Daoism: A Short Introduction

Historical introduction

There is no established consensus on how to divide up the history of Daoism, and any scheme of periodization inevitably reflects the particular judgements of the individual historian. The present chapter contains a fairly standard historical survey of Daoism in China. It largely ignores the history of Daoism in Korea and other East Asian countries

where Daoism flourishes in dialogue with, but independently from, Chinese Daoism (for the history of Korean Daoism see Jung, 2000). The reason for this largely reflects the fact that Daoism has been studied in the West almost exclusively in reference to China, because the bulk of historical documents dealing with Daoism are written in classical

Chinese.

The history of Daoism can conveniently be divided into four periods: proto-Daoism, classical Daoism, modern Daoism and contemporary Daoism. Although these labels tend to suggest a gradual historical development, it does not follow from this that Daoism has been steadily developing in a linear fashion towards some ideal state, nor is this meant to imply that the ‘classical’ period is somehow ‘better’ than the ‘modern’ period.

The first period, proto-Daoism, covers the time from antiquity up to the second century CE CE. The reason why this period is called ‘proto-Daoism’ is that we have no knowledge of any formal Daoist religious organizations at this time. Despite this fact, it is necessary to include this period in any understanding of Daoism because many of the core values and motifs of Daoist philosophy and religion were shaped during this period, and one of the most important Daoist texts, the Daode jing, was written during this period. Evidence for our understanding of proto-Daoism derives largely from textual materials and archaeological evidence about the functioning of ancient Chinese religion.

The second period, that of classical Daoist religion, starts in 142 CE when Zhang Daoling established the Way of the Celestial Masters, also known as the Way of Orthodox Unity, the first successful organized Daoist religious system. Daoist priests today claim to be ordained in a lineage that stretches back to this original founder. Two other important movements developed later during this period of classical Daoist religion: the Way of Highest Clarity (Shangqing Daoism) and the Way of Numinous Treasure (Lingbao Daoism). This period, between the second and the seventh centuries can be called the classical period because scholars of Daoism look back to this time (known also as the medieval period of Chinese history) as the era in which many Daoist practices, texts and rituals initially took shape. Also during this period, Buddhism was brought to China by missionaries from India and Tibet. Buddhist ideas and practices were absorbed into Daoism (and vice versa) but there were also periods of intense rivalry between Daoists and Buddhists. The classical period of Daoism ends with the Tang dynasty (618–906), one of the high-points of Chinese civilization from the point of view of the development of art and culture. During the Tang dynasty Daoism became fully integrated with the imperial court system, particularly under the reign of the Xuanzong Emperor (713–56). During this time Daoism functioned as the official religion of the imperial court and exerted supremacy over Buddhism.

The Tang period is also important in Daoist history because Daoist missionaries were also sent to Korea by the Tang court in the seventh century, in part to help the Korean court restrict the spread of Buddhism in Korea. According to the Korean Daoist history, the Haedong chondo rok written by Han Muwae (1517–1610), two Korean monks also went to China to study Daoism, and brought back their teaching to Korea.

These types of officially sanctioned exchange were no doubt facilitated by the fact that Daoism had an identifiable role at the imperial court. The third phase of Daoism may be said to begin with the break-up of the Tang empire, and the increasing syncretism between Buddhism, elite Daoism and localized religious cults that have been documented from the Song period (960–1279) onwards. This modern period also witnessed the founding of the Daoist movement known as the Way of Complete Perfection (Quanzhen dao) by Wang Zhe (1113–70). The Way of Complete Perfection is the major monastic form of Daoism that exists to this day alongside the more community-based priesthood of the Celestial Masters. The Way of Complete Perfection is devoted to the practice of internal alchemy, in which the energies of the body are refined through breathing and other forms of meditation into ever subtler forms, thus promoting longevity and even, in a few rare cases, the possibility of totally transcending the ordinary finitudes of human existence. The Way of Complete Perfection is also marked by its aim to ‘harmonize the three teachings’ of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism, and became highly influential under the Mongol Yuan dynasty afterWang Zhe’s disciple Qiu Changchun (1148–1227) undertook a three-year journey to the court of the Mongol warlord, Chinggis Khan.

