Page 137 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

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Apocalyptic eschatology

Visions of the end of the world become fully expressed in Taoist literature
only between the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth centuries
CE. This is a rather late appearance if one considers that a millenarian tradi-
tion of at least two centuries precedes it. The *Laozi bianhua jing (Scripture
of the Transformations of Laozi) and the *Laozi zhongjing (Central Scripture
of Laozi), which contain the first written traces of a Taoist messianic and
apocalyptic movement, date from the second and third centuries CE. However,
these two texts, both predicting *Laojun's Parousia, contain only the embryo
of Taoist messianic thought.
A growing body of apocalyptic literature arose during the Six Dynasties at
a crucial point in the history of Chinese religion. At that time, Taoism faced
the growing challenge of Mahayana (Great Vehicle) Buddhism, predOminantly
in northern China which had been occupied for a century by non-Chinese
peoples. Southern Taoism considered itself the guardian of ancestral reli-
gious and cultural traditions. Its attitude toward Buddhism was ambivalent:
while greatly influenced by the sophisticated concepts of the foreign religion
(especially in the realm of eschatology), Taoism rejected it as an imported
usurpatory tradition. Forced to compete with Buddhism, Taoists developed
the idea of a national religion, and strived to define its identity. In reaction
to the proliferation of Mahayana sutras, they produced their own holy scrip-
tures, which revealed the words of a personified Dao. These "Taoist sutras"
are said to have been born of the primordial energies before the generation
of the universe. Stored in heaven, they are transmitted to the human world
only during times of crisis to restore order and save the people. The faithful
receive them by divine means-that is, through mediumistic techniques-and
are entrusted with their transmission to fellow human beings.
The first Taoist accounts of the coming apocalypse appeared in the wave of
revealed scriptures produced by this Taoist reaction to Buddhism. Preserved
both in the Taoist Canon and among the *Dunhuang manuscripts, the apoca-
lyptic literature consists of about a dozen works, most of which derive from the
main institutionalized schools of medieval Taoism. This is the case, specifically,
with the Laojun bianhua wuji jing ;t;!t ~ it ~ ~ ~~ (Scripture of the Endless
Transformations of Lord Lao; CT II9S) and the Zhengyi tianshigao Zhao Sheng
koujue lE - 7( gffiilrMi¥f. Cl ate (Oral Instructions Declared by the Celestial
Master of Orthodox Unity to Zhao Sheng; CT 1273), both issued by the *Tianshi
dao organization. Two other texts, the *Housheng daojun lieji (Chronicle of the
Lord of the Dao, Saint of the Latter Age; eT 442) and the Santian zhengfa jing