanyang jing ⃫春䴻 (Scripture of Primordial Yang) and Fuqi jing 㚵㯋䴻 (Scripture on Absorbing Qi);73 the Shenxian shiqi jingui miaolu 䤆ẁ梇㯋慹㩫⥁抬 (Wondrous Record of the Golden Casket on the Immortals’ Practice of Absorbing Qi), attributed to Master Jingli Ṕ慴⃰䓇;74 and the Fuqi jingyi lun 㚵㯋䱦佑婾 (Treatise on the Quintessence of Absorbing Qi), attributed to Sima Chengzhen,75 all of which discuss methods for absorbing qi, holding qi, and visualizing the circulation of qi in the human body.76 Hu Yin integrated all these traditional methods and techniques—inhaling, circulating, and holding qi breaths; meditating and visualizing;77 clapping the teeth; and swallowing saliva—into a program of six sets. She further designed the specific timing of days and time intervals and established the frequency of exercises for each set, while also matching the six sets with the six viscera, four seasons, twelve months, four directions, and other five-phase series. The harmonious match with time and space is necessary for the body to become resonant with the cosmos rhythm. The result was a rhythmic program for absorbing the cosmic vital energy and motivating its internal circulation within the human body in order to nurture the viscera and perfect health.

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Method of Six Breaths for Healing the Viscera The breathing exercises just discussed concern ways of inhaling qi energy and its internal circulation. The “Method of the Six Breaths” is also a kind of breathing exercise but involves “ways of exhaling air,” 78 which vocalize the exhale of the breaths using six Chinese characters, xu ◻, he ␝, hu ␤, xi ␔, chui ⏡, and xi ◣ (see table 5.2). This method was used for healing visceral diseases and restoring the functions of the viscera, as Hu Yin made clear: “People who use these [six breaths] should know that they are for expelling diseases and not for embryo respiration” Ṣ䓐⭄䞍ᷳ, Ữ䁢昌䕦, 朆偶〗ḇ.79 These characters first appeared in the Zhuangzi, which described “to huff and puff, to exhale and inhale, spitting out the old breaths and drawing in the new” (chui xu hu xi, tugu naxin ⏡␜␤⏠, ⎸㓭䲵㕘) as an exercise for longevity;80 three of the six characters—chui, xu ␜ (interchangeable with he), and hu—already appear here. In the early Han dynasty, the Mawangdui manuscript Quegu shiqi defined chui and xu as two exhaling exercises.81 The Zhangjiashan manuscript Yinshu, meanwhile, defined chui, xu, and hu as exhaling methods that formed an exercise sequence, together with inhaling and holding qi; the text also connected these exhaling exercises with the four seasons.82 During the Six Dynasties (220–589), the Fuqi jing listed all six exhaling methods—chui, hu, xi Ⓑ (interchangeable with xi ◣), he, xu, and xi ␔— for healing chills and fever.83 Additionally, the Mingyi lun 㖶慓婾 (Treatise on Illumining Medicine) appears to be the first to use the six breaths to heal diseases of the five viscera: hu and chui for healing cold and heat heart diseases, respectively; xu for lung disease; xi Ⓑ for spleen disease; he for liver disease; and xi ␔ for kidney disease.84 The text also explains how to work on these exercises: The twelve methods of regulating qi listed above should normally use the nose to inhale qi and the mouth to exhale qi, and should exhale qi with the sounds of the pronunciation of cui, hu, xu, he, xi, and xi, one by one. ⶚ᶲ⋩Ḵ䧖婧㯋㱽, ὅⷠẍ滣⺽㯋, ⎋ᷕ⎸㯋, 䔞Ẍ㯋倚徸⫿⏡, ␤, ◻, ␝, Ⓑ, ␔⎸ᷳ.85

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Wood

Spring

Inhale faintly and slowly with the nose for tonification, and exhale with the mouth on the sound xu ◻ for purgation, with strong xu 30 times and soft xu 10 times.

Phase

Season

Method of Six Breaths for Healing the Viscera

Liver

Late summer Inhale faintly and slowly with the nose for tonification, and exhale with the mouth on the sound hu ␤ for purgation, with strong hu 30 times and soft hu 10 times.

Inhale faintly and slowly with the nose for tonification, and exhale with the mouth on the sound he ␝ for purgation, with strong he 30 times and soft he 10 times.

Earth

Spleen

Summer

Fire

Heart

Hu Yin’s Method of Six Breaths for Healing the Viscera

TA B L E 5. 2

Inhale faintly and slowly with the nose for tonification, and exhale with the mouth on the sound xi ␔ for purgation, with strong xi 30 times and soft xi 30 times.

Autumn

Metal

Lung

Inhale faintly and slowly with the nose for tonification, and exhale with the mouth on the sound chui ⏡ for purgation, with strong chui 30 times and soft chui 10 times.

Winter

Water

Kidney

Inhale faintly and slowly with the nose for tonification, and exhale with the mouth on the sound xi ◣ for purgation.

Winter

Water

Gallbladder

The six exhaling breaths were accompanied by six inhaling breaths, so together there were twelve methods of regulating qi. These healing exercises used the nose for inhaling and the mouth for exhaling. When exhaling, the patient read the characters and exhaled according to their pronunciation, which is why the method of six breaths was also named the “Formula of the Six Characters” (Liuzijue ℕ⫿始) in later times.86 Thus, the method of six breaths was gradually formed and transformed from a breathing exercise to a method of healing disease during the Six Dynasties. From the Sui (581–618) to the early Tang, several medical, Buddhist, and Daoist texts—such as the Zhubing yuanhou lun, Mohe zhiguan 㐑␝ 㬊奨 (Grand Cessation and Observation), and Beiji qianjin yaofang—followed the Mingyi lun’s discussion and described the six breaths as methods for healing diseases of the five viscera; the Beiji qianjin yaofang also defined specific times, numbers, and strengths of the exhaling breaths.87 Hu Yin followed this tradition but changed the pattern of matching the six breaths with the five viscera and added the gallbladder. She also designed new frequencies for the exercises and the intensities of strong or soft respiration, and changed the vocalizing of the six characters and breaths into silent pronunciation and breathing (wuling er wen ⊧Ẍ俛倆). She further cosmosized and rhythmized this pattern by correlating it with the five-phase scheme. Moreover, she introduced into the breathing exercises the principles of tonification and purgation from Chinese medical theory, defining the six inhaling breaths as tonification and the six exhaling breaths as purgation. Inhalation brings into the body the fresh, vital cosmic qi energy, and so its function is to tonify the viscera, while exhalation discharges the used, “dead” qi breaths from the body, and so its function is to purge and heal the principle visceral diseases. It is possible that all these designs were based on her own medical experience; in any event, her regimen of six breaths soon became a standard and was cited numerous times by later books of medicine and nurturing life (to be discussed further).88

Method of Guiding and Pulling Exercises for the Viscera Daoyin ⮶⺽ (literally guiding and pulling), or gymnastic exercise, is an integration of body and breath. It was already popular from the Warring States to the Qin–Han (221 BCE–220 CE) periods. The Zhuangzi records

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an exercise of bear hanging and bird stretching (xiongjing niaoshen 䄲䴻 沍Ỡ),89 while the Han dynasty Mawangdui manuscript Daoyin tu ⮶⺽⚾ (Chart for Guiding and Pulling) and the Yinshu vividly depict or narrate many other movements.90 The physician Hua Tuo 厗ỿ (ca. 145–208) is said to have invented the Wuqin xi Ḽ䥥㇚ (Five Animals Pattern) and many other exercises by the end of the Han.91 Daoist longevity techniques had always been integrated with gymnastic exercise, as seen in Tao Hongjing’s “Daoyin anmo” ⮶⺽㊱㐑 (Guiding-Pulling and Massage) chapter in the Yangxing yanming lu,92 Sima Chengzhen’s “Daoyin lun” ⮶⺽婾 (Treatise on Guiding and Pulling) section in Fuqi jingyi lun,93 and other sources.94 Sun Simiao recorded two sets of exercises in his Beiji qianjin yaofang, one named “Tianzhuguo anmo fa” ⣑䪢⚳㊱㐑㱽 (Method of Indian GuidingPulling and Massage), with a note saying “this is the Brāhman method” (Poluomen fa ⧮伭攨㱽), the other named “Laozi anmo fa” 侩⫸㊱㐑㱽 (Laozi’s Method of Guiding-Pulling and Massage).95 In the Sui–Tang period, the term “anmo” meant both daoyin and anmo.96 The “Brāhman method” likely refers to Hindu yoga techniques that were transmitted to China. In his work, Sun Simiao listed eighteen movements of this method, among which, the movements of contracting the body and bending the spine, standing upright and bending backwards, and using the hand to hook the extended foot of the same side and place it on the opposite knee are typical yoga movements still practiced today.97 Hu Yin’s “Method of Guiding and Pulling” was obviously based on the Indian method recommended by Sun Simiao. The movements she adopted from Sun’s set included the second movement of interlacing the fingers, reversing the palms, and placing them over the chest; the sixth movement of curling the hands into fists and punching both sides; the seventh movement of lifting up a hand as if lifting a boulder; the eleventh movement of placing both hands firmly on the ground and contracting the body, bending the spine, and lifting up the body; the twelfth movement of reversing the fists and pounding the back on both sides; and the fourteenth movement of interlacing the fingers tightly and stepping one foot on the joined palms (see table 5.3). However, Hu Yin did not simply copy the Indian methods; she also made considerable amendments. She offered more specific descriptions for each movement, designed more details, established the number of times to repeat each motion, and added relaxing formulas such as holding the breath, swallowing saliva, and clapping the teeth to end the exercise. She also [ 124 ]

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Spring

Sit straight, cross and place the hands on the arms, turn the body slowly to both sides, and repeat 3 to 5 times, respectively; or sit straight, interlace the fingers, reverse the palms, place them over the chest, and repeat 3 to 5 times.*

Season

Method of Guiding and Pulling

Winter Sit straight, join both feet, lift head, use both hands to pull and shake the feet, repeat 3 to 5 times; or sit straight with the legs crossed, place both hands on the ground, lift the body and stretch the waist, and repeat 3 to 5 times.

Sit straight, lift up both hands as if lifting a rock, and stretch the waist 3 to 5 times; or place the hands on the knees, pull elbows on both sides, and turn the body 3 to 5 times, respectively; or step each foot forward and backwards, and repeat tens of times. Sit straight, place both hands firmly on the ground, contract the body and bend the spine, and lift up the body 3 times; or reverse the fists, pound your back on both sides, and repeat 3 to 5 times.

Sit straight with the legs crossed, extend one leg and bend the other, reverse the hands, and punch backwards 3 to 5 times, respectively; or kneel and place both hands firmly on the ground, turn the head to look back like a tiger from both sides, and repeat 3 to 5 times, respectively.

Sit straight, curl the hands into fists, punch both sides alternately, and repeat 5 to 6 times, respectively; or sit straight, and lift up a hand as if lifting a boulder; or interlace the fingers tightly, step one foot on the joined palms, and repeat 5 to 6 times.

Water

Gallbladder

Winter

Water

Kidney

Autumn

Metal

Lung

Late summer

Earth

Spleen

Summer

Fire

Heart

* The phrase “3 to 5 times” (sanwudu ᶱḼ⹎) may also be interpreted as “15 times” (3 times 5), as may other similar expressions in this table.

Wood

Phase

Liver

Hu Yin’s Method of Guiding and Pulling Exercises for the Viscera

TA B L E 5.3

matched her movement sets with the five phases, seasons, months, and viscera, and indicated each set’s healing function for each visceral organ. Hu Yin’s method of guiding and pulling thus integrated Indian yoga techniques with traditional Chinese gymnastic exercises, medical theory, and Daoist longevity techniques. She refined both the imported and the traditional movements to formulate a new scheme of healing exercises involving all body parts: hands, arms, feet, knees, head, chest, belly, and back. Through various gymnastic movements and massages, including turning, bending, stretching, lifting, punching, shaking, and twisting, the scheme warmed up the body, released tension, moved the muscles, and activated the circulation of energy. It was an especially suitable exercise for old people. As a result, the scheme soon became a standard and was cited and copied repeatedly in later books of medicine and nurturing life (to be discussed). In addition, early gymnastic exercises such as the Mawangdui Daoyin tu and Hua Tuo’s Five Animals Pattern applied the standing position, while the descriptions in Tao Hongjing’s Yangxing yanming lu and Sun Simiao’s Beiji qianjin yaofang applied mixed positions of sitting, kneeling, standing, and reclining. Hu Yin’s scheme was primarily practiced in the sitting position, possibly influenced by both Buddhist sitting in meditation and Daoist sitting in oblivion, which were popular during the Tang dynasty. Hu Yin’s scheme was furthermore a forerunner of later sitting exercises such as the Zuoshi baduanjin ⛸⺷ℓ㭝拎 (Eight Brocades in Sitting Pattern) and Ershisi zuogong daoyin zhibing tu Ḵ⋩⚃⛸≇⮶⺽㱣䕭⚾ (Chart of Twenty-Four Seated Exercises for Healing Diseases).98

Method of Monthly Dietary Prohibition and Abstinence Despite its title, Hu Yin’s monthly dietary method did more than simply talk about food prohibition and abstinence; it presented a seasonal dietary regimen of appropriate and prohibited foodstuffs for nurturing the viscera (see table 5.4). Since early civilization, Chinese people had been aware of the effects of food on the body and of the need for a balanced diet. The relationship between foodstuffs, preventive function, therapeutic value, and spiritual/religious pursuit had also gradually developed. As early as the Western Zhou period (ca. 1046–771 BCE), there appeared to be an official called shiyi 梇慓 (dietician), who was responsible for concocting balanced, seasonal food recipes for the king.99 The catalog of the [ 126 ]

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Wood

Spring

Appropriation: flaxseed, bean, plum. Prohibition: hot flavor. Abstinence: onion in the first month, knotweed, small garlic, central part of all herbs, and animal liver and lung in the 2nd and 3rd months.

Phase

Season

Method of Monthly Dietary Prohibition and Abstinence

Liver

Winter Appropriation: soybean, yellow leaves, leaves of pulse plants. Prohibition: sweet flavor. Abstinence: pepper in the 10th month, fish, animals with scales and shells, animal kidney and spleen in the 11th and 12th months.

Appropriation: millet, peach. Prohibition: bitter flavor. Abstinence: cornel in the 7th month, ginger, animal liver, heart, and lung in the 8th and 9th months.

Appropriation: rice, date, sunflower seeds. Prohibition: sour flavor. Abstinence: cornel in the 6th month, animal spleen, liver, and sheep blood in all four seasons.

Appropriation: barley, wheat, apricot, leaves of pulse plants. Prohibition: salty flavor. Abstinence: large garlic in the 4th month, chives and animal heart and kidney in the 5th month.

Water

Kidney

Autumn

Metal

Lung

Late summer

Earth

Spleen

Summer

Fire

Heart

Hu Yin’s Method of Monthly Dietary Prohibition and Abstinence

TA B L E 5. 4

Winter

Water

Gallbladder

Hanshu records a text titled Shennong Huangdi shiyao 䤆彚湫ⷅ梇喍 (Dietary Medicines of Divine Husbandman and Yellow Emperor) in seven juan,100 which is long lost. The Han dynasty Shuanggudui 暁⎌➮ manuscript Wanwu 叔䈑 (Myriad Things), the Mawangdui manuscript Yangsheng fang 梲䓇㕡 (Recipes of Nurturing Life), and the recovered text Huainan wanbi shu 㶖⋿叔䔊埻 (Encyclopedic Techniques of Prince Huainan) described dietary recipes and medicines of vegetal, herbal, mineral, and animal substances for nurturing life or attaining extraordinary powers.101 About half of the immortals recorded in the Liexian zhuan took natural herbs.102 The Shennong bencao jing 䤆彚㛔勱䴻 (Divine Husbandman’s Materia Medica) lists many herbs and other substances for nurturing life.103 Daoist dietary regimens include some metal and mineral substances, but most ingredients are herbs, such as those recorded in Ge Hong’s “Xianyao” ẁ喍 (Elixirs) chapter of the Baopuzi and in the Taishang lingbao wufu xu ⣒ᶲ曰⮞Ḽ䫎⸷ (Preface to the Five Most High Numinous Talismans).104 In his study of the latter text, Shawn Arthur has argued that the Daoist dietary practice of “bigu” 彇察 (avoiding grains or foods) should be explained as “avoiding dietary staples.”105 By the early Tang, however, Sun Simiao advocated a return to dietary staples. In the “Shizhi” 梇㱣 (Dietary Treatment) chapter of his Beiji qianjin yaofang, Sun indicated the dangerous effects of some medicinal drugs and medical treatments and included many everyday foodstuffs on his list, including fruits, vegetables, cereals, and meats. Describing the therapeutic effects of these foodstuffs, he also pointed out their interdictions in certain circumstances.106 Around 701 to 704, his disciple Meng Shen ⬇娝 (621– 713) composed the Buyang fang 墄梲㕡 (Prescriptions of Tonification and Nurturing Life) in three juan, which was supplemented, between 721 and 739, by Zhang Ding’s ⻝溶 (fl. 713–741) Shiliao bencao 梇䗪㛔勱 (Materia Dietetica) in three juan, in which most of the recipes were everyday foods.107 Possibly influenced by Sun Simiao and his followers, Hu Yin also included everyday foodstuffs in her dietary regimen of appropriation, prohibition, and abstinence, including flaxseed, beans, plums, barley, wheat, apricots, leaves of pulse plants, rice, dates, sunflower seeds, millet, peaches, soybeans, yellow leaves, onions, garlic, chives, cornel, meat, fish, and so forth. This regimen shows the inclination of Daoist dietary therapy toward general medicine and daily life. Although Hu Yin’s description of her regimen is brief, she matched dietetic appropriations and interdictions with the viscera, the seasons, and the five phases in an innovative way, thereby [ 128 ]

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again emphasizing a rhythmical, interactive scheme between the internal and external worlds. Her meticulous distinction of prohibitions and abstinences in food taboos is not seen in previous dietetic discussions; this displays her particular attention in food hygiene. In summary, influenced by the yin-yang and five-phase cosmology, the early Han (or even earlier) text Yinshu already discussed proper daily activities according to the four seasons,108 and the Suwen also offered methods for nurturing the viscera according to the seasonal changes,109 but these were all brief descriptions. Hu Yin was the first to integrate medical therapy and Daoist cultivation into the five-phase scheme and to use the viscera as a framework to accommodate all methods of meditation and visualization, breathing exercises, teeth clapping, saliva swallowing, gymnastic exercises, dietary therapy, and food hygiene in order to establish a unique scheme for the seasonal nurturing of life. This scheme operated along with the seasonal movements and cycles of the universe, changing the human body, as a result, from an object limited to life and death to a subject within the natural processes of ceaseless generation. Following the rhythm of this natural process, one cultivated oneself to establish a harmonious relation with the cosmic forces so that, as Hu Yin said, “the essences and lights of the sun and moon come to attach to my body-self, and the four seasons and six qi come to integrate with my body-structure.” One can then perfect health and attain longevity and immortality. In turn, “that which generates all things is then controlled by me,” thus eventually enabling mastery of one’s destiny, of life and death. More importantly, in its earlier stage, Daoist soteriology had not been universal but targeted mainly elite Daoists, whereas Hu Yin transformed Daoist longevity techniques into a simple, therapeutic, and secular scheme, as a result opening the gate of self-cultivation to ordinary people. Indeed, she was among the first to advocate the popular trend of seasonal life nurturing. From the Song dynasty onward, numerous books on this trend appeared, such as Yao Cheng’s ⦂䧙 (fl. tenth century) Shesheng yueling 㓅䓇㚰Ẍ (Monthly Commands for Conserving Life), Zhou Shouzhong’s ␐⬰⾈ (fl. 1208–1220) Yangsheng yuelan 梲䓇㚰奥 (Monthly Handbook for Nurturing Life), Jiang Tui’s ⦄嚣 (fl. 1276) Yangsheng yuelu 梲䓇㚰抬 (Monthly Handbook for Nurturing Life), Wu Qiu’s ⏛䎫 (fl. fifteenth to sixteenth centuries) Sishi tiaoshe lun ⚃㗪婧㓅婾 (Treatise on Harmonization and Conserving Health in the Four Seasons), and Gao Lian’s 檀㽪 (1573–1620) Zunsheng bajiao ⮲䓇ℓ䬳 (Eight Folios on Honoring Life). L O N G E V I T Y T E C H N I Q U E S A N D M E D I C A L T H E O RY

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Moreover, many books on medicine and health care cited and copied Hu Yin’s work. For example, in the Shouqin yanglao xinshu ⢥奒梲侩㕘㚠 (New Book on Prolonging Parents’ Life and Caring for the Aged), composed by Chen Zhi 昛䚜 (fl. 1078–1085) and supplemented by Zou Xuan 悺懱 (fl. 1307), the section on “Sishi yanglao” ⚃㗪梲侩 (Caring for the Aged in the Four Seasons) cites Hu Yin’s “Method of Six Breaths” verbatim.110 The “Dongzhen” 㳆䛇 (Cavern of Perfection) chapter in the Daoshu also follows Hu Yin’s method of six breaths while changing the xi ◣ exhale to healing the triple heater instead of the gallbladder.111 The triple heater is a unique Chinese designation for certain bodily organ(s), with different records and arguments about what it refers to. According to the Suwen and Lingshu, the triple heater is one of the six receptacles, and the gallbladder is included in the triple heater. The change from gallbladder to triple heater, therefore, appears to have evolved from Hu Yin’s model. The Xiuzhen shishu, further, includes a text titled Qubing yanshou liuzifa ⍣䕭⺞⢥ℕ⫿㱽 (Method of Six Characters for Dispelling Disease and Prolonging Life), which is about the same as Hu Yin’s method of six breaths, though it also replaces the gallbladder with the triple heater.112 In his Quxian huoren fang 円ẁ㳣Ṣ㕡 (Prescriptions for Saving the Living by Quxian), Zhu Quan 㛙㪲 (sobriquet Hanxu zi 㵝嘃⫸, 1378–1448) cites both the “Method of Six Breaths” and the “Method for Guiding and Pulling” from Hu Yin’s book.113 Zhou Lüjing’s ␐Ⰽ曾 (fl. 1597) Chifeng sui 崌沛橻 (Red Phoenix Marrow) contains the “Taishang yuzhou liuzi qijue” ⣒ᶲ䌱庠ℕ⫿㯋始 ( Jade Scroll of Breathing Formula of Six Characters by the Most High), “Liuqi jue” ℕ㯋始 (Formula of the Six Breaths), “Liuqi gejue” ℕ㯋㫴始 (Formulas and Songs of the Six Breaths), and “Qubing yanlian liuzi fa” ⍣䕭 ⺞⸜ℕ⫿㱽 (Method of Six Characters for Dispelling Disease and Prolonging Life), all of which include Hu Yin’s method of six breaths, some keeping xi for healing the gallbladder and some changing it to the triple heater.114 This tells us that the method was transformed into songs and formulas to make it easier to circulate and memorize. In the famous Zunsheng bajian by Gao Lian are two parts, titled “Sishi tiaoshe jian” ⚃㗪婧㓅䬳 (Folios on Harmonization and Conserving Health in the Four Seasons) and “Yannian quebing jian” ⺞⸜⌣䕭䬳 (Folios on Prolonging Life and Dispelling Disease), in which he copied almost every part of Hu Yin’s work verbatim, including the images of the six viscera spirits, explanations for those images, methods for caring and nurturing the viscera, the six breaths, and gymnastic exercises.115 Shen Jin’ao 㰰慹毚 [ 130 ]

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(1717–1776) also cited Hu Yin’s gymnastic scheme in his Shenshi zunsheng shu 㰰㮷⮲䓇㚠 (Book on Honoring Life by Shen).116 All these demonstrate Hu Yin’s profound influence on later physicians, experts on nurturing life, scholar officials, and ordinary people.

Concluding Remarks The human body and life is the focus of much of Daoist theory and practice. Because the Daoist life philosophy concerns “valuing humanity and cherishing life” ( guiren zhongsheng 屜Ṣ慵䓇), nurturing life and cultivating the Dao are thus fundamentally the same. As Tao Hongjing indicated: “Those who are nurturing life must be cautious in not losing Dao, and those who are practicing Dao must be cautious in not losing life” 梲䓇侭ヶ ⊧⣙忻, 䁢忻侭ヶ⊧⣙䓇.117 As a result, both Chinese Daoism and medicine came to share a common preoccupation with perfecting physical health and prolonging the life span, both of which present many common characteristics in theory and practice, as Kristofer Schipper has indicated: “The vision of the human body belongs both to Taoism and to Chinese medicine.”118 Since the emergence of the HTJ, many commentaries and elaborations on it appeared, and these can be roughly divided into two trends. The first focused on the Daoist theory of the human body pantheon and the practice of visualizing the bodily spirits, such as the commentaries by Wuchengzi and Liangqiuzi. This trend gradually developed into the religious inner alchemy theory and practice in later times. The second trend was to integrate Daoist inner cultivation with traditional Chinese medicine, which gradually developed into the secular, popular theory and practice of health care and nurturing life.119 Hu Yin’s HTNJT developed and exerted significant influence on both trends. Her innovative images and descriptions of the visceral spirits further symbolized the cosmic, sacred dimensions of the human body. The visceral spirits guarded the major organs of the human body and guaranteed its harmony and vigor. Because of the identification of visceral spirits with the constellational and directional spirits, the human microcosm became more seamlessly identical to the natural macrocosm. The visceral spirits further symbolized the holiness of the human body, which provided a rationale for the Daoist goal of longevity and immortality and the eventual maturity of inner alchemy. L O N G E V I T Y T E C H N I Q U E S A N D M E D I C A L T H E O RY

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More importantly, Hu Yin integrated Daoist bodily concepts and longevity techniques with medical theory and physical exercise. She applied theories of the five-phase cosmology, tonification and purgation, diagnosis, treatment, and health care to analyze the physiological functions, pathological mechanisms, and therapeutic methods of the viscera; used medical techniques and herbs to cure symptoms; and summarized and developed traditional breathing exercises, gymnastics, and dietary regimens to activate and cultivate the human body’s energy. She thereby established a comprehensive, systematic scheme for the seasonal nurturing of life that spontaneously resonated with the rhythm and energy of the cosmos. By developing and enhancing the two trends of the HTJ, Hu Yin’s work represents a perfect fusion of the two traditions of Daoism and traditional Chinese medicine. Exploring the relationship between religious belief, the body, medicine, and the natural environment, the HTNJT designed various exercises to improve the physical body and its spiritual aspects and to integrate the body into the eternal cycle of the cosmic rhythm and energy so as to attain longevity and immortality. Although she remained obscure all her life, Hu Yin thus contributed considerably to the Chinese cultural tradition of religious spirituality and nurturing life.

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CH A P T E R V I

The Yaochi ji and Three Daoist Priestess-Poets

I

n about the first half of the ninth century, the Tang scholar Cai Xingfeng 哉䚩桐 compiled an anthology of poetry composed exclusively by female poets, which he titled the Yaochi xinyong ji 䐌㰈㕘娈普 (Anthology of New Poetry from the Turquoise Pond; hereafter cited as Yaochi ji). Recorded in several Song dynasty (960–1279) catalogs, this anthology has long been lost; some fragments, however, have been rediscovered among the Dunhuang manuscripts included in the Russian collections in Saint Petersburg. These fragments consist of twenty-three poems (some incomplete) by four poets, which were originally placed at the beginning of the anthology. These include seven poems by Li Jilan 㛶⬋嗕 (d. 784), seven poems by Yuan Chun ⃫㶛 (d. ca. 779), eight poems by Lady Zhang (Zhang furen ⻝⣓Ṣ), and one poem by Cui Zhongrong Ⲽẚ⭡ (ca. eighth century). Among these four poets, Li Jilan, Yuan Chun, and Cui Zhongrong were Daoist priestesses. Lady Zhang was the wife of Ji Zhongfu ⎱ᷕ⬂ (d. ca. 788), one of the so-called Ten Talents of the Dali Reign Period (766–779) (Dali shicaizi ⣏㬟⋩ㇵ⫸). Ji Zhongfu was initially a Daoist priest and later resumed secular life to become an official-poet. Lady Zhang, therefore, was probably connected to or held belief in Daoism as well, though we cannot determine whether she was ever a Daoist priestess. In addition to the Yaochi ji, three more Dunhuang manuscripts contain poems by Li Jilan and

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Yuan Chun. Since six of the rediscovered poems were not included in their transmitted works, the poems therefore add new dimensions to the study of the three priestess-poets. After first reviewing the Yaochi ji’s compilation, contents, and possibly included poets, I present in this chapter a comprehensive examination the lives and poetry of the three priestess-poets, using these rediscovered poems along with all other transmitted poems and relevant sources.

The Yaochi ji: Compilation, Contents, and Poets The Yaochi ji is the only anthology of women’s poetry from the Tang era, and also the earliest extant anthology comprising only the writings of Chinese women.1 The rediscovery of this text has therefore been greatly significant for understanding the development of Chinese women’s literature and literary activities. Among those scholars who have noted this text and the Dunhuang fragments, Rong Xinjiang 㥖㕘㰇 and Xu Jun ⼸ὲ have made the most important contribution. In addition to deftly sorting out six fragments from the huge Russian collections and putting them together to recover the original order, they also have offered a general description of the anthology.2 In view of questions and debates over whether there may be forgeries among the Dunhuang manuscripts, especially those in the Saint Petersburg depositories,3 Rong and Xu have also carefully examined the original photos of the relevant manuscripts and undertaken a broad study of related transmitted texts. They conclude that the distribution of the Yaochi ji fragments in seven different manuscripts and the coincidence of these fragments with many records of transmitted texts are suggestive that these materials are indeed authentic.4 The Song dynasty catalogs record this anthology under three somewhat different titles, including Yaochi xinyong 䐌㰈㕘娈 (New Poetry from the Turquoise Pond) in two or three juan,5 Yaochi xinji 䐌㰈㕘普 (New Anthology from the Turquoise Pond) in one juan,6 and Yaochi ji 䐌㰈普 (Anthology from the Turquoise Pond) in one juan.7 In the Dunhuang manuscripts, the anthology is titled Yaochi xinyong ji at the beginning, with a separate label reading Yaochi ji, probably an abbreviated title.8 Therefore, Yaochi xinyong ji is most likely the original and complete title, whereas the three titles recorded in the Song catalogs are probably varied abbreviations.9

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In his Junzhai dushu zhi 悉滳嬨㚠⽿ (Reading Notes from the Commandery Studio), Chao Gongwu 㗩℔㬎 gave a detailed description of this anthology, and even cited part of its general preface: Yaochi xinji in one juan: Cai Xingfeng of the Tang dynasty collected the poems of female poets in the Tang, from Li Jilan to Cheng Changwen, altogether twenty-three persons and 115 pieces. Each poet is given a shorter preface, placed at the beginning of their poems. There is also a general preface, which roughly says: “The wife of Cao Shishu wrote histories and composed letters; the wife of Huangfu Gui was loyal and good in calligraphy of lü scripts. Su Hui composed the graceful revolving verses; Han Lanying taught in the palaces. The Jin History records Xie Daoyun’s eloquence; the Han people praised Cai Wenji’s songs. Let alone our age of flourishing culture!” 䐌㰈㕘普ᶨ⌟. ⎛Ⓒ哉䚩桐普Ⓒᶾ傥娑⨎Ṣ㛶⬋嗕军䦳攟㔯Ḵ⋩ᶱṢ 柴娈ᶨ䘦⋩Ḽ椾, ⎬䁢⮷⸷, ẍⅈ℞椾, ᶼ䷥䁢⸷. ℞䔍ḹ: “ᶾ⍼ᷳ⨎, ᾖ⎚Ⱄ㔯; 䘯䓓ᷳ⥣, ㉙⾈┬晠. 喯㮷晭Ḷ⚆㔯, 嗕劙㑭㕤⭖㌾; 㗱䲨忻 枆ᷳ彐, 㻊⯂㔯⦔ᷳ录. 㱩Ṳ㔯㖶ᷳ䚃᷶!”10 Thus, according to Chao Gongwu’s description, the anthology originally contained 115 poems by twenty-three female poets, which began with Li Jilan and ended with Cheng Changwen 䦳攟㔯. Cai Xingfeng, the compiler, wrote a general preface for the anthology and also a lesser preface for each poet, which is typical of the style of Tang poetry anthologies. Unfortunately, in the Dunhuang manuscripts, all the prefaces were omitted, probably owing to the nature of the manuscript as an informal booklet of poetry and the preference of its owner, who appears to have copied out the poems themselves while ignoring the details about the female poets. In the fragment of the general preface preserved by Chao Gongwu, Cai Xingfeng compared the Tang women poets with the most famous talented women of previous eras: Ban Zhao 䎕㗕 (wife of Cao Shishu 㚡ᶾ⍼; ca. 49–ca. 120), who helped her brother 䎕⚢ (32–92) complete the unfinished Hanshu 㻊㚠 and composed many literary works herself, including the wellknown composition “Dongzheng fu” 㜙⼩岎 (Rhapsody on an Eastward Journey) preserved in the sixth-century Wenxuan 㔯怠 (Selections of Refined Literature);11 the wife of Huangfu Gui 䘯䓓夷, who died for her loyalty to the Han dynasty and had excellent skill in calligraphy;12 Su Hui

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喯唁, who composed sophisticated revolving verses and wove them into a brocade for her husband;13 Han Lanying 杻嗕劙, who was erudite and taught in the palaces of the Southern Song and Qi dynasties;14 Xie Daoyun 嫅忻枆,

whose several anecdotes of eloquence are recorded in the Jinshu;15 and Cai Wenji 哉㔯⦔ (b. 117), to whom several famous poems and songs are attributed.16 Cai Xingfeng’s preface thus implies that Tang female poets were equal in talent or even surpassed these historical women and that they were capable of literary brilliance and worthy of admiration by their contemporaries. This shows that women’s literary achievements were indeed recognized by Tang people. As noted, the rediscovered parts of the Dunhuang manuscripts include twenty-three poems of the first four poets in the Yaochi ji.17 This constitutes about one-fifth of the original twenty-three poets and 115 poems.18 The sequence of these four poets is also in complete accord with their order in the Youxuan ji ⍰䌬普 compiled by Wei Zhuang 杳匲 and the Yinchuang zalu ⏇䨿暄抬 (Chanted by the Window: A Poetic Miscellany) compiled by Chen Yingxing 昛ㅱ埴 (fl. 1194).19 This coincidence has led scholars to speculate on the possible relations between the three anthologies.20 A careful comparison shows that such a relation is indeed possible. The Youxuan ji includes twenty-two female poets, starting with Li Jilan, Yuan Chun, Lady Zhang, and Cui Zhongrong, and ending with Cheng Changwen and Yu Xuanji 欂䌬㨇 (ca. 843–868). The Yinchuang zalu, on the other hand, includes more Tang female poets, but from Li Jilan to Cheng Changwen their number is twenty-one, with two names, Liang Qiong 㠩䑲 and Cui Xuan Ⲽ叙, not seen in the Youxuan ji, while excluding Song Ruozhao ⬳劍㗕 and Song Ruoxun ⬳劍勨 and putting the former in a preceding order of palace ladies.21 If we add Liang Qiong and Cui Xuan to the twentyone names in the Youxuan ji (omitting Yu Xuanji, who is listed after Cheng Changwen and therefore was unlikely to be included in the Yaochi ji), or Song Ruozhao and Song Ruoxun to the twenty-one names in the Yinchuang zalu, we then have a total of twenty-three names in both texts, with the order starting with Li Jilan and ending with Cheng Changwen. This perfectly fits the description of the Yaochi ji by Chao Gongwu.22 In addition, many of the female poets and their identities, lives, and works are seen only in the Youxuan ji and Yinchuang zalu, suggesting that the Yaochi ji and its individual prefaces on the poets may have been the two later anthologies’ primary or even only source for these poets.

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The Caidiao ji ㇵ婧普 compiled by Wei Hu 杳䷈ in 947 also devotes its last juan to Tang women poets, which includes twenty of the names seen in the Youxuan ji and Yinchuang zalu, but in a completely different order.23 Wei Hu may thus have relied on the Yaochi ji and Youxuan ji to compile his anthology but rearranged the sequence. Another feature of the Caidiao ji is that it contains works attributed to characters in narrative materials, such as Guan Panpan 斄䚤䚤 and Cui Yingying Ⲽ浗浗, while all the poets included in the Yaochi ji and Youxuan ji appear to be historical figures.24 Table 6.1 provides a comparative list of the possible twenty-three poets, with their titles as given by the compilers of the Yaochi ji, Youxuan ji, Yinchuang zalu, and Caidiao ji, their life spans and experiences as seen in the four anthologies and other early sources, and their order in the first three anthologies.25 According to studies of these twenty-three poets’ life experiences, they were indeed historical persons.26 As scholars have further noted, among the more than 120 female poets whose works were included in the Quan Tangshi and Quan Tangshi bubian, at least one-third were characters from narrative materials. Therefore, our list of twenty-three actual poets is very useful for understanding the development of Tang women’s poetry. For example, since Xue Tao, who died in 830, was included in the Yaochi ji, and Yu Xuanji, who died in 868, was not, we can speculate that the anthology was compiled sometime during the first half of the ninth century. In addition, because the first three poets, Li Jilan, Yuan Chun, and Lady Zhang, were active around the mid-eighth century, we can further speculate that the poets included in the anthology were active roughly from the mideighth to mid-ninth centuries. From the extant works of Tang women poets, we see mostly palace ladies and gentry women before the mid-Tang era, while on our list we see a wide variety of Daoist priestesses, courtesans, palace ladies, women of elite families, and daughters of ordinary families. Moreover, these poets of varying social status are arranged in mixed order, seeming to emphasize literary talent and achievements over social status. For example, Li Jilan, Yuan Chun, and Lady Zhang lived at about the same time, but Zhang, who was the wife of a high official, was placed after Li and Yuan. These new changes imply an expanding array of Tang writing women and changing criteria for male compilers and critics during the mid- to late Tang period.

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TA B L E 6.1

List of the Twenty-Three Poets Included in the Yaochi ji Yaochi ji

Youxuan ji

Yinchuang zalu

Caidiao ji

Daoist Priestess Li Jilan

1

1

1

√

2

Daoist Priestess Yuan Chun

2

2

2

√

3

Lady Zhang

3

3

3

√

4

Cui Zhongrong

4

4

4

√

5

Bao Junhui 欹⏃⽥ (fl. 798)

5

5

√

6

Madam Zhao 嵁㮷 (fl. 789–821)

6

6

√

7

Liang Qiong 㠩䑲

7

√

8

Zhang Yaotiao

7

8

√

Order

Name and Title

1

⻝䨰䨽

9

Courtesan Chang Hao ΈẶⷠ㴑

8

9

√

10

Gentlewoman Xue Yun ⤛恶啃喲

9

10

√

11

Cui Xuan Ⲽ叙

12

Gentlewoman Liu Yuan ⤛恶∱⩃

10

12

√

13

Gentlewoman Lian

11

13

√

11

⤛恶⹱㮷

14

Gentlewoman Zhang Yan ⤛恶⻝䏘

12

14

√

15

Gentlewoman Cui Gongda

13

15

√

⤛恶Ⲽ℔忼

Youxuan ji

Yinchuang zalu

Gentlewoman Song Ruozhao ⤛恶⬳劍㗕 (d. ca. 825)

14

Advanced to palace lady’s order

17

Gentlewoman Song Ruoxun ⤛恶⬳劍勨 (fl. 788)

15

18

Gentlewoman Tian E ⤛恶䓘⧍

16

16

19

Xue Tao 啃㾌 (ca. 770–832)

17

17

√

20

Gentlewoman Liu Yun ⤛恶∱暚

18

18

√

21

Gentlewoman Ge Ya’er ⤛恶吃沱⃺

19

20

√

22

Gentlewoman Zhang Wenji ⤛恶⻝㔯⦔

20

19

√

23

Gentlewoman Cheng Changwen ⤛恶䦳ġ

21

21

√

Order

Name and Title

16

Yaochi ji

23

Caidiao ji

攟㔯

Yaochi, the “Turquoise Pond,” originates in the legend of the Queen Mother of the West.27 In both legend and the Daoist pantheon, the queen mother was in charge of all goddesses and female immortals, whereas Daoist priestesses were referred to as “female immortals” during the Tang era.28 This has led some scholars to consider the Yaochi ji an anthology of poems by Daoist priestesses.29 Though this speculation can be dismissed, according to our list, three among the first four poets, Li Jilan, Yuan Chun, and Cui Zhongrong, were indeed Daoist priestesses, and Lady Zhang also had a certain connection with Daoism. Therefore, the name given by Cai Xingfeng to this anthology may in fact have had certain Daoist implications. As for the compiler Cai Xingfeng, Chao Gongwu indicated that he T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

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lived in the Tang era, and the Dunhuang manuscript gives his official title as zhuzuo lang 叿ἄ恶 (editorial director).30 Judging from the possible time for compilation of the Yaochi ji, Cai must therefore have been active in the first half of the ninth century. In addition to the Yaochi ji fragments, three more Dunhuang manuscripts also copy poems by Li Jilan and Yuan Chun. The first is P. 3216, which contains two poems by Li and three by Yuan.31 The other two are P. 2492 and Чx. 3865, which contain one poem by Li.32 In what follows, I use all transmitted and rediscovered poems to study these three priestess-poets’ lives and poetry.

The Life and Poetry of Li Jilan As one of the first Chinese female poets with a relatively large number of extant works, Li Jilan has attracted much attention from both premodern and modern scholars. Although Li’s contemporaries identified her as a Daoist priestess and many traditional critics highly appreciated her poetic achievements, from the Song to the Qing dynasties, some scholars redefined her and other Tang Daoist priestess-poets as “courtesans.” Among modern scholars, Chen Wenhua collated and annotated Li Jilan’s poems in her Tang nüshiren ji sanzhong Ⓒ⤛娑Ṣ普ᶱ䧖,33 which has since become an indispensable text for later scholars. In addition, two recent anthologies of Chinese women writers include fine translations and interpretations of selected poems by Li Jilan.34 A number of scholars have studied Li’s poetry from various perspectives,35 but some scholars have also followed the traditional discourse in defining Li as a “courtesan,” and many studies lack a more deeply contextualized historiography and analytical sophistication. Here, I seek to present a comprehensive and in-depth study of Li’s life and poetry, aided by the three additional poems rediscovered from Dunhuang. Li Jilan’s name was Ye ⅞, and Jilan was her courtesy name.36 In her poems, she called the official-literatus Li Shu 㛶䲻 (731–792) her “elder brother,” and so she must have been born after 731. The Zhongxing jianqi ji ᷕ冰攻㯋普, compiled by the contemporary critic Gao Zhongwu 檀ẚ㬎 soon after Li’s death in 784, describes her as chimu 怚㙖 (late in her age) and junyu ὲ⩿ (a beautiful old lady).37 She must therefore have been around at least fifty years of age when she died; thus, tracing back from 784, we can conclude that she was probably born between 732 and 735. [ 140 ] T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

The Song dynasty catalogs Chongwen zongmu ⲯ㔯䷥䚖 (General Catalog of the Chongwen Library), Zhizhai shulu jiet i 䚜滳㚠抬妋柴 (Annotated Catalog of the Zhi Studio), and Tongzhi 忂⽿ (Comprehensive Records) record her collected poems in one juan.38 The Siku quanshu includes her collection of poetry with fourteen pieces, and the compilers asserted that Li’s original collection had been lost and this text was a later recompilation.39 The Tangyin tongqian Ⓒ枛䴙䯥 (Complete Labels of Tang Poetry) has collected two more poems and three fragmented couplets from the Yinchuang zalu, while the Quan Tangshi (QTS) adds one more fragmented couplet from the Tangshi jishi Ⓒ娑䲨ḳ (Records of Events Related to Tang Poetry) and two more poems from the Fenmen zuanlei Tang geshi ↮攨个栆 Ⓒ㫴娑 (Classified Songs and Poems of the Tang Dynasty).40 These last two poems are, however, very different in style from Li Jilan’s poetry and are more likely to be works of a certain Jin dynasty poet named Li Ye 㛶⅞ (1192–1279).41 In addition to the sixteen transmitted poems, the Dunhuang manuscripts make available three more, for a total of nineteen extant poems.42 Although this is not a large number, these rediscovered poems are crucial to our study of Li Jilan’s life because two of them were written after she was caught by rebels in the capital city Chang’an, in 784, and so allow us to know more about her very last days. Though Tang sources identify Li Jilan as a Daoist priestess, they give no information about her family background or her reason for entering the Daoist order. The Yuan dynasty Tang caizi zhuan Ⓒㇵ⫸⁛, on the other hand, says she came from the Three Gorges in Sichuan,43 but this supposition, based on a description of the Three Gorges in one of her poems and with no other evidence, seems unwarranted.44 The Tangyin tongqian, meanwhile, records that she was from Wuxing ⏛冰, Huzhou 㷾ⶆ (present-day Huzhou in Zhejiang), which her biography in the QTS follows. This is also probably a conjecture from her poems, without the support of earlier sources, though in fact she spent most of her life in this area. A text from the tenth century notes that she composed a couplet on rose blossoms at about age six, which showed her precocious talent for writing poetry but also caused her father to anticipate unhappily that she would become a sensual woman.45 This story is, however, likely a later creation, because the prodigy genre was a typical cliché of Chinese biography.46 What we do know from Li Jilan’s poetic exchanges with her associates and other relevant sources is that during the reigns of emperors Suzong and Daizong (756–779) she lived in the Wucheng district 䁷䦳䷋ of Huzhou, possibly T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

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staying at a Daoist convent, and also wandered around the Jiangnan 㰇⋿ region (the lower Yangzi River region; present-day Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces). In his Zhongxing jianqi ji, Gao Zhongwu included six poems by Li Jilan. In the lesser preface to her works, Gao tells us that Li was very beautiful and talented. Once, in a gathering with several official-literati at a Buddhist monastery in Wucheng, she cleverly teased the renowned poet Liu Zhangqing ∱攟⌧ (d. ca. 790) with a verse.47 Liu was in the southern region from about 756 to 764.48 One of Li Jilan’s poems was titled “Ji shiqi xiong jiaoshu” ⭬⋩ᶫ⃬㟉㚠 (Sent to the Editor, My Seventeenth Elder Brother).49 This editor and “elder brother” was likely Li Shu, ranked seventeenth among the brothers and cousins of his family, who held the official position of editor in 755, when the An Lushan Rebellion broke out. The following year he fled to Suzhou (next to Huzhou), where his father’s office of the commissioner was located. Li Shu remained in the lower Yangzi River region for several years, during which he had broad poetic exchanges with the southern literati, including the monk-poet Jiaoran, who was a native of Huzhou and lived there most of his life.50 Although Tang poets often called friends of the same family name “brother” or “uncle,” in many cases they were not related at all. Since Li Shu carried the official title youbuque ⎛墄敽 (right rectifier of omissions) in 762,51 this poem must have been written between 756 and 761. Generally regarded as one of Li Jilan’s best works, the poem reads: In Wucheng district, with nothing to do, More than a year wasted. I wonder how you, the imperial library official, Feel about the loneliness. Far rivers float your immortal boat; Cold stars go with the envoy carriage. When you pass the Dalei shore, Send just a few lines—please remember. 䃉ḳ䁷䦳䷋, 己嵶㬚㚰检. ᶵ䞍剠敋⎷, ⭪⮆シỽ⤪. 怈㯜㴖ẁ㢡, ⭺㗇Ờἧ干. ⚈忶⣏暟Ⱡ, 卓⾀⸦埴㚠. This is a five-syllabic regulated verse, opening with the poet’s situation since parting: she has been idle more than a year in Wucheng. Her boring life implies her loneliness and longing for company and friendship. The [ 142 ] T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

next couplet smoothly turns to her friend, imagining that he is feeling lonely as well. Although this couplet is not parallel as a proper regulated verse should be, the corresponding feelings and fluid narration between the two couplets make it expressive. In the third couplet, the poet envisages her friend’s trip as an envoy, the reason that caused their long-term parting. The couplet uses two allusions: the first is to the legend of someone living by the sea, who sees a floating raft coming and going between the sea and Heaven’s River (the Milky Way) every year in August; the second is to the Han dynasty record that Li He 㛶恫 observed two envoy stars in the heaven moving toward Sichuan and predicted that two envoys of the emperor were coming.52 These are thus quite suitable allusions for illustrating the envoy of her friend. But even without knowledge of the allusions, the well-matched antithetical images in the two lines—rivers and stars, low and high dimensions, boat and carriage—construct a meaningful, three-dimensional scene describing her friend’s toilsome voyage and implying her deep concern for him. The closing couplet again uses a very appropriate allusion for their “brother–sister” relationship: like the famous Southern dynasty poet Bao Zhao 欹䄏 (ca. 415–470), who wrote his sister a letter when passing by the Dalei shore on a trip,53 her friend/“elder brother” should not forget to write to her as well. This poem thus embodies deep feelings in a graceful yet natural narration and description, and later critics have especially praised her skillful use of allusions. At a time when she was sick in Wucheng, Li Jilan again wrote to Li Shu seeking consolation, as we see in her poem titled “Xizhong wobing ji [one character missing] jiaoshu xiong” 㹒ᷕ再䕭⭬ [敽ᶨ⫿] 㟉㚠⃬ (Sent to the Editor, My Elder Brother, When I am Sick by the Streams).54 Though we do not know whether Li Shu offered her the consolation she needed, she seems to have been comforted by another friend, Lu Yu 映佥 (b. 733), as we see in her poem, “Hushang wobing xi Lu Hongjian zhi” 㷾ᶲ再䕭╄映泣㻠军 (Lying in Sickness by Taihu, I am Glad Lu Hongjian Arrives).55 Lu Yu, courtesy name Hongjian, was another famous literatus who moved to Huzhou in 756 and lived there quite a long time. He has traditionally been credited with the first book in the world about tea, the Chajing 勞䴻 (Classic of Tea). He also had a very close friendship with Jiaoran, the monkpoet,56 whom Li Jilan likely knew, because they lived in Huzhou at the same period and shared many friends. A poem attributed to Jiaoran, titled “Zeng Li Jilan” 岰㛶⬋嗕 (Present to Li Jilan),57 implies in a teasing tone that Li flirted with the monk but was politely declined. Because this poem T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

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does not appear in Jiaoran’s collected works, however, its authenticity remains uncertain. Li Jilan did, however, have an intimate relationship with Yan Shihe 散⢓␴ (fl. 756–779), courtesy name Bojun ỗ⛯ and number twenty-six in the Yan generational rank. Yan was a student of the famous scholar and writer Xiao Yingshi 唕䧶⢓ (Liu Moran’s grandfather) and was also closely related to several official-literati. Like many literati who fled the north when the An Lushan Rebellion erupted, Yan Shihe wandered in the lower Yangzi River region during the reigns of emperors Suzong and Daizong. He composed linked verses and exchanged poems with Jiaoran, Lu Yu, and other poets in Huzhou, around 764.58 The love affair between Li Jilan and Yan Shihe must have occurred around that time. This is reflected in Li Jilan’s poem “Song Yan ershiliu hu Shanxian” 復 散Ḵ⋩ℕ崜∉䷋ (Seeing Off Yan the Twenty-Sixth as He Sets Out for Shan District): Beyond the Chang gate, the river runs; Another sunset, your lonely boat goes. Feelings of parting are like fragrant grasses Growing lushly everywhere. I dream of you passing by the Wu gardens, But you’ve already reached the Shan streams. When you come back, do visit again; Don’t get lost like young Ruan. 㳩㯜敞攨⢾, ⬌凇㖍⽑大. 暊ね念剛勱, 䃉嗽ᶵ厳厳. ⥦⣊䴻⏛剹, ⏃埴⇘∉㹒. 㬠Ἦ慵䚠姒, 卓⬠旖恶徟. This poem expresses the poet’s reluctance at parting by envisioning Yan’s journey ahead. The Shan district was in Yuezhou 崲ⶆ (present-day Shanzhou in Zhejiang), and the Chang gate was in Suzhou. This five-syllabic regulated poem, the poetic genre Li Jilan used most skillfully, again deliberately leaves the second couplet not quite parallel, to allow the strong feelings of parting to run fluidly through the first two couplets. In the antithetical third couplet, the poet calls herself qie ⥦, a humble name for “wife,” and calls Yan jun ⏃, a respectful name for “husband.” These forms of address reveal their intimate relationship, and the image of pursuing her lover in dreams is sincere and touching. The last couplet refers to the legend of Ruan Zhao 旖倯 and his immortal wife. Ruan led a happy life in the [ 144 ] T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

immortal realm and did not return to his home until seven generations had passed.59 Here, the poet again speaks as a “wife,” exhorting Yan to come home and reunite with her. In about 766, Yan Shihe was appointed administrative assistant of Jiangzhou ( Jiangzhou panguan 㰇ⶆ⇌⭀; present-day Jiujiang in Jiangxi).60 Li Jilan again sent him off brokenheartedly, as we see in her poem titled “Song Yan Bojun wang Jiangzhou” 復散ỗ⛯⼨㰇ⶆ (Seeing off Yan Bojun to Jiangzhou).61 Jiangzhou was far from Huzhou, and Yan was on official duty, which prevented him from leaving of his own accord. After their parting, Li Jilan suffered a painful period of longing. In her seven-syllabic quatrain “De Yan Bojun shu” ⼿散ỗ⛯㚠 (Receiving a Letter from Yan Bojun), we read: Affections stirred, before the mirror, too listless even to comb my hair. Desolate evening rain, trees autumnal in the courtyard. No need to wonder about my tears running down in streams. It’s just that I am overexcited to see the silver-hook of your brush strokes. ねἮ⮵掉㆞㡛柕, 㙖暐唕唕⹕㧡䥳. 卓⿒整⸡✪䌱䬗, ⎒䶋のそ⮵戨戌. The poet has been waiting for news from her lover for a long time. Her affections and sorrows are deepened by the desolate autumn scene. When the letter from her lover finally comes, she cannot help but cry with mixed emotions of excitement and melancholy. Li Jilan also composed a third love poem concerning Yan Shihe, “Dengshan wang Yan zi buzhi” 䘣Ⱉ㛃散⫸ᶵ军 (Climbing the Mountain to Gaze Far After Master Yan, Who Never Comes): I climb the mountain to gaze far off; Mountains are high, lakes are wide. I long for you day and night; I wait for you year after year. Mountain forests grow dense; Wild flowers flourish always. Of my boundless affections since parting T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

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I will tell when we meet again. 㛃怈娎䘣Ⱉ, Ⱉ檁㷾⍰敲. 䚠⿅䃉㙱⢽, 䚠㛃䴻⸜㚰. 櫙櫙Ⱉ㛐㥖, 䵧䵧慶剙䘤. ⇍⼴䃉旸ね, 䚠忊ᶨ㗪婒. This is a five-syllabic, old-style verse, which does not require antithesis, though the third couplet is semantically parallel. With this style, the poet naturally and fluently expresses her feelings during the long separation. The first half plays on space and time. It starts with her lament on the vast distance that separates her from her lover: she climbs a high mountain to gaze afar for her lover but finds only higher mountains and wider lakes separating them. The poet then sighs at the long time that delays their reunion: she longs for him in vain, day after day, year after year; the longer she waits, the deeper her grief grows. In the second half of the poem, the beautiful, flourishing spring scenes imply ample meanings: symbolizing her boundless affection, adding to her sorrow, and offering her hope for a reunion. Later, the Ming critic Zhong Xing commented on this poem: “Other people only know she was dissipated but do not understand her accumulated emotions. If the accumulated emotions are profound, it is impossible not to be dissipated. All women who have strong affections and are good at expressing their feelings tactfully fall into dissipation.”62 To describe female writers with strong affections as dissipated follows conventional male discourse, but Zhong Xing still sincerely recognizes and admires Li Jilan’s genuine, profound emotions and tactful expression. This poem also has a variant title, “Ji Zhu Fang” ⭬㛙㓦 (Sent to Zhu Fang).63 Zhu Fang (d. ca. 788) was a contemporary poet who was also active in the southern region during the early postrebellion period. His poem “Bie Li Jilan” ⇍㛶⬋嗕 (Parting from Li Jilan) expresses his “brokenheartedness” (changduan 儠㕟) on their parting.64 Because Tang poets always used “brokenhearted” to describe their feelings when separating from friends, it is uncertain whether Zhu Fang actually had a love affair with Li Jilan. We have two reasons, however, to assume that the title “Climbing the Mountain to Gaze Far After Master Yan, Who Never Comes” is the correct one. First, the poem actually describes her climbing the mountain to gaze afar for her lover in vain. Second, since the An Lushan Rebellion, Zhu Fang had lived in Yuezhou as a recluse, until 782, when he was recruited for the first time as an official in the Jiangxi commissioner’s office, while Li Jilan was summoned to court in about 783 (as we will discuss). [ 146 ] T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

Yuezhou was quite close to Huzhou, and Zhu Fang had no official duties that would prevent him from visiting Li Jilan. In fact, according to his poems exchanged with the southern literati, he did roam in the lower Yangzi River region from time to time.65 The vast separation in distance and time between Li Jilan and her lover described in the poem thus does not seem to fit Zhu Fang’s situation, but it perfectly corresponds to that of Yan Shihe. Finally, another love poem, “Xiangsi yuan” 䚠⿅⿐ (Grievance of Lovesickness), by Li Jilan, reads as follows: People say the ocean is deep, Not half as deep as my love. The ocean has a shore; My love is boundless. With a zither, I climb to the high loft, The loft is empty, filled with moonlight. I play a melody of lovesickness, Breaking both strings and heart. Ṣ忻㴟㯜㶙, ᶵ㉝䚠⿅⋲. 㴟㯜⯂㚱㵗, 䚠⿅㷢䃉䓼. 㓄䏜ᶲ檀㦻, 㦻嘃㚰厗㺧. ⻰叿䚠⿅㚚, ⻎儠ᶨ㗪㕟. This five-syllabic, old-style poem is Li Jilan’s most passionate and touching piece. In the first half, the metaphor of ocean water is an old one, but the claim that the ocean is not as deep and far-reaching as her love refreshes this familiar image. In the second half, the empty loft implies her loneliness, and moonlight is a conventional image for longing. The interweaving of moonlight, musical sounds, the high loft, and sorrowful feelings creates a meaningful tension, and the pun on broken strings and heart is clever and touching. The repeated word xiangsi (love/lovesickness) also effectively conveys her boundless affection. The extant works of Yan Shihe, Li Jilan’s lover, contain only four linked poems, composed together with Jiaoran and other southern literati, and no love poems to Li Jilan.66 Interestingly, however, some poems composed by Yan’s friends in exchanges with him convey his love for Li Jilan on his behalf. Bao He ⊭ỽ ( jinshi 748), a scholar-official and close friend of Yan Shihe, wrote a poem titled “Tong Yan Bojun su daoshi guan youshu” ⎴散 ỗ⛯⭧忻⢓奨㚱徘 (Companion Piece for Yan Bojun’s “Feelings on Staying Overnight at a Daoist Abbey”): T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

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The southern beauty leaves, not to return; The Luoyang talent needs a matchmaker. No mood to play the tune “White Snow” on your pretty zither; Cool breezes open your gauze bed tent as dawn comes. Tall bamboo leans by the shutters; Distant stars shine over towers. Even if she has flown to the moon and becomes immortal, She will still be drifting as a cloud in your dream. ⋿⚳ἛṢ⍣ᶵ徜, 㳃春ㇵ⫸㚜枰⨺. 䵢䏜䘥暒䃉⽫⺬, 伭ⷴ㶭桐⇘㙱攳. ℱℱᾖ䭩ὅ㇞䇾, 徊徊↿⭧㗈㦻冢. ䷙Ẍ⣼㚰ㆸẁ⍣, ᶼἄ埴暚ℍ⣊Ἦ.67 From the title, we know that Yan Shihe wrote a poem titled “Feelings of Staying Overnight at a Daoist Abbey,” and then Bao He wrote this companion piece to comment on Yan’s feelings. In the poem, the Luoyang talent refers to Yan. It describes a night at a Daoist abbey and uses allusions to the goddess of the moon and the goddess of Mount Wu. In legends, the former flies to the moon and there becomes an immortal after stealing and consuming her husband’s drug; the latter enters the dream of the king of Chu, making love with him, and describing herself as “drifting clouds at dawn and showers of rain at evening.” Since Tang poets often analogized Daoist priestesses as immortals or goddesses, the “southern beauty” is possibly a Daoist priestess, most likely Li Jilan. Although the original poem by Yan Shihe is unfortunately lost, we can surmise from Bao He’s companion poem that it expressed Yan’s longing for Li Jilan. Jiaoran, another close friend of Yan, wrote two interesting poems, “He Yan Shihe wang chiyue daren” ␴散⢓␴㛃㰈㚰䫼Ṣ (Following the Rhymes of Yan Shihe’s Poem: Watching the Moon’s Reflection on the Pool and Replying to Someone) and “Gu libie” ⎌暊⇍ (Ancient Parting). Under the title of the second poem is an original note: “Dairen da Yan Shihe” ẋṢ䫼

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散⢓␴ (Reply to Yan Shihe: On Behalf of Someone).68 A couplet of the

first poem reads: A crescent moon appears in the pool, Two delicate eyebrows: I recall when I painted them. 䇯㚰⾥冐㰈, 暁嚦ㅞ䔓㗪. The second line refers to the famous story of the Han dynasty scholarofficial Zhang Chang ⻝㔆 painting eyebrows for his wife.69 The second poem has this couplet: Gazing after my beloved, how are you now? The moonlight ripples, waves bright and clear. 㛃㇨⿅№劍ỽ, 㚰唑㻦№䨢㲊. Obviously, the person who supposedly “replied to Yan,” and to whom Yan was supposedly replying, was female, and again was most likely Li Jilan. From these three poems, by a scholar-official and a Buddhist monk, we see that the love affair between Yan Shihe and Li Jilan was not only not criticized but also admired by their contemporaries. It is also notable that there was a portrait of Li Jilan. According to the Xuanhe huapu ⭋␴䔓嬄 (Catalog of Paintings Compiled During the Xuanhe Reign Period), Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song dynasty (r. 1100– 1125) owned a portrait of Li Jilan by Zhou Wenju ␐㔯䞑, a tenth-century palace painter in the southern kingdom of Nantang ⋿Ⓒ.70 This portrait was still extant in the sixteenth century but has since been lost.71 Because Zhou Wenju lived about two centuries later than Li Jilan, this piece was possibly based on an earlier portrait, likely by Zhou Fang ␐㖱, a famous painter of the eighth century, who was reputed to have made outstanding portraits of women. Zhou Fang was a friend of Jiaoran and also was active in the southern region during the early postrebellion period.72 Therefore, there is a possibility that Zhou Fang also knew Li Jilan in person and drew the portrait of her. Probably in the spring of 783, Li Jilan was summoned to court from Yangzhou (present-day Yangzhou in Jiangsu), upon which she composed

