Page 257 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

218 THE ENCYCLOPED IA OF TAOISM A- L

Baosheng dadi

Great Emperor Who Protects Life

Baosheng dadi is the title of a regional deity of southern Fujian province.
His hagiography identifies him as a physician by the name of Wu Tao ~zjs
(979-I036), a native of the village of Baijiao E3 ~ near the port city of Amoy
(Xiamen J[ F~ ). Having gained fame for his miraculous cures, after his death
the local people began to worship his spirit in continued hope for his heal-
ing efficacy. Baijiao and the neighboring village of Qingjiao 11f ~ became
the earliest centers of his cult, which soon spread widely across southern
Fujian. The new deity, however, always retained a close affinity with his
native Tongan district [qJ ~~, and was carried by Tongan emigrants beyond
the borders of Fujian to other parts of continental China, to Taiwan, and to
Southeast Asia. Hundreds of temples dedicated to him are active to the present
day.
While strictly speaking a popular rather than a Taoist deity, Baosheng dadi
adopted more and more Taoist characteristics as his cult spread. The earliest
sources contain some hints of possible Taoist inclinations on the part of Wu
Tao, but most of his explicitly Taoist features are later accretions to his hagi-
ography. Examples of such features include certain Taoist themes in the deity's
legend, Taoist rituals performed at his temples, his *Shenxiao Taoist derived
title, and the scripture composed for his cult, all of which serve to imprint a
Taoist identity on a popular deity, without ever completely absorbing it into
the Taoist pantheon.

Philip CLART
m Dean 1993, 61- 97; Lin Guoping and Peng Wenyu 1993, 217- 39; Qing Xitai
1994, 3: 153- 54; Schipper 1990
* TAOISM AND LOCAL CULTS ; TAOISM AND POPULAR RELIGION