Despite the rhetoric of harmonization, further acrimonious debates with Buddhists developed at this time, and when the Daoists lost a series of these debates in 1281 many Daoist texts were burned. Despite this setback, Daoism flourished during the subsequent Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and the year 1445 saw the compilation of the Daoist Canon (Daozang), a compendium of some 1500 Daoist texts, under the patronage of the Yongle Emperor. In the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) Daoist ideas and practices became more entrenched in popular religious culture. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that we have better historical evidence of the way popular religion functioned since many popular Daoist morality texts were published and the practice of Daoist-inspired arts such as taiji quan (Tai Chi) and Qigong (Ch’i-kung) became increasingly widespread.

The fourth period, since the advent of Western colonial powers in the nineteenth century, has been a near-total catastrophe for Daoism, particularly during the period of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966–76) when many Daoist temples were destroyed and the overt functioning of the religion to all intents and purposes ceased to exist in mainland China. Since 1980 Daoism has begun to be practised openly again in China and a new generation of Daoists are struggling to rebuild their temples and recover their tradition. On the other hand, through the emigration of many Chinese people across the world, Daoist temples have been established in Europe, the Americas and elsewhere and many popular Daoist practices such as Qigong and taiji quan (Tai Chi) have taken root in the West. Until recently it was not certain that Daoism had survived this cataclysmic upheaval, but the study and practice of Daoism is flourishing once again in China and throughout the world.

PROTO-DAOISM

Laozi and the Daode jing

The person most revered in the whole of Daoism is known to us simply by the epithet Laozi, which can be translated as ‘the Old Master’. The earliest biography of the Old Master is contained in the Shiji (Records of the Historian c. 90 BCE BCE) by the great Han dynasty intellectual Sima Qian (145–86 BCE BCE). Sima Qian identifies Laozi as an archivist named Li Er or Li Dan at the Zhou dynasty court (1046–221 BCE BCE). During his life he is said to have instructed the Chinese philosopher Confucius (traditional dates 552–479 BCE BCE) on matters of ritual. When Laozi retired from the court, he set off on a journey west, but was stopped at the Hangu Pass by the gatekeeper, Yin Xi, who asked him to compose a text outlining his philosophy of dao (way) and de (power, or virtue). The result was the text known to us as the Daode jing (The Scripture of the Way and its Power) or simply as the Laozi. The Daode jing, along with the Bible, is one of the most widely translated books in the world and continues to exert a profound influence on Chinese culture.

Sima Qian’s biography formed the kernel out of which grew the most important myth surrounding Laozi as a manifestation or incarnation of the Dao itself. According to this myth Laozi continued his journey west and appeared in India, as the Buddha, and in the far west, as Mani, the prophet who founded the influential dualistic Christian sect known as Manichaeism. This myth moreover was used to lend authority to those Chinese rulers and revolutionaries who shared Laozi’s surname, Li, and thereby claimed the mandate of heaven to govern the Chinese empire.

Apart from Sima Qian’s biography and the myth of Laozi’s transformations, we have very little historical evidence about Laozi in his original guise, but we do know more about the book that is attributed to him. The Daode jing is a compilation of terse aphorisms about the Way (dao) and its Power (de), that totals some 5000 Chinese characters. Some of its sayings, such as ‘The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step’ are well known. Others are obscure and difficult to comprehend. The text exists in a standard edition made by the commentator Wang Bi (226–49 CE CE), but recent archaeological finds at Mawangdui and Guodian have unearthed earlier versions on silk and bamboo strips, respectively. The standard edition is divided into eightyone chapters and two parts. Part I (chapters 1–37) is known as the Daojing (Scripture of Dao); Part 2 (chapters 38–81) is known as the Dejing (Scripture of De).

