Page 54 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

14 T H E ENC YCLOP E DI A O F TAO ISM VOL . I

a living human from a deity. What Zhang precisely received on that occasion
is not at all clear since various sources supply different titles. Evidence seems
to indicate that the works of Zhang or other *Tianshi dao leaders included
registers (*LU), talismans, petitions, and codes. Later in the Six Dynasties, the
priesthood, Zhang's successors, was responsible for inducting juveniles and
young people into the faith. The rites involved transmitting registers.
Scriptural transmission. The *fangshi introduced another form of transmission
involving arcane texts, some of which made their way into the alchemical
tradition of Taoism. *Ge Hong traced their transmission back to *Zuo Ci
(fl. ca. 200) and was one of the recipients of works at an altar (tan :11) in the
mountains of what is now northeast Jiangxi. There he received from his master
three texts on alchemy under an oath of covenant (meng MD as well as secret
oral instructions (koujue 0 Wc) on their meaning that could not be written
down (see *Taiqing). Originally, a deity (*shenren) had bestowed them on Zuo
who in turn transmitted them to Ge's uncle, *Ge Xuan, who passed them on
Ge's master, *Zheng Yin.
Ge Hong mentions another form of transmission involving the *Sanhuang
wen (Script of the Three Sovereigns). Immortals hide copies of it in caves
on all of the sacred mountains. When a person qualified to attain the Dao
enters one of the mountains and earnestly meditated, its god will open the
grotto and permit him to view the text. The process, however, was a little
more complicated, as there were two traditions concerning the revelation of
the scripture; but in both cases the text appeared spontaneously on the walls
of grottoes after the persons stared at it or meditated and fasted. When they
were able to discerning the writing, the two left pledges, copied the scriptures
and departed.
Transmission and revelations in the Six Dynasties. The oldest reliable accounts
of divine transmission to humankind date from the second half of the fourth
century. Between 364 and 371, a dozen or so of the Perfected appeared to *Yang
Xi in nocturnal visions to bestow upon him more than ten *Shangqing scriptures
and hagiographies as well as more than forty scrolls of oral instructions. Of
all the Taoist revelations that occurred between 142 and 400, this is the only
one that appears to have been the product of true ecstatic experience because
Yang and his patrons, the Xus ~ , kept detailed transcripts of the epiphanies.
The influence of older occult sources is evident in the scriptures; the visions
may have been nothing more than instruments for reshaping earlier writs and
procedures to conform to Yang's new insights and agenda.
In the fifth century, the *Lingbao order added a new twist to the lore of
transmission. They contended that their scriptures had emerged before creation
as coagulations of *qi (pneuma). After the gods appeared, the Celestial Worthy