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a poem titled “Youchi zhuiru nei liubie Guangling guren” 㚱≹徥ℍℏ䔁⇍ ⺋昝㓭Ṣ (An Imperial Order Summons Me to the Inner Convent: Left for Parting My Old Friends in Yangzhou).73 Here nei ℏ (inner) should refer to “nei daochang” ℏ忻⟜, the palace chapels. Judging from her identity as a Daoist priestess, Li Jilan was likely called upon to stay in the palace convent Yuchen. It is worth noting that, the previous year, Li Jilan’s old friend Li Shu was summoned to court to assume a high position as libu shilang 䥖悐ἵ恶 (vice minister of the Ministry of Rites).74 He may thus have recommended Li Jilan to Emperor Dezong, who happened to love poetry and appreciated talented women.75 Because Li Jilan describes “fragrant grasses” in her parting poem and she died in 784, the poem was likely written in the spring of 783. In the tenth month of 783, General Zhu Ci 㛙㲂 (742–784) rebelled and occupied the capital, forcing Emperor Dezong to flee.76 Li Jilan was caught by the rebels and forced to compose a congratulatory poem. This poem, long thought to be lost, has now been rediscovered among the Dunhuang manuscripts.77 It alludes several times to the supersession of the old dynasty by the new one, and therefore must have been composed when Zhu Ci enthroned himself that same month. During the rebellion, Li composed another poem, “Xianzei ji guren” 星屲⭬㓭Ṣ (Caught by the Rebels: Sent to My Old Friends), also found in the Yaochi ji from the Dunhuang manuscripts.78 The second half of the poem reads: War drums rumble below city walls; Military flags wave round the throne. At a haste I did not get to kill myself, Not because I cherished this humble body. 杆溻╏❶ᶳ, 㕴㕿㉪⹏昭. 呤湫㛒⼿㬣, ᶵ㗗や⽖幨. The rebels took the capital and occupied the throne, and the emperor abandoned his palace women to be caught by the rebels. In a great panic, the poet did not die for the emperor and was forced to follow the rebels’ will. This poem explains why she composed the congratulatory poem for the rebels, and therefore is important for our understanding of her situation at the time of her capture. During the seventh month of the following year, the rebellion was crushed and the emperor returned to the capital.79 In his Fengtian lu ⣱⣑抬

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(Records of Fengtian), the contemporary scholar Zhao Yuanyi 嵁⃫ᶨ says that Li Jilan presented the congratulatory poem to Zhu Ci, and that when Emperor Dezong returned he condemned Li for her action and had her beaten to death.80 Although we know from Li’s poem that she was forced to write it, the emperor nonetheless cruelly ordered her execution. Yu Jiaxi ἁ▱拓 (1884–1955) commented: During the rebellion of Zhu Ci, Emperor Dezong could not protect his own country and abandoned his officials and women to flee. Now as a woman, Li Jilan was forced by the fierce rebels to condemn the Tang dynasty. This must have happened against her will. Emperor Dezong did not show any understanding and sympathy but had her beaten to death. This reveals the cruelty of feudal emperors.81 The rediscovery of her poem “Caught by the Rebels: Sent to My Old Friends” thus verifies Yu’s assertion that Li Jilan composed the congratulatory poem against her will. Among Li Jilan’s extant works, only one poem illustrates her Daoist faith. This is “Daoyi ji Cui shilang” 忻シ⭬Ⲽἵ恶 (A Daoist Message Sent to Vice-Minister Cui): Don’t crave vain elusive fame, Better to lessen your wishing for honors. One hundred years are just one day; The myriad things are illusory. Sorrowful sideburns soon turn white; Cultivate self and your face will be young. No need to visit the Indian realms To entrust yourself to the old Buddha. 卓㻓ㆨ㴖⎵, ㅱ枰唬⭎ね. 䘦⸜滲㖎㙖, 叔ḳ䚉嘃䙰. ォ櫊埴䚳䘥, 䪍柼⬠⎗ㆸ. 䃉忶⣑䪢⚳, ὅ㬊⎌⃰䓇. The poem suggests that Vice Minister Cui is attracted by both an official career and Buddhism, while the poet tries to convert him to Daoism through the ideas and faith of nothingness, noncompetence, and longevity. The word “guo” 忶 in the seventh line is often translated as “surpass,” because of which the poem has been mistakenly interpreted as advising the

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vice minister to convert to Buddhism.82 However, reading this together with the title and other lines of the poem, guo must mean “visit” or “pass by,” as in Meng Haoran’s ⬇㴑䃞 (689–740) famous poem “Guo guren Zhuang” 忶㓭Ṣ匲 (Visiting the Estate of an Old Friend). We have seen that Li Jilan played multiple roles as poet, lover, and priestess in her life, and she was active in social occasions, contacting and exchanging poems with male official-literati, hermits, artists, monks, and even the emperor. To her contemporaries, such social roles and activities were not only proper but even admirable. After reading Li’s poetry, which included many love pieces, Emperor Dezong summoned her to serve as a palace priestess, a high honor for a priestess. Even after her execution by the emperor, the compilers of the Yaochi ji and Caidiao ji in the late Tang and the Five Dynasties still recognized her identity as a Daoist priestess.83 Gao Zhongwu, the compiler of the contemporary anthology of poetry Zhongxing jianqi ji, chose to include six of her poems; he further commented: “Her personality is masculine, and the themes of her poetry are unrestrained” ⼊㯋㖊晬, 娑シṎ唑.84 Liu Zhangqing, a contemporary poet and friend, also regarded Li Jilan as “a heroic masculine poet among women” ⤛ᷕ娑尒.85 In the gender discourse of the traditional male lens, the possession of masculine features was the highest compliment for a woman. However, as mentioned previously, from the Song dynasty to the present time, some critics have reidentified Li Jilan and other Tang priestesses as “licentious courtesans.” This identification is to a large extent based on traditional gender norms that forbade women to pursue and express their own love and emotions; it is also due to a misunderstanding of the sociocultural context of the Tang era.86 In several poems, Li Jilan analogizes herself to a goddess or female immortal. In her poem “Cong Xiao Shuzi ting tanqin fude Sanxia liuquan ge” ⽆唕⍼⫸倥⻰䏜岎⼿ᶱⲥ㳩㱱㫴 (Attending Xiao Shuzi to Listen to Someone Playing the Zither: Assigned the Topic “Song of the Flowing Streams of the Three Gorges”), the poet begins with these lines: Once I had a home in the mists of Mount Wu, Where I always listened to flowing streams— Playing a jade zither echoing far, [ 152 ] T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

As I have heard in past dreams. ⥦⭞㛔ỷⶓⰙ暚, ⶓⰙ㳩㱱ⷠ冒倆. 䌱䏜⻰↢廱⮍㔣, 䚜㗗䔞㗪⣊塷倥. The “Song of the Flowing Streams of the Three Gorges,” a zither melody, was attributed to Ruan Xian 旖① (ca. third century) of the Jin dynasty.87 Because of the legendary encounter of the goddess of Mount Wu with the king of Chu, in the Chinese literary tradition the goddess and the clouds and rain associated with her became symbols of sexual intercourse. The “mists of Mount Wu” and “past dreams” in Li’s verses refer to this legend, and the poet obviously analogizes herself with the goddess.88 In another poem, “Ganxing” デ冰 (Stirred by Emotions), Li again says: Morning clouds and evening rain, I will always follow you; Swans go and people come, when will you be back? 㛅暚㙖暐捖䚠晐, ⍣晩ἮṢ㚱彼㛇. Here “morning clouds” and “evening rain” also refer to the goddess of Mount Wu and her erotic legend. Li Jilan thus deliberately and repeatedly performs the role of ancient erotic goddesses in her poems, which appears to be her way of empowering herself in pursuing love and freedom, in accordance with the goddess cult during the Tang era. As scholars have indicated, in male-authored love poems from the Six Dynasties onward, the female image is often eroticized and objectified as a desired object that is glamorously helpless and emotionally dependent.89 Li Jilan’s love poems, however, transform the desired object into a desiring subject. Although she too mixes sorrow with anxiety and solitude in these poems, these feelings are no longer helpless and dependent cries but an active, independent, and self-empowered pursuit of her own true love and desire. Li Jilan’s achievements in poetry are remarkable. Of her nineteen extant poems, most are excellent pieces and have been included in numerous traditional and modern anthologies. They have also been translated in many English anthologies of Chinese literature. Li Jilan was most skillful in writing five-syllabic verse, both regulated and old style, though she also composed some excellent seven-syllabic quatrains and songs. She translated erudite allusions into plain words and fresh images, and her style is graceful T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

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yet without any trace of artifice. Traditional critics, moreover, evaluated her very highly. For example, the compilers of the Siku quanshu praised her fivesyllabic regulated poems, calling them as outstanding as those of the famous contemporary Ten Talents of the Dali Reign Period; they also asserted that her style far surpassed that of the courtesan-poet Xue Tao.90

The Life and Poetry of Yuan Chun Because the transmitted literature consists of only three extant poems and three fragmented couplets by Yuan Chun,91 she has been virtually ignored by researchers.92 Now, however, the Dunhuang manuscripts have given us three additional poems and two fragmented lines.93 These three poems complete the three transmitted fragmented couplets, and we have also discovered an epitaph that was written for her.94 We are therefore in a much better position now to investigate her life and poetry in greater detail. Among the epitaphs unearthed from Luoyang (present-day Luoyang in Henan) is one titled “Gu shangdu Zhideguan zhu nüdaoshi Yuan zunshi muzhiwen” 㓭ᶲ悥军⽟奨ᷣ⤛忻⢓⃫⮲ⷓ⠻娴㔯 (Epitaph of the Deceased Abbess, Daoist Priestess, and Reverend Master Yuan of the Zhide Convent in the Supreme Capital). The Daoist name of this reverend master Yuan was Chunyi 㶛ᶨ. She came from a gentry family in Luoyang,95 where her father was a provincial officer, and she was well educated from a young age. Entering the Daoist order because of her strong vocation for pursuing immortality, she was ordained in about 742, during Emperor Xuanzong’s reign, when Daoism was especially favored. Soon afterward she became the abbess of the Zhide convent in Chang’an,96 remaining in this position for thirty-six years and often practicing laboratory alchemy. She returned to Luoyang, where she died about 779, at an age of more than sixty years.97 Similarly, we find in the poems of Yuan Chun many elements corresponding to the epitaph. In her poem “Ji Luoyang zimei” ⭬㳃春⥲⥡ (Sent to My Sisters in Luoyang), Yuan Chun calls Luoyang her hometown and mentions an estate she left many years ago. She describes the chaos caused by wars, likely referring to the An Lushan Rebellion, which damaged both Luoyang and Chang’an. In another poem, “Qinzhong chunwang” 䦎ᷕ 㗍㛃 (Spring View from the Qin Region), she describes scenes of the imperial palaces and parks and of Mount Zhongnan, south of Chang’an, and she expresses her joy as a Daoist priestess during “an age of peace and [ 154 ] T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

prosperity,” which must refer to the prosperous prerebellion period of Emperor Xuanzong’s reign. Yuan Chun’s family background and life experience, as seen from these poems—born to a wealthy, estate-owning family in Luoyang, welleducated, serving as a Daoist priestess in Chang’an before the rebellion, and experiencing the chaos the rebellion brought to the two capitals— perfectly fits the information found in the epitaph of Yuan Chunyi. Moreover, the Yaochi ji lists Yuan Chun after Li Jilan and before Lady Zhang, indicating that, like the other two, she lived around the time of the An Lushan Rebellion. Therefore, we may reasonably assert that both names, Yuan Chun and Yuan Chunyi, refer to the same person, with Chunyi being Yuan Chun’s Daoist name or courtesy name. It is also possible, because Daoists worship the One or Great One and therefore “yi” ᶨ (literally “one”) is often added to Daoist names, that the names Chun 㶛 and Chunyi 㶛ᶨ may have been regarded as the same. For example, the name of Yuan’s contemporary and fellow Daoist priest Lu Hong 䚏泣 has been recorded variously as Hong 泣 or Hongyi 泣ᶨ in different Tang–Song sources.98 Fortunately, this assertion that Yuan Chun and Yuan Chunyi refer to the same person is convincingly verified by a Dunhuang manuscript other than those copying the works of the Yaochi ji. In P. 3216 are three poems (the third being incomplete) attributed to the “Daoist Priestess Yuan [one character unclear]yi” (Nüdaoshi Yuan [one character unclear]yi ⤛忻⢓⃫ [ᶨ⫿ᶵ㶭㘘] ㆧ); also, beside this name is a character, chun 㶛, added on the right side.99 Yan Tingliang 柷⺟Ṗ has read the unclear character as fa 㱽, Wang Ka has read it as yan 㺼, while Xu Jun has read it as chun 㶛, possibly because the three poems correspond to Yuan Chun’s works included in the Yaochi ji, Youxuan ji, Caidiao ji, or Quan Tangshi.100 The unclear character, however, does not look like fa, yan, or chun, and it is more likely that the copier wrote a wrong character and so added chun on the right side to correct it, a kind of correction often seen in Dunhuang manuscripts. Since yi ㆧ and yi ᶨ are often used interchangeably in traditional texts, this priestess’s name can also be read as Chunyi 㶛ᶨ. Thus, we know for certain that Yuan Chun and Yuan Chunyi refer to the same priestess-poet. Yuan Chun’s six poems demonstrate her fine command of various poetic styles and skillful expression of sentiments. The following is one of the poems rediscovered from Dunhuang, “Xianju ji Yang nüguan” 改⯭⭬㣲 ⤛ⅈ (Leisurely Dwelling: Sent to the Priestess Yang): T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

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The immortal home is solitude no news comes, Through the screen door facing white clouds all day. I meditate and ponder the perfect doctrine; Still in the mortal realm, I am glad away from the noisy life. Cries of passing cranes are heard from the blue sky; Apricot blooms shade the turquoise terrace, —with whom shall I speak? I heard mountains and streams in Wuling are lovely, East of an azure stream— Peach Blossom Spring! ẁ⹄⮍⮍㬲㛒⁛, 䘥暚䚉㖍⮵䲿幺. ⎒⮯㰱朄⿅䛇䎮, ᶼ╄Ṣ攻ḳᶵ╏. 曺⅍浜ⓛ㗪倆忶, 㛷喡䐌冢婘冯妨. 倆忻㬎昝Ⱉ㯜⤥, 䡏㹒㜙⍣㚱㟫㸸. This seven-syllabic old-style poem describes her monastic life and feelings. The “immortal” residence refers to her convent. The Peach Blossom Spring first appeared as a happy utopian community in a famous narrative by Tao Yuanming 昞㶝㖶 (ca. 365–427), and then became an immortal paradise in Tang poetry. Here it refers to the convent of Yuan Chun’s fellow priestess, Yang, in Wuling 㬎昝. The poem describes Yuan Chun’s peaceful and leisurely monastic life. She enjoys practicing meditation and being away from the noise of human life but also feels lonely and longs for friendship. When sending someone a verse letter, Tang poets usually expected to receive the same in reply, and so the priestess Yang might have been a poet as well. Yuan Chun has another poem, “Song Huo shimei [two characters missing] you Tiantai” 復暵ⷓ⥡ [敽Ḵ⫿]㷠⣑冢 (Sending off Daoist Sister Huo to Visit Mount Tiantai), which is also included in the Dunhuang Yaochi ji. These poems deserve special attention because they display early examples of social relations, friendships, and communications of mutual feelings through poetic exchanges between Chinese female writers, or at least between female writers and readers. As the abbess of a Daoist convent, Yuan Chun appears to have been quite aware of these relatively independent communities of Daoist sisterhood. [ 156 ] T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

A seven-syllabic quatrain titled “Yuyan” ⭻妨 (Allegory), possibly written during Emperor Xuanzong’s Tianbao reign period (742–756), is quite dynamic and interesting: Three thousand palace maidens show off their beautiful eyebrows; Laughing, they cook gold, but it’s getting late. Blocked by clouds, unable to climb onto phoenixes, The sun sets on a lonely mountain, only despondency remains. ᶱ⋫⭖⤛曚⧍䚱, 䪹䄖湫慹㖍㚰怚. 淆沛昼暚㒨ᶵ⍲, 䨢Ⱉのそ⢽春㗪. “Cooking gold” refers to laboratory alchemy, and “climbing onto phoenixes” represents attaining immortality. This poem describes a scene of many palace maidens working on alchemy in the inner palace, perhaps reflecting Emperor Xuanzong’s obsession with immortality.101 On the surface the poem lightly mocks the palace maidens’ despondence, but in depth it criticizes the emperor’s fanatical pursuit. The scene described in the poem is lively, and the quatrain is as fluent and natural as many famous High Tang quatrains. As a Daoist priestess who practiced alchemy herself, however, it may seem strange that Yuan Chun would have mocked it, though perhaps she considered the emperor’s quest unserious and excessive. In another poem, “Ji Luoyang zimei” ⭬㳃春⥲⥡ (Sent to my Sisters in Luoyang), Yuan Chun expresses her feelings toward her family during the chaos of the rebellion: Leaving our old estate for so long, I yearn for the city and the river far off. Writing letters, I rely on the feet of wild geese; Gazing moon, I think of your beautiful eyebrows. My hair is whiter when I grieve, Only dreams know the heart longs home. Who can endure such disorder? I cover my face and sob into the southern branches. 冲㤕䴻⸜⇍, 斄㱛叔慴⿅. 柴㚠ㄧ晩嵛, 㛃㚰゛嚦䚱. 䘥檖ォῷ奢, 悱⽫⣊䌐䞍. 婘⟒暊Ḫ嗽, ㍑㶂⎹⋿㝅. T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

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This five-syllabic regulated verse is sophisticated and passionate. It opens with the poet’s homesickness, intensified by the long time and great distance separating her from her family. The second couplet presents a perfect antithesis. Yanzu 晩嵛, literally “feet of a wild goose,” refers to the story in which Emperor Zhaodi 㗕ⷅ of the Han dynasty (r. 87–74 BCE) received from Su Wu 喯㬎 (140–60 BCE) a letter tied to a goose’s foot.102 Emei 嚦䚱, literally “long and slender eyebrows like moth antennae,” refers to both the crescent moon and her beautiful sisters. “Goose feet” and “moth brows” are clever parallels, with both explicit and implicit meanings, and the couplet seamlessly merges natural scenes with inner sentiments. The third couplet expresses her feelings more strongly and touchingly: her sorrow makes her feel old, and her dreams are always concerned with her home. The scene of disorder in the last couplet refers to the An Lushan Rebellion. As both Chang’an and Luoyang experience great chaos from war, she is deeply worried about her sisters and cannot help but shed tears in the direction of her hometown.103 The whole poem is masterfully structured to heat up the poet’s homesick emotions one couplet after another, reaching its peak with her bursting into tears in the last couplet. Its theme and artistic style are similar to that of many poems written by contemporary male poets who experienced the same chaos and destruction brought on by the rebellion. From her poems and the epitaph written for her, we thus observe that Yuan Chun was a religious leader, a Daoist practitioner, and a talented poet. She practiced Daoist meditation and alchemy and enjoyed a quiet monastic life. She held deep feelings toward her fellow priestesses and family members and was capable of expressing these feelings movingly and skillfully in her poems. From her poems, we also see the social relations and communications among literate women and the sisterhood among Daoist priestesses.

The Life and Poetry of Cui Zhongrong The Youxuan ji includes two poems by Cui Zhongrong: “Zeng suosi” 岰㇨⿅ (Presented to My Beloved) and “Xi zeng” ㇚岰 (Playfully Presented).104 The Caidiao ji also contains two poems by her, one the same as the first of the Youxuan ji, the other titled “Zeng geji” 岰㫴⦔ (Presented to a Singing Girl). The QTS collects all three poems as well as four fragmented couplets from the Yinchuang zalu.105 Finally, the Yaochi ji discovered from the Dunhuang manuscripts includes an incomplete poem [ 158 ] T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

that, when compared with the other three texts, can be identified as Cui Zhongrong’s “Presented to My Beloved.”106 Although we have no other early sources about Cui Zhongrong’s life, the extant three poems and four couplets do provide clues about her identity, life experience, and emotional world. The poem “Playfully Presented” reads: I’ve just arrived at Mount Kunlun, no way back; Young Ruan, why do you teach me to do what’s not right? I am wearing the registration of the Highest Clarity now; Please don’t let the falling flowers soil my feather dress. 㙓⇘㖮Ἶ㛒⼿㬠, 旖恶ỽḳ㔁Ṣ朆. ⤪Ṳ幓ἑᶲ㶭䰁, 卓怋句剙㱦佥堋. According to legend, the Queen Mother of the West dwells on Mount Kunlun. “Feather dress” refers to the clothing of both immortals and Daoists in Tang poetry. The poet’s announcement of her arrival at Mount Kunlun, with both the registration of the Highest Clarity and feathered dress, clearly indicate that she has been ordained at a high level of the Daoist priesthood. Young Ruan alludes to the legend of Ruan Zhao’s encounter with his immortal wife. The “what’s not right” that the young man teaches may refer to a love affair. The “falling flowers” alludes to the Buddhist scriptural account of devakanyā, strewing flowers to seduce and test bodhisattvas,107 so it too implies seduction. Although the poet says no, superficially, the playful tone and the use of the legend of Ruan Zhao and his immortal wife hint that she is in fact willing to accept his flirtation. In another poem, “Presented to My Beloved,” it is Cui Zhongrong’s turn to play the role of a seductive lover: It’s good luck that we live near each other, Meeting each other, but not intimate— Like the moon hidden in clouds, Like my reflection in the mirror. To see you is to sorrow in vain, Hard to be brokenhearted in spring. T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

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I wish I were a swallow dwelling on your beams, But have no means to transform my body. ㇨⯭⸠㍍惘, 䚠夳ᶵ䚠奒. ᶨỤ暚攻㚰, ỽ㬲掉墉Ṣ. 䚖ㆸ䨢㚱【, 儠㕟ᶵ䤩㗍. 栀ἄ㠩攻䅽, 䃉䓙嬲㬌幓. This is a well-balanced, five-syllabic regulated verse. It begins with the situation that the poet is in love with the man next door, who does not seem to return her interest. The second couplet uses two clever metaphors to describe their relationship: it is as uncertain as the moon hidden in clouds and as illusory as her reflection in the mirror. The moon, clouds, reflection, and mirror also construct a scene that mixes internal sentiments with external objects: she is gazing at the night sky, facing the mirror, and longing for her beloved. The third couplet further elaborates the theme of unrequited love. Every time she sees him, she feels more sorrowful without his love. In the beautiful springtime, without his company, her broken heart is more unbearable. The last couplet captures a novel and passionate image: she wishes to become a swallow in order to dwell in the same house with him. As discussed in chapter 2 of this book, Daoist convents during the Tang era, especially those in the capital city Chang’an, provided rooms for officials and scholars to rent for longer or shorter periods; thus, this nextdoor man likely lived in a room leased from Cui’s convent. Cui Zhongrong’s third poem, “Presented to a Singing Girl,” exquisitely describes the singing girl’s attractiveness, graceful performance, and her own inner feelings of longing. The poet expresses her appreciation of the girl’s beauty, talent, and emotion. Possibly this singing girl was also a poet and Cui expected to receive a verse reply from her. If so, as in Yuan Chun’s case, we again encounter early poetic exchanges and social relations between female writers, or at least between a female writer and her reader. Cui Zhong’s extant four fragmented couplets are again almost all love poems. One couplet, from the poem titled “Ji zeng” ⭬岰 (Sent and Presented to Someone), reads: My heart with yours enjoined, As shadow follows shape. ⥦⽫⎰⏃⽫, ᶨỤ⼙晐⼊. Another couplet, from the poem titled “Chunyuan” 㗍⿐ (Spring Resentment), reads: [ 160 ] T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

Swallows on the beam regretting nothing, Nestle in pairs this moment, and mutter to each other. 㠩䅽䃉ね⚘, 暁㢚婆㬌㗪. In the first couplet, like Li Jilan, Cui Zhongrong calls herself qie, the humble name for “wife,” and calls the man jun, the respectful name for “husband,” indicating her intimate relationship with him. In the second couplet, the paired, happy swallows serve as an opposite foil for the poet’s lonely, sorrowful feelings. From this analysis, we can conclude that Cui Zhongrong was a Daoist priestess, a talented poet, and a lover full of tender emotions. Given her position after Li Jilan, Yuan Chun, and Lady Zhang in the Yaochi ji, she was likely their younger contemporary.

Concluding Remarks The rediscovery of the fragments of the Yaochi ji and other Dunhuang manuscripts has enabled us to undertake a more comprehensive study of the three Daoist priestess-poets than was previously possible. Both Li Jilan and Cui Zhongrong were passionate lovers, and their poems were concerned mainly with their experience of love. Yuan Chun was a religious leader and practitioner, yet her works express her deep feelings toward her fellow priestesses and family members. All three poets sincerely and directly articulated their sentiments of love, desire, joy, and sorrow, without imitating the voice of male poets or the conventional “women’s voice” constructed by male poets, as many other female poets did. Their poetry started to transform a woman’s image from a desired object into a desiring subject. They mastered various kinds of poetic forms, and their styles were usually natural, passionate, and moving. Against the complicated religious and socio-historical context of the Tang dynasty, the love poems of these priestesses were accepted and admired by their contemporaries, including officials, literati, monks, poetry critics, and even the emperor. Gao Zhongwu’s selection of Li Jilan’s poems for his Zhongxing jianqi ji boasted of their prestige. Following Gao’s example, Cai Xingfeng placed the three priestesses at the beginning of his anthology of T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

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Tang women’s poetry and compared these poets with the most talented women in history. Whereas Li Jilan exchanged poems mainly with male writers, Yuan Chun addressed two of her poems to her fellow priestesses and one to her sisters, and Cui Zhongrong directed one poem to a singing girl. Other poets included in the Yaochi ji also composed poems exchanged between female writers or between female writers and readers. Lady Zhang’s poem “Shide Wei shi huadian yishi jizeng” ㊦⼿杳㮷剙懧ẍ娑⭬岰 (I Picked up Madam Wei’s Hair Ornament and Sent It to Her along with a Poem) demonstrates a relationship between wives from elite families.108 Xue Yun’s 啃喲 poem “Zeng Zheng nülang” 岰惕⤛恶 (Presented to Gentlewoman Zheng) possibly shows a friendship between young girls.109 Chang Hao’s ⷠ㴑 poem “Zeng Lu furen” 岰䚏⣓Ṣ (Presented to Lady Lu) strikingly displays a relationship between a courtesan and a wife from an elite family.110 Following the anthology, we have actual poetic exchanges between Yu Xuanji and three young sisters named Guang ⃱, Wei ⦩, and Pou 塺, who had their own linked poem, showing literary activities within their little circle.111 Yu Xuanji also wrote four more poems for fellow priestesses or for courtesans.112 Except for one or two poems by female poets of the Southern Liang dynasty,113 these are the earliest poems exchanged between female writers or between female writers and readers, representing women’s friendship encompassing a familial scope and expressing their feelings toward one another. Dorothy Ko has described the frequent poetic exchanges, the close relationships between women writers, and various kinds of women’s communities during the seventeenth century as the emergence of women’s culture.114 In her discussion of medieval Chinese women’s literature, Maureen Robertson had already raised the issue of the possible existence of a women’s literary culture, but the lack of adequate archival sources for women’s writing then put her in doubt about this.115 The rediscovery of the extant parts of the Yaochi ji, however, has now substantially increased our archive of medieval women’s writing, and if we consider the women’s societies active from 538 to 991 in northern China, fifteen of which are documented,116 it is possible that the development of Chinese women’s culture might have had a much earlier beginning and have been much more robust than we have thought. Because many Tang Daoist priestesses were well-educated and talented writers, and usually lived a communal life in Daoist convents, they may to [ 162 ] T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

a large degree be credited with this beginning of a women’s culture. Daoist priestesses were referred to as “immortals” or “goddesses” by the Tang people, and the anthology devoted to priestess-poets and other female poets was titled New Poetry from the Turquoise Pond, the pond of the greatest goddess, Queen Mother of the West, who was in charge of all the goddesses and female immortals. This title already implies an acknowledgment of the priestess-poets’ achievements and social status.

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CHA P T E R V I I

Unsold Peony The Life and Poetry of the Priestess-Poet Yu Xuanji

T

he Daoist priestess-poet Yu Xuanji 欂䌬㨇 (ca. 843–868) led a short but dramatic life. She amazingly assumed many roles: city girl from a commoner family, concubine of an official-literatus, traveler, lover, poet, priestess, and “semigoddess/immortal.” She was put to death after being accused of murder and was posthumously branded a “courtesan.” Since her demise, her life has been dramatized in narrative texts and in the performing arts.1 She appears in a modern short story by Mori Ōgai 㢖浿⢾ (1862–1922), Robert van Gulik (1910–1967) made her a character in a detective novel, the Shaw Brothers’ Film Studio in Hong Kong produced a movie about her, and she is also a protagonist in a television series.2 Recently, more literary works have grown out of her poetry and story.3 Fifty poems and five fragmented couplets written by Yu Xuanji remain extant, which makes her one of the first women writers in Chinese literary history to transmit a relatively large number of works.4 As a result, she has been the focus of much critical attention and scholastic research, from the time of her contemporaries to the present day. Although Tang people identified her as a Daoist priestess, and many later critics greatly appreciated her poetic achievements, from the time of the early Song dynasty to the Qing dynasty, some scholars redefined her as a courtesan and criticized her love poems for licentiousness.5 Among modern scholars’ studies of Yu, Jan W. Walls’s unpublished dissertation presents a quite comprehensive study of her life and poetry. Walls collected ample primary data to create [ 164 ]

a “composite biography” of Yu and translated, annotated, and critiqued all of Yu’s poems.6 Walls’s work is preliminary, and there are many problems with his “composite biography” and interpretations; still, it contains some insightful points, represented in a later article he wrote.7 Chen Wenhua carefully collated and annotated all of Yu Xuanji’s poems, which has since become an indispensable text.8 The solid philological research of Liang Chaoran 㠩崭䃞 contributed much to the reconstruction of Yu’s life experience, which will be integrated into my reconstruction of her biography.9 In a pioneering study of Ming–Qing women poets, Maureen Robertson briefly examined Tang women poets and acknowledges their achievements.10 Two recent anthologies of Chinese women writers include fine translations of selected poems by Yu.11 Jowen R. Tung has conducted a feminist reading of some poems by Yu.12 In her articles on Yu’s poetry, Suzanne Cahill tries to read her poetry from the perspectives of religious studies and material culture.13 Scholars have also produced other articles and degree theses on Yu and her poetry, but many of these works either lack analytic sophistication or connect Yu’s identity with that of a courtesan.14 With this chapter, I seek to advance recent and ongoing efforts to clarify and recover information about this important poet and her works. Taking a multifold approach—biographical, philological, literary, and gender studies—to investigate Yu’s life and poetry, I present for the first time a relatively complete biographical chronicle of Yu’s life and then use this chronicle to conduct both literary and gender readings of her poetry. I will examine her emotional journey, her feelings of self-esteem and gender awareness, and her transformation of Chinese women’s voices and images. All these critical investigations will reveal the true identity and poetic achievements of this important priestess-poet.

Toward a Biography of Yu Xuanji Regarding Yu Xuanji’s life, there are two tenth-century narratives from Sanshui xiaodu ᶱ㯜⮷䈀 (Lesser Documents from the Three Rivers) by Huangfu Mei 䘯䓓㝂 (fl. 871–910),15 and Beimeng suoyan ⊿⣊䐋妨 (Trifling Talks from the North of the Yunmeng Marsh) by Sun Guangxian ⬓⃱ㅚ.16 Huangfu Mei was Yu’s contemporary and lived in the Lanling ward 嗕昝⛲, which was very close to the Xianyi convent ①⭄奨 where Yu stayed while UNSOLD PEONY

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in the capital Chang’an around the same time.17 Therefore, his narration of Yu Xuanji’s life should be quite credible. Unfortunately, he devoted about three-quarters of his space to describing the story of Yu’s tragic death in exaggerated detail, recording only basic information about her names, family background, talents, and ordination. Sun Guangxian died in 968, about one century later, but he was a serious scholar, and his narrative about Yu may have been based on earlier records. However, his narrative also provides only a few sentences about Yu’s names, talents, marriage, ordination, and tragic death. Both narratives have been translated and used by scholars to study Yu’s life,18 but because of their limited length and content, these narratives offer a far from comprehensive biography. In addition to these two narratives, then, I use Yu Xuanji’s own poems and sources related to the official-literati who were her male associates, as well as relevant records of historical events, to reconstruct her biography.

From City Girl to Concubine Huangfu’s Sanshui xiaodu tells us that Yu Xuanji’s courtesy name was Yaowei ⸤⽖,19 while Beimeng suoyan records it as Huilan 唁嗕. No scholar has tried to dispel the confusion caused by these different records, but a careful philological analysis solves this problem. Literally, “Xuanji” means “abstruse and mysterious ingenuity,” “Yaowei” means “deep and subtle,” and “Huilan” means “orchid.”20 The first two names are steeped in Daoist meanings and semantically correspond with one another, in accordance with the principle of Chinese naming, while Huilan was simply a popular name for girls. As the daughter of a commoner family, Yu was unlikely to have been given a name with Daoist implication and a corresponding courtesy name. During the Tang dynasty, when someone was ordained as a priest or priestess, he or she would be given a Daoist name and possibly a corresponding courtesy name.21 Therefore, a reasonable assumption is that Huilan was possibly Yu’s original name, Xuanji her new name when she was ordained as a Daoist priestess, and Yaowei her courtesy name in correspondence with Xuanji. Sanshui xiaodu states that Yu Xuanji was a “lijia nü” 慴⭞⤛ from Chang’an. Li refers to city wards (blocks) and streets, and lijia nü literally means “the daughter of a family from the streets,” that is, the daughter of [ 166 ]

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a commoner family. The term “lijia nü” appears in Yu’s record in Sanshui xiaodu as it was incorporated in the tenth century anthology Taiping guangji, and also appears in several later citations of Sanshui xiaodu.22 However, a version of Sanshui xiaodu reprinted in the nineteenth century changed the term to “changjia nü” Έ⭞⤛,23 meaning “a woman from a brothel.” This later emendation is not supported by any evidence from earlier editions and was likely made by someone with a bias against Yu Xuanji. However, it has led some scholars to mistakenly identify Yu as a courtesan.24 Moreover, some scholars freely interpret li as “Beili” ⊿慴 (North Ward), which referred to Pingkang ward ⸛⹟慴, the pleasure district in Chang’an, or as pertaining to similar pleasure districts.25 However, li did not necessarily refer to Beili or other pleasure districts, and Tang people never used lijia nü to refer to women from these districts. In fact, words such as qili ㇂慴 and qili nü ㇂慴⤛ referred to the district in which imperial relatives lived and to women from imperial or aristocrat families.26 Lijia nü and the similar word lifu 慴⨎ were used to denote girls and women of commoner background. For example, the Queshi 敽⎚ (Missing History), dated 884, records, “[Du Mu] then saw a common woman bringing along a young girl on the winding river bank” [㜄䈏] ὬḶ㚚Ⱡ夳慴⨎㓄⸤⤛.27 In addition, because courtesans lived in only three lanes within the Pingkang ward, qu 㚚 (lane), instead of li, was commonly used in reference to them. They were referred to as being “in the lane” (quzhong 㚚ᷕ) and as “courtesans of the lane” (quzhong zhuji 㚚ᷕ媠⤻). When a courtesan entered the pleasure district, she was said to be “going into the lane” (ruqu ℍ㚚), and when a courtesan was redeemed, she was “leaving the lane” (chuqu ↢㚚).28 According to Sanshui xiaodu, Yu Xuanji’s “beautiful appearance could overthrow a state” 刚㖊⁦⚳; she was also very intelligent, well educated, and especially talented in poetry. Beimeng suoyan records that Yu Xuanji was married to Li Yi 㛶€ as his concubine during the Xiantong reign (860– 873).29 Li Yi passed the imperial examination as principal scholar (zhuangyuan 䉨⃫) in 858.30 Both his great success in the examination and his surname Li suggest that he likely came from a great family.31 It was hence impossible for Li to make Yu, a commoner, his wife, despite her beauty and talent. As many scholars have indicated, throughout the Tang dynasty, the expectation of marriages between families of equal social status, and especially between the great families, was very strong. From the mid-Tang onward, great families also tended to marry their daughters to successful examination graduates.32 Considering Li’s possible family background and UNSOLD PEONY

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success in the examination, many great clans would have been eager to have their daughters marry him. On the other hand, as Tang law clearly codified: “One’s concubine must be married from a good family” ⥦侭, ⧞列Ṣ 䁢ᷳ.33 Therefore, it would have been essentially impossible for Li to marry a courtesan as his concubine, though there appear to have been some rare exceptions during the Tang era. This also corroborates that Yu was not a courtesan before she married Li Yi. The most likely opportunity that Li had to meet Yu came during his stay in the capital, between 857 and 858, when he was preparing for the examination (each year the selected scholars were sent to the capital in autumn and took the examination in the coming spring),34 or perhaps a few years earlier, if he took the examination more than once. It is possible that Li Yi happened to live near Yu’s home. Yuan dynasty scholar Xin Wenfang 彃㔯㇧ wrote that Yu became Li’s concubine at the age of fifteen.35 If Yu was about that age in 857, she would have been born around 843.

Sojourn in Hubei and Shanxi Yu Xuanji composed a number of poems describing her sojourns in Hubei 㷾⊿ and Shanxi Ⱉ大, and scholars have agreed that during certain points of her life, Yu did take these two trips.36 By thoroughly examining the relevant poems and historical records, I offer here possible dates for and descriptions of these trips. From about 858 to 862, Yu Xuanji traveled to and lived in Hubei, where Li Yi took a local position, possibly in the commissioner’s office, and where Yu and Li lived separately but met from time to time. Then, from 863 to 866, the couple lived together in Shanxi and Li took a local post in the office of Commissioner Liu Tong ∱㼤. Yu Xuanji wrote more than ten poems related to her first trip. She described how she took a boat and traveled along the Yangzi River in springtime, passed by many historical sites in Hubei, such as Shicheng 䞛❶ in Zhongxiang district 揀䤍䷋; the tomb of Qu Yuan ⯰⍇, the great Chu poet of the Warring States period; and Baixue lou 䘥暒㦻 in Anlu district ⬱映䷋.37 She further related that, during her stay in Hubei, she lived separately from Li Yi, first on opposite sides of the Han River 㻊㯜 and then in Jiangling district 㰇昝䷋, but that the couple also met periodically. 38 During this period, Yu wrote several poems to express her painful feelings of parting and separation after happy meetings with Li and [ 168 ]

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her strong longings for future reunion. Yu’s stay in Hubei likely occurred between 858 and 862, since by 863 the couple were already in Shanxi. Li Yi possibly took up an appointment as a local official in Hubei after he passed the examination in 858, as it was common for Tang graduates to serve in provincial government first, especially in the powerful commissioner’s office. Yu and Li most likely lived apart—an unusual arrangement—because Li lived with his wife, who could not accept Yu staying with them. From 863 to 866, Yu and Li lived together in Taiyuan ⣒⍇ (in presentday Shanxi), where Li served as an official in the office of Liu Tong, the local military commissioner.39 In a poem sent to Liu Tong, Yu recalls her participation at his banquets, extols his governance in Shanxi, and expresses her gratitude for his sponsorship of her husband.40 In a later poem, Yu says that “the Jin River and Hu Pass are still in my dreams” 㗱㯜⢢斄⛐⣊ᷕ.41 Both the Jin River and Hu Pass are located in Shanxi. In another poem, written later,42 Yu Xuanji welcomes an old friend from Shanxi and again recalls her happy life there: she and her husband, along with their friends who were possibly colleagues in Liu Tong’s office, recited poems, rode horses, enjoyed the beautiful mountain scenery, and indulged in joyous gatherings. She even had the opportunity to watch an exciting polo match played by soldiers.43 Obviously, this time Yu and Li Yi did not have to live apart, perhaps because Li’s wife did not accompany her husband on local service and stayed in the capital or Li’s hometown with his folk, as was often seen in the Tang era.

Life as a Daoist Priestess Unfortunately, this happy life did not last long. In the third month of the year 866, Liu Tong was reassigned from Taiyuan to Chengdu ㆸ悥 (in present-day Sichuan).44 At about the same time, Li Yi and Yu Xuanji returned to the capital, where Li took an important position as rectifier of omissions at the central court.45 He soon abandoned Yu, and shortly afterward she was ordained as a Daoist priestess in the Xianyi convent in the capital.46 According to Beimeng suoyan, the reason Li abandoned Yu was that Li’s love for her had faded. However, Xin Wenfang speculated that it was the jealousy of Li’s wife.47 Xin’s speculation is supported by two pieces of evidence. First, after she was abandoned, Yu still wrote at least one love UNSOLD PEONY

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verse–letter to Li, titled “Qingshu ji Li Zi’an buque” ね㚠⭬㛶⫸⬱墄敽 (Love Letter Sent to Rectifier of Omissions Li Zi’an). Second, the Xianyi convent was originally the convent of Princess Xianyi, the twenty-eighth daughter of Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712–756), who was ordained in 762.48 When the female members of official families in the capital were ordained as Daoist priestesses, they usually chose to stay at this convent.49 Without Li Yi as her sponsor, it is unlikely that Yu would have entered such an “aristocratic” convent. We have two reasons for speculating that Yu made her own choice to enter the Daoist order after being abandoned by Li Yi. First, Daoist concepts and practices appear to have comforted her broken heart. In her poem “Chousi” ォ⿅ (Sorrowful Thoughts),50 possibly written around 866–867, the poet tries to comfort herself with music and Daoist scriptures, practices, and the goal of immortality. Two poems, titled “Xiari shanju” ⢷㖍Ⱉ⯭ (Dwelling on the Mountains in Summer) and “Ti Yinwuting” 柴晙曏ṕ (Inscribed upon the Lost-in-Mist Pavilion), describe her free, easy, and aesthetic life in the mountains during summer retreats.51 These poems present a very positive vision of the reclusive Daoist life, suggesting that it was a time of contentment for her.52 A second possible reason for Yu Xuanji’s choice was that during the Tang dynasty, a Daoist priestess could assume a public role, and Yu was aware of the freedom this role would allow. As was discussed in chapter 1 of this book, the particular cultural-religious and socioeconomic environment of the Tang era, and the Daoist priestesses’ negotiations with it, facilitated their socially active roles as religious practitioners, poets, and artists; the Daoist sexual practice, the cult of goddess, and the romantic atmosphere legitimized the love and sexual experiences of priestesses and helped to shape new gender relations between them and the priests or official-literati. Yu Xuanji seems to have been aware of her freedom as a priestess and “semigoddess” and of the new gender relations facilitated by these roles, which allowed her to actively pursue her love and desire. Her love affairs with several literati during her two-year stay at the Xianyi convent (866–868) should be understood in this context of new gender relations, role performance, and motivated self-awareness. In a poem presented to Vice Director Li Jinren 㛶役ṩ (fl. 860–873),53 Yu Xuanji refers to the popular legend of the Cowherd and the Weaving Maid, the astral god and goddess who are lovers separated by the Milky Way and only meet once a year. Such a reference suggests that Li Jinren [ 170 ]

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was her lover.54 Since Li was director of the Bureau of Sacrifices in about 870, he should have been vice director a few years earlier, corresponding with Yu’s stay in the Xianyi convent. In another poem, responding to a literatus who lived next door,55 Yu again uses the Cowherd and Weaving Maid legend, along with two more love stories: that of a wife on a high mountain who gazed afar at her husband for a long time, eventually turning into a stone statue,56 and that of the goddesses of the Xiao and Xiang rivers, who wept for their husband, the ancient sage-king Shun.57 In her poem, Yu Xuanji not only openly expresses her feelings toward the neighboring literatus but also performs the role of a seductive “goddess” in asking for a rendezvous. The famous poet Li Ying 㛶悊 ( jinshi 856) served as a censor at the central court around the time Yu stayed at the Xianyi convent.58 In her two poems exchanged with Li,59 Yu Xuanji applies the legend of Ruan Zhao’s 旖倯 encounter with his immortal wife60 and thus analogizes herself as a seductive female immortal, though Li does not seem to have responded to this invitation. Although Yu Xuanji actively takes the initiative in pursuing her love and desires in these poems, it should be noted that they do not include any pornographic or licentious content, as some biased scholars have implied. During these two years, Yu Xuanji also exchanged poems with another famous contemporary poet, Wen Tingyun 㷑⹕䬈 (ca. 801–866). Wen was instructor of the Directorate of Education in 866, which also corresponds with the time of Yu’s stay at the Xianyi convent.61 He was a friend of Li Yi,62 and Yu might have known him through her former spouse. Later legend linked Yu and Wen as a couple,63 and some modern scholars also surmise the two had a love affair; but her two poems to Wen reflect only friendship, and there is no early record of an affair between the two.64 Wen was more than forty years Yu’s senior and was famous for his extremely ugly appearance.65 According to Yu’s love poems, she appears to have been attracted to young, handsome, and talented literary men, so it is more likely that the two were just friends. Unfortunately, Yu Xuanji only assumed her new role as a Daoist priestess for about two years, for her young life was already heading toward its tragic end. According to Sanshui xiaodu and Beimeng suoyan, in the first month of 868, she suspected her maid Lüqiao 䵈価 of stealing her lover, who had paid a visit while Yu was out. Yu beat the maid to death in a fit of wrath. She was sent to prison, and even though many court officials UNSOLD PEONY

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pleaded for mercy, she was executed in the autumn of that year by Metropolitan Governor Wen Zhang 㹓䐳 (d. 870).66 Although some modern scholars have tried to defend Yu Xuanji by suggesting that the accusation was false or that the story was apocryphal,67 their arguments are not supported by any early sources. On the other hand, since Sanshui xiaodu states that “[Xuan]ji was horrified” ([Xuan]ji kong [䌬]㨇⿸) when she found out the maid was dead, it is likely that she intended to punish the maid sternly but instead killed her accidentally. During the Tang era, it was not rare for masters/owners to kill their maids, and the killers were not always executed. For example, the official Fang Rufu ㇧⬢⽑ (756–797) killed his wife’s nanny, and his wife killed two maids, but Fang was only punished with demotion and his wife with forced divorce.68 Other officials and their wives who killed their maids and concubines were punished not by the law but by the ghosts of their victims, according to hearsay stories.69 These instances show the tolerance of Tang law for the killing of maids and slaves by members of the elite class, whereas Yu Xuanji’s immediate execution indicates that the social status of a Daoist priestess was still very limited and that her freedom and privilege should not be exaggerated. In summary, by drawing upon all available sources, I offer here for the first time reasonable dates for the major events in Yu’s life (see table 7.1). Among these events, Li Yi’s passing of the imperial examination in 858, his service in Liu Tong’s office in 863–866, and Yu’s death in 868 are supported by historical records. Yu’s experience as a Daoist priestess in Chang’an (866– 868) is then reasonable, because there were only two years left before her death. This is supported by the evidence of Yu’s own poems and by the official titles and experiences of the three male associates mentioned in her poems: Li Jinren, Li Ying, and Wen Tingyun. The dating of Li and Yu’s sojourn in Hubei (858–862) not only is supported by Yu’s own poems and the possibility that Tang literati usually took provincial service after passing the imperial examination but also is inevitable, because this period is the only interval left in Yu’s little chronicle. This biographical chronicle reveals that although Yu Xuanji assumed various roles during her life, she was never a courtesan; she was first a concubine and then a Daoist priestess. This chronicle also unfolds her journey of self-fashioning and therefore is crucial for understanding her poetry, especially her love poems, and her subjective experience expressed in these works, which will be discussed in the next sections. [ 172 ]

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TA B L E 7.1

Yu Xuanji’s Biographical Chronicle Date

Age (sui)

Events

ca. 843

1

Yu Xuanji is born into a commoner family in Chang’an.

ca. 857

15

Li Yi is in Chang’an preparing for the imperial examination; Yu meets Li and is married to him as a concubine.

858–862

16–20

Li Yi passes the examination as the principal scholar in 858 and then possibly takes a local position in Hubei; Yu travels to Hubei and lives separately from Li but meets him from time to time.

863–Third month of 866

21–24

Li Yi serves in Liu Tong’s commissioner’s office in Shanxi, where Yu lives with him.

Fourth month of 866

24

Li Yi returns to Chang’an and abandons Yu; Yu is ordained as a Daoist priestess and lives in the Xianyi convent.

868

26

Yu accidently kills her maid Lüqiao in a rage and is executed in the autumn.

Love and Passion: A Desiring Subject Yu Xuanji’s love poems were mostly written during her sojourn in Hubei and addressed to her husband, Li Yi. These poems express her strong, passionate love toward Li and present an actively desiring subject and the genuine voice of a woman’s loving experience.

Recoding Zhuangzi’s Butterfly Yu Xuanji was apt at embodying her feelings and emotions within images, metaphors, symbols, and allusions, such as the butterfly in the two poems UNSOLD PEONY

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titled “Jiangxing ershou” 㰇埴Ḵ椾 (Two Poems of Yangzi Travels), which she composed on her boat trip to Hubei. 1

The great river’s bend embraces Wuchang, Ten thousand households face Parrot Isle. On the painted boat, a spring sleep past dawn: In a dream, I’m the butterfly looking for flowers. ⣏㰇㨓㉙㬎㖴㕄, 淂洉㳚⇵叔㇞⭞. 䔓几㗍䛈㛅㛒嵛, ⣊䁢圜圞ḇ⮳剙. 2

Misty flowers already stretch into Cormorant Bay, On the painted boat I yet write on Parrot Isle. Sleeping when drunk, chanting when sober, aware of nothing, But startled to find myself this morning at the Han River’s mouth. 䄁剙⶛ℍ涽浨㷗, 䔓几䋞柴淂洉㳚. 愱再愺⏇悥ᶵ奢, Ṳ㛅樂⛐㻊㰇柕. After a grand opening, with the Yangzi River bending and embracing the prosperous city, the poet turns to a little creature, renewing the famous butterfly image and metaphor from the philosophical classic Zhuangzi. In the Zhuangzi, Zhuang Zhou 匲␐ dreams of becoming a butterfly, and when he wakes up he is confused about whether he is a butterfly or a man.70 Yu Xuanji’s dream of becoming a butterfly seeking flowers offers an innovative twist on this old image/metaphor. In Chinese literary tradition, the butterfly is also an image for lovers, while the conventional image of “seeking flowers” has erotic overtones, usually referring to a male seeking girls or visiting brothels. By referring to herself, Yu Xuanji reverses the gender of the “butterfly” and treats her husband as a “flower.” This gender reversal implies not only her own strong desire to pursue love but also her feeling of freedom in seeking love like a man, which, together with her travel experience, liberates her from confinement in space and promotes her imitation of male literati manners along the journey—drinking wine, appreciating landscapes and historical sites, and reciting and composing poems. [ 174 ]

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The majority of Tang women, married or unmarried, were confined to their homes and residential places. In her role as a provincial official’s concubine, however, Yu gains the freedom to travel from the capital to the south, on equal footing with a man. She is excited when passing by the famous historical sites she has learned about from her extensive reading, and she is joyful with the anticipation of soon meeting her husband. The authors of the Zhuangzi use the dream to question the nature and meaning of existence, a question appearing abstruse yet perplexed. Yu Xuanji’s dream answers this question positively: life is meaningful and the dream is beautiful, an answer appearing shallow yet vital. The perplexed, philosophical butterfly from the Zhuangzi transforms into a joyful, free, and erotic creature, and the dreamy scene of the butterfly seeking flowers is itself very charming. The critics Lu Shiyong 映㗪晵 and Huang Zhouxing 湫␐㗇 (ca. 1611–1685) could not help but comment on this renewed image, stating, “She plants love emotions without any reservation” 䧖ね䃉⽑检⛘ and “This is extremely erotic” ⤾⅞ᷳ⯌.71

The Orchid Yearning for Love Yu Xuanji was also skillful in applying the conventional poetic technique of intermingling emotion with natural scenes. As noted, the biographical study shows that during her sojourn in Hubei, Yu Xuanji and Li Yi were sometimes together and sometimes separated. At this time she wrote several love poems and assumed the role of sentimental poet and happy-yetsorrowful lover. One of these poems is “Ji Zi’an” ⭬⫸⬱ (Sent to Zi’an): Drunk parting, a thousand cups won’t wash down grief; The lonely heart’s hundred knots won’t be undone. Orchid blooms wither and fall, fading back into the spring garden; Willows snag the travelers’ boats on east and west banks. I sigh over our meeting and parting like drifting clouds; Your love should mimic UNSOLD PEONY

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the ever-flowing waters. In a season of blossoms I know we can’t meet, But please, no excuse for drunken languor up in the jade loft. 愱⇓⋫⶝ᶵ㴋ォ, 暊儠䘦䳸妋䃉䓙. 唁嗕扟㫯㬠㗍⚫, 㣲㞛㜙大䳮⭊凇. 倂㔋⶚ず暚ᶵ⭂, 】ね枰⬠㯜攟㳩. 㚱剙㗪䭨䞍暋忯, 㛒⭄⍕⍕愱䌱㦻.72 This seven-syllabic regulated verse is perfectly structured and harmoniously toned. It starts with a passionate effusion of painful feelings of parting and separation after a happy reunion, and the metaphor of using wine to wash away sorrow conveys Yu’s strong emotions. Next is the descriptive couplet that presents a spring scene of scents and colors, implying her lonely feelings of loss and disappointment: like orchids (huilan, which is also her name), her beauty is fading away, and unlike the willows, she is unable to retain her lover-husband. The third couplet skillfully uses two images: drifting clouds suggest the uncertain condition of their reunion and separation, and the ever-flowing river forms a contrast with her beloved’s indecisive love. The closing couplet directly addresses her sentiments and concerns about her lover. She is worried that the couple will not be able to meet at the prime time of the spring, but still, she cares for her lover’s well-being. She expresses her lovesick feelings genuinely and forcefully through the poem, intermingling with natural scenes and images.

Love and Anxiety: An Emotional Journey Another love poem to Li Yi, “Chunqing ji Zi’an” 㗍ね⭬⫸⬱ (Spring Sentiments: Sent to Zi’an), is an extended (more than four-couplet) sevensyllabic regulated verse that describes a journey, merging scenes along the road with her tense emotions. On rugged mountain roads and steep rocky steps, I don’t lament the hardships of travel, but only my love-longings. Ice melts in far streams— I love your pure spirit; [ 176 ]

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Snow covers distant cold peaks— I miss your jade features. Don’t listen to crude songs or get drunk in the spring. Don’t invite idle guests for midnight chess matches. Like pines, unlike removable stones,73 our oaths endure; As birds are paired by wing, robes joined, how can our tryst be stayed! Though I hate to travel alone in the last days of winter, I expect to be with you when the moon is full. And having parted what should I send? In bright sunlight tears fall to a single poem. Ⱉ嶗㫡㕄䞛䢜⌙, ᶵォ埴劎劎䚠⿅. ⅘扟忢䢝ㄸ㶭枣, 暒忢⭺Ⲙ゛䌱⦧. 卓倥↉㫴㗍䕭惺, ẹ㊃改⭊⣄屒㡲. ⤪㜦⋒䞛䚇攟⛐, 㭼侤忋备㚫偗怚. 晾【䌐埴⅔䚉㖍, 䳪㛇䚠夳㚰⚶㗪. ⇍⏃ỽ䈑⟒㊩岰, 㶂句㘜⃱ᶨ椾娑.74 The poem opens with a scene of the poet walking alone on rugged, steep mountain roads on a cold winter’s day. This scene serves as a foil to the theme that the poet longs for her lover despite her difficult situation, a theme that runs throughout the poem. In the next couplet, the journey continues, and everything she encounters deepens her longing: the melting ice in the pure streams reminds her of his pure spirit, and the white snow on the high peaks resembles his jade-like features. In this antithetical couplet, the multiple juxtapositions between natural images (ice and snow, streams and peaks), sense perceptions (sounds of the murmuring streams and lights on the shining peaks), space dimensions (low streams and high peaks), and qualities of nature and man together construct a powerful tension and project the illusion, amid the splendid winter mountain scene, of a beloved “prince” who is desirable both inside and out. The third couplet naturally turns the focus to the beloved one. She exhorts her lover on trivial matters: do not listen to crude songs, drink too much, or play chess too late— matters so insignificant that only someone deeply in love would pay UNSOLD PEONY

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attention to them. Her feelings are mixed with both concern and worry: she cares about his health but worries about his possible indulgences. The contrasting situations between her and her lover—she is the one traveling on a difficult journey, while he is living in a comfortable environment— make her concern and worry especially sincere and touching. Because of her mixed feelings of love and anxiety, the poet feels the need to reaffirm their oath. The pledges in the fourth couplet function more as a request to her lover than as an expression of her own feelings. She uses age-old images such as evergreen pine trees, removable stones, and paired-wing birds. Connected to her journey, these sceneries are “personalized” with her lover’s images and her own emotions and are therefore refurnished to represent her intense longing and anxiety. The next couplet compares her present difficult journey with a future happy reunion, revealing why she is able to endure all these pains and hardships. The journey concludes with reference to the poem itself, which she composes during the trip, and which weaves her tears with her feelings of love, pain, hardship, and hope. This poem describes not only an actual journey but also an emotional and symbolic one, taking place between the poet’s unions with her lover. The arduous experience of winter mountain travel parallels the painful experience of separation, loneliness, and uncertainty. Her unyieldingness to the difficulties of the physical journey symbolizes her faithfulness to her love and hope. The extended structure of six couplets effectively interweaves the scenes of the physical journey with the changing sentiments of the emotional journey: loving and longing (first and second couplets), caring and worrying (third and fourth couplets), and solitude and hope (fifth and sixth couplets). Ming dynasty critic Hu Yinglin 傉ㅱ湇 (1551–1602) ranked this poem and another of Yu’s poems as the greatest masterpieces of extended sevensyllabic regulated verse in Tang–Song poetry: I have examined the extended seven-syllabic regulated verses of the Song dynasty but could not find one single fine piece. In the Tang dynasty, only that woman Yu Xuanji’s two occasional pieces can be picked out, and others are not as good as hers. ἁ侫⬳ᶫ妨㌺⼳, 忪ṉᶨἛ. Ⓒょ⤛⫸欂䌬㨇愔ⓙḴ䭯⎗怠, 媠Ṏᶵ ⍲ḹ.75

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Although this glowing evaluation may be somewhat exaggerated, the poem is doubtless a masterful piece. Yu Xuanji is not discomfited by the four successive couplets of parallelism in the middle but instead plays on the tension of spontaneity and strict form. The perfect antitheses in these couplets create multiple parings that encode meaningful and emotional tensions: natural scenes and human qualities and emotions, hard travel and comfortable indulgence, and present pain and future happiness. The poem describes a trip in winter, but its title means “spring feelings.” This seemingly unreasonable title implies the poet’s strong desire and hope, as spring comes after winter, and “spring feelings” are conventionally related to love and erotic desire in the Chinese literary tradition. Thus, following Li Jilan and Cui Zhongrong, Yu Xuanji’s love poems further transform the image of female protagonist from desired object into a desiring subject in a more mature way. Although she, too, mixes sorrow, anxiety, and solitude in her poems, these feelings are no longer helpless and dependent cries but represent active, independent pursuit of her own love and desires.

Gender Awareness and Self-Recognition According to the biographical study presented here, in 866, after being abandoned by her husband, Yu Xuanji chose to be ordained as a Daoist priestess and entered the Xianyi convent in the capital. Her poems written during her two years as a priestess reveal that her painful experience of losing Li, and the new identity, heightened her gender awareness and enhanced her self-esteem. Aware of the freedom and status she gained as a priestess, she empowered herself with the attributes of the erotic goddesses. She was proud of her beauty and literary talent, acknowledged the priceless worth of her own existence, and articulated her dissatisfaction with the unequal status and lack of opportunities that the traditional society imposed upon women. These gendered subjectivities are embodied in her poems with masterful literary skill.