The text speaks of Dao as the formless and ineffable Way that is the wellspring of creative power for a universe of constant transformation. The Dao is the mother of heaven and earth and is the spontaneously selfgenerating life of the universe. Everything in the universe has its own virtue or power (de) which, if permitted to flourish, brings a natural order and harmony to the world. Human beings, however, have the capacity to deviate from or simply ignore this natural order by imposing their will upon the world and by giving free rein to powerful emotions such as desire, hatred and greed. When human beings abandon the natural way they develop large-scale societies governed by draconian rulers at war with each other. The enlightened ruler or sage, however, can cultivate order and harmony within a small community by cultivating spontaneity within himself and by following a path of non-aggressive action. By virtue of his own charismatic power, order will naturally arise within human societies, because in the feudal hierarchy of ancient China, the ruler was seen as the foundation and embodiment of the whole people. The text of the Daode jing and the myth of Laozi as the supreme sage and recurring manifestation of the Dao together lay the foundation for an important theme in Daoist history, though one which is not so evident today, namely the close and often antagonistic relationship between Daoist religion and Chinese imperial authority (see chapter 4).

The Zhuangzi

The Zhuangzi is one of the most popular classics of Chinese literature, and revels in a philosophical dexterity and rhetorical sophistication that ranks with the highest achievements of many cultures. It is supremely witty and imaginative. Although this work has always been classified as a Daoist text, it is interesting to note that it has never been particularly important as a Daoist religious scripture. Rather, within Chinese andWestern culture the text represents a form of Daoism centred upon the Daoist sage as the supremely self-realized individual who wanders free from the conventions of culture and society. This work has a universal appeal that can readily be appreciated by those with little or no background in Daoist thought and religion. The work does, however, contribute to our understanding of Daoism because its view of the perfected person (zhenren) was instrumental in the development of Daoism as a personal spiritual quest.

In this form of Daoism the sage is not viewed in socio-political terms as the ruler of a nation, but rather as someone who is utterly unperturbed by whatever might happen to him and apparently unconcerned with all the affairs of politics and business. In the Zhuangzi, the sage is thus a supremely self-realized person who roams freely throughout the world impervious to the vagaries of his or her fate.

The edition of the Zhuangzi that we rely upon today was put together by a commentator, Guo Xiang, around 300 CE CE. The Han dynasty historian Sima Qian attributes the text to a man known as Master Zhuang (Zhuangzi) who lived in the third century BCE BCE. It is evident, however, that the thirty-three chapter text as we have it today has gone through several processes of editing, and thus the whole text is usually referred to as ‘the Zhuangzi’ in order to distinguish it from ‘Zhuangzi’, the sage who is probably the author of most of the first seven chapters, known as the ‘inner chapters’.

The emphasis in the Zhuangzi is on the spontaneous transformation of things in the natural world and the impossibility of fixing words or human principles onto this world. The text thus ridicules the attempts of philosophers and statesmen to impose some sort of human order onto the world and instead speaks of meditative practices such as ‘sitting in oblivion’, ‘breathing through the heels’ and ‘fasting the heart-mind’.

These practices aim to break down the conventional distinctions between self and world. The result is that the realized or perfected individual will be instinctively attuned to the spontaneity of the Dao and able to accept all that befalls him or her with absolute equanimity. Moreover such a perfected person has plumbed the depths of the Dao and possesses a holistic wisdom that is beyond conventional knowing. Such a person ‘wanders freely’ on the Dao, roaming in a kind of liberated, ecstatic state. Commentators have also drawn parallels between this type of ‘wandering’ and the voyages of the soul conducted by shamans, in which the practitioner engages in a vision quest or journey to the spirit world. In the Daoist tradition, the text was profoundly influential upon the

Shangqing (Highest Clarity) Daoist movement that began in the fourth century CE CE. Shangqing Daoists adapted some of its key practices such as ‘sitting in oblivion’ into spiritual practices that aimed to unite the adept with the full range of spiritual powers in the cosmos. Uniting with these spirits, imaged as the constellations of stars in the night sky, freed the individual from the conventional bounds of life and death and transformed him into a celestial immortal.

