Page 136 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM VOL. I

its own clergy and rituals, this millenarian sect underwent a process of institu-
tionalization, and during the Tang dynasty became one of the clerical orders
of the official Taoist priesthood. Other contemporary messianic sects were
similarly absorbed into the orthodox establishment. Such was the case with
the movement of the Northern Emperor (*Beidi), whose exorcist preachers
of the end of the world were transformed, a few centuries later, into official
Taoist masters of exorcism (Mollier 1997).
Imperial dynasties adopted messianic beliefs to legitimize their rule. The
*Taipingjing (Scripture of Great Peace) in its different versions was used to
legitimize the rule of both Han Shundi (r. 125-144) and Han Huandi (r. 146-168);
and the name Li was taken both by Wang Mang (r. 9-23) to justify his political
usurpation, and by Han Guangwu (r. 25-57) to validate his dynastic restoration.
The Han house became intimately linked with the name Li, and so too did
the Tang dynasty, which claimed to trace its genealogy back to Laozi. The Sui
house similarly established its power according to current messianic beliefs.
The impact of Taoist-inspired imperial messianism was thus powerful and
long lasting. Motivating peasant revolts, the tradition of Taoist messianism
and millenarianism also became, at the opposite end of the Chinese social
spectrum, the keystone of the nationalistic ideology of the ruling dynasties.
In medieval Chinese culture and society the power of messianism was so
great that Mahayana (Great Vehicle) Buddhism, recently established in China,
also began to circulate prophecies emphasizing its pantheon of Buddhas and
bodhisattvas, and to sound the alarm of the "end of the dharma," echoing
Taoist apocalyptic threats. The reciprocal influence of the two religions was
considerable. A sixth-century scripture, the Laozi huahu miaojing ~ f1t M I;!)
~ (Wondrous Scripture of the Conversion of the Barbarians by Laozi; Seidel
1984), goes as far as to predict the advent of the Taoist messiah, the Perfect
Lord Li Hong, accompanied by Maitreya, the messianic Buddha.
Through the centuries other foreign religions-Manicheism, Christianity,
Islam-have also enriched Chinese messianism and millenarianism with their
own notions and systems. This apparently inextinguishable tradition has per-
sisted to the present day, now addressing the needs of modern societies, but
still proclaiming eschatological visions and utopian expectations very close
to those of the Taoist beliefs of the first centuries of the Common Era.

Christine MOLLIER
m Bokenkamp 1994; Dubs 1942; Goodman 1994; Kaltenmark 1979b; Kohn
1998f; Levy 1956; Mollier 1990; Schipper 1979b; Seidel 1969; Seidel 1969-70;
Seidel 1983b; Seidel I984; Seidel 1997; Shek 1987; Stein R. A. 1963; Sunayama
Minoru 1975; Sunayama Minoru 1990, 69-92; Tsukamoto Zenryu I975

* Li Hong; housheng; taiping; zhongmin; APOCALYPTIC ESCHATOLOGY