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Peeking at the Handsome Man Across the Wall In a famous poem titled “Zeng linnü” 岰惘⤛ (For the Girl Next Door), Yu Xuanji emphasizes freedom of choice in pursuing love as a Daoist priestess and “semigoddess”: Shying from sunlight, you hide in silk sleeves, In sorrowful spring, no mood to rise for makeup. Easy to come by a priceless treasure, Hard to find a loving man. Silent tears fall on a pillow; Heart is torn among flowers. Eyes take in Song Yu as you wish, So why resent Wang Chang? 但㖍怖伭堾, ォ㗍⫦崟⥅. 㖻㯪䃉₡⮛, 暋⼿㚱⽫恶. 㜽ᶲ㼃✪㶂, 剙攻㘿㕟儠. 冒傥䩢⬳䌱, ỽ⽭【䌳㖴.76 The Sanshui xiaodu cites the second couplet and suggests that the poem was written when Yu was in prison awaiting execution, whereas the Beimeng suoyan lists the same couplet but claims that it addresses her resentment toward Li Yi when she was abandoned by him. In the Five Dynasties anthology Caidiao ji, this poem is titled “Ji Li Yi yuanwai” ⭬㛶€⒉⢾ (Sent to Vice Director Li Yi), and is also given the variant title “Ji linnü” ⭬惘⤛ (Sent to the Girl Next Door).77 Judging from the content of the poem, however, the title “For the Girl Next Door” seems the most appropriate. The poem describes a neighboring girl’s heartbroken feelings and comforts her with unconventional advice. Since Yu Xuanji was living in a chamber within the Xianyi convent, the girl next door was likely also a priestess in the same convent, so the verse did not need to be “sent to” her. In the poem, the first three couplets describe the next-door girl’s heartbroken feelings after being abandoned. Yu Xuanji uses natural imagery to serve as a foil to deepen her pain: bright, illuminating sunlight and shameful appearance and tears; exuberant spring and listless sentiments; brilliant flowers and a broken heart. The second couplet has been on the lips of Chinese people for more than a thousand years. It articulates in plain words a universal phenomenon in traditional societies: men are privileged to be fickle in love. This couplet not only describes the feelings of the girl next [ 180 ]

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door but also articulates a painful lesson from the poet’s own miserable experience with her husband. As Lu Shiyong commented, the couplet is “vulgar but meaningful” ᾂ侴㖐.78 The image of the next-door girl in the first three couplets is still presented as the traditional, helpless, and dependent object of the male gaze. In the last couplet, however, the poet turns this image upside down. She reminds the girl of her freedom of choice as a Daoist priestess and “semigoddess” and advises her to toss off her sorrows by taking the initiative in choosing and pursuing the man she desires (“Eyes take in Song Yu as you wish”), no longer afraid of or resentful for being abandoned (“Why resent Wang Chang?”). Song Yu was a fourth-century BCE poet who was said to be very handsome. A rhapsody attributed to him describes how a girl who was his neighbor on the east side often climbed the wall to peek at him.79 Wang Chang was a famous handsome man during the Wei–Jin period and later became the persona of a desirable husband for young girls in songs of the Southern dynasties.80 This final couplet most clearly expresses Yu’s gender awareness. Under the traditional authority of medieval China, such a brave claim to a woman’s freedom in pursuing her own love and desire was unprecedented. It gives voice to women’s long-held, deep-seated wishes and desires, sweeping away their cries of helplessness, humiliation, and submissiveness.81 Huang Zhouxing commented on this couplet with half admiration and half criticism: “Teacher Yu can be described as ‘teaching a monkey to climb trees and seducing people to violate the law’ ” 欂侩ⷓ⎗媪 “㔁䋙⋯㛐, 婀Ṣ䉗㱽” 䞋.82 In several other poems, such as “Following the Rhyme Words of My New Western Neighbor’s Poem and also Begging for Wine from Him” and “I Hear Censor Li Has Returned from Angling and Send this Poem to Him,” Yu Xuanji alludes to the legend of Ruan Zhao’s encounter with his immortal wife, the goddesses of the Xiao and Xiang rivers, and the Weaving Maid of the Milky Way. Although the legends and images of these goddesses had been used by male poets in numerous poems and had become traditional and hackneyed allusions, they acquired very different significance when employed by female poets, especially by Daoist priestess-poets, who were supposed to become immortals and were called “female immortals” by the Tang people.83 By comparing these goddesses to herself, Yu Xuanji empowers herself as a passionate, seductive goddess/immortal and takes the initiative in pursuing love and desire. UNSOLD PEONY

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Unsold Peony On a late spring day in the capital, Yu Xuanji sees some beautiful peonies remaining unsold. Sighing for herself, she reflects on the worth of her own existence in her poem “Maican mudan” 岋㭀䈉ᷡ (Unsold Peonies): Facing the wind I sigh over the flutter of falling flowers, Fragrance silently fading away along with another spring. Because of their high prices, no one asks for the peonies, And their too-strong scent keeps butterflies off. Their red blossoms should only grow inside the palace; How could their green leaves be tainted by street dust?84 When their roots are transplanted to the imperial garden, Young lords will regret lacking the means to buy them. 冐桐冰㫶句剙柣, 剛シ㼃㴰⍰ᶨ㗍. ㅱ䁢₡檁Ṣᶵ⓷, ⌜䶩楁䓂圞暋奒. 䲭劙⎒䧙䓇⭖塷, 侈叱恋⟒㝻嶗⠝. ⍲军䦣㟡ᶲ㜿剹, 䌳⬓㕡【屟䃉⚈.85 The title of this poem has been generally read as mai 岋 (sell) plus can mudan 㭀䈉ᷡ (wilted peonies) and translated as “Selling Wilted Peonies.”86 This is a misunderstanding of the title, however, and it contradicts the themes of the poem: How can wilted peonies be “transplanted to the imperial garden” and make young lords regret lacking the means to buy them? How can Yu proudly analogize herself as wilted peonies? Instead, the title should be read as maican 岋㭀 plus mudan 䈉ᷡ, meaning “The Peonies that Remained Unsold” or “Unsold Peonies.” This kind of syntax was frequently used by Tang–Song poets in their works, such as in Qiao Zhizhi’s ╔䞍ᷳ (d. 690) couplet: “In the case, the sword with which you played remains; / On the bed, your half-read books are piled” ⋋䔁⻰伟∵, ⸲䧵 嬨㭀㚠;87 Cao Ye’s 㚡惜 (fl. 847–865) couplet: “Yesterday when I was out, a [ 182 ]

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spring wind broke in, / Blowing the books half-read down the bed” 㗐㖍㗍 桐㫢ᶵ⛐, ⯙䇨⏡句嬨㭀㚠;88 and Xu Fei’s 姙㡸 (d. 1249) couplet: “Servants warm up the leftover wine; / Neighbors send over unsold vegetables” ⁽㹓 㓄∑惺, 晋復岋㭀哔.89 The “flutter of falling flowers” in the first line of Yu Xuanji’s poem simply refers to flowers in general that fall in late spring and that are used to indicate the season; it is not referring to the peonies that are being sold. In fact, peonies usually blossom in late spring, when other flowers have already fallen, as described in Li Shanfu’s 㛶Ⱉ䓓 (fl. 860–888) “Mudan” 䈉ᷡ (Peonies): Spring wind presses them, but they would not blossom early; After all other flowers fluttered away, they then show up in towers. 怨≺㜙桐ᶵ㖑攳, 䛦剛桬⼴ᶲ㦻冢.90 Therefore, the falling flowers in the opening line also serve as a contrast to the full-bloom peonies in the second and third couplets. The peony has always been ranked as the queen of flowers in China. During the Tang dynasty, especially in the eighth and ninth centuries, people of the two capitals, Chang’an and Luoyang, were extraordinarily fond of peonies. In late spring, peonies blossomed and were sold everywhere, and poets wrote numerous poems admiring the noble blossoms.91 In Yu’s poem, the unsold peonies are the best of their kind: their prices are so high that nobody can afford to buy them,92 and their fragrance, color, and appearance are the most beautiful, elegant, and attractive. Even though they remain unsold, these proud blossoms are still confident of their true value and believe they will be transplanted into the imperial garden. In the end, they turn themselves from losers to winners; the blind buyers will regret not buying these noble blossoms while they are still available. Flowers are age-old symbols for women, and thus these noble, beautiful, and unsold peonies can be read as standing for the poet herself. The buyers may represent her untruthful lover(s), and imperial palaces are always used interchangeably with heavenly palaces in Tang poetry. Like the beautiful peonies, Yu is unappreciated and unsold. Yet, like those proud blossoms, she believes in her own worth: she is priceless and deserves to stay only in the noblest place—the imperial palace or the heavenly palace (that UNSOLD PEONY

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is, the Daoist immortal world). This gendered subjectivity of dignity, selfesteem, and self-recognition stands out uniquely in the history of women in traditional China. The Ming critic Zhong Xing 挦ア (1574–1625) commented on this poem: A discourse like this is not only metaphorical but also inclined to articulate complaint and anger. As an extraordinarily affectionate person, she trusted herself to the wrong man and therefore was unable to retain herself with correct thought. But how could this be her fault? There were reasons leading her towards it. ⤪㬌婆, 寰Ữ⭬妿, 㻠婒⎹⾧【ᶲ⍣. ⋫⎌㚱ねṢ, ㇨㈀朆„, ὧ㚱ᶵ傥 冒㊩ẍ㬋シ. 㬌寰℞Ṣᷳ伒⑱? Ṏ㚱ẍἧᷳ侭䞋.93 Although he criticized Yu’s self-esteem and contempt for unfaithful men as incorrect thought, Zhong obviously had much sympathy for her and showed his understanding and appreciation of her feelings and dignity. This poem is again a seven-syllabic regulated verse, the form which Yu Xuanji used most often and with ease. The images and descriptions of the peonies are antithetically matched and juxtaposed to imply ample meanings. The poem is also a masterpiece of the poetic subgenre known as “poetry on things” (yongwushi 娈䈑娑). Traditional Chinese poetics contends that this subgenre of poetry should ideally strive for two goals: to describe the object vividly in both its external shape and its internal quality, and to project the personality or sentiments of the poet or other people onto the description of the object. This poem achieves both goals perfectly. It not only describes the extraordinarily beautiful shape, scent, and color of the unsold peonies but also conveys their noble nature, quality, and value. More importantly, every word in the poem can be read as referring to both the flowers and the poet at the same time: the flower is Yu and she is the flower—they are identical and inseparable. On another spring day, Yu Xuanji visits the Chongzhen abbey ⲯ䛇奨 in the capital.94 When she sees the autographs of the new graduates of the imperial examination on the wall, a strong feeling against gender inequality and the confinements imposed on women wells up in her, as seen in her poem “You Chongzhen guan nanlou du xinjidi timing chu” 忲ⲯ䛇奨⋿㦻契㕘⍲ 䫔柴⎵嗽 (Visiting the South Tower of Chongzhen Abbey and Inspecting the Signatures of Those Who Passed the Imperial Examination): [ 184 ]

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My eyes are full of clouds and mountains when the spring sky clears up, How sharp the “silver-hook” signatures produced from their fingers! I hate the gauze gown which covers my verses, Lifting my head, but in vain I envy the names on the list. 暚Ⲙ㺧䚖㓦㗍㘜, 㬜㬜戨戌㊯ᶳ䓇. 冒【伭堋㍑娑⎍, 冱柕䨢佉㥄ᷕ⎵.95 Poetry was the most important subject on the imperial examination for securing an official career in the Tang dynasty. The gauze gown symbolizes Yu’s female gender.96 She is equal to those complacent graduates in poetic talent and political ambitions, yet she is excluded from the examination, and therefore from a political career, because of her gender. On the surface, Yu blames her gauze gown/female gender for the conventional role she has had to perform, but in depth she criticizes the unequal gender system that confines her talents. Xin Wenfang admired this poem for expressing Yu’s strong will for political participation and her self-recognition of her literary and political talents: “I observe that her thoughts are strong and genuine. If she were a man, she would doubtless have been a useful talent. Many literati pity and appreciate her” 奨℞シ㽨↯, ἧ䁢ᶨ䓟⫸, ⽭㚱䓐ᷳㇵ. ἄ侭枿ㄸ岆ᷳ.97 Anne Birrell argues that Yu is voicing “her opposition to gender inequality.” Wilt Idema and Beata Grant agree that Yu expresses “dissatisfaction at the limitations imposed upon her by her gender” and “craves recognition for her literary talent.”98 This kind of bald, straightforward articulation of dissatisfaction is unprecedented in Chinese women’s writings. Later, following Yu’s articulation of dissatisfaction, the lament of “if only women could take the examination” appears from time to time in the writings of Ming–Qing women.99

Concluding Remarks In her short life of about twenty-five years, Yu Xuanji assumed many roles, but her ever-shifting portrayals did not seem to have surprised her contemporaries. In the Sanshui xiaodu, Huangfu Mei expresses great admiration for her: UNSOLD PEONY

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Her beautiful appearance could overthrow a state, and her thought reached the marvelous realm. She loved reading and was very good at writing. She was especially focused on poetic composition. . . . Her excellent verses admiring the moon and winds have always spread among the literati. 刚㖊⁦⚳, ⿅ᷫℍ䤆. ╄嬨㚠Ⱄ㔯, ⯌农シ㕤ᶨ⏇ᶨ娈. . . . 侴桐㚰岆 䍑ᷳἛ⎍, ⼨⼨㑕Ḷ⢓㜿. Huangfu greatly appreciates Yu’s beautiful appearance, elegant interests, exquisite talent for writing, and outstanding poems. Even when he records her killing of the maid, he does not directly blame her. In both Youxuan ji and Caidiao ji, Yu Xuanji is given the title of Daoist priestess.100 From these contemporary recognitions, we can see that, despite her ignoble death, Tang people understood and accepted Yu’s gendered identity as a Daoist priestess. As in the case of other Tang priestesses, the label of “licentious courtesan” placed on Yu Xuanji in later times is biased and unsubstantiated.101 In fact, when traditional critics were able to remove their male-centered lens, many sincerely admired Yu’s enthusiastic pursuit of qing ね (love, emotion, feeling) and her poetic achievements, as seen in the comments of Huangfu Mei, Xin Wenfang, Lu Shiyong, Zhong Xing, Huang Zhouxing, and Hu Yinglin, cited earlier. Zhong Xing even praised her as “the poetic sage among talented women” 味ㇵ⩃ᷕᷳ娑俾ḇ.102 “Poetic Sage” had been the title reserved for Du Fu 㜄䓓 (712–770), one of China’s greatest poets. By granting this title to Yu Xuanji, Zhong Xing implies that she is one of China’s greatest female poets. This high evaluation was likely born out of the cult of qing popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and therefore it emphasized Yu’s achievements in expressing the gendered qing of women.103 Yu Xuanji’s poetry indeed represents the genuine, passionate expression of women’s qing. Her love poems voice the sincere feelings of a desiring subject. Her painful life experience and her identity as a Daoist priestess increased her gender awareness and enhanced her self-esteem. Her exquisite descriptions and genuine emotions surpass most male-authored works intended to describe women’s life and feelings, whether in the guise of “women’s voice” or not. We may also consider that contemporary male poets such as Li Shangyin 㛶⓮晙 (ca. 813–858) had to conceal their true love and desire behind allusions and symbols, in hermetic poems that were often “left untitled” (wuti 䃉柴 ); or the fact that, even during the peak of Chinese women’s poetry in the High Qing period, direct expressions of [ 186 ]

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womanly desires were limited, and representatives of women poets still had to emphasize that “the sentiment and tone of each [poem] is correct” ⿏ね⎬㬋 and that “none would shame the female historian’s admonitions” 䃉㄂⤛⎚ᷳ䭜.104 Ban Zhao 䎕㗕 (ca. 45–ca. 117) wrote the Admonitions for Women (Nüjie ⤛婉); not to shame Ban’s admonitions meant to retain women’s traditional moral virtues and gender prescriptions. By comparison, Yu Xuanji’s openly passionate articulation of her genuine love, desires, and will is truly extraordinary. Yu Xuanji’s dramatic life is richly reflected in her poetic writings. In addition to the travel poems, love poems, lyric poems, introspective poems, leisure and landscape poems, verse-letters, poems on things, and poems on historical sites discussed or mentioned here, she also touched upon other kinds of occasional poems, poems to fellow priestesses and female friends, elegies, and so forth.105 She masterfully composed in a variety of poetic forms and especially excelled in seven-syllabic regulated verse, which often presents a well-balanced tension between spontaneity and strict form. She was adept at using common metaphors, symbols, allusions, and images in refreshing, innovative ways that made her poetry graceful yet original and natural. She skillfully switched from style to style when writing poems with different subject matters and feelings, though in general her writing is natural, fresh, clear, fluent, and moving. As discussed in the previous chapter, prior to the mid-Tang era, women writers were mostly palace ladies and women of elite families. Starting with Li Jilan, Yuan Chun, Cui Zhongrong, Xue Tao, and other female poets of the mid- to late Tang period whose works were included in Yaochi ji, we see women writers coming from much wider social strata: palace ladies, wives and daughters of elite families, female members of common families, Daoist priestesses, courtesans, and so forth. More importantly, we see that the three priestess-poets Li Jilan, Yuan Chun, and Cui Zhongrong sincerely and directly articulated their sentiments of love, desire, joy, and sorrow without imitating the voice of male poets or the conventional “women’s voice” constructed by male poets, as many previous and later female poets did. Their poetry started to transform a woman’s image from that of a desired object into that of a desiring subject. These developments were further pushed to an even higher level by Yu Xuanji, with her distinctive voice, powerful self-presentation, gendered subjectivity, and masterful poetic skills. Together, these priestess-poets represent a new stage in the development of Chinese women’s poetry. UNSOLD PEONY

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Conclusion

T

he emergence of Daoist priestesses as a religio-social group during the Tang dynasty was unprecedented and unrepeatable in the history of both the Daoist tradition and Chinese women. Before the Tang era, Daoism was still integrating its various social, scriptural, and ritual lineages and had not yet developed into a full-fledged religious tradition. After the Tang, the state-supported, integrated, communal, and hierarchical Daoist system dissolved, giving rise to new cults, rituals, practices, and sectarian currents rooted in local communities.1 It was only within the particular historical context of the Tang era, especially the promotion of Daoism by the ruling house, the unification and monasticism of the Daoist system, and the changing patterns in gender relations, that the Daoist priestesses arose as a distinct religio-social force. Women from all social strata, from royal princesses to commoners, took on the Daoist priesthood as their career, with the specific title of nüdaoshi (female Daoist priest) or nüguan (female headdress) to identify them, specific feminine clothing designed for them, and a musical tune created to eulogize them. Most of the priestesses walked out of the traditionally confined family space to live a communal life in convents (though they did not cut off family relations and responsibilities). They empowered themselves with an independent economy, Daoist doctrines and spirituality, considerable education, diverse talents, and the attributes of goddesses. They negotiated with constructed norms and institutions and gained more [ 188 ]

independence, freedom, and respect than their mainstream sisters in pursuing their calling and talents. They were self-confident religious agents, proudly announcing that they could control their own lives and destiny: “That which generates all things in turn is controlled by me,” said Hu Yin; and “[The generating force of ] yin and yang is controlled by myself,” said Liu Moran. They competently performed various roles as religious leaders, mentors, preachers, adepts, and ritualists as well as politicians, poets, and artists, thereby becoming active participants in the operation of Tang society and contributing in many ways to Chinese religious and cultural traditions. In accordance with our discoveries, based on many previously overlooked sources excavated from both within and outside the Daoist canon, an overall picture of the Tang Daoist priestesses can be drawn as follows: 1. They were capable and self-determined religious leaders and practitioners, with ability and accomplishments equal to that of priests. 2. They were well versed in Daoist scriptures and texts and contributed to the development of Daoist theories. 3. They were active in both the convent and the public sphere, preaching to and mentoring the public, including emperors, and serving other people. 4. They presented a certain continuity in Daoist, Confucian, and Buddhist values and virtues. 5. They went beyond the religious domain, such as by intervening in government policies and even executions. 6. They enjoyed high achievements in literature and the arts. Here it may be worthwhile to compare these with the ideal image of Daoist women created and modified by Du Guangting in the hagiographies of the Jixian lu, as examined in the appendix of this book. According to Du, the priestesses were expected to possess the following attributes: 1. A beautiful, goddess-like appearance and perpetual youth. 2. Marvelous signs and supernatural powers and attributes. 3. Religious and genealogical connections with the Queen Mother of the West. 4. Relations with the Highest Clarity imagination of divine descending. CONCLUSION

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5. Self-cultivation of and self-perfection in various Daoist techniques, including fasting, ingesting elixirs, practicing breath control, reciting scriptures, and practicing rituals, leading to eventual ascension and immortality. 6. Accumulated hidden virtues and compassionate deeds toward people and creatures, which blended classical moral ideas on right and wrong into the mix of Daoist and Buddhist ethics; also an emphasis on Confucian values such as filial piety and loyalty. Comparing the two lists, we find that only two features—the practice of Daoist rituals and self-cultivation and the continuity between Daoist, Confucian, and Buddhist values—roughly correspond between the two, though discrepancies remain in these two features, such as the compassion toward creatures and the Confucian virtue of loyalty, seen only in Du’s hagiographies. For all the other differing characteristics, our discoveries present an overall picture of Daoist priestesses as active participants in religious, cultural, and social relations and activities and as dynamic contributors to the functioning and development of society and culture, whereas Du’s narratives provide an image of individual salvation, liberation, spirituality, and an immortal utopia. Our picture is historical, realistic, complicated, and diversified, whereas Du’s imagery is ideal, holy, simplified, and unified. On the other hand, although the Jixian lu hagiographies do not provide useful primary sources for studying the historical experiences of Tang Daoist women, these accounts are still valuable in presenting both Du Guangting’s reflections on women’s role and place in Daoist tradition and society and his architecture of the ideal role model for Daoist women, which synthesized Daoist self-perfection with Confucian values and Buddhist ethics. The self-disciplined, self-perfected, and goddess-like images described by the Jixian lu accounts may also imply Du Guangting’s unspoken disapproval of other roles, especially public ones, undertaken by Tang Daoist priestesses. Moreover, Du Guangting’s reflections and his architecture were not his individual concerns alone but, rather, represented those of the Daoist tradition itself. Indeed, this tradition underwent tremendous changes from the late Tang to the early Ming (1368–1644) periods, and Du Guangting was a key figure at the beginning of this reshaping period. His reconfiguring of Daoist rituals, practices, cults, and traditions and his synthesis of the [ 190 ]

CONCLUSION

three teachings initiated new dimensions in the development of Daoism during the following centuries.2 Moreover, the role model he constructed in the Jixian lu accounts was to a considerable extent followed by female Daoists from the Song dynasty onward, such as the self-cultivation and self-realization of Sun Bu’er ⬓ᶵḴ (1119–1182) and many other priestesses of the Complete Perfection (Quanzhen ℐ䛇) tradition and lineages of women’s inner alchemy. Additionally, Confucian and Buddhist virtues such as filial piety, loyalty, compassion, and selflessness were actually written into the manuals of women’s alchemy during the Ming–Qing era.3 Partly because of the changing religious scenery and images of Daoist women in later times, not only have the remarkable achievements of the Tang Daoist priestesses been mostly forgotten but also scholars from the Song dynasty to the present time have rhetorically reidentified the priestesses as “courtesans” and disparaged them as “licentious” in their critical discourses, in a way quite similar to the rhetorical construction of earlyTang female rulers’ sexual transgression.4 This reidentification was, however, biased, because the priestesses’ public actions and love poems presented nothing of a pornographic or licentious nature. Instead, these scholars may have undertaken this relabeling for one of two reasons: either they were following the traditionally embedded gender pattern that forbade women from going beyond the confines of family or other private spaces, pursuing their calling and talents, and expressing their own love and desires, or else they lacked sufficient knowledge of the particular historical contexts of the Tang era. Our study, on the other hand, has shown that this biased reidentification can be thoroughly refuted from four angles. First, the particular religio-social contexts in which the priestesses lived provided them with the necessary flexibility and relative freedom for their religious, social, and public activities. Second, the new patterns in gender relations legitimized their emotional and sexual relations and experiences. Third, the priestesses empowered themselves with the attributes of the goddesses as well as through their considerable education and remarkable talents. Finally, their independent economic status separated them from courtesans. Although even courtesans cannot be simply marked as “licentious,” one of the major features of Tang courtesans was that they provided professional service, that is, their service was their livelihood, and most of the income went to the madams of brothels, who owned and controlled them. Therefore, they were physically and economically dependent.5 CONCLUSION

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Furthermore, because Daoist priestesses were economically independent, the love affairs between them and their male associates were more likely the result of pursuing personal desires and emotions, as expressed in their own poems, not of fulfilling professional services and providing for financial needs. Tang courtesans were also closely associated with scholar-officials and sometimes too had love affairs with them.6 However, courtesans did not have any freedom of choice and had to wait to be called upon by men. They often found themselves in the position of a humble servant; maltreatment was quite common, and many courtesans had tragic encounters.7 The official courtesans ( guanji ⭀⤻ or yingji 䆇⤻) were often summoned to public parties, at which they were simply entertainers, and their status was unequal to that of other participants. For example, the official courtesan and famous poet-calligrapher Xue Tao 啃㾌 (ca. 770–832), who was active on social occasions and exchanged poems with many male poets and officials, was banished to Songzhou 㜦ⶆ (present-day Songpan in Sichuan province) in 789 because she offended Commissioner Wei Gao 杳䘳 (745–805). From there she presented to Wei Gao a ten-piece series titled “Shili shi” ⋩暊娑 (Poems on Ten Separations), asking for forgiveness.8 The series uses ten metaphors to beg her “master”/patron’s forgiveness for her minor faults, including that of the dog separated from its master, the pen separated from its owner’s hand, the horse separated from its stable, the parrot separated from its cage, the swallow separated from its nest, the pearl separated from the palm of its owner, the fish separated from its pool, the hawk separated from its owner’s gauntlet, the bamboo separated from the pavilion, and the mirror separated from its stand. These poems typically show the courtesan’s dependence, helplessness, and submissive social status and feelings. After Xue Tao passed away, in 832, Commissioner Li Deyu 㛶⽟塽 (787– 850) wrote a poem titled “Shang kongque ji Xue Tao”  ⫼晨⍲啃㾌 (Lament on [the Death of ] a Peacock and Xue Tao), and the poet Liu Yuxi ∱䥡拓 (772—542) wrote a poem titled “He Xichuan Li shangshu shang kongque ji Xue Tao zhishi” ␴大ⶅ㛶⯂㚠 ⫼晨⍲啃㾌ᷳṨ (Lament on [the Death of ] a Peacock and Xue Tao: Response to the Poem by Minister Li of Xichuan).9 These poems typically reveal Tang scholar-officials’ general attitude towards courtesans: even though Xue was talented and famous, they still viewed her as an object owned by them, like a peacock.10 Generally speaking, the social status of courtesans was incomparable to that of Daoist priestesses. [ 192 ]

CONCLUSION

Through comprehensively investigating the Daoist priestesses in the Tang era, I have sought to restore this forgotten and disparaged female tradition to the historical landscape and to reveal their true, gendered identities and activities. This study further testifies that, even though traditional Chinese society was constructed to their disadvantage, women were not mere victims but also could become dynamic forces in the construction of gender relations, the interplay of power structures, and the operation of society under varied historical contexts and social conditions. Because religious faith and practice often served as a source of encouragement and empowerment for women in specific historical and cultural contexts, Tang Daoist priestesses, as religious agents, appear to have become more-dynamic actors on the social stage and to have achieved greater accomplishments than did their mainstream sisters.

CONCLUSION

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APPENDIX

Du Guangting and the Hagiographies of Tang Daoist Women

I

n the early tenth century, the Daoist master Du Guangting 㜄⃱⹕ (850–933) compiled the Yongcheng jixian lu ⠱❶普ẁ抬 (Records of the Assembled Immortals of the Walled City). Yongcheng, the Walled City, was the legendary kingdom of the Queen Mother of the West, the most powerful goddess in the Daoist tradition, who was in charge of all goddesses and female immortals. Originally the text contained ten juan and 109 accounts of goddesses, female immortals, and female Daoists.1 Although it has not passed down to us in its complete form, using fragments preserved in the Ming dynasty Daoist Canon and several Song dynasty encyclopedias, the text can be reconstructed to about eighty-four accounts, about eighteen of which are hagiographies of Daoist priestesses or of women who engaged in Daoist practices during the Tang dynasty.2 Scholars have taken different views of these accounts. Some have regarded them as “hagiography assimilated to the literary short story,” which is fundamentally fictional, 3 whereas others have looked at them as biographical sources for reconstructing the actual life experiences and religious practices of Tang female Daoists.4 Here, as usual, we are encountering the old dilemma of hagiography versus biography. In the religious traditions of all times and cultures, including that of the Chinese, the coexistence of biographical descriptions and hagiographical prescriptions in accounts of religious figures has been a universal phenomenon. However, the ratio of the two elements in a hagiography differs from case to case. In some hagiographies, the prescriptive layers can be winnowed out to reveal their descriptive, factual cores, whereas others are intended more as accounts of the idealized, exemplified lives of religious figures, if not without biographical elements.5 In the case of Du Guangting’s hagiographies of Tang female Daoists, careful examination reveals that factors of prescription are overly abundant and greatly surpass those of description, making it risky to use such accounts to reconstruct the lives and religious practice of Tang female Daoists, as some scholars have done. On the other hand, these hagiographies also should not be regarded as mere fictions, because they still bear the historical value of presenting the image of what Du Guangting, as well as the Daoist tradition,

thought female Daoists should be like during the transitional period from the late Tang to the Five Dynasties. Among modern scholars, Russell Kirkland has examined the account of the Tang priestess Huang Lingwei in the Jixian lu and compared it with epitaphic inscriptions, while Franciscus Verellen and Suzanne Cahill have analyzed some of Du’s motives in compiling this and other marvelous texts.6 Although these studies are inspirational, the task of comprehensively examining the hagiographies to differentiate hagiography from biography of Tang female Daoists in the Jixian lu remains largely unfinished, as does the exploration of Du Guangting’s ideal model of the Daoist priestess. By collecting relevant sources both within and outside the Daoist canon, I investigate in this appendix both Du Guangting’s purpose in compiling the Jixian lu and the eighteen extant hagiographical accounts of Tang female Daoists contained in the text. In detecting the substantive features of these accounts, I reveal how Du re-created or modified earlier sources to construct the ideal image of female Daoists in light of his political and religious agendas.

Compilation of the Jixian lu: Date and Purposes One of the most important figures in the Tang Daoist tradition, Du Guangting was also appointed as a high official at the courts of the Tang and the Former Shu state during the chaotic late Tang and early Five Dynasties periods. After being long ignored, Du Guangting has become a focus of academic interest in recent decades, and his life, works, and thought have now been investigated in depth. As a result, we now have a relatively clear picture of his contributions to the Daoist tradition and the cultural development of the Tang and the Five Dynasties, among them being his compilation of the Jixian lu.7 Du started his career as a Confucian scholar and literatus, working hard to master the classics and develop his literary skills. After failing the imperial examination in the Confucian classics during the late Xiantong reign period (860–874), Du was ordained and entered Mount Tiantai ⣑冢 to learn from the Daoist master Ying Yijie ㅱ⣟䭨 (810–894). Soon Du himself became a famous Daoist priest who, because of his Daoist reputation and literary talent, was favored by rulers and appointed to high posts, first by Emperor Xizong ⁾⬿ (r. 874–888) and then by the two rulers of the Former Shu, Wang Jian 䌳⺢ (847–918) and Wang Yan 䌳埵 (r. 919–925).8 This twofold identity in turn greatly influenced his reflections on the role of women in the Daoist tradition. Du signed the end of his preface to the Jixian lu with his honorific title Master of Comprehensive Completion (Guangcheng xiansheng ⺋ㆸ⃰䓇), a title bestowed on him in 913 by Wang Jian.9 From this information, some scholars have inferred that the text was compiled shortly after 913.10 This date can be further revised by looking at another hagiographical text by Du, the Goushiling huizhen Wangshi shenxian zhuan 䶙㮷ⵢ㚫䛇䌳㮷䤆ẁ⁛ (Hagiographies of Immortals Gathered in the Wang Clan from Mount Goushi), hereafter cited as Wangshi shenxian zhuan.11 Located thirty kilometers west of Mount Song ⴑⰙ, in Goushi district 䶙㮷䷋ (present-day Yanshi in Henan), Mount Goushi was the site of the legend in which Wangzi Jin 䌳⫸㗱 or Prince Jin, the heir apparent to King Ling of the Zhou dynasty ␐曰䌳 (r. 571–545 BC), rode a white crane to the top of the mountain to ascend to heaven.12 [ 196 ] A P P E N D I X

By the Tang period, the legend of Prince Jin had developed into a lesser cult.13 Although Wang was not the prince’s surname (wangzi should be read together to mean “prince”), Du Guangting deliberately read wang as the surname and zijin as the prince’s first name in order to transform him into the first ancestor of the Wang clan—the clan of the Shu rulers.14 When recording the Wangshi shenxian zhuan during the twelfth century, Chao Gongwu 㗩℔㬎 asserted that “(Du) Guangting collected [accounts] of male and female immortals with a total of fifty-five, in order to flatter Wang Jian” [㜄] ⃱⹕普䌳㮷䓟䛇⤛ẁḼ⋩ḼṢ, ẍ婪 䌳⺢.15 This same critical opinion was also held by scholars such as Chen Zhensun 昛㋗⬓ and Yan Yiping ♜ᶨ厵.16 These scholars’ criticisms of Du Guangting’s reason for compiling the text are not unwarranted. Wang Yan, the second ruler of the Former Shu, and his two powerful mothers were extremely addicted to the Daoist faith in immortality.17 All of the many palaces they built were given names with Daoist implications. They also often dressed themselves and other palace ladies and maids like Daoists and immortals, essentially changing their palaces into a Daoist paradise. In 923, Wang Yan was ordained a Daoist priest by Du Guangting, and in return Du was conferred the titles of Celestial Master of Transmission of the Perfection (Chuanzhen tianshi ⁛䛇⣑ⷓ ) and Grand Academician of the Institute for the Reverence of the Perfection (Chongzhenguan daxueshi ⲯ䛇棐⣏⬠⢓). In the same year, Wang also built a Palace of Highest Clarity (Shangqing gong ᶲ㶭⭖) and erected a statue of “Wang Zijin,” who was worshipped as the family’s ancestral king, with statues of Wang Yan and his father Wang Jian attending on either side.18 From these records, both Verellen and Li Jianguo 㛶⺢⚳ have reasonably inferred that Du presented his Wangshi shenxian zhuan to Wang Yan in 923.19 Among the thirty-nine accounts of the Wangshi shenxian zhuan as reconstructed by Yan Yiping and Li Jianguo, five also appear in the Jixian lu, namely those of the Lady Wang of Grand Perfection (Taizhen Wang furen ⣒䛇䌳⣓Ṣ, the queen mother’s daughter); the niece of Wang Hui 䌳⽥⦒⤛; Wang Fajin 䌳㱽忚; Wang Fengxian 䌳⣱ẁ; and Lady Wang of the South Ultimate (Nanji Wang furen ⋿㤝䌳⣓Ṣ, the queen mother’s fourth daughter).20 Because the Wangshi shenxian zhuan originally had fifty-five accounts, other female immortals and Daoists with the surname of Wang included in the Jixian lu might also have been included in the Wangshi shenxian zhuan, such as Lady Cloud-Flower (Yunhua furen 暚厗⣓Ṣ, the queen mother’s twenty-third daughter), Lady Wang of Purple Tenuity (Ziwei Wang furen 䳓⽖䌳⣓Ṣ, the queen mother’s twentieth daughter), Lady Right-Flower of the Cloud-Grove (Yunlin Youying furen 暚㜿⎛劙⣓Ṣ, the queen mother’s thirteenth daughter), and Madame Wang (Wangshi 䌳㮷).21 More importantly, the genealogical structures presented in both texts appear to have been internally connected to each other. In the Wangshi shenxian zhuan, “Wang Zijin” is listed as the ancestor of the Wang clan of immortals, and the structure of the text serves as a paternal genealogy of the Wang clan. Several clues indicate that the queen mother had a very close “blood kinship” with this genealogy. First, in the Highest Clarity tradition, the King Father of the East (Dong wanggong 㜙䌳℔), who was the queen mother’s consort, was supposed to be surnamed Wang, as were their many daughters.22 The queen mother was therefore considered the maternal ancestor of the Wang clan. Her name Wangmu originally denoted both queen mother and “ancestress,” and the Jixian lu in particular emphasized her attributes as a mother.23 Second, in the Jixian lu, the hagiographies of both the queen mother and Gou Xiangu 䶙ẁ⥹ state that the queen mother was surnamed Gou 䶙 and was from the Goushi district in Henan. She also engaged in APPENDIX

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Daoist cultivation on Mount Goushi,24 the same mountain from which Prince Jin is said to have ascended to heaven and which was revered as the sacred place of origin for the Wang clan in the Wangshi shenxian zhuan. As is well known, however, the queen mother was originally connected with the far west on Mount Kunlun; no sources prior to the Jixian lu ever mentioned her place of origin as Goushi or her surname as Gou.25 Du Guangting, therefore, apparently invented these profiles to build a connection between the goddess and the prince, an effort that might in fact have been inspired earlier, by Empress Wu and her courtiers.26 Whatever the case, the queen mother became the maternal ancestor of the Wang clan and of their holy lineage as constructed in the Wangshi shenxian zhuan. In the Jixian lu, the queen mother is revered as the ancestress and head of the clan of female immortals. Although the structure of the text serves explicitly as a lineage of holy women, 27 it also implicitly hints at a maternal genealogy of the sacred Wang clan. The most apparent evidence for this assumption is that, as we have seen, the daughters of the queen mother were included in both genealogies. Although the extant accounts from the Wangshi shenxian zhuan are mostly abridged or synoptic citations preserved in later encyclopedias, comparison with the corresponding accounts from the Jixian lu shows that they originally must have been the same. The two texts virtually correspond to each other, forming a holy kinship network interweaving the Shu male and female rulers with the two holy genealogies. Both texts were thus probably composed around 923 for the same purpose of catering to the interests of the Shu rulers and validating their government and royal lineage. Because this political purpose may seem vulgar at first glance, it has attracted much criticism from both traditional and modern scholars. Du Guangting’s relationship with the Shu rulers, however, was rather complicated and should not be taken at face value. Although he received honorific titles and political positions from the Shu rulers, he did not uncritically follow their will and desires; rather, he deliberately used their religious commitment to present his support of and advice to the Shu government, and to promote Daoism and his ambitious work in re-sorting its texts, practices, cults, and traditions. Franciscus Verellen, in his study of Du Guangting’s Luyi ji 抬䔘姀 (Record of Marvels), another collection of hagiographies and wondrous stories, compiled about the same time as the Wangshi shenxian zhuan and Jixian lu,28 has argued that it “not only bolstered a sense of cultural cohesion for the region of Shu but also pointed to the historical precedents for its political independence and asserted a cosmological sanction for the succession of its current rulers to the Tang dynasty.”29 Likewise, Du compiled the Jixian lu with his own serious goals and themes in mind. Russell Kirkland has indicated that “the most common religious activities of the women commemorated in Tu’s text were altruistic activities, charitable deeds performed out of compassionate hearts.”30 Suzanne Cahill, in turn, has summed up Du Guangting’s intentions as follows: to clarify points of Daoist doctrine, to argue for the superiority of Daoism over Buddhism, to unify the Daoist church, to exalt his own High Clarity school over others, to encourage imperial and literati patronage, to promote Daoist religion as a means of salvation in troubled times, and to ally the Daoist church with the imperial bureaucracy and Confucian values.31 Inspired by these scholars’ views, I will further explore Du’s motivations in recreating the image of Daoist priestesses later in this appendix.

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Extant Hagiographies of Tang Female Daoists from the Jixian lu The Jixian lu is preserved in two incomplete versions in the Daozang (DZ), one in three juan containing twenty-seven accounts in the Yunji qiqian, the other in six juan containing thirty-seven accounts (DZ 783). Excluding two overlapping accounts, the number of accounts totals sixty-two, eleven of which are hagiographies of Tang female Daoists, all contained in the Yunji qiqian version. Li Jianguo has further gathered an additional twentytwo accounts from Song encyclopedias, such as the Taiping guangji and Taiping yulan ⣒⸛ġ ⽉奥 (Reader for His Highness Compiled in the Taiping Xingguo Reign Period), and other texts (some abridged or synoptic citations), six of which are hagiographies of Tang female Daoists.32 In addition, I have collected two more accounts, “The Wife of Wei Meng” (Wei Meng qi 杳呁⥣) and “Yang Jingzhen” 㣲㔔䛇, from the Xianzhuan shiyi ẁ⁛㊦怢 (Collection of Omitted Hagiographies of Immortals),33 which is another collection of hagiographical accounts compiled by Du Guangting, possibly a few years after the Jixian lu.34 In the Taiping guangji, the account “Yang Jingzhen” is cited from the Xu xuanguai lu 临 䌬⿒抬 (Continuation to the Records of Strange Stories) by Li Fuyan 㛶⽑妨. According to the record of the Shaoshi shanfang bicong ⮹⭌Ⱉ㇧䫮⎊ by Hu Yinglin 傉ㅱ湇, Du Guangting also incorporated this account into his Xianzhuan shiyi.35 The accounts of female immortals and Daoists included in the Xianzhuan shiyi usually include the same content as the Jixian lu. For example, the accounts of “Wang Fajin” 䌳㱽忚 and “Yangping zhexian” 春⸛嫓ẁ (Banished Immortal of Yangping Parish) from the Xianzhuan shiyi, incorporated into the Taiping guangji, are nearly the same as those in the Jixian lu.36 Therefore, we may surmise that the two accounts of “The Wife of Wei Meng” and “Yang Jingzhen” must also have been included in the Jixian lu.37 This now gives us a total of eighteen extant hagiographical accounts of Tang female Daoists, as listed in table A.1.38

Du Guangting’s Re-creation of the Image of Daoist Women In his preface to the Jixian lu, Du Guangting lists earlier texts that told stories of ancient and contemporary people who attained immortality, and he says that he “has gathered these multitudinous discourses to complete one single discourse” 个⼤䛦婒, 普䁢ᶨ⭞.39 He did not, however, simply copy from other texts; rather, he made major modifications and even re-creations according to his own Daoist idea and ideal image of female Daoists. Luo Zhengming 伭䇕沜 and Suzanne Cahill have already indicated some ways in which he incorporated and modified the accounts of pre-Tang figures, while Russell Kirkland has produced an excellent study of the story of Huang Lingwei. Here, I further comprehensively examine the methods by which Du modified or re-created the accounts of Tang female Daoists. Du’s first method was to create a brand-new image. For example, in the Jixian lu, Wang Fengxian is presented as a Daoist female saint. Born to a peasant family, she was as beautiful as a goddess and very bright and eloquent. Immortal girls often descended from heaven to play with her, and soon she was able to walk quickly and fly. During the Xiantong reign APPENDIX

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TA B L E A .1

Hagiographies of Tang Taoist Women from the Jixian lu Title

Story

Main Sources

Wang Fajin

Wang transmits a Lingbao ritual of confession and ascends to heaven during the Tianbao reign period (742–756).

Yinji qiqian (YJQQ), 115.2547–49; Taiping guangji (TPGJ), 53.327 (quoted from Xianzhuan shiyi)

Wang, wife of the official Xie Liangbi 嫅列⻤, converts to Daoism and achieves liberation through the corpse during Emperor Daizong’s reign (762–779).

YJQQ, 115.2549–50

Huagu 剙⥹

Huang Lingwei 湫曰⽖ restores the shrine of Lady Wei Huacun and achieves liberation through the corpse during the early Tang.

YJQQ, 115.2550–52

Xu Xiangu

Xu lives at least 250 years and travels broadly with her Daoist magical techniques.

YJQQ, 115.2552–53; TPGJ, 70.435 (quoted from Jixian lu)

Gou practices austerities and defeats Buddhist monks during the late Tang period.

YJQQ, 115.2553–55; TPGJ, 70.435–36 (quoted from Jixian lu)

Bian saves people and animals, and ascends to heaven during Emperor Xuanzong’s reign (712–756).

YJQQ, 116.2559–62

Huang is a banished female immortal who, after following Daoist practices, returns to heaven during Emperor Gaozong’s reign (649–683).

YJQQ, 116.2562–63

A banished female immortal acts as the wife of another banished immortal and works as a tea-picker in Yangping parish; later both return to the Yangping grotto.

YJQQ, 116.2563–64; TPGJ, 37.235 (quoted from Xianzhuan shiyi)

The palace girl Lu Meiniang 䚏䚱⧀, skilled in embroidery, is ordained Daoist priestess and attains immortality during the reigns of emperors Shunzong and Xianzong (805–820).

YJQQ, 116.2565–66; Duyang zabian, 2.2a–3a (Siku quanshu); TPGJ, 66.413 (quoted from Su E 喯浂, Duyang zabian 㜄春暄䶐)

䌳㱽忚

Madame Wang

䌳㮷

⼸ẁ⥹ Gou Xiangu

䶙ẁ⥹ Bian Dongxuan

怲㳆䌬 Huang Guanfu

湫奨䤷

Yangping zhi

春⸛㱣

Shen Gu 䤆⥹

Title

Story

Main Sources

Wang Fengxian

Wang engages in Daoist practices and helps the common people; she finally attains immortality during the late Tang period.

YJQQ, 116.2566–69

Xue, wife of the official Feng Wei, cultivates the Dao and attains immortality during the late Tang period.

YJQQ, 116.2569–71; TPGJ, 70.437–38 (quoted from Jixian lu)

Yang is compassionate and ascends to heaven during the Kaiyuan reign period (713–741).

TPGJ, 64.397–98 (quoted from Jixian lu)

Dong ascends to heaven during the Kaiyuan reign period.

TPGJ, 64.398 (quoted from Jixian lu)

Xie engages in Daoist practice and ascends to heaven during Emperor Dezong’s reign (779–804).

TPGJ, 66.408–13 (quoted from Jixian lu)

Qi ascends to heaven during Emperor Xuanzong’s reign (846–859).

TPGJ, 70.434–35 (quoted from Jixian lu)

Wang Hui’s niece attains immortality during Emperor Xizong’s reign (873–888).

TPGJ, 70.436–37 (quoted from Jixian lu)

Madam Xu ascends to heaven with her daughter and maid during Emperor Muzong’s reign (820–824).

TPGJ, 69.431 (quoted from Xianzhuan shiyi)

Yang and four other girls ascend to heaven on the same day, but Yang later returns home to look after her grandfather.

TPGJ, 68.421–24 (quoted from Xu Xuanguai lu); Shaoshi shanfang bicong, 27.16b (quoted from Xianzhuan shiyi)

䌳⣱ẁ

Xue Xuantong

啃䌬⎴

Yang Zhengjian

㣲㬋夳 Dong Shangxian

吋ᶲẁ Xie Ziran

嫅冒䃞 Qi Xuanfu

㇂䌬䫎 Wangshi nü

䌳㮷⤛ Wei Meng qi

杳呁⥣ Yang Jingzhen

㣲㔔䛇

period (860–873), when Du Shenquan 㜄⮑㪲 was the military commissioner in Lunzhou 㼌ⶆ and Linghu Tao Ẍ䉸䵗 ( jinshi 830) was the military commissioner in Yangzhou ㎂ⶆ,40 each revered Wang and invited her to stay in their jurisdiction capitals. Du even planned to recommend her to court, but instead Wang cut her hair and entered a Buddhist monastery to escape. As a result, she was called Guanyin (Avalokiteśvara) by people south of the Yangzi River. In her debate with the lofty literatus Zhufu Huaigao ᷣ䇞㆟㜚, Wang compared Daoism to the father in a household, Confucianism to the older brother, and Buddhism to the mother. When the rebel generals Qin Yan 䦎⼍ (d. 887), Bi Shiduo 䔊ⷓ揠 (d. 887), and APPENDIX

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others occupied Yangzhou, they all revered her as their teacher, even though at first they tried to force her to follow their will. From the Xiantong ①忂 to Guangqi ⃱┇ reign periods (860–888), Wang always preached “the Way of loyalty, filial piety, uprightness, and rectitude, the admonitions to be clear, clean, temperate, and simple, and the essentials of the secret practices for refining the body.”41 Finally, she was ordained a Daoist priestess and lived on Mount Dongting 㳆⹕Ⱉ. At the beginning of the Guangqi reign period (885), she moved to Mount Qianqing ⋫枫Ⱉ in Hangzhou 㜕ⶆ and attained immortality one year later, at the age of forty-eight.42 This saintly portrait depicted by Du, however, is very different from that in historical records. In the fifth month of 887, the Huainan 㶖⋿ (Yangzhou) military commissioner Gao Pian 檀榊 (d. 887) was imprisoned by his general Bi Shiduo, who then invited the Xuanzhou ⭋ⶆ commissioner Qin Yan to assume the position of Huainan commissioner. During the ninth month, the Tang army besieged and attacked Yangzhou. The biography of Gao Pian in the Xin Tangshu records: [Bi] Shiduo was defeated and afraid that Gao Pian might help the Tang army from within the city. There was a sorceress named Wang Fengxian, who told Shiduo: “The prefecture is facing disaster. If a great man dies, the disaster can be dispersed.” Qin Yan said, “Doesn’t this mean Gao Pian?” He ordered his attendant men Chen Shang and others to kill Gao. . . . Qin Yan was defeated again and again, and the soldiers were all dispirited. Qin and Bi Shiduo sat with their arms around their knees and looked at each other, finding no way out. They consulted Fengxian again, and all rewards and punishments, light or heavy, were decided by her. [䔊]ⷓ揠㖊㓿, ㄖ榊ℏㅱ. 㚱⤛ⶓ䌳⣱ẁ, 媪ⷓ揠㚘: “ⶆ䀥, 㚱⣏Ṣ㬣, ⎗ẍ⍕.” ⼍㚘: “ 朆檀℔恒.” ␥ⶎ⎛昛岆䫱⼨㭢ᷳ. . . . [䦎]⼍Ⰺ㓿, 幵㯋㐏╒, 冯ⷓ揠㉙充䚠夾, 䃉⬫䔍, 㚜 ⓷⣱ẁ, 岆优庽慵䘮冒↢.43 The Zizhi tongjian gives a similar account: After being defeated in several battles, Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo suspected that Gao Pian used sorcery to repress them. As [the Tang army] besieged Yangzhou more tightly, they were afraid that Gao Pian’s men might cooperate from within the city. There was an evil Buddhist nun named Wang Fengxian, who told Qin Yan: “A great disaster is shown in Yangzhou region. One great man must die, and then blessing will come.” On the jiaxu day, Qin ordered his general Liu Kuangshi to kill Gao Pian and his brothers, sons, and nephews, no matter how old or young, and bury them all in one pit. . . . At first, Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo believed and revered the nun Fengxian. Even though there were battles, all rewards and punishments, light or heavy, were decided by her. By that time they consulted Fengxian again: “What should we do to get through this?” Fengxian said, “The best plan is to run.” Therefore they ran out of the Kaihua Gate to go to Dongtang. 䦎⼍冯䔊ⷓ揠↢ⷓⰊ㓿, 䔹榊䁢⍕⊅. ⢾⚵䙲⿍, ⿸榊源㚱䁢ℏㅱ侭.㚱⤾⯤䌳⣱ẁ, 妨Ḷ[䦎]⼍㚘: “㎂ⶆ↮慶㤝䀥, ⽭㚱ᶨ⣏Ṣ㬣, 冒㬌╄䞋. 䓚ㆴ, ␥℞⮯∱⋉㗪㭢榊᷎℞⫸⻇ 䓍Ἤ䃉⮹攟䘮㬣, ⎴⛶䗆ᷳ. . . . ⃰㗗, ⼍, ⷓ揠ᾉ慵⯤⣱ẁ, 晾㇘昛㖍㗪, 岆优庽慵, 䘮⍾ 㰢䂱. 军㗗⽑媖㕤⣱ẁ㚘: “ỽẍ⍾㾇?” ⣱ẁ㚘: “崘䁢ᶲ䫾.” ᷫ冒攳⊾攨↢⣼㜙⠀.44

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Similar accounts are also found in the Cefu yuangui, Bai Kong liutie, and Shiguo chunqiu ⋩⚳㗍䥳 (Histories of the Ten States).45 These historical records unanimously tell us that, during the Yangzhou rebellion, Wang Fengxian was in the city and was revered by the rebel generals Bi Shiduo and Qin Yan; she instructed the two to kill the former commissioner Gao Pian (“one great man” clearly referred to Gao, because he was the former commissioner, the highest authority in the city) and his whole family. Is it possible that the Wang Fengxian recorded in these texts was just another person with the same name? The answer is no. Both subjects have too many points of correspondence in time, location, and experience: both lived during the reigns of emperors Yizong and Xizong and in the same region of the lower Yangzi River, and both were in Yangzhou in 887 and became associated with the rebel generals Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo. In the Jixian lu account, Wang Fengxian was a wandering Daoist practitioner who once stayed at a Buddhist monastery; she was not ordained a Daoist priestess until her later years, sometime after 887. This explains why the historical records sometimes refer to her as “an evil Buddhist nun” and sometimes as “a sorceress.” Through comparison with the historical records, we can see that Du Guangting recreated the image of Wang Fengxian, who fouled her hands with rebel generals and ordered the murder of people in cold blood, into that of a saint who represented the ideal personalities of both Daoism and Confucianism—goddess-like beauty and intelligence while synthesizing the “three teachings” (Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism) and preaching and practicing Confucian values and Daoist perfection. The Highest Clarity concept of divine descending is also distinctively featured. Du’s intention is quite clear here: on the one hand, he expresses his idea of fusing the three teachings through this new image; on the other, because this hagiography was also included in the Wangshi shenxian zhuan,46 his re-creation might have been intended to add one more virtuous priestess-immortal to the Wang family and set a good example for the female rulers of the Shu state. The image of Yang Zhengjian 㣲㬋夳 was also probably re-created by Du Guangting. In the Jixian lu account, Yang was bright and compassionate and accepted the Daoist concepts of purity and nothingness from the time she was a child. At age fifteen she was married into a Wang family. Once, when she was preparing dinner for guests, she could not bear to kill the fish, and so she had to leave the family in fear of being condemned by her parents-in-law. Going to a mountain in Pujiang 呚㰇 district to learn from a Daoist priestess, she later found and ingested a human-shaped mushroom and became extremely beautiful. Immortals often descended to her chamber to discuss matters of heaven with her. After one year, in Kaiyuan 21 (733), she ascended to heaven in broad daylight.47 The Song dynasty Linqiong tujing 冐⌕⚾䴻 (Illustrated Gazette of Linqiong), however, records a completely different story: Yang Zhengjian was the daughter of the peasant Yang Chong, and had not married by the age of thirty. She went to Mount Changqiu in Pujiang district to engage in Daoist cultivation during the Kaiyuan reign period. She reclaimed a piece of wasteland that had a shortage of water. Suddenly a white ox appeared and told her, “I lie underground where the sacred water runs. If you dig through the land for about one zhang, you will get water.” Zhengjian did as the ox told her and, sure enough, found a rushing spring. Later, she attained Dao and ascended to heaven. The Daoist priest Zhao Xianfu presented her story to the emperor.

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㣲㬋夳 , 悱㮹㣲⮝ᷳ⤛, ⸜ᶱ⋩䃉⭞. 攳⃫㗪ℍ呚㰇攟䥳Ⱉᾖ䃱, ⡦䓘则㯜 , ⾥夳䘥䈃 婆㚘: ㆹặ⛘ᶳ, 㚱䤆㯜, ⎗䨧ᶰ检⼿㯜. 㬋夳⤪℞妨, 㝄㚱㸏㱱. ⼴⼿忻ᶲ㖯. 佥⢓嵁ẁ䓓ẍ ḳ倆忚.48

In this account, Yang Zhengjian never married. Instead, she reclaimed wasteland and dug a well to irrigate the land with the help of a mysterious ox in order to support her life of Daoist cultivation on the mountain. This story happened at the same time (Kaiyuan reign period) and in the same place (the Pujiang district in Sichuan), with the same ending as the other account (ascending to heaven), so its subject was unlikely to be another person. Although this account is preserved in a later text, it was probably based on an earlier account, as is often seen in gazettes, and the simple plot suggests that it may in fact have been the original one. Thus, the familiar, complicated themes in the Jixian lu account—compassion, early faith, divine descending, and beautiful, goddess-like appearance—inform us that this story appears, again, to have been re-created by Du Guangting. The second method by which Du Guangting modified the image of Daoist women was to idealize them by adding large portions of stories and attaching new virtues to them. A typical example is his modification of the story of Bian Dongxuan 怲㳆䌬. The Taiping guangji, which quotes an entry titled “Bian Dongxuan” from the Guangyi ji ⺋䔘姀 (Extensive Records of Marvels) compiled by Dai Fu ㇜⬂ ( jinshi 757),49 states that Bian was a Daoist priestess in the Zaoqiang district 㡿⻟䷋ of Jizhou ℨⶆ (present-day Zaoqiang in Hebei). She had engaged in Daoist practices, such as fasting and ingesting elixirs, for forty years and was eighty-four by the end of the Kaiyuan reign period. Then, after taking an elixir given to her by an old man, her body became light. With final farewells to her disciples, she ascended to heaven in broad daylight, as witnessed by Yuan Fu 㸸⽑, the prefect of Jizhou, and his officials and local people.50 In reality, Yuan Fu was the prefect of Jizhou in Kaiyuan 27 (739),51 and he indeed sent a presentation to Emperor Xuanzong to report on Bian’s ascension. The emperor then issued an imperial decree titled “Chi Jizhou cishi Yuan Fu Bianxianguan xiuzhai zhao” 㓽ℨⶆ⇢ ⎚⍇⽑怲ẁ奨ᾖ滳姼 (Decree to Yuan Fu, the Prefect of Jizhou, for Performing the Ritual of Fasting in Immortal Bian Convent). The decree reads: The Daoist priestess is a perfected person of the elixir tower. She rode on fivecolored clouds and ascended to heaven in broad daylight. Her love of the Dao unexpectedly resulted in actual efficacy, which brings me great pleasure. You are the son of a former prime minister, and your family reveres the Mysterious Prime [Laozi or Dao], which is in accordance with your mind. Your witness [of the ascension] at the spot fulfilled my wish. . . . Now taking advantage of your representative’s return, I am sending you a few objects. You should perform the Daoist ritual of fasting in the convent, in order to express my intention. ⼤ᷳ⤛忻, ᷡ⎘䛇Ṣ, 䘥㖍ᶲ⋯, Ḽ暚⛐䥎. ᶵ⚾⤥忻, 忪㚱㖶⼩, 㶙䁢╄ㄘ. ⌧䁢冲䚠ᷳ ⫸, ⭞ᶲ[䌬] ( ⃫) ⃫, 傥⎞⽫⽿. 冒勚䚖夾, 㝄ㆸ㚽栀. . . . Ṳ⚈⣷ἧ⚆, ὧẀ⮹䈑. ⌧⎗㕤奨 ㇨, ⭄ᾖ滳埴忻, ẍ忼㚽シḇ.52 Emperor Xuanzong thus praised Yuan and ordered him to perform the Daoist ritual of fasting at the convent where Bian used to stay. Later, this decree was inscribed on a stele erected in the convent.53

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From Xuanzong’s decree, we can infer that Yuan Fu’s presentation may have focused on Bian’s ascension. In addition, the Song dynasty catalog Mishusheng xu biandao siku que shumu records a text titled Bian Dongxuan shengtian ji 怲㳆䌬㖯⣑姀 (Record of Bian Dongxuan’s Ascension to Heaven),54 which suggests that its main content must have been the story of Bian Dongxuan’s ascension. Since Dai Fu, the compiler of the Guangyi ji, passed the imperial examination in 757, he must have been young when the story of Bian Dongxuan’s ascension spread, in 739. His account of Bian is probably based on texts such as Yuan Fu’s presentation, Emperor Xuanzong’s inscription, and the “Record of Bian Dongxuan’s Ascension.”55 This simple story of Bian Dongxuan’s ingesting an elixir and ascending to heaven was in turn greatly elaborated by Du Guangting. In the Jixian lu, Bian became a virtuous person who had been “pure, clever, perceptive, humane, and compassionate” since childhood. She always saved endangered small animals and fed hungry birds, fulfilled the Confucian family value of filial piety, and worked hard as a skilled weaver. After her parents passed away, she finally entered a Daoist convent. She continued her weaving work and exchanged her handiwork for food, which she used to feed small animals and people when there was a famine. Her love of elixirs and final ascension remained in this new account, but Du Guangting again added a twist: before leaving for heaven, she did not forget to fly to the capital to bid farewell to Emperor Xuanzong, even though the emperor had not mentioned this miracle in his decree at all.56 Under Du’s brush, Bian Dongxuan thus became a Daoist saint who cultivated herself with Daoist faith, Confucian values, and Buddhist compassion, being loyal, filial, compassionate, and spiritual at the same time. As indicated by Kirkland and Cahill, hidden virtue was one of Du’s favorite themes,57 so Yang Zhengjian saved fish and Bian Dongxuan saved small animals. Compassion for animals was a Daoist incorporation of Buddhist ethics. The hagiography of Xie Ziran 嫅冒䃞 is another example of Du’s second method of moderation. The primary source for this account was probably the scholar-official Li Jian’s 㛶➭ (741–799) “Dongji zhenren zhuan” 㜙㤝䛇Ṣ⁛ (Biography of the Perfected Person of East Ultimate).58 Li Jian was the prefect of Guozhou 㝄ⶆ (present-day Nanchong in Sichuan) in 793–795 and claimed he witnessed the ascension of Xie Ziran in 794. He sent a presentation reporting this event to Emperor Dezong, and the emperor replied with two letters, one addressing Li and the other addressing local people in general. These letters were inscribed on steles and are extant today.59 They mention only Xie’s ascension, with no reference to Daoist cultivation. Li Jian then composed the hagiography for Xie,60 which is no longer extant, but some poems about her story by Tang literati appear to have been based on it. For example, Han Yu 杻グ (768–825) wrote a famous poem titled “Xie Ziran shi” 嫅冒䃞娑 (Poem on Xie Ziran), in which he describes Xie’s ascension in detail but mentions nothing about her Daoist practice.61 Li Xiang 㛶佼, who probably lived in the late Tang period, composed another poem, “Ti Jinquanshan Xie Ziran zhuan hou” 柴慹㱱Ⱉ嫅冒䃞⁛⼴ (Written Behind the Biography of Xie Ziran of Mount Jinquan),62 referring probably to the one by Li Jian. The poem again vividly describes Xie’s ascension, with no mention of her Daoist cultivation. Both poems may thus reveal to us the main content of Li Jian’s account of Xie’s story. The hagiography of Xie Ziran in the Jixian lu, on the other hand, is very long, describing in great detail her Daoist cultivation toward her ascension. Xie came from an elite family. As a child, her mother twice sent her to learn from Buddhist nuns, but she always

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requested to come back. She then asked her mother to move to the top of Mount Dafang, where there was a statue of Laozi. She always recited the Daode jing and Huangting jing and started to practice food abstention at age fourteen. That year, she stopped eating grain and instead ingested only cypress leaves each day. After seven years she stopped ingesting leaves, and in the following two years she even ceased to drink water. In 787 she was ordained by the Daoist priest Cheng Taixu 䦳⣒嘃. Prefect Han Yi 杻ἦ and Xie’s father, however, did not believe her abstention was real and twice locked her up for a long time, but she finally convinced and astonished them with her healthy and beautiful appearance and manner. One year before Xie’s ascension, epiphanic signs of animals, gods, immortals, and heavenly messengers started to appear. By 794, the year of her ascension, the Queen Mother of the West descended three times to meet her, bestowing upon her elixirs, peaches, and talismans and setting a schedule for her final ascension. Before she ascended, Xie offered a long sermon to Li Jian, teaching him the ways of Daoist practices in an exceptionally comprehensive and “professional” manner, including how to worship statues, recite scriptures, conduct virtuous deeds, perform Daoist music, transmit Daoist arts, abstain from food, ingest elixirs, and practice breath control. Finally, when the moment of Xie’s ascension arrived, the account described it in only a couple of sentences. After comparing the Jixian lu account with those poems relating Xie Ziran’s story by Tang poets, Fukazawa Kazuyuki 㶙㽌ᶨ⸠ has suggested that the part about her ascension may have been more detailed in Li Jian’s hagiography than the part about her Daoist cultivation, whereas in Du’s account the reverse is true.63 This observation is insightful. The plot of the queen mother descending three times and scheduling Xie’s ascension especially conforms to Jixian lu’s central theme and structure of the queen mother as the ancestress and family head of all female immortals. The comprehensive, “professional” sermon on Daoist practices was also more likely to have come from the hand of a Daoist theorist like Du Guangting. Moreover, in another text by Du Guangting, the Lidai chongdao ji 㬟ẋⲯ忻姀 (Record on the Veneration of Daoism Through the Ages), the queen mother’s meetings with Xie Ziran and Xie’s eventual ascension were described as being ordered by Lord Lao (Laozi), the alleged ancestor of the Tang royal house.64 This earlier work was written as a memorial addressed to Emperor Xizong, in 885, in which Du “announced the divine restoration of the Tang dynastic house under the auspices of their ancestor Lord Lao.”65 However, because the Jixian lu was compiled to be presented to the Wang family of Shu after the fall of the Tang, Du removed Lord Lao’s order, stating instead that “in the supreme realm the queen mother is the most revered” ᶲ䓴䌳㭵㚨⮲. This time, Du not only avoided the holy ancestor of the former dynasty but also exalted the holy maternal ancestor of the Wang family. Here, Du’s modification of Xie Ziran’s story according to his own agenda is especially apparent. Du Guangting’s third method in altering the hagiographies in the Jixian lu was to include stories and texts by Tang literati, with some slight yet significant modifications. For example, as demonstrated by Russell Kirkland, the hagiography of Huang Lingwei under the title “Hua Gu” 厗⥹ was based on Yan Zhenqing’s “Nanyue furen Wei furen xiantan beiming” ⋿ⵥ⣓Ṣ櫷⣓Ṣẁ⡯䠹所 (Stele Inscription of the Immortal Altar of Lady Wei, Lady of Southern Sacred Mountain).66 Yan’s inscription, however, was in turn based on the hagiography by the Daoist priest Cai Wei 哉䏳 originally included in his Hou xian zhuan ⼴ẁ⁛ (Supplemental Hagiographies of Immortals), which was composed under Emperor Xuanzong’s order.67 Therefore, Yan’s inscription is really a hagiography rather than a biography. Because of the hagiographical orientation of Yan’s inscription, Du Guangting followed it very closely but still added a few passages, such as the following: [ 206 ] A P P E N D I X

It is not known what region she hailed from. From the beginning of the Tang, she wandered around the Yangzi River, the Zhe River, the Dongting Lake, and the Dayi Mountain. There was not a single famous mountain or numinous grotto to which she did not go. When she visited a place, if she dwelt in forests or wilds, divinities and spirits would protect her. If anyone had an evil thought about her, intending to mistreat or insult her, he would immediately encounter failure. Far and near, people stood in awe and revered her. They served her as a deity. ᶵ䞍ỽ姙Ṣḇ. 冒Ⓒ⇅⼨Ἦ㰇㴁㷾ⵢ攻, ⎵Ⱉ曰㳆, 䃉㇨ᶵ忈. 䴻㴱ᷳ嗽, ㆾ⭧Ḷ㜿慶, ⌛ 㚱䤆曰堃ᷳ. Ṣㆾ㚱ᶵ㬋ᷳ⾝, 㫚㶑ὖ侭, 䩳农栃㱃. 怈役䓷侴㔔ᷳ, ⣱ḳᷳ⤪䤆㖶䞋.68 As Kirkland indicates, Du “seems to obscure Huang’s geographical background in order to render her more mysterious and awe-inspiring.”69 This thus had the effect of magnifying Huang’s spiritual and supernatural aspects. Another new passage, inserted before Huang’s request to her disciples about her own funeral arrangements, reads: “My journey to immortality is urgent, so I cannot stay any longer” ⏦ẁ䦳㇨Ὣ, ᶵ⎗ᷭỷ.70 This announcement served to show more clearly her knowledge of her own time of death, a stereotypical sign of gaining immortality. Another example is the account of Lu Meiniang 䚏䚱⧀, copied from Su E’s 喯浂 Duyang zabian 㜄春暄䶐 (Miscellaneous Compilation from Duyang).71 This story was based on the “Lu Xiaoyao zhuan” 䚏徵态⁛ (Hagiography of Lu Xiaoyao) by Li Xiangxian 㛶尉⃰, a literatus from Mount Luofu 伭㴖Ⱉ, and thus was also originally a hagiography.72 Here, Du abridged the detailed description of Meiniang’s marvelous skill of embroidery in the original account but added a few wondrous events that supposedly occurred after she became a Daoist priestess: “She did not eat for several years, and there were often immortals descending down to meet with her” 㔠⸜ᶵ梇, ⷠ㚱䤆Ṣ旵㚫.73 Here, Du again elaborated on two of his favorite themes: Daoist practice of food abstention and the Highest Clarity concept of divine descending. Finally, Du might even have modified these stories by using a fourth method that involved changing the sex of certain of his subjects to add more female immortals. For instance, in the Taiping guangji, the account of Wang Fajin 䌳㱽忚 is included in the section on male immortals. This account was quoted from the Xianzhuan shiyi, another of Du’s texts, but the entire story is almost the same as that of the Jixian lu. The Sandong qunxian lu further quotes an abridged account from the Wangshi shenxian zhuan by Du as well.74 None of these three versions clearly state Wang’s sex, and the only possible evidence for Wang being female is that, when Wang was young, Wang’s parents asked a Daoist priestess to protect her. Yet in the story there is also evidence indicating that Wang might be male. When Wang ascended to heaven for the first time, the Sovereign on High predicted that Wang would become “an unsurpassable attendant lad waiting upon the heavenly palace” 䔞䁢䃉ᶲἵ䪍, ℍἵ⣑⹄.75 Although tong 䪍 can also mean “child” and “young” and can be used for a girl, when mentioning the Sovereign on High’s attendants the same account clearly differentiates azure lads (qingtong 曺䪍) from attendant girls (shinü ἵ⤛). Moreover, in the account of Huang Guanfu 湫奨䤷 from the Jixian lu, Huang called herself “Attendant Girl of the Highest Clarity” (Shangqing shinü ᶲ㶭ἵ⤛), and two other female immortals “Attendant Girl of the Jade Emperor” (Yuhuang shinü 䌱䘯ἵ⤛) and “Attendant Girl of the Grand Thearch” (Dadi shichennü ⣏ⷅἵ㘐⤛).76 Therefore, the “attendant lad” in the Wang Fajin account seems to refer to a male immortal. One possibility is that Du incorporated an earlier account and added a priestess APPENDIX

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as Wang Fajin’s master at the beginning of the story, to hint that Wang was female, but then forgot to change “attendant lad” in the middle portion. In any case, because this account is also included in the Wangshi shenxian zhuan, Du Guangting might have deliberately changed Wang Fajin’s sex in order to add one more virtuous priestess-immortal to the Wang family.

