Page 467 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

428 T H E E N CYC LOP E DI A OF TAO ISM A- L

fudi

~~

Blissful Lands

See *dongtian andfodi "¥fiiJ7( . m:llli.

fuji

.#z.'!;L

planchette writing; spirit writing

Planchette writing is called foji (lit., "support of the planchette stick"),fo1uan
f)c ft ("support of the phoenix"), or jiangluan ~~~' ("descent of the phoenix").
Two persons hold a stylet (jijia ,!tL~) above a planchette whose surface is
covered with sand (shapan 1Y'ti). One of them, possessed by a deity, moves
the stylet and draws characters on the sand, which a third person interprets
and transcribes on paper.
The fashion of planchette writing became particularly widespread in the
Song period. Shen Gua ttM' (I031- 95; SB 856-53) in his Mengqi bitan ~1~.g.!R
(Brush Talks from Dream Brook;j. 20) and Su Shi "'*l!5t (Su Dongpo ",**:1&:,
I037-IIOI; SB 900--968) in his Dongpo zhilin *t.&:~** (Records of the Eastern
Slope; j. 2) describe in detail the relation between planchette writing and the
cult of the Purple Maiden (Zigu ~~t , the Spirit of the Latrine; see *Ceshen).
The practice continued to develop in Ming and Qing times, in both learned
and popular circles. Each district had at least one altar devoted to it, and even
the ]iajing Emperor (r. I522-66) had one such altar built at court. Planchette
writing was forbidden by the Qing legal code, but continued to exist. The
main deities who possessed the mediums were the Purple Maiden, female
divinities, popular divinities, and the Eight Immortals (*baxian), particularly
*Ui Dongbin (see Katz P. R. I996).
The Taoist Canon contains several texts that were produced entirely or
partly from spirit-writing sessions. Examples are the Daoji lingxian ji j:f:tJ1E ~ {ill
11ft. (Record of the Traces of the Dao Left by Numinous Spirits and Immortals;
CT 597), the *Minghe yuyin (Echoes of Cranes' Songs), and the Xuxian hanzao
1~{ill~~ (Literary Masterpieces of the Xu Immortals; CT I468). Handbooks