Most Western commentators have focused on the philosophical

aspects of the Zhuangzi, particularly its brilliant arguments for epistemological scepticism and moral relativism. Zhuangzi argues that words cannot adequately grasp the reality of things, which are in constant flux, and consequently there is no way for people to decide on what is true. Debates are merely exercises of rhetoric in which the winner is simply the one who is more skilled in speaking. Ultimately there is no way to know whether our language really matches reality at all. This line of argument may be viewed as developing out of the first stanza of the Daode jing which states that ‘the way that can be told is not the constant Way’.

The Neiye (inward training)

The third ‘proto-Daoist’ text that is important for understanding the foundations of Daoism is the Neiye (inward training). This text is contained within a broad-ranging compendium known as the Guanzi, and, for a long time was not considered an important proto-Daoist work. Recently, however, scholars have come to reconsider the text and to see it as a forerunner of the longevity practices and breath meditation that became an important constituent of the later Daoist tradition (see Roth, 1999). Like the Zhuangzi, the text is more concerned with the individual than society. The ‘inward training’ to which the title of this work alludes is a training of the internal energy systems of the human body so as to produce a refined and potent form of the vital energy (qi) that makes up the cosmos. This refined form of vital energy is known as vital essence (jing). Cultivating vital essence within the body enhances the circulation of qi. This text is considered an important Daoist text because by guiding and directing the energy of the human body it is possible for the body to become more aligned with the vital energy of the cosmos and in so doing the practitioner of inward training will have ‘attained the Dao’.

CLASSICAL DAOISM

The three proto-Daoist texts mentioned above (the Daode jing, the Zhuangzi and the Neiye) give us a strong clue as to how the Daoist tradition came to develop. Their themes of social harmony, mystical realization, and biospiritual cultivation are all present to some extent in the formal Daoist religious movements that emerged in the second century (CE CE) towards the end of the Han dynasty. These movements, beginning with the Way of Great Peace and the Way of Orthodox Unity, were the first Daoist religious movements that we know of with a reasonable degree of historical accuracy.

The Way of Great Peace and the Way of Orthodox Unity

The Way of Great Peace was the name of the ideology espoused by a revolutionary religious–political community known, because of their distinctive headdress, as the Yellow Turbans. The Yellow Turbans, led by Zhang Jue in the east of China, organized an unsuccessful rebellion against the ruling Han dynasty in 184 CE CE. At the same time as the Yellow Turbans were being organized in the east of China, the most important Daoist religious organization was being organized in the West. Known as the Way of Orthodox Unity (Zhengyi dao) or the Way of the Celestial Masters (Tianshi dao), it was founded in 142 CE by Zhang Ling, later known as Zhang Daoling, revered as the first Celestial Master and founding patriarch of Daoist religion. The Way of Great Peace and the Way of Orthodox Unity are often discussed together because they shared many features in common, despite the fact that they emerged at opposite ends of the Chinese empire. Both organizations were established as theocracies in which the civil administration and the religious administration were one and the same. Both organizations held the expiation of sins as an important public ritual. Both organizations revered the divinized Laozi as a key personage in their pantheon.

Although the Way of Great Peace was bloodily suppressed by the Han dynasty, the Celestial Masters’ movement was able to flourish in Sichuan province in the more remote western part of China. Zhang Ling organized his territory into twenty-four parishes each headed by a religious functionary known as a libationer. Offices were hereditary, and overall control of the movement passed on to Zhang Ling’s son and grandson over a period of seventy-three years from 142 to 215 when the grandson, Zhang Lu, in a widely criticized move, ceded power to the powerful local warlord Cao Cao. At this point the followers spread or were forcibly moved throughout China, organizing themselves and integrating themselves into local communities.

