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as a conduit for the natural salutary forces that should guide and empower
peoples' lives (Kirkland 2001).

Russell KIRKLAND
III Graham 1989; Hsiao Kung-chuan I979; Kirkland 2001; Schwartz 1985

* TAOISM AND CONFUCIANISM

Taoism and the apocrypha

Apocrypha (weishu ~$: if, chenwei or chanwei ~ ~) are prophecies and mythical
interpretations of the classics designed to legitimate a rising new ruler. They
develop first around the end of the Former Han dynasty, when the Heavenly
Mandate (tianming :*"'$) was obviously failing and a renewal was expected.
Wang Mang (r. 9-23), the usurper of the Han throne, made heavy use of
them, as did his successor, Han Guangwu (r. 25- 57), and several emperors
after him.
Origins. As Anna Seidel (1983a) has shown, the idea of legitimating signs from
heaven goes far back in Chinese history and is already apparent in the earli-
est sources. In the beginning such signs were wondrous objects-marvelous
stones, precious gems, unusual jades-found within a kingdom and brought
to the ruling house as heavenly markers (see *lingbao). An early example is
the Hetu V1J IWI (Chart of the [Yellow] River; see *Hetu and Luoshu), which is
first mentioned in the Shujing if m (Book of Documents; trans. Legge 1879,
554) and was, as far as we can tell, a precious stone that served as part of the
regalia of the Zhou ruling house.
In a second stage of development, the precious stones were also appreci-
ated for their unusual markings, interpreted as charts or maps presented by
heaven to the ruler. These divine maps contained the essence of the realm
in symbolic form and thus provided the ruler with celestial control over his
land. From the diagram stage, the sacred sign unfolded further to include a
divine message spelled out in language and thus graduated to being a sacred
text or scripture. The text might be there to elucidate the chart or might in
itself contain the power of rulership and universal control. In a fourth step,
finally, the sacred sign as scripture grew into a whole series of texts, which
then constituted the bulk of what we call apocryphal literature.
Around the first century BCE, when sacred signs are first thought to have
appeared as actual texts, the Confucian classics were reinterpreted as won-
drous indications of heaven's favor and given a highly mythical reading. As
a result, the "apocrypha" comprise two different branches, chen (or chan ~,