Page 245 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

2.06 THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

m Berling 1993; Boltz]. M. 1987a, 72-73 and 176-79; Davis E. 2001, 76-78 and
129-34; Hymes 2002, 89-90, 174-75; Miyakawa Hisayuki 1978; Qing Xitai 1988-95,
3: 120-28 and 155-67; Yokote Yutaka 1996a

* leifa; neidan; Chongbi danjing; Yushu jing; Nanzong; Shenxiao

baibiao

Presenting the Memorial

The term baibiao is one among several alternative terms that refer to the central
act in Taoist ritual, the transmission of a document to heaven. At least since
the latter part of the Tang dynasty, it has been used typically with reference to
the inner transmission of the document performed by the high priest (gaogong
r'@J J)]; alternating in this respect with the term baizhang ff ¥, "presenting a
petition"), while the most ancient term for the whole process of transmission,
shangzhang I~ ("sending up a petition"), has continued to be used in most
cases to designate the total process. The most elaborate major ritual in the
program of a classical Taoist *jiao (Offering), which includes such a transmis-
sion of a document, is referred to in many places (for instance in Shanghai
and in southern Taiwan) as jinbiao ill; 0& ("presenting the Memorial"), though
in some places, and in many ritual manuscripts, the term dengtai baibiao 1t
IIff* ("ascending a platform to present the Memorial") is used (see Saso
1975, 3323-3436). In fact, the jinbiao is often performed on a stage outside the
closed ritual area, and it not only represents the first major ritual in which the
priests step out of this closed area and into the public arena, but in a number
of local traditions stands out as the climax and structural core of the whole
program. In southern Taiwan it consists of an elaborate ritual play, in which
the priests enact an audience with the Jade Sovereign (*Yuhuang, to whom
the Memorial is transmitted), and it is accompanied by huge displays of of-
ferings to the Jade Sovereign around the stage (including newly slaughtered
whole pigs and sheep).
From the perspective of the priests, however, this ritual represents in a sense
only an outer, somewhat more theatrical and thus more "popular" sequel to the
transmissions of documents to the supreme Taoist gods, which have already
taken place inside the closed ritual area, in the Three Audiences (*sanchao).
The sequence of rites that accomplishes the transmission of the concrete
paper document comprises the purification of the sacred area, the reading of
the document and of a "passport" (guan lijj;J) which is given to the messenger