The Way of Orthodox Unity is said to have originated in a vision of the divinized Laozi that was granted to Zhang Ling while he lived as a hermit on Mount Heming. According to tradition, Laozi presented Zhang with an ‘awesome covenant’. Within the framework of this covenant, Zhang and his followers claimed privileged access to a network of celestial powers or spirit–bureaucrats who regulated the fates of people in this world and the next. Members of the community contributed a tax of five pecks of rice or millet and were invested with a register that contained the names of the various spirits upon whom they could call for assistance. Those who were highest up in the community had the longest registers with the most names and the most powerful spirits at their command. In its original form every member of the community was thus an ordained Daoist with an important liturgical function. Nowadays only Celestial Masters’ priests possess these registers, and they make a living by performing rituals for people in which they make use of the registers to call upon the spirits for assistance with whatever problem a person or community faces.

The Way of Highest Clarity

In the late fourth century an important new Daoist movement emerged among an aristocratic milieu in southern China. A religious visionary called Yang Xi received a revelation of texts from a Daoist immortal known as Lady Wei. Yang Xi was an official in the household of the Xu family who lived on Mount Mao (Maoshan) near present-day Nanjing. The scriptures were passed on through the Xu family and were eventually gathered together by Tao Hongjing (456–536). From Tao’s efforts at reconstructing this revelation emerged the Shangqing school, or the Way of Highest Clarity. This form of Daoism was less communal in orientation than the original way of the Celestial Masters, though its exponents were themselves ordained priests in that tradition. What distinguished the Shangqing revelation was an emphasis on personal selfcultivation and on deities associated with the stars of the Big Dipper. Through a complex multi-coloured process of internal meditation, these deities were envisioned as descending into the organs of the body to aid in the process of transforming the adept into a celestial immortal.

The Way of Numinous Treasure

Another new direction in Daoism emerged from the encounter between Buddhism and Daoism that developed in the Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) sect. It is thought that the term Lingbao referred originally to spirit guardians, that is, shamanic figures who were able to interact easily with the realm of the ancestors. Subsequently the term came to refer to talismanic objects, usually texts or diagrams, that were imbued with spiritual powers and guaranteed the protection of the spirits to their owner. The Lingbao school evolved into tradition based on five of these sacred diagrams, each associated with the five directions (north, south, east, west and centre), which were incorporated in a collection of texts allegedly composed in the 390s by Ge Chaofu, heir to an important family of Daoists. When these texts were made public in 401 they were immediately popular and exerted a wide influence on the development of Daoism. The influence of Buddhism came to be seen in the application of these texts and talismans for the salvation of all living beings. What originally began as a movement to assist in the liberation and transformation of the individual practitioner evolved into complex liturgies designed to save everyone from a Buddhist-inspired complex of purgatories and hells in which the individual suffered retribution for the karmic guilt accumulated during his or her lifetime. One of the most important figures in this stage of Daoist evolution was the seventh celestial master, Lu Xiujing (406–77) who classified the corpus of Lingbao scriptures, and standardized Daoist ritual into three major forms: ordinations (jie), fasts (zhai) and offerings (jiao). These rituals formed the basis for the official religion that came to be practised at the imperial court, but Lu also developed rituals for lay people, thus ensuring the widespread popularization of Daoism. Thanks to Lu’s efforts, Daoism began to exert a deep influence on Chinese religious life rather than remain the preserve of isolated communities or aristocratic families. To this day the jiao ritual is the main public ritual performed by Daoist priests, and elements of it still date back to Lu’s liturgy.

The influence of Buddhism is also evident in the development of Daoist monasteries. Although Daoism had already a long tradition of eremitism in which individuals would leave their families (chujia) and devote themselves to a monastic life often in the mountains, Daoism had no formal monastic organization until Lu developed a set of precepts specifically for Daoist monks. These precepts included vows to abstain from meat and sexual intercourse.

Daoism under the Tang

All of the above Daoist movements were finally integrated into a coherent whole under the Tang dynasty. In the seventh century Daoism was established as the official religion, and imperially sponsored monasteries were established throughout China. This was partly a nationalistic reaction against the foreign religion of Buddhism and partly an attempt to give religious legitimation to the authority of the Tang emperors. On the one hand this period in Chinese history represents the high-point of Daoist history in which Daoism fully penetrated Chinese culture, inspiring poets, painters and philosophers; on the other hand it could be argued that this marked a watershed in which Daoism lost its political independence and became chiefly an ideological tool of the political elite.

