Page 252 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

BAOJ UAN 213

Fruits of the Profound Foundation of Lofty Immovable Mount Tai; ca. 1509)
by Luo Qing § ~H (1443- 1527), mentions a Xiangshan juan will;ffi (Scroll of
the Fragrant Mountain; later editions use Xiangshan baojuan), which tells the
story of Guanyin ill if (Avalokitesvara), and theJinkang baojuan zuozheng 1IZ:
ImJUJf;ffifF~ (Testimony to the Precious Scroll on the Diamond Siitra). Luo
Qing, a lay Buddhist who founded the Luojiao §t5l or Luo Teaching (also
known as Wuwei jiao ~~t5l or Teaching of Non-action), adopted the baojuan
style for his own collected teachings, known as the Wubu liuce Ji iflF\ fID (Five
Books in Six Fascicles), where he cited many earlier baojuan. His teachings
were a vernacular presentation of a distinctly popular, syncretic Buddhist
millenarianism. Taoist terms, such as *wuwei (non-action), were given Bud-
dhist interpretations (for instance, turning inward to restore the Buddha-mind
within) that helped to popularize them and to expand the ideas they invoked
beyond more canonical Taoist or Buddhist referents. (For more details on Luo
Qing and the Wubu liuce, see the entry *Kaixinfayao. )
This use of Taoist terminology is true for other sectarian baojuan, such as
the Fo shuo huangjijieguo baojuan f~~~;@~ *}l;ffi (Precious Scroll Spoken
by the Buddha on the Results of the August Ultimate; 1430), which predated
Luo's books and includes references to the noumenal world (*xiantian) and
the Golden Elixir (*jindan). Presenting itself as a new and ultimate revelation,
thereby subordinating all other teachings and scriptures, the Fo shuo huangji
evoked themes found in both Taoist and Buddhist scriptural precedents. For
example, the Buddha is presented as giving an oral teaching from his famous
seat on top of Vulture Peak that reveals a new path (full of obscure alchemical
images) to salvation (understood as immortality) in a newly revealed heaven
(the Hongluo tian U§X or Red Canopy Heaven). Scholars also find Taoist
themes in the Huangji jindan jiulian zhengxin guizhen huanxiang baojuan ~
*] 1IZ::.Pt f l3!lLiE f~ &if} J~jjH~~ Jlt:ffi (Precious Scroll on the Golden Elixir and
Nine-Leaved Lotus of the August Ultimate for Correcting Belief, Restoring
Perfection, and Returning to One's True Home; 1523), which may be based on
the Fo shuo huangji, as well as the Gu Fo Tianzhen kaozheng longhua baojuan E
f~ x~~ruE~~~:ft:ffi (Precious Scroll on the Old Buddha "Heavenly Perfec-
tion" Confirming the Dragon Flower; 1654).
While arguing that one of the oldest baojuan, the Fo shuo Yangshi guixiu
hongluo Huaxian ge baojuan f~ ~m ~ ~ AAI~ U § ft fllJ ~}lf:ffi (Precious Scroll
Spoken by the Buddha on Madame Yang's Ghostly Embroidered Red Canopy
and "Song of the Transformed Immortal") of the Jin-Yuan period, was written
by Buddhist clergy, Ma Xisha (1986, 1994) suggests that it combined Buddhism,
Taoism and Confucianism in ways that prefigured one of the main effects of
the baojuan, namely, their role as a prime medium for diffusing fundamental
Taoist ideas throughout Chinese culture. In them, Taoist mythology, notions