Page 518 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

T H E ENCYC LOPE DI A OF TAO ISM A- L

story suggests that Hebo was originally a fearful deity who demanded human
sacrifice. In later times, it was said that Ping Yi became Hebo after ingesting
an elixir, and entered the Way of the Immortals.
YOSHlKAWA Tadao

* TAOISM AND CHINESE MYTHOLOGY

Heisha

Black Killer

The Black Killer is the divine protector of the Song dynasty, who was canon-
ized as Yisheng jiangjun :![jIH~lU#f ~ (General Assisting Sanctity) in 981, and
as Yisheng baode zhenjun ~ ~ fjil:1iJ:lt;g (Perfected Lord Assisting Sanctity
and Protecting Virtue) in I014. The god had first appeared in the Zhongnan
mountains (Zhongnan shan ~~ l¥i ill , Shaanxi) in the period 960-04, when he
began to speak through a man called Zhang Shouzhen * '1' J:lt, who was later
ordained as a Taoist and established a temple at the place where he received
these revelations. The earliest accounts suggest that the god had originally
presented himself as the Black Killer General (Heisha jiangjun J!. ~~ AA'. ~) , a
name that is suppressed in the official biography of the god, the *Yisheng baode
zhuan (Biography of [the Perfected Lord] Assisting Sanctity and Protecting
Virtue) by *Wang Qinruo, presented at court in I016.
The figure of the Black Killer General is widespread in Song-period tradi-
tions of exorcism, and especially in the texts of the *Tianxin zhengfa, where
Heisha is referred to as the "talismanic agent of the Mysterious Warrior"
(Xuanwufushi ""RlB';r-tf~), i.e., of the power of the north. In fact, the Black
Killer Talisman (Heisha fu J!. ~~rq:) , described in the Shangqing tianxin zhengfa
J:~j1f72 {J<LE1~ (eT s66, 3. Sb-7a), is one of the three talismans that are con-
sidered fundamental within the Tianxin zhengfa (see fig. 73). It has the form
of a small black figure with bare feet and disheveled hair, holding a sword or
metal whip in the left hand, and high in the right hand, the token of the com-
mand of the god of heaven, Ziwei dadi ~{J&:::k* (Great Emperor of Purple
Tenuity), in the shape of the character chi ~ ("imperial decree"). This image
(though without the character chi) closely resembles not only the general ap-
pearance of spirit mediums (shentong t$:i D with whom Taoist practitioners
are known to have collaborated during the Song, but also that of the god of
the northern sky, *Zhenwu (Perfected Warrior), who sometimes replaces
Heisha in descriptions of the aforementioned basic talisman.