MODERN DAOISM

The period of modern Daoism begins with the Song Dynasty (960–1279), during which time the boundaries between elite Daoist religion, Buddhism, and local cults begin to be increasingly blurred (Davis, 2002). Based on the syncretism that began in this period, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate out Daoism as a religious category from the popular Chinese religious culture as it functions on the ground. In terms of elite Daoism, however, the most significant event is the formation of the Way of Complete Perfection by Wang Zhe and his seven disciples in the twelfth century.Modern Daoism can be traced back to this period as the modern Daoist emphasis on the importance of both internal energy practices and the cultivation of personal morality was definitively put into place by Wang’s disciples’ insistence on the dual cultivation of mind and nature. This religious philosophy thus mirrored the trend towards syncretism that was taking place in popular religion, and incorporated the Daoist cultivation of the body with Buddhist-style meditation practices and a Confucian insistence on spiritual and ethical integrity. Furthermore it consolidated the pursuit of personal transcendence as the central goal of Daoist cultivation. All these are the hallmarks of Daoism as it evolved in the modern period and became popularized throughout China.

The Way of Complete Perfection

The origins of the Way of Complete Perfection can be traced back to the summer of 1159, when, according to tradition, the founder Wang Zhe encountered Zhongli Quan and Lu¨ Dongbin. Zhongli Quan and Lu Dongbin were Daoist immortals – human beings who had engaged in a lifetime of cultivation and, through a process known as internal alchemy, transmuted into the form of transcendent spiritual beings not subject to the ordinary limitations of space and time. Zhongli and Lu¨ chose Wang as their disciple and instructed him in the cultivation of the internal energies of his body. Wang then left his family, and engaged in a life of extreme asceticism that at one point involved digging himself a ‘living grave’ in the ground in which he lived and meditated. When he emerged from his grave he gathered seven disciples and established the Way of Complete Perfection that exists to this day. The most important of Wang’s seven disciples was Qiu Chuji (1148–1227) who met with Chinggis Khan – the Mongol warlord who had successfully invaded northern China – and whose grandson Kublai established the Yuan dynasty in 1280. Chinggis Khan put Qiu in charge of all religions in China and gave Complete Perfection monasteries taxexempt status. The movement flourished immediately. Also important among the seven disciples was Sun Bu’er (1119–82), the only woman. She is widely revered by women as the most important female Daoist role-model.

Through the network of monasteries that were established by Wang’s followers, the methods of internal alchemy became more widespread throughout China. The quest for immortality had previously been the goal of the elite few, but this goal now became accessible to many in the form of breathing and other energy practices that aimed to stimulate and guide the flow of qi in the body. Of course few people attained the goal of immortality, and those who did are now honoured as divine beings – but many people were able to use the practices developed in the monasteries to improve their ordinary lives.

During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) Daoism received regular patronage at the imperial court. As a result Daoism became more and more integrated into the civil life of Chinese society. Daoist priests officiated at civil religious temples, and popular deities were adopted into the Daoist pantheon. An important example of this is the Daoist adoption of the city gods (Chenghuang). Each city usually had its own city god who was responsible for the well-being of the city. The fact that these deities were adopted into Daoism indicates the blending of official civic religion and Daoist religion that was taking place. Another example of this is the way in which the Yongle Emperor promoted Mount Wudang (Wudang shan) as a Daoist centre. Mount Wudang was the centre of a religious cult devoted to the martial deity Xuanwu or Zhenwu (Dark Warrior or Perfected Warrior). Again this deity was thoroughly adopted into the ever-expanding pantheon of Daoist deities and was welcomed by both Complete Perfection monks and Celestial Masters’ priests. It is one of the most important Daoist centres today.

