Page 416 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

DONGY UE DADI 377

diseases. All these troubles are produced by gigantic armies of demons (*gui
and mowang Jm3:.), souls of the dead, and are a consequence of humankind's
defilement and evil. Instead of conforming to the true religion- the religion
of the Three Caverns, *SANDONG, preached by the Shenzhoujing- people per-
petrate sins and addict themselves to heterodox cults (*yinsi) by immolating
domestic animals to feed those demons with blood. The deluge will happen
in a jiashen if-! $ year (the twenty-first of the sexagesimal cycle; see table IQ)
to purifY the universe from all these evil creatures.
These apocalyptic predictions are repeated again and again through the
first ten original chapters of the work, and leave little room for an expression
of hope. Salvation, however, is promised to all the faithful who have been
converted to the right Way and show devotion to it by respecting liturgical
prescriptions and practicing proselytism. This elect group (*zhongmin, the
"seed-people") will constitute the new humanity of immortals. They will
enjoy the paradisiacal and egalitarian kingdom of Great Peace (*taiping) ruled
by the Perfected Lord *Li Hong (the divinized Laozi) who will appear in the
renchen :f J1f year (the twenty-ninth of the sexagesimal cycle), eight years after
the end of the world.

Christine MOLLIER
m Kamitsuka Yoshiko I996, 39- 44; Kamitsuka Yoshiko I999, 22I- 28; Kobayashi
Masayoshi I990, 367-8I; Mollier I990; Mollier I99I; Ofuchi Ninji I964, 435- 547;
Ofuchi Ninji 1978-79, I: 251--95 (crit. notes on the Dunhuang mss.) and 2: 519-63
(reprod. of the Dunhuang mss.); Ozaki Masaharu 1983a; Sivin I999b (part.
trans.); Strickmann 2002, 89-103
* APOCALYPTIC ESCHATOLOGY; MESSIANISM AND MILLENARIANISM

Dongyue dadi

Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak

From ancient rites to modern cults, no deity has accompanied the evolution
of Chinese religion so closely as the god of Mount Tai (*Taishan, Shandong);
none, moreover, was so thoroughly integrated by each of the Three Teachings
(Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism). Mount Tai or the Eastern Peak (see
under *wuyue) is arguably the most revered mountain in China. Emperors
sought supreme legitimacy by performing the feng it ritual on its summit,
and tried to impose an imperial monopoly on the cult of the mountain god.