Page 580 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

JI AO 539

jiao

Offering

The termjiao means "offering" or "sacrifice." It refers, in the present day, to
the large-scale Taoist ceremonies organized by local communities, and by
other social groups such as professional guilds and various forms of voluntary
religious associations, in order to define themselves on the religious level, and
specifically in order to establish or confirm the (semicontractual) relationship
between the group and its tutelary deity Ajiao may be performed at inter-
vals of three, five, or more years (depending on local traditions) as either a
recurrent rite for renewing life and blessings for the community ("Offering of
Thanksgiving and Praying for Peace," xie'en qi'an jiao ~1 J~.l,.z:: '1i: M), or a rite
that responds to immediate problems such as drought or epidemics ("Offering
for Averting Calamities," rangzaijiao ~~M) .
A classical form of jiao (see table 14) is typically headed by Taoist priests
representing the *Zhengyi tradition, though in some localities variant forms
can be performed by priests of the more popular (and often resident), Red-head
(hongtou URJ!) category (see *hongtou and wutou). The event may last a week
or longer, and invariably involves the whole community in festivities which
include, for example, processions in which the statue of the deity is carried
through the neighborhood, trance performances of mediums who become
possessed by the god, performances by hired theatre troops on temporary
stages, and large-scale presentations of offerings to the god in front of the local
temple. The central part of the liturgical program in a classical Zhengyi jiao
is performed by the priests (together with their troop of musicians) behind
the closed doors of this temple and is witnessed only by select representatives
of the community. The inside of the temple is rearranged for the occasion,
the statue of the tutelary god being removed from the place of honor in the
ritual north- which is now temporarily occupied by scrolls representing the
supreme Taoist deities- and placed with its back against the closed door, in
the position of worshipping these higher deities. The actual structure of the
Taoist ritual area, referred to as the "Taoist altar" (daotan i!!Jfi), thus bears out
the Taoist vision of a cosmic hierarchy preSided over by the Three Clarities
(*sanqing), such that the gods of the common Chinese religion (representing
the postcelestial state, houtian 1& fi:) are viewed as deriving their authority from
the higher Taoist powers (representing the precelestial state, xiantian JIG.::R).