Concluding Remarks Du Guangting compiled the Jixian lu and presented it to the Shu rulers, along with the Wangshi shenxian zhuan, possibly in about 923. While the structure of the Wangshi shenxian zhuan presents a paternal genealogy of the sacred Wang clan—the Shu ruling clan—the structure of the Jixian lu serves as both a lineage of holy women and a maternal genealogy of the Wang clan. Together, the two texts form a holy kinship network, interweaving Shu male and female rulers with the two holy genealogies. Although this political purpose appears to have been the initial impetus for compiling the Jixian lu, Du Guangting completed the work with other, religious motivations in mind. Examining the extant eighteen hagiographies of Tang female Daoists contained in the Jixian lu shows that, while incorporating earlier biographical and hagiographical sources on Tang female Daoists, Du Guangting variously modified or re-created their image according to his own opinion of the ideal role and image for Daoist women. The most common themes and elements Du added to the original sources include: • • • • •

a beautiful, goddess-like appearance and perpetual youth; marvelous signs and supernatural powers and attributes; religious and genealogical connections with the queen mother; the Highest Clarity concept of divine descending; self-cultivation and self-perfection using various Daoist techniques, including abstaining from food, ingesting elixirs, practicing breath control, reciting scriptures, and performing rituals leading to eventual ascension and immortality; and • accumulated hidden virtues and compassionate deeds toward people and creatures, which blended classical moral ideas on right and wrong into the mix of Daoist and Buddhist ethics; also an emphasis on Confucian values such as filial piety and loyalty. These themes accord with Du’s grand project of reshaping Daoist rituals, practices, cults, and traditions and synthesizing the three traditions of Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.77 Therefore, the Jixian lu hagiographical accounts of Tang female Daoists need to be used with great caution and should not be directly interpreted as factual, historical accounts of their lives and religious practices. The true value of the text does not rest in providing primary sources for studying medieval female Daoists but rather in presenting Du Guangting’s reflection on their roles and places in Daoist tradition and society, and his architecture of the ideal role model for Daoist priestesses, which synthesized Daoist self-perfection with Confucian values and Buddhist ethics.

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Notes

Introduction 1. For a detailed discussion of the Tang ruling house’s promotion of Daoism, integration of the Daoist system, and establishment of Daoist monastic tradition, see chapter 2 of this book. 2. For a detailed discussion of the changes in gender relations, see chapter 2 of this book. 3. First applied in Stephen Wang’s master’s thesis and then adopted by his supervisor Edward H. Schafer (Schafer, The Vermilion Bird: T’ang Images of the South [Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967], 7), scholars of Daoism have commonly translated the term xian ẁ or xianren ẁṢ as “transcendent” instead of “immortal.” Indeed, this translation is in accordance with the connotations of these terms in English. The term “transcendent” connotes both the religious sense of transcending the universe and material experience and the common sense of surpassing others of the same kind, whereas for most Westerners an “immortal” calls up obsolete ideas of godhood, like the immortal gods of Greek mythology; to speak of “immortals” places such beings outside this world, existing only in theory or imagination. On the other hand, there are also reasons for the translation of “immortal.” Since the Eastern Zhou and onward, the concept that human life can be prolonged (changsheng 攟䓇) and humans can become immortal (chengxian ㆸẁ) has been developed and has pervaded the Chinese cultural tradition, not just within the Daoist tradition, though Daoism, especially the tradition before the Song dynasty, focuses particularly on prolonging individual life and attaining immortality of both body and spirit; legends of common people becoming “immortals” have appeared throughout history. See Benjamin Penny, “Immortality and Transcendence,” in Daoism Handbook, ed. Livia Kohn (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 109–33. The term “immortal” makes smooth sense to the Chinese ear. Furthermore, the traditional Chinese worldview is basically “one world,” with heaven, earth, gods, humans,

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4. 5.

6.

7. 8.

9.

10.

the myriad things, and even the Dao coexisting in one single universe; there is never a transcendental world beyond this universe, as in the Western tradition. See Roger T. Ames, Sun-tzu: The Art of Warfare (New York: Ballantine, 1993), 43–67; and Li Zehou 㛶㽌⍂, You wu dao li Shi li gui ren 䓙ⶓ⇘䥖慳䥖㬠ṩ (Beijing: Sanlian shudian, 2015), 132–37, 170–90. Although the term “transcendent” is an etymologically correct translation of xian and retains the sense of a being who remains in our universe but on a higher level of existence, it does not foreground the idea of immortality. Here we encounter the common difficulty of finding an English term that covers completely the meaning inherent in a Chinese term: both “transcendent” and “immortal” present their advantages and disadvantages as a translation of xian. For the purpose of consistency, I use “immortal” and “immortality” throughout this book. I thank Paul W. Kroll for offering knowledgeable information for the preceding discussion. For a detailed discussion of the formation of Daoist priestesses as a gendered group, see chapter 2 of this book. Susan Calef, “Charting New Territory: Religion and ‘the Gender-Critical Turn,’ ” Journal of Religion & Society 5 (2009): 2. Of course, we should also keep in mind the dark side of religious traditions concerning women, as Calef also indicates. See Michel Foucault, “An Aesthetics of Existence,” in Politics, Philosophy, Culture: Interviews and Other Writings, 1977–1984, ed. Lawrence D. Kritzman (New York: Routledge, 1988), 50; and Judith Butler, Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative (New York: Routledge, 1997), 16. See Joan W. Scott, “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis,” American Historical Review 91, no. 5 (December 1986): 1053–75, esp. 1068. Ursula King, “General Introduction: Gender-Critical Turns in the Study of Religion,” Gender, Religion and Diversity: Cross-Cultural Perspectives, ed. Ursula King and Tina Beattie (London: Continuum, 2005), 1–12. See, for example, Catherine Despeux, Immortelles de la Chine ancienne: Taoïsme et alchimie feminine (Paris: Pardés, 1990); Patricia B. Ebrey, The Inner Quarters: Marriage and the Lives of Chinese Women in the Sung Period (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993); Dorothy Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-Century China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994); Susan Mann, Precious Records: Women in China’s Long Eighteenth Century (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997); Charlotte Furth, A Flourishing Yin: Gender in China’s Medical History, 960–1665 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998); Catherine Despeux and Livia Kohn, Women in Daoism (Cambridge: Three Pines, 2003); Dorothy Ko, Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005); Susan Mann, The Talented Women of the Zhang Family (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007); Joan Judge, The Precious Raft of History: The Past, the West, and the Woman Question in China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008); Weijing Lu, True to Her Word: The Faithful Maiden Cult in Late Imperial China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008); Beata Grant, Eminent Nuns: Women Chan Masters of Seventeenth-Century China (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2009); and Nanxiu Qian, Politics, Poetics, and Gender in Late Qing China: Xue Shaohui and the Era of Reform (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2015). Despeux and Kohn, Women in Daoism, 118–27. [ 210 ]

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11. See, for example, Chen Wenhua 昛㔯厗, Tang nüshiren ji sanzhong Ⓒ⤛娑Ṣ普ᶱ䧖 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1984); Charles Benn, The Cavern-Mystery Transmission: A Taoist Ordination of A.D. 711 (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1991), 5–20; J. Russell Kirkland, “Huang Ling-wei: A Taoist Priestess in T’ang China,” Journal of Chinese Religions 19 (1991): 47–73; Kang-i Sun Chang and Haun Saussy, eds., Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999), 56–59, 66–76; Suzanne E. Cahill, “Resenting the Silk Robes that Hide Their Poems: Female Voices in the Poetry of Tang Dynasty Taoist Nuns,” in Tang Song funü yu shehui Ⓒ⬳⤛⿏冯䣦㚫, ed. Deng Xiaonan 惏⮷⋿ (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 2003), 519–66; Suzanne E. Cahill, “Material Culture and the Dao: Textiles, Boats, and Zithers in the Poetry of Yu Xuanji (844–868),” in Daoist Identity: History, Lineage, and Ritual, ed. Livia Kohn and Harold D. Roth (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002), 102–26; Liu Ning ∱⮏, “Shixi Tangdai changjishi yu nüguanshi de chayi” 娎㜸Ⓒẋ⧤⤻娑冯⤛ⅈ 娑䘬ⶖ䔘, Zhongguo dianji yu wenhua ᷕ⚳℠䯵冯㔯⊾ (2003): 49–57; Wilt Idema and Beata Grant, The Red Brush: Writing Women in Imperial China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2004), 176–82, 189–95; Jinhua Chen, “A Daoist Princess and a Buddhist Temple: A New Theory on the Causes of the Canon-Delivering Mission Originally Proposed by Princess Jinxian (689–732) in 730,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 69, no. 2 (2006): 267–92; Ping Yao, “Contested Virtue: The Daoist Investiture of Princesses Jinxian and Yuzhen and the Journey of Tang Imperial Daughters,” T’ang Studies 22 (2007): 1–41; Jinhua Jia, “Yaochi ji and Three Daoist Priestess-Poets in Tang China,” Nan Nü: Men, Women and Gender in China 13, no. 2 (2011): 205–43; Stephen R. Bokenkamp, “Transmissions of a Female Daoist: Xie Ziran (767–795),” in Affiliation and Transmission in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium, ed. Florian C. Reiter (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012), 109–22; Stephen R. Bokenkamp, “Sisters of the Blood: The Lives behind the Xie Ziran Biography,” Daoism: Religion, History and Society 8 (2016): 7–33; and Jinhua Jia, “Unsold Peony: Life and Poetry of the Daoist Priestess-Poet Yu Xuanji in Tang China (618–907),” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 35, no. 1 (2016): 25–57. These and many more works will be engaged in the following chapters. 12. For an examination of all the hagiographies of Tang Daoist women originally included in the Yongcheng jixian lu and Du Guangting’s agenda for compiling the Jixian lu, as well as the problems in using these hagiographies, see Jinhua Jia, “Du Guangting and the Hagiographies of Tang Female Daoists,” Taiwan Journal of Religious Studies 1 (2011): 81–121; and the appendix of this book. Hagiographies of Buddhist nuns composed by Buddhists also depict idealized images according to their ideological agendas. See Bret Hinsch, “Confucian Filial Piety and the Construction of Ideal Chinese Buddhist Women,” Journal of Chinese Religions 30 (2002): 49–75. 13. See Sun Guangxian ⬓⃱ㅚ (d. 968), Beimeng suoyan ⊿⣊䐋妨 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1981), 9.71–72; Chen Zhensun 昛㋗⬓ (d. ca. 1261), Zhizhai shulu jieti 䚜滳 㚠抬妋柴 (Wuyingdian juzhenban shu 㬎劙㭧倂䍵䇰㚠), 19.29b; Hu Zhenheng 傉暯Ṑ (1569–1645), Tangyin guiqian Ⓒ枛䘠䯥 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1981), 8.83; and Qian Qianyi 拊嫁䙲 (1582–1664), Jiangyunlou shumu 䴛暚㦻㚠䚖, in Congshu jicheng chubian ⎊㚠普ㆸ⇅䶐 (CSJCCB), 75. 14. See, for example, Zhang Caitian ⻝慯䓘 (1862–1945), Yuxi sheng nianpu huijian 䌱寧䓇 ⸜嬄㚫䬳 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1983), 1.27, 4.206; Xie Wuliang 嫅䃉 I N T RO D U C T I O N

[ 211 ]

慷 (1884–1964), Zhongguo funü wenxueshi ᷕ⚳⨎⤛㔯⬠⎚ (1926; repr., Shanghai: Shang-

15.

16. 17. 18.

19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

hai shudian, 1990), 27; and Huang Shizhong 湫ᶾᷕ, “Lun Quan Tangshi zhong suo fanying de nüguan ‘banchang shi’ lianqing” 婾ℐⒸ娑ᷕ㇨⍵㗈䘬⤛ⅈ⋲⧤⺷ㆨね, Xuchang shizhuan xuebao 姙㖴ⷓ⮰⬠⟙ 15, no. 2 (1996): 39–43. Kirkland, “Huang Ling-wei,” 47–73; Yao Ping, Tangdai funü de shengming lichen Ⓒẋ ⨎⤛䘬䓇␥㬟䦳 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2004), 246–56; and Jiao Jie, “Tangdai daojiao nüxintu de zongjiao huodong jiqi shenghuo: yi muzhi cailiao wei zhongxin” Ⓒẋ忻㔁⤛ᾉ⼺䘬⬿㔁㳣≽⍲℞䓇㳣: ẍ⠻娴㛸㕁䁢ᷕ⽫, Shaanxi shifan daxue xuebao 昅大ⷓ䭬⣏⬠⬠⟙ 42, no. 2 (2013): 124–29. However, some of the epitaphic subjects on Yao’s and Jiao’s lists were not actually ordained as Daoist priestesses. Denis C. Twitchett, introduction to The Cambridge History of China, vol. 3, Sui and T’ang China, 589–906, Part 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 46. Zhao Chao, Gudai muzhi tonglun ⎌ẋ⠻娴忂婾 (Beijing: Zijincheng chubanshe, 2002), 169–78, 285–99. See, for example, Patricia B. Ebrey, “The Women in Liu Kezhuang’s Life,” Modern China 10, no. 4 (1984): 415–40; Ebrey, Inner Quarters, 14–16; Mann, Precious Records, 1–4; and Lu, True to Her Word, 16–17. See, for example, Chen Shangjun 昛⯂⏃, “Qianyan” ⇵妨, Quan Tangwen bubian ℐⒸ 㔯墄䶐 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2005), 1–4. Chen Yinke, Hanliutang ji ⭺㞛➪普 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1980), 94. Stephen Owen, “Transparencies: Reading the T’ang Lyric,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 39 (1979): 233–34. See, for example, Ebrey’s use of anecdotal records in her Inner Quarters, 12–17. See Owen, “Transparencies,” 233–34, 248–51. See, for example, Dorothy Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers; Susan Mann, Precious Records; Weijing Lu, True to Her Word; and Nanxiu Qian, Politics, Poetics, and Gender in Late Qing China.

1. The Rise of Daoist Priestesses as a Gendered Religio-Social Group 1. See mainly Stephen R. Bokenkamp, “Time after Time: Taoist Apocalyptic History and the Founding of the T’ang Dynasty,” Asia Major (3rd series) 7, no. 1 (1994): 59–88; Timothy Barrett, Taoism Under the T’ang: Religion & Empire During the Golden Age of Chinese History (London: Wellsweep, 1996), 20–28; Ding Huang ᶩ䃴, Han Tang Daojiao lunji 㻊Ⓒ忻㔁婾普 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2009), 54–55, 63–68; and Bai Zhaojie, Zhenghe ji zhiduhua: Tang qianqi Daojiao yanjiu 㔜⎰⍲⇞⹎⊾: Ⓒ⇵㛇忻㔁䞼䨞 (PhD diss., University of Macau, 2016), 32–45. 2. Sun Kekuan ⬓⃳⮔, “Tangdai Daojiao yu zhengzhi” Ⓒẋ忻㔁冯㓧㱣, in Shiji kaozheng, Qin Han zhonggushi yanjiu lunji ⎚姀侫嫱, 䦎㻊ᷕ⎌⎚䟷䨞婾普 (Taibei: Dalu zazhishe, 1981), 494; Timothy Barrett, Taoism Under the T’ang, 22–28; and Bai Zhaojie, Zhenghe ji zhiduhua, 45–52. 3. See mainly Rao Zongyi 棺⬿柌, “Cong shike lun Wuhou zhi zongjiao xinyang” ⽆䞛 ⇣婾㬎⎶ᷳ⬿㔁ᾉẘ, Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology 45 (1974): 397–412; Sun Kekuan, “Tangdai Daojiao yu zhengzhi,” 495–97; Barrett, Taoism Under the T’ang, [ 212 ]

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4. 5.

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29–45; and Qing Xitai ⌧ⶴ㲘, ed., Zhongguo Daojiaoshi ᷕ⚳忻㔁⎚ (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1996), vol. 2, 55–65. For a detailed discussion of the Daoist beliefs of Emperor Ruizong and his children, see chapter 2 of this book. See mainly Charles Benn, “Religious Aspects of Emperor Hsüan-tsung’s Taoist Ideology,” in Buddhist and Taoist Practice in Medieval Chinese Society, ed. David W. Chappell (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1987), 127–46; Barrett, Taoism Under the T’ang, 46–73; Ren Jiyu ả两グ, ed., Zhongguo Daojiaoshi ᷕ⚳忻㔁⎚ (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2001), 288–99; and Bai Zhaojie, Zhenghe ji zhiduhua, 57–66. See mainly Edward H. Schafer, “Tu Kuang-t’ing,” in The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, ed. William Nienhauser (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986), 821–24; Franciscus Verellen, Du Guangting (850–933): Taoïste de cour à la fin de la Chine médiévale (Paris: Collège de France, Institut des hautes études chinoises, 1989); Verellen, “Evidential Miracles in Support of Taoism: The Inversion of a Buddhist Apologetic Tradition on Late Tang China,” T’oung Pao 78 (1992): 217–63; Verellen, “A Forgotten T’ang Restoration: The Taoist Dispensation After Huang Ch’ao,” Asia Major (3rd series) 7, no. 1 (1994): 107–53; Barrett, Taoism Under the T’ang, 74–101; and Li Ping 㛶⸛, Gongguan zhiwai de changsheng yu chengxian: Wan Tang Wudai Daojiao xiudao bianqian yanjiu ⭖奨ᷳ⢾䘬攟䓇冯ㆸẁ: 㘂ⒸḼẋ忻㔁ᾖ忻嬲怟䞼䨞 (Beijing: Zhongyang bianyi chubanshe, 2014), 66–295. See mainly Paul W. Kroll, “Szu-ma Ch’eng-chen in T’ang Verse,” Society for the Study of Chinese Religions Bulletin 6 (1978): 16–30; Kroll, “Notes on Three Taoist Figures of the T’ang Dynasty,” Society for the Study of Chinese Religions Bulletin 9 (1981): 19–41; Ding Huang, “Tangdai Daojiao Taiqinggong zhidukao” Ⓒẋ忻㔁⣒㶭⭖⇞⹎侫, Lishi xuebao 㬟⎚⬠⟙ (Chenggong University) 6 (1979): 275–314; 7 (1980): 177–220; Russell Kirkland, “The Last Taoist Grand Master at the T’ang Imperial Court: Li Hankuang and T’ang Hsuan-tsung,” T’ang Studies 4 (1986): 43–67; Kirkland, “Ssu-ma Ch’eng-chen and the Role of Taoism in the Medieval Chinese Polity,” Journal of Asian History 31, no. 2 (1997): 105–38; Charles D. Benn, “Religious Aspects of Emperor Hsüan-tsung’s Taoist Ideology,” in Buddhist and Taoist Practice in Medieval Chinese Society, ed. David W. Chappell (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1987), 127–46; Li Gang 㛶∃, “Tang Xuanzong chongdao biannian kao” Ⓒ䌬⬿ⲯ忻䶐⸜侫, Daojiaoxue tansuo 忻㔁⬠㍊䳊 6 (1992): 323–24; Victor Xiong, “Ritual Innovations and Taoism Under T’ang Xuanzong,” T’oung Pao 82 (1996): 258–316; Isabelle Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion, trans. Phyllis Brooks (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997), 184–211; and Livia Kohn and Russell Kirkland, “Daoism in the Tang (618– 907),” in Daoism Handbook, ed. Livia Kohn (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 339–83. See Jinhua Jia, “Religious and Other Experiences of Daoist Priestesses in Tang China,” T’oung Pao: International Journal of Chinese Studies 102, no. 4–5 (2016): 355–56; and chapter 3 of this book. For studies on the early medieval Daoist movement, see mainly Chen Guofu 昛⚳䫎, Daozang yuanliu kao 忻啷㸸㳩侫 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1963), 1–104, 308–69; Yoshioka Yoshitoyo ⎱ⱉ佑寸, Dōkyō kyōten shiron 忻㔁䴻℠⎚婾 (Tokyo: Dōkyō kankōkai, 1966), 5–90; Michel Strickmann, Le Taoïsme du Mao Chan, chronique d’une révélation (Paris: Collège de France, Institut des hautes études chinoises, 1981); Isabelle Robinet, La révélation du Shangqing dans l’histoire du daôisme (Paris: École française

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d’Extrême-Orient, 1984); Kobayashi Masayoshi ⮷㜿㬋伶, Rikuchō Dōkyōshi kenkyū ℕ㛅忻㔁⎚䞼䨞 (Tokyo: Sōbunsha, 1990); Ōfuchi Ninji ⣏㶝⽵䇦, Dōkyō to sono kyōten 忻㔁̩̞̯䴻℠ (Tokyo: Sōbunsha, 1997), 3–506; Stephen R. Bokenkamp, Early Daoist Scriptures (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997); Bokenkamp, “The Early Lingbao Scriptures and the Origins of Daoist Monasticism,” in Buddhism, Daoism, and Chinese Religion, ed. Stephen F. Teiser and Franciscus Verellen (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003), 95–126; Lü Pengzhi ⏪洔⽿, Tang qian Daojiao yishi shigang Ⓒ⇵忻㔁₨⺷⎚䵙 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2009); Wang Chengwen, “The Revelation and Classification of Daoist Scripture,” in Early Chinese Religion, part 2: The Period of Division (220–589 A.D.), ed. John Lagerwey and Lü Pengzhi (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 775–890; Gil Raz, The Emergence of Daoism: Creation of Tradition (New York: Routledge, 2012); and Terry Kleeman, Celestial Masters: History and Ritual in Early Daoist Communities (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2016). Gil Raz, Emergence of Daoism, 6. See mainly Moroto Tatsuo 媠㇞䩳晬, Chūgoku Bukkyō seidoshi no kenkyū ᷕ⚳ṷ㔁⇞⹎ ⎚̯䟷䨞 (Tokyo: Hirakawa, 1990), 7–214; Zheng Xianwen 惕栗㔯, “Tangdai Daoseng ge yanjiu” Ⓒẋ忻₏㟤䞼䨞, Lishi yanjiu 㬟⎚䞼䨞 4 (2004): 38–54, 190; and Zhao Jing 嵁㘞, “Tangdai Daosengge zaitan: jianlun Tianshengling Yuguanling Sengdaokefa tiao” Ⓒẋ忻₏㟤ℵ㍊: ℤ婾⣑俾Ẍ䋬⭀Ẍ₏忻䥹㱽㡅, Huadong zheng fa daxue xuebao 厗㜙㓧㱽⣏⬠⬠⟙ 6 (2013): 127–49. See mainly Chen Guofu, Daozang yuanliu kao, 259–66; Ding Huang, “Tangdai Daojiao Taiqinggong zhidu kao,” 73–156; Sun Changwu ⬓㖴㬎, “Tangdai Chang’an daoguan jiqi shehui wenhua huodong” Ⓒẋ攟⬱忻奨⍲℞䣦㚫㔯⊾㳣≽, in Daojiao yu Tangdai wenxue 忻㔁冯Ⓒẋ㔯⬠ (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 2001), 409–69; Fan Guangchun 㦲⃱㗍, Chang’an Daojiao yu daoguan 攟⬱忻㔁冯忻奨 (Xi’an: Xi’an chubanshe, 2002), 70–89; Livia Kohn, Monastic Life in Medieval Daoism: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003); and Lin Xilang 㜿大㚿, Tangdai Daojiao guanli zhidu yanjiu Ⓒẋ忻㔁䭉䎮⇞⹎䞼䨞 (Chengdu: Ba Shu shushe, 2006), 67–106, 164–71. Li Linfu 㛶㜿䓓 (683–753), ed., Tang liudian Ⓒℕ℠ (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1992), 3.74; Bai Juyi 䘥⯭㖻 (772–846) and Kong Zhuan ⫼⁛ (fl. 1131–1162), Bai Kong liutie 䘥⫼ℕⶾ, Siku quanshu ⚃⹓ℐ㚠 (SKQS), 89.10a; and Tianyige bowuguan ⣑ᶨ敋⌂䈑 棐 and Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan lishi yanjiusuo Tianshengling zhengli ketizu ᷕ⚳䣦㚫䥹⬠昊㬟⎚䞼䨞㇨⣑俾Ẍ㔜䎮婚柴䳬, eds., Tianyige cang Ming chaoben Tianshengling jiaozheng, fu Tangling fuyuan yanjiu ⣑ᶨ敋啷㖶憼㛔⣑俾Ẍ㟉嫱, 旬ⒸẌ⽑⍇䞼䨞 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2006), 38. During the Zhenguan reign period (627–649), the required scripture for transmission, initially, was the Sanhuang jing ᶱ䘯䴻, but it was later prohibited and replaced by the Daode jing, in 648. See Moroto Tatsuo, Chūgoku Bukkyō seidoshi no kenkyū, 368–70; Niida Noboru ṩḽ䓘昆 and Ikeda On 㰈䓘㹓, Tōrei shūi ho: tsuketari Tō-Nichi ryōrei taishō ichiran ⒸẌ㊦怢墄: 旬Ⓒ㖍ℑẌ⮵䄏 ᶨ奥 (Tokyo: Tōkyō daigaku shuppankai, 1997), 194–96; and Dai Jianguo ㇜⺢⚳, “Tang Kaiyuan ershiwunian ling tianling yanjiu” Ⓒ攳⃫Ḵ⋩Ḽ⸜Ẍ䓘Ẍ䞼䨞, Lishi yanjiu 㬟⎚䞼䨞 2 (2000): 36–50. See Shigenoi Shizuka 㹳慶ḽ〔, “Tōdai no sōdō kyūdasei ni tsuite” Ⓒẋ̯₏忻䴎䓘⇞ ̬⯙̧̅, Ōtani gakuhō ⣏察⬠⟙ 37, no. 4 (1957), 55–64; Bai Wengu 䘥㔯⚢, “Tangdai sengni daoshi shoutian wenti de bianxi” Ⓒẋ₏⯤忻⢓⍿䓘⓷柴䘬彐㜸, Shehui kexue 䣦㚫䥹⬠ 3 (1982): 54–58; Han Guopan 杻⚳䡸, Beichao Sui Tang de juntian zhidu ⊿㛅

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昳Ⓒ䘬⛯䓘⇞⹎ (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1984), 128–247; and Wang

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18.

19.

Yongping 䌳㯠⸛, Daojiao yu Tangdai shehui 忻㔁冯Ⓒẋ䣦㚫 (Beijing: Shoudu shifan daxue chubanshe, 2002), 203–17. See also Suzuki Shun 懜㛐ὲ et al., Tangdai juntianzhi yanjiu xuanyi Ⓒẋ⛯䓘⇞䞼䨞怠嬗, trans. Jiang Zhengqing ⦄捖ㄞ et al. (Lanzhou: Gansu jiaoyu chubanshe, 1992); and Ikeda On 㰈䓘㹓, Tōshi ronkō: shizokusei to kindensei Ⓒ⎚婾㓟: 㮷㕷⇞̩⛯䓘⇞ (Tokyo: Kyūko shoin, 2014). See Wang Yongping, Daojiao yu Tangdai shehui, 211–12; and Lin Xilang, Tangdai Daojiao guanli zhidu yanjiu, 272–73. See mainly Chen Guofu, “Sandong Sifu jing zhi yuanyuan ji chuanshou” ᶱ㳆⚃庼䴻 ᷳ㶝㸸⍲⁛㌰, in Daozang yuanliu kao 忻啷㸸㳩侫 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2012), 1–104; Yoshioka Yoshitoyo, Dōkyō kyōten shiron, 5–90; Ōfuchi Ninji ⣏㶝⽵䇦, Dōkyō to sono kyōten, 3–556; Stephen R. Bokenkamp, “Lu Xiujing, Buddhism, and the First Daoist Canon,” in Culture and Power in the Reconstruction of the Chinese Realm, 200–600, ed. Scott Pearce, Audrey Spiro, and Patricia Ebrey (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asian Center, 2001), 191–99; and Gil Raz, The Emergence of Daoism, 210–56. Jinming Qizhen 慹㖶ᶫ䛇, Dongxuan lingbao sandong fengdao kejie yingshi 㳆䌬曰⮞ᶱ㳆 ⣱忻䥹ㆺ䆇⥳, Daozang 忻啷 (DZ) (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin: Wenwu chubanshe, Shanghai shudian, Tianjin guji chubanshe, 1988), 1125; Jinming Qizhen, Sandong fengdao kejie yifan ᶱ㳆⣱忻䥹婉₨䭬, in Zhonghua daozang ᷕ厗忻啷, ed. Zhang Jiyu ⻝两䥡 (Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe, 2004), vol. 42. The latter is a collection of four manuscripts rediscovered from Dunhuang, which are possibly fragments from the former. For discussions of the textual history, date, author(s), and translation of Jinming Qizhen’s text(s), see Yoshioka Yoshitoyo ⎱ⱉ佑寸, Dōkyō to Bukkyō 忻㔁̩ἃ㔁 (Tokyo: Nihon gakujutsu shinkōkai, 1959), vol. 3, 77–159; Liu Chunren 㞛⬀ṩ, “Sandong fengdao kejie yifan juanwu: P2337 zhong Jinming Qizhen yici zhi tuice” ᶱ㳆⣱忻䥹ㆺ ₨䭬⌟Ḽ: PḴᶱᶱᶫᷕ慹㖶ᶫ䛇ᶨ娆ᷳ㍐㷔, in Hanxue yanjiu 㻊⬠䞼䨞 4, no. 2 (1986): 509–32; Florian C. Reiter, The Aspirations and Standards of Taoist Priests in the Early T’ang Period (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1998); Florian C. Reiter and UrsulaAngelika Cedzich, “Dongxuan lingbao sandong fengdao kejie yingshi,” in Taoist Canon, 451–53; and Livia Kohn, The Daoist Monastic Manual: A Translation of the Fengdao Kejie (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Major texts include Zhu Faman 㛙㱽㺧, Yaoxiu keyi jielü chao 天ᾖ䥹₨ㆺ⼳憼, DZ 463; Daomen jing fa xiangcheng cixu 忻攨䴻㱽䚠㈧㫉⸷, DZ 1128; Shi Chongxuan ⎚ⲯ䌬 (d. 731) et al., eds, Yiqie daojing yinyi miaomen youqi ᶨ↯忻䴻枛佑⥁攨䓙崟, DZ 1123; Zhang Wanfu ⻝叔䤷, Chuanshou Sandong jingjie falu lüeshuo ⁛㌰ᶱ㳆䴻ㆺ㱽䰁䔍婒 (713), DZ 1241; Zhang, Sandong zhongjie wen ᶱ㳆䛦ㆺ㔯, DZ 178; Zhang, Sandong fafu kejie wen ᶱ㳆㱽㚵䥹ㆺ㔯, DZ 788; Zhang, Dongxuan lingbao sanshi minghui xingzhuang juguan fangsuo wen 㳆䌬曰⮞ᶱⷓ⎵媙⼊䉨⯭奨㕡㇨㔯, DZ 445; Shoulu cidi faxin yi ⍿䰁㫉䫔㱽ᾉ₨, DZ 1244; and Liu Ruozhuo ∱劍㊁ (fl. 882–972) and Sun Yizhong ⬓⣟ᷕ, Sandong xiudao yi ᶱ㳆ᾖ忻₨, DZ 1237. See mainly Kristofer M. Schipper, “Taoist Ordination Ranks in the Tun-huang Manuscripts,” in Religion und Philosophie in Ostasien: Festschrift für Hans Steininger zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. Gert Naundorf, Karl-Heinz Pohl, and Hans-Hermann Schmidt (Würzburg: Königshausen and Neumann, 1985), 127–43; Charles Benn, The CavernMystery Transmission: A Taoist Ordination of A.D. 711 (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1991), 72–95; Florian C. Reiter, The Aspirations and Standards of Taoist Priests in the Early T’ang Period, 133–64; Charles Benn, “Daoist Ordination and Zhai Rituals,”

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in Daoism Handbook, 311–22; Kobayashi Masayoshi, Tōdai no Dōkyō to Tenshidō Ⓒẋ̯ 忻㔁̩⣑ⷓ忻 (Tokyo: Chisen shokan, 2003), 13–63; Lin Xilang, Tangdai Daojiao guanli

20.

21. 22. 23. 24.

25.

26. 27.

28.

zhidu yanjiu, 213–39; and Bai Zhaojie, Zhenghe ji zhiduhua, 288–346. Because the records of the ranks in relevant Daoist texts differ in some details, scholars have drawn up different lists; my list here is therefore somewhat different from those of others. Cui Ge Ⲽ㟤, “Gu dongdu Anguoguan Dadong Wang lianshi muzhiming bingxu” 㓭㜙悥⬱⚳奨⣏㳆䌳䃱ⷓ⠻所᷎⸷, in Luoyang xinhuo muzhi xubian 㳃春㕘䌚⠻娴临䶐, ed. Qiao Dong ╔㢇, Li Xianqi 㛶䌣⣯, and Shi Jiazhen ⎚⭞䍵 (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2008), 252. See chapter 2 of this book for a detailed study. Denis Twitchett, introduction to The Cambridge History of China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 3.1: 4. Zhu Xi 㛙䅡 (1130–1200), Zhuzi yulei 㛙⫸婆栆, ed. Li Jingde 湶曾⽟ (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1988), 136.3245. See mainly Howard S. Levy, “T’ang Courtesans, Ladies and Concubines,” Orient/ West 8 (1962): 60; Wang Shounan 䌳⢥⋿, “Tangdai gongzhu de hunyin” Ⓒẋ℔ᷣ䘬 ⨂⦣, in Lishi yu Zhongguo shehui bianqian (Zhongguo shehuishi) yantao hui lunwenji 濚⎚ 冯ᷕ⚳䣦㚫嬲怟 (ᷕ⚳䣦㚫⎚) 䞼妶㚫澏㔯普 (Taibei: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan, 1982), 151– 91; Gao Shiyu 檀ᶾ䐄, Tangdai funü Ⓒẋ⨎⤛ (Xi’an: Sanqin chubanshe, 1988), 149– 56; Xiang Shuyun ⎹㵹暚, Tangdai hunyinfa yu hunyin shitai Ⓒẋ⨂⦣㱽冯⨂⦣⮎ン (Taibei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1991), 190–210; Yang Jiping 㣲晃⸛, “Dunhuang chutu de fangqishu suoyi” 㔎䃴↢⛇䘬㓦⥣㚠䐋嬘, Xiamen daxue xuebao ⹰攨⣏ ⬠⬠⟙ 4 (1999): 34–41; Duan Tali 㭝⟼渿, Tangdai funü diwei yanjiu Ⓒẋ⨎⤛⛘ỵ䞼䨞 (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 2000), 106–16; Chen Gaohua 昛檀厗 and Tong Shaosu 䪍刵䳈, eds., Zhongguo funü tongshi: Sui Tang Wudai juan ᷕ⚳⨎⤛忂⎚: 昳ⒸḼẋ⌟ (Hangzhou: Hangzhou chubanshe, 2010), 169–80; and Yue Hong, “Divorce Practice in Late Medieval Dunhuang: Reading ‘Documents on Setting the Wife Free,’ ” T’ang Studies 34, no. 1 (2016): 12–39. See Gao Shiyu, Tangdai funü, 143–45; Duan Tali, Tangdai funü diwei, 104–106; Seo Tatsuhiko ⥡⯦忼⼍, “Caizi yu jiaren: jiushiji Zhongguo xinde nannü renshi de xingcheng” ㇵ⫸冯ἛṢ: ḅᶾ䲨ᷕ⚳㕘䘬䓟⤛娵嬀䘬⼊ㆸ, in Tang Song nüxing yu shehui Ⓒ⬳⤛⿏冯 䣦㚫, ed. Deng Xiaonan 惏⮷⋿ (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 2003), 695–722. Cen Zhongmian ⰹẚ≱, Sui Tang Wudai shi 昳ⒸḼẋ⎚ (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1984), 24. See Gao Shiyu, Tangdai funü, 128–37; Patricia E. Karetzky, “The Representation of Women in Medieval China: Recent Archaeological Evidence,” T’ang Studies 17 (1999): 213–71; Duan Tali, Tangdai funü diwei, 86–93; Stephen Owen, The Late Tang: Chinese Poetry of the Mid-Ninth Century (827–860) (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2006), 262; and Chen and Tong, Zhongguo funü tongshi: Sui Tang Wudai juan, 352–59. See mainly Denis Twitchett, “Chinese Social History from the Seventh to the Tenth Centuries: The Tunhuang Documents and Their Implications,” in Past & Present 35 (1966): 28–53, esp. 51–52; Kenneth Chen, The Chinese Transformation of Buddhism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973), 288–89; and Hao Chunwen 悅㗍㔯, “Zailun Beichao zhi Sui, Tang, Wudai, Songchu de nüren jieshe” ℵ婾⊿㛅军昳ⒸḼ ẋ⬳⇅䘬⤛Ṣ䳸䣦, Dunhuang yanjiu 㔎䃴䞼䨞 6 (2006): 103–8.

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29. See mainly Richard W. L. Guisso, Wu Tse-t’ien and the Politics of Legitimization in Tang China (Bellingham: Western Washington University, 1978); Denis Twitchett and Howard Wechsler, “Kao Tsung and the Empress Wu: The Inheritor and the Usurper,” in The Cambridge History of China, 3.1: 242–89; Richard W. L. Guisso, “The Reigns of the Empress Wu, Chung-tsung and Jui-tsung (684–712),” The Cambridge History of China, 3.1: 290–321; Jo-shui Chen, “Empress Wu and Proto-Feminist Sentiments in T’ang China,” in Imperial Rulership and Cultural Change in Traditional China, ed. Frederick P. Brandauer and Chun-chieh Huang (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994), 77–116; Kegasawa Yasunori 㯋屨㽌ᾅ夷, Sokuten Bukō ⇯⣑㬎⎶ (Tokyō: Hakuteisha, 1995); Norman H. Rothschild, Wu Zhao: China’s Only Woman Emperor (New York: Pearson Longman, 2008); Wang Hongjun 䌳㳒幵, Wu Zetian pingzhuan 㬎⇯⣑姽⁛ ( Jinan: Shandong daxue chubanshe, 2010), and Rebecca Doran, Transgressive Typologies: Constructions of Gender and Power in Early Tang China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017). 30. See mainly Norman Harry Rothschild, “Beyond Filial Piety: Biographies of Exemplary Women and Wu Zhao’s New Paradigm of Political Authority,” T’ang Studies 23–24 (2005): 149–68. 31. See Rebecca Doran, Transgressive Typologies, 1–22. 32. See Gao Shiyu, Tangdai funü, 140–42; Duan Tali, Tangdai funü diwei, 93–98; Chen and Tong, Zhongguo funü tongshi: Sui Tang Wudai juan, 280–82; and chapter 4 of this book. 33. See Duan Tali, Tangdai funü diwei, 98–103; Sun Yurong ⬓䌱㥖, Tangdai shehui biange shiqi de hunyin Ⓒẋ䣦㚫嬲朑㗪㛇䘬⨂⦣ (Hangzhou: Zhejiang daxue chubanshe, 2016), 46–52; Jinhua Jia, “Unsold Peony: Life and Poetry of the Daoist Priestess-Poet Yu Xuanji in Tang China (618–907),” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 35, no. 1 (2016): 30, 45–46; and chapter 7 of this book. 34. According to the newly unearthed epitaph written for her, Shangguan Wan’er was also appointed consort to both emperors Gaozong and Zhongzong. See Anonym, “Datang gu Jieyu Shangguan shi muzhiming bingxu” ⣏Ⓒ㓭⧽⥌ᶲ⭀㮷⠻娴所᷎⸷, in Li Ming 㛶㖶 and Geng Qinggang 俧ㄞ∃, “Datang gu Jieyu Shangguan shi muzhi jianshi” ⣏Ⓒ㓭⧽⥌ᶲ⭀㮷⠻娴䬳慳, Kaogu yu wenwu 侫⎌冯㔯䈑 6 (2013): 111–44. On the study of Shangguan Wan’er, see mainly Jia Jinhua 屰㗱厗, Tangdai jihui zongji yu shirenqun yanjiu Ⓒẋ普㚫䷥普冯娑Ṣ佌䞼䨞, 2nd ed. (Beijing: Beijing University Press, 2015), 40–72; Ronald Egan, “Preface to Shangguan Wan’er, Shangguan Zhaorong wenji,” in Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism, ed. Kang-i Sun Chang and Haun Saussy (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999), 723–25; Zheng Yaru 惕晭⤪, “Chongtan Shangguan Wan’er de siwang, pingfan yu dangdai pingjia” 慵㍊ᶲ⭀⧱⃺䘬㬣ṉ, ⸛⍵冯䔞ẋ姽₡, Zaoqi Zhongguoshi yanjiu 㖑㛇 ᷕ⚳⎚䞼䨞 4, no. 1 (2012): 111–45; Norman Rothschild, “ ‘Her Influence Great, Her Merit Beyond Measure’: A Translation and Initial Investigation of the Epitaph of Shanguan Wan’er,” Studies in Chinese Religions 1, no. 2 (2015): 131–48; and Jie Wu, “Vitality and Cohesiveness in the Poetry of Shangguan Wan’er (664–710),” T’ang Studies 34, no. 1 (2016): 40–72. 35. See Song Shenxi ⬳䓛拓, “Da Tang neixueshi Guangping Song shi muzhiming bingxu” ⣏Ⓒℏ⬠⢓⺋⸛⬳㮷⠻娴所᷎⸷, transcribed in Zhao Liguang 嵁≃⃱ and Wang Qingwei 䌳ㄞ堃, “Xinjian Tangdai neixueshi shanggong Song Ruozhao muzhi kaoshi” 㕘夳Ⓒẋℏ⬠⢓⯂⭖⬳劍㗕⠻娴侫慳, Kaogu yu wenwu 侫⎌冯㔯䈑 5 (2014): 102– 108; Gao Shiyu, Tangdai funü, 103–4; and Jia Jinhua, “Song Ruolun” ⬳劍ΐ, “Song 1 . DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S E S A S A R E L I G I O - S O C I A L G RO U P

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36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41. 42.

Ruoxun” ⬳劍勨, “Song Ruozhao” ⬳劍㗕, “Song Ruoxian” ⬳劍ㅚ, and “Song Ruoxin” ⬳劍區, in Zhongguo wenxuejia da cidian: Tang Wudai juan ᷕ⚳㔯⬠⭞⣏录℠: ⒸḼẋ⌟, ed. Zhou Zuzhuan ␐䣾嫼 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1992), 398–400. Four of Bao Junhui’s poems and one essay are extant. See Peng Dingqiu ⼕⭂㯪 (1645– 719) et al., eds., Quan Tangshi ℐⒸ娑 (QTS) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960), 7.68– 69; Dong Gao 吋婍 (1740–818) et al., eds., Quan Tangwen ℐⒸ㔯 (QTW ) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 945.3a–b. For discussions on Bao Junhui, see Jia Jinhua, “Bao Junhui,” in Zhongguo wenxuejia da cidian, 779; and Jeanne Larsen, “Bao Junhui,” in Sun Chang and Saussy, Women Writers of Traditional China, 54–56. For a detailed discussion of the Yaochi ji, see Jinhua Jia, “Yaochi ji and Three Daoist Priestess-Poets in Tang China,” Nan Nü: Men, Women and Gender in China 13, no. 2 (2011): 205–43; and chapter 6 of this book. See mainly Michel Strickmann, Le Taoïsme du Mao Chan: Chronique d’une révélation (Paris: Collège de France, Institut des hautes études chinoises, 1981), 36, 69; Kobayashi Masayoshi ⮷㜿㬋伶, Rikuchō Dōkyō shi kenkyū ℕ㛅忻㓶⎚䟷䨞 (Tōkyō: Sōbunsha, 1990), 357–66; Wang Ka 䌳⌉, “Huangshu kaoyuan” 湫㚠侫㸸, Shijie zongjiao yanjiu ᶾ䓴⬿㔁䞼䨞 2 (1997): 65–73; Zhu Yueli 㛙崲⇑, “Huangshu kao” 湫㚠侫, Zhongguo zhexue ᷕ⚳⒚⬠ 19 (1998): 167–88; and Schipper and Verellen, Taoist Canon, 129–30. For studies on this initiation ritual and sexual practice, see mainly Henri Maspero, Taoism and Chinese Religion, trans. Frank Kierman (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981), 445–554; Chen Guofu, Daozang yuanliu kao, 365–69; Yang Liansheng 㣲倗昆, “Laojun yinsong jiejing jiaoshi,” Zhongyang yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo jikan ᷕ⣖䞼䨞昊㬟⎚婆妨䞼䨞㇨普↲ 72, no. 2 (2001): 233–99; R. H. van Gulik, Sexual Life in Ancient China: A Preliminary Survey of Chinese Sex and Society from ca. 1500 B.C. till 1644 A.D. (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 72–90; Rolf A. Stein, “Remarques sur les mouvements du taoïsme politico-religieux au IIe siècle ap. J.-C,” T’oung-pao 50 (1963): 1–78; Kristofer M. Schipper, Taoist Body, 150–52; Marc Kalinowski, “La transmission du dispositive des Neuf Palais sous les Six dynasties,” in Tantric and Taoist Studies, ed. Michel Strickmann (Brussels: Institut Belge des Hauters Etudes Chinoises, 1985), 3: 773–811; Li Ling 㛶暞, “Donghan Wei Jin Nanbeichao fangzhong jingdian liupai kao” 㜙㻊櫷㗱⋿⊿㛅㇧ ᷕ䴻℠㳩㳦侫, Zhongguo wenhua ᷕ⚳㔯⊾ 15–16 (1997): 141–58; Yan Shanzhao ♜┬䁌, “Shoki dōkyō to kōaka konki bōchū jutsu” ⇅㛇忻㔁̩湫崌㶟㯋㇧ᷕ埻, Tōhō shūkyō 㜙㕡⬿㔁 97 (2001): 1–10; and Lin Fushi, “Lüelun zaoqi Daojiao yu fangzhongshu de guanxi,” Zhongyang yanjiuyuan lishi yuyan yanjiusuo jikan ᷕ⣖䞼䨞昊㬟⎚婆妨䞼䨞㇨普↲ 72, no. 2 (2001): 241–48. Dao’an 忻⬱ (312–385), Erjiao lun Ḵ㔁婾, in Guang hongming ji ⺋⻀㖶普, ed. Daoxuan 忻⭋ (596–667), in Taishō shinshū daizōkyō ⣏㬋㕘ᾖ⣏啷䴻, ed. Takakusu Junjirō 檀㤈 枮㫉恶 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 㷉怲㴟㖕 (Tokyo: Taishō issaikyō kankōkai, 1924– 1932; reprint, Taibei: Xinwenfeng chuban gongsi, 1983–1985), 52: 8.140c; Zhen Luan 䒬淆 (535–566), Xiaodao lun 䪹忻婾, in Guang hongming ji, T 52: 9.152a; Kou Qianzhi ⭯嫁ᷳ (365–448), Laojun yinsong jiejing 侩⏃枛婎ㆺ䴻, DZ 785: 211–16; Tao Hongjing, Zhengao 䛇婍, DZ 1016: 516–26, 497; and “Taishang lingbao weiyi dongxuan zhenyi ziran jingjue” ⣒ᶲ曰⮞⦩₨㳆䌬䛇ᶨ冒䃞䴻始, Dunhuang manuscript P. 2403, in Zhonghua daozang, 4: 98a–b. Kou Qianzhi, Laojun yinsong jiejing, 17–19. See mainly Michel Strickmann, “A Taoist Confirmation of Liang Wu-ti’s Suppression of Taoism,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 98, no. 4 (1978): 471; Isabelle

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43.

44. 45. 46.

47.

48. 49.

50.

51.

52.

Robinet, La révélation du Shangqing dans l’histoire du taoïsme; Robinet, “Sexualité et taoïsme,” in Sexualité et religion, ed. Marcel Bernos (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1988), 51–71; Li Fengmao 㛶寸㤁, “Wei Jin shennü chuanshuo yu Daojiao shennü jiangzhen chuanshuo” 櫷㗱䤆⤛⁛婒冯忻㔁䤆⤛旵䛇⁛婒 and “Xiwangmu wunü chuanshuo de xingcheng jiqi yanbian” 大䌳㭵Ḽ⤛⁛婒䘬⼊ㆸ℞㺼嬲, both in Wuru yu zhejiang: Liuchao Sui Tang Daojiao wenxue lunji 婌ℍ冯嫓旵: ℕ㛅昳Ⓒ忻㔁㔯⬠婾普 (Taibei: Xuesheng shuju, 1996), 143–87, 215–45; Paul Kroll, “Daoist Verse and the Quest of the Divine,” in Early Chinese Religion, part 2: The Period of Division (220–589 A.D.), ed. John Lagerwey and Lü Pengzhi (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 953–87; and Kroll, “A Poetry Debate of the Perfected of Highest Clarity,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 132 (2012): 577–86. See Edward Schafer, “The Jade Woman of Greatest Mystery,” History of Religions 17 (1978): 387–97; and Li Fengmao, “Wei Jin shennü chuanshuo yu Daojiao shennü jiangzhen chuanshuo,” 173–80. Sandong xiudao yi, 166c–167b, 168c. Unless otherwise indicated, all translations of textual citations and poems in this book are mine. Sandong xiudao yi, 167b. Zhang Jiong ⻝ℷ, “Tang gu Jiuhuaguan zhu [two characters missing] shi cangxing ji” Ⓒ㓭ḅ厗奨ᷣ [敽Ḵ⫿] ⷓ啷⼊姀, in Tangdai muzhi huibian xuji Ⓒẋ⠻娴⼁䶐临普, ed. Zhou Shaoliang ␐䳡列 and Zhao Chao 嵁崭 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2001), 795. Sun Simiao, Beiji qianjin yaofang, DZ 1163: 544c–546a. For discussions of Sun Simiao’s ideas on sexual practice, see van Gulik, Sexual Life in Ancient China, 193–97; Catherine Despeux, Prescriptions d’acuponcture valant mille onces d’or: Traité d’acuponcture de Sun Simiao du VIIe siècle (Paris: Trédaniel, 1987); and Paul U. Unschuld, “Der chinesische ‘Arzneikönig’ Sun Simiao: Geschichte–Legende–Ikonographie,” Monumenta Serica 42 (1994): 217–57. Although there is no early record of his ordination, according to his alchemical experiments and other hints in his works, some scholars assume that Sun Simiao was an ordained Daoist of the Celestial Masters rank. See Nathan Sivin, Chinese Alchemy: Preliminary Studies (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968), 81–144; and Livia Kohn, The Daoist Monastic Manual: A Translation of the Fengdao kejie (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 16. Du Guangting, Yongcheng jixian lu, DZ 783: 197c–99a. See, for example, Wen Yiduo 倆ᶨ⣂, Shenhua yanjiu 䤆娙䞼䨞 (Chengdu: Ba Shu shushe, 2002), 1–39; and Alan K. L. Chan, “Goddesses in Chinese Religion,” in Goddesses in Religions and Modern Debate, ed. Larry W. Hurtado (Atlanta: Scholars, 1990), 9–25. In the legend, the goddess enters the king’s dream and makes love with him, describing herself as “drifting clouds at dawn and showers of rain at evening.” See Song Yu ⬳䌱 (fl. fourth century BCE), “Gaotang fu” 檀Ⓒ岎, in Wenxuan 㔯怠, ed. Xiao Tong 唕䴙 (501–531) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1977), 19.1b–6b. See, for example, Li Dingguang 㛶⭂⺋ and Xu Kechao ⼸⎗崭, “Lun Zhongguo wenren de Wushan shennü qingjie” 婾ᷕ⚳㔯Ṣ䘬ⶓⰙ䤆⤛ね䳸, Fudan xuebao ⽑㖎⬠⟙ 5 (2002): 112–17. See mainly van Gulik, Sexual Life in Ancient China, 73–90; Li Ling 㛶暞, Zhongguo fangshu xukao ᷕ⚳㕡埻临侫 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2006), 267–80; and Paul R. Goldin, “The Cultural and Religious Background of Sexual Vampirism in Ancient

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53. 54.

55.

56.

57. 58.

59. 60. 61.

China,” Theology & Sexuality 12, no. 3 (2006): 285–308. Fragments of these Han dynasty sex manuals, along with some other texts, are preserved in the Ishinpō 慓⽫㕡, compiled by the Japanese physician Tamba Yasuyori ᷡ㲊⹟岜 (912–995) in 982, collected in Li Ling’s Zhongguo fangshu zhengkao ᷕ⚳㕡埻㬋侫 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2006), 396–416; and translated in Douglas Wile, Art of the Bedchamber: The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Including Women’s Solo Meditation Texts (Albany: State University of New York, 1992), 83–113. Suzanne Cahill, Transcendence and Divine Passion: The Queen Mother of the West in Medieval China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993), 242. For discussions of these goddesses, see mainly Edward Schafer, The Divine Women: Dragon Ladies and Rain Maidens in Tang Literature (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973); Schafer, “Three Divine Women of South China,” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 1 (1979): 31–42; Schafer, “Cantos on ‘One Bit of Cloud at Shamanka Mountain,’ ” Asiatische Studien 36 (1983): 102–24; Suzanne Cahill, “Sex and the Supernatural in Medieval China: Cantos on the Transcendent Who Presides Over the River,” Journal of American Oriental Society 105, no. 2 (1985): 197–220; and Cahill, Transcendence and Divine Passion, 108–89. See mainly Paul W. Kroll, “Po Chü-i’s ‘Song of Lasting Regret’: A New Translation,” T’ang Studies 8–9 (1990–1991): 97–104; Stephen Owen, “What Did Liuzhi Hear? The ‘Yan Terrace Poems’ and the Culture of Romance,” T’ang Studies 13 (1995): 81–118; and Manling Luo, Literati Storytelling in Late Medieval China (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015), 26–34. See mainly Stephen Owen, The End of the Chinese “Middle Ages”: Essays in Mid-Tang Literary Culture (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996), 130–76; Anna M. Shield, “Defining Experience: The ‘Poems of Seductive Allure’ (Yanshi) of the MidTang Poet Yuan Zhen (779–831),” Journal of the American Oriental Society 122, no. 1 (2002): 61–78; Yue Hong, “The Discourse of Romantic Love in Ninth Century Tang China” (PhD diss., Harvard University, 2010); and Luo, Literati Storytelling in Late Medieval China, 99–135. Catherine Despeux and Livia Kohn, Women in Daoism, 104–18. Stephan P. Bumbacher defines female wu ⶓ or shamans as priestesses, women related to the Celestial Master tradition (Tianshidao ⣑ⷓ忻) as female Daoists, and women related to the Highest Clarity tradition (Shangqingdao ᶲ㶭忻) as nuns. See Bumbacher, The Fragments of the Daoxue zhuan: Critical Edition, Translation, and Analysis of a Medieval Collection of Daoist Biographies (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2000), 494–524. This differentiation may be suitable for Daoist women before the seventh century. However, as discussed earlier, during the Tang era the organization of Daoist monasticism was completed and the various Daoist lineages were now loosely integrated into an ordination hierarchy; usually, ordained Daoists both practiced self-cultivation and performed rituals. Therefore, I follow the common practice of designating ordained male Daoists as priests and ordained female Daoists as priestesses. For a detailed discussion of ordained princesses and other royal women, see chapter 2 of this book. Li Linfu 㛶㜿䓓 (683–753), ed., Tang liudian Ⓒℕ℠ (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1992), 4.125. Jinming Qizhen, Fengdao kejie, DZ 1125: 760–62. For discussions of Daoist vestments in the medieval period, see Livia Kohn, Monastic Life in Medieval Daoism, 147–59.

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62. Guan ⅈ literally means “hat,” “cap,” “crown,” “headdress,” and the like. Edward H. Schafer chose to use “capeline,” which means “a woman’s hat with a soft brim.” See Schafer, “The Capeline Cantos: Verses on the Divine Loves of Taoist Priestesses,” Asiatische Studien 32 (1978): 11. However, the designation of the headdresses for Daoist priestesses may have originated from the sheng ⊅ headdress worn by the Queen Mother of the West. See Yuan Ke 堩䍪, ed., Shanghai jing jiaoyi Ⱉ㴟䴻㟉嬗 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1985), 31; and Suzanne Cahill, Transcendence and Divine Passion, 15–17. The name nüguan ⤛⭀ (female official) already appeared in early Daoist communities in parallel with nanguan 䓟⭀ (male official), referring to female and male Daoist officiants. The name nüguan ⤛ⅈ (female headdress) first appeared during the Tang era, possibly after the particular headdresses of Daoist priestesses, and also from the same pronunciation of both “official” and “headdress” as guan. Schafer speculated that, because Tang female palace employees were also called nüguan or “female official,” this may have led to the adoption of the alternate form of nüguan or “female headdress” for Daoist priestesses. See Schafer, “The Capeline Cantos,” 9–11. 63. The tune “Nüguan zi” ⤛ⅈ⫸ is listed in the register of songs taught in the Jiaofang 㔁⛲ (Instruction Quarter of Music) founded in the eighth century by Emperor Xuanzong. For an excellent study of the extant lyrics for this tune by poets of the Tang and the Five Dynasties, see Schafer, “The Capeline Cantos,” 5–65. 64. This is a memorial presented by Qi Huan 滲㽋 (d. 750) in 741; see Wang Pu 䌳㹍 (922–982), Tang huiyao Ⓒ㚫天 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1955), 50.865. 65 Emperor Gaozong, “Ting chi seng dao fanzui tong sufa tuikan chi”  㓽₏忻䉗伒⎴ ὿㱽㍐⊀㓽, in QTW, 14.1b–2a. 66. Li Linfu, Tang liudian, 3.74. 67. Fu Xuancong ‭䐯䏖, Chen Shangjun 昛⯂⏃, and Xu Jun ⼸ὲ, eds., Tangren xuan Tangshi xinbian (zengdingben) ⒸṢ怠Ⓒ娑㕘䶐 (⡆妪㛔) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2014), 883–912, 868–70, 879, 1192–203. See also Jinhua Jia, “Yaochi ji,” 211–14; Jia, “The Identity of Daoist Priestesses in Tang China,” in Gendering Chinese Religion: Subject, Identity, and Body, ed. Jinhua Jia, Xiaofei Kang, and Ping Yao (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014), 121–22; and discussions in chapter 6 of this book. 68. Li Linfu, Tang liudian, 3.74. 69. See, for example, Han Guopan, Beichao Sui Tang de Juntian zhidu, 128–247; and Wang Yongping, Daojiao yu Tangdai shehui, 203–17. 70. Qian Yi 拊㖻 (968–1026), Nanbu xinshu ⋿悐㕘㚠 (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1958), 50; and Xu Song ⼸㜦 (1781–1848), Tang liangjing cheng fang kao ⒸℑṔ❶⛲侫 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), 3.60. 71. See Huangfu Mei, Sanshui xiaodu, quoted in Taiping guangji ⣒⸛⺋姀, ed. Li Fang 㛶㖱 (925–996) et al. (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), 130.922–23. 72. These religious activities are discussed in Jinhua Jia, “Religious and Other Experiences of Daoist Priestesses,” 321–57; and in chapter 3 of this book. 73. See discussions in chapters 2, 3, 6, and 7. 74. For example, in Jiaoran’s 䘶䃞 (ca. 720–ca. 793) poem titled “Yu Wang lushi hui Zhang zhengjun zimei lianshi yuan wanxue jianhuai Qinghui shangren” 冯䌳抬ḳ㚫⻝⽝⏃ ⥲⥡䃱ⷓ昊䍑暒ℤ㆟㶭㚫ᶲṢ (QTS, 817.9206), we see that a Buddhist monk ( Jiaoran), an official (Wang lushi), and two Daoist priestesses socialized at the priestesses’ cloister, watching the snowy scenery and composing poems. 1 . DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S E S A S A R E L I G I O - S O C I A L G RO U P

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75. Luo Binwang, “Dai nüdaoshi Wang Lingfei zeng daoshi Li Rong” ẋ⤛忻⢓䌳曰⤫岰 忻⢓㛶㥖, in QTS, 77.838–39. For a detailed analysis of this poem, see Jia Jinhua, “Tangshi zhong youguan nüdaoshi de lianqingshi kaobian” Ⓒ娑ᷕ㚱斄⤛忻⢓䘬ㆨね 娑侫彐, Daojia wenhua yanjiu 忻⭞㔯⊾䞼䨞 24 (2009): 128–32. 76. Chen Shangjun 昛⯂⏃, ed. Quan Tangshi bubian ℐⒸ娑墄䶐 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1992), 1:19.313. 77. Bai Juyi, “Yu Yuan jiu shu” 冯⃫ḅ㚠, Bai Juyi ji jianjiao 䘥⯭㖻普䬳㟉, ed. Zhu Jincheng 㛙慹❶ (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1988), 45.2789–806; QTW, 675.1a–9a. 78. For a detailed discussion of Li Jilan, see Jia, “Yaochi ji,” 216–33; and chapter 6 of this book. 79. See Edward H. Schafer, “The Capeline Cantos: Verses on the Divine Loves of Taoist Priestesses,” Asiatische Studien 32 (1978): 5–65; and Jia, “Identity of Tang Daoist Priestesses,” 113–16. 80. See Jia, “Identity of Tang Daoist Priestesses,” 114–16; and chapter 6 and 7 for detailed discussions in this regard. 81. About the twin pillars, see Dorothy Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers, 12.

