Page 415 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

guan '!i 1!1EWl. (Abbey of Numinous Response). The replacements of tabooed
characters in the two manuscripts confirm this date. The Shenzhou jing was
known as a ten-juan scripture during the sixth century and maintained this
format until the end of the Tang. At the beginning of the Five Dynasties, *Du
Guangting edited it in an expanded form in twenty juan. This is the version
found in the Taoist Canon; it includes the ten juan of the Dunhuang versions
(with some variants), plus eight juan dating from the Tang, and two final juan
contemporary with the scripture's original ten-juan nucleus. Historical refer-
ences found in the first ten juan allow us to date the original Shenzhou jing to
the beginning of the fifth century. These references include allusions to the
founder of the Liu Song dynasty, Liu Yu 3)!IJ fft (356-422), and terms typical of
the Six Dynasties such as suolu %" J.)j", by which the Southerners designated
the non-Chinese peoples of the north.
Du Guangting's preface to the text in the Taoist Canon refers to the wood-
block print of the version he had edited. The appellation Chuanzhen tianshi
1~~X Olli (Celestial Master Who Transmits Truth), which appears in the
list of Du's titles, show that his edition dates from the first decades of the
tenth century (after 923). Du attributes the revelation of the Shenzhou jing to
a certain Wang ZuanT. W,;, a Taoist of Mount Maji (Maji shan ,~.i1r LlJ , part
of the *Maoshan range in Jiangsu) at the end of the WesternJin (before 316).
Although this attribution cannot be accepted with regard to the scripture's
date, it probably has a certain foundation since the masters of the Shenzhou
jing tradition may have claimed Wang Zuan as their spiritual ancestor. By the
beginning of the Tang period, this religious order had been institutionalized,
and the Masters of the Shenzhoujing (Shenzhou shi:j:$ 'lE gjjj), also called Masters
of the Law of the Great Religion of Samadhi and the Divine Spells of the
Cavernous Abyss (Dongyuan shenzhou dazong sanmei fashi 11"J mM fit! 'lE * * =
~ it: gjjj), had become part of the official ranks of the Taoist clergy. Certainly
Du Guangting had received the original Shenzhou jing from this lineage, and
included in his edition related liturgical texts containing penitential rituals
and rituals for requesting rain. These rituals, some of which are also found as
independent texts in the Taoist Canon, were likely transmitted by the Masters
of the Shenzhou jingo

Apocalyptic predictions. The prophetic message delivered by the Shenzhou jing
contains vivid descriptions of the apocalyptic drama. Most of its predictions
sound familiar: the end of the world is imminent, and corresponds to the
completion of a cosmic era, a great kalpa (*jie). The final deluge will be pre-
ceded by horrible calamities: wars, barbarian invasions, crimes, social, politi-
cal and familial dissolution, meteorological disorders, trials, imprisonments
and official punishments, oppression of the people, conflagrations, floods,
bad harvests, famines, curses, and above all an extraordinary propagation of