The subsequent Qing dynasty (1644–1911) was marked by the increasingly unsuccessful attempts of the government to exert a rigid control over the functioning of religion. The result of their policies was an explosion of popular lay religious cults and a relative decline in importance of official Daoist religion. The last two hundred years, in particular, have witnessed an explosion in popularity of energy practices such as taiji quan and qigong. The rise in popularity of these Daoistinspired arts can in part be attributed to the strict control over religion exercised by the state in the Qing dynasty. During this period religion seemed to flourish more in the form of lay movements rather than monastic organizations. The important exception to this rule was the establishment of the Dragon Gate (Longmen) branch of the Way of Complete Perfection in 1656. This branch of Daoism, based at the White Cloud Monastery (Baiyun guan) in Beijing is the dominant form of monastic Daoism today.

CONTEMPORARY DAOISM

The contemporary period in Daoism is marked by the influence of the West. In the nineteenth century, the Qing government struggled unsuccessfully to stave off the encroachment of foreign powers onto Chinese territory. Through war and threats of war, European colonial powers exacted concessions of territory and trading rights from the Qing government. The Chinese elite saw itself as weak and in need of modernization. Intellectuals led the struggle to reform China’s traditional attitudes and to embrace Western science and technology. Modernization of China’s feudal society came violently in the form of the overthrow of the Qing government in 1911 and the subsequent establishment of the Republic of China. Following a bitter civil war between the nationalists led by Chiang Kai-Shek and the communists led by Chairman Mao Zedong – interrupted by the Japanese invasion of 1937 and the Second World War – the communists gained the upper hand and the nationalists fled to the island of Taiwan. In 1949 Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.

This event fundamentally changed the nature and functioning of Daoism in two ways. On the one hand, Daoism was effectively banned in China as a feudal superstition, its monks sent out to work, the monasteries closed or destroyed, and its priests forbidden from conducting rituals. On the other hand through the emigration of millions of Chinese throughout the world, Daoism began to be established more and more in the West. As it has done so it has increasingly adapted itself to, or been appropriated by, Western cultural forms, and is less to be found as a traditional organized religion than as a collection of philosophical ideas accompanied by health practices.

Daoism is once again in flux. On the one hand it seems quite clear that the popularized forms of Daoist cultivation practices are ever more widespread, and now these practices are being repackaged to make them more accessible toWesterners and are being sold over the Internet. At the same time Westerners have developed a dissatisfaction with many traditional Western forms of philosophy and religion and are eagerly turning to ancient proto-Daoist philosophies such as those found in the Daode jing and the Zhuangzi. On the other hand institutional Daoism in the form of Complete Perfection monasteries and Celestial Masters’ priests has suffered a terrible blow in China. Since the relative liberalization begun under Deng Xiaoping’s regime in 1980, Daoism has begun to function again in China and many temples and monasteries have been reopened, but the bitter loss of a whole generation of the transmission of Daoism cannot be underestimated.

Now younger Daoist monks are struggling to rebuild their religion and some are enrolling in university courses to try to recapture their history and doctrines. On a recent visit to China, I interviewed one bright, young monk who was doing research into Lingbao Daoism. He chose to research Lingbao Daoism because it was the Lingbao reformer Lu Xiujing who established the foundations and basic principles for Daoist ritual. Today many rituals are carried out in Daoist temples in China without the meaning of those rituals being fully understood by the participants. By returning to the historical roots of Daoist ritual, he hopes to restore the understanding that was lost when the transmission of Daoism was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 70s.

At the end of this swift survey of Daoist history one thing is quite clear: Daoism is hard to define. It has few essential characteristics that remain constant from one generation to another. It has disparate origins, has borrowed extensively from other religions and our understanding of it has been further complicated by the effects of Western colonialism and Western-inspired communism. All this flux is reflected in the current debate in Western scholarship about Daoist identity. What exactly is Daoism and how can we define it? Before we proceed any further in our investigation of Daoism we must first of all explore the question of Daoist identity.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

Kohn, Livia. 2001. Daoism and Chinese Culture. Cambridge, MA, Three Pines Press

Robinet, Isabelle. 1997. Taoism: Growth of a Religion, trans. Phyllis Brooks. Stanford, Stanford University Press.