2. Destiny and Power of the Ordained Royal Women 1. Yu Xianhao, “Li Bai liangru Chang’an ji youguan jiaoyou kaobian” 㛶䘥ℑℍ攟⬱⍲ 㚱斄Ṍ忲侫彐, Nanjing shifan daxue xuebao ⋿Ṕⷓ䭬⣏⬠⬠⟙ 4 (1978): 62–71; and Yu, “Li Bai yu Yuzhen gongzhu guocong xintan” 㛶䘥冯䌱䛇℔ᷣ忶⽆㕘㍊, Wenxue yichan 㔯⬠怢䓊 1 (1994): 34–40. 2. Li Fengmao, “Tangdai gongzhu rudao yu ‘Song gongren rudao shi’ ” Ⓒẋ℔ᷣℍ忻冯 復⭖Ṣℍ忻娑, in You yu you: Liuchao Sui Tang youxianshi lunji ⸥冯忲: ℕ㛅昳Ⓒ忲ẁ娑 婾普 (Taibei: Xuesheng shuju, 1996), 293–336. 3. Ping Yao, “Contested Virtue: The Daoist Investiture of Princesses Jinxian and Yuzhen and the Journey of Tang Imperial Daughters,” T’ang Studies 22 (2007): 1–41. 4. Tsukamoto Zenryū, “Bōzan Unkyoji no sekkyō daizōkyō” ㇧Ⱉ暚⯭⮢̯䞛⇣⣏啷䴻, in Tsukamoto Zenryū chosaku shū ⠂㛔┬昮叿ἄ普 (Tokyo: Daitō shuppansha, 1974–76), 5: 293–610; Kegasawa Yasunori, “Jinxian gongzhu he Fangshan Yunjusi shijing” 慹ẁ ℔ᷣ␴㇧Ⱉ暚⯭⮢䞛䴻, in Tisanjie Zhongguo Tangdai wenhua xueshu yantaohui lunwenji 䫔ᶱ⯮ᷕ⚳Ⓒẋ㔯⊾⬠埻䞼妶㚫婾㔯普, ed. Zhongguo Tangdai xuehui bianji weiyuanhui ᷕ⚳Ⓒẋ⬠㚫䶐廗⥼⒉㚫 (Taibei: Yuexue shuju, 1997), 292–310; and Jinhua Chen, “A Daoist Princess and a Buddhist Temple: A New Theory on the Causes of the Canon-Delivering Mission Originally Proposed by Princess Jinxian (689–732) in 730,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 69, no. 2 (2006): 267–92. 5. In rare cases, such as those of Jinxian and Yuzhen, a few princesses had residential convents in the eastern capital Luoyang and other provincial locations. See later discussion. 6. The only exception was the Huayang convent, which was established to earn merit for Huayang’s posthumous welfare in 778. However, this convent was simply converted from the residence of Guo Yingyi 悕劙佑 and therefore did not cost much of the governmental reserve. See Wang Pu 䌳㹍 (922–982), Tang huiyao Ⓒ㚫天 (THY ) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1955), 50.878. [ 222 ]

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7. THY records the convent’s name as Huafeng 厗⮩, but according to Jing Luo’s Ṕ㳃 research, the name should be Yongmu. See Jing Luo, “Tang Chang’an cheng Taiping gongzhu zhaidi jiujing you jichu” Ⓒ攟⬱❶⣒⸛℔ᷣ⬭䫔䨞䪇㚱⸦嗽, Zhongguo lishi dili luncong ᷕ⚳㬟⎚⛘䎮婾⎊ 1 (1999): 181–83. 8. Ma Duanlin, Wenxian tongkao 㔯䌣忂侫 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986), 258.2045–46. 9. See Liu Ruozhuo and Sun Yizhong, Sandong xiudao yi, Daozang 忻啷 (DZ) (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin: Wenwu chubanshe, Shanghai shudian, Tianjin guji chubanshe, 1988), 1237: 167b; Jinming Qizhen 慹㖶ᶫ䛇, Dongxuan lingbao sandong fengdao kejie yingshi 㳆䌬曰⮞ᶱ㳆⣱忻䥹ㆺ䆇⥳, DZ 1237, 166b–69b. This text records that ordained Daoists of lower ranks, such as novice and Orthodox Unity, were allowed to stay married or to remain at home. However, according to a number of epitaphs, some Daoists who reached higher levels of ordination also remained married and at home, including the famous Daoist priest Deng Yankang 惏⺞⹟, the prime minister Li Deyu 㛶⽟塽 (787–850), and his wife, Liu Zhirou ∱农㝼, all of whom were ordained at the highest rank of the Great Cavern and Three Radiances but maintained their marriages. See Zheng Tian 惕䓳, “Tang gu shangdu Longxingguan Sandong jinglu cizi fashi Deng xiansheng muzhiming” Ⓒ㓭ᶲ悥漵冰奨ᶱ㳆䴻䰁岄䳓㱽ⷓ惏⃰䓇⠻娴所, in Quan Tangwen ℐⒸ㔯 (QTW ) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 767.7981; Li Deyu, “Tang Maoshan Yandonggong Dadong lianshi Pengcheng Liu shi muzhiming bingxu” Ⓒ劭Ⱉ 䅽㳆⭖⣏㳆拲ⷓ⼕❶∱㮷⠻娴所᷎⸷, in Tangdai muzhi huibian Ⓒẋ⠻娴⼁䶐 (MZ), ed. Zhou Shaoliang ␐䳡列 and Zhao Chao 嵁崭 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1992), 2303–04; and Li Deyu, “Sansheng beiji” ᶱ俾䠹姀, in Daojia jinshi lüe 忻⭞慹䞛䔍 (DJJSL), ed. Chen Yuan 昛❋, Chen Zhichao 昛㘢崭, and Zeng Qingying 㚦ㄞ䐃 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1985), 175. 10. Zhang Jiong ⻝ℷ, “Tang gu Jiuhuaguan zhu [two characters missing] shi cangxing ji” Ⓒ㓭ḅ厗奨ᷣ [敽Ḵ⫿] ⷓ啷⼊姀, in Tangdai muzhi huibian xuji Ⓒẋ⠻娴⼁䶐临普, ed. Zhou Shaoliang ␐䳡列 and Zhao Chao 嵁崭 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2001), 795. 11. Wang Qinruo 䌳㫥劍 (962–1025) et al., eds., Cefu yuangui Ⅎ⹄⃫潄 (CFYG) (Nanjing: Fenghuang chubanshe, 2009), 54.557. 12. See Li Yong 㛶怽 (678–747), “Wutaishan Qingliangsi bei” Ḽ冢Ⱉ㶭㵤⮢䠹, QTW, 264.6a–8a. 13. It was common for medieval Chinese Buddhists to undertake pious acts such as ordination to gain merit for their ancestors so as to obtain the release of the souls of the deceased from hell and their entry into the realm of blessedness (Futian 䤷䓘 or Fudi 䤷⛘). Daoism adopted this notion and practice. 14. Peng Dingqiu ⼕⭂㯪 (1645–1719) et al., eds., Quan Tangshi ℐⒸ娑 (QTS) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960), 183.4738–40; Ouyang Xiu 㫸春ᾖ (1007–1072), Xin Tangshu 㕘Ⓒ㚠 (XTS) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975), 83.3650–52; Sima Guang ⎠楔⃱ (1019– 1086), Zizhi tongjian 屯㱣忂揺 (ZZTJ) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1971), 202.6402. See Barrett, Taoism Under the T’ang, 35. After Xue Shao died, Taiping was married a second time, to Wu Youji 㬎え㙐. Charles Benn has argued that, according to Song Minqiu’s ⬳㓷㯪 Chang’an zhi 攟⬱⽿, the Taiping convent was built when the princess was first ordained, and since the Chang’an zhi was based on Wei Shu’s 杳徘 (d. 757) Liangjing xinji ℑṔ㕘姀, its record is more reliable, so the ZZTJ’s record must be incorrect. See Benn, Cavern-Mystery Transmission: A Daoist Ordination Rite of A.D. 711 2 . D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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22. 23.

24.

(Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1991), 85–86. However, ZZTJ’s record is in accord with XTS’s, whereas the Chang’an zhi mentions only that the convent was built after the princess’s ordination, without specifying the first or second investiture. Since Taiping was only about age eight when first initiated, it is unlikely that the empress built a convent for her to reside in. QTS, 195.5211; XTS, 83.3668, 217b.6129; THY, 6.77–78, 98.1748–49; and ZZTJ, 241.7789–91. See Denis Sinor, “The Uighur Empire of Mongolia,” in Studies in Medieval Inner Asia (Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1997), 17; Michael R. Drompp, Tang China and the Collapse of the Uighur Empire: A Documentary History (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 32; Colin Mackerras, The Uighur Empire According to the T’ang Dynastic Histories: A Study in Sino-Uighur Relations 744–840 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1973), 44–47; and Mackerras, “Uygur–Tang relations,” Central Asian Survey 19, no. 2 (2000): 223–34. I am grateful to David Bello and Nicola Di Cosmo for bringing these works to my attention. XTS, 83.3668. THY and XTS (which mistakenly gives the name as Xueguo 啃⚳ ) record Caiguo’s two marriages, to Wang Shouyi 䌳⬰ᶨ and to Pei Xun 墜ⶥ. According to the epitaph of her daughter Pei Shangjian (Yuzhen’s daughter-in-law), Caiguo also was married a third time, to Pei Zhen 墜捖, who was Shangjian’s father. See Zhang Jiong, “Tang gu Jiuhua guan zhu [two characters missing] shi cangxing ji,” MZ, 795; and Anonym, “Tang gu Yinqing guanglu dafu Guozi jijiu Shangzhuguo Weijun kaiguogong Fuma duwei Pei gong muzhiming bingxu” Ⓒ㓭戨曺⃱䤧⣏⣓⚳⫸䤕惺ᶲ㞙⚳櫷悉攳⚳℔榁 楔悥⮱墜℔⠻娴所᷎⸷, in Liu Lianxiang ∱忋楁, “Tang Zhongzong Ruizong Fuma Pei Xun muzhi kaolüe” Ⓒᷕ⬿䜧⬿榁楔墜ⶥ⠻娴侫䔍, Luoyang shifan xueyuan xuebao 㳃春ⷓ䭬⬠昊⬠⟙ 3 (2004): 9–12. Xianyi was first married to Yang Hui 㣲㲬 and then to Xiao Song Ⲽⴑ. See THY, 6.64; XTS, 83.3659. The “Feng Tangchang gongzhu deng zhi” ⮩Ⓒ㖴℔ᷣ䫱⇞ mistakenly records that Tangchang married Zhang Ji ⻝✵; in fact, it was her sister, Princess Ningqin ⮏奒, who married him. See Tang dazhaoling ji Ⓒ⣏姼Ẍ普 (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1959), 194. Liu Xu ∱㗓 (888–947), Jiu Tangshu 冲Ⓒ㚠 ( JTS) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975), 107.3259–60; XTS, 82.3607–8; and ZZTJ, 214.6828–29. Zhang Quanmin ⻝ℐ㮹 has studied this event; see “Tangchang gongzhu muzhiming kaoshi” Ⓒ㖴℔ᷣ⠻娴所侫慳, Tang yanjiu Ⓒ䞼䨞 20 (2014): 265–80. Zhang Ding ⻝溶, “Da Tang gu Liangguo furen He shi muzhiming bingxu” ⣏Ⓒ㓭 㠩⚳⣓Ṣ屨㮷⠻娴所᷎⸷, in Da Tang Xishi bowuguan cang muzhi ⣏Ⓒ大ⶪ⌂䈑棐啷⠻娴, ed. Hu Ji 傉㇇ and Rong Xinjiang 㥖㕘㰇 (Beijing: Peking University Press, 2012), 487–89. XTS, 83.3670. XTS, 83.3658; Xu Qiao ⼸ⵈ, “Da Tang gu Jinxian zhanggongzhu zhishiming bingxu” ⣏Ⓒ㓭慹ẁ攟℔ᷣ⽿䞛所᷎⸷, MZ, 552–53. “Grand princess” (zhang gongzhu 攟℔ᷣ) refers to a sister of the current emperor. XTS, 83.3666, 3668. Ping Yao has contended that becoming Daoist priestesses would bring “tremendous wealth” to the princesses. See Yao, “Contested Virtues,” 11. This argument seems exaggerated. Ordained princesses usually received the same stipend as others; only in particular times and specific cases were somewhat additional

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25. 26.

27. 28.

29. 30.

31. 32. 33. 34.

35. 36. 37.

38. 39.

40.

41. 42. 43.

allowances given. In contrast, since unordained princesses were usually married to sons of high officials and great families, their wealth was greatly increased through marriage and therefore in fact they were much richer than ordained princesses. See figure 1.1 in chapter 1 of this book. See, for example, Wu Yuanheng 㬎⃫堉 (d. 813), “Ti gu Caiguo gongzhu Jiuhuaguan shangchiyuan” 柴㓭哉⚳℔ᷣḅ厗奨ᶲ㰈昊, QTS, 317.3558; and Quan Deyu 㪲⽟廧, “Shangshiri gongyuan kao zawen busui, hu Jiuhuaguan guan fuxi zhihui, yi erjueju shenzeng” ᶲ⶛㖍届昊侫暄㔯ᶵ忪, 崜ḅ厗奨奨䣻䤲ᷳ㚫, ẍḴ䳽⎍䓛岰, QTS, 329.3678. THY, 50.875; Xu Song ⼸㜦 (1781–1848), Tang liangjing cheng fang kao ⒸℑṔ❶⛲侫 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), 3.60. See, for example, Yan Xiufu ♜ẹ⽑, “Tangchangguan yuruihua zhe, you xianren you, changran cheng erjue” Ⓒ㖴奨䌱哲剙㉀, 㚱ẁṢ㷠, そ䃞ㆸḴ䳽, QTS, 463.5267–68; and Wang Jian 䌳⺢, “Tangchangguan yuruihua” Ⓒ㖴奨䌱哲剙, QTS, 301.3437. Quyang Zhan 㫸春娡, “Wanyue shi” 䍑㚰娑, QTS, 349.3899. Zhu Jicheng 㛙慹❶, Bai Juyi nianpu 䘥⯭㖻⸜嬄 (Taibei: Wenshizhe chubanshe, 1991), 32–36. For a detailed study of the convents’ influences on Tang people, see Li Fengmao, “Tangdai gongzhu rudao,” 308–24. See Jia, “Yaochi ji,” 239–40; Jia, “Unsold Peony,” 33; and chapters 6 and 7 of this book. Zhang Jian ⻝㻠, “Huang diwu sunnü muzhiming bingxu” 䘯䫔Ḽ⬓⤛⠻娴所᷎⸷, in MZ, 21–22. Zhang Jiong, “Tang gu Jiuhuaguan zhu [two characters missing] shi cangxing ji,” MZ, 795. THY, 5.60; JTS, 193.5151. Li Yuanzhen’s memorial is preserved in QTW, 945.5a–b. See Edward Schafer, “The Capeline Cantos: Verses on the Divine Loves of Taoist Priestesses,” Asiatische Studien 32 (1978): 8. See, for example, QTW, 1.2b, 3.14a–b; 12.1a–2a; 42.19a–b. QTS, 195.2010, 491.5554, 273.3094, 300.3412, 310.3503, 384.4305, 540.6196, 554.6424, 492.5573. The first two poems are similar, with minor variants. For a detailed discussion of these poems, see Li Fengmao, “Tangdai gongzhu rudao,” 324–33. I do not count the ordination of Yang Yuhuan 㣲䌱䑘, better known as Precious Consort Yang, because her investiture was just a device for dissolving her marriage to Prince Shou ⢥䌳 and then marrying the prince’s father, Xuanzong ( JTS, 51.2178; XTS, 76.3493). Xu Hun 姙㷦, “Zeng Xiao lianshi bingxu” 岰唕䃱ⷓ᷎⸷, QTS, 537.6128–29. Li Fang 㛶㖱 (925–996) et al., eds., Taiping guangji ⣒⸛⺋姀 (TPGJ) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), 66.413. See Schafer, “Capeline Cantos,” 8. The Song dynasty text Nanyue zongsheng ji ⋿ⵥ䷥⊅普 records that Lu Meiniang was sent to Mount Heng, where she attained immortality. See Chen Tianfu 昛䓘⣓, Nanyue zongsheng ji, in Taishō shinshū daizōkyō ⣏㬋㕘ᾖ⣏啷䴻, 51:1986b. Lu Lun, “Ti Anguoguan” 柴⬱⚳奨, QTS, 783.8843, 279.3169. This poem appears twice in the QTS; in juan 279 it is attributed to Lu Lun and titled “Guo Yuzhen gongzhu yingdian” 忶䌱䛇℔ᷣ⼙㭧, without the note; in juan 783 it is titled “Ti Anguo guan” with the note, but attributed to a certain Minister Lu (Lu shangshu 䚏⯂㚠). The name of the author and title of the epitaph are missing, MZ, 14–15. Li Linfu, Tang liudian, 12.359. Zhang Jiong, “Tang gu Jiuhua guan zhu [two characters missing] shi cangxing ji,” MZ, 795.

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44. Li Yuan 㛶怈, “Guan Lian nüzhen zang” 奨⹱⤛䛇吔, QTS, 519.5930–31. 45. TPGJ, 66.413. The category of “Female Immortals” in the QTS (863.9756) includes two poems attributed to Lu Meiniang, possibly a later creation. See Edward H. Schafer, “Three Divine Women of South China,” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 1 (1979): 31–42. Schafer also briefly discusses Lu Meiniang in his “Capeline Cantos,” 8. 46. Xu Hun, “Zeng Xiao lianshi,” QTS, 537.6128–29. 47. Xu Qiao ⼸ⵈ, “Da Tang gu Jinxian zhanggongzhu shendao beiming bingxu” ⣏Ⓒ 㓭慹ẁ攟℔ᷣ䤆忻䠹所᷎⸷, in Wang Chang 䌳㗞 (1725–1807), Jinshi cuibian 慹䞛厫䶐, in Shike shiliao xinbian 䞛⇣⎚㕁㕘䶐, series 1, vol. 2, 1337b–40a; DJJSL, 118–120; and QTW, 267.9b-11a. QTW’s version is the poorest. Wang Chang and other stele bibliographers mistakenly recorded the author as Xu Qiaozhi ⼸ⵈᷳ. In accordance with recently unearthed epitaphs written for Xu Qiao and his wife, Zhao Zhenhua 嵁㋗厗 and Wang Ruifang 䌳䐆剛 have verified that the author must be Xu Qiao. See Zhao, “Tang Xu Qiao muzhi yu Xu Qiao qi Wang Lin muzhi chutan” Ⓒ⼸ⵈ⠻娴冯⼸ⵈ⥣ 䌳䏛⠻娴⇅㍊, in Tangshi luncong Ⓒ⎚婾⎊ 9 (2007): 239–52; and Wang, “Tang Xu Qiao yipian jikao” Ⓒ⼸ⵈἂ䭯廗侫, in Tushu yu qingbao ⚾㚠冯ね⟙ 4 (2010): 152–54. 48. XTS records Jinxian and Yuzhen as the ninth and tenth daughters of Ruizong, but according to epitaphs written for princesses Daiguo ẋ⚳, Liangguo 㵤⚳, and Jinxian, and other texts, Jinxian should be the eighth and Yuzhen the ninth. See Tao Min 昞㓷, “Liu Yuxi shizhong de Jiuxian gongzhu kao” ∱䥡拓娑ᷕ䘬ḅẁ℔ᷣ侫, Tang wenxue yu wenxian lunji Ⓒ㔯⬠冯㔯䌣婾普 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2010), 264–73. 49. See Jinxian’s two funeral biographies. “Xicheng” is mistakenly recorded as “Xi ning” 大⮏ in some texts. 50. Longchang is also copied as Changlong 㖴昮 because of scribal error, or as Xingchang 冰㖴, Chongchang ⲯ㖴, or other variations, to avoid Emperor Xuanzong’s name taboo “Long” 昮 (his name is Li Longji 㛶昮➢). 51. See Zhao Mingcheng 嵁㖶婈 (1081–1129), Jinshi lu jiaozheng 慹䞛抬㟉嫱, ed. Jin Wenming 慹㔯㖶 (Guilin: Guangxi shifan daxue chubanshe, 2005), 27.469; XTS, 83.3657. 52. Tao Min, “Liu Yuxi shizhong de Jiuxian gongzhu kao,” 264–73. 53. Jinxian’s epitaph says she was initiated at age eighteen, while her tomb-pathway stele inscription specifies the year as 706. In an inscription recording Yuzhen’s religious mission to Qiaojun 嬁悉, Cai Wei 哉䏳 says she was ordained at age sixteen but mistakenly records the year as 711. See Cai, “Yuzhen gongzhu chaoye Qiaojun Zhenyuangong shoudao Wangwushan Xianrentan xiangying ji” 䌱䛇℔ᷣ㛅媩嬁悉䛇㸸⭖⍿忻 䌳⯳ⰙẁṢ⡯䤍ㅱ姀, DJJSL, 139–40. If Yuzhen was sixteen in 711, she would have been born in 695, but this is impossible because her mother Lady Dou died in 692 (see later discussion). Moreover, Yuzhen accepted her second investiture (the higher level of the Cavern-Mystery transmission), not the first, in 711. Her first investiture should have occurred in 706, at the same time as Jinxian’s. If she was sixteen in 706, she would have been born in 691, in accordance with her mother’s time. 54. JTS, 51.2176; ZZTJ, 205.6488. The XTS (4.93) records this event in the twelfth month of Changshou 2 (693). Dou was promoted to Defei ⽟⤫ (Virtuous Consort) when Ruizong was enthroned in 684, but in 692 he had already been demoted to prince; therefore, Dou’s title must also have been demoted to Consort. [ 226 ]

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55. Liu Su ∱倭, Da Tang xinyu ⣏Ⓒ㕘婆 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2004), 5.76; ZZTJ, 208.6583–614. 56. CFYG, 53.557; ZZTJ, 210.6659. 57. CFYG, 53.557; ZZTJ, 208.6583. 58. ZZTJ, 208.6614. 59. Xuanzong, “Kaiyuan Shengwen shenwu huangdi zhu Daodejing chi” 攳⃫俾㔯䤆㬎 䘯ⷅ㲐忻⽟䴻㓽, in DJJSL, 118; CFYG, 53.557. 60. See Benn, Cavern-Mystery Transmission, 9. 61. Some scholars have suggested that behind the princesses’ choice was their desire to escape the constant strife and intrigue associated with court politics. See, for example, Benn, Cavern-Mystery Transmission, 9. But this is a solid reason only for their first investiture, not the second and third. 62. DZ, 1241. 63. In addition to the Daoist titles, Shi Chongxuan was also conferred four court official titles. For detailed discussion on Shi, see Benn, Cavern-Mystery Transmission, 16–19; for a discussion of Zhang Wanfu and his works, see 19–20. 64. See, for example, Cai Wei 哉䏳, “Yuzhen gongzhu shoudao lingtan xiangying ji” 䌱䛇 ℔ᷣ⍿忻曰⡯䤍ㅱ姀, in DJJSL, 139–40; XTS, 83.3657. 65. Edward Schafer briefly discusses this event; see Schafer, “The Capeline Cantos,” 7. 66. CFYG, 53.557; ZZTJ, 210.6659; and THY (50.871) give two different decrees with two different dates: Xicheng’s (mistakenly written as Xining; i.e., Jinxian) on the seventeenth day, and Longchang’s (mistakenly written as Changlong; i.e., Yuzhen) on the seventh day. Since all other sources are consistent in the date and THY is well known for its editorial and scribal errors, there should not have been two decrees. 67. THY, 50.871; ZZTJ, 210.6659; QTW, 278.6b–8a. Ning was Grand Master of Remonstration ( Jianyi dafu 媓嬘⣏⣓) then. Ning Tiyuan is written as Ning Yuanti ⮏⍇〴 in ZZTJ and QTW. The memorial recorded in ZZTJ is an abridged mixture of two memorials, the first on curbing the power of the princesses and their husbands in a different case (the third of five memorials preserved in QTW ) and the second on the construction plan. 68. THY, 50.872–73; CFYG, 53.557; JTS, 7.1517; XTS, 5.118; and ZZTJ, 210.6665. These records differ regarding days. Here I follow XTS’s dating because the Song dynasty scholar Lü Xiaqing ⏪⢷⌧ (1015–1068) viewed the Ruizong shilu 䜧⬿⮎抬, which recorded the same day as XTS. See Lü, Tangshu zhibi Ⓒ㚠䚜䫮, Siku quanshu ⚃⹓ℐ㚠 (SKQS), 3.12b. 69. THY, 50.871; Chang’an zhi, 10.1b–2a. 70. THY, 50.872–73; CFYG, 545.6237; JTS, 101.3158–62; XTS, 126.4413–14; ZZTJ, 210.6665; and QTW, 237.12b–13b; 278.2b–4a. At that time, Wei was Gentleman Cavalier Attendant on the Right (You sanji changshi ⎛㔋榶ⷠἵ), Li was Vice Director of the Chancellery (Huangmen shilang 湫攨ἵ恶), and Cui was Vice Director of the Bureau of Appointments (Libu yuanwailang ⎷悐⒉⢾恶). 71. THY, 50.873–74; CFYG, 545.6237–38, 553.6326; JTS, 101.3158–61; XTS, 118.4279– 81; ZZTJ, 210.6668–69; and QTW, 237.13b–14a, 272.9b–13a. Xin was then Rectifier of Omissions on the Right (You buque ⎛墄敽 ). 72. THY, 50.873; CFYG, 552.6316–17; JTS, 100.3128–29; XTS, 130.4488; WYYH, 621.3218a; and QTW, 279.15b–16b. Pei was then Secretariat Drafter (Zhongshu sheren ᷕ㚠况Ṣ). 2 . D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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73. THY, 50.874; Song Minqiu, Tang dazhaoling ji Ⓒ⣏姼Ẍ普 (SKQS), 108.5b–6a; QTW, 18.16a–b. 74. THY, 50.874–75; CFYG, 545.6238–39; JTS, 101.3145–46; XTS, 118.4266; and QTW, 200.6b-8b. Wei was then vice minister of the Court of Judicial Review (Taifu shaoqing ⣒⹄⮹⌧ ). 75. Ping Yao has contended that opposition to the construction signaled the determination of court officials to curb the influence of royal women in politics that had characterized the reigns of Empress Wu and Emperor Zhongzong. See Yao, “Contested Virtue,” 2–3. My interpretation of the eight memorials disagrees with this opinion. 76. XTS, 83.3656–57, 36.954. See also Benn, Cavern-Mystery Transmission, 18–19. 77. Zhongguo fojiao xiehui, Fangshan Yunjusi shijing, 15; and Beijing tushuguan jinshizu ⊿Ṕ⚾㚠棐慹䞛䳬 and Zhongguo fojiao tushu wenwuguan shijingzu ᷕ⚳ἃ㔁⚾㚠㔯 䈑棐䞛䴻䳬, Fangshan shijing tiji huibian ㇧Ⱉ䞛䴻柴姀⼂䶐 (Beijing: Shumu wenxian chubanshe, 1987), 11–12. Translation adapted from Jinhua Chen, “A Daoist Princess and a Buddhist Temple,” 267–68. At the end of the inscription are signed the names and titles of two scripture deliverers, Zhisheng 㘢㖯 and Xiuzhang 䥨䐳, and of the monk of Yunju monastery, Xuanfa 䌬㱽 (fl. 726–755). 78. According to the “Da Tang Yunjusi Shijingtang bei” ⣏Ⓒ暚⯭⮢䞛䴻➪䠹 (Fangshan shijing tiji huibian, 9), Xuanfa was a rector (shangzuo ᶲ⹏) in Yunju monastery in 726, so by 730 he was possibly the abbot, especially considering that he was appointed as general inspector and collator and commissioned with the reciting of the canon. Jinhua Chen has made this point; see Chen, “A Daoist Princess and a Buddhist Temple,” 269. 79. See, for example, Chen, “A Daoist Princess and a Buddhist Temple,” 270. 80. Since the inscription was written in 740, ten years after Jinxian’s petition, scholars have given different explanations. Some believe the collection was delivered in 730 and the inscription was a later record; see, for example, Tsukamoto Zenryū, “Bōzan Unkyoji no sekkyō daizōkyō,” 293–610. Others have speculated that the collection was not delivered until 740 because the Kaiyuan canon was still being compiled or copies were being made during these ten years; see, for example, Chen, “A Daoist Princess and a Buddhist Temple,” 270–71. 81. After the Tang, the Liao and Jin dynasties continued carrying out the project, until the thirteenth century. For general surveys of the history of the Fangshan stone canon, see Tsukamoto Zenryū, “Bōzan Unkyoji no sekkyō daizōkyō,” 293–610; Zhongguo fojiao xiehui ᷕ⚳ἃ㔁⋼㚫, ed., Fangshan Yunjusi shijing ㇧Ⱉ暚⯭⮢䞛䴻 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1978); and Lothar Ledderose, “Carving Sutras into Stone Before the Catastrophe,” Proceedings of the British Academy 125 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 381–454. 82. Tsukamoto Zenryū, “Bōzan Unkyoji no sekkyō daizōkyō,” 293–610. Among other suggestions, Kegasawa Yasunori has speculated that Jinxian may have been connected with the Yunju monastery through her friendship with Xu Qiao ⼸ⵈ, who was related to Xiao Yu 唕䏨 (574–647) and Empress Xiao (d. 630) of the Sui dynasty, two early supporters of the project. See Kegasawa, “Jinxian gongzhu he Fangshan Yunjusi shijing,” 292–310. Jinhua Chen, meanwhile, has proposed the source of Jinxian’s interest in the project to be her connection with Fazang 㱽啷 (643–712), the great Avataṃsaka master, who likely performed a major ritual at the Yunju monastery to help suppress the Khitan army in 697. See Chen, “A Daoist Princess and a Buddhist Temple,” 272–90. [ 228 ]

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83. Zhao Qian 嵁怟, “Da Tang gu dade zeng Sikong Dabianzheng guangzhi Bukong sanzang xingzhuang” ⣏Ⓒ㓭⣏⽟岰⎠䨢⣏彐㬋⺋㘢ᶵ䨢ᶱ啷埴䉨, T 50: 292a–294c. 84. Sun Chengze, Chunming mengyu lu 㗍㖶⣊检抬 (SKQS) (Beijing: Beijing guji chubanshe, 1992) 68.49a. 85. Zhang Jiong, “Tang gu Jiuhuaguan zhu [two characters missing] shi cangxing ji,” MZ, 795. 86. Zheng Chuhui 惕嗽㘎, Minghuang zalu 㖶䘯暄抬, in Ding Ruming ᶩ㰅㖶, ed., Kaiyuan Tianbao yishi shizhong 攳⃫⣑⮞怢ḳ⋩䧖 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1985), 26–27. 87. QTS, 191.5106–5107; and XTS, 204.5810–11. 88. THY, 50.876; and Xu Song, Tang liangjing cheng fang kao, 5.149. The Chang’an zhi mistakenly records the convent as being in Chang’an (10.16a). See Yang Hongnian 㣲泣⸜, Sui Tang liangjing fangli pu 昳ⒸℑṔ⛲慴嬄 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1999), 68–69. 89. Kang Pian ⹟榊, Jutan lu ∯婯抬 (SKQS ed.), 2.16a–b. 90. Cai, “Yuzhen gongzhu chaoye Qiaojun Zhenyuangong,” DJJSL, 139–40; and Cai, “Tang Dongjing daomen weiyishi Shengzhen Xuanyuan liangguan zhu qingxu dongfu lingdu xiantai Zhenxuan xiansheng Zhang zunshi yilie beiming” Ⓒ㜙Ṕ忻 攨⦩₨ἧ俾䛇䌬⃫ℑ奨ᷣ㶭嘃㳆⹄曰悥ẁ⎘屆䌬⃰䓇⻝⮲ⷓ怢䁰䠹所, in DJJSL, 136–37. 91. Chen Tiemin 昛揝㮹, ed., Wang Wei ji jiaozhu 䌳䵕普㟉㲐 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1997), 3.241. 92. Dai Xuan ㇜䑧 and Liu Tongsheng ∱⎴㖯, “Da Tang shengzu Xuanyuan huangdi lingying song” ⣏Ⓒ俾䣾䌬⃫䘯ⷅ曰ㅱ枴, engraved on the back of the stele titled “Da Tang Zongshengguan ji bei” ⣏Ⓒ⬿俾奨姀䠹 in 742. This stele is preserved in the Louguan tai 㦻奨⎘ in Zhouzhi ␐军, Shaanxi. A copy of the text is included in Zhu Xiangshan 㛙尉Ⱉ, ed., Gu Louguan ziyun yanqing ji ⎌㦻奨䳓暚埵ㄞ普, DZ 19: 552– 53, 565–66. 93. QTS, 192.5128; XTS, 196.5606. 94. This ritual implied the symbolism of using dragons as postmen to deliver writs to immortals, usually including the performance of throwing golden dragons and writs into waters. See, i.e., Liu Zhaorui ∱㗕䐆, “Cong kaogu cailiao kan Daojiao toulongyi: Jianlun toulongyi de qiyuan” ⽆侫⎌㛸㕁䚳忻㔁㈽漵₨: ℤ婾㈽漵₨䘬崟㸸, in Kaogu faxian yu zaoqi Daojiao yanjiu 侫⎌䘤䎦冯㖑㛇忻㔁䞼䨞 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2007), 235–61. 95. Jiao Zhenjing is also written as Jiao Jingzhen 䃎朄䛇; see Li Bo 㛶㷌, Zhenxi 䛇䲣, QTW, 712.28a–b; Paul W. Kroll, “Notes on Three Taoist Figures of the T’ang Dynasty,” Society for the Study of Chinese Religions Bulletin 9 (1981): 23–30; and discussions in chapter 3 of this book. 96. Han Xiu 杻ẹ, “Tang Yuzhen gongzhu Xianjutai bei” Ⓒ䌱䛇℔ᷣẁ⯭⎘䠹. This stele and its inscription have been lost. The Jigu lumu 普⎌抬䚖, however, recorded it, and it is cited by Chen Si 昛⿅, Baoke congbian ⮞⇣⎊䶐 (SKQS), 8.16b–17a. 97. For Yuzhen’s mission and activities in 743, see Cai, “Yuzhen gongzhu chaoye Qiaojun Zhenyuangong,” DJJSL, 139–40. 98. De ⽟ [family name missing], “Da Tang Wangwushan xianren [seven characters missing] Yuzhen gongzhu [some characters missing] beiming bingxu” ⣏Ⓒ䌳⯳ⰙẁṢ[敽 ᶫ⫿] 䌱䛇℔ᷣ [ 敽㔠⫿] 䠹所᷎⸷, DJJSL, 144–45. 99. XTS, 204.5811, 59.1518. 2 . D E S T I N Y A N D P OW E R O F O R DA I N E D RO YA L WO M E N

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100. Yao Ji ⦂樍, “Da Tang He’ensi gu dade chi shihao Fajin chanshi muzhiming bingxu” ⣏Ⓒ匟】⮢㓭⣏⽟㓽媉嘇㱽㳍䥒ⷓ⠻娴所᷎⸷, in Xi’an Beilin bowuguan xincang muzhi huibian 大⬱䠹㜿⌂䈑棐㕘啷⠻娴⼁䶐 (Beijing: Xianzhuang shuju, 2007), 524–28; and Ruican 扛䆎, “Da Tang He’ensi gu dade Fajin chanshi ming bingxu” ⣏Ⓒ匟】⮢㓭⣏ ⽟㱽㳍䥒ⷓ所᷎⸷, in Xi’an Beilin bowuguan xincang muzhi huibian, 616–18. 101. Some scholars have even suggested that a literary salon was formed, with Yuzhen as its patron, during Xuanzong’s reign. See, for example, Ding Fang ᶩ㓦 and Yuan Xingpei 堩埴暰, “Yuzhen gongzhu kaolun: Yi qi yu shengtang shitan de guanxi wei guijie” 䌱䛇℔ᷣ侫婾: ẍ℞冯䚃Ⓒ娑⡯䘬斄Ὢ䁢㬠䳸, Beijing daxue xuebao ⊿Ṕ⣏⬠⬠⟙ 41, no. 2 (2004): 41–52. Judging from available sources, sufficient evidence for such a “salon” seems to be lacking. 102. Emperor Xuanzong, “Tong Yuzhen gongzhu guo dage shanchi” ⎴䌱䛇℔ᷣ忶⣏⒍ Ⱉ㰈, QTS, 3.30. 103. Zhang Yue, “Fenghe shengzhi ‘Tong Yuzhen gongzhu you dage shanchi ti shibi’ ” ⣱␴俾⇞⎴䌱䛇℔ᷣ㷠⣏⒍Ⱉ㰈柴䞛⡩, QTS, 89.982; and Zhang, “Fenghe shengzhi ‘Tong Yuzhen gongzhu guo dage shanchi ti shibi’ yingzhi” ⣱␴俾⇞⎴䌱䛇℔ᷣ忶⣏ ⒍Ⱉ㰈柴䞛⡩ㅱ⇞ QTS, 87.943. 104. Wang Wei, “Fenghe shengzhi ‘Xing Yuzhen gongzhu shanzhuang yin ti shibi shiyun zhizuo’ yingzhi” ⣱␴俾⇞⸠䌱䛇℔ᷣⰙ匲⚈柴䞛⡩⋩枣ᷳἄㅱ⇞, QTS, 127.1286–87. 105. For detailed discussions of these excursions, see Jia Jinhua, Tangdai jihui zongji yu shirenqun yanjiu Ⓒẋ普㚫䷥普冯娑Ṣ佌䞼䨞, 2nd ed. (Beijing: Beijing University Press, 2015), 11–72. 106. QTS, 168.1733–34. 107. See Yu Xianhao, “Li Bai liangru Chang’an ji youguan jiaoyou kaobian,” 62–71; and Yu, “Li Bai yu Yuzhen gongzhu guocong xintan,” 34–40. 108. QTS, 167.1727. 109. See Yu Xianhao, “Wu Yun jian Li Bai shuo bianyi” ⏛䬈啎㛶䘥婒彐䔹, Nanjing shifan daxue xuebao 1 (1981): 40–46. 110. Li Qi, “Song Kang Qia rujing jin yuefu ge” 復⹟㳥ℍṔ忚㦪⹄㫴, QTS, 133.1351. 111. Li Duan 㛶䪗, “Zeng Kang Qia” 岰⹟㳥, QTS, 284.3238–39; and Dai Shulun ㇜⍼ΐ, “Zeng Kang laoren Qia” 岰⹟侩Ṣ㳥, QTS, 274.3112. A narrative from the Tang era says that the poet Wang Wei was recommended by a princess as the top graduate sent from the capital region for the jinshi examination. See Xue Yongruo 啃䓐⻙, Jiyi ji 普䔘姀, quoted in Li Fang et al., eds., Taiping guangji (TPGJ), 179.1331–32. Later, in the Yuan dynasty Tang caizi zhuan Ⓒㇵ⫸⁛, this “princess” was changed to “Jiu gongzhu” ḅ℔ᷣ, meaning Yuzhen. See Xin Wenfang 彃㔯㇧, Tang caizi zhuan (SKQS), 2.2a–b. But this later change does not have any early support. 112. Gao Shi, “Yuzhen gongzhu ge” 䌱䛇℔ᷣ㫴, QTS, 214.2242–43; Chu Guangxi, “Yuzhen gongzhu shanju” 䌱䛇℔ᷣⰙ⯭, QTS, 139.1418; Lu Lun, “Guo Yuzhen gongzhu yingdian,” QTS, 379.3169; Sikong Shu, “Ti Yuzhen gongzhu shanchiyuan” 柴䌱 䛇℔ᷣⰙ㰈昊, QTS, 292.3309; Zhang Ji, “Yuzhenguan” 䌱䛇奨, QTS, 386.4361; Li Qunyu, “Yuzhenguan” 䌱䛇奨, QTS, 569.6596; Wang Jian, “Jiuxian gongzhu jiuzhuang” ḅẁ℔ᷣ冲匲, QTS, 300.3403; and Liu Yuxi, “Jing dongdu Anguoguan Jiuxian gongzhu jiuyuan zuo” 䴻㜙悥⬱⚳奨ḅẁ℔ᷣ冲昊ἄ, QTS, 357.4016. 113. JTS, 86.2825–26; and XTS, 81.3586–87. 114. XTS, 134.4559. 115. XTS, 192.5532. [ 230 ]

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116. Liu Cheng, Changshi yanzhi ⷠἵ妨㖐, incorporated into TPGJ, 188.1408–1409. However, TPGJ mistakenly attributes the account to Rongmu xiantan ㆶⷽ攺婯. See Li Jianguo, 㛶∵⚳, Tang Wudai zhiguai chuanqi xulu ⒸḼẋ⽿⿒⁛⣯㔀抬 (Tianjin: Nankai University Press, 1993), 600. 117. QTS, 184.4760; XTS, 208.5880–81; and ZZTJ, 221.7093–96. The three texts, however, add a Lady Ruxian ⤪ẁ⩃ to the event as the one banished to the south, undoubtedly because those later authors did not know that “Jiuxian” was Yuzhen’s nickname and therefore mistakenly added such a figure. 118. Zhao Mingcheng, Jinshi lu jiaozheng, 27.469. 119. Xuanzong died on the fifth day of the jiansi ⺢⶛ (fourth) month of Yuannian (May 3, 762). See ZZTJ, 222.7123. 120. Zhao Mingcheng, Jinshi lu jiaozheng, 27.469. 121. This stele and its cover are preserved in the Pucheng Museum. See Wang Renbo 䌳ṩ㲊, ed., Sui Tang Wudai muzhi huibian, Shaanxi juan 昳ⒸḼẋ⠻娴⼁䶐, 昅大⌟ (Tianjin: Tianjin guji chubanshe, 1991), 162. 122. Jinxian’s tomb-path stele inscription was transcribed by Emperor Xuanzong, the two princesses’ full brother; this also displays his deep feelings for his sister. 123. The end of the epitaph is signed “Liangzhou dudufu hucao canjun zhi Jixianyuan Wei Linghe fengjiao jianjiao juanle bing ti zhuan’e” 㠩ⶆ悥䜋⹄㇞㚡⍫幵䚜普岊昊堃曰 浜⣱㔁㩊㟉揓≺᷎柴䭮柵. 124. For a detailed discussion of Ouyang Xun’s calligraphy, see Stephen J. Goldberg, “Court Calligraphy of the Early T’ang Dynasty,” Artibus Asiae 49 (1988–89): 189–237. For a detailed discussion of the inscription’s calligraphic art, see Chang Chun ⷠ㗍, “Tangdai gongzhu shufa yishu guankui” Ⓒẋ℔ᷣ㚠㱽喅埻䭉䩢, Shaanxi shifan daxue xuebao 昄大ⷓ䭬⣏⬠⬠⟙ 42, no. 3 (2013): 91–96. 125. The Ling fei jing is signed “Dadong sanjing dizi Yuzhen zhanggongzhu fengchi jianjiao xie” ⣏㳆ᶱ㘗⻇⫸䌱䛇攟℔ᷣ⣱≹㩊㟉⮓. See “Ling fei jing ce” 曰梃䴻Ⅎ, Weng Wange xiansheng zhencang shuhua zhuanji 佩叔ㆰ⃰䓇䍵啷㚠䔓⮰廗, in Yiyuan duoying 刢剹㌯劙 34 (1987): 43–46; and Shanghai shuhua chubanshe ᶲ㴟㚠䔓↢䇰䣦, ed., Lingfei jing xiaokai moji 曰梃䴻⮷㤟⡐帇 (Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 2000). 126. See Qi Gong ┇≇, “Ji Ling fei jing sishisan hang ben” 姀曰梃䴻⚃⋩ᶱ埴㛔, Yiyuan duoying 喅剹㌯劙 34 (1987): 47–48; and Ding Fang ᶩ㓦, “Yuzhen gongzhu, Li Bai yu shengtang Daojiao guanxi kaolun” 䌱䛇℔ᷣ, 㛶䘥冯䚃Ⓒ忻㔁斄Ὢ侫婾, Fudan Journal 4 (2016): 18–27.

3. Religious Leadership, Practice, and Ritual Function This chapter is derived in part from Jinhua Jia, “Religious and Other Experiences of Daoist Priestesses in Tang China,” T’oung Pao: International Journal of Chinese Studies 102, no. 4–5 (2016): 321–57. 1. See Valerie Hansen, “Inscriptions: Historical Sources for the Song,” Bulletin of SungYuan Studies 19 (1987): 17–25. 2. These inscriptions and sources are from Lu Yaoyu 映侨怡 (1771–1836), ed., Jinshi xubian 慹䞛临䶐, in Xuxiu siku quanshu (XXSKQS); Yan Zhenqing 柷䛇⌧ (709–785), Yan Lugong ji 柷欗℔普, in Sibu congkan ⚃悐⎊↲ (SBCK ); Huang Yongwu 湫㯠㬎, ed., 3 . L E A D E R S H I P, P R A C T I C E , A N D R I T UA L F U N C T I O N

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7.

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Dunhuang baozang 㔎䃴⮞啷 (Taibei: Xinwenfeng chuban gongsi, 1981–86); Wang Ka 䌳⌉, Dunhuang Daojiao wenxian yanjiu 㔎䃴忻㔁㔯䌣䞼䨞 (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexua chubanshe, 2004); Tian Yi 䓘㖻 et al., Jifu tongzhi 䔧庼忂⽿, in Siku quanshu (SKQS); Cao Xuequan 㚡⬠ἢ (1574–1647), Shuzhong guangji 嚨ᷕ⺋姀, SKQS; Chen Lin 昛暾, Nankang fuzhi ⋿⹟⹄⽿ (Zhengde 㬋⽟ [1506–1521], ed.); Song Minqiu, Chang’an zhi; Zhao Lin 嵁䑀, Yinhua lu ⚈娙抬 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1979); Wang Xiangzhi 䌳尉ᷳ ( jinshi 1196), Yudi beiji mu 廧⛘䠹姀䚖 (Congshu jicheng chubian); Long Xianzhao 漵栗㗕 and Huang Haide 湫㴟⽟, eds., Ba Shu Daojiao beiwen jicheng ⶜嚨忻㔁䠹㔯普ㆸ (Chengdu: Sichuan University Press, 1997); Qi Yuntong 滲忳忂, ed., Luoyang xinhuo qichao muzhi 㳃春㕘䌚ᶫ㛅⠻娴 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2012); Qiao Dong ╔㢇, Li Xianqi 㛶䌣⣯, and Shi Jiazhen ⎚⭞䍵, eds., Luoyang xinhuo muzhi xubian 㳃春㕘䌚⠻娴临䶐 (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2008); Hu Ji and Rong Xinjiang, eds., Da Tang Xishi bowuguan cang muzhi; Linghu Chu Ẍ䉸㤂 (ca. 766–837), “Da Tang Huiyuanguan zhonglou ming bingxu” ⣏Ⓒ⚆⃫奨揀㦻所᷎⸷, preserved in the Beilin 䠹㜿 Museum, Xi’an; Daojia jinshi lüe, ed. Chen Yuan, Chen Zhichao, and Zeng Qingying (DJJSL); Taiping guangji, ed. Li Fang et al. (TPGJ); Cefu yuangui, ed. Wang Qinruo et al. (CFYG); Quan Tangwen, ed. Dong Gao et al. (QTW ); Quan Tangwen bubian, ed. Chen Shangjun (QTWBB); Tangdai muzhi huibian, ed. Zhou Shaoliang and Zhao Chao (MZ); and Tangdai muzhi huibian xuji, ed. Zhou Shaoliang and Zhao Chao (MZXJ). Two priestess-theorists will be discussed in relation to their extant important works on Daoist and medical theories: Liu Moran (chapter 4) and Hu Yin (chapter 5). In addition, because of their particular life experiences and literary achievements, the three priestess-poets Li Jilan, Cui Zhongrong, and Yu Xuanji are discussed in chapters 6 and 7; one more priestess-poet, Yuan Chun, was an abbess, so her religious experience is discussed in this chapter, while her poetic achievements are discussed in chapter 6. A female master was the wife of a master, who was placed in charge of teaching the women. See Catherine Despeux and Livia Kohn, Women in Daoism (Cambridge, MA: Three Pines, 2003), 104–9. Stephan P. Bumbacher, The Fragments of the Daoxue zhuan: Critical Edition, Translation, and Analysis of a Medieval Collection of Daoist Biographies (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2000), 290–306, 501, 522. Kristofer Schipper, “Taoist Ordination Ranks in the Tun-huang Manuscripts,” in Religion und Philosophie in Ostasien: Festschrift für Hans Steininger zum 65. Geburtstag (Würzburg: Königshausen and Neumann, 1985), 127–43; and Dunhuang Daojiao, 294. See, for example, Li Jingyi 㛶㔔⼅, “Datang Wangwushan Shangqing dadong sanjing nüdaoshi Liu zunshi zhengong zhiming” ⣏Ⓒ䌳⯳Ⱉᶲ㶭⣏㳆ᶱ㘗⤛忻⢓㞛⮲ⷓ䛇⭖ 娴所, DJJSL, 176–77. Yan Zhenqing, “Nanyue furen Wei furen xiantan beiming” ⋿ⵥ⣓Ṣ櫷⣓Ṣẁ⡯䠹 所, in Yan Lugong ji, 9.1a–7a; and Yan, “Fuzhou Linchuanxian Jingshan Huagu xiantan beiming” 㑓ⶆ冐ⶅ䷋ḽⰙ厗⥹ẁ⡯䠹所, Yan Lugong ji, 9.7a–9b. Lady Wei was reported as serving as a libationer in the Celestial Master tradition, and later became a legendary figure in the Highest Clarity revelations. See mainly Chen Guofu 昛⚳䫎, Daozang yuanliu kao 忻啷㸸㳩侫 (1949; reprint, Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1963), 31–32; Edward Schafer, “The Restoration of the Shrine of Wei Hua-ts’un at Lin-ch’uan in the Eighth Century,” Journal of Oriental Studies 15

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19.

20.

(1977), 124–37; Michel Strickmann, Le Taoïsme du Mao Chan: chronique d’une revelation (Paris: Collège de France, Institut des hautes études chinoises, 1981), 142; and James Robson, Power of Place: the Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak (Nanyue) in Medieval China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2009), 187–204. J. Russell Kirkland, “Huang Ling-wei: A Taoist Priestess in T’ang China,” Journal of Chinese Religions 19 (1991): 64. Shixue ⷓ⬠, “Longheshan Cheng lianshi zhi songbai bei” 漵浜Ⱉㆸ䃱ⷓ㢵㜦㝷䠹, in QTWBB, 36.442. Lianshi 䃱ⷓ (refined master) is the highest among the four titles of Daoist priesthood: lianshi; fashi 㱽ⷓ (master of doctrine); weiyishi ⦩₨ⷓ (master of awful observances); and lüshi ⼳ⷓ (master of statues). See Edward H. Schafer, Maoshan in Tang Times (Boulder, CO: Society for the Study of Chinese Religions, 1989), 79. The stele that is engraved with this epitaph was discovered by Huang Haide 湫㴟⽟ and Yang Chao 㣲崭 on Mount Longhu 漵洈 (Mount Longhe’s present name) in 1992. See Long Xianzhao and Huang Haide, eds., Ba Shu Daojiao beiwen jicheng, 30–32. Because the author of the inscription, Shixue, refers to Cheng Wuwei as “my mentor,” she was possibly Cheng’s disciple and a priestess at the convent. The inscription also gives the name of the calligrapher who transcribed it as Yang Ling 㣲䍚, which sounds like a female name. These points suggest a significant level of literacy and education in and around the community of the convent. Weiyishi had two meanings in the Tang. It was the third-highest of the four titles of Daoist priesthood, and in this sense it has been translated as “master of awful observances” (see note 11). It also was an official title in monastic management, and priests and priestesses who carried this official title were mainly in charge of rituals and monastic discipline; see Li Linfu 㛶㜿䓓 (683–753), Tang liudian Ⓒℕ℠ (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1992), 4.125. Since the epitaph titled Feng Deyi with “weiyi jian guanzhu” ⦩₨ℤ奨ᷣ (weiyi and concurrently guanzhu) and guanzhu means “abbess,” here weiyi must also refer to an official, that is functional, title. Zhai Yue 侇䲬, “Datang Wutongguan weiyi jian guanzhu Feng xianshi muzhiming bingxu” ⣏ⒸḼ忂奨⦩₨ℤ奨ᷣ楖ẁⷓ⠻娴所᷎⸷, MZXJ, 814. The term “changzhu” ⷠỷ refers to permanent property shared by all monastics at a Daoist abbey or Buddhist monastery. See Jacques Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society: An Economic History from the Fifth to the Tenth Centuries, trans. Franciscus Verellen (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), 94–194. Li Shangyin, “Zizhou Daoxingguan beiming bingxu” 㠻ⶆ忻冰奨䠹所᷎⸷, QTW, 779.22b–27b. According to Tang law, the management of a Daoist abbey or convent comprised mainly an abbot or abbess (guanzhu 奨ᷣ), a head priest or priestess (shangzuo ᶲ⹏), and a head cook ( jianzhai 䚋滳 ); see Li Linfu, Tang liudian, 4.125. Liu Congzheng ∱⽆㓧, “Da Tang gu Daochongguan zhu Sandong nüzhen Lü xianshi zhiming bingxu” ⣏Ⓒ㓭忻㰾奨ᷣᶱ㳆⤛䛇⏪ẁⷓ⽿所᷎⸷, in Luoyang xinhuo muzhi xubian, ed. Qiao Dong, Li Xianqi, and Shi Jiazhen, 219. Song Ruoxian ⬳劍ㅚ (d. 835), “Tang Daminggong Yuchenguan gu Shangqing taidong sanjing dizi Dongyue qingdi zhenren Tian fashi xuanshiming bingxu” Ⓒ⣏㖶⭖ 䌱㘐奨㓭ᶲ㶭⣒㳆ᶱ㘗⻇⫸㜙ⵥ曺ⷅ䛇Ṣ䓘㱽ⷓ䌬⭌所᷎⸷, MZXJ, 893. The term “zhiping” 廄廏 refers particularly to carriages for women.

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21. Han Yu, “Huashan nü,” Quan Tangshi, ed. Peng Dingqiu et al. (QTS), 341.3823–24. The “Huashan maiden” of the poem is based on a real figure of Han Yu’s time. All poetry translations are mine, unless otherwise indicated. 22. Cen Wenben ⰹ㔯㛔 (595–645), “Tang jingshi Zhideguan fazhu Meng fashi beiming” ⒸṔⷓ军⽟奨㱽ᷣ⬇㱽ⷓ䠹所, in Jinshi xubian, ed. Lu Yaoyu, 4.16a–19b. 23. Buddhist nuns also preached in the Tang and, even earlier, during the Northern Dynasties. See Liu Shufen, “Art, Ritual, and Society: Buddhist Practice During the Northern Dynasties,” Asia Major, 3rd series, 8, no. 1 (1995): 19–49; Wendy Adamek, “A Niche of Their Own: The Power of Convention in Two Inscriptions for Medieval Buddhist Nuns,” History of Religions 49, no. 1 (2009): 15–18; Jinhua Chen, “Family Ties and Buddhist Nuns in Tang China: Two Studies,” Asia Major, 3rd series, 15, no. 2 (2002): 51–58; and Jinhua Chen, “The Tang Palace Buddhist Chapels,” Journal of Chinese Religions 32 (2004): 81–82. 24. Zhu Xi, Changli xiansheng ji kaoyi 㖴湶⃰䓇普侫䔘 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1985), 2.15a. 25. Yan Qi 散䏎, “Huashan nü,” in Tangshi dacidian Ⓒ娑⣏录℠, ed. Zhou Xunchu ␐⊃⇅ (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 1990), 715. 26. Wang Wencai 䌳㔯ㇵ, “Huashan nü,” in Han Yu shiwen mingpian xinshang 杻グ娑㔯⎵ 䭯㫋岆, ed. Wang Zhongyong 䌳ẚ掆 (Chengdu: Ba Shu shushe, 1999), 158–59. 27. Song Ruoxian was one of the five talented Song sisters discussed in chapter 1 of this book. 28. Zheng Lüqian 惕Ⰽ嫁, “Tang gu Xuzhou Fugouxian zhubu Xingyang Zheng Dao qi Li furen muzhiwen” Ⓒ㓭姙ⶆ㈞㹅䷋ᷣ䯧㹶春惕忻⥣㛶⣓Ṣ⠻娴㔯, MZ, 1078–79. 29. Yang Jie 㣲‹, “Zhaodeguan ji” 㗕⽟奨姀, in Nankang fuzhi, 8.42a–43b; Chang’an zhi, 8.4b–5a. The poet Li Bai wrote two poems on sending off his wife to Mount Lu to look for Li Tengkong. See Li Bai, “Song nei xun Lushan nüdaoshi Li Tengkong ershou” 復ℏ⮳⺔Ⱉ⤛忻⢓㛶様䨢Ḵ椾, in Li Taibai quanji jiaozhu 㛶⣒䘥ℐ普㟉㲐, ed. Yu Xianhao 恩岊䘻 (Nanjing: Fenghuang chubanshe, 2015), 23.3364–68; QTS, 184.1884; and Paul W. Kroll, “Li Po’s Purple Haze,” Taoist Resources 7, no. 2 (1997): 31–33. 30. “Gu shangdu Zhideguan zhu nüdaoshi Yuan zunshi muzhiwen” 㓭ᶲ悥军⽟奨ᷣ⤛忻 ⢓⃫⮲ⷓ⠻娴㔯, in MZXJ, 729–30. This epitaph names its subject as Yuan Chunyi. See chapter 6 for discussion about “Yuan Chunyi” and “Yuan Chun” referring to the same person. 31. “Bian Dongxuan,” from Dai Fu’s anecdotal collection Guangyi ji ⺋䔘姀, quoted in TPGJ, 63.392; Emperor Xuanzong, “Chi Jizhou cishi Yuan Fu Bianxianguan xiuzhai zhao” 㓽ℨⶆ⇢⎚⍇⽑怲ẁ奨ᾖ滳姼, QTW, 32.363a–b; Sun Chengze ⬓㈧㽌 (1592– 1676), Chunming mengyu lu 㗍㖶⣊检抬 (Beijing: Beijing guji chubanshe, 1992), 67.1287; and Tian Yi 䓘㖻 et al., Jifu tongzhi 䔧庼忂⽿ (SKQS), 85.14b. See also Glen Dudbridge, Religious Experience and Lay Society in T’ang China: A Reading of Tai Fu’s Kuang-i chi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 178. In the narrative, Bian is reported as eventually ascending to heaven in daylight. Later, Du Guangting rewrote Bian’s story in his Jixian lu, with many more invented plots and details (see appendix of this book). 32. Li Bai, “Zeng Songshan Jiao lianshi” 岰ⴑⰙ䃎䃱ⷓ, Li Taibai quanji jiaozhu, 7.1183– 90; QTS, 168.1739–40; Li Qi 㛶架, “Ji Jiao lianshi” ⭬䃎䃱ⷓ, QTS, 132.1339; Wang Changling 䌳㖴漉, “Ye Jiao lianshi” 媩䃎䃱ⷓ, QTS, 142.1440; and Li Bo 㛶㷌, “Zhenxi” 䛇䲣, QTW, 712.28a–b. On Jiao Jingzhen, including translations of several [ 234 ]

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33.

34. 35.

36.

37.

38.

39. 40.

41.

42.

43. 44.

poems to her, see Paul W. Kroll, “Notes on Three Taoist Figures of the T’ang Dynasty,” Society for the Study of Chinese Religions Bulletin 9 (1981): 23–30. Another of Sima Chengzhen’s most renowned disciples was Li Hanguang 㛶⏓⃱ (683–769), who became an influential figure at court. Zhang Ji, “Bushi xiangu shanfang” ᶵ梇ẁ⥹Ⱉ㇧, and “Bushigu” ᶵ梇⥹, QTS, 384.4324, 4306. The second poem has another title, “Zeng shanzhong nüdaoshi” 岰Ⱉ ᷕ⤛忻⢓. Qin Xi, “Ti nüdaoshi ju” 柴⤛忻⢓⯭, QTS, 260.2895. On the inscription, Cheng Taixu’s name is mistakenly written as Cheng Tailing 䦳⣒曰. This is corrected according to Du Guangting’s Jixian lu hagiography, as quoted in TPGJ, 66.408, and Cao Xuequan, Shuzhong guangji, 76.11b. Stephen Bokenkamp speculates that the “maiden from Mount Hua” described in Han Yu’s poem discussed here was Han Ziming; see Bokenkamp, “Sisters of the Blood: The Lives Behind the Xie Ziran Biography,” Daoism: Religion, History and Society 8 (2016), 24–28. However, apart from both priestesses dwelling on Mount Hua, there is no convincing evidence for this connection, and Han Ziming’s epitaph does not mention that she was eloquent or ever practiced public preaching, as we see in Tian Yuansu’s epitaph. Zhao Chengliang 嵁㈧Ṗ, “Tang gu nai Yuchenguan Shangqing dadong sanjing fashi cizi dade xiangongming bingxu” Ⓒ㓭ℏ䌱㘐奨ᶲ㶭⣏㳆ᶱ㘗㱽ⷓ岄䳓⣏⽟ẁ⭖所᷎⸷, MZXJ, 906. Yao Ping, Tangdai funü de shengming lichen Ⓒẋ⨎⤛䘬䓇␥㬟䦳 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2004), 257–69; and Chen Gaohua 昛檀厗 and Tong Shaosu 䪍刵䳈, eds., Zhongguo funü tongshi: Sui Tang Wudai juan ᷕ⚳⨎⤛忂⎚: 昳ⒸḼẋ⌟ (Hangzhou: Hangzhou chubanshe, 2010), 222–26. Chen and Tong, Zhongguo funü tongshi, 80–82, 225–27. Zhi Mo 㓗嫐, “Tang Hongluqing zhishi zeng Gongbu shangshu Langya Zhi gong zhangnü lianshi muzhiming bingxu” Ⓒ泣冂⌧农ṽ岰ⶍ悐⯂㚠䎭俞㓗℔攟⤛拲ⷓ⠻娴所 ᷎⸷, MZ, 2393. Zhi Zhijian’s epitaph gives this brother’s name as Xiang, while his own epitaph indicates the name as Shuxiang. See Ding Juzhu ᶩ⯭ᷣ, “Tang gu Ezhou sishi canjun Zhi fujun muzhiming bingxu” Ⓒ㓭悪ⶆ⎠⢓⍫幵㓗⹄⏃⠻娴所᷎⸷, in Luo Zhenyu 伭㋗䌱, Mang Luo zhongmu yiwen xubian 刺㳃⠂⠻怢㔯临䶐, in Shike shiliao xinbian 䞛⇣⎚㕁㕘䶐, 19:14085. Luo Zhenyu 伭㋗䌱 (1866–1940), Zhensongtang cang xicui miji congchan 屆㜦➪啷大昚䦀 䪰⎊㭀 (Lanzhou: Gansu wenhua chubanshe, 1999), 273. See also Chen Zuolong 昛 䤂漵, “Dunhuang daojing houji huilu” 㔎䃴忻䴻⼴姀⋗抬, in Zhongguo Dunhuangxue bainian wenku: Zongjiaojuan ᷕ⚗㔎䃴⬠䘦⸜㔯⹓. ⬿㓶⌟, ed. Yang Zengwen 㣲㚦㔯 and Du Doucheng 㜄㔿❶ (Lanzhou: Gansu wenhua chubanshe, 1999), 2–9; and Dunhuang Daojiao, 203. In the Tang, both Buddhist and Daoist canons were referred to as “yiqiejing” ᶨ↯䴻, literally meaning “each and every scripture.” Dunhuang Daojiao, 19. Shanghai guji chubanshe and Bibliothèque nationale de France, eds., Faguo Guojia tushuguan cang Dunhuang xiyu wenxian 㱽⚳⚳⭞⚾㚠棐啷㔎䃴大➇㔯䌣 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1994), in numbered Paul Pelliot manuscripts, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (P.), 2170; and Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan Lishi yanjiusuo ᷕ⚳䣦 㚫䥹⬠昊㬟⎚䟷䨞㇨ et al., eds., Ying cang Dunhuang wenxian: Hanwen fojing yiwai bufen

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45.

46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51.

52. 53.

54. 55. 56.

57. 58. 59.

60. 61. 62.

63.

劙啷㔎䃴㔯䌣: 㻊㔯ἃ䴻ẍ⢾悐ấ (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1990), in numbered Aurel Stein manuscripts, British Library, London, 3135. See Chen Zuolong, “Dunhuang daojing houji huilu,” 2–9; and Dunhuang Daojiao, 194–203. See mainly Wu Chi-yu, Pen-tsi king: Livre du terme originel (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1960); Yamada Takashi Ⱉ䓘ὲ, Tōsho Dōkyō shisōshi kenkyū: Taigen shinʾichi honsaikyo no seiritsu to shisō Ⓒ⇅忻㔁⿅゛⎚䟷䨞: ⣒䌬䛆ᶨ㛔晃䴻̯ㆸ䩳̩ ⿅゛ (Kyoto: Heirakuji shoten, 1999); and Wang Ka, comp., Taixuan zhenyi benji jing ⣒䌬䛆ᶨ㛔晃䴻, in Zhonghua Daozang, vol. 5, no. 15. Faguo Guojia tushuguan cang Dunhuang xiyu wenxian, P. 4072; and Dunhuang Daojiao, 8. We know for sure that Princess Yuzhen and Lady Lian were excellent calligraphers too; see chapter 2 of this book. Yan Ke ♜庣, “Tang gu nüdaoshi qian Yongmuguan zhu Neng shi mingzhi bingxu” Ⓒ㓭⤛忻⢓⇵㯠䧮奨ᷣ傥ⷓ所娴᷎⸷, QTWBB, 67.815. Shixue, “Longheshan Cheng lianshi zhi songbai bei,” in QTWBB, 36.442. Xue Zhaowei 啃㗕䶗 (fl. 896), “Nüguan zi,” in QTS, 894.10095. Lu Qianyi 渧嗼㇮ (fl. 901–903), “Nüguan zi,” QTS, 894.10105. “Pacing the Void” was the name of a particular ritual involving the invoking of star deities. Poems on this topic by various medieval adepts and poets have been much studied; see, for instance, Edward H. Schafer, “Wu Yun’s ‘Cantos on Pacing the Void,’ ” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 41 (1981): 377–415. Linghu Chu, “Da Tang Huiyuan guan zhonglou ming bingxu,” 103–4. Zhu Jincheng, Bai Juyi nianpu 䘥⯭㖻⸜嬄 (Taibei: Wenshizhe, 1991), 63, 77; Wu Ruyi ⏛㰅䄄, “Feng Ao,” in Zhongguo wenxuejia dacidain, ed. Zhou Zuzhuan, 551; and Chen Shangjun, “Dugu Lin,” in Zhongguo wenxuejia dacidain, 593. See Yuan Zhen ⃫䧡 (779–831), “Ji Zhexi Li dafu sishou” ⭬㴁大㛶⣏⣓⚃椾, in Yuan Zhen ji ⃫䧡普 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1982), 22.251; QTS, 417.4602–03. Li Fang et al., eds., Wenyuan yinghua (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1966), 472.8b–14a. On tan (extolling) as originally a kind of music tune, see Li Shan’s 㛶┬ (d. 689) commentary on a line of Pan Yue’s 㼀ⱛ (247–300) “Sheng fu” 䫁岎, in Wenxuan 㔯怠 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1977), 18.261a. Bai Juyi, “Shangyuanri tan Dao wen” ᶲ⃫㖍㫶忻㔯, Bai Juyi ji jianjiao, 57.3284–85; QTW, 677.12b. Feng Ao, “Lichunri Yuchenguan tan Dao wen” 䩳㗍㖍䌱㘐奨㫶忻㔯, QTW, 728.16a–b. Feng Ao, “Xianzong jiri Yuchenguan tan Dao wen” ㅚ⬿⽴㖍䌱㘐奨㫶忻㔯, QTW, 728.15b–16a. Emperor Xianzong died on the twenty-seventh day of the first month in Yuanhe 15 (February 14, 820). See Liu Xu, Jiu Tangshu ( JTS), 15.472; XTS, 7.219. “Yellow Court” refers to the immortal realm. Feng Ao, “Qingyang jie Yuchenguan tan Dao wen” ㄞ春䭨䌱㘐奨㫶忻㔯, QTW, 728.15a–b. QTW, 802.5a–b, 5b–6a. Dugu Lin, “Jiuyue yiri Yuchenguan biexiu gongde tan Dao wen” ḅ㚰ᶨ㖍䌱㘐奨⇍ ᾖ≇⽟㫶忻㔯, QTW, 802.3b–4a; and “Qiyue shiyiri Yuchenguan biexiu gongde tan Dao wen” ᶫ㚰⋩ᶨ㖍䌱㘐奨⇍ᾖ≇⽟㫶忻㔯, QTW, 802.3b. Li Linfu, Tang liudian, 4.126–27.

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64. For discussions of the term “neidaochang” and Tang palace chapels, see mainly Takao Giken 檀晬佑➭, “Shina nai-dōjō kō,” Ryūkōku shitan 漵察⎚⡯ 18 (1935): 32–42; Chou Yi-liang, “Tantrism in China,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 8 (1944–1945): 241– 332, esp. 309–11; Zhang Gong ⻝⺻, “Tangdai de neidaochang yu neidaochang sengtuan” Ⓒẋ䘬ℏ忻⟜冯ℏ忻⟜₏⛀, Shijie zongjiao yanjiu ᶾ䓴⬿㔁䞼䨞 3 (1993): 81–89; Sun Changwu, “Tang Chang’an fosi kao” Ⓒ攟⬱ἃ⮢侫, Tang yanjiu Ⓒ䞼䨞 2 (1996): 1–49; Wang Yongping 䌳㯠⸛, “Lun Tangdai Daojiao neidaochang de shezhi” 婾Ⓒẋ 忻㔁ℏ忻⟜䘬姕伖, Shoudu shifan daxue xuebao 椾悥ⷓ䭬⣏⬠⬠⟙ 2 (1999): 13–19; and especially Jinhua Chen, “Tang Buddhist Palace Chapels,” Journal of Chinese Religions 32 (2004): 101–73. 65. For more information about this convent, see Fan Bo 㦲㲊, “Tang Daminggong Yuchenguan kao” Ⓒ⣏㖶⭖䌱㘐奨侫, in Tangdai guojia yu diyu shehui yanjiu Ⓒẋ⚳⭞冯 ⛘➇䣦㚫䞼䨞, ed. Yan Yaozhong ♜侨ᷕ (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2008), 417–24. 66. Jinhua Jia, “Yaochi ji and Three Daoist Priestess-Poets in Tang China,” Nan Nü: Men, Women and Gender in China 13, no. 2 (2011): 228; and chapter 6 of this book.

4. Liu Moran and the Daoist Theory of Inner Cultivation 1. See Li Jingyi 㛶㔔⼅, “Datang Wangwushan Shangqing dadong sanjing nüdaoshi Liu zunshi zhengong zhiming” ⣏Ⓒ䌳⯳Ⱉᶲ㶭⣏㳆ᶱ㘗⤛忻⢓㞛⮲ⷓ䛇⭖娴所, in Daojia jinshi lüe (DJJSL), ed. Chen Yuan, Chen Zhichao, and Zeng Qingying, 176–77; and Zhou Shaoliang and Zhao Chao, eds., Tangdai muzhi huibian (MZ), 2201–2. 2. Xiao Yingshi was a pioneer in reviving the ancient-style prose (guwen ⎌㔯) and Confucian classics during the Tang dynasty. See his biographies in Liu Xu, Jiu Tangshu ( JTS), 190.5048–49; and Ouyang Xiu, Xin Tangshu (XTS), 202.5767–70. Liu Dan was active in the poetic gatherings in the post-rebellion southern region and was associated with famous literati such as Yan Zhenqing and Jiaoran. See Liu Zongyuan 㞛⬿⃫ (773–819), “Xianjun shibiaoyin xianyou ji” ⃰⏃䞛堐昘⃰⍳姀, Liu Zongyuan ji 㞛⬿⃫普 (Beijng: Zhonghua shuju, 1979), 12.306; Lin Bao 㜿⮞, Yuanhe xingzuan ⃫␴⥻个 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1994), 7.1099–100; Zhao Lin, Yinhua lu ⚈娙抬 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1979), 3.86–89; and Jia Jinhua, Jiaonan nianpu 䘶䃞⸜嬄 (Xiamen: Xiamen University Press, 1992), 69–71. 3. Zhao Lin, “Tang gu Chuzhou cishi Zhao fujun muzhi” Ⓒ㓭嗽ⶆ⇢⎚嵁⹄⏃⠻娴, MZ, 2394. 4. In 731, Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712–756) ordered, upon the request of Sima Chengzhen, temples of the Perfected Lord of Highest Clarity (Shangqing zhenjun ci ᶲ㶭䛇 ⏃䤈 ) to be built on the five sacred mountains (wuyue Ḽⵥ). See JTS, 192.5128; Lei Wen 暟倆, “Wuyue zhenjunci yu Tangdai guojia jisi” Ḽⵥ䛇⏃䤈冯Ⓒẋ⚳⭞䤕䣨, in Tangdai zongjiao xinyang yu shehui Ⓒẋ⬿㔁ᾉẘ冯䣦㚫, ed. Rong Xinjiang (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 2003), 35–83. The statues Liu Moran made were likely of the same Perfected Lord of Highest Clarity. 5. See Lu Guolong 䚏⚳漵, Daojiao zhexue 忻㔁⒚⬠ (Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe, 1997), 371–90; and Isabelle Robinet, “Zuowang lun” and “Daode zhenjing shuyi,” in The

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6.

7.

8. 9.

10. 11.

12. 13. 14.

15. 16. 17.

Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang, ed. Kristofer Schipper and Franciscus Verellen (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 306–7. See Wu Shouju ⏛⍿䏂, Sima Chengzhen ji jijiao ⎠楔㈧䤶普廗㟉 (Master’s thesis, Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan yanjiushengyuan ᷕ⚳䣦㚫䥹⬠昊䞼䨞䓇昊, 1981), 49; Nakajima Ryūzō ᷕⴳ昮啷, “Dōsū mukini shoshū ‘Zabōhen jo uchū ge’ shōrō’ ” 忻㝊 ⶣḴ㇨⍶⛸⾀䭯ᶲᷕᶳ⮷侫, Shūkan tōyōgaku 普↲㜙㲳⬠ 100 (2008): 116–33; Nakajima Ryūzō, “Dōsū mukini shoshū ‘Zabōhen ge’ to Ōyasan Tō hiben ‘Zabō ron’ ” 忻㝊ⶣ Ḵ㇨⍶⛸⾀䭯ᶳ̩䌳⯳ⰙⒸ䠹㔯⛸⾀婾, Tōyō kotengaku kenkyū 㜙㲳⎌℠⬠䞼䨞 27 (2009): 29–46; and Zhu Yueli 㛙崲⇑, “Zuowan lun zuozhe kao” ⛸⾀婾ἄ侭侫, in Daojiao kaoxin ji 忻㔁侫ᾉ普 ( Jinan: Qi Lu shushe, 2014), 48–61. From the back of the stele “You Tang Zhenyi xiansheng miaojie,” originally preserved on Mount Wangwu and now moved to Jiju miao 㾇㾮⺇ in Jiyuan, Henan province; Baiyun xiansheng Zuowang lun 䘥暚⃰䓇⛸⾀婾, in Yifengtang tapian 喅桐➪㉻ 䇯, ed. Miao Quansun ䷮勫周 (1844–1919) (preserved in Beijing University Library). See also Beijing tushuguan ⊿Ṕ⚾㚠棐, ed., Beijing tushuguan cang Zhongguo lidai shike taben huibian ⊿Ṕ⚾㚠棐啷㬟ẋ䞛⇣㉻㛔⼁䶐 (Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou guji chubanshe, 1989), 30: 89; and DJJSL, 176. In this inscription, the name is written as Liu Ningran 㞛ↅ䃞, but several coincidences between this inscription and Liu Moran’s epitaph indicate that “Liu Ningran” and Liu Moran are the same person: first, “Liu Ningran” also lived on Mount Wangwu during the same period; second, “Liu Ningran” also reached the rank of Great Cavern and Three Radiances; and finally, the inscription states that “Liu Ningran” was together with Zhao Jingxuan, Liu Moran’s daughter. Since Liu’s courtesy name, Xiyin ⶴ枛, meaning “inaudible sound,” matches Moran 満䃞, meaning “soundless,” Moran seems correct. The character ning ↅ may have been either a scribal error or a deliberate avoidance of a taboo word. The Zuowang lun inscription was reengraved during the Song dynasty (DJJSL, 177), and this possibly explains a scribal error or taboo avoidance. Translation adapted from Livia Kohn, Sitting in Oblivion: The Heart of Daoist Meditation (Dunedin, FL: Three Pines Press, 2010), 159–60. Zhang Junfang, Yunji qiqian (YJQQ) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2003), 94.2043–61. The same version is also included in the Quan Tangshi and is attributed to Sima Chengzhen. See Dong Gao et al., eds., Quan Tangwen (QTW ), 924.1a–15a. Zuowang lun, Daozang (DZ) 1036. DZ 400; YJQQ, 17.409–16. See Robinet, “Zuowang lun”; and Kristofer Schipper, “Dongxuan lingbao dingguan jing zhu,” in Taoist Canon, ed. Schipper and Verellen, 306–7, 332. Zeng Zao, Daoshu, “Zuowang pian shang” ⛸⾀䭯ᶲ, in DZ 1037: 2.614c–615c. For a discussion of the bibliographical records, see Kohn, Sitting in Oblivion, 62–63. Zhao Zhijian, Daode zhenjing shuyi, DZ 719. This text originally had six juan and is now extant in the fourth to sixth juan with some missing parts. See Meng Wentong 呁㔯忂 (1894–1968), “Zuowan lun kao” ⛸⾀婾侫, in Guxue zhenwei ⎌⬠䒬⽖ (Chengdu: Ba Shu shushe, 1987), 362; Lu Guolong, Daojiao zhexue, 371–90; Isabelle Robinet, “Daode zhenjing shuyi,” 292–93; and Zhu Yueli, “Zuowan lun zuozhe kao,” 48–61. Daode zhenjing shuyi, 5.951b. YJQQ, 94.569. Meng Wentong, “Zuowan lun kao,” 362.

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18. Daode zhenjing shuyi, 5.958a, 6.965c. 19. Du Guangting, Daode zhenjing guangshengyi 忻⽟䛇䴻⺋俾佑, DZ 725: 309c. 20. Wu Yun, Shenxian kexue lun, in YJQQ, 93.2030–31. Zhang Junfang, the compiler of the YJQQ, does not indicate the author of this text, but it is included in Wu Yun’s collected works and is mentioned by Quan Deyu 㪲⽟廧 (759–818) in his preface to this collection. See Quan, “Tang gu Zhongyue Zongxuan xiansheng Wu zunshi jixu” Ⓒ㓭ᷕⵥ⬿䌬⃰䓇⏛⮲ⷓ普⸷, QTW, 489.19a–21a; and Jan De Meyer, Wu Yun’s Way: Life and Works of an Eighth-Century Daoist Master (Leiden: Brill, 2006), 288. Livia Kohn has noted the first three of these citations; she also notes a similar phrase, “rely on golden cinnabar to undergo the metamorphosis of wings,” in both texts. See Kohn, Sitting in Oblivion, 159–62. This phrase, however, denotes different meanings in the two texts. In the Zuowang lun it refers to the positive effects of golden cinnabar, whereas in the Shenxian kexue lun it criticizes those who indulged in golden cinnabar but did not practice cultivating the Dao. Translation adapted from Kohn, Sitting in Oblivion, 159–62; and Jan De Meyer, Wu Yun’s Way, 287–314. 21. For Wu Yun’s life, see Quan Deyu, “Tang gu Zhongyue Zongxuan xiansheng Wu zunshi jixu,” 489.19a-21a; and Jan De Meyer, Wu Yun’s Way, 3–102. 22. Zheng Qiao 惕㧝 (1104–1162), Tongzhi ershi lüe 忂⽿Ḵ⋩䔍 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1995), 67.1617. See also Piet van der Loon, Taoist Books in the Libraries of the Sung Period: A Critical Study and Index (London: Ithaca, 1984), 109. 23. Quan Deyu, “Tang gu Zhongyue Zongxuan xiansheng Wu zunshi jixu,” QTW, 489.19a-21a; and Zongxuan xiansheng wenji ⬿䌬⃰䓇㔯普, DZ 1051. 24. Zhu Yueli, “Zuowan lun zuozhe kao,” 49. 25. Nakajima Ryūzō ᷕⴳ昮啷, “Dōsū kanni shoshū suwaru henka to Ōokusan Tō hibun suwaruron” 忻㧆⌟Ḵ㇨㓞⛸⾀䭯ᶳ̩䌳⯳ⰙⒸ䠹㔯⛸⾀婾, Tōyō gotengaku kenkyū 㜙㲳 ⎌℠⬠䞼䨞 27 (2009): 29–46. 26. DJJSL, 177. 27. When Miao Quansun made a rubbing from the stele, he added four characters and titled it Baiyun xiansheng Zuowang lun 䘥暚⃰䓇⛸⾀婾. This title was followed by Chen Yuan when compiling the DJJSL. 28. Liu Moran, “Xue Yuanjun shengxianming,” DJJSL, 176–77. This also mentions Liu Ningran as the author but states that she left Mount Tiantai to visit Mount Heng, which also accords with Liu Moran’s experience of receiving her early ordination on Mount Tiantai. Thus, here again “Liu Ningran” should be “Liu Moran.” 29. Zhu Yueli says that Xue Yuanjun must be Xue Shi 啃ⷓ, recorded in the Nanyue xiaolu ⋿ⵥ⮷抬; see Zhu, “Zuowang lun zuozhe kao,” 49. But the Nanyue xiaolu clearly indicates that Xue Shi stayed at Xiling convent 大曰奨 on Mount Heng during the Kaiyuan reign period (713–741); see Li Chongzhao 㛶㰾㗕 (fl. 902), Nanyue xiaolu, in Congshu jicheng chubian ⎊㚠普ㆸ⇅䶐 (CSJCCB), 5. Therefore, Xue Shi cannot be Xue Yuanjun, who lived during the Chen dynasty. The Nanyue zongsheng ji ⋿ⵥ䷥⊅普 records a female Daoist Xue Nüzhen 啃⤛䛇 (Perfected Woman Xue), who took up residence on Mount Heng and attained corpse liberation during the Jin dynasty. See Chen Tianfu 昛䓘⣓ (fl. mid-twelfth century), Nanyue zongsheng ji, in Taishō shinshū daizōkyō, 51.1066c; and James Robson, Power of Place: The Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak (Nanyua ⋿ⵥ ) in Medieval China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), 204–205. Xue Nüzhen lived during the Jin instead of the Chen

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30.

31. 32. 33. 34. 35.

36.

37.

38. 39. 40.

41.

42.

dynasty and was reported to have attained corpse liberation instead of ascension; thus, again, she could not be Xue Yuanjun. Du Guangting, “Tiantan Wangwushan shengji ji” ⣑⡯䌳⯳Ⱉ俾嶉姀, in QTW, 934.3b–9a, especially 7a. Several Song dynasty records of inscriptions, such as Ouyang Fei’s 㫸春㡸 Jigu lumu 普⎌抬䚖 (cited by Chen Si in Baokei congbian, which is included in Shike shiliao xinbian, 5.27a–b) and the anonymous Baoke leibian ⮞⇣栆䶐 (Shike shiliao xinbian, 8.18a), record this inscription as written by Sima Chengzhen, but these compilers might have followed Du’s attribution. Zeng Zao, Daoshu, “Zuowang pian xia” ⛸⾀䭯ᶳ, DZ 1037: 2.616b–17a. See, for example, Kohn, Sitting in Oblivion, 7–8, 16–32. Kohn, Sitting in Oblivion, 1. For a detailed discussion of these seven steps, see Kohn, Sitting in Oblivion, 60–61. The line “Above the absorbed mind everything is open and coverless; beneath the absorbed mind everything is empty and bottomless” is quoted from the Dingguan jing. As the commentary to this text explains, “No thought of the past produces, so we say ‘coverless’; no thought of the future arises, so we say ‘bottomless’ ” ⇵⾝ᶵ䓇, 㓭ḹ 䃉央; ⼴⾝ᶵ崟, 㓭㚘䃉➢. See YJQQ, 17.414–15. Translation adapted from Kohn, Sitting in Oblivion, 161–62. Laozi shuo wuchu jing zhu, DZ 17: 763; and YJQQ, 61.1356–60. For discussions on this text, see Christine Mollier, “Les cuisines de Laozi et du Buddha,” Cahiers d’Extrême Asie 11 (2000): 45–90, especially 62; and Franciscus Verellen, “Laozi shuo wuchu jing zhu,” in Taoist Canon, ed. Schipper and Verellen, 351. Livia Kohn also discusses and translates this text in Sitting in Oblivion, 70–71, 198–206. Tianyin zi, DZ 1026. For an extensive discussion and translation, see Livia Kohn, “The Teaching of T’ien-yin-tzu,” Journal of Chinese Religions 15 (1987): 1–28. It has also been translated by Louis Komjathy, Handbooks for Daoist Practice, no. 9 (Hong Kong: Yuen Yuen Institute, 2008), and discussed by Isabelle Robinet, “Tianyinzi,” in Taoist Canon, ed. Schipper and Verellen, 303. DZ 1038; Zongxuan xiansheng wenji, DZ 1051: 2.16b–19b. For a detailed discussion and translation of the text, see Kohn, Sitting in Oblivion, 71–72, 207–12. See Kohn, Sitting in Oblivion, 68, 73–104. Dongxuan lingbao Dingguan jing zhu, 498–99; YJQQ, 17.409–16. As indicated above, the “Shuyi” in the seven-section Zuowang lun was adapted from the Dingguan jing, so this citation also appears in the Zuowang lun, DZ 1036: 897–98; and Daoshu, DZ 1037: 2.614–15. For a discussion and translation of the Dingguan jing, see Kohn, Sitting in Oblivion, 64–67, 163–73. Cunshen lianqi ming, DZ 834: 458–59; YJQQ, 33.748–51. Here se (form) refers to the forms of the myriad things. For a discussion and translation of this text, see Kohn, Sitting in Oblivion, 67–68, 174–78. This formula is first seen in the Zhong Lü chuandao ji 揀⏪⁛忻普 (DZ 263) and Xishan qunxian huizhen ji 大Ⱉ佌ẁ㚫䛇姀, attributed to Shi Jianwu 㕥偑⏦ (DZ 246), and Zhang Boduan’s ⻝ỗ䪗 (983–1082) “Jindan sibaizi xu” 慹ᷡ⚃䘦⫿⸷ (DZ 1081) and commentaries on Zhang’s Wuzhen pian ぇ䛇䭯 (DZ 145). For detailed discussions, see, for example, Hu Fuchen 傉⬂䏃, “Daojiao shi shang de neidan xue” 忻㔁⎚ᶲ䘬ℏᷡ⬠, Shijie zongjiao yanjiu ᶾ䓴⬿㔁䞼䨞 2 (1989): 1–22; Wang Mu 䌳㰸, Wuzhen pian qianjie ぇ䛇䭯㶢妋 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1990), 261–310 (English version: Foundations of Internal Alchemy: The Daoist Practice of Neidan, trans. Fabrizio Pregadio [Mountain

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43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48. 49. 50.

View, CA: Golden Elixir Press, 2011], 65–118); Isabelle Robinet, Introduction à l’alchimie intérieure taoïste: De l’unité et de la multipli cité (Paris: Editions Cerf, 1995), 147–64; Fabrizio Pregadio and Lowell Skar, “Inner Alchemy (neidan),” in Livia Kohn, ed., Daoism Handbook, 464–97; and Yutaka Yokote, “Daoist Internal Alchemy,” in Modern Chinese Religion, part 1, Song-Liao-Jin-Yuan (960–1368), ed. John Lagerwey (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 1056–75. For general surveys of the historical development of inner alchemy theories and traditions, see, for example, Joseph Needham et al., Science and Civilisation in China: vol. 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, part 5, Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Physiological Alchemy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983); 129–41; Chen Bing 昛ℝ, “Jindan pai Nanzong qiantan” 慹ᷡ㳦⋿⬿㶢婯, Shijie zongjiao yanjiu ᶾ䓴 ⬿㔁䞼䨞 4 (1985): 35–49; Farzeen Baldrian-Hussein, “Inner Alchemy: Notes on the Origin and Use of the Term Neidan,” Cahiers d’Extréme-Asie 5 (1990): 163–90; Li Dahua 㛶⣏厗, “Sui Tang shiqi de daojiao neidan xue” 昳Ⓒ㗪㛇䘬忻㔁ℏᷡ⬠, Daojiao xue yanjiu 忻㔁⬠䞼䨞 5 (1994): 404–19; Isabelle Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion, trans. Phyllis Brooks (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press 1997), 219–28; Pregadio and Skar, “Inner Alchemy,” 464–81; and Yutaka Yokote, “Daoist Internal Alchemy,” 1051–110. See, for example, Needham et al., Science and Civilisation in China, 5.5, 20–129; Henri Maspero, Taoism and Chinese Religion, trans. Frank A. Kierman Jr. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981); Hu Fuchen, “Daojiao shi shang de neidan xue,” 1–22; Wang Mu, Wuzhen pian qianjie, 257–334; Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion, 215–19; Pregadio and Skar, “Inner Alchemy,” 481–87; Zhang Guangbao ⻝⺋ᾅ, Tang Song neidan daojiao Ⓒ⬳ℏᷡ忻㔁 (Shanghai: Shanghai wenhua chubanshe, 2001), 308– 40; Livia Kohn, “Modes of Mutation: Restructuring the Energy Body,” in Inner Alchemy: Self, Society, and the Quest for Immortality, ed. Livia Kohn and Robin Wang (Magdalena, NM.: Three Pines Press, 2009), 1–26; and Louis Komjathy, The Way of Complete Perfection: A Quanzhen Daoist Anthology (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2013), 115–18. Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion, 221. Joseph Needham also indicates this text using outer alchemy symbolism for inner alchemy discussion. See Needham et al., Science and Civilisation in China, 5.5, 223. For discussion of the Twofold Mystery theory, see, for example, Timothy Barrett, “Taoist and Buddhist Mysteries in the Interpretation of the Tao-te ching,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1 (1982): 35–43; Lu Guolong 䚏⚳漵, Zhongguo chongxuanxue ᷕ⚳慵䌬⬠ (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1993); Ren Jiyu ả两グ, ed., Zhongguo Daojiao shi ᷕ⚳忻㔁⎚ (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2001), 261–77; and Robert H. Sharf, Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism: A Reading of the Treasure Store Treatise (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002), 61–71. Zhu Yueli believes that the inscription’s main target was Zhao Jian’s Zuowang lun, for emphasizing the cultivation of the spirit. See Zhu, “Zuowang lun zuozhe kao,” 57–61. Zhao Jian’s text does, however, discuss methods of cultivating the body, from time to time. See particularly Wang Mu, Wuzhen pian qianjie, 308–10. See, for example, Pregadio and Skar, “Inner Alchemy,” 464. From the back of the stele “You Tang Zhenyi xiansheng miaojie,” preserved in Jidu miao; and DJJSL, 176.

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51. See Elena Valussi, “Female Alchemy: Transformations of a Gendered Body,” in Gendering Chinese Religion: Subject, Identity, and Body, ed. Jinhua Jia, Xiaofei Kang, and Ping Yao (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014), 201–24. 52. Russell Kirkland, “Huang Ling-wei: A Taoist Priestess in T’ang China,” Journal of Chinese Religions 19 (1991): 47–73.

5. Longevity Techniques and Medical Theory: The Legacy of Hu Yin

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6. 7.

8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

This chapter is derived in part from Jinhua Jia, “Longevity Technique and Medical Theory: The Legacy of Tang Daoist Priestess-Physician Hu Yin,” Monumenta Serica: Journal of Oriental Studies 63, no. 1 (2015): 1–31. Hu Yin, Huangting neijing wuzang liufu buxie tu (HTNJT ), Daozang (DZ) 432: 686c–693b. Hu Yin, Huangting neijing wuzang liufu tu, in Xiuzhen shishu, DZ 263: 54.835c–843b. For a comparison of the two editions, see Jean Lévi, “Huangting neijing wuzang liufu buxie tu,” in The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang, ed. Kristofer Schipper and Franciscus Verellen (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 348– 49; and discussions later in this chapter. The complete title of this text is Taishang huangting neijing yujing ⣒ᶲ湫⹕ℏ㘗䌱䴻, DZ 331. Wang Ming, “Huangting jing kao” 湫⹕䴻侫 (1941), in Daojia he Daojiao sixiang yanjiu 忻⭞␴忻㔁⿅゛䞼䨞 (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1984), 351. Yan Yiping, “Dongxian zhuan” 㳆ẁ⁛, in Daojiao yanjiu ziliao diyiji, 1–2. Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, part 5, Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Physiological Alchemy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 82; Isabelle Robinet, Taoist Meditation: The Mao-shan Tradition of Great Purity, trans. Julian F. Pas and Norman J. Girardot (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993), 67–73, 94–96; Wang Jiayou and Hao Qin, “Huangting bijian, langhuan qishu: Hu Yin jiqi Huangting neijing wuzang liufu buxie tu” 湫⹕䡏䯉, 䎭⫃⣯㚠: 傉ゼ⍲℞湫⹕ℏ㘗Ḽ冇ℕ價墄㾱⚾, Zhongguo Daojiao ᷕ⚳忻㔁 1 (1993): 28–34; Gai Jianmin, “Tangdai nüdaoyi Hu Yin jiqi Daojiao yixue sixiang” Ⓒẋ ⤛忻慓傉ゼ⍲℞忻㔁慓⬠⿅゛, Zhongguo Daojiao 1 (1999): 22–24; see also Gai Jianmin, Daojiao yixue 忻㔁慓⬠ (Beijing: Zongjiao wenhua chubanshe, 2001), 124–30; and Lévi, “Huangting neijing wuzang liufu buxie tu,” 348–49. Wang Yaochen 䌳⟗冋 (1003–1058) et al., Chongwen zongmu (Yueyatang congshu 䱝晭➪ ⎊㚠 edition), 3.89a, 4.46b. Ouyang Xiu, Xin Tangshu (XTS), 59.1522. Zheng Qiao 惕㧝 (1104–1162), Tongzhi ershi lüe 忂⽿Ḵ⋩䔍 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1995), 67.1611, 69.1722. Tuotuo 僓僓 (1314–1355) et al., Songshi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1977), 205.5179, 205.5193, 207.5316. HTNJT, 686c. This preface is also included in Dong Gao et al., eds. Quan Tangwen (QTW ), 945.9817a–9818a. Huangting neijing wuzang liufu tu, 835c.

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14. The complete title of the outer scripture is Taishang huangting waijing yujing ⣒ᶲ湫⹕ ⢾㘗䌱䴻 (DZ 332: 913a–914c). Wang Ming asserted that the inner scripture appeared first, and that a secret draft version likely existed during the Wei–Jin period, which Wei Huacun subsequently obtained in the Taikang ⣒⹟ reign period of the Western Jin (280–289). Following her death, the outer scripture came out as a summary of the inner scripture; see Wang, “Huangting jing kao,” 324–71. Isabelle Robinet (Taoist Meditation, 56), agrees that the outer scripture came out later, whereas Kristofer Schipper believes the opposite—that the outer scripture appeared first and the inner scripture was an elaboration of the outer; see Schipper, preface to Concordance du Houang-t’ing ching (Paris: Ecole Franşaise d’Extrême-Orient, 1975). Michel Strickmann holds the same opinion in his Le taoïsme du Mao Chan: Chronique d’une révélation (Paris: Collège de France, 1981), 68. Yu Wanli 嘆叔慴, Yang Fucheng 㣲⭴䦳, and Gong Pengcheng 漼洔䦳 have further elaborated this opinion; see Yu Wanli, “Huangting jing xinzheng” 湫⹕䴻㕘嫱, Wenshi 㔯⎚ 29 (1988): 385–408; Yu, “Huangting jing yongyun shidai xinkao” 湫⹕䴻䓐枣㗪ẋ㕘侫, in Yufang zhai xueshu lunji 㤮㜳滳⬠埻婾普 (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 2001), 551–80; Yang Fucheng, “Huangting neiwai erjing kao” 湫⹕ℏ⢾Ḵ㘗侫, Shijie zong jiao yanjiu ᶾ䓴⬿㔁䞼䨞 3 (1995): 68–76; and Gong Pengcheng, “Huangting jing lunyao (yi)” 湫⹕䴻婾天 (ᶨ), Zhongguo shumu jikan ᷕ⚳㚠 䚖⬋↲ 31, no. 1 (1997): 66–81. 15. The transmitted Huangdi neijing includes both the Suwen and the Lingshu 曰㧆, while the Huangdi neijing taisu 湫ⷅℏ䴻⣒䳈 is a later recension (c. seventh century). For discussions and translations of the Suwen, see mainly Maruyama Masao ᷠⰙ㖴㚿, Shinkyūigaku to koten no kenkyū: Maruyama Masao tōyō igaku ronshū 憅䁁慓⬠̩⎌℠̯ 䞼䨞: ᷠⰙ㖴㚿㜙㲳慓⬠婾普 (Osaka: Sōgensha, 1977); Ren Yingqiu ảㅱ䥳 and Liu Changlin ∱攟㜿, Huangdi neijing yanjiu luncong 湫ⷅℏ䴻䞼䨞婾⎊ (Wuhan: Hubei renmin chubanshe, 1982); Nathan Sivin, “Huang ti nei ching,” in Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, ed. Michael Loewe (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 196–215; Guo Aichun 悕曬㗍, ed., Huangdi neijing suwen jiaozhu yuyi 湫ⷅℏ䴻䳈 ⓷㟉㲐婆嬗 (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1999); Paul U. Unschuld, Huang di neijing su wen: Nature, Knowledge, Imagery in an Ancient Chinese Medical Text (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003); Zhang Canjia ⻝䆎䍦, Huangdi neijing wenxian yanjiu 湫ⷅℏ䴻㔯䌣䞼䨞 (Shanghai: Shanghai zhongyiyao daxue chubanshe, 2005); and Y. C. Kong, Huangdi neijing: A Synopsis with Commentaries (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2010). 16. See Wang Bing 䌳⅘ (710–805) and Lin Yi, eds., Huangdi neijing suwen buzhu shiwen 湫ⷅℏ䴻䳈⓷墄㲐慳㔯, DZ 1018: 1.3b–c. 17. Wang and Lin, “Maiyao jingweilun pian” 傰天䱦⽖婾䭯, in Huangdi neijing suwen, 13.71c. 18. Gai Jianmin, “Tangdai nüdaoyi Hu Yin,” 22. 19. Wang Ming, ed., Baopuzi neipian jiaoshi ㉙㛜⫸ℏ䭯㟉慳 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2010), 85. 20. Sun Simiao’s biography in Liu Xu, Jiu Tangshu ( JTS), 191.5094–97; and XTS, 196.5596–5598. 21. HTNJT, 687a. 22. See Yan Yiping, Daojiao yanjiu ziliao, 1–2. 23. In the early Tang, the government once forbade the practice of medicine by Buddhist monks and Daoist priests. For example, the Tang Huiyao records: “An imperial 5 . L O N G E V I T Y T E C H N I Q U E S A N D M E D I C A L T H E O RY

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24.

25.

26. 27.

28. 29.

30. 31.

32.

order issued in the fourth month of the fourth year of the Yonghui reign period: Daoist priests and priestesses and Buddhist monks and nuns are forbidden to heal illness and make divination for others” 㯠⽥⚃⸜⚃㚰㓽: 忻⢓⤛ⅈ₏⯤䫱, ᶵ⼿䁢Ṣ䗪䕦⍲⌄䚠 (THY, 50.876). However, according to many records of Daoist physicians in Tang histories, epitaphic inscriptions, and other texts, this prohibition appeared to have soon been lifted. See Jiang Sheng ⦄䓇 and Tang Weixia 㸗῱ᾈ, eds., Zhongguo Daojiao kexue jishu shi: Nanbeichao Sui Tang Wudai juan ᷕ⚳忻㔁䥹⬠㈨埻⎚: ⋿⊿㛅昳ⒸḼẋ⌟ (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2010), 443–46. There have been different sets of the six receptacles; one includes the gallbladder, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, urinary bladder, and “triple heater” (sanjiao ᶱ䃎), while another replaces the triple heater with the navel (mingmen ␥攨 ). Song dynasty catalogs record many texts related to the Huangting neijing jing (HTJ). Those extant today include Bai Lüzhong 䘥Ⰽ⾈ (sobriquet Liangqiuzi 㠩᷀⫸, fl. 722– 729), Huangting neijing yujing zhu 湫⹕ℏ㘗䌱䴻㲐, DZ 402: 516–40; Bai, Huangting waijing yujing zhu 湫⹕⢾㘗䌱䴻㲐, in Xiuzhen shishu, DZ 263: 58–60.869b–878c; Wuchengzi ⊁ㆸ⫸, Taishang huangting waijing jing zhu ⣒ᶲ湫⹕⢾㘗䴻㲐, in Zhang Junfang, Yinji qiqian (YJQQ), 12.282–317; Jiang Shenxiu 哋ヶᾖ, Huangting neiwai yujing jing jie 湫⹕ℏ⢾䌱㘗䴻妋, DZ 403: 541a–544b; Anonym, Shangqing huangting yangshen jing ᶲ㶭湫⹕梲䤆䴻, DZ 1400: 281b–284b; Anonym, Shangqing huangting wuzang liufu zhenren yuzhou jing ᶲ㶭湫⹕Ḽ冇ℕ⹄䛇Ṣ䌱庠䴻, DZ 1402; Li Qiansheng 㛶⋫Ḁ, Taishang huangting zhongjing jing ⣒ᶲ湫⹕ᷕ㘗䴻, DZ 1401; and Anonym, Huangting dunjia yuanshen jing 湫⹕忩䓚䶋幓䴻. See Schipper and Verellen, eds., Taoist Canon, 347–51, 360–61. HTNJT, 687a. See Li Xiangfeng 湶䤍沛 and Liang Yunhua 㠩忳厗, eds., Guanzi jiaozhu 䭉⫸㟉㲐 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2004), 14.815–16; Xu Weiyu 姙䵕怡 and Liang Yunhua 㠩忳厗, eds. Lüshi chunqiu jishi ⏪㮷㗍䥳普慳 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2009), 1.12, 5.275; He Ning ỽ⮏, ed., Huainanzi jishi 㶖⋿⫸普慳 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1998), 4.311–78, 5.379–442; and Sima Guang ⎠楔⃱ (1019–1086), ed., Taixuan jizhu ⣒䌬普 㲐 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1998), 8.195–201. See also Jiang Sheng and Tang Weixia, eds., Zhongguo Daojiao kexue jishu shi: Han Wei Liangjin juan ᷕ⚳忻㔁䥹⬠㈨ 埻⎚: 㻊櫷ℑ㗱⌟ (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2002), 507–8. Guo Aichun, Huangdi neijing suwen, 8–42, 369–76, 399–416. See mainly Manfret Porkert, The Theoretical Foundation of Chinese Medicine: Systems of Correspondence (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1974); Paul U. Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), 51–91; Nathan Sivin, “State, Cosmos, and Body in the Last Three Centuries B.C.,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 55, no. 1 (1995): 5–37; Y. C. Kong, The Cultural Fabric of Chinese Medicine (Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 2005), 24–32; and Li Jingwei 㛶䴻䶗 and Zhang Zhibin ⻝⽿㔴, eds., Zhongyixue sixiang shi ᷕ慓⬠⿅゛⎚ (Changsha: Hunan jiaoyu chubanshe, 2006), 78–83. Wang Ming, ed., Taiping jing hejiao ⣒⸛䴻⎰㟉 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960), 72.292. See also Isabelle Robinet, Taoist Meditation, 61–66. Wang Ka 䌳⌉, ed., Laozi Daodejing Heshanggong zhangju 侩⫸忻⽟䴻㱛ᶲ℔䪈⎍ (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1997), chapters 6 and 21. See Isabelle Robinet, Taoist Meditation, 61–75. HTJ, 909b–10a.

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33. Liangqiuzi, Huangting neijing yujing zhu, 1.521a. As one of the six receptacles, the gallbladder spirit represents the same symbol as the liver spirit in the five-phase scheme. 34. About the contents of the HTJ, see, for example, Wang Ming, “Huangting jing kao,” 338–351; Chen Yingning 昛㒾⮏ (1880–1969), “Huangting jing jiangyi” 湫⹕䴻嫃佑, Daoxie huikan 忻⋼㚫↲ 1 (1980): 24–38; Qing Xitai, Zhongguo Daojiao shi, 351–77; Isabelle Robinet, Taoist Meditation, 55–96; Livia Kohn, The Taoist Experience: An Anthology (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993), 181–88; Paul W. Kroll, “Body Gods and Inner Vision: The Scripture of the Yellow Court,” in Religions of China in Practice, ed. Donald S. Lopez Jr. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996), 149–55; Gong Pengcheng, “Huangting jing lunyao,” 66–81; and Xiao Dengfu 唕䘣䤷, “Shilun Daojiao neishen minghui yuanqi, jianlun Dongjin Shangqing jingpai cunsi xiulian famen” 娎婾忻㔁ℏ䤆⎵媙㸸崟, ℤ婾㜙㗱ᶲ㶭䴻㳦⬀⿅ᾖ䃱㱽攨, Zongjiaoxue yanjiu ⬿㔁⬠䞼䨞 3 (2004): 1–9, 82. 35. Song dynasty catalogs record, under Zhang Zhongjing’s ⻝ẚ㘗 (150–219) name, a Wuzang lun, but it was lost. Four fragmental manuscripts of the same title have been discovered from Dunhuang (numbered Paul Pelliot manuscripts, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris [P.] 2115v, 2755, 2378v; numbered Aurel Stein manuscripts, British Library, London [S.] 5614), which cite texts from the Han to the Northern and Southern dynasties. Thus, it possibly came out by the end of the latter period. See Ma Jixing 楔两冰 et al., eds., Dunhuang yiyao wenxian jijiao 㔎䃴慓喍㔯䌣廗㟉 (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 1998), 54–150. 36. HTNJT, 686c. 37. Although the yin-yang concept is closely connected to the five-phase concept in corrective cosmologies and traditional Chinese medicine, Hu Yin did not discuss it much, possibly because she was more focused on the correlation between the five viscera and the five-phase series. 38. HTNJT, 687a. 39. Li Qiansheng 㛶⋫Ḁ (fl. the late Tang), Taishang huangting zhongjing jing ⣒ᶲ湫⹕ᷕ 㘗䴻, DZ 1401: 285c–287b. 40. Wuchengzi, Taishang huangting waijing jing zhu, YJQQ, 12.305, 309. 41. For discussions on the relations between these zoomorphic images and star images, the twenty-eight constellations, the five directions, and the five-phase scheme, see, for example, Hsü Fu-kuan, Yinyang wuxing guannian zhi yanbian ji ruogan youguan wenxian de chengli shidai yu jieshi de wenti 昘春Ḽ埴奨⾝ᷳ㺼嬲⍲劍⸚㚱斄㔯䌣䘬ㆸ䩳㗪ẋ冯妋 慳䘬⓷柴 (Taibei: Minzhu pinglunshe, 1961); Shima Kunio Ⲟ恎䓟, Gogyō shisō to Raiki Getsurei no kenkyū Ḽ埴⿅゛̩䥖姀㚰Ẍ̯䞼䨞 (Tokyo: Kyuko shoin, 1971); John Major, “The Five Phases, Magic Squares, and Schematic Cosmography,” in Explorations in Early Chinese Cosmology, ed. Henry Rosemont Jr. (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1984), 133–66; Ai Lan 刦嗕 (Sarah Allan) and Wang Tao 㰒㾌, eds., Yinyang wuxing tanyuan 昘春Ḽ埴㍊㸸 (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 1998); Aihe Wang, Cosmology and Political Culture in Early China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000); Feng Shi 楖㗪, Zhongguo tianwen kaoguxue ᷕ⚳⣑㔯侫⎌⬠ (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2007), 347–433; and Michael Nylan, “Yin-yang, Five Phases, and Qi,” in China’s Early Empires: A Re-appraisal, ed. Michael Nylan and Michael Loewe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 398–414. 42. Feng Shi, Zhongguo tianwen kaoguxue, 427–32. 5 . L O N G E V I T Y T E C H N I Q U E S A N D M E D I C A L T H E O RY

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43. See Li Dou weiyi 䥖㔿⦩₨ (Huangshi yishu kao 湫㮷怢㚠侫 edition), 1.13a, and quoted by Ouyang Xun 㫸春娊 (557–641) et al., Yiwen leiju 喅㔯栆倂 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1982), 99.1707; Paul Andersen, “The Practice of Bugang,” Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 5 (1989–90): 15–55, especially 43–44; and Catherine Despeux, Taoïsme et corps humain: Le Xiuzhen tu (Paris: Guy Trédaniel Editeur, 1994), 96–97. 44. HTNJT, 686c. 45. Those Daoist and medical texts include the Taishang lingbao wufu xu ⣒ᶲ曰⮞Ḽ䫎⸷ (DZ 388: 315a–343a); Yuanshi wulao chishu yupian zhenwen tianshu jing ⃫⥳Ḽ侩崌㚠䌱 䭯䛇㔯⣑㚠䴻 (DZ 22: 774b–799b); and Sun Simiao, Beiji qianjin yaofang ⁁⿍⋫慹天㕡, annotated by Gao Wenzhu 檀㔯㞙 and Shen Shunong 㰰㼵彚 (Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe, 2008); and others. 46. Hu Yin, Huangting neijing wuzang liufu tu, 838c–839a. 47. Some scholars, not having collated the two editions, have thereby drawn the incomplete conclusion that Hu Yin’s work thoroughly discarded the mysterious and religious elements of the HTJ. See Wang Ming, “Huangting jing kao,” 351; and Wang Jiayou and Hao Qin, “Hu Yin jiqi Huangting neijing wuzang liufu buxie tu,” 33. 48. HTNJT, DZ 873: 686c. 49. Shangqing huangting wuzang liufu zhenren yuzhou jing, DZ 1402: 289–92. 50. Wang Ming, “Huangting jing kao,” 351, note 1. 51. YJQQ, 14.363–71. However, these images are not seen in the Daozang edition Huangting dunjia yuanshen jing (DZ 873: 707–9). See Schipper and Verellen, eds., Taoist Canon, 350–51, 360–61. 52. Liu Ding, Siqi shesheng tu, DZ 766: 224c–233c. See Schipper and Verellen, eds., Taoist Canon, 352–53. 53. See Piet Van der Loon, Taoist Books in the Libraries of the Sung Period: A Critical Study and Index (London: Ithaca, 1984), 96. 54. Zeng Zao, Daoshu, DZ 1017: 5.633c–634a. 55. Daoshu, DZ 1017: 35.792c; and “Jiuxian pian” ḅẁ䭯 in Daoshu, DZ 1017: 31.767b. 56. Daoshu, DZ 1017: 10.662b. 57. For a detailed study of the various versions of the Xiuzhen tu, see Catherine Despeux, Taoïsme et corps humain: Le Xiuzhen tu. 58. Tao Hongjing, Yangxing yanming lu, DZ 838: 474c–485b. This book has also been attributed to Sun Simiao. Tang Yongtong 㸗䓐⼌ and Zhu Yueli analyzed the texts cited and terms used in the book and concluded that authorship should be attributed to Tao Hongjing. See Tang Yongtong, “Du Daozang zhaji” 嬨忻啷∬姀, in Tang Yongtong xueshu lunwen ji 㸗䓐⼌⬠埻婾㔯普 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 404–6; and Zhu Yueli, “Yangxing yanming lu kao” 梲⿏⺞␥抬侫, Shijie zongjiao yanjiu 1 (1986): 101–15. 59. This book was not recorded in any catalog or cited in any text. One roughly complete manuscript has been rediscovered from Dunhuang. Although it is attributed to Tao Hongjing, many citations are noted with “Tao said” (Tao yun 昞ḹ) or “Hermit Tao said” (Tao yinju yun 昞晙⯭ḹ). Therefore, it was more likely compiled by his followers. See Ma Jixing et al., Dunhuang yiyao wenxian jijiao, 170–206. 60. Ma Jixing et al., Dunhuang yiyao wenxian jijiao, 54–150. 61. HTJ, 911b. 62. Taishang Huangting waijing yujing, 1.913a.

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63. Fan Ye 劫㙬 (398–445), Houhan shu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1973), 82.2750–51. Tao Hongjing’s Yangxing yanming lu (1.476a–b) cites the Han dynasty apocrypha Luoshu baoyuming 㳃㚠⮞Ḱ␥ to discuss the technique of swallowing saliva. 64. Zhangjiashan Hanjian zhenglizu ⻝⭞Ⱉ㻊䯉㔜䎮䳬, “Zhangjiashan Hanjian Yinshu shiwen” ⻝⭞Ⱉ㻊䯉⺽㚠慳㔯, Wenwu 10 (1990): 82 (Yinshu). See Peng Hao ⼕㴑, “Zhangjiashan Hanjian Yinshu chutan” ⻝⭞Ⱉ㻊䯉⺽㚠⇅㍊, Wenwu 10 (1990): 87–91. 65. Sun Simiao, Beiji qianjin yaofang, 27.480. 66. Hu Shouwei 傉⬰䁢, ed., Shenxian zhuan jiaoshi 䤆ẁ⁛㟉慳 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2011), 7.245. 67. For example, see Wang, Baopuzi, 111, 274; Shangqing dadong zhenjing ᶲ㶭⣏㳆䛇䴻, DZ 6: 1.515b; Lingbao wuliang duren shangpin miaojing 曰⮞䃉慷⹎Ṣᶲ⑩⥁䴻, DZ 1: 1.3a; Tao Hongjing, Yangxing yanming lu, DZ 838: 475a–485b; and Sun Simiao, Beiji qianjin yaofang, 27.480. 68. HTJ, 911b, 910c. 69. Li and Liang, Guanzi jiaozhu, 4.241. 70. Wang Xianqian 䌳⃰嫁 (1842–1917), ed., Zhuangzi jijie 匲⫸普妋 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1987), 6.186. 71. Wang, Baopuzi, “Zaying” 暄ㅱ, 15.266. Numerous works have discussed qi and its function. For a detailed outline of the Chinese energy and body scheme, see Livia Kohn, Health and Long Life: The Chinese Way (Cambridge, MA: Three Pines Press, 2005). 72. See Donald Harper, Early Chinese Medical Manuscripts: The Mawangdui Medical Manuscripts (London: Wellcome Asian Medical Monographs, 1998); Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu zhengkao, 269–81. 73. Tao Hongjing, Yangxing yanming lu, DZ 838:2.481b–482b. 74. Jingli (also written as Jinghei Ṕ湹) xiansheng, Shenxian shiqi jinkui miaolu, DZ 836: 459c–465b. 75. Sima Chengzhen, Fuqi jingyi lun, in YJQQ, 57.1243–78. 76. For discussions and translations of these texts, see, for example, Ute Engelhardt, Die klassische Tradition der Qi-Übungen: Eine Darstellung anhand des Tang-zeitlichen Textes Fuqi jingyi lun von Sima Chengzhen (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1987); Engelhardt, “Qi for Life: Longevity in the Tang,” in Daoist Meditation and Longevity Techniques, ed. Livia Kohn (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1989), 263– 296; Kohn, Chinese Healing Exercises: The Tradition of Daoyin (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2008), 84–90, 150–58; and Kohn, A Source Book in Chinese Longevity (Saint Petersburg, FL: Three Pines Press, 2012), 74–94. 77. Hu Yin mentioned meditation and visualization but did not discuss these in any detail. 78. Henri Maspero, Taoism and Chinese Religion, trans. Frank Kierman (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981), 498. 79. HTNJT, 683b. 80. Wang Xianqian, Zhuangzi jijie, 4.132. 81. Wei Qipeng 櫷┇洔 and Hu Xianghua 傉佼槲, Mawangdui hanmu yishu jiaoshi 楔䌳➮ 㻊⠻慓㚠㟉慳 (Chengdu: Chengdu chubanshe, 1992), 2: 1–9. 82. Yinshu, 84–85. Catherine Despeux has noted these early developments; see Despeux, “The Six Healing Breaths,” in Daoist Body Cultivation: Traditional Models and Contemporary Practices, ed. Livia Kohn (Magdalena, NM: Three Pines Press, 2006), 38–42.

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83. Cited by Tao Hongjing, Yangxing yanming lu, DZ 88: 481c–482b. 84. The cited text does not include this last method, but from the text’s mention of the “five viscera” and “six breaths,” we can deduce that the xi breath and its function may have been missing owing to scribal error. 85. Cited by Tao Hongjing, Yangxing yanming lu, DZ 88: 481c–482b. 86. Henri Maspero and Catherine Despeux explain the six breaths with their dictionary definitions of strong, soft, or sharp breath. See Maspero, Taoism and Chinese Religion, 497–98; and Despeux, “The Six Healing Breaths,” 40. However, this interpretation does not seem to accord with the exercise of the six breaths. 87. Ding Guangdi ᶩ⃱徒, ed., Zhubing yuanhou lun jiaozhu 媠䕭㸸῁婾㟉㲐 (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1991), 15.459–497; Zhiyi 㘢柿 (531–597) and Guanding 㿴枪 (561–632), Mohe zhiguan (Xuxiu siku quanshu ed.), 565–66; and Sun Simiao, Beiji qianjin yaofang, 27.486. 88. Catherine Despeux distinguishes three traditions of the six-breath exercise: Master Daolin’s, Master Ning’s, and the HTJ’s; see Despeux, “The Six Healing Breaths,” 44–59. She first says that, in the Beiji qianjin yaofang, the six breaths are found under the heading of Zhi Daolin’s 㓗忻㜿 longevity methods. However, in chapter 27 of the Beiji qianjin yaofang, Zhi Daolin’s methods are listed as number 2, and the breathing methods are listed as number 5; the two sections are not interconnected. Then, Despeux says that the Taiqing daoyin yangsheng jing ⣒㶭⮶⺽梲䓇䴻 cites Master Ning’s (Ning xiansheng ⮏⃰䓇) model to first introduce the “triple heater” (sanjiao ᶱ䃎) into the six breaths. I have, however, checked the text carefully and found that this citation describes only the healing of the five viscera with the six breaths, about the same as discussed in the Mingyi lun, without any mention of the triple heater. See Taiqing daoyin yangsheng jing, DZ 818: 399c–40a. The replacement of the triple heater with the gallbladder did not appear until the Song dynasty (discussed later). Additionally, Despeux’s HTJ tradition in fact refers to the scheme designed by Hu Yin, which had developed the previous tradition of the exercise. Thus, Despeux’s distinguishing of three traditions appears problematic and unnecessary. 89. Wang Xianqian, Zhuangzi jijie, 4.132. 90. Mawangdiu hanmu boshu Daoyin tu 楔䌳➮㻊⠻ⷃ㚠⮶⺽⚾ (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1979); and Yinshu, 82–86. 91. Fan Ye, Houhan shu, 82.2739; Tao Hongjing, Yangxing yanming lu, 483. See Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu zhengkao, 281–299; Gao Dalun 檀⣏ΐ, Zhangjiashan hanjian Yinshu yanjiu ⻝⭞Ⱉ㻊䯉⺽㚠䞼䨞 (Chengdu: Ba Shu shushe, 1995); Donald Harper, Early Chinese Medical Manuscripts, 310–27; Ute Engelhardt, “Daoyin tu und Yinshu: Neue Erkenntnisse über die Übungen zur Lebenspflege in der frühen Han-Zeit,” Monumenta Serica 49 (2001): 213–226; Ikai Yoshio 尔梤䤍⣓, “Chōkasan kanbo kanken Insho ni miru dō to in ni tsuite” ⻝⭞Ⱉ㻊⠻㻊䯉⺽㚠̬夳͌⮶̩⺽̧̬̥̅, Itan 慓嬂 79 (2003): 30–32; and Kohn, Chinese Healing Exercises, 36–61. 92. Tao Hongjing, Yangxing yanming lu, 482b–483c. 93. Sima Chengzhen, Fuqi jingyi lun, in YJQQ, 57.1257–59. 94. Those texts cite the Yangsheng yaoji 梲䓇天普, compiled in the fourth century, which was possibly lost after the An Lushan ⬱䤧Ⱉ Rebellion (703–757). See Timothy H. Barrett, “On the Transmission of the Shen tzu and of the Yang-sheng yao-chi,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 2 (1980): 168–76, especially 172; Sakade Yoshinobu 旒↢䤍Ỡ, “Chō Chin no Yojo yōshū itsubun tosono shisō” ⻝㸃̯梲䓇天普ἂ㔯̩̞̯⿅゛, Tōhō [ 248 ]

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95.

96.

97.

98.

99.

100.

101.

102. 103.

shūkyō 㜙㕡⬿㔁 68 (1986): 1–24; Catherine Despeux, “Gymnastics: The Ancient Tradition,” in Taoist Meditation and Longevity Techniques, ed. Livia Kohn (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1989), 228–37; Stephan Stein, Zwischen Heil und Heilung: Zur frühen Tradition des Yangsheng in China (Uelzen: Medizinisch-Literarische Verlagsgesellschaft, 1999). About the gymnastic exercises recorded in these texts, see Kohn, Chinese Healing Exercises, 62–161; and Jiang Sheng and Tang Weixia, Zhongguo Daojiao kexue jishu shi, 687–720. Sun Simiao, Beiji qianjin yaofang, 27.484–85; see also Taiqing daolin shesheng lun ⣒㶭忻 㜿㓅䓇婾, DZ1427: 471c–472b; and Zhengyi fawen xiuzhen zhiyao 㬋ᶨ㱽㔯ᾖ䛇㖐天, DZ 1270: 572–79. For example, the Imperial Medical Office (Taiyi shu ⣒慓会) in the Tang included Erudites for Massage (Anmo boshi ㊱㐑⌂⢓) and Massage Master (Anmo shi ㊱㐑ⷓ ), who were responsible for “teaching the techniques of guiding and pulling for removing disease” ㌴㔁⮶⺽ᷳ㱽ẍ昌䕦. See XTS, 48.1245. See Swami Vishnudevananda, Yujia daquan 䐄ụ⣏ℐ, trans. Li Xiaoqing 㛶⮷曺 (Shanghai: Shanghai zhongyi xueyuan chubanshe, 1990), 92–93; Kohn, Chinese Healing Exercises, 136–39; and Ma Boying 楔ỗ劙, Zhongguo yixue wenhua shi ᷕ⚳慓⬠㔯⊾⎚ (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 2012), 2:183–86. Wang Jiayou and Hao Qin have noted this point; see “Huyin jiqi Huangting neijing wuzang liufu buxie tu,” 32. For discussions on the “Eight Brocades” and “Twenty-Four Illustrated Seated Exercises for Healing Diseases,” see Kohn, Chinese Healing Exercises, 169–83. Zheng Xuan 惕䌬 (127–200) and Jia Gongyan 屰℔⼍ (fl. 650–655), eds., Zhouli zhushu ␐䥖㲐䔷, Shisanjing zhushu zhengliben ⋩ᶱ䴻㲐䔷㔜䎮㛔 (Beijing: Beijing daxue chubanshe, 2001), 5.129a–131a. Although the date of the Zhouli has been questioned, scholars now generally agree, due to its many consistencies with Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, that this text is based on Western Zhou materials with considerable later additions. Hanshu, 30.1777. In the transmitted Hanshu, yao 喍 is written as jin 䤩 (prohibition), but according to Jia Gongyan’s citation, jin must be a scribal error. See Zhouli zhushu, 5.129a. Fuyang Hanjian zhenglizu 旄春㻊䯉㔜䎮䳬, “Fuyang Hanjian Wanwu” 旄春㻊䯉叔䈑, Wenwu 4 (1988): 36–47, 54, 99; Qiu Xigui 墀拓⛕, ed., Changsha Mawangdui Hanmu jiabo jicheng 攟㱁楔䌳➮㻊⠻䯉ⷃ普ㆸ (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2014), 6: 35–71; and Huainan wanbi shu (Congshu jicheng chubian edition). See Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu zhengkao, 255–60; and Donald Harper, “Gastronomy in Ancient China,” Parabola 9 (1984): 39–47. Wang Shumin 䌳⍼䏱, ed., Liexian zhuan jiaojian ↿ẁ⁛㟉䬳 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2007). The Shennong bencao jing was probably composed in the late first or second century. After the Han, various versions of this text appeared, which Tao Hongjing collected and compiled into the Shennong bencao jing jizhu 䤆彚㛔勱䴻普㲐. Subsequently, Tao’s version was lost again; many premodern and modern scholars have since reconstructed it into different versions. Two important versions are Ma Jixing 楔两冰, ed., Shennong bencao jing jizhu 䤆彚㛔勱䴻廗㲐 (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1995); and Shang Zhijun ⯂⽿⛯, ed., Shennong bencao jing jiaozhu 䤆彚㛔勱䴻㟉㲐 (Beijing: Xueyuan chubanshe, 2008). For a detailed discussion of transmitted and lost dietetic

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104.

105. 106.

107.

108. 109.

110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 115.

116. 117.

texts, see Joseph Needham, Lu Gwei-djen, and Nathan Sivin, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 6, Biology and Biological Technology, part 4, Medicine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 78–84. Ge Hong, Baopuzi, 11.196–223; Taishang lingbao wufu xu, DZ 388: 2.322c–335b. See Akira Akahori, “Drug Taking and Immortality,” in Taoist Meditation and Longevity Techniques, ed. Kohn, 73–95, especially 75–83; Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu zhengkao, 238– 242; Jiang Sheng and Tang Weixia, Zhongguo daojiao kexue jishu shi: Han Wei Liangjin juan, 528–33; and Shawn Arthur, Early Daoist Dietary Practices: Examining Ways to Health and Longevity (Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2013). Arthur, Early Daoist Dietary Practices, 204. Sun Simiao, Beiji qianjin yaofang, 26.463–76. See Ute Engelhardt, “Dietetics in Tang China and the First Extant Works of Materia Dietetica,” in Innovation in Chinese Medicine, ed. Elisabeth Hsu (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 176–84. The Shiliao bencao is long lost, but its fragments are seen in Tanba Yasuyori’s ᷡ㲊⹟岜 (912–995) Ishinpō 慓⽫㕡, commentary by Maki Sachiko 㥯Ỹ䞍⫸ (Tōkyō: Chikuma Chikuma Shobō, 1993); Tang Shenwei Ⓒヶ⽖ (1056–1136), Zhenglei bencao 嫱栆㛔勱 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1991), and others. A fragment of the text was also rediscovered among the Dunhuang manuscripts (S. 0076). See Nakao Manzō ᷕ⯦ 叔ᶱ, “Shokuryō honzō no kōsatsu” 梇䗪㛔勱̯侫⮇, Shanghai ziran kexue yanjiusuo huibao ᶲ㴟冒䃞䥹⬠䞼䨞㇨⋗⟙ 1 (1930): 5–216; Ma Jixing, Dunhuang yiyao wenxian jijiao, 673–686; Xie Haizhou 嫅㴟㳚 et al., eds., Shiliao bencao (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1984); Paul Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History of Pharmaceutics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), 208–11; Zheng Jinsheng 惕慹䓇 et al., eds., Shiliao bencao yizhu 梇䗪㛔勱嬗㲐 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1993); and Engelhardt, “Dietetics in Tang China,” 184–87. Yinshu, 82. See Li Xueqin 㛶⬠⊌, “Yinshu yu Daoyin tu” ⺽㚠冯⮶⺽⚾, Wenwu tiandi 㔯䈑⣑⛘ 2 (1991): 7–9; and Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu zhengkao, 283–84. Guo Aichun, Huangdi neijing suwen, “Siqi tiaoshen dalun” ⚃㯋婧䤆⣏婾, 8–13. See also Zhubing yuanhou lun, “Wuzang liufu bing” Ḽ冇ℕ價䕭, 15.459–497; and Sun Simiao, Beiji qianjin yaofang, “Yangxing” 梲⿏, 27.478–79. Chen Zhi and Zou Xuan 悺懱, Shouqin yanglao xinshu, in Siku quanshu ⚃⹓ℐ㚠 (SKQS), 1.18a, 22a, 27b, 32b. Zeng Zao, Daoshu, DZ 1017: 19.700b. Xiuzhen shishu, DZ 263–65: 19.694c–695a. Zhu Quan (signed with his sobriquet Hanxu zi), Quxian huoren fang (preserved in Beijing University Library), 1.15a–18a. Zhou Lüjing, Chifeng sui (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1989), 1.23–27, 41–42, 60–62. Gao Lian, Zunsheng baqian (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 2007), 26–243, 394–98. For a study and translation of this text, see John H. Dudgeon, “Diet, Dress and Dwellings of the Chinese in Relation to Health,” in Health Exhibition Literature, vol. 19, Miscellaneous Including Papers on China (London: William Clowes and Sons, 1884), 253–486. Shen Jin’ao, Shenshi zunsheng shu, in Xiao Tianshi 唕⣑䞛, ed., Daozang jinghua 忻啷 䱦厗, 6th collection, vol. 6 (Taibei: Ziyou chubanshe, 1980). Tao Hongjing, Yangxing yanming lu, 475.

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118. Kristofer Schipper, The Taoist Body, trans. Karen C. Duval (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 100. 119. Wang Ming, “Huangting jing kao,” 351; Isabelle Robinet, Taoist Meditation, 67, 95; and Wang Jiayou and Hao Qin, “Hu Yin,” 33–34.

6. The Yaochi ji and Three Daoist Priestess-Poets

1.

2.

3. 4.

5. 6. 7. 8.

This chapter is derived in part from Jinhua Jia, “The Yaochi ji and Three Daoist Priestess-Poets in Tang China,” Nan Nü: Men, Women and Gender in China 13, no. 2 (2011): 205–43. Hu Wenkai 傉㔯㤟 listed six collections of women’s works prior to the Tang: four recorded in the bibliography of the Suishu 昳㚠, including Furen ji ⨎Ṣ普 in thirty juan, Furen ji ⨎Ṣ普 in eleven juan, Furen ji chao ⨎Ṣ普憼 in two juan, and Furen ji ⨎ Ṣ普 in twenty juan; one recorded in the bibliography of Liu Xu, Jiu Tangshu ( JTS) and the bibliography of Ouyang Xiu, Xin Tangshu (XTS), namely, Furen shiji ⨎Ṣ娑 普 in two juan; and one from the “Jingji dian” 䴻䯵℠ of the Qing dynasty encyclopedia Gujin tushu jicheng ⎌Ṳ⚾㚠普ㆸ, namely, Furen wenzhang lu ⨎Ṣ㔯䪈抬. See Hu Wenkai, Lidai funü zhuzuo kao 㬟ẋ⨎⤛叿ἄ侫 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2008), 875. The last work recorded in the Qing dynasty Gujin tushu jicheng is questionable because it usually is unlikely that an early work would appear suddenly in the Qing. None of these earlier collections are extant. Rong Xinjiang and Xu Jun, “Xinjian E cang Dunhuang Tangshi xieben sanzhong kaozheng ji jiaolu” 㕘夳Ὤ啷㔎䃴Ⓒ娑⮓㛔ᶱ䧖侫嫱⍲㟉抬, Tang yanjiu Ⓒ䞼䨞 5 (1999): 59–80; Xu Jun, Dunhuang shiji canjuan jikao 㔎䃴娑普㭀⌟廗侫 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2001), 25–27, 212–15, 672–85; Rong Xinjiang and Xu Jun, “Tang Cai Xingfeng bian Yaochi xinyong chongyan” Ⓒ哉䚩桐䶐䐌㰈㕘娈慵䞼, in Tang yanjiu 7 (2001): 125–44; Wang Ka 䌳⌉, “Tangdai Daojiao nüguan shige de guibao: Dunhuang ben Yaochi xinyong ji jiaoduji” Ⓒẋ忻㔁⤛ⅈ娑㫴䘬䐘⮞: 㔎䃴㛔䐌㰈㕘娈普㟉嬨姀, Zhongguo Daojiao yanjiu ᷕ⚳忻㔁䞼䨞 4 (2002): 10–13; and Xu Jun, Yaochi xinyong ji 䐌㰈㕘 娈普, in Fu Xuancong, Chen Shangjun, and Xu Jun, eds., Tangren xuan Tangshi xinbian, 883–912. See the articles included in Susan Whitfield, ed., Dunhuang Manuscript Forgeries (London: British Library, 2002). See Rong and Xu, “Yaochi xinyong,” 125–44. In an e-mail dated May 12, 2011, Dr. Irina Popova, director of Oriental manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences, has also indicated that “these documents [under investigation here] could not be forgeries.” Chongwen zongmu, 5.13a; XTS, 60.1624; and Tongzhi erzhi lüe, 8.1780. Chao Gongwu, Junzhai dushuzhi jiaozheng, 20.1069. You Mao ⯌塌 (1127–1194), Suichutang shumu 忪⇅➪㚠䚖 (Haishan xianguan congshu 㴟Ⱉ ẁ棐⎊㚠 edition), 49a. Eruosi kexueyuan Dongfang yanjiu suo Shengbidebao fensuo Ὤ伭㕗䥹⬠昊㜙㕡䟷䨞 ㇨俾⼤⼿⟉↮㇨, Eruosi Kexue chubanshe Dongfang wenxue bu Ὤ伭㕗䥹⬠↢䇰䣦㜙 㕡㔯⬠悐, and Shanghai guji chubanshe, eds., Eruosi kexueyuan Dong fang yanjiu suo

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Shengbidebao fensuo suocang Dunhuang wenxian Ὤ伭㕗䥹⬠昊㜙㕡䟷䨞㇨俾⼤⼿⟉↮㇨啷 㔎䃴㔯䌣 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1992; hereafter cited as E cang Dun-

huang wenxian), Чx. 6654, 3861, 6722. 9. Rong and Xu, “Yaochi xinyong,” 125–44. 10. Chao Gongwu, Junzhai dushu zhi jiaozheng, 20.1069. 11. Fan Yue 劫㙬 (398–445), Hou Hanshu ⼴㻊㚠 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965), 84.2784– 85; and Xiao Tong, ed., Wenxuan, 9.19a–22a. 12. Fan Yue, Hou Hanshu, 84.2798. 13. Fang Xuanling ㇧䌬漉 (579–648) et al., Jinshu 㗱㚠 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), 96.2523. 14. Xiao Zixian 唕⫸栗 (489–537), Nanqishu ⋿滲㚠 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1972), 20.392. 15. Fang Xuanling et al., Jinshu, 96.2516. 16. Fan Yue, Hou Hanshu, 84.2800–2803. 17. E cang Dunhuang wenxian, Чx. 3861, 3872, 3874, 6654, 6722, 11050. 18. See Rong and Xu, “Yaochi xinyong,” 129–35. 19. Wei Zhuang, Youxuan ji, in Tangren xuan Tangshi xinbian, 3.868–71; and Chen Yingxing, Yinchuang zalu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1997), 60–61. 20. See Chen Shangjun 昛⯂⏃, “Tangren bianxuan shige zongji xulu” ⒸṢ䶐怠娑㫴䷥普 㔀抬, Tangdai wenxue congkao Ⓒẋ㔯⬠⎊侫 (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1997), 195; and Rong and Xu, “Yaochi xinyong,” 139–40. 21. Song Ruoxun is written as Song Ruoyin ⬳劍勝 in the Youxuan ji, but according to JTS (52.2198) and Ji Yougong’s 妰㚱≇ Tangshi jishi Ⓒ娑䲨ḳ (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1987; 79.1132), yin 勝 must be a scribal error for xun 勨. 22. Chen Shangjun speculates that the Youxuan ji and Yinchuang zalu directly copied poems from the Yaochi ji and kept the original order, and that putting all three anthologies together gives twenty-three poets, but he does not undertake detailed comparison or research. Chen, “Tang nüshiren zenbian” Ⓒ⤛娑Ṣ䒬彐, Wenxian 㔯䌣 2 (2010): 10–25. 23. Wei Hu, Caidiao ji, in Tangren xuan Tangshi xinbian, 1194–1220. 24. In his article titled “Yetan Cai Xingfeng Yaochi xinyong” ḇ婯哉䚩桐䐌㰈㕘娈, Beijing daxue Zhongguo guwenxian yanjiu zhongxin jikan ⊿Ṕ⣏⬠ᷕ⚳⎌㔯䌣䞼䨞ᷕ⽫普↲ 7 (2008): 408–30, Wang Sanqing 䌳ᶱㄞ examines the Youxuan ji, Caidiao ji, Yinchuang zalu, and Tangshi jishi and speculates on the names of the twenty-three poets included in Cai Xingfeng, ed., Yaochi xinyong ji (Yaochi ji). However, because the order of the female poets included in the Caidiao ji and Tangshi jishi differs completely from the Yaochi ji fragments, Youxuan ji, and Yinchuang zalu, and also because Wang does not make a detailed comparison among these anthologies, the twenty-three poets he named are not necessarily all included in the Yaochi ji. 25. Although the Caidiao ji appeared much earlier than the Yinchuang zalu, it breaks the possibly original order, so I have placed it in the last category, with a check mark only if the poets are included in this text. 26. For the life experiences and extant poems of these poets, see relevant entries in Fu Xuancong, ed., Tang caizi zhuan jiaojian Ⓒㇵ⫸⁛㟉䬳 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1987– 1995); and Zhou Zuzhuan, ed., Zhongguo wenxuejia dacidian: Tang Wudai juan. I took part in writing some of these entries. The term “nülang” refers to those who were

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27.

28.

29. 30. 31.

32.

33. 34.

35.

36.

37.

not married yet (young) or never married (possibly old). Since I cannot decide the ages of all nülang, I have translated the term as “gentlewoman.” In the legend, the queen mother held a banquet for King Mu of the Zhou dynasty by the Turquoise Pond. See Mu Tianzi zhuan 䧮⣑⫸⁛, in Siku quanshu ⚃⹓ℐ㚠 (SKQS), 3.1a. For an excellent and detailed study of the queen mother, see Suzanne E. Cahill, Transcendence and Divine Passion: The Queen Mother of the West in Medieval China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993). Rong and Xu, “Yaochi xinyong,” 140. E cang Dunhuang wenxian, Чx. 6654, 3861. Bibliothèque nationale (France), Département des manuscrits, Catalogue des manuscrits chinois de Touen-Houang, Fonds Pelliot chinois de la Bibliothèque nationale (Paris: Bibliothéque nationale, 1970); Shanghai guji chubanshe and Bibliothèque nationale de France, eds., Faguo Guojia tushuguan cang Dunhuang xiyu wenxian 㱽⚳⚳⭞⚾㚠棐啷㔎 䃴大➇㔯䌣 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1994), numbered Paul Pelliot manuscripts, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (P.) 3216; Xu Jun, Dunhuang shiji canjuan jikao, 212–15; and Wang Ka, Dunhuang Daojiao wenxian yanjiu 㔎䃴忻㔁㔯䌣䞼䨞 (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2004), 243. Catalogue des manuscrits chinois de Touen-Houang and Faguo Guojia tushuguan cang Dunhuang xiyu wenxian, P. 2492; E cang Dunhuang wenxian, Чx. 3865; and Xu Jun, Dunhuang shiji canjuan jikao, 39. Chen Wenhua, preface to Tang nüshiren ji sanzhong (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1984), 1–24. Kang-I Sun Chang and Haun Saussy, eds. Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999), 56–59; and Wilt Idema and Beata Grant, The Red Brush: Writing Women in Imperial China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2004), 176–82. There have been other complete or selected translations of Li Jilan’s poetry, but some take much liberty in translation. See, for example, Bannie Chow and Thomas Cleary, trans., Autumn Willows: Poetry by Women of China’s Golden Age (Ashland, OR: Story Line, 2003), 77–117. See, for example, Suzanne E. Cahill, “Resenting the Silk Robes That Hide Their Poems,” in Tang Song nüxing yu shehui Ⓒ⬳⤛⿏冯䣦㚫, ed. Deng Xiaonan 惏⮷⋿ (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 2003), 519–66. Other notable studies include Sun Changwu, Daojiao yu Tangdai wenxue (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 2001), 381–90; Chen Wenhua, “Tangdai nüguan shiren Li Ye shenshi ji zuopin kaolun” Ⓒẋ⤛ⅈ娑Ṣ㛶⅞幓ᶾ⍲ἄ⑩侫婾, Nanjing daxue xuebao ⋿Ṕ⣏⬠⬠⟙ 39, no. 5 (2002): 119–25; and Zhou Lei ␐唦, “Zhongxing jianqi ji Li Jilan pingyu shuzheng” ᷕ 冰攻㯋普㛶⬋嗕姽婆䔷嫱, Zhongguo shige yanjiu ᷕ⚳娑㫴䞼䨞 (2008): 220–32. Wei Hu, Caidiao ji ( Jiguge 㰚⎌敋 edition), in Tangren xuan Tangshi xinbian, ed. Fu Xuancong, Chen Shangjun, and Xu Jun, 10.1195. Other editions of this text record her name as Zhi 㱣 (Tangren xuan Tangshi xinbian, 1197, note 1), which must be a scribal error, because Emperor Gaozong’s (r. 649–683) name is Li Zhi and nobody later in the Tang would have dared to have the same name. The Tongzhi and Songshi record her name as Yu 塽, which is probably a scribal error as well. See Tongzhi ershilüe, 8.1778; Songshi, 208.5388; and Chen Wenhua, preface to Tang nüshiren ji, 1–2. Gao Zhongwu, Zhongxing jianqi ji, in Tanren xuan Tangshi xinbian, 3.510.

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38. Chongwen zongmu, 5.36a; Chen Zhensun, Zhizhai shulu jieti, 19.29b; and Zheng Qiao, Tongzhi ershilüe, 8.1778. 39. Ji Yun 䲨㖨 (1724–1805), ed., Siku quanshu zongmu ⚃⹓ℐ㚠䷥䚖 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965), 186.1690b. 40. Hu Zhenheng, Tangyin tongqian, in Xuxiu Siku quanshu 临ᾖ⚃⹓ℐ㚠 (XXSKQS), 922.1a–4b; and Peng Dingqiu et al., eds., Quan Tangshi (QTS), 805.9057–60, 888.10039. 41. The Huacao cuibian 剙勱䱡䶐 by Chen Yaowen 昛侨㔯 ( jinshi 1550) includes a ci lyric in the tune of “Jianzi mulanhua” 㷃⫿㛐嗕剙, attributed to Li Jilan (SKQS, 4.33). This is an incorrect attribution, as the tune did not appear in the mid-Tang period. 42. Catalogue des manuscrits chinois de Touen-Houang and Faguo Guojia tushuguan cang Dunhuang xiyu wenxian, P. 2492; and E cang Dunhuang wenxian, Чx. 6654, 3861, 3865, 3872, 3874. See also Rong and Xu, “Yaochi xinyong,” 129–31. Among these three poems, one does not appear in any transmitted texts, while two of them complete two transmitted and fragmented couplets. Additionally, one more poem of four couplets completes a transmitted two-couplet poem. 43. Fu Xuancong, Tang caizi zhuan jiaojian, 1:2.326. 44. Chen Wenhua, preface to Tang nüshiren ji sanzhong, 2. 45. Wang Renyu 䌳ṩ塽 (880–956), Yutang xianhua 䌱➪攺娙, quoted in Li Fang et al., eds., Taiping guangji, 273.2150. 46. Scholars have long noticed this cliché. For an early discussion of prodigy stories in official histories, see Herbert Franke, “Remarks on the Interpretation of Chinese Dynastic Histories,” Oriens 3 (1950): 113–22, esp. 121. Authors of unofficial biographical comments about women poets appear to have followed the techniques of official historiography and biography. There is a similar story about Xue Tao and her father, which first appeared in the early Song text Junge yatan 悉敋晭婯 by Pan Ruochong 㼀劍㰾 (tenth century) and was then cited by Chen Yaowen in Tianzhong ji ⣑ᷕ姀 (SKQS), 20.6b. 47. Tangren xuan Tangshi xinbian, 510. 48. See Jia Jinhua, Jiaoran nianpu, 40–44; and Jia Jinhua, “Liu Zhangqing,” in Zhongguo wenxuejia dacidian, ed. Zhou Zuzhuan, 189–90. 49. Chen Yingxing, Yinchuang zalu, 30.842. 50. See Li Shu’s biographies in JTS, 137.3763–64; XTS, 161.4983; Jia Jinhua, Jiaoran nianpu, 35–36; and Jia Jinhua, “Li Shu,” in Zhongguo wenxuejia dacidian, 286. This poem has variant titles: “Ji jiaoshu shijiu xiong” ⭬㟉㚠⋩ḅ⃬, in Zhongxing jianqi ji, 3.511, and Youxuan ji, 3.868; “Ji Han jiaoshu shiqi xiong” ⭬杻㟉㚠⋩ᶫ⃬, in Li Fang, Wenyuan yinghua, 256.1289; “Ji Han jiaoshu” ⭬杻㟉㚠, in Tangshi jishi, 78.1123; and “Ji jiaoshu qi xiong” ⭬㟉㚠ᶫ⃬, in QTS, 805.9057. Because Jilan’s family name is Li, it would be unlikely for her to call someone with the family name of Han her elder brother. Li Shu matches every relevant point: holding the position of editor, ranking seventeenth in his family generation, and being active in the same region and the same period. Therefore, he is the best candidate, and the other, variant rankings of “number nineteen” and “number seven” are likely scribal errors. 51. See Dugu Ji 䌐⬌⍲, “Tang gu Yangzhou Qingyunsi lüshi Yigong taming” Ⓒ㓭㎂ⶆ ㄞ暚⮢⼳ⷓᶨ℔⟼所, in Quan Tangwen (QTW ), ed. Dong Gao et al., 390.1b; and Jia, Jiaoran nianpu, 35. 52. Fan Ning 劫⮏, Bowu zhi jiaozheng ⌂䈑⽿㟉嫱 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1980), 10.111; Fan Yue, Hou Hanshu, 82.2718; and Chen Wenhua, Tang nüshiren ji, 3. [ 254 ]

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53. Chen Wenhua, Tang nüshiren ji, 3. 54. Cai Xingfeng, Yaochi ji, in E cang Dunhuang wenxian, Чx. 3861, 6654. See Rong and Xu, “Yaochi xinyong,” 130–31. 55. Chen Wenhua, Tang nüshiren ji, 1; QTS, 805.9057. 56. See Jia Jinhua, Jiaoran nianpu, 22, 27–28, 31, 40–41; and Jia, “Lu Yu,” in Zhongguo wenxuejia dacidian, 451. 57. Li Fang, Wenyuan yinghua, 244.12a. 58. See Lin Bao 㜿⮞ (fl. 806 – 820), Yuanhe xingzuan ⃫␴⥻个 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1994), 5.770; XTS, 202.5771; and Jia, Jiaoran nianpu, 40–44. 59. See Liu Yiqing ∱佑ㄞ (403–444), Youming lu ⸥㖶抬 (Beijing: Wenhua yishu chubanshe, 1988), 1.1–2. 60. See Jia, Jiaoran nianpu, 43. 61. This poem appears in the rediscovered Yaochi ji from the Dunhuang manuscripts with the title “Song Yan Bojun” 復散ỗ⛯ (E cang Dunhuang wenxian, Чx. 6654, 3861). See Rong and Xu, “Yaochi xinyong,” 129. Both the Caidiao ji (10.1195) and the Yinchuang zalu (30.840) have the title “Song Yan Bojun wang Jiangzhou.” There are other variant titles: “Song Han Kui zhi Jiangxi” 復杻㍮ᷳ㰇大 (Zhongxing jianqi ji, 512) and “Song Han san wang Jiangxi” 復杻ᶱ⼨㰇大 (Youxuan ji, 3.869). In accordance with Yan’s experience and the feelings of love contained in the poem, “Song Yan Bojun wang Jiangzhou” would seem to be the right title. 62. Zhong Xing, Mingyuan shigui ⎵⩃娑㬠 (XXSKQS), 11.1b. 63. Gao Zhongwu notes: “It is also titled ‘Sent to Zhu Fang.’ ” See Gao, Zhongxing jianqi ji, in Tangren xuan Tangshi xinbian, 3.508. 64. QTS, 315.3542. 65. Jia, Jiaoran nianpu, 112–13. 66. See QTS, 794.8936–37. Yan’s name is mistakenly written as Yan ♜ in this text. 67. QTS, 228.2170–71. 68. Jiaoran, Zhou shangren ji, 2.13a, 6.36b; QTS, 816.9193, 820.9246–47. 69. Ban Gu, Hanshu, 76.3216–26. 70. Xuanhe huapu, in Congshu jicheng chubian ⎊㚠普ㆸ⇅䶐 (CSJCCB), 7.187. 71. See Rong and Xu, “Yaochi xinyong,” 141; and Carolyn Ford, “Note on a Portrait of Li Jilan,” T’ang Studies 20–21 (2002–2003): 151–59. 72. See Zhu Jingxuan 㛙㘗䌬 (fl. 806–846), Tangchao minghua lu Ⓒ㛅⎵䔓抬 (Chengdu: Sichuan meishu chubanshe, 1985), 5–7; and Jia, Jiaoran nianpu, 98–99. The Tangchao minghua lu says that Zhou Fang was summoned by Emperor Dezong to paint Buddha images for Zhangjing monastery 䪈㔔⮢ when it was built. The monastery, however, was built in 767 by Emperor Daizong; see Wang Pu, Tang Huiyao, 48.847. 73. Yaochi ji, in E cang Dunhuang wenxian, Чx. 6654, 3861. See Rong and Xu, “Yaochi xinyong,” 130. Guren 㓭Ṣ (old friend) is written as gufu 㓭⣓ (old husband) in the Dunhuang manuscript, here collated according to other anthologies, in which the poem is titled “Enming zhuiru liubie Guangling guren” 】␥徥ℍ䔁⇍⺋昝㓭Ṣ (His Highest Order Summons Me: Left for Parting My Old Friends in Guangling), Caidiao ji, 10.1196; QTS, 805.9058. 74. JTS, 137.3763–64; XTS, 161.4983; and Jia Jinhua, “Li Shu,” in Zhongguo wenxuejia dacidian, 286. 75. As discussed in chapter 1 of this book, Emperor Dezong summoned the five Song sisters to court, in 788, and again summoned Bao Junhui, in 798. 6 . T H E YAO C H I J I A N D T H R E E DA O I S T P R I E S T E S S - P O E T S

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76. Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian (ZZTJ), 228.7351–61. 77. Catalogue des manuscrits chinois de Touen-Houang and Faguo Guojia tushuguan cang Dunhuang xiyu wenxian, P. 2492; and E cang Dunhuang wenxian, Чx. 3865. This poem is not included in the Yaochi ji. See Xu Jun, Dunhuang shiji canjuan jikao, 39. 78. E cang Dunhuang wenxian, Чx. 3872, 3874. See Rong and Xu, “Yaochi xinyong,” 131. The guren 㓭Ṣ in the title is written as gufu 㓭⣓ in the Dunhuang manuscripts; here it is collated according to the title of the fragmented couplet in the Yinchuang zalu (30.842). 79. ZZTJ, 231.7440. 80. Zhao Yuanyi, Fengtian lu (CSJCCB), 1.7. 81. Yu, Siku tiyao bianzheng ⚃⹓㍸天彐嫱 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1980), 24.1557. 82. See, for example, Chow and Cleary, Autumn Willows, 26. 83. E cang Dunhuang wenxian, Чx. 6654, 3861; Caidiao ji, 10.1195. 84. Fu, Chen, and Xu, Tangren xuan Tangshi xinbian, 3.510. 85. Ji Yougong, Tangshi jishi, 78.1124. 86. For detailed discussions on this issue, see Jinhua Jia, “The Identity of Daoist Priestesses in Tang China,” in Gendering Chinese Religion: Subject, Identity, and Body, ed. Jinhua Jia, Xiaofei Kang, and Ping Yao (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014), 103– 32; and chapter 1 and the conclusion of this book. 87. See Guo Maoqian 悕努ῑ, Yuefu shiji 㦪⹄娑普 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1979), 60.876. 88. Stephen Owen has mentioned this point; see Owen, “Li Jilan,” in Chang and Saussy, Women Writers of Traditional China, 59. 89. See Maureen Robertson, “Voicing the Feminine: Constructions of the Gendered Subject in Lyric Poetry of Medieval and Late Imperial China,” Late Imperial China 13, no. 1 (1992): 69; and Anne Birrell, “Women in Literature,” in Columbia History of Chinese Literature, ed. Victor H. Mair (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), 200–201. 90. Ji Yun, Siku quanshu zongmu, 186.1690. 91. The QTS includes two of Yuan’s poems and four fragmented couplets (805.9060–61). Another poem, “Yuyan” ⭻妨 (Allegory), attributed to her in the Youxuan ji (3.870), is mistakenly attributed to Li Dong 㛶㳆 (d. ca. 897) in the QTS (723.8300), while a fragmented couplet of the poem is included in the Yinchuang zalu (30.844) and QTS under her name. See Chen Shangjun, ed., Quan Tangshi bubian, 2: 302. 92. Suzanne Cahill offers a brief discussion of her poetry but misspells her name as Yuan Qun; see Cahill, “Resenting the Silk Robes That Hide Their Poems,” 538–39. 93. E cang Dunhuang wenxian, Чx. 3872, 3974, 11050. See Rong and Xu, “Yaochi xinyong,” 131–33. 94. Zhou Shaoliang and Zhao Chao, ed., Tangdai muzhi huibian, 729–30. 95. The epitaph says that she was from the Henan Commandery 㱛⋿⹄, the office of which was located in Luoyang; see Li Jifu, Yuanhe junxian tuzhi ⃫␴悉䷋⚾⽿ (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1983), 5.129–30. 96. Zhide convent was located in the Xingdao ward 冰忻⛲; see Xu Song, Tang liangjing cheng fang kao, 2.35. 97. The epitaph says only that she died during the Dali reign period (766–779). However, since she was ordained in 742 and then became abbess for thirty-six years, we can assume that she died at the end of the Dali. 98. JTS records his name as Lu Hongyi and his courtesy name as Haoran 㴑䃞 in his biography but as Lu Hong in another place in the text (192.5119–21, 8.179). In the XTS [ 256 ]

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99. 100.

101.

102. 103. 104. 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111.

112. 113.

114. 115. 116.

(196.5603–604); Sima Guang, Zizhi tongjian (212.6732); the anonymous Baoke leibian (3.81); Chen Si, Baoke congbian (20.516); and other texts, his name is recorded as Lu Hong. Catalogue des manuscrits chinois de Touen-Houang and Faguo Guojia tushuguan cang Dunhuang xiyu wenxian, P. 3216; and Huang Yongwu, Dunhuang baozang, 126: 620. Yan Tingliang, ed., Dunhuang wenxue gailun 㔎䃴㔯⬠㤪婾 (Lanzhou: Gansu renmin chubanshe, 1993), 90, 126; Xu Jun, Dunhuang shiji canjuan jikao, 212–15; and Wang Ka, Dunhuang Daojiao, 243. Emperor Xuanzong actually built a Helian cloister ⎰䃱昊 in the Xingqing palace 冰ㄞ⭖ for making alchemical elixirs. See Sun Ti ⬓徾, “Wei Zaixiang he Helianyuan chan zhicao biao” 䁢⭘䚠屨⎰䃱昊䓊剅勱堐, in QTW, 311.8a–b. Ban Gu, Hanshu, 54.2459–2468. Nanzhi ⋿㝅, the southern branches of trees, is a traditional image for one’s hometown, which is first used in the “Gushi shijiu shou” ⎌娑⋩ḅ椾. Youxuan ji, 3.871. QTS, 801.9011–12; Chen Yingxing, Yinchuang zalu, 30.846–47. E cang Dunhuang wenxian, Чx. 11050. See Rong and Xu, “Yaochi xinyong,” 135. See, for example, Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa-sūtra 䵕㐑娘㇨婒䴻, in Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 475: 547c. E cang Dunhuang wenxian, Чx. 11050; Youxuan ji, 3.870; and QTS, 799.8986. Youxuan ji, 3.873; QTS, 799.8989. Youxuan ji, 3.873; QTS, 802.9025. Chen Wenhua, Tang nüshiren ji, 134–37; QTS, 804.9055–56, 801.9021. Suzanne Cahill has translated this poem in “Material Culture and the Dao: Textiles, Boats, and Zithers in the Poetry of Yu Xuanji (844–868),” in Daoist Identity: History, Lineage, and Ritual, ed. Livia Kohn and Harold D. Roth (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002), 119–22. Chen Wenhua, Tang nüshiren ji, 96–98, 121; QTS, 804.9047–48, 9052. In Lu Qinli’s 志㫥䩳 Xian Qin Han Wei Jin Nanbeichao shi ⃰䦎㻊櫷㗱⋿⊿㛅娑 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983; 2131–32), two poems exchanged with courtesans are attributed to Liu Lingxian ∱Ẍ⪣, the wife of the official Xu Fei ⼸す, but one of them is also attributed to Xu Fei, in one version of the Yutai xinyong 䌱⎘㕘娈. Mu Kehong 䧮⃳⬷ has asserted that this poem is neither by Liu nor by her husband; see Mu, ed., Yutai xinyong jianzhu 䌱⎘㕘娈䬳㲐 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), 6.258. Dorothy Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-Century China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994), 14. Robertson, Voicing the Feminine, 68–79. See discussion in the introduction of this book.

7. Unsold Peony: The Life and Poetry of the Priestess-Poet Yu Xuanji This chapter is derived in part from Jinhua Jia, “Unsold Peony: Life and Poetry of the Daoist Priestess-Poet Yu Xuanji in Tang China (618–907),” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 35, no. 1 (2016): 25–57. 7. U N S O L D P E O N Y

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1. Narrative texts will be discussed; for performing arts, see Ye Xianzu’s 叱ㅚ䣾 (1566– 1641) chuanqi ⁛⣯ drama, Ruanpi ji 淆捆姀 ( Jiguge 㰚⎌敋 edition). 2. See Mori Ōgai, “Go Genki” 欂䌬㨇 (Yu Xuanji), in Shōsets 4 ⮷婒 4, Ōgai zenshū 浿 ⢾ℐ普, vol. 5 (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 1937); Robert van Gulik, Poets and Murder (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968); Shaw Brothers’ Film Studio, An Amorous Woman of the Tang Dynasty (Tangchao haofangnü Ⓒ㛅尒㓦⤛; 1984); and Asia Television Limited, Those Famous Women in Chinese History (Lidai qinüzi 㬟ẋ ⣯⤛⫸; 1988), episodes 7–10. 3. See, for example, Jean Elizabeth Ward’s The Beheaded Poetess: Yu Xuanji (lulu.com, 2009). 4. The Song dynasty bibliophile Chen Zhensun records Yu’s collection of poetry as one juan in his Zhizhai shulu jieti (19.29b). This collection has been passed on to us. It is titled Tang nülang Yu Xuanji ji Ⓒ⤛恶欂䌬㨇普 and contains forty-nine poems. Several Song dynasty editions are extant, and the two included in the Sibu beiyao ⚃悐⁁天 and Xuxiu siku quanshu 临ᾖ⚃⹓ℐ㚠 (XXSKQS) are easy to access. Qian Qianyi and Ji Zhenyi ⬋㋗⭄ (1630–1674) collected one more poem (“Zhe yangliu” ㉀㣲㞛 ) from the Song dynasty anthology Wenyuan yinghua; see Qian and Ji, Quan Tangshi gaoben ℐⒸ娑䧧㛔 (Taibei: Lianjing, 1979), 71: 245. Hu Zhenheng and the compilers of the Quan Tangshi collected four more fragmented couplets from the Tangshi jishi; see Hu, Tangyin tongqian Ⓒ枛䴙䯥, in XXSKQS, 923.12a–b; and Peng Dingqiu et al., eds., Quan Tangshi (QTS), 804.905. 5. Sun Guangxian, Beimeng suoyan, 9.71–72; Chen Zhensun, 19.29b; Hu Zhenheng, Tangyin guiqian, 8.83; and Qian Qianyi, Jiangyunlou shumu, 75. 6. Jan W. Walls, “The Poetry of Yü Hsüan-chi: A Translation, Annotation, Commentary and Critique” (PhD diss., Indiana University, 1972). Genevieve B. Wimsatt’s translations of Yu Xuanji’s poems were done earlier, but she took much liberty with her work and imbued it with much imagination; see Wimsatt, Selling Wilted Peonies: Biography and Songs of Yu Hsuan-Chi (New York: Columbia University Press, 1936). Other early translations and studies include Karashima Takeshi 彃Ⲟ槵, Gyo Genki-Setsu Tō 欂䌬㨇, 啃㾌 (Tokyo: Shūeisha, 1964); and Yokoyama Eisan 㨓Ⱉ㯠ᶱ, “Gyo Genki ni tsuite” 欂䌬㨇̧̬̥̄, Chūgoku kankei ronsetsu shiryō ᷕ⚥敊Ὢ婾婒屯㕁 10 (1968): 218–25. 7. Jan W. Walls, “Yü Hsüan-chi,” in The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, ed. William H. Nienhauser Jr. (Taibei: SMC, 1986), 944. 8. Chen Wenhua, Tang nüshiren ji sanzhong, 95–145. 9. Liang Chaoran, “Yu Xuanji,” in Tang caizizhuan jiaojian, ed. Fu Xuancong, 3: 8.448– 53. Dieter Kuhn also wrote a biography of Yu titled Yu Hsüan-chi: Die Biographie der T’ang Dichterin, Kurtisane und Taoistischen Nonne (privately printed by Habilitationsvortrag, Heidelberg, 1985). 10. Maureen Robertson, “Voicing the Feminine: Constructions of the Gendered Subject in Lyric Poetry of Medieval and Late Imperial China,” Late Imperial China 13, no. 1 (1992): 63–110. 11. Kang-i Sun Chang and Haun Saussy, eds., Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999), 66–76; and Wilt Idema and Beata Grant, The Red Brush: Writing Women in Imperial China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2004), 189–95. There have been other complete or selected translations of Yu’s poetry recently, but some of them take [ 258 ]

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12. 13.

14.

15.

16. 17.

18. 19.

20.

21.

22.

considerable liberties with translation; see, for example, David Young and Jiann I. Lin, trans., The Clouds Float North: The Complete Poems of Yu Xuanji (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1998); and Bannie Chow and Thomas Cleary, trans., Autumn Willows: Poetry by Women of China’s Golden Age (Ashland, OR: Story Line, 2003), 77–117. Jowen R. Tung, Fables for the Patriarchs: Gender Politics in Tang Discourse (Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield, 2000), 182, 205–18. Suzanne E. Cahill, “Resenting the Silk Robes that Hide Their Poems: Female Voices in the Poetry of Tang Dynasty Taoist Nuns,” in Tang-Song nüxing yu shehui Ⓒ⬳⤛⿏冯䣦㚫, ed. Deng Xiaonan (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 2003), 519–66; and Cahill, “Material Culture and the Dao: Textiles, Boats, and Zithers in the Poetry of Yu Xuanji (844–868),” in Taoist Identity: History, Lineage, and Ritual, ed. Livia Kohn and Harold D. Roth (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002), 102–26. See, for example, Kobayashi Tetsuyuki ⮷㜿⽡埴, “Gyo Genki no shi no tokushitsu” 欂䌬㨇̯娑̯䈡岒, Tōyō bunka 㜙㲳㔯⊾ 303 (1992): 13–26; Huang Shizhong, “Lun Quan Tangshi zhong suo fanying de nüguan ‘banchang shi’ lianqing,” 39–43; and Hu Wei, “Daojiao de qingxiuguan yu wenren de bairimeng,” 112–17. Incorporated in Li Fang et al., eds., Taiping guangji (TPGJ), 130.922–23. Unless otherwise indicated, all following citations of the Sanshui xiaodu’s narrative of Yu Xuanji are from this version. Sun Guangxian, Beimeng suoyan, 9.71–72. All subsequent citations of the Beimeng suoyan’s narrative of Yu are from this version. We know with exactitude that Huangfu Mei lived in Lanling ward in 871, three years after Yu’s death in 868, but he could have lived there earlier. See Huangfu Mei, Sanshui xiaodu, 85.549–50; and Xu Song, Tang liangjing cheng fang kao, 2.39. For example, see Walls, “The Poetry of Yü Hsüan-chi,” 45–50; Cahill, “Resenting the Silk Robes,” 563–66; and Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 190–93. The character ⸤ should be read as yao here, as the same reading in the word yaomiao ⸤⥁ or yaomiao ⸤䚯, meaning youwei ⸥⽖ (deep and subtle). See Bangu, Hanshu, 53.2423; and Li Shan’s 㛶┬ (630–689) annotation on Sima Xiangru’s ⎠楔䚠⤪ (ca. 179– ca. 117) “Changmen fu” 攟攨岎, in Xiao Tong, Wenxuan, 16.228b. Hui is melilot, or sweet clover, and lan refers to eupatorium in texts before the Song dynasty; see Paul W. Kroll, A Student’s Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 176, 252. Together, huilan also denotes species of lan, and conventionally lan has been translated as “orchid.” Here, I adopt the conventional translation, which sounds more poetic. For example, the anonymous author of “Qinghe Zhang shi nüshang muzhiming” 㶭㱛 ⻝㮷⤛㭌⠻娴所 records, “This girl who died young was the daughter of Lady Wei. She believed in Dao and received ordination, and therefore was given the name Rongcheng” ⤛㭌, 杳↢ḇ. ヽ忻⍿䰁, ⚈⎵⭡ㆸ. See Chen Yuan, Chen Zhichao, and Zeng Qingying, eds., Daojia jinshi lüe, 169–70. For example, see Feng Menglong 楖⣊漵 (1574–1646), Qingshi ね⎚, in Feng Menglong quanji 楖⣊漵ℐ普, ed. Wei Tongxian 櫷⎴岊 (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 1993), 7:18.656–57; Qian Qianyi and Ji Zhenyi, Quan Tangshi gaoben, 71: 220; and Liu Yuyi ∱㕤佑 (d. 1748) and Shen Qingya 㰰曺Ⲿ (fl. 1735), comp., Shaanxi tongzhi 昅大忂⽿ (Siku quanshu edition), 100.119a–120b. 7. U N S O L D P E O N Y

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23. Sanshui xiaodu, Miao shi Yunzizai kan edition ䷮㮷暚冒⛐漽⇣㛔 (1891; XXSKQS), 2.4b. 24. For example, see Walls, “The Poetry of Yü Hsüan-chi,” 54. 25. For example, see Kobayashi Tetsuyuki, “Gyo Genki no shi no tokushitsu,” 13, 26. 26. For example, see Liu Xu, Jiu Tangshu ( JTS), 13.367; and Fang Qianli ㇧⋫慴, Yang chang zhuan 㣲⧤⁛, incorporated in TPGJ, 491.4032. 27. Gao Yanxiu 檀⼎ẹ (b. 854), Queshi, in Siku quanshu ⚃⹓ℐ㚠 (SKQS), 1.20b; and Zhou Xunchu ␐⊃⇅, ed., Tang yulin jiaozheng Ⓒ婆㜿㟉嫱 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1987), 7.624. 28. Sun Qi ⬓㢐 (fl. 884), Beili zhi ⊿慴⽿ (Congshu jicheng chubian), 4, 9, 10. 29. In his Sanshui xiaodu, Huangfu Mei does not mention the relationship between Yu Xuanji and Li Yi at all. One reasonable conjecture is that Huangfu was their contemporary and might have had to avoid the subject as taboo because Yu was eventually executed for murder and Li was then a major official at the court. 30. Liang Kejia 㠩⃳⭞ (1128–87), Chunxi sanshan zhi 㶛䅁ᶱⰙ⽿ (SKQS), 26.4b. See Liang Chaoran, “Yu Xuanji,” 449. 31. Among the greatest families of the Tang dynasty were two Li clans, the Zhaojun Li 嵁悉㛶㮷 and the Longxi Li 晜大㛶㮷. 32. See mainly Chen Yinke, “Ji Tangdai zhi Li Wu Wei Yang hunyin jituan” 姀Ⓒẋᷳ㛶㬎 杳㣲⨂⦣普⛀, in Jinmingguan conggao chubian 慹㖶棐⎊䧧⇅䶐 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1980), 237–63; David Johnson, “The Last Years of a Great Clan: The Li Family of Chao-chun in the late T’ang and Early Sung,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 37 (1977): 51–59; and Patricia Ebrey, The Aristocratic Families of Early Imperial Chian: A Case Study of the Po-ling Tsui Family (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978). 33. Zhangsun Wuji 攟⬓䃉⽴ (ca. 597–659) et al., Tanglü shuyi Ⓒ⼳䔷嬘 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 12. 34. Liang Chaoran has indicated this possibility; see Liang, “Yu Xuanji,” 448. 35. Xin Wenfang, Tang caizi zhuan Ⓒㇵ⫸⁛, in Tang caizi zhuan jiaojian, 448. 36. For example, see Walls, “The Poetry of Yü Hsüan-chi,” 57–66; and Liang Chaoran, “Yu Xuanji,” 449–50. 37. Yu Xuanji, “Jiangxing ershou” 㰇埴Ḵ椾, in Tang nüshiren ji, 113, and QTS, 804.9051; Yu, “Guo Ehou” 忶悪ⶆ, in Tang nüshiren ji, 123, and QTS, 804.9053. 38. Yu, “Ge Hanjiang ji Zi’an” 昼㻊㰇⭬⫸⬱, in Tang nüshiren ji, 127–28, and QTS, 804.9054; Yu, “Jiangling chouwang ji Zi’an” 㰇昝ォ㛃⭬⫸⬱, in Tang nüshiren ji, 129, and QTS, 804.9054. 39. Liu Tong was the commissioner from the first month of 863 to the third month of 866; see Yu Xianhao, Tang cishi kao quanbian, 1152. 40. Yu, “Ji Liu shangshu” ⭬∱⯂㚠, in Tang nüshiren ji, 99, and QTS, 804.9048. 41. Yu, “Qingshu ji Li Zi’an buque” ね㚠⭬㛶⫸⬱墄敽, in Tang nüshiren ji, 103, and QTS, 804.9048. 42. Yu, “Zuo Mingchang zi Zezhou zhi jing shiren chuanyu” ⶎ⎵⟜冒㽌ⶆ军ṔἧṢ⁛婆, in Tang nüshiren ji, 132, and QTS, 804.9055. 43. Yu, “Daqiu zuo” ㇻ㮔ἄ, in Tang nüshiren ji, 106, and QTS, 804.9049. During the Tang dynasty, especially during the late Tang period, it was a common practice that literatiofficials brought their concubines to provincial offices while leaving their wives and children in the capital or their hometowns. They also often brought their concubines to gatherings with provincial commissioners and colleagues. See Stephen [ 260 ]

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44. 45.

46.

47. 48. 49. 50.

51.

52.

53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58.

59.

60.

Owen, The Late Tang: Chinese Poetry of the Mid-Ninth Century (827–860) (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), 262. Yu Xianhao, Tang cishi kao quanbian, 1152. As discussed, in her poem titled “Love Letter Sent to Rectifier of Omissions Li Zi’an,” Yu recalls their life in Shanxi. Therefore, the poem must have been written after their return to the capital from Taiyuan, and from the title we know Li Yi had already assumed the post of rectifier of omissions. The Xianyi convent was located in the Qinren ward 奒ṩ⛲ of Chang’an. See Xu Song, Tang liangjing cheng fang kao, 3.60. Liang Chaoran has indicated that Yu’s entering of the Daoist order should have happened after Li Yi finished his service in Shanxi and returned to the capital; see Liang, “Yu Xuanji,” 449–50. Liang Chaoran, “Yu Xuanji,” 448. Wang Pu, Tang huiyao, 50.875. See Qian Yi 拊㖻 (968–1026), Nanbu xinshu ⋿悐㕘㚠 (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1958), 50; and Xu Song, Tang liangjing cheng fang kao, 3.60. Yu, Tang nüshiren ji, 112, and QTS, 804.9050–51. This poem has a variant title, “Qiusi” 䥳⿅ (Autumn Thoughts). Judging from the construction of the autumn atmosphere in line 1 and the transcendent theme of the poem, this title seems to fit the poem more perfectly. Yu, Tang nüshiren ji, 124, 117, and QTS, 804.9053, 9051. Yu Xuanji became a Daoist priestess in about 866, was imprisoned during the spring of 868, and was executed during the autumn of the same year (see later discussions). Thus, the autumn experience described in “Chousi” could only have happened in 866 or 867. Likewise, these summer retreats could only have happened during these two years. Suzanne Cahill has used these poems to indicate that Yu found consolation and happiness through Daoism in these poems. See Cahill, “Material Culture and the Dao,” 109–11. Yu, “Ying Li Jinren yuanwai” 彶㛶役ṩ⒉⢾, Tang nüshiren ji, 131, and QTS, 804.9054–55. See Liang Chaoran, “Yu Xuanji,” 451. Yu, “Ciyun xilin xinju jian qijiu” 㫉枣大惘㕘⯭ℤḆ惺, in Tang nüshiren ji, 109, and QTS, 804.9050. Liu Yiqing ∱佑ㄞ (403–444), Youming lu ⸥㖶抬 (Beijing: Wenhua yishu chubanshe, 1988), 6.183. About this legend, see David Hawkes, The Songs of the South: An Ancient Chinese Anthology of Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets (London: Penguin, 1985), 104–109. See Liang Chaoran, “Yu Xuanji,” 450–51. From Yu Xuanji’s poems to Li Ying, we also see that Li lived near to Yu’s place. As was discussed in chapter 2 of this book, during the Tang era, Daoist convents, especially those in the capital city Chang’an, provided rooms for officials and scholars to rent for longer or shorter periods. Thus, both this next-door literatus and Li Ying likely lived in rooms leased from the Xianyi convent where Yu stayed. Yu, “Chou Li Ying xiari diaoyu hui jianshi” 愔㛶悊⢷㖍憋欂⚆夳䣢, in Tang nüshiren ji, 108, and QTS, 804.9050; Yu, “Wen Li duangong chuidiao hui jizeng” 倆㛶䪗℔✪ 憋⚆⭬岰, in Tang nüshiren ji, 115, and QTS, 804.9051. In the legend, Ruan Zhao and his friend Liu Chen ∱㘐 went into Mount Tiantai, where they met and married two female immortals. After half a year, the two men 7. U N S O L D P E O N Y

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61. 62. 63.

64.

65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80.

81.

82. 83. 84.

returned to their home village and found that seven generations had passed. See Liu Yiqing, Youming lu, 1.1–2. See Liang Chaoran, “Yu Xuanji,” 450–51. See, for example, Wen Tingyun, “Song Li Yi donggui” 復㛶€㜙㬠, in QTS, 578.6716. For a source of rumors about Wen and Yu’s relationship, see Ye, Ruanpi ji. Jennifer Carpenter has noted that there is no evidence for such a relationship; see Carpenter, headnote to “Yu Xuanji,” in Women Writers of Traditional China, 67. Yu, “Dongye ji Wen Feiqing” ⅔⣄⭬㹓梃⌧, in Tang nüshiren ji, 107, and QTS, 804.9049; Yu, “Ji Feiqing” ⭬梃⌧, in Tang nüshiren ji, 122–23, and QTS, 9053. Feiqing is Wen’s courtesy name. It may be noted that Wen Tingyun did write two song lyrics for the tune “Nüguan zi” ⤛ⅈ⫸ (Daoist Priestess), in which he describes a fictive priestess’s beauty, spiritual pursuit, and desire for a holy companion, revealing his appreciation of Daoist priestesses. See QTS, 891.10063; and Edward Schafer, “The Capeline Cantos: Verses on the Divine Loves of Taoist Priestesses,” Asiatische Studien 32 (1978): 36–39. Sun Guangxian, Beimeng suoyan, 10.78. For a detailed discussion of Yu’s execution, see Liang Chaoran, “Yu Xuanji,” 452–53. For example, see Young and Lin, The Clouds Float North, x. JTS, 111.3325. Zhang Zuo ⻝涇 (658–730), Chaoye quanzai 㛅慶ⁱ庱, quoted in TPGJ, 129.915–16. See Guo Qingfan 悕ㄞ喑 (fl. 1894), ed., Zhuangzi jishi 匲⫸普慳 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), 1.112. Lu, Tangshi jing Ⓒ娑掉 (SKQS edition), 48.32a; and Huang, Tangshi kuan Ⓒ娑⾓ (1687 ed.), 16.39a. Tang nüshiren ji, 129, and QTS, 804.9054. The poem “Baizhou” 㝷凇 (Cypress Boat) in the Shi jing 娑䴻 (Classic of Poetry, no. 26) reads: “My heart is not a stone; it cannot be turned.” Tang nüshiren ji, 105, and QTS, 804.9049. Hu Yinglin, Shisou 娑喒 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1979), 4.301. Tang nüshiren ji, 96, and QTS, 804.9047. Caidiao ji, 10.1202. Lu, Tangshi jing, 48.30a. Song Yu, “Dengtuzi haose fu” 䘣⼺⫸⤥刚岎, in Xiao Tong, Wenxuan, 19.9b–11b. See Anonym, “Geci” 㫴录, in Yutai xinyong jianzhu 䌱⎘㕘娈䬳㲐, ed. Wu Zhaoyi ⏛⃮⭄ (fl. 1672) and Cheng Yan 䦳䏘 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), 9.387; and Emperor Wu of Liang 㠩㬎ⷅ (r. 502–549), “Hezhong zhishui ge” 㱛ᷕᷳ㯜㫴, in Yuefu shiji 㦪⹄娑普, ed. Guo Maoqing 悕努ῑ (fl. 1084) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979), 85.1204. Jowen R. Tung has insightfully indicated that, in this couplet, “a famous rhetorical trope is transfigured to serve the purpose of female desires.” See Tung, Fables for the Patriarchs, 206–207. Huang, Tangshi kuai, 10.28a. The basic belief and goal of cultivation in Daoism are to attain immortality. Lu 嶗 (street) is written as lu 曚 (dew) in the collection of Yu’s poetry. Here, I use the variant from Mingyuan shigui (XXSKQS, 11.10a), Tangyin tongqian (923.8a), and QTS (804.9048).

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85. 86. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91.

92.

93. 94.

95. 96. 97. 98.

99. 100. 101.

102. 103.

104.

105.

Tang nüshiren ji, 101, and QTS, 804.9048. See, for example, Genevieve Wimsatt’s book title, Selling Wilted Peonies. Qiao Zhizhi, “Ku guren” ⒕㓭Ṣ, in QTS, 81.878. Cao Ye, “Laopu tang” 侩⚫➪, in QTS, 593.6881. This poem is also attributed to Xue Neng 啃傥 (d. 880), in QTS, 561.6511. Xu Fei, “Tianjian” 䓘攻, in Meiwu ji 㠭⯳普 (SKQS), 1.19a. QTS, 643.7377. See Li Zhao 㛶倯 (fl. 785–829), Tang guoshi bu Ⓒ⚳⎚墄 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1979), 2.45; and Duan Chengshi, Youyang zazu, 19.185–86. For a discussion of mid- to late Tang poems on peonies, see Owen, Late Tang, 453–58. See Bai Juyi’s description of the high price of peonies: “A cluster of deep-color flowers costs the revenue of ten middle-class families” ᶨ⎊㶙刚剙, ⋩㇞ᷕṢ岎. Bai, “Maihua” 屟剙, Bai Juyi ji jianjiao, 2.96, and QTS, 425.4676. Mingyuan shigui, 11.10a. The Chongzhen abbey was established in the early Kaiyuan reign period (713–756) and was located in the Xinchang ward 㕘㖴慴 of Chang’an. See Song Minqiu, Chang’an zhi, 9.66. Tang nüshiren ji, 111, and QTS, 804.9050. See Tung, Fables for the Patriarchs, 211; and Cahill, “Material Culture and the Dao,” 104–11. Tang caizi zhuan jiaojian, 8.452. See Anne Birrell, “Women in Literature,” in Columbia History of Chinese Literature, ed. Victor H. Mair (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), 209; and Idema and Grant, Red Brush, 195. Dorothy Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers: Women and Culture in Seventeenth-Century China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994), 17. Youxuan ji, 3.879; and Caidiao ji, 10.1201. For detailed discussions on this issue, see Jinhua Jia, “The Identity of Daoist Priestesses in Tang China,” in Gendering Chinese Religion: Subject, Identity, and Body, ed. Jinhua Jia, Xiaofei Kang, and Ping Yao (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014), 103– 32; and chapter 1 and the conclusion of this book. Mingyuan shigui, 11.3. About discussions on the cult of qing, see mainly Kang-I Sun Chang, The Late-Ming Poet Ch’en Tzu-lung: Crises of Love and Loyalism (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1991), 11; and Dorothy Ko, Teachers of the Inner Chambers, 18, 68–112. Wanyan Yunzhu ⬴柷゚䎈 (1771–1833), Guochao guixiu zhengshi ji ⚳㛅敐䥨㬋⥳普 (Hongxiangguan 䲭楁棐 edition), preface, 2a. Translations adapted from Susan Mann, Precious Records: Women in China’s Long Eighteenth Century (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997), 15–16, 96. For instance, Yu Xuanji wrote a poem in response to a linked poem composed by three sisters named Guang ⃱, Wei ⦩, and Pou 塺. See Yu, “Guang, Wei, Pou zimei sanren shaogu er shiyan, naiyou shizuo, jingcui nanchou, shui Xiejia lianxue, heyi jiazhi; you ke zi jingshi lai zhe shiyu, yin ci qiyun” ⃱⦩塺⥲⥡ᶱṢ⮹⬌侴⥳⤵, ᷫ㚱 㗗ἄ, 䱦䱡暋₼, 晾嫅⭞倗暒, ỽẍ≈ᷳ; 㚱⭊冒ṔⷓἮ侭䣢Ḱ, ⚈㫉℞枣, in Tang nüshiren ji sanzhong, 134–37, and QTS, 804.9055–56. She obtained the sisters’ poem from a guest, as is evident from the title, but she had not yet met them (see line 22: “If I

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could see their beautiful faces, even dying would be sweet” 劍䜡䲭柷㬣Ṏ䓀). Drawing from their poem, Yu imagines and describes the three sisters’ beauty, emotion, and talents. Cahill’s interpretation of this poem as “same-sex eroticism” is problematic; see Cahill, “Material Culture and the Dao,” 104.

Conclusion 1. See, for example, Edward Davis, “Arms and the Tao: Hero Cult and Empire in Traditional China,” in Sōdai no shakai to shūkyō ⬳ẋ̯䣦㚫̩⬿㔁, ed. Sōdaishi kenkyūkai ⬳ẋ⎚䞼䨞㚫 (Tokyo: Kyūko shoin, 1985), 2: 1–56; John Lagerway, Taoist Ritual in Society and History (New York: Macmillan, 1987); Kenneth Dean, Taoist Ritual and Popular Cults of Southeast China (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993); Terry Kleeman, A God’s Own Tale: The “Book of Transformations” of Wenchang, the Divine Lord of Zitong (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994); Skar Lowell, “Ritual Movements, Deity Cults and the Transformation of Daoism in Song and Yuan Times,” in Daoism Handbook, ed. Livia Kohn (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 412–63; Matsumoto Kōichi, “Daoism and Popular Religion in the Song,” in Modern Chinese Religion I: Song-Liao-Jin-Yuan (960–1368 AD), ed. John Lagerway and Pierre Marsone (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 285–327; Xun Liu and Vincent Goossaert, eds., Quanzhen Daoists in Chinese Society and Culture, 1500–2010 (Berkeley, CA: Institute of East Asian Studies, 2013); and Xun Liu, “Daoism from the Late Qing to Early Republican Periods,” in Modern Chinese Religion II: 1850–2015, ed. Vincent Goossaert, Jan Kiely, and John Lagerwey (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 806–37. 2. See mainly Livia Kohn and Russell Kirkland, “Daoism in the Tang,” in Daoism Handbook, 340–50; and Lowell Skar, “Ritual Movements, Deity Cults and the Transformation of Daoism in Song and Yuan Times,” in Daoism Handbook, 413–29, 452–58. 3. Concerning discussions on female Daoists after the Tang dynasty, see mainly Judith M. Boltz, A Survey of Taoist Literature: Tenth to Seventeenth Centuries (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), 64–68; Thomas Cleary, Immortal Sisters: Secrets of Taoist Women (Boston, MA: Shambhala, 1989); Catherine Despeux, Immortelles de la Chine ancienne: Taoïsme et alchimie feminine (Paris: Pardès, 1990); Zhan Shichuang 娡䞛 䨿, Daojiao yu nüxing 忻㔁冯⤛⿏ (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1990), 85–99; Vincent Goossaert, “The Invention of an Order: Collective Identity in ThirteenthCentury Quanzhen Taoism,” Journal of Chinese Religion 29 (2001): 111–38; Catherine Despeux and Livia Kohn, Women in Daoism (Cambridge, MA: Three Pines, 2003), 129–74; Shin-yi Chao, “Good Career Moves: Life Stories of Daoist Nuns of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries,” Nan Nü 10, no. 1 (2008): 121–51; Xia Dangying ⢷䔞劙, “Nüxing shijue xia de Quanzhendao xiudaoguan” ⤛⿏夾奢ᶳ䘬ℐ䛇忻ᾖ忻奨, Anhui daxue xuebao ⬱⽥⣏⬠⬠⟙ 35 (2011): 22–28; Louis Komjathy, “Sun Bu’er: Early Quanzhen Matriarch and the Beginnings of Female Alchemy,” Nan Nü 16, no. 2 (2014): 171–238; and Elena Valussi, “Female Alchemy: Transformation of a Gendered Body,” in Gendering Chinese Religion, ed. Jinhua Jia, Xiaofei Kang, and Ping Yao (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014), 225–52. 4. See Rebecca Doran, Transgressive Typologies: Constructions of Gender and Power in Early Tang China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017), 186–226. [ 264 ]

CONCLUSION

5. For detailed discussions, see Robert des Rotours, Courtisanes chinoises à la fin des T’ang, entre circa 789 et le 8 Janvier 881: Pei-Li Tche (Anecdotes du quartier du nord) (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1968); and Victor Xiong, “Ji-Entertainers in Tang Chang’an,” in Presence and Presentation: Women in the Chinese Literati Tradition, ed. Sherry J. Mou (New York: St. Martin’s, 1999), 149–69. There were different types of official and private ji ⤻ during the Tang; for detailed discussions of the classifications of Tang courtesans, see Gao Shiyu, Tangdai funü, 56–80; and Zheng Zhimin 惕⽿㓷, Xishuo Tangji ㇚婒Ⓒ⤻ (Taibei: Wenjin chuban gongsi, 1997), 27–32. Translations of the term ji ⤻ vary among scholars and include “courtesan,” “prostitute,” “whore,” “geisha,” and “entertainer.” For a summary of different translations, see Ping Yao, “The Status of Pleasure: Courtesan and Literati Connections in T’ang China (618–907),” Journal of Women’s History 14, no. 2 (2002): 44–45. Because ji is not the main concern of this chapter, I simply use “courtesan” to name them generally. 6. See Ping Yao, “The Status of Pleasure,” 37–43. 7. Sun Qi ⬓㢐 (fl. 884), Beili zhi ⊿慴⽿ (Shanghai: Gudian wenxue chubanshe, 1957), 25; and Victor Xiong, “Ji-Entertainers,” 154, 157–59. 8. See Chen Wenhua, Tang nüshiren ji sanzhong, 74–76; Wu Qiming ⏜ẩ㖶, “Xue Tao,” in Tang caizizhuan jiaojian, ed. Fu Xuancong, 3: 6.102–13; and Wilt Idema and Beata Grant, The Red Brush: Writing Women in Imperial China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2004), 182–89. There are different sayings about the author and context of the series, but according to Xue Tao’s poem “Fa fubian youhuai shang Wei linggong ershou” 优崜怲㚱㆟ᶲ杳Ẍ℔Ḵ椾, in Tang nüshiren ji, 30; a record by He Guangyuan ỽ⃱怈 (fl. 938–964), in Jianjie lu 揺ㆺ抬 (Siku quanshu ⚃⹓ℐ㚠, 10.12b); and a piece from the series attributed to Xue Tao in the late-Tang anthology Youxuan ji (in Fu Xuancong ‭䐯䏖, Chen Shangjun, and Xu Jun ⼸ὲ, eds. Tangren xuan Tangshi xinbian [zengdingben] ⒸṢ怠Ⓒ娑㕘䶐 (⡆妪㛔) [Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2014], 877), the series should have been written by Xue Tao when she was banished to Songzhou by Wei Gao. See also Zhang Pengzhou ⻝咔凇, Xue Tao shijian 啃㾌娑䬳 (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1983), 14–18. 9. Li Deyu’s poem is no longer extant; Liu Yuxi’s poem is included in the Quan Tangshi, 365.4121. 10. Liu Ning ∱⮏ has noted this point; see Liu, “Shixi Tangdai changjishi yu nüguanshi de chayi” 娎㜸Ⓒẋ⧤⤻娑冯⤛ⅈ娑䘬ⶖ䔘,” Zhongguo dianji yu wenhua ᷕ⚳℠䯵冯㔯⊾ 4 (2003): 49–57.

Appendix: Du Guangting and the Hagiographies of Tang Daoist Women This appendix is derived in part from Jinhua Jia, “Du Guangting and the Hagiographies of Tang Female Daoists,” Taiwan Journal of Religious Studies 1 (2011): 81–121. 1. Du Guangting, preface to the Jixian lu, in Zhang Junfang, Yinji qiqian (YJQQ), 114.2527; Dong Gao et al., Quan Tangwen (QTW ), 932.4a; and Zheng Qiao 惕㧝 (1104–1162), Tongzhi ershi lüe 忂⽿Ḵ⋩䔍 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1995), 1613. See Piet van der Loon, Taoist Books in the Libraries of the Sung Period: A Critical Study and Index (London: Ithaca, 1984), 144. APPENDIX

[ 265 ]

2. See Li Jianguo 㛶∵⚳, Tang Wudai zhiguai chuanqi xulu ⒸḼẋ⽿⿒⁛⣯㔀抬 (Tianjin: Nankai University Press, 1993; hereafter cited as Xulu), 1061–74; Catherine Despeux, “Women in Daoism,” in Daoism Handbook, ed. Livia Kohn (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 394; Luo Zhengming 伭䇕沜, Du Guangting Daojiao xiaoshuo yanjiu 㜄⃱⹕忻㔁⮷婒䞼䨞 (Chengdu: Ba Shu shushe, 2005), 101–65; Suzanne Cahill, Divine Traces of the Daoist Sisterhood: Records of the Assembled Transcendents of the Fortified Walled City by Du Guangting (850–933) (Magdalena, NM: Three Pines Press, 2006), 14; and discussions later in this appendix. Some of the accounts were modified, to greater or lesser extent, by later compilers. 3. Edward Schafer, “Tu Kuang-t’ing,” in The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, ed. William H. Nienhauser Jr. (Taipei: SMC Publishing, 1986), 822. Luo Zhengming also treats this text as a “Daoist fiction”; see Luo, Du Guangting Daojiao xiaoshuo yanjiu, 101–65. 4. Although she notes that Du Guangting compiled the Jixian lu with his own purposes in mind and that the text “weaves miracles and wonders,” Suzanne Cahill regards it as “a primary source unequalled in its richness for investigating the social and religious history of medieval Chinese women,” and says Du’s accounts “supply us with the most reliable data we are likely to find on a variety of women’s physical practices.” See Cahill, “Practice Makes Perfect: Paths to Transcendence for Women in Medieval China,” Taoist Resources 2, no. 2 (1993): 23–42; Cahill, “Biography of the Daoist Saint Wang Fengxian by Du Guangting (850–933),” in Under Confucian Eyes: Writings on Gender in Chinese History, ed. Susan Mann and Yu-yin Cheng (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), 16–28; and Cahill, Divine Traces of the Daoist Sisterhood, 13–20. 5. See mainly Hippolyte Delehaye, The Legends of the Saints (New York: Fordham University Press, 1962); Peter Brown, “The Saint as Exemplar in Late Antiquity,” Representations 1, no. 2 (1983): 1–25; John Kieschnick, The Eminent Monk: Buddhist Ideals in Medieval Chinese Hagiography (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1997), 1–2; Robert F. Campany, To Live as Long as Heaven and Earth: A Translation and Study of Ge Hong’s Traditions of Divine Transcendents (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 98–217; and Jinhua Chen, Philosopher, Practitioner, Politician: The Many Lives of Fazang (643–712) (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 2–5. 6. J. Russell Kirkland, “Huang Ling-wei: A Taoist Priestess in T’ang China,” Journal of Chinese Religions 19 (1991): 47–73; Kristofer Schipper and Franciscus Verellen, eds., The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 421; and Cahill, Divine Traces of the Daoist Sisterhood, 13. 7. See mainly Ishii Masako 䞛ḽ㖴⫸, “Shinkō to Yōjō shūsen loku” 䛇婍̩⠱❶普ẁ抬, Tōyō gakujutsu kenkyū 㜙㲳⬠埻䞼䨞 15 (1976): 1–3; Yan Yiping ♜ᶨ厵, Daojiao yanjiu ziliao 忻㔁䞼䨞屯㕁, vol. 1 (Taibei: Yiwen yinshuguan, 1976); Edward Schafer, “Three Divine Women of South China,” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 1 (1979): 31–42; Schafer, “Tu Kuang-t’ing,” 821–24; Sunayama Minoru 䞪Ⱉ䦼, “To Kōtei no shisō ni tsuite” 㜄⃱⹕̯⿅゛̧̬̥̄, Shūkan Tōyōgaku 普↲㜙㲳⬠ 54 (1985): 297–316; Franciscus Verellen, Du Guangting (850–933): Taoïste de cour à la fin de la Chine médiévale; Verellen, Social History in Taoist Perspective: Du Guangting (850~933) on Contemporary Society (Hong Kong: Xianggang Zhongwen daxue Chongji xueyuan Zongjiao yu Zhongguo shehui yanjiu zhongxin, 2001); Qing Xitai, Zhongguo Daojiao shi, 421–76;

[ 266 ] A P P E N D I X

8.

9. 10. 11.

12. 13.

14.

15. 16. 17.

Timothy H. Barrett, Taoism Under the T’ang: Religion and Empire During the Golden Age of Chinese History (London: Wellsweep, 1996), 94–98; Livia Kohn, “Taoist Scholasticism: A Preliminary Inquiry,” Scholasticism: Cross-Cultural and Comparative Perspectives, 115–40; Yang Li, “Daojiao nüxian zhuanji Yongcheng jixian lu yanjiu”; Zhou Xibo ␐大㲊, Du Guangting Daojiao yifan zhi yanjiu 㜄⃱⹕忻㓶₨䭬ᷳ䞼䨞 (Taibei: Xinwenfeng, 2003); Jin Duiyong 慹⃴≯, Du Guangting Daode zhenjing guangshengyi de Daojiao zhexue yanjiu 㜄⃱⹕忻⽟䛇䴻⺋俾佑䘬忻㔁⒚⬠䞼䨞 (Chengdu: Ba Shu shushe, 2004); Sun Yiping ⬓Ṏ⸛, Du Guangting pingzhuan 㜄⃱⹕姽⁛ (Nanjing: Nanjing University Press, 2005); and Cahill, Divine Traces of the Daoist Sisterhood. For Du’s life, see mainly Yan Yiping, “Xianzhuan shiyi xu” ẁ⁛㊦怢⸷, in Daojiao yanjiu ziliao; Verellen, Du Guangting; Jia Jinhua and Fu Xuancong, Tang Wudai wenxue biannian shi: Wudai juan ⒸḼẋ㔯⬠䶐⸜⎚: Ḽẋ⌟ (Shenyang: Liaohai chubanshe, 1999), 50–51, 69, 109, 113, 132, 138, 145–46, 163–64, 171, 201, 216, 258–59; and Sun Yiping, Du Guangting pingzhuan, 56–111. Sima Guang, Zizhi tongjian (ZZTJ), 268.8773; and Ouyang Xiu, Xin Wudai shi 㕘Ḽ ẋ⎚ (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974), 63.789. See also Verellen, Du Guangting, 164. For example, see Cahill, Divine Traces of the Daoist Sisterhood, 12. This text is recorded in the Mishusheng xu biandao siku que shumu 䦀㚠䚩临䶐⇘敽㚠䚖, 2.31b (Yeshi guangutang shumu congke 叱㮷奨⎌➪㚠䚖⎊⇣, 1902); and in Zheng Qiao, Tongzhi ershi lüe, 1615. See Loon, Taoist Books, 157; and Verellen, Du Guangting, 208. Although it is no longer extant, Yan Yiping has reconstructed it with thirtyeight accounts, and Li Jianguo with thirty-nine accounts; see Yan, “Wangshi shenxian zhuan jijiao” 䌳㮷䤆ẁ⁛廗㟉, in Daojiao yanjiu ziliao, vol. 1; and Li Jianguo, Xulu, 1055–61. Liexian zhuan ↿ẁ⁛, attributed to Liu Xiang ∱⎹ (ca. 77–6 BCE), incorporated in Li Fang et al., Taiping guangji (TPGJ), 4.24. For a detailed discussion of the legend and cultic development of Prince Jin, see Marianne Bujard, “Le culte de Wangzi Qiao ou la longue carrière d’un immortel,” Etudes Chinois 19, no. 1–2 (2000): 115–55. In the epitaph written for his concubine Wang Renshu 䌳ṩ㵹, Zhang Linghui ⻝Ẍ㘱 traces Wang’s family origin to Prince Jin: “After the prince became Heaven’s guest, his clan received the surname Wang of Taiyuan” 䌳⫸屻⣑ᷳ⼴, ⼿⥻㕤⣒⍇; see Zhang, “Shiren Taiyuan Wangshi muzhiming bingxu” ⭌Ṣ⣒⍇䌳㮷⠻娴所᷎⸷, in Zhou Shaoliang and Zhao Chao, eds., Tangdai muzhi huibian xuji, 568. According to this, it seems that Prince Jin had already been misunderstood as having the surname Wang by the Kaiyuan reign period (713–741), perhaps by popular legend. However, Du Guangting’s profound knowledge should have been sufficient for him to know better, so we can still say he deliberately misread Prince Jin’s surname as Wang. Chao Gongwu, Junzhai dushuzhi jiaozheng 悉滳嬨㚠⽿㟉嫱, ed. Sun Meng ⬓䋃 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1990), 9.389. Chen, Zhizhai shulu jieti, 12.3b; and Yan Yiping, “Wangshi shenxian zhuan jijiao,” in Daojiao yanjiu ziliao, 2. Both Wang Yan’s mother, surnamed Xu ⼸, and her younger sister, the famous Huarui furen 剙哲⣓Ṣ (Lady of Flower Pistil), were Wang Jian’s favorite consorts. Wang Yan was the youngest among Wang Jian’s eleven sons, and he was established as the heir apparent only through his mother’s conspiracy. Both sisters, especially the

APPENDIX

[ 267 ]

18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27. 28.

younger, were extremely beautiful and talented in poetry. See Wu Renchen ⏛ả冋 (d. 1689), Shiguo chunqiu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 38.559–61; and Pu Jiangqing 㴎㰇㶭, “Huarui furen gongci kaozheng” 剙哲⣓Ṣ⭖娆侫嫱, in Pu Jiangqing wenlu 㴎㰇㶭㔯抬, ed. Lü Shuxiang ⏪⍼㸀 (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1958), 47–101. Ouyang Xiu, Xin Wudai shi, 63.792; Wu Renchen, Shiguo chunqiu, 37.539. Verellen, Du Guangting, 178–80, 196; Li Jianguo, Xulu, 1061. Yan Yiping, “Wangshi shenxian zhuan jijiao,” 13–14; Li Jianguo, Xulu, 1056–61, 1063–64. Li Jianguo, Xulu, 1063–75. About the formation of the genealogy of the queen mother and her many daughters, see Li Fengmao, “Xiwangmu wunü chuanshuo de xingcheng jiqi yanbian,” 215–45. As for the surname of the king father, accounts differ. For example, the late Tang scholar-official Duan Chengshi 㭝ㆸ⺷ recorded his surname as Ni ῒ; see Duan, Youyang zazu 惱春暄ὶ (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), 14.128. See Suzanne E. Cahill, Transcendence and Divine Passion: The Queen Mother of the West in Medieval China (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993), 18; Yang Li, Yongcheng jixian lu yanjiu, 133–34. The queen mother’s account states that she “was born at the Yi River in the divine land and her surname is Gou” 慹㭵䓇㕤䤆㳚 [ⶆ ] Ẳⶅ, ⍍⥻䶙㮷. The account of Gou Xiangu tells a story as follows: The Lady of the Eastern Sacred Mountain (Dongyue furen 㜙ⱛ⣓Ṣ) sent a blue bird as her messenger to tell Gou Xiangu that “the Queen Mother of the West is surnamed Gou. She is your sacred ancestor; Mount Goushi in Henan is the place where the queen mother engaged in Daoist cultivation; it is the mountain of her hometown” 大䌳㭵⥻䶙, ᷫ⥹ᷳ俾䣾ḇ; 㱛⋿䶙㮷ᷫ䌳㭵ᾖ忻 ᷳ嗽, 㓭悱ᷳⰙḇ. See Jixian lu, in YJQQ, 114.2528, 115.2554. Duan Chengshi recorded the queen mother’s surname as Yang 㣲; see Duan, Youyang zazu, 14.128. Other surnames attributed to the queen mother include Yan 䂱, He ỽ, and Ma 楔; see Shizu daquan 㮷㕷⣏ℐ, in Siku quanshu ⚃⹓ℐ㚠 (SKQS), 7.48a; Dong Sizhang 吋㕗⻝ (1586–1628), Guang bowu zhi ⺋⌂䈑⽿, in SKQS, 13.2a; and Hu Yinglin 傉ㅱ湇 (1551–1602), Shaoshi shanfang bicong ⮹⭌Ⱉ㇧䫮⎊ (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1958), 43.587. Although Empress Wu is renowned for her promotion of Buddhism, she also actively utilized the Queen Mother of the West for political validation and, symbolically, as her celestial counterpart. It was under Empress Wu that the queen mother became closely identified with Mount Song, the Central Sacred Mountain located close to Luoyang, her political center, while the Prince Jin cult on nearby Mount Goushi was celebrated in passing. The empress was flattered as the queen mother, and Zhang Changzong ⻝㖴⬿, one of her male favorites, was flattered as the incarnation of Prince Jin. See Norman H. Rothschild, “Empress Wu and the Queen Mother of the West,” Journal of Daoist Studies 3 (2010): 29–57. Cahill, Divine Traces of the Daoist Sisterhood, 13. The Luyi ji originally consisted of ten juan, of which only eight are now extant (Daozang [DZ] 591), including three juan of accounts of immortals, extraordinary persons, and supernatural beings. Li Jianguo collected an additional twenty-eight accounts from various sources. The latest of these extant accounts is dated 921, and Du signed

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29. 30. 31. 32.

33. 34.

35. 36. 37.

38.

his preface with the five titles he carried around 921, namely Guanglu dafu ⃱䤧⣏⣓ (Grand Master for Splendid Happiness), Hubu shilang ㇞悐ἵ恶 (Vice Minister of Revenue), Guangcheng xiansheng, Shang zhuguo ᶲ㞙⚳ (Supreme Pillar of State), and Caiguo gong 哉⚳℔ (Duke of Caiguo), but not his titles of Celestial Master of Transmission of the Perfection and Grand Academician, bestowed in 923. Thus, we can infer that this text was completed between 921 and 923. See Loon, Taoist Books, 160; Franciscus Verellen, Du Guangting, 206; Verellen, “Shu as a Hallowed Land: Du Guangting’s Record of Marvels,” Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 10 (1998): 213–54; and Li Jianguo, Xulu, 1052–54. Verellen, “Luyi ji,” in Taoist Canon, 421. Kirkland, “Huang Ling-wei,”67. Cahill, Divine Traces of the Daoist Sisterhood, 13. Li Jianguo, Xulu, 1061–74. By comparing the TPGJ with extant original texts, we can conclude that the compilers of this text were quite serious and careful in incorporating more than four hundred earlier texts. Although they made minor modifications, overall they maintained the original stories, subjects, and structures unchanged. The Taiping yulan, on the other hand, usually greatly abridged the original stories. See Chen Shangjun 昛⯂⏃, “Sui Tang Wudai wenxue de jiben dianji” 昳ⒸḼẋ㔯⬠ 䘬➢㛔℠䯵, in Zhongguo dudai wenxue tonglun ᷕ⚳⎌ẋ㔯⬠忂婾, ed. Fu Xuancong and Jiang Yin 哋⭭ (Shenyang: Liaoning renmin chubanshe, 2005), 3: 515–16. Incorporated in the TPGJ, 66.431, 68.421–24. The Xianzhuan shiyi originally had forty juan and 429 accounts, but it is no longer extant. Yan Yiping has reconstructed it into ninety-nine accounts and five juan, whereas Li Jianguo has reconstructed it into 128 accounts. See Chongwen zongmu ⲯ㔯 ䷥䚖, in SKQS, 9.5b; Wang Yinglin 䌳ㅱ湇 (1223–1296), Yuhai 䌱㴟 (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji, 1990), 58.8b; Loon, Taoist Books, 95; Verellen, Du Guangting, 208; Yan, “Xianzhuan shiyi,” in Daojiao yanjiu ziliao, vol. 1; and Li Jianguo, Xulu, 1025–40. From these reconstructed accounts, we can see that the text shares many stories with Du’s other collections of hagiographies and wondrous matters, such as the Luyi ji, Wangshi shenxian zhuan, Jixian lu, and Shenxian ganyu zhuan 䤆ẁデ忯⁛ (DZ 592). See Stephen Bokenkamp, “Taoist Literature,” in The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, ed. William H. Nienhauser Jr. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998), 146; Li, Xulu, 1013–24; and Schipper and Verellen, Taoist Canon, 430. Judging from its size—forty juan and 429 accounts—we may infer that the Xianzhuan shiyi was probably an amalgamation of all Du’s hagiographical and wondrous collections of stories of immortals and supernatural beings and therefore might have been compiled some years after 923. The account was titled “Wuzhen ji” Ḽ䛇姀. See Hu Yinglin, Shaoshi shanfang bicong, 43.595. TPGJ, 53.327, 37.235. Yang Li has already noted that “The Wife of Wei Meng” account may have been included in the Jixian lu, but she does not give any detailed verification; see Yang, “Yongcheng jixian lu banben zhi kaozheng yu jiyi” ⠱❶普ẁ抬䇰㛔ᷳ侫嫱冯廗ἂ, Zhongguo wenhua yanjiusuo xuebao ᷕ⚳㔯⊾䞼䨞㇨⬠⟙ 44 (2004): 317. Yang Li has added two more accounts, those of Pei Xuanjing 墜䌬朄 and Qi Xiaoyao ㇂徵态, from the Xu xian zhuan 临ẁ⁛ compiled by Shen Fen 㰰㰦; see Yang, “Yongcheng jixian lu banben zhi kaozheng yu jiyi,” 314. In his preface to the Jixian lu,

APPENDIX

[ 269 ]

39. 40.

41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52.

53.

54.

Du Guangting in fact mentions a Xu shenxian zhuan 临䤆ẁ⁛ (Supplementary Lives of Immortals) as one of the texts he incorporated. Shen Fen, however, was a contemporary of Du active in the lower Yangzi River region, and the latest accounts in his Xu xian zhuan were dated around 920 (Li Jianguo, Xulu, 998–99), about the same time the Jixian lu was compiled. Even if 920 was the date of completion, it is unlikely that the text had been distributed from the lower Yangzi River region to Sichuan and incorporated into Du’s text so quickly under the chaos and disunity of the early Five Dynasties. There was, however, another text titled Xu xian zhuan 临ẁ⁛, by the Daoist priest Gaichang 㓡ⷠ, compiled around the Dali reign period (766–779); see Tao Zongyi 昞⬿₨, ed., Shuofu sanzhong 婒悃ᶱ䧖 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1988), 34.20; and Luo Zhengming, Du Guangting Daojiao xiaoshuo yanjiu, 81. What Du used and incorporated was thus probably from this earlier text. YJQQ, 114.2524–27. Du was the commissioner of western Zhejiang and prefect of Lunzhou from 863 to 869, and Linghu was the commissioner of Huainan and governor of Yangzhou from 862 to 868. See Yu Xianhao 恩岊䘻, Tang cishi kao quanbian Ⓒ⇢⎚侫ℐ䶐 (Hefei: Anhui daxue chubanshe, 2000), 137.1868, 123.1684. Translation by Cahill, Divine Traces of the Daoist Sisterhood, 184. YJQQ, 116.2566–69. Ouyang Xiu, Xin Tangshu (XTS), 224.6402–3. ZZTJ, 257.8362, 8364. Wang Qinruo, Cefu yuangui, 942.16b; Bai Juyi 䘥⯭㖻 and Kong Zhuan ⫼⁛ (fl. 1131– 1162), Bai Kong liutie, in SKQS, 33.16a; Wu Renchen, Shiguo chunqiu, 1.4. Incorporated in Sandong qunxian lu, DZ 1248: 4.403b–404a. TPGJ, 64.397–98. Cited by Cao Xuequan 㚡⬠ἢ (1574–1647), Shuzhong guangji 嚨ᷕ⺋姀, in SKQS, 74.21a. See Glen Dudbridge, Religious Experience and Lay Society in T’ang China: A Reading of Tai Fu’s Kuang-i chi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 178. TPGJ, 63.392. Yu Xianhao, Tang cishikao quanbian, 107.1498. QTW, 32.363a–b. Both the Song dynasty Baoke leibian ⮞⇣栆䶐, in Congshu jicheng chubian (CSJCCB), 1.5; and Zhu Changwen 㛙攟㔯, Mochi bian ⡐㰈䶐, in SKQS, 6.66b, record the inscription of this decree, which could still be seen at the time. Sun Chengze ⬓㈧㽌 (1592–1676) records in his Chunming mengyu lu 㗍㖶⣊检抬: “Tang dynasty ‘Stele Inscription of Ziyang Convent’ written by Emperor Xuanzong, in Zhuozhou, where the Daoist priest[ess] Bian Dongxuan cultivated Dao and transcended to immortality” Ⓒ䳓春奨䠹, 䌬⬿⽉⇞, ⛐㵧ⶆ, 忻⢓怲㳆䌬ᾖ䛇ㆸ⁲㕤㬌 (Beijing: Beijing guji chubanshe, 1992; 67.1287). The Jifu tongzhi 䔧庼忂⽿ includes a similar record: “Bian Dongxuan of Tang dynasty was a native of Zaoqiang district. She left her family and cultivated herself at the Ziyun convent when she was a child. She finally attained immortality and ascended in broad daylight. Emperor Xuanzong wrote an imperial decree to praise her. The stele inscription is still preserved at the convent” Ⓒ怲㳆⃫, 㡿⻟Ṣ, 冒⸤㕤䳓暚奨↢⭞ᾖ埴, ⼴⼿忻, 䘥㖍ᶲ⋯. Ⓒ⃫⬿⽉⇞娆墺㎂ ᷳ, 䠹⇣⯂⬀㕤奨. See Tian Yi 䓘㖻 et al., Jifu tongzhi, in SKQS, 85.14b. Mishusheng xu biandao siku que shumu, 2.31, 34; Loon, Taoist Books, 165.

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55. This text was probably written by Wang Duan 䌳䪗. As Du says at the end of the Jixian lu: “[The Emperor] then ordered Editor Wang Duan [courtesy name] Jingzhi to compose a stele inscription to record this marvelous event of immortals” ṵ㓽㟉㚠 恶䌳䪗㔔ᷳ䁢䠹, ẍ䲨℞䤆ẁᷳ䚃ḳ侭ḇ; in YJQQ, 116.2562. 56. YJQQ, 116.2562. 57. Kirkland, “Huang Ling-wei,” 67; Cahill, Divine Traces of the Daoist Sisterhood, 150–51. 58. This text is recorded in XTS, 59.1524; and Zheng Qiao, Tongzhi ershi lüe, 1615. 59. Long Xianzhao and Huang Haide, Ba Shu Daojiao beiwen jicheng, 34–35. Wang Xiangzhi 䌳尉ᷳ ( jinshi 1196) records this stele in his Yudi beiji mu 廧⛘䠹姀䚖, in CSJCCB, 4.98. 60. The Yudi beiji mu (4.98) records a stele inscription on Mount Heqi 浜㢚Ⱉ: “It roughly says that in the tenth year of Zhenyuan in the Tang dynasty, which was the year of Jiaxu, a Guozhou woman Xie Ziran ascended to immortality in broad daylight. Prefect Li Jian sent a presentation to the emperor and also wrote a biography for Xie” ℞⣏䔍ḹ, Ⓒ屆⃫⋩⸜, 㬚⛐䓚ㆴ, 㝄ⶆ⤛⫸嫅冒䃞䘥㖍⋯ẁ, ⇢⎚㛶➭ẍ䉨倆, ⍰䁢ᷳ⁛. 61. Wei Zhongju 櫷ẚ冱, ed., Wubai jia zhu Changli ji Ḽ䘦⭞㲐㖴湶㔯普, in SKQS, 1.40b–41b. 62. Numbered Paul Pelliot manuscripts, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 3866; included in Chen Shangjun, ed., Quan Tangshi bubian, 1: 58–59; noted by Fukazawa Kazuyuki 㶙㽌ᶨ⸠, “Sennyo Sha Shizen no tanjō” ẁ⤛嫅冒䃞̯娽䓇, in Kōzen Kyōju taikan kinen Chūgoku bungaku ronshū 冰兛㔁㌰徨⭀䲨⾝ᷕ⚳㔯⬠婾普, ed. Kōzen Kyōju Taikan Kinen Chūgoku Bungaku Ronshū Henshū Iinkai 冰兛㓶㌰徨⭀姀⾝ᷕ⚳㔯⬠婾普䶐 普⥼⒉㚫 (Tokyo: Kyūko shoin, 2000), 424–25. 63. Fukazawa Kazuyuki, “Sennyo Sha Shizen no tanjō,” 411–29. The Xu shenxian zhuan by Shen Fen has an account of Xie Ziran, which tells a different story, in which Xie became the Highest Clarity master Sima Chengzhen’s (647–735) disciple (DZ 295: 1.16–19). Since Sima died long before Xie’s time, this story was another re-creation. See Fukazawa, “Sennyo Sha Shizen no tenkai” ẁ⤛寊冒䃞̯⯽⺨, Gengo bunka kenkyū 妨婆㔯⊾䞼䨞 27 (2001): 233–54. 64. Du Guangting, “Lidai chongdao ji,” in QTW, 933.9718b; DZ 593: 20b. 65. Franciscus Verellen, “A Forgotten T’ang Restoration: The Taoist Dispensation after Huang Ch’ao,” Asia Major (Third Series) 7, no. 1 (1994): 107–53. 66. Yan Zhenqing, Yan Lugong ji, 9.1a–7a. Yan had another stele inscription on Huang Lingwei, titled “Fuzhou Linchuanxian Jingshan Huagu xiantan beiming” 㑓ⶆ冐ⶅ ䷋ḽⰙ厗⥹ẁ⡯䠹所 (Yan Lugong ji, 9.7a–9b), but Du Guangting did not cite this inscription. 67. QTW, 340.21b. See Kirkland, “Huang Ling-wei,” 60. 68. YJQQ, 115.2550. Translation adapted from Kirkland, “Huang Ling-wei,” 66; and Cahill, Divine Traces of the Daoist Sisterhood, 123. 69. See Kirkland, “Huang Ling-wei,” 66. 70. YJQQ, 115.2551. 71. Duyang zabian (CSJCCB), 2.11; also quoted in TPGJ, 66.413. 72. This is stated at the end of the Duyang zabian story. 73. YJQQ, 116.2565. 74. Sandong qunxian lu, 4.403b–404a. See Li Jianguo, Xulu, 1059. 75. TPGJ, 53.327; YJQQ, 115.2548.

APPENDIX

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76. YJQQ, 116.2563. 77. The compilation of this first hagiography of female Daoists might have been inspired by the Biqiuni zhuan 㭼᷀⯤⁛ (Biographies of Chinese Buddhist Nuns), the first hagiography of female Buddhists by the Liang dynasty monk Baochang ⮞ⓙ. See Baochang, Biqiuni zhuan jiaozhu 㭼᷀⯤⁛㟉㲐, ed. Wang Rutong 䌳⬢䪍 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2006); and Kathryn Ann Tsai, Lives of the Nuns: Biographies of Chinese Buddhist Nuns from the Fourth to Sixth Centuries (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1994).

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Index

Pages where tables and figures appear are italicized. abbeys, numbers of, 12–13. See also convents; specific abbeys adepts, Daoist priestesses as, 69–70 afforestation, 64 agriculture, 37, 38 alchemy, female (nüdan), 97, 191 alchemy, inner, xxv, 88, 91–93, 101, 111, 114–15, 131, 241n45; formation of three-stage process of, 92. See also cultivation, inner alchemy, outer, 29, 65, 69, 112, 154, 157, 239n20, 241n45; criticism of, by Daoist priestesses, 79, 97, 112 An Lushan rebellion, 2, 44, 46, 142, 146, 154–55, 157–58 Anguo convent, 31, 42 Ankang (Tang princess), 27 Anle (Tang princess), 7, 45 ascension to heaven, 9, 87–88, 90, 94–97, 99, 113, 196, 198, 203, 204–6 Bai Juyi, 12, 16, 29, 75 Ban Zhao, 8, 135, 187 Bao He, 147–48 Bao Junhui, 8, 218n36, 255n75 Bao Zhao, 143

Baoyi (Uighur qaghan), 26–27 Benn, Charles D., 18, 35–36, 223n14 Bi Shiduo, 201 Bian Dongxuan, 69, 204–5, 270n53 Birrell, Anne, 185 body, in Daoism, 131, 202, 241n47. See also body, qi energy, and spirit body, qi energy, and spirit: relation among, 88–95, 97 Bokenkamp, Stephen, 235n36 Book of Changes, 91–93 breathing exercises, 120, 121, 122–23, 129 Buddhism: Chan, 90; continuity with Daoist beliefs, 25–26, 39–42, 44, 62, 67, 80–81, 159 (see also Three Teachings, synthesis of ); criticism of Daoism by Buddhists, 2, 9, 38; criticism of, by Daoists, 94, 151–52; influences on Daoism, 25, 26, 90, 95, 223n13; nuns, 13, 18, 28, 62, 68, 71, 201, 205, 211n12, 234n23, 272n77; persecution of, 62; Yunju monastery, 40 Bumbacher, Stephen P., 220n58 burial. See death and mourning

[ 315 ]

Cahill, Suzanne, 165, 196, 198, 199, 205, 261n52, 264n105, 266n4 Cai Wei, 206, 226n53 Cai Wenji, 136 Cai Xingfeng, 8, 14, 133, 135, 139–40, 161–62 Cai Xunzhen, 69 Caiguo (Tang princess), 25, 27, 29 Caiguo convent, 29 calligraphy, 15, 46, 72–74, 135 canon. See Fangshan stone canon; Kaiyuan canon; scriptures, Daoist Cao Cao, 119 Celestial Masters. See lineages, Daoist celibacy, 9; among Daoists, 10 Changyi (monk), 44 Chao Gongwu, 136, 139 Chen Kefeng, 29 Chen Shangjun, 252n22 Chen Wenhua, 140, 165 Chen Yingxing, 136 Chen Yinke, xxiii Chen Zhenshun, 197, 258n4 Chen Zhi, 130 Cheng Changwen, 135, 136 Cheng Taixu, 70 Cheng Wuwei, 64, 74 Cheng Xianying, 3 Chongde (Uighur qaghan), 26–27 Chongxu convent, 72 Chongzhen abbey, 184 Chu Guangxi, 45 Chuguo (Tang princess), 27 cinnabar, 239n20 clothing, xix, 13, 17, 28, 30, 32, 158, 188, 221n62 concubines, 12, 164, 167–68 Confucianism, 8, 27; continuity with Daoist beliefs, 28, 62, 80–81, 198 (see also Three Teachings, synthesis of ); criticism of Daoist priestesses by, 68; and women scholars, 69 convents, xviii, 18, 188; abbesses of, xxv, 51, 63–66; art collections of, 29; before Tang era, 51; establishment, 12–13, 25, 26, 29, 63–65; conversion of residence into, 25, 222n6; financing, xix, 14, 25, 27–28, 36–39, 65, 188, [ 316 ]

233n14; and literati, xxv, 28–29, 43; numbers of, xix, 12–13, 50; objection to construction of, 36–39; for “released” palace women, 30–31; renovations of, 65 (see also shrines); as sightseeing destination, 29; as site for composing poetry, 29, 43, 162–63; and social class, 15. See also specific convents corveé labor, 37, 38 cosmology, correlative, 106–11, 115, 120, 245n37 court: Daoist priestesses at (see mentors; political activity by Daoist priestesses; rituals); Daoist priestesses summoned to, 3, 8, 16, 68, 71, 72, 77, 146, 149–50 courtesans, 62, 154, 162, 191–92, 265n5; and exam candidates, xix, 12; misrepresentation of Daoist priestesses as, xxi–xxii, xxiv, xxvi, 140, 152, 164, 167–68, 186, 191–92 Cui Ke’an, 87 Cui Li, 37 Cui Xuan, 136 Cui Zhiyuan, 16 Cui Zhongrong, xxv, 133, 136, 158–61, 187 cultivation, inner (neilian), xxv, 88, 96–97, 101, 113. See also alchemy, inner cults of Daoist priestesses, 69 Dafang, Mount, 206 Dai Fu, 69, 204, 205 Daode jing, 5, 34–35, 65, 69, 206, 214n13. See also Laozi Daoxing convent, 65 death and mourning, 7, 31–32, 69 Deng Yangkang, 5,223n9 Despeux, Catherine, xxi, 248n88 Dezong (Tang emperor), 8, 16, 30, 150–52, 255n72,75 diet. See food Dingguan jing (Scripture on Absorption and Observation), 90 divine descending, 189, 203, 204, 207 divine marriage, 9, 11 Dongling convent, 63 Dongqing convent, 30 INDEX

Dou, Consort, 33–34 Du Fu, 186 Du Guangting, xxvi, xxi, xxii, xxiv, 3, 10, 50, 84, 195–208, 266n4, 270n38, 270n40, 271n55 Du Shenquan, 201 Dugu Lin, 75 Dunhuang manuscripts, xxii–xxiii, xxv, 19, 72, 133–36, 140, 154, 155, 156, 158, 161, 245n35, 246n59, 250n107, 251n4 education: Daoist, 2; of women, 7–8, 27, 155 emotion (qing), cult of, 186 endowment. See monasticism epitaphs, xxii–xxiv, 5, 7, 19, 25, 32, 42, 46–48, 50, 66, 69, 71–72, 77, 79, 223n9, 226n47, 226n48, 226n53, 233n11, 235nn36,41, 267n14 examination system, 2, 80, 167–68, 196; effect on gender relations, 11–12, 184–85 exercise, physical, 117, 123–26, 125, 129 families (natal) of Daoist priestesses, 70–72, 80, 156–57, 188. See also marriage Fangshan stone canon, 19, 39–42, 228n82 Fazang, monk, 228n82 feeling (qing), cult of, 186 Feng Ao, 75 Feng Deyi, 64–65 Feng Xingzhen, 65–66 Fengxian abbey, 43 filial piety, 7, 205 film and television, 164 five phases, 106–9, 117, 128–29, 245n37. See also cosmology food and fasting, 69–70, 74, 80, 117, 126–31, 206, 207; Hu Yin’s dietary method, 127 Former Shu ruling house. See Wang family freedom enjoyed by Daoist priestesses, xxi, 15, 28, 62, 161, 170, 181; limits on, 172. See also convents: financing Fukazawa Kazuyuki, 206 INDEX

Gai Jianmin, 101 Gaichang, 270n38 Gao Lian, 130 Gao Lishi, 46 Gao Pian, xxi, 202 Gao Shi, 45 Gao Zhongwu, 8, 152, 161 Gaozong, Tang emperor, 2, 72, 217n34 Gaozu, Tang emperor, 2, 68 gazetteers, xxiii Ge Hong, 119 gender awareness among Daoist priestesses, xix, 63–66, 97–98, 156, 162–63, 170, 179–85; political aspects of, 184–85 gender relations, xviii, 6–12, 188; after Tang era, 152; before Tang era, 51, 234n23; and burial, 69; chastity, 62; at court, 7–8, 15, 228n75; culture of romance and, xix, 9–12 (see also men: romantic affairs of Daoist priestesses with); examination system’s effect on, 11–12; goddess cult and, 11, 170–71; in literary exchanges, 8, 15–16; men valorized over women, 26; non-Han influence on, 6; and social class, 6, 7–8; women’s activities outside home, 6–7. See also literati; marriage; men; women gender reversal: at court, xviii, 7–8, 15, 68–69; Empress Wu as pattern, xviii, 7; in love poetry, 153, 161, 170, 173–79, 181, 186; in priestesses’ natal families, 70–71 goddesses: cult of, and gender relations, 11, 170–71; Daoist priestesses as, 16–17, 152–53, 163, 170, 179, 181, 188, 207; poetry about (see under poetry); and sexuality, 9–10, 16–17, 152–53, 179. See also Guanyin; Queen Mother of the West golden elixir, 94 Gou Xiangu, 197, 200, 268n24 Goushi, Mount, 196, 198 Grant, Beata, 185 Guanyin, 201 Guizhen abbey, 36 Guo Jinji, 72 Guo Yingyi, 222n6 [ 317 ]

hagiographies, 50, 195–208, 272n77; as genre and as sources, xxi, xxii, xxvi, 195–96, 208; ideologies and effects of, 189–91 hair, 28, 201 Han Lanying, 136 Han Yi, 70 Han Yu, 67, 205 Han Zhencui, 5 Han Ziming, 70–71, 77, 235n36 Hang Faxin, 31 Hao Qin, 101 He Rui, 27–28 He Youjing, 31 He Zhenjing, 65 He’en abbey, 37 Heng, Mount, 80, 87, 239n29 Heze abbey, 37 hierarchy, Daoist. See ordination Highest Clarity lineage. See lineages, Daoist Hou Qiongzhen, 75 Hu Yin, xxv, 70, 100–32; breathing exercises, 120, 121, 122–23, 129; dietary method, 127; exercise, physical, 117, 123–26, 125, 129; influences on later medical theory, 101, 114, 115, 129–31; list of writings, 101–2; sobriquet “Jiansunü,” 103; sources used by, 106–7, 109–10, 117, 119–29; theories on spirits of viscera, 109–15; theories on seasonal nurturing, 115–26, 118 Hu Yinglin, 178 Hua, Mount, 70 Huang Haide, 233n11 Huang Lingwei (Huagu), xxii, 63, 97–98, 199, 206 Huang Zhouxing, 175, 181 Huangfu Gui, wife of (poet), 135 Huangfu Long, 119 Huangfu Mei, 165, 185–86 Huangting neijing jing (HTJ; Daoist classic), xxv, 100–101, 103, 107, 109, 112, 114, 115, 119–20, 131–32, 206 Huangting neijing wuzang liufu (buxie)tu (HTNJT; by Hu Yin), 100–32 Huayang convent, 29, 222n6

[ 318 ]

Huiyuan abbey, 75 hun soul. See souls Idema, Wilt, 185 immortality and longevity, xix, xxv, 9–11, 28, 29, 30, 93, 97, 100, 111, 117–30, 154, 157, 207, 248n88, 262n83; the terms “immortal/transcendent” (xian), 209n3 India, 124 inner and outer spheres, 17. See also priestesses: public activities; travel; women: activities outside home inner cultivation. See cultivation, inner investiture. See ordination Ji Zhenyi, 258n4 Ji Zhongfu, 133 Jiao Jie, xxii Jiao Jingzhen, 54, 69, 229n95, 234–35n32 Jiao Zhenjing, 43, 229n95. See also Jiao Jingzhen Jiaoran (monk), 142, 143, 147–49, 221n74 Jiayou convent, 69 Jin (prince of Zhou dynasty), 196–97, 267n14 jindan. See golden elixir Jinhua convent, 25, 29 Jingwan (or Zhiyuan; monk), 39 Jingzong (Tang emperor), 68 Jinhua Chen, 19 Jinming Qizhen. See lineages, Daoist Jinxian (Tang princess), xxiv, 2, 18, 32–36, 222n5, 226n49; epitaph, 46–48; investiture, 6, 25, 26, 33–36, 226n53; wealth, 28, 224n24. See also Fangshan stone canon Jixian lu, xxvi, xxii, 49, 50, 195–208, 234n31; list of hagiographies in, 200–201; as source, xxi, 195–96, 266n4 Kaiyuan canon, 40–41 Kang Qia, 45 Kegasawa Yasunori, 18–19, 228n82 Kirkland, Russell, xxii, 63, 196, 198, 199, 205, 207 Ko, Dorothy, 162 Kohn, Livia, xxi, 239n20

INDEX

Kongdong, Mount, 44 Kou Qianzhi, 9 Kuai Jing, 119 Kunlun, Mount, 159, 198 Laozi, 2, 34, 42, 204, 206 laws: on concubines, 168; marriage, 6; mourning, 7; regulating Buddhism, 3–4; regulating Daoism, xviii, 3–4; and social class, 171–72; treatment of Daoist priestesses as gendered group in, xix, 13–14 leadership. See convents: abbesses Lévi, Jean, 101 Li Bai, 18, 43, 45 Li Deyu, 192, 223n9 Li Fengmao, 18 Li Fuguo, 46 Li Hanguang, 3, 235n32 Li Huan (Prince of Xu), 46 Li Jian, 205, 206 Li Jianguo, 197, 267n11 Li Jilan, xxv, 16, 77, 133, 135, 136, 137, 140–54, 187 Li Jinren, 170–71 Li, Lady, 69 Li Linfu, 69 Li Liu, 46 Li Qi, 45 Li Qiongxian, 63–64, 98 Li Qunyu, 45 Li Rong, 3, 16 Li Shangjin (Prince Ze), 46 Li Shangyin, 66 Li Shu, 140, 142, 150 Li Tengkong, 69 Li Wei (Prince Xin’an), 46 Li Xiang, 205 Li Yi (husband of Yu Xuanji), 167–68, 175 Li Yi (court official), 37 Li Ying, 162 Li Yixun, 46 Li Yuanzhen, 30 Li Zhaosheng, 115 Li Zongqing, 72 Liang Chaoran, 165 Liang Qiong, 136

INDEX

Liangqiuzi, 107, 131, 244n25 life-nurturing (yangsheng), xxv, 101, 202; seasonal nurturing theories of Hu Yin, 115–30, 118. See also medicine Lin Yin, 90 lineages, Daoist: Celestial Masters, 9, 51, 220n58, 232n9; Complete Perfection, 191; Highest Clarity, 4, 9–10, 11, 67, 112, 159, 197, 202, 207, 220n58, 232n9, 271n63; integration of, xviii, 3–6, 188; Jinming Qizhen, 4; Numinous Treasure, 4 Lingdu convent, 43 Linghu Tao, 201 literati: and convents, 28–29, 160; interactions of Daoist priestesses with, 15–16, 18, 28–29, 44–45, 142–49, 152, 161, 166, 170–71 Liu Cheng, 46 Liu, Consort, 33–34 Liu Dan, 80 Liu Jinxi, 72 Liu Lingxian, 257n113 Liu Moran, xxv, 70, 79–99; contributions to Daoist theory, 88, 91–93, 96–97 Liu Ningran, 238n7, 239n28. See also Liu Moran Liu Ruoshui, 44 Liu Yuxi, 45 Liu Zhangqing, 142, 152 Liu Zhirou, 223n9 longevity. See immortality and longevity Longhe, Mount (now Longhu), 64, 233n11 Longheshan convent, 64 Lou (Zongsheng) abbey, 43 Lü Dongbin, 115 Lu Lun, 45 Lu Meiniang (Xiaoyao), 30, 207 Lu Shiyong, 175 Lü Xuanhe, 66 Lu Yu, 143 Lu, Mount, 69 Luo Binwang, 16 Luo Zhengming, 199, 266n3 Ma Duanlin, 25 Magu (goddess), 16

[ 319 ]

Magu, Mount, 5, 77 marriage: among Daoists, 10, 25, 61–62, 223n9; divine, 9, 11; divorce, 6; laws, 6; renunciation of, 8, 26–27, 64; royal, 26–27 medicine and medical theory, xxv, 69, 100–32; monks, nuns, priest(esse)s prohibited from practicing, 243n23. See also life-nurturing meditation, xxv, 88–90, 117, 119, 126, 156, 247n77. See also sitting in oblivion (zuowang) men: interactions of Daoist priestesses with, 44–45, 64 (see also under literati); poets (see poets: Daoist priestesses’ association with); romantic affairs of Daoist priestesses with, 16, 29, 144–49, 170 Meng Jingsu, 67–68 Meng Wentong, 83 mentors to royalty, Daoist priestesses as, xix, xxv, 8, 15, 68–69, 71, 76 methodology and sources, xvii, xx–xxiv, 50–51. See also under hagiographies monasticism: Daoist, xviii, 3–6, 188; endowment of, 4. See also abbeys; convents; monasteries Mori Ōgai, 164 mothers: Daoist priestesses as, 70, 80; laws on mourning for, 7 mourning. See death and mourning Mu Kehong, 257n113 murder, 171–72, 260n29 music, xix,13, 74, 75, 188, 206, 236n56 Muzong (Tang emperor), 26–27, 68 Needham, Joseph, 101, 241n45 Neng Quchen, 74 Ning (Tang prince), 44 Ning Tiyuan, 37 Numinous Treasure lineage. See lineages, Daoist ordination, Daoist: age of ordinands, 19, 26, 30, 62, 64, 104, 154, 224n14, 226n53; to avoid persecution of Buddhism, 62, 71; for benefit of ancestors, 26, 34; to gain freedom, 62, [ 320 ]

170; and illness, 27, 62; and immortality, 29, 154; involuntary, 25–26, 30; motives for, 25–28, 29–31, 61–62, 154, 169–70, 225n37, 227n61; and politics, 30, 33–36, 227n61; as pretext for divorce, 225n37; ranks (list), 5; ranks achieved by priestesses, 5–6, 15, 51–61, 67, 70, 79, 80, 159; renunciation of, 26, 133; system of, xviii, 3, 4–6, 15; as theater, 35–36; and widowhood, 27, 30, 62, 80 Ouyang Xun, 47 Pan Shizheng, 3 Pang Dezu, 77 Peach Blossom Spring, 156 Pei Cui, 37 Pei Shangjian, 25, 29, 32, 42 Pei Xuanjing, 269n38 phases, five. See five phases pilgrimage. See travel Ping Yao, 18, 224n24, 228n75 poetry: anthologies, 8, 14, 133–40, 161–62, 251n1, 252n22, 252n24, 258n4 (see also Yaochi ji); about Buddhism, 159; about Daoism, 151, 156–57, 261n5; about Daoist priestesses, 16–17, 30–31, 44–45, 66, 67, 74, 147–49, 159, 205 262n64; by Daoist priestesses, 77, 133–87; about goddesses, 11, 16–17, 139, 152–53, 158, 163, 170, 179, 181; as historical source, xxiii–xxiv, 42–43, 67, 166; love, 11–12, 16–17, 144–49, 153, 159–61, 168–69, 170–71, 173–79; medical texts written in, 130; nature in, 175–77; as social practice, 16, 29, 152; on things (yongwushi), 184; on travel, 168–69, 174–75 poets: Daoist priestesses as, 8, 14, 15, 18, 133–63 (see also Cui Zhongrong; Li Jilan; Yuan Chun; Zhang, Lady); Daoist priestesses’ association with, 7, 16–17, 44–45, 142–49, 152, 156, 263n105; fictitious, 137 political activity by Daoist priestesses, xx, 15, 28, 34, 44–46 Popova, Irina, 251n4 practitioners, Daoist. See adepts INDEX

preaching: by Buddhist nuns, 68, 234n23; by Daoist priestesses, xix, xxv, 15, 67–69, 206, 235n36 priestesses, Daoist, in Tang era: Chinese words for, xix,13, 87, 95, 220n58, 221n62; freedom and independence of, xix, 28, 161, 170, 188–89 (see also convents: financing); as gendered group, xvii, 12–17 (see also gender awareness); list of, with general information, 52–60; numbers of, 13; public activities of, 15, 64, 66–69, 170 (see also mentors; political activity; preaching; rituals; secular events; travel); social and imperial approval or disapproval of activities by, 15–16, 28, 68, 69–70, 149, 161, 186; uniqueness of, in Chinese history, xvii, xxiv, 12, 48–49, 78, 161, 170, 181, 184, 186–87, 188 princesses, Tang, xx, xxiv, 18–28, 32–49; list of ordained princesses, 20–24. See also Ankang; Anle; Caiguo; Chuguo; Jinxian; Taihe; Taiping; Tangchang; Wan’an; Xinchang; Yong’an; Yuzhen qi (energy), 9, 10, 113, 120, 122–23, 129. See also body, qi energy, and spirit Qi Xiaoyao, 269n38 Qian Qianyi, 258n4 Qin Xi, 69–70 Qin Yan, 201 qing (emotion, feeling), cult of, 186 Queen Mother of the West, 11, 139, 158, 195, 197–98, 206, 268n22, 268n24, 268n25, 268n26 rain, ritual for, 43–44, 76 rank (court), 32. See also social class remonstrance with emperor, 37–39 residence place of Daoist priestesses, 10, 19, 26, 28, 35, 51, 158, 188, 222n5; geographic distribution, 62. See also convents; marriage rituals (and other religious duties): Buddhist, 228n82; Confucian, 27; at court, 74–77; performed by or for INDEX

Daoist priestesses, xix, 15, 29, 32, 43–44, 64, 74–77, 228n94, 233n13, 236n51 Robertson, Maureen, 162, 165 Robinet, Isabelle, 91, 101, 243n14 romance, culture of, xix, 9–12. See also men: romantic affairs of Daoist priestesses with Rong Xinjiang, 134 Ruan Zhao legend, 11, 144, 159, 171, 181, 261n60 Ruizong (Tang emperor), 2, 7, 25, 26, 32, 33–35, 36–37, 63 saliva-swallowing, 117–19, 120, 124, 129 Sanhuang jing (Three Sovereigns text), 5, 35, 214n13 Schafer, Edward H., 209n3, 220n62 Schipper, Kristofer, 131, 243n14 schools, Daoist, 2 scriptures, Buddhist, 235n42. See also Fangshan stone canon scriptures, Daoist: canon, 4, 72, 114, 235n42; copying, 72–74; Daoist priestesses’ knowledge of, 5–6, 29, 31, 35, 64, 77; transmission of, xviii, 5, 36, 44, 61, 67, 80, 214n13 secular events, Daoist priestesses’ involvement in, 15 sexuality and sexual practices: Daoist, xix, 9, 10, 170; and goddesses, xix, 9–11, 16–17, 170. See also celibacy shamans, 11 Shangguan Wan’er, 7, 217n34 Shen Fen, 269n38, 271n63 Shen Jin’ao, 130–31 Shi Chongxuan, 35–36, 38 shrines, reconstruction of, by Daoist priestesses, 63–64, 97–98 Shuai Yeguang, 44 Sikong Shu, 45 Siku quanshu, 141, 154 Sima Chengzhen, xxv, 3, 43, 69, 79, 80, 81–88, 90, 97, 120, 237n4, 240n30, 271n63 sitting in oblivion (zuowang), 29, 88–94, 126. See also meditation; Zuowang lun [ 321 ]

social class, 162: and convents, 15; and gender relations, 6, 7–8; of priestesses, 50, 137, 155, 164, 166–67, 188, 205; and princess-priestesses, 28, 63–66, 69, 80; and punishment for crime, 171–72, 260n43. See also rank; social status social status, of Daoist priestesses, 163, 172 Song, Madam (Xuanwen jun), 8 Song Miaoxian, 72 Song Minqiu, 223n14 Song, Mount, 5, 30, 44, 196 Song Ruoxian, 69, 136 Song Ruoxin, 8 Song Ruoxun, 136 Song sisters (Ruoxin, Ruozhao, Ruoxian, et al.), 7–8, 255n75 soteriology, Daoist, 129 souls: hun, 93, 108; po, 108 spirit. See body, qi energy, and spirit; souls steles, names of authors on, 85–87 Su E, 207 Su Hui, 135–36 Sun Bu’er, 191 Sun Chengze, 41, 270n53 Sun Guangxian, 165–66 Sun Simiao, 10, 90, 104, 120, 124–26, 128, 246n58 Suwen (Plain Questions; Basic Questions), 103–4, 117, 129 Suzong (Tang emperor), 44, 46 Taibai, Mount, 104 Taihe (Tang princess), 26 Taiping (Tang princess), 7, 26, 44, 223n14 Taiping convent, 26 Taiqing abbey, 36 Taiyi abbey, 5 Taizong (Tang emperor), 2, 68 Tang ruling house: establishment of Daoism as state religion by, xviii, xxiv, 2, 12, 35, 39; Laozi as ancestor of, xviii, xxiv, 2, 34, 43, 204; members of, as Daoist priestesses, 18–49; non-Han influences on, 6; promotion of Daoism by, xviii, 2–4, 12, 14, 19–25, 75, 188; support of Buddhism [ 322 ]

by, 40–41, 44; valorization of princes over princesses, 26. See also Jinxian, Princess; Yuzhen, Princess Tang Yongtong, 246n68 Tangchang (Tang princess), 25, 27–28, 29 Tangchang convent, 25, 27, 29 Tao Hongjing, 246n58, 246n59, 249n103 Tao Yuanming, 156 teeth-clapping, 117–20, 124, 129 theorists, Daoist priestesses as, 79–99 Three Teachings, synthesis of, 91, 98, 201, 203, 205, 208; effects of, on later Daoism, 190. See also Buddhism: continuity with Daoism; Confucianism: continuity with Daoism Tian Guidao, 67 Tian Yuansu, 67–69, 77, 235n36 Tianbao convent, 63 Tiantai, Mount, 80, 196 Tibet, 26 transcendent. See under immortality and longevity transmigration, 94 travel, by Daoist priestesses, 15, 42, 43, 63, 168–69, 174, 207 Tsukamoto Zenryū, 18–19 Tung, Jowen R., 165, 262n81 Twofold Mystery, 93–94 Uighurs, 26 van Gulik, Robert, 164 Verellen, Franciscus, 196, 197, 198 viscera, 100–26 Walls, Jan W., 164 Wan’an (Tang princess), 26 Wang Bing, 104 Wang Chang, 226n47 Wang Duan, 271n55 Wang Fajin, 207–8 Wang family (Former Shu ruling house), 196–98 Wang Fengxian, xxi, 199–204 Wang Jian, 45 Wang Jian (ruler of Former Shu), 196 Wang Jiayou, 101 INDEX

Wang Jin, 46 Wang Ka, 155 Wang Lingfei, 16 Wang Ming, 101, 114, 243n14 Wang Renshu, 267n14 Wang Sanqing, 252n24 Wang, Stephen, 209n3 Wang Wei, 44–45, 46, 230n111 Wang Xuming, 5 Wang Yan (ruler of Former Shu), 196 Wang Zhen, 119 Wangwu, Mount, 43, 80, 88 Weaving Maiden legend, 11, 170–71, 181 Wen Tingyun, 162 Wei (Tang empress), 7 Wei Chou, 37 Wei Gao, 192 Wei Hu, 8, 137 Wei Huacun, Lady, 63–64, 97–98, 243n14 Wei Linghe, 47 Wei Shu, 223n14 Wei Tao, 43 Wei Tuan’er, 34 Wei Zhan, 46 Wei Zhigu, 37 Wei Zhuang, 8, 136 Wendi (Sui emperor), 68 Wenzong (Tang emperor), 28, 30, 68, 71, 75 widows, 27, 30, 62, 70, 74, 80 Wimsatt, Genevieve B., 258n6 women: as active, desiring subject in love, 153, 161, 170, 173–79, 181, 262n81; activities outside home, xx, 6–7, 68, 175 (see also priestesses: public activities; travel by priestesses); education, 7–8, 27, 155; palace women, xxiv, 30–31. See also Buddhism: nuns; gender relations; marriage; mothers; poets; priestesses; widows; writing women Women’s Analects (Song Ruoxin), 8 writing women, xviii, 7–9, 81–98, 100–32, 133–63; interactions among, 156, 160, 162; reception of, 136, 161; social class of, 137, 155; and women’s literary culture in China, 162–63 Wu Youji, 223n14 INDEX

Wu Yun, 3, 85, 90, 93, 97 Wu Zetian (Tang empress), xviii, 2, 26, 33–34, 46, 72, 198, 228n75 Wuchengzi, 131 Wutong convent, 65 Xiantan convent, 63 Xianyi (Tang princess), 14–15, 27. See also Xianyi convent Xianyi convent, 14, 29, 30, 70, 77, 169–70, 179 Xianzong (Tang emperor), 68 Xiao Heng, 27–28 Xiao Yingshi, 80, 144, 237n2 Xiao Yu, 228n82 Xiao, Priestess, 30 Xiao (Sui empress), 228n82 Xie Daoyun, 136 Xie Ziran, 70, 205–6, 271n60, 271n63 Xiling convent, 239n29 Xin Tipi, 37 Xin Wenfang, 185 Xinchang (Tang princess), 25, 27–28 Xinchang convent, 25 Xing Guiyi, 5 Xingtang abbey, 44 Xizong (Tang emperor), 16, 28, 196 Xu Fei, 257n113 Xu Jun, 134, 155 Xu Qiao, 226n47, 228n82 Xuanfa (monk), 40–41 Xuanyuan abbey, 5 Xuanzong (Tang emperor), 2, 12, 25, 33–35, 40, 42–45, 48, 74, 85, 154–55, 157, 204, 206, 230n122, 237n4, 270n53 Xue Shao, 26 Xue Shi, 239n29 Xue Tao, 137, 154, 187, 192 Xue Yuanjun, 79, 239n29; inscription about, 95–98 Xue Yun, 162 Yan Shihe (courtesy name: Bojun) 144–49 Yan Tingliang, 155 Yan Yiping, 101, 197, 267n11, 269n34 Yan Zhenqing, xxii, 63, 206 Yang Chao, 233n11 Yang Guifei, 12. See also Yang Yuhuan [ 323 ]

Yang Li, 269n37, 269n38 Yang Yuhuan (Precious Consort Yang, Yang Guifei), 12, 225n37 Yang Zhengjian, 203–4 Yangtai abbey, 43, 80, 87 Yaochi ji (Turquoise Pond anthology, Yaochi xinyong ji), xviii, xxv, 8, 14, 133–40, 187; table of poets included, 138–39 Yi jing. See Book of Changes yin and yang, 10, 94, 97, 108, 129, 245n37 Yin Zhiqing, 61–62 Ying Yijie, 196 yoga, 124–26 Yong’an (Tang princess), 26–27 Yongmu (Tang princess), 25–26, 27 Yongmu convent, 25, 74 Yu Xianhao, 18 Yu Xuanji, xxvi, 7, 14, 136, 137, 162, 164–87; biographical chronicle, 173; Daoist name(s), 166 Yuan Chun, xxv, 69, 133–34, 136, 137, 140, 154–58, 187 Yuan Fu, 204–5 Yuan Zhen, 29 Yuchen convent, 3, 16, 68, 75, 77, 150 Yuwen Rong, 46 Yuzhen (Tang princess), xxiv, 2, 18, 28, 29, 31, 32–36, 42–48, 222n5, 226n48; as abbess, 43; arts patronage, 48; calligraphy by, 46–47, 236n47; investiture, 6, 25, 26, 33–36, 43–44; marriage, 10, 25; political activities, 44–45; and rituals, 74; scholarly activities, 44–45; sent on missions by emperor, 43–44 Zhang, Lady (poet), 133, 136, 137, 162 Zhang Boduan, 91 Zhang Guo, 42 Zhang Ji, 45, 69 Zhang Linghui, 267n14 Zhang Ti, 19, 42 Zhang Wanfu, 35–36 Zhang Yue, 44–45

[ 324 ]

Zhang Zhongjing, 245n35 Zhao Chao, xxii Zhao Hang, 80 Zhao Huang, 80 Zhao Jian, 81. See also Zhao Zhijian Zhao Jingxuan, 80 Zhao Lin, 80 Zhao Miaoxu, 72 Zhao Yousu, 80 Zhao Yuanyi, 151 Zhao Zhijian, 83. See also Zhao Jian Zhengping abbey, 43 Zhi Daolin, 248n88 Zhi Mo, 72 Zhi Shuxiang, 72 Zhi Zhijian, 71–72 Zhide convent, 68, 154 Zhisheng (monk), 40 Zhong Shaojing, 48 Zhong Xing, 146, 184, 186 Zhongli Quan, 115 Zhongzong (Tang emperor), 7, 37, 217n34, 228n75 Zhou Fang, 149 Zhou Lüjing, 130 Zhou Wenju, 149 Zhu Ci rebellion, 150–51 Zhu Fang, 146–47 Zhu Quan, 130 Zhu Xi, 68 Zhu Yueli, 239n29, 241n47, 246n58 Zhuangzi, 122, 173–75 Zhufu Huaigao, 201 Zhuolu (or Shijing), Mount, 41–42 Zou Xuan, 130 zuowang. See sitting in oblivion Zuowang lun (Treatise on Sitting in Oblivion), xxv, 79; authorship, 81–88; citations of Zuownag lun Inscription from Shenxian kexue lun, 86–87; correspondence between this and Zhao Zhijian’s Daode zhenjing shuyi, 84; themes, 88–94. See also alchemy, inner

INDEX