Page 275 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

T H E E N C YC LO PED IA O F T AO ISM A- L

acknowledged for the first time a cult that probably had long thrived in Shan-
dong: Taishan yunii was the daughter of the Great Emperor of the Eastern
Peak (*Dongyue dadi), the god of Mount Tai (*Taishan).
As early as the Yuan period, a Yunii daxian .:rr.::9;"::k{W (Great Immortal Jade
Woman) or Yunii niangniang .:rr.::9;"~~~~ (DamselJade Woman) was worshipped
in Beijing. In 1495, when a stele was inscribed for a temple devoted to her, the
divine foster mother was formally identified as Bixia yuanjun. A stone inscrip-
tion erected in the *Dongyue miao of Beijing in 1524 documents her cult at
the capital under this new title, but qualifies that cult as "heterodox" (*yinsi).
Half a century later, the mother of the Wanli Emperor (r. 1573- 1620) devel-
oped a strong devotion to Bixia yuanjun and placed her infant son under the
protection of the goddess. The empress dowager's lavish gifts to the Dongyue
miao and other shrines drew criticisms but helped to establish Bixia yuanjun
as one of the most popular deities in and around the capital.
Although Bixia yuanjun never received an official canonization, her cult
expanded during the late Ming and Qing periods with the support of the
Beijing craft and trade guilds. With no less than n6 temples, Bixia yuanjun
was the third main deity in Beijing during the Qing dynasty, after Guandi IUl
* (*Guan Yu) and Guanyin ti -tf, two eminent orthodox deities. The high
point of the year-round cycle of festivals in her honor was the pilgrimage to
Mount Miaofeng (Miaofeng shan :9'»ili~ ill, west of Beijing) during the fourth
lunar month.

Caroline GYSS
m Chavannes 19IOb, 29-43; Little 2000b, 278- 29; Maspero 1981, 164-66; Naquin
1992; Naquin 2000, 240- 47, 517-28, and passim; Qing Xitai 1994, 3: 106-8
* Dongyue dadi; Dongyue miao; Taishan

Bojia dao

Way of the Bo Family

Bojia dao is the designation of a loosely defined set of beliefs and practices
related to the lineage of Bo He ~ fj], a *fangshi (master of methods) who
lived around 300 CE. According to the *Shenxian zhuan (Biographies of Divine
Immortals; trans. Campany 2002, 133-36), Bo He was a fangshi who mastered
"embryonic breathing" (*taixi) and methods for making "medicines of immor-
tality" (xianyao {W ~). Later he devoted himself to alchemical practices based