Page 207 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

OVERVIEW

the posts of Grand Academician, and Xuanzong was no exception. The most
important task the Chongxuan guan performed during his reign was to copy
the Yiqie daojing - tJJ j1:HJrf (Complete Taoist Scriptures), a large library or
repository of Taoist texts in 3,744 scrolls that the emperor had had assembled
and personally proofread (see *Yiqie daojingyinyi). His ultimate objective was
to have the copies sent out to the capitals of ten circuits where Envoys of
Inquiry (caifang shi .j~HiJJ{se) there would, in turn, have them recopied. The
project, commissioned in 749, was unprecedented and testifies to the emperor's
intention of propagating Taoism and preserving its scriptures.
In 763, Tang Daizong (r. 762- 79) abolished the Examination on Taoism and
dispersed the students of the Chongxuan guano In 768, however, he restored
the schools in the capitals and apparently resurrected the examination because
two questions for it dating from 802 and 803 have survived.

Charles D. BENN
ID Barrett 1996, 65-73; Benn 1977, 255-98

* TAOISM AND THE STATE

Taoism and local communities

The relationship between Taoism and local communities has been extremely
varied and complex, marked by different forms of interaction influenced by
both socioeconomic and political forces affecting a particular locale, as well as
the organizational nature of the Taoist movement which existed at that locale.
Despite the importance of this topic in terms of better understanding China's
social and religious history, it has yet to be thoroughly and comprehensively
researched. Much of the data have been collected by historians studying the
origins of Taoism in Sichuan and ethnographers working in southeastern
China and Taiwan, and interpretations of these data have often been shaped
by agendas involving the assertion of the ritual superiority of Taoism over
local cults.
Based on the data currently available, the relationship between Taoism and
local communities appears to have been marked by five forms of interaction:
I. Taoist theocracies ruling over local communities; 2. Taoist organizations
playing a leading role in controlling the socioreligious activities of local com-
munities; 3. Taoist villages serving the ritual needs of nearby communities; 4·
Taoist masters and their disciples living amid local communities and serving
the ritual needs of individuals or the community as a whole; 5. eremitic tradi-
tions of Taoism which